"So where are we going?" Rose asked, letting Jack tug her along.
"Well, we're parked up in the middle.of nowhere and nowhere whilst she refuels," he said, walking towards the TARDIS's console room. "So it's not like we can actually go anywhere. However! I'm sure with a bit of jiggery pokery we can get ourselves a fun afternoon."
"A bit of jiggery pokery?" Rose laughed. "What, are you trying to be The Doctor now?"
"Who, me? Try to be someone else? Not in a million years. Not even someone as timeless as our Time Lord."
Jack let go of Rose's hand as they entered the console room and went straight to the console.
"With a bit of luck the old girl will feel like being helpful today," he declared, and started tapping away. "What do you fancy? A dance? Night at the movies?"
"Ooh, can you get all the Harry Potter's?"
"Rose, this is a Time Machine. You can get everything on here."
"Oh, I could find out what happens at the end of Lost. Tell my mate Trina. She loves that show."
"Telly night then?"
Rose thought about it. It sounded good, but wasn't quite the distraction she needed.
"Nah, not wasting time in here watching telly. "I want to do something physical. Not dancing. Maybe skating? Anything like that on board?"
"Not yet, but-" Jack suddenly grinned at her, turned back to the console and typed some quick instructions. The TARDIS let out a quick whoosh, and with a ping a card with a map popped up. "I'm going to take you skating 51st century style."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, follow me!"
Something about Jack's giddiness was catching, and she followed him through the TARDIS corridors almost as giddy herself.
He opened a room and they stepped inside, onto a platform looking out at... nothing. The room was vast and impossible to gauge.
"Whoa." Rose looked around and couldn't see anything. She had the impression of the vastness of the room, but really she had no way to tell. There were no corners, the walls, floor and ceiling all the exact same shade of white. No shadows even showed where the walls might be.
"Anti-grav room," Jack said, beaming. "Perfectly round, we used these for all sorts of things. No need for actual skates, of course, but some of the early anti-grav games took a lot of inspiration from ice skating. Especially hockey. No need for the jumps in traditional ice skating, of course, but lots of room for fun."
"It looks a bit- it's hard to see where anything is," Rose said, suddenly worried she was going to leave this room very bruised.
"Ah, yes, if you give me a minute, I'll just- aha!" He found what he was looking for on the wall next to him. "This platform is the only place in the room with gravity, and these are multipurpose rooms. Let me play with the holodeck and..."
Suddenly the room was bursting with colour. It looked like stepping into a partially formed galaxy, like the Pillars of Creation The Doctor had shown her, vast columns of colour making the room breathtakingly beautiful. Between the colour was the dark of space, and flecks of light gave the impression of stars.
"This is stunning. He had this hiding in the TARDIS?"
"Well not exactly," Jack said, rubbing his neck, almost nervously. "I'm sure he'll be fine with me doing it, but I sorta maybe asked the TARDIS to create this room?"
"Wicked," Rose all but whispered. The TARDIS could create this on command? It was bloody brilliant. "Come on then, show me what to do."
"Okay, first things first. This is an anti-grav room. That man no gravity "
"Not thick, Jack, I know what it means."
"Not saying you're thick. But if you've never experienced anti-grav, there are a few things you should know. Firstly, you'll keep going in whichever direction you launch into the room pretty much indefinitely, and at the same speed. Put one of these bracelets on, and if you click the green button, it'll pull you back to this platform. That way you don't get stuck."
"You can get stuck?"
"Of course, if you're going too slowly to reach the other side. I'll give you a bit to get used to the feeling, then if you like it we can come back later, and add some obstacles. They were always fun! Now, watch this."
Jack took his coat off, stepped to the edge of the platform and flashed her his trademark grin. Then he jumped into the room.
He took a moment to enjoy the weightlessness, to remember how this felt, and then he was spinning. In his youth, he'd been the Face of Boe, and many a date had been skating like this. With a graceful arch, he tucked his heels under himself and spread his arms, letting the spin leave him dizzy.
Abruptly, he flung his legs out, the momentum causing him to do a full body flip. It slowed him down considerably, as he knew it would, and turned to face Rose. "Ta daa!"
Rose clapped enthusiastically.
"Bravo! That was awesome!" She stepped up to the edge of the platform, and thought back to her gymnastics days. She launched herself off the platform. Unfortunately, she'd misjudged it a bit, and went careening off to the side.
"Whoa, steady now!" Jack laughed. With nothing to launch off, he couldn't go and catch her. Instead, he pressed the button on his wrist strap and returned to the platform. "Press the button!"
Rose refused, giddy with the feeling of being totally weightless. She continued directionless until she crashed into the wall. "Ow!"
She tried to scrabble for purchase against the wall but she was already off in the other direction, and didn't quite know how to change her direction. With a sigh, smarting a bit from smacking the wall, she pressed the button.
The feeling of being pulled by the wrist back to the platform was its own joy, like flying.
"That was amazing," she said, laughing and bright. "Dunno how you did the flip, though, I couldn't even change direction!"
"Yeah, we should probably add some pads or something. I forgot that when you start you need those to launch off properly."
"Hey, Jack? Do you feel different in here?" Rose asked, realising that it wasn't just the weightlessness in the room affecting her. She felt free, like something that had been pressing her down was gone.
"Actually, now that you mention it, it does feel lighter in here," Jack agreed. "Like I can think clearly."
"Yeah. I'm not- gods, what did I say to The Doctor? That was- how could I be so cruel?"
"I-" Jack stopped. He'd not thought it was too cruel before, but now he felt almost angry on The Doctor's behalf. Her words had been pointed, to hurt. But there was something else. Ever since Raxacoricofallapatorius, he'd felt a vague sense of unease, but hadn't been able to place it. Now, he realised that their actions and reactions had all been heightened.
Rose would never normally act the way she had been. She wasn't nearly so prone to drama, nor was she the sort to lay all her feelings bare, in his experience. And The Doctor certainly wasn't. If there was a more tight-lipped individual in the multiverse, Jack certainly didn't know them.
But they'd been acting like teenagers, freshly in love, playing it out as if for one of the old Earth dramas. Playing it out.
"Oh," he said. "Hey, Rose."
"Yeah?" She sounded far away, as if she was busy thinking, not fully paying attention to him.
"Humour me a moment. Would you, under normal circumstances, just go up to The Doctor and kiss him? Or react the way you've reacted to the idea he doesn't love you? Be honest with me."
"Well- no, 'course not. I was just thinking that. He- I mean we've never said it. I always got the impression that he's got too much to work through, but he- and I know he knows that I- well, we, I guess. But it's fine, the way it is, because I know, and maybe- maybe one day?"
"Well I sure hope that made sense to you!"
"Oh Jack, what on Earth has happened?"
"I don't think it's got anything to do with Earth. I think," Jack stopped himself and shook his head. "No, I know this is something... Raxacoricofallapatorius has a few sentient species, if I remember right. They're not all green murder machines, either. I think what's happened must be... Huh, I always thought they were legends."
"What? What legends?"
"There's supposed to be this species of Sprite. They live for mischief, and entertainment. They can affect the moods of those around them, and I guess they must have been playing with us. There's no way The Doctor would act the way he's been acting unless under the influence."
"So there's something on the ship? We've gotta tell him."
Rose started towards the door and Jack stopped her.
"No, don't go out there. I'm betting there's something about this room that's making us clear headed again. The TARDIS made it fresh for us, afterall."
"Right, well how do we get him here. No, stupid question, I'll send him a text."
She tapped away at her phone, thought for a moment, deleted it and tried again..
Doctor, Jack and I are in trouble. Don't know which room, the TARDIS knows. Come quickly.
"Right, that should get him here quickly. Now what, we just wait?"
"We wait, sure. I can show you how to push off properly, too, if you like?"
That's how The Doctor found them, ten minutes later. Jack had put up some barriers in the room, great padded things so they didn't hurt themselves, and he was showing Rose how to push off in the direction she wanted at the speed she wanted.
"This is the great trouble, then? Skating?" The Doctor sounded incredulous.
"Trust me, Doctor, come and join us and trust me," Rose said, smiling too wide, slightly nervous. They'd said a lot they wouldn't normally, and now they'd have to acknowledge this thing between them.
The Doctor frowned, stepping further into the room. The door swished closed behind him. He felt the shift immediately, more in control, more himself. "What-"
"Jack thinks it's Sprites. From Raxacoricofallapatorius."
"Oh," The Doctor said, as if that made perfect sense. And suddenly it did. "Oh, no wonder we've been acting like teenagers."
"Yeah," Rose said. She pressed the button on her wrist strap and returned to the platform. "Yeah, definitely. Jack made this room to cheer me up, and when we got here it just felt... normal again. I'm sorry for what I said. About Gallifrey. I'd never- well, I already have so I guess I would. But, I mean, I wouldn't normally say something just to hurt you like that."
"I know."
"Uh, guys? Before you get into anything I'm... I'm gonna leave you kids alone, okay?" He pressed the button and joined them on the platform.
"Yes, 'course," The Doctor said, feeling grateful. He and Rose needed to talk, to clear the air between them. "And Jack? Sub routine 684 of the TARDIS? It'll locate and extract any unwelcome visitors, probably best if you use it before we get out of here. Don't want to go back to being the star of some Sprite's idea of free telly when we get out, do we?"
"Sub routine 684, got it," Jack said. He flashed them both a grin and made a quick exit.
"So..." Rose began. Only she didn't quite know how to continue.
They both laughed.
"So clearly this last week we've not been ourselves," The Doctor said. He leant against the platform railing, looking out across the room. He didn't quite want to look at her just yet. After a moment, she joined him, shoulder to shoulder.
"Nope," she agreed. "I've been acting like a fifteen year old with a crush."
The Doctor laughed, "me, too."
"This is- this is stupid, isn't it? I mean. Well, I know how you feel. I'm pretty sure you know how I feel. We were doing okay, before, weren't we?"
"Yeah, absolutely," Rose agreed. "Impossible not to be, it was you, me and all of time and space. Couldn't get much better than that."
"Not much better." The Doctor couldn't help but smile. With Rose Tyler by his side, his future looked a lot brighter than he could have imagined. He'd take every moment he could with this human, in whatever way he could take it.
"The kissing's been nice though," Rose said. "Very... good."
"Yep." The Doctor couldn't quite hold back the pop of the "p", so it sounded quite drawn out.
"If you wanted... we could do more of that?"
"Rose." The Doctor turned to face her. "I need you to be very sure that you're ready for that, first. That it's you wanting that, and not whatever pheromones some Sprite has been pushing."
"You know how I feel."
"Yes, you love me. I know you do. And you know that I- you know how I feel. But, Rose. If we're being honest with each other, we both know I'm too old, too jaded, too-"
"No, I'm stopping you there. I love you for who you are, Doctor. I don't have some made up fantasy of a knight in shining armour. I saw who you were that first night, when you nearly killed yourself blowing up the Nestene Consciousness. I don't need you to be young. I don't need you to be happy all the time - that takes away from the moments we find together."
"Rose-"
"No, Doctor, I'm not finished. You think you're jaded. I saw you with that Dalek. There's so much hope within you. Look at what happened when we met Jack, how happy you were just to have the chance to save everyone. That's the Doctor I love, the one who hopes but isn't afraid when things go wrong."
"But I am afraid. You're human, I'm a Time Lord. Our life spans are so vastly different."
"I know. But does that mean you should rob yourself of happiness now to avoid pain in the future? Will it hurt any less when I go if we hadn't spent our time together together?"
"Rose Tyler, when did you get so wise?"
Rose blushed and ducked her head.
"I- I didn't think about it like that," The Doctor admitted. "No, it won't hurt less. Knowing we could have had something but didn't would... it would be worse."
"Okay then," Rose looked up at him. "Okay. So what do you want to do."
"Right now?"
Rose nodded.
The Doctor took a deep breath. He looked around the room.
"Right now I think I want to go skating with you. Have some fun. And maybe, when I've taught you a trick or two, we can see where this leads us."
"Okay Doctor. But Doctor?"
He looked at her. She was looking at him, turned towards him. She brought her hand to his cheek, stood on tip toes and brought her mouth to his.
It was chaste, but the kiss was full of promise. Promise of their future, of everything they could be to one another.
She pulled back, too soon for either of their liking, and looked him in the eye, a serious expression on her face.
"I don't expect a big declaration. I don't expect eternity, or- or promises like that. But I do expect there to be kissing."
The Doctor laughed. With a grin of his own, he slapped a wristband on and grabbed her hand.
"Jump!"
And they jumped.
--
A/N: Okay, so I was chatting to some fellow ff writers, and it seems we all have a fic we had abandoned. We agreed to finish those fics, to give ourselves a clean slate before we continue with our current multi-chapter fics in our current fandoms.
This is my conclusion to a story I started and abandoned when I was 15. It only took 16 years! This is also not what was originally intended, but I'm also no longer 15 and can see just how wildly OOC they were. Hopefully this puts some of that to rights.