The Green Soul

Chapter 2

Rose beamed back at him.  "You mean that?  They're not a fixed point, or anything of that nature?"  She glanced down at the book and back again.  "We can actually see why they died?"

The Doctor skimmed the book.  "No, it's not a fixed point," he said, his voice very sure.  "And even if we can't save them, we might be able to find the cause and prevent it elsewhere."

She nodded, feeling her excitement build at the prospect of going to a time that she was genuinely interested in.  She bounced on the couch a little bit in anticipation.  "So you know it's not fixed?  And we can go?"

He shot her a wide grin.  "Yes, we can go."

If Rose were asked later, she would say that she most certainly did not squeal in excitement.  She would, however, admit to leaning forward and wrapping her arms around the Doctor's neck.  He laughed and held her around the waist, his chin resting against her shoulder. 

It was one of those moments; one which started out incredibly innocently but accidentally escalated into 'definitely-NOT-just-mates' territory.  It was also one of those things that neither of them addressed, no matter what. 

In that moment, one of the Doctor's hands crept up to grip her shoulder, and she pressed her cheek to his shoulder, her breath against his neck.  He hummed slightly, breaking the moment, and Rose pulled back.  "What?" she asked.

The Doctor shook his head and returned his hands to the safer territory of her waist.  "Nothing.  Head to the wardrobe and get changed, the TARDIS will find something for you.  Also, pack a suitcase, we might be there a few days."

Rose nodded and tried not to be too disappointed that the moment was shattered.  "You aren't going to change?" She asked nonchalantly, pretty much knowing already what the answer was going to be.

"What's wrong with this?" She mouthed along with him as he spoke it.  He grinned at her and arched an eyebrow.

"The point still stands," he laughed.  "Go get changed and do your hair and..." he gestured vaguely, "Whatever it is you do, and meet me in the console room." 

Rose cocked an eyebrow.  "Whatever it is I do?" She laughed and shook her head, "Blimey, you're just like any human bloke."

The Doctor's eyebrows rose to his hairline and he stood up.  "Oi!  I take offense to that."  But he was smiling as he said it.  "When you come out, we'll have landed."

Rose nodded and stood, walking right past him.  "Let's have a safe flight," she  called over her shoulder as she left the room, leaving him standing there, sort of surprised at her actions.  She'd usually send him a smile on her way out of a room, or something.  He shook his head and headed towards the console room, deciding to play it off as a fluke.

In reality, there were just some moments in which Rose felt the need to escape from the Doctor, when she found the tension to be too much.  It happened more often then she cared to admit; her willpower could be shattered by the brush of a hand or even a wayward glance that she wasn't expecting to come her way.  In those moments, she found she had to excuse herself quickly to keep from jumping his bones.

Usually, she could duck out of the room without too much suspicion, but she had a hunch that the Doctor expected a hug as she left the room, or something of the sort.  That was only based on how she saw how confused he looked when she'd ducked out to head towards the wardrobe room.

Luckily, though, if he thought anything was wrong, he didn't follow her.  She snorted out a sarcastic laugh at the thought.  That was just him running from any sort of feeling or emotion, as he always did.  There were days she wondered if he felt anything at all. 

She pushed the thoughts away as she walked into the wardrobe room, the TARDIS having rearranged things to suit her current needs of a dress from the 1860s.  There was, quite possibly, what Rose thought was every color arranged over racks and shelves, sending her into the same awe she always felt when she stepped into the room.

She brushed her fingers over taffeta skirts, silk shoes, gloves and lovely ribbons.  The choice felt nearly impossible and the whole ordeal made her positively giddy with excitement.  She jumped back as a suitcase fell from the ceiling, landing in front of her feet.  It was leather and closed by buckles, and at seeing its authenticity, she bounced on the balls of her feet excitedly. 

Moving to open it, she saw that the suitcase was pre packed neatly with corsets and dresses and shoes, leaving her absolutely no work.  She moved one of the dresses aside to look underneath it and smiled a little bit at the realization.  Bigger on the inside.

She closed the suitcase again and stood, looking at the dresses again.  She hummed in concentration, looking at colors first to pick from.  She finally decided on blue, avoiding Madame De Pompadour cream colors at all costs.  Blue, yes, blue was safe. 

They were travelling to Reinette's time after all, and she hadn't even realized.  She sighed to herself and pulled out a light blue dress with a low neckline and white and gold details along the bodice and the bottom of the skirt.  The short sleeves of the dress were slightly ruffled, and the skirt was gently pleated in two places in the front.

The back of the dress held a respectable bustle, smaller than usual for the time period, but something Rose preferred.  It drew in dramatically at the waist, and Rose had a feeling she would desperately need a corset, and at that thought, one popped up on top of the corset.

Rose found that there was a machine to help her get into the corset, and Rose had to offer the TARDIS a little bit of telepathic thanks to the TARDIS for making sure that the Doctor wouldn't have to help her with this today.  She had a feeling that if he did, his hands brushing her back, all self control she would ever contain would fly completely out the window.

She got into the dress in ten minutes, twisting and turning in the mirror to look at how she looked.  The back laced up to the middle of her shoulder blades, the top dipping down to the top of her cleavage.  The corset pulled her waist in and puffed out slightly from the hips, accentuating literally every curve she had. 

Her white stocking feet poked out from the bottom of the dress on her third twirl.  "Oh," she said simply, looking around for shoes that matched the dress.  She settled on white heeled slippers with little bows on the toes.  She slipped her feet into them and nodded at her reflection in satisfaction. 

She picked up the suitcase and headed to her room to do something with her hair.  She sat at her vanity and, when the TARDIS showed her the hairstyles, she wrinkled her nose and shook her head.  "I'll just curl it," she told the TARDIS, and did exactly that. 

As a finishing touch, she put on a necklace with a single sapphire.  Satisfied, she smiled at her reflection, picked up her suitcase, and headed towards the console room, hoping the Doctor would at least pretend to like the way she looked.