A/N: I was re-watching 'The Christmas Invasion' and the part where Ten quotes the Lion King got me thinking, obviously the Doctor is a fan of the Lion King and it couldn't be Ten himself who watched it because he was only a few hours into his regeneration so it had to be one of his past regenerations and since I've only seen New!Who I'm going to say it was Nine. And also because I think Nine watching the Lion King would be, to quote Nine himself, "Fantastic!" Also I couldn't resist a bit of Nine/Rose.

This takes place somewhere after 'Father's Day' but before 'The Empty Child'.

This is also my first time writing Nine so I hope I got his voice right.

Hope you enjoy!

"Doctor?" Rose padded into the TARDIS console room expecting to find the Doctor where he always was late at night: under the TARDIS console fixing things. But as she stepped in she found the console room to be eerily quiet and dim, the only sound being the dull hum of the TARDIS herself.

Rose frowned at the lack of the Time Lord's presence. She couldn't sleep and he was always good for a long chat when she needed something to do. She loved listening to him talk about different planets and different parts of the TARDIS that he was trying to fix, using words that she had never heard of and wouldn't even try to understand but she didn't mind the least bit, it was all just so captivating, his knowledge of everything.

She was so looking forward to listening to whatever was on his mind at the moment and wondered where he could be. The TARDIS had infinite space, she knew because she once asked him to take her on a tour and he laughed and said, "that, Rose, would take years." She hadn't quite believed it at the time, it was when she first started traveling with him and though she'd been to the future and the past she didn't quite grasp how unbelievable this all was.

Now though, well, she definitely believed now. After seeing her own dead father alive and well and being nearly killed by time soaked reapers, well nothing seemed impossible anymore.

She didn't even know where to start looking for him. She'd gone exploring on the TARDIS a few times and tried not to get lost. She found the library (and was amazing to find a swimming pool in the library) and he had shown her the wardrobe room on her second trip with him but anything beyond that Rose hadn't a clue.

But she was wide awake now and she knew there was no use going back to sleep so she went out on a mission to hopefully find the Doctor and not get lost.

She knew the pathway from her room to the console room like the back of her hand and she knew the way from her room to the library pretty well too but from the library there were two separate hallways to venture down and Rose was clueless as to which one he might be down.

Suddenly the lights in the corridor to her right flickered and the humming of the TARDIS grew louder. She wasn't sure what that meant and part of her was telling her not to go down that corridor (perhaps that was the part of her that watched too many horror flicks) but she ended up walking that way anyway.

She made a few turns here and there each new corridor being lit up as she walked and she quietly called out for the Doctor, hoping he'd be around.

She was just about to give up all together and head back to bed when she heard noise coming from a distant corridor. It sounded like people were talking and not just any people, people on a television. Did the TARDIS have a television? She wondered and curiosity led her towards the sound. As she drew near she caught flickering colorful lights drifting out of an open door along with an unmistakable sound she'd recognize anywhere.

"...it means no worries for the rest of your days..."

She approached the room quietly and peered in through the doorway, gawking at the very large screen that took up most of the theatre sized wall.

"...problem-free philosophy: Hakuna Matata."

Still gawking, Rose looked around the room. It was an immense room, definitely the size of a small cinema theatre but instead of rows and rows of chairs she only saw one arm chair rested in the center of the room and in that arm chair sat the Doctor, his feet propped up on the foot rest in front of him.

She quietly tip toed into the room, like a child trying to sneak in some cookies in the middle of the night and crept up behind the chair to observe him from behind.

"...what's a motto?"

"Nothing, what's amotto with you?"

A deep, hearty chuckle rumbled from the Time Lord and her eyebrows lifted in amusement. Even quieter still, she shifted so she could see his face and found a small smile on his lips and then when his foot started to tap along with the music drifting from the speakers she had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing.

Finally she could keep quiet no longer and she leaned up against the back of the chair. "I never would have guessed."

The Doctor yelped and flew out of the chair, whirling around to face her, his eyes stern and ready to fight. Then he caught sight of his supposed attacker and his face softened to one of annoyance. "Blimey Rose, don't do that. Don't you know it is not a very good idea to sneak up on a Time Lord?"

She ignored his scolding and only smirked at him, her eyes dancing in amusement.

He sighed heavily. "What?" He snapped.

"Nothing." She insisted innocently with a shrug. "Just...I never guessed you would be watching a Disney movie."

"There is nothing wrong with talking animals, Rose." He huffed and collapsed back into his chair, propping his feet back up.

"Yeah," She swung around the chair, now grinning, "If you're five. Not something I'd really expect from a nine hundred year old alien."

He shrugged non-chalantly. "Shows how much you know about nine hundred year old aliens."

With one eyebrow raised she glanced back at the screen where Timon and Pumbaa were now trying to get young Simba to eat some "grub". She shook her head slowly and turned her amused stare back at him. "It's a disney movie."

He sighed once more. "It happens to go down in Earth's history as one of the best animated feature films."

"It's a cartoon."

"Animated feature film." He corrected, annunciating every word.

Rose bit down on her lip softly and chewed on it softly, crossing her arms and once again looking back at the screen. She watched in silence as the meerkat, warthog and lion sang about Hakuna Matata and as the song faded into the next scene of the movie, she finally glanced back at the Doctor whose steady gaze was fixated on the screen in front of him.

"Alright then Doctor," She released her hands from their folded position on her chest and he quickly glanced at her. "I've only got one thing to say to you."

She now had his full attention and he was staring at her with a cocked eyebrow, intrigued by her words and craving for her to continue.

A grin split across her face and she jerked her head to the side. "Scoot over."

His other eyebrow popped up. "I'm sorry?"

"Scoot over." She repeated.

He looked down at the tiny space next to him in the arm chair and then back at her, his expression unwavering. She rolled her eyes and with an exasperated sigh, marched over to the chair and crawled into the minimal space next to him, swinging her legs over his lap.

She looked up at him and he was staring down at her with a perplexed expression but he didn't try to stop her and he wasn't protesting so that was good enough for her. She rested her head down against his broad shoulder. He wasn't wearing his trademark leather jacket and she was pleased to discover, as she cuddled into his side, that he was quite muscular and quite warm. She smiled against his chest, listening to the sound of his two strong heartbeats for a while and then finally focusing her attention on the movie she had watched countless amount of times in her nineteen years of life.

If she weren't so captivated by the singing, talking animals on the screen she would have noticed that for twenty full minutes, his intense blue eyes were not focused on the screen but on her and a pure, warm, adoring smile formed his lips.