Don't Blink - 5/?
Title: Don't Blink - 5/?
Authors: rosewarren and ladychi
Characters: Rose, Ten
Summary: AU. What if Rose had stayed through Doomsday and was the one to end up in 1969 with the Doctor?
Rating: PG
A/N: We had a bit of fun with this chapter. Bonus points if you catch the Veggie Tales reference!
~ One~ Two~ Three~ Four~
Harvey stared at them in the rearview mirror, squinting suspiciously.
“You think this is a joke?” he asked.
“Oh, no, far from it,” the Doctor said, clearing his throat and straightening his tie. “I assure you, we don’t think it’s a joke.” He glanced over at Rose. “Do we?”
“No,” Rose agreed. “No jokes. Definitely not.”
“See?” The Doctor smiled at Harvey as if that settled that.
“So, who are the superior alien forces?” Rose asked interestedly, leaning forward. “You and your friend?”
“More than just the two of you, I hope,” the Doctor added. “Earth’s rather a large planet.”
“Our forces will make your planet tremble.”
“That sounds very threatening, indeed,” the Doctor said calmly. “So what’s this condition red, then? Full alert, all forces march?”
Harvey started driving again, the taxi speeding through traffic with very little regard to pedestrians, lights and traffic laws. Rose glanced out the window, wondering how good London policemen in 1969 were at chasing down racing motorists.
“No need to rush,” the Doctor continued, also looking out the window. “I’m sure we’ll get there just fine at a normal rate of speed.”
Harvey sped up in response. There were no seatbelts in the back of the taxi, and Rose and the Doctor careened around, knocking into each other and then getting thrown back into separate corners.
“Slow down!” Rose managed to say. Harvey turned a corner, tires squealing. The resulting forces pitched Rose into the Doctor. The top of her head caught his chin, and he winced as he settled her more securely on his lap.
“Hang on!” he said into her hair, wrapping an arm around her.
It was hard to hold on where there was nothing to hold on to. Making the best of it, Rose rested against the Doctor, clutching his arms. She tried to see what was happening, but despite the way the Doctor braced his legs against the front seat and his free arm against the roof of the car, they continued to slide about.
“Talk about exciting!” Rose yelled as the Doctor caught her for the third time.
“You’re going to kill us before we get there, Harvey!” the Doctor yelled. “Slow down!”
Harvey showed no inclination to cooperate, only muttering, “Humans.”
It was a risk, releasing Rose, but the Doctor freed his hand to reach into his pocket for the sonic screwdriver. As he pulled it out of his coat Harvey took another sharp turn. Rose went flying to the other side of the car, hitting the back of her head on the window.
“Rose!” The Doctor aimed the sonic screwdriver at the dashboard and lunged for her. “Rose?”
“Ow,” Rose said.
The car came to a halt. “What did you do?” Harvey asked furiously. “The car won’t start!”
Rose blinked a few times. “Are we stopped?” she asked. “I’m still spinning.”
The Doctor gently touched her head. His fingers came away wet with blood. Rose wrinkled her face.
“Tell me that’s yours.”
The Doctor flung himself over the seat, landing next to Harvey and grabbing the car keys out of the ignition.
“That’s enough,” he said. “Get out of the car and-”
Harvey was not listening. He was staring out of the windshield with a look of awe and fear. The Doctor followed his gaze. A large group of men stood there, all armed with daggers and swords. Most sported at least one earring, and all looked like they wouldn’t mind killing a man in hand to hand fighting.
“Are they with you?” the Doctor asked.
Rose sat up slowly and looked outside. “What’s going on?”
“An alien invasion,” Harvey said in satisfaction. "Get out of the car.”
The Doctor sighed and carefully, soliticiously, helped Rose get out of the car. As much as he wanted to protest and try to do something, anything, he was all too aware that he was the only thing keeping Rose safe in this time.
“You all right?” he asked.
Rose started to nod and then thought better of it. “Yeah. Just a headache. Could have used a few air bags.”
Ignoring Harvey’s angry mutterings to hurry it along, the Doctor inspected her head.
“Doesn’t look too bad,” he told her. “I don’t think you’ll need stitches.”
Rose brushed her hair out of her eyes. “Well, that’s good.”
“Humans. Come this way.”
“Just a moment,” the Doctor said pleasantly.
“Now.”
“I’m taking care of my friend,” the Doctor said, much less pleasantly. “We’ll be along as soon as I’m finished.”
“We better go,” Rose murmured. “He looks a bit mean.”
“I can look mean, too.” The Doctor stepped forward, looking past Harvey to the group of men beyond. His face changed, so slightly that only Rose could tell. He had a look of surprise in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. Now the surprise changed to speculation.
They were in what looked like a large car park. Cabs were parked here and there, and Rose could just make out a sign for a cab company on a nearby building. All of Harvey’s alien invaders must be cab drivers like himself.
They looked like normal men to Rose. Dressed a bit odd, but this was the sixties. Her sense of fashion style was off by a few decades. She looked at the Doctor to see how she should react. If he was all frowny and forbidding, it was a signal for her to be on her guard. But he was staring at the aliens with a look of absolute delight, like he was enjoying himself hugely.
“So this is an alien invasion.” the Doctor announced.
“You heard right,” Harvey said.
The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets. “Might I ask why?”
“Why?” one of the large mass of men said furiously. “Because we’re tired of living the way we’ve been living, that’s why!”
“What way would that be?” Rose asked, moving to stand beside the Doctor.
“We came here to see the universe!” Harvey said. “Answered an ad for a job, decided to see what Earth was like.”
The Doctor was watching him closely. “From the Corubula galaxy, I’d guess?”
Harvey nodded. “Most of us.”
“The Corubulans have an excellent sense of direction,” the Doctor explained to Rose. “They never get lost. Never. Show them a map, just once, and they will never forget it.”
Rose eyed the fifty or so men who’d been prepared to invade Earth. “That doesn’t really explain the scarves on their heads and the black leather pants.”
“So all of you came here to drive cabs around London?” The Doctor didn’t sound too convinced. “That’s hardly a worthy job for people of your talents.”
“It was fun,” Harvey said. “We liked it.”
“Enough of that!” one of his fellows shouted. “Send them off the face of the Earth!”
“Can it, Steve!” Harvey shouted back. “We’ve been here for months now!” he explained to the Doctor. “Months! Haven’t had a holiday or even a day to ourselves!”
“And your idea of labor negotiations is to invade Earth?” the Doctor now sounded skeptical. “Bit of an overkill, isn’t it?”
“We want a holiday!”
“What are you doing?” a man screamed from off in the corner. Everyone turned to see a human male running over. “The phones are ringing off their hooks! Why are the cabs all parked on the lot?”
Harvey stood up straight. “I’m sorry, Mr. Totley, but we are not going to work any longer.”
Mr. Totley, a tall man with gray hair, a brown suit, and a very angry expression on his face, folded his arms and stared at Harvey. “If you don’t work, you lose your visa and get sent back home!”
“Visa?” the Doctor and Rose said in surprise.
“Since when do aliens get work visas?” Rose wanted to know.
“Not in my time when I was in this time,” the Doctor said back. “The idea.”
“You can’t send us back,” Harvey said triumphantly. “No one else will work for you since you hired outside the union.”
“There’s a union?” Rose could see why the Doctor might be enjoying himself. This was better than an episode of Eastenders.
This fact appeared to strike Mr. Totley rather forcibly. “I don’t care,” he blustered. “I’ll hire new aliens to drive the cabs! You can all return home! I’ll have a few things to say to your employment agency back there, I can tell you!”
“Hang on!” Rose said. “What’s so bad about them getting a holiday once in a while? Are you really such a bad employer?”
Mr. Totley turned to her. “The agreement was for constant work hours! They get their evenings off and a free Sunday once every eighteen months.”
“That’s not fair! No one can work like that!”
“That’s the agreement they all signed.”
“That was back when we thought Earth was just a backwater kind of place!” Steve exclaimed furiously. “How was we to know there was more to it? We want to see the places we’ve been driving by!”
His words let loose a torrent from the other drivers.
“Yeah, we’ve never seen anything but of London!’
“I want to go to Disney Land!”
“I want to see the Great Wall of China!”
“I’ve never been to Boston in the fall!”
“If that’s the problem,” the Doctor said, “why not just give them the time off? They get to stay and experience the, er, wonders of your beautiful planet. They’ll be rested and still work for you. Everyone is happy, and Earth avoids an alien invasion.”
He couldn’t help glancing around as he spoke. An alien invasion, even a small one like this, would mean UNIT, and the last thing he needed was for his former self to bump into his current self. That sort of encounter tended to be rather awkward.
“Who’ll drive my cabs if they’re all off on holiday?” Mr. Totley demanded.
“Well, they won’t all go at once, will they?” Rose said reasonably. “Make up a schedule.”
Mr. Totley didn’t look too happy. He glanced over at his employees, who were all glaring at him. They looked fairly angry and rather dangerous to Rose, and she waited expectantly.
Mr. Totley didn’t look too happy, but he nodded. ”Deal.”
The aliens erupted in cheers and applause.
The Doctor smiled at Rose. “I love a happy ending.”
Six
Authors: rosewarren and ladychi
Characters: Rose, Ten
Summary: AU. What if Rose had stayed through Doomsday and was the one to end up in 1969 with the Doctor?
Rating: PG
A/N: We had a bit of fun with this chapter. Bonus points if you catch the Veggie Tales reference!
~ One~ Two~ Three~ Four~
Harvey stared at them in the rearview mirror, squinting suspiciously.
“You think this is a joke?” he asked.
“Oh, no, far from it,” the Doctor said, clearing his throat and straightening his tie. “I assure you, we don’t think it’s a joke.” He glanced over at Rose. “Do we?”
“No,” Rose agreed. “No jokes. Definitely not.”
“See?” The Doctor smiled at Harvey as if that settled that.
“So, who are the superior alien forces?” Rose asked interestedly, leaning forward. “You and your friend?”
“More than just the two of you, I hope,” the Doctor added. “Earth’s rather a large planet.”
“Our forces will make your planet tremble.”
“That sounds very threatening, indeed,” the Doctor said calmly. “So what’s this condition red, then? Full alert, all forces march?”
Harvey started driving again, the taxi speeding through traffic with very little regard to pedestrians, lights and traffic laws. Rose glanced out the window, wondering how good London policemen in 1969 were at chasing down racing motorists.
“No need to rush,” the Doctor continued, also looking out the window. “I’m sure we’ll get there just fine at a normal rate of speed.”
Harvey sped up in response. There were no seatbelts in the back of the taxi, and Rose and the Doctor careened around, knocking into each other and then getting thrown back into separate corners.
“Slow down!” Rose managed to say. Harvey turned a corner, tires squealing. The resulting forces pitched Rose into the Doctor. The top of her head caught his chin, and he winced as he settled her more securely on his lap.
“Hang on!” he said into her hair, wrapping an arm around her.
It was hard to hold on where there was nothing to hold on to. Making the best of it, Rose rested against the Doctor, clutching his arms. She tried to see what was happening, but despite the way the Doctor braced his legs against the front seat and his free arm against the roof of the car, they continued to slide about.
“Talk about exciting!” Rose yelled as the Doctor caught her for the third time.
“You’re going to kill us before we get there, Harvey!” the Doctor yelled. “Slow down!”
Harvey showed no inclination to cooperate, only muttering, “Humans.”
It was a risk, releasing Rose, but the Doctor freed his hand to reach into his pocket for the sonic screwdriver. As he pulled it out of his coat Harvey took another sharp turn. Rose went flying to the other side of the car, hitting the back of her head on the window.
“Rose!” The Doctor aimed the sonic screwdriver at the dashboard and lunged for her. “Rose?”
“Ow,” Rose said.
The car came to a halt. “What did you do?” Harvey asked furiously. “The car won’t start!”
Rose blinked a few times. “Are we stopped?” she asked. “I’m still spinning.”
The Doctor gently touched her head. His fingers came away wet with blood. Rose wrinkled her face.
“Tell me that’s yours.”
The Doctor flung himself over the seat, landing next to Harvey and grabbing the car keys out of the ignition.
“That’s enough,” he said. “Get out of the car and-”
Harvey was not listening. He was staring out of the windshield with a look of awe and fear. The Doctor followed his gaze. A large group of men stood there, all armed with daggers and swords. Most sported at least one earring, and all looked like they wouldn’t mind killing a man in hand to hand fighting.
“Are they with you?” the Doctor asked.
Rose sat up slowly and looked outside. “What’s going on?”
“An alien invasion,” Harvey said in satisfaction. "Get out of the car.”
The Doctor sighed and carefully, soliticiously, helped Rose get out of the car. As much as he wanted to protest and try to do something, anything, he was all too aware that he was the only thing keeping Rose safe in this time.
“You all right?” he asked.
Rose started to nod and then thought better of it. “Yeah. Just a headache. Could have used a few air bags.”
Ignoring Harvey’s angry mutterings to hurry it along, the Doctor inspected her head.
“Doesn’t look too bad,” he told her. “I don’t think you’ll need stitches.”
Rose brushed her hair out of her eyes. “Well, that’s good.”
“Humans. Come this way.”
“Just a moment,” the Doctor said pleasantly.
“Now.”
“I’m taking care of my friend,” the Doctor said, much less pleasantly. “We’ll be along as soon as I’m finished.”
“We better go,” Rose murmured. “He looks a bit mean.”
“I can look mean, too.” The Doctor stepped forward, looking past Harvey to the group of men beyond. His face changed, so slightly that only Rose could tell. He had a look of surprise in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. Now the surprise changed to speculation.
They were in what looked like a large car park. Cabs were parked here and there, and Rose could just make out a sign for a cab company on a nearby building. All of Harvey’s alien invaders must be cab drivers like himself.
They looked like normal men to Rose. Dressed a bit odd, but this was the sixties. Her sense of fashion style was off by a few decades. She looked at the Doctor to see how she should react. If he was all frowny and forbidding, it was a signal for her to be on her guard. But he was staring at the aliens with a look of absolute delight, like he was enjoying himself hugely.
“So this is an alien invasion.” the Doctor announced.
“You heard right,” Harvey said.
The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets. “Might I ask why?”
“Why?” one of the large mass of men said furiously. “Because we’re tired of living the way we’ve been living, that’s why!”
“What way would that be?” Rose asked, moving to stand beside the Doctor.
“We came here to see the universe!” Harvey said. “Answered an ad for a job, decided to see what Earth was like.”
The Doctor was watching him closely. “From the Corubula galaxy, I’d guess?”
Harvey nodded. “Most of us.”
“The Corubulans have an excellent sense of direction,” the Doctor explained to Rose. “They never get lost. Never. Show them a map, just once, and they will never forget it.”
Rose eyed the fifty or so men who’d been prepared to invade Earth. “That doesn’t really explain the scarves on their heads and the black leather pants.”
“So all of you came here to drive cabs around London?” The Doctor didn’t sound too convinced. “That’s hardly a worthy job for people of your talents.”
“It was fun,” Harvey said. “We liked it.”
“Enough of that!” one of his fellows shouted. “Send them off the face of the Earth!”
“Can it, Steve!” Harvey shouted back. “We’ve been here for months now!” he explained to the Doctor. “Months! Haven’t had a holiday or even a day to ourselves!”
“And your idea of labor negotiations is to invade Earth?” the Doctor now sounded skeptical. “Bit of an overkill, isn’t it?”
“We want a holiday!”
“What are you doing?” a man screamed from off in the corner. Everyone turned to see a human male running over. “The phones are ringing off their hooks! Why are the cabs all parked on the lot?”
Harvey stood up straight. “I’m sorry, Mr. Totley, but we are not going to work any longer.”
Mr. Totley, a tall man with gray hair, a brown suit, and a very angry expression on his face, folded his arms and stared at Harvey. “If you don’t work, you lose your visa and get sent back home!”
“Visa?” the Doctor and Rose said in surprise.
“Since when do aliens get work visas?” Rose wanted to know.
“Not in my time when I was in this time,” the Doctor said back. “The idea.”
“You can’t send us back,” Harvey said triumphantly. “No one else will work for you since you hired outside the union.”
“There’s a union?” Rose could see why the Doctor might be enjoying himself. This was better than an episode of Eastenders.
This fact appeared to strike Mr. Totley rather forcibly. “I don’t care,” he blustered. “I’ll hire new aliens to drive the cabs! You can all return home! I’ll have a few things to say to your employment agency back there, I can tell you!”
“Hang on!” Rose said. “What’s so bad about them getting a holiday once in a while? Are you really such a bad employer?”
Mr. Totley turned to her. “The agreement was for constant work hours! They get their evenings off and a free Sunday once every eighteen months.”
“That’s not fair! No one can work like that!”
“That’s the agreement they all signed.”
“That was back when we thought Earth was just a backwater kind of place!” Steve exclaimed furiously. “How was we to know there was more to it? We want to see the places we’ve been driving by!”
His words let loose a torrent from the other drivers.
“Yeah, we’ve never seen anything but of London!’
“I want to go to Disney Land!”
“I want to see the Great Wall of China!”
“I’ve never been to Boston in the fall!”
“If that’s the problem,” the Doctor said, “why not just give them the time off? They get to stay and experience the, er, wonders of your beautiful planet. They’ll be rested and still work for you. Everyone is happy, and Earth avoids an alien invasion.”
He couldn’t help glancing around as he spoke. An alien invasion, even a small one like this, would mean UNIT, and the last thing he needed was for his former self to bump into his current self. That sort of encounter tended to be rather awkward.
“Who’ll drive my cabs if they’re all off on holiday?” Mr. Totley demanded.
“Well, they won’t all go at once, will they?” Rose said reasonably. “Make up a schedule.”
Mr. Totley didn’t look too happy. He glanced over at his employees, who were all glaring at him. They looked fairly angry and rather dangerous to Rose, and she waited expectantly.
Mr. Totley didn’t look too happy, but he nodded. ”Deal.”
The aliens erupted in cheers and applause.
The Doctor smiled at Rose. “I love a happy ending.”
Six