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The Doctor adapts to the flat far faster than she would have expected.
He claims one of her mismatched bedside tables and litters it with items that had been left in his trans-dimensional pockets. His spare specs, spare sonic, and devices she’s pretty sure Torchwood would do just about anything to get their hands on appear first, then photos he couldn’t possibly have emerge and make their way on to tables and bookshelves.
Rose doesn’t comment at first, but then her mum’s birthday sneaks up on them weeks after they get back from Norway, and she walks into the kitchen to find the Doctor toying with the shopping bag she’d set aside to carry her mum’s gift with a photo of her toddler self in hand. It isn’t framed or presented in any special way, but it’s a photo she hasn’t seen in years, one that she knows her mum had kept stuck to the corner of her dresser mirror as a favourite.
She takes in the Doctor’s expression, holding her breath as he pauses to stare at the photo for a moment before gingerly slipping it into the card she’d signed earlier that morning.
“Doctor?”
He jumps and turns to face her, colour rushing to his cheeks.
“Where’d you get that?”
He looks away and tugs at his ear. “After you...” He trails off, taking a few seconds to run his hands through his unruly hair and fixate on a spot at the side of the tiny kitchen table. “I, uh… After Bad Wolf Bay that first time, after we said goodbye, I met Donna-"
“At Christmas."
He nods. “She asked me to have dinner with her family and asked me about you, and I… I couldn’t think of anything but you and that first night at the estate after the Sycorax. I didn’t want to be with anyone else’s family. Especially not at Christmas. So I went back to about a week after Canary Wharf.”
Rose’s breath hitches and her brows knit together.
“On the beach... you said I was dead in the original universe.”
He gives a curt nod. “I’d already gone back... to the day after the battle to take care of all the official business, make sure you and your mum weren’t forgotten. That your flat wasn’t taken over by strangers. But I didn’t have it in me then to go into the flat.”
He frowns then and Rose thinks he isn’t going to go on. “How much time had it been for you?”
“Since the beach?”
“Since the battle.”
“Ah.” He swallows and looks away again. “It had been what, six months for you?” She nods. “It’d been about two months for me. Well. Seven weeks, three days, and four hours. Approximately.”
The corner of his mouth twitches upwards, and she tries to make hers do the same to acknowledge his attempt to lighten the mood.
“Approximately.” She steps closer to him and cups his cheek, brushing her thumb over the light stubble he’d ignored that morning.
“It took me that long to find a way to you, even indirectly, and then Donna got pulled on board almost as soon as the call dropped. I thought it was the worst timing at first, but...”
Rose stills, remembering the parallel universe where his body had been found under the Thames. They’d discussed her trip into that world over those first few days together after Rose had woken gasping for air in the middle of the night. The Doctor’s eyes widen as he realizes what he said, and he reaches out to wrap his arms around her.
Rose takes a deep breath and speaks, “So you went back after that.”
“I did.” He presses a kiss to her hair. “I spent a couple of days packing up the flat.
“What’d you do with everything?
“Sent some of your things to Shareen, some to your nan... mostly photos and such. Some of it’s still on the TARDIS.”
Rose nods slowly, trying to push back the thoughts of the Doctor reaching out to the people she’d loved, deciding they could talk about that another time. “How’d some of it end up here?”
The Doctor gulps, and she rests her head on his shoulder. She wants to stay close, but she knows it’s sometimes easier for him to open up when she isn’t watching his every word. “I kept some of the photos and things in your room on the TARDIS, but I…” She feels him reach up to tug on his ear and speeds up. “I kept some of your photos in my pockets. I didn’t want to risk losing them, and after the metacrisis happened, I grabbed some more things. I -”
“Did you know?”
His eyes snap back to hers as she steps away from him. “What?”
His gaze softens even before she speaks and she knows he’s figured it out. “Did you know he’d leave us here?”
“No. Rose, no. I didn’t know that for sure. At least, I didn’t know that he’d leave you. I thought he’d be too selfish to do that, after all that time, but I knew there was a chance he would leave me. No room for two Doctors on the TARDIS, and I wanted to have some reminders with me if he left me somewhere.”
She nods, but then the gift bag on the table catches her eye and she frowns. “I still don’t understand why you would take a photo of me as a kid?”
The Doctor flushes.
“Doctor?”
“Well, Jackie always brought it out when we visited, and I at least knew that if he left me anywhere, it’d be here. Plus, it’s a very representative photo of you if you think about it.”
“Doctor, I’m two years old in the photo.”
“And already very much yourself!” He pulls it out of the envelope. “Look at that smile! You still have that same look on your face when you get your way.”
Something flutters deep in Rose’s stomach. “Mum always said she took that right after I found Mr Tedopolous. Left him at the park one afternoon, and it was an entire week before she found him at Mickey’s nan’s.”
The Doctor laughs. Nothing more than a huff of air comes out, but he looks so quietly happy that she reaches out for him again and threads her fingers through his.
“It’s sweet of you to give the photo to Mum.”
“She’ll probably kill me for going through her things. Well. I didn’t really go through them. I -“
She cuts him off before he gets too caught up in the technicalities. “She won’t be mad. We had a lot of memories in that flat and I’m glad you were the one to sort through everything. Mum’ll be glad, too. She spent a lot of time talking ‘bout all the things she’d left behind after we first got here.” She leans back to look at him and turns her eyes towards the envelope on the table. “Photos, mementos and things, mostly. She’s going to love you even more, Doctor.”
The Doctor lets out a breathy laugh. “I doubt Jackie’s ever going to love me.”
“You’d be surprised. She made sure to pick a restaurant with banana pancakes on the menu for today.”
The Doctor’s eyes light up. “Really?”
“Yep,” Rose confirms, popping her ‘p.’ “And I’ve been there with her before, so I can vouch that they’re the best banana pancakes this side of the void.”
Rose smiles and bites down on her lip, but the phone rings before she can continue teasing him. “Probably Mum making sure we haven’t forgotten.” She presses a quick kiss to his cheek before following the ringing to the living room, but calls back over her shoulder, “Can you grab the bag off the table, please?”
The Doctor spends the most of what should have been a ten minute stroll to the restaurant, philosophising on what a funny word “brunch” is and then insists that they take a detour after a vividly green creature catches his attention. Which of course means that they show up late. Again.
Jackie is already seated when they arrive, scrolling through her phone and sipping on what looks like a deceptively innocent, fruity beverage.
“Mum, we’re so sorry! The Doctor thought he saw a Plantagorian on the way here and we had to follow it for a bit. Turned out to be an off-hue poodle.”
“Oi! It could have have been serious! Despite what their name suggests, Plantagorians aren’t exactly known for being peaceful.”
Rose pats the Doctor on the arm and goes to hug her mum. “Happy Birthday, Mum.”
Jackie scoffs. “Thank you, sweetheart. And don’t worry - I’m already used to the two of you showing up late. Even if it has only been a month since you arrived.”
She gives the Doctor a pointed look and he graces her with a sheepish smile.
“I’m sorry, Jackie.” He shoots Rose an uneasy look.
“Oh, come here.” Jackie grabs him for a hug and presses a smacking kiss to his cheek before he can resist, leaving him scrubbing away at his skin.
Rose takes it all in, and her stomach begins to flutter at the normalcy of it all, the ease with which her mum had welcomed the Doctor back into the family. Looking around, she observes the marble tabletops and fresh flowers on every surface and the lack of scattered crayons and toddler voices.
“Where are Dad and Tony?”
Jackie rolls her eyes. “Pete insisted on driving here himself - which I’d normally encourage, mind you - but I just knew finding parking on a Sunday would be impossible in this neighbourhood. I told him, but he just wouldn’t listen. You get your stubbornness from him, you know.”
The Doctor bursts out laughing. “I doubt-”
Rose grips his upper arm and shakes her head before turning back to her mum. “So they’re at the car park, then?”
Jackie looks between them, narrowing her eyes, but then goes on. “Taking their time about it, too. Shouldn’t have taken them more than twenty minutes to go to the one at the end of the road and walk back.”
“Maybe the green poodle caught their attention, too,” the Doctor proposes, sighing as he picks up his menu.
There’s nothing but sincerity in his tone, and he looks so quietly disappointed that his Sunday morning alien adventure turned out to be nothing of the sort, that Rose pats him on the knee, even as she lets out a laugh.
“What? It was a very green poodle, Rose! I’d be surprised if it didn’t catch a three year old’s attention.”
Jackie snorts. “It certainly caught your attention.”
“Oi!”
Just then the door opens, and Tony rushes through, running up to his mum’s chair. “Mum! Mum! Mum! We saw an alien! A real alien! He was fluffy and green and looked just like one from Rose’s stories!”
The Doctor perks up. “See!”
Pete walks in, frowning, and walks straight up to the Rose. “I think we just saw a Plantagorian.”
Jackie groans and puts her head in her hands.
Rose looks back and forth between the three of them and bites back a laugh. “No, it’s all fine, Dad. It was a poodle.”
Brunch goes smoothly, even as Jackie bemoans the fact that everyone in her family is obsessed with aliens and the Doctor explains the tiny, physical differences between Plantagorians and domesticated poodles who have had the misfortune of having their fur dyed. The drinks flow and Jackie’s complaints end in smiles and cheerful teases, and Rose can hardly stop to take it all in for laughing so much.
Overall, Jackie seems happy with her birthday festivities… so much so that she even lets the Doctor rhapsodize at length about the finesse of bananas before asking for her presents.
Rose laughs and reaches under her chair for the shopping bag when she does.
“You never change, Mum.”
“You’re one to talk! Still the first one up on Christmas morning, no matter that you aren’t even the youngest in the family anymore, mind you.”
The Doctor quietly voices his assent, nodding into his fruity beverage.
Rose gapes at them both. “Oi! That’s hardly fair! I –“
“We’re only teasing, sweetheart!” Jackie reassures her, momentarily adopting a serious expression, even as her eyes widen as Rose holds out the package. “What’s that, then?”
“Just a little something I remember you pointed out last time we went shopping.” Rose barely manages to finish her sentence before Jackie starts unwrapping her gift.
“Ohhh you remembered!” Jackie squeals and holds up a pink pashmina, covered with a splattering of tiny, pink sequins. “I love it. Thank you, darling.”
Rose smiles. “You’re welcome, Mum. There’s something from the Doctor in there, too. In the card.”
Jackie looks up, eyes widening, and turns to Rose. “It’s not some alien thing, is it?”
“No, Mum. Just open it.”
The Doctor reaches for her under the table, gripping her knee. Rose places her hand over his, and runs her thumb over, tracing circular patterns. She doesn’t meet his eye; she’s surprised at his unease but she knows he doesn’t want her to call attention to it.
“Oh, Doctor. I-“ Jackie stops, tears rushing to her eyes.
The Doctor jumps to his feet and she looks up to find his eyes as wide as she’s seen them.
“Jackie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to –“
Jackie splutters, and she’s up and throwing her arms around him and Rose realizes she was wrong as the Doctor’s eyes grow even wider. “I’m crying because I’m happy, you daft alien. I never thought I’d see that photo again. Thank you.” She leans up and loudly kisses him on the cheek before turning to Rose. “I was wrong you know, all those years ago. Not an ounce of uncaring in this one.”
The Doctor turns scarlet as her mum wraps her arms around him again and asks how he managed to get his hands on the photo. Rose settles back into her seat, watching the people she loves most in the world, and thinks that she can’t possibly remember when she’d been happier.