keep_counting: (doctorandrose)
[personal profile] keep_counting
Seventh in this christmas-prompt thing ;) this time it's for [livejournal.com profile] kilodaltonwho wanted TenII/Rose. Congrats on being done with your semester btw! I hope you like this ;) I'd also like to thank you for prompting me with this, as writing it helped me get over a lot of issues I had about this particular storyline!

Title: I'd Like a Blue Box, Please
Characters/Pairings: TenII/Rose, Jackie Tyler
Rating: PG13
Warnings: Spoilers up to S4, me writing TenII for the first time, the usual typos and mistakes
Genre: Romance/Hurt-Comfort/Angst/Fluff
Word-count: 2,582
A/N: Christmas prompt for [livejournal.com profile] kilodalton
Disclaimer: I own nothing in relation to this
Summary: She might've kissed him on the beach, but that doesn't mean things are getting easier from there. Not at all.


Rose leaves when they get back to London, a sudden flurry of trampling up the stairs and trying to close the door. He stops her, hand resting lightly on her shoulder.

“Rose…” he says and sounds unfathomably lost. She won’t look at him.

“Not right now,” she mumbles, flashing a quick look up at him. “Sorry,”

She doesn’t sound like she means it.

Jackie shows him to a guest room, and he is sneakily fooled by her silence and kind eyes, and starts that gob of his without thinking.

“Don’t understand why it’s such a big deal,” he mumbles, eyes flittering back to Rose’s door. “Not like we haven’t shared a bed before.”

“What?” Jackie shrieks and he’s sure he can hear something hard falling to the floor from inside Rose’s bedroom. Great.
oOo

“I’m not sure I can do this,” She says the next morning, sitting at the edge of his bed. Lovely sight to wake up to, even if he is very aware of the fact that he, as a newly-made human, has been sleeping for all of ten hours and probably look a mess. Never had to worry about bed-hair before now.

Well, bed-hair and certain other things.

“I know… I know at the beach, I…” Rose trails off, and he quirks an eyebrow.

“Seemed very willing?” he finishes for her, regretting the choice of words as soon as he sees her eyes flash dangerously.

“Is that what this is about? What was it, some kind of game? Is that why he wouldn’t say it, because he wanted rid of me?” Her voice breaks at the last part and he feels his heart (one heart now, just one) clench in pain for her.

“That’s never what it was,” he says, putting as much conviction into his voice as he possibly can. Rose looks down at him, and there are tears in her eyes.

“You can’t know that,”

Oh. So that’s what this is about.

“Yes, I can. I am him, Rose,” he locks her gaze with his, intent on convincing her of this. “Same memories, same feelings, same man. Only human.”

She doesn’t believe him. If she had believed him, she wouldn’t have left so abruptly, walking downstairs to be with her family instead of him.

Because she has a family now that isn’t just a mother, but a father and a brother as well. She doesn’t live in an Estate anymore, she lives in a bloody mansion, in a world where he doesn’t even have a proper identity, and he thinks it’s maybe stretching the metaphor a little too much, the fact that even with one heart and one life, she’s still so far above him that he can’t even see her.

There was once a very clever man, who incidentally wasn’t him, who said that putting people on a pedestal was like putting them in a kind of prison. He wonders if that’s how Rose feels right now, and if maybe that’s why she steers shy of him right now. Only, he’d thought this is what she’d wanted (of course he’d thought that, or he would have never left her here with himself).

Hadn’t it been what she wanted? A life with him. It would have been amazing no matter what, but this way it’s as close to perfect as it comes.

He watches her eat her breakfast, trying to convince little Tony to do the same, practically forcing the cereal down her brother’s throat. She’s mothering and huffing and she looks utterly domestic, and it terrifies him just a little bit, only he isn’t sure if it does because he genuinely doesn’t want that or simply out of old habit.

He’d always been so good at running from what he really wanted. It’s time to stop that now, because this is a chance he never thought he’d get again (no second chances) and there is no room for mess-ups. It’s Rose, after all, and he’s spent enough time pushing her away.

“I know you’re there,” her voice breaks him out of his musings, and he can’t help but smile: her back is still turned, but at least she doesn’t sound as upset as half an hour ago in his room.

He moves over to the table and gets acquainted with little Tony, which mainly consists of silly card-tricks and force-feeding him mashed banana instead of that old cereal that the poor child didn’t want anyway. He gets spat on, but that makes Rose laugh so he supposes it’s okay, especially when he makes Tony laugh afterwards with more card-tricks and her smile turns soft and pleasing. He could get used to this.

Of course, she doesn’t let him get used to this.

“I’ve got a flat,” she says, after Jackie has forced them to wash the dishes after dinner. “I don’t normally live here, it’s just been… anyway. Big enough for two, I reckon, it’s just…”

He can practically hear the conversation between Rose and Jackie that must have occurred earlier, and he is surprised to realize that it must have been Jackie that has suggested this, since Rose sounds very unwilling to do it.

“You don’t have to. I’m sure I can find a place of my own. Or, you know, stay here and be a slave for your mum.” He shudders at the mere thought, and she smiles again (he’s counting them and filing them away in his memories for future use, just in case…)
Just in case of what?

‘Is that why he wouldn’t say it, because he wanted rid of me?’

He almost drops the plate he’s drying, and realizes with no little amount of shame that that pedestal he’s been placing her on all these years… Rose might not even realize she’s on it. He’s been clinging to these few, illusionary moments, because he’s afraid that they were all he had.

It’s what the Time Lord version did so well after all. Talks a lot. No second chances. Hurts Rose.

“I would love to come and live with you,” he says, manic grin in place and suddenly very, very determined.
oOo

She needs space, and he respects that. He’s not here to smother her or in some lame attempt to desperately make sure she doesn’t forget and move on (okay, it might be a little bit the last part), but he is nothing if not stubborn. Plus, part Noble now, which in short makes him an unstoppable force of nature.  

Really, Rose doesn’t stand a chance at all. Even if she does give him a separate bedroom and still refuses to look him directly in the eyes.

He gets a job at Torchwood despite his initial reservations about the place, but he remembers Martha working from the inside of UNIT (‘Not carrying a gun, if you noticed’) and Jack rebuilding and fighting the fight. And it means he gets to spend nearly every minute of every day close to Rose, just like they used to back in the TARDIS. It’s no problem finding him a position there, considering his massive intellect (his brain even when human is, quite frankly, scary) and his general knowledge of all things alien. The first few weeks he spends mostly tinkering away on a new sonic screwdriver (carefully ignoring Rose suggestion that he make it glow pink this time) and before he knows it, almost two months has passed, and everything has become a scary routine of domesticity and working – and working with Torchwood has proved to be almost as hazardous to one’s health as traveling in the TARDIS used to be for them.

It isn’t what he focuses on though. No, what he focuses on is one Rose Tyler and a project he’s been entrusted by himself, and it takes up all his thoughts, the Rose Tyler-one more so than the other one, because really, Rose Marion Tyler is the real mystery here. The Face of Boe’s got nothing on her.

One day she’ll be all cheerful and smiles, sharing jokes – jokes from the past, their past – and chips and there are several moments in which the temptation to reach out and kiss her has overwhelmed him to the point of pain. It’s harrowing, the fact that if he’d done this before, before Canary Wharf and meta-crisis, she would have welcomed it, but now when he’s actually oh so very willing and when it all fits, now he isn’t sure that it will please her at all. More than likely, it will only make her cry.

He never wants to make her cry. Yet it seems he has an impeccable talent for it. Walls aren’t that thick, and he’s still Time Lord enough to be absolutely tuned to the flat’s other residents every mood.

 He hates that he knows so much about her, yet has no idea what to do.

“What is that?” she asks, on one of the Good Days when she smiles. It’s been, what, three months? (Time passing in a linear fashion is so hard to keep track of sometimes), and he feels like he has made all the progress in the world and yet none at all. She smiles though, and it makes his single heart skip a beat. Until he realizes what it is she’s asking.

“Uh, nothing,” he mumbles, desperately trying to hide the papers under his hands with an air of casualty, which he’s almost sure he fails spectacularly at. “It’s nothing, just a research project.”

“What, that you do in the spare time when you could be helping me clean the flat, instead?” she asks, frown in place, but her tone teasing. “C’mon, let me look,” she leans forward and she smells delightful and it’s very distracting, because now she’s gotten hold of some of the papers and while he isn’t completely sure that that means the end of the world, it is still a very probable outcome.
Especially now that it is clear that she understands the gist of it, despite some of his scribbles in Gallifreyan and this forms frankly awful handwriting. Her eyes are widening and her mouth hangs open just a bit.

“Are you… is this…”

“No, I can assure you it isn’t,” right, because this situation was going to become better if he started lying to her.

“Are you… are you trying to build a TARDIS?”

“No,” he mumbles, scratching at the back of his head. Oh, she wasn’t supposed to find out, not yet. “Well, yes. I mean, not trying. I am building one. I, well, I gave myself a small piece of the TARDIS’ coral and I can… well, growing one is the technical term, it’s just that I need a few things that aren’t exactly available on Earth, so I’ve had to make do and well… well… well… Rose?” his tone became alarmed. “Rose, would you… erm, that is, would you please not cry? Whatever I did, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry…”

“No, doesn’t matter,” she interrupts, angrily wiping the tears away and throwing the papers away from her, almost as if they disgusted her. “It’s not… I mean, I should’ve guessed that you wouldn’t…”

“Wouldn’t what?” He mutters and he can practically feeling his brain whirr away in there, can feel the wheels spinning and turning and clicking into place. Coming to the right solution, just as she says it out loud.

“Wouldn’t want me to come. I mean, after everything…” she trails off, and there’s  such hurt in her eyes and he thinks, for someone whose promised not to make her cry, he really does screw up all the time. “After everything that’s happened and… these last few months, I haven’t exactly been treating you well.”

“Of course you have,” he says, his voice almost stern. “You’ve been nothing but kind these last few months. It’s an… ah, unique situation and of course you’d take some time getting adjusted to it. In fact, you’re not obligated to feel adjusted to anything, at all.” He adds the last bit with badly-concealed fear in his voice.

“Yeah, but that’s not exactly how he planned it to go…”

He swallows hard. “You mean, how I planned it to go,”

There’s a tense silence and it both cuts them deep.

“I’m him,” the Doctor says and then panics a little, because Rose looks like she might start to cry again.

“Are you really?” she asks.

“Yes,”

“Then why… I mean… wouldn’t he want…”

Of course I want you to come with me!” he can’t help but shout a little, indignation at himself making him jump up from the table and stand face to face with her. “I didn’t tell you about it because… well, because I was scared. Silly, human feelings, just…”

“Great, it’s back to ‘stupid apes’ again. Might’ve known,” Rose muttered, turning her hurt into anger instead.

Well, he’s already walking over a mine field here. He might as well get it out in the open. If he’s honest, he has a better chance there. He hopes.

“I didn’t tell you because I was scared of… well…” he can barely get the words out. “I was scared that you’d only want to come because of… because of the adventure, you know? And that you… you wouldn’t want… because you don’t now and I wouldn’t want you to feel like you had to do anything, just because we kissed on that beach, though you know, if you want to do anything or something, that would be really nice, that is, only if you want, you shouldn’t do it just because I’m standing here rambling on like a proper idiot.”

Rose blinks, looking a little astonished. “So… you’re saying that you were afraid to tell me, because I would… what, prefer the TARDIS over you? Were you… jealous of your baby-TARDIS?”

When she puts it like that, it sounds even worse than in his head. Sheepishly, he nods.

She grins.

“Oh, that’s… that’s just…” another giggle escapes her lips and then another and then she have to press her lips together to keep from laughing. He glares.

“If my feelings are that amusing to you,” he mumbles, turning around to gather his papers and lost dignity, when suddenly there’s a press of warm fingers on his chin, forcing him to turn his head back around.

She kisses him. He has a catalogue, in his head, of every time they’ve kissed, starting with him pulling the Vortex out of her and ending on that beach all those weeks ago.

Well, he’d thought it would end on that beach.

“I’ve been an idiot,” she mumbles against his lips, her breath tickling his face. “I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” he insists, letting his fingers run through her hair. “Besides, I think I win the award for biggest idiot. We could’ve been doing this years ago,”

Rose smiles. “Hmm, remind me again why we just stopped?”

“I don’t know. Some silly reason like air I think,” he mumbles, leaning down to kiss her again, only to have her pull away.

“No more keeping things from me,” she insists, eyes flickering back down to his research. “And… and I know that you’re… I know who you are, it’s just…” she trails off, one of her hands sliding down from his shoulder to rest over his heart. His single, human heart.

“It’s alright,” he mutters, watching her intently. “It really is alright, Rose.”

For the first time in what feels like years, it actually is.

Date: 2011-12-17 10:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] arliddian.livejournal.com
This is so lovely. I adore these kinds of fics, where things don't go quite that easily for Ten II and Rose because, really, there's just so much emotional baggage and so much newness to them that it would be difficult for them to fall into any kind of familiar rhythm, at least for a while. All of that is to say that I think you absolutely nailed the state of their relationship as I imagine it to be after Bad Wolf Bay, and every word is just... fantastic. Well done!! <3

Date: 2011-12-19 08:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keep-counting.livejournal.com
Thank-you so much :D I'm glad you found it believeable: I always figured there were bound to be some issues, even after that glorious kiss on the beach.

Date: 2011-12-17 11:52 am (UTC)
ext_830484: (Doctor Who)
From: [identity profile] the-silverdoe.livejournal.com
*insert incoherent squeeing sound here*

This is very well-written and very 'them', I love it. When you write Doctor/Rose, it always feels so natural and right. :D I still can't explain why I have such a soft spot for this pairing, but I love them, and for someone who wasn't so keen on TenII at first, you did a wonderful job!

(I just noticed a small typo: 'Walls aren’t that think'. It was probably meant to be 'Walls aren’t that thick', I think...)

Date: 2011-12-19 08:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keep-counting.livejournal.com
Thank-you so much :D I think Doctor/Rose is quickly becoming my otp to rule all otp's, and that is starting to include TenII. I'm glad you liked it :D

(Thanks! I fixed it now ;) Stupid typos are stupid.. )

Date: 2011-12-18 02:28 am (UTC)
kilodalton: (10Too bwb-kiss)
From: [personal profile] kilodalton
I love this, thank you so much!! And I'm glad it helped with JE issues too! =D

I was having a conversation over on [livejournal.com profile] d_r_meta just this week, that I think Rose's emotional state after JE would be pretty fragile - after all, she wasn't there for s3, she didn't know how much Ten mourned her and wanted her back. From her perspective, he sent her away in Doomsday, yelled at her when she came back, and yes it was a sweet goodbye on the beach in Doomsday, but she fights her way back and pretty much the first thing he does is leave her behind again - ostensibly (for all Rose knows) to keep traveling with his new companion!!! ; ; So I love how her emotional fragility here is balanced with her compassion and friendship with TenToo. And how eventually she comes around - but it's eventual. Because I totally agree - it would have had to have been a slow process, and TenToo would have needed to be exceedingly patient and determined to make it work, just like he was here!!!

LOVE!!! Thank you again!! <3

Date: 2011-12-19 09:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keep-counting.livejournal.com
I really agree with you regarding Rose post-S2 - especially the fact that she wasn't there to see how absolutely devastated he was after losing her (I'm kinda hoping TenII told her about that sometime ;P). I mean, she doesn't even appear all that surprised when the Doctor leaves her behind on the beach in JE: she's had a lot of growing up to do over their time apart and she's come to realize that, while she loves him, he can be a right bastard sometimes. But they're still best friends, and I figured TenII main purpose in his new life would be 'Rose Tyler', so he'd basically do anything =) I'm so glad you liked it!

Date: 2011-12-19 05:41 am (UTC)
captaintish: (Dr. Who -- 10.5 & Rose kiss)
From: [personal profile] captaintish
“I’m him,” the Doctor says

I love how much the Doctor emphasizes that in this fic. I always get a little uncomfortable when he starts to doubt himself in fic. Although I think that's a totally valid direction to go in, it makes sense that he might have a bit of an inferiority complex, but I just like it when he is completely like, "I AM the Doctor." :D

Fluffy AND angsty! It's like a two-in-one! Love it!

Date: 2011-12-19 09:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keep-counting.livejournal.com
I agree with you. I could see some slight angst in that direction, but in the end the Doctor's the Doctor and if anyone would have doubt about it, I think it would be Rose :) Plus, Cloen is basically MADE for Rose, and I'm sure he knows he's not going to get her if he's all: 'might not be the completely proper Doctor..' the only way I can see her accept him would be if she really knows he is, so I don't think he'd ever let himself doubt it ;) did that ramble make any sense?

Thank-you for your kind review :D

Date: 2011-12-20 03:47 am (UTC)
captaintish: (Dr. Who -- 10th Doctor & Rose & and Tard)
From: [personal profile] captaintish
Yes, perfect sense!

:D

Date: 2011-12-20 08:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keep-counting.livejournal.com
Do you mind if I friend you? :)

Date: 2011-12-21 03:29 am (UTC)
captaintish: (Dr. Who -- 10th Doctor & Rose & and Tard)
From: [personal profile] captaintish
Not at all! Friend away!! :D

Date: 2011-12-21 01:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tracy-lousia.livejournal.com
Wonderful story, well written as always. Thanks.

Date: 2011-12-21 02:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keep-counting.livejournal.com
You're welcome =) I'm glad you liked it

Date: 2011-12-21 04:08 am (UTC)
redcirce: Ten/Rose from Doctor Who JE kiss (Cloen love!)
From: [personal profile] redcirce
Oh Doctor. <3 This was a lovely bit of angst/romance. Loved his POV here, and how he's so excited but also having trouble understanding how Rose feels- It would have been amazing no matter what, but this way it’s as close to perfect as it comes. Of course the Doctor would see this as a practically ideal situation! (Well, except for lack of Donna, which can't be helped.) Being that he seemed to have absolutely no reservations or surprise about leaving the TARDIS and staying in Pete's World, so I'm always confused when in fic he mopes about being "dumped" or "trapped". I also liked that there was background Jackie helping things along, and the Doctor, although worried, is convinced that he will win Rose over eventually. :)

Date: 2011-12-21 02:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keep-counting.livejournal.com
In my headcanon, they always eventually meet up with an alt!Donna and have giant parties ;)

It seemed like a pretty sound decision: it was more like 'Rose being dumped with him' than it was like that for Cloen IMO, because I strongly believe that deep-down the Doctor actually wants that kind of life, but just can't. Plus, Rose is the only thing tying Cloen to Pete's World at all, so I think he'd be extremely focused on her and not accidentally scaring her away with his moping. He got the girl, he's not going to complain ;D

I'm very glad you liked it! :D

Date: 2011-12-28 02:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] who-in-whoville.livejournal.com
Perfect. He thought she'd be jealous of Baby-TARDIS :D

Nice mix of angsty mcangst, humor and romance.

Date: 2011-12-28 10:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keep-counting.livejournal.com
Thank-you :D your icon gives me such happy feelings <3

Date: 2011-12-28 10:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] who-in-whoville.livejournal.com
I have tons of 10.5/Rose icons. That one is particularly nice, isn't it?

Date: 2011-12-28 10:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keep-counting.livejournal.com
Very. I only just recently saw the extended/deleted version of their kiss from confidential. I just about died :D

Date: 2011-12-28 11:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] who-in-whoville.livejournal.com
Oh you mean this little old thing?

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

The extended version is... Just.... GUH...

Date: 2011-12-29 04:19 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emraldeyedauter.livejournal.com
Ah Ten2 and Rose. Such a wonderful world of mixed emotions and possible alternatives that RTD left us with. This is a beautiful fic and makes my heart glad, angst and all but ending with kisses and plenty of hope. My favourite kind of fic.

Date: 2011-12-29 09:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keep-counting.livejournal.com
Thank-you! :)

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