The two things I have never written are one-shots and fluff. Just never had an interest really, I tend to prefer longer, more action-y stories. And then this happened. Somehow, my first-ever fanfic is a fluffy one-shot. Who knew?
Anyway, this is what happens when I try to eat a pomegranate, read Doctor Who, and write an essay at the same time. Plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone, so it got made into a story. I always thought these fruits seemed rather... alien. So here's my story of where pomegranates are really from. Ten/Rose of course, my absolute favorite (and at this time only) Doctor Who pairing!
Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Doctor Who. If I did Rose would be a Time Lady and be with the Doctor forever.
Read, enjoy, and if you please, leave helpful comments or critiques in the review section with that little button on the bottom of the screen. Please no flames, first fanfiction, ok?
"Argh, who designed this stupid fruit anyways? It's so damn difficult to get the seeds out," Rose growled in annoyance as she attempted to pry the little red balls out of the surprisingly strong pomegranate flesh, biting her tongue in concentration. They had stopped by Earth recently, and while walking through an open market, Rose had spotted a pomegranate and remarked that she'd never tied one. So of course, the Doctor bought one of the strange maroon fruits. At first she'd been grateful, and excited, but now it just seemed like the fruit was fighting her.
"The Wasaki Clan," the Doctor called out to her from across the room, back turned, fiddling with his sonic screwdriver.
"The what?" Rose asked, stopping her struggle with the fruit to raise an eyebrow at him.
"The Wasaki Clan," he called again, louder as though she must not have heard him. Honestly, even though she didn't have superior Time Lord senses, she wasn't deaf.
"What?" she tried again.
"Are you deaf? I said the Was-"
"Okay I heard you Doctor! I meant what do you mean, who are the Wasaki Clan? Some famous gardening group from ancient Rome?" Rose asked, biting back her sarcasm. He turned around to face her, and crossed his arms over his chest. His grin made her melt inside, just a little. She pushed that thought to the back of her mind.
"Oh, they invented pomegranates. And it was ancient Tefari, the planet, not Rome. Way before your time, you wouldn't know that story." She gasped at him, the only thought running through her stunned mind that he was smirking just a little too much at her reaction. He was having her on... wasn't he?
"You're kidding. You're telling me that pomegranates are an alien fruit?" Rose said skeptically, glancing down at the fruit in her hands, white flesh peppered with jewel-like seeds. On second thought, Rose supposed that it was an awfully strange-looking fruit.
"One-hundred percent, absolument an alien fruit. Really nice civilization that lived on Tefari-12, probably still does as a matter of fact. Quite a beautiful planet too. Very nature-y," he shot Rose another grin, and she rolled her eyes.
"Really? Nature-y, that's the best you could come up with?" The Doctor looked affronted.
"Well it's true. Perfect description really for a planet populated by a species of the best botanists in the universe. Lots of forests, they've got, warm 98 percent of the year- except for the 2 percent winter of sub zero temperatures. It's a nice planet for a vacation. Fancy a trip?" he asked suddenly. It was all Rose could do to keep up with his remarkably rapid changes in topic. And she'd thought she was getting better at following them. Apparently not.
"Hold on a moment Doctor," she said, holding up one hand and putting the other on her hip. You are telling me that pomegranates aren't from Earth, but Tefari, and were invented by a race of Tefarian gardeners called the Wasaki Clan?" Rose said seriously, one eyebrow raised, her disbelief still plainly apparent. The Doctor nodded.
"Yep," he said, popping the 'p'. "Come on, you didn't really think that pomegranates originated on Earth did you? Hundreds of seeds, all nutrient packed with more enzymes than humans can even metabolize. Far too efficient for you apes to whip up." Rose just rolled her eyes at the jibe at her species. If she wanted to be honest, she privately agreed with the Doctor some of the time.
"I always thought they looked a little weird, but how'd they get to Earth from Tefari? Did they just drop them off as a gift or something? And they are safe to eat right?" she asked, holding one of the seeds from the bowl that she'd finally extricated up to the light. It'd be just her luck to get poisoned from a sort-of-alien fruit. The Doctor gave her a scathing look before darting his hand into the bowl and swiping a handful of her hard-won seeds. "Oi!" she snapped, glaring but he just laughed and popped them in his mouth.
"Course they're safe. Humans have been eating them for centuries. They don't have as much of an effect on you lot as they do for the inhabitants of Tefari. Their poor race needs them like you need air, their DNA starts to destabilize without their antioxidants and such. The Wasaki can do brilliant things with pomegranates. Do you know, they're only called that on Earth? Everywhere else in the galaxy they're known as the 'Golden Gift of the Wasaki.' Quite rare to find any out there in the galaxy too. Only humans commercialize something that's supposed to be sacred on it's home planet-what?" The Doctor cuts himself off and Rose knows he's seen her stifling a laugh.
"Babbling. Now, that's all very interesting, and I apologize for any past insults of my race, but how did humans end up with pomegranates anyways?" she asked, still smiling. The Doctor huffed like a petulant child, but went on.
"Weeell, you see, the Wasaki Clan visited Asia- the continent, not the planet- around, oh 400, no 4000BC with pomegranates as a gift for some Emperor who really, really liked gardening. They were supposed to be an announcement of their arrival and honor of fellow plant lover, etc etc. Well, the palace gardener quite misunderstood, took the credit for breeding some strange sort of apple, called it a pomegranate after his daughter, and it spread around the world. The Wasaki Clan got caught up in some natural disaster in some other civilization and never remembered to return. They're an awfully forgetful race, great with plants and bloody useless with anything else." The Doctor took a deep breath and stood up straighter, clearly proud of his knowledge and ready to start another monologue, but Rose decided to burst in before she burst into laughter at his pompous look.
"Can we go?" she asked, eyes sparkling. She tried to act mature about it, she figured he must get tired of her childishness sometimes, but she felt it sneaking out in her excitement anyways. The Doctor looked taken aback by the sudden request. "To Tefari er- 12 was it?" The Doctor's face lit up, matching her grin with one of his own.
"Of Course! Hold on!" Rose had just enough time to grab her bowl of painstakingly removed pomegranate seeds before the TARDIS lurched out of the vortex and landed with a thud.
"If you'd made me spill a single one," she threatened, shaking her fist at the Doctor, though her ruse was ruined by the grin splitting her face. He said nothing, simply gesturing to the door. Rose set the bowl on the counter and darted over to step out the TARDIS' doors.
"It's beautiful," she murmured, subdued at once by the rainbow assortment of trees and plants, growing in shapes she'd never imagined. She gestured to a huge tree right beside the TARDIS, so wide as to be bigger than her house and so tall it seemed to stretch up for miles. "It's... Fantastic," she said, with a tongue-in-teeth smile. Beside her, the Doctor locked his fingers with hers and pulled her towards it, lying her palm against the tree's smooth, pinkish-grey bark. She gasped.
"It hums like the TARDIS, like it's speaking," she whispered, awe in her voice, eyes shining as she looked at the Doctor. He never stopped amazing her, finding wonderous things to show her through all space and time. She could never thank him enough, and could never see herself without this in her life every day, his hand in hers, Rose Tyler and the Doctor, forever. Oblivious to her musings, the Doctor grinned, whether at her or the tree, Rose wasn't sure.
"Yep. They're telepathic." Rose just leaned against the tree, feeling a wave of comfort, like it was greeting her.
"Hello travelers, the forest welcomes you." At first Rose looked at the tree in shock, thinking it had spoken, until she caught movement in the corner of her eye. A blue-skinned native, covered in scales with a long tail and webbed feet and hands stepped out from behind something that looked like an upside-down pine tree. The Doctor bowed, and Rose followed his lead, assuming the woman before them was a Tefarian.
"I'm the Doctor and this is Rose Tyler. We've come to see the great Pom-Pom forests of Tefari-12," he said, puffing out his chest like he'd done something incredibly important. Rose rolled her eyes. The woman smiled, though it was tinged with sadness.
"My people, the Wasaki Clan are deeply proud that you have come so far from-" she paused.
"Earth," the Doctor supplied helpfully. She smiled again.
"from Earth to visit our magnificent forests." Rose thought she caught something along the lines of 'especially since you've burned all the ones on your own planet,' but she couldn't be sure. She resolved to ask the Doctor later if he'd heard with his superior hearing. The blue-skinned woman continued, "My name is Nakima, and I am so sorry, but at the moment, the Pom-Pom forests are heavily depleted, nowhere near the height of their glory. Right now, it is not even clear if there will be enough to replant after the freeze. The festivities are to start this sunset, but for the first time in millennia, we may not have enough seeds prepared. There are Golden Gift fruits in the stores, yes, but we must remove the seeds in order to plant them and celebrate them, and there simply isn't time before the freeze." Nakima hung her head, and Rose's heart went out to her.
"What can we do?" she asked simply, ignoring the Doctor's warning squeeze on her hand. Nakima's eyes widened.
"You would help prepare the festival? But you are guests!" Rose knew the Doctor wouldn't want to get involved, but there was a desperate hope in Nakima's eyes that Rose couldn't ignore.
"We're helpful guests, right Doctor?" Rose asked impishly. The Doctor's eyes were narrowed, flicking frantically towards the TARDIS as though plotting an escape route. Rose tightened her grip on his hand, shooting him a devilish grin. He was not going to get out of this one, and she'd never let him forget it.
"Weeelll what would this help involve," he asked cautiously.
"If you and your companion could help harvest the seeds to be planted next year, it would allow us to replenish the trees next year after the freeze and provide for tonight's celebration." The Doctor shifted uncomfortably, still glancing at the TARDIS, and Rose giggled, tightening her grip further like a vice.
"Oh no you don't," she said firmly, "we 're going to help them Doctor."
"But...it's gardening! Do you have any idea how domestic that is?" he whined, sounding like a petulant teenager. Rose rolled her eyes.
"Come on," she said anyways, dragging him by the hand after Nakima as she walked deeper into the forests. Honestly, the things she had to do to get him to be a little less rude sometimes. As they followed Nakima, their pace picking up to a steady jog, the Doctor reflected that the Tyler women were very determined when they wanted their way.
AN- Okay so I lied, this story has 3 chapters, it's not really a one-shot. I'll have he next one up in a couple of days. They're all written... Just not typed. I'm old fashioned and like to write my stories by hand first, so that's typically what takes the longest between updates. I would love to get feedback, even if it's just to say you liked it, hated it, thought I spelled the word the as 'teh'. Leave a review, if you please, and until next time!
~Orchid