"So, a 51st century man…" Rose said, the color rising in her cheeks. Jack had left the central room—Rose always wanted to refer to it as the cockpit—to find the bedroom that the Doctor had set aside for him. She could still hear the directions ringing in her ears ("Down that side, take three rights and a left, then go to the very back of that hall.") It was in the exact opposite direction from her room, she noted. "Are they all like…?"
The Doctor was fastidiously messing with the Tardis' control panel, treating Rose like he often did after a show of emotion, deliberately ignoring the importance of her existence. "Yes," he said curtly, "And before you ask, we will not be visiting there. I don't believe in subjugating a nineteen-year-old girl to that sort of culture." He was treating her like a child again.
"Aww, so I can watch the end of the world, but not make love to a future man?" Rose was trying to get a rise out of him now. It worked. He turned from the console, his jaw set.
"Yes." He said the word pointedly and then turned back to the console. Rose stomped her foot, he was truly impossible. One moment he could be freely promenading her across the room, and then the next he would be staring sullenly back at the Tardis, ignoring her. Rose stood, trying to plan her next move. There had to be some way to get him to talk, to get him to fall back into the Doctor that she adored—that fantastic man (Timelord, whatever) who had grabbed her hand and let her feel the world turned, who had just a little earlier told a horde of gasmasked zombies to go to their room and then laughed at the absurdity of that plan. She wanted to talk to that Doctor. Rose wanted to travel with him when he was in danger, because it was only then that he seemed awake.
Rose was still trying to decide the correct words to wake him up when fate took matters into her own hands. The room began to glow in a bright light, and Rose felt her body begin to slip away. "DOCTOR!" she yelled. He turned, and she saw his eyes wake up in alarm. Jack ran back into the control room, and he stared at her with the same shock that was so keenly written across the Doctor's face. She turned back to the Doctor. His face bright and engaged with shock was the last thing she saw before her vision blanked completely into the light.
A/N: If we can ignore the fact that I forgot about Boom Town, I would be much obliged. Please Read and Review!
eMMeD :)
