The Third Doctor
Part 3 of my "Saving the Multiverse" series…
(Takes place between the classic episodes of "Terror of the Autons" and "The Mind of Evil" in Season 8 )
Rose blinked in surprise as she landed, not in the TARDIS as she was expecting, but in room that looked like a cross between an office and a laboratory. Even more surprising, she noted as she turned around, was the pistol that was leveled directly at her.
"How did you get in here?" growled the soldier holding the gun. Rose didn't bother to answer. She just let her Torchwood training take over and kicked the gun right out of his hand. She then swept his legs out from under him and placed her "jumping" boot on the pressure point of his neck to keep him still.
"I don't want to hurt you," she told the very surprised soldier. "I just want to find the Doctor."
Just then she heard a door open behind her, and was about to whirl around to face the new threat when she heard an amused, "Did someone ask for the Doctor?" followed by a slightly annoyed, "Oh good grief, Benton, what did you do to that young lady, and why are you on the floor?" Rose allowed herself a quick grin knowing only one person who would talk like that. Without turning around yet to face the newcomer, she gently removed her boot, and reached down to help the man (Benton, presumably) up off of the floor with a simple "Sorry about that." He nodded and stepped quickly away from her. She then turned slowly around and her grin widened even further when she saw the man in front of her.
"Doctor!" she exclaimed, barely choking back a laugh, "are you wearing a cape?"
The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment while his memories of Rose came rushing back. He then opened them slowly, grinned back at her, and said in a manner full of mock hurt, "Rose Tyler, are you saying that I don't look dashing?"
"Oh, Doctor, you are always dashing to me!" she exclaimed and launched herself into his open arms. He hugged her tightly, and looked down at her with fondness. He then turned to introduce her to the others in the room who were staring at them with astonishment.
"Rose, this is my assistant, Jo Grant." He said, pointing out the young blonde woman behind him. Rose had not really noticed her yet since the Doctor had commanded all of her attention at first. "And I think you have already met Sergeant John Benton." He gestured towards the man who still refused to meet her eyes. {I must insist upon hearing that story later. Not many can best Benton.} He added privately, his own eyes twinkling with amusement and pride. He then looked back at his friends who had moved closer together and who were still staring at them both in confusion. "Jo, Benton, allow me to introduce you to my very dear friend, Rose."
Rose shook hands with both of them and then Benton immediately excused himself and went straight to the Brigadier to report the Doctor's unusual visitor. The Doctor then dismissed Jo, who continued to look at the two of them curiously, and told her to take an extra long lunch with her friends. Her departure left the two alone together and Rose smiled again as she fully examined the third Doctor's appearance. The satin cape, velvet jacket, ruffled shirt, and impeccably styled curly gray-blonde hair reminded her of the opera for some reason. She said all of that out loud, but she added {All you need is a mask to be the Phantom} with a mental giggle. The Doctor just guffawed {Only if you will be my Christine} and gave her another hug.
"Come," he said. "Let's go see the TARDIS before the Brigadier gets here. He is not going to be able to resist meeting you after that entrance." He led her to a secluded corner of the room where the TARDIS was inconspicuously parked. She hummed a subdued greeting to Rose as they entered the console room.
"What's wrong, Old Girl?" Rose whispered in concern.
"The High Council has stranded us here." The Doctor said with a glint of anger in his eyes. "They didn't appreciate the fact that my last self kept breaking their "no interference" policy. Grounding us here was part of our punishment." Rose cried when he also told her about his forced regeneration and how Jamie had been sent away. He was upset with himself for making her cry for him – again – but he held her hands, laid his forehead against hers (as he had in his first form), and sent waves of comfort to her until she recovered. {Don't worry about us, Rose. Those stuffy Time Lords will come to their senses soon. Meanwhile, I am making myself useful here with UNIT… showing them how things should be done… and now you are here, too!} She couldn't help but to smile weakly at how superior and "Doctory" he sounded and how happy he seemed about her being there with him.
She had just enough time to clean herself up with the Doctor's proffered handkerchief and make herself presentable again when there was a knock at the TARDIS door. The Brigadier strode in and exclaimed jovially, "Doctor, are you going to introduce me to the young lady who can bypass all of our security measures, enter my base without anyone noticing, and put Benton down on his arse without even breaking a sweat?" The Doctor smiled at this description of his Rose ("His" Rose? Where had that thought come from?) and performed the introductions enthusiastically. The Brigadier soon left shaking his head after assuring himself that, despite her unconventional entrance, Rose Tyler was not a security risk. He was used to strange things happening around the Doctor by now and the pretty young blonde girl that he had just met obviously fell into that category. He wondered what the relationship could possibly be between the two of them, though, especially since she declined the offer of a room for the night by stating that she would be staying in her room on the TARDIS. He knew better than to ask, however. If the Doctor wanted him to know, then he would tell him. He seriously doubted that would happen, though.
"Now," the Doctor exclaimed after the Brigadier left. "How about some lunch? In all of my lives so far, I haven't had a chance to take you out to eat, yet."
"That would be wonderful!" Rose exclaimed. "Putting cocky young sergeants in their place really works up an appetite." The Doctor grinned at this and suggested that she go change into a more time period appropriate outfit before they left. While she was gone, he was careful to set the star scan and have it up and running before they left. As wonderful as it was to see Rose again, he could not allow himself to forget why she was there in the first place, and that she would probably be leaving again, way too soon.
Meanwhile, Rose went to the same room that she had used during her time with the previous two Doctors and noticed that the TARDIS had spruced the place up for her and made it more personal. Rose was glad because she still wasn't ready for her old room, yet, but felt like she might be spending quite a bit of time with the various incarnations of the Doctor throughout his timeline before she got where she needed to be. It would be nice to have a consistent personal space to keep coming back to. After noting all of the little changes to the room, she found a cute little mini skirt outfit laid out for her that was similar in style to what Jo had been wearing. {Thank you, Old Girl}. She changed quickly while wistfully thinking about the long ago days when she drove her future Doctors crazy by making them wait forever while she picked out just the right outfit and did her hair and makeup. She certainly had grown up a lot, in more ways than one, since those days. After she finished, she walked back out into the console room where her current Doctor was waiting. His eyes widened when he saw her and he visibly gulped when he noticed how much leg showed under that miniskirt. He recovered quickly, though, and offered his arm to her. They walked together, laughing and reminiscing about their previous meetings, and were completely oblivious to the stares of everyone who saw them until they left the science building and entered the car park.
"Let me introduce you to my other girl, Bessie," he said with a twinkle in his eye as he gestured to the gorgeous yellow car. She praised it profusely, making him smile, as he handed her into it and shut the door chivalrously behind her. The Doctor then reached into the glove box and pulled out a scarf for her hair. {So thoughtful} She sent him a wave of gratitude and a mental hug. They drove across the city chatting about his adventures since she had seen him last while the Doctor glanced at her occasionally to appreciate the look of enjoyment on her face. They ended up at one of the Doctor's favorite restaurants where they had a wonderful meal. Rose giggled a lot and casually mentioned that this was going to have to replace the chippie visit after the End of the World trip as their first date – for him at least. The Doctor thought back to when Rose shared her memories with his first self and was able to pinpoint the one to which she was referring. He knew that she was joking, but he blushed at the thought of dating Rose – in any of his incarnations. Not that it mattered, though, because Time Lords didn't "date." It would not stop him from thinking about it, however…
Everything was going so well until they headed back, arm in arm, to the car. Suddenly they heard raucous laughter from behind them, and turned to see several scruffy and dangerous looking men .
"What are you? Some kind of magician or something?" one of them asked the Doctor – referring to the way he was dressed.
"Something like that," the Doctor replied, managing to appear completely unconcerned, but watching carefully as the men approached, and trying to keep his body between them and Rose.
"What are you doing shagging an old man, honey?" This comment was directed at Rose from one of the other men. "Maybe you don't know what a real man is like." The group suddenly split up and two of the men advanced on Rose while the other two flanked the Doctor. "I could show you!" The man grabbed Rose's arms and twisted them behind her back, as he buried his face in her neck. The Doctor felt red hot fury engulf him at the sight. Before he could move, however, he felt the two men near him grab his arms to hold him back. {Rose?} He sent out a wave of concern to her. {Don't worry, Doctor. I've got this!} She caught his eye, gave him a cheeky wink, and suddenly jammed her heel into her attacker's shin. He shrieked and let her go. She took advantage of her sudden freedom to punch him in the face, jam her elbow into his chest - catching him off balance, and then tossed him hard over onto his back. He laid there with all of the wind knocked out of him.
"You, bitch!" growled his partner advancing on her. The Doctor's eyes narrowed at that, and he saw black for a minute, but he waited patiently for his chance. He need not have worried, though. Rose chose that moment to spin into a roundhouse kick (that showed off even more of her impossibly long legs in that tiny skirt, the Doctor couldn't help but notice) and connected with the ruffian's chest with such force that it sent him flying into a nearby car with a meaty thud. The two men that held the Doctor were so shocked by this that they loosened their grips on him. He pressed this advantage and moved so quickly that both men were unconscious before they knew what had happened. All four of the men now lay still on the ground. {Wow! What was that? You think you are so impressive! } Rose thought to him. He grinned and looked around before he answered back aloud.
"Rose Tyler, that was Venusian Aikido and I will have you know that I am so impressive… and apparently you are, too! That was astonishing, my dear!" he exclaimed. He really was truly impressed. Most of the women that he had traveled with tended to be more like damsels in distress. He had never seen one fight like Rose had – even though he knew from her memories that she had chosen to have extensive physical training in the parallel world.
They shared a laugh and a warm look that was interrupted by a groan coming from somewhere beneath them. It was the first man that had attacked Rose. The Doctor stalked angrily over to him and leaned down.
"Now listen to me!" the Doctor whispered dangerously in his ear. "Leave, take your friends with you, and don't come back - or you will not live to regret it! No second chances! No one molests my Rose and gets away with it!" The man scrambled up and tried to rouse his friends as the Doctor and Rose climbed into Bessie and drove away without looking back.
The atmosphere on the ride back to UNIT was a bit subdued because both of the car's occupants were deep in thought. The Doctor was concerned about his loss of emotional control when Rose was attacked. That wasn't like him at all. What was it about this girl that inspired such passion in all of his bodies? Why did that particular word come to mind? Meanwhile, for her part, Rose was thinking about the thoughts that had slipped through the Doctor's shields during the attack. Neither one of them had felt particularly threatened in this situation and they were both confident that they could protect themselves and each other. However, Rose had felt that wave of absolute rage rolling off of him when she was being manhandled. It reminded her so much of her protective leather clad Doctor - especially when she was being held hostage by both the Dalek in Utah and the fleet of them at the Gamestation. Did that mean that this Doctor cared for her the same way that one did? Already? How did she feel about that? She shrugged to herself. That answer at least was easy. They were all her Doctor and she loved them all – no matter which form they took. Plus, she giggled as she thought about it, she had also heard that comment about her legs – even though she knew that he wasn't trying to broadcast that one. In other words, to paraphrase Lady Cassandra on New Earth, {"He'd been loooooking!..."} The Doctor heard her giggle and looked over at her in surprise. He had caught her last statement and knew the reason for her mirth. He had been caught! She caught his eye and they both gave a nervous laugh…and that turned into a real one…which in turn became an almost hysterical one. They were both still laughing like loons when they arrived back at UNIT.
Jo accosted him as soon as he opened the door to his laboratory, arm in arm with Rose, and still laughing. "Where have you been?" she shrieked. "It has been hours!"
"Relax, Jo." the Doctor said reassuringly. "We just went to lunch, but then ran into a little trouble - nothing that we couldn't handle, though. I thought that we were both quite impressive, in fact." Rose giggled at that and bumped him with her shoulder. She then excused herself and went into the Tardis to freshen up. Both Jo and the Doctor looked after her, thoughtfully, until the Doctor shooed Jo over the worktable to examine the results of a certain experiment that had been running for the last 36 hours.
After getting Jo focused on recording the experiment results, the Doctor went to see what Rose was doing (and to make sure that she really was okay). He found her in the galley humming and making tea. The Doctor found himself smiling at that mysterious pink mug again. {Where did the TARDIS hide it in between Rose's visits?} he thought. {Probably in the same place she keeps my old room} Rose replied, even though she knew that question had not been directed towards her. Damn! He thought to himself. She had heard him again! Being around her apparently made all of his shields weak. He wondered what to think about that. Instead he changed the subject and asked aloud:
"What would you like to do this afternoon? We still have a couple of hours until the star scan is complete, but we can do anything you want while we wait."
"Don't you have to work?" she asked.
"There is nothing that can't wait until tomorrow." he replied, wanting to spend as much time as possible with her until she had to leave.
"Well, since we have already had our adventure for the day, I think that I would like to explore the TARDIS," Rose replied. "That is, if the two of you don't mind. I haven't seen anything but the same couple of rooms for years. You're welcome to come with me if you want."
"What a splendid idea! Jo planned to go to the pub with some friends tonight and she has been staying in her UNIT apartment lately, anyway. Therefore, we should have the place to ourselves. We can wander around and work up an appetite, and then ask the Old Girl to set us up a picnic in the Garden Room for dinner. How does that sound, dear Rose?" {Fantastic!} she replied enthusiastically and off they went as soon as the Doctor let Jo know that he was finished in the lab for the day and for her to lock up when she left.
They wandered around happily for a couple of hours – sometimes finding rooms that the doctor didn't remember or even know about in the first place. They spent time in the observatory, laboratory, music room (where Rose smiled at seeing the second Doctor's recorder on display), art studio, ballroom, and even the gymnasium. Rose looked longingly at the sparring mat and, thinking about the Venusian Aikido, was tempted to ask the Doctor to show her some of his moves. However, she stopped herself and blushed furiously when those words brought back a completely different set of memories of a different Doctor. The current Doctor noticed the blush and wondered, but he wisely didn't comment on it.
During their random wanderings, they even solved a mystery. They found a room full of nothing but shelves lined with mugs and teacups. "I guess this explains where my mug goes between visits. All that is, all that was, all that ever will be – mug style!" Rose said, amused, to the Doctor – who laughed at the thought of applying Time Lord philosophy to drinkware. Her humor soon turned to wistful nostalgia, however, when she saw the mugs that her leather clad Doctor and pinstriped Doctor had preferred. She lightly ran her index finger around their rims thinking about all of the times that she had had tea, or sometimes even coffee, with one or the other of them, in the galley, library, and console room. She continued to look around to see if she could recognize any more and found herself smiling again as she found Jack's favorite one, as well.
Just then her stomach growled audibly. "Time to eat," said the Doctor laughingly. He offered his arm to her again and led the way to the garden room. They wandered down a few paths until they found their picnic spread out under a beautiful silver-leafed tree that Rose had never seen before – not even when she had visited the garden room in the future TARDIS.
"It's beautiful. What is it?" she asked.
"It is called an Arborus Argentum and it is native to my home planet," he replied while patting the tree trunk fondly. "I often come here and visit her when I get homesick during this ridiculous episode of exile." Rose smiled at him fondly, but thought sadly of her future Doctors who didn't even have a tree left to help with their longing for Gallifrey.
"Would it you like to tell me about your home – your planet?" she asked - full of curiosity. Her future Doctors, for obvious reasons, never even mentioned Gallifrey if they could help it. This Doctor just gave her a curious look, obviously wondering why she didn't know much about his planet after traveling with him for so long. However, he chose not to ask, as there was probably a very good reason for it. Perhaps even something that was hidden behind one of those memory doors in Rose's mind that she would not allow him to access. He decided to ignore that disturbing thought and, while they ate, he proceeded to tell her about his family, his time at the Academy, the stuffy High Council, and his decision to "borrow" a TARDIS. His stories allowed the time to pass pleasantly enough until the TARDIS chimed at them.
"I guess that means the star scan is complete, my dear. Let us go find out the verdict." They cleaned up their picnic and headed back to the console room. The star scan, once again, showed no anomalies. Despite herself, Rose started to get discouraged. "Don't worry, my dear," the Doctor said reassuringly as he pulled her in for a quick hug. "The TARDIS will make sure that you get to where you need to be. It might just take longer than expected. Fortunately for all of us, she is also a magnificent time machine, and therefore, we have all of the time that we need!" That thought really did reassure Rose. After all, if she had to admit it, she really wanted to spend as much time as she could with as many Doctors as possible! She hugged the Doctor back and asked if he wanted to have tea in the library before bed since they seemed to be starting a new/old tradition. She even promised to not fall asleep this time! The Doctor agreed with a laugh and even offered to make the tea while she went to get ready.
She soon joined him in the library, dressed in the same pair of pajamas that she usually wore, and hair that was still damp from her shower. She asked him if he would read to her again. He agreed and settled down in his armchair while she stretched out on the sofa. She knew that she would be leaving again in the morning, but for now she was content to be with her Doctor in the TARDIS. That was how it should be!
When she started having a hard time keeping her eyes open, she excused herself, kissed the Doctor on his cheek, and went to bed. The Doctor watched her leave and felt a bit of disappointment that he did not get to tuck her in this time around.
In the morning, they had a subdued breakfast together because Rose realized that it was getting harder to leave her Doctors and the Doctor realized that it was getting harder to let her leave. Afterwards, as they stood at the console to say goodbye, they shared a warm embrace. The Doctor also leaned down (He was much taller this time around!) to kiss her forehead (since he did not think he could trust himself with her lips – and what kind of thoughts were those for a Time Lord!). "Until next time, sweet Rose," he whispered as she typed in her jump sequence and vanished from his sight.