Chapter 7

Later that day, Rose took the Doctor back into her Mum's house. She was grateful to see that her parents and brother had made themselves scarce after lunch, so that they could have some time on their own. Now, she and the Doctor sat at the table in the kitchen, with wine glasses and snacks in front of them.

"So," the Doctor murmured quietly. "Luckily, in the car on the way to see you, Jackie informed me of your, uh...relationship status."

"You mean, the fact that I'm not in one?" replied Rose, taking a sip of her drink.

The Doctor nodded, clearing his throat. Uncomfortably shifting in his seat, he asked, "So...was there...ever...? I mean, six years is a long time...I wouldn't, you know, blame you if you'd...you know..."

Rose's lips quirked up slightly at the Doctor's effort to ask his question; a question that she could tell he really didn't want to ask, but had to all the same. She reached across the table and took his hand in hers, entwining their fingers tightly. "Sometimes, it was difficult to remember, to believe, that you were coming back for me - "

" – weelll, I did say it was impossible," he put in.

"Exactly." She bit her lip anxiously. "And though I knew, deep down, that I'd have to see you again – because seriously? We'd accidently landed in this world months before I got trapped here; if something like that happened twice in just one year, then it was sure as hell gonna happen again. And I knew that I'd be waiting for that. Forever. I knew you'd come back at some point. Hoped for sooner rather than later, obviously...but I knew. But like I said, sometimes it was hard to keep a hold of that belief. Travelling the World on my own...it got lonely. Really, really lonely."

The Doctor swallowed thickly and tugged on her hand, silently telling her to come to him. She stood, and shifted into his lap; his arms wrapped tightly around her waist and she relaxed into his embrace, resting her head on his shoulder. Her hair tickled his neck and her breath ghosted over his jawline as she looked up at him, and he loved it, loved her; held her closer.

"Go on," he prompted gently, steeling himself.

"Wherever I went...it was weird. I seemed to befriend people really easily."

"You've always been good at that," the Doctor pointed out. "Honestly, the strays you picked up when we - "

" – hey!" Rose laughed. "You can talk!"

"All those pretty boys," he teased, his eyes twinkling with mirth. "Oh, I was so jealous."

She grinned at him mischievously, tongue between teeth. "Not to mention, Captain envy..."

He rolled his eyes. "But who did you end up dancing with? Me, of course," he beamed proudly.

Rose giggled. "I remember that night so clearly. In the basement of that old hospital – what was it called?"

"Albion," he supplied, eyes misting over in memory.

"Yeah, that's it! Anyway, you were there 'resonating concrete,'" she continued, using a quoting gesture as she spoke the last phrase.

"I was!" he insisted indignantly.

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Sure. Anyway, before that bout of...uh..." she trailed off.

"Flirting?" he smiled.

"Yeah," she blushed. "Well, before that, I thought you were just playing with all that flirting stuff. I didn't realise that you meant it. You were this nine-hundred old alien and I didn't realise that, well, that..."

"That I was a man?" he chuckled, remembering when Rose had made a comment about all the good-looking ones disappearing, before amending her comment, saying that she meant 'men.' He also rather happily remembered the excited comprehension dawning on Rose's face as they 'talked' about 'dancing,' when she finally realised that he was just as capable of dancing with her as any old Captain. That had sent the tension up a notch.

Rose giggled. "Yeah. I was trying to hide the fact that I was..." she took a deep breath. "Well. That I was falling in love with you, 'cos I was so young and didn't really know what I should or shouldn't've felt – I didn't have anything to compare it to, after all; not many of my friends were in love with aliens, funnily enough. And I didn't think you'd ever feel the same way about me. I didn't think someone so...so important, so integral to the universe, could have ever loved me like I loved you. I didn't think you'd...you know...dance...with a nothing-special human girl like me."

"Rose," he interrupted when he could get a word in. He stroked her jaw tenderly with the pad of his thumb. "You meant everything to me, even then, right from very early on in knowing you. You were so special and you never even realised..."

She smiled softly, and traced a finger up and down his left sideburn. "When you changed, did your feelings change, too? Did you have to learn to love me again? Was it like starting again?"

"For you, it was," he corrected gently. "But no. Not for me. I mean, obviously, I fell in love with you even more every day, so in that sense, yeah, feelings changed – intensified, really. But no, the love I felt for you before stayed with me through regeneration. It always will. Because...you're you."

Rose nodded, a lump in her throat. "Right," she sniffed. "Good."

"When did you realise?" he asked quietly, his hand dropping from its position cupping her cheek; his fingertips now drawing patterns over her jean-clad thigh.

Her hand slipped into his hair. "Realise that I loved you or realised that you loved me?"

"Both," he answered simply.

Her eyebrows drew together, contemplating that. "Um. I don't know, really. I can't pinpoint a day...I s'pose, when everyone kept suggesting that we were together – like, even my Dad – I got all defensive about it, 'cos...well, 'cos maybe I wanted it to be true. But I pretended that - "

" – that it was the worst possible suggestion," he finished, huffing a bit.

She raised her eyebrows. "Is that what you thought? That I could never see you like that?"

He shrugged. "You were so young. I was...not. You were – are - youthful and pretty and funny and I was – am – old and grumpy and well, back then, nothing special to look at." He waggled his eyebrows, well aware that he was in what he perceived to be a foxier body this go 'round.

"Hey! I loved that face!" she countered. "I fancied you then!"

"What, and you don't fancy me now?" he smirked.

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, so fine, maybe this time we...match, in the age we both look, a bit better. But seriously, don't knock your previous self down."

He kissed her then, because she was...her. And it warmed his hearts to know for sure that she didn't consider him the way he thought she might've considered him, back then.

"We were best friends," he then said. "I'd've never risked ruining that by suggesting anything...more. I didn't think I deserved you. Well, I still don't, but that's beside the point. I sort of thought, back then, that maybe...maybe you had a sort of...affectionate, fond kind of love like you would have for a - "

" – if you say you thought I saw you as a father figure, I'll slap you," Rose warned sternly.

" – a kind but strange old uncle or something," he finished, wincing when Rose narrowed her eyes at him. "It wasn't until, like you said, that night, in the hospital...in your eyes, I saw something, something of the way I felt about you..."

"Lust?" Rose suggested with a grin.

The Doctor kissed her again, tenderly. "Yeah," he breathed. "Amongst other things."

Before he could lean too far away, Rose wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him back into another kiss. His hand at her thigh squeezed tightly, before travelling up to her hip, pulling her closer.

"What would have happened?" Rose asked breathlessly, tearing her mouth from his. "If Jack hadn't have beamed us up to his spaceship?"

He peppered kisses down her neck, whispering his answer. "Oh, I probably would've waited for you to do something...ball in your court, so to speak..."

"Ah, so cowardly, Doctor," she murmured, running her hands through his hair.

"Yeah..." he exhaled against her collar bone. Continuing, and punctuating his speech with kisses all the way back up her neck to her ear, he said, "So, so cowardly...you, on the other hand...all your confidence and teasing...and you're the bravest person I've ever known...what would you have done next?"

She tugged on his hair to make him pause his kisses and look her in the eye. "I would've taught you how to dance," she told him, her eyes sparkling.

He captured her lips again, with a low growl, before insisting, "I already know how to dance, Rose Tyler."

"No, no...you forgot. It wasn't until I almost danced with Jack, once were back at the TARDIS, that you suddenly remembered how to jive," she pointed out, giggling as he tickled her ribs.

"You're being mean, Rose," he chuckled.

"I'm really not. Just telling the truth..."

"Well, I had to show him rule one of travelling with us, didn't I?" he insisted, running his hand up her spine.

"How is that 'don't wander off?'" she asked, bemused.

"No, no, no! Silly woman," he said, his hand slipping into her hair, tilting her head closer to his. "As soon as Jack came on board, the rules changed slightly. That got bumped down to number two."

"Did it now?" she smirked.

"Yep!" he said, popping the 'p.' He kissed her nose playfully. "A much more important rule took over top spot."

"And what was that?"

"Hands off," he started, kissing her on the lips. "My girl," he finished.

"Ooh, I used to love it when you got all possessive. Which was quite a lot," Rose grinned.

"I was not possessive," he scoffed. "I was just looking out for your welfare."

"Oh, yeah. Right, that was it," she agreed sarcastically.

He sighed. "Fine, maybe I was a teensy bit possessive," he relented. "But really. You would attract attention. It was quite unsettling."

"Ah, but I only had eyes for you, Doctor," she informed him ruefully.

The Doctor smiled. "Now that's good to hear."

"Can't say the same about you though, can I?" Roes teased. "So, let's see. Lynda, Reinette, that woman with the three eyes on CantaCorico Six..."

He rolled his eyes. "I don't know how you can bring all that up, after all these years, when you were obviously playing the same game at the time."

"I never played games, Doctor," she denied vehemently, holding back a laugh.

"Right. So you were genuinely enamoured with Henry VIII, were you?"

"He was very charming!" she argued defensively.

"And ginger," the Doctor grumbled. "No wonder you fancied him."

She burst out laughing. "Oh, Doctor. You could always buy some hair dye."

"You think I should?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"No!" Rose exclaimed. "I like your hair just the way it is. It's - "

" – sort of brown?"

"Really, really great hair," she corrected.

He looked positively chuffed. "Oh, well that's alright then."

She smiled warmly at him. "I never would've stayed with Henry VIII."

"Good. Would've hated for you to get your head chopped off the moment you did something 'wrong.' What would I have told Jackie?"

"That the only reason that it's good I didn't stay in 15-whatever? So that you wouldn't have to face telling Mum?"

"Weeelll, and the fact that you so wouldn't have fancied him after a few more years, once he put on loads of weight and got severe gout."

Rose pulled a face. "That's true. I'm so glad you've got a great metabolism and an excellent immune system."

He grinned. "What a lovely compliment, thanks Rose."

"No problem. So, those were the only two reasons?" she persisted, tongue poking out at him between her teeth.

"No," he replied softly. "I would've missed you terribly, obviously."

"Not to mention, probably spontaneously combusted with jealousy," she concluded.

He laughed. "That, too."

Once their giggles quietened, she placed her palm at his cheek and looked at him seriously. "I'm sorry I snogged Henry VIII."

"Well, I'm sorry I snogged Reinette," he replied.

She smiled, pleased with their mutual apologies. "Right. Well, that's past quibbles sorted."

"Forgiven and forgotten," the Doctor agreed firmly, nodding.

"You could've picked someone that was gonna get really fat and ugly in the future, though, like I did, instead of someone so absolutely drop-dead gorgeous and accomplished," Rose muttered.

"Well, you could've picked someone less inclined to execute someone just because they stood up to them," he countered.

"Doctor, you should've known better than to be rude to that particular King of England. You brought your short stay in the Tower on yourself."

"Well, he shouldn't've insinuated what he insinuated about you then, should he?"

"Why, exactly?"

"Because you weren't his."

"I wasn't technically yours yet, either," she pointed out, arching an eyebrow.

"No, but you were, really," he said.

"See what I mean? Possessive."

"Good job, too, or else you'd still be there! Being forced to do all sorts!"

She scoffed. "Yeah, right."

The Doctor was about to retort, when he remembered something. "By the way, I met Elizabeth I. Weeelll. I say met..." he trailed off, scratching his neck nervously.

Rose sighed. "Don't tell me. You stole her virtue."

"What? No! I was on my way back to the TARDIS after meeting Shakespeare - "

" – you met Shakespeare? You met Shakespeare without me?" She gaped at him. "I can't believe you met Shakespeare without me!"

" - when all of a sudden," the Doctor continued. "She appears, shouting 'Off with his head!'"

Rose collapsed into laughter again. "Ooh, I wonder what you did to upset her."

"Well, I reckon she probably had a scroll with my face on it, with the words 'Most Wanted,' naturally, as the first person to ever escape the Tower of London under her father's reign, completely disappearing into thin air."

"In that case, I should be done for aiding and abetting a convict, 'cos it was only down to me that you got out."

"Something I shall forever be in debt to you for," he nodded, winking at her.

"So...were you on your own? When you met Shakespeare?" she asked, dusting an imaginary piece of lint from his jacket in apparent nonchalance.

"Hmm? Oh, no. Martha was with me," the Doctor said. "Her first trip, actually. She was a medical student working in this hospital I was investigating – it got transported to the moon; the Judoon were trying to catch this runaway Plasmavore - "

" – Judoon? Yeah, we've had them visit here, asking for info about the whereabouts of some naughty Slitheen-like creature. Space Rhinos, right?" Roes confirmed.

He beamed proudly. "Yep! Space Rhinos."

"So...this Martha girl...?" Rose prompted.

"Oh, right! Yeah, well, she was quite good at helping to save the day. Thought I'd reward her with a trip in the TARDIS," he said hurriedly.

"One trip?" Rose asked dubiously. "You said that Shakespeare was her first trip."

"Weeelll," he drawled awkwardly, tugging his ear. "One trip turned into another, and another et cetera. But eventually, she got fed up with me, and..."

"Why?" Rose asked curiously.

"Weeellll. I. Weell. I sort of. She...Well."

Rose laughed. "Doctor, just spit it out, yeah?"

"She fancied me," he sniffed. "I didn't fancy her. That got...complicated. I kept going on about you, apparently. Which was...probably not nice for her to hear, thinking back. Well, I've always been oblivious and rude, haven't I? Anyway. She left."

"Ah," Rose replied succinctly. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah. But she was nice about it. Gave me her phone so that in a crisis, she can get hold of me quickly."

"Good plan," she admired.

"Yep," the Doctor agreed.

She swallowed thickly. "You talked about me," she stated quietly.

He stared at her. "Of course I did," he replied brokenly, sounding hurt. "Couldn't just...forget you."

Rose stared back at him, not breaking his gaze. "I know."

"Your friends," the Doctor murmured. "The people you met on your travels. You didn't finish telling me about all that."

"Oh, yeah," she realised. "Got a bit sidetracked, didn't we..."

"Haven't we always," he replied quietly.

Rose cleared her throat. "Well. I s'pose, like you did with Martha, I needed someone to experience things with, see the different places with, help me fight crime and all that with," she grinned. "I couldn't take anyone from work; it was bad enough that they lost one employee for indefinite periods of time with no notice..."

"That's my girl. Fighting against bureaucracy," he smiled.

She chuckled. "Almost got sacked for it, though...but luckily, I managed to convince them I'm worth the trouble..."

"Well, I expect they didn't make it specifically clear in your job description that you're not allowed to wander off without a word, so they couldn't exactly complain."

"Nope," she agreed, giving him a peck on the cheek for his astuteness. "They are amateur recruitment officers compared to you, Doctor."

"Of course! Now, come on," he said softly. "Let's go and sit on the sofa. I'll get some more wine."

"Okay," she replied, moving off his lap. "In fact...I'll go and get my notebooks..."

He caught her hand in his as she stood, and squeezed lightly before letting her go. "That'll be nice."