New Fic Teaser! "Held in Trust"
Title: Held in Trust
Characters/Pairings: Duplicate Doctor/Rose, Alt!Donna, the Tyler clan, and lots of OC's.
Rating: Will vary by chapter. There will be occasional non-plot-essential somewhat-optional smut.
Genre: Much like its predecessor, I'll be all over the genre-map with this one as well.
Summary: An Alt!Ten, Rose and Alt!Donna Adventure!
Join our heroes as they investigate a mysterious man from the future, an apocalyptic death cult, and the wonders of the internal combustion engine.
A/N: Sequel to The One True Free Life. The wait is over, my friends! I'm posting this ficlet as a silly little teaser in preparation for inflicting Chapter 1 on the world in earnest later this week (or perhaps this weekend). I will say right now that there's no chance in hell that I'll keep up the chapter-a-day posting schedule that I did with the last one. That nearly broke me, as fun and interesting as it was to attempt.
"I think I've broken something?"
For Rose, the text message lighting up the faceplate of her mobile was a fantastic excuse to pretend that she'd received urgent business-related news requiring a high-powered corridor walk-and-talk. Anything to get her away from the torpor-inducing sales figures being broken down in every possible way (and a few ways she suspected were impossible) inside that purgatorial conference room.
Hitting the return-call button, she prepared herself to hear that the Doctor had disassembled the microwave but failed to be able to put it back together, or had been climbing up on to the kitchen counter again trying to reach a top shelf and dropped a vase. Her few really prized belongings were still in boxes sitting in the hallway, so it likely was not anything overly important. All the same, it would be nice to hear him apologise profusely and beg her forgiveness. That was always the harbinger of some fairly pleasant perks upon her return home.
He picked up his mobile immediately when she rang, but all she heard was heavy breathing. She looked at the screen to ensure that it indeed read "DOCTOR" and placed it to her ear again.
"Doctor? You texted?"
"Yes, well, you see, I...." She heard him take a short, sharp breath accompanied by an audible wince.
"You broke something."
"Maybe. I'm not sure."
From the Doctor's end of the line she thought she heard the sound of a car driving by, but that didn't really make much sense considering he was at home and (apparently) breaking things.
"How can you not know if you broke something?" Rose cast a glance through the conference room windows to see Pete giving her an impatient look over the hair-plugged, coiffed, or balding heads of the assembled Vitex executives. "I'm in a meeting, can this wait?" she added.
"Well, it's all purple and puffy and I don't think I can drive."
Rose blinked. "What?"
"What what?" the Doctor repeated, his voice breaking.
"What's all purple and puffy? Where are you?"
"My ankle, and Kent. I think I might have to pass out for a little bit now, but do you think you could come and get me? When you're done with your meeting?"
On the frantic drive to the lay-by in Kent that her sat-nav indicated, Rose went back and forth about a dozen times regarding the Doctor's last remark. Was he slagging her off for all the time she was spending at Vitex with Pete, or did he legitimately think that she'd wait until her meeting was over to fetch him to the hospital? If the former, it was infuriatingly passive-aggressive, though rather unlike him. He generally preferred to be aggressive-aggressive if there was need for it. If the latter...well, she didn't really know if she should be insulted or just chalk it up to the Doctor's tendency to simply say the first thing that popped in to his head. And was she actually parsing the exact phraseology of someone who was clearly experiencing intense pain? She added her own self-loathing to an increasingly complex pie chart of conflicting emotions.
When she found him, it was almost dark and he was laying down across the back seat of his Morris Minor, looking pale and sweaty despite the chill of October. He opened his mouth to speak when he saw her approach, but she shushed him immediately, caught as she was between fear and anger and a rising and shocking urge to mother.
"You can tell me later all about why you're in Kent instead of at home with your head stuck under the bonnet of someone's car," she said, climbing in to the driver's seat and trying to maintain an up-beat tone--perhaps more for convincing her own self that no one ever died of a broken ankle than making the Doctor himself feel any better. "And when you're done with that," she continued, jamming the car in to gear, "you can tell me about how you managed to do this." She waved her hand around in front of the rear-view mirror. "And then you can explain to me the thought process behind texting me for help instead of just calling like a normal person."
He smiled weakly. "Donna said you'd be cross."
"I'm not cross at all, don't be daft. That meeting was drier than dry toast and I was glad to be--hang on." She squinted at him through the mirror. "Exactly when did you have this heart-to-heart with Donna?"
"She also said you'd be cross if you knew that I called her first, but I told her. Donna, I said, Rose isn't like that. I said, we never argue." The Doctor was slurring his words from the endorphins, making the whole discussion sound like a bloke giving nonsensical excuses to his wife after coming home late from the pub.
"And what did Donna say to that?"
"She just laughed and hung up on me," he said, shrugging half-heartedly.
Rose merged the little car on to the motorway, careful to avoid any manoeuvres that would be too jarring, and thankful that the Doctor had paid so much careful attention to improving the suspension.
"Not long now, okay? Just remember, I know it hurts, but what's your name?"
He closed his eyes and pressed his cheek up against the cool glass of the back window, mumbling, "John Smith."
"And John Smith, what do you do for a living?"
"I'm an auto mechanic, and the devastatingly handsome boy-toy of Vitex heiress Rose Tyler. I may just be after her money, but I'll always swear that it was true love at first sight."
She knew he really must be feeling poorly from the way he failed to fully punch home the words devastatingly handsome boy-toy in the manner that he was generally accustomed.
(To Chapter 1: Half-Life)
Characters/Pairings: Duplicate Doctor/Rose, Alt!Donna, the Tyler clan, and lots of OC's.
Rating: Will vary by chapter. There will be occasional non-plot-essential somewhat-optional smut.
Genre: Much like its predecessor, I'll be all over the genre-map with this one as well.
Summary: An Alt!Ten, Rose and Alt!Donna Adventure!
Join our heroes as they investigate a mysterious man from the future, an apocalyptic death cult, and the wonders of the internal combustion engine.
A/N: Sequel to The One True Free Life. The wait is over, my friends! I'm posting this ficlet as a silly little teaser in preparation for inflicting Chapter 1 on the world in earnest later this week (or perhaps this weekend). I will say right now that there's no chance in hell that I'll keep up the chapter-a-day posting schedule that I did with the last one. That nearly broke me, as fun and interesting as it was to attempt.
"I think I've broken something?"
For Rose, the text message lighting up the faceplate of her mobile was a fantastic excuse to pretend that she'd received urgent business-related news requiring a high-powered corridor walk-and-talk. Anything to get her away from the torpor-inducing sales figures being broken down in every possible way (and a few ways she suspected were impossible) inside that purgatorial conference room.
Hitting the return-call button, she prepared herself to hear that the Doctor had disassembled the microwave but failed to be able to put it back together, or had been climbing up on to the kitchen counter again trying to reach a top shelf and dropped a vase. Her few really prized belongings were still in boxes sitting in the hallway, so it likely was not anything overly important. All the same, it would be nice to hear him apologise profusely and beg her forgiveness. That was always the harbinger of some fairly pleasant perks upon her return home.
He picked up his mobile immediately when she rang, but all she heard was heavy breathing. She looked at the screen to ensure that it indeed read "DOCTOR" and placed it to her ear again.
"Doctor? You texted?"
"Yes, well, you see, I...." She heard him take a short, sharp breath accompanied by an audible wince.
"You broke something."
"Maybe. I'm not sure."
From the Doctor's end of the line she thought she heard the sound of a car driving by, but that didn't really make much sense considering he was at home and (apparently) breaking things.
"How can you not know if you broke something?" Rose cast a glance through the conference room windows to see Pete giving her an impatient look over the hair-plugged, coiffed, or balding heads of the assembled Vitex executives. "I'm in a meeting, can this wait?" she added.
"Well, it's all purple and puffy and I don't think I can drive."
Rose blinked. "What?"
"What what?" the Doctor repeated, his voice breaking.
"What's all purple and puffy? Where are you?"
"My ankle, and Kent. I think I might have to pass out for a little bit now, but do you think you could come and get me? When you're done with your meeting?"
On the frantic drive to the lay-by in Kent that her sat-nav indicated, Rose went back and forth about a dozen times regarding the Doctor's last remark. Was he slagging her off for all the time she was spending at Vitex with Pete, or did he legitimately think that she'd wait until her meeting was over to fetch him to the hospital? If the former, it was infuriatingly passive-aggressive, though rather unlike him. He generally preferred to be aggressive-aggressive if there was need for it. If the latter...well, she didn't really know if she should be insulted or just chalk it up to the Doctor's tendency to simply say the first thing that popped in to his head. And was she actually parsing the exact phraseology of someone who was clearly experiencing intense pain? She added her own self-loathing to an increasingly complex pie chart of conflicting emotions.
When she found him, it was almost dark and he was laying down across the back seat of his Morris Minor, looking pale and sweaty despite the chill of October. He opened his mouth to speak when he saw her approach, but she shushed him immediately, caught as she was between fear and anger and a rising and shocking urge to mother.
"You can tell me later all about why you're in Kent instead of at home with your head stuck under the bonnet of someone's car," she said, climbing in to the driver's seat and trying to maintain an up-beat tone--perhaps more for convincing her own self that no one ever died of a broken ankle than making the Doctor himself feel any better. "And when you're done with that," she continued, jamming the car in to gear, "you can tell me about how you managed to do this." She waved her hand around in front of the rear-view mirror. "And then you can explain to me the thought process behind texting me for help instead of just calling like a normal person."
He smiled weakly. "Donna said you'd be cross."
"I'm not cross at all, don't be daft. That meeting was drier than dry toast and I was glad to be--hang on." She squinted at him through the mirror. "Exactly when did you have this heart-to-heart with Donna?"
"She also said you'd be cross if you knew that I called her first, but I told her. Donna, I said, Rose isn't like that. I said, we never argue." The Doctor was slurring his words from the endorphins, making the whole discussion sound like a bloke giving nonsensical excuses to his wife after coming home late from the pub.
"And what did Donna say to that?"
"She just laughed and hung up on me," he said, shrugging half-heartedly.
Rose merged the little car on to the motorway, careful to avoid any manoeuvres that would be too jarring, and thankful that the Doctor had paid so much careful attention to improving the suspension.
"Not long now, okay? Just remember, I know it hurts, but what's your name?"
He closed his eyes and pressed his cheek up against the cool glass of the back window, mumbling, "John Smith."
"And John Smith, what do you do for a living?"
"I'm an auto mechanic, and the devastatingly handsome boy-toy of Vitex heiress Rose Tyler. I may just be after her money, but I'll always swear that it was true love at first sight."
She knew he really must be feeling poorly from the way he failed to fully punch home the words devastatingly handsome boy-toy in the manner that he was generally accustomed.
(To Chapter 1: Half-Life)