He'd also heard the door and turned down the sound on the TV, making Jackie suspicious already.
"Rose, what's going on? Is Mickey here?"
"'Erm, no Mum, it's just a friend who popped in. I'll introduce you."
The Doctor sat up, thinking at least now, his former self might get a better reception from her, getting used to having Rose's friends around. He got up as Jackie got there before Rose did.
"Who are you then? Rose, you said last night you'd picked no-one up after I left you?"
"I didn't pick him up Mum, he's a friend of mine, John, this is my mum, Mum, this is John Smith, he's a teacher, from Chiswick."
"Is he now? Rose, he'd better not have been here all night?"
"Mum, he slept on the sofa, you know what taxis are like on New Years, he'd have had to wait for hours."
"Well what's he even doing here?"
"Ah, I can explain that Mrs Tyler. A pleasure to meet you, Rose has told me so much about you."
"She has? What's she told you then?"
"Yes, well, that you're her mother. Anyway, as for my being here, I lost my friends when they came to a party so I remembered Rose lived here and I rang the buzzer and she invited me up for coffee. She thought I'd had too much to drink really, she was just concerned at me going all that way back on my own. You raised her well."
"Yeah and I raised her not to pick up strangers but since you claim to know her? So, were you staying for lunch?"
"Yeah, he is Mum and the thing is, he's sort of looking for somewhere to stay for a few days, he and his flatmate fell out."
"Convenient. Where's your things then?"
"Ah, that's just it, I have to go get them later, I didn't fancy going back today. I don't mind sleeping on the sofa, if there are no objections?"
"Suppose not," Jackie grumbled.
How had she just agreed to that? She'd never even let Mickey stay after ten, she'd always frog-marched him to the front door at the first hint of the ten o'clock news.
Jackie shook her head and went to her bedroom, Rose having put the spare duvet back where it belonged earlier. As her bedroom door closed, the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief at making up such a story.
"Now ya gettin' it," Rose smiled. "See, it was easy but now you have to produce the goods so you need to go into town tomorrow and get a holdall and some more clothes, if she sees you wearing the same suit and shirt every day, she'll assume the worse."
"Got it, clothes shopping."
"Well not just clothes but personal stuff, you know?"
"Like what?"
"Blimey, how have you got by?"
If only she knew.
After their lunch, he wished he could have just stepped outside and gone to repair a few things in the Tardis but the ship was not there and he missed it. The familiar hum of the only possession he had, he was connected to it but now, there was nothing, only Rose. She could see he was getting restless, sitting in the chair pretending to watch a James bond film just after three.
"Wanna go for a walk?" she asked as Jackie went to make more tea.
He swore the inventors of adverts had shares in the popular brands of tea.
"Yeah, anywhere, this isn't easy for me, sitting still. Rose, I need to find a place of my own, not too far away from here. Can we go look in some shop windows at flats or rooms to let?"
"Yeah, okay let's have a drink first then we'll walk down to the parade of shops, the newsagents usually has ads in the window. Sure you want to stay around here though?"
"I have to stay near you, I don't want to lose contact with you."
"Aw, no fear of that, I wanna meet this man you say I'm gonna go off with but not a word to mum."
"What are you on about now Rose?" her mother asked as she opened the hatch.
"Nothing Mum, John and I were just talking, about him getting a flat around here."
"Where does he work then, Chiswick?"
"Actually no, I just quit before the holidays. I think my flat-mate thought I wouldn't be able to pay the rent so we fell out."
"Convenient you were in the neighbourhood for a party where Rose lives then?"
"Yes, very fortunate. Actually, Rose and I are going to take a walk and start looking for a place."
"Together?"
"Ah, well, she offered to help me, I was not inferring she would be sharing."
"Oh. Well it might do her some good, getting out on her own, why don't you think about it Rose?"
Rose could only stare at her mother. What had suddenly come over her? She had moaned and objected when she'd skipped school to go shack up with Jimmy Stone and look how that had turned out.
Rose just gave a weak smile and drank her tea, not daring to look her mother or the Doctor in the eye. How long had she supposed to have known him? This had all been thrown at her when she'd had a few drinks herself last night and maybe he hadn't been as drunk as he'd made himself out to be?
They finally walked down the steps into the courtyard and had the misfortune to bump into Mickey, who had been on his way to ask her why she'd skipped the party last night.
"I was just coming to see you. Where did you get to last night?"
"Blame Jimbo, we had to walk from the pub."
"Who's this then?"
"Oh, this is John, he was on his way to a party last night when I bumped into him."
"You two know each other?"
"Sort of. We were just going down the shops."
"So this is why you didn't turn up last night then? Had your own party?"
"Stop it Mickey, you and I aren't exclusive you know?"
The Doctor had always known he was the reason she was so distant with both himself and Mickey. She'd been caught between the two of them and had never been able to decide but now he knew, because he'd come along, if originally she'd gone back to Mickey, she wouldn't now. In these six months, she'd started dating Mickey again and then met his other self and just because she'd gone with him, she'd still not been able to distance herself from Mickey.
"I thought, you know, we could make up?"
"Not now Mickey, you prefer football over me and you know it."
She put her arm in the Doctor's, nudging him to play along. He didn't want to get involved, not then and not now but she was forcing his hand and he needed her to get out of this time. He could risk his other self believing him but it would be difficult because if she didn't go with him, everything would change.
So now, he was going to have to keep Mickey from making up with her by pretending to go along with her and he hoped she knew what she was doing.
"I don't need you Mickey. Yeah, John and me go back a bit but he lived too far away and he was with someone, they broke up, didn't you John?"
"What?"
He wasn't used to people just calling him John.
"Yeah, Reinette and me had a big row, a huge row when she caught me talking to Rose last week, see what you did Rose?"
"Sorry but she wasn't worth it, you were too good for her."
He knew Rose was no match for Madame Du Pompadour or Reinette as she was better known as. He'd felt bad how he treated Rose during that and had spent every moment afterwards trying to make up for it, only to have things get worse. Having Rose meet Sarah-Jane had been bad enough.
Mickey huffed and went back to his block of flats and Rose, despite knowing he had turned around, left her arm where it was. The Doctor had missed that, walking around and holding hands and laughing, often at the trouble they'd just got themselves out of. He was quite happy to go along with whatever she had in mind as long as it didn't get complicated but it had with Martha, despite her protests it was nothing.
Twenty minutes later, Rose still holding his arm, they were looking in the newsagents window at flats to rent.
"So if you go after one and they want references, you can use that psychic paper?"
"Well, for now, I only use it when I have to but I can get by. If I go after one, I can't pay right away."
"Can't you get some money?"
"Well, I can make a phone call tomorrow, there might be a way. Ever heard of UNIT?"
"No, who are they?"
"Ah, they're a military organisation that deal with the unexplained."
Rose began to giggle. "You mean like you?"
"That is not funny Rose. Yes, I've had dealings with them, I used to work with them, they might even give me a job but I never stayed all that long in one go. Six months is a bit much, I think I'd rather teach. I think they owe me for the last time I helped them. Can you make a note of that number?"
He could have written it down but he wanted to make her feel useful. Rose put the number and name into her phone, the one he remembered from when he'd first met her. Rose fished some change out of her pocket and went into the shop, she was surprised it was open but these days, not many places actually closed on New Years Day or even on Boxing Day any more.
Jackie was going out later, she was in her room doing her hair when Rose stood in the doorway.
"Mum, thanks for letting John stay. He's gonna ring somewhere tomorrow."
"Well I could hardly throw him out, could I? Just as long as it's only for a few days. So, is he just a friend then?"
"Would you get mad if I said no?"
Her mother stopped what she was doing. "Rose, he looks a lot older than you."
"I'm not bothered. Chill Mum, he's not that much older than Mickey."
"Well you seem infatuated with him, just be careful though."
"What time are ya gonna be back?"
"Don't know, don't wait up and I'll try not to wake his lordship in there and no sneaking him in your room."
"I know Mum. Anyway, we haven't talked about if I'm gonna move in with him yet. He has to get settled in his new job first so he might be here for a while."
Jackie went out and Rose found the Doctor watching the news. He hadn't been around at this time so he'd no idea what had been going on. All he remembered was realising something was happening and he'd decided to take a look, resulting in him meeting Rose in the store basement and changing both their lives.
Now he had to decide what to do, risk her still meeting him that day or have her life take an entirely different direction but there was one thing he did know, it was her destiny to be taken away from him and if he changed her destiny, he'd never meet Donna or Martha or would he?
Anyway, it wasn't up to him, it was now up to her how she wanted to spend the next six months or so, wondering what he'd meant and who she was going to meet. She was now expecting to meet him somehow, would she be disappointed and refuse to go with his past self? No, she wouldn't do that, Rose was full of adventure and she wouldn't turn him down but when the time came for him to go back to 2007, would he want to actually go, now he had Rose again?
Rose broke the silence, by turning off the TV.
"You're not gonna sit and watch the news all night are ya?"
"No, watch whatever you want."
"Let's put some music on and dance? Mum has this forties CD I like to listen to. Do you know how to dance?"
He thought back to the first time they had danced around the Tardis.
"Yes, I know how to dance, what makes you think I don't?"
Rose pulled him up from the chair then went to find the CD.
"If you're gonna pass as my boyfriend, you'd better start acting like it or my mum will really think there's something fishy going on."
"Is that where this is going? I have to pretend to be your boyfriend? What about Mickey?"
"We were on and off, he doesn't own me. So, think you're up to the task, well for the next six months, which is about average to keep a boyfriend."
"Really?" he asked as they waited for the first tune, trust it to be a slow one.
Three tunes later, Rose was leaning against him as another slow tune began.
"You could have gone out with your mother," he told her, though he was beginning to like this more than he should do.
"With her friends? No thanks."
"So, being your boyfriend, what does that entail exactly?"
"Oh, you know, sitting on the sofa, holding hands and letting her catch us snogging," Rose giggled.
The Doctor stopped. "Ah, well, about the last bit."
Rose looked at him. "I'm just kidding, we can work up to that bit. Seriously, if my mother doesn't think something's going on, you'll be out, I won't be able to stop her. You have to at least make some sort of effort. Don't worry, it will be nothing serious and you can keep Mickey away from me."
"Is that the only reason?"
"No but if I'm gonna help you, you have to help me, it works both ways."
He supposed she did have a point.
"Well why don't you make a start and sit in the chair with me?"
"Well ok then but keep your hands to yourself, Doctor. We'll have to tell my mum you prefer being called that but won't we have a problem, when she meets the future version of you?"
"Well actually, he will be my previous version, from my perspective, how did you work it out anyway?"
"It wasn't that difficult, the way you made it sound important. You said you wouldn't look like you do now though, how's that work?"
"Did I?"
"Well you inferred it then, when you tried to explain it to me. So, go on then."
"Ah. Well when I was around before, I didn't look like I do now."
"I take it you didn't have plastic surgery?" Rose smiled as she got up and told him to move over.
He'd missed this, sitting in the chair with her, he'd missed everything about her. Was it so wrong to want to do these things again and maybe a bit more? Everyone had assumed there had been something going on between them, why not this time give some truth to the assumptions? What harm would it do to let her pretend he was her boyfriend, it was only going to last six months, which was about the same length of time this version of him had been with her.
Why couldn't he have had the chance last time? He'd been the one to put her off, well him and Mickey being around but Mickey had been well and truly dumped by the looks of things so he wouldn't be a problem this time around. Now, he still had the guilt that it would all end but she knew it wasn't going to last, she had no illusions it was going to last any longer than six months or so.
"Rose, are you okay with this?"
"I suppose so, it's not as though I've promised you forever, is it? So, when the other you comes along, you go back where you belong and I'm expected to go with the you that's left behind?"
"That's one way of putting it and I'm not trying to make you go with the version of me that comes along but you have to choose. Would it be too much if I said you had already chosen once?"
"I suppose I must have done, you're here now and you know me. So, how do explain how you change?"
She was going to see it anyway, when he regenerated after the space station and the destruction of the Daleks. He couldn't tell his past self anything other than he had to get back to where he'd come from to make things as they had been but he could do one thing for Rose, when the time came make her forget she'd met this version of him but he should give her the choice.
As long as he didn't give details, he could tell her bits of it, it would ensure her help and if he didn't tell her something, she could still walk away.
"Okay Rose, I am going to tell you what I can but you have to understand, you can't even tell your mother and don't worry, I'll make sure she understands that I'm going away when the time comes and that I'll be back."
Then it occurred to him he could have told Rose that he was going away and he'd be back and when his other self had come along, well he would have just had to risk believing himself. If he got Rose to help him though, it would be better.
Rose relaxed into the chair and he found himself putting his arm around her shoulder.
She began to giggle. "Me and Mickey never got like this. If I sat next to him and the football was on, I'd have got a black eye when he cheered."
The Doctor smiled. Perhaps in the past, he needn't have been so worried about Mickey the idiot after all?