A Most Troublesome Double Date
::
"Please, Rose?" Jackie asked, grabbing her daughter's arm.
The Doctor shook his head vehemently and grabbed Rose's other arm. "Don't you dare," he begged in a low voice.
"I just want you to get to know him!" Jackie complained, glaring at the Doctor.
"Fine! But you don't have to drag me into it!" he retorted loudly.
Rose winced, her gaze flicking between her mother and her friend.
"But it'll be weird if it's just the three of us!" Jackie replied. "Rose might feel left out!"
"Nah, Rose won't mind, will you Rose? Rose?"
Rose bit her lower lip thoughtfully as she contemplated her answer.
The Doctor panicked. "Rose, I'll do anything else. Anything. Whatever you want."
"Anything?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Yes," he confirmed hopefully, wondering whether he was being persuasive enough. "We can go anywhere in the universe. Do anything you want. Your choice. For a whole week."
"Oi! Don't listen to him, Rose. As if he could actually keep to a promise like that anyway!"
"A month," he tried. "A whole month. We could take an extended holiday!"
"Hmm…" Rose murmured.
He squeezed her arm a bit tighter, his eyes wide and pleading. "I will make you breakfast in bed every single day. And – and I'll do the laundry! And…" he trailed off, grappling for more ideas. "And I'll make your bed! And cook dinner. And give you a back massage - "
At that last one Jackie whacked him on the shoulder with her free hand. "None of that!"
"Ow! What?" he cried innocently. "What's wrong with that?"
Rose rolled her eyes. "Listen. Mum, I love you and everything, but I really don't think the Doctor should come to this dinner thing."
The Doctor grinned triumphantly. Jackie glared at him again. He stuck out his tongue childishly.
"I mean, seriously? Do you think he'd behave? Do you really even trust him to be able to get through a double date without embarrassing us?" Rose continued slyly.
"Hey!" he exclaimed, letting go of her arm to fold his own against his chest in a huff.
"You might be right, Rose," Jackie picked up on her plan. "He probably doesn't even know which hands to use his knife and fork in…"
"I most certainly do!" he corrected her haughtily. "I have been around for nine centuries, you know, travelling time and space and saving the universe; I think I can deal with a harmless little dinner at a London restaurant!"
Rose smiled. "Really? Aww, that's great, Doctor – thank you!"
Jackie grinned too. "I knew you'd come 'round! Thanks! So I'll see you two at seven, then?"
"Wait, what just happened?" he asked in bewilderment, his arms flopping to his sides.
"You just agreed to have dinner with me, Mum and her date."
"No I didn't!"
"Yes you did," Jackie replied, feigning confusion.
"You said: 'I think I can deal with a harmless little dinner.'"
"That doesn't mean I will! I could do a lot of things; doesn't mean I'm planning to! Could take up the ukulele! But I won't!"
Rose looked up at him with that expression she always used to get him to change his mind about something. The one with the smile and the eyes and the eyelashes and blimey, what was he letting himself in for?
"Fine!" he sighed heavily. "Fine. But you know what, this is the last time I do something like this for you. Next time, I won't fall for it! And I won't fall for that expression on your face either."
"Little too late for that, eh Doctor?" Jackie murmured knowingly, patting him on the shoulder as she left the living room.
His mouth dropped open and Rose giggled.