'Ello! another chapter, significantly shorter this time, and a lot, well, fluffier. Enjoy! REVIEW! (please)
Jackie Tyler looked over the spread in her dining room, smiling with satisfaction.
"Jacks, no one is going to eat that much. I hope you realize-" Pete began.
"Nonsense! I won't hear it, Pete. I've seen that man eat, and I'll have you know, he's always brought an appetite." Jackie combated.
Pete shrugged. "Certainly doesn't look like he eats much."
"Well, if the Doctor doesn't want his portions, I'm sure you'd be more than happy to have it!" She retorted, smoothing her skirt and walking back into the kitchen annexed off to the side.
Jackie Tyler had never even stepped foot in a house so big before she'd "remarried" but, she couldn't say it had taken her long to get comfortable with it. Plenty of closet space, for all her new clothes, of course, and all sorts of furniture and knick-knacks she was more than happy to spend a pretty pound on.
But she was a house-wife and a mother first and foremost, and however habitual her love of luxuries had become, she still never shied away from the opportunity to set up a dinner party.
Tony sat on the bar stool, rocking it back and forth. Jackie gave him a look, which got him to straighten up in a flash.
"Is the Doctah and Rosie coming for dinner?" he asked, scrambling from the stool to his mother. She lifted him up onto her hip, bending down to check one more time on the brownies in the oven.
"Yes, Tony. They'll be here in a few minutes; should be here, anyway." She answered, glancing down at her silver wrist watch.
"They'll be here soon, Jacks." Pete said, taking Tony from her.
"For a Lord of Time, he is notorious for being late." Jackie remarked.
Pete chuckled. "Call it one of his many human flaws. Who's to say it's not Rose who is keeping them behind?" Jackie laughed, flitting back and forth between the stove and the dining room.
Not a second later, Rose came in through the front door, calling out to her parents. "Right on time, then, yeah?" She said as she greeted her mother with a hug.
"For once. Where's your Doctor?" She asked, hugging her back.
Rose laughed. "Getting a few things from the car… for Tony." She said, stooping down to rumple her little brother's hair.
Tony jumped up and down in anticipation and ran to hide behind the staircase. As soon as the Doctor walked through the door, laden with boxes, Tony leapt out latching onto his leg giggling. "Help, I've been ambushed!" he shouted, making Tony laugh.
The Doctor deposited the boxes at the bottom of the stairs, prying Tony from his leg and tossing him over his shoulder, the three-year old boy shrieking with laughter.
"No worries, I have the assailant right here." He said, swiveling around for Rose to take Tony from him, who was still pealing with laughter. It was amazing to Rose how someone so small could have so much energy so consistently.
She placed him on the ground, and he was like a coiled spring; once she'd released him he shot off towards the boxes, trying to pry them open. The Doctor lifted him up, his feet still scrambling like a dog held over water, as Jackie chastised him for being overly excited.
"Oh, there's no such thing as overly excited, Jackie. You're only three years old once after all." The Doctor replied as they proceeded to the dining room.
"Oh, like you'd remember, you ancient thing, you." Jackie spat back lightheartedly.
"Oi! Of course I remember… it was one of the best times of my life. No responsibilities; yet. Oh, yeah, you bet. I remember it." He responded.
"Doctor, you still don't have any responsibilities." Rose dead-panned, with a bit of a chuckle.
The Doctor raised his brows. "Excuse me, then, Miss Tyler, but you are speaking to the Head of Time Travel." He retorted with an air of smugness.
"I don't mean to cut in on your shameless flirting, but weren't you the Lord of Time anyway?" Pete interceded, pulling out a chair for his wife.
"Now there's an observation… the Lord of Time." The Doctor said, with an official wave of his hand as if he was displaying a title.
Rose scoffed. "It's a Time Lord… makes up more of a difference than you think."
"Well… what would I be anyway if you hadn't been around to humble me?" He said, taking her hand and kissing it.
Rose smiled up at him. "Well, for one thing, you'd still have really big ears…" She countered, earning an 'Oi!' from the Doctor as they sat down at the table.
Jackie cleared her throat. "How about let's not talk about spacey stuff for one meal, yeah? How's the flat coming along?"
Rose turned to her mother with a soft smile. "It's um, it's great… you know, there's not that much stuff between us, so it didn't take long to arrange everything."
"Doctor?" Jackie inquired. He turned his attention back to her from where he'd been lost in thought.
"Oh, yeah, it's been brilliant. Nice floors, eh Rose?" He remarked. Rose nudged him underneath the table, only eliciting a burst of nervous laughter from him and a knowing glance between Pete and Jackie.
Tony spoke up obstinately from the end of the table. "Mum, where are the brownies?" He whined, his fork clenched in his little fist.
Jackie frowned. "Eat your vegetables first, sweetheart…you're just like your sister, I swear."
Rose shrugged. "I eat them now, at least." She offered.
A silence fell over the table as forks scraped against plates, and glasses were raised and lowered from lips. Each one tried very hard to keep from bringing up Torchwood, or the TARDIS, or the other universe… but it was like tearing out the first 500 pages of the textbook and then trying to comprehend the last 100.
Finally, the Doctor turned to Tony. "So, Tony, what's your favorite super-hero, then?"
"You, Doctah." He answered with a toothy grin.
The Doctor laughed. "But Tony I'm not-" Rose cleared her throat loudly. "- supposed to reveal my secret identity to anyone, okay?" He finished with a whisper. Tony nodded vigorously, his mouth shut tight.
The Doctor smiled a cheeky smile, quite pleased with himself as Rose rolled her eyes. "What about… oh, I don't know, what's your favorite book?" The Doctor asked.
Tony tapped his chin in careful thought. "Dr. Seuss… like the ones with the Cat and the Fish." He answered.
"The Cat in the Hat, lovely!" The Doctor replied, exuberant. "I'll simply have to get you a boxed set." He added, beaming.
Rose looked at him with a quizzical smirk. "Look at you, already intent on spoiling him…"
The Doctor shrugged, taking a bite of his dinner contemplatively. "I like taking people to all sorts of wonderful places. I get off on it I suppose. So, if I can't physically take him someplace marvelous, the next best thing I can give him is, truly, a good book. He could go anywhere… 'Oh, The Places You'll Go'!" He responded.
Rose flashed a tiny grin to herself as Pete and the Doctor began discussing something or other about publishing, and Jackie continued to scold Tony on his eating habits. She looked up at her Doctor, animatedly talking and laughing and enjoying himself. He had a family, now. One she'd been able to give him. And she wondered, briefly, when they'd start making their own. The 'if' was inevitable, but the 'when' was completely foggy in her mind. She'd never even considered having kids, because before Tony, she hadn't particularly cared for them. But even with that experience aside… if they were the Doctor's children, she'd love them no matter what.
'But' she thought, 'I'm jumping way too far ahead of myself… we've only just unpacked our flat!'
Once everyone had finished their meal, and Rose had gone into the kitchen to help her mother with the dishes, she could hear Tony's shouts of merriment and the Doctor's kind-hearted laugh as he presented Tony with his "prizes". Most of it was Torchwood junk fashioned into simple games, but the largest box, when opened up, was a "spaceship" with little left over parts from the alien tech department. The Doctor had been very excited to give it to him.
Rose shook her head comically, hearing the two of them playing in the front room, zooming up and down the stairs.
Jackie looked over at her daughter. "So, how is it, really?" She asked, nudging her daughter with her elbow.
Rose sighed, raising an eyebrow at her mother. "Well, I mean, it's a valid question, since you were so anxious about it before!" Her mother countered.
Rose bit her lip. "It's… new. Sometimes, I just, see this look on his face, like he feels a little lost or out of place, and other times he just looks so… happy. It isn't as hard as I thought it would be, but with the Doctor, it's going to take some serious adjusting." She explained.
Jackie shrugged. "Have you shagged him yet?" She asked curtly.
"Mum! What on Earth are-" Rose burst out in a harsh whisper. Jackie waved her hands up at her. "I'll take that as a no then! I just, you know, always figured that was the case with… the other one, and maybe you were biding your time, but I guess not. I mean, it's no wonder the man doesn't feel welcome yet." She said.
Rose rolled her eyes, viciously scrubbing a plate. "So, what're saying, Mum? That he won't like it here until I sleep with him? That wasn't the case with the other… one. It wasn't like that. I mean… the Doctor wouldn't… ugh."
Jackie raised her brows. "The look on that Time Lord's face, Rose, trust me, he wanted to."
Rose laughed. "Yup, the bloody curse of the Time Lords sure was a turn off." She joked, which made her mother snort with laughter.
"Are you talking about me in here?" The Doctor said, rounding a corner. Rose and Jackie couldn't control themselves, leaning over the sink and guffawing at him. He looked quite perplexed. "What did I say?!" He demanded, which only made them keel over harder.
The Doctor grinned roguishly, lifting Rose up from the sink by the waist and setting her on the counter. "Now, Miss Tyler, I don't take very kindly to being made fun of." He mused.
Rose bit her lip, the spray faucet still within reach. "Oh, I'm sorry; did I hurt the feelings of the Oncoming Storm?" She mocked. The Doctor laughed, and without a moment's notice Rose sprayed him down with the faucet hose, and he yelped, holding his hands up to avoid the deluge. "Get it, Oncoming Storm!" Rose yelled, and the two of them burst out laughing again. Jackie didn't even seem to mind that the floor was soaked. She stopped feeling the humor when she soon found the Doctor and her daughter kissing rather heatedly against the counter.
"Enough! Take the Storm somewhere else! Or better yet, clean up this mess you've made all over my new tile flooring!" Jackie exclaimed, throwing a dishtowel at them as they pulled apart.
She had finished loading the dishwasher as they were cleaning the floor, leaving the two of them alone in the kitchen. Rose glanced at his drenched dress shirt.
"I suppose you'll have to strip that off now." She said, flicking his shoulder.
"I'm afraid I can't take off my shirt, Rose. It's the curse of the Time Lords." He replied with a wink.
Rose sat up. "Oh God, how much of that conversation did you hear?" The Doctor shrugged. "Pretty much all of it, really. Torchwood's taught me a lot about espionage, I'll mention."
Rose sighed, burying her face in her hands. "Perfect, then you heard my mum being all racy."
"Sure did!" he responded with a laugh, and Rose groaned, leaning against the cabinets in exasperation.
"She was right about one thing though." He added.
"And what was that?" Rose asked, wringing out the towel.
"I did want to. I mean, I didn't look at it in the sort of way your mother mentioned it. But, it was something I did want to share with the woman I loved. If certain things hadn't made it inconvenient…" He explained, sitting up against the cabinets with her.
Rose bit her lip, taking what he'd said to heart.
"You said you did want to… but do you?" She said finally.
The Doctor gazed into her eyes fondly, drinking in the sight of her so close to him. He slowly grabbed her face and pulled her into a long, intricate kiss. Rose pulled away eventually, breathless.
The Doctor smiled faintly at her. "Does that answer your question?"
D'awww... so there you are then. A bit of a fluffy break from the madness of Torchwood. They are learning to be domestic together, too, after all. :) Hope you enjoyed this little addition, and I'm bust right now writing the next installment!