Episode One: A Royal Hope
"Chips? Really, Rose?"
"Mmhm," was said human's response as she lounged on the jump seat examining her newly manicured nails, the pink, sparkling polish glinting gold and green in the glow of the Time rotor. The holiday they'd just finished on Luxus 1 had been fantastic. Seven days of beaches, swimming, sun, hiking and an enormous luxury spa. The Doctor insisted on staying in a suite, the TARDIS relaxing in the suite's corner (brought up when no one was looking and making Rose giggle whenever housekeeping came in and walked right by her) apparently enjoying the mineral rich atmosphere.
Rose had been massaged, waxed, her hair cut and colored, even the Doctor, who wasn't a fan of causal contact with strangers (hugs not counting), joined in on the manicures and pedicures. But now it was time to get back in the swing of things and Rose knew they couldn't avoid Earth forever. After Donna and the Racnoss, they'd spend a few days in the vortex, allowing Rose a chance to get her bearings after clearing out the flat. What followed was a whirlwind of planets, shopping, jungles, the Villengard banana grove, and before she realized it, a month had passed.
And now she really wanted hot chips with malt vinegar.
"Doctor, I'm craving 'em. And the best place for chips is London. Just…just not too close to my time, yeah? I don't want to run into Shareen or Keisha straight off and have to explain that I'm alive."
The Doctor moved over from the consol and ran his fingers lightly over Rose's hair. It was still a light, bright blonde shade but the alien dye left her hair soft and somehow more natural looking. He'd asked why she'd cut it again but she'd only shrugged and said that it was easier to take care of.
"Alright, chips in London it is. Do you want to meet Sarah Jane while we're there?"
"No, that's okay; I actually talked to her a bit last night. She sends you her love. She was worried when she saw the list of the dead come out. Apparently someone forgot to call her and tell her we were fine."
Feigning interest in the consol, the Doctor grimaced. "Well, in my defense, I'm not used to…well…I'm not used to answering to anyone. Even if it's just calling to say hello or that I survived."
Rose moved beside him to look at the monitor. "Always remembered to call me."
"Yes, well, whenever I tried to keep you safe you did things like rip apart my ship or jump across dimensions so I figured I better keep tabs on you."
"Oi!"
"Ouch!" The Doctor rubbed his arm where Rose had playfully slapped at him. Grabbing her new blue leather jacket from the coral strut next to the Doctor's trench coat, she stepped out into a cool, overcast London day. Inhaling deeply, she caught the scents of the city, exhaust, grease, and just under it the static hint of an approaching storm.
The Doctor took her hand and led her down the street towards the chippy.
"So, what year did we land in?"
"Oh, not far, just about 2008." He seemed distracted.
"What's wrong?"
"Hmmm? Oh, does anything seem off about those clouds to you?" He pointed off in the opposite direction from where they were headed.
"Just that the storm looks like it's comin' in from that way. Over that hospital. Why? This your way of getting outta chips?"
Hand over his left heart, the Doctor pouted. "Why Rose Tyler you wound me."
"Come on then, and this time you're buyin'. I think you owe me about fifty quid by now and I know you'll never pay up."
Rose groaned as the salty tang of vinegar and potato exploded on her tongue. No matter where or when they landed in the universe, 21st century London had the best chips. Though possibly the 1970's came a close second once they actually made it to the Ian Dury concert. But the Doctor wasn't relaxing or really enjoying the steaming potatoes. Normally, he chastised her for drenching them in too much vinegar and salt but he was munching aimlessly, staring out the window at the storm clouds gathering in the distance.
"Okay, I give."
"Hmm?"
Draining her soda (which the TARDIS never allowed on board) and dropping the used napkins in the mostly empty chip basket, Rose stood. "Let's go and follow your storm clouds, Doctor. This is the longest I've ever seen you quiet, except your mind is buzzin' away over possibilities and now I wanna have a look, too."
"Those clouds are not normal, Rose." He binned their trash and grabbed her hand, heading in the direction of the TARDIS. "Well, they are normal as far as atmospheric composition, density, and ph but they are gathering in a wholly unnatural way. Something is attracting them to one location."
"Something alien?"
He flipped the handbrake and watched the monitor. "Maybe, could just be human interference as well. Tesla had a thing for lightening."
"You keep promising me a trip to meet 'im."
Glancing at his companion out of the corner of his eye, he frowned. Her blond hair had dried naturally into waves and she was dressed in a denim skirt and her purple blouse (his personal favorite) and blue leather coat were neat and tidy. Tesla would love her.
"And I keep saying he's a pretty boy and no more pretty boys on my TARDIS."
"I thought he never dated? Women or men?"
They landed with a lurch. "He didn't. You tend to be the exception to every rule." The Doctor dropped a quick kiss on her lips before leaping down the ramp.
"Still wanna meet 'im!" Rose called after him. She saw they'd landed just few blocks over, across the street from Royal Hope Hospital. Overhead, thunder rumbled and lightening flashed across the sky. Rose could feel the static electricity building in the air.
"Oh, now look at those! Those are gorgeous, those are. Definitely not a good sign, no siree, but such execution!" The Doctor ran over to one of the half a dozen or so large metal boxes that sort of resembled cooling units and was about to touch one when Rose grabbed his hand.
"Wait! What is it first off and second if you want to get into the hospital I can think of a better way than electrocuting yerself!"
"Fine, fine. It's a plasma coil. They pull together a static charge from the atmosphere, that's why the storms centering here. One great big lightening conductor." He looked up at the dark sky as lightening flashed by.
"So most likely not human then?" Rose rubbed her arms where the hairs where standing up even through the leather of her jacket.
"Nope. But I do think we need to we need to spend some time in the hospital."
Shaking her head, Rose took a step back. "Oh, no, I am not going in as housekeeping while you go and play doctor. Had enough of that as a dinner lady, ta."
The Doctor held up his left hand where the wedding band and marriage bracelet from Ak'kara still lay. "I wasn't suggesting that. I was thinking more along the lines of my lovely human wife being admitted to hospital with a terrible case of abdominal pains. Most likely brought on excessive consumption of overly salted chips."
Grinning, Rose ran down the ramp to the door. "Well, what're you waitin' for? I think I'm feelin' a bit ill, Doctor."
Rose flopped back on the flat, hospital issued pillow with a groan before turning onto her side for a more comfortable position. Oh, it's only stomach pains, Rose. Easy-peasy, they'll think it's something you ate or some female hormonal issue, keep you long enough for me to have a good look around and bam-o! we'll be on our way in no time.
She should have known he would jinx things. Getting into the hospital was simple enough. Rose had been worried when she'd unintentionally put down her real NHS number out of habit but no flags had been raised and she and the Doctor has been quickly escorted back once he flashed his psychic paper. She should have asked what was on the paper.
The moment the Doctor excused himself to "get some tea" a barrage of doctors and nurses came into her little cubby, wanting to know if she needed anything immediately, did she want a private room, how bad was her pain, and giving her an injection before she could stop them. The injection turned out to be a pain killer that made her loopy and next thing she knew, she was being wheeled in for tests. Nasty tests.
The Doctor must have picked up on her distress because as she was adamantly refusing any sort of sedation, she felt him whisper across her mind.
Rose? Is everything alright? What's happening?
I'm fine, really. They gave me a shot of somethin' before I could stop them and things are all fuzzy 'round the edges. And they keep tryin' to make me sleep.
I'll be right there.
Doctor, wait!
There was a commotion outside the door and she had a vague sense of probes being inserted in places they shouldn't and the doctors saying things looked good before fully coming back to herself and seeing her familiar striped curtain.
"Rose?"
"Who, exactly, did the psychic paper say you were? Because I said I was plain old Rose Tyler married to one John Smith." She tried to sit up.
The doctor set his travel cup on the tray table and raised the head of the bed before picking up the drink and holding the straw to her lips.
"Here, it's Rosapersica juice from the TARDIS. It'll help with the woozy feeling."
The cool, sweet liquid hit Rose's throat and she groaned, taking the cup and a bigger swallow.
"Easy there, don't want it to come back up."
"You didn't answer my question, Doctor."
"Well, I might have accidently, sort of said that I was a head researcher for climate and atmospheric conditions at Cambridge. Appointed by the Queen." He caught Rose rolling her eyes. "Why? Was that bad? It got us back here faster."
"Doctor, that's why they ran all those tests on me. They figured they should 'cause I was married to someone important. I had a tube stuck down my throat and another stuck up…well…other places that I don't think they woulda done on just anybody. Wouldn't a done it on a girl from the Estate that's for sure."
The Doctor's brow was wrinkled for a moment before it dawned on him what tests Rose was talking about. "Are you alright?"
She gave him a smile. "Yeah, just a bit sore. And still fuzzy. I have no clue what they gave me in that shot but it worked fast."
"I could tell. I tripped and fell into a broom cupboard."
"You mean you can tell if I'm drugged?"
Dropping into the plastic guest chair, the Doctor pulled out the sonic and, after peeking around the curtain to make sure there were no nurses in sight, scanned Rose. He nodded at the readout.
"Through the link, yep. Can tell if you're sick, intoxicated, impaired, drugged, a whole host of things. If I had to I can help you metabolize the chemicals faster but then it would affect me more. Slow me down a bit."
Rose frowned. "I don't know if that's creepy or useful. So what's the plan? Did you find anything out while you were looking around?"
"The plan at the moment is for you to sleep off the rest of the painkiller. I had a bit of a look around this floor and the below, saw a couple of blokes in motorcycle helmets walking around, that's unusual for a human, right? Helmets indoors? Had a nurse offer to give me a full physical. I did get them to waive visiting hours for me."
Rose smiled. "You flirted. And the coil thingies?"
"Plasma coils. We have time. From the amount of static charge building, I'd say they won't be ready until tomorrow. While you're being examined in the morning, I'll look around some more. Anything you need?"
Yawning, Rose shook her head. "Not right now, but I have a feeling stomach pains means I won't be getting' a five star menu."
"You just had chips!"
"And humans need to eat more than once a day, Doctor! Just because you put away enough ta feed a small army in one setting doesn't mean we all do."
Leaning over, he brushed her fringe off her forehead and kissed her hair. "Point taken. I did find a little shop downstairs; I think I'll pay it a visit while you rest."
Outside the thunder rumbled and lightening zipped across the darkening sky.