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Even for a budding adrenaline junkie, after defeating the Nestene Consciousness and the Autons, and Lady Cassandra and her minions, all Rose Tyler wanted was a bed. The Doctor had poked a curious head into the room the TARDIS apparently created just for her and muttered something about knowing who’s liked around here and too domestic by half. Knackered, Rose stumbled straight to the bed, kicking off trainers and dropping her hoodie as she went. The Doctor hastily retreated and Rose mumbled a vague thank you and face planted onto the mattress.
Many hours later she woke from the best sleep she could ever remember. She stretched catlike and luxuriated in the feel of complete relaxation. “Oh, this has got to be heaven,” she murmured before opening her eyes and looking around properly.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” She sat up in the bed, alert and amazed. The room was as big as half her mum’s apartment. Besides the queen-sized bed (or maybe it was king-sized, Rose didn’t know) and matching night tables, there was a dressing table with a three way mirror and stool, a love seat, a coffee table, a bookcase (empty), a straight backed chair, a tall chest of drawers, double doors slightly open to reveal a walk-in closet and a single door, wide open showing the ensuite. Rose looked up at a coffered ceiling whose indirect lighting was giving the room a soft soothing glow. A pale blue sky with earth-type fluffy clouds seemed to scroll past overhead. Rose pinched herself to see if she was dreaming.
“This is amazing!” She knew that the TARDIS could get in her head and translated languages, so she assumed she could also read thoughts or at least understand words – the Doctor sure talked out loud to the ship a lot. “You made this all for me? Thank you. It’s so beautiful. I’m sorry I didn’t notice last night; that was rude.” Rose waited a second, but the ship didn’t seem to do anything. She didn’t know if she was communicating or not, but it was worth a shot. She rolled out of bed and patted the wall on her way to the ensuite, “Good morning, beautiful.”
The TARDIS alerted the Doctor as soon as the new companion began to awaken. Setting down his tools, he swung himself up off the grating and headed to the galley. After restorative sleep, humans required restorative nutrition. For her first breakfast on board the Doctor had decided Rose would prefer jam and toast, maybe an egg or two instead of the TARDIS’s usual supply of protein bars and nutrient shakes. He might even break into his supply of bananas.
Rose followed her nose when she left her room in search of the Doctor and quickly found him in the galley. Appropriately her stomach rumbled and she grinned. This was so much nicer than a thermos of tea and a slice of cold toast on the run to the bus. “Good morning!”
“Hello! There’s really no such thing as morning, not on a time ship.”
Rose rolled her eyes as she pulled out a chair. “Okay then, hello Doctor!”
He grinned, “Good morning, Rose.”
“Oi!”
“Just pulling you one. I can adapt for the sake of your biological sleep cycle.”
“Er, thanks?”
“You’re welcome. Ready for some breakfast?”
“Yes, please.”
With a flourish the Doctor set a plate before her of scrambled eggs, buttered toast and sliced banana. He added a jar of strawberry jam and her mug of tea. Then he sat down across from her with a similar plate of food and mug.
“This is delicious,” complimented Rose around another forkful of egg. “I usually don’t eat only a piece of toast in the morning.”
The Doctor nodded. “You’re expending additional calories; your body needs to be replenished.”
Rose shrugged and slathered jam on her toast. “You’ll get no complaints from me.”
“All done?” He picked up their dishes and tossed them in the sink. There was no crash and clatter and Rose wondered about that for a moment before she was diverted by his next comment. “There are a few things we should go over if you’re going to be travelling with me.”
Rose watched him thinking it might have been nice to have this conversation before they went to see the end of the Earth. Still, better late than never...
He placed a yellow pill and a green pill on the table in front of her. “You’ll need to take both of these every morning for...a while. Then we’ll see; we might be able to space them out a bit.”
Rose looked at the pills but didn’t touch them. “What are they?”
“This,” he picked up the green pill and waited until she held out her hand to put it in her palm, “is what you’d think of as a vitamin. We won’t always be around a suitable food source and this will ensure that you get all the necessary nutrients for good health.”
He looked at her expectantly and then she made show of popping it in her mouth. She was far from a health nut, but he made good sense and she didn’t want to be sent home early because she got sick or weak or something.
“And the yellow one?”
The Doctor’s large ears took on a bright shade of pink. He picked up the pill and set it in her outstretched palm. This time his fingers lingered as if ready to snatch it back from her. “Pretty much what you’d all a morning after pill.”
“What?!” Rose snatched her hand away. He was no Casanova but he seemed to moving pretty fast here. Maybe it was part of his culture or something, but Rose wasn’t ready to have sex with him!
He frowned, clearly uncomfortable with the conversation but determined to make his point. “There are a lot of worlds out there and a lot of different ways of doing things. I wouldn’t want you to get pregnant from breathing in the pollen of a Wyndimont.”
Rose’ eyes grew round with amazement. “What? I can get pregnant from a plant?”
“Never said it was a plant, just that they have pollen.” He held out the pill to her again, “A precaution.”
Rose squirmed in her chair, “I’m already on the Pill,” she muttered completely embarrassed.
“Good to know but not relevant; this is against alien reproductive systems.” His hand didn’t waver.
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if it worked on time lords, but at the last second she quailed. Meekly she accepted the yellow pill and swallowed it. Apparently there was more to this travelling through time and space than a normal person thought of.