Fic: Enchantment
Title: Enchantment
Series: Matchmaker
Author: tardisblue
Beta: The wonderful wildwinterwitch
Characters: Ten/Rose
Rating: T
Summary: The Doctor and Rose relax in New New York after the events of New Earth.
Disclaimer: The BBC owns everything Doctor Who.
Author's Notes: A huge thank you to wildwinterwitch for her support and amazing beta-ing skills.
Part 1 - Entanglement
Rose lay back in the soft grass, gazing up into the night sky of New New York. Kicking off her shoes, Rose let out a sigh as she stretched out and wiggled her toes. She was glad the Doctor had suggested relaxing out on the hillside before they took off again. She could hear the faint whirring of various spacecraft flying about in the distance, glowing orbs of light sailing to and from the large luminous city. The night sky was beautiful, the sound of the gentle waves rolling up against the shore, soothing. The gusts of wind had calmed and it was quite warm and cozy on this particular side of the Tardis. Rose took a deep breath, humming in pleasure as she savoured the sweet scent of applegrass.
What a day it had been. Cat-nuns growing thousands and thousands of humans, humans who had been injected with every disease possible, being made to suffer for what the cat nuns called the greater good. The sick escaping, forcing the hospital to shut down into quarantine. Running and climbing for their lives. Curing the people and saving them. Having the cat-nuns carted off to prison. And last, but not least, Cassandra.
Rose closed her eyes.
It had been strange, having her body taken over by Cassandra. Rose could remember most of the events that occurred while Cassandra occupied her body, but in a hazy, dream-like way. It had almost felt like she had been trapped in the indistinct moment between sleeping and waking, between dreaming and reasoning. She had still been partially aware of herself, saying things and doing things beyond her control, but had been powerless to stop it, unable to fight the overpowering presence of Cassandra’s mind from imprisoning her own. As soon as they had returned to the Tardis, the Doctor had insisted on hurrying Rose to the med-bay to scan her for any damages that Cassandra might have caused to her brain. Five scans later and after having gone through the day’s events several times, along with recounting memories of her childhood and more recent events, the Doctor had deemed that there had been no lasting damage to Rose’s brain. Other than a minor headache, which had been easily cured with paracetamol, Rose was fine. In fact, most of the things that had happened during her imprisonment now seemed less hazy after having gone through the events with the Doctor.
Other things, however, did not seem as clear. There was a hazy memory, or perhaps it had been a dream, a fragment that floated about at the edge of her mind. Something that Rose could not grasp long enough to distinguish whether it had been a figment of a dream or an actual memory; a memory that had been veiled by her imprisonment by Cassandra. Ever since the near kiss that had almost happened when Rose had gotten trapped underneath the Tardis console, she had been having increasingly vivid dreams of kissing the Doctor. Dreams that would cause her to awaken flushed, breathless and aching with need. She couldn’t have possibly leapt upon the Doctor, grabbing him roughly to her as she kissed him passionately, plundering his mouth as she ran her hands through his hair. She couldn’t have possibly felt the Doctor’s cool tongue begin to curl around her own as she pulled away. He wouldn’t have really done that, would he? Rose shook her head, trying to clear her mind. It had to have been a dream.
“Here we are!” rang the Doctor’s voice as he stepped out of the Tardis, shutting the door with a soft click. He strode towards Rose, a large bowl of strawberries in his hands.
Rose broke into a grin, suddenly feeling playful as the Doctor came into view. “Took you long enough. I thought you might have gotten distracted with something or the other.”
“Oi! Timelords do not get distracted,” the Doctor said indignantly, though his eyes were dancing with mirth.
“Oh, really?” Rose asked mischievously, poking her tongue out between her teeth, “I think you do. ‘specially in this body.”
The Doctor plopped himself beside her, lying back as he set the bowl of strawberries between them. “You, Rose Tyler, are being quite impertinent. And you are absolutely right,” he agreed, waggling his eyebrows at her.
Rose laughed, trying to ignore the fluttering sensation in her stomach.
“Actually,” the Doctor continued, tilting his face towards the dark sky, “I was searching the kitchen for something a little more… well, filling. Seems like this new body likes to eat quite a bit more,” he said, patting his stomach. “But I couldn’t seem to find anything anywhere, not even a single biscuit. Lucky I found the strawberries. I think we’ll have to pop back to Earth to Tesco’s before we head off again. Though I could have sworn your mum stocked us up before we left…” he trailed off in confusion.
“I thought she did too,” Rose said, remembering her mum stubbornly making several trips from the flat to the Tardis with multiple boxes of food for them. Propping herself up, she reached for a plump strawberry.
“Hm. Tesco’s before we’re off then. Though I do really like strawberries. Always have,” the Doctor said while popping one into his mouth. “Good with jam.”
Rose made a face. “Strawberries with jam?”
“Quite tasty,” the Doctor nodded, reaching for another strawberry.
“If you say so,” Rose said doubtfully.
“I do,” the Doctor said, his eyes twinkling. “I tried it before I came out here.”
“I knew it!” Rose shouted triumphantly, letting out a laugh.
The Doctor could only grin and pop another strawberry into his mouth. “We might need to pick up some more jam while we’re at it too.”
“So where are we off to next then? After Tesco’s?” Rose asked, settling back down into the grass.
“Where do you want to go?”
Rose was quiet for a moment. “Somewhere that doesn’t involve hospitals. I don’t think I’ll be wanting to go near one for awhile,” she finally said soberly, remembering the events of the day.
“No hospitals,” the Doctor agreed. “Or cats.”
“No hospitals, no cats,” Rose said with a small smile.
“What about…” the Doctor paused, sneaking a sideways glance at Rose, “a concert? Some sort of rock concert with loud music. Dancing. Crowds. That sort of thing?”
Rose turned to stare at the Doctor incredulously, her heart leaping. Had he just asked her to a…to a concert? “A rock concert?” she repeated.
“Yeah,” the Doctor said, turning to look at Rose. “Might be fun. The two of us. At a concert. With other people there, of course,” he added hastily.
As the Doctor turned his head to look at her, Rose snorted and burst into giggles.
“What?” the Doctor asked, looking putout at Rose’s laughter before he began talking very quickly again. “Or if you don’t want to we could go to a nice beach. A nice hot beach with white sand and blue ocean and dolphins. We could go to Cephalor. They have singing dolphins. Full melodies and everything. It’s quite nice. Very relaxing. Or chips! What about chips? Chips are good. I like chips. You like chips. We could go get chips - ”
“No, no, the concert sounds brilliant. I’d love it,” Rose said through her giggles.
The Doctor blinked, confused. “What, then? What is it?”
“It’s just…you’re so different. I can’t imagine your old self suggesting going to a rock concert with crowds and dancing. You’d have been horrified at the idea…” Rose said, trailing off as her eyes caught a glimpse of a trail of strawberry juice glistening on the Doctor’s chin. Rose swallowed, unable to look away as she imagined running her tongue against Doctor’s chin, tasting him as she licked up the errant juice.
“Rose?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you alright? You’ve gone quiet and now you’re staring. Is it your head again?” the Doctor said, beginning to look worried.
Rose flushed. “Er. No. I’m fine. It’s just that you’ve just got… you’ve got strawberry. On your chin,” she managed to say.
“What? I do? Where?” the Doctor asked, wiping at his face in vain. “Did I get it?”
“Here,” Rose finally said, remembering to breathe. Sitting up, she leant over the Doctor and began to gently brush the strawberry juice off his chin, taking far longer than she needed to. Soon, Rose had all forgotten the practical aspect of her task, enchanted by the feel of the Doctor’s cool skin beneath her fingertips. She had often wondered what this new face would feel like beneath her fingertips, its narrow planes and sharp angles. Was his skin this cool everywhere? Unconsciously, she let her fingers tenderly run down the Doctor’s cheek, revelling in its smoothness and the contrasting roughness of day grown stubble.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
It was only when the loud drone of a spacecraft flying too low overhead that Rose came back to herself, remembering where she was and what she had been doing. She was about to stammer out an apology and had begun to desperately think of some sort of humorous quip to remedy the impending awkward situation when she raised her eyes to the Doctor’s, catching sight of the heated, half-lidded gaze directed at her.
Rose swallowed. Had he been… enjoying it? At that point, Rose was no longer capable of logical thought. The Doctor’s fingertips were now resting on the bare skin of her arm, just below the edge of her sleeve. He was tracing down her arm, lower and lower, down the entire length and settling at the smooth skin of her inner wrist, which he began to stroke with the pad of his thumb. Rose’s breath hitched in her throat at the sensation, her eyes momentarily fluttering shut as she felt a familiar pleasant ache and a wetness begin to form between her legs.
“Rose,” the Doctor said in a low voice. Rose shivered at his tone, her skin pebbling. He tugged at her wrist, pulling her down, down, down towards his parted lips.
Oh, Rose. Oh, Rose, Rose, Rose, she seemed to feel him say as they drew closer.
Closing her eyes, Rose tilted her head towards him -
- and jumped back, her eyes flying open as a blaring ringing and buzzing noise broke the silence. It was coming from her pocket. Something ringing and buzzing in her pocket. Her mobile. Her mobile was ringing.
“Er,” the Doctor jumped up, stammering, his cheeks flushed, “maybe you should… should get that. You know. Your mobile,” he said sputtered, gesturing vaguely at her pocket.
“What? Oh. Right,” Rose swallowed, reaching into her pocket and flipping open her mobile. “Hello? Mum. Hi…”
“I’ll be… I’ll be in the Tardis,” the Doctor mouthed, looking positively flustered as he hurried into the safety of the Tardis.
Completely and utterly oblivious to her mother’s conversation. Rose could only stare at the Doctor’s retreating back.
-:-
The Tardis huffed. They had been so close. So very close. It had been the perfect scenario. A particularly soft and fragrant patch of applegrass under the stars. Ripe strawberries. A warm breeze, complimentary of yours truly. She seemed sure that it was going to happen this time. Next time, she vowed to herself, she would be sure to block any incoming signals from that dratted mobile. Especially if it was coming from one Ms. Jackie Tyler.