Author: RamblingRose
Rated: PG
Summary: Rose tells the Doctor to take her back to her time and come back in twenty years to get her. But after leaving her, TARDIS takes him to a post-time war Barcelona where he is assigned the task of taking on several companions and teach the ways of the Gallifrey. Notes: 10/Rose. Somewhat AU.
Chapter Three - Hearts Desire
"No Doctor," Rose replied. "It was you."
The Doctor blinked, repeated. For once, he was at a loss for words. Luckily, he quickly recovered from the momentary lapse and laughed heartily. "I told you? How could I have told you? That would put me at the risk of getting stuck in a time loop."
"I suppose it was a risk you were willing to take," Rose replied saucily. The Doctor gave her a funny look and was about to interject when she continued. "It's also why I was told not to tell you anythin'… It ran the risk of you undoing somethin' or some sort of jabber. You had a really complicated, fast spoken blur of an explanation that I could hardly understand about paradoxes and alternate realities an' such. You jumped into the TARDIS yelling, 'whatever you do, don't tell me… I want it to be a surprise!' and then you're gone and then you're back again." She looked toward the console and spoke sharply at her firstborn. "Dee, what have I told you about doing that?"
Dee jerked upright from where he had his ear pressed to the console, gently stroking it and whispering to it. "I didn't think he would mind," Dee said, jerking his chin at the Doctor then looking down at his feet and shifting from one to the other nervously.
"It's not a pet or a girlfriend, you know," Rose sighed. "This is a TARDIS."
"All the more reason for it to have love and affection…" both Dee and The Doctor said together. The two men looked at each other and laughed faintly.
Rose rolled her eyes. She looked up at the vault of branching cross structures overhead and sighed heavily. "Oh Dear God… Do I really have to be stuck with two of them?" She put a hand over her eyes and sighed again. After dropping her hand, she glanced at The Doctor. "I'll get the children settled into their rooms. You and Dee… stroke the TARDIS if you must." She made a slight shooing motion with her hands and collected her younger children and Lilith. As she headed for the corridors she tossed over her shoulder, "An' when I get back, I had better not have to plan a wedding between Dee and the TARDIS."
Once the Doctor was sure Rose was well out of ear shot, he walked up to the console and made sure all the knobs and levers were properly set. "You know, Dee…" he paused and a crease formed on his forehead "…What's that short for anyway? Dennis? Demetri?..."
The boy looked up with a half smile. "No, it's not." His eyes went back to where his hand was slowly stroking the console.
The Doctor pursed his lips. Dee's tone had sounded very final, as if any further questions about his name were off limits. "Can't help but notice you seem enamoured with my TARDIS… Why is that? You've only known her for minutes; sure she grows on people but never love at first sight…well except with me." He grinned at the memory then frowned in his confusion surrounding this exceptional boy in front of him.
Dee smirked, but didn't look up. "It's a beautiful machine. It—she— knows and does so many things… Who wouldn't be enamoured by her? Responds well to a kind hand and patience. Which is why I told her she didn't have to hurry to Barcelona, she could take her time."
"You know there're special attachments made for Time Lords that love their TARDIS a little too much," the Doctor commented in an off-handed manner.
"Really?" Dee asked with a little too much interest.
The Doctor jerked his gaze at Dee with shock. "No," he coughed. "But since you asked--no, even thought--that, I would like to please ask you to kindly step away from the console."
"I wasn't being serious," Dee said with a frustrated sigh. "Mum says I have my father's dry humour, and fixation with fixing things and taking things apart… and getting into trouble. Actually, come to think of it, I can't think of anything she says I do like her." His face took on an expression as if he were searching his memory for such a moment.
"So, who is the lucky bloke that helped Rose bring you into this world?" The Doctor asked, making sure sarcasm laced his tone so Dee could easily tell his disapproval of Rose getting over him so quickly.
Dee shrugged vaguely. "Some doctor she met in London," the boy replied simply. "He came around from time to time. Wasn't really a permanent fixture in the flat, just long enough to get mum pregnant again and lark off…" Dee's voice trailed off. "Can we not talk about my father, please? The subject makes me somewhat nervous right at this moment."
"Why's that?" The Doctor asked. "Afraid I'll go back in time and knock him off so I can have your Mum for myself?" He smiled but part of it didn't reach his eyes. "I could make sure you don't exist!" This time there was a twinkle in his eye.
Dee snorted, desperately choking back a laugh. "No reason. I just didn't want you to think I didn't like him," Dee said. "Was quite the opposite really. I enjoyed his visits, always brought us strange and bizarre trinkets from places he'd been sent to. It was just a few weeks every two or three years or so. It was rather nerve racking. Always made sure we were taken care of though, if that's what you're worrying over."
The boy checked the console screen and grinned. "We should be in Barcelona in about eight hours. The lot of us are knackered, we've been so completely hyped waiting for you since late last night. Mum had us all stirred up. Goodnight." Dee gave a slight salute and excused himself with a grin, and an exaggerated, sensual stroke to the console.
He gave his mum a peck on the cheek as he passed her in the corridor. Rose gave him a quick hug and kiss before letting him through. She turned as Dee began to disappear from sight. "I laid out your pyjamas, right turn, down the corridor, third door on the left!"
The Doctor studied Rose as she continued shouting the good-nights down the corridors. He was mildly amused by the fact she was still very much a "jeans and trainers" type woman. She had abandoned her winter coat from earlier and he could admire the delicate curves of her hips and backside in the snug jeans. He was bit shocked and amused to realise he was admiring her body.
Rose shouted down the corridor, "Ambrosia! Tell Jack a story, he asked you nicely!" Finally she turned toward the console with an exasperated sigh. "Sometimes I swear Jack's still five…" She practically ran to the Doctor and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "God I've missed you, Doctor. Seems like it's been years since I last saw you."
When she pulled back from the hug, The Doctor saw that same old look of love in her eyes. Rose trailed her fingers over his cheekbones and lips. She had just lifted up on her toes and was a mere inch away from kissing him, The Doctor put his hand over her mouth. Rose snorted surprised and frustrated.
She lowered herself off her toes and lightly pulled his hand away from her mouth. "What?" she asked with a mix of curiosity and annoyance.
"Last time I remember," The Doctor started, taking a step back from her. "It had been twenty years and you were asking me not to forget about you. Not to mention that you have said several times that you would 'explain later'. Is now late enough, Rose? I would like to know. Did you really forget me that easily?"
Rose smiled softly. "Of course not Doctor… I couldn't forget you if I tried…and I haven't."
"According to Dee, you met up with some doctor in London that had a knack for getting you pregnant," the Doctor snapped. He knew he was being peevish but he couldn't seem to help himself.
Rose's hand flew to her lips. At first The Doctor thought it was in shock. Then he heard the amused mirth she was trying to suppress. She dropped her hand to reveal a large smile on her lips. "Is that what he told you?"
She stepped up to him and straightened the front of his coat, making sure the lapels were smooth and perfect. "Rest assured, you're the only doctor that has been a pain in my backside in the past twenty years." She bobbed her head side to side and rolled her eyes slightly. "Well, other than the one that helped me birth the children, but I doubt she had the ability to get me pregnant."
Rose smiled smugly and took a step away from him.
"Speaking of odd things," Rose continued, unaware of the odd look the Doctor was giving her; she walked around the console slowly, trailing her fingers along the surface, in a way that would have made Dee smirk, had he been there. "I thought Gallifrey was destroyed in the Time War? The girl mentioned something about being from there, in the future."
"Just one of many questions I had for Lilith," The Doctor replied. "Have yet to ask her though. But right now it's your turn to answer questions." He turned to her sternly. "So who's their father, really? I know it couldn't be me, biologically speaking Gallifreyans are unable to produce children."
"Can't argue with that logic I suppose," Rose commented with a trace of amusement in her voice.
"Come on, tell me," The Doctor insisted. "Last chance… If you don't tell me now I'll just keep asking you later."
"Good things come to those who wait, Doctor," Rose said in a soft, almost sensual tone. She had made her way back to him. She played with his tie, pulling him closer to her with each tug. "For right now, all the little monsters are in bed and I have a few itches that only you can adequately reach."
The Doctor was about to object, Rose was acting so much more forward than she had been as a young adult, he thought. She was a mature woman now, he mused. Rose gave him no escape and pulled his mouth to hers and kissed him, as she simultaneously reached for his trouser button.
888
"That was something I honestly did not want to know about Mum," Ambrosia exclaimed for about the fourth time. "Not something I wanted to see! Not something I wanted to know still even existed!"
"At least we still had our clothes on," Rose argued. She finger combed her hair, trying to do away with the mess the Doctor had put it in. "Besides, Ambrosia, you're just about sixteen, you should realize by now that 'Mum has sex'."
"I think I'm going to be sick," Ambrosia said with a slightly over-dramatic lurch forward while clutching her stomach. She swallowed hard and renewed her battle again her mother. "And quite honestly, Mum, your jeans and knickers hanging from one ankle, while he's shagging you against the console, doesn't qualify as having your clothes on."'
The Doctor finger combed his tousled hair and knelt down to look into Ambrosia's eyes. "You were supposed to have been telling Jack a story so, in all honesty it's on your head."
"Not going to apologize for possibly, permanently ruining my delicate human mind?" Ambrosia demanded. "Most children are forever traumatized by seeing their mum having a shag. It's just not Inatural/I. She should be too old for that sort of thing."
"Not apologizing," The Doctor said firmly. "And trust me, your mum is a very free spirited and beautiful woman. It's very natural for her to be having a go with a handsome devil like me."
Ambrosia wrinkled her nose, if possible, in even more disgust. "Typical!" she spat and raced for the corridors. "If you will excuse me, I have to go empty my stomach."
The Doctor plopped down on the floor of the console room with a laugh. "Lovely girl, really Rose," he said with an edge of sarcasm. "But, I'm guessing she takes after you mostly."
"Actually, yes," Rose replied. "I was the same way when I found out my mum was still going out for a shag every now and again."
"Why don't you go get some rest Rose," The Doctor suggested, rubbing her arm gently. "Dee set the travel time so that you all would have long enough to rest up a bit before getting dropped off. You wouldn't happen to know why he chose Barcelona of all places, would you?"
"Not the faintest clue." Rose smiled gently gave him a kiss before retreating down the corridor.
The Doctor approached the console and drummed his fingers on it in thought. His brain was a bit of a muddle after half a shag and all the humans running about in his TARDIS. After a moment he used the view screen to search for Gallifrey. To his surprise, Gallifrey appeared where it had been. It wasn't possible, but it was there. He took a closer look and was still unable to wrap his mind around it. His jaw was slack, his mouth hung open.
"How did this happen? When?" he whispered.
Instantly, the screen went to the moment Gallifrey had been destroyed. His hearts all but stopped the moment he saw it. All the people that died, undeservingly in the Time War… Suddenly there was a golden light from a far distant point. It filled the screen faster than anything known to him should.
A soft whisper came through the light, "I can create life where it once was... The innocent will not be forsaken."
The golden light shrank away and Gallifrey was restored to it's timeless universal and galactic location once more. The Doctor fell to his knees with shaky, disbelieving fingers he reached up and touched the planet on screen. "The Empress," he whispered in a hushed voice. He checked to see if other planets that had been destroyed in the war had reappeared. There was nothing but empty space where the planets had once existed.
"But why? When so many planets died in the war, why save Gallifrey? The others were far more innocent than the Time Lords," he railed at no one.
There was only one being in all the universe that could answer that question. And he had full intention of asking The Empress when they returned to Barcelona.