Hey guys, thanks for the reviews. Almost forgot about posting this weekend!! Blame Torchwood...I hate Torchwood, they made me cry!! Bastards...anyway! This is my favourite chapter for this story, hope you like it too :)
Rose had expected the Doctor to be gone for hours, if not days. So it was quite a surprise as Mickey followed her back into the control room not half an hour after he'd left to find him walking in the door.
He looked so forlorn walking up the steps that it broke her heart, and completely surprised her when the question she'd been wondering for the last three days popped out of her unexpectedly. " Why her?"
He looked up, stopping in his tracks as he realised he was not alone.
" Why did they think they could fix the ship with the head of Madame de Pompadour?" she asked when it was clear no answer was coming.
"We'll probably never know. There was massive damage in the computer memory base. Probably got confused," he answered as he walked around the controls. It didn't go past her notice that he walked around the opposite side, further away from them. "The TARDIS can close down the time windows now the droids are gone. Should stop it causing any more trouble," he said as he began tapping away at the computer.
She watched him, waiting for him to make eye contact, but it seemed he wasn't about to do that either. "Are you all right?"
He looked up, almost as if surprised she were still there. "I'm always all right," he told her, before giving both her and Mickey a smile she hoped never to see again. It just tore at her heart too much.
She gazed at him as he went back to the controls. Part of her was devastated for him, another hopelessly jealous that he could be so hurt by losing a woman he'd only known for three days when she doubted he had worried at all when losing her. An entirely different part was furious with herself for thinking all these things, and a final part was terrified that she'd lost him already with all her yelling and childish behaviour, and that he was now setting co-ordinates back to London as she'd requested earlier.
"Come on, Rose. It's time you showed me around the rest of this place," Mickey told her, taking her hand.
It was only as he pulled on it that she realised she hadn't moved, and followed him out. "We should go check on Arthur," she told him, knowing he was right to leave the Doctor, hopefully he just needed a bit of time.
"Arthur?" Mickey asked.
"The horse," she reminded him with a smile. Maybe she needed a bit of time too.
Mickey looked completely astounded. "We kept the horse?" he asked astonished.
"Yeah, remember? I get to keep you he gets to keep the horse?" she said as she headed in the direction of the newly created stables and adjoining field.
"Oy, I'm not your pet you know!" he replied sulkily.
She grinned as she grabbed a few cubes of sugar and offered them to the animal. "Yeah I know," she replied, stroking Arthur's cheek. "Pets are a lot less hassle."
After a couple hours of mucking around with Arthur, Mickey was stuffed and ready for bed. He looked over at Rose who looked like she'd barely broken a sweat. "Aren't you tired?" he asked as he watched her brush down Arthur as per the instructions she'd found in the book she'd stolen from the TARDIS library.
"Na...I guess it's kind of like the MiB living with the Doctor. You know, you work on a standard thirty-seven hour Centaurian day. Give it a few months. You'll get used to it...or have a psychotic episode."
His eyes widened. "You're kidding right?"
"Course...I mean neither Sarah-Jane or I went psychotic...but then the Doctor hasn't mentioned any male companions...maybe it's a female thing...I'm sure you'll be fine though," she added at his look of terror. She held her serious face for a couple more seconds before doubling over in a fit of giggles. "Oh you're a classic Mick. Off to bed with you."
"Don't you want a hand with that?" he asked, trying to cover his yawn as well as his embarrassment.
She raised a brow at him. "No Mickey, I managed cleaning the hooves, brushing him down, putting on his blanket and filling his water bucket, but I don't think I can manage filling his food bag," she answered sarcastically, winking at him so he knew she didn't really mind. She gave him a quick hug before grabbing the food. "And have a shower, don't want you stinking up the whole TARDIS," she added as he left.
"Was gonna tell you the same thing," he called back. "Night."
Rose continued petting Arthur for a bit longer, commenting on how lazy human men were and how irrational the female of the species was before even he seemed to tire and made himself cosy in his stall. Sighing, she headed for her own room, knowing she needed another shower.
She couldn't help but wonder how Mickey could feel tired. After a quick shower, she sat at her vanity table feeling wide awake and ready to go all over again! But then, she hadn't run for her life for at least a few days. It really was as if she'd been on holiday for a week and was rearing to get back into action. She was just finishing blow drying her hair straight once more when her door opened. Turning off her hair dryer, she turned to face him.
He'd changed suits, now wearing a light tan shirt with brown suit and tie, which also had blue spots, but the trench coat was the same. His hands were delved deep in his pockets and he was staring at his plimsols.
Not knowing what to say, she decided to say nothing at all as she feared the worse – he was coming to tell her they'd be landing back in London in a few minutes.
He finally looked up, but rather than looking at her, he looked at her bed.
Rose followed his gaze where her bag still lay, though half the contents had been pulled out when she'd hunted for her toiletries bag and new set of clothes. She couldn't help but think he was wondering why she hadn't finished packing yet.
It seemed like forever before he finally spoke. "I'm too scared to ask," he said softly, causing her to frown slightly.
"Well I don't know how to answer since I don't know the question," she replied, just as cautiously.
He finally looked over at her, his eyes almost pleading before glancing back at the bed. "Packing or unpacking?"
She swallowed hard. "Umm unpacking...if that's alright?" she asked, petrified he was about to tell her no. He looked up at her shocked. "I mean, if it's not I can have this stuff packed up in no time," she hurried out.
"Do you wanna leave?" he asked.
"No, but if you want me to..." she paused, looking at the smile that was growing on his face. "You were scared to ask because you thought I might be packing," she clarified nodding slowly.
He moved to sit down on the bed, "And you were because you thought I was making sure you were leaving," he replied. They stared at each other for a moment before cracking up. "I'm sure we didn't have all these problems before the regeneration," he said when his laughter finally subsided.
"Oh course we did, we just didn't notice it as much 'cause back then it always happened just before some emergency and by the time that was sorted it was forgotten," she told him.
He grinned, "That or you smelt chips," he teased.
"Oy!" but before the word was even completely out he was pulling her up and into a hug.
"I don't want you to go," he whispered in her ear.
She hugged him back fiercely, not able to express how happy those few words meant to her. When they pulled apart, she grinned at him. "Well, to quote a very wise woman, 'You're stuck with me. Ha ha!'" she told him, pointing just as she had the first time she'd said it.
He just gave her a huge grin in return. They sat back down, her back in her chair and him on her bed. The silence was just becoming awkward when he spoke again. "I didn't think. I mean I did, but I should have told you what I was thinking before I did what I did," he told her, his face sombre once more.
Rose shook her head. "No, you shouldn't have to. I should know better by now," she quickly replied.
The Doctor gave her a bemused smile, raising a brow. "And what exactly is it you should know better?" he asked.
She blushed as she stared at the ground once more. "I don't know...that...you...I..."
"Do you know what I think?" he asked, cutting off her rambling.
"What's that?" she asked, glad for the change in subject.
He grinned wider, "I think you were experiencing de Pompadour envy," he replied, letting his mouth wrap around each syllable in turn.
Rose's eyes bulged as she stared at him and it took her a moment to recover. "No where near as badly as your Captain envy!" she retorted.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I told you, he's not a real Captain."
"That's right, the defrocking I missed," she said in a forced wistful tone.
"I'll defrock you in a minute," he replied, stunning them both into silence. "Th-th...that came out completely wrong," he told her after a pause.
"Mmhmm," she murmured, not trusting her voice.
The Doctor cleared his throat awkwardly. "I uh...I noticed my leather jacket was missing from the closet," he said, trying to draw the topic away from undress.
"Yeah well, I figured you weren't using it anymore," she mumbled.
"Why did you want to wear it?" he asked, frowning slightly.
She just shrugged, not meeting his gaze.
He licked his lips which suddenly felt very dry. "There was this woman back on Ecaffoecaf who I ended up having a row with...she said...she said "What could she possibly do that could be worse than what I'd already done to you?""
Rose's heart sunk. She'd forgotten how horrible she'd been to him back on Ecaffoecaf. "Did you...remember her?" she asked softly.
The Doctor frowned. "How do you mean?"
"Last year when we were here, we met that girl, the other Rose," she prompted.
He sighed as a small smile crossed his face. "I was right then." At her look of confusion he continued, "Last year, when I had thought it was you, I was right."
Rose looked to the floor, but nodded.
"Explains the questions about meeting myself this morning," he mused, before thoughts of what had led to this point resurfaced. "Did my actions really hurt you that much?"
"I was just being petty and childish," she told him, not quite meeting his gaze.
"That's a neat way of manoeuvring around the question, but it's not an answer," he told her, raising a brow.
She sighed. She'd chosen to be honest about her fake self, so it was her own fault for getting this question. She sighed again before meeting his gaze. "It hurt like hell thinking you'd replaced me, yeah," she said as softly as she possibly could.
A deep frown crossed his face once more. "Rose, Reinette was never a replacement," he told her.
"I know, I know. I told you, I was just being--"
"You were reacting to my actions Rose," he cut her off as he moved to kneel before her, taking her hands in his. "I'm sorry for hurting you. You need to know I could never replace you," he told her sternly.
"Yeah, I know," she mumbled half-heartedly, looking over to the corner.
"Rose," he said sternly, his gaze piercing until she finally met it, when it turned imploring.
She nodded slowly. "Yeah," she accepted softly. She believed it more as she stared into his eyes, but part of her still knew one day when she was dead and gone he would need to find new companions.
He could tell she didn't completely believe him, but he hoped with time to convince her. "It's been a long day, I should let you sleep," he told her as he stood. As she looked at him as though he'd grown a second head he frowned. "What?"
"Without running for my life? But I'll starve!" she grumbled.
His frown only deepened. "How will lack of running for your life cause starvation exactly?" he asked, somehow already knowing he'd be amused by the time she finished the answer.
"Well you know, I was mixing sayings. You saying I've got to go to bed, reminded me of kids being put to bed without their supper. These days we end up running for our lives more often than sitting down for supper," she trailed off, nodding encouragingly for him to put the rest together.
"I worry about you Rose Tyler," he told her, though he was smiling. "I'm sure you'll survive one day without running for your life," he told her making his way to the door.
Rose followed him. "Oh one's easy. Could handle two even! But you're not going to make me go a third are you?" she asked, pouting as she looked at him through her lashes.
He couldn't help but laugh. "You're unbelievable. Aren't you the least bit tired?"
"Nope," she said, opening her eyes wide and shaking her head vigourously to prove her point.
He laughed again as he took her head and led her toward the control room. "Alright then, twist my arm...but if you get grumpy later you'll be in bed by eight for the rest of the month," he told her mock sternly.
She frowned at him.
"What now?" he asked frowning back.
"Sorry, just the only appropriate sounding response for that was 'Yes daddy,'. But calling you 'daddy' just seemed wrong on so many levels," she told him.
"Indeed."
"Though I guess you are kind of my sugar daddy," she quipped, sticking her tongue out at him.
"Oy!" He frowned. "I'm not even sure if that's an insult or a compliment!" he declared going over to the controls.
And that's pretty much it, there's just a nice fluffy final chapter next week and then I'm forced to say goodbye to yet another story :( They grow up so fast...yeah, Rose's mixing sayings is something I do a lot :p Anyway, please let me know what you thought :)
