Chapter Text
"The future," Rose Tyler said decidedly from her perch on the counter in the galley. She kicked her feet a little and grinned at the Doctor, who was arching an eyebrow at her. He continued to butter his toast and made an odd humming sound at her.
"We've been to the future," he pointed out to her teasingly.
"You say that like we've been to every bit of the future," she retorted, "But we haven't. We've seen cat nuns and the end of the world but what about... What about a party?"
She immediately knew she was pushing it. The Doctor loved a good party, of course he did, but since his stunt in France, he'd been reluctant to go to one. He'd never tell her why, of course, but Rose had a feeling it was because he felt guilty for abandoning her. She acknowledged that, and thought that he very well should feel guilty, but also make it up to her somehow. This was the perfect way to do it.
He stopped his buttering and rested his chin on his hand, his elbow pressed against the table, and looked across the room at her. "All of time and space," he began slowly, "Every bit of it, at our fingertips. I could take you to the most lush gardens in the universe, the most spectacular rotating underwater restaurants on Kali'l, and you want to go to a dinner party in the future?"
Rose tapped her heels against the cabinet doors behind her feet. "Not what I said," she told him. "A party can be a ball. We could go to one of those."
The Doctor looked at her helplessly. "Rose, a ball?"
She rolled her eyes, "Like you said, you could take me anywhere. How about somewhere I want to go?"
He was quiet for a moment, studying her, as though trying to read her intentions. He was going to have a hard time of it, though, because Rose Tyler could be very good at hiding her emotions when she wanted to. At the moment, she wanted to. She wanted him to make a decision, to think of her, but also himself.
She wanted him to do other things too, but that was besides the point. For instance, if he put down the butter knife and came over to the counter and snogged the daylights out of her, she wouldn't have a problem with it. In fact, it would be rather fine with her on all counts.
Blinking, she snapped herself from her thoughts and saw the Doctor's lip quirk up in a half-smile. "A ball. What makes you think they have balls, Rose Tyler?"
Oh, he was playing this game. Making it a trivia, the longest game of 20 questions in all of time and space. He was good at it, no doubt, it was his game to play after all, but there were some instances in which she was far better. Their banter was easy and this would be a very easy situation to discuss. There were no euphemisms or feelings to jump around now, as there usually were on the TARDIS. It seemed there was always a feeling to be jumped or danced around, and Rose, for one, was glad they were having a break from that.
Of course, that didn't mean that said dancing, jumping feelings didn't go away. No, they were always present and very much in the back of Rose's mind all time time. Instead of focusing on that, she cocked her head and pretended to think before answering his first (Definitely of many) question.
"Why wouldn't they?" She retorted, "Come on then, you've seen things make a comeback. Disco in 2398, for one. Who would've thought? So, why then, in some distant part of the future, would there not be a sort of ball?"
The Doctor leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and regarding her carefully. He nodded at her answer, accepting it, and moved right along. "Right then, and what, pray tell, would we do at a ball?"
"Dance," she said immediately, "Or I could dance and you could brood, because that often seemed to be the way of things before, didn't it?"
He scowled at her then, but she knew he was only playing along with her, would never look at her like that in earnest. He hummed softly in the back of his throat. "Dance, then. We could dance anywhere, Rose." Her particular want to dance seemed to frustrate him. "You could don the finest gowns and we could go to the Colonial Balls in America just after the Revolution. We could meet alien kings and queens and chat them up on mysteries that the universe has always thought about."
"We could, and might well do," Rose said, "I'd like to, if you would," she continued earnestly, not wanting to discourage him, by any means. "But we could do anything, any time. We could get to everything."
The Doctor sniffed and glanced away from her. "Yes, well, I suppose we could. Come on now, eat breakfast."
She hopped off the counter and grabbed her plate before setting it at the place across from his. She made herself comfortable in her seat and looked over at him. "So what do you say?"
He leaned forward, elbows on the table. "I say, you haven't convinced me yet."
It was when he did things like that that made the heat in the room spike and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She resisted the urge to clear her throat and swallowed instead, daring to look him straight in the eyes.
"And what do I have to do to convince you?"
He seemed to consider, and she could hear him tapping the toes of his trainers on the linoleum floor beneath them. "You could continue to beg and plead until I eventually give in, or we could let the TARDIS decide for us."
"Or we could have a discussion like adults."
He blinked. "Or that, yes."
"You haven't given me a valid reason not to go to a grand ball... In the future," She pointed out, feeling rather proud of herself for that particular comment.
"You haven't given me a valid reason to go to a grand ball."
She flung her arms out dramatically. "Show me the stars," she drawled in a posh accent before calmly returning to her breakfast.
The Doctor laughed and shook his head. "I could show you every star and you'd still want to go, wouldn't you?"
Rose nodded, pretending to be somber. "I would."
He drummed his fingers on the table and watched her for a few moments. "Alright, here are the rules," he said, "No wandering off, no telling people where you're from unless I'm with you, and no wandering off with any boys."
"I don't know what makes you think I'd do the third one," she said incredulously, wrinkling her nose.
"You and your pretty boys," he said dramatically. "You go get changed, and if the TARDIS agrees with you, that's where we'll go."
Rose beamed and stood, walking around the side of the table to hug him. He sighed, pretending it was a chore to return her embrace, but actually really rather enjoying the excuse to touch her. She pulled away before kissing him on the cheek and ruffling his hair fondly.
"You know, you're a pretty boy yourself, so you can't say stuff like that anymore," She told him on her way out the door.
He snorted and went back to his breakfast before turning to the door with a start. "You think I'm pretty?" He shouted.
He heard Rose giggle just down the corridor but she did not reply.
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The TARDIS was always excellent for picking out lovely things for Rose to wear when they went on trips. Truth be told, Rose rather thought that the ship liked having a girl to look after, considering the Doctor wore the same blasted thing all the time. Not that she was complaining, of course, and hadn't complained before he'd changed either. There had been a lot about both regeneration to... Admire.
She browsed through the seemingly endless racks of clothing, brushing her fingers along silks and furs as she went, not having a clue what she was looking for, only knowing that the TARDIS would stop her if she came across the best pick.
On she went, up several flights of stairs, past an ungodly amount of mirrors, until the TARDIS sent her a frantic, excited hum. Rose stopped where she stood, her hand on a red hanger that matched the gown it was hanging from.
Rose let out a breathy "oh" at the color and pulled the dress from the rack to get a closer look at it. She was foolish to think that ballwear would be the same for any given century, for this was no stereotypical ballgown. This was slinky, blood red and borderline gaudy. A slit traveled all the way to the knee, emphasized by the glitter that ran up both sides of it, and along the hem of the dress. It held little bits of glitter along the whole thing, though not as pronounced as in the aforementioned places.
The neckline was low and it would be held up with spaghetti straps and what looked to be a lace up back. Rose beamed, never having been able to afford a dress such as this and more than eager to put it on. "Thank you!" She told the TARDIS excitedly before changing.
Once she was in the dress, she was startled at how much of a force of nature it really was. How the thing was holding her chest up, she didn't know and wasn't sure she wanted to, but wasn't about to complain. The TARDIS had offered black strappy heels that made her legs look about ten miles long, and a makeup and hair kit appeared at a vanity.
"You excited about this too?" Rose asked the TARDIS, and got a happy little hum in response. Yes, the ship definitely did enjoy having a girl on board to socialize with. Especially one she likes as much as Rose.
Rose giggled and sat down at the vanity and started on her hair and makeup, hoping the Doctor wouldn't regret his decision to take her to a ball.