Wheeler

Author: Jillybean

AN: I blame 24 the other night, OMG Paul and Jack love! But I’ve been slashy for days now.

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She’d never felt like a third wheel. Ever. It might have been because she didn’t exactly know what a third wheel should feel like, since most vehicles had four wheels and four was a conventional number . . . . but she. Rose Tyler. She had never been a third wheel.

Shireen had often called herself a third wheel. Said that was how Mickey and Rose made her feel. Rose guessed that Tricia was part of that circle now. Sinking deeper into the bubbly water, Rose wondered if Mickey was still with Tricia, but she supposed it all depended on exactly when Rose went to see him.

Arching her back, she immersed herself under the water, listening to the amplified grumbles and roars of the TARDIS through the murky depths. The enamel of the bath tub was cold on her back, and the tepid water didn’t taste particularly good. It rushed up her nose, spicy from the bath salts she’d added in.

oOo

She felt herself collapse against his chest in a dizzying rush of whatever emotion caused her to shriek out loud like some kid. He was laughing, his chest rumbling, his leather jacket shaking. Her cheek pressed against his shoulder and she felt as though she could breathe him in.

“You guys are cute,” Jack exclaimed.

“Of course we are,” the Doctor said cheerfully. He detached himself from Rose, steadying her as he grinned down at her breathless expression. “Told you I had moves.”

“I’ll say,” Jack added, sparing Rose from having to form a coherent sentence. “So. Nice place.”

“It gets bigger,” the Doctor grinned at him, fastening his hand over Rose’s and heading down the corridor. “What kind of room would you like?”

oOo

The bath exploded as Rose jerked upwards, spluttering water and coughing violently. She hung over the edge, watching the tiny waterfalls seeping over the lip of the Victorian bath, splashing down on the marble floor. It seemed such a huge effort to haul herself upwards and over the solid white walls. Her bare soles skidded on the marble and she grabbed at the towel rail, recovering. She wrapped the perfectly warm and fluffy red towel around her, forming a ‘thanks’ in her mind for the TARDIS. She promised to be back and clean up the spillages later.

Her room was lit with candles, and she didn’t bother to wonder how. The Doctor’s ship changed her interior faster than Rose could keep track, but usually kept the personal areas preserved. There had been some arguments about that, and Rose smiled slightly as she dried herself off. He’d never liked that bathroom, sure that he could convince the TARDIS to make a better one for her.

If Rose wanted a swim, she could go to the swimming pool, and if she wanted an insanely huge Jacuzzi it was nothing to go and steal Jack’s bathroom for a while. For the most part, Rose liked a cramped bath tub, she liked the way the water cooled off too quickly, and she liked bath salts that would leave the water looking very unsavoury. The TARDIS knew and respected that, it supplied her with endless bath salts, it kept her towels warm an inexplicably fluffy and it never, ever changed the bath tub. A point of contention between it and the Doctor, actually, who complained more than once that it just wasn’t built for six feet aliens.

Rose grinned, taking a brush off the sideboard and dragging it through her damp, sticky locks. The point of these kind of baths wasn’t to get clean, or to try and wash your hair. A shower in the morning would fix that. This kind of bath was built to pass the time, to make it all slide away.

oOo

“Rose?”

She twisted in the bath, feeling his wet skin against hers as her back moved against his chest. Beaming up at him, she wiped bubbles off onto his nose.

“I really hate this bath tub,” he told her, leaning down to give her a kiss.

She pushed herself up into it, sliding on the smooth enamel and forcing endless waves over the sides. Laughing through her lips, he caught her by the elbows, but slid further down himself, spluttering as he fell beneath bubbles and water.

She cackled as he splashed his way back to the surface, glowering at her.

“I hate this bath tub,” he repeated, grabbing her by the hips and pulling her closer.

“Small price to pay, though,” she told him.

“Sure of yourself, aren’t you?” he said.

“Very.”

oOo

The TARDIS chose to let the footsteps in the corridor echo, and Rose was grateful for that. She didn’t bother to grab the dressing gown, thoughtfully placed at the end of her bed. Jack had seen her in less than her pyjamas, and the Doctor . . . well, she wouldn’t be surprised if he knew her body better than she did. Still, there was a moment when her fingers itched for it, for the extra material to place between her and the intruder.

Jack was hesitant when he glanced inside, his big blue eyes soaking in the sight of her. “Hi.”

“Hello,” she beamed, hoping he’d repeat his words, but he didn’t. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

“I . . .” he glanced down the corridor, before stepping inside her room and closing the door. “I wondered if you were . . . okay.”

“I’m fine,” Rose said, feigning confusion.

“Rose,” he groaned, folding his arms tight across his chest as he looked everywhere, into the deepest corners of the room, anywhere but at her. “I know this . . . can’t be easy.”

“Easy, no,” Rose smiled. She crossed the floor, pulling him into a tight hug.

He sighed into her blonde hair, sniffing slightly. “I miss the old one too, but Rose I have something . . .”

“No,” she stroked the back of his head, feeling him still as she spoke. “No, you always had it, Jack, he’s not changed.”

He pulled away, glancing down at her. “We both know that’s not true.”

“He always loved you,” Rose offered, surprised to feel her throat close up.

“And he still loves you,” Jack pointed out.

oOo

A single scream woke her up, and she tried to sit, finding herself pinned by his arms.

“Did you hear that?” he whispered.

“Jack!” she hissed.

Together they hurried down the corridors, breaking into his room none too quietly. Whatever Rose had expected, monsters, aliens, ghosts or spirits, it wasn’t this. Jack lay in his bed, the sheets twisted around his naked form so many times they looked like they were strangling him. He tossed and turned, muttering in his sleep.

“Nightmares?” the Doctor asked, sounding more surprised than the occasion warranted. “I thought he was being murdered!”

“What . . .” Rose hesitated, seeing the pain and anguish crossing her friend’s face, “what should we do?”

He glanced at her. It should have been an easy choice, go forward and help him. Rose hesitated, unsure if Jack’s pride would recover if she was the one to shake his shoulder.

And she was unwilling to let the Doctor alone with the man. How many times had she pulled him into her arms after waking? How many times had they spent the night, and now look where they were.

“Rose,” he murmured, frowning slightly. “Nothing’s going to happen.”

“Right,” Rose nodded slowly, edging out of the room. “Right.”

oOo

“Jack are you -”

Rose smiled at the Doctor when he came in, and she gave Jack’s arm a friendly rub. “He’s here,” she winked at Jack, giving him a little shove towards the door. “You two’d better be quiet.”

“Rose!” the Doctor exclaimed, winking at Jack. “We’ll be quiet.”

Jack hesitated, before wrapping his arm around the Doctor’s thin waist, drinking in the sight of him.

Rose knew that look, had felt that expression in her own face when she’d held her Doctor. There would have been differences, she’d have been looking up into his clear blue eyes, instead of smiling down at his gentle face. And she would have had an arm wrapped around her waist in return, or fingers tightly gripping hers, something, anything to show the world that she belonged to someone else. This Doctor, Jack’s Doctor, he didn’t feel the same need to be possessive. It was as if he knew Jack was crazy about him.

“Doctor,” Rose called out. “Can you wait a moment?”

He smiled at Jack, and the pair waited for the third member of their trio to reluctantly make himself scarce.

“Did . . .” Rose hesitated, wondering what the right word was. “Did you love me?”

“Yes,” the Doctor said honestly. “But I don’t Rose, not like I did.”

She nodded, mustering a smile. “I don’t want to keep you.”

He pulled her into a hug, but it was wrong, for both of them.

“Are you okay with this?” he asked.

Rose nodded, sending him along with a smile and a quip. She retreated to her bed, curling under the quilts.

oOo

He kissed her cheek when he slid under the covers, his cold hands find their way up her top to warm themselves on her breasts.

“Bastard,” she murmured affectionately.

“Jack’s sleeping,” the Doctor said into her hair.

“Wear him out?”

She regretted it the moment she said it, and he turned her over, looking down into her eyes. “Rose, I don’t care about him.”

“He cares about you,” Rose muttered, her gaze on his chest and her hand resting there.

“Yes he does. And I love him, I guess, but I . . .” he hesitated, his fingers closing around her hand and pressing them against his chest. “Two hearts. One for you, one for the universe. There is no third.”

Rose smiled at him. “I’m being silly.”

“I’ll always love you, Rose,” he kissed her forehead.

oOo

But as Rose found out, lying in her bed alone, there were many kinds of love.