Romana Fixes It All
a Doctor Who fanfiction by zelda
Disclaimer: Doctor Who and its accoutrements are the property of the BBC. I just like to play in their sandbox, and do solemnly swear to put everything neatly away when I am finished. Eventual Nine/Rose (just like the series)
1. Rose
"Goin' to blow up some Autons," said the Doctor, poking his head into the garden, where Romana was diligently, if mostly unsuccessfully, trying to keep the Patagonian snodgrass from choking off the Argosian sunflowers.
"Mmm-hmm," she answered, wondering if the snodgrass roots might actually be made out of double-reinforced titanium.
"Might not come back," the Doctor stated nonchalantly. "But in case I do, don't muck about with the console."
Romana sat back on her heels, ready to give the Doctor a piece of her mind about the state of said console, when she processed what he had said prior to vanishing through the archway.
"For Rassilon's sake," she exclaimed, dropping her garden spade and hurrying after the Doctor.
"What're you doin' up here?" the Doctor hissed, causing Romana to jump with surprise and drop the sweater she'd been holding.
"I'm shopping."
"Th'Autons are down in the basement."
"And ladies' wear is on the fifth floor."
"What'd'you need that for?"
Romana pursed her lips and Looked at the Doctor.
The tips of his ears turned red.
"Fine, fine. I'll go lay the charges."
"Why? Is the transmitter here?"
"The … oh, bugger. Still, better to get the ones that're here than let them run around loose."
"Fine."
"Uh…"
"Yes?"
"Don't suppose you could, er…"
"Yes?"
"Whip me up a batch of anti-plastic? Got a feelin' I might be needin' it."
"Fine."
"Fantastic!"
Much later the Doctor poked his head into Romana's room and said, "Busy?"
Romana looked over her shoulder from her seat at the desk. "What do you think?"
The Doctor was already coming in, lowering himself to her bed and bouncing gently. "Nice work," he said approvingly to the ceiling.
The bed began to squeak slightly as he continued to bounce.
After a few minutes, Romana put down her drawing pencil and asked, "Doctor?"
"So, Autons and Nestene Consciousness taken care of. Thanks for the anti-plastic, by the way," he added. "Y'might say it hit the spot."
Romana inclined her head to indicate that it was not a problem and took up the pencil again. The squeaking continued.
"And there was this girl—"
The pencil went down.
"Worked in a shop – the shop we blew up, actually – and she was fantastic, Romana, she really was."
Romana would have like to deny all complicity in the blowing up of any shops, but the squeaking had finally stopped and that seemed to indicate that the Doctor had a problem, which created a bigger problem for her because she did have quite a bit of work she wanted to get done.
"And?" she said, turning in her chair to face him.
"Well, I asked her to come along, didn't I? Only she said no." He let out a slightly offended breath. "Must've been a bit dodgy, big-eared old bloke like me asking a young thing like her to travel through all of space and time – and why didn't you tell me about the ears? A fellow likes to know a thing like that, before he goes out in public askin' people stuff."
"You didn't want to know," Romana replied, coming to sit down beside him. She thought wistfully of her precious peace and quiet, took a good look at the Doctor out of the corner of her eye, then said, "Ask her again."
"You think I should ask again?"
"Yes."
"I never ask twice."
"What is the point of regenerating if you insist on making the same mistakes over and over again?" said Romana sharply to the air in front of her.
The Doctor turned his hands over and examined his palms for a moment.
"Y'know what, Romana? I should ask her again."
"Yes."
"Alright, I'll do it."
"Good. Now, if you don't mind, get out of my room, Doctor. I've got things to do."