Work Text:
Amy screwed her nose up as she climbed up the stairs of Powell estate. “I’m cold,” she complained loudly, rubbing her hands up and down her bare arms in an attempt to create some warmth. “Can I go back and grab my jumper?”
“I told you ta put one on this mornin Amy!” Rose chastised, following closely behind her with the Doctor. Rose tried her best, but Amy was an extremely stubborn child prone to flights of fancy that ignored all good sense, evidenced by the skirt-sleeveless top combo in mid spring London. The Doctor hadn’t bothered to back Rose up, his only comment being ‘she has to learn somehow’, and so here they were. Surprise surprise. Rose sighed. “Said it was chilly didn’t I? Mum’ll filet me if we’re late again, ‘sides, she’s got some of my old jumpers in boxes, so you can wait.”
“Hmph," Amy took the stairs two at a time, eager to reach the warmth Jackie's flat would provide, mumbling furiously as she went.
“Maybe ya won’t be so stubborn next time!” Rose snapped, sick of the argument. Over the past few months of ‘parenting’ Amy, Rose’s respect for Jackie had grown tenfold, especially considering her mum had no one else to help. It was hard enough with two. Speaking of, the Doctor snickered besides her, their intertwined hands swinging back and forth. “What?” Rose asked. “What's funny?”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Amy's living in close proximity to you, a woman who was so stubborn she ripped open the heart of a TARDIS to return to my side when I explicitly sent you away, and me, the most well known rule flaunter in the galaxy.”
“And?” Rose replied, failing to see his point.
His eyes glimmered with mischief. “Who’s she gonna learn from?”
The realisation hit Rose just as they got to Jackies front door. “Oh my god she’s got no chance," she groaned, knowing the Doctor was right. Amy was doomed to be an absolute menace.
Amy began knocking the moment they stopped, her hand like a blur against the wood. Jackie's footsteps approached, and the door swung open with a bang. “Come in, come in!” Jackie said, hurrying the trio in through the door. “Rose love, go get changed, what are you wearin’ that for? ‘S not nice enough for today, and Doctor, put up those streamers, I was waitin’ for ya ‘cos you’re taller than me an—”
Jackie continued her ramble, bustling around the room, completely ignorant of the confusion of her guests. Rose blinked. “Errr, and what exactly ‘m I gettin’ changed for?”
Jackie stopped and stared at Rose as if she’d grown an extra head. “For your birthday party of course! Did you forget? ‘S April 27 innit?”
Rose was just about to reply, when someone else knocked on the door, interrupting their conversation. Jackie cursed. “Nearly three! Move your skinny arse Doctor!”
The Doctor set about stringing up a row of pink and yellow streamers, more out of shock than anything else.
How could he have forgotten such an important date?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By four thirty, the party was in full swing and Rose was really enjoying herself. She’d spent most of the time so far just wandering around and talking to everyone, sharing edited versions of their adventures, reminiscing over old memories and most of all explaining the existence of Amy.
The poor thing had been snapped up by some of Rose's friends to coo over at the beginning of the party and Rose hadn’t seen her since. Oh well. Shareen and Keisha didn’t bite, and Amy didn’t seem to mind being fussed over, although she did seem a tad bit bored last time Rose had checked.
The Doctor however, was a different story.
While he had spent some time talking to Martha in the beginning, she’d ended up abandoning him to help Jackie with the food, and so the Doctor had quickly taken up a drink and retreated to a corner of the party, trying not to be seen. He looked quite like a child whose mother had run into one of her friends at a grocery store, pout and all, and Rose was finding it rather difficult not to feel at least a little bit sorry for him. She picked up two cupcakes as a peace offering (with edible ball bearings to boot) and approached him like one might approach a wounded animal.
The Doctor jumped a little as Rose plonked herself down next to him on the couch, but relaxed when she shoved the cupcake into his hands. “Enjoying the party?” She teased, peeling her own cupcakes wrapper back before taking a delicate bite, careful not to smear her makeup.
The Doctor took no such precautions, and instead shoved half of the cupcake into his mouth immediately. “‘S goofd,” he mumbled around a mouth full of baked goodness. “Lovfley. Spflendid.”
He was lying through his teeth (and an excessive amount of cupcake). Rose raised one eyebrow.
“You want to leave.”
He swallowed, sensing the game was up. “Oh absolutely,” he patted her on the shoulder awkwardly, his other hand holding the tattered remnants of his sweet treat. “But nevermind that, look at you! All pink and yellow and having fun!”
It was true, she was rather more pink and yellow than usual. At Jackie's urging, Rose had gone and gotten herself dressed up, unearthing the pink dress from their encounter with the wire from somewhere deep within the TARDIS, matching it with a nice yellow jacket the old girl provided.
“I am, but you aren’t,” she grinned at him, her tongue poking out between her teeth. “Having fun I mean. You don’t do domestics, and there's nothing more domestic than a birthday party.”
He sat up a little straighter as if trying to prove a point. “I can Rose, and I’m telling you, I’m perfectly fine—”
“Go Doctor,” Rose laughed, bumping her shoulder against his. “Amy’s bored as all hell and I can feel you itchin’ from everywhere in the room.”
“I—”
“‘S actually pretty sweet you stayed this long, but seriously,” Rose grinned, anything but serious. “‘M gonna strangle you if you keep hopping about in the corner. Just make sure you’re back by nine, ‘kay?”
A relieved grin made its way onto the Doctor's face. She really did know him ridiculously well. “Only if you’re sure. I’ll be back by nine, I promise.”
He stood to leave, but Rose grabbed his hand before he could move away. “Dodge my mum on the way out, she’ll be livid you’re takin’ Ames, but it’s worth the risk. You’re her hero, she’ll love ta spend some one on one time with you.”
At Rose's words, the Doctor's stomach twisted. He shouldn’t be anyone's hero, let alone Amy’s. She was too innocent. He ignored his nearly overwhelming guilt, and forced a smile back onto his face. “Of course, we’ll find something to do.”
Rose smiled gratefully, and stood as well, pulling him into a hug before descending back into the fray.
With that sorted, the Doctor set about locating Amy.
He found her trapped in a group of Roses childhood friends, and when her frantic eyes locked onto his, she mouthed help me. He’d have thought it a little overdramatic, but then again, he’d been subjected to Keisha’s interrogations before. Time for a rescue.
“Scuse me, coming through, sorry, we’ve got to run!” The Doctor said cheerfully, lifting her from the circle with ease. “Things to do, places to be that aren't here, you know how it is!”
He hefted Amy onto his hip, noting how she immediately seemed to relax when with him, her arms winding around his neck. Keisha pouted, and another of the girls, maybe Mickey’s flame Tricia, let out a little ‘hmph!’.
“Oh but Doctor,” Shareen sighed, the pitch of her voice high enough to drive any dog within fifty miles mad. “She’s such a little darling! Can’t we have her for five more minutes?”
“She’s been saying that for an hour,” Amy hissed into his ear. “I’ve been trying to get away for ages.”
The Doctor plastered on a fake smile. “Sorry all, I’m sure she’d love to stay, but Amy’s got something else on today. Maybe next time?”
Practically ignoring the resulting disappointment, the Doctor and Amy exited the flat as quickly as possible with only one quick detour to grab a cupcake for a very hangry Amy. They carefully avoided Jackie, the Doctor not eager to be slapped into his twelfth regeneration without a decent cause, and made it to the door with no incidents.
Once safely outside, the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief, and put Amy down. “Whew, okay, mission accomplished but by Rassilion are you heavy Amy,” he groaned, his sore back only just catching on to the fact he’d been holding a nine year old for the past five minutes.
Amy scowled. “Rude.”
He just waggled his eyebrows as they took off walking towards the TARDIS. “And not ginger, you’ve got me there, but that doesn’t sound like a thank you?”
“What for?”
“Liberating you from the tyrannical regime of Rose's dastardly friends!” The Doctor replied dramatically, putting a hand to his brow. “And pilfering you a cupcake!”
“Hmm,” Amy swiped the icing off the top of the cupcake with her tongue. “‘Fank you.”
“Now, onto the more important question, what do you want to do while we’ve got the TARDIS to ourselves?” The Doctor asked with his most serious voice. “We could go anywhere you know, anywhen, anyhow any—”
“Could we throw Rose a birthday party?” Amy asked, taking a huge bite out of the cupcake. “A better one at home?”
They’d nearly reached the TARDIS now, and the Doctor's mind began to turn over the possibilities. A slow smile crossed his face. “We very well could… what exactly are you thinking Pond?”
They went inside, and the TARDIS hummed, pleased to have two thirds of her travellers home. Amy binned the cupcake wrapper and wiped her mouth, before pacing around the room. “We could get some presents for her, bake a proper cake, go somewhere cool and maybe get her some flowers!”
“Ooooh I like your thinking!” The Doctor replied. “We could bake this afternoon?”
“Yes!” Amy cheered, pumping her fists about in a little victory dance. She stopped suddenly, frozen, and declared in a very serious voice, “Shareen is not invited.”
The Doctor grinned. “She most certainly is not.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They went to Hyspero for supplies, a futuristic planet that boasted of the largest grocery store in the known universe, some seventy thousand square meters. In Amy's opinion, it seemed more like galactic Costco than anything else.
The Doctor held tightly to her hand, and for once Amy didn’t argue. She didn’t want to get lost here, especially without Rose to help look for her. If Amy were to be honest, she wasn’t entirely confident that the Doctor wouldn’t forget entirely about her and accidentally leave her behind again.
Finally, after walking miles and miles (about five hundred meters), they came to the birthday party section.
“How old’s Rose turning?” Amy asked, picking up a set of candles that read ‘happy one hundred and fourth birthday!’ on them. She put them back with a frown. Rose wasn’t nearly wrinkly enough for that, although as Amy gazed up at the other candles she considered that sixty may not be out of the question…
The Doctor waved a hand in her general direction, tossing a third bag of sprinkles into the basket. “Oh, that doesn’t matter! She’s aboard the TARDIS, it technically isn’t even actually her birthday, we missed that by a couple of months.”
“How’d you know that?”
“I keep an eye on her scans,” he looked away. “Ahem. Ooooh look, strawberry flavoured icing, she’ll love that! What flavour cake should we have to go with it?”
Amy knew a distraction when she saw one, but blimey was it good. The Doctor was liable to ruin the whole cake if he wasn’t carefully watched, and if he managed to choose the wrong flavour, Rose's whole birthday might be ruined!
“It should be buttercream!” Amy said petulantly, but the Doctor only raised an eyebrow.
“Are you sure?” He waggled his eyebrows, and Amy knew exactly what he was about to suggest.
“Not banana!” She sing-songed, cutting him off and plonking the buttercream cake mix into their basket. The Doctor pouted, but thankfully didn’t push his banana flavoured agenda any further.
With the cake mix secured, along with sprinkles, eggs, milk and icing, Amy and the Doctor paid and returned to the TARDIS.
Once inside, Amy made a beeline for the galley, her arms laden with the shopping bags she’d insisted on carrying by herself. “We’ve gotta hurry, ‘cos we’ve gotta go back for Rose soon!”
The Doctor didn’t bother reminding her that they lived in a time machine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After preheating the oven and mixing the dry ingredients, it was time to add in the wet ones. The Doctor squinted at the packaging like an old man without his glasses, and read it aloud.
“Okay… says here, one egg, whites and yolks. Do you need help cracking it?”
“No, I can do it by myself!” Amy replied with more confidence than she felt. She cracked the egg on the edge of the bench, tongue sticking out between her teeth in concentration. An itchy sneeze was beginning to build in her sinuses, but Amy paid it no mind, too busy trying not to get shell in the batter.
After what felt like eons, the egg plopped into the dry mix with no drama. Amy breathed a sigh of relief, but found that only exacerbated her need to sneeze.
Bother.
The Doctor, heedless of her troubles, got up from the bench to grab the milk from across the room, rambling as he did, but Amy as usual tuned him out.
Was she supposed to cough into her elbow or her hand? She’d heard conflicting reports, her teachers usually said to cough into her elbow, but the Doctor just looked at her strange when she’d asked, and Mels—
Amy spent a fraction of a second too long thinking about it, and before she could decide whether to use her hand or arm to block it, Amy sneezed directly into the batter.
Whoops.
She looked up quickly to assess whether or not the Doctor had seen, but he was still rabbiting on about the benefits of pasteurization.
“-and in your time, some humans think unpasteurized milk is beneficial, can you believe that? All those nasty parasites swirling around—”
Amy was pretty certain she knew what parasites were, after all she was rather smart for a nine year old, and had read a great deal of fancy books aboard the TARDIS. They were reaaaalllllyyy small, but if you caught them they’d give you things like the common cold.
And they could be transferred via coughing. Hmm. Amy looked up at the Doctor. “Do we need to worry about parasites on the TARDIS?” She asked.
He smiled indulgently down at her as if she’d asked a particularly smart question. “Nah, the TARDIS would let me know if you came home with one of those nasty things inside of you. You’re all clean Pond.”
Amy let out a sigh of relief. Her sneeze was of no importance, as clearly, it was parasite free. The TARDIS buzzed in the back of her brain, but Amy ignored her. The Doctor was always right about things like this.
The two of them finished mixing the cake, dyed it pink, and put it into a cake tin, before setting the timer. The Doctor left Amy to watch over it as he piloted the TARDIS to a well known garden planet to pick up a huge bouquet of sunflowers for Rose, and when he returned, the oven dinged, letting them know it was done.
Amy insisted on being the one to get the cake out, and after she’d tipped it from the pan they left it to cool.
The next stop was Earth, circa three thousand and forty five to shop for gifts. Amy held on tightly to the Doctor's hand, eager to hurry this along so they could go back for Rose as soon as possible.
“Right Pond, what are you thinking?”
Amy considered her options.
Rose often wore pretty zip up jackets, favouring a soft pink one she said she’d had since before the Doctor. Unfortunately, she’d had to retire it after it got torn nearly in half while they were running for their lives on an alien planet, and she’d seemed quite sad.
“I think I’ll try to find her a pink jumper, like the one she used to have. Good?”
“I like your thinking,” the Doctor replied, already taking off into the store with lengthy strides.
It appeared that the month they’d landed was somewhere between October and early January, as there was a ridiculous amount of Christmas merchandise within the large department store. After Amy had found a lovely soft jumper for Rose and picked up a pair of hoop earrings, she found herself perusing the Christmas tree ornament aisle while the Doctor faffed around trying to find his present.
She walked up and down the aisle, initially drawn to the bright and sparkly ornaments, but when their novelty wore off Amy found herself at the end of the aisle near the ceramics. Her hand brushed over them making a nice tingling sound, but when her fingers unintentionally closed around a trinket on the rack, she took a closer look at it.
Oh yes Rose was going to love this
Seconds later, the Doctor appeared behind her holding the most monstrously fluffy pink blanket Amy had ever seen. “Ready to go Pond?”
Amy nodded, and held up the Christmas bauble. “Will Rose like this?”
His expression softened. “She’ll love it.”
They paid for the gifts and upon return to the TARDIS, Amy was given free reign to decorate while the Doctor wrapped Rose’s gifts.
It was a liiiiitttttllleeeee bit of a trainwreck, although to be fair it wasn’t entirely her fault.
Ignoring the packaging instructions with a disparaging wave of his hand, the Doctor estimated how much milk to mix into the icing, all the while professing his excellency in the realm of baking.
Poorly. He estimated poorly.
The resulting icing was so runny that Amy wasn’t sure it even counted as icing anymore, and the problem just worsened when they added the food colouring.
Amy tried to ask the Doctor about it, but he just assured her that the icing was meant to look like that. She wasn’t so sure, but left it alone.
Amy had the idea to paint sunflowers on the side of the cake, Rose’s favourite flower, to match the bouquet the Doctor had secured, and so set about mixing up yellow and green and brown and pink.
It was going to be perfect.
Unfortunately her artistic vision was quashed by the harsh realities of their sub par icing. In the end, the cake was a mess of congealed maybe-once-yellow-but-now–it-was-definitley-some-sick-shade-of-purple icing, and there was nary a sunflower to be seen on its surface. Ah well, not everything could be perfect like her gifts could it? And besides, she was sure the cake would taste good!
After placing the candle precariously atop the cake, Amy pursed her lips. “Could we tell Rose you decorated it?”
The Doctor sniffed, offended. “She’d never believe you, I’m an excellent artist!”
“If your art‘s anything like your icing making—”
“Point taken.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the cake was done, and the gifts were wrapped, it was time for the most important part of the plan: picking up Rose.
After the Doctor set the date and time carefully, he danced about the console room tapping out an irregular beat with his hands across buttons as he did, before sending the TARDIS whirling about the vortex.
The landing was more violent than usual, and Amy was glad she’d thought to hold onto the jump seat. Perhaps she wasn’t the only person eager to have Rose back as soon as possible.
The Doctor was barely affected by the rough landing, riding the rolling motions like an experienced sailor, and when the TARDIS stopped juttering he immediately strode to the double doors and flung them open wide.
Amy decided to stay on board, so nervous about their surprise that she didn’t think she’d be able to keep from spilling it the moment she saw Rose. She instead elected to walk to the library where they’d set up the presents and cake to keep watch while she waited for her parents return.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Doctor and Rose walked hand in hand back to the TARDIS, a comfortable silence between them. She was quite weary from the day, but not in a bad way. It felt like a weighted blanket on her chest, heavy, but all the same rather nice.
She was really looking forward to bed though.
Just as they reached the TARDIS, the Doctor spoke for the first time since they’d left Jackie's flat. “Amy’s got a surprise for you.”
“What exactly does a ‘surprise’ entail?” Rose asked, a slight frown on her face, but instead of giving her a proper answer, the Doctor lifted up his free hand and made a lip zipping motion.
Sigh. She just hoped the surprise didn’t involve live animals again, like their last trip to Barcelona.
Blimey that was a trip and a half, between losing Amy for a solid two hours, being roped into judging a noseless dog competition and finally finding Amy with an earlier incarnation of the Doctor, Rose had had enough. At least though, they’d gotten explaining regeneration out of the way early this time and she wouldn’t be too shaken if, or rather, when the Doctor faced the consequences of consistently putting himself into mortal danger.
As soon as they stepped aboard, the TARDIS hummed warmly in the back of Rose's mind, fussing like someone's nosy great aunt. She sent a mental caress back, before being led towards the library by the Doctor.
In the library, she found one of the most thoughtful surprises she’d ever experienced.
On the table in front of the couch sat a small pile of presents, all wrapped in pink and yellow paper, a bouquet of huge sunflowers in a vase next to them. Besides that was what Rose thought might be a cake, although it was pretty beat up, and Amy stood behind the table, nervously chewing her lip. Her head snapped up the moment Rose walked through the door, and a smile spread across her face.
“Happy birthday!” She pulled Rose into a hug, wrapping her arms around her as far as they would go. After a moment, the Doctor joined her, holding them from behind.
When Amy pulled back from the hug after a minute, she looked up at Rose. “Good surprise?” She asked nervously.
“The very best,” Rose reassured her, before sitting on the couch. “Right, ‘s there any particular way you want to do this?”
Amy nodded her head, and plonked herself down next to Rose. “Yep! Cake then presents, then a trip we planned!”
Rose went to reply, but a huge yawn ripped its way out of her mouth, interrupting her. The Doctor sat down on her other side, speaking for her. “I reckon we can do the first two tonight, but we’ll let Rose sleep before we go to the caves tomorrow, kay?”
Amy looked a tad bit put out, but two out of three things was better than nothing. “Kay!”
Rose opened their presents with joy, immediately donning the silver hoops and pink jumper, and squealing over the fluffy blanket. She reached the last one and Amy held her breath.
Ripping the wrapping paper away, Rose found a small ceramic ornament depicting a family of three that resembled them perfectly. The man had floppy brown hair. The woman had a blonde bob. The little girl wore orange braids. Rose ran her thumb over the little ceramic girl's face gently, a smile on her own. Amy swallowed nervously. “Do you like it?”
“I love it precious girl,” Rose murmured, hugging Amy again. “I recall you mentioned something about a cake?”
The Doctor waggled his eyebrows. “Sure did!”
The candles lit themselves, and the two most important people in Rose's life sang happy birthday to her before she blew them out. She cut the cake, ignoring Amy’s teasing about if it hit the bottom or not, and handed out slices to them both. Just as she was about to take a bite of her own, the TARDIS buzzed violently in the back of her head.
Rose put the cake down, intending to ask the Doctor about what on earth his time ship was trying to say, but Amy interrupted her train of thought. “Don’t you like it?” She whimpered, looking every bit a kicked puppy.
Ignoring the TARDIS’s screech, Rose took a bite of the cake and hummed pleasantly. “I love it!”
The cake really was good despite its rather unfortunate appearance, and Rose's praise seemed to mollify Amy, who tucked into her own piece with gusto.
After another two pieces of cake, a second massive yawn came from Rose and the Doctor decreed it bedtime for the sleepy humans. Amy, like most nights, protested this violently, but the Doctor was immovable.
Rose fell asleep beneath her new pink blanket, wondering what adventures the two of them could have dreamed up for the morning, eager to find out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, or as close to morning as was possible aboard the TARIDS, the Doctor bounced down the hallway to Roses room, whistling a merry tune.
He flicked on the light cheerily, hoping to wake Rose as fast as possible without getting an alarm clock thrown at his head. “Goooooood morning Rose, are you ready to explore the underground forest of— Oh.”
The Doctor’s query was met with a rather wet cough from Rose. She hacked for about ten seconds, and then wiped her sleeve across her nose, bundled up in the pink blanket he’d bought her. “‘M sorry Doctor, I know you’ve got plans, but could we just stay aboard the TARDIS today? My throat ‘s sore, an’ Amy’s not doin’ so well either.”
Amy’s head popped out from beneath the duvet, her eyes bright red and weepy. “My head huuuuuuurts, feels like I caught my death of a cold,” she whined, her lip sticking out like a sofa cushion as she quoted the book he’d just finished reading to her, Pride and Prejudice.
Pride and Prejudice… The Doctor was struck with an idea. He crossed the room to the bed, and squatted so he was at eye level with Rose. “Right, new plan, does involve a little bit of moving but I promise you it’ll pay off?”
Rose groaned and flung her arm across her eyes. “Don’t want to. Nice an’ comfy here.”
“I could carry you?”
The words slipped unbidden from his mouth, but there was nothing to be done. They were out there now, and he could only wait for her response.
“Kay.”
After an awkward moment of silence, the Doctor kicked himself mentally. “Righteo, ahem. Can you lift your arms?” Rose complied sleepily, and he slid his hands around underneath her to support her back.
Amy had already gotten out of the bed, her blanket wrapped around her like a queen's regal cape. “Where are we going?”
The Doctor lifted Rose into a cradle carry, refusing to acknowledge its other name. Rose snuggled into his chest, still half asleep, mumbling some nonsense or other as they exited her room.
“Media room, we’re going to watch a film.”
“A good one?” Amy pestered, blinking up at him with bloodshot eyes. The Doctor waggled his eyebrows.
“The very best. Buckle up Pond!”
The TARDIS must have felt sorry for her inhabitants, because when Amy opened the door that usually led to the galley, the media room lay before them with a singular couch before the screen.
The Doctor gently laid Rose on the couch, but as he tried to stand and retrieve the remote, her grip on his arm tightened. “No, stay, ‘m cold.” She complained, and how could the Doctor refuse her anything sick as she was?
He settled into the couch, and was strangely gratified when Rose snuggled into his side instantaneously, an indecipherable content sound coming from her mouth, although her position did pose a slight problem in getting the movie started. “Amy, could you grab the remote please?”
Amy retrieved the remote without her usual complaints, and then clambered onto the Doctors lap like a sleepy kitten, complete with a comically huge yawn.
“What’re we watching Doctor?” Rose asked, a little more awake than before.
“Pride and prejudice, the 2005 remake.” he replied, not looking up even as the movie began to play. Rose hummed sleepily, and burrowed into his side a little more.
“Mm. Sounds nice.”
As she floated in and out of sleep to the comfort of their little not quite family, Rose reflected that this was quite possibly one of the best birthdays she’d ever had.