(AN: Quick, note for those interested. This fic is based on a movie of the same name starring Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant. I watched it for the first time recently and for some reason couldn't stop thinking of a Ten/Rose sort of dynamic and voila! The general basis for the story belongs completely to the creators of the film. I hope you enjoy it!)
This most definitely was not how Donna Noble had been planning to spend her Saturday.
"Are you sure about this?" Donna asked, her voice wavering slightly.
"Of course I'm sure!" came Rose's reply. "It's our right to stand up for what we believe in. Besides, it's not like they're gonna run us over..." Rose let the 'right?' at the end of that sentence go unsaid.
The Golden Gate Cinema had been like a second home to Rose, Donna, and their friends ever since they were young. The owner of the cinema, an old man named Wilfred, had taken a particular liking to their little group and was always letting them stay after hours, even screening private movies for them. It had been over five years since they'd properly hung out at the cinema, but when Rose Tyler had heard that it was to be demolished by Smith Estates to build some condos, she was outraged.
Rose was an attorney, a bright one. Granted, the local Legal Aid wasn't exactly Linklaters, but it did bring in some interesting, convoluted cases. Rose had a good record and, despite the low status employment, she considered herself to be pretty damn good, thank you very much. So, naturally, she figured if she set out to protest the demolition it'd get her somewhere. First, she'd drafted a petition and sent it around her old neighborhood. It had gotten more than enough signatures but the construction people had dismissed it. Not at all discouraged, she'd made a second petition. It took quite a while but she was able to double the number of signatures. However, it was dismissed again.
It had been Jack's idea, getting a group of people together and going to protest the demolition at the sight and Rose had thought it brilliant at the time. She was naive enough to think the construction company would see how much it meant to her community and just drop it. Obviously, she'd been very wrong. Most of their party had fallen prey to the initial threats made by the company and left. The rest had gone in waves as things got hairier and hairier. And now, two hours later, she, Donna, Mickey, and Jack were staring down a giant wrecking ball.
The construction workers were chatting away, some of them nervously, others laughing right in their faces. The supervising one was dialing on his mobile, probably trying to get the police, and Rose swore under her breath. A small crowd had gathered to watch, most of them chattering as well. Great, so they'd be arrested and taken away and humiliated. Then her mum would have to come bail them out and the cinema would still get torn down. They'd have gotten nowhere at all.
Donna seemed be thinking the same thing. She let out a bitter laugh. "If we get arrested you'll be paying your mum back my slice of the bail..." she muttered, glaring at Rose.
Rose just rolled her eyes, her stomach churning at the thought of her mother having to bail them out of jail. Her mum had more than enough to worry about without her daughter and her friends having to spend the night in jail. Besides, Rose imagined that the bail wouldn't be too cheap, especially if they wanted to avoid punishment. Money was tight for both her and her mum, even with their full time jobs, and asking her to bail them out wouldn't be fair. Her determination wavered for just a second. Still, even if they backed out now, the supervisor was already phoning the cops and they'd already caused quite a bit of trouble.
"Well what the hell am I supposed to do about it?" the supervisor cried, loud enough to snap Rose out of her thoughts. The man was red in the face, running his free hand over his bald spot in frustration. It would have been comical if Rose hadn't been so worried about who was on the receiving end of the call. He opened his mouth again then shut it moments later, letting out a frustrated sigh. He said something else that Rose didn't quite hear and hung up his phone. She sucked in a sharp breath as he started heading in their direction, immediately straightening up, trying to puff out her chest and stand at her full height.
The supervisor stopped a few feet from them, picking up the end of his tie and running it across his forehead to mop up some sweat. "Good news for you lot. The big boss man is nice enough that he don't want us to call the cops..." he said, the annoyance and anger evident in his voice. "And you've managed to delay us enough that we can't knock down anything here. The crane's been booked at another sight this afternoon."
A smile bloomed across Rose's face. "This means the cinema gets to stay then?"
He stared at her for a moment before he burst out laughing. "Yeah, for now it does. Look, it's real sweet and all but this place is going down. We've got a permit and everything. We'll just reschedule the demolition."
Rose's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. They had delayed the demolition. Delays for big corporations were usually a huge deal. They typically moved projects to the next available place, one of their backups, or just cancelled it all together and had to start over. "B-but it'll take you time, won't it? You'll have to get a new permit approved for a different date and that takes time. Time you can't afford to lose."
The supervisor gave her a look. "Yeah, it'll take time, no thanks to any of you, but it'll still be coming down. The boss likes this area and he wants to build here, he said he doesn't care how long it takes."
She opened her mouth to continue her protesting but she was silenced by the crackling of the supervisor's megaphone as he switched it on. "Nothing to see here, folks!" he boomed, turning to address the crowd. The chatter only grew. Obviously there was something to see, something quite exciting. The supervisor looked as if he were about to have an aneurysm. Luckily for him, the other workers took the hint began to pack up their things and clear the area.
"We're done here. You all can go on home," the supervisor finished with an air of finality. The crane started to back up and people finally decided to believe him, turning away and heading off little by little. Satisfied, the man clipped the megaphone back in his belt and started to walk away.
Rose sprang into action and chased him down in seconds. She fell into step with him, walking a bit sideways so she could talk to him. "Sir, please. The amount of time it'll take to get another permit, will it even be worth the wait?"
The man continued to walk, playing with his mobile. "I don't make the rules. I just carry out orders. They tell me to knock something down and I go knock it down."
"This plot of land isn't that big, surely you can find somewhere else to build. Somewhere bigger, better. Someplace that doesn't mean so much to a community like ours..."
He stopped suddenly, causing Rose to have to fall back a few paces because she'd not been expecting it. She braced herself for whatever he was about to say. Surprisingly, when he looked up there was sympathy in his gaze. "l'm sorry, love. I understand that this is important to you and if I had any control over any of this I would try to help you. But I'm just the demolition supervisor. Only the big boss man can make those kinds of changes, find a new sight and all that. I'm sorry..." He turned and started off again. Rose immediately moved to chase after him again but was stopped by a hand on her arm.
"Rose." Mickey's voice. "Just leave it..."
Rose sighed, her shoulders sagging as she turned to face Mickey.
"Look at it this way," he continued, offering her a smile. "We've got a few months, at least, to say goodbye to the old place. We could have one last hoorah there. I'm sure Wilf would love that." He extended his hand and Rose took it. "We achieved something, we get to say goodbye. At least we tried."
After a moment, Rose relaxed a bit, returning Mickey's smile. "You big sap..."
"Come on, Donna said she'd buy us chips. That'll make you feel better. Just try and put it out of your mind, alright?"
Rose nodded again, sighing and squeezing Mickey's hand as they started walking in Jack and Donna's direction.
Try as she might, Rose was unable to put it out of her mind for the rest of the day. The chips were delicious and her friends were great, amazing, really, but they still couldn't take her mind off of everything completely. Now, she sat on her mum's couch, papers, files, an old textbook, and her laptop spread out on the coffee table in front of her, going through everything again. There had to be a way, some law or some right she was forgetting about, some way for her to save the cinema.
She'd always thought that someday she would take her children there, show them all the movies she used to watch as a little girl. Now she would never be able to. And Wilf, her poor Wilf. The cinema was his livelihood, he was the third generation from his family that owned and managed it. He deserved to keep the place, pass it down to his sons, and their sons after that. He deserved it after everything he'd done for all of them and so many others like them. She'd tried so hard for him, for all of them, and she'd screwed up. She'd failed them.
Frustrated, she leaned back on the couch, closing her eyes and tilting her head back over the top of the cushions. Behind her eyes, she saw the face of the supervising construction man, saw the sympathy he'd had for her. Fat lot of good that did. They finally get some sort of sympathetic attention and it's from the guy that could do absolutely nothing to help them.
The guy that could do absolutely nothing to help them
Her eyes snapped open at that. She'd made one man sympathetic but he couldn't help. Maybe she could make a more influential person feel the same. All the legal things had gone to the higher ups, the impersonal formalities. When they'd taken a heartfelt approach it had worked, just not on anyone who could change anything. She shot forward, grabbing the laptop and bringing it to the edge of the table. The words of the demolition supervisor echoed through her head.
"Only the big boss man can make those kind of changes, find a new sight and all that..." she muttered to herself as she pulled up the internet and headed to Google, typing in Smith Estates.
Their website was the first option and she could feel herself grinning. Scrolling down a bit, she found exactly what she was looking for.
John Smith, CEO of Smith Estates and one of the richest men in all of England.
Beside his name and a small paragraph she guessed was full of bullshit, was a picture. She'd seen pictures of him before, in magazines and things, but never really taken the time to look him over. He was tall, or at least she assumed he was, considering his torso filled most of the frame, and thin. His hair was messily pushed aside, a pair glasses perched on the edge of his nose. He had a stupid, adorable grin plastered on his face and her eyebrows furrowed. He certainly didn't look cold enough or put together enough to be the richest man in England, she thought, but appearances could be deceiving. Perhaps that was why he was so desirable and admired. He looked accessible.
But, logically, he probably was far from it.
Her eyes drifted over to the paragraph. Fourth generation CEO of the ever successful Smith Estates, John Smith is dedicated to making his company the very best it can be. She snorted. He cares about his community and strives everyday to make it better-
Her eyes quickly scanned over the rest of it, some garbage about how although he had plenty of it, the money didn't matter to him. Well, it didn't matter to her. This wasn't the least bit helpful. She blew some air out of her cheeks, scrolling back up to the top of the page. She was about to exit it when something caught her eye. At the top of the page there was message with a phone number beside it. Her eyes widened slowly as the gears in her head started to turn. Beaming, she picked up her mobile, dialing.
On the third ring the phone line connected.
"Hello," she said, putting on her most friendly tone. "I'm calling about the job opportunity."
(AN: So, hello. Seems like you've made it this far through my writing and that's pretty great. I hope you enjoyed! I'll try to update ASAP. In the mean time, feel free to comment as much as you like with whatever you'd like.)