Chapter 8

After obtaining the very last articles of clothing to be purchased on their excursion, the Doctor and Rose returned to the eyewear shop to pick up the Doctor's prescription glasses and have them adjusted properly to his face. With the hybrid now more confident thanks to his ability to see better, they then went to pick up the last of their purchases, namely the Doctor's miscellaneous sundries.

As they were in the shop, it was obvious that the metacrisis was far more interested in hygiene products than in clothing as he meticulously went through any and every item that he believed he might use, smelling them and even tasting them to make sure that he got exactly what he wanted. He was blatantly pleased to find that he hadn't lost his ability to decipher various compositions with his taste buds. After a while, though, his face took on a sickly pale tint, causing Rose extreme concern.

"You okay?" she asked as he deposited a bottle of facial lotion in their shopping basket.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I feel nauseous and…" He paused, a grimace of distaste on his face. "Is that bile?" He swallowed tightly, his face growing pale as his discomfort grew.

From the color of his face and his words, Rose made the quick conclusion. Putting down the basket, she took his arm and hurriedly guided him to the men's room's handicap stall.

"What are we doing in here and why are you undressing me?" the Doctor questioned with a frown as she swiftly removed his long coat.

"You're about to be sick," she answered bluntly, taking his glasses from his face.

"Sick?"

"You're going to vomit." She hung up the coat on the hook provided in the stall, tucking the glasses in one of the pockets.

"Rose, I don't vo… Oh, gawd!" he suddenly exclaimed, rushing to the toilet to do exactly as his friend predicted. A small part of his mind was grateful for Rose's foresight in taking the items from him to prevent them from getting in the way. However, that part was completely overwhelmed by the intense panic that swept through him like a raging river, threatening to drown him in its waves. This action is wrong! It's horribly wrong! Any second now, I'm going to expel my internal organs! he mentally shouted, wishing that he could express his sentiments verbally if it weren't for the fact that his mouth and lungs were already preoccupied.

After expelling all the toxins he'd obviously ingested – and some of his dinner, he noted with disconcertion – he dropped to the floor beside the toilet, hyperventilating against the panic that was still flooding him. "Oh, gawd, Rose. I'm dying," he whispered, desperation in his quaking voice.

"You're not dying, Doctor. You just threw up. It happens." She reached over and flushed the toilet to get rid of the waste.

"It doesn't happen to me," he told her bluntly.

She looked at him carefully before realizing exactly what he was saying. "You mean… you've never vomited before?" Seeing the confirmation in his eyes, she quickly left his side for a minute, returning with a couple of wet hand towels. Slowly and with great attention, she knelt beside him, cleaning away a small amount of excess sick from his lips with one of the towels before using the other to wipe his face. She remembered when she was little how her mum would do the same for her whenever she threw up and how the action always calmed her. "No wonder you were panicking."

"I wasn't panicking," he protested despite allowing Rose to tend to him. "I was…" He swallowed, grimacing at the taste in his mouth. "Oh, that's vile! Humans do this all the time! Some of you even do it deliberately! How do you put up with it? Why would anyone want to do it? It's horrible!"

"It'll pass," she assured him, standing to place the used cloth towels in the appropriate reclamation bin.

"I suppose," he said, his voice quaking slightly. "It's just… why didn't my tra'eher kick in?" A moment later, he groaned with realization. "I don't have one."

"It's okay," she assured, returning to his side. She rubbed his arms gently. "Now, what's a tra-ayer?"

"Tra'eher," he corrected. "It's an organ Time Lords have. After the liver cleans the blood, the toxins are sent to the tra'eher where they are stored until they can be properly expelled from the body either through perspiration or bodily waste via the kidneys. If a toxin is too dangerous for the body, a Time Lord has to detox himself or suffer fatal consequences. Did that fairly recently, actually. Someone tried to poison me with cyanide." He looked at her pointedly. "I don't need to throw up to expel toxins. Well, I didn't have to before." He took a shaky breath. "Blimey, that's extremely disconcerting."

She took a slow breath before extending her hand. "Let's go. I think we're both done with the shopping thing for today."

"Yeah," came the soft response as he took her hand and stood up, accepting his long coat from her. He stopped at the sink for a moment to rinse out his mouth before following her out of the men's room.

"You know what? I don't feel like going back to the mansion, do you?" Seeing the frown on his face, she continued. "Let's go to my place. I figure you would rather not put up with my mum asking how the shopping trip went. Besides, it'll give you a chance to clean up a bit, make yourself feel a little better."

He nodded in agreement before blinking. "You have a place?"

She grinned at his question. "Yeah. Don't stay there often, mostly when it's just really late and I don't want to drive all the way back to the mansion. Don't have much there either, just a few furnishings. Nothing in the fridge. Dad bought it for me when I was working on the Dimensional Cannon and it was obvious that I wouldn't be home on a regular basis. So, do you want to go there or should we go to the mansion?"

He seemed to think about it for a moment before replying. "Your place," he decided. He gave her a grin. "I want to see how Rose Tyler lives."

She returned the smile. "Okay. Let me just pay for our purchases and I'll meet you outside."

The Doctor agreed amicably and headed outside, entertaining himself by people watching as he waited. A few minutes later, Rose stepped out of the shop and, reaching in to one of the bags, pulled out a package of breath mints and handed them to him. He accepted them gratefully, putting a mint in his mouth to eliminate the aftertaste still there. Then, getting into the passenger's side, he waited patiently while Rose put her purchases in the back before the two headed for her domicile.

Arriving at the building where Rose's flat was, they pulled into a parking garage where an average height demure gentleman in a uniform greeted her with a smile. "Good evening, Miss Tyler."

"Hey, Reggie," she returned the smile as she stepped out of the car and handed over the keys to him as well as ten pounds; she didn't hesitate to tip well now that she had money. "Take care of this for me, will you?"

"Certainly, Miss Tyler. Anything else I can do for you?"

"Have all the bags sent up to my place," she decided. "Thanks," she added as she guided the Doctor into the building.

"Posh place," the hybrid commented. "I think the garage attendant fancies you."

"Well, I am the most eligible bachelorette in England. At least, that's what the tabloids say," she responded as she led him to the nearest lift.

The lift opened into a hallway with two doors each on opposite walls. Rose pulled out a key and went to the first door on the left side of the hall, unlocking it. She allowed him to enter before following him, closing and locking the door behind them.

The Doctor immediately walked around the single-level condominium with curiosity. It was a spacious and barren place, indicating exactly what Rose had said was true; she really didn't use it for living, just for sleeping and possibly a little work-related activity. The carpet was tan in color and the walls were eggshell white. Aside from a small dining table with four chairs and a couch in the living room there were no furnishings, making the home seem abandoned. A quick look around told the Doctor that the main living area was about seven hundred square feet, giving him an idea of how large the condo really was. There were two doors on the left side of the living area – bedrooms, he supposed - and a kitchen just opposite that was spacious enough for three people to move around in without bumping into each other. On the far side of the main room, directly across from the front door, there was a large balcony that ran along the side of the building, bringing enormous amount of light into the abode. It was obvious that the condominium took up a good fourth of the floor.

"This place is huge," he commented.

"A bit too big, in my opinion," Rose replied as she went to the kitchen to confirm the lack of anything edible there. "But what could I do? Dad bought it without telling me and insisted that I have it. I had to force him to let me pay the bills on it. Don't like having everything just given to me when I can earn it."

He grinned at her words. "My Rose," he said, as if just her name was a compliment.

She smiled in return and walked back over to him to take his hand. With her free hand, she gestured to the left side of the room. "Spare bedroom is on the left. Nothing in it, though. Just basic storage. Master bedroom to the right. Both have their own attached bathrooms so take your pick if you want to wash up. I would suggest the master bathroom as it actually has towels, shampoo, etc. I think we should look online for furniture because, well, as you can see I don't really have any to speak of and I figure you'd like a bed to sleep on…"

"Rose…" he interrupted, remembering how she had Reggie bring all that they had just purchased that day up to the condo. "Are you… asking me to move in with you?"

She hesitated at his question, avoiding his eyes. "Well, I just figured that you need someplace to stay and I don't think that you want to live in the mansion…" She was interrupted when masculine lips pressed against hers.

Rose melted into the kiss, enjoying the taste and texture as the two of them wrapped their arms around each other. After a long moment, they separated and looked into each other's eyes. Then, abruptly, Rose quickly took a step back from him, surprise and uncertainty on her face. Even though she had kissed this man before, she still wasn't sure who he was and him kissing her had only fueled the confusion she was feeling.

"Am I being too forward?" came the concerned question from the hybrid.

"A bit, yeah," Rose replied, her tone showing how shocked she had been by his actions.

"Well, you're the one who snogged me on that beach," he pointed out. "And you didn't seem to mind me reciprocating just now."

She swallowed, taking another step away from him. "Doctor…" She gave a slight huff as if trying to decide whether to laugh or cry. "I don't even really know you!"

He looked at her as if she had delivered a killing blow to his heart. "I'm the Doctor," he protested.

"But you're not!" Seeing the effect her words had on him, she quickly tried to backtrack and clarify. "I mean, you are but you're different. You're hyperactive like the Doctor and you still talk a hundred miles a minute. You look like him, think like him, sound like him… but the Doctor didn't say those words on the beach and you just kissed me and the Doctor would never have done that…"

"I've always wanted to."

She took a calming breath to refocus her thoughts. "I just think that we need to take this slow, yeah? If we actually sleep together, I don't want to be just some distraction from these withdrawals and I want to actually know who it is that I'm with. I want it to be meaningful. I've already been hurt one too many times in the past…"

"I know," the Doctor interrupted, a sad expression on his face. "Jimmy Stone."

She didn't respond for a long moment. "Yeah," she finally said, the vehemence in her voice having dropped with his interruption. She'd almost forgotten that she'd told the Doctor about the rock band leader and ex-fiancé who'd turned her life upside down, convinced her to drop out of school, and abused her before she finally got enough courage to refuse to be his punching bag anymore.

He nodded gently, understanding on his face. "Neither of us are the same people we were before. We've both grown, had experiences that shaped us into who we are now. I may be the Doctor but I'm no longer the Doctor who took you traveling through the stars anymore than you are the teenage girl I showed the universe to. And I'm already discovering that there's more of Donna in me than I had originally thought and that is something that we are both going to have to deal with. You're right. The Doctor wouldn't have just outright kissed you like I just did or spoken those words on the beach. Donna would have. Well… if you were a man, that is. And I can already see differences between who you were then and who you are now. You're a woman now." He smiled at her. "A brilliant, fantastic, strong woman. But I don't know the woman standing in front of me as well as I should. So… you're right. We should wait. Get to know each other again." He gave her a small smile. "But I am still the Doctor even if I am perfectly half human. And I love you. I always will. And when you are ready, I will be here."

She didn't say anything to his words, her eyes showing that she was thinking about all that had happened between them since they arrived in this parallel world. A moment later, she gently pushed him towards the master bedroom. "Go on and get cleaned up. There should be a spare toothbrush in there somewhere too."

"You just bought me a toothbrush," he pointed out.

"You aren't going to reuse a toothbrush after you were just sick," she replied, waving him to continue.

The Doctor shrugged slightly at her words, going into the master bedroom as instructed. A few minutes later, the sound of running water came through the doorway, telling Rose that he'd taken up the offer to clean up quite seriously as to even take a shower. She wondered slightly at that, given that the Time Lord didn't take many showers at all – couple of times a week or so, depending on the adventure they'd just run from. Did his taking a shower mean that this version of him was more of a neat freak than the original? He did, after all, have a shower that morning. Did he perspire a lot more? Was it his way of coping with tension, similar to how she took bubble baths for the same reason? It was just another thing that she didn't know about him.

And when she really thought about it, had she ever really known him, even the Time Lord version? She thought she did but now, with this half-human half-alien male in her life, she just wasn't sure what she knew about either of them. The only thing she did know was that, when she looked at the man currently in her shower, she remembered that moment on the beach when he leaned and whispered those three words into her ear, those words that made her react as she did, and she knew that she loved him. She just wasn't sure about spending the rest of her life with him.

The doorbell rang, bringing her out of her thoughts. Wiping her face to further clear her mind, she went over to the door and, peering through the eyehole, confirmed her suppositions of who was there. Opening the door, she allowed Reggie to bring his cart into her home.

"Can you leave the cart? Promise I'll bring it down later this evening." Gaining an assurance that it would be fine, she thanked him as he left.

Pulling the cart to the right, she opened a door and took it into what was obviously a good sized laundry room. Her pressing a button in the wall caused what looked like a recessed wardrobe to open up. She hung two of the suits on the bar provided, removing the plastic coverings and all tags from each item, making sure each piece of clothing was hanging separately – including two t-shirts and two full sets of underwear. She placed two sets of trainers on the bottom before closing the door and pressing three buttons to the right of it, causing a rush of air to sound through the room.

Turning to the washer, she loaded it with all the rest of the whites purchased, again making sure that all the tags were removed, before adding detergent and running the machine on the appropriate setting. The remaining clothing – which was quite a bit – she hung on the drying bar to the left of the appliances or placed on the floor just under the bar, again removing all tags and plastic covers and separating each article. The rest of the bags which contained the Doctor's toiletries were placed just inside the guest bedroom, to be sorted at a later time. Once the cart was empty, she pulled it back out of the room and to the front door, a reminder to fulfill her promise to return it to the ground floor.

The task done, she took a breath to listen to the sounds in the condominium, noting that the Doctor had obviously finished his shower. Smiling, she walked over to the master bedroom, thinking that the hybrid found the large robe hanging on the door and had put it on.

"You know, that is the most I've ever used the steam-clean…" she started before freezing in stunned silence at the sight before her.

The Doctor was seated cross-legged in the middle of her bed, his hands resting palms down on his knees, his eyes closed, and a calm expression on his face. What stunned her the most, however, was the obvious fact that he was completely naked.

"Whoa," she breathed out, the sound indicating that she found the sight more than a little distracting.

She'd never really paid attention the one previous time that she'd seen the Doctor naked. At the time, the Doctor was ill from having just regenerated. She and Mickey had been far too busy getting him into Howard's pajamas and tending to him for Rose to really notice. As for the times he was nearly naked during the various scans he'd endured while at Torchwood, she'd only been witness to two and was more interested in the tests results than his physique. Seeing him now, sitting there in the center of her bed, she couldn't help but compare him to some mythological god. Yes, he was thin, but he still had muscles, just enough to show just how strong he really was despite his apparent skinniness. His posture indicated flexibility that, at that moment, Rose really wanted to test. His chest hair was a light brown and was just the right amount, in her opinion – not too thick, not too thin. It stopped just above his waist but easily led her eyes further to the area that was blocked by her sight by his thin but athletic legs. Her mother's words from years ago – "What else does he have two of?" – came back undaunted, making her flush with embarrassment since she couldn't help but wonder exactly that as she looked at him.

"Whoa," she repeated before slowly backing out of the room, ignoring her urge to go run her hands over every inch of him. She was still staring at the open door when her cell phone rang.

It took four rings for Rose to finally answer, her mind still on unforgettable sight in her bedroom. "Hello."

"Rose! Sweetheart, I've been trying to reach you all day! Are you all right, love? How's the Doctor?" Jackie questioned on the other end of the line.

"Oh, better than I ever imagined," she said breathily.

Hearing the tone in her daughter's voice, Jackie smiled slightly. "Did I call at a bad time?"

"No!" Rose protested, quickly refocusing her mind away from the image of the Doctor meditating naked to the conversation with her mother. "No, of course not."

"Too bad," came the response. "I would have thought you two would be up to a little hanky panky by now."

"Mum!" She could feel her face flush again as she remembered having similar thoughts only moments before. "We agreed to wait until we got to know each other a little better."

"Yeah, well, the expression on his face every time he looks at you tells me that he'd rather sleep with you first."

"Mum…"

"I'm just saying…" she said, her tone indicating that she was letting the matter drop. "So, what have you two been doing all day? Pete told me that Dr. Sullivan released him from hospital this morning."

"Did some shopping," Rose replied. "Needed to get him some clothes and sundries. I'm cleaning a couple of his new suits and a load of whites while he meditates. At least, that's what I think he's doing."

"Told you that steam-clean would come in handy someday," Jackie replied. "A lot better than sending clothes out to the dry cleaners. You going to stay overnight there?"

"Where would the Doctor sleep?"

"Where do you think?"

"Mum, I told you…"

"Like you two never slept together before," Jackie interrupted.

"Not like that, we haven't! Sharing a bed and… that… are two totally different things."

"Well, I won't expect you tonight but you'd better have the Doctor call Pete when he's done meditating. He wants info so he can make his ID and start building up his history."

"We were talking about that earlier but he wasn't clear on that. I'll discuss it with him over dinner, yeah? And we'll tell you when we get back to the house." She paused slightly. "Or we'll call you."

"So… you are staying overnight."

She hesitated, thinking seriously about the possibility. "Maybe," she conceded. "Talk to you later. Love you."

Jackie returned the affectionate words before the two hung up.