Chapter Text
"I want to tell you
and now's the time
I want to tell you
You are going to be mine....."
Three (Pete's World) years later......
It was three weeks since the second trip to Bad Wolf Bay, and the Doctor and Rose were mostly settled into the guest house at the Tyler Estate. Rose had lived in it while dimension hopping. And by live in it, she meant it was a place to store her clothes and be alone in the brief periods between dimension cannon jumps. It never felt like a home. It was a little easier to take with the Doctor there with her. They were slowly easing into making a home together.
The Doctor, surprisingly enough, wasn't feeling suffocated by it. As he put it, there was no mortgage or carpets. Pete didn't want carpets. The first Jackie had demanded a guest house, and Pete had insisted it be built to his specifications because he had the feeling he was about to be relegated to it anyway. Pete hated carpets, they aggravated his allergies. The Doctor respected his hatred of carpets.
The Doctor and Rose liked the little house. It had a nice open kitchen and living room with a fireplace surrounded by a ton of bookshelves. The Doctor had grand plans for filling those shelves. They had two small bedrooms downstairs and a loft room upstairs. They were a bit clingy still and didn't like being out of each other's sight for long, so they immediately decided to share the bed in the loft. For sleeping only, however.
They spent the first week together walking on eggshells until Rose finally broke and confronted him about his habit of sending her away when things got dangerous, and he reassured her that he wouldn't ever do that again. He felt like she was the only thing tethering him to this planet and this universe and he needed her too much to ever send her away. He broke and railed about his one human heart and how his chest hurt at times. He had nightmares about Donna and finally had to confess that the Doctor in brown was alone again. They cried over their grief together. ( He also had face the horror that was clothes shopping, but at least Rose was standing by him all through that as well.). Things had calmed down by the middle of the second week, but he still seemed unsure of how to make a move again. They decided to ease into a physical relationship, a decision that seemed perfectly rational.
At that point in time.
There were many kisses shared, chaste and not so chaste, but they were still feeling their way around this new normal. Rose was hoping that soon, they'd stop feeling their way around the new normal and start feeling each other.
She was in their kitchen with its stainless steel appliances, much more posh than any place she'd ever lived (except the TARDIS) making tea and singing along to the new iPod she'd purchased a week ago. She had no need of one when she arrived in Pete's World, having no interest in listening to music. Not even Pete's extensive record collection.
She and the Doctor had had fun one evening picking out songs for it. They didn't have a TARDIS old enough to control the music, so their choices were all theirs. "Moonlight Serenade." Lots of Beatles. No Cliff Richard. Some Elvis as well. In their universe, the Doctor was thrilled to find out that all four Beatles were still alive and occasionally did the odd reunion concert. He was hoping he'd get to catch one eventually. (Elvis had left the planet, and gone back to his home world. He popped in occasionally as well. ) She missed having a TARDIS choosing the music, but it was certainly nice to want to listen to songs again.
Her new, new, new Doctor was currently out in his new shed in the backyard, tending to their baby TARDIS. Carpet preferences aside, the Doctor also respected Pete's security measures and knew his TARDIS was probably in one of safest places she could be. He shuddered at the thought of growing the time ship at Torchwood, especially Canary Wharf. He was thankful to have such a perfect place for her. She was growing well already, his amazing time ship, thanks to Donna.
He was running calculations through the shatter fry unit he'd scrounged from Torchwood archives (his dislike of the place didn't keep him from scavenging for what he needed), fine tuning components with his newly acquired sonic screwdriver. Rose had presented him with it the first night they stayed in the house. He asked where she'd found that and all she told him was that she found it when she met Donna. She didn't want to discuss it further, only saying that the Doctor of that bubble universe had no need of it any longer. She didn't offer more details. It was still too difficult for her to talk about it.
He pushed his desk chair back from the table at his work station. He stretched his back, ruminating again on how his back now hurt if he sat in one position for too long and how the glasses perched on his nose were now not just for show. They still made him look brainy, he supposed. He took them off and pressed the bridge of his nose. His stomach growled. He decided to see how long it was until the food would be ready. The human body took a lot of getting used to. And a lot more maintenance.
The Doctor liked his little garden area between the back French doors and his shed. There was a small path to a man made pond that he and Rose enjoyed hiking. He loved those hikes and the talks they shared. They were slowly getting their equilibrium back and he hoped that they could move forward with things soon.
As he passed by the pergola Rose had decorated with TARDIS blue fairy lights, he could hear music coming from the open window.
A few blusey guitar riffs transported him back to his TARDIS when two hearts beat in his chest (but only for Rose Tyler.) Rose was singing. "I can't tell you how I feel... My heart is like a wheel, let me roll it...let me roll it to you..." He opened the French door into the kitchen and stopped and watched her sing. She was still a picture. She no longer owned that Union Jack t-shirt and her trousers and blouse were more business casual than teenaged shop girl but she was his Rose. Always his Rose. And suddenly, the notion of taking things slowly, getting used to the "new normal" (blimey, but he hated that phrase) was the furthest thing from his mind. No more Curse of the Time Lords. No more flirt and flight and waiting until it was nearly too late. No more waiting. He was determined to finish what they started the last time he heard her singing that song.
Rose's mobile lay on the table across from the counter where she worked and before he said or did anything he strode over to it and silenced it. At that moment Rose's singing trailed off and she stared at her Doctor. "You should sing more, Rose Tyler. I still love your voice."
"You remember," she whispered.
"I couldn't forget that. Our first kiss. Wellllll......our first kiss when you weren't possessed or all glowing. The TARDIS was playing matchmaker."
"Yes.....she must have gotten sick of us," Rose murmured.
"She was right to." The Doctor was toe to toe with her now. "I'm still me, love. Surely you know that."
"If I've had any doubts, they're gone now," she said with a small smile.
"So...."
"Kiss me," she simply said.
"Absolutely," he replied and leaned down. Their lips met, slowly, gently. It wasn't the hard, frantic kiss of the beach or like any they'd shared since arriving in this universe. It was slow. Soft lips and tongues tasting and tasting each other. It was his lips finding the sweet spot between her neck and shoulder. Hers finding his earlobe and her feeling the rumble in his chest as moaned quietly.
No, it wasn't like the beach kiss at all. Nor was it really like that first kiss on the TARDIS. That had been a promise. This kiss was one of intent.
********
They lay bare together in the bed in their loft, both still trying to get their senses back and slow their breathing. Rose could still feel the delicious aftershocks. Her heart, now his second heart, was still racing. They were forehead to forehead until the Doctor reluctantly rolled to his back, drawing her warm body close to his.
"I love you, Rose Tyler," he sighed.
"I love you, my Doctor," she replied, kissing the spot over where his other heart would be. They settled together comfortably, legs entwined.
They were quiet for a bit, just listening to each other breathing. The Doctor was on the verge of dozing off, when Rose spoke. "I wonder which song the TARDIS would have played for us if she had known we finally...." The Doctor was still, and for a second she thought the might have said the wrong thing, reminding of his ship in the other universe. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned...."
"No! No....I'm okay. I miss her terribly, I miss having her in my head. But you know what? I'm starting to feel our little one. She's amazing! I can't believe I can, not so soon. And you're with me, and you fill up a very large space in there that I was missing for so, so long. I think...that one day, if you want....you and I could bond. Telepathically, that is....if you want...."
Rose leaned over him and kissed him quiet. "I want that."
He smiled brilliantly. "We can do that...whenever you're ready for it, we can."
"I'd love it," she smiled and settled herself against his chest again. They were quiet.
"In My Life," the Doctor broke the silence.
"What?"
"The song. I know you're more of a McCartney fan but Lennon wrote some beautiful lyrics for that one. 'And with all these friends and lovers...there's no one, compares with you....' I've met many people in over 900 years. I've been married and had a family, which is a much different thing on Gallifrey, mind you."
He rolled to his side so he could face Rose. "But that song fits us so well, because no one compares with you. If my future is on the slow path, I would only want it to be with you."
Rose found herself suddenly unable to speak.
"What?" The Doctor said, suddenly a bit worried that he'd said the wrong thing.
"You're so open now," Rose marveled.
"Thank Donna, I suppose. She was always telling me I talked and talked and said nothing. Having him some of her DNA has improved that I'm sure."
Rose entwined her arms around his neck and pulled the Doctor close. "I don't think that's the case any more," she said. "You were very good at deflecting. I don't think this you does that. As much, anyway."
"I don't have a reason to now. Didn't really have a reason then, really, when it comes down to it. I've been an idiot."
"No, love, no. It happened when it was supposed to. This is our time now. I love you and I'm not looking back. I will always remember the you with the ears and the you in the pinstripes and I will miss them terribly. But no one compares to you. So that song is very us." They kissed gently. "I know it won't be easy. It's going to be so different for you, living a life day to day."
"With you, it will be easier. And our TARDIS will grow. My chest doesn't hurt anymore, with the one heart. There's no carpet in this house. Not thrilled about Torchwood, but at least I have an in with the management..." He wiggled his eyebrows.
She giggled. "Don't you just?"
"I need to work on solidifying that...." He rolled over onto her and settled in for a long slow kiss as she giggled, until she started to moan when the Doctor began teasing her earlobe with tongue and teeth. He broke away long enough to laugh.
"What?"
He began sucking on her neck.
"Doctor.....oh." He found the sweet spot again.
"Just thinking of what else the TARDIS could have played for us...if she had felt a bit naughty." His hands began to wander, sliding up her ribs. "'Come Together', for example..." Rose began to giggle. He bit down gently and sweetly between her shoulder and neck. "'Why Don't We Do It In the Road.'" Rose was shaking both with laughter and the sensation of the Doctor kissing a meandering path to her breasts.
She smacked his arm. "Oh, shut up! You're so bad!"
He looked up from her breast, winking mischievously. "'Hard Day's..."
She pulled him up to her face, laughing, and silenced him with a long, slow deep kiss.