Leap of Faith: Chapter Twenty-Three

[amberfocus]

                                                                             banner by seduff 

Title:  Leap of Faith (23/?)

Author:  amberfocus
Characters/Pairings:  John Smith (alt!Nine)/Rose Tyler, Toshiko Sato, Jake Simmonds, Mickey Smith, Ianto Jones, Jackie Tyler/Pete Tyler, Tony Tyler, Owen Harper, various original characters
Genre:  Romance, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe
Rating:  Adult
Betas:  amyo67, jeprdyfrndly

 

Summary:  Hiding from the Family of Blood, the alt!Ninth Doctor turns himself into John Smith via the chameleon arch and with his companion Toshiko Sato, takes a job at Torchwood.  He clashes with everyone he meets and Rose Tyler, the beautiful young director of Torchwood Field Operative Training and the daughter of his boss, is no exception.  AU after season 2.

Previous Chapters:   http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/327895.html

Chapter Twenty-Three: First Date
 

Thirty minutes into the thriller John and Rose had chosen to go see, the film lurched disarmingly on the screen and shredded down the center as the soundtrack became horribly garbled. A few minutes later the manager of the cinema had brought the lights back up and explained that the film had been eaten by the projector so badly that they’d lost ten minutes and there was no splice that could fix it. He offered everyone their money back or tickets to see one of the other shows that were playing.

Rose had absolutely no desire to watch an erotic art film with John when she was trying to refrain from jumping him back at their rooms. She also didn’t want to read a subtitled movie without her reading glasses and she was still vain enough this early in their relationship not to want John to know she used them just yet. Anyway, she always got a headache reading in the dark. That left a sci-fi epic and John admitted that his desire to pick movies like that apart would probably get them booed out of the cinema by the other patrons. That sort of thing was much better suited to doing whilst watching a DVD at home.

After collecting a refund from management they left the complex and headed to John’s car. “Sorry,” he apologized. “Not a very good first date, is it?”

“The night’s still young,” she said.

“So what shall we do?"

“Dinner, I guess,” she said.

“Our reservation isn’t for another two hours,” he said. He looked disappointed that the evening was not going to plan.

“I don’t use the Tyler name for much,” Rose offered hesitantly, “but I think I could get them to bump us up if I drop it. If you want.”

“You sure you want to do that?” he asked. “You might end up fighting off the paparazzi again.”

“They don’t usually bother me in Wales,” she said.

“Yeah, but have you ever been out and about with a boyfriend before in Wales?” he asked.

“Boyfriend?” she asked stopping on the pavement and raising her eyebrows at him.

“That’s who they see me as. I’m not assuming,” he corrected himself hastily.

She studied him wistfully for a moment. “I don’t know what we are, John,” she said honestly. “And I don’t want to put any sort of a label on it. Sometimes defining things really messes them up. I don’t want to do that, mess us up. It’s too important to me that we get this right. Right now I just want to be with you. Is that all right?” she asked.

“More than all right,” he said softly reaching out and taking her hand. “The restaurant’s not far. We might as well leave the car in the car park.”

Rose nodded in agreement. They only had to wait five minutes for a booth and when their order was safely off to the kitchen John reached across the table and picked up her hand again. “So what do you really think is going on with Tosh’s grandmother and the other patients?” John asked to jump start the conversation. They’d talked about it a little bit, but not in any serious way.

“I don’t know,” Rose said. “Maybe it’s something like that rejuvenation beam that hit Gabe. Different species, probably, that developed it, because it’s not behaving like the Taltin device, but something along those lines, only they obviously got it a bit wrong.” She spoke softly so as not to be overheard, leaning towards John. He leaned forward as well and took her other hand.

“They still around? The ones who shot Gabe?” John asked.

“They didn’t shoot him. It was an accident. A malfunction or something. And they’ve tried to help with the restoration process. Accelerated it a bit,” Rose said. “I’m not sure where the Taltins are, though. Last I heard there was a small enclave in Iceland, but it broke up and I think they just merged into the regular population. They can pass for humans unless you scan their internal organs,” she said.

A man at a nearby table gave Rose an odd look and she realized they’d not been talking quietly enough. “Working on a novel,” she told the man confidently and his strange expression cleared.

“Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this here,” John said.

“Maybe,” Rose agreed.

They stared at each other for a moment, both at a loss as to what to say. “If we’d seen the movie, we’d have plenty to talk about,” John said.

“I’m sure two such fascinating members of the human race such as ourselves can figure out something to talk about.”

“Can’t really talk about work. Not here,” he said. “Tell me about your childhood with your adoptive mother.”

Rose bit her lip. She didn’t want to lie to John more than she’d already done to keep her cover story straight. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. “Touchy subject?” he asked softly.

“There’s stuff I want to tell you, John. Stuff about my past. There’s so much that’s happened to me in my life and I’m not supposed to talk about it with anyone outside of Mum and Dad and Mickey, Jake and Ianto. I made a promise when I came here and I thought when I made it I’d be able to keep it. I didn’t think there’d ever be someone…”

“Someone?” he prodded gently.

“Someone like you, someone I’d get close to again. After…after I lost…” She trailed off, looking down at the table, and he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “After I lost the man I loved, I never ever thought that there’d be anyone else. It was easy to make promises when it seemed like there was no possibility of sharing my life intimately with anyone again.”

“And now?” he asked.

She raised her eyes to meet his. “And now I know that there’s a chance. That you and I,” she gestured helplessly between them with her free hand, “that we might become, that we, maybe…no, that we are becoming…” She stumbled to a halt.

“It’s okay,” he said gently.

“I want to tell you the truth about me, about where I come from, but I can’t. Not yet. I need to know that you and I are going to work. But I don’t want to lie to you, either. There are things in my history that are…fabricated. Things that this world thinks it knows about me and Jackie and Pete Tyler. But it doesn’t. And I…when you ask me about my past, my childhood, it means that everything I’d have to say to you would be false. And I don’t want to build our future together on a house of lies, John. I care about you too much for that.”

John sat back against the booth, but he didn’t let go of her hand. He searched her face for a long moment. “I can accept that,” he said finally.

“You can?” She tried not to let her surprise show blatantly but failed miserably.

“Of course I can. I want to be with you, Rose. If I haven’t made that clear to you by now then I’ll state it flat out for the record. I care about you more than I should at this stage of our relationship. But it’s not going away and I’m tired of fighting it. I don’t want to. So if this is what you need, to not talk about your past until you’re sure of us, then I’ll wait until you are.” He raised their joint hands to his lips and kissed the backs of her knuckles.

A bright flash blinded them and by the sounds of dishes crashing to the floor, they weren’t the only ones. When Rose was able to see again, she saw the maître d frog-marching a photojournalist out of the restaurant. “In Wales?” Rose huffed. “I’ve not once had trouble with paparazzi in Wales before. Photos of us must really be paying well if they’ve trailed me here.” She sighed and glanced over at John who had a smirk on his face. “What?” she demanded.

“I just think it’s funny that we’re of such interest to them.”

“It strokes your ego, doesn’t it?” she challenged.

“A bit, yeah, but then so does dating such a beautiful young woman.”

She blushed and was about to say more when the maître d came over to their table and apologized profusely, not just for the photographer, but for the fact that the crash they’d heard when the flash had gone off just happened to be their dinners falling to the floor from the grip of the startled waitress. Rose sighed as he made the drinks they’d already had complimentary and said the meal would be on the house.

John was looking upset again and Rose couldn’t blame him. This was supposed to have been their perfect “first” date and so far it had been nothing but a disaster. “I really don’t want to wait another half an hour for them to cook our order again,” she said. “I’m starving and there’s a chippie around the corner. Let’s just go there.”

“But our date!” John protested. “I wanted to take you somewhere nice.”

“Guess it’s just not in the cards,” she said standing up and waiting for him to do the same. He sighed and gave in with resignation. The maître d tried to get Rose to change her mind, but she told him firmly that they’d be back another night. He told her that he’d put a note in the log that their meal was to be free when they did return.

John followed her reluctantly out into the street. “It’s just this way.” She tucked her arm into his and tugged him to get him started.

“I wanted tonight to be perfect.”

Rose shrugged. “I’m with you,” she said leaning her head against his arm for a moment. “That’s enough for me.”

“You really mean that, don’t you?” he asked as they walked along.

“’Course I do. The date’s not ruined,” she said. “At least not for me, it’s not, and I hope it’s not for you, either. I suppose this is what you get, what you have to put up with when you date the Rose Tyler,” Rose said sourly. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he said. He dropped his hand down the length of her arm, moving his thumb along the webbing between her thumb and index finger. “Besides, you’re not the Rose Tyler to me. You’re just Rose. Just…my Rose.”

“Your Rose, hmm? I don’t belong to myself?”

“Oh, very much so, but that doesn’t mean…well, being your own person, it doesn’t mean that you can’t also belong to someone else,” he said.

“And you don’t think that’s a bit presumptuous this early in our relationship?” she asked.

“Is it?” he asked her, stopping. She looked away and he pulled her out of the rush of people and up against a nearby building. “Look at me, Rose.” There was just the faintest hint of command in his voice. Normally she would have found herself bristling at his tone, but for some reason she only found it compelling. He tilted her chin up and she met his eyes. They were brilliant blue and focused only on her, as if she were the most important thing in his universe. Her stomach did a sudden flip flop and a wave of arousal washed over her. She tamped it down sharply. “We keep talking about how early this is for us, but we’re dancing around something that’s happening regardless of how much time we’ve known each other. Is it really that presumptuous of me to think you should be mine?”

“Does that street run both ways, John?” she asked her heart pounding a mile a minute as he moved his hand to stroke her cheek. “If I’m yours, then what about you? Are you mine?”

“I think I’ve been yours since the day I carried you off the battlefield,” he said without any hint of deception. His hand moved down to rest on her shoulder. “I don’t want another woman. I just want you and I don’t see that changing,” he said. “The question is, what do you want, Rose Tyler?”

What did she want? A year ago if someone had asked her that question she would have said without pausing for breath that she wanted the Doctor. She would have said that she wanted to find her way back to the old universe and the life she’d so tragically had cut short with the man she’d loved with all of her heart. She’d have wanted the TARDIS and travel in time and space. She’d have wanted so much more than she ever could have had confined to this one little planet in this one little time, in this one little nation.

But right now, at this moment, there was only one thing that she wanted. Just one thing. And all she had to do was say it, say one little word, and she could have it. Her whole world would change in an instant the minute that word flew out of her mouth. Maybe she wasn’t ready for that to happen. Maybe it was too soon. Maybe it was wrong to rush into it, but as she stared into his sparkling eyes she didn’t care about any of that. She said the word like she was wishing on a star, wishing for all of her dreams to come true, only now they were new dreams, dreams within her grasp. They were dreams worth having in this new life she’d built for herself. “You,” she breathed. “I want you.”

“Then I’m yours.”

She wasn’t sure who initiated the kiss. Maybe they just met somewhere in the middle, but all she was sure of was that his lips were brushing hers and his fingers had tangled in her hair. Her hands fisted in his jacket, pulling him closer to her, like he could never be close enough. A million cameras could have gone off and she’d never have noticed as the soft, rolling wave of desire assaulted her senses. She let out a garbled sound as he perused her mouth as if he had all the time in the world.

When he broke the clinch she blinked up at him somewhat astonished still by how wonderful it felt to be kissed by him. “I could never get tired of that,” she said honestly. A slow, happy smile eased across his features, his eyes crinkling at the corners and shining down at her.

“Nor I,” he said. Her stomach growled and he threw back his head and laughed. “That stomach of yours is forever interrupting our most romantic moments.”

“I’ll be sure to eat directly before the first time we make love,” she teased then threw a hand over her mouth and stared up at him with very big eyes.

“And when might that be?” he asked softly, his eyes very dark.

“I…I don’t know.” She wished the pavement would open up and swallow her whole.

“Guess I’ll just have to be sure to keep you well fed at all times then,” he said.

Rose made a strangled sound. “I can’t believe you said that,” she said.

“It’s nice to know you think it’ll happen,” he said. He enfolded her hand with his and tugged her forward again. “Come on, I can smell the chippie from here.” Forcing her embarrassment away she followed him around the corner and into the little shop.

The rest of the night went well. There was no great catastrophe in the chippie and as they settled into a well worn booth with fish still steaming from the vats and piping hot chips wrapped in plain brown paper as was the way of this universe, Rose smiled happily at John. Despite their rocky start, she had really come to adore him.

“Well, if my childhood is off limits, and you don’t want to talk about your parents or Ro,” she said, covering his hand when he winced at the name of his childhood sweetheart, “I guess that leaves university. You worked for Oxford, right? What made you decide to teach there?” she asked.

“They asked,” he said with a shrug.

Rose gave him a shrewd look. “I’m sure there was more to it than that. Ketchup? Really?” she asked as he poured a liberal blob of the stuff onto the shiny brown paper and dipped a chip in it. She knew that in this universe it was just as valid a choice as her own, but she still always felt it was wrong…or American or something when she saw people using it.

“I like some tomato with my vinegar,” he said eyeing her as she dumped vinegar, salt, and pepper liberally on her own chips. “Tomato is underrated. Full of good things. Lycopene and nearly every vitamin with a letter after it. Plus potassium and magnesium. Lots of goodness and delicious.”

“Better than bananas?” she asked teasingly.

He looked at her like she was committing sacrilege just asking. “Nothing’s better than bananas.”

She smiled. “So, Oxford?” she said.

“Well, they let me continue my research,” he said, “even if it was a bit esoteric even for them. But even back then the existence of aliens was becoming more and more accepted by the mainstream. The fact that an archeologist might have found proof of their existence on this planet from the distant past wasn’t nearly as far-fetched sounding as it would have been even three decades ago.”

“But you taught, too? Tosh was a student, she said.”

“I did.”

“Did you like it? You don’t strike me as the sort who has patience enough to teach,” Rose said.

“I can be very patient,” he said. Rose blushed. How could his inflection on one word make such an innocent phrase sound completely filthy?

“That didn’t answer my question.”

“I liked it well enough,” he explained. “Sometimes I’d get some excellent students, special ones who wanted to really learn and who believed in what I was doing,” he said. “Tosh, for example. They made up for the boneheads.”

“Why’d you leave it then? Why’d you go to work for UNIT?” she asked.

“Got bored eventually and they asked. Well, Tosh asked. She’d ended up there. Her grandmother worked for UNIT. Her mother, too. So when she ended up there a few years after she left me and they needed an expert, well it wasn’t too hard for her to convince them to let me consult,” John said.

“Didn’t you say you have an uncle working there, too?” Rose asked.

“I do. Brigadier General John Benton. I’m named after him. But he had no say in the hiring of scientific staff, really. That was up to their lead scientific advisor, who liked me well enough. I can be very charming when I want to be.”

“So I’ve noticed,” Rose said.

“Didn’t hear you complaining before,” he said sulkily.

“Don’t hear me doing it now, either,” she replied, softly stroking the back of his hand. “Did you like it at UNIT?” she asked.

“Not really. I only stayed as long as I did as a favor to Tosh. It’s too militant. I don’t like guns. We weren’t a good mix,” he said.

“Why don’t you like guns?” she asked curiously.

“I had to kill someone once,” he said honestly, and his voice shook just a little as he said the word someone. “During the Cyberwar. I didn’t have a choice and it about killed me inside. I never want to go through that again.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It was a long time ago.” He paused and looked away. “Why do you like them so much?” he asked hesitantly. “Guns, I mean.”

“I don’t.” He met her eyes challengingly. “Really, I don’t. They’re a necessary evil sometimes. Like the day with that queen. She and her drones would have killed all of us. If I hadn’t had the plasma cannon we wouldn’t be sitting at this table today,” she said. “I wish more of our work could be done with stunners and…and reason, but it doesn’t always work out that way, not when you have a planet to defend.”

“I suppose so. I just don’t have much use for them.” He shook himself and then grinned. “Mind, you look awfully hot carrying that huge thing.”

Rose snorted. “You men are all the same. Give a woman a big gun, drape her over a shiny car, and no matter what your ethics, you get turned on. It’s why Jake drew that poster with me and the plasma cannon. He knew it’d bring in all the randy males.”

“Don’t think it’s just any woman that does it for me, Rose,” he said. “It’s pretty specific to you. And that poster was hot.” She blushed again at the intensity of his gaze.

“You keep looking at me like that and you’re going to get me into bed sooner rather than later,” she admitted.

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“It is if I want to be more than half in love with you,” she said honestly.

“Are you?” he asked.

“Am I what?”

“Half in love with me?”

Rose took a deep breath. “I sort of think I am,” she admitted. The look on his face was priceless. He hadn’t expected her to say it, but the rush of pleasure in his expression made her glad she had.

“You’re daft, you know that?” he said, but his words held no sting as he smiled fondly at her.

“Why’s that then?” she asked.

“Well, look at me,” he said.

“I am. You’re gorgeous.”

“That’s why you’re daft,” he said. “Thinking that.”

“Oh, Miss?” Rose called out.

A girl who was cleaning tables came over. “Yes?”

“What do you think of him, then?”

The girl, who must have been about eighteen, gave John a long, appraising look. “If you’re not doing him, you’re crazy,” she said after a moment. John choked on his soda and the girl gave him a cheeky grin.

“So he’s handsome?”

“I’d do him,” she said. “You single, mate?”

“He’s totally taken,” Rose said reaching for John’s hand possessively.

The girl turned to her with a grin. “Lucky girl. You hold onto that one. Beautiful hands. Nice long fingers, he has.” With a giggle she turned away and went back to her work leaving John gaping after her.

“See, it’s not just me,” Rose said smugly. “If they think you’re on the market, I’d have to fight them off with a stick.”

“But…but I’m—.”

“A bit insecure about your looks, but you know what? You’re wrong. Get over it.”

He laughed then and squeezed her hand. “You know what? I’m half in love with you, too,” he said. “You’re amazing, Rose Tyler.”

She grinned at him, then stood up and said, “Budge up.” When he did she sat down next to him on his side of the booth, wrapping one of his arms around her shoulders and snuggling into him. They finished the rest of their food, content just to be close to each other and Rose felt happier than she had in ages. She had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before being half in love with him would turn to completely. And he was right there beside her falling just as hard.



The waitress winked at them as they left the chippie and Rose immediately wrapped herself a little possessively around him. John still couldn’t help being amazed at the events that had transpired that night. Despite what should have been the world’s worst date, he was on cloud nine. Rose had fallen for him and even though she still wanted to take things slow, and most of the time so did he, she wanted to make love with him eventually. She’d said as much again tonight, and if he thought about it, she’d said it before at the bed and breakfast, that she wanted to be in love with him before she made love with him.

He didn’t know why he still found it so incredible that Rose liked him. Maybe it was because he was very well aware of what a jerk he’d been to her in the beginning. Maybe it was because she was so young and so beautiful and she shouldn’t be interested in an old man like him. Maybe it was because he looked like someone she loved, though she’d made it very clear that she cared about him for who he was and not who he resembled. Tonight she’d come a long way in convincing him that she was in this for the long haul. She hadn’t said it, exactly, not anything so clear as that, but she had said she wanted to build a future with him and it couldn’t be based on lies.

For the first time he let his mind range ahead to what a future with Rose might be like. Waking up with her in the mornings, her hair all sleep tousled and her eyes heavy and hooded when she said good morning. Maybe getting to eat that fabulous French toast of hers for breakfast with a side of passionate kisses pressed up against the fridge. Maybe a shared shower before work or a frantic shag on the bathroom counter because they couldn’t even make it back to the bed. His breath caught and Rose looked up at him.

“You all right?” she asked.

He pushed her into the nearby building, cushioned the hard bricks against her back with his hand, and kissed her for all he was worth. She offered no resistance, opening immediately for him, kissing him as eagerly as he kissed her. One of her hands made it into his hair and the other slipped inside his coat and under the back of his jumper, stroking the small of his back. He couldn’t help grinding into her at her touch there and she gasped a little into his mouth but she didn’t try to break the kiss.

He lost himself in her tongue and teeth, in the way she glided against him and gently took control of the kiss to explore him. His hand snagged its way inside her coat, searching for the soft skin of her side and slipping upwards, his thumb just brushing the underside of her bra. Her hand tightened in his hair and she made a soft little moan.

“Oi, you two. Get a room!” shouted the proprietor of the building they were snogging against.

They broke the kiss, blinking up at each other with unembarrassed passion. “Best idea I’ve heard all night,” John said. Rose looked at him and then smiled. She let him hurry her along to the car park and into his convertible and a few minutes later they were back at the manor. They nearly stumbled up the stairs in their eagerness to be alone again.

Once there Rose hesitated in the doorway that adjoined their rooms, watching him shed his coat and shoes and turn back to her. She’d already put hers away. He offered her his hand. “Come in, Rose,” he said.

“I’m not…you know that I want to be with you, but I’m not…this isn’t…”

“I know,” he said. “That’s clear. There are other things we can do. Come in.” He sat down on his bed and continued to hold his hand out to her. She made her way over to his side and slid her fingers into his. He tugged her until she tumbled against him and neatly turned their bodies so that they lay beside each other on the bed. “I’ve said I’ll wait and I will. You tell me when you’re ready.” She relaxed against him and raised her mouth to his. They didn’t speak again that night for a long, long time.

Ch. 24: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/367083.html