After making their hasty retreat from the garden in Notting Hill, the Doctor and Rose had decided to drift in the vortex for a little while. They had each gone off to get dressed, Rose was taking forever what with hair and make-up to be done, so now the Doctor was sat alone in the console room, contemplating what had gone wrong at breakfast.
It had all started out normal enough. He'd been practising having his very own garden, and it had worked to an extent. That is until he realised he couldn't keep his hands off of Rose and they'd got caught out by that whack job of an old man.
He couldn't help it if he found Rose irresistible. Anyway…it was a good thing. They were at that 'stage' as humans so frequently put it and they just couldn't keep their hands to themselves for very long. He hoped it stayed that way for a long time too. After all, Jackie did say she wanted grandchildren, and what better way? He wasn't getting any younger. Well…he was…all the time it seemed! But still!
Children.
Scary thought. All of his were dead now. And his grandchildren. And his great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren and so on and so forth. That was the one highly weird thing about the life cycle of a Gallifreyan and the issue of regeneration. One could often find that it was impossible to keep track of ones family, and would sometimes have to live with the bizarre fact that one looked younger than half of ones descendants. Sometimes it was just plain creepy. That was very strange. Last time the Doctor had seen his eldest son, his son was an elderly withered old man and he, in his eighth body, was young and strong. It had often made for quite uncomfortable family reunions.
But children…now…at his age? What if he screwed that up? He hadn't had someone counting on him like a child would in a long time. He could save people, save worlds and universes, but he wasn't sure if he could look after a little person all the time. Sure, he looked after Rose, but in the caring and sometimes kinky sense. He didn't know if he could take the responsibility of looking after a dependant.
So…there was only one thing to do.
Rose was just applying the finishing touches to her make-up when she felt and heard the Tardis materialise somewhere. She put down her brushes and left their bedroom, ambling slowly towards the console room.
Only when she arrived, she found it deserted yet again. Frowning, she walked slowly around the time rotor, wondering where the hell the Doctor could be. He was always in the console room when they materialised. He had to be really. He was the one who operated the controls.
She noticed a bright pink post it not on the console. It hadn't been there before. The pink ones where always notes to her from the Doctor. He'd got it into his head to colour coordinate the post its o their purpose. Yellow was notes on things that needed fixing, green was supplies they needed to get, orange was any random ideas he had for places to go and pink was for Rose. She only ever bothered looking at the pink because the rest was written in Gallifreyan.
The pink post it informed her that the Doctor had gone out to get something and he would be back soon.
She thought it quite rude actually, him going out without her. He never went out without her.
Sulky, she threw herself down on the sofa, promising herself that she would stay mad at him and make him pay when he came back.
Some time later, a grinning Doctor took the Tardis key out of his pocket and slid it into the lock. He tried to turn it, but the Tardis was not being cooperative, as if she did not approve of what he was doing.
"Come on old girl, please let us in. He'll be good I swear. I'll keep him out of your circuits. You'll never even know he's here. Anyway, I thought you'd approve. I need to make sure I'm responsible after all, and what better way?"
The Tardis gave a small hum half way between trepidation and defeat as the Doctor slid the key back into the lock and turned it, pushing the door open with his hip as he turned to coax the new little addition in behind him.
"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?"
The Doctor turned around suddenly to be confronted with the force to be reckoned with that was Rose Tyler. And she looked furious.
He could feel his pulses racing in fear, could feel the back of his neck and his palms grow slick with moisture as the love of his life glared at him with the promise of a painful death if he couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation.
"Rose…I…err…hi…I err…"
But he was saved by the small whimper that came from behind him.
Rose's angered glower turned into confused curiosity as she made to look around him, and then settled into amazed delight as she saw what was there.
"He was supposed to be a surprise," he told her sheepishly.
"Oh Doctor…he's adorable."
She moved around the Doctor to scoop the small quiet puppy into her arms and bring it into the Tardis. She took it to a part of the landing that was devoid of wires and equipment and sat down with it. The puppy sat in front of Rose, looking at her with large round chocolate eyes, soulful and solemn, its tail barely wagging as if unsure whether in should or not.
"He's a bit nervous I'm afraid. The lady at the rescue centre said he's had a bit of a rough time. He's only been there a couple of days. Timid little thing."
"Well I think he's wonderful. Most gorgeous thing I've ever seen."
"I thought I was the most gorgeous thing you'd ever seen?"
Rose only grinned up at him, tongue poking out between her teeth.
The Doctor moved to sit next to her on the grating, casually scratching the little dog behind the ears who, seemed to gain a little confidence and decided he was definitely allowed to wag his tail. He pawed the Doctors arm and bounced a little as he tried to play.
"What breed is he?"
"He's a Huskamute."
"A what now?"
"Cross between a Husky and a Malamute. I just thought the name was amazing. My teeth like it. Give it a go. Huskamute."
He rolled the word around his mouth, a wide grin on his face as he elongated each syllable. He closed his eyes in a look of sheer bliss at the new word and Rose giggled to herself.
"So we've established the name of the breed but what are we gonna call him?"
"How about Fred? Or Fido? Rex?"
"You are so lame!"
"Hey…I take affront to that. Just some of he ridiculous names I've heard you silly apes call dogs over the past."
"But they're so stereotypical. I thought a man of your unparalleled genius could come up with something a bit more original and imaginative."
The small puppy now had the Doctor's hand in is mouth, chewing on it lovingly with those razor sharp puppy teeth.
"Doesn't that hurt?"
"What? That? No. He's only holding my hand. Doesn't have any of his own so he's got to use his mouth hasn't he. It's kind of sweet really…ow!"
She giggled at him again loving the sight of him playing with a tiny puppy. They both looked adorable. The Doctor had a peaceful contented look on his face as he stroked his hand over the fluff ball that was their new pet. It gave a small yip and then looked around in confusion, not comprehending where the sound had actually come from.
"Maybe we could call him Cosmo." Rose asked hopefully.
"Why?"
"Well…he looks like one…plus we're gonna be taking him around the cosmos with us. And…I just like it."
The Doctor gave her a proud satisfied smile.
"Yeah, I like it too."
They leaned towards each other, happy at the start of their little 'family' and shared a slow and lazy kiss.
The kiss was everything a comfortable loving kiss should be. Sweet and tender as the rest of the world drifted away and there was only the two of them left. Unaware of anything around them as all they could feel was he sensation of the others lips on theirs, and all they could here was the others breathing and pounding heartbeats.
Meanwhile, the puppy had got bored with the people who weren't even paying attention to him anymore. The newly named Cosmo had decided to do a bit of exploring of his new environment. He ran clumsily up to the console, tripping over his feet as he went. He was utterly silent in the way that most puppies are before they discover their voices and the fact that they can use them.
It ran around the central unit, happily exploring and discovering.
It found a loose wire.
A rather tasty looking loose wire.
Indeed, he thought he might like to chew the tasty looking loose wire.
So he did.
The Doctor and Rose jumped apart as sparks flew everywhere and acrid smoke and the smell of burnt hair and barbecue filled the console room.
All that could be heard was the Doctor breaking the silence, "Oh shit!"