Drose in Manhattan

Putting the snow globe back down, they came out of the shop. Looking up into the sky, Rose noticed that it was getting dark. They would have to be getting back to the Tardis soon, to be fully rested.

'Righto, next thing, let's find a hotel shall we?' The Doctor said with a grin on his face, as if he had read Rose's mind.

After what seemed a VERY long time walking around trying to find a 'suitable' (as The Doctor had put it) hotel to stay in, Rose decided to take this all into her own hands, do what women did best, and what men feared. Ask directions.

'Come on Doctor, I won't think of you any less of a man if we just ask directions. I will think of you less than a man though if you are too scared to approach a stranger to ask them for directions!' Rose whined. This argument had been going on for a very long time now, and Rose was just getting fed up of it.

'I'm not scared to approach a stranger Rose! It's just, New York is, well, it's just a bit, ya' know?' The Doctor replied. Rose could see this was starting to get to The Doctor as well, which was Rose's plan. She knew how impatient he could get, and if she waited long enough, he would just give up and ask someone. The downside was that Rose herself was also getting impatient, and she wished The Doctor would just hurry up and get impatient!

'No, I don't know. I haven't been to New York before have I? Just go up to someone and ask them for directions!!!'

'What should I exactly ask them anyway? We don't even know which hotel we are going to!'

'You're the tour guide! How can you know every place in the universe, but not know a decent hotel to sleep in?!'

'That's the thing Rose,' The Doctor said quietly. Rose had to lean in a bit closer to catch what he said, since the background noise was so loud. 'I know plenty of hotels in New York we could go to..' The Doctor looked at the floor, but interrupted Rose before she could say anything on her part, 'But the thing is, I don't want to take you to just a 'decent' –'The Doctor made quotation marks in the air, 'Hotel. I want to take you to a special one. The best I can find. Because that's what you are to me Rose, special..' The Doctor continued to look at the floor, and Rose was stuck for words. No one had ever said anything like that to her before, and she really was speechless. No one had even come close to saying anything like that.

'Doctor, Wow, I, um, don't know what to say really..' Rose replied, forcing words out of her mouth, even if they really didn't describe how she felt inside.

'I knew I said too much, I didn't mean it to come out like that Rose, really, just, forget I said anything, okay?' The Doctor stuttered back, but before Rose could say anything in return, The Doctor had grabbed her hand and had started to walk down the street. Rose decided she'd press the subject further when he wasn't so stressed, and decided that yes, he was the time traveller, and he knew this city better than her, so she wouldn't ask him to ask directions.

But to her surprise, The Doctor went up to a stranger almost as soon as they had set off, and asked them for the best hotel in New York City. Rose couldn't help but smile at this, and had to keep herself from laughing at the other person's face.

'You're tourists I'm guessing?' The unsuspecting man asked.

'Yup, well, I've been a few times myself, but it looked much different than this...' The Doctor replied, and Rose automatically got the private joke. He had been in the future, and in the past, but not in this time period to New York.

'Well it's basically all the same from the last 50 years, so you shouldn't have many problems.'

'Ah,' The Doctor said, realising he was getting anywhere, 'You see, this lovely lady is accompanying me this time, so I wanted somewhere special, whilst the times before I've just been in the cheapo lodges on...business trips.'

The man didn't seem convinced, but decided not to ask against it.

'Well, the best place you could possibly go to would be the 'Four Seasons, but I'm guessing you don't want to go there, since everyone has heard of that. You'd be aliens if you didn't –'

'Rightio! Thank you very much, we'll be off now!' The Doctor said, interrupting the man's side of the conversation. Rose giggled at the man's confusion written all over his face, and before she knew it, The Doctor and herself were running through the crowds of New York City, together, like they always should be.

'Slow down a bit Doctor!' Rose giggled, shouting over the loudness of the hustle and bustle erupting from all around her, 'The four seasons is still going to be there if we walk!'

'What's the fun in that though Rose?' The Doctor replied, turning to look back on her, but quickly turning his head back round after bumping into an old obese man, and Rose agreed that they should run for a bit after that incident.

The Doctor and Rose did end up slowing down, but only because Rose said she had a stitch, and The Doctor didn't really want his companion walking around after him complaining all the way.

Rose looked around, knowing that she didn't have a clue where she was. Still, it filled her in a bit of her surroundings, since it had all been a blur whilst The Doctor had been practically dragging her.

'Aha! Now this will help Rose!' She heard The Doctor say in the background. Rose turned her head back round to see what The Doctor was exactly 'aahing' at, and she came face to face with a Starbucks.

Rose hadn't really been a fan of Starbucks back home, but that had been mostly because she could never afford many coffees from there, and when she did have one, it would always be on her coffee break from working at Henricks (Rose smiled of the memory of when she and The Doctor first met) and by then it would of been lunchtime, meaning the Starbucks in the centre of London she would visit would practically be vacuum packed.

'Common! They're on me!' The Doctor said, grinning as he started to walk towards the shop doors. How could Rose resist that face? Well she couldn't, and that was most likely the reason why she was heading straight towards the doors of Starbucks, the vacuum packed coffee shop.

Being a gentleman, The Doctor opened the doors, but waited for Rose to go through them before he proceeded to follow her. Rose laughed a bit at this, and mockingly curtsied at his actions, which caused The Doctor's eyebrows to rise.

As soon as Rose had entered the coffee shop, she realised it was nothing like the one she had visited in the middle of London. Sure, a lot of seats were taken, but there was a sort of atmosphere surrounding the place, making her mind and body feel very warm and safe. What had she been missing?

'So, what do you want Rose?' The Doctor asked, nudging her a bit in the side, waking her from her little daydream. It was then that Rose realised you actually had to order, and the people couldn't read your minds as to what you would like. Well, not until the 25th century at least.

'Um...' Rose mumbled, quickly scanning the boards above the counter and coffee appliances to what suited her taste. 'Can I have a Vanilla Latté please?' She asked. Rose had never tried one before, but she liked Latte's, and liked Vanilla, so put them together, and surely the combination would be nice?

'What size?' The Doctor asked once again, grinning.

'Um...' Rose looked at the signs, and realised that she didn't really know what size was which. Tall? Surely, being first, it should chronologically be the smallest? Or would it be the biggest? Now she knew why The Doctor had been grinning at her, even he had probably been into Starbucks (inter-galactic or not, it was still the same brand) more than her, and knew she was struggling a bit.

As if sensing Rose's troubles, The Doctor leapt in, 'Well, it's quite late at night, so let's just stick to the small then eh?'

Rose merely just nodded in response, and let The Doctor take the orders. She didn't hear what he ordered though, as The Doctor told her to nab the comfy seats which had just been freed by the window, since his feet hurt, and, as he put it, 'it's nice to relax every once in awhile'

Rose practically leapt for the seats, hearing The Doctor slightly laugh from behind her. Come to think of it, her feet were killing her, but she didn't really want to tell The Doctor, since he would either criticize her human side, or blame it all on herself. He was a bit unpredictable like that.

Looking over at the counter, she found The Doctor smiling at the store clerk who was serving him. She had long brown hair, curled into ringlets at the ends in a more natural kind of way, and her makeup was styled along the same lines of that, just the basics. But it didn't look like she needed any makeup anyway.

Rose took out her mirror, suddenly very self-conscious about how she looked. The smooth surface of her pocket mirror reflected Rose's face back to her, but at this point, Rose found all the flaws. Her cheeks were a bit too rosy from the running and blusher put together, her mascara was a bit too thick and verging on the clumpy side, her roots needed touching up, her hair overall just a limp less mess, and it looked like she was gaining a double chin. Also, was she a bit orange?

The Doctor's laugh brought her back to the real world, and Rose looked up once again. The store clerk handed the mugs over to The Doctor, slightly brushing his hand at the same time, which caused Rose to frown slightly. Before she knew it, The Doctor was back by her side.

'Hey, what's with the frown lines? Be careful the wind doesn't change there missy!' The Doctor said jokily, causing Rose to snap out of her jealousy, and laugh along with him.

Rose slapped his arm lightly, 'Shut up!' was all she could bring herself to say, but it seemed enough. The Doctor handed her the drink, and they ended up having a great time in that little Starbucks away from it all, chatting about past adventures, and adventures which were likely to come.

The Doctor and Rose soon finished the coffees, and wrapping up once more, headed off to the Four Seasons hotel, now feeling the Christmas spirit upon them, and the excitement of spending some quality time together almost unbearable.