Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ Dr Who - What If ❯ The Runaway Bride ( Chapter 2 )

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Rose entered the console room, having put all her stuff away in her room. The Doctor was doing his usual thing at the console (whatever that was).

`Er, Doctor?' she said cautiously.

`Hmm?' he said, glancing up at her. She nodded to something behind him.

He turned to see a red headed woman dressed like a ghost, complete with a veil.

'What?'

'Who are you?' the woman demanded.

'But . . .' “if you're real, you can't possibly be here”, he was going to say, but was interrupted.

`Doctor, how did she get in here?' Rose asked.

'Where am I?' asked the mystery woman.

'What?' He was struggling to keep up.

'What the hell is this place?' The woman was getting a bit tetchy now.

'What . . . ? You can't do that . . . I wasn't . . . We're in flight. That is . . . that is physically impossible! How did . . .'

'Tell me where I am. I demand you tell me right now where am I?' she said forcefully.

'Inside the TARDIS,' he told her.

'The what?'

'The TARDIS,' Rose said in a calm, friendly voice.

'The what?'

'The TARDIS!' he said more forcefully

'The what?'

Of course, the woman wouldn't recognise the word TARDIS Rose realised. 'It's called the TARDIS.'

'That's not even a proper word. You're just saying things,' she said angrily.

`It's a sort of spaceship,' Rose tried to explain.

The woman looked around the domed console room.

`Spaceship? It doesn't look anything like a spaceship.'

`Oh, and you've seen a lot of spaceships have you?' he asked sarcastically. 'How did you get in here?'

'Well, obviously, when you two kidnapped me. Who was it? Who's paying you? Is it Nerys? Oh my God, she's finally got me back, this has got Nerys written all over it.'

'Who the hell is Nerys?'

'Your best friend,' she said cryptically.

It suddenly occurred to the Doctor that she was dressed in unconventional attire. 'Hold on, wait a minute . . . what are you dressed like that for?'

`Doctor,' Rose interjected. `Women dress like that when they're . . .'

'I'm going ten pin bowling,' the woman interrupted. `Why do you think, dumbo? I was halfway up the aisle! I've been waiting all my life for this.'

`Getting married,' Rose finished. The Doctor ran back to the console and adjusted some more of the settings.

'I was just seconds away, and then you, I don't know, you drugged me or something!' the woman said accusingly.

'I haven't done anything!' he declared, as he carried on adjusting the console controls.

'I'm having the police on you pair! Me and my husband, as soon as he is my husband, we're going to sue the living backside off you!' She ran down the ramp to go outside to find a telephone to call the police.

He looked up from the console and saw her running for the doors. 'No, wait a minute, wait a minute, don't!' he called to her, but she wasn't listening.

`Wait, don't open the doors,' Rose called, but it was too late. The woman had opened the doors and stopped in stunned silence, looking out over a breathtaking view of the Milky Way galaxy as seen from above the galactic plane.

They wandered down the ramp, the Doctor's hands in his pockets; Rose's in her back pockets and stood either side of her. 'You're in space,' he said.

`Outer space,' Rose added helpfully, just in case there was some other space she was thinking of.

`This is our space . . . ship. It's called the TARDIS.'

'How am I breathing?' the woman asked quietly, obviously in shock.

'The TARDIS is protecting us,' Rose explained.

The woman tried to gather her thoughts. 'Who are you?' Seemed like a good place to start.

'I'm the Doctor, this is Rose . . . You?'

Who was she . . . ? Hang on she knew the answer to that one. 'Donna.'

He looked her up and down. 'Human?'

'Yeah.' Hang on; what kind of question was that? 'Is that optional?'

'Well, it is for me,' he said quietly.

She let that last comment sink in. 'You're aliens.'

'Yeah.'

`Oh my God, I've been abducted by aliens.'

`Hey, I'm not an alien, I'm from Peckham,' said Rose, and then leaned back a little to talk to the Doctor. `We haven't abducted her have we?'

`No!' he said indignantly, `I haven't done anything.'

`It's freezing with these doors open,' she said, trying to bring some normality back to her life.

The Doctor closed the doors quickly and ran up the ramp towards the console. 'I don't understand that and I understand everything. This, this can't happen! There is no way a human being can lock itself onto the TARDIS and transport itself inside. It must be . . .'

He picked up an ophthalmoscope and used it to look into Donna's eyes. '. . . Impossible. Some sort of subatomic connection? Something in the temporal field? Maybe something pulling you into alignment with the Chronon shell. Maybe something macro mining your DNA within the interior matrix. Maybe a genetic . . .'

SLAP!

Rose rushed forward and grabbed Donna's wrist as she slapped his face.

'Oi! Whatcha do that for,' she asked angrily.

'Why d'yer think? I've seen them "Unexplained" programs on the Telly where people get abducted by aliens and have all sorts of experiments done on 'em before bein' impregnated with alien babies.'

'WHAT?!' they said together.

'Well let me tell you sunshine,' Donna said as she pulled her wrist from Rose's grip. 'This bride ain't for impregnatin', so get - me - to - the - church!' she demanded.

Well sod this for a game of tiddlywinks. Why was it that since he'd met Rose, women just wanted to slap him? 'Right! Fine! We don't want you here anyway! Where is this wedding?'

'Saint Mary's, Hayden Road, Chiswick, London, England, Earth, the Solar System,' she said sarcastically.

'Right, Chiswick,' he called out, and ran to the console.

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Sparks flew off the console as the Doctor hit it with a hammer. `Behave!'

`Can you catch up to her?' Rose asked. The TARDIS lurched, making her grab hold of the console.

In the back of a robot driven London black cab, Donna looked on in amazement as the Tardis bounced off the tarmac. `You are kidding me.'

`Rose, open the doors and get ready to catch her. She has to jump out of that taxi,' the Doctor said as he weaved the TARDIS through the traffic.

Rose ran down the ramp and opened the door to see tarmac speeding by at 50 miles an hour. `Open the door!' she shouted to Donna as she held on to the other door.

`Do what?' she called back.

`Open the door!' Rose repeated.

`I can't, it's locked!'

`She says the door's locked,' she shouted up to the Doctor.

The Doctor rummaged in his inside pocket and took out his sonic screwdriver, and adjusted it to unlock doors. `Here, catch.'

She caught the screwdriver and sonicked the taxi door.

Donna managed to pull down the window `Santa's a robot,' she told Rose.

`We know Donna, now open the door.'

Donna looked puzzled. `What for?'

`The Doctor says you've got to jump!'

`I'm not blinking flip jumping. I'm supposed to be getting married!' The conversation ended there as the taxi accelerated away.

`The robot's drivin' off,' Rose reported.

The Doctor had already spotted that on the monitor. `Oh great. Just what we need, a robo scavenger who thinks he's the Stig.'

The Doctor pulled a few levers and twiddled a couple of dials and the console emitted bangs and sparks in protest. He gave it a thump with the mallet, and after bouncing off the roof of a car, he brought the TARDIS along side the taxi once more.

He ran down the ramp and took the sonic screwdriver from Rose, and adjusting the setting, zapped the robot Stig, which clamped its hands onto the steering wheel. It was like activating the cruise control; the robot couldn't deviate from its current speed.

He leaned out of the door and called to the scared bride in the taxi. `Listen to me. You've got to jump.'

`I'm not jumping on a motorway,' she called back. She may have been scared, but she wasn't suicidal.

`Whatever that thing is, it needs you. And whatever it needs you for, it's not good! Now, come on!'

`I'm in my wedding dress!'

`Yes, you look lovely!' he said sarcastically.

`Come on!' Rose encouraged her.

The TARDIS started to drift as the carriageway curved away from them. The Doctor ran back up the ramp to take control and realign the TARDIS. Donna opened the door, and Rose held out her hand for her. She could see some children in a Range Rover ahead shouting “jump!” It was the most exciting thing they'd ever seen on a motorway.

`I can't do it,' said Donna.

`You have to trust us,' Rose pleaded, and then looked over her shoulder at the Doctor who was wrestling with the controls. `You have to trust him.'

`Do you trust him?'

Rose turned back and held Donna's gaze. The look Rose gave her answered her question. `With my life. Now jump!'

Donna launched herself out of the taxi and landed on top of Rose, much to the delight of the children in the Land Rover. The Doctor used the door lever on the console to close the door, and took the TARDIS up into the sky.

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The Doctor, Rose, and Donna entered the Manchester Suite of the hotel, where Slade were belting out Merry Christmas Everybody and all the wedding guests were having a great time. When people noticed they had arrived, everything went quiet.

`You had the reception without me?' Donna asked in disbelief.

A dark skinned man stepped forwards. The Doctor and Rose presumed it was Lance, the groom. `Donna, what happened to you?'

`You had the reception without me?' she asked again, ignoring Lance.

`Hello. I'm the Doctor, this is Rose, my plus one,' he said, trying to diffuse the atmosphere.

Donna turned to the Doctor and Rose, opened mouth. `They had the reception without me.'

`Yes, I gathered,' the Doctor said.

`Well, it was all paid for. Why not?' one of the guests said.

`Thank you, Nerys,' Donna said in an annoyed tone.

A woman, who just had to be the mother of the bride by her attitude, and the way she was dressed, spoke next. `Well, what were we supposed to do? I got your silly little message in the end. I'm on Earth? Very funny. What the hell happened? How did you do it? I mean, what's the trick, because I'd love to know.'

Everyone agreed that they wanted to know how she did it and started talking at once.

`Where were you the whole time?' Lance asked her, in the hubbub of conversation.

Donna burst into tears, and Lance hugged her, which got everyone applauding, except for Nerys. Donna looked up and winked at the Doctor and Rose.

`Oh she's good,' Rose whispered to the Doctor.

`You're telling me.'

The party started up again, and the live act started singing. Lance led Donna onto the dance floor, and other guests followed.

`If they're havin' a party, I'm goin' to put my glad rags on,' Rose said with an enthusiastic smile. `An' don't start without me.' She hurried out of the door, making her way to the TARDIS which was parked in the courtyard outside.

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and wandered over to the bar and leaned back against it, looking at the guests enjoying themselves. Even Donna and Lance were bopping away to the music, and he wondered if he and Rose would ever have a day like this. Not rescuing her from a robo scavenger, having a reception after their wedding.

“Where the hell did that thought come from”, he thought to himself. A few songs later, he glanced over to the door and the vision took his breath away. Rose was standing there in a little black dress, with red high heeled shoes, a red bead necklace and a red clutch bag. She scanned the room and spotted him by the bar and smiled.

`Wow, look at you,' he said as she approached, `you look beautiful.'

`And don't you dare say considerin' I'm human,' she warned him.

`Wouldn't dream of it.'

She looked down at herself uncertainly. `Do I look all right? It's my clubbin' outfit I wear when I go out with Shareen and Keisha.'

`You are the belle of the ball. Miss Tyler, would you care to dance?' he asked as the live act started to sing Love Don't Roam.

`I thought you'd never ask.'

He led her onto the dance floor, and she realised that she still had her clutch bag and looked around to see what she could do with it.

`Here, let me,' he offered, and put the ten inch long bag into his six inch deep jacket pocket with a grin.

Rose laughed and put her hand on his shoulder as he held her around the waist, and off they went. Without speaking, they both knew they were remembering the time in the TARDIS when they had rescued Jack Harkness from his exploding ship.

When the number finished, they applauded and found a table to sit at. `Have you got your phone? I want to check on something.'

`Yeah, it's in my bag.' She could see that something was bothering him. `What's up?'

He rummaged in his pocket as though he couldn't find what he was looking for. `It's just something Donna said, about the company she worked for . . . ah, here we are.' He pulled out the shiny red bag and handed it to her. She took out her phone and handed it to him.

He started the universal browser and typed in “HC Clements”. The search result returned a hit; “HC Clements, sole proprietor - Torchwood”.

`Hmmm, that's interesting . . . there's more to this than meets the eye,' he said with a frown.

`Now why doesn't that surprise me,' she said with a smile.

`If only I knew how Donna got into the TARDIS.'

`The guests said that she just disappeared from the church. Maybe the camera man can show you,' Rose offered.

`Camera man? What camera man?'

`Everyone videos their weddin' these days,' she told him, pointing to a man with a video camera on a tripod.

`Rose Tyler, you are brilliant.'

`Oh, I taped the whole thing,' the camera man told them. `They've all had a look. They said sell it to You've Been Framed. I said, more like the News. Here we are.'

They watched the replay of when Donna turned into gold energy and flew off.

`Can't be. Play it again?' the Doctor said.

`Can't be what?' Rose asked.

`Clever, mind. Good trick, I'll give her that. I was clapping,' the camera man said.

`But that looks like Huon Particles,' said the Doctor.

`What's that then?' Rose and the camera man asked together.

`That's impossible. That's ancient . . . Huon energy doesn't exist anymore, not for billions of years. So old that . . .' A sudden realisation came to the Doctor. `It can't be hidden by a biodamper! Rose, stay here; watch over Donna.'

He ran out of the room, down the hallway to the front door. Two robo scavengers, dressed as Santas were approaching the door. He ran back inside, into the ballroom.

`Donna! Donna, they've found you.'

`But you said I was safe.'

`The bio-damper doesn't work. We've got to get everyone out.'

`My God, it's all my family.'

`Out the back door!' He led Donna out of the ballroom with Rose following close behind. She bumped into them when he closed the doors again.

`Maybe not,' he said as two more robot Santas approached.

They ran back to the ballroom and looked through the French windows. `Two more of them,' Rose said.

`We're trapped,' Donna said

The Doctor watched the robo scavengers, and one of them raised a remote control unit. `Christmas trees,' he said quietly.

`What about them?' Donna asked.

`Oh not again,' Rose groaned, remembering last Christmas at her mum's flat.

`They kill. Get away from the tree!' he shouted.

`Don't touch the trees!' Donna called out.

`Get away from the Christmas trees,' Rose echoed as she and Donna herded the children away from the tall trees.

`Get away from the Christmas trees! Everyone get away from them! Everyone stay away from the trees! Stay away from the trees!' the Doctor shouted as he manhandled the guests away from the trees.

Sylvia had her disbelieving face on, the Doctor could see where Donna got it from now. `Oh, for God's sakes, the man's an idiot. Why? What harm's a Christmas tree going to . . . Oh.'

She was interrupted by the red plastic baubles floating off the trees. Then they started to zoom at the guests and go Bang! when they hit something. Suddenly, the room was in panic, the presents went tumbling, and one man was thrown into the air. Fortunately he had a soft landing when he landed squarely on the wedding cake.

Rose grabbed Donna by the shoulders and unceremoniously pushed her under a table and joined her there. `Typical!' Rose said. `I knew it . . . I just knew it,' she complained.

`Knew what?' Donna asked her as she looked out for the groom.

`Wear a short tight dress with heels, and I have to start runnin' for my life.'

`Nice dress by the way. I wish I had the figure to wear somethin' that chic,' Donna said.

`Oh, thanks. I like your weddin' dress; it looks lovely on you,' Rose responded, thinking that the conversation didn't really reflect the seriousness of the situation.

`Thanks. Just as well really as I'll have to be wearin' it again. So, happens to you a lot does it, runnin' for yer life?'

`Yeah, more often than I'd like if I'm honest.'

`Well, look at me,' Donna said. `I've gotta run in my weddin' dress.'

Rose snorted a laugh. `You've got one up on me there. Never had to run in a weddin' dress . . . well, not a traditional one anyway. There was this skimpy fur number once.'

`I reckon it won't be long though,' Donna said with a smile.

Rose was baffled. `What won't?'

`A weddin' dress. You and skinny Martian boy over there. I saw you on the dance floor. If he held you any tighter, you'd have had to book a room upstairs.'

`He's not . . . we're not . . .' Rose was trying to gather her thoughts and explain that he wasn't a Martian and they weren't that kind of couple. Well, not yet anyway. She wouldn't complain if they were though. Before she could vocalise her thoughts, Donna had grabbed Lance and pulled him under the table.

`Oi! Santa!' they heard the Doctor shout. `Word of advice. If you're attacking a man with a sonic screwdriver, don't let him near the sound system.' He was standing behind the DJ's sound desk, and opposite were six Santa's all lined up in front of the bar.

Rose saw him holding his sonic screwdriver and guessed what was coming next. `Stick yer fingers in yer ears,' she warned Donna and Lance.

She never heard Donna say what for as the Doctor jammed the screwdriver into the deck, and the resulting harmonics shook the robots to pieces.

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`Harvest the humans! Reduce them to meat,' the large spider Empress of the Racnoss said. `My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them. So you might as well unmask, my clever little doctor man,' she said to one of the robots that was climbing the stairs.

`Oh well. Nice try,' the Doctor said, removing the cloak and mask he'd acquired from a robot he'd disabled. He took his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket.

`I've got you two!' he shouted to Rose and Donna, who had been captured by the robots and spun into the web over the pit by the Empress. He pointed the sonic screwdriver at them and activated it. The web started to give way.

`I'm going to fall!' Donna said.

`He won't let us fall. Just hold onto that web strand and don't let go. Trust me,' Rose said.

`You're going to swing!' he called to them, confirming Rose's trust in him. `I've got you!'

Rose had done this before, and gracefully swung across the pit and held her legs out in front of her.

'Spiderman, Spiderman. Does what ever a spider can,' she sang as she cleared the stair rail and dropped into the Doctor's arms. He wrapped his left arm around her waist to steady her as her high heeled shoes landed on the platform.

He held his right arm out to catch Donna, but she disappeared under the platform. He winced as he heard her hit the floor with a clang.

`Oh. Sorry,' he said as he and Rose looked over the railing.

`Thanks-for-nothing,' Donna said angrily.

`You all right?' Rose asked in concern. `I'd better go down and see if she's okay.' She carefully made her way down the stairs, worried in case her stiletto heels stuck in the grating.

`The doctor man amuses me,' the Empress hissed.

The Doctor looked down at her. `Empress of the Racnoss, I give you one last chance. I can find you a planet. I can find you and your children a place in the universe to co-exist. Take that offer and end this now.'

`These men are so funny,' she said in amusement.

`He's serious,' Rose said as she helped Donna up off the floor. `You'd better think about what he said.'

`What's your answer?' the Doctor demanded.

`Oh I'm afraid I have to decline.'

`Oh no, I was afraid she'd say that,' said Rose sadly.

`What happens next is your own doing,' he announced.

`I'll show you what happens next,' the Empress said angrily.

`Why, what happens next?' Donna asked Rose.

`At arms!' The row of robots along the walkway raised their weapons.

`Usually somethin' bad . . . somethin' very bad.'

`Take aim!' The robots pointed their guns at the three of them. Rose and Donna hugged, closing their eyes and waiting for the inevitable.

`And . . .' They tensed up, feeling each other tremble with fear.

`. . . Relax.,' the Doctor finished for her as the robots slumped forwards.

Rose opened her eyes and saw Donna looking at her with one eye. They were alive! She looked up to the Doctor. `What did you do?'

`Guess what I've got?' he said pulling the bronze control unit out of his jacket pocket. `Pockets.'

`How did that fit in there?' Donna asked.

`His pockets are bigger on the inside,' Rose informed her.

`They're bigger on the inside,' he echoed, and then looked miffed that Rose had beaten him to it.

Rose beamed a smile at him. `You still got my bag in one of those?'

`Oh yes. Plenty of room.'

The Empress interrupted their conversation.

`Roboforms are not necessary. My children may feast on Martian flesh.'

`Oh, but I'm not from Mars,' he said in a quiet, cold, emotionless voice that sent a shiver down Rose's spine. She knew what was coming next.

`Then where?'

`My home planet is far away and long since gone . . . but its name lives on . . . Gallifrey.'

The Empress reared up on her eight legs and roared. `They murdered the Racnoss!'

`I warned you. You did this,' he told her in the same cold voice. He took some Christmas tree decorations from another of his bigger-on-the-inside pockets.

`No! No! Don't! No!' the Empress implored, but it was too late. She'd had her chance, and one was all she got.

The Doctor threw the baubles into the air then used the remote to direct them. He used some to blow holes in the tunnel walls, letting the water of the Thames flood in.

The rest of the baubles surrounded the Empress and exploded. Fires broke out, and manhole covers burst under the pressure. Water flooded into the lair and down the hole. They could hear alien screams coming out of the pit.

Rose's eyes filled with tears. They were just children. It wasn't their fault that their mother hadn't listened to the Doctor and taken his offer.

`No!' The Empress wailed. `No! My children! No! My children! My children!'

`Doctor! What have you done?' Rose cried out. She looked up to the platform and saw his face, which made her sob even more. He knew what he'd done. He'd been forced into one of those terrible situations again. A situation where he had to choose between two evils, neither choice being the right one. A situation where it wasn't possible to get it right.

`Doctor!' Donna called quietly. `You can stop now!'

`My children!' the Empress wailed.

The Doctor regained his composure, shutting out the horror of what he had just been forced to do. `Come on. Time I got you two out.'