"We're gonna go in there wired," the Doctor declared, smiling from ear to ear.
Rose looked at him like he'd lost his mind.
"Doctor," she told him in an exaggeratedly slow manner as if explaining an obvious concept to an oblivious child, "they've got equipment to locate it! Honestly, haven't you been listening to what the President was saying? And you call my attention span short!"
The Doctor looked down his nose at her with his lips pursed in a way that told her 'could you be any more daft?' Rose felt embarrassed suddenly. Certainly, the Doctor was smarter than that, wasn't he? He had to have known about the wire-detecting equipment, and he definitely was genius enough to know the detour that would let them gather necessary information without being caught.
He shook his head in mild exasperation. "It's Presidentesse."
Rose looked heavenwards. The Doctor went on.
"And honestly, Rose, have you no faith in anything that I do? I have got experience, I'll let you know," he spoke, acting affronted, and stressed the word 'have.'
Rose raised her eyebrows at his short outburst, acting unimpressed. Truth was, she felt a bit silly for doubting the Doctor's competence. Not that it was picture-perfect, his competence; there were plenty of occasions where it was Rose's quick thinking and their pure luck that they could survive through explosions and skirmishes with nary a scratch.
The Doctor rolled his eyes with a sigh and jammed his hands into his jacket's pockets. Rose knew he expected her to start asking questions but she didn't want to give him the pleasure of doing so.
She was hot. And dirty. And thirsty, and achy, and very much irritated at the revolutionists who were trying to overthrow the President - the Presidentesse - by threatening her court because she wasn't of the right, pure-blooded heritage in their opinion.
Nasty business, xenophobia was.
Rose was distracted from her unhappy thoughts by the Doctor's exaggerated exhale.
"The Tardis, Rose," now it was him who was talking to her as if she was dense. "Methinks I've acquired a thing or two after banging around the universe for nine hundred years, don't you think?"
Rose decided not to answer him because he was acting all superior again.
The Doctor sniffed, then pointed his index finger at her somewhat threateningly.
Rose batted at it with a huff.
"You, go with the assistants. They've offered us a room. And for Rassilon's sake, eat something and have a kip - I won't have you on a mission while you're all," he paused, waving his hands uncertainly, looking for the suitable word, "all bitey and snarky. You'll be of no use at the ball."
Rose opened her mouth, insulted.
"Oi!" she let out indignantly and cuffed him in the shoulder. "You don't get to call me snarky after landing us in the middle of a revolution with no opportunity for sleeping!" The Doctor scoffed, then pouted dramatically, rubbing his shoulder.
The Doctor placed his hands on Rose's shoulders and turned her around bodily, pushing her towards one of the Presidentesse's assistants.
"Ktktli, would you mind escorting Rose to our room? I've gotta check our ship's systems, if you understand what I mean," he spoke to the woman. Ktktli's three eyes widened in surprise, but then she seemed to follow the Doctor's words, and she nodded quickly.
The gills around her neck and collarbones fluttered slightly as she bowed to the Doctor and offered her hand to Rose, ushering her to the room. Rose smiled sheepishly at the assistant, a bit awkward about what eye on her face to look at, but followed without a fuss.
When she was about ten feet away from where the Doctor was standing, however, she turned around abruptly and stuck her tongue out to him.
She was rewarded with the Doctor's astonished expression that quickly turned into an irritated one, although Rose suspected that it was an act. He seemed to have been holding a smile back. "Yes, Rose, very mature of you!" he called behind her back. "Now go and have that nap, maybe you'll stop acting like a bleeding toddler!"
Rose followed the assistant around the corner and didn't deign him with an answer.
Ktktli assured Rose that the food on the tray that was brought into the room by a bug-looking alien contained only the products suitable for humans to eat.
Rose trusted the woman, not surprised at all that the palace cooks knew exactly what was safe for humans and humanoids to consume and had it ready for her on such a short notice.
She was tired, though, and truth be told, wouldn't have cared about the safety of food then. Rose was past the stage of being overwhelmed by the alien realities the Doctor and her visited, and she certainly was not in the mood for asking follow-up questions.
So she ate the lovely arranged meal, hummed, surprised at some of the delicious-tasting fruit and bread-like rolls. Afterwards, she quickly rinsed the grime and the dust away from her body in the clean but minimally decorated en-suite and wished for her preferred shampoo and hair conditioner to wash her hair, too. Some bottles were standing on the metal shelves next to the shower cubicle, and even though the Tardis translated everything, there were none of the bottles containing 'hair care'. Rose sighed. Her hair wasn't greasy yet, and she needed to wash it less often right after bleaching the roots, which her mother did last week, but she wanted to freshen her hair after the couple of days she had.
Rose longed for washing the dust and the powder smell from her hair, but combing with a packaged brush on the shelves seemed to be the only option available.
She towelled herself off quickly then washed her knickers with jello-like soap and left them to try next on the heater next to the window. Rose chuckled at the idea that some things seemed to be universal around time and space. She only hoped that Ktktli wouldn't find her underwear display offensive and thanked the room providers for a stack of clean, if personality-lacking sets of pyjamas underneath the sink. Her own thoughts were interrupted with a jaw-cracking yawn.
Rose crawled into a surprisingly spacious and lushly decorated bed, settled under the heavy, flower-smelling covers and was out like a light.
Rose was brusquely startled awake by the door slamming open.
"You're still asleep?" the Doctor's unmistakably astonished and judgy voice questioned from somewhere in the room. "It's been seven hours, you lazy ape, and you're still sleeping? I'm really starting to wonder why I bother with humans as companions, Rose. Rather high-maintenance, you lot are. You have to eat regularly, use the loo several times a day, sleep at least six hours out of twenty-four, you get sick easily, and your part of humanity also needs to take it easy every 23 to 35 days or so," the Doctor listed her species' downfalls as he plonked onto her bed inelegantly. Rose smacked her lips (she wished she could smack the Doctor) and squinted at him. He looked disturbingly out of place in the sparsely decorated but unmistakably domestic lodgings complete with stripe-patterned covers and dark blue curtains.
And while the Doctor was sitting there, looking out of place, he was also looking at her cheerfully displayed knickers on the radiator.
Rose couldn't quite decipher the expression on his face. It was a peculiar mix of disbelief, curiosity and mild disapproval.
Rose scrunched her face, burning from embarrassment.
"Do you own anything that isn't pink? Rassilon's seal! How can you be so obsessed with one colour with the million others out there, and to choose the pink one at that!" the Doctor wondered.
"Oi!" Rose blew up and shoved him off the bed, hard. He didn't move an inch but looked at her as if he was surprised by her suddenly violent behaviour.
Alien git.
"What do you know about different colours? I haven't seen you in anything but this jacket! And we've been travelling for how long?" Rose demanded hotly.
The Doctor had the nerve to look insulted. "Love this jacket, me. Fond of it. It's all rage in the year 4580, I'll let you know. The return of the antique fashions!" he defended himself and his beloved jacket, actually stroking the edge of his sleeve softly.
Rose was mildly touched by the vision. She wasn't used to the Doctor explaining his personal choices and she was thrown out of the loop by the Doctor's appearance in her room and his exposed vulnerability. Still, he was the first who started the whole conversation, and those were her favourite knickers out of the whole heart-patterned set, and if he had problems with it…well, he'd better suck it up and don't judge her objects of comfort.
No matter how pink, girly and teenage-looking they were.
"You don't offend mine, I won't offend yours," she sniffed as she set out a piece offering, expecting the Doctor to accept it.
His ears and cheeks seemed strangely pink. If Rose didn't know better, she would have thought that he was blushing. But it was impossible, she reasoned with herself. The Doctor wasn't a human male, and he wasn't interested in her underthings, and he'd never ever turn pink over something as silly as her heart-dotted knickers on the heater.
Rose groaned inwardly. She should have just left them in the bathroom and attempted to dry them with a blow-dryer that she had only noticed now next to the small vanity on the other side of the bed.
Stupid.
As stupid as being unnecessarily awkward and bothered by sitting on the same bed with the Doctor, knickerless.
Rose felt her own face go red then, and she rolled her eyes at her overexcited imagination and body. It's been so bloody long for her, and the Doctor was so bloody attractive, so big, and dark, and dangerous, and deliciously protective, older and oh-so-forbidden-fruit-like, and if only she could bite into that place between his neck and his shoulders, tasting his alien skin…
"Rose? Rose! Have you fallen asleep again? Congratulations, you've mastered the skill of sleeping with your eyes open. Dead useful, that," the Doctor's disapproving voice returned Rose back to her predicament.
Right.
The morning. The ball. The mission.
Rose rolled her eyes and tsked, going for the insulted and not embarrassed look (God, she hoped the Doctor didn't notice her waver just then). She pushed him with her foot again for good measure, eliciting a displeased 'oi!' from the Doctor, then walked proudly to the heater and snatched the offending object off it and stomped to the en-suite wordlessly.
Rose closed the door with just a tad too much force.
She didn't see the Doctor wince and cringe at his insensitivity.
He should have known better than to make fun of Rose.
The Doctor would go without eating bananas for half an Earth's year before admitting that Rose's pink, lacy, heart-patterned knickers were lovely.
About an hour later, after a somewhat bland but passable breakfast in the Doctor's company, Rose was offered a spa session in the Presidentesse's wing of the building. Rose agreed with great enthusiasm, anticipating a good pampering and an opportunity to wash her hair before the evening mission at the ball. She trusted the Doctor's judgement, she honestly did. Rose believed in the Tardis's capabilities to calibrate the wiring equipment, too, but a tiny, experienced part of her brain was tingling with worry.
Usually when things were running smoothly it meant nothing but trouble.
Still, she banished the worrying thoughts and followed Ktktli to the spa. Rose waved at the Doctor playfully before leaving their room. He looked at her sulkily from under his eyebrows, but Rose only gave him a radiant smile before leaving him to his own devices.
She wondered if she'd get to wear a pretty dress for the evening. Sure, they weren't going there for entertainment but they had to mingle, didn't they? Maybe an opportunity to play dress up would present itself…it's not like the Doctor was the dancing and socialising kind of bloke, and they rarely stopped for balls and concerts specifically. Most of the time if there was an event that included dancing or lots of idle talking Rose had to crank up her charms to full power, asking the Doctor to please stay behind and spend some time having fun.
Well, for her to have fun and for him to prop up the walls, looking at his wristwatch and sighing impatiently when he thought she wasn't looking at him.
The Doctor would plaster a smile on for her sake, of course, but Rose would see through his act and shake her head at his antics.
He possessed a charming, magnetic personality that made men and women and all those in-between form a circle around him, searching his company, listening to whatever he had to say, be it a few short, gruff lines or a full-blown lecture about some topic. People seemed to be drawn to him despite his dark, aloof appearance, and although Rose was sometimes jealous of those people, she could understand them.
Rose was pulled into the Doctor's orbit, too, and she had been following him around for months.
She only hoped that the day of her not being his satellite wouldn't come any time soon.
She couldn't bear thoughts about not being in his presence.
Rose didn't dare to imagine the day she'd fall off the orbit only to be left spinning around the Universe alone, Doctor-less.
After two hours spent at the luxurious spa, Rose wondered why she had any anxieties and intrusive thoughts firsthand. A massage session along with a long soak in a scented bath left Rose feeling blissfully mellow and let the worries about the upcoming event dissipate.
She was finally able to have her hair washed. Rose protested initially, telling the woman who worked at the spa that there was no need, that she could wash her hair herself. The four-eyed, green-haired spa worker clucked her tongue at Rose's protests and told her that there was no way the Presidentesse's hospitality would be shown by half.
The palace had a reputation to uphold, after all.
Rose made another half-hearted protest but secretly she wanted someone to wash her hair. Her mother did so when Rose was a child and nowadays, too, although it was now an awkward affair over the sink, washing the hair dye out.
She sighed and nodded at Lwee, who smiled, satisfied at winning Rose's agreement.
Rose hoped that Lwee was paid handsomely for her work. She was bloody brilliant with her hands, first treating Rose to a massage that made her feel like she was walking on clouds, then nearly hypnotising her while washing her hair.
Rose wasn't sure how she'd move from the bath and start getting ready for the ball…er, the mission.
That sobered her up a bit.
Rose thanked Lwee profusely after the spa treatment that ended in Rose being seated next to a mirror that was coated in rainbow-like stains. It reminded Rose of the spring puddles of water stained with gasoline.
A piece of home, so far away…
In the end, Lwee had also done Rose's hair in a simple twist. The hairstyle wasn't an overly elaborate one (certainly nothing like in Victorian England), but it looked chic and suited Rose's face shape. One strand of hair at her left side of the face was left dangling, curled into a loose ringlet, adding some playfulness to the strict hairstyle.
It was a shame that no one used make-up on that continent. Not even kohl, not even berry juice for blush or lipstick was available, let alone any professional make-up that was popular in Rose's time.
She felt somewhat unsafe, vulnerable, without her favourite Maybelline Dream Matte mousse foundation and Great Lash mascara, and she felt positively lost without her Lancome Juicy Tube lipgloss.
Oh, how great it was to treat herself to something posh and not mass-market, Rose remembered with a smile. She never really told Jackie how much that tube of lip gloss cost, afraid of her mother having a fit and accusing Rose of having 'air and graces.'
Working in 'Henrik's' was making Rose's head too big already in Jackie's opinion, and that fateful Lancome lip gloss would 'prove' her mother's point.
So, Rose stayed silent on the matter.
Now, however, her face felt disturbingly bare, unprotected.
The air in the palace was a tad too dry for Rose's liking but Ktktli and Lwee seemed comfortable and unbothered by it.
Rose sighed. Another human fault to add to the Doctor's list: sensitivity to changes in the environment.
Rose looked at herself in the mirror and cheered herself up with a smile. There was no need to dwell on unhappy thoughts. She had a ball and a mission to attend to tonight, and she'd be damned if she ruined her mood with her own depressive thoughts.
Lwee chose that moment to enter the small room adjacent to the spa. Then Rose saw what Lwee was holding in her hands. Her feet moved on their own accord. The gown on the hanger was luxurious, and although Rose felt herself too poor and lowly to ever wear such a dress, she desperately wished to try it on.
Lwee's eyes narrowed merrily when she smiled knowingly at Rose's reaction. She knew the girl would love the dress.
And the girl's partner, that Doctor man, too.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Lwee asked Rose and shepherded her to the mirror. "Let me help you into the dress. There's a bit of the lacing on the back but it shouldn't be uncomfortable." Rose hesitated. Would the dress look good on her? She was in a good physical form, true, but not exactly suitable for a dress like that. She wondered if she'd have to hold her belly the whole evening…subconsciously, Rose's hands went to her stomach.
Lwee tsked loudly when she realised what Rose's lingering hesitation was about.
"Don't worry, Rose. The dress' bodice is stiff enough for you to be comfortable and extremely beautiful at the same time. Come on, come on!" She urged Rose to take off the robe and get into a new set of neutral coloured knickers (Rose really would have preferred the support and luck of her own heart-patterned ones) and started lacing the dress.
Just as Lwee promised, the dress clung onto Rose's body, highlighting her hips and cleavage attractively while also supporting her breasts and her stomach comfortably.
The hundreds of rhinestones shimmered enticingly in the diluted light of the room whenever Rose moved slightly, and despite her worries about her skin tone and her lack of make-up, the shade of the dress didn't water her appearance down.
On the contrary, it added a warm, ethereal glow to her reflection in the mirror.
Ktktli chose that moment to enter the room and announce that the ball was soon to be starting and that the Doctor was sending his impatience for Rose's presence.
"I must say, Rose," Ktktli mused, "the Doctor will forget about the wires and headpieces the moment he sees you. You were pretty before, of course, but this dress truly brings your beauty out. You look radiant!"
Rose coloured under a sudden stream of compliments from both of the women. Travelling with the Doctor, she wasn't accustomed to being praised for her appearance, and there weren't many chances to get poshed up while travelling anyway, so Rose forgot about how nice it felt to receive a few pretty words about her appearance.
Getting dressed up in an elegant frock was a nice break from the routine of baggy jeans, oversized t-shirts and well-worn hoodies, Rose noticed.
Not that the Doctor would notice, of course, Rose thought as her shoulders dropped with realisation.
Rose gave Lwee and Ktktli a wane smile, thanking them shyly. Ktktli pushed a small red velvet box into Rose's hands.
"A compliment from the Presidentesse," she explained. "Presidentesse Trimeni passed these to you as a sign of gratitude for agreeing to help. She'd be honoured to see you wearing these at the ball tonight."
Rose was at a loss of words. She hesitated a moment before she opened the box, gasping in wonder at its contents.
Placed precariously on a velvet cushion was a pair of stud earrings that shone like stars in the half-lit room they were standing in. Rose thought that they would blind anyone with their brilliance in daylight or candlelight.
"These are gorgeous," Rose said, her voice breaking slightly from shock. "I'm not sure I can accept them, though, they are way too precious."
Lwee clucked her tongue impatiently.
"Nonsense! 'Too precious,' she says. You are our honoured guest and the Presidentesse's helper, and you will wear these. Sit, sit," Lwee pushed Rose onto the chair next to the vanity and quickly put the earrings in Rose's ears.
Rose had to admit to herself that she wasn't looking too bad without her make-up. She still was feeling insecure and disarmed, but the combination of the wonderful dress, the hairstyle and the jewellery made Rose look quite appealing.
Even if only for a human.
As if summoned by her thoughts, the Doctor said from behind the closed door.
"She's been there for hours! Rose! Come on, you lazy ape, enough lollygagging, we have a coup to prevent!" Rose chuckled at the Doctor's whining voice. It was so clear that he wasn't expecting her to take this much time preparing for the dance.
"Oi! Whom are you calling lazy?" Rose shouted with mock indignation.
She could feel the Doctor's impatience through the door.
"If you don't come out this instant, I will overthrow the revolutionists alone."
Rose scoffed. She knew it was an empty threat, and the Doctor was aware of that, too.
He'd never leave her behind on an adventure.
"Keep your pants on, I'm done. Gosh, you're such a three-year-old sometimes!"
Now it was the Doctor's turn to exclaim indignantly.
Ktktli said nothing but was staring at the door with apprehension, anticipating the Doctor's next move while Lwee moved across the room to let the Doctor in.
Rose chose that moment to stand up and turn towards the entrance.
The Doctor marched in the room like a man on a mission only to stop three steps in when he saw Rose.
Shivers broke over her skin when she felt rather than saw the Doctor's eyes looking her up and down, taking her in. Rose could swear that time slowed down at that moment, it was as if she was on the Estates again on that fateful April day. It was as if the Doctor was holding her palms in his bigger ones, again, rambling on about the Earth and them falling through time and space…
Only this time it wasn't the shivers of excitement that were pricking her skin.
These were the shivers of pleasure. His stare went from stunned to lustful in the span of 0.2 seconds, and she felt her body react to the dark, barely held desire in the time lord's eyes.
Good thing the bodice of the dress was made of solid material underneath the scatters of rhinestones.
Rose decided to torture the Doctor a bit by feigning cluelessness.
"Doctor! How's the dress, then? Not exactly my usual style but I have to say it's a beautiful one!" She took the train of the dress into one hand and did a playful twirl, giving the Doctor the sight of her bare back and tightly-wrapped hips as she did that.
She turned back to face him just in time to see him gulping nervously.
"Yes!" was his rushed, husky reply.
Rose giggled. "Yes, what?"
The Doctor shook his head as if he was trying to get rid of some annoying thoughts that were bothering him. Rose fancied that she knew for sure what the thoughts were about.
"Yes to the dress. It's a beautiful one. You're beautiful, full stop," he spoke in a rushed manner, stumbling over words, but he spoke from his heart.
Rose didn't think she'd ever seen the Doctor act so endearingly. Stupid lump. Worse than all human males sometimes, he was.
She graced him with a wide smile, fluttering her lashes and looking down for a moment coquettishly.
The Doctor just stood there, unmoving, his eyes glued to the delicate shine of the rhinestones on the bodice. The light danced over the golden fabric of the dress whenever Rose breathed in or out, and the diamonds were shimmering like frothy wave tops at full moon during the high tide.
The dress hugged Rose's body tightly from her clavicles and all the way to her mid-thighs where it widened into a full skirt with a train. The off-shoulder bodice was embroidered with rhinestones that dispersed close to Rose's belly and appeared again on the lower parts of the skirt in swirly designs.
The delicate, silk-like fabric of the dress glowed on its own, creating a soft, cloud-like golden aura around Rose while the rhinestones sparkled with her every movement, making her look like a goddess from Greek myths.
The Doctor closed his eyes and tsked quietly to himself.
He was such a fool in love, it was turning him into a bleeding poet.
Nevertheless, Rose looked beautiful, and he needed her to know that there were no qualifications for her beauty.
She was beautiful. He loved her.
What else was new?
"What?"
"How do you mean, 'one of us has to go blindfolded'?"
"We didn't agree to that. It undermines the whole process."
Presidentesse Trimeni folded her four hands in front of her in a polite, placating gesture when she heard the stream of protests from her guests. The guests who were also the main characters in the story of taking her vote-decided place as the continent's president.
She sincerely wished that she didn't have to throw more complications at them. The Doctor and Rose agreed to help her prove the existence of the hidden plot against her presidency, and they'd be risking their lives that evening to gather the necessary information for other authorities to see it. She couldn't trust her own advisors and the palace's residents, but she could seek help from the independent continent's guardians if she had sound evidence of the plot against her presidency.
And the strange Doctor man and his brave friend Rose were her last chance of ever surviving the next few days.
"I'm sorry. I wish it was optional. But such events take place twice a year at the palace, and it's the evening that everyone tries to get the invitation to," Presidentesse Trimeni apologised softly, two of her arms still clasped in front of her while two others fidgeted nervously with the tablet with the official documents she had to go through. "I know it makes one of you vulnerable and complicates the process, but you wouldn't be let into the ballroom otherwise."
Rose's initial shock at the terms of the ball dwindled a little at seeing the Presidentesse's guilty posture.
How awful it must have been to rely on strangers' help? Not only strangers, though, the Doctor and her were essentially alien to Trimeni, yet she had to trust them because she could barely trust anyone in the palace. Presidentesse confessed that the only people she could fully believe were her half-brother, Inglindo, Ktktli and Lwee.
Three people and the Doctor with Rose to depend on while fighting for one's life and legal right to rule the continent.
Rose took Trimeni's worried, resigned appearance in: her purple hair, while done in careful sort-of-braids, looked limp, and the wings that shocked Rose so much upon first seeing the Presidentesse, lost the last of their beautiful, pearl-like shimmer in the last few days after yet another failed assassination attempt.
Something inside of Rose's soul squeezed painfully. Such a lovely person, Trimeni was, truly caring about her people, about their equal station in the mostly humanoid-looking court and continent…and she was hunted by those who considered her appearance and her origins unsuitable and lacking for being a nation's ruler.
Rose closed her eyes and exhaled slowly.
They had to help her.
There was no way Rose would take the responsibility of being the Doctor's vision in circumstances like that. It was only strategically logical that he stayed as alert and prepared as possible that evening.
He was more experienced in the whole revolutions business, having dismantled a hundred or so revolutions and having helped as many to happen when necessary.
The Doctor would know what exactly to do once the plot was set into motion. He'd bloody know how to dance, too, properly, even if he wasn't a dancer by nature.
He'd analyse the situation and would be able to react accordingly in contrast to Rose. She was good at running, sure, and wasn't exactly useless at face-to-face fighting either (even if it was 'chaotic and entirely girly' per Doctor's words), but she wasn't good enough for getting away with toppling a coup, leading the Doctor while he'd be blind and dancing in a pretty dress.
Rose glanced at the Doctor. He, in turn, was looking at her inquisitively, his baby blue eyes searching, awaiting her reply. Her heart swooped and made a funny twist in her chest when she realised that the ball was in her court.
She turned to him, took his hand that he accepted readily and gave him a cheerful smile.
Then, she looked back at Trimeni and said with a resolute nod of her head.
"I'll do it."