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Chapter 19 - Joining

They took a shower together. Rose noticed that he was wearing a necklace. It was a small, round metal circle on a black leather band. It hung right between his collarbone.

"Are you wearing a GPS so I can find you?" she asked him.

He smiled, "Nah. Not a bad idea, though."

"Then what is this necklace you are wearing?"

He chuckled. "It's how I make my football fly back to me. It's a receiver!"

She laughed at him. "I knew that wasn't physics! No wonder Genie and I couldn't get that ball to work after you left."

"I'll try to remember to leave it next time. I forgot I was wearing it." he told her.

"Nah, I told her it was because you are a wizard. She would never believe me if I told her I could do it."

He growled at her under his breath as he held her close. "Rose has raised my cool factor with our daughter. How can I repay her?"

Rose blushed, "Oh, I have some ideas. Don't worry about that."

They finished their shower and got ready to go out on their date. Doctor told Rose to put on some jeans and t-shirt if she wanted.

"Think casual, Rose. We're just going to get chips." he reasoned.

He put on his jeans and a dark blue t-shirt. After he slipped on his blue trainers, he was back in the bathroom putting gel in his hair.

Rose was still in the closet, putting on her make-up, doing her hair and getting dressed. He turned towards the doorway, leaning on the cabinet.

Rose's voice called from the closet. "I love this huge closet! It's like a room to its' own. I finally have a place I can put on my make-up where I can see what am I'm doing."

"Sweetheart, you always look beautiful. Make sure you bring some of that lip gloss. I love the vanilla."

Rose laughed, "We should branch out and try some other flavors."

He smiled. "Teasing me with lip gloss. Thank you for unpacking everything from the suitcase. You didn't have to. I would have done that once I got home." He smiled at the word. "Home." he repeated under his breath.

"It's alright. Genie helped me. We had a lot of fun with it!" Rose told him.

"Oh! I haven't told you! The meeting with the architect was...well, crazy. Howie showed up." he laughed.

He heard her laugh in the closet. "Oh, god! Is that the reason you drank too much of that damn whiskey today?"

He rubbed his beard and laughed. "Big part of it. It was hysterical. He used that watch for the first time. Stone cold sober-"

"God, you sound like him right now. 'Stone cold sober'."

He chuckled. "It was great! As soon as he popped into my office, he started drinking. He went all cowboy in less than five minutes. I've never seen anything like it. Pete couldn't even understand what he was saying!"

"My gosh! I didn't know that could happen!" Rose laughed. "Maybe the question we should be asking is, 'Can Howie understand what he is saying'?"

"I think you are right. But, it meant a lot for him to take time out of his day to come over to keep us from being...what did he say, 'bamboozled' by an architect. He's going to have it classified as a top secret government operation and get guys with security clearance to work on it."

"That's nice of Howie! It pays to have friends in high places. I have some news as well! The Dean from Princeton University called and asked me to come over to speak Monday afternoon."

The Doctor was so proud. "Oh sweetheart, that's wonderful! Call Michelle and arrange me some time I can come with you."

"No way!" Rose told him.

"What do you mean no way?" he demanded.

"I don't want you to read it. I defiantly don't want you sitting in the audience listening to it. Hell no!"

"Ugh! Woman! I want to read this paper! The entire planet has read it!"

"The entire planet isn't you." Rose reasoned.

He knew it was useless to argue with her.

"Alright! Fine! Take Shakes and Lewis though. Use the watch I made you so can come home that night I won't have to worry about you all by yourself in Boston. Will that be alright?"

Rose laughed. "You read my mind. I'll be fine."

"You know, Howie treats me like a kid. I swear! I wonder if I should tell him I'm probably older than the planet he lives on? I believe Howie thinks I'm a real, 34 year old. Isn't that my age? Is that what we decided?"

Rose's voice said, "Oh god! Do not have that conversation with him! I don't think Dad could even handle that. Stick with 34, although Dad knows the 900 age."

Rose walked out of the closet. She was wearing a sleeveless, knee-length, solid blue dress. It almost looked vintage, like something you would see a swing dancer wear.

She held out her hands as he looked at her. His mouth dropped open.

"Oh , wow. That's so much better than jeans. And umm..." he rubbed his beard as he looked her up and down.

She pointed at him forcefully. "If we dance tonight, do not spin me around wildly, you old man!"

He smacked the cabinet that he was leaning against. "Damn, that answers the question on my mind! Oh, you are a mean woman! How can I keep that off my mind now?"

She laughed at him. "I have something for you."

He smiled proudly at her. "For me? What?"

She walked back into the closet and brought out a brown, leather jacket. It looked similar to the one he had worn when they first met, but it had square pockets on it and there was no collar.

He put it on and looked at himself in the mirror.

"Oh, that looks great on you! Tony and Genie helped me pick it out. Tony said it looked like Han Solo's. Do you like it?"

He looked at himself in the mirror. "Oh, I really do! Wow! When did you order this?"

"That day you were sleeping. I bought Jake a new coat and decided you probably needed one as well. You only had that long trench coat. That's more, old you. This is more... you."

"I can live with that explanation." he nodded as he put his hands on his hips. He suddenly realized he had forgotten something. He snapped his fingers and reached into his pocket.

"Oh! I forgot. I got you something as well! I hope you like it." he opened a jewelry box to show her a ring. It had three diamonds in it.

"Tell me about this." she smiled she looked up at him.

He chuckled as he slipped it on her finger. "It's a ring similar to the one we had made for Jackie. This one is yours. The two diamonds at the top are me and you, with diamonds from the other dimension. The stone at the bottom is Genie, with a stone from here."

Rose looked up at him. "Genie's ear rings have a GPS in them, don't they?"

He smiled at her. " You know me too well. Jackie's ring has one in there, as does this one."

Rose looked surprised. "I already have one. In my tooth!"

"I know. I'm not taking any chances. Both of Genie's ear rings have one in them. I can't lose you. Or her. I refuse to."

Rose hugged him. "I love it. Thank you."

He held her and grinned like a loon back at her. "Happy anniversary. Our first one, ever."

He leaned down and kissed her quickly.

Rose leaned down and put on her shoes. "What time do we need to leave?"

"In a few minutes." he said as he rubbed his beard. It looked like he was trying to decide something. "Are you ready to go?"

She nodded that she was. He continued to rub his beard.

"What's on your mind? My lack of knickers?" Rose asked him.

"I still have your knickers in my pocket from the White House." he confessed to her and laughed.

She laughed at him and dropped her head. "You have it bad."

He continued to laugh as he put his hands back on his hips. "Yeah, I do."

He took her hand and lead her into the bedroom. They sat down on the sofa, facing one another.

He looked into her eyes. "Alright. This will be strange. It's just temporary, I can untie the bond if you want me to. I won't agree to even tie us together unless you promise me that you will always be honest with me about this. If you want me to undo it at anytime, I want you to tell me. It won't hurt my feelings or make me angry. It's your head and I don't want to intrude. Alright?"

Rose held his hand. He could feel her excitement. She could feel his apprehension.

She looked at him curiously. "I can feel that. Do you not want to do it? You don't have to."

He smiled at her. "No, sweetheart. I want to. Of course I do. I just worry. What we have now is so great. I can't imagine it being better. I don't want to screw this up. Drive you crazy."

She leaned in and kissed him, "My darling. It's just a temporary thing to see if we can live with it. If you want to untie us, be honest with me. I don't want you miserable if I get to be too much. Alright?"

"It will be strange to be able to telepathically communicate without touching you." he told her quietly as he smiled.

She smiled. "I imagine you will probably touch me more, since you will already be in my head."

He continued to smile at her as he looked her in the eyes. "Maybe."

He lay his hands on the side of her face and whispered, "Close your eyes. This won't take bit. You will see some strange stuff. Don't worry about it. It's just how I see the world. It will be a like a flood rushes through your mind. I'm right here, and I won't let anything hurt you. You trust me, right?"

She smiled at him. "Of course I trust you. I'll be alright."

He smiled and closed his eyes. She closed hers. She could feel his excitement as he whispered some strange words. When he became quiet, she felt a rush of emotions wash over her. She found herself in a strange place where she saw long lines of energy stretching as far as her eyes could see. Some interwound together tightly, while others seemed to float by themselves. She looked down to see that they went down as far as she could see. There were millions of the lines of electricity. She heard the sounds of a million voices, all talking to one another at once as she looked around.

Just as she was beginning to get a good look, she felt herself move like she was a on a very slow merry go round. She unconsciously reached out and grabbed the Doctor's legs to keep from falling.

"You're okay. I'm here. Almost done." his voice said.

She could hear his heart beat. No, she could feel his heart beat. She could feel every system in his body. She could feel how everything was working properly. She wondered if he was feeling the same from her at that time. She had always thought it was just weird the command he had over his body. Was he going to be able to feel what her body was doing now that they were joined?

"Not if you don't want me to, Rose. Don't worry about that." he told her.

She smiled as she kept her eyes closed.

Everything faded away as she saw a projection of her Doctor walk up to her. He took both of her hands in his and smiled at her. "All done, sweetheart. Well, all except for one thing."

He leaned down and kissed her. Their tongues danced as they held one another close. The image faded, as the Doctor took his hands off of the sides of Rose's face. They opened their eyes and looked at one another.

"You see all of that?" Rose ask him.

"All the time." he smiled. "If we decide to join permanently, you'll see even more. My head is a really dodgy place."

"And all of those voices, in your head?" she asked him.

He rubbed his head and stood up. "Yeah, all the time. I tell you that I have a lot on my mind. Now you know!"

She sat on the couch near the windows. She didn't feel any different. She was confused. Did it not work?

He walked away from her and sat on the end of the bed on the other side of the room. He rubbed his beard and looked at her.

"I don't get it." Rose finally said and stood up.

He pointed at her forcefully. "No! Sit down! Stay there! It takes a minute. It's not a permanent connection."

He leaned back on his elbows and hummed a song Rose didn't know.

Rose sat back down on the couch and looked at him. What was he playing at? She crossed her legs and looked down at her fingernails.

He suddenly clapped his hands in excitement. The football whizzed from the corner and he caught it in his hands.

He laughed. 'Damn! Forgot about that ball!'

She laughed at him, not looking up from her nails. "You idiot."

'Hey, good looking lady! That dress is lovely. Nearly as beautiful as the woman in it.'

"Well, thank you." she told him as she looked over to him on the bed.

'You goofball! This won't work if you speak out loud!' he told her. She noticed his mouth wasn't moving. She was hearing his voice in her head. It was a clear as if he had spoken to her.

'Oh! It's working! This is clearer than usually is!' Rose exclaimed.

'Let's talk about what's under that dress. Are you just teasing me again, woman?'

She laughed under her breath at him. 'That's so you. The first words you say to me is you talking dirty.'

'You like it when I talk dirty to you. Tell me, are you wearing knickers under there, or not?' he was smiling like a loon.

'You can come over here and see if you like.' she teased him.

He shook his head. 'Oh, I'll give it a full inspection later. We have to leave now. Just tell me.'

He stood up and walked over to her. She stood up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He pulled her close.

"That jacket looks hot on you." Rose told him.

He laughed, "I love it. The Doctor looking like James Dean tonight! Perfect for the music were going to hear."

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