Ten/Rose, PG-13
Written for the Tenth Doctor Ficathon:
Title: ‘A Speech, A Concert and A Cup of Tea’
Author: firefaery2 (for kowarth)
Rating: PG-13, for mild language and alcohol abuse :P
Pairing: Ten/Rose, do I manage subtlety? I doubt it.
Spoilers: None specific.
Word Count: 3,347
Disclaimer: If I owned the Doctor, do you think I’d be here right now?
Summary: So you asked for a speech, a concert and a cup of tea? You get Kareoke!Doctor, a gig in the local pub and a bit of domestication! It’s a speech in lyrical form, I swear. Apologies in advance... hope you like :P (Big thanks to desert_rose and Emma, for the feedback.)
“ROSE!” No sooner had she stepped out of the doors of the TARDIS, Rose was enveloped in a crushing, Jackie-scented hug, into which she grinned, wrapping her arms around her mother.
“Heya mum, how’ve you been?”
“Fine, normal, same old. You know, flat, Howard, work, earth. And where have you been? It’s been three months! Three months!” Pulling away from her daughter, Jackie didn’t wait for a reply before turning on the Doctor, who had exited the TARDIS behind Rose and was currently planning a hasty retreat- not quite quick enough. “And you! Keeping her away three months! Most any normal parent has to deal with is a quick ‘home before midnight and no hanky-panky’, honestly...” She continued grumbling for a few more seconds before the Doctor cleared his throat nervously. Jackie shot him a glare and turned towards the stairs to the flat “You better come up, then. Mickey’s in fixing-up the dishwasher.”
----------
“ROSE!” The moment she stepped into the flat, Mickey had grabbed her tightly in his arms, and Rose faintly wondered if her ribs were going to survive many more trips home. “I’ve missed you, babes.”
“Missed you too” Rose replied, smiling into Mickey’s shoulder as he held her close. She had missed him, and her mum, she always did when she was away. Didn’t mean she’d even consider coming home for good, of course.
“Hope you’re staying a while” Jackie told the Doctor, in a voice that clearly implied he had absolutely no choice in the matter “Mickey’s friend Eddie and his band are playing down the local pub tonight. We were going anyway and now you two can join us.”
The Doctor shot Rose a desperate look over her mother’s shoulder.
“I’ll come along” Rose told Jackie and Mickey “The Doctor can stay and-“
“Not a chance” Jackie replied firmly “won’t do him any harm, I’m sure, and it’s about time a few of our friends met the man you’ve been ‘travelling the world’ with, Rose.”
----------
“Ok, this is so not fair” the Doctor muttered as Rose pulled him down the darkening street, their fingers interlaced. She just laughed.
“You let yourself in for this when you asked me to travel with you, you know.” She told him “You tell me enough times that human’s are complicated. Ties, right? Family, a little thing called responsibility.”
“Sounds boring to me.” He pouted a little and she giggled. As they reached the end of the road she pulled him through a pair of blackened doors and into the warm, dingy pub.
“Rose, over here!” She spotted Jackie and Mickey sat at a table in the far corner of the long room, perfectly situated between the bar and the little wooden stage in the right-hand corner. Quite a few people were sat in groups around the place- talking and laughing, smoking and drinking. Still grasping the Doctor’s hand, Rose pulled him off towards her mother.
When they reached the table, Rose was greeted by a couple more familiar faces.
“Oh my God! Rose, I haven’t seen you in ages!” Rose released the Doctor to hug Shireen as the girl threw herself at her “You didn’t even tell me you were going travelling!” She pulled away and Rose turned to smile at Shireen’s boyfriend, Eddie, a friend of Mickey’s who they’d often gone clubbing with back when Rose and Mickey were first a couple.
“Hey guys!” She tried to think of something to say, but instead settled on ignoring Shireen’s statement and turned her head to the Doctor. “This is my... friend, John Smith. John, this is Shireen and Eddie.”
“Hello.” The Doctor raised one hand and wiggled his fingers in a sort of wave “That’s me, yep, John Smith.” Rose nudged him in the ribs and pushed him down into a chair.
“Yep.” She said hastily, pulling her purse out of her handbag and looking round the table “Drinks, anyone?”
“Put it away, Rose, I’m buying the first round!” Shireen grinned at her friend and slid out of her seat to stand beside her “So, what you all having?”
As Shireen took orders, Rose bent down to whisper in the Doctor’s ear “You’re ok with... Earth drinks, right? I mean, aside from tea and all...”
“No idea” he whispered back “I assume so. Can’t fully remember trying any in the past, besides orange juice. Orange juice is gross, you know that? Never was really a fan of oranges. Marmalade is strangely good, though...”
“I’ll just get you whatever, then.” Rose cut him off, straightening up and heading off towards the bar with Shireen.
“No beer!” He called after her as she walked away “I have vague recollections of disliking beer!”
“He’s a bit odd, your friend, isn’t he?” Shireen said to Rose as they slid onto bar-stools waiting to be served.
“Tell me about it” Rose replied with a grin.
“Cute though.” Her friend continued, and Rose’s grin widened.
----------
“What is this?” The Doctor murmured to Rose as he inspected the glass she had just set before him.
“Vodka and Coke” She told him, sipping from an identical glass filled with the same fizzy brown liquid “It’s nice, promise.”
The Doctor lifted the glass, turning it in his hands and staring at it suspiciously before Rose swatted her hand at him.
“Just drink it!” she growled, although the affectionate edge to her voice ruined it slightly “And stop being difficult!”
“Oh, being difficult am I, Miss Rose Tyler?” He grinned at her and she knew what was coming. “You’re right; I am a bit difficult to handle in large doses, especially around the family and friends- impossible to take anywhere, me! You never know, I might cause you any amount of embarrassment! You don’t want to be looking out for me all night, so I’ll just be off to my-” he had gotten to his feet, still smiling cheekily at her, but she pulled him back down, cutting him off.
“You stay right where you are, John” She leaned in, avoiding the slightly worried stares the other occupants of the table were shooting them, and lowered her voice further “You’re staying, alright? At least for a couple of hours. Mum’s already mad enough. And behave!”
The Doctor sighed. “When I decided to try harder to make your mother happy, I didn’t realise that included spending hours sat in a stuffy bar listening to people talk about the weather and drinking radioactive liquid.”
“How about if this makes me happy?” She asked him. He looked at her for a second, then sighed again, raising his glass to no-one in particular.
“Here’s to Rose Tyler” he said “and her spectacular powers of manipulation.” And he drained the glass in one.
----------
Two hours later, Eddie’s band’s set was in full swing, Rose was sat chatting merrily to Mickey about what he’d been up to in the last three months and Shireen was attempting to make conversation with the Doctor, who was, it seemed, at least amusing her with his not-quite-straight answers and the odd word she didn’t understand.
“So, Jackie mentioned you’re some kind of Doctor?” She questioned “Is that, like, a proper medical Doctor, or one of those clever university type guys?”
“Both, I guess, and neither” he replied, now half way through his fourth Vodka and Coke “Didn’t go to university though, really. Or not like any you’d know of. Saved a couple of university’s, though, and a school. A great load of these bat things-” he cut off, gulping down another mouthful of drink “Anyway, yeh, Doctor, a Doctor, the Doctor, that’s me.”
“But a Doctor of what exactly?”
“Oh” he looked at her and his lips quirked upwards “many, many things.”
And then Rose was beside him. She had obviously overheard their conversation and thought this was an opportune moment to interrupt.
“John!” She cut in, pulling him round to face her as Shireen moved into conversation with Mickey “how are you liking your drink?”
“It’s not so bad” he replied, turning the glass casually in his fingers “except for the bubbles. The bubbles tickle my nose.” He scrunched it up and Rose couldn’t help but chuckle and lean forward to kiss it quickly. It was ok; they were both fairly tipsy after all. She caught sight of Jackie looking in their direction, though, and her eyebrows were raised.
----------
As the guitarist strummed the final chord, everybody in the pub broke into hoots and applause. Eddie and his friends bowed to the crowd, smiling and muttering “Thanks” into the microphone.
“Ok” began the bassist when the noise had died-down “It’s open-mic for a while! Anyone brave enough to share their vocal abilities is welcome!” And he left the stage to a final cheer.
“Try this, Doctor!” Rose shoved some sort of brightly coloured cocktail under the Doctor’s nose, an arm moving to wrap around his shoulders. She was really no more than tipsy, but she had long since stopped calling him ‘John’ and it didn’t really matter. If anyone was sober enough to notice they would only assume she was referring to his profession now, anyway.
The Doctor sipped at the concoction in front of him and spluttered a little.
“Wow” he croaked, licking his lips “that really does taste like battery acid.”
She frowned at him.
“I am severely worried if you have been going around tasting battery acid, alien or no.” She had the sense to lower her voice for the last bit and pushed the cocktail aside just as a shrill voice rang through the thick air.
“Nice lad, your Rose’s got there!” Rose turned her head to see a middle-aged brunette woman in a hot-pink dress pointing in their direction. A recent friend of her mother’s, she assumed, judging by the fact she was standing next to her. “Very nice” she smiled, eyeing the Doctor up with very little subtlety “and a sharp dresser, too.”
Rose’s cheeks flushed and the Doctor looked a little uncomfortable, she nudged him.
“Looks like you’ve pulled.”
----------
Rose and Shireen were catching up. They hadn’t had a chat in two years, after all, and Rose felt that she had a bit of explaining to do, even if the story she was spouting wasn’t the entire truth.
“I’ve been to so many places, seen so many things” that much, at least, was true “And it’s been totally fantastic, better than anything I could ever have hoped to be doing” that, too.
“So what about this John guy, then. Where does he fit into the picture?” Shireen asked “You’ve been travelling with him? Where did you meet?”
“He’s where it all started,” Rose shot a quick look at the Doctor, who appeared to be involved in an awkward conversation with Jackie and pink-dress lady “I just... bumped into him, really. And he liked to travel, so we went travelling.”
“So how serious is it between you two, then?” Shireen smirked and Rose sighed a little, she should have known that was what her friend was getting at.
“If you mean what I think...no, what I know you mean, Shireen, then it’s not like that. It’s... I... we’re really good friends, is all. Best friends.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Shireen chuckled, shaking her head, her brown curls bouncing against her cheeks “He’s attractive, young, and clever. A bit different, sure, but he took you travelling with him, Rose- you must have been living with him for two years! And you’re telling me there’s nothing going on...” she hesitated and dropped her voice slightly “er...how’s Mickey taking this? I got the impression you two were still together...”
“We are” Rose bit her lip “And honestly, Shireen, there is nothing going on-” she tailed off, staring at the stage “Oh my God.”
Pink-dress lady was stood on the raised platform, one hand holding the microphone and the other tight on the Doctor’s waist, pulling him against her. He looked like a terrified bunny in the clutches of a giant octopus, although the way he was not quite standing upright on his own suggested that he was a bit too past-it to fully comprehend the situation he was in. In two seconds flat, pink-dress lady had shoved the microphone into his hand, pressed an enormous red-lipstick kiss onto his cheek and clattered off the stage.
The Doctor stood still, staring at the microphone in his hand, then up at the crowd of pub-goers. He gaped wordlessly for a moment, and then Rose could swear she saw the light bulb visibly ignite above his head as he grinned.
“Hello, collection of various working-class homo-sapiens” he sounded just as he usually did, confident and... chipper. “This song’s for Rose...” she groaned aloud in protest, but the corners of his eyes crinkled in that way that always made her stomach flutter “because she’s... well, you’ll see.”
There was no backing music, but that didn’t seem to bother the Doctor as he promptly burst into song. Rose’s head was buried in her hands, but unfortunately that meant that her ears remained uncovered.
“Roooooose” The Doctor crooned at the top of his lungs. He’d probably have a decent singing voice, Rose noted, if he actually made an effort with his pitch and wasn’t under the influence of so much vodka. “You’re fantastic you knoooooooow...”
Somebody fell into the chair beside her and Rose dared look up for a second, her face scarlet. Mickey was slumped to her left, almost doubled-up with laughter.
“Is he...” Mickey snorted, barely able to get the words out “Is he singing Geoff Smith?!”
“...You’ll always be the one who knooooows, you’ll always be my Roooooose, fantastic Rose!” the Doctor continued, to furious cheers from the drunken crowd, as Rose attempted to hide behind a small beer mat.
“Nothing going on, eh?” Shireen’s voice muttered in her ear, and Rose could tell she was smiling.
----------
Jackie’s applause was among the loudest as the Doctor eventually staggered off-stage. Rose, having braved the crowd to run forward and steady him, pushed him back down into his seat at the table and glared at her mother.
“Have a sense of humour, love, that was the most entertaining thing I’ve seen in years!” Jackie giggled, leaning back against Howard, who had arrived an hour or so earlier.
“Mortifying, more like” Rose grumbled “and we only came here to meet up with a few friends.”
“Well, Betty seemed to like him” Jackie chuckled, gesturing to pink-dress lady, who was now being ushered out of the pub by an exasperated male relative. Rose just glared some more.
“Whatever” she turned to the Doctor, now leaning forward against the table, his head in his hands. “And you...” she paused, and when he didn’t look up a stab of concern shot through her “Doctor?” She slid a hand under his chin and tilted his head up to look at his face. He looked ill. His freckles stood out against his pale cheeks as if they’d been drawn-on and his usually bright eyes were hazy and unfocussed. “Damn” She whispered “how much have you had to drink?”
He groaned a little and then babbled incoherently. She could just about decipher ‘mother’, ‘friend’ and ‘buying me drinks’. If looks could kill, the one Rose shot Jackie would have had her on the floor in a split-second.
“You were with them most of the time! Why didn’t you keep an eye on him?!” She snapped.
“They seemed to be getting on fine!” Jackie retorted “And she didn’t buy him that many drinks- how was I supposed to know he’s such a lightweight?”
“I’m getting him out of here” Rose was on her feet in no time at all, slinging an arm around the Doctor’s shoulders and pulling him to his feet “Mickey, help me would you?!”
Mickey supported the Doctor from the opposite side as they moved towards the door, Jackie and Howard grabbing the coats and following quickly behind.
“See you, Rose!” Shireen shouted from the bar, where she sat with Eddie, as Rose and the others disappeared outside. Rose didn’t bother shouting a reply, she’d phone Shireen in the morning and apologise, she had more important things to be dealing with at that moment.
----------
The clean air of the flat was a great relief for Rose and, it seemed, for the Doctor. Now Rose had gently lowered him onto the sofa and set about dabbing his face with a cool flannel, he was looking slightly more healthy.
“Remind me never to let you drink again” Rose murmured, stroking the Doctor’s hair off his face with the hand that wasn’t holding the flannel “should have known you’re far too skinny to hold it.”
Opening his eyes slightly, the Doctor let out a weak laugh.
“That’s got nothing to do with it” he pushed out his bottom lip and blew air over his face, ruffling his fringe “now I think about it...” he launched into a long explanation detailing the reaction of alcohol when combined with various components of his bloodstream. When he had finished, Rose chuckled.
“How come even when you’re drunk you manage to confuse the hell out of me?” she dabbed off the red-lipstick smudge on his cheekbone and squeezed out the flannel in a little bowl beside where his head rested “and if you knew about all this, why didn’t you refuse to drink that stuff?”
“I didn’t really think about it” he sighed softly and closed his eyes “and besides, where’s the fun in that?”
----------
Mickey had gone home, Jackie and Howard were chatting in the kitchen and Rose sat and watched the Doctor sleep as the clock struck three in the morning. She felt strangely awake as she nestled her head in the cushions, watching the rise and fall of his white-shirt clad chest- his jacket and tie folded over the back of the sofa beside him. So at ease was she that she didn’t hear the sound of Jackie’s slippers as her mother padded into the living room and peered over the sofa at the two of them.
“Howard’s just gone” Jackie informed Rose and she nodded. There was a long, comfortable pause and then, “Come on, love,” Jackie whispered, looking fondly at both her daughter and the Doctor asleep beside her “he’ll need to be woken up soon, he’ll be dehydrated. A nice cup of tea will do the trick, I think, and something to eat... I’ve got some fruit cake in the cupboard. You could do with a bit of tea yourself, too.”
Rose had little energy to argue, and her mother was probably right anyway, so instead she simply got to her feet and followed Jackie back into the kitchen.
----------
“Mum, take the tea-bag out of that mug, would you?” Rose swung open the fridge while gesturing towards the kitchen side-board.
“It’s only been a couple of minutes, love.” Jackie replied, leaning against a cabinet behind her daughter as she watched her searching the shelves for milk.
“Yeh, he doesn’t like it strong,” Rose found a large blue and white milk carton and pushed the fridge-door closed “leave ours in a little while longer.”
Jackie removed the tea-bag on Rose’s instruction and took the milk as it was passed to her.
“Sugar?” She asked.
“One for me, as usual, and two for him- flat not heaped, and don’t overdo the milk will you? You’ll never hear the end of it...” She turned to see Jackie staring at her, the milk hovering precariously in her hand over a blue Snoopy mug “...What?”
“What are you, married?” Jackie shook her head slightly in disbelief “I didn’t know it had gotten this... serious.”
“It’s a cup of tea, mum.” Rose turned away again, sorting through a cupboard full of plates.
“Whatever you say, sweetheart.” Jackie sighed, but her voice sounded accepting, and Rose found that she rather liked that.
Selecting a plate for the Doctor, Rose put it on the side-board and, as she placed a piece of fruit cake on it, cut at a 30 degree angle, and scraped off the icing, she smiled.
-END-
*flees*
Title: ‘A Speech, A Concert and A Cup of Tea’
Author: firefaery2 (for kowarth)
Rating: PG-13, for mild language and alcohol abuse :P
Pairing: Ten/Rose, do I manage subtlety? I doubt it.
Spoilers: None specific.
Word Count: 3,347
Disclaimer: If I owned the Doctor, do you think I’d be here right now?
Summary: So you asked for a speech, a concert and a cup of tea? You get Kareoke!Doctor, a gig in the local pub and a bit of domestication! It’s a speech in lyrical form, I swear. Apologies in advance... hope you like :P (Big thanks to desert_rose and Emma, for the feedback.)
“ROSE!” No sooner had she stepped out of the doors of the TARDIS, Rose was enveloped in a crushing, Jackie-scented hug, into which she grinned, wrapping her arms around her mother.
“Heya mum, how’ve you been?”
“Fine, normal, same old. You know, flat, Howard, work, earth. And where have you been? It’s been three months! Three months!” Pulling away from her daughter, Jackie didn’t wait for a reply before turning on the Doctor, who had exited the TARDIS behind Rose and was currently planning a hasty retreat- not quite quick enough. “And you! Keeping her away three months! Most any normal parent has to deal with is a quick ‘home before midnight and no hanky-panky’, honestly...” She continued grumbling for a few more seconds before the Doctor cleared his throat nervously. Jackie shot him a glare and turned towards the stairs to the flat “You better come up, then. Mickey’s in fixing-up the dishwasher.”
----------
“ROSE!” The moment she stepped into the flat, Mickey had grabbed her tightly in his arms, and Rose faintly wondered if her ribs were going to survive many more trips home. “I’ve missed you, babes.”
“Missed you too” Rose replied, smiling into Mickey’s shoulder as he held her close. She had missed him, and her mum, she always did when she was away. Didn’t mean she’d even consider coming home for good, of course.
“Hope you’re staying a while” Jackie told the Doctor, in a voice that clearly implied he had absolutely no choice in the matter “Mickey’s friend Eddie and his band are playing down the local pub tonight. We were going anyway and now you two can join us.”
The Doctor shot Rose a desperate look over her mother’s shoulder.
“I’ll come along” Rose told Jackie and Mickey “The Doctor can stay and-“
“Not a chance” Jackie replied firmly “won’t do him any harm, I’m sure, and it’s about time a few of our friends met the man you’ve been ‘travelling the world’ with, Rose.”
----------
“Ok, this is so not fair” the Doctor muttered as Rose pulled him down the darkening street, their fingers interlaced. She just laughed.
“You let yourself in for this when you asked me to travel with you, you know.” She told him “You tell me enough times that human’s are complicated. Ties, right? Family, a little thing called responsibility.”
“Sounds boring to me.” He pouted a little and she giggled. As they reached the end of the road she pulled him through a pair of blackened doors and into the warm, dingy pub.
“Rose, over here!” She spotted Jackie and Mickey sat at a table in the far corner of the long room, perfectly situated between the bar and the little wooden stage in the right-hand corner. Quite a few people were sat in groups around the place- talking and laughing, smoking and drinking. Still grasping the Doctor’s hand, Rose pulled him off towards her mother.
When they reached the table, Rose was greeted by a couple more familiar faces.
“Oh my God! Rose, I haven’t seen you in ages!” Rose released the Doctor to hug Shireen as the girl threw herself at her “You didn’t even tell me you were going travelling!” She pulled away and Rose turned to smile at Shireen’s boyfriend, Eddie, a friend of Mickey’s who they’d often gone clubbing with back when Rose and Mickey were first a couple.
“Hey guys!” She tried to think of something to say, but instead settled on ignoring Shireen’s statement and turned her head to the Doctor. “This is my... friend, John Smith. John, this is Shireen and Eddie.”
“Hello.” The Doctor raised one hand and wiggled his fingers in a sort of wave “That’s me, yep, John Smith.” Rose nudged him in the ribs and pushed him down into a chair.
“Yep.” She said hastily, pulling her purse out of her handbag and looking round the table “Drinks, anyone?”
“Put it away, Rose, I’m buying the first round!” Shireen grinned at her friend and slid out of her seat to stand beside her “So, what you all having?”
As Shireen took orders, Rose bent down to whisper in the Doctor’s ear “You’re ok with... Earth drinks, right? I mean, aside from tea and all...”
“No idea” he whispered back “I assume so. Can’t fully remember trying any in the past, besides orange juice. Orange juice is gross, you know that? Never was really a fan of oranges. Marmalade is strangely good, though...”
“I’ll just get you whatever, then.” Rose cut him off, straightening up and heading off towards the bar with Shireen.
“No beer!” He called after her as she walked away “I have vague recollections of disliking beer!”
“He’s a bit odd, your friend, isn’t he?” Shireen said to Rose as they slid onto bar-stools waiting to be served.
“Tell me about it” Rose replied with a grin.
“Cute though.” Her friend continued, and Rose’s grin widened.
----------
“What is this?” The Doctor murmured to Rose as he inspected the glass she had just set before him.
“Vodka and Coke” She told him, sipping from an identical glass filled with the same fizzy brown liquid “It’s nice, promise.”
The Doctor lifted the glass, turning it in his hands and staring at it suspiciously before Rose swatted her hand at him.
“Just drink it!” she growled, although the affectionate edge to her voice ruined it slightly “And stop being difficult!”
“Oh, being difficult am I, Miss Rose Tyler?” He grinned at her and she knew what was coming. “You’re right; I am a bit difficult to handle in large doses, especially around the family and friends- impossible to take anywhere, me! You never know, I might cause you any amount of embarrassment! You don’t want to be looking out for me all night, so I’ll just be off to my-” he had gotten to his feet, still smiling cheekily at her, but she pulled him back down, cutting him off.
“You stay right where you are, John” She leaned in, avoiding the slightly worried stares the other occupants of the table were shooting them, and lowered her voice further “You’re staying, alright? At least for a couple of hours. Mum’s already mad enough. And behave!”
The Doctor sighed. “When I decided to try harder to make your mother happy, I didn’t realise that included spending hours sat in a stuffy bar listening to people talk about the weather and drinking radioactive liquid.”
“How about if this makes me happy?” She asked him. He looked at her for a second, then sighed again, raising his glass to no-one in particular.
“Here’s to Rose Tyler” he said “and her spectacular powers of manipulation.” And he drained the glass in one.
----------
Two hours later, Eddie’s band’s set was in full swing, Rose was sat chatting merrily to Mickey about what he’d been up to in the last three months and Shireen was attempting to make conversation with the Doctor, who was, it seemed, at least amusing her with his not-quite-straight answers and the odd word she didn’t understand.
“So, Jackie mentioned you’re some kind of Doctor?” She questioned “Is that, like, a proper medical Doctor, or one of those clever university type guys?”
“Both, I guess, and neither” he replied, now half way through his fourth Vodka and Coke “Didn’t go to university though, really. Or not like any you’d know of. Saved a couple of university’s, though, and a school. A great load of these bat things-” he cut off, gulping down another mouthful of drink “Anyway, yeh, Doctor, a Doctor, the Doctor, that’s me.”
“But a Doctor of what exactly?”
“Oh” he looked at her and his lips quirked upwards “many, many things.”
And then Rose was beside him. She had obviously overheard their conversation and thought this was an opportune moment to interrupt.
“John!” She cut in, pulling him round to face her as Shireen moved into conversation with Mickey “how are you liking your drink?”
“It’s not so bad” he replied, turning the glass casually in his fingers “except for the bubbles. The bubbles tickle my nose.” He scrunched it up and Rose couldn’t help but chuckle and lean forward to kiss it quickly. It was ok; they were both fairly tipsy after all. She caught sight of Jackie looking in their direction, though, and her eyebrows were raised.
----------
As the guitarist strummed the final chord, everybody in the pub broke into hoots and applause. Eddie and his friends bowed to the crowd, smiling and muttering “Thanks” into the microphone.
“Ok” began the bassist when the noise had died-down “It’s open-mic for a while! Anyone brave enough to share their vocal abilities is welcome!” And he left the stage to a final cheer.
“Try this, Doctor!” Rose shoved some sort of brightly coloured cocktail under the Doctor’s nose, an arm moving to wrap around his shoulders. She was really no more than tipsy, but she had long since stopped calling him ‘John’ and it didn’t really matter. If anyone was sober enough to notice they would only assume she was referring to his profession now, anyway.
The Doctor sipped at the concoction in front of him and spluttered a little.
“Wow” he croaked, licking his lips “that really does taste like battery acid.”
She frowned at him.
“I am severely worried if you have been going around tasting battery acid, alien or no.” She had the sense to lower her voice for the last bit and pushed the cocktail aside just as a shrill voice rang through the thick air.
“Nice lad, your Rose’s got there!” Rose turned her head to see a middle-aged brunette woman in a hot-pink dress pointing in their direction. A recent friend of her mother’s, she assumed, judging by the fact she was standing next to her. “Very nice” she smiled, eyeing the Doctor up with very little subtlety “and a sharp dresser, too.”
Rose’s cheeks flushed and the Doctor looked a little uncomfortable, she nudged him.
“Looks like you’ve pulled.”
----------
Rose and Shireen were catching up. They hadn’t had a chat in two years, after all, and Rose felt that she had a bit of explaining to do, even if the story she was spouting wasn’t the entire truth.
“I’ve been to so many places, seen so many things” that much, at least, was true “And it’s been totally fantastic, better than anything I could ever have hoped to be doing” that, too.
“So what about this John guy, then. Where does he fit into the picture?” Shireen asked “You’ve been travelling with him? Where did you meet?”
“He’s where it all started,” Rose shot a quick look at the Doctor, who appeared to be involved in an awkward conversation with Jackie and pink-dress lady “I just... bumped into him, really. And he liked to travel, so we went travelling.”
“So how serious is it between you two, then?” Shireen smirked and Rose sighed a little, she should have known that was what her friend was getting at.
“If you mean what I think...no, what I know you mean, Shireen, then it’s not like that. It’s... I... we’re really good friends, is all. Best friends.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Shireen chuckled, shaking her head, her brown curls bouncing against her cheeks “He’s attractive, young, and clever. A bit different, sure, but he took you travelling with him, Rose- you must have been living with him for two years! And you’re telling me there’s nothing going on...” she hesitated and dropped her voice slightly “er...how’s Mickey taking this? I got the impression you two were still together...”
“We are” Rose bit her lip “And honestly, Shireen, there is nothing going on-” she tailed off, staring at the stage “Oh my God.”
Pink-dress lady was stood on the raised platform, one hand holding the microphone and the other tight on the Doctor’s waist, pulling him against her. He looked like a terrified bunny in the clutches of a giant octopus, although the way he was not quite standing upright on his own suggested that he was a bit too past-it to fully comprehend the situation he was in. In two seconds flat, pink-dress lady had shoved the microphone into his hand, pressed an enormous red-lipstick kiss onto his cheek and clattered off the stage.
The Doctor stood still, staring at the microphone in his hand, then up at the crowd of pub-goers. He gaped wordlessly for a moment, and then Rose could swear she saw the light bulb visibly ignite above his head as he grinned.
“Hello, collection of various working-class homo-sapiens” he sounded just as he usually did, confident and... chipper. “This song’s for Rose...” she groaned aloud in protest, but the corners of his eyes crinkled in that way that always made her stomach flutter “because she’s... well, you’ll see.”
There was no backing music, but that didn’t seem to bother the Doctor as he promptly burst into song. Rose’s head was buried in her hands, but unfortunately that meant that her ears remained uncovered.
“Roooooose” The Doctor crooned at the top of his lungs. He’d probably have a decent singing voice, Rose noted, if he actually made an effort with his pitch and wasn’t under the influence of so much vodka. “You’re fantastic you knoooooooow...”
Somebody fell into the chair beside her and Rose dared look up for a second, her face scarlet. Mickey was slumped to her left, almost doubled-up with laughter.
“Is he...” Mickey snorted, barely able to get the words out “Is he singing Geoff Smith?!”
“...You’ll always be the one who knooooows, you’ll always be my Roooooose, fantastic Rose!” the Doctor continued, to furious cheers from the drunken crowd, as Rose attempted to hide behind a small beer mat.
“Nothing going on, eh?” Shireen’s voice muttered in her ear, and Rose could tell she was smiling.
----------
Jackie’s applause was among the loudest as the Doctor eventually staggered off-stage. Rose, having braved the crowd to run forward and steady him, pushed him back down into his seat at the table and glared at her mother.
“Have a sense of humour, love, that was the most entertaining thing I’ve seen in years!” Jackie giggled, leaning back against Howard, who had arrived an hour or so earlier.
“Mortifying, more like” Rose grumbled “and we only came here to meet up with a few friends.”
“Well, Betty seemed to like him” Jackie chuckled, gesturing to pink-dress lady, who was now being ushered out of the pub by an exasperated male relative. Rose just glared some more.
“Whatever” she turned to the Doctor, now leaning forward against the table, his head in his hands. “And you...” she paused, and when he didn’t look up a stab of concern shot through her “Doctor?” She slid a hand under his chin and tilted his head up to look at his face. He looked ill. His freckles stood out against his pale cheeks as if they’d been drawn-on and his usually bright eyes were hazy and unfocussed. “Damn” She whispered “how much have you had to drink?”
He groaned a little and then babbled incoherently. She could just about decipher ‘mother’, ‘friend’ and ‘buying me drinks’. If looks could kill, the one Rose shot Jackie would have had her on the floor in a split-second.
“You were with them most of the time! Why didn’t you keep an eye on him?!” She snapped.
“They seemed to be getting on fine!” Jackie retorted “And she didn’t buy him that many drinks- how was I supposed to know he’s such a lightweight?”
“I’m getting him out of here” Rose was on her feet in no time at all, slinging an arm around the Doctor’s shoulders and pulling him to his feet “Mickey, help me would you?!”
Mickey supported the Doctor from the opposite side as they moved towards the door, Jackie and Howard grabbing the coats and following quickly behind.
“See you, Rose!” Shireen shouted from the bar, where she sat with Eddie, as Rose and the others disappeared outside. Rose didn’t bother shouting a reply, she’d phone Shireen in the morning and apologise, she had more important things to be dealing with at that moment.
----------
The clean air of the flat was a great relief for Rose and, it seemed, for the Doctor. Now Rose had gently lowered him onto the sofa and set about dabbing his face with a cool flannel, he was looking slightly more healthy.
“Remind me never to let you drink again” Rose murmured, stroking the Doctor’s hair off his face with the hand that wasn’t holding the flannel “should have known you’re far too skinny to hold it.”
Opening his eyes slightly, the Doctor let out a weak laugh.
“That’s got nothing to do with it” he pushed out his bottom lip and blew air over his face, ruffling his fringe “now I think about it...” he launched into a long explanation detailing the reaction of alcohol when combined with various components of his bloodstream. When he had finished, Rose chuckled.
“How come even when you’re drunk you manage to confuse the hell out of me?” she dabbed off the red-lipstick smudge on his cheekbone and squeezed out the flannel in a little bowl beside where his head rested “and if you knew about all this, why didn’t you refuse to drink that stuff?”
“I didn’t really think about it” he sighed softly and closed his eyes “and besides, where’s the fun in that?”
----------
Mickey had gone home, Jackie and Howard were chatting in the kitchen and Rose sat and watched the Doctor sleep as the clock struck three in the morning. She felt strangely awake as she nestled her head in the cushions, watching the rise and fall of his white-shirt clad chest- his jacket and tie folded over the back of the sofa beside him. So at ease was she that she didn’t hear the sound of Jackie’s slippers as her mother padded into the living room and peered over the sofa at the two of them.
“Howard’s just gone” Jackie informed Rose and she nodded. There was a long, comfortable pause and then, “Come on, love,” Jackie whispered, looking fondly at both her daughter and the Doctor asleep beside her “he’ll need to be woken up soon, he’ll be dehydrated. A nice cup of tea will do the trick, I think, and something to eat... I’ve got some fruit cake in the cupboard. You could do with a bit of tea yourself, too.”
Rose had little energy to argue, and her mother was probably right anyway, so instead she simply got to her feet and followed Jackie back into the kitchen.
----------
“Mum, take the tea-bag out of that mug, would you?” Rose swung open the fridge while gesturing towards the kitchen side-board.
“It’s only been a couple of minutes, love.” Jackie replied, leaning against a cabinet behind her daughter as she watched her searching the shelves for milk.
“Yeh, he doesn’t like it strong,” Rose found a large blue and white milk carton and pushed the fridge-door closed “leave ours in a little while longer.”
Jackie removed the tea-bag on Rose’s instruction and took the milk as it was passed to her.
“Sugar?” She asked.
“One for me, as usual, and two for him- flat not heaped, and don’t overdo the milk will you? You’ll never hear the end of it...” She turned to see Jackie staring at her, the milk hovering precariously in her hand over a blue Snoopy mug “...What?”
“What are you, married?” Jackie shook her head slightly in disbelief “I didn’t know it had gotten this... serious.”
“It’s a cup of tea, mum.” Rose turned away again, sorting through a cupboard full of plates.
“Whatever you say, sweetheart.” Jackie sighed, but her voice sounded accepting, and Rose found that she rather liked that.
Selecting a plate for the Doctor, Rose put it on the side-board and, as she placed a piece of fruit cake on it, cut at a 30 degree angle, and scraped off the icing, she smiled.
-END-
*flees*