Journey's Beginning

She woke up the next morning with a familiar set of warm lips on her forehead. Her eyes wouldn't even open before the day's first smile played in the corners of her mouth. It was like waking up after the perfect dream, only the dream was going to overlap with reality for the rest of her life. Rose Tyler didn't have to be sleeping to see the sight she had craved for so long.

"Wake up, love," a hushed soothing voice sang from right in front of her.

Her eyes fluttered open to the most wonderful sight. Her doctor was kneeling beside the bed, hair looking perfect, eyes bright and shining, the happiest of smiles on his face, and holding a cupcake with a single blue burning candle stuck in Jackie's famous icing.

Still laying in bed, breathless and perfectly content for so many reasons, Rose asked, "What's all this for?"

"Well I got up early and you, apparently, have been gone a few days longer than we thought."

"Oh? What day is it?" She was utterly confused. With all that had happened the night before, she didn't even think to see what day they had returned with The Doctor to her now perfect parallel world.

"Happy birthday, Rose Tyler!" he softly chuckled using such an intimate tone, his lover's voice.

"My birthday?! You have got to be kidding me!" She sat up in bed raising a hand to her head, trying to fathom how it was possible. "I got you for my birthday," she giggled, turning in amazement to her beloved doctor.

"Looks that way," he happily grinned while moving to sit on her bed.

The Doctor hadn't even sat completely down before Rose threw her arms around him with gasps of pure joy. He quickly held the cupcake at an arm's length so the birthday girl wouldn't get hurt in all her excitement.

"Easy there! Wouldn't want to burn us to bits our first day together."

"Oh, sorry!"

They moved around until she was hugging his waist with her head resting on his shoulder. One of his arms held her close as the other moved the glowing cupcake in front of them. Their eyes met for a wonderful moment and then her gaze fell to the small dancing flame.

Keeping his adoring stare fixed on her, The Doctor whispered, "Make a wish. And don't say you already got it."

"But I did," she protested. Looking back at him she thought aloud," I really can't even begin to think of anything I want. I have you now, both parents, more security and happiness than I ever imagined, and everything is perfect. There's literally nothing more to wish for," she stated with tears of elation forming in her eyes.

He couldn't begin to describe how happy he was for her. Of all people, she deserved to be happiest. She had been through a rough time and he knew it had been his fault, but that was the past. Their best days were just starting and they would never have to be apart, separated by galaxies and time.
"One wish, Rose."

With eyes closed, she took a deep breath and blew out the half melted candle. Before there was time for her to open her eyes, The Doctor gently took her face in his spare hand and kissed her.

Keeping her eyes closed, Rose quickly took the cupcake from The Doctor and set it behind her on the night stand which was just close enough for to her make the reach. Both sets of hands were free to roam. Fingers slowly traced facial features, hands were placed behind necks and on cheeks, tongues danced, and their few minutes of snogging ended with quiet laughs.

"Is she up yet, Doctor?"

The two made some space between them on the bed before Jackie came joyously barging in. Just before the door was completely open, Rose grabbed the cupcake and took a bite so her mother wouldn't assume anything.

"Yes, she is!" The Doctor announced with the last of his chuckle.

He couldn't stop staring at the girl he loved so much, messy morning hair and all. Her energy and warm presence had been sorely missed. Of all the women that had traveled with him and of all the friends he had made since her disappearance into this parallel world, not a single one of them made him feel half alive as he did with her. Even just sitting next to her made him know that he could take on anything- any planet, any alien or monster, any time period, and any dark force that dared trying to separate them. She was Rose Tyler and forever his Rose Tyler she would be.

"Well, don't muck about! It's your birthday. We have things to do today," the blonde woman smiled at her unusually giddy daughter and gave her a wink. "I made you a pack of your favorite," Jackie said while handing over a steaming mug of tea to the birthday girl. "Now hurry!" As quick as she'd come in she left the room.

"On our way, mum!" Rose called, not being able to wipe the dopey smile off her face. "Well, both of my birthday wishes already came true," she sighed before taking a sip of tea.

"What was the first?"

"A nice mug of tea."

"And the second?"

Looking closely at The Doctor, she turned from romantic to shocked after noticing what he was wearing. How had she missed it the ten minutes he had been in her room? He was in a pair of Mickey's old faded jeans and they looked surprisingly fetching on him. "Are you wearing one of my shirts?" Her voice was playfully accusing.

"Well, I just took a peek in a drawer to see if I could find something clean. That suit was quite a bit dirty from saving the world and such. I found this and thought I'd just throw it on until I found something else. Hope you don't mind. You have quite a bit of bloke shirts, you know that?"

A mischievous expression crossed her face as she seductively leaned towards him.

"Spiderman doesn't suite you much," she stated with a sexy little smirk. Why don't we find you something more fitting." Rose placed her tea and cupcake on the nightstand looking more dangerous than ever.

Chills went down his spine as she crawled across the bed even closer to him. He was finding out more about his human self each time she did something like this. He was fully understanding some human jokes that he could never make sense of until now. Oh to be a human male. The sly flirtatious brave Rose gently slid her hands under the black t-shirt with the super hero flying across the stomach. Spiderman suddenly disappeared as the shirt was pulled up. The second his head popped out of the large hole, her lips found his in a teasing urgent manner. He felt his cheeks heat up in a deep blush- for heaven's sake, his arms weren't even completely out of the shirt.

Her lips started to move down his neck when Mr. Tyler called from the other side of the door.

"Are you up, Rosebud?"

"Bollocks! Dad!" she whispered in a panic, pushing the half naked doctor off the bed rolling out of sight. His head and torso vanished behind the bed right before his feet flew in half a circle to join the rest of him on the ground with a loud thump.

After the initial fall, she heard her favorite voice hiss, "ouch".

"Yeah, dad! Be right out, I'm getting dressed!"

"Alright, see you downstairs. Mom made your birthday breakfast."

"Very good! Brilliant! Be there in a minute," she replied, trying to sound as normal as possible.

Mr. Tyler's footsteps could be heard through the hall and then down the staircase until all fell silent. Once it was safe, she took another large delicious gulp of tea and jumped out of bed. As she went through her drawers The Doctor's head popped out from behind the bulging twisted duvet.

"What was that?!" he asked out of breath.

All she could do was giggle. So far, it had been the perfect morning. She pulled a purple blouse out with a loud "found ya'". Rose ran into the bathroom as The Doctor rubbed his head in search of the bump he could feel somewhere around the spot it slammed against the floor.

Standing to his feet he wittily announced, "Maybe I like Spiderman. Shooting webs, flying across New York, fighting monsters… getting the girl." He said the last bit in a silly flirty way with a witty raise of his eyebrows. The shirt was back on and he leaned against the bed with his arms and legs crossed.
While he had been going on about Spiderman, Rose had gotten completely dressed for the day with cover-up and hair done as well. The Doctor was suddenly aware that she had ignored his entire Spiderman speech. He gave her the extra him to spend all her time with and this was how he was treated. It wasn't that he was hurt because he was far from upset at her. She was without a doubt still his Rose, doing the unexpected and keeping him guessing every moment. The girl went running past him, opened the door, and disappeared in a hurry.

"Don't mind me. I only gave up the life I knew, cloned myself, and moved in with you and Jackie," he loudly whined as if he had been mistreated and emotionally wounded- all he needed was a big forced tear.

"Come on!" Rose laughed bright eyed with her head peeking around the door. "Mom made cake batter pancakes with icing for syrup!" The birthday girl was gone before he could reply.

"Pancakes?!" he shouted excitedly.

The family had a wonderful breakfast, tidied up the kitchen, and went their own ways. Mr. and Mrs. Tyler went to work leaving the two lovebirds home alone for the day, knowing how much it would mean to Rose. Once they were alone, Rose dug around her closet for a certain pair of shoes.

Sitting on her bed, taking his first real look around the room, The Doctor asked with wondering eyes, "So what are we doing today?"

"Leaving this place, that's for sure! Been cooped up far too long."
"Don't you have work or somewhere to be?"

"Oi! Tying to get rid of me already?!" she playfully glared in disbelief.

"No, ma'am. Just don't want to keep you from… human things."

"I'm actually about to call work now. Asking for the day off!"

Finding the shoes, she threw them beside the bed and grabbed her mobile from her coat pocket.
"Won't they be a bit upset?" The Doctor really didn't want her to get into trouble, even if he was dying to spend the day with her.

"Nonsense. My boss will probably be glad. He's been begging me to take a few personal days. I've been trying to keep myself busy lately."

That's all she said aloud but the clever man knew what she really meant. Rose Tyler hadn't just been occupying herself as she claimed. Knowing her the way he did, he guessed she spent as little time home as possible and tried to keep her mind on anything but him. Again, he felt a bit guilty for putting her through what was sure to be the darkest days of her young life.

"Benny, yeah, it's Rose. I was wondering if I could take a few days off this week."

The Doctor couldn't help listening in on the conversation.

"A few days? Take off the rest of the week!" the voice on the other end chuckled in shock. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, just, um," she looked over to her bright eyed doctor and continued, "an old best mate of mine dropped in to surprise me." She started putting the shoes on as quickly as possible, eager to start their very first human adventure.

"That's great, Rose. It's really about time you took a few days off. We were all starting to get a bit worried."

The conversation continued but The Doctor was suddenly distracted in a most peculiar way. Rose had thrown her hair in a messy bun while digging around the closet for her shoes, leaving a large portion of her neck uncovered and begging to be caressed. He looked away, trying to behave himself for once.

The miniature TARDIS was nearby but wasn't quite interesting enough to fully take his thoughts elsewhere. His shoes were perfectly tied so there was no need to retie them properly just to pass the time. Uncontrollably, his eyes fell to the spot on the back of her neck just below her hairline. A thin strand of soft blond hair had already fallen out of place. It would only be the gentlemanly thing for him to do by tucking it in with the rest of the loose up-do, right? What had come over him?

Against his better judgment, he carefully pulled the petite strand through the hair band, making Rose jump at his sudden intimate touch. Her cheeks became a gorgeous shade of pink and her body language changed from professional to the mischievous girl he had fallen in love with years ago.
"Monday? Yeah, I could do that," she answered, trying to sound as normal as possible and finding it extremely difficult to concentrate on the present phone conversation.

He knew he shouldn't but these urges to touch her had never been so strong. After last night, it was like he had never placed a finger on her before. All their hugs, holds, and few kisses were suddenly nothing compared to what was going through his human mind. Were all human emotions so foreign to him? He had always wanted and fantasized about Rose but never like this. Was he going to have to promise himself not to turn into the "Mr. Sex" stereotype from the universal jokes about the human male species?

Not being able to control it any longer, and simply wanting to tease the poor girl, he leaned towards her. Taking special care to go unnoticed, he kept his eyes on the oblivious Rose.
"And what time did you say?" she asked, concentration back to her boss. "Oh, that'll be--" Damp lips touched her neck in the most pleasant of ways. "That'll b-be… wonderful," she stuttered as an electric shock flooded her body.

The lips moved skillfully down her slender neck to the crease between her neck and shoulders, forcing her eyes closed and making her shudder.

"Yes," she slightly inhaled.

"What?"

"Yes," she repeated in a shaky flat voice. "Yes, I'll see you Monday at ten."

After the briefest of pauses, the male voice asked, "And you're certain everything is fine?"

"Fine" hardly described the way his lips, and now wondering hands, felt on her.

"Of course. Benny, I have to go. Cheers!" she ended the call, not being able to contain the sharp gasp that had been building from the sudden gentle touch. Throwing the phone down, not caring where it landed, Rose turned towards the cloudy eyed doctor. Obviously pleased, she began disapprovingly, "What the devil are you--?"

He claimed her lips with all the passion and heat she ever dreamed of. Kissing him back, she tugged on the collar of his shirt and pulled his torso closer. She started to wonder how far he was going to take things when he suddenly bounced out of her grip and off the bed with a teasing smirk.

"What was all that about? Get a girl all worked up just to leave her head stuck in the clouds?" she gasped breathing hard with a deep blush still on her cheeks.

"Things to do today, remember?" he announced with his adventurous tone and expression- eyes lit up under spiked hair and wide grin spread across his face.

"But I thought you thought I'd have something to do," she asked confused and still out of air.

"Rose, Rose, Rose," he sighed with false discontent. "I always have a plan, you know that. Same Doctor, different game," cheered the handsome man.

"Game? What game?" laughed the girl still sitting on the bed.

"Well, for a while we played the ever so popular Let's Save the Universe. Now, we'll have to settle for Let's Save Planet Earth and Have Human Adventures In-Between!"

"And how are we going to play that?" she giggled, her most favorite feeling in all the universe washing over her like a sweet rain. It was just like every time he had ever asked her where and when she wanted to go before pushing and pulling knobs and buttons on the TARDIS. She never expected feel like this again but she was. After all, she was with The Doctor.

One thing was completely undeniable. This was the exact same person she had traveled with hundreds of times before.

"I have it all planned," he winked.

"But what about the snogging session you started?" she challenged, a bit of sensual spark still burning in her eyes.

"Days not over," he reminded her with another flirty tone. "Come on!" The Doctor grabbed her hand, pulled her off the unmade bed, and they were off.