a/n: This was written for a picture prompt over at banana_crackeri at LJ by dear Dalekian Sister - Timelord1
Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from Doctor Who or any of the music referenced in this story.
Rose was bored waiting for the Doctor and Jack to get back from their trip to the alien market. As she sat on the pilot's chair paging through a magazine, she kept hearing the Doctor's explanation.
"No, you're not comin' with us this time. These people are conservative religious zealots and they'd take one look at you and lock you in the stockade. Jack and I are just gonna make a quick run, pick up a part and be right back. Now stay here. I mean it Rose, no wanderin off."
Rose had finally given in and here she sat waiting for them to get back. After several hours of waiting and dozing off, she'd had enough. She opened the door and found the Tardis sitting in a meadow just outside of a modern city that was strikingly similar to something that would be found on Earth with the exception of all the buildings being brightly colored. She went back inside, grabbed her red jacket and decided to walk toward the city.
She found a road which she followed hoping to find people so she could assess just how conservative they were. A hovering vehicle that looked like a mini bus stopped next to her and a yellow skinned man with long green hair stuck his head out. "Peace and love. Need a ride somewhere?" he said with a smile and a slightly dazed look in his eyes.
"Yeah, are you headin' into the city? My friends went to the market to buy some parts for our ship and I need to find them."
"Parts, groovy! Hop in the back!"
Rose walked to the back and two yellow skinned females with the same kind of green hair opened the back doors. They were dressed in colorful caftan-like dresses and had flowers or beads woven into their hair.
"Hi, I'm Summer!" one of the women greeted. The other girl identified herself as Rain. They helped Rose in the back where several more people were packed in playing musical instruments and singing "Hey Jude." Rose settled herself down next to Summer. By the time they reached the market, Rose had ascertained that the people on this planet were not in the least bit conservative and in fact were paying tribute to Earth, 1960s culture. She waved goodbye to her alien hippy friends and started investigating. Of course, it didn't take long. Plastered on a building was a poster with a picture of some hippified version of Jack.
"Blimey," Rose muttered and shook her head. "Don't wander off Rose. This planet's filled with religious zealots. Right, I'm the one they'll lock up in stockades," she said with sarcasm, as she went to the address listed on the poster. Luckily, it wasn't far. Rose walked into the dark, musty building that smelled of some kind of spicy incense.
"Peace and greetings," a young man with green hair down to his waist said. He was dressed in bell bottom jeans, a fringed buck skin vest, very worn sandals and a head band. He also had some kind of brown beads around his neck.
"Yeah, uh hello. My name's Rose and I'm lookin' for a couple of friends. You have my friend Jack's picture on your poster out on the street. Is he here?"
"Oh you mean Brother Blue. Yeah he's here meditating," he told her with a grin.
"Right, meditatin. Can I see him please?"
"Well, I dunno," he said, scratching his head.
Rose rolled her eyes and realized she was going to have to bring out the big guns. She unzipped her coat and pushed her bosom out and batted her eyelashes. "Oh pllleeasse! I so need to commune with 'im. It's like really important."
"Well, okay. I'm sure he'll be cool with it. Brother Blue is so in touch with his inner innerness."
"Course he is," Rose muttered, as she followed the young man who said his name was Sage and invited her to a concert later that day. She smiled sweetly and entered what she was told was the inner sanctum of peace. She tried not to roll her eyes at this. What she found stunned her.
There, sitting Indian style in the middle of the room surrounded by a bunch of young alien hippies who looked stoned out of their minds, was Jack Harkness. She stared at Jack sitting there rocking back in forth in the dark room filled with incense and she suspected some narcotic substance. He was dressed in ripped up old denim patched with a Union Jack, wearing converses, a head band and some weird long hair. He had a dopey grin on his face and his eyes looked unfocused.
"Jack?" she asked.
He turned to her and his eyes focused a bit more. "Rosie!" he shouted. "Peace, love and tranquility! Isn't life beautiful. The Tardis is beautiful and the Doc, he's beautiful too, even when he's all frowny faced. You know I love you, both of you and all you need is love!" he then started singing "California Dreaming."
Rose rubbed her face and looked back at him with that dopey grin on his face as he proclaimed his love for the universe and started signing more and loudly. The few people around him had smiles on their face and were staring at nothing in particular. She slowly made her way to him hopping and stepping over people. She knelt down in front of him.
"Jack!" she shouted several times.
Finally, he focused on her. "Rosie, come for a bit of lovin' from the Blue Man." He then proceeded to giggle.
Rose sighed. "Blimey Jack, what have you gotten into?" She gripped his face between her hands and leaned up close to him. "Listen Jack, I need you to focus. What happened to you and the Doctor?"
He started giggling again. Just as Rose was about to smack him, he stopped. "Jack, you and the Doctor came to the market to buy parts. What happened?" she asked again.
"Parts, yeah, parts are important. You know Rosie, you should burn your bra tonight at the bonfire. Everyone should be free and naked! Love, Peace and Freedom for all!" he almost shouted. Several of the passed out people around him sat up and shouted "Love, Peace and Freedom" and then passed out again.
Rose couldn't contain herself and slapped him. "Right, now what happened to the Doctor!" she insisted. He grinned at her like it was all a joke. "The brothers and sisters brought us here so we could share in the new awakening. You should try some Rosie. It's far out."
"Oh my Gawd! You're high. What was it? Did you drink or eat something?"
"Oh no, no, no. We go shot with the love gun," he said and grinned and started swaying back and forth singing some more.
Rose sat back and stared at him. "Love gun?" she said to herself. "I can't leave you two alone for a moment can I?" she said, shaking her head. "Right, I got to find the Doctor. I'll be right back okay, Jack?"
"Okay Rosie, then we can get naked and free!" Some of the others in the room shouted out "naked and free!" before collapsing. Rose just shook her head which was now firmly placed in her hands. She got up and starting exploring. She found another yong male alien whose name was Green that knew where the Doctor was. Of course, she had to play along and listen to him tell her how he wanted to take her skinny dipping in the fountain in the town square as part of a protest of the laws requiring clothing. She nodded politely and moved in the direction that he said the Old Star Dude was being kept to learn about inner love.
She reached an old wooden door which she opened and inside found the Doctor slumped over on the floor using his leather coat as a pillow. "Doctor!" she shouted and ran over to him. One blue eye popped open and looked at her. "Doctor, it's me, Rose. Are you okay?"
He turned over and a bright grin lit his face. Normally, Rose was a bit happy to see him smile but she had a sneaky suspicion he too was suffering from the Love Gun. "Doctor, please speak to me," she implored.
He sat up and was wobbling a bit. "Rose, Hello!" he said cheerily.
"Um, hi. So, you all right?"
"Oh I'm fine. Better than fine. I'm…..uh I'm a bird soarin' through the skies," he said and spread out his arms as if he was gliding.
Rose groaned. "Oh Doctor, I thought drugs didn't have any effect on you!"
"What? No, drugs don't hurt me. Time Lord me, superior biology and all. Rose, have I ever told you what a fantastic name that is. Roooossse. Roses are good. They smell nice and are pretty just like you."
"That's sweet and all but, Doctor we need to get you and Jack out of here and back to the Tardis so we can fix you."
"Fix me? Am I broken? Don't feel broken. Feel fantastic!"
"Doctor, you got shot with a Love Gun. You're not yourself and we need to undo whatever it did to you and Jack."
"Love Gun? Who told you that?"
"Jack. If there's no Love Gun, what happened then?" Rose asked, getting annoyed.
"Oh you know, a mood enhancing psychedelic blaster."
"Soooo, this mood enhancer whatsits, is it permanent?"
"Oh no, specially not for a Time Lord. Like some stupid primitive weapon could make me into some stoned out ape!" he insisted, some of the funky light leaving his eyes. Rose could see him starting to focus on her. "Rose, where are we?" he asked.
She smiled and ran up and hugged him. "Doctor, you okay now?"
"Told you superior biology. Now, where are we?" he told her as he grabbed his jacket.
"Best I can tell you and Jack were brought to some temple or something. Jack's in the next room over talkin' nonsense. Well, maybe not complete nonsense. I mean, he's always had a thing about bein' naked," she told him, as she led him from the room.
"What do mean naked?" he asked, as he looked at her from head to toe.
"Not me! Him and his followers. Now come on, we have to get him out of here." It didn't take long for them to find Jack and walk out of the temple. Of course, Jack insisted on babbling about peace, love and nakedness the whole way back to the Tardis much to Rose's amusement and the Doctor's annoyance. When they arrived, Jack collapsed onto the grating and started to sing again. The Doctor rolled his eyes and began inputting coordinates.
"So, you can fix Jack right?" Rose asked, as she watched Jack sway back and forth.
The Doctor sighed. "He'll come out of it on his own. It'll probably only be a few hours."
Rose turned to the Doctor. "We can't just leave 'im like this. It's just wrong and annoying."
The Doctor smiled at her. "Right, let's drag him back to the pool. The Tardis has the temperature turned down. A good icy shock should help speed up the process."
As they dragged Jack toward the pool, still singing, Rose asked the Doctor, "So, conservative culture and religious zealots?"
"Fine, I was off a bit. This is the era of free love."
"Right," Rose said, as Jack slumped down to the ground giggling. They picked him back up and continued on down the corridor. "And so you went shoppin' and got zapped 'cos why?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "We got caught up in some stupid protest. They started shooting people with the mood enhancer and Jack and I got caught in it. The protestors must have brought us back to their headquarters."
They reached the pool. "What now?" Rose asked.
"We toss him in."
Rose looked at the water. "He won't drown or anything? I mean he's a bit out of it."
"Trust me, he'll be fine. So, on a count of three," he told Rose.
"One," he said, as Jack starting spouting off about peace and love.
"two," Rose said and then they shouted "three" together and tossed him in. Jack came to the surface shouting "nakedness!" He looked at the Doctor and Rose. "What? What's going on? Why am I in the freezing water alone and wearing…." he stopped and looked up at them, a confused expression on his face. "completely unstylish clothing," he finished. Rose and the Doctor started laughing and left him in the icy water sputtering and wanting to know why he suddenly had long, ratty hair and a weird compulsion to sing California Dreamin.