TenRose FanFic: A Compilation

Rose's Birthday

In honor of Billie Piper's birthday on 9/22.

It was a Sunday afternoon and the Doctor had decided that he wanted to have an easy-going day. He was in the kitchen cooking God-knows-what, in hopes that Rose would at least give it a taste. Rose would probably make a face at the food but suck it up and give it a try anyways. Currently, she was in the console room messing with the monitor. The Doctor had shown her how to connect to the internet and she was currently surfing MySpace. It was nice to be able to keep in touch while she was on the go. Shareen had been wanting to set up a girls' night out, but of course Rose was never around. At least this way Shareen couldn't complain about never talking to Rose.

Rose checked her email and deleted the myriad of birthday wishes from distant family members and old friends. She hated birthdays. The thought of growing old and eventually missing out on the adventures the universe had to hold made her sick and she would rather not think of it. Rose even went so far as to turn off notifications for MySpace, hoping to avoid the reminder. She scrolled through a Spotify playlist consisting of mostly The Beetles, Hootie and the Blowfish, and a band from the near future (as the Doctor called it) called Five Seconds of Summer. Her favorite song by The Beetles came on, so she cranked up the volume.

"Oi! What's with all the noise?" the Doctor yelled over the blasting music. He was joking, of course. Rose turned around to see what he had brought her, but her face fell at the sight of the illuminated cake. It was three tiers tall with purple icing and a blue TARDIS sloppily drawn on top. The Doctor had found the numbers two and zero and placed them on top, despite the mismatching colors. "Happy Birthday!"

"Doctor," Rose groaned. Although she didn't let herself smile, she couldn't help but blush. He grinned back. "How'd you know it was today?"

"Your mum called. She wanted to make sure you'd be home for a birthday dinner," he said.

Rose rolled her eyes and started stepping forward. The Doctor was going to meet her halfway, but he accidentally stepped on his far too long pants and tripped himself up. The Doctor came crashing to the floor, sending the cake flying into the air. Rose froze and watched it soar until it finally landed about two feet in front of the Doctor's head. The icing smeared across the TARDIS floor, which the TARDIS whirred in protest because of. The candles had been blown out in the fall and the cake tiers were no longer in one piece stacked upon each other.

Seeing the catastrophe, Rose snorted with laughter, throwing her head back. The Doctor rolled over and sat up. He saw the mess on the floor he had caused and his face fell. Rose was still giggling when she reached her hand out to help him up. Then, she noticed his face getting red and the sudden lack of giddiness. The Doctor was upset.

"Oh, Doctor," she said, kneeling beside him. He stared at the pile of cake slack-jawed. Rose wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a hug. He half-heartedly hugged her back. "Don't be upset over a little cake."

"I just wanted you to have a good birthday. I mean, your mum said you don't like birthdays all that much and I just thought..." he said. Rose smiled and looked him in the eyes.

"You're a good man, Doctor," she said. He gave her a half-smile and kissed her forehead. Rose stood up and told the Doctor to stay put as she ran out the room. A couple minutes later, she returned with a couple plastic forks and two cans of beer.

Sitting on the floor, they ate their cake bit by bit. They were careful not to eat the pieces that had made direct contact with the floor. The Doctor had to open Rose's beer for her and Rose had to convince the Doctor that there wasn't some awful, radioactive, carcinogenic bacteria on the ground that hadn't spread over the whole cake in the few minutes that it sat there untouched. Of course, the Doctor knew the probability of this was one in a million, but he liked listening to Rose hopelessly arguing with him. She was smart, of course, but she certainly didn't have a Ph.D. in biology and half of the things she said made no sense at all.

Later that night, the Doctor delivered her to Jackie's flat where they joined Jackie, Mickey, and Jackie's new boyfriend for dinner. Her mum had used a Sheppard's Pie recipe her boyfriend gave to her and helped her make, so the meal wasn't incredibly awful. Rose got the usual useless present from Mickey–something tech related that she had no interest in. Her mother got her a sweater from the shop she used to work at such a long time ago along with a pair of shoes. Her oh-so-classy boyfriend handed Rose a gift card to the pub on the corner, which Rose was fine with considering she wouldn't mind getting the Doctor a little drunk after the party and before heading back to the TARDIS for the night.

After quite the night of fun, Rose lied in bed in her knickers next to a bare-chested Doctor. It had been the greatest day even if she was another year older now. Rose snuggled up close to him and let him drape his arm around her. She felt herself being pulled under, slipping away from reality. It had been an eventful day for both of them and they were exhausted.

I should thank him for the birthday, Rose thought, stirring herself. Still having her eyes shut, she whispered into the silence, "Doctor?"

The Doctor lifted his head a bit. He was less tired, but still tired enough where he would be happy to take another day off from saving planets just to lie in bed next to Rose Tyler.

"Mm... I lumph ymm..." Rose mumbled nearly inaudibly as she pulled herself closer.

The Doctor took a minute to process it, but he was sure he knew what it was she had just tried to say to him. He looked down at her, opening his mouth to respond. Her face had gone soft and her breathing was slowed. Rose had already fallen asleep again. He hugged her closer and nuzzled his nose into her strawberry-smelling hair, letting himself drift to sleep with the thought of Rose Tyler lying next to him for as long as they so desired.