Chapter Text
The rucksack full of everything they usually brought with them on their travels for Alice was sitting on Jackie’s coffee table. Every ounce of breastmilk Rose had pumped over the last twenty-four hours was in the refrigerator alongside jars of mashed fruits and vegetables, and as Alice babbled in her grandmother’s lap Rose kissed her head, handing her her wolf toy.
“I love you so much, sweet girl. Be good, okay?” she whispered, giving her cheek one more peck before she stepped aside so the Doctor could say goodbye, too.
“Come here,” he whispered, picking her up and hugging her. He closed his eyes for a moment, listening to her heartbeat as he held her close, then kissed her head before he handed her back to Jackie. “If she can’t sleep, try a nightlight. She usually has the projection of the stars to look at... It might help.”
Jackie smirked.
“Noted,” she said. He took a breath and looked down at Alice, who was back to playing with her toy, blissfully unaware that she was about to spend her very first night away from her parents. He cupped her cheek.
“And if you run out of milk, you can try formula, but she’s become a little more picky about that, so just give her some time,” he continued, and Rose bit her lip. “She can’t sleep without that wolf, and make sure the blanket isn’t tucked too tightly around her in the crib. She regulates her temperature but it’s hard for her if she’s too swaddled at this age, and she’ll wake up in the middle of the night screaming.”
“Da-da,” she said, stopping his ramble, and his hearts did a somersault as his face broke out into a smile. That word was still so new and so foreign it was hard to process, but he smiled at her when she reached for his nose, focused and concentrated on touching it, and he kissed her small hand.
“I love you,” he whispered to her, then looked at Jackie. “Also, Rose and I read to her before she falls asleep, just make sure it’s lights out by eight.”
“Okay,” Jackie murmured with a soft voice, more moved by hearing Alice call the Doctor ‘da-da’ than she would have expected. His attention was back on his little girl, and a moment passed where Jackie and Rose just looked at each other, both in awe but also trying not to laugh when he began scanning her from head to toe, his concentrated face the spitting image of what her’s had just been.
“No fever,” he said. “Keep it that way.”
“Oi!” Jackie snapped, slapping the back of his head, which made Alice laugh. “I can’t bloody well control that and you know it. If she gets sick, I’ll give her medicine and I’ll -”
“You ring us if she’s sick,” he said seriously. “I have everything she would need on the TARDIS, I don’t want any 21st century -”
“Doctor,” Rose said with a smile. “It’s one night. She’ll be okay.”
Her own stomach was a bundle of nerves at the prospect of leaving her, too, but she was doing a better job at hiding it than he was at the moment, and she knew she needed to keep it up if they had any hope of getting out of London today. He sighed and squeezed her hand, then gave Alice one more kiss, letting his hand linger on her cheek for a moment.
“Also, Jackie, and this is important,” he began, and she looked at him with amusement, trying so hard not to make fun of him because she still found it pretty damn incredible that this was the type of father the Doctor turned out to be. “Have fun.”
He grinned, and she rolled her eyes.
“You plum,” she said. “You two enjoy your anniversary. Tony can’t wait to have Alice all to himself, can you, sweetheart?”
The Doctor looked over at Tony, only then realizing he had been setting up a tea party in the corner of the room this entire time, and at the mention of his name he perked up, his small voice ringing around the room. “Mummy! We need biscuits!”
“Alice can’t have those yet, sweetheart,” she said.
“But I can,” he replied matter-of-factly, and Rose burst out laughing. The Doctor smiled at him.
“Quite right,” he said, winking at him, and Tony bounced on his feet a little. “Are you...Monster, are you making all of this for Alice?”
“Yep! Mummy told me she’s named after Alice in Wonderland and I know she drinks tea. We’re going to have so much fun! Her wolf can sit here, she can sit by me, and Mummy can sit over on this side,” he told him as he tried to reach for some plastic plates from an old kitchen set he once played with, and the Doctor bit his cheek, and for the sake of his hearts, he chose not to correct Tony on who Alice was named after.
“Alice! Do you want to play with this?” Tony asked, and he ran to her, holding up a plastic teacup. Rose grabbed the Doctor’s hand when they watched their daughter’s curiosity come out to play and she dropped her wolf to stare at it. She babbled, and Tony tried to help her hold it, but she gave up fairly quickly and reached for her stuffed animal again. “Okay, wait. Hold on. What about this?!”
For a moment, everyone just watched him run and look for another toy to give her, until Jackie caught his attention.
“Tony, say goodbye. They have to go,” she said, and the Doctor felt his hearts skip so many beats it made him a little dizzy when his brother-in-law flashed him a smile that looked so much like Rose it was incomprehensible. He wasn’t sure why it was affecting him so much, but he was unable to stop himself from pulling him into a long hug, ruffling his hair a bit as they pulled apart.
”Do me a favor?” he asked, and Tony nodded. “Make up a new game you can teach Alice, yeah?”
“Really?!” he asked.
“Course. Come up with the rules, and I’ll play it with both of you when we get back,” he said. Tony laughed and began to run around the room looking for something he could use in this new game, and the Doctor looked at his wife.
She smiled at him, and suddenly all he could think about was that this was going to be the first trip in a very long time where it was just the two of them with the universe at their disposal, and considering he almost regenerated on their last anniversary, he felt he owed it to her to make this one as special as it could be.
He was rather looking forward to holding her all night.
“Tell Pete we’ll see him tomorrow?” the Doctor asked.
“Of course,” Jackie said. “Go enjoy yourselves. And stay out of trouble.”
The Doctor winked at his wife, who smiled.
“We will,” she said sincerely, kissing Jackie’s cheek, and they made their way to the TARDIS. They were grateful Alice wasn’t crying as they waved goodbye, because if she was they knew they’d never leave. She seemed perfectly happy in Jackie’s arms, however, which was the push they needed to close the door, and as soon as the gentle twist and turn of time danced under their feet, alerting them they were in the vortex, he let out a long breath.
“Relax,” Rose said, rubbing his arm. “She’s happy.”
“I know,” he said.
“Lots of parents leave their kids with their grandparents for a night, it’s normal. Human, even,” she teased, and he sighed, though she swore his mouth twitched into an almost smile.
“I just really love her, Rose.”
She stared at him for a moment before she smiled, and she cupped his cheek. “I know you do. She knows it too. Don’t worry about that.”
He nodded, and she pulled him into a hug. Neither said anything else for many moments, and she was about to ask him if he wanted to go back and pick her up and forget about this entire thing when she felt his lips on her temple.
“We’re alone,” he said in her ear, his voice low and sultry, and she bit her lip.
“We are,” she mused, shuddering a little when his fingers found her waist.
“I think I feel guilty,” he admitted. “Because as hard as it was to leave her just now, I know it means I get you all to myself for the night and I’m… I miss that.”
She pulled away, though she kept her hands in his hair, and her smile eased his beating hearts. “That’s rather human, too,” she murmured, and he laughed. “Don’t feel bad about that. I get it. I miss it, too.”
“You’re an amazing mother, Rose,” he said softly. “It’s incredible, watching you with her. I don’t think I’ve told you that enough.”
“Right back at you,” she said, and his favorite smile greeted him. "Did you hear the part where I just said I miss this, too?”
“I did, I just want to make sure you know I don’t regret -”
“Stop,” she said, trying not to laugh. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he told her. “You’re okay with this, right? Going somewhere just us?”
“Doctor,” she began, pressing her chest against his. “It was my idea.”
“I know, but -”
“Shhh. I love our family more than anything. I know you do, too, but I want to spend our anniversary alone. Together. One day we might have so many kids running around this place it’ll be impossible to get days off. Alice is okay. Everything is fine. Breathe.”
“I am breathing,” he protested, and she smiled. “What? I’m fine. I just want to -”
“Happy Anniversary, handsome,” she whispered, shutting him up, and he stared at her.
“Happy Anniversary, beautiful,” he replied, smiling when her lips found his. He lapped his tongue with hers, finally pressing her back against the lever and letting his hands roam her hips before he pulled away, only then processing what she’d just said. “Wait, how many kids do you want, exactly?”
Oh, his hearts were beating. Hard.
“I don’t know,” she said, shrugging. “Figured we could just see what happens.”
“Are you serious?” he whispered, but she just started to laugh, and he smiled. “Rose…”
“Still not ready to be pregnant again, mister,” she flirted, and he winked. Today was about them, as it should be, and he knew that while they could (and should) talk about this later, right now, there was something else he wanted to do.
“Right,” he said, getting back on track, and Rose watched him hold up a coin he pulled from his pocket. “Heads or tails?”
“Why?” she asked, and he just gave her a look.
“Pick one? Please?”
Her deductive matched his, and he felt his hearts nearly burst. “Fine...Heads.”
He smiled seductively at her, almost making a rather suggestive comment, but instead he just flipped the coin, and he grinned at her.
“HA! Tails!”
“Wait, what were we betting on?” she asked, laughing as he began to dial knobs on the control panel and type in new coordinates, and he raised an eyebrow, flirting with her.
He pulled the lever.
“We each had a surprise planned for today. I just won,” he mused, and she gawked at him.
“No, no, no, no. Best out of three,” she said. “You didn’t tell me what we were playing for. That’s cheating.”
“Rose Tyler, you are a very sore loser, you know that?” he taunted playfully, his eyes darting down to her tongue as it traced her lips. “You’re also wrong. All you ever said was your plan involved leaving Alice with your mother. We did that. It's my turn. I think this is incredibly fair.”
“You were just afraid I’d win, so you -”
He kissed her, then laced his fingers through her belt loops and pulled her closer. “I want to dance with you.”
“Now?” she whispered, no longer interested in bantering as she began to pull at his tie, but he just winked and grabbed her hand, then turned her in a circle. He dipped her, making sure to wrap his arms securely around her waist, and she laughed.
“I meant a proper dance,” he said with a low voice that was full of promise, and she stifled a groan. “One that doesn't get interrupted by anyone. Not Jack, not Donna, not the Weeping Angels. I want to hold you. What do you say?”
He picked her up out of the dip and crashed his lips onto her mouth, laughing with her.
“To what, exactly?” she whispered as he broke the kiss, snaking her hand in his hair.
“Fair point. I was thinking, if you want.. We can both get dressed up? Maybe have quite a few cocktails,” he told her, winking when she bit her lip.
“Trying to get me drunk?” she flirted, and he hummed.
“Not at all,” he assured her. “I want to watch you sway in a dress that makes me lose my mind. The alcohol is just for fun.”
She gawked at him, the hunger in his eyes nearly doing her in.
“I think I can manage that,” she said breathily, and he smiled and kissed her jaw. She moaned. “But...Oh, God, keep that up, though, and we’re dancing the other way first. Right here.”
“But just think how much more fun it’ll be to wait,” he whispered, teasing her with his tongue on her collarbone, and she let out a small cry, realizing he wasn’t going to give in that easily for once. “Patience, Rose. It’s a lovely thing.”
“Shut up,” she said, deciding two could play at that game.
Her fingers touched his neck as innocently as she possibly could before grazing his skin with her nails, and much to her satisfaction, he groaned before he could stop it. “ Rose….”
“You were saying?” she asked, and he shook his head, unsurprised by her ability to unravel him but determined to keep the flirtation going, so he changed the subject before they gave in and had each other screaming on the floor.
“We should go get dressed,” he whispered giddily, trying to hide his evident arousal, and she rolled her eyes. His boisterous self now stood before her, and he gestured to the front door. “Right out there awaits the most lavish party of the 20th century. It would be rude of us to be late.”
“Really?” she asked, her voice peaked with interest, and he smiled.
“It’s 1926. Summer in Los Angeles. Feel free to dress accordingly,” he said, and she giggled, kissing him and running away to the wardrobe. Her excitement was everything he hoped it would be, and considering the last time they needed a costume on a trip she’d been very pregnant, he knew she’d be occupied for a while.
He ran to their bedroom and changed into his blue suit, coupling it with the maroon shirt and matching tie he knew she loved, and he spent a few minutes tousling his locks with mousse before he went to the console room and waited for her.
And when she walked in, she somehow looked more beautiful than he remembered. She was wearing a silver and white dress that wasn’t quite a traditional flapper design, but it was close enough he knew no one would bat an eye. It dazzled under the light of the console, and his eyes trailed the zig-zagged pattern of sequins on the skirt, noticing the way it clung to her hips, and his breath caught in his throat.
“Wow,” he whispered, feeling like the luckiest man in the cosmos that he got to call himself her husband. She smiled.
“Will this work?” she asked, and he gulped then nodded. “I was thinking about maybe switching it for -”
“Don’t you dare,” he moaned, and a surge of heat coursed through her. “I’m…”
“You’re...?” she whispered, watching as his Adam’s apple bobbed, trying to find the right words.
“Get over here,” he whispered.
She expected to be pushed against the grating and snogged senselessly, but instead he hugged her, taking her hand in his and keeping it in between his hearts. It was a tender embrace, and his eyes shifted until he was staring at her wedding ring. He then looked at his, swallowing hard when the feeling of their heartbeats pulsed inside the bands.
He remembered this day three years ago, standing before all of their friends on Atlantis, and how wonderfully peculiar this sensation had been when they first felt it. But now it was simply a part of his existence - a little piece of her he carried with him always - even when the hum in his head was just a dull roar, and he wasn’t sure what he’d ever do without it.
He began to kiss her, memories and thoughts stirring in a way he hadn’t planned on feeling quite so soon into this trip, but he couldn’t stop it. Because the only thing running through his head now was that they had forever, and that...well...
It still amazed him, and he still had moments where that word was hard to comprehend. It always came at random, but when it did he found himself having to take a minute to let his mind adjust to the simple fact of the universe he wasn’t alone, and that he’d never have to be alone again.
Now was one of those times, and his kiss grew heated. His hands found her breasts though the layers of her dress, and they both started to pant. He lifted her skirt just a touch, not wanting to ruin it but needing to grip the flesh on her thigh, and as he propped her up on the console, she wrapped her legs around his waist, and they both began to grind their bodies closer together.
“Thought we were going to wait?” she gasped.
“We have forever to do that,” he groaned into her shoulder, and she bit her lip as he fumbled with his belt.
“I love you so much,” she said into a kiss.
“I love you, too,” he breathed out urgently, back to fumbling with his belt, which was discarded on the floor without a second thought. They continued to kiss, he began to nip at her neck, and soon he was sliding his fingers into her, finding her more than ready for him. Her back arched, and she began to shake her head. “What’s wrong?”
“Want more,” she demanded.
“Yes, sir,” he moaned, replacing his fingers with something much more satisfying, and the moment she was around him, her slickness making it so bloody easy to just mold into her, he cried out.
She cursed. He might have, too, though he was too far gone to really be able to tell.
Hips met hips as every bond they shared lined up and erupted, and she rocked against him. His face was the epitome of pleasure as she lowered her back closer to the controls, ignoring the way some of them dug into her side, because the angle deepened and felt too damn good to worry about anything other than the way he was guiding her hips up and down his shaft, saying her name into the abyss.
Her head flew back as he pulled her up, making it so he was holding her, and suddenly she was being carried, then thrown against the wall, and he held her up with both of his arms as he took control completely, making noises that were sending her senses haywire.
“Forever,” he growled. “Say it, please. Please say it...Rose....”
“Forever,” she cried, and he nodded, kissing her shoulder as he continued to thrust. She slipped a little, taking him with her down to the grating, and she laughed when he decided to just stay there. “I used to fantasize about this, you know. You taking me everywhere on this ship.”
“I have taken you everywhere on this ship,” he mused. “The console. The bedroom. The hallways. The library. The garden. The swimming pool….You made me break a chair in the galley.”
“Still doesn’t change the fact I used to think about it. A lot. Before….” she panted, and he smiled, kissing between her breasts as her body shuddered.
“Me too,” he told her. “You feel….so….good.”
She made a noise that brought him closer to the edge, and he began to chase after the sweet release. She did, too, both able to feel everything in their minds, and as he felt her dance with the edge of the cliff that would only lead to bliss, he kissed her fiercely.
“Please.”
That did it, and the supernova burst inside of both of them, creating a mirage of stars they saw in their heads, a beautiful swirl of pinks and whites and yellows, and as they came back to reality, everything felt tingly. She let her head fall back onto the floor, and he had collapsed against her chest, his face pressed up against her dress.
He realized he had sort of messed it up, and he flashed her an apologetic smile.
“Worth it,” she groaned, and he chuckled. “I love you.”
“I love you so much,” he said. “Just give me a few minutes. I can’t feel my legs.”
“Good,” she said, and they flashed each other matching smiles.
It would be another fifteen minutes before he was able to stand, another ten before they were cleaned up and satisfied they looked alright, and when they stepped off the ship, the party was in full swing, and they were ready to paint the town red. A silly metaphor, the Doctor thought, though he had no idea just how true it was going to be.
It was a night they’d never forget.