2.2 New Earth

The day had had such a promising start. Lying on the Doctor's coat, spread out on the apple grass, watching the flying cars sail by overhead and giggling about their first date, back when he'd had a different face and she'd had a different outlook on the universe. It hadn't felt like old times, exactly. In fact, it hadn't really at all. And yet, it had been perfect. Rose had felt relaxed with him, content. He'd been so happy, in a way that felt so much lighter than she'd ever seen his previous self. She had to admit, she liked it. Unfortunately though, like so many of their trips, it had all gone a bit pear-shaped.

Having Lady Cassandra in her head had been a singularly unpleasant experience, Rose thought. It had been… squashed, like her essence had been shoved into a too-tight cupboard, where her body (if her consciousness had a body) was pressed into the wall uncomfortably before the door was wedged shut. She hadn't cared for it one bit.

What she ALSO hadn't cared for was being called out on how obnoxiously good looking she found her New New Doctor. She'd been trying to hold her attraction back a bit; to give herself some time before jumping right back into things. Good god he was gorgeous, she thought wistfully, but it was just too soon; she needed to take it slow. While Rose could lie to herself, however, she apparently couldn't lie to someone who was squatting in her brain. Cassandra had been downright rude about it, really.

So now Rose was developing a bit of a headache from being squished inside her own skull for so long, was annoyed that the Doctor had taken so long to notice that she was possessed, and was simultaneously extremely ready to snog the new Doctor, with his tight pants and adorable freckles, within an inch of his life. Preferably while in her right mind, this time. She was very aware that this instinct was NOT OKAY, however, so she opted to focus on the annoyance.

When they were back inside the TARDIS and the Doctor had thrown them back into the time vortex, therefore, Rose glared at him and smacked him in the arm.

"Ow!" The Doctor complained, rubbing his arm and giving her an indignant look. "What was that for?"

"I can't BELIEVE you didn't figure out I wasn't me until we were down with all the test patients!" Rose complained. "We've been traveling together for ages, how could you NOT NOTICE that i was acting weird?!"

"Well I don't know!" The Doctor responded testily, "you've never been possessed before, how should I have known you were this time? Besides, to be fair, I did have an inkling before that, when you knew how to get through the security system."

"Seriously?" Rose fumed. "You thought it might not be me because I could work a computer?! How about how I wasn't acting anything like myself?! The accent? The unbuttoned blouse? The kissing?!"

"You kissed the old me all the time!" The Doctor objected.

"Yes, so you should have been able to tell the difference!"

"New lips, Rose! Everything feels different, that could have just been what it feels like to kiss you in this body!"

"You're the one who changed, not me! I still kiss like me, thank you very much."

"Well how would I know? You haven't kissed me since I changed!" the Doctor huffed.

Rose sighed, the fire going out of her, and slumped against the console. She'd just had to mention the kissing, hadn't she? The whole point of picking a fight had been to avoid that particular topic. "I know, I'm sorry. It's just… still a bit weird, yeah? I want to, I just…"

"I know," The Doctor replied, sounding tired. "I'm sorry, too. I should have noticed it wasn't you. I was preoccupied. I wasn't paying enough attention. Forgive me?" he asked, leaning next to her and bumping his shoulder against hers. Rose grinned and bumped him back.

"Forgiven," she said swinging around off the console and pointing at him, "but don't do it again. The next time I'm possessed, I expect you to notice. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am," the Doctor said, saluting cheekily with his first two fingers.

"Now if you'll excuse me," Rose said, moving toward the corridor, "I'm going to see if the med bay has any of those painkillers from Meridon III left. My head is killing me."

The Doctor looked alarmed at her words and was at her side at an instant. "What kind of pain? Is it sharp? Dull? Is it in any way glowy?" He slid a pair of black-framed glasses onto his face (where had those come from? And why did he have to look so good in them?), pulled his sonic out of his pocket, and began whirring it near her head, squinting his eyes at it. Rose tried to duck away and batted at his hand.

"What? Stop that! It's just a headache, Doctor! Just the regular kind! What are you on about? How could a headache be 'glowy'?"

The Doctor ignored her question and ruffled his hair, studying the sonic. "Nothing out of the ordinary. Probably just aftereffects of the psychograph," he stuck the sonic back in his pocket and grinned at her, his mood shifting back to cheerful so quickly that it almost gave her whiplash. "Nothing to worry about! Let's get you those painkillers." He held out his hand and wiggled his fingers at her.

Rose shook her head at him, but took the proffered hand. "You're absolutely bonkers, you know that?" she asked him fondly.

"Yeah, but you love it," he grinned.

Rose rolled her eyes and let him lead her out of the room, trying not to stare at his bum as she trailed behind him slightly. He was right. She really, really did.

The painkillers kicked in quickly, but left Rose feeling a little bit buzzed. She tried to go to sleep, since it has been a rather intense day and the Doctor had told her that she should rest to recover from the psychograft, but she didn't have any luck getting her brain to quiet down enough to let her drift off. Giving up after trying every conceivable pillow and blanket configuration she could think of, Rose slid on her slippers and went to find the Doctor.

Following the TARDIS's lit-path directions, Rose wandered through the corridors until she found the Doctor in his work room, tinkering with a pile of unidentifiable bits of metal and blinking lights. "Oh, hello!" he said brightly when she knocked on door frame to get his attention. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Nah," said Rose, "'s too noisy in here tonight." She tapped a finger on her temple. "Would...would you maybe read to me for a bit?" She bit her lip, unsure. Her old Doctor had read to her all the time when she couldn't sleep, but she was still trying to gauge how different he was now that he was… different.

"Of course!" the Doctor responded immediately, putting the pieces he'd been manipulating down on the workbench. "Let's go to the library and you can pick something out, yeah?" Rose grinned.

Once she'd selected a book, Rose headed to the sofa, where the Doctor was already seated and waiting for her. She handed over the volume, and the Doctor looked down at it through his specs. "Ah, Alice in Wonderland! Good choice," the Doctor said enthusiastically. "Charles Dodgson, he was brilliant. Do you know he used to write his own book of math puzzles?"

"Charles Dodgson?" Rose asked, settling onto the sofa beside the Doctor, "Alice is by Lewis Carroll, I thought."

"Pen name," the Doctor explained. "So, why are we visiting Wonderland tonight?"

"I dunno, just felt right," Rose shrugged. "Something about cat nuns and apple grass felt very Wonderland to me. Anyway it's always been a favorite of mine. When I was a kid I used to hope I'd wander off into a new world - Wonderland, or Narnia, or Neverland. Not many rabbit holes on the estate, though!" Rose laughed. She paused, and then grinned before continuing. "Still, I did Lucy and Wendy one better, didn't I? I might've had to wait awhile longer, but they only got one world to explore. I got as many as I could possibly want." She smiled up at the Doctor, her tongue between her teeth. The Doctor slung his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in closer to him in a one-armed hug.

"Quite right, too," he told her. As she snuggled into his side and closed her eyes, the Doctor opened the book and began to read. "Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do. Once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?'"

Rose relaxed, the Doctor's soothing voice helping to quiet all of the racing thoughts filling her head. It was a different voice, but it was still lovely. Somehow, even without the Northern accent, it still sounded very much like the Doctor. Rose smiled to herself, burrowing into the couch a bit further, sliding her head down a bit from the Doctor's shoulder onto his chest and breathing in. He didn't smell of leather anymore, but there was still something familiar there, something that made her feel at home and at ease. Without changing his cadence, the Doctor adjusted his body to accommodate Rose as she shifted, almost instinctually. Rose sighed happily. They still fit.

Before they had even reached the caucus race, Rose was asleep, her head pillowed on the Doctor's lap. Quietly closing the book, the Doctor scooped the sleeping girl up and carried her to her room, carefully tucking her into bed and brushing a kiss onto her hair, gently so as not to wake her. Then he left the room, gazing at the sleeping Rose from the doorway for a moment before closing the door softly behind him.