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Chapter 23 - Hangover

Rose woke up with a small headache the next morning, so she couldn't imagine what the Doctor was going to feel like once he woke up. She went down to the kitchen and got him a tall glass of water and some ibuprofen. She came back upstairs to find the Doctor laying on his side with the pillow over his head.

"Rose. Is that you?" his muffled voice asked her.

"Yes, it's me. How are you this morning?" she asked him quietly as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"Howie and Pete are evil, mean people." he moaned from under his pillow.

Rose chuckled at her Time Lord. "I assure you, they are probably feeling just as bad this morning. Here, drink this water and take this. It will make you feel better."

He raised up and looked at the pill.

"It's ibuprofen. Not aspirin." she assured him.

"Pity. I'd like to be put out of my misery." he told her as he took the pill and drank some water.

"What do you remember from last night?" she asked him.

He sat up in the bed, and rubbed his head. His hair was all over the place already, his face was covered in stubble. He thought for a moment.

"I don't know. I remember I started understanding what Howie was saying. That should have been my first clue I needed to stop."

Rose looked down at the floor and laughed.

"God, my face hurts. Why? Did I get into another fight?"

"No." Rose assured him. "It's probably from laughing too much."

"Oh. That's interesting. Never had that happen before. My chest hurts, too. Is that why?"

Rose smiled. "Most likely. I'm glad you had such a good time."

He pulled the pillow back over his face. "Ugh, but paying for it this morning. Blimey."

Rose laughed at him and patted his thigh.

"Rose. I feel like hell." his muffled voice told her.

"Been there, mate. Give the medicine a few minutes. You're going to feel like shit most of the day. But, you'll be alright."

"Rose alright, or Doctor alright?" he inquired from under the pillow.

"Rose alright, of course." she assured him.

She rubbed his thigh as he lay there.

"You said some crazy stuff last night." she told him.

"Don't pay attention to anything I might have said last night." his muffled voice said.

"Do you remember any of it?" she asked him.

From under the pillow, the Doctor answered her. "I remember eating oysters. A lot of oysters. I remember Pete going to bed and Howie threatening if I broke your heart, he was going to send United States Marine Corps after me."

"You don't remember me coming downstairs to get you, or our conversation once we got back up here?"

He took the pillow off of his head and rubbed his face. "No. I don't remember any of that."

Then suddenly realizing something, "I didn't say anything embarrassing did I?"

"No." Rose assured him, "And you'll be proud of yourself. You still refused to tell me what is in your box."

He covered his face back up with the pillow. "I really need to stay away from that damn whiskey."

Rose laughed at him.

"Come on, my hung over Time Lord. I'll help you take a hot shower. It will make you feel better."

The Doctor didn't come out from under his pillow. "I don't know if anything can help this. I miss regenerating. I feel like I would be close right now."

"Oh, come on. It's not that bad." Rose fussed at him as she took his pillow away from his head.

He rolled out of the bed as she lead him into the bathroom. She turned on the shower and helped him take off his jumper.

He rubbed his head with both hands, "Ah!" he exclaimed loudly as his eyes popped wide open.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Pushing acetalaldehyde out of my liver. It will make me feel better faster."

Rose gave him a funny look. "That's weird you know."

Rose took off her pajamas as he removed the rest of his clothes as well. He wrapped his arms around her nude body.

"You are right, Rose. This does make me feel better."

She kissed him quickly on the lips and lead him into the shower. As she was distracted getting the shampoo bottle, he turned the down the hot water. She never noticed. He ran his head under the water. It seemed to make his head stop aching. Maybe the medicine Rose had given him was kicking in as well.

Rose washed his hair for him as he rubbed her back.

"Geez. I think you might need a haircut. I've never seen your hair this crazy."

"Really? I know my beard grows a lot faster now. This is the hairest body I've ever had."

He rinsed his hair out, as Rose began to wash her own hair.

"Hang on a minute, sweetheart. Let me do that." he told her as he took over washing her hair for her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and enjoyed him running his hands through her hair. As he rinsed it for her, he pulled her into a perfectly wonderful snog.

Rose leaned back to look at him. "You are such a brilliant kisser." she told him.

He smiled his 1,000 watt smile at her. "You're not bad yourself."

She pulled him in for another very wet kiss. The water from the shower ran into their faces as their tongues danced in one another's mouths.

She felt the Doctor on the edge of her consciousness. She let him in.

'My darling. Let's go back into the bedroom.'

She turned off the shower and they stepped out. She handed him a towel which he dried himself off as fast as he could. He then took Rose's towel that she was drying herself off with and used it to pull her in closer to him.

Rose laughed. "You loon."

He leaned down to continue kissing her as they walked slowly into the bedroom. He lay her down on the bed, and he lay down on top of her.

Then he jumped up. "Just a second. Tony will bust in here if I don't lock this door." he said as he rushed over to lock the bedroom door and he slid a chair in front of it just for good measure.

He returned to the bed and lay back down with Rose who was now under the duvet.

'Sorry love. Didn't mean to leave you.' the Doctor told her in her head as he kissed her slowly.

'You're back. That's what is important. But, we have to be quiet. I'm not sure how thin these walls are.' she told him.

'How do we always manage this?' he complained.

They were completely lost in one another. He ran his hands down her warm body as she ran her hands through his wet hair. She moved her hands to his waist and pumped his erect length.

He moaned as soon as she touched him.

'Are you okay?' she asked him.

'You just make me tingle all over. Especially when you touch me there.'

She smiled at him as he raised up to look at her.

"You make me tingle, too." she whispered.

He smiled and made that happy noise in the back of his throat.

"Tingle quietly then, my love." he whispered to her as he slipped his fingers inside of her and stroked. She was so warm and wet from the shower.

He brought his mouth back down to hers to muffle her moaning that she was beginning as he touched her.

'Oh, Rose. How could I ever live without you?'

He took his shaft from her hands and slid it inside of her. He thrust slowly.

'That is the best. ' Rose told him.

'Yeah, I'm trying to keep the headboard of the bed from hitting the wall. It's sitting way too close to the wall.'

He stopped kissing her and picked up a pillow. He placed it between the headboard and the wall to keep it from hitting it.

"Ah. There we go! Simple engineering!" he exclaimed with a smile.

Rose rolled her eyes at him.

He then continued thrusting a bit faster as his lips rejoined hers. The bed never made a sound. Rose wrapped her legs around his waist.

He could feel her satisfaction, and she could feel his. It was overwhelming to both of their senses. They had to keep her moaning as quiet as possible. Rose gave the Doctor another love bite on his shoulder to keep from screaming out.

After a few moments of continuous stroking, she felt him finish inside of her. He lay down gently on top of her as she rubbed his back.

'You are a remarkable woman.' he told her.

"That was all you, baby." Rose told him.

That surprised him. He raised up and looked at her face. "Baby? I've never been called that!"

Rose laughed at him. "You know. I don't like calling you 'my boyfriend'. It's just not right."

He looked confused. "What do you mean? Everything is alright-"

"Yes! Everything is fine. It's just it's not the right word. I'm not sure there is a word for how I feel about you."

"Yeah, I understand that." he told her.

"What is the word in your language?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "You couldn't pronounce it. And it's the same way. It really doesn't define it. You know what we need, is a thesaurus!" he proclaimed as he rolled across her and got her phone and handed it to her. He lay down next to her in the bed and she curled up on his shoulder. They both were still under the duvet.

"You aren't going to look it up?" she asked him.

He rubbed his face. "No, I don't have my glasses. Read me what you find and we'll decide on something."

Rose clicked on a few places on her phone and came to the information she was looking for.

"Okay. Boyfriend. We could also say beau-"

"Nah."

"Companion?"

"Absolutely not!"

"Friend."

"Worse"

"Partner"

"Better, but nah."

"Suitor"

"This isn't medieval England."

"Sweetheart."

"I love when you call me that. But it wouldn't work for introductions."

"Young man."

"Phhhhht." Both of them started laughing.

"Admirer." Rose began again.

"Nah."

"Confidant."

"Sounds too much like German. Das Confidant!"

"Date."

"Nope."

"Escort."

"That's not bad. Bit too formal, though." the Doctor said.

"Sounds like I've paid you. I don't like it at all." Rose complained.

"What would Howie call that I wonder?" the Doctor joked.

Rose laughed and continued. "Flame."

"The Oncoming Flame!" the Doctor teased.

"Follower."

"No way. Terrible."

"Intimate."

"I could never look at Pete and say that. Never."

"Steady."

"This isn't the 1940s."

"Fiancé"

"Hmmmm..."

Suddenly embarrassed. Rose lay down her phone and covered up her face. "Sorry, it was just in the list. I didn't mean to say it."

"Nah, let's think about that one. Fiancé. Sounds good. But, we never talked about getting married." He rubbed his chin and thought. "Well, technically we are already married on about six, no seven different planets. Just don't tell Jackie. She'll kill us."

"I figured we would talk about that one day-"

"Well, let's talk about it now. I mean, what do you think?" the Doctor asked her.

"I don't know. We just really started with this, I don't know... I mean, I think it's too soon to really talk about it. What do you think? Honestly. You won't hurt my feelings or anything."

He ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, I agree. I think we are in the same place with it. I don't think I'm ready to do that. But, I don't know. I haven't thought that far ahead. I feel like I'm about a half a step away from screwing this entire thing up... "

He trailed off and continued. "We could only ever have a basic, human marriage anyway. Never a Gallifreyan one. And that's what I would really prefer. But, I couldn't do that to you."

She raised up to look at him. "Why? What's the difference?"

"Well, Gallifreyans tie their telepathy together so that they can always feel one another in their heads. It's like they truly become one. No matter where one is, the other can communicate with them. Know what each one is feeling. Like we do when we touch one another."

"Wow." Rose said seriously. "That would be amazing. Have you in my head all of the time? Why couldn't we do that?"

The Doctor stroked her cheek. "Because you will be miserable, sweetheart. It's almost as if you literally cannot live without the other one. I have a short human life now. You will live on for a long time. If I was still completely a Time Lord, we could. But, I couldn't put you through that."

"So after you die, it would kill me, too?" Rose asked trying to understand.

"In a lot of cases it does. Or it drives the other one completely mad. It's like losing half of yourself."

"That sounds wonderful, though. I really wish we could do that." Rose told him dreamily.

The Doctor looked away and started rubbing his head again. "When I first found out about your telepathy, I almost brought it up. But, knowing that you will outlive me now...well...I'm grateful I didn't."

"Do all Gallifreyans have marriages like that? Sounds like it wouldn't be popular with everyone." Rose asked him.

He looked at her seriously and smiled. "You are clever, Rose. No, not all do that. Sometimes they just promise one another to always be their partner, similar to a human marriage. Some never telepathically tie themselves together. Arranged marriages, and that sort of thing, are more of the norm on Gallifrey. You wouldn't want to be telepathically linked to someone you really didn't know."

"Have you ever been married before?"

He rubbed his head as he looked at her uncomfortability. "Is there a diplomatic answer to that question?"

"You don't have to answer that if you don't want to." Rose told him. "I don't have to know."

He rubbed her back as she lay back down in his arms. "No, I think you should know. I just don't like to talk about it."

He continued, "You know Shakes calls you my Nehyta."

"Neh...?" Rose attempted.

"Nehyta." he pronounced it slowly for her.

"That's really pretty. What does it mean?" she asked him.

"It's from a legend from the Quauhtin. It has a similar story in Earth's mythology. Let's see if I can remember it."

"Once upon a time, there was a man and a woman. The woman, Nehyta, was more beautiful than anything in the known universe. She was all her beloved could even think about. "

"And, Nehyta loved him so much that he was all she could ever think about, too. Everything she did, was for him."

"He was forced to go to war and became a prisoner for 5,000 years. He suffered completely alone without his Nehyta. He felt as if his soul had been ripped in two. She mourned him, thinking he had died and left her alone."

"Once they were reunited, he promised he would never leave her again. He was so determined that once he died, he didn't even realize he was dead because of his love for her. He knew that if he agreed to death, he would be separated again from his beloved Nehyta. He couldn't bear for her to hurt ever again."

"But over time, he started to decay. She began to notice and told him to go onto the afterlife because she didn't want him to suffer. He refused because he knew it would break her heart. So, to ensure he would finally go to his eternal rest, she killed herself. Then he followed her to death so they could be together." the Doctor told her.

"God. That's tragic. Like Romeo and Juliet."

"Yeah, something like that. Now, in the Quahtin culture, Nehyta has became a word that means something like 'the one your soul longs for' or 'the one you can never live without'. 'The reason of your life.' That sort of thing."

"I love that. That's how I feel. How did you say it?"

"Nehyta." he told her again.

"Nehyta." she repeated. "That's so pretty. And you can say that for a guy, too? Like I can call you my Nehyta?"

"Yeah, the man in the story never has a name. Apparently Nehyta was so beautiful that he couldn't remember it." he joked.

She chuckled. "Well, alright. You'll be my Nehyta, even though I know I still have to introduce you as my boyfriend. No one will know what that means."

He smiled at her, "Okay, Nehyta."

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The Doctor and Rose walked downstairs to the kitchen. Caroline was in the kitchen with Harriet and a lady that was cooking. He could smell something delicious. Could it be bacon?

Tony and Jacob were still sleeping in the tent they had made last night. Zeus was laying down between them. The Doctor could see Tony's little foot through the doorway of the dining room.

Rose was right about Pete and Howie. Both of them looked like they felt as bad as the Doctor had when he woke up. He was immediately grateful for his superior Time Lord abilities that had helped him feel better quickly. Howie met the Doctor with a tall cup of very dark coffee as soon as he walked in the kitchen.

"Here. This Arbuckle's will put hair on your chest. I put some axle grease in it. That is the best thing for barrel fever there is." Howie told him as he drank some of the same out of his own mug.

"Thank you, Howie. I'm really not too bad this morning."

"Oh, hockey." Howie exclaimed. "Come on in here with me and Pete." he said as he lead him into the dining room.

Pete sat in a chair, rubbing his face. "I have to be in New York at 2:00 for a meeting. I've gotta shake this. You think I'd learn after all of these years with you, Howie."

Howie laughed as him and the Doctor sat down around the table. "I figure after you have been in the sun long enough, you'll drop that accent of yours."

"Doubt it. I've had it a long time, and you are honestly the last person that ever needs to tease someone about how they talk." Pete fussed at Howie.

"Well, that's very true." Howie agreed. "Well, I've decided something that affects you, Doc. I probably need to tell you before the bean master gets back in here. I think you need to just stop beating around the stump and marry that girl of yours. She says you've really been through the mill, but she's a catch."

"Well, we did talk about it." the Doctor told him.

"Really?" Pete suddenly came back to life.

"We think it's too soon. We are still getting to know one another."

Howie seemed shocked. "It's not my place, but somethings you just know in a twinkling of a bed-post."

The Doctor shot him a confused look as he drank some of the strong coffee. "Twinkling of a bed-post?" He blushed. Had he known about their recent shag upstairs?

"It means quickly." Pete helped the Doctor.

"Oh." the Doctor said relived.

"If you already have the bee in your bonnet, that makes me happy. I just want to see her happy. And I've honestly never seen her happier than she is now. She's an ace-high lady."

Pete nodded his head in agreement.

"Thanks, Howie." the Doctor told him. "Pete, you have to go to New York today?"

"Yeah, damn meeting that can't wait. Tony is going to stay here with Howie and Caroline. Want a ride into the city?"

"Sure! That would be great! Since you are going anyway." the Doctor acknowledged.

Rose walked in with Harriet and Caroline. They were all carrying plates of food that they sat on the table. All three of the men stood up as soon as they walked in.

"Do you ladies need any help?" the Doctor asked them.

"Nah, Doctor. That's very kind of you to offer." Caroline assured him.

They all sat around the table and started eating. It was a lovely spread of bacon, eggs, biscuits, gravy, ham and sausages. A traditional Texan breakfast.

The Doctor asked Rose, who was sitting next to him, "Pete is leaving to go to New York today. Would you like to ride there with him and stay a few days?"

"Sure! That would be great!" she exclaimed.

"Y'all will be back in time for the state dinner at the White House, won't cha?" Howie asked them. "Plan to stay with us there. We'll show you a hog-killing time."

The Doctor and Rose smiled. "I'm sure you will. I honestly had so much fun last night, that my face still hurts from laughing so much."

Caroline patted him on the back. "That's good for your soul."

Harriet agreed. "I love coming to visit here."

"You and Rose are welcome, anytime. As long as you are above snakes, you are part of the family." Howie told them.

The Doctor smiled, "Thank you, both. Really."

"But, we probably need to acknowledge the corn." Howie began. "You know, Rose. Your beau here is like trying to nail Jell-o to a tree."

The Doctor was shocked. "That's where you got that saying!" he exclaimed to Rose.

Rose laughed at him. He turned to Howie and explained. "Rose says that about me all of the time!"

Howie laughed and looked at Pete. "See! I'm converting your Rose!"

Pete just smiled and shook his head as he ate. "I worry what I'll return to with Tony tonight."

Harriet laughed, "Don't worry. Nanna Jones will keep an eye on him."

"Ah, don't worry about the little shaver. He'll be fine. We're going to go riding later. I have a horse that is two steps away from a glue stick. I'll have him ride her. We'll be fine." Howie assured them. "I figure I'll let them just lolly gag the rest of the day. Let them be boys."

Rose interjected. "We need to find a place to get the Doctor's hair trimmed. I didn't realize how long it was until this morning."

"Oh! I'd be happy to cut his hair!" Caroline offered. "I was a hairdresser for years. I still cut Howie's hair."

"Yeah, I like mine bared." Howie told them as he ran his hand through his shaved, close hair.

"Oh, I appreciate that but you don't have to." the Doctor told Caroline.

"Nah, I insist. Just a trim? We'll do it right after breakfast. Won't take but just a minute." Caroline told him.

The Doctor lay his hand on Rose's arm. She felt him brush her consciousness as he linked to her telepathically.

'Should I let this woman cut my hair?' he said. Rose could feel the nervousness coming off of him.

'I'm sure it will be fine. Don't worry.'

'Yeah, Rose. But this is my hair!'

Rose looked over at him and rolled her eyes. 'And it will be fine. Don't worry. It is only hair. If you don't like it, it will grow back.'

'Stay with me when she does it and keep an eye on her.'

Rose was giggling at him. 'Of course I will. Try not to worry. It will be alright.'

The Doctor took his hand off of Rose's arm and started eating breakfast again.

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