The One True Free Life 7/26
Title: The One True Free Life (7/26)
Characters: Alt!Ten/Rose, and everyone else I can cram in to the Alt!Verse, plus several OCs
Rating: Teen
Spoilers: Everything
Disclaimer: It would be a very different, and possibly quite upsetting, world if I owned these characters. For the sake of the world's children, I don't.
This chapter is as of yet unbeta'd, so read at your own risk.
Summary: When Rose and Alt!Ten return to Pete's World, after a much longer absence than planned, they find that things have begun to go a bit pear-shaped there. Can Our Heroes save the British Republic while at the same time working out their own Byzantinely complicated personal issues?
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 | Chapter 25 | Chapter 26/ Epilogue | Whole story on Teaspoon
She tried to not sound like a nag. It was, after all, a genuine question. "Where have you been?" Rose winced at the sound of her own voice uttering those words, and to all people, this man. The actual answer to that question could take hundreds of years to answer, even with his lightning-fast gob.
"Sorry for that, but I didn't want to wake you. Gordon's just taken me to run some errands. Haven't we done, Gordon?"
"Aye," the old groundskeeper grunted as he washed the windows of the family sedan.
"You really shouldn't be going out and about too much until we can get you some paperwork. What if you get stopped?"
The Doctor shrugged. "I didn't drive, it shouldn't matter."
They entered the foyer together and were attacked by Tony running around with a model zeppelin in one tiny fist and a toy Sycorax ship in the other.
"It's a little different here, I'm afraid. You need your identification, even if you aren't driving. We'll get you some soon, don't worry, but until then let's stick close to home, yeah? We can go in to the village if there's something you need, but together. You shouldn't be out alone."
"I wasn't alone, I had Gordon." They'd moved in to the kitchen where he was fixing himself a glass of lemonade. "But I promise, next time you can come too." He bent down and kissed her on the cheek, placing a hand on her arm as he did so. With that charming look, she'd be lucky if she could ever stay mad at him for more than five minutes. She'd never been successful at it in the past, even when he'd acted like a right old arse and intentionally said hurtful things.
"Well, I'm glad you're back. Mum and Pete have gone to the shops. I think Pete fancies getting her something pretty as a welcome-back gift."
He took several long gulps of the lemonade before answering. "Aw, that's sweet." He looked at her appraisingly over the rim of his glass. "You okay, today?"
She glanced around to make sure that Tony and Deepa were not in the vicinity before she answered by putting her arms around his waist and pulling him in to an embrace. "I like being overwhelmed. I look forward to being overwhelmed many times again in the future."
He laughed, a single little hee, and bent down to kiss her, on her forehead this time, brushing a stray hair away with his free hand.
She'd already noticed that this Doctor also had a tough time remaining stationary for too long, and he began to fidget with his tumbler, swirling the ice cubes around and playing with them with his tongue until she let him free again and he was able to drift towards the door to the back patio.
She was about to join him when Lucy appeared in the kitchen, looking even more severe than usual with her greying blunt haircut and an armful of washing. "Someone's coming up the drive, miss."
"Mm," Rose replied in to her own glass of lemonade. "Just let whoever it is around back, thanks."
The Doctor was wandering about the formal garden, stooping here and there to inspect flowers and insects, making thoughtful faces while regarding the topiary. Rose enjoyed watching him, the novelty of this very normal, very domestic setting, and also of his new clothes (earth tones, she had insisted) keeping her very much entertained until a familiar voice sounded from around the side of the house.
"How dare you be back for so long and not ring!"
The Doctor stood up from where he'd been crouched over poking at a beetle with a stick and Rose ran over to meet the man who had appeared, embracing him enthusiastically.
"It's only been two days, I'm sorry! Things have been a bit hectic. I was going to ring though, I swear!"
They regarded each other now at arms length until the man noticed the Doctor striding over, at which point he completely dropped his hands from Rose's shoulders and stood with his jaw hanging open.
Half to Rose and half to himself he muttered, "Is that...that's not the Doctor. Is it? It can't be."
"Mister Jake! As I live and breathe!" The Doctor almost ran him over in his enthusiasm to shake hands and clap him on the back like a long lost war buddy. "Great to see you!"
"It's lovely to see..." He turned to Rose and stage-whispered, "What is he doing here?"
"Oi, I'm right here!" protested the Doctor. "No need to get all third-person on me."
Rose hastily interrupted and took Jake by the arm to lead him to the the patio. "It's a long story, and you wouldn't believe it even if I told you. Just don't ask any questions, yeah?"
The two sat in a couple of wrought-iron chairs, and the Doctor went and lay down in the grass nearby, hands behind his head, long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankle.
"Lucy?" Rose called in the direction of the house, hoping she'd hear through an open window. "You have to understand that it's only been a few days for me. I'm sorry I didn't ring, really. But with him here, things have been a little topsy-turvy, you know? Fancy a drink?"
"Love one," he said, but kept on looking at where the Doctor seemed to be dozing in the grass.
Lucy poked her head out the door.
"A couple of gin and tonics, Lucy, yeah? So, anyway, how's every little thing, eh?"
Jake brought his attention back to Rose. "Did Mickey...is he alright? Did he stay?"
Her features fell a bit. "Yeah. We met up with an old friend from their version of Torchwood. I reckon Mickey'll be a shoe-in there. They're good people, he'll be happy."
"When he told me he was thinking about it, I asked him why, but he never said."
Rose sighed and put her bare feet up on a nearby chair. "I just think he always felt like he was a Rickey replacement here, and it changed him. I'm not sure he really liked all of the ways that it did. But go on then, what's been going on at the office? Tell me everything."
Jake nibbled a bit on a nail before replying. "Well, I don't really know where to start. I don't see very many of our mates from the old team any more. We all got shifted on to different projects, and Director Alder seems quite keen on working us all in to early graves."
"More than that wanker Director Tyler did?" Rose hooted.
"Oh yeah. There's really not even any point in my going home any more. Not like I can tell you what I'm working on, now that you're a civilian." He looked a little wistful when he mentioned Rose's new status.
"So I really got sacked too? I just assumed so, but I haven't had the guts to call HR about it."
Jake pulled a folded up envelop out of his back pocket. "That's how come I got the time to drive out today. My friend in HR let me take the place of the messenger service they were going to send. Your severance package."
Rose set it aside, thinking it might be a bit tacky to look through it in front of him. "So what happened, after we left?"
Jake gave a little mordant chuckle. "Well, Pete went a little bonkers for a bit about your mum jumping in. No one got much sleep at all until we got the all clear from Astrophysics. But right after that, old Pete got the bum's rush and in marches Director Alder, glad-handing absolutely everyone, and next thing you know we're all reassigned and it's like he's keeping us apart on purpose. The project I'm on now, Lisa Penrey would be a huge help with, but every time I try to get Assistant Director Singh to get her reassigned, it goes nowhere."
They each grabbed a crystal highball glass off of the silver tray now laid on the table next to them and took a long thoughtful series of sips.
On the lawn, the Doctor watched butterflies dance in among the lavender, and calculated their trajectories while listening to Jake's tale of workplace woe. He worked out the ratio of the eye spots on the Common Blue, and wrote a little poem in his head, an ode to the Golden Mean. Sitting up on his elbows, he focused on just one, uncurling it's long tongue and drinking in the astringent-sweet nectar from each tiny little lavender flower, beating its wings slowly. Which wing beat would cause the weather to change in Singapore? Which would simply be just another nanosecond in one butterfly's life? The Doctor stretched his mind a little, like a child putting one toe in to hot bathwater. Which one? What tiny little event creates the storm that changes everything? It had once been so easy to see, and perhaps would be again if he practised.
"Ow!"
Rose whipped her head around to see the Doctor sitting bolt upright in the grass, rubbing his temples with his hands and squeezing his eyes shut. Slamming her drink back down on the table she raced over to him and knelt at his side.
"Are you okay? Did you get stung?" She moved her head down to try to see in to his eyes, which he was tentatively opening again.
"I think I...is this a headache? My god, how do you lot deal with this?"
Rose exhaled with relief. "Go on in and ask Lucy to get you an aspirin and have a bit of a lie down. I think you'll live." She took his arm and walked him in to the house, as he shielded his eyes from the late afternoon sun. "I'll come up and get you in time for tea. Lucy!"
"Ow!" he yelped again. "Keep your voice down!"
~o0o~
Rose peeped around the bedroom door, to see the curtains all drawn and the Doctor laying on top of the duvet with a damp flannel over his eyes. She tiptoed in and laid down next to him.
"Hey," she whispered.
"Mmm."
"You alright?" As she smoothed his hair back, he shifted a little and stretched his legs.
"I'm always alright," he mumbled.
"Pete and mum are back. You feeling up to some tea?"
He reached up and removed the flannel, rolling over to look at her. "In a few minutes." She started to roll off the bed again, but he caught her wrist. "Can you stay?"
"'Course." She settled back in next to him, letting him wrap an arm under her shoulders. "I'm afraid being human comes with some occupational hazards."
"I'll get used to it. It's a complex thing, this body. Still working out the kinks."
She giggled softly and he enjoyed the feel of her shaking with inappropriate mirth. "Kinks, Doctor?"
"You know what I mean. Time Lord mind, human body, it's a little bit fiddly." He curled his arm up to bring her in for a kiss.
"Yeah, but you just had a headache. That's one hundred percent human, that." She settled her head on his chest and listened to his single heart. "But I was wondering, are you just really clever full-stop, or can you still do all that other stuff?"
His face broke in to the same self-satisfied smile that it always did when someone mentioned his genius. "I'm more than just really clever, Rose Tyler."
She playfully smacked him on the chest. "All this and modesty too."
"Quite. But the thing is, I don't really know myself. Before we left Jack's world, it wasn't so different from before. I could sense things, he and I could be in each others heads."
"That must have been a bit odd."
"Mmm," he sighed. "Not really. I mean, no more odd than the whole situation. But since we've been back here, things have been different. Hard to say how."
She sat back up on her elbow and looked down on him. "Is it that the TARDIS is gone?"
He beetled his brow at the mention of his ship and chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. "No, I don't think so. I mean, it doesn't feel like that. It's hard to explain."
"Try me."
"Well, I feel like there's this wall that I keep running in to. All the timelines, all the other dimensions that I should be able to see, they're all behind it, and I can't find a way to get around it. If I'm honest, it's a little aggravating. I know it's all there, I can almost hear the humming of it, behind that wall."
Rose took a long breath and laid back down on his chest, and inexplicably began to sniffle. Before she knew it she had buried her head on his shoulder and was having a proper cry, and it felt magnificent. He wrapped his arms around her and cooed, smoothed her hair down, rocked her a little, brought the flannel back over from the night stand and handed it to her after a time. She sat up to wipe her eyes and rub the reddened tip of her nose.
"What's wrong?"
She couldn't suppress a shuddering laugh. "You're so different!"
His eyebrows arched up in to perfect little triangles. "Am I?"
"Oh god, yes."
"Is that okay?" He held his breath waiting for her answer.
"Yes."
He started breathing again. "Oh. Well, that's good."
She took his face in her hands and kissed his forehead, still wrinkled with worry. "It is very good." She swung her legs off the bed. "I'm going to freshen up, but tea in 15 minutes, alright? And we'll talk later about why you needed Gordon to take you to the Richmond tube station today." And she disappeared from the room before he could protest his innocence.
They didn't get to talk later, however. There wasn't much talking as they made love again, quietly and with less urgency, but much more comfortably in his bedroom. And there weren't many sounds in the house at all until the small hours of the morning when the old wooden front door began to shudder with a pounding knock.
The first voice they heard after that was Jackie's shrill protestations as she fumbled with her dressing gown and went bustling down the stairs. "Oi, use the bell for god's sake! Do you know what time it is?"
Rose and the Doctor were sitting up in bed, hastily searching for their various underthings and pyjamas when they heard the bolt slide open and Jackie beginning to bellow, "Hey! Who are-- What do you want? What are you doing here? Get your hands off me! Pete!"
(To Chapter 8)
Characters: Alt!Ten/Rose, and everyone else I can cram in to the Alt!Verse, plus several OCs
Rating: Teen
Spoilers: Everything
Disclaimer: It would be a very different, and possibly quite upsetting, world if I owned these characters. For the sake of the world's children, I don't.
This chapter is as of yet unbeta'd, so read at your own risk.
Summary: When Rose and Alt!Ten return to Pete's World, after a much longer absence than planned, they find that things have begun to go a bit pear-shaped there. Can Our Heroes save the British Republic while at the same time working out their own Byzantinely complicated personal issues?
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 | Chapter 25 | Chapter 26/ Epilogue | Whole story on Teaspoon
She tried to not sound like a nag. It was, after all, a genuine question. "Where have you been?" Rose winced at the sound of her own voice uttering those words, and to all people, this man. The actual answer to that question could take hundreds of years to answer, even with his lightning-fast gob.
"Sorry for that, but I didn't want to wake you. Gordon's just taken me to run some errands. Haven't we done, Gordon?"
"Aye," the old groundskeeper grunted as he washed the windows of the family sedan.
"You really shouldn't be going out and about too much until we can get you some paperwork. What if you get stopped?"
The Doctor shrugged. "I didn't drive, it shouldn't matter."
They entered the foyer together and were attacked by Tony running around with a model zeppelin in one tiny fist and a toy Sycorax ship in the other.
"It's a little different here, I'm afraid. You need your identification, even if you aren't driving. We'll get you some soon, don't worry, but until then let's stick close to home, yeah? We can go in to the village if there's something you need, but together. You shouldn't be out alone."
"I wasn't alone, I had Gordon." They'd moved in to the kitchen where he was fixing himself a glass of lemonade. "But I promise, next time you can come too." He bent down and kissed her on the cheek, placing a hand on her arm as he did so. With that charming look, she'd be lucky if she could ever stay mad at him for more than five minutes. She'd never been successful at it in the past, even when he'd acted like a right old arse and intentionally said hurtful things.
"Well, I'm glad you're back. Mum and Pete have gone to the shops. I think Pete fancies getting her something pretty as a welcome-back gift."
He took several long gulps of the lemonade before answering. "Aw, that's sweet." He looked at her appraisingly over the rim of his glass. "You okay, today?"
She glanced around to make sure that Tony and Deepa were not in the vicinity before she answered by putting her arms around his waist and pulling him in to an embrace. "I like being overwhelmed. I look forward to being overwhelmed many times again in the future."
He laughed, a single little hee, and bent down to kiss her, on her forehead this time, brushing a stray hair away with his free hand.
She'd already noticed that this Doctor also had a tough time remaining stationary for too long, and he began to fidget with his tumbler, swirling the ice cubes around and playing with them with his tongue until she let him free again and he was able to drift towards the door to the back patio.
She was about to join him when Lucy appeared in the kitchen, looking even more severe than usual with her greying blunt haircut and an armful of washing. "Someone's coming up the drive, miss."
"Mm," Rose replied in to her own glass of lemonade. "Just let whoever it is around back, thanks."
The Doctor was wandering about the formal garden, stooping here and there to inspect flowers and insects, making thoughtful faces while regarding the topiary. Rose enjoyed watching him, the novelty of this very normal, very domestic setting, and also of his new clothes (earth tones, she had insisted) keeping her very much entertained until a familiar voice sounded from around the side of the house.
"How dare you be back for so long and not ring!"
The Doctor stood up from where he'd been crouched over poking at a beetle with a stick and Rose ran over to meet the man who had appeared, embracing him enthusiastically.
"It's only been two days, I'm sorry! Things have been a bit hectic. I was going to ring though, I swear!"
They regarded each other now at arms length until the man noticed the Doctor striding over, at which point he completely dropped his hands from Rose's shoulders and stood with his jaw hanging open.
Half to Rose and half to himself he muttered, "Is that...that's not the Doctor. Is it? It can't be."
"Mister Jake! As I live and breathe!" The Doctor almost ran him over in his enthusiasm to shake hands and clap him on the back like a long lost war buddy. "Great to see you!"
"It's lovely to see..." He turned to Rose and stage-whispered, "What is he doing here?"
"Oi, I'm right here!" protested the Doctor. "No need to get all third-person on me."
Rose hastily interrupted and took Jake by the arm to lead him to the the patio. "It's a long story, and you wouldn't believe it even if I told you. Just don't ask any questions, yeah?"
The two sat in a couple of wrought-iron chairs, and the Doctor went and lay down in the grass nearby, hands behind his head, long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankle.
"Lucy?" Rose called in the direction of the house, hoping she'd hear through an open window. "You have to understand that it's only been a few days for me. I'm sorry I didn't ring, really. But with him here, things have been a little topsy-turvy, you know? Fancy a drink?"
"Love one," he said, but kept on looking at where the Doctor seemed to be dozing in the grass.
Lucy poked her head out the door.
"A couple of gin and tonics, Lucy, yeah? So, anyway, how's every little thing, eh?"
Jake brought his attention back to Rose. "Did Mickey...is he alright? Did he stay?"
Her features fell a bit. "Yeah. We met up with an old friend from their version of Torchwood. I reckon Mickey'll be a shoe-in there. They're good people, he'll be happy."
"When he told me he was thinking about it, I asked him why, but he never said."
Rose sighed and put her bare feet up on a nearby chair. "I just think he always felt like he was a Rickey replacement here, and it changed him. I'm not sure he really liked all of the ways that it did. But go on then, what's been going on at the office? Tell me everything."
Jake nibbled a bit on a nail before replying. "Well, I don't really know where to start. I don't see very many of our mates from the old team any more. We all got shifted on to different projects, and Director Alder seems quite keen on working us all in to early graves."
"More than that wanker Director Tyler did?" Rose hooted.
"Oh yeah. There's really not even any point in my going home any more. Not like I can tell you what I'm working on, now that you're a civilian." He looked a little wistful when he mentioned Rose's new status.
"So I really got sacked too? I just assumed so, but I haven't had the guts to call HR about it."
Jake pulled a folded up envelop out of his back pocket. "That's how come I got the time to drive out today. My friend in HR let me take the place of the messenger service they were going to send. Your severance package."
Rose set it aside, thinking it might be a bit tacky to look through it in front of him. "So what happened, after we left?"
Jake gave a little mordant chuckle. "Well, Pete went a little bonkers for a bit about your mum jumping in. No one got much sleep at all until we got the all clear from Astrophysics. But right after that, old Pete got the bum's rush and in marches Director Alder, glad-handing absolutely everyone, and next thing you know we're all reassigned and it's like he's keeping us apart on purpose. The project I'm on now, Lisa Penrey would be a huge help with, but every time I try to get Assistant Director Singh to get her reassigned, it goes nowhere."
They each grabbed a crystal highball glass off of the silver tray now laid on the table next to them and took a long thoughtful series of sips.
On the lawn, the Doctor watched butterflies dance in among the lavender, and calculated their trajectories while listening to Jake's tale of workplace woe. He worked out the ratio of the eye spots on the Common Blue, and wrote a little poem in his head, an ode to the Golden Mean. Sitting up on his elbows, he focused on just one, uncurling it's long tongue and drinking in the astringent-sweet nectar from each tiny little lavender flower, beating its wings slowly. Which wing beat would cause the weather to change in Singapore? Which would simply be just another nanosecond in one butterfly's life? The Doctor stretched his mind a little, like a child putting one toe in to hot bathwater. Which one? What tiny little event creates the storm that changes everything? It had once been so easy to see, and perhaps would be again if he practised.
"Ow!"
Rose whipped her head around to see the Doctor sitting bolt upright in the grass, rubbing his temples with his hands and squeezing his eyes shut. Slamming her drink back down on the table she raced over to him and knelt at his side.
"Are you okay? Did you get stung?" She moved her head down to try to see in to his eyes, which he was tentatively opening again.
"I think I...is this a headache? My god, how do you lot deal with this?"
Rose exhaled with relief. "Go on in and ask Lucy to get you an aspirin and have a bit of a lie down. I think you'll live." She took his arm and walked him in to the house, as he shielded his eyes from the late afternoon sun. "I'll come up and get you in time for tea. Lucy!"
"Ow!" he yelped again. "Keep your voice down!"
~o0o~
Rose peeped around the bedroom door, to see the curtains all drawn and the Doctor laying on top of the duvet with a damp flannel over his eyes. She tiptoed in and laid down next to him.
"Hey," she whispered.
"Mmm."
"You alright?" As she smoothed his hair back, he shifted a little and stretched his legs.
"I'm always alright," he mumbled.
"Pete and mum are back. You feeling up to some tea?"
He reached up and removed the flannel, rolling over to look at her. "In a few minutes." She started to roll off the bed again, but he caught her wrist. "Can you stay?"
"'Course." She settled back in next to him, letting him wrap an arm under her shoulders. "I'm afraid being human comes with some occupational hazards."
"I'll get used to it. It's a complex thing, this body. Still working out the kinks."
She giggled softly and he enjoyed the feel of her shaking with inappropriate mirth. "Kinks, Doctor?"
"You know what I mean. Time Lord mind, human body, it's a little bit fiddly." He curled his arm up to bring her in for a kiss.
"Yeah, but you just had a headache. That's one hundred percent human, that." She settled her head on his chest and listened to his single heart. "But I was wondering, are you just really clever full-stop, or can you still do all that other stuff?"
His face broke in to the same self-satisfied smile that it always did when someone mentioned his genius. "I'm more than just really clever, Rose Tyler."
She playfully smacked him on the chest. "All this and modesty too."
"Quite. But the thing is, I don't really know myself. Before we left Jack's world, it wasn't so different from before. I could sense things, he and I could be in each others heads."
"That must have been a bit odd."
"Mmm," he sighed. "Not really. I mean, no more odd than the whole situation. But since we've been back here, things have been different. Hard to say how."
She sat back up on her elbow and looked down on him. "Is it that the TARDIS is gone?"
He beetled his brow at the mention of his ship and chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. "No, I don't think so. I mean, it doesn't feel like that. It's hard to explain."
"Try me."
"Well, I feel like there's this wall that I keep running in to. All the timelines, all the other dimensions that I should be able to see, they're all behind it, and I can't find a way to get around it. If I'm honest, it's a little aggravating. I know it's all there, I can almost hear the humming of it, behind that wall."
Rose took a long breath and laid back down on his chest, and inexplicably began to sniffle. Before she knew it she had buried her head on his shoulder and was having a proper cry, and it felt magnificent. He wrapped his arms around her and cooed, smoothed her hair down, rocked her a little, brought the flannel back over from the night stand and handed it to her after a time. She sat up to wipe her eyes and rub the reddened tip of her nose.
"What's wrong?"
She couldn't suppress a shuddering laugh. "You're so different!"
His eyebrows arched up in to perfect little triangles. "Am I?"
"Oh god, yes."
"Is that okay?" He held his breath waiting for her answer.
"Yes."
He started breathing again. "Oh. Well, that's good."
She took his face in her hands and kissed his forehead, still wrinkled with worry. "It is very good." She swung her legs off the bed. "I'm going to freshen up, but tea in 15 minutes, alright? And we'll talk later about why you needed Gordon to take you to the Richmond tube station today." And she disappeared from the room before he could protest his innocence.
They didn't get to talk later, however. There wasn't much talking as they made love again, quietly and with less urgency, but much more comfortably in his bedroom. And there weren't many sounds in the house at all until the small hours of the morning when the old wooden front door began to shudder with a pounding knock.
The first voice they heard after that was Jackie's shrill protestations as she fumbled with her dressing gown and went bustling down the stairs. "Oi, use the bell for god's sake! Do you know what time it is?"
Rose and the Doctor were sitting up in bed, hastily searching for their various underthings and pyjamas when they heard the bolt slide open and Jackie beginning to bellow, "Hey! Who are-- What do you want? What are you doing here? Get your hands off me! Pete!"
(To Chapter 8)