By Any Other Name Would Smell As Sweet
Disclaimer - anything you recognise is owned by the BBC.
"Wilson, Wilson, are you there?" calls out Rose. "I've got the lottery money. I can't hang about; they're closing the shop."
A clattering sound causes Rose to turn and investigate; entering a nearby storeroom. The door closes with a bang. It won't open.
"You've got to be kidding me," Rose mutters to herself. "Is somebody mucking about?" A store dummy suddenly starts moving towards her.
"Ha-ha very funny. Derek is this you?" More dummies begin to move. Rose backs away until she hits a wall and can't go any further. The dummies are closing in around her and she feels afraid even though she's sure it must just be Derek having a laugh. A hand closes around her wrist.
"Run." Rose doesn't recognise the voice. She runs anyway. She doesn't really have much choice. The hand around her wrist is dragging her with it. The hand is attached to a man in jeans, t-shirt and a leather jacket.
The man pulls her into a service lift and tries to close the door but the dummy closest to them puts its arm in the way. The man lets go of Rose and begins tugging at the arm. It suddenly comes off and the doors of the lift close.
"You pulled his arm off!" Rose accuses the stranger.
"I did. It's plastic see." The man holds the arm out to her and Rose takes it, realising it really is plastic.
"Neat trick. Who were that lot then? Students?"
"Why would they be students?" the man asks.
"Well I don't know," retorts Rose.
"You said it," points out the man.
"Well, that many people all dressed up and being silly. Got to be students, hasn't it?"
"Good thinking. They're not students."
"Well, whoever they are, when Wilson finds them he'll call the police," asserts Rose.
"Who's Wilson?" the man asks as they leave the lift and enter the street.
"Chief electrician," responds Rose.
"Wilson's dead," the man states, pulling a strange stick out of his pocket.
"That's not funny; it's sick," replies Rose. The stranger ignores her and points his stick at the lift. It makes a noise for a moment then the man turns back to Rose.
"I've had enough of this," declares Rose. "Who are you? Who are that lot downstairs? What on earth is going on here?"
"They are living plastic," replies the stranger with a serious expression on his face.. They're being controlled by a device on the roof that I'm going to go and blow up. You should go home and have dinner. Oh and don't ever tell anyone about this unless you want to get them killed." Thus saying the man walks back into Hendricks and closes the door behind himself. Rose is about to walk away when the door opens again and the man leans out.
"Oh and by the way, I'm the Doctor. What's your name?"
"Rose," she replies, not entirely sure why she's telling someone who's clearly mad her name.
"Nice to meet you Rose," says the madman. "Run for your life." She isn't sure why she obeys him but she does. Hendricks explodes behind her when she reaches the other side of the road.
She's at home later that evening with her mum fussing about and gossiping over the phone about the Hendricks explosion. The door of the flat opens to reveal Rose's boyfriend Mickey. Like her mum, Mikey fusses over Rose before offering to take her to the pub. Rose, suspecting her boyfriend has ulterior motives and not really being in the mood to go out, suggests Mikey go by himself and catch the end of the footie. She'd bought home the plastic arm and asks Mikey to get rid of it on his way out. Mikey jokes about, pretending the arm's strangling him, before kissing Rose and heading out.
Rose's mum is still fussing about Rose's job the next morning. Rose, tuning her mum out with the ease of long practice, suddenly realises the cat flap is jiggling.
"Mum you're such a liar. You said you nailed the cat flap down. We're gonna get strays."
"I did it weeks back," argues her mum.
"No, you thought about it," counters Rose, heading towards the front door. There are four screws lying on the floor next to the door. The cat flap moves. Rose bends down and looks through the cat flap. Staring back at her is the madman from the previous day who called himself the Doctor. Rose stands up and opens the door.
"What are you doing here?" asks the crazy doctor.
"I live here," replies Rose with no little exasperation.
"Cos I do." Rose can't decide whether she should slam the door in the guy's face or drag him inside to get answers. "I'm only home cos someone blew up my job."
"I must have got the wrong signal," says the Doctor. "You're not plastic, are you?"
"Oi doctor! Have you found it yet?" A male voice calls down the corridor. Apparently the Doctor isn't alone this time.
"No, I got the wrong signal. Found the girl from the shop instead," the Doctor calls back to his companion. A man appears and joins them.
"Hello, I'm Ian," he says and holds out his hand to shake Rose's.
"Rose," she replies as she shakes Ian's hand.
"Come on Ian, we should go," the Doctor begins but Rose has no intention of letting them go. She wants to know what's going on.
"You two. Inside. Right now." Rose grabs the Doctor's arm and drags him into the flat. As she predicted, Ian follows the Doctor inside.
"Who is it?" Jackie Tyler's voice floats down the corridor from her bedroom.
"It's about last night" calls back Rose. "They're part of the inquiry. Give us ten minutes." Rose leads the two men towards the flat's sitting room. They pass Jackie's bedroom on the way. Her door is open.
"She deserves compensation," Jackie speaks just as the two men pass her open door. Both pause by the doorway for a moment. Jackie attempts to flirt with the two men but neither of them responds. Ian reveals that he is married.
"Don't mind the mess," Rose says as the two men enter the sitting room. "Do you want a coffee?"
"Might as well," replies the Doctor. "Milk, no sugar please."
Ian also says yes to coffee but has his black and sweet. Rose goes into the kitchen and gets out a jar of instant coffee. She flicks on the kettle then grabs a teaspoon and spoons some of the instant coffee into three mugs. When the coffee is ready, Rose returns to the sitting room to find the Doctor and Ian messing about with the plastic arm.
"You men are all the same," she grumbles. "I told Mikey to throw that out. Anyway, I don't actually know your name. Doctor, what was it?" Suddenly, Ian and the Doctor let go of the arm and it sails through the arm landing on Rose's head. It grabs her face as if it were alive. The doctor points his strange stick at the arm and it lets go of Rose. Ian grabs it and the Doctor uses his stick to stop the arm doing whatever it is it is doing.
"There you go. Armless," pronounces the Doctor.
"Do you think?" asks Rose, grabbing the arm from Ian and swatting the Doctor over the head with it. The Doctor looks annoyed, grabs Ian's arm and starts dragging him out of the flat. Rose catches up with the two men on the staircase.
"Hold on a minute. You haven't explained what's going on yet! You can't just go swanning off!" Rose attempts to get past the men so she can block them.
"Yes we can. This is us, swanning off. See you." The Doctor has a longer stride than Rose. It's not hard for him to keep ahead of her.
"But that thing tried to kill me!" exclaims Rose.
"Ten out of Ten for observation," sasses the Doctor. Ian rolled his eyes at the Doctor but refrained from commenting.
"You can't walk away. That's not fair. You've got to tell me what's going on," persists Rose in annoyance.
"No I don't," retorts the Doctor.
"I'll go to the police then," Rose decides. "You said if I told anyone about this they would die. So if I tell the police people start dying and it'll be your fault."
"Is that supposed to sound tough?" The Doctor seems amused.
"Sort of," Rose mumbles.
"It doesn't work," the Doctor informs her, a smirk crossing his lips. Rose purses her lips in frustration.
"Who are you?"
"I told you. I'm the Doctor."
"Yeah, but Doctor what?"
"Just the Doctor."
"The Doctor."
"The original one apparently," mutters Ian.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rose isn't entirely sure Ian meant her to hear him but she has sharp ears. Neither of the men answer her so Rose decides to try a different line of questioning.
"How come those plastic things keep coming after me?"
"They're not after you. They're after me. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," the Doctor tells her.
"Why was it after you then?" questions Rose, her curiosity beginning to overwhelm her. The Doctor is very good at giving half-answers and evasions and Ian has yet to say much of anything.
"Because I'm trying to stop it," the Doctor says.
"We're trying to stop it," puts in Ian.
"Just the two of you?" probes Rose.
"At the moment. The rest of our team is back on the ship," Ian explains. Rose wonders briefly what sort of boat they have and how big the team is before deciding it doesn't really matter.
"okay, can we start at the beginning please? What is happening and how did you stop that thing?" Rose puts her request to Ian but it's the Doctor who replies.
"I cut off the signal that was controlling the plastic and bringing the arm to life."
"So it's some kind of radio control?"
"Thought control," counters the Doctor.
"But who's controlling it?"
"Long story," the Doctor attempts to brush Rose off again. Rose isn't having any of it.
"But why shop window dummies? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?"
"No, this isn't a price war," says Ian apparently thinking he's funny.
"They want to take over the human race and destroy you," continues the Doctor.
"Do you believe us?" Ian asks. Rose knows her doubt must be showing on her face.
"No."
"You're still listening though," points out the Doctor.
"Really though Doctor. Can't you just tell me who you are?" Rose is sure she sounds like she's begging at this point but she doesn't really care.
"I'm nobody. We're nobody." The Doctor indicates himself and Ian. "Go home Rose Tyler and forget about us." The two men turn and walk away, taking the plastic arm with them. Rose turns and is about to go home when she hears a peculiar sound. Quickly the blonde girl turns back but the Doctor and his companion are gone.
Curiosity not satisfied, Rose turns and heads to her boyfriend's flat instead of her own. Mikey had given Rose a key ages ago so she lets herself in. He's pleased to see her and offers her a coffee. Rose, who never got round to drinking the coffee she'd made at home, accepts on the proviso that Mikey wash, and not just rinse, the mug first. Then she asks Mikey if she can use the computer.
That was her purpose in coming here after all.
"Any excuse to get in the bedroom," Mikey jokes and gives his permission. It takes a while to find what she wants but eventually Rose comes across a site that seems helpful. She calls the number provided on the site and speaks to the site's creator. Clive, the chap she speaks to, suggests she visit his house so they can talk face-to-face.
"I have a wife and kids," Clive adds to reassure Rose that he's not a psychopath. Rose agrees to meet and Mikey drives her over to Clive's house. He wants to go in but Rose won't let him. She repeats what Clive said about having a wife and kids but Mikey isn't convinced.
Rose leaves her boyfriend sulking in his car and goes up to the house. She rings the doorbell and the door is opened by a boy of about fourteen.
"Hello. I've come to see Clive about his website," Rose tells the boy.
"Dad! It's one of your nutters," the boy calls into the house. Clive comes to the door.
"Hello, you must be Rose. I'm Clive obviously." Clive shakes her hand and Rose returns his greeting making a joke about Mikey waiting for her in the car.
"Who is it love?" A female voice comes from upstairs, clearly belonging to Clive's wife.
"She's here about the Doctor. She's been reading the website," Clive tells the woman.
"She's been reading the website? She's a she?" Clive's wife sounds rather bemused.
Clive leads Rose out to a shed in the back garden, explaining that this is where he keeps all his information on the Doctor, and his companions.
"A lot of this stuff's quite sensitive. I couldn't just send it to you. People might intercept it, if you know what I mean. But if you dig deep enough and keep a lively mind, this Doctor keeps cropping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspiracy theories, even ghost stories. No first name, no last name, just the Doctor. Always The Doctor. And the title seems to have been passed down from father to son. It appears to be an inheritance. That's your Doctor there, isn't it?"
"Yeah," confirms Rose. Clive nods.
"I tracked it down to the Washington public archive just last year. The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original…" Clive trails off as he finds the original picture and shows it to Rose. The picture shows Kennedy's cortege going through Dallas. The Doctor is just one face in the crowd.
"November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy. You see?"
"It must be his father." Either that or the man's a vampire. Or a time traveller. Rose dismisses both these ideas as ridiculous.
"Going further back," begins Clive bringing up a black and white photograph of an Edwardian family. "April 1912. This is a photo of the Daniels family of Southampton, and friend. This was taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World on the Titanic, and for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. And here we are." Clive pulls up another picture; this one hand drawn. "1883. Another Doctor. And look, the same lineage. It's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He brings the storm in his wake and he has one constant companion."
"Who's that?" asks Rose, wondering if Clive means Ian.
"Death," Clive states dramatically. "There are others too," he adds. "A group of people who turn up at different times, with different Doctors. Finding out anything about them is even more difficult than finding out about the Doctor." Clive shakes himself as if coming out of a trance and turns to Rose his eyes serious. "If the Doctor's back, if you've seen him, Rose, then one thing's for certain. We're all in danger. If he's singled you out, if the Doctor's making house calls, then God help you."
"But who is he? Who do you think he is?" questions Rose.
"I think he's the same man," Clive tells her. "I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world." Rose thanks Clive for his time and decides to get out of there. She was now convinced Clive was just plain crazy.
Rose climbs back into Mikey's car, laughing about Clive being a nutter. She suggests going to get pizza and Mikey obviously likes the suggestion. He drives to the nearest pizza place and they sit down and order. Whilst they're waiting for their pizza, Rose starts talking about what she could do, now that she doesn't have a job. She asks Mikey for his opinion.
"So, where did you meet this Doctor?" Mikey asks her, ignoring the question she had just asked him.
"I'm sorry, wasn't I talking about me for a second?" Rose retaliates. Mikey keeps asking about the Doctor, which frustrates Rose who doesn't want to talk about him anymore. Mikey persists. Suddenly he starts calling Rose by a whole list of pet names like 'sugar', 'sweetheart' and 'babe'.
"What're you doing that for?" queries Rose.
"Your champagne," a waiter says showing the couple a bottle.
"We didn't order any champagne," Mikey tells the waiter. "Where's the Doctor?" he asks Rose.
"Madam, your champagne." The waiter tries to give Rose the champagne instead.
"It's not ours," Rose says to the waiter before addressing her boyfriend who is acting very oddly. "Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?"
"I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?" Mikey sounds angry.
"Doesn't anybody want this champagne?" asks the rather pushy waiter.
"Look, we didn't order it," states Mikey looking up at the waiter for the first time. "Gotcha."
The waiter, who turns out to actually be the Doctor, starts shaking the bottle vigorously.
"Don't mind me," he says. "I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!" The Doctor opens the bottle and the corks flies into Mickey's forehead. Rose, seeing what just happens realises this isn't actually Mickey. It is a plastic imposter. The imposter Mickey spits out the cork. His hand changes into a weapon. Rose screams and jumps up from the table just as Mickey chops it with his former hand. The Doctor jumps forward and pulls off the imposter Mickey's head. Screams spread through the restaurant.
"Don't think that's going to stop me," the plastic head says.
(The body gets up and starts flailing around. Rose sets off the fire alarm.)
Rose starts yelling for everyone to get out. Rose and the Doctor escape through the kitchens carrying the head. Once they're outside the Doctor uses his stick thing to seal the exit shut. Rose runs to the gates at the end of the alley but they're padlocked shut.
"Open the gate!" she calls to the Doctor. "Use that stick thing. Come on!"
"It's a sonic screwdriver," he tells her, making no move to open the gate.
"Use it!" yells Rose who really couldn't care less what the thing is called at that moment in time.
"Nah," replies the Doctor. "Tell you what, let's go in here." The Doctor points at an old fashioned Police Box that just seems to be randomly in the middle of the locked alleyway. The Plastic Imposter Mickey is leaving indents in the door as it attempts to bash it down.
"We can't hide inside a wooden box. It's going to get us! Doctor!" The doctor uses a key to unlock the box and steps inside whilst Rose tugs desperately at the padlocks on the gates. Giving up Rose runs and enters the box. She takes one look, steps outside again and runs around the box. From the outside, it seems perfectly normal.
Imposter Mickey smashes through the metal kitchen doors and Rose makes up her mind. Two steps take her back inside the box. The box is bigger on the inside and it's full of people.
"It's going to follow us!" cries Rose.
"The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe us, they've tried," Ian tells her. The man is sat on a chair near the centre of the room, his arm around a woman Rose guesses is his wife.
"Could you please shut up a minute," interrupts the Doctor. "I'm trying to concentrate here. You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right." The doctor turns to Rose. "Where do you want to start?"
"Er, the inside's bigger than the outside?"
"Yes," replies the Doctor.
"It's alien," states Rose.
"Yeah," replies Ian.
"Are you alien?" Rose asks the room at large.
"The Doctor is," replies Ian's wife. "And some of the others are too."
"Are you alright with that?" questions the Doctor.
"Yeah," Rose says slowly.
"It's called the Tardis, this thing," the Doctor tells Rose. "T. A. R. D. I. S. That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space." To her embarrassment, Rose suddenly bursts into tears.
"That's okay," Ian's wife says coming over and placing a hand on Rose's shoulder in a gesture of comfort. "It's culture shock. Happens to the best of us. I'm Barbara by the way."
"Rose," Rose gets out between sobs. She sniffs then wipes her eyes on her sleeve and turns to the Doctor. "Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?"
"Oh," says the Doctor, his face falling. "I didn't think of that."
"He's my boyfriend. You pulled off his head. They copied him and you didn't even think? And now you're just going to let him melt?"
"Melt?" The Doctor whipped his head around to look at where he'd put the plastic head. The plastic head was indeed melting. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" The Doctor pulled a lever and the TARDIS made the sound Rose had heard earlier.
"Doctor!" Barbara hissed in obvious annoyance.
"What're you doing?" asked Rose feeling uneasy.
"Following the signal," replied the Doctor. "It's fading. Wait a minute, I've got it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Almost there. Almost there. Here we go!"
The Doctor makes for the door, Ian and Barbara following him.
"You can't go out there. It's not safe," points out Rose. She follows the other three out anyway. They're now in Westminster on the north bank of the Thames near the RAF monument.
"I lost the signal," grumbles the Doctor. "I got so close."
Rose wants to know how they moved. She asks if the TARDIS can fly. The Doctor tells her it disappears and reappears and that she wouldn't understand. Barbara swats the Doctor's shoulder at that comment. Rose wants to know about Plastic Imposter Mickey's body.
"It melted with the head," the Doctor assures her. "Are you going to witter on all night?" Rose makes a huffing sound and crosses her arms. Barbara narrows her eyes at the Doctor but before she can say anything to him, the Doctor speaks up.
"How can you hide something that big in a city this small?"
"Hide what?" probes Rose.
"The transmitter," the Doctor tells her. "The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."
"What's it look like?" is Rose's next question.
"Like a transmitter," replies the Doctor in his best 'well duh' tone. "Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London." Rose's eyes fall on the London Eye, just across the river. "A huge circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible." Rose is nodding in the direction of the London Eye. Barbara smiles, clearly realising what Rose has seen. "What? What?" The Doctor turns and looks across the river, as does Ian. Ian catches on but the Doctor doesn't. "What? What is it? What?" The Doctor glances behind him at the other riverbank again. "Oh. Fantastic!"
The doctor begins to run. Rose, Ian and Barbara run after him. They run across Westminster Bridge and the Doctor starts talking about all the plastic in the world coming to life. He lists some of the things plastic is used to make. Rose, Ian and Barbara contribute a few suggestions themselves.
"Still," soothes the Doctor, "we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath."
"What about down here?" suggests Rose pointing to a large manhole entrance at the bottom of some steps.
"Looks good to me," replies the Doctor.
The four of them run down the steps and the Doctor pulls the hatch open. Red light comes from within. Ian goes in first, followed by Barbara, then Rose, then the Doctor. They climb down a short ladder into a brick-built area with lots of chains. A door blocks their way but it opens easily enough and they go through it and down another flight of steps onto a passageway that overlooks a lower level. On the lower level something bubbles and seethes..
"The Nestene Consciousness," the Doctor informs Rose. "That's it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature."
"Well, then," says Rose, with an air of 'what are you waiting for'. "Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go."
But the Doctor won't do that. He tells Rose he has to give it a chance then he walks down to a platform overlooking the bubbling mass.
The Doctor begins a communication with the living plastic. Rose is looking around the room when she spots a familiar figure on a lower level. She runs down to where her boyfriend is tied up.
"Oh, God! Mickey, it's me! It's okay. It's all right," she tells the obviously frightened young man.
"That thing down there, the liquid. Rose, it can talk!" exclaims her boyfriend.
Rose doesn't believe him. She yells up to the Doctor that Mickey's still alive. The Doctor is unsurprised by this news and says it was always a possibility. Rose is unimpressed that the Doctor didn't tell her about that possibility.
"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?" It's half a question; half an order.
The Doctor continues to make his way down towards the Consciousness, continuing his colloquy with the plastic as he does. He tries to reason with the plastic, hoping to get it to leave but it doesn't want to listen.
"Doctor!" Three voices yell his name in unison. The warning is too late and a pair of shop dummies grab hold of the Doctor. One of them gets hold of the vial of anti-plastic the Doctor had in his pocket.
"That was just insurance," protests the Doctor. He tries to reason with the plastic. Suddenly a door opens and the TARDIS is revealed. The Doctor tries to explain that the TARDIS is his ship. The Doctor's words turn pleading.
"That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault. I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!"
"What's it doing?!" called out Ian. He and Barbara were still stood fairly high up compared with Rose and the Doctor.
"It's the TARDIS! The Nestene's identified its superior technology. It's terrified. It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out, all of you! Just leg it now!"
Rose doesn't. She phones her mother instead, hoping she'll listen. Jackie tells Rose she's out shopping and won't listen when Rose tells her to go home. Jackie hangs up, much to her daughter's annoyance, just as the Nestene starts throwing around bolts of energy.
"It's the activation signal. It's transmitting!" cries the Doctor. The Doctor again tells them to get out. But all the stairs have disappeared. They are stuck. Rose and Mickey try to get to the TARDIS but they don't have a key. Ian and Barbara are too far away to help.
Rose suddenly has an idea. "
"I've got no A Levels, no job, no future." She picks up an axe that happened to be lying about. The axe chops the rope holding a very long chain to the wall. "Jericho Street Junior School under 7s gymnastic team." Rose grabs the chain firmly and prepares to run. "I've got the bronze!" With this final declaration, Rose launches herself off the platform kicking the shop dummies into the bubbling mass. The one holding the Anti-Plastic knocks the lid off the tube as it falls. The Anti-Plastic hits the Nestene which screams and changes colour.
Rose swings back and the Doctor grabs her as she reaches him.
"Now we're in trouble," the Doctor comments. He starts to run towards the TARDIS and Rose follows him. Ian and Barbara make their way down from above. Mickey is holding on to the TARDIS for dear life when they reach it. The Doctor pulls out a key and they all go inside. The Doctor rushes straight to the console and pulls a different lever to the last time. The wheezing noise signals that they've moved.
Mickey is still freaking out about the Bigger-on-the-Inside-ness of the TARDIS. When the noise fades, Mickey runs out of the TARDIS clearly afraid. Rose follows her boyfriend out more slowly and looks around. She sees Mickey trying to hide behind a pallet and goes over to him. When she turns back, the Doctor is in the doorway of the TARDIS, leaning casually against the frame.
"A fat lot of good you were," Rose tells him. "You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me."
"Yes, I would," responds the Doctor, surprising Rose with his honesty. Most men she knew wouldn't admit to needing help from a girl. He thanks her and makes to leave but before he does, he makes Rose an offer. He invites her to go with him and his companions. He tells her they can go anywhere in time or in space or both. Mickey begs her not to go.
For an instant Rose sees the life she'd have if she stayed flash before her eyes. A dead end shop job. Stuck in a loveless marriage with kids she's not entirely sure she wants. The alternative is adventure with the Doctor and his friends. It's not a choice she has to think long about.
"Is it always this dangerous?" she checks before she gives her answer.
"Yeah," the Doctor tells her with a grin.
Rose leans forward and kisses Mickey on the cheek. Then she turns and follows the Doctor into the TARDIS.
A woman Rose hasn't met yet comes over.
"Did you tell her grandfather?" the girl asks, startling Rose. The Doctor doesn't seem old enough to be a grandfather.
"No Susan I haven't told her," the Doctor frowns as though whatever Susan thinks the Doctor should have told Rose is a minor inconvenience.
"She needs to know before she comes with us!" Susan exclaims before turning to Rose. "What grandfather has neglected to tell you is that travelling by TARDIS changes you. You'll age more slowly and you won't be able to live a normal human life again. If you come now, you probably won't ever leave."
"I'm still coming," Rose grins.
"Excellent," beams Susan. "Come and meet everyone else and I can give you the Grand Tour at the same time." Rose smiled as she followed Susan out of the main control room.