#tentoosday

She could already see the difference this impromptu trip was making in him.  He’d been here, in this universe, for almost three months now. The first couple of weeks had been good, catching up and getting him settled.  Shopping and paperwork had been interspersed with tours of London and playing with Tony, telling stories and relearning each other.  But once the dust had settled he’d grown restless, and she had to give credit where it was due – he’d tried very hard to hide it.  She knew him, though, could still recognize that longing look in his eye that he’d have when they’d stay on the TARDIS for too long a stretch.

She’d booked this trip the next day.  They’d had to wait until his passport came in, but that was yesterday and today they were on their way.

Now he was calm, looking around in interest at their fellow passengers and out the windows.  “How long’s this leg?”

“Two and a half hours,” she checked their travel documents.  “Then a forty-five minute layover, then another five on the TGV.”

“The ‘TGV’,” he scoffed, “what an original name. ‘High speed train’.  Brilliant.”  His free hand carded through his hair, ruffling the strands he’d spent twenty minutes on that morning to the point of nearly making them late.

“You’re right, ‘Underground’ is much cleverer,” she teased, grinning up at him.  “It’s almost as if someone thought it might be a good idea for the name to be descriptive.”

The Doctor’s jaw dropped, staring down at her for a moment before pursing his lips and harrumphing.  “Go ahead and mock, Rose Tyler.”

She waited, but he didn’t say anything else, just determinedly staring out the window over her head.  “No need to pout, love, we’re on holiday! You should be happy.”

His expression softened, and he beamed at her.  “I am happy, my love,” he emphasized the endearment, and Rose suspected their faces would crack any moment from so much smiling, “cause I’m with you.  Plus, we’re finally alone.”

That was true; after four years of bedtime stories from his big sister about her heroic alien ‘friend’, Tony had been in awe of meeting the Doctor in the flesh, even more so than the time they took him to meet Elmo.  Every second that her brother was awake he clamored for the Doctor and Rose’s attention, barely letting them have a moment to themselves.  The odd times that they did find themselves alone for the day, inevitably one of her parents would interrupt, hijacking them until Tony woke from his nap.

But now they had ten uninterrupted days alone.  They were on their way to Barcelona (the city not the planet), where Rose had rented a house for the week.  No parents, no brother, hopefully no alien encounters – other than what she had planned for the one next to her.  Sightseeing, sunbathing… and, she crossed her fingers, hopefully some shagging.  Or at least brilliant snogging.

The train started moving then, and she squeezed his hand in excitement.  “Here we go!”  Rose let go momentarily to shove up the armrest between them, and they cuddled together by the window as the train left the station and made its way through the city.

She was so distracted by his long, lean body pressed against hers, she almost missed a point of interest.  Using the GPS on her mobile to verify they were in the right spot, she nudged him before gesturing out the window.  “See this park here?”

“Yeah?”

“You can’t quite see it but if you follow these paths, they’ll take you around towards the construction.”

“Oh?  And what are they constructing?” he murmured in her ear, sending a rush of warmth through her veins.

“The Olympic park.”

“Oh, are they doing that here?” he asked in delight.  “I didn’t ask.”

She grinned at him in the reflection of the window.  “Yep! Next summer now.  Coming soon.”

“Think they’ll let me carry the torch?”

“They didn’t let you the first time,” she shot back, “and hopefully, the Isolus won’t get lost in this universe.”

He hummed softly.  “Well, actually, all things considered, it wouldn’t be that big a deal if it happened again.  I mean, no one died, and honestly, I think it helped that family more than it hurt.  What was their name?”

“Webber,” Rose said promptly.  “Chloe and Trish.”

He went still behind her for a moment before pressing his lips to the side of her head, hard.  “I love that you still remember that,” he whispered. “I love you.”

Her heart skipped a beat as it always did, and she took a moment to savor those words, how easily he said them, how often he said them.  “I love you too.”

They’d had breakfast before leaving the house, but shortly before they entered the Chunnel the Doctor stood, stretching.  “I could use a cuppa – you?”

Rose didn’t hesitate to sprawl out across both seats.  “Sure, ta.”  She watched him walk away, whistling, before calling him back.  “Wait!”

“What’s wrong?”  He hurried over to her.

She dug in her purse.  “One – the galley’s the other way, and two – d’you have cash?”  She glanced up to see him grinning, wallet in hand.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” he said smugly, as if two days ago he hadn’t almost gotten them arrested because he’d forgotten to pay for lunch.

Rose relaxed, sinking back in her seat, unable to wipe the happiness from her face.  “Great.  Oooh, I could go a chocolate croissant though, if they’ve got any.”

He blinked down at her, looking almost offended.  “We’ll be in Paris in an hour, and you want a croissant from a train?”

“Yep!”

He shook his head, walking away muttering under his breath.

“I heard that!”

In Paris they changed trains, stopping to grab pastries and lunch to go.  Settled in their seats on the TGV, Rose immediately pulled out one of the croissants and tore it in two, offering half to the Doctor.  She had the window again, and they snuggled together to watch the French countryside fly by.

“So this is probably a ridiculous question, but have you ever been to Paris?” Rose asked, leaning back against his chest.

“Of course,” he answered as expected.  “A number of times. Once, I came with my friend Romana.  Was it before? No-  not long after she regenerated.  We were here as tourists-”

“Wait, regenerated?  She was a Time Lord?” Rose bolted upright, turning to stare at him.

The Doctor ruffled his hair, an uncertain expression on his face.  “Yes- well, Time Lady.  She traveled with me for a while in her first and second incarnations.”

“Oh,” she exhaled, mind whirling.  For some reason, she’d never pictured him travelling with anyone but a human.  “Were you… involved?”

“What, romantically?”  His concern seemed to be fading, only to be replaced with confusion.  “Ugh, no.  She is- well, was, I suppose- one of my best friends, and a good ally whenever I had to return home, but- decidedly not.”

“Okay.”  Rose shook her head, resettling herself in his arms.  “Sorry, minor jealous freakout over.  You were tourists?”

He kissed the side of her head, arms tightening around her.  “Right. Anyway, we were wandering around, taking in the sights, when we realized someone was messing with time.  Long story short, an alien of the species Jagaroth had tried to take off in his spaceship some odd 400 million years ago, the ship blew up, and fragments of his consciousness were scattered forward through the centuries.  The one in 1979 Paris was posing as a Count, trying to raise funds to build a machine that would send him back to just before the explosion to stop it.”

“Did he succeed?”

The Doctor scoffed.  “The ship exploding mixed with the amniotic fluid on the ground, creating amino acids and effectively life on Earth.”

“So it was a paradox,” Rose guessed, tilting her head back to see his chin.  “He could never succeed ‘cause if he did he wouldn’t have been splintered in the first place, and there would’ve been no humanity to help him get back to the explosion.”

“Exactly,” the Doctor confirmed after a moment.  “I must say, Rose, you follow this a lot better than you used to.”

“Experience,” she replied simply.  “I spent two years hopping from dimension to dimension.  I had to understand – it was do or die.”

He traced his finger over her face, starting with her cheek before skating over her lips, nose, and brow, feather light.  The touch still made her shiver, leaning heavier into him.  He never spoke, and eventually she turned to look out the window again, the countryside flying by.

The slight rocking of the train must have lulled her to sleep, because she jerked awake at the conductor announcing, “Gare de Narbonne!  Narbonne!”

Struggling to untangle herself from the Doctor’s grip, she sat up, blinking.  The sky was beginning to darken, and she realized it was the last stop before their own.  “Doctor?”  She gently shook him awake as the train began to move again.  “Wake up, please.”

His eyes cracked open, a loud yawn echoing in the otherwise quiet car.  “Where’re we?”

“Narbonne, we’re next.”

“How long?”

“Bout thirty minutes, I think.”

“Oh, okay.”  And his eyes drifted shut again.  Rose waited a moment, before viciously pinching his side.  “Oi!”

“Don’t fall back asleep,” she hissed, “we’ll be there before we know it.  Come on, let’s clean this stuff up.”

He grumbled, still yawning, but did as she asked.  By the time all the trash had been discarded and they’d each made a trip to the loo, they were pulling into the station.

“Gare de Perpignan!  Perpignan!”

The train stopped and they stood, the Doctor snatching Rose’s bag before she could.  “Lead the way,” he nudged, and she did, stepping off the train and quickly locating the car rental booth.

“Erm, bonjour- ah, bonsoir, je m’appelle Rose Tyler, j’ai une reservation?”

Getting the car was relatively painless, despite being able to sense the Doctor’s desire to jump in and take over.  Thankfully he was wise enough to let her handle it, merely following her to the rental car where she froze, keys in hand.

It was exactly what she’d ordered: a midnight blue, sparking convertible in a shade as close to the TARDIS as she could get.  But looking at the vehicle reminded her of a key difference between England and the Continent – the steering wheel was on the other side.

“D’you want me to drive?” the Doctor offered, already popping the trunk and loading the bags.

“No, I can do it, I just need you to navigate for me,” Rose said, biting her lip.  How hard could it be?

“Alrighty, then.”  And he opened the right-side door with a flourish, waiting expectantly.

Smiling, she shook her head, walking around to the left and opening the door for herself.  “Thanks, love.”

“Right.”  He yawned again, ruffling his hair sheepishly as he slid in.  “This is nice.”

“I wanted to feel the wind in my hair,” Rose explained, carefully adjusting her mirrors and seat before starting the car.  “Okay, we’ve got about thirty kilometers to go tonight so we cross the border into Spain.  Then we can drive along the coast in the daylight.”

“Molto bene.”

She eased the car out of the space, watching carefully as she got out onto the street.  Fortunately traffic was light, just enough cars on the road to remind her which side to be on.  She deliberately drove out of her way for a few minutes as practice, before making her way over to the divided highway, holding her breath until she’d smoothly merged with traffic.  So long as she kept going straight she wasn’t too worried, and was soon comfortable enough to steal glances every so often at the farmland on the side of the highway.

“So, you haven’t said what all you’ve got planned for this week,” the Doctor mentioned, startling her; he’d been quiet for so long, she’d thought he’d fallen asleep again.

“Oh, the usual,” she said flippantly, “sun, sand, se- spending time alone with you.”  Rose bit her lip hoping he couldn’t see her blush, and more importantly, hadn’t caught her slip of the tongue.  She wanted to discuss their physical relationship with him, but hurtling down a motorway at 100 kph didn’t seem like the best time.

“That it?”  His voice was warm, and to her surprise, he settled his palm on her thigh, thumb stroking at the sensitive skin.

“Sightseeing!  We’re not too far from Barcelona, so I figured we could drive in a couple days, do the tourist thing.”  She swallowed, warmth pooling in her stomach.  His gaze was heavy on her, but not uncomfortable – more of a cozy duvet during the winter type of weight, rather than oppressive.  Could he, possibly, already be on the same page?

“Yeah, all right,” he was nodded approvingly when she snuck a peek at him, “also, love the alliteration.”

“Just for you, babe.”  Her laugh was off, too high-pitched and breathless, but it was genuine, and he giggled along.

They rode in silence after that, Rose focusing as the traffic picked up around her, the Doctor a steady but still presence next to her but for the occasional direction.  They made it to the hotel soon enough, and once again he rushed to carry her bag for her, dutifully trailing behind as she checked them in.

Despite the fact they’d been sleeping in the same bed since his arrival, anticipation sparked between them as they reached the room.  For the first time, there would be no risk of interruption – no Tony to come bounding in, no Jackie to pester them down to breakfast.

Rose threw open the door, nearly dancing inside – until she stopped dead, the Doctor crashing into her back in his own haste.

“Oi!  Why’d you stop- oh.”  His chest was warm against her back as they stood there, staring at the twin beds.  A beautiful antique nightstand stood between the beds, and Rose had a nasty feeling that it would be quite heavy, if not impossible, to move.

“They were supposed to give us a king,” she moaned, as the two bags dropped to the ground behind her.  “Shit.  And the girl said we were the last to check in, too.”

“We can make do,” the Doctor said bravely.  “It’s one night.”

“Yeah.”  Rose supposed it was for the best, as she lifted her weekender onto the bed closer to the window.  The anticipation and impatience was making her ache, and if they slept curled up together she couldn’t promise to control herself, and she didn’t want that.  She wanted to have a conversation about it first, a likely excruciating and humiliating conversation, and make sure they were on the same page.

Plus, she didn’t want anyone to overhear them – she suspected they would be loud.

He laid his hand on the right side of his chest, a sigh escaping him at the empty feeling. The other Doctor was gone, the TARDIS was gone, and his second heart was isolating herself several rooms away from for reasons that he did not know.

"Doctor?"

He sat up in the bed quickly, sonic screwdriver in hand and aimed towards the disembodied voice in the doorway. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, but he was immediately relieved when he recognized the backlit figure in his door, "Rassilon, Rose!" He threw back the sheets, dropping the sonic as he quickly moved out of bed to make his way over to her, his voice soft as he questioned her, "Are you alright?"

"I'm always alright. I just-" he heard her voice catch and watched as she brought her arms up around herself.

"Oh, Rose." The Doctor pulled her against him once he was close enough to do so, her arms coming around his waist as she wept into his chest.

The room was silent for a while aside from the sound of Rose crying, the room echoing with her harsh breaths and sobbing. As she began to settle down, he moved away from her and guided her to the bed, pushing softly on her shoulders to get her to sit. His mouth found the top of her head of their own bidding, his lips leaving a gentle kiss to the crown before he fell to his knees in front of her. The Doctor moved her hands away from her eyes so he could wipe at her cheeks, a smile crossing his face as he cupped her face between his hands and spoke softly, "There now, that's enough of that. Tell me what's bothering you?"

Rose hiccupped as she stared at him, her hands coming up to move his hands from her face and cradle them in her lap within her own as she responded, "I dreamt that you left me again. I just-" she drew in a quick breath of air, "I just needed t’ see you. I'm sorry. I must look so stupid." She moved one of her hands to rub at her eyes, her other hand lacing her fingers with his own.

"Oh never, not to me." He responded, moving his free hand to rub at the back of his own head sheepishly and ruffling his hair in the process, "I was actually thinking about coming to check on you."

He watched her as she blinked a few times, her teeth catching her bottom lip in a nervous manner before she released it and spoke, "Really?"

The Doctor's eyes' trailed down her body and stopped on her legs, the back of his hand gently trailing across her bare thigh as he tried to think of words to say. She was wearing a baby pink pair of shorts and a matching cami and they were now making it very hard for him to think when he had a lot of words and all of them were hard to say. His fingers snagged the hem of her shorts as he began to talk, the silky material flowing gently against his skin, "I know that we haven't had much time to talk since the beach and we certainly never had many emotional conversations on the TARDIS, but I want you to know that I meant every word I said on the beach," he finally moved his eyes to lock onto hers, his gaze intense and voice unwavering, "I am in love with you, Rose Tyler, and I always have been, always will be. I will love you until the last star dies and even longer. I may have given you all of time and space, but you gave me a reason to live again. If you need time to decide if this is what you want, I can give you that. You've done your fair share of waiting and I think - Well, I think I can do mine if need be."

There was a heavy silence between them as his speech drew to a close, his chest tight as he waited with bated breath for her to respond. He saw the moment that Rose made her decision, her face drawing close to his in a painstakingly slow manner and stopping only when her mouth was a minute distance away from his," Thank you." Her words were a breathy puff of air against his lips before she leaned in the rest of the way to kiss him.

The kiss was soft and chaste, nothing at all like the intensely passionate one they had shared on the beach earlier in the morning. The Doctor drew his arms around her slowly, his hands memorizing the curve of her waist as he pulled her against him. He hummed as she put her arms around his neck, her fingers twining through his hair and scraping his scalp in a way that caused him to groan.

She kissed him softly a few times before moving away and letting her forehead rest against his own, her breath coming in soft pants.

"Not that I didn't enjoy that, but what were you thanking me for?" he said roughly as his gaze lingered on her lips before trailing up to her closed eyes.

"For saying it again." she replied, her eyes opening and regarding him with a startling intensity that caused his breath to catch in his throat and his chest to tighten, "I love you, too"

He felt himself shiver. Rassilon, he would never get tired of hearing that.

"Now, Doctor, let's go t’ bed. You're human now and that pretty vessel will need its beauty sleep." She said, unwinding herself from him and climbing up the bed to settle in for the night.

He cocked his eyebrow at her, a smirk playing across his lips as he moved to make his way onto the bed with her, "You think I'm pretty?" he asked her jovially as he fell into bed beside her.

She laughed and grabbed for his pillow, smacking him with it as she responded, "Like you need t’ hear it, your ego doesn't need the boost."

He moved under the sheets, pulling her to him and kissing her face a few times as she laughed, "Why Doctor, is that your sonic or are you just happy t’ see me?"

The Doctor pulled back from her, one of his hands moving beneath the sheet before coming up with a soft 'aha', "Just the Sonic, dropped it in the bed when you suddenly appeared in my door."

They stared at each other a moment before breaking out in laughter. He rolled onto his back, pulling her against him gently as their giggles died off, "Goodnight, Rose Tyler."