Rose was wakened by the sensation of kisses being trailed down her spine. She shivered.
"Stop that," she said without opening her eyes. "It tickles,"
"Good morning," the Doctor said cheerfully.
Rose rolled over and opened her eyes.
"Stop being so awake this early in the morning. It's obscene," she told him.
He grinned, sitting up and put on hand on either side of her, so that his face hovered above hers.
"Hi," Rose said, almost shyly.
"Hi," he replied. Gently, he leaned down and captured her lips. The kiss was slow and languid, a lazy early morning kiss.
Rose's eyes fluttered closed.
"Mmmmm…" she stretched, and then settled down on the pillows. The Doctor settled beside her, his arms snaking around her.
Memories of the night before swirled around Rose, and she smiled. The Doctor had been right; it was far more intense than anything she had ever experienced. It had been a mental bonding as well as a physical one. She leaned over, and whispered one word in his ear. His eyes grew large.
"So. Now you know," he said.
"Yes, now I know."
"Then you understand why it is such a secret. It's not just a name. It's so much more than that," the Doctor said, frowning.
Rose kissed his forehead.
"Don't frown like that. You'll get wrinkles," she said. Then she smiled. "I'm glad I know. It makes you more mine that ever."
"Am I yours, Rose?" the Doctor asked.
"What do you mean?" Rose said, confused. "Didn't last night prove that we belonged to each other?"
"What I mean is… the other me. Is he yours and I'm just a substitute?" he asked.
Then Rose understood. So that was what was bothering him. She smiled.
"Doctor. My Doctor. He couldn't tell me that he loved me. He couldn't give me forever. You can. You did. That makes you mine."
"He would have if he could, you know," the Doctor said. "He and I… we have the same emotions. The same feelings for you. He loves you."
"Yes, but he couldn't say it. You could. And you trusted me enough to give me the most precious gift: your confidence. I know your name," Rose held him close, and listened to his single heart. "I saw it all, Doctor. All those years of loneliness. All that heartache and sorrow and travelling by yourself. How did you cope?"
"That was the old me. The new me… has you," the Doctor replied. "And what about you, Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth? You were more brilliant here than I ever suspected."
Rose smiled.
"All I could think about was finding a way back to you. Everything I did, everything I worked on for Torchwood was all to that aim."
"I love you," the Doctor said softly. "I should have told you every day, and I didn't have enough courage to." He kissed her again, so sweetly that it seemed like a crime when he finally pulled away.
Rose smiled up at him, and then caught sight of his hair, which was sticking up all over the place in a spectacular bed-head fashion. She couldn't help it; she started laughing.
"What's so funny now?" the Doctor demanded. "There's humans for you. I kiss you and you laugh at me!"
"It's your hair!" Rose giggled helplessly.
The Doctor rolled over, and sat up, patting his hair.
"What? What's wrong with it?" he asked self consciously.
"It's sticking up all over the place," Rose replied. She sat up next to him, and ran her fingers through it. "It's cute, actually. Endearing. You look all…"
"Dead sexy?" the Doctor asked, with a cheeky smile.
"You wish," Rose said, grinning. "I probably look a mess!"
The Doctor surveyed her for a moment. Rose blushed under his gaze, conscious that the blanket had fallen away.
"To me, you will never be more beautiful than you are right now," the Doctor said honestly.
Rose rewarded him by pulling him down to her and kissing him fiercely, with all the passion she had in her. The Doctor returned it with equal fervor.
"Rose, sweetheart, are you in there?" Jackie's voice came from the hall, knocking on the door. "It's time to get up, Love. And tell the Doctor he'll be late for work if he doesn't hurry."
The Doctor groaned, and leaned his forehead against Rose's.
"It's Mum," she sighed. "Nothing like being caught by your mum."
"Rose?" the Doctor said. "We really need to get our own house."
--
Rose cautiously approached Jackie as she was reading, while Tony played nearby on the perfectly landscaped lawn.
"Mum?" she asked.
Tony gut up from where he had been playing with his trucks, and ran over to her.
"Wose!" he said, throwing himself at his big sister's knees.
Jackie put her book down.
"Was that his first word?" she asked excitedly.
"Hi baby," Rose said, picking him up. "Was I your first word?" she covered his small face with kisses as he laughed delightedly.
"Typical," Jackie complained. "I spend all this time with him, and his first word isn't 'mummy', it's 'Rose'."
Tony gabbled away to Rose in baby talk, happy to have someone lavish attention on him. Rose gave him one final cuddle, then put him down, where he went back to his trucks.
Rose sat down on the chair next to Jackie's under the large sun umbrella.
"Hello Sweetheart, how are you?" Jackie asked. "I haven't seen much of you lately. It feels as if we are just missing each other all the time."
"I'm ok," Rose said.
"Are you, love? How are you dealing with the Doctor?"
"It's… strange," Rose confessed, stealing her mother's lemonade and taking a sip. "It's like he's the same, but sometimes he's different. He'll be shooting his mouth off, just like I'm used to, and rambling off ideas at a hundred miles an hour, and then go and do something totally human, like talk in his sleep, or forget to shave."
"I know what you mean," Jackie said. "It was the same when I started living here with Pete. It was like he was the same man in every way except the small things. It just takes some adjusting, that's all."
"I forgot you're sort of in the same situation," Rose said. She thought for a minute before continuing. "Does it feel sometimes like you're betraying the first one? Like by being happy with Pete you're betraying Dad?"
"It did at first," Jackie admitted. "But then I realized what a gift I had been given. I had been given the chance to start all over again with the man I lost twenty years ago. How many other people can say that?"
"Well, me," Rose chuckled.
"Yes. You've been given the same chance. A chance to settle down with a Doctor made just for you. The exact same as the other one, but with all the qualities that will allow him to stay with you."
Rose nodded, her eyes thoughtful.
Mother and Daughter sat in silence for a moment.
"Are you happy, Sweetheart?" Jackie asked, breaking the peaceful moment.
Rose smiled softly.
"Yeah. I am. I mean, he drives me crazy, and he's a total nutter, and sometimes I get so mad at him I just want to scream. But then I remember how much I love him, and how much it killed me to be here and not be with him."
Jacky chuckled.
"That's love, Sweetheart. Sometimes those men make you so mad you just want to give 'em what for. But you would be miserable without them, and that's the truth."
Rose nodded.
"What would you think to us getting a house?" she asked hesitantly.
Jackie looked over at Tony, and smiled.
"It's hard to have your children leave. I'm glad I've still got Tony, or I would be lonely. But I guess you left me a long time ago."
"Mum…"
Jackie turned to her, a gentle smile on her face.
"You deserve so much happiness, my Rose," she said, putting her hand on her daughter's cheek. "Are you sure he wants to settle down? He's a philanderer if ever I saw one."
"It was his idea," Rose said. "A little house to live in, just him and me. And it wouldn't be far from here. You and I could see each other all the time."
"You'll visit, won't you?" Jackie asked.
"Yeah."
"Good. And make sure the Doctor doesn't make you buy one of those absurd tiny houses. You've lived in that little box too long. You need lots of space."
"It was bigger on the inside," Rose reminded her, stealing the lemonade again.
--
"This one is nice," Rose said, looking around the house. The real estate salesman was walking ahead, extolling the virtues of the house to no one in particular.
The Doctor looked around thoughtfully.
"It's alright," he said unenthusiastically.
Rose sighed.
"What's wrong with this one?" she asked.
"Nothing's wrong with it, per se. It's just not… where I picture us living," the Doctor said.
"But Doctor!" Rose protested. "We've looked at hundreds of houses, and you say the same thing about all of them. We have to find somewhere, or it'll be back living with Mum and Dad and getting interrupted all the time. Please, Doctor, try."
The Doctor looked dubiously at the mauve walls.
"It just doesn't feel like a home," he said. "I can't imagine coming back here every day after work."
Rose gave him a longsuffering look.
"Fine. We'll keep looking."
"So, what do you think?" the overly chirpy agent asked.
Rose and the Doctor traded glances.
"How many more are on your list?" the Doctor asked.
The real estate agent consulted his list.
"Just one more. It's a little farther away than you specified, but it's in a good neighbourhood."
"Let's see it then," Rose said wearily.
The drive there took ten minutes. Rose followed the real estate agent's car; the Doctor brooded.
The agent pulled up and parked beside a driveway so shaded with trees that the house couldn't be seen.
"It's a long drive way. I thought we could walk so you could enjoy the view. This house is a little out of the way, sort of your own personal enclave in the midst of the city," he said.
The Doctor took Rose's hand, and they walked up the long driveway. They walked straight for about a minute, then the driveway turned. When they rounded the bend, the house came into view. It was a rather large three story house, surrounded by trees and a pretty garden near the front door with a tinkling fountain.
"Oh!" said Rose, delighted. "It's beautiful!"
The Doctor pulled on Rose's arm, his eyes wide.
"Rose!" he cried. "Look at the door!"
Rose looked, and began to laugh. The door had three sets of two panels, and was painted a royal blue.
"You have got to be kidding me!" she laughed.
"We'll take it!" the Doctor said excitedly.
"But… you haven't even seen the inside!" the real estate agent protested.
"Well, show us the inside then. But we're still buying it," the Doctor reiterated.
The Doctor was delighted with the huge attic, which he immediately claimed for his study/library. Rose loved the kitchen, and the way the light fell across the master bedroom. They were both enchanted with the many windows and the huge back yard.
"It's perfect!" Rose sighed. "It's like it was waiting for us!"
"I told you," the Doctor said smugly. "I told you to wait until the right one came."
Rose drifted into the bedroom that was straight across the hall from the master bedroom. She stood in the middle of it, looking all around.
"What are you doing?" the Doctor asked, coming behind her and putting his arms around her waist.
"Picturing furniture in here. A dresser in that corner, a toy chest over here, a crib next to the wall. What do you think?"
"Perfect," the Doctor agreed.
"Four bedrooms, though. Do we really need that many?" Rose asked, turning in the Doctor's arms so that she was facing him.
The Doctor held her to him.
"Of course we do!" he said. "The kids may have to share rooms, but that's ok, isn't it?"
Rose laughed.
"How many kids are you planning on having?" she asked.
"Five or six," he replied, nuzzling her neck.
"Yeah, well, maybe we'll have that many when you give birth to them," Rose said, tipping her head to give him better access.
"Come on, Rose. I want a big family. Lots of little Roses running around and telling me what to do. Wouldn't that be brilliant?"
"We'll see," Rose replied, secretly delighted that the Doctor wanted children. She had been a little afraid to broach the subject with him before this.
They walked down to the main floor to find the real estate agent standing before the stone fireplace in the living room.
"We're still going to take it," Rose said.
"Ah! Wonderful! Now we can haggle over price a little, but the owners have this listed at 300 000 pounds, and…"
Rose's face fell. So much money! The agent must have caught the look on her face.
"It's in a very desirable area of the city, and with so much land… That's actually a very reasonable price," he said.
Rose looked at the Doctor.
"Think we can get a mortgage out?" she asked, hesitantly.
"No need!" the Doctor said cheerfully. "Pete's lending us half a million pounds."
"What!" Rose cried in surprise.
"He came to me last week and said he knew we needed something to get started with, and he was giving us the money. I said we couldn't just take it, so he said it was a loan, to be paid back when we can. Always liked Pete…" the Doctor trailed off, grinning.
"Doctor, do you know what this means? We can buy this house!" Rose said excitedly.
"Like I said, we'll take it," the Doctor replied.
Rose threw herself into his arms, and they hugged. When Rose let him go, the Doctor leaned over and shook the real estate agent's hand.
"You've got yourself a deal," he said.
Author's Note: Ok, so I have a good excuse for not posting yesterday, other than it was Friday night, and my brain switches off at 4:30 when I come home from work. I was all set to write, and then my boyfriend called, and we talked for longer than I expected. So, sorry to those of you who told me you were beginning to look forward to a new chapter every day. I don't know how much longer I can keep that up anyways!
Many thanks to all you wonderful people who left such long reviews. Long reviews are so nice, especially the ones that give you feedback on how to make the story better. I am always looking for ways to make my story better.
Tomorrow is Sunday, and there's no Doctor Who to look forward to. How sad. When is the new season of Stargate Atlantis starting? (goes to Gateworld to check)