When he finally started to wake up a few hours later, the first thing he noticed was that his right arm was trapped under something and something else was laying across his middle. Before he could let himself assume the worst, he reluctantly opened one eye and was met with the sight of blonde hair. Oh. His arm was wrapped around Rose’s back and her arm was stretched out across his stomach. Okay. He didn’t remember her joining him, but he was trusting his memory less and less. Instead of tensing and trying to unwind himself, he rested his chin against her head and tried to resume the process of reasoning through everything.
Less than a month ago, he’d been perfectly happy to be just James. It wasn’t a hard life. He had a decent job, he had a pretty good set of mates that included him in trips to the bar or whatever it was that they were up to, even if he was less than attentive or seemed uninterested in whatever it was that they were doing. But he’d opened that letter and knew he had to come to Woodshore, and life had been like an overturned fruit basket since.
Maybe he’d suffered some sort of traumatic brain injury. It would explain the missing memories. It wouldn’t explain the whole mindreading alien thing, but he could learn to come to terms with that. It also wouldn’t explain why he felt so at home with Rose, why he didn’t feel the need to be embarrassed about waking up next to her after they’d only known each other for roughly a week, or why everything with her felt like muscle memory. But if he was willing to come to terms with the mindreading alien thing, he could also come to terms with the familiarity of being with Rose. Those two went hand-in-hand, sort of, especially since he’d seen her memories and seen how she felt about him. Well, The Doctor. Who was allegedly him.
He was no closer to a logical conclusion and was considering going to some sort of neurologist to get himself checked out when he felt her stir. “G’morning,” he whispered, suddenly afraid that speaking too loud would break something. What, he didn’t know.
It took Rose a moment, probably a few, to realize where she was. It wasn’t like her to end up in some man’s bed but here she was, latched onto James like he was the most important man in her universe. And, well, he was. He always would be.
“Mornin’,” she mumbled, opening just one eye. It was then that she realized what she had done. “Oh my god. I’m so sorry,” she said, quickly sitting up and putting her head in her hands. She groaned for a moment before looking back at him. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I shouldn’t even have laid down..” She shook her head, rolling her eyes at herself. “You must think I’m insane. You certainly should anyway.”
