Lovers' Tiff?
Jackie Tyler was dozing in front of the News when her daughter burst into the flat, slammed the front door behind her, and stormed into the living room. Without so much as a 'hi Mum, sorry I haven't visited for a few weeks,' she launched into a tale concerning the great idiocy of the Doctor, the man-alien who had whirled Rose away on the extended trip of a lifetime a couple of years ago.
"And then, right, he practically tells me to leave!" Rose exclaimed hotly. "I mean, the bloody cheek of him! He can't just chuck me out! I live there, it's my home!"
Jackie tried not to let Rose's words phase her, and calmly replied, "Rose, calm down. What started all this?"
Rose sighed and moved to sit down next to her mum on the sofa. "I dunno really. But he's been acting really weird recently. He's sort of...suddenly acting all distant. Not all the time, just on random occasions. I don't know why. I don't know if I've done something wrong, or... And I mean, we've argued before, but never have I ever felt like he didn't even want me in the same room as him, let alone spaceship..." she trailed off, looking miserably at Jackie. "What am I gonna do?"
"What was the last thing you said to each other?" Jackie asked quietly.
"It's a bit of blur. There was shouting...mostly me shouting, really..." she mumbled, a bit embarrassed. "But basically he told me to get out. So I did." She bit her lip and closed her eyes. "He told me that he wouldn't do this to me. He's left friends behind before. Sometimes for no real reasons. But he promised me that I was different. I thought..."
She opened her eyes again and Jackie's heart ached in sympathy for her daughter when she saw her unshed tears. Wrapping her arms around her, she rocked Rose back and forth as if she were a little girl again, soothing her as she let a few silent tears sneak out.
All of a sudden, Rose pulled back and stared at her mum anxiously. "What if he never comes back?"
"Has he even left?"
She frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Has he left? In the TARDIS? Or is he still parked outside in the - "
Jackie cut herself off as they both heard fierce banging on the front door. Rose's eyes widened, and she immediately jumped up. Jackie initially thought she was heading for the door, but she surprised her; instead, Rose hurried to her old bedroom, firmly closing and locking her door behind her.
Jackie shook her head. "She wants him to come back for her, but she doesn't even want to talk to him," she muttered to herself. "Just like me, she is. Bloody stubborn."
"Rose! Rose? Rose!" came the Doctor's voice through the door. He was still pounding away. Jackie sighed and got up. "Jackie? Jackie! I know you're both in there! Open the door!"
"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Jackie called, walking to the front door.
As she opened it, the Doctor started to barge past. But Jackie wasn't having any of that.
"Oi, not so fast, you!" she exclaimed, shoving the Doctor back outside. She closed the door as she stepped outside herself.
"I need to see her," he said decidedly.
"Not until I say you can," Jackie countered. Seeing his distress, his frantic eyes, her expression softened a little. "Now, why don't you tell me what's going on?"
"Rose is being stupid," he said bluntly. He shuddered a bit when Jackie fixed him with a cold glare. "I mean, despite her usually very amazing intelligence and beauty, she's currently experiencing a bit of teeny, tiny silly lapse in judgement," he amended hastily.
Jackie arched an eyebrow. "Look, what's this lovers' tiff of yours about, eh? I've got her in there crying and angry and you out here acting all scared and miserable..."
He swallowed thickly, tugging at his ear. "It's silly, she's just...I dunno, misinterpreted something." He paused, thinking over Jackie's words again. "Hang on, we're not, um, that is to say...it's not, a, er, it's not a 'lovers' tiff,' we don't, we aren't, I haven't - "
Jackie's other eyebrow rose too. "You two don't...?" she asked, genuinely surprised.
The Doctor scratched the back of his neck and hesitantly mumbled, "No."
"Well no wonder!" she exclaimed loudly.
He winced, then looked confused. "Hang on, 'no wonder' what?"
"No wonder you have all this tension in the air!" she explained. "Honestly, what are you two like!"
His brows knotted together. "I wouldn't have thought you'd want her to even consider me...like that," he murmured.
"Bit late for that," Jackie scoffed. "Like anything I say ever makes a difference anyway. Nah, truth be told, she could do a lot worse than you."
"Really?" he asked, oddly touched.
"Yeah," Jackie smiled briefly, then looked at him seriously again. "But she doesn't want to speak to you right now, so you've obviously done something to upset her."
"But I haven't!" he told her helplessly. "I didn't mean to, anyway. I never want to upset her, not ever. Rose being happy is my top priority, so you've got to let me see her so that I can sort this out - "
"Your top priority?" Jackie interrupted swiftly. "Really?"
"Of course she is," he answered softly, shrugging to feign nonchalance. He glanced away.
"She thinks you're gonna leave her."
"I haven't," he denied firmly. "And I won't."
"But what if you do? One day? What if one day you just dump her back here?"
"Of course I wouldn't just dump her here!" he insisted. "I'd never..." he swallowed nervously and met Jackie's gaze. "I'm sorry, Jackie, but I'm never going to bring her back here for good."
She bit her lip and nodded, but then asked, "Why not though? You've done it to people before her, she told me that."
He sighed. "Rose is different."
"Why, Doctor? Why is she so different to everyone else?" Jackie demanded.
"Because I'm in love with her!" he exclaimed.
Jackie smiled, as if his answer was what she was waiting for. "Then get in there and tell her that," she told him gently, nodding at the door to the flat.
He stood still for a second, breathless at his own confession. Swallowing thickly, he nodded in agreement. "Right. Yes. Thank you." And then he dashed inside.
Jackie shook her head as she followed him in, fondly watching him rush towards her daughter's bedroom door and knock hesitantly.
"Rose, it's me. Let me in?" he spoke quietly and hopefully. When she didn't reply, he added, "Please?"
There was still no response from Rose, so he gently tried the door handle; it was locked. He reached inside his pocket and was just about to sonic the lock when he heard her voice, firm and well, rather angry, he thought with a wince.
"If you even think about cheating by using the screwdriver, I'll punch you in the face," she told him. After a pause where she obviously thought that over, she added in a mutter, "With my pillow. So that I don't break my hand."
He put his sonic screwdriver back in his pocket and looked down the corridor at Jackie helplessly. His not-quite-mother-in-law sighed in exasperation at his uselessness and walked over. "Rose sweetheart, you have to let him in," she said gently through the door.
"Why should I?" she retorted harshly. "He's being a complete idiot. I have the right to refuse to see him, you know."
"Yeah, I know, Rose, but..." she trailed off for a moment, and met the Doctor's eye. "He has something he needs to tell you."
His eyes widened and he spluttered at her wordlessly before mouthing to her, what did you go and say that for?
"Well he can tell me through the door," she responded.
Jackie snapped then, fed up with the pair of them being so stupid. "Rose, stop being so childish and open this door right now!"
The Doctor stepped back in surprise at her outburst, and then began to feel a bit defensive on Rose's behalf. "Hang on, Jackie, you don't need to be like that - " he started.
" - Don't I? Don't you think she's being silly, locking herself away like a - " she raised her voice so that Rose would most definitely hear her. " – STUBBORN TEENAGER?"
"She's not a teenager," he replied, folding his arms.
"She's acting like one. She's always been a stroppy little - "
Rose opened the door, glaring at her mother. "Do you mind?"
Jackie grinned triumphantly. "Knew that would work." She looked towards the Doctor, who was staring at Rose in that way he did when he thought no one was looking. "Come on then, you two. Kiss and make up."
Rose rolled her eyes, but would not turn to face the Doctor.
"He was defending you just now, you know. Even though you're being horrible to him," Jackie informed her.
"ME?" Rose demanded. "I'm not being horrible to him! He's the one who told me to get the hell out of his ship!"
"I did not!" he countered. He grabbed hold of her arm and swung her around to face him. "You said that you didn't know why you bothered hanging around, so I merely pointed out the fact that I wasn't forcing you to stay, not if you didn't want to. I didn't think you'd go storming out!"
She shrugged a shoulder. "Sounded like you didn't want me there."
"I always want you!" he argued. He saw Jackie smirk out of the corner of his eye and hastily rephrased his statement. "There! I always want you there!"
Rose stared at him for a moment, then said, "Then why don't you act like it?"
His eyebrows climbed his forehead. "What? Is it not obvious?"
"Not really, no," she scoffed. "I mean, I tried to talk to you earlier and you just ignored me."
He made a frustrated noise at the back of his throat. "I was pretending to ignore you. There's a difference."
"But why were you pretending to ignore me? If I annoy you with my constant stupid ape conversation, all you have to do is - "
" – you were wearing that nightshirt!" he blurted out. Subsequently, his ears turned a bit pink. Jackie muffled a laugh and retreated to the sitting room, keen not to hear anymore of where that conversation was going to go.
Rose blinked at him, confused and oblivious. "What nightshirt?"
"That long, white shirt that you wear sometimes in bed," he clarified, swallowing thickly.
"So?"
"'So?' 'So?' she says. So, when you wear that, I really have to concentrate on focusing my thoughts...elsewhere."
"Why?" she asked, baffled by his explanation.
He glared at her. "Are you really that stupid? Or are you just playing ignorant so that I have to say the words with your mother right in the next room?"
"Will you just tell me what you're going on about, because I've got no idea wh- "
" - Right, so you don't wear it to torment me, then?" he scoffed.
"Torment you?" she repeated, starting to laugh. "Why would I..." she trailed off, realising what he was saying. Realising his eyes were dark and staring into hers intensely. She gulped. "Hang on, are you saying..."
"Yes," he replied succinctly.
"Right." There was a pause. Rose sighed. "Sorry, I'm still not 100% sure if what I think you're thinking is right, because it's just not something I think you'd - "
Losing his patience, the Doctor grabbed her hips in his hands and dragged her towards him, leaning down to whisper in her ear, "It barely grazes your thighs, for Rassilon's sake. You think I don't notice that?"
Her heart picked up speed and she whispered back, "Oh."
He leant closer. "Yeah. Oh."
Starting to smile, she snuck her hand between them to poke him in the chest. "You saying you think I'm sexy, Doctor?" she teased.
He shivered, and turned his head so that his lips grazed her temple as he replied, "How could I not?"
She grinned, pulling back slightly to look into his eyes. "I've got a secret, too."
"Yeah?" he asked, raising his voice to a normal volume.
"Mmhmm," she agreed, nodding. "You know when you roll your shirtsleeves up to fix something under the console? And you've got like, grease or something on the end of your nose? And your glasses are almost falling off? And your hair's all ruffled from where you've tousled it as you've worked something out?"
He squinted at her, hoping he knew where this was going. "Yeah...?" he replied slowly.
She beamed up at him. "I like to imagine I've made you like that, all...rumpled and..." She gave a dramatic pause. "Delicious."
The Doctor's hands slipped under the hem of her top by an inch. "Do you now? Well, that's a coincidence." He lowered his voice again, not wanting Jackie to even catch a moment of his next sentence, in case she regenerated him for it. "Because when you wear that nightshirt of yours, firstly...I pretend it's my shirt you're wearing. Secondly...I pretend that you've got nothing on underneath...and thirdly..." He paused, and leant a little more forward, their quick, unsteady breaths mingling with the other's as their mouths hovered close. His hands slipped down to her bum, squeezing playfully. "I pretend you've just come from my bed."
As soon as he got the words out, Rose pressed her lips hard onto his, yanking him forwards by his jacket lapels as she backed them both into her room. Once inside, she pushed him back onto the door so that it closed with a slam, and utterly refused to let go of him.
That was, until he started to push her away. Her heart sank and she moved back. "What?" she said defensively, before pointing out, "You can't deny that you were kissing me back just then!"
"Wasn't going to," he retorted, grinning at her crookedly. "I just thought of something else I wanted to say."
"Oh yeah?" she grinned back, relieved, and sat on the edge of her bed. "What's that, then?"
"In the mornings," he began, as he stepped forward towards her. "Once you've finally got out of that ridiculously gorgeous nightshirt..." He crouched down in front of her and slid his hands up her legs to her knees, before parting them slightly so that he could kneel between them. "...and had a shower, and put these very tight jeans on..." His hands crept up her thighs and he met her gaze.
"Yeah?" she asked breathlessly. She couldn't believe he'd wanted her all this time and not told her.
"And you smell delicious and..." He smiled wistfully. "And I want to touch and taste every inch of you," he finished softly, and before she could articulate a response to that, he pushed his lips to hers as he stood up shakily and tilted her backwards.
Without tearing her lips away from his, she shifted herself onto the bed more fully and tugged him down above her. He caressed the side of her face, tracing his fingertips over her cheeks and jaw and ear, while his other hand journeyed to beneath her thigh, lifting her leg until she caught on and wrapped it around his waist with a sigh.
A loud knock on the door made them break apart suddenly, gasping for breath.
Jackie's voice permeated through the door and ruined the mood spectacularly. "When I said 'kiss and make up,' I didn't mean 'shag in Rose's old bedroom while I sit out there watching EastEnders.' Go back to your box if you want to do that sort of thing with my daughter, you alien-man-thing."
Rose listened for her mother's footsteps walking away before she burst into giggles. She laughed harder when she turned to look at the Doctor, who was blushing bright red at Jackie's words.
"Oi!" he protested. "Stop laughing!"
Her giggles faded out slowly and she gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry..."
He sighed loudly. "So..."
"Mmm. So..." she echoed.
There was an awkward silence for a few moments. Then, "Rose?" he ventured.
"Yeah?"
"Um..."
"Yeah?"
He turned on his side to look at her with a wry smile playing over his lips. "Wanna go back to my box?"