Thank you for such a positive response to this new story! Enjoy the next chapter!
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"Why didn't you tell her?" Jack inquired as they were leaving the pool.
"And how exactly does one bring up a conversation like that, 'ah, Rose, don't know how to tell you this really but you're going to live forever! Can't die, won't age, just you and the whole of everything, always!' How would you react if you were told that?" The Doctor spat at him, walking to the controls and hurling them back into the space.
Jack calmly sat in the jump seat, "You have clearly forgotten who you're talking to." He smiled at a now embarrassed Doctor.
"Right, sorry, I-I-"
"No need for apologizes; Rose told me you were rude and not ginger and now I see why." Jack laughed at the disgruntled face the Doctor made and kept going, "I, honestly, took it pretty well once I realized what was going on. It was a little frustrating at first, going it all alone but Rose won't have that, she's got us."
The Doctor finally started to calm down. Jack was right, Rose would have the best support team time had ever seen! Even Jackie was settling into the idea of her daughter never dying…never aging though, that she might never get over. The only thing left to do was just tell Rose, "And now you have absolutely no other excuse to not admit your feelings for her." Jack sighed standing up to take his leave.
"WHAT!" The Doctor screeched.
"Oh, stop that. You can lie to her, lie to yourself but you cannot lie to me! I see how you look at her when you think no one else is. Just tell her, Doc, you've got all the time in forever now." He smiled cheekily before turning to head down the hall, "Who wouldn't want to spend forever with you?"
The Doctor just leaned against the railing, rolling his eyes but some how Jack's words still crept in. Maybe, and it was a very big maybe that some where deep, deep down in his twin hearts he had some sort of feelings for Rose but they were feelings he most certainly shouldn't be having! This regeneration had way too many of them! On the other hand though, he was the last of his kind. There was no one left to say he couldn't be with a human, the rulebook could be tossed right out the window if he wanted to.
He shook those thoughts out of his head, now was not the time to be pondering romantic notions. Making sure the TARDIS was set to drift, he headed off to his room to change and hopefully catch a little sleep.
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Rose allowed the hot water of her shower to pour over her, hair falling in every direction, matting to her neck and clinging to her cheeks. She felt like something was flowing just beneath her skin, through her veins, a warm liquid being transported to every part of her body but upon careful examination of her extremities she didn't find a single thing to be unusual; she was looked 100% normal.
She bundled her robe around her and lay on top of her comforter. The TARDIS took it upon it's to set her room to a balmy 80 degrees to help warm her up but she feared it was doing too good of a job that she couldn't even crawl under her blankets. So, she decided to stay on top of her bed, and stare at the night sky the TARDIS created for her tonight; millions of tiny stars, hundreds shooting across and a little orange planet drifting slowly about. She laid as still as she could doing her best to focus on counting the shooting stars and ignore the flowing sensation still running around her body until she just couldn't anymore.
The Doctor was sure he wasn't going to make it to sleep, not after the day he just had. So, he settled for a quick shower, a clean pair of trousers and a fresh oxford to match. With a fire made and a book picked off one of his many stacks littering his room, he settled in with glasses perched on the end of his nose. But, a knock on the door not five minutes later delayed his plans, "Come on in." He called to the quiet knock he assumed to be Rose, "Are you feeling alright?" He asked standing to meet her. It had to be why she was here, in his room; she hardly ever came to his room.
"No, actually, I feel a bit off." She admitted.
"Off?" He begged an explanation.
She went over her symptoms, "Did you give me something to make me feel better when I was in the pool? I thought you may have and then just forgot to tell me 'bout it."
"No, no I didn't give you anything." He knew it had to be Bad Wolf still working on healing her but he couldn't just come out and tell her that, could he? "Come, have a seat, let me run a scan and see if anything pops up."
He extended his hand as they sat on the sofa, "You're arm would be best." He told her. She placed her right arm in his left hand and his sonic went to work.
He caught her looking at him and smiling, nearly giggling, "What?" He asked.
"Nothing." She did giggle this time.
"Rose Tyler. Don't you lie to me."
"It's just, I never see your hair all matted down and stuff. Thought if just defied gravity all the time, sticking up everywhere." She joked.
"Oi! It's still wet! Should have seen yours when you got out of that lake! Looked like you had a blonde helmet strapped to you!" He laughed back causing her to smile and laugh a whole hearted, Rose Tyler laugh. One that was music to his ears until his sonic beeped.
"Well, Doctor, give me the news."
"Right, okay, it appears it's just Bad Wolf working on healing you, that's all. Nothing to worry about." He said nonchalantly.
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She was shocked to say the least but not nearly as frightened as he expected her to be. He explained everything to her in great detail, everything he'd try to do to remove it, how he didn't agree with it at all and Rose just took it all in, listening to every word, "I wanted to tell you last year but I couldn't think of how to say it."
"Hard to imagine, you not knowing what to say. You can't shut your gob half the time."
"Rose, I don't want you to joke right now. I need to know how you're feeling, ask me any questions you have, this cannot be easy for you to hear." He expected much more of a reaction from her than what he was getting.
"Doctor, I feel fine. Normal. Same old me. Only thing off is that warm feeling, that will go away, right?"
"Yes, you were just very cold, Rose, ice cold. It will take time for you to heal fully."
She nodded that she understood, "So, this is what saved me when I got shot last year?"
He nodded with conformation; "Right then," She nodded back, "what to do with the rest of forever?"
Now he smiled, seeing she was truly okay, "Weeeelll, you did promise me…" He teased.
She gave him her signature smile, "That was when I was just some normal human. Can you handle me forever, Doctor?"
"I think I can manage. Like you said, better with two." He grinned ear to ear.
"Better with three! We have Jack too!" She reminded him.
"Oh, I'd never forget our dear Captain! I don't think he'd ever let us forget him."
"I nearly forgot, how are we going to tell my mum? She's not going to like this one bit." Rose ran a nervous hand through her still dripping blonde locks.
"She knows already." The Doctor shrugged, "Has known. When you were shot I flew right to her, explained I didn't want to move you, make the pain worse so she came aboard the TARDIS. You were dying, I wouldn't deny your mother a final farewell if I could help it."
She reached out and squeezed his hand; thankful he thought of her poor mother at a time like that, "How's she feel about the whole thing?"
"She was just happy you were alive. Gave me a few dozen slaps for putting you in such a dangerous situation in the first place. She even threatened to take you back with her, not let you travel anymore but after some tea and careful thinking we both agreed that wouldn't be for the best. You'd know something was up and I didn't have all the facts to properly inform you of what was going on at the time," He sucked in a long breath before continuing, "And if I'm being honest, I didn't want to leave you behind. There is still so much to see, Rose." He spoke in awe.
She smiled at the twinkle his eyes were giving off, "I look forward to it, all of it." She stood up from the sofa, "But, for now, I'm off to bed. Still need my 8 hours I guess."
"Silly humans." He joked and rose to walk her to the door.
She balanced on her tip toes just before leaving to kiss his cheek, "What was that for?" He asked.
"It was just a thank you. For everything. And being honest with me about all this." He hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head in return. Rose let her arms fall to her sides and bid him good night.
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"Oh, Rose, one more thing!" The Doctor called from down the hall just before she entered her room.
She paused and looked back at him, "You won't age either."
Rose tilted her eyes upward as if thinking about something while her hand trailed down her side, "So, I'm going to look twenty two forever? Yeah, I can deal with that." She tossed another smile his way and went into her room, closing the door behind her leaving the Doctor grinning in the hallway at the spot she just vacated.
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Thanks for reading! Going to have a bit of adventure coming up next! Please, keep the reviews and messages coming, I like to know what my readers are thinking. And a big thank you to those who have favorited, followed and gave my story a chance. You guys are wonderful!
-NL