The Flip Side

Part 1

"So what's next, Miss Tyler?"

The Doctor lounged back against his chair, feet propped atop the console. Rose was leaning against one of the pillars, deep in thought.

"Hmmm... I dunno, how about Barcelona? The one with the nose-less dogs? Think you can get us there this time?" she teased.

Instead of getting offended the Doctor jumped to his feet and ran circles around the console, pulling levers here and jamming buttons there. A buzz filed the room.

"Oh yes, I think I can!" He raced around to the other side of the console and, with a satisfied grin, threw one last lever. Lights flashed, alarms blared, and then, in a moment of quiet, the world turned upside down.

Rose felt her stomach turn as she slammed side first into the console. That much was normal; it was a rare occurrence that the TARDIS didn't knock them around a few times before they reached their destination. But this, this was a constant never-ending chaos. Grabbing tight to a lever, Rose closed her eyes and held on for all she was worth. Now, she realized, she was hanging upside down.

Meanwhile, as the shaking subsided, the Doctor found himself impossibly wedged between the metal grating of the floor and a beam.

"Hold on Rose, I'll fix it!" he shouted across the room."I've just got to fix the gravitational stabilizers; they seem to have gone a bit mad!" Fumbling around in his pockets for the sonic screwdriver, he managed a glance up out at the room. Huh, he thought. Funny, that. Last time he'd checked the console had been facing the other way and the ceiling hadn't been on the ground. Not that that made any sense anyway, but still. The ceiling was much too far away for his comfort and if someone fell they'd gather quite a few serious injuries, and that was only if you missed the support beams on your way down. He could heal himself but Rose, Rose was a different matter entirely.

"What the hell did you do?" the subject of his thoughts accused. He wasn't looking at her but he could tell that, despite her words, she was smiling.

"I didn't do anything," he shot back. "I was trying to get to Barcelona and...and this happened!" He slammed his hand against the floor." How did this happen? Honestly it's like someone doesn't want us there! Can't see why, I thought I was a very gracious guest..."

"Maybe it's because of all this chaos that follows you about. Now focus! Can't hang around here all day."

"Right, right! Sorry, getting right to it," he returned and began fumbling around in his pocket. Suddenly his features froze and a he turned back to Rose, a guilty look spreading on his face.

"Um... Rose?"

"Yeah." She tried once more to flick her hair out of her face without letting go of the console. "Well?"

"You haven't... well, seen my sonic have you? I was just using it earlier and now it's gone!"

Rose popped up an indignant eyebrow. She wasn't smiling now. "Yeah, I think I did. You left it on that chair." She nodded down at the ceiling where the chair now lay, crushed and cracked in two pieces. "Said to remind you to use it to fix the toaster 'cos if it was in your pocket you'd lose it." She gave him a pointed look.

The look shot over the Doctor's head and dissipated as he began to grin. "Brilliant! So where's it now?"

Rose rolled her eyes and let out a deep sigh. "Oh I dunno, how about in the same place as everything else in this ship that wasn't bolted down?" At his blank look she continued, "It fell up."

The Doctor frowned slightly." You know, technically we're up and what's normally our ceiling is down."

Rose bit back a growl with difficulty as she turned to glare at him. Her eyes blazed, showing, just for a moment, a hint of the all powerful goddess the Bad Wolf had been. The Doctor gulped.

"Er..."

"If you don't get this room right side up within the next ten seconds you're gonna get a slap that'll make you wish I were my mum. Get on it," she ordered.

Paling visibly, the Doctor tightened his grip on the column." Quite right. Just a mo!" he quipped. He shuffled around awkwardly and, though a series of rather impressive acrobatics, managed to wind his legs around a horizontal beam. That done he hung upside down and turned to grin expectantly at Rose.

Before she could stop herself, she burst out laughing. He looked an absolute clown hung up like that, hair sticking down erratically and hands waving.

The Doctor managed to look affronted for about half a second, before he conceded that he probably did look very silly and was perfectly fine with it.

"Well?" he asked motioning with a hand.

"What?"

He rolled his eyes in a dramatic fashion as if the answer was obvious.

"Come on, get with the program!" At her blank look, he went on, "See that…erm… key pad thingy over there?"

"Yeah."

"See, I need that to reverse the gravity. Got to type in a code."

"Why don't you just tell me the code then?"

"It's in Gallifreyan."

She frowned. "What?"

"Gallifreyan," he enunciated loudly. "My home planet? Silver leaves, burnt orange skies, remember?" He looked a bit crest-fallen, Rose noted, that she hadn't bothered to remember something so important to him.

"Course I do," she assured him." Just didn't know the numbers were different, that's all."

He perked up a bit at that, pleased and grinning before turning abruptly stern." Of course the numbers are different! Several thousand galaxies away, did you think that somehow, by some cosmic coincidence, the symbols for every number, not to mention their names, turned out exactly the same?" He shook his head disapprovingly. "Pay attention, Rose." He paused for a breath before continuing. "'Sides it's coded for Time Lord DNA, won't work for you."

Rose was more than slightly miffed. Couldn't he have just told her that in the first place instead of going off like that? But never mind, an upside-down TARDIS was no place for an argument like that.

"Alright what are you gonna do then?"

Again the Doctor looked exasperated, as if unable to believe her ignorance.

"Why, I'm going to jump across!" he said. "Which is why you need to stretch out your arms, in case I don't make it all the way."

Rose looked back at him, incredulous. "In case you don't make it all the way? No thanks mate! What? So I can get pulled down with you?"

The Doctor sighed impatiently." Rose, it's the only way. Look on the bright side though; if I miss and pull you down with me, we'll both die. Well, I won't but still… And if we did it your way, in which I blindly jump out, leaving it to fate, with no help from my, ahem, faithful companion," He put on a sad puppy-dog face.", and I miss, then you're stuck here all on your own. Till I regenerate and find a way to climb back up here, that is. Then we'll just start all over, wasting away at my lives until there are none left, or until you find one you fancy enough to save." He gave her a pointed look. "Would you help past me? You rather liked big-ears."

It was a low blow, and they both knew it. However, Rose chose to ignore the touchy issue, and thought for a second.

"So let me get this straight. Either I risk dying, while you regenerate or I don't risk dying and you might… regenerate. Yeah, I think I'll go with the second option."

"Rose." Back came the big, sad, brown eyes. It was like looking at a little spaniel puppy; you couldn't resist fluffing it's ears and giving it whatever it wanted, no matter how much it had run away or torn up the furniture.

Damn eyes.

"Alright, fine, I'll do it! Just don't expect any mercy from mum when you get me killed," she muttered

The Doctor pulled himself right-side up, to look her straight in the face.

"Rose Tyler, I'd never do anything that I thought would get you killed. If there was any other way… but there's not." There was a serious tone to his voice, a complete contrast to his earlier behavior. "And anyway, it's completely safe, for you at least. Always."

Rose nodded, surprised at his sincerity, and repositioned herself so that her legs were hooked around a piece of the console. She leaned forward with both hands outstretched.

"Just… just make it a really good jump, ok?" she asked.

"Nothing less than a 10!" He flashed her a grin before setting himself to swinging back and forth, gradually increasing his momentum. Rose stretched her arms a bit further and watched, muscles quivering, as the Doctor prepared to make his leap.

"Right. On three… one… two…" he swung back one final time, gaining as much speed as he could. " three!" He jumped.

Thanks for reading and I'd love it if you reviewed. Any review is welcome, so please (constructively) criticize away!

Part two and the conclusion will be posted (hopefully) soon!