This is based on a ficlet written for stuf0flegnds, and it'll be about 15 chapters if I follow my outline, but I'm fully willing to let Nine and Rose steer me in whatever direction they wish. A ratings change to Adult is possible near the end because, right, I like having a solid plot, but the characters are in charge, here.
Betas: scullywolf and resile
Rose ran her hands along the ruffles of her dress as she walked back into the console room. She looked up from fiddling with a particularly large bow to see the Doctor finishing up at the controls.
"Ready, then?" he asked before turning blue eyes in her direction. She caught a hint of an appreciative gleam - you look beautiful - and then he pasted on his tight-lipped grin.
"Yeah," she answered, smoothing her ruffles again. "You said we were going to the Old West, right?"
"Sort of." He leaned against the console, arms crossed. "It's a planet that specializes in historical immersions. You sign up for a set amount of time, anywhere from a year to a decade, and you spend the duration living in your favorite time period." He grinned again. "Or your least favorite if you're into that sort of thing. Anyway," he continued, turning to reach for something on the other side of the console, "there are fines and jail time and a big hullabaloo if you do anything they consider inaccurate. Mostly these things are based on stereotypes rather than actual historical data."
He turned back to face her, settling a black stetson on his head, and Rose couldn't quite suppress a giggle, one that turned into a full-on laugh at his resulting glare. She managed to compose herself and walk the few steps to the Doctor before placing a gloved hand on his unclad one, ignoring the fact he'd crossed his arms again.
"You look perfectly dashing, Doctor," she said, keeping a straight face for about a second longer than she'd thought she'd be able to. She broke into a wide smile, her tongue touching her teeth, before she added, "Considering."
The look on his face shifted to an attempt at a glare, his mouth a bit too curved to properly convey a lack of amusement, and his eyes…
Rose turned away, feeling her cheeks flush, and fiddled with the frills on her cap.
"Make sure you keep that hat on, Rose," he said, settling his own a little lower on his head. "One of their historical facts for this particular immersion is that every single person wears hats at all times. Sheriff shows up practically instantly if a person steps foot outside without a hat, and there are no excuses, either. When they turn up the wind, either hold on tight or stay inside."
"How long are we planning to stay? Or does the weather just change a lot?"
"Only planning to stay for today," he told her. "But you never know when the person who controls the weather is going to decide it's a good time for a dust storm."
"Okay," she said. Rose looked between the Doctor and the door. "Are we going to go have a look or are we just staying in here and sayin' we visited?"
"We're goin'," he said, turning abruptly and walking toward the door. Rose followed him, her lips curving in anticipation of seeing a new place.
They exited the TARDIS, and Rose looked around, feeling at if she had been dropped straight into a movie set.
Buildings lined the street, if you could call dirt with wheel tracks a street, one building's face blending directly into the next. Each shop was decked out in tiny porch and multiple balconies, with most buildings a shade of red or brown, a few off-white ones thrown in for good measure. Several ancient-looking streetlamps dotted the road. As Rose watched, two women crossed from one shop to another, their hats a matching blue. A tumbleweed followed.
"This is great, Doctor," she said with a grin. He smiled confidently and nodded.
"Thought this might be fair entertainment for someone from your time. For a human, anyway."
She rolled her eyes and glanced back toward the TARDIS, sensing him stiffen before she turned more fully. Beside her, the Doctor turned as well, a hard look on his face as though he already knew what they would see.
In the place they'd just walked from stood a carriage and two horses. One raised and lowered a hoof idly, stirring up dust. The TARDIS, there just moments earlier, was nowhere to be seen.
"Doctor, what happened?"
Rose took a few steps forward, watching the horses, then circled the carriage. When she made it all the way around, the Doctor was still standing, motionless, his eyes closed, brows furrowed.
"Doctor?" she tried again, but there was no response. She reached out to touch him, but he spoke first.
"Need a minute, Rose." His tone perfectly matched his unchanged features.
"Okay," she said, letting him think. She moved back to the carriage and reached out to touch it. It certainly felt normal. She leaned forward to look under the seat. There was nothing there, nothing to see other than a hard, wooden bench. She circled the carriage again, stopping near the head of the horse harnessed on the right, who eyed her before snorting and nodding in a friendly sort of way.
"Don't suppose you could tell me what's going on, could you?" asked Rose with a grin that widened when the horse nodded again. She took off a glove, then reached forward and patted its forehead, surprised at how soft the hair was. "Suppose you probably could tell me if you could talk, or if I could understand you." The horse shook itself gently, and Rose saw a flash of white as a small piece of paper wafted to the ground.
She crouched down slowly.
"You seem nice, Mister Horse," she said as she moved, "so I'll appreciate your not stepping on me whilst I pick this up."
Rose stood again, putting her free hand on the horse's neck while she read the bold script, petting the animal absently.
"TRANSPORT USED FOR ARRIVAL VIOLATES CODE 1.6-B OF DOCUMENT C-8 AND HAS BEEN REPLACED WITH SUITABLE TRANSPORT AS DESCRIBED IN SUBSECTION F OF 'TERMS AND CONTRACTS.'"
"No anachronistic transportation allowed," said the Doctor from immediately behind her. Rose jumped and spun to face him, losing her balance slightly in her heeled boots. The Doctor put a steadying hand on her waist, letting it linger as he pointed at the paper.
"You startled me," said Rose, trying to slow her heart rate, a task that grew easier when he dropped his hand and turned his attention to the equines.
"They took the TARDIS because it didn't fit in this immersion, as if this particular style of carriage were any more accurate."
"Well, we can get it back, right?"
"Course we can," he replied, taking hold of the reins and leading the horses to a large, nearby post, to which he quickly fastened them. "Won't quite be as easy as just getting to it and taking it back, though. They've got an obstruction field here, both dampens and scrambles signals: technological, telepathic, anything they decided doesn't fit this particular immersion. Betting your phone doesn't work, even with my upgrades."
Rose stuck her glove back on to get it out of the way, then picked through the convenient hidden pockets in her dress, searching for her phone while he continued talking.
"My link to the TARDIS, it's been scrambled. She's still here, still in this immersion, but I can't tell where. Not even a general direction."
Rose watched him, phone clasped in her hand and forgotten. He sounded… lost. She put her free hand gently on his arm, and he glanced at her, then frowned at the phone she held.
"Best put that away. Your phone, my sonic: they probably won't register on the automated scans. They do try to follow accurate technology levels, so most of the scans are reserved for major violations, like the TARDIS was. And missing hats, for some bloody reason. Still, if someone actually sees us with something that doesn't belong, it can be reported to the Sheriff. Can't guarantee I can get us out of being locked up if this obstruction field affects the sonic screwdriver. Best not to try it out in the open."
She nodded, glancing at her phone's screen - he was right, there was no signal - before putting it away again.
"What do we do next, then, Doctor?"
"We find out who's in charge of this immersion," he said, striding away from the post and further into town.
"Can they get the TARDIS back for us?"
"Yup," he answered. Rose grabbed ahold of his arm, mimicking the couple she saw strolling along on the other side of the street, and the Doctor adjusted his position slightly to make it easier for her. "Each immersion has a single person in charge. This person controls exits, entrances, violations, contracts. He should have the TARDIS, and, conveniently, he'll also be the only one who can give it back to us."
"Isn't that a lot for one person to be in charge of?"
"More realistic. That way, there's just one person who can't get fully into the immersion. Don't even tell others who this is, because when they tried that, people started askin' for favors. Immersionists in the past suddenly desperately needed televisions, people in the future suddenly needed solid food instead of nutrition packets."
"How are we gonna find out who's in charge here, then?"
"Figure we start by talking to the person who seems most obvious. It's unlikely he'll actually be the one in charge, but we've got to start somewhere."
"And who's the most obvious?"
"The one who handles this period's violations, of course."
"The Sheriff?"
"Yup," he agreed, slowing down to look around. Rose pointed at a building across the street and a bit further ahead, and the Doctor set off again.
"And if he's who my mobile would be reported to," she said, "then he's got to know who handles tech being in the wrong time and place, yeah?"
"Hope so," he answered as they approached a small building, SHERIFF written in large letters across the top. "If we find out it isn't him, then at least we've eliminated a possibility, and maybe we get some information along the way."
"Wait, Doctor," she said, pulling gently at his arm when he moved to reach for the door. He turned to look at her, brow raised.
"What?"
She bit her lip at his impatience; the TARDIS was missing, and it made sense he'd be ready to get back to his ship.
"What happens if we can't get the TARDIS back?"
"We'll look for it ourselves if we have to. Carefully, of course, since being locked up would slow things down a bit, and they aren't afraid to use force on folks who refuse to cooperate or continue to break local law. If we can't find it ourselves," he started, reaching for the door again, turning the handle, and pausing.
"Then what, Doctor?"
"If we can't find her," he continued, "then we're stuck in this town for at least a year." He looked at her. "Hope you like the Old West." He turned away and pushed through the door.
Rose, her hands gone slack, remained where she stood on the porch.
The Sheriff would be able to give them the TARDIS back, she hoped. With the TARDIS, they could always get back home, could return to her mum when she needed, see Mickey, London. It wasn't as if she wasn't willing to travel with the Doctor for a year, and much more time passed in between visits than she'd like to admit, but being stuck in one place and time seemed different, somehow. If she had to be stuck with someone, though… She pictured his strong arms around her in the church in 1987; his bright eyes watching her warmly after an adventure; his cool hand entwined with hers as they walked; a dark room and I'm so glad I met you.
Rose took a deep breath and followed her Doctor into the Sheriff's office, hoping for answers, but prepared to make the best of their time here, regardless of what they learned.