Bad Wolf (Entry One of The Diaries of a Teenage Time Lady)

Confessions

Next to last interlude, everyone! Here's some Nine/Rose fluff, since I know I've wanted it!

Is it sad that I ship them more than Ten/Rose? What the hell, I ship Twelve/Clara, too, so oh well. I'll ship who I like.

Though I am seriously SpaceWolf/Davesa Kasterbel deprived. I need to fix that. Honestly, if I kept my iPad over summer, I would get to "The Day of the Doctor" so much sooner. What I have planned for that episode . . . GAH!

OK, enough of my rant! :P Enjoy!

***

Seeing Anna running around the public library was worth it. Rose giggled as she watched her go from section to section, looking through books left and right. "I'm glad I thought of this," she told the Doctor with a tongue in teeth grin.

"Me, too," he nodded, unable to hold back a smirk as Jack chased Anna through the stacks. "She loves books."

"Harry Potter is a must," Rose grinned.

"She's already through the first four," the Doctor nodded.

"Really?" Rose's eyes widened. "She's a fast reader."

"She's a Time Lady," the Doctor shrugged.

"About what Mickey said, about calling Margaret a thing," Rose began.

"Something was up after you came to the TARDIS," the Doctor interrupted, looking at her, folding his arms. "Either you found Mickey and told him you weren't going with him, or something happened before Margaret got you."

Rose hesitated, then shook her head. "It's not important."

"It ruined your mood enough that Anna noticed," the Doctor pointed out. "She was worried."

Rose hung her head. "Is it that obvious?"

"Could've read you like a book," he held up a magazine and playfully smacked her on the back of her head.

Rose couldn't help but grin. "I see what you did there."

"Tyler," he warned.

Rose sighed. "Where can we go?"

"Jack?" the Doctor called, and the man poked his head out from the stacks a few rows down. "Look after Mara, Rose and I are gonna have a chat." Jack let off a salute before running off again. "Come on," the Doctor took her hand, heading for the stairs. "I know where we can go."

***

"It got to me, when Anna reacted to him calling Margaret a thing," Rose admitted as they sat on the roof. "We'd heard the Slitheen talk before, outside of their suits. They're not things."

"I wasn't a fan of him saying that, either," the Doctor shook his head. "But that wasn't entirely it, was it?"

"No," Rose admitted, looking down at her feet. After a moment, she answered quietly, "Is it bad that I sometimes forget about life back home when I'm traveling with you?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Is that what this is about?"

"According to Mickey, I made him feel like nothing when I ran off with you," Rose lifted her head up again. "I suppose in a way, I can see that, but . . . " She sighed in frustration. "I don't know who the priority is now. Him, or - "

"Me?" the Doctor asked, surprised.

"Anna," she whispered, hanging her head.

"That's what this is about?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow. "He's upset that you're choosing her over him?"

"Back when you took me home, and you left us there, Mickey was bragging about you just heading off without us," Rose answered. "When Anna started crying and when I started assuring her that wasn't the case, he snapped and asked if she got more attention than he and my mum did."

"Oh, did he?" the Doctor asked darkly.

"I slapped him for that," Rose recalled.

"Good for you," he praised.

"He got frustrated again when I abandoned him to run back to the TARDIS after the extrapolator started opening up the Rift," Rose added. "I didn't know if Anna was safe or not, because I hadn't known if you or Margaret were still there. It wasn't Mickey that first came to mind. It was her." She swallowed. "And now that I think really hard about it, it would be that way all the time."

"What would be?" the Doctor asked, though he figured he already knew. It would just benefit if Rose said it, so she said it out loud.

Rose swallowed. "I would think about Anna's safety before Mickey's."

And while he felt slightly sorry for her boyfriend to be degraded slightly, the Doctor smiled when he heard what she said. "Rose, I don't blame you in the slightest," he told her. "Then again, she's my daughter, so I'm a bit biased."

Rose laughed, seeing him grin and chuckle as well. "God, it feels good to finally say it."

"You're practically her mother now," he grinned at her. "Honestly, the way you've looked after her, I'd be shocked if you didn't think about her like that."

"I love her so much," Rose sighed, looking up at the sky. "It's just that I wonder if eventually, I'll think so much about Anna that I won't even consider Mickey, or even Mum."

"No one ever forgets their family," the Doctor shook his head. "I still think about the Regent all the time. I think about what might have happened if they both survived. And sometimes I have nightmares about if Mara had died in the War." He swallowed. "That's the worst," he admitted. "If she had died - "

"Stop," Rose closed her eyes. "Just stop right there."

"Right," he swallowed again.

"OK, so that's our agreement," Rose nodded. "No matter what, Anna comes first."

"Agreed," the Doctor nodded just as firmly.

"Glad we got that settled."

"And Rose?" the Doctor looked up at her.

"Hmm?" she looked at him.

"Thank you, for saying you thought of her first," he said quietly. "You don't know how much that means to me."

"Of course," she smiled, hopping off her seat. "I'm just saying the truth."

The Doctor smiled and hugged her. He never should have worried about Rose leaving when Mickey came back. He had seen how Rose interacted with Anna, how Anna genuinely enjoyed having Rose with her. He'd been telling the truth: Rose really did act like another mother to his daughter. He couldn't bear the thought of her leaving, he realized as he hugged her tighter.

Little did he realize those same thoughts were going through Rose's head as well.

***

And now we get to the two-part finale. Let's just say, I've got a wee bit of a twist. }:)

I hope to finish "Bad Wolf" - the episode ;) - soon!