PART ONE: SEVEN DAYS

A/N: Right, just an idea I had- this is a bit of an in between story, for those who like 'Her' and have nothing to read until the sequel (which will be out once this is finished, hopefully).

Disclaimer: For Seven Days (entire saga): If I was the writer(s) of Doctor Who, River Song wouldn't exist- it isn't my fault, I hate the woman- not the actress (well, maybe a little bit) - don't know why, I just do; it's going to kill me when she's in it again. Anyway- don't own anything but a bizarre sense of dry humour.

Summary: The Doctor has just made the biggest mistake of his rather long life- he's put Rose Tyler in charge of location for a week-in which she decides where they go; seven days, seven locations, seven opportunities for everything to go completely, utterly wrong..

Prologue

The TARDIS whirred and hummed as the brown-suited man leapt around the console in the centre, clicking buttons and flicking switches in what appeared to be disorganized madness.

"Right, just get us stabilised…" He muttered to himself, and yanked hard on the black handle protruding from the mushroom-shaped thing in the middle of the huge, whirring room. The TARDIS lurched heavily side-ways; the man gave a whoop of delight as he was sent careening crazily over the console.

He righted himself and turned to his companion, a pretty, blonde girl in her early twenties, grinning loonishly. "We're stabilised." He frowned. "What're you doing down there?" he studied Rose intently, as if trying to work out why she was sprawled on the floor in a helpless heap.

"Ugh- don't you have to take a test or something; getting TARDIS-driving qualifications?" Rose asked as she pulled herself from the floor, groaning at the new bruises.

"Yes, and I failed dramatically." The Doctor seemed to take great pleasure in the fact, as his insane smile didn't waver. Rose shook her head at his back, unable to remember how she'd managed to get wound up with such a man as the Doctor.

"Right-ho. Where to, Miss Tyler?" He asked, twiddling with several more buttons as she deliberated. There was a hoarse conking noise, almost like a strangled duck, and the Doctor glared at the console, muttered and annoyed, "Behave" and whacked a flat grey button near his hand that was emitting a high keening sound-with a hammer that Rose had never seen before. Before she had time to ask, the Doctor had his glasses on and was studying something on the screen intently. He smiled appreciatively, and turned back to Rose. He flashed a grin. "We're in the Goranii system- lovely place, you'll like it here. They've got an entire planet devoted to cushions."

"Are you serious?" Rose asked, her face bright.

"Weeelll, it's more of a star really- or one of those little planets that orbit moons. Tiny really- only a few miles in diameter- still, best place to get cushions from. Do you need any cushions, by the way?" He looked at her sideways, as if he really expected her to answer.

"Um… not really. D'you?" She asked innocently- she knew from past experiences, the Doctor was not one of the dying breed that was a tat-lover; Jackie had loved those little boxes that you couldn't use for anything, those silly little cushions that were obviously not big enough for sleeping on- Rose never did, but being surrounded by the needless things since she could remember had left her feeling a little lost in places that were noticeably tat-less. So living in the TARDIS had been a mixture of things- glad to be away from unnecessary stuff, but at the same time, also strangely missing them.

"Helllooo in there," Rose was wrenched from her reverie by the Doctor's call, and was startled to realise that her nose almost touching his. She jumped backwards, almost falling over again, but was pulled up by her companion before she could hit the floor.

"Steady on Tyler- what you been drinking?" he asked as she steadied herself. He smiled and turned back to the console, which was purring contently as it drifted through the Time Vortex. He flicked several more switches- probably more for something to do, rather than the TARDIS actually needing it, Rose thought as she watched him. The Doctor seemed a little lost when his beloved ship didn't need him to do anything- almost like a kid who'd had their favourite toy taken away.

"So… Paddy?" He asked, his attention fixing on Rose once more. She looked at him blankly. "You know- the cushions?" He prompted. She frowned in realisation. "Why Paddy?" she asked curiously, making the Doctor grimace.

"I could say because that's the local nickname- which it is- but I just really can't be bothered with saying Paddina Galactrix Nine-point-one Regency Seven of the Eighth Satellite in the Goranii region." He said it so casually, it made Rose laugh through her taken-aback silence. One brown eyebrow rose in question to her laughter, almost disappearing in the flop of spiky brown hair.

"How to even remember that?" Rose asked, still half-laughing to herself. He blinked at her from under his eyelashes and shrugged nonchalantly. "It's actually longer than that in the native tongue- about fourteen words long- so call me a lazy fool, but it's just so much easier to say Paddy. Sounds cooler too."

"Oh you modern man." Rose said, mock-seriously. The Doctor shrugged vainly.

"What can I say? I'm down with the kids, me."

***

"Look, I'm sorry."

"No you're not- I can hear you laughing." Rose shouted at him as he tried- and failed- to suppress the laughs that he was fighting against so badly. In a way, she couldn't really blame him- if it wasn't her that it had happened to, she knew that she'd be laughing her head off too. But it wasn't someone else, it was her- and she wasn't happy.

"Aw, come on Rose it's not that bad- and how was I supposed to know the Paddy's would throw a paddy about humans?" He called through the TARDIS door- the irony that she'd locked him out of his own ship was rather funny, even though he could get in whenever he wanted, whether she'd locked the door or not- but Rose didn't know that. He heard her shriek with frustration.

"This totally, utterly, one-hundred-percent your fault, Doctor." She yelled, her voice muffled by the wooden door between them.

"I'm very very very sorry." He called in his most serious tone. "Now, please let me in and I can help you get them off."

"They'll never come off!" Rose wailed gloomily. "I'm going to look like this forever!"

Typical human, the Doctor thought to himself. Beaten before she'd even started. "They will come off, I promise- I've some stuff that might help in one of the cupboards."

"You promise?" Rose reply was tiny, as if all the shouting had made her exhausted. The Doctor nodded to the TARDIS door and held a hand up.

"Scout's honour." He said in his most sincere voice.

"You were never in the scouts, Doctor."

"So? I've still got honour- now come on, open the door."

There was a creak as the door was open, and a ball of white feathers and sticky blue stuff stood in the doorway. Rose's eyes peeped out from the feathers, glaring at him, daring him to even squeak at her appearance.

"Don't you dare laugh." Rose warned, seeing the beginnings of a smile curling the edges of the Doctor's lips. Instead, he slipped past- careful not to get any of the sticky blue substance coating Rose on him-and starting rummaging around for the stuff that would help get the feathers off of Rose.

***

"See?" the Doctor said as he pulled the last feather from Rose's hair. "You are featherless once more." It had taken the Doctor an hour, most of the vile-smelling green liquid from the cupboard and a lot of whining on Rose's part to get all the feathers off her, but she was still covered in the viscous, electric blue syrup that the people of Paddy had thrown at her. It seemed that the Paddy folk didn't take kindly to humans; upon hearing that Rose was from Earth, they had promptly turned from gentle, smiling people into a raging mob, who'd chased the Doctor and Rose with a adornment of make-shift weapons, finally cornering them in a street and tipped a vat of the blue stuff over Rose's head, covering her in syrupy blue slime from head to foot. She had then had tons of white feathers thrown at her, which stuck immediately to the blue stuff- to make matters worse; the syrupy stuff had hardened on her clothes and skin, making it impossible to get off. The overall effect had been that she'd looked rather like an overgrown chicken- which she hadn't liked one bit.

Thankfully, the Doctor was prepared for everything- or rather, the TARDIS was- and they had been able to re-liquefy the solution and get the feathers off. Now all she had to do was hop into one of the many showers the TARDIS had and clean the slime off- she didn't think her clothes could be saved though, not after being subjected to the stuff that the Doctor had used- it had mostly dissolved her clothes, and the remaining cloth was in tatters and bleached a colourless grey.

And she really had liked that shirt.

***

"Right, where next?" he asked as Rose returned from her shower, now slime-free and in new clothes. He caught her look and stopped flicking buttons to face her.

"What?" Rose said nothing, only crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. The Doctor looked sheepish. "Look, I really didn't know they'd do that"-

"Oh it's alright, I'm not too bothered about that now- I was more concerned about getting the slime off than anything else. Just never ever take me there again." Rose smiled, and then frowned. "Is time-travel always like this, or is it just because I'm travelling with you?"

"Like what?" the Doctor seemed genuinely bemused at her question.

"Like being chased by angry mobs, having to run for your life every time we step out of those doors- you know, that what. Or is it just your influence that means I've had constant blisters for the last two years?"

The Doctor seemed quite taken-aback by Rose's sarcastic ponderings, and he didn't answer for a bit. "Do you not like travelling with me?" he asked after a minute. "If you'd rather go home"-

"No!" Rose half-shrieked, the rising panic making her voice high; she couldn't go back to her dreary life she'd had in the Powell estate, not now, after everything she'd seen. "I mean, no- I love travelling with you, it's just… you seem to have a radar for trouble."

"What's that supposed to mean?" the Doctor was suddenly defensive, as if she'd told him the TARDIS was boring. "Is my travelling expertise not good enough for you?"

Rose was suddenly taken over by the urge to stick her tongue out at the Doctor, just to see his surprised expression. "No, it's fine…" she sniffed pompously, making a hint of contest leap into the Doctor's eyes.

"And you think you could do better, Tyler?"

Rose's competitive side recognised the challenge and yearned to accept it. "I couldn't do worse." She retorted. The Doctor's eyes narrowed.

"Alright, fine! Rose Tyler, for the next seven days, YOU decide where we go. And then you can blame yourself if we get chased or attacked." The Doctor snapped, but Rose could see he was liking the contest just as much as she did. Rose smirked at him.

The next week was going to be so much fun.

A/N: Ah, rather longer than I intended for the prologue-much longer than I intended actually. Sorry about that- story of my entire writing career. Still, what can you do? Review?… it would be nice to have some- I can't remember my last review! (Pitiful sniff)