Title: Blossoms in the rain.
Characters: Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Rating: G
Warnings/Spoilers: None, it's just a bit a fluff really
Summary: Sometimes a downpour isn't such a bad thing. Set post-Dalek, in a world where Adam didn't come along.
Authors Notes: Huge thanks go to mileva over at LiveJournal, who agreed to Beta this for me at the very last minute, as my normal Beta was unwell, and as a result was a huge help in getting this finished. Any remaining errors are mine however, as apparently I don't always listen, lol.
Disclaimer: Not exactly all mine, see footnote for full info.

They'd walked back towards the TARDIS, hand in hand, in silence, both caught up in their own thoughts. When they'd bumped into Adam, neither one had even acknowledged his presence. They'd simply walked past him, and continued on their way.

They'd entered the TARDIS, and the Doctor had headed straight for the console and sent them into the vortex, then walked out of the control room in the direction of the living quarters, still without saying a word.

Rose had watched him leave, uncertain whether to follow. By the time she'd decided to move though, he was nowhere to be seen. She'd checked the kitchen, the library and even his study, but he had simply vanished. The only other place she thought he might be was his bedroom, but she had no idea how to find it, having only seen it once after getting lost in the labyrinth of corridors on her first night onboard.

So she'd headed back to the kitchen, made herself some tea, and headed for her own room intent on getting some sleep. It had been a very long day after all. Several hours later though, after tossing and turning, staring at the ceiling for a while, then tossing and turning some more, Rose realised sleep was not going to happen any time soon, and went in search of a distraction of some sort.

When she reached the library the fire was still lit, casting a soft glow around the room. She'd often suspected it wasn't quite what you'd call a normalfire, but nevertheless tonight she found it comforting. She picked up the copy of The Prisoner of Azkaban she'd started earlier that day, and settled on the large sofa to read. Three hours and quite a few chapters later, she finally drifted off to sleep with the book still in her hand.

############

The Doctor had been on his way to wake Rose when he'd realised there was light coming from the library. He'd stuck his head through the door and found Rose asleep on the sofa, with a book still clutched in her hand. "Oi, slowpoke! Get dressed and meet me in the control room, we'll be landing in five minutes!" Before Rose could even think to respond, he'd vanished again.

Despite still feeling tired, she'd only had about two hours sleep as far as she could tell, Rose did as he'd ask and joined him in the control room about fifteen minutes later. She found the Doctor leaning back against the console, with his arms crossed over his chest and his legs crossed at the ankles. "Took you long enough," he said. "Was about to send out a search party."

"Yeah well, I'm here now. So, where are we then?" Rose asked.

"Little place called Jesk Ridge. Think you'll like it. Nice and quiet, deserted in fact, thought we'd have a picnic," he said, as he bounded down the ramp and grabbed the basket he'd left by the door. "You comin'?"

Rose had been expecting a quiet, sullen Doctor after the previous day, but he appeared to be back to his manic self. She shook her head in astonishment, followed him out of the TARDIS, and gasped.

############

The TARDIS has landed in the middle of what appeared to be a vast garden, with what had once been carefully trimmed and shaped hedges, and simple paved pathways leading off in various directions. All around Rose could see flowers set is sprawling beds, and while they too were all a little unkempt, it was still beautiful, and their perfume filled the air.

"You said it's deserted, right?" Rose asked, looking around. "Why would they go to all this trouble and then leave?"

"Ah well, the sun in this system's dying, ya see, nearly burnt out. So they've had to evacuate, find somewhere new to settle." At her shocked expression he continued. "Oh don't worry, it's perfectly safe at the moment, will be for a couple more years yet, although the weather's a bit unpredictable at times."

The weather at that point however was really quite lovely. The sun was shining and it was quite warm, although a soft breeze kept things at a comfortable temperature. It was also wafting what looked like apple blossom down from some of the tall trees dotted around, although Rose had never seen apple blossom in that shade of blue before. She decided that she liked it though, whatever kind of blossom it actually was.

"Come on then," said the Doctor, reaching for her hand, "let's go explore." As soon as her hand was wrapped around his, he began to lead her along one of the many paths, in what seemed to Rose to be a random direction. As they wandered around the gardens, the Doctor occasionally stopped and pointed out a flower or a shrub, and explained their names or compared them to something he'd shown her on other worlds.

Just as they'd stopped for what Rose thought had to be the hundredth time, her stomach rumbled rather loudly, and it began to rain. The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand again and pointed towards a gazebo of sorts that he'd spotted a short distance away. He looked down at her, gave her a manic grin and yelled, "Run!"

############

They arrived at the gazebo in less than a minute, just before the downpour began in earnest. Despite the rain though it was still quite warm inside the little structure, so Rose slipped off her now damp jacket and tossed it to the side.

She turned to find the Doctor kneeling on the floor, unpacking the picnic basket, which appeared to be as dimensionally transcendent as his pockets were. He'd so far produced a large blanket and a couple of cushions, four packs of sandwiches, an assortment of fruit, several packets of crisps, a couple of pieces of what looked like chocolate cake, and two bottles of water.

Rose helped him spread out the blanket near the back wall, then settled on a cushion with her back against the wall and selected some sandwiches, which she hoped were cheese. The Doctor selected his own sandwiches, settled on a cushion beside her and they both proceeded to enjoy their picnic lunch.

By the time lunch was over, the rain had still not stopped, in fact to Rose's eyes it seemed to be coming down even harder. She looked towards the Doctor, who immediately recognised the question in her eyes. "Sorry, think we're going to be staying here a little longer, unless you want to get soaked?"

"Nah," she replied, smiling. "It's okay; I think the shower I had first thing will see me through for now thanks."

"Fair enough," he replied, and settled back against the wall to watch the rain. Rose adopted a similar pose and began to follow the progress of several drops of water, as they weaved through a hand full of the deep blue blossoms, which were now sticking to the glass doors a few feet away.

Before long, the Doctor felt Rose's head rest against his shoulder. Looking down, he realised she was fast asleep. He thought back to when he'd found her that morning, asleep in the library, and realised she probably hadn't slept much at all the previous night. He knew he'd been right to bring them here today, she was clearly exhausted and they'd both needed a break after the previous day.

He carefully slid out of his jacket, slipped his arm around her shoulders to pull her against him properly, and used his other hand to drape his jacket around her. Before he could stop himself he'd raised his free hand again, this time to pick a few of the deep blue petals from her hair, before stroking a few wayward strands away from her eyes and tucking them gently behind her ear.

As her arm unconsciously wound around his waist, he continued looking down at her and wondered, not for the first time, if perhaps that Dalek had had a point after all. What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?Sighing softly, he settled his cheek against the top of her head and decided that he could figure it out later. For now, he had a warm Rose cuddled up to his side, and he was simply going to enjoy it, whatever it was.

############

The next thing Rose knew, she was opening her eyes to find all she could see was green wool. It took her a few seconds to realise this meant she currently had her face buried in the Doctor's chest. She shifted slightly, and realised not only had she been asleep on him, but his jacket was draped around her and one of his arms was around her shoulders holding her close.

She looked up as she heard him speak. "Ah, you're awake then? Rains slowed down a fair bit. Should be able to get going again soon, if you're ready?"

"Yeah, sorry. Rain does that to me," she muttered, sitting up straight and unwrapping herself from his jacket, before handing it back.

"Really?" The Doctor asked, as he shifted to stand.

"Always has for some reason. Used to love lying in bed as a kid listening to it, always helped me get off to sleep," Rose explained. "Was I out long?"

"Nah. Bout an hour that's all. Trust me you haven't missed anything exciting," he said, grinning down at her, while slipping his jacket back on.

They worked together to pack the remnants of their picnic back into the basket, and by the time everything was packed away again, it had indeed stopped raining. Rose reached to grab her jacket from the floor and, finding it still a bit damp, decided to carry it instead. The Doctor reached for her free hand and they walked back outside, into what was once again, a lovely sunny day with a gentle breeze.

"What are those trees?" Rose asked, as they began to wander back in the general direction of the TARDIS. "They look kinda like apple trees with all that blossom."

"They are a type of fruit tree actually; fruit's called Crepsies. Similar to apples in a way I s'pose, but dark blue in colour and not a flavour you'd recognise. Wouldn't recommend them either, they'd give you stomach ache." The Doctor explained, smiling down at her. He'd always loved, no, he corrected himself, liked, how curious she was about everything they encountered.

############

After another hour of slowly wandering among the flower beds, and a further hour that left them both giggling like children after they almost got utterly lost in a hedge maze, they finally arrived back at the TARDIS. The Doctor paused to flip the necessary switches to place them back in the vortex, and then headed off after Rose, who'd gone to return the picnic basket to the kitchen.

When he arrived, he found she'd made a pot of tea and was sitting clutching her mug, and yawning rather impressively. "Think it's time you headed for bed, Miss Tyler," the Doctor said, trying to give her a look that was clearly meant to be stern, but failing miserably.

Rose chuckled at him and clambered to her feet, giving a mock salute in response. "Yes sir! Right away sir!" As she walked past him to head for her room though, she paused, wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tight. "Thanks for today," she said, smiling up at him. Then she promptly let go and left the room, leaving the Doctor standing with his mouth open.

The Doctor shook his head, grabbed his own mug from the side, and poured himself some tea, before heading back to console room. He had that helmic regulator that needed adjusting, and this was as good a time as any to deal with it.

After several hours of tinkeringas Rose called it, the Doctor decided to call it a night. The TARDIS tended to get a bit cranky if he poked around for too long at any one time, and she'd already sparked at him a couple of times as it was.

He headed for his room but, not being that tired, as he'd slept for a couple of hours the night before, he opted for a shower and a fresh set of clothes. Deciding not to bother with his jacket for once, he then headed back out in search of something to distract himself for a while.

############

After wandering back to the kitchen and making a fresh mug of tea, the Doctor decided he'd find something to read for a while, although he knew that wouldn't hold his attention for long. As he approached the library though, he was again surprised to see soft light pouring from the open doorway.

He knew Rose had gone to bed over three hours earlier, so she must surely be fast asleep. She'd certainly seemed tired enough when she'd left him in the kitchen. He paused at the door and looked into the room, fully expecting to see that a light had simply been left on. What he saw instead though, was Rose, back on the sofa in front of the fire, with her head stuck firmly in the same book she'd fallen asleep with the last time.

He stood in the doorway, quietly watching her for a while as she continued to read. Even in the soft light he could clearly see how tired she appeared to be, but the look on her face seemed oddly determined. He stepped into the room, and walked around the sofa to stand beside her. "Rose?"

She was so caught up in her book it seemed, that she hadn't even noticed him approach, but at the sound of his voice she turned to look up at him. "Oh, hi," she said, with a small smile. "Done tinkering for a while then, have ya?"

He ignored her comment, and instead continued his own line of thought, "Rose, why are you in here reading? I thought you were tired. You ought to be fast off by now."

"Yeah, well," she replied, "Didn't quite work out that way." Before he could press her further, she continued on her own, clearly thinking he'd only drag it out of her anyway. "Had a nightmare, woke me up. Then my brain just wouldn't quiet down enough for me to get back to sleep, so I gave up, all right?" She shrugged as if to say it would have to be all right.

"Oh, Rose!" He sighed. Then a thought struck him, and he held out his hand. "Come with me?"

############

Rose took the Doctor's hand and allowed him to lead her towards the doorway of the library, where he paused and placed his hand against the wall for a second. Then he continued to lead her out of the room, and down the corridor towards the garden.

Rose had never been in the garden at night before, it had never even occurred to her to go there, and when they arrived she paused in the doorway for a second looking around. It looked like a typical moonlit night, although she knew of course it was only the TARDIS' approximation of one. The garden was bathed in pale moonlight, but it was as mild as it would be during the day.

She followed the Doctor quietly, still holding his hand, as he lead her deeper into the garden, clearly with a destination in mind. As they rounded a small thicket of trees, she spotted it. A small, round building, with a large glass door in the section facing them, and what appeared to be wooden walls the rest of the way round.

Rose waited while he opened the door, and then allowed the Doctor to lead her inside. She looked around in confusion at the mound of pillows and blankets on the floor, and looked at the Doctor. "Trust me," he said, and sat himself down in the soft pile, raising a hand to her in invitation. She settled down beside him, just as he leaned towards her and whispered, "Listen."

############

And then she heard it, the soft sound of rain beginning to fall outside in the garden. As she stared at him in surprise, the Doctor leaned back against the pillows, pulled her gently towards him, and settled one of the blankets over them both. As Rose gazed out through the glass door in amazement, she realised that yes, the TARDIS really had made it rain out in the garden. She watched the first few drops begin their slow descent down the glass, and settled against the Doctor's chest in gratitude. Within minutes her breathing had slowed and the Doctor realised she had drifted off to sleep.

He reached a hand out to the wall nearest him, stroked his hand across it, and sent a silent thank you to the TARDIS, who hummed softly in response. Then he returned his gaze to the woman in his arms, pressed a soft kiss to her hair, and began to think again about the Daleks words. As he held her now, while she slept so peacefully, he decided that maybe something had blossomed in the rain that day after all.

End

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