On the run

Chapter 23

Rose went off to get ready for bed, debating if she should stick with her pyjamas or risk wearing a nightdress. Should she be even thinking about it, she wondered, looking at a pale green nightdress she'd packed. She had to start somewhere, if Alec was just going to sleep in his t-shirt and shorts but she rather hoped she could relieve him of his t-shirt at some point so it was only fair she ditched her pyjamas as long as she kept her underwear on but would he think she was being too keen?

Her mind made up, she put her dressing gown on and went to back to the kitchen area where Alec had just made the drinks.

"So, do you mind, I mean you being the one to get ready for bed in front of me?" Rose asked him.

"I don't mind, if it helps," he replied passing her hot chocolate to her, having remembered to put a layer of cream on top.

"Yeah, I just have to get past certain things. I mean when I was on my way here yesterday, well I never imagined Pete was bringing me to you, for you to be the one to look out for me."

"I was only too happy to help. You being willing to go along with my idea was a bonus but did you mean what you said to him? That you do really want to be my girlfriend?"

"Oh, maybe I shouldn't have told him that? He'll tell my mum now."

Alec imagined Pete would and that would get him a slap from Jackie for bringing her here.

"Is that such a bad thing?" he asked, watching her lick the cream off the spoon, very seductively he thought.

"That depends how she takes it. She slapped the Doctor once and he wasn't even my boyfriend and I can't count all the times she threw Mickey out. She never really liked him until the time some monster was after them. Did I tell ya the Doctor could change? I mean when he was dying or badly injured."

"I don't believe you did love," he replied, noticing she had opted to wear something else other than pyjamas as they sat down.

"He didn't look like you when I first met him, if that's any consolation. I think I made him change but I don't remember much."

So she'd worked it out, he thought.

"Maybe he wanted to change, I mean if you were just friends?"

Rose looked at him. Alec wondered how many times she'd thought about it. He had wanted to change but he didn't want her to take the blame for it when he'd chosen to stop her mind from burning. That now made him wonder what had happened to Donna, she wouldn't be able to withstand the time vortex in her head either.

"Maybe but I didn't want him to do it just for me, he used another of his lives up for me."

"Maybe he thought you were worth it? When you say lives though? Just how many did he have?"

He knew he'd never told her but wanted to know what she thought about it.

"He never said how many he had left but when I left him, it was ten, I met him in his ninth. Is it important?"

"No, I was just being curious love. So, we go out for the day tomorrow, yes?"

Rose wondered why he'd suddenly changed the subject but he'd thought maybe he should stop asking questions before she really did throw him out.

"Yeah, just to look around for a while. Alec, I didn't mean anything, when I said Pete would tell my mum, I wasn't trying to put you off."

"I know and it will take more than your mother to put me off."

Who was he kidding? Jackie Tyler had given him a few looks when she'd thought about what they'd been doing on their travels.

"Good but you'd better be prepared when you eventually meet her."