Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ Rose and Ten The Inbetweens and backstories ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

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48 Bucknall House.

Powell Estate, Peckham.

Christmas afternoon.

The Doctor returned from the TARDIS, dressed in a brown pinstriped suit and long brown coat. “God, he looks hot”, Rose thought to herself, giving him a big smile. Was this man really her Doctor, the man who used to have big ears and a daft grin? She couldn't help thinking that she'd seen him in that outfit before. But she couldn't have, because before today, he had worn the leather jacket, black jumper and trousers, and then pyjamas and a dressing gown.

`Here, that's for you,' Jackie said, handing him a parcel wrapped in Christmas paper. `Not that you deserved it when you were all big ears and a moody git.' She was still trying to get her head around the fact that he was supposed to be the same man.

`Mum!' Rose said, in an `I can't believe you just said that' tone of voice.

`Well he was . . . all northern an' sullen.'

The Doctor gave a single laugh, because he couldn't really disagree. `Thank you Jackie, I'm afraid I didn't get you anything though, sorry.'

She smiled at him. `Oh yes you did.' She nodded at Rose behind him. He'd given her the best Christmas present ever, her daughter. For months, after Rose had opened the TARDIS console and disappeared, she hadn't know if she was alive or dead.

He unwrapped the present, to find a bottle of . . . vinegar?

`Er, thank you Jackie,' he said uncertainly. He'd never received a bottle of vinegar as a present before.

`Well, I thought, you can put it on yer chips that I know you're fond of, and you can use it on them Slitherin' things if ya ever meet `em again,' she told him.

`Slitheen,' Rose corrected.

`Yeah, them an' all.'

The Doctor beamed a smile at her and pulled her into a hug. `That's brilliant! Two presents in one . . . brilliant. Thank you.'

`An' this is for you sweetheart.' Jackie handed her a box wrapped in red paper. `I didn't know if you'd be home for Christmas,' she said with a tear in her eye.

Rose gave her a warm smile and pulled her into a hug. `Thanks Mum . . . for everythin'. An' this is for you,' Rose said, handing her a pyramid shaped parcel.

They exchanged gifts with Mickey as well, and after opening them, they sat down to eat at the dining table, enjoying a remarkably well cooked Christmas lunch. They pulled crackers, read terrible jokes, and put on paper hats. Rose couldn't stop looking at this man who was now the Doctor . . . her Doctor.

This man was supposed to be her big eared, daft faced Doctor, and he was . . . but at the same time, he wasn't. (Trust him to do something like this) This “him” seemed to be somehow more comfortable in his skin, less haunted by his past. The old “him” certainly wouldn't sit down with a family and enjoy Christmas, he wouldn't even have a shepherd's pie.

He saw Rose looking at him and smiled warmly, waggling his eyebrows cheekily. He had surprised himself by agreeing to stay and have lunch, and even more surprised that he was actually enjoying it, although he was sure that Rose being there had a lot to do with that.

Jackie had also noticed that this “him” was more relaxed and amenable, the other miserable git would never have stayed for Christmas, he'd have been off, taking Rose with him, and leaving her on her own for Christmas.

`Hey, Doctor, there's something I've been wonderin',' Mickey said, as he tucked into his turkey dinner. `What happened to Captain Face, y'know, Jumpin' Jack Flash?'

`Who?' Jackie said.

`Oh yeah,' Rose said. `You said he was busy rebuilding the Earth.'

The Doctor stopped eating, and stared ahead for a moment, his expression slightly sad. `Jack's timeline took a different path to ours on the Game Station.'

`Jumpin' Jack Flash?' Jackie said.

`Will we ever see him again?' Rose asked hopefully.

The Doctor was remembering how he had felt Jack come back to life, and how wrong it felt. His whole existence was an offence to time itself, and he felt it like nausea or heartburn. He was brought back to the present by Rose's question and smiled at her. `Knowing Jack, you can bet on it.'

`Who the bloody `ell is Jack?' Jackie asked forcefully.

`Oh Mum, you'd have loved `im. Captain Jack Harkness, he was an outrageous flirt.' They proceeded to tell Jackie and Mickey about the gas mask people in World War II, and the Chula ship that crashed.

They had the TV on in the background, watching various Christmas themed programs. Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, was on the news, with reporters hounding her about health scares, when the phone rang.

`It's Beth,' Jackie told them. `She says go and look outside.'

`Why?' Rose asked.

`I don't know,' she said, rolling her eyes, `just go outside and look. Come on, shift!'

They put on their coats, and filed out of the door and down to the courtyard.

`Oh, it's beautiful. What are they, meteors?' Rose said. It was a proper Christmas evening, with snow falling and shooting stars in the sky.

The Doctor looked up with a sad expression. `It's the spaceship breaking up in the atmosphere. This isn't snow, its ash.'

`Okay, not so beautiful,' Rose said.

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets. `This is a brand new planet Earth. No denying the existence of aliens now, everyone saw it, everything's new.'

Rose hesitated, looking at her hands `And what about you? What are you going to do next?'

`Well . . .' he started, looking at the TARDIS and back to her. `Back to the TARDIS. Same old life.'

Rose had to stop herself from nervously biting her nails. `On your own?'

`Why, don't you want to come?' he asked quickly.

`Well, yeah,' she said eagerly.

`Do you, though?' He remembered her reaction to his regeneration.

`Yeah!' she shot back, she SO wanted to be back in the TARDIS with . . . well, him.

`I just thought . . . because I'd changed.'

`Yeah, I thought, `cos you'd changed . . . you might not want me anymore,' she said, frowning.

He gave her a big, open mouthed smile. `Oh, I'd love you to come.'

`Okay,' she said, and they just stood there, grinning at each other like idiots.

A sad, resigned voice behind her broke the spell. `You're never going to stay, are you?' Mickey said.

Both Rose and the Doctor looked at him. `There's just so much out there,' she told him. `So much to see . . . I've got to.'

He understood that, he really did. `Yeah,' he said with a smile.

`Well, I reckon you're mad,' Jackie told them with her arms crossed. `The pair of you . . . It's like you go looking for trouble.'

The Doctor skipped over to her and put his arm around her shoulders, looking up to the sky. `Trouble's just the bits in-between. It's all waiting out there, Jackie . . . and it's brand new to me. All those planets, and creatures . . . and horizons. I haven't seen them yet . . . ! Not with these eyes.' He walked back over to Rose. `And it is going to be . . . fantastic.'

He grinned at Rose and held out his hand for her.

`That hand of yours still gives me the creeps,' she said with a laugh. He wiggled his fingers, and hesitantly, she took hold of it. As soon as she held his hand, all doubt and hesitation vanished as she felt the familiar tingle up her spine. As long as she had his hand to hold, everything would be all right.

She snuggled up to him and hugged his arm. `So, where're we going to go first?'

He looked up, deciding on a destination. `Er . . .' He pointed at the bright star cluster NGC 5897 in the constellation of Libra. `That way,' he announced, and then changed his mind. `No, hold on.' He pointed to the constellation of Virgo, and the super giant elliptical galaxy of M87. `That way.'

Rose pointed hesitantly in the same direction. `That way?' she asked.

`Hmm?' he queried, he wanted her approval.

`Yeah, that way,' she agreed, and they grinned at each other again.

`Well, you two star gazers ain't goin' anywhere,' Jackie told them.

They both took their eyes from the celestial light show, and frowned at her.

`And why not?' Rose asked haughtily.

`Cos there's Christmas puddin' and mince pies to be eaten yet,' she said with a smirk.

`Brandy sauce?' the Doctor asked with a smile.

`Of course!' Jackie said.

The Doctor looked at Rose and winked. `We ain't goin' anywhere yet,' he said, imitating Jackie's accent.

And so, they all headed back to the flat to enjoy the rest of their Christmas together. Everyone pitched in to help Jackie with the washing up, before sitting in front of the TV to watch the Christmas specials and chat about life, the universe (that was the Doctor's topic), and everything.

Jackie told them about the months when she was alone, not knowing if they were alive or dead. They both looked suitably sorry and embarrassed for putting her through that torment, and the new “him” vowed that he would keep reminding Rose to call or text her to let her know she was all right.

Mickey remained unsurprisingly quiet on that subject.

`Why don't you stay tonight, and then you can make a fresh start in the mornin'?' Jackie said as she realised that it was late.

`Watcha think?' Rose asked the Doctor.

He rubbed the back of his neck (a mannerism Rose would come to adore), and shrugged his shoulders. `Fine by me,' he said with a smile.

`That's settled then,' Jackie said. `Doctor, you can have the spare room again. You must like the bed in there, you spent most of Christmas mornin' in it,' she said with a smirk.

The Doctor chuckled at her sarcasm. `I'm fine Jackie; I'll just sit and catch up with all the news on TV.'

Rose saw the concerned look on her mother's face. `It's all right Mum, he doesn't need as much sleep as we do.'

And then the Doctor realised he could give Jackie a Christmas present after all. `Ooh, Jackie, how many channels have you got on your TV?'

`I don't know . . . all the free ones.'

He took his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and held it up, grinning and waggling his eyebrows (another mannerism Rose would adore). `How would you like all of them?'

`Wha? You can do that?' she said open mouthed.

`Merry Christmas Jackie Tyler.'

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48 Bucknall House.

Powell Estate, Peckham.

Boxing Day morning.

Mickey had been invited around for a breakfast fry up and the big send off, when Rose and the Doctor would leave. They were sat at the dining table, eating, whilst Jackie went to make a pot of tea.

`Who's been at the jam?' she called through the serving hatch. `There's sticky fingerprints over the label.'

The Doctor cleared his throat and seemed to be focussing on something interesting on his plate as he ate.

`Did I hear the door go in the middle of the night?' Rose asked, brushing over her mother's investigation into the jam thief.

`Yes, that was me, I moved the TARDIS away from the bins, and over to the playground. Didn't want it getting cluttered up with post Christmas cardboard boxes and rubbish now, did I?'

`Oh yeah, good idea.'

`So, are you all packed then?' Jackie said to her daughter as she brought the tea in.

`Yeah. I've got quite a bit of stuff in my room on the TARDIS already,' Rose told her.

`Oh, you've got a room?' Jackie said. She hadn't considered the living arrangements on that weird ship and that there might be more than just that console room.

`Yeah, it's a copy of my room here. The TARDIS did it to make me feel at home . . . do you want to see?'

For some reason, that question made Jackie feel uncomfortable. Was it that alien ship, which made you feel dizzy when you walked through the door, or was it that it was the Doctor's, and now her daughter's new home?

`Nah, yer all right Sweetheart, if it's anythin' like yer room here, it'll be a mess,' she said with a smirk as she supped her tea.

The Doctor laughed. `No, the TARDIS doesn't like mess, if Rose doesn't pick up her things, the TARDIS does it for her, and then she can't find anything.'

`Doesn't like mess?' Jackie said, rolling her eyes. `Don't forget, I've seen that ship of yours . . . a right shambles!'

`Ooh, I'm glad we weren't in the TARDIS when you said that, Mum, she'd have had a right strop.'

`Right then,' the Doctor said, putting his empty mug on the table. `Are you ready?' he asked Rose.

She gave him that broad smile. `Oh yeah, I am SO ready for this.'

It had been a great Christmas, even more so now that the Doctor was more amenable to doing domestic, but her feet were getting “itchy” again for the stars. She went into her room and brought out her bulging rucksack. She put her winter coat on and her woollen hat, before putting on a shoulder bag and shrugging on her rucksack.

Hand in hand, they walked out of the flat, with Jackie and Mickey following, and headed for the playground on the estate, the same playground where she had seen the Bad Wolf message three months earlier. The Doctor went ahead into the TARDIS and started powering up the console. Rose, Jackie, and Mickey were outside, saying their final farewells.

`Have you got everything?' Jackie asked.

`I've got everything, don't worry,' Rose said, giving her mum a big, long hug.

`Be careful,' Jackie said from inside the hug.

`You'll have to call Mo about that . . .' Rose started to say.

`Oh, never mind Mo,' Jackie told her. She knew where the CD was that Rose had borrowed, she'd return it later.

The light on the TARDIS started to flash and the sound of the engines started up.

`Okay, I'm going now . . . I love you!' She gave her mum another quick squeeze.

`I love you,' Jackie said.

`Love you, love you,' she replied.

She stood in front of Mickey and held his face, kissing him full on the lips. She owed him that much.

`Love you,' he said hopefully.

Rose couldn't bring herself to say it back. `Bye,' she said, smiling, and turned to run into the TARDIS.

Jackie turned and walked away as the TARDIS faded away. Mickey just stood there, watching sadly, as his now ex-girlfriend left. When the TARDIS had completely disappeared, he looked into the distance briefly, before following Jackie back to the flats, and back to reality.

The time rotor pumped up and down as the Doctor operated the controls. Rose was able to assist with some of the non essential controls.

`So where are we going?' she asked him with a smile.

He leaned over towards her as he adjusted another setting. `Further than we've ever gone before.'

She gave him an enormous smile, and they stood there, grinning at each other like idiots.