Who Did You Sleep... Dine With Yesterday?
All Disclaimers in first chapter.
TARDJS speech is in italics.
Last Time: The Doctor left Rose and Jack at the Powell Estates and went to visit an old friend to arrange Rose's perfect first date.
Not for the first tine, Rose wanted to smack the Doctor. He'd come back to her Mom's flat nervous and giddy, a rare, bizarre combination even for him. When she'd tried to pull him aside and ask for an explanation he'd told her that she didn't need to worry and that everything was fantastic. It wasn't his answer that worried as much as the way he'd said it. The lost time she'd heard him say anything was fantastic in that tone he'd taken the TARDIS to the planet Norwegianblu where the three of them had encountered an alien creature that had a fondness for humans… Rather had a fondness for eating humans. She didn't think the Doctor was planning on taking them back to Norwegianblu for an encore with the not so purple people eater but couldn't help wondering if what he had planned was going to end up being worse.
Rose wanted to talk to Jack. Usually he was good at helping her figure things out with the Doctor. He may not have been around the Doctor as long as she had but Jack had a knack for reading people that she didn't fully possess. While she wasn't sure that Jack was aware of everything that had gone on between the Doctor and herself he knew enough to be her confidant. Except now, Jack was spending all his time talking with the Doctor and acting like he too was in on this fantastic idea that the Doctor had.
The new situation wasn't all that bad though, Rose realized. After the day Jack had witnessed the Doctor kissing her goodbye before taking her to her Mom's for a visit the Doctor kissed her more often. In the morning, he'd kiss her in greeting; at night he'd kiss her before she went to bed. Bed, at least, where she now slept was another big change.
When they had come back from her Mom's flat Rose had automatically gone to her room to put away some clothes that her mother had insisted that she take with her, It was something she'd done a handful of times and didn't think much about it except this time. The only reason she was thinking about it this time was because her door was gone.
At first Rose thoughts she'd gone down the wrong hallway to get to her room. So she decided to retrace her steps from the control room and try again but once again she ended up in the same place. That's when she realized the TARDIS must be hiding her door. but the question was why? Rose knew the TARDIS had occasionally done the same thing to the Doctor or Jack when they'd done something to upset the old girl but Rose couldn't think of anything she had done to upset the TARDIS.
"What's going on?" Rose asked not really sure she was going to get an answer.
"I did some redecorating. Go down the hall and turn right. Open the first door you find." A soft voice almost musical, seemed to fill the air around Rose.
Rose was momentarily surprised at the sound of the voice but quickly smiled as she realized who had to be speaking to her.
"Ta." Rose responded giving the wall a pat before following the TARDIS' directions.
The room she found wasn't one Rose had ever seen before. It had a new feel to it. It felt as if the TARDIS hadn't simply redecorated the room but that she'd created it. The room was larger than her original room on the TARDIS. The wall closest to her seemed to be one long, continuous closet. The wall on the other side of the room had wide windows that showed the view of the stars she had become accustomed to seeing on her travels with the Doctor on one side and the other side showed the faint stars she'd seen from the roof of the Powell Estates.
The bed caught her attention next. To say it was big would be an understatement. It was a huge four poster that looked as if it shouldn't have fit in the room but did. It was the kind of bed she always associated with the rich and had secretly wanted for her own. The bed frame was made of wood, of that Rose was sure, but it was a darker wood than she'd ever seen on Earth and she doubted that darkness had been created by paint from the way the wood shone. When she touched it she was pleasantly surprised to find the wood was soft and very warm to her touch There were shapes carved into the wood that Rose recognized as being the same as some of the shapes on post it notes on the console. Not shapes, she mentally corrected herself symbols. The carvings on the bedposts were Gallifreyan symbols. The bed was covered in what her mother would call a country quilt in a riot of colors and on top of it lay pillows of every color and size. When Rose finally gave into temptation and sat down on the bed she couldn't stop her gasp of pleasure. The mattress was soft, downy and absolutely perfect.
"Do you like it?" The TARDIS asked sounding almost nervous.
"I love it." Rose said emphatically.
"Has he seen it yet?" Rose asked instinctively knowing that this room had been created for the Doctor and herself.
"No. I wanted to show you first."
"Thank you." Rose said once again touching a wall. She hadn't thought much about sharing a room with the Doctor even though she wanted to share his bed. Sharing a room seemed more intimate to her but also seemed right.