Don't Blink - 31/?
Title: Don't Blink - 31/?
Characters: Ten, Rose
Summary: AU. What if Rose had stayed through Doomsday and was the one to end up in 1969 with the Doctor? How would they get back to their proper time? Would they want to?
Rating: PG
Beta: nattieb
(ch 1) (ch 2) (ch 3) (ch 4) (ch 5) (ch 6) (ch 7) (ch 8) (ch 9) (ch 10) (ch 11) (ch 12) (ch 13) (ch 14) (ch 15) (ch 16) (ch 17) (ch 18)
(ch 19) (ch 20) (ch 21) (ch 22) (ch 23) (ch 24) (ch 25) (ch 26) (ch 27) (ch 28) (ch 29) (ch 30)
Billy was gone before Rose had time to process it fully. His few possessions were packed in a rucksack and left with him. The flat was in need of a good cleaning, and Billy had taken most of the cooking utensils, but the Doctor was happy to have the sofa back so he could watch television in comfort.
“See? All back to normal.” The Doctor sat down and smiled at her, patting the seat beside him in invitation.
Rose sat down next to him and allowed him to shift her so he could put his arm around her.
“We’re still here.”
He didn’t need to ask what she meant. “I know,” he said quietly.
“I thought that when we made the tapes that we would end up back home somehow.”
“I know. It’s not an instantaneous exchange, making one item in return for passage back to our proper time. It could happen at any moment, depending on what changes occur in the future. Or it might not be...” The Doctor stopped talking.
Rose’s breath hitched in her chest. “It might not be until we hit the year 2007 again?”
“Maybe.” There was a world of desolation in that word, and Rose felt the closest she’d come to despair since traveling with him. She’d know that was a possibility, but part of her had refused to acknowledge it.
“What do we do?” she asked. “What are we supposed to do?”
The Doctor took a deep breath and squeezed her to him before standing up.
“We go for a walk,” he announced.
“A walk?” She couldn’t believe he thought a walk would be in any way useful right now.
“Come with me.”
It had only been an hour since they’d said goodbye to Billy. There were more people in the streets, heading out for the evening and going home for work. The Doctor took Rose’s hand in his.
“Where to?”
“Oh, I don’t care.” How could she care about a walk when they were potentially trapped here? Why wasn’t he more upset?
“We just need to wait for time to sort itself out,” he said when Rose asked him. “It will be okay.”
She heard the undertone of desperation in his voice but said nothing. They were each afraid, and each was afraid of worrying the other. That had to be a good sign, but of what, she didn’t know.
She was too young to be so suspicious of every movement, every comment from him. She was too young to be trapped in time.
“Come on!” The Doctor forced himself to smile down at her, wanting her to cheer up by the sheer force of his will. “Fancy an ice cream?”
Rose allowed herself to be cheered up. “Sounds good.”
The Doctor’s favored sweet shop sold small ice creams along with fairy cakes and the kind of sweets that made your teeth ache. Rose was familiar with that place, since it was just down the street from the shop where she worked. Sometimes she stopped there during her meal break to buy some sweets for the Doctor. It was a small touch of domesticity that never failed to delight him. Sometimes he shared with her.
The lights were on at Helio as they passed by.
“Hang on,” Rose said in puzzlement.
The Doctor had noticed the lights, too. “I thought you closed at five each night?”
“We do,” she said slowly, drawing near to the front door. The blind was pulled down at the window, and the storefront windows were hung with a strange sort of dark material. Light shone through around the edge. Faint sounds were coming from within.
Rose tried the door, but it was locked as firmly as when Iris had locked it a few hours before. She put her ear to the window, trying to hear more.
The Doctor reached for the sonic screwdriver. “Shall I unlock it for you?”
Rose hesitated a moment before she pulled away from the door. “No. Sometimes the boss man has another crew working at night to try and finish up the renovations. That’s probably all it is.”
Still, she looked over her shoulder as they walked away.
“Boss man?” the Doctor asked. “Is that part of the current lingo?”
Rose smiled. “Got to keep up with the times.”
The flat seemed empty without Billy there. Not only empty, but smaller. The Doctor wasn’t sure how the removal of an adult male could make a place seem smaller and not larger, but it was. At night, when Rose was asleep, he prowled the rooms, trying not to panic at the feeling of claustrophobia. Sometimes he would leave, walking the dark streets of London trying to catch a deep enough breath, but he was uneasy leaving Rose alone for long. He didn’t know yet what was happening, but her comments about missing tenants and a postman had been noted by him, and he was suspicious of everything and everyone.
By the Monday morning after Billy had moved out, the Doctor was ready to jump out of his skin. He stood at the sink in the small kitchen, watching water dribble from the tap into the teakettle.
He heard Rose walk into the room before she spoke.
“You’re still here.”
At the sound of her voice his misgivings and feelings of anger and frustration left him. Not all the way, and not for good, but they left him. He smiled at her and laughed softly as she gave him a hug.
“I have a free morning,” he explained, returning the hug and automatically calculating the smell of her hair, the feel of her in his arms and a hundred other details about her. “I don’t have to be there until after lunch. Are you hungry?”
“Starving!” Rose glanced around the kitchen. “Did...you make breakfast?”
“No,” he admitted sheepishly, turning the water off as the kettle overflowed. “I thought maybe you’d like to.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “If you want toast or cold cereal, yeah.”
He thought longingly back to the mornings when Billy would cook coddled eggs, perfect toast and rashers of bacon. Rose must have read his mind.
“I miss him, too,” she said. “And not just for the food. Shall we go out? I’ve got time before work.”
He beamed at her. “Absolutely.”
“I’ll just get my bag.”
Rose paused in her room as she collected the things she needed for work. Neither one of them was willing to bring up the new shift in their relationship. She’d thought with Billy gone she’d get up the nerve to suggest they kiss some more, but so far her nerve had failed her. And the Doctor would certainly never bring it up. There must have been a class on avoidance at the Time Lord Academy. He certainly would have aced it.
He was waiting by the door for her. Rose bit her tongue to keep from pointing out that he was once again wearing the brown suit. She only hoped they returned to the TARDIS before it fell apart.
“Ready?”
“Yep.” She waited for him to lock the flat up and accepted the hand he held out to her.
Their neighbors were busy coming and going, leaving for work or just returning after an early morning errand. In the lobby a man stood next to Mrs. MacMurray, a newspaper advert in his hand.
“Good morning!” Rose said.
“Good morning!” the landlady responded. “Just showing an empty flat. Have a good day!”
The Doctor opened the door for Rose without letting go of her hand.
“There’ve been a lot of people moving in and out of this building lately,” he remarked.
“Busy season,” she agreed.
“Rose, I don’t like it.”
She turned to find him gazing at her. “What don’t you like?” His sudden pronouncement left her unsure whether he meant the season, the weather, or her hairstyle. She reached up to smooth her hair, done up in a modest twist.
“I don’t like how people are coming and going. You’ve said that even the postmen keep changing?” She nodded. “Promise me you won’t go anywhere alone for a bit.”
She kept walking because people were all around them, but she was so surprised she wanted to come to a halt and stare at him.
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Of course I trust you. I just don’t know what’s happening and I want you safe. Don’t leave work without me.”
“But you don’t get home until long after the shop is closed up for the night,” she pointed out.
He was silent for a long moment. They continued walking, hand in hand, until a sudden influx of young girls wearing t-shirts and jeans came toward them. Their linked hands released.
“You don’t need him, sister,” the girl closest to Rose told her as she passed by. “Men aren’t good for anything!”
Rose glanced at the Doctor to see how he was taking that statement. He looked amused. “I”m sorry she feels that way,” he said gravely. “A world without women would be a sad place, indeed.”
“So would a world without you,” Rose said decidedly.
They continued on their way until they came to a small cafe that served eggs the way Rose liked, in tiny egg cups the color of the sky. The Doctor put his hand on her arm, stopping her when she would have gone inside.
“Rose. Wait for me after work. I’ll come meet you each night.”
“You won’t have time to get to work and do everything before you comeback.”
“Let me worry about that.”
“You worry too much.” She poked him in the chest for emphasis.
“Ow!”
“Don’t be such a baby.”
He caught her hand before she could poke him again and pulled her down the narrow alley beside the cafe. “I mean it, Rose.”
She rolled her eyes. “Doctor, I can take care of myself.”
“I’m not saying you can’t -” He stopped talking as he saw the expression on her face change. “Rose?”
She was looking over his shoulder, her face shifting from shock to surprise to a strange, wild triumph. For an instant a golden light, old as time, gleamed from her eyes. Then it was gone and she was Rose again.
Half afraid to look, he slowly turned around. On the brick wall of the alley were two words, scrawled in bold black letters. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
BAD WOLF.
She’d scattered words through time and space to save his life. He of all people should know Rose could take care of herself.
Thirty-two
Characters: Ten, Rose
Summary: AU. What if Rose had stayed through Doomsday and was the one to end up in 1969 with the Doctor? How would they get back to their proper time? Would they want to?
Rating: PG
Beta: nattieb
(ch 1) (ch 2) (ch 3) (ch 4) (ch 5) (ch 6) (ch 7) (ch 8) (ch 9) (ch 10) (ch 11) (ch 12) (ch 13) (ch 14) (ch 15) (ch 16) (ch 17) (ch 18)
(ch 19) (ch 20) (ch 21) (ch 22) (ch 23) (ch 24) (ch 25) (ch 26) (ch 27) (ch 28) (ch 29) (ch 30)
Billy was gone before Rose had time to process it fully. His few possessions were packed in a rucksack and left with him. The flat was in need of a good cleaning, and Billy had taken most of the cooking utensils, but the Doctor was happy to have the sofa back so he could watch television in comfort.
“See? All back to normal.” The Doctor sat down and smiled at her, patting the seat beside him in invitation.
Rose sat down next to him and allowed him to shift her so he could put his arm around her.
“We’re still here.”
He didn’t need to ask what she meant. “I know,” he said quietly.
“I thought that when we made the tapes that we would end up back home somehow.”
“I know. It’s not an instantaneous exchange, making one item in return for passage back to our proper time. It could happen at any moment, depending on what changes occur in the future. Or it might not be...” The Doctor stopped talking.
Rose’s breath hitched in her chest. “It might not be until we hit the year 2007 again?”
“Maybe.” There was a world of desolation in that word, and Rose felt the closest she’d come to despair since traveling with him. She’d know that was a possibility, but part of her had refused to acknowledge it.
“What do we do?” she asked. “What are we supposed to do?”
The Doctor took a deep breath and squeezed her to him before standing up.
“We go for a walk,” he announced.
“A walk?” She couldn’t believe he thought a walk would be in any way useful right now.
“Come with me.”
It had only been an hour since they’d said goodbye to Billy. There were more people in the streets, heading out for the evening and going home for work. The Doctor took Rose’s hand in his.
“Where to?”
“Oh, I don’t care.” How could she care about a walk when they were potentially trapped here? Why wasn’t he more upset?
“We just need to wait for time to sort itself out,” he said when Rose asked him. “It will be okay.”
She heard the undertone of desperation in his voice but said nothing. They were each afraid, and each was afraid of worrying the other. That had to be a good sign, but of what, she didn’t know.
She was too young to be so suspicious of every movement, every comment from him. She was too young to be trapped in time.
“Come on!” The Doctor forced himself to smile down at her, wanting her to cheer up by the sheer force of his will. “Fancy an ice cream?”
Rose allowed herself to be cheered up. “Sounds good.”
The Doctor’s favored sweet shop sold small ice creams along with fairy cakes and the kind of sweets that made your teeth ache. Rose was familiar with that place, since it was just down the street from the shop where she worked. Sometimes she stopped there during her meal break to buy some sweets for the Doctor. It was a small touch of domesticity that never failed to delight him. Sometimes he shared with her.
The lights were on at Helio as they passed by.
“Hang on,” Rose said in puzzlement.
The Doctor had noticed the lights, too. “I thought you closed at five each night?”
“We do,” she said slowly, drawing near to the front door. The blind was pulled down at the window, and the storefront windows were hung with a strange sort of dark material. Light shone through around the edge. Faint sounds were coming from within.
Rose tried the door, but it was locked as firmly as when Iris had locked it a few hours before. She put her ear to the window, trying to hear more.
The Doctor reached for the sonic screwdriver. “Shall I unlock it for you?”
Rose hesitated a moment before she pulled away from the door. “No. Sometimes the boss man has another crew working at night to try and finish up the renovations. That’s probably all it is.”
Still, she looked over her shoulder as they walked away.
“Boss man?” the Doctor asked. “Is that part of the current lingo?”
Rose smiled. “Got to keep up with the times.”
The flat seemed empty without Billy there. Not only empty, but smaller. The Doctor wasn’t sure how the removal of an adult male could make a place seem smaller and not larger, but it was. At night, when Rose was asleep, he prowled the rooms, trying not to panic at the feeling of claustrophobia. Sometimes he would leave, walking the dark streets of London trying to catch a deep enough breath, but he was uneasy leaving Rose alone for long. He didn’t know yet what was happening, but her comments about missing tenants and a postman had been noted by him, and he was suspicious of everything and everyone.
By the Monday morning after Billy had moved out, the Doctor was ready to jump out of his skin. He stood at the sink in the small kitchen, watching water dribble from the tap into the teakettle.
He heard Rose walk into the room before she spoke.
“You’re still here.”
At the sound of her voice his misgivings and feelings of anger and frustration left him. Not all the way, and not for good, but they left him. He smiled at her and laughed softly as she gave him a hug.
“I have a free morning,” he explained, returning the hug and automatically calculating the smell of her hair, the feel of her in his arms and a hundred other details about her. “I don’t have to be there until after lunch. Are you hungry?”
“Starving!” Rose glanced around the kitchen. “Did...you make breakfast?”
“No,” he admitted sheepishly, turning the water off as the kettle overflowed. “I thought maybe you’d like to.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “If you want toast or cold cereal, yeah.”
He thought longingly back to the mornings when Billy would cook coddled eggs, perfect toast and rashers of bacon. Rose must have read his mind.
“I miss him, too,” she said. “And not just for the food. Shall we go out? I’ve got time before work.”
He beamed at her. “Absolutely.”
“I’ll just get my bag.”
Rose paused in her room as she collected the things she needed for work. Neither one of them was willing to bring up the new shift in their relationship. She’d thought with Billy gone she’d get up the nerve to suggest they kiss some more, but so far her nerve had failed her. And the Doctor would certainly never bring it up. There must have been a class on avoidance at the Time Lord Academy. He certainly would have aced it.
He was waiting by the door for her. Rose bit her tongue to keep from pointing out that he was once again wearing the brown suit. She only hoped they returned to the TARDIS before it fell apart.
“Ready?”
“Yep.” She waited for him to lock the flat up and accepted the hand he held out to her.
Their neighbors were busy coming and going, leaving for work or just returning after an early morning errand. In the lobby a man stood next to Mrs. MacMurray, a newspaper advert in his hand.
“Good morning!” Rose said.
“Good morning!” the landlady responded. “Just showing an empty flat. Have a good day!”
The Doctor opened the door for Rose without letting go of her hand.
“There’ve been a lot of people moving in and out of this building lately,” he remarked.
“Busy season,” she agreed.
“Rose, I don’t like it.”
She turned to find him gazing at her. “What don’t you like?” His sudden pronouncement left her unsure whether he meant the season, the weather, or her hairstyle. She reached up to smooth her hair, done up in a modest twist.
“I don’t like how people are coming and going. You’ve said that even the postmen keep changing?” She nodded. “Promise me you won’t go anywhere alone for a bit.”
She kept walking because people were all around them, but she was so surprised she wanted to come to a halt and stare at him.
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Of course I trust you. I just don’t know what’s happening and I want you safe. Don’t leave work without me.”
“But you don’t get home until long after the shop is closed up for the night,” she pointed out.
He was silent for a long moment. They continued walking, hand in hand, until a sudden influx of young girls wearing t-shirts and jeans came toward them. Their linked hands released.
“You don’t need him, sister,” the girl closest to Rose told her as she passed by. “Men aren’t good for anything!”
Rose glanced at the Doctor to see how he was taking that statement. He looked amused. “I”m sorry she feels that way,” he said gravely. “A world without women would be a sad place, indeed.”
“So would a world without you,” Rose said decidedly.
They continued on their way until they came to a small cafe that served eggs the way Rose liked, in tiny egg cups the color of the sky. The Doctor put his hand on her arm, stopping her when she would have gone inside.
“Rose. Wait for me after work. I’ll come meet you each night.”
“You won’t have time to get to work and do everything before you comeback.”
“Let me worry about that.”
“You worry too much.” She poked him in the chest for emphasis.
“Ow!”
“Don’t be such a baby.”
He caught her hand before she could poke him again and pulled her down the narrow alley beside the cafe. “I mean it, Rose.”
She rolled her eyes. “Doctor, I can take care of myself.”
“I’m not saying you can’t -” He stopped talking as he saw the expression on her face change. “Rose?”
She was looking over his shoulder, her face shifting from shock to surprise to a strange, wild triumph. For an instant a golden light, old as time, gleamed from her eyes. Then it was gone and she was Rose again.
Half afraid to look, he slowly turned around. On the brick wall of the alley were two words, scrawled in bold black letters. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
BAD WOLF.
She’d scattered words through time and space to save his life. He of all people should know Rose could take care of herself.
Thirty-two