Summary: What started with chips ended in tears. But from the ashes, something else was born... A short little story between Nine and Rose, to bring back the essence of what the two of them used to be.

Characters: Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler

Rating: T, for language and some scenes.

Words: 17, 989

Genre: Romance, Humour, Angst, Songfic

Spoilers: A few for the first series. Nothing major. Well, not really.

Disclaimer: The Song "Gravity" by Embrace – which was the main inspiration behind this fic – is fantastic, but nothing to do with me. I just borrowed their words. Doctor Who is nothing of mine. All the BBC's creation and ownership. Believe me, it's something I cry about on a daily basis. But it's probably just as well, because I couldn't come up with the fantastic storylines anyway.

A/N: Though this is a Songfic by definition, it was mostly "inspired by", so don't go thinking it's based much on the song. The lyrics just sort of seemed to fit with the Doctor and Rose how they are together generally, not specifically this fic. This is longer than my other Songfic, too, by about 7,000 words, so I've split each section of the song up into chapters to make it easier to read.

Dedication: I would like to dedicate this to the memory of the Ninth Doctor and Rose. We all know the current season is drawing to a close, with some sad news at the end, so this is just to lift the spirit of those who want to go on remembering the Doctor and Rose at their best.

Gravity

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Honey, it's been a long time coming,

And I can't stop now;

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It was the chips that had done it, he decided. Rose had wandered out of her room in the middle of the night – well, not the night as such; the TARDIS didn't have nights. The middle of her sleeping pattern, then – to the control room in search of the Doctor. She had found him all right, stretched out deep into the TARDIS' control circuits. She'd given him the fright of his life, too, coming up and putting a hand on his leg like that. He'd shot out all ready to lunge at whatever leg-touching beastie had found its way into his time and space machine; of course, all he'd found was Rose, in fits of giggles at his expression and curt choice of welcome words. He frowned and pocketed the sonic screwdriver in his leather jacket.

"You quite done?" he asked a little testily, rubbing his head where he'd whacked it on the console.

"Yeah," Rose choked, wiping her eyes with laughter. "Look, I wanted to ask you something."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and pulled himself to his feet. He looked at her questionably, folding his arms.

"This isn't going to turn into one of those situations where you ask me to go somewhere obscure you've read about in the library, I say it's a bad idea, you persist, I tell you to go away and do something else, you go 'round hiding all my pairs of clean socks and won't give them back until we go off and visit, meaning I have no choice but to do as you say, is it? Because, honestly, I'd really rather not have to deal with those effects again. My genitals still haven't recovered."

That sent her off into a new strain of laughing fit, to which the Doctor merely raised an eyebrow and waited for her to sober. She did so soon enough, suppressing her snorts as coughs.

"You could have told me they didn't like shadow puppets, y'know," she pointed out with a smirk.

"Oh, they like shadow puppets all right. Think the world of them. They jus' don't like it when you go an' insult the emperor and his... reputation."

"I only made a pair of rabbit ears!"

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow. "That's what you think."

"Oh." Rose blinked at him a moment before a form of realisation hit her. "Ohhhhh," she added sheepishly, a pink tinge adopting the top her cheeks. "You coulda said somethin'."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Next time I'll just stand around and chat while the pitch-forks are being hurled at us, shall I? Damn near got yourself killed."

"Look, we're gettin' a bit off topic," she sighed a little exasperatedly. The Doctor grinned at her, a manic, cheesy affair.

"Fire away."

"Thing is... I could really go for some chips..."

The Doctor frowned, wondering if he'd heard correctly.

"You're kidding," he said at last when he could find no signs that she was. "You've got the entire TARDIS at your fingertips, and yet you want to go for chips? No sense of decency, that's your problem."

After a few snide comments about the Doctor's own taste in food, he had eventually given in and taken the TARDIS to a remote little place on the coast of Wales. So now, here they were, ordering chips from a tiny little restaurant at eight o'clock in the morning. They sat in uncomfortable plastic chairs around a table that was so unbalanced it would have put the Leaning Tower of Pisa to shame. The chips were good, though. Warm and moist, yet crisp, too. There was a perfect amount of vinegar and salt – though, the Doctor noted, that was probably Rose's doing. She really was quite perfected in the art of chip making. Another quality he admired in her.

He leant back in the chair, his back straining the weak plastic, and watched her happily as she ate the chips slowly, her head twisted to gaze out at the sea not far off from them. He wasn't sure quite when he had turned into the sort of person who would do whatever she asked of him. That look, that small grin, that flutter of the eyelashes... she had it all. After the Time War, he never thought that anyone would have that power over him again. But it wasn't so bad. He could very easily get used to this. Bring on the universe, because he had something better. Something that would last.

Oh yes, life was good, he speculated, leaning back in the chair a little bit further. The air was crisp and fresh, he was in a better mood than he had been in a long while and he had the best company in the world. Rose Tyler. He couldn't help grinning at her when she caught his eye. Of course, then she couldn't help laughing when the chair gave way beneath him and he tumbled backwards to the ground, thus proving that age old rule that mothers always tell their children: never swing on the back legs of a chair.