Chapter 11 – Pizza With Cheesy Crust

"How are you?" Rose wondered a few hours later as she brought the Doctor a mid-afternoon snack in bed.

"I'm fine!" the Doctor insisted. "This is so unnecessary."

Rose grinned. "Well, you'd better stay here cos I'm not crossin' your Mum when it comes to you."

He rolled his eyes, taking one half of the sandwich and demolishing it in two bites. "I'm so bored. I should fix the TV in here."

Rose blinked. "We have a TV in here?"

"Yeah, I put it in a while ago. Doesn't work though."

"Fix it," Rose ordered instantly.

He looked at her, hand reaching down for the other half of the sandwich. "Does this mean I can get out of bed?"

"Fix it when you're better," she amended with a grin.

He sighed, and began work on the sandwich. She stared at him for a moment, just observing him as he gobbled it down it as quick as the first.

"Thanks," he said through a mouthful of sandwich. Then he realised she was staring at him. "What?"

She decided to just come straight out with it. "Don't s'pose you want to talk about your Dad?"

"Not really."

She just raised a smile at this. "Well, can't blame me for tryin'. When you're ready, yeah?"

But before he could reply, her phone rang. She rummaged in her pocket and brought it out.

Mum calling

She accepted it and held it to her ear, the Doctor staring at her enquiringly.

"Hi, Mum!" she said pointedly. The Doctor groaned and flopped back on the pillow, staring at the ceiling. She giggled at him, and then directed her attention to the phone again. "Sorry, what did you say? … Yeah, of course we were going to come and see you and Tony soon..."

The Doctor groaned again.

"No, Mum, we've just been busy... No, Alex is fine... Yeah, he's a lot better... Well, we've just had a bit of a weird week... The Doctor's Mum and Dad have turned up... Yes, he does have parents... No, they aren't green... Yeah, his Mum's really nice, his Dad's a bit severe, though... Sure, we'll bring them along..."

The Doctor shot up to sitting position, staring at her with wide eyes.

"Umm... Let me ask the Doctor," she said, and looked at him. "When can we go and see my Mum?"

"Did you just invite my parents along to Jackie's?" he asked in a terrified croak.

"He says how about tomorrow?" she said, completely ignoring him. "Yeah, he really wants to see you... He is ill, actually... Oh, you can't catch it... Mum, it's fine! It's the TARDIS, she's sick and that's affecting him... No, Mum, it's not contagious! Look, we'll see you tomorrow, yeah? About... What? Tonight? Let me ask the Doctor..." She looked at him again. "Do you wanna go tonight?"

"You know what, maybe I am really ill," the Doctor replied in a groan, hand on his forehead. "Oh, I'm so feverish. I feel really sick. I'm going to throw up, Rose! I can't feel my legs anymore! I'm so weak! My eyes! I'm blind! I'm BLIND! I think I'm hallucinating! ..." He reached out to an imaginary object just in front of him with a dazed expression. "Oh, I can see the light...!"

She sighed despairingly and looked away from him. "Yeah, he says tonight's fine."

"Rose!" the Doctor wailed.

"See you about five?... Yeah, we'll have pizza... Domino's is fine, Mum... I don't know if they're vegetarian!... It sounds fine... I don't care about a cheesy crust, Mum... Okay, yes, get the ones with the cheesy crust... Okay, bye Mum!... No, Mum... Mum... Mum... Mum, shut up... Mum... Oh, hello, Alex! Of course you can have Mummy's attention now!"

The Doctor watched her staring at an imaginary Alex in front of her, raising an eyebrow.

"Look, Mum, Alex wants me... Yeah, bye!" she finished, and hung up.

"You lied, you liar!" the Doctor surmised happily, pointing at her.

She stuck out her tongue. "Can you still see the light?"

He grinned back as she shoved her phone into her pocket.

"Mum's tonight at five," she said, leaning forward to kiss him. "Your parents are comin' and we're havin' pizza with cheesy crust."

"Delightful," the Doctor said with a sigh.

"Come on, you wanted a reason to get up, didn't you?"

"This is so domestic," the Doctor moaned.

"You live with your parents, you're married with two children and technically you have a job as a taxi driver," Rose pointed out.

"I have two alien parents who have returned from the dead, I'm married by gummy rings with two highly intelligent alien children... and I prefer the term 'liberator'," the Doctor said lamely.

Rose just giggled, getting out some clothes for him.

Suddenly the door crashed open and Leah came running in with her arms flailing screaming, "Mummy Daddy!" before jumping up onto the bed and grabbing the Doctor around his middle.

"Leah," he looked down at her, a little stunned by the surprise assault on his stomach. "What..."

"It's Floppy!" she squealed. "Floppy's alive!"

"... What?"

"Floppy talked!" she screamed, still holding him tightly. "Daddy, Floppy's alive!"

The Doctor glanced at Rose, frowning slightly. "Err... Well, what did she say?"

"She said hello Leah and I ran cause I was scared!"

"Well that doesn't sound scary to me," the Doctor replied. "In fact, hello Leah sounds pretty nice. You've got yourself a nice stuffed rabbit that says hello."

Leah stared at him with wide eyes. "But..."

The Doctor kissed her forehead. "Go say hello, back. Go on. It's really rude that you just ran out screaming."

She blinked slightly. "But..."

"Go on," the Doctor interrupted. "Go and say hello back."

"... Okay," Leah replied slowly, dropping down onto the floor and making out the door.

Rose looked at him. "Aren't you gonna check?"

The Doctor grinned at her. "What film were we watching the other day?"

"Child's Play..." Rose realised. "You reckon she saw a bit?"

"We were a little busy," the Doctor pointed out. "And remember when we watched the Narnia one and we kept finding her sitting in all the wardrobes with a blanket around her wherever we went for about three weeks?"

"Good point," Rose conceded. "And 101 Dalmatians when she covered herself in soot..."

"And we're never watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers ever again," the Doctor completed.

"That was only because you told her that the body snatchers were real and it was about their spawnin' time," she pointed out.

He grinned. "Yeah, it is, actually. Every 50 years."

She sighed in mock despair, dumping his clothes on the bed. "Get up and get dressed."

It was only ten to five but it was already extremely dark as the entire crowd made their way to Jackie's flat.

"And this is Rose's mother and brother, yes?" Penelope asked the Doctor.

"Yep," the Doctor replied, pushing Alex's pram. "Just going to say hi, let her see Leah and Alex, have some food, you know."

"You eat rather a lot, don't you?" Ulysses said suddenly, looking at the Doctor slightly cynically.

The Doctor fell silent, but Rose frowned.

"Yeah, we find it helps us keep alive, you know?" she replied, a little sarcastically.

Ulysses raised an eyebrow, but quietened all the same.

"Are we having pizza?" Leah wondered, clutching Rose's hand and looking up at her.

"Yep," Rose replied. "With cheesy crust."

"Is Tony gonna be there?"

"Yep."

"Oh."

"I know he's a little bit tedious but you know, putting up with annoyin' boys is what we Tylers do," Rose replied, grinning.

"Hey!" the Doctor squeaked as they reached the main road to cross to the flats.

"Is Floppy still talkin' to you?" Rose wondered to Leah, ignoring her husband.

Leah nodded happily. "We talked about our favourite puddings and I was gonna bring her but she said she'd rather have a nap cos she was a little tired."

The Doctor watched Rose as she nodded, as if that was perfectly justifiable before she checked the road. "So what's Floppy's favourite puddin'?"

He turned his attentions back to his mother when she suddenly spoke up in a nervous voice, "oh, I do hope she likes me."

"Mum, she'll like you," the Doctor assured her seriously. "Stop worrying."

"But I'm a worrier!" she insisted, smiling. "How are you feeling?" She pulled him to a stop and checked his forehead with her hand.

"Mum, really, I'm fine," he told her.

"You feel a little hot," she observed.

"Look, I'm just a bit feverish and got a tiny headache, honestly, I'm..."

He suddenly was interrupted by the sounds of screeching brakes, shattering the background noise of cars and people. His head snapped up and he instantly caught sight of a car absolutely careering down the street, the man at the wheel panicked, Rose and Leah in the middle of crossing the road...

In a flash he dived out and reached to grab them. He managed to grab Leah and he yanked her out of the car's path, falling backwards onto the concrete. There was a small 'thunk' underneath the screeching as the car swerved all over the road until it careered onto the pavement, narrowly missing several pedestrians before ploughing straight into the shop front of a closed takeaway, setting off the alarm.

Everyone on the street froze and gasped, poking each other's shoulders and pointing. And with good reason. Because as the Doctor could see, lying in the middle of the road, was his bonded partner, not moving an inch.

A/N: Splat.