Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ Rose and Ten The Inbetweens and backstories ❯ Chapter Eight ( Chapter 8 )

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In the episodes 'School Reunion' and 'The Girl In The Fireplace', the Doctor is very insensitive to Rose, and seems to act out of character. After careful scrutiny of those episodes, this is my take on what might have happened.
(I'm afraid for the next few chapters, Rose is going to be on an emotional and insecurity roller coaster.)

Non Anime: Doctor Who Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Sci-fi | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 03.13.2016 | Pages: 26 | Words: 9.5K | Visits: 380 | Status: Completed

Sarah Jane had driven her car to Belle Vue Park, where she saw the TARDIS standing inconspicuously on a path, next to a hedge. A now familiar figure, wearing a brown pinstriped suit stepped out.

`Cup of tea?' he asked. He stepped aside and let her walk inside.

`You've redecorated,' she said, looking around.

`Do you like it?' Her approval meant a lot to him, even after all these years.

`Oh . . . I . . . I do. Yeah . . . I preferred it as it was, but er . . . yeah. It'll do.

`I love it,' Rose said with a beaming smile.

`Hey, you what's forty seven times three hundred and sixty nine?' Sarah Jane asked her.

`No idea. It's gone now. The oil's faded.'

`But you're still clever . . . more than a match for him,' Sarah Jane said, nodding her head sideways in the Doctor's direction.

`You and me both,' Rose told her. She turned towards the console. `Doctor?'

`Um, we're about to head off . . . but you could come with us,' he said smiling at her.

She shook her head. `No . . . I can't do this anymore. Besides, I've got a much bigger adventure ahead. Time I stopped waiting for you and found a life of my own.' Both the Doctor and Rose looked disappointed.

`Can I come,' a quiet voice asked from behind them, which left an awkward silence. `No, not with you,' Mickey said, pointing at Sarah Jane. `I mean with you,' he asked, looking at the Doctor. `Because I'm not the tin dog, and I want to see what's out there.'

Rose mouthed `no' to the Doctor and Sarah Jane saw it. Oh dear, there were some unresolved issues between Rose and Mickey.

`Oh go on Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, a Mickey Smith, you need a Smith on board.'

`Okay then, I could do with a laugh.'

Mickey smiled. `Rose . . . is that okay?'

`No, great,' she lied. `Why not?'

Sarah Jane was watching Rose; she had a face like a petulant teenager. She realised that Rose and the Doctor had issues that hadn't even been raised yet; you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. It was probably best if she left them to sort out their own problems.

`Well, I'd better go then,' she said, gently taking Rose's arm and leading her to the handrail, sensing that Rose wanted to speak to her, and she was right. For the first time since meeting the Doctor, Rose was uncertain of her future with him.

She was recalling a conversation they'd had as they were leaving a coffee shop, and she'd asked him how many other people had travelled with him. Meeting Sarah Jane had been a reality check for her.

`Does it matter?' he'd said sharply.

`Yeah, it does, if I'm just the last in a long line . . .'

The Doctor had stopped and turned to face her. `As opposed to what?'

That had stunned her as though he'd slapped her in the face. `I thought you and me were . . . I obviously got it wrong. I've been to the year five billion, right, but this . . . ? Now this is really seein' the future. You just leave us behind . . . Is that what you're going to do to me?'

`No,' he'd said quickly. `Not to you . . . .'

`But Sarah Jane . . . ? You were that close to her once, an' now . . . you never even mention her . . . why not?'

And then he'd told her, he'd REALLY told her. `I don't age. I regenerate . . . But humans decay . . . You wither and you die,' he'd said, his voice tinged with anger. `Imagine watching that happen to someone who you . . . .' He'd stopped himself from finishing that sentence.

`What, Doctor?' she'd pressed, but, as usual, he'd changed the direction of the conversation.

`You can spend the rest of your life with me,' he'd told her, and her heart had soared, it was just what she'd wanted to hear, but then he'd brought her down with a crash. `But I can't spend the rest of mine with you . . . I have to live on . . . Alone . . . . That's the curse of the Time Lords.'

Rose came out of her memories. `What do I do?' Rose asked her quietly, glancing over her shoulder at the Doctor. `Do I stay with him?'

`Yes,' she replied without hesitation. `Some things are worth getting your heart broken for.' She pulled Rose into a motherly hug, she knew how Rose felt, and she knew some of what was in store for her.

`Find me,' she said kindly. `If you need to . . . one day . . . find me.' She didn't need to say, `when it all goes wrong, and you find yourself on your own'.

Without another word, she turned and walked out of the TARDIS, the Doctor followed her out to say goodbye.

`If you don't want me to come, I'll go,' Mickey said. `If it's gonna make things awkward for ya.'

Rose had her back to him, leaning with her arm against the coral. `No, its okay,' she said unconvincingly, turning to face him. `If he can change his face, he can change his mind.'

Mickey gave a single laugh, she still didn't know that the Doctor, the `old' Doctor, had asked him to come with them and he'd said no, he wasn't ready then.

`Only, I know what you're goin' through.' Rose gave him a defiant, questioning look. `The uncertainty, the insecurity, I've been there and got more than one T-shirt.'

And he did know what she was going through, what with Jimmy Stone, and then the Doctor, he had never known where he stood with Rose, not really.

With those words of friendship and comfort, Rose realised that she'd been acting like a pubescent teenager. The Doctor had lived for over nine hundred years; of course he'd had other travelling companions, why should she be anything special?

But there was that feeling she got when she held his hand, was she imagining it, or was it real? Then there was the Dalek, “what use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?” it had said. She thought it was goading him, but she hoped the cold blooded killing machine had seen something in the Doctor that she wanted to be there.

“Imagine watching that happen to someone who you . . . .” was he going to say loved? Had he watched someone he loved grow old and die, or was it that he didn't want to watch it happen to her?

The Doctor came back into the TARDIS and walked up to the console. `Right then, where next?' he said with a cheery smile, the preceding awkwardness forgotten or just ignored. He powered up the console and started the time rotor, sending them into the Vortex.

`So, Mickey Boy, the whole of time and space, where do you want to go first?' the Doctor asked him.

`Er, I don't know,' he said, struggling to think of somewhere that he wanted to go. He looked over to Rose. `Whatcha think Babe, where should we go?'

He saw the look on Rose's face, and knew that she needed to talk to the Doctor alone; it was a human thing, because the Doctor was clueless. The TARDIS did a great job of translating languages, even adding inflections and syntax, but it couldn't translate the non verbal body language.

Mickey was human, and he'd been Rose's boyfriend for long enough to know that sometimes, when she was saying one thing, she was actually meaning the opposite. The Doctor on the other hand, was an alien, and even with all the time he'd spent around humans, he hadn't mastered the art of body language.

`Tell ya what . . . I'll go an' have a think about it. Do yer have any beer on board Doc?' Mickey said.

Rose realised that Mickey was giving her some space with the Doctor and smiled at him gratefully, she really didn't deserve a friend like him. `Yeah, there are some cans in the fridge in the kitchen. Through there and second on the right.

Mickey nodded and went to find a beer, and Rose turned to face the Doctor, who was concentrating on the console.

`So . . . Sarah Jane,' she said. He turned to look at her and his face became an impassive mask. `Why did she leave, did you send her away because you couldn't bear to see her grow old?'

He straightened up and took a deep breath. `No, it was nothing like that Rose. Sarah Jane had threatened to leave after a difficult adventure, I think it was to shake me up a bit and pay more attention to her.'

`Really?' Rose said sarcastically.

The Doctor missed the sarcasm. `Yes, you humans are SO high maintenance. But then I had a summons from the Time Lords to return home. Back then, the Time Lords were very insular, almost xenophobic, which is why I was seen as a rebel, because I always loved to meet foreigners.'

Rose could see where this was going now. `So Sarah Jane wasn't allowed to go with you.'

`No, I dropped her off at her home . . . well, I dropped her off near her home . . . well, it was in the British Isles anyway.'

Even with all the uncertainty she was feeling at the moment, Rose couldn't help herself from snorting a laugh, she just loved his runaway gob.

`We kept bumping into each other, before and after she'd left,' he said and Rose gave him a puzzled look. `It's a time travelling thing, but she never came back to the TARDIS,' he said sadly.

Rose could see by his expression, and the tone of his voice, that he hadn't just dumped Sarah Jane, he had missed her, that was obvious. It was time to find out where she stood with him, and she was reluctant to ask the next question, because the answer could change her life forever, and forever was a very long time.

`Did you mean it, when you said I could spend the rest of my life with you, or were or just sayin' that to make a point?'

`Well, I was making a point,' he started, and Rose's face fell. `But I also said that I would love you to come with me, and I meant it.'

`Really?' she asked uncertainly, but feeling relieved. `An' what about when I get all old and wrinkly, will you still want me around then?'

He smiled at her. `You are Rose Tyler, and you will always be Rose Tyler, just as I will always be the Doctor,' he said, holding out his arms for her. She walked forwards and accepted his reassuring hug. `But if you turn into anything like your mother, I'll be throwing you out long before then,' he said with a laugh.

Rose laughed with him, that comment told her that he wouldn't throw her out, no matter what.

Mickey returned from the kitchen, swigging from a can of beer, and they released the hug quickly, turning towards him.

`Well?' Rose asked.

`Do you have a `lucky dip', y'know, like a magical mystery tour setting?' Mickey said with a smile.

The Doctor beamed at him. `A mystery tour, brilliant, my favourite kind,' he said, and twiddled a few settings without looking. `Here we go then.' He slapped a lever down and they felt the TARDIS land. `Come on then, it's all out there waiting for us, let's have a look,' he said as he walked down the ramp.

Mickey followed him through the doors, with Rose following behind.

`It's a spaceship. Brilliant! I got a spaceship on my first go,' he said, as though he'd been on a fairground ride.

Rose looked around the messy chamber. `It looks kind of abandoned. Anyone on board?'

`Nah, nothing here,' the Doctor said with his hands in his pockets. `Well, nothing dangerous . . . well, not that dangerous . . . You know what . . . ; I'll just have a quick scan . . . in case there's anything dangerous.' He moved to a control console and examined the controls.

`So, what's the date, how far we gone?' Rose asked him with an expectant smile.

`About three thousand years into your future, give or take.' He pulled up a lever, which emitted a blue light, and twisted it to lock it in place. Parts of the ceiling started to slide away from each other. `Fifty first century . . . Diagmar Cluster, you're a long way from home, Mickey . . . two and a half galaxies.

Rose put her hands on Mickey's shoulders. `Mickey Smith, meet the universe,' she said, enjoying showing off, she understood now why the Doctor enjoyed showing her new things. `See anything you like?'

`It's so realistic!' he said with an excited laugh, looking through a window. He'd only ever seen this stuff as a special effect in films, and now, here he was, out among the stars, for real!

`Dear me, had some cowboys in here . . . got a ton of repair work going on,' he said, rummaging about in the discarded equipment. He looked at a display screen. `Now that's odd . . . look at that . . . all the warp engines are going . . . full capacity. There's enough power running through this ship to punch a hole in the universe, but we're not moving. He looked through the ceiling observation window. `So where's all that power going?'

`Where'd all the crew go?' Rose asked.

`Good question,' he said, checking more of the readouts. `No life readings on board.'

`Well, we're in deep space, they didn't just nip out for a quick fag,' Rose observed.

`No, I've checked all the smoking pods . . . Can you smell that?' the Doctor said.

`Yeah . . . someone's cooking,' Rose replied.

`Sunday roast, definitely,' Mickey said.

The Doctor looked concerned, no life forms on board, the smell of cooking meat, he'd wondered what had happened to the crew, and now he was sure he didn't want to know the answer.

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`What happened? Where did the time window go? How's he going to get back?' Mickey asked. Rose didn't answer, what could she say? A tear trickled down her cheek. `We can't fly the TARDIS without him. How's he going to get back?' They were trapped on board a deserted space ship, with a time machine they couldn't fly.

As if Rose didn't have enough insecurities about meeting Sarah Jane, and the Doctor's reaction to seeing her again, his reaction to Madame de Pompadour, and his obvious infatuation with her, was a real slap in the face.

Without any apparent thought to her or Mickey, he had smashed through a time portal, leaving himself trapped in the eighteenth century, and them in the fifty first, all to save the mistress of the King of France, a mistress! Not even a queen, but a . . . a tart!

`He'll find a way back,' Rose said, trying to convince herself as much as Mickey. `He always finds a way.'

`An' if he doesn't?'

`He will!' Rose shot back quickly. She was angry at him for just running off to save that tart, but her faith in him was absolute, she never doubted him.

`So what do we do then?' Mickey asked. `Is there a radio on the TARDIS or somethin', so that we can contact him?' He'd seen Star Trek, he knew about communicators and scanners.

`Not that I know of . . . maybe there's somethin' here that we can use,' she said, clearing the clutter off the console.

`How long do we wait then?' Mickey asked as they rummaged through the wreckage of the controls.'

What kind of a dumb question was that? They were stuck there until the Doctor came back, but she remembered that time passed differently on the other side of the portal.

`Time passed at a different rate through the fireplace, hopefully it shouldn't take him too long to figure out a way back,' she said, again, trying to convince herself that her faith in him was well founded.

They spent a few hours exploring the derelict ship, always looking for anything that may be a way to re-establish a link with eighteenth century France.

`C'mon Babe,' Mickey said eventually. `Let's go grab somethin' to eat in the TARDIS.' His initial enthusiasm for being in space, had been replaced by a fear that this was going to be the rest of his life. Mind you, being stuck here with Rose, no other blokes around, a TARDIS full of the comforts of home . . . it could be worse.

Rose programmed the food replicator to produce two plates of chilli con carne, while Mickey grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge and a couple of glasses from the cupboard. She brought the food over to the table, and sat opposite Mickey.

`So, how much food do we have on board then?' Mickey asked.

`I dunno really, the Doctor said that the food replicator can recombine individual atoms and molecules into food items. I suppose it's infinite,' she said.

`So we won't starve then.'

`Mickey, he's comin' back.'

`Yeah, you said, I'm just tryin' to plan for any contingency . . . y'know, a bit of crisis management.'

Actually, she couldn't argue with that, they didn't know how long it would take him to get back.

They finished their meal and Rose put the plates, glasses, and cutlery in the dishwasher, before heading back to the console room, and out into the spaceship to see if there was any progress on the Doctor getting back.

Rose stepped through the doors and was immediately grabbed into a hug by the Doctor who had just run back from the fireplace.

`Oh my God,' she squealed. `You did it, you made it back!' she said with relief, her anger and insecurities forgotten for the moment.

`How long did you wait?' he asked her as he swung her from side to side.

`Five and a half hours,' she laughed.

`Great. Always wait five and a half hours,' he said excitedly.

He thought about hugging Mickey, but they settled on a handshake.

`Where've you been?' Rose asked him.

`Explain later . . . Into the TARDIS, be with you in a sec.'

He ran back to the fireplace, and suddenly, Rose's insecurity returned with a vengeance. He was calling her name through the fireplace, and she watched with a kind of resigned acceptance, as he activated the turntable, taking him back again to eighteenth century France, and into the arms of the King's mistress.

She looked away from the fireplace, and silently stepped through the door into the TARDIS. She'd been a fool, she thought to herself, what would a Time Lord want with a common shop girl, when he could have a sophisticated socialite from eighteenth century France? Even if she was just a common tart?

Reinette was a beautiful, sophisticated, mature, experienced woman, what did the Doctor say? `One of the most accomplished women who ever lived', he was obviously a fan. And what was she? A common, immature girl from a council estate, with a bronze medal in gymnastics. How could she compete with that?

Mickey was standing by the console, watching Rose walking up the ramp, her face showing the sadness that she was feeling. He wanted to say things to comfort her and reassure her, but he was a bloke, and he didn't really know what to say.

`Gone again `as he?' is all he could think of, and Rose nodded.

They stood there silently by the console when they heard the door open and close slowly, the earlier, fiery enthusiasm, replaced with a resigned sadness, visible in his hunched shoulders and heavy steps.

`Why her?' Rose asked, trying to assess his mood. `Why did they think they could repair the ship with the head of Madame de Pompadour?'

`We'll probably never know . . . there was massive damage in the computer memory banks, it probably got confused,' he said as he walked up the ramp. `The TARDIS can close down the time windows now the droids are gone . . . should stop it causing any more trouble.' He said as he started to activate the console.

`Are you all right?' She asked quietly, studying his face.

`I'm always all right.' He said a bit too quickly, continuing to busy himself with the console. Rose just stood and watched him.

Mickey took her hand and gently tugged her away. `Come on, Rose. It's time you showed me around the rest of this place.'

He was right, she could see that the Doctor needed some time to himself, but she needed to speak to him at some point, to find out exactly where she stood. What, with Sarah Jane and now Reinette, she felt that she'd been deluding herself, that she meant nothing to him, a child that he could impress and show off to.

Without any enthusiasm, Rose showed Mickey the living room, with the comfy sofas, large screen TV and sound system, the Medi-Bay, the library, the gym and swimming pool. They found their way to the clothing department, which the Doctor still called the wardrobe, and then stumbled upon some guest bedrooms on the way back.

`I suppose one of these is yours,' Rose told him.

`Brilliant,' Mickey said, looking at the five star hotel room.

Rose took him back to the living room and switched on the TV, finding the latest Top Gear episode to watch. `Why don't you watch this, while I go an' have a word with the Doctor?'

`Okay,' he said reluctantly. `I'll see you later.'

Rose made her way back to the console room, and found the Doctor leaning on the console, watching the time rotor pump up and down, as though he found solace in it.

`Hi,' she said quietly, hesitantly, not sure if she should interrupt his meditation.

He turned and smiled at her. `Hello . . . where's Mickey Boy?'

She looked over her shoulder. `He's in the living room, watchin' Top Gear.' The Doctor nodded an `ah'.

`Can I . . . can I ask you somethin'?'

`Yes, of course you can Rose, you can ask me anything?'

Without any preamble, she went straight to the crux of what was bothering her. `When you charged through that time window . . . did you give any thought to me, or Mickey?' Rose asked him.

`Of course, but I had to stop those androids from rampaging through eighteenth century France.'

`And I don't suppose Reinette had anythin' to do with it?'

`Well, her life was in danger.'

`And so you ran off to save her, trapping yourself in eighteenth century France, and us, three thousand years in our future,' Rose said, she could feel her anger rising at the thought of what he'd done.

`We weren't trapped, I came back didn't I?'

`Only `cos you got lucky. Would you have run off and left Reinette like that to rescue me?'

The Doctor was trying to gather his thoughts, but there was no way Rose was going to let him.

`No, of course you wouldn't, `cos she's a high class hooker from Versailles, and I'm just a common shop girl from Peckham.'

`Wha? Rose, I don't think of you like that,' he said, trying to placate her.

`Don't you . . . ? Don't you? First it was Sarah Jane, and now Reinette. Got a thing about pickin' up women an' then dumpin' them when a better one comes along have ya?' she said angrily.

The Doctor was stunned by this outburst, and it took him by surprise. He didn't have the human brain to cope with this kind of emotional turmoil. `Rose . . . I . . .'

`Oh leave me alone, I'm goin' to bed.' She stormed past him and went to her room, slamming the door behind her, and diving face down on her bed.

A short while later there was a gentle knock at the door. `Rose?' he called to her.

`Go away,' she said between sobs.

`Rose, please, let me explain.'

`What, so you can come up with more excuses, more lies?'

That hurt him; he leaned against the wall and slid down to sit with his arms around his knees. `I was trying to find out why the androids wanted Reinette's brain. I did something risky; I went inside her mind to have a look.'

He paused and listened, there was no response from her room, at least she wasn't telling him to shut up and go away. `Telepath to telepath isn't a problem, because they both have disciplined minds. But a telepath to non telepath is risky, all those feelings and emotions getting in the way. While I was exploring her thoughts, her emotions were sneaking under my rational thoughts and imprinting on my Limbic system.'

He paused again, thinking about his feelings for Reinette.

`What happened?' a small voice asked from Rose's room.

`It was like taking a love potion, I was infatuated with her, and there was nothing I could do about it. I came back here so that I could bring her through and show her the stars.'

`Wouldn't that have messed up the time lines or somethin'?'

Oh Rose, she was SO smart, and he was SO proud of her for that. `Yes it would, big time, and I would never let anything do that, would I? So, can you see that I wasn't in my right mind?'

He heard the door click, and he stood up, Rose's tear stained face appearing in the gap. They just stood there looking at each other.

`I'm sorry Rose,' he said. `I was trying to make things right for her, and I made them wrong for us.'

`You made me feel so worthless, especially after the thing with Sarah Jane and everythin'.'

`I know, and I am truly sorry, I never meant to hurt you.' He hesitated. `Do you . . . do you want me to take you home, I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to leave.'

Rose opened the door, wrapped her arms around him, and buried her face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and rested his chin on top of her head.

`No,' her muffled voice said. `I want to stay here with you.'

He realised he'd been holding his breath, when he exhaled with relief. `Come on, time for bed,' he said and led her into her bedroom, so that he could tell her a bedtime story as she fell asleep.

Neither of them noticed the door of the guest bedroom silently close.