Radiohead: Go Slowly - In Rainbows CD2, Street Spirit & Just - The Bends. Standard disclaimers apply, I own nothing Beeb & Terry Nation own all.
The Doctor scratched his head even as he lay the sonic screwdriver on the grating in front of him. He studied the open panel he'd been maintaining as he tried to work out what it was that had managed to break through his fantastic concentration.
Jack had announced a lazy day, rain checking on any adventures with a loud yawn claiming even he needed his beauty sleep every now and then. Rose had been more than happy to comply; although her sleep cycle had adjusted to The Doctor's own more unusual patterns there were more than enough rooms on the T.A.R.D.I.S. she had yet to explore. An adventure in itself she'd grinned.
The Doctor had taken this rare opportunity to carry out some much needed maintenance, the helmic regulators had been a little…off on their last few trips and even sitting on the Cardiff Rift hadn't sorted out the little quibbles he'd noticed. He shifted on his heels aware from the slight ache in his knees that he'd been occupied for quite a while before the as yet mysterious interruption.
A manic grin raced over his face, he'd only met one person in this incarnation that had the ability to remove his focus that completely, and he wondered if Rose had gotten a little more than she bargained for in one of the many rooms in his ship.
His grin disappeared as his concentration resumed, not at the panel this time, but at the faint strains of Earth guitars floating towards him. It wasn't unusual to hear music on board, but it was admittedly usually a little quieter than this.
He wasn't annoyed at the interruption, well, maybe a little, but one of Rose's grins would sort that out soon enough and he admitted he was a little curious to find out just what his companion was up to. The Doctor unfolded himself gracefully and turned towards the corridor his loping stride carrying him swiftly from the console room.
He followed the twists and turns of his fantastic ship and grinned. It definitely wouldn't be Jack, a quick touch of his fingers against the wall indicated that the former Time Agent was still snoring, much to the T.A.R.D.I.S' amusement.
Given his and Jack's boisterious personalities it was rare if Rose's choice made it onto their playlist, preferring to hear their favourites and saving hers for when she was in her room.
He wondered curiously what it was she listened to. He'd seen the small silver mp3 player hanging around her neck on the rare moments they indulged in a little r'n'r but he had no idea of her tastes.
He made a mental note to insist on her favourites the next time and smirked, his brain cycling through his knowledge of early 21st Century music. It was unlikely to be anything decent. Probably one of those manufactured 'indie' bands the corporate labels liked to churn out with indecent haste, or one of those sugary pop groups that made his teeth ache and his ears bleed.
He turned another corner and frowned as he tried to decide where to turn next, listening to the sounds he thought it sounded eerily like the frequencies that passed through the T.A.R.D.I.S harmonic filters on occasion whilst they were floating through the vortex, all ephemeral and haunting, half way decent for ape music.
A final turn brought him to the source of the sound, and he slowed his steps, slightly annoyed to find that he'd quickened his pace. He assumed a nonchalant expression; it wouldn't do to seem too interested and rolled his shoulders. He approached the open door and his feet locked as he took in the sight before him.
Rose had found the ballroom. He scratched his ear idly, he hadn't even been aware that he'd still had a ballroom. It had been Susan's idea after a brief fascination with human fairy tales and he'd had little use for it since. His sharp eyes took in the scene before him. She'd obviously stopped in at the wardrobe for a little dress up before coming here because instead of the t shirt and jeans he'd seen her in at breakfast she now wore a ball gown so richly beaded he wondered how she managed to stand. Gold and full the dress sparkled as she span slowly, her head tilted back and her eyes closed.
He could see the odd flash of her trainers and denim and he realised she'd not changed, merely pulled the dress on over her outfit and probably in the process of coming to show him her find, she had wandered in here. The room was large, decorated, much like the rest of the T.A.R.D.I.S., but the lights in here were dim and the shadows cast on her features gave her an angelic appearance, a feeling of intangibility that made him feel if he reached out for her hand she would just disappear.
She was stood smack in the centre of the room, under a small spotlight that shone down into the room lazily, catching molecules and suspending them in a luminescent haze around her. A small computer system blinked from its station near the door, letting him know the source of the music and he spied her mp3 player plugged into the front spilling the ethereal sounds out of hidden speakers even he didn't know the location of. What looked like glitter floated in the air and the combination of the T.A.R.D.I.S.'s nebulous lighting and the colour of her dress made her look as if she was glowing. His breath caught in his throat and he bit his lip. She looked like a goddess.
He owed so much to this small pink and yellow human, whose brief hold on life had made him take stock of his own and showed him that he could be the man he wanted to be. She'd joked with Jack that he'd saved her life with a single word, run, but Jack had seen the truth in his eyes, one touch, one panicked look had been all that it had taken for him to lose himself in the girl's eyes.
He frowned, he really needed to start putting his guard up. Jack saw too much for his comfort. His need for Rose left him open and vulnerable, but he couldn't find it in himself to pull back, her questing innocence made the shadows at the edge of his mind shrink back just a little. Her hand in his soothed his itching guilty conscience
A small smile tugged her lips and suddenly the lyrics of the song came into sharp focus leaving his mouth dry.
"Over here
Come slowly
Come slowly to me
I've been waiting
Patient
Patiently
I didn't
But now I can see
That there's a way out"
He had turned to leave, not wanting to interrupt what seemed like a private moment, but a change in the air around him made him stop abruptly in the doorway. He swallowed hard as he heard her soft intake of breath and then her own sweet soprano, untutored but full of passion and strength danced an effortless harmony around the words of the male singer whose voice she was trying to emulate.
He turned back to look at her, entranced as her face seemed to display a maturity he hadn't noticed in her before, a look that made her seem so much more learned that her 19 years.
The meanings of the words were not lost on him and he stood transfixed as he felt himself slip slowly, just that little bit further..
-$-$-$-$-$-$-
Rose felt a sharp change in the air around her, the quiet silky concentration of the time ship sliding into a fizzing intensity that announced the presence of the Doctor. Although the thought of languages being translated in her head had bothered her at first, she had quickly become used to the strange quirks of travelling in a living ship, and kept herself alert as she tried to identify new changes in her outlook.
Since she'd first joined the Doctor she'd noticed whether he was in a room or not wherever it was that they happened to be. Rose had thought simply that it was that alien bit, making him stand out. Since Jack had joined them however, she had begun noticing it with him as well, and sometimes, if she concentrated the people they met on their adventures.
It was harder to notice the feeling when they were out mingling with other people, but here in the T.A.R.D.I.S. is was as if all of their emotions were amplified into some sort of tangible sensation.
She smiled slightly, to her Jack felt like a lazy sundrenched cat, with a hidden sliver of steel under his furry coat of bonhomie. The Doctor though, he felt like the hunt, wolf and ice and loyal and fierce. It took her breath away.
She turned to face the door the smile tugging her lips blossoming into a fully fledged grin as she spotted the Time Lord's presence. She felt heat rise in her face at being caught out doing something so obviously silly and ape-like and she knew her cheeks would be pink as she waited for the onslaught of teasing she knew so well.
Her eyes met the Doctor's as she straightened her shoulders to accept the good-natured attack and even as her mouth opened to apologise for any intrusion the words died on her lips as the look in the Doctor's eyes rushed over her.
The fire of burning universes stared back at her and she could almost imagine the heat of it ravaging her skin. An improbable combination of ice and wind skittered after it and she wondered briefly how he could be both, that intensity of extremes hot and cold wrapped in one potent stare.
She shivered feeling warmth ripple over her skin, goose bumps chasing soon after and she could feel her heart pounding loudly in her ears. Panic tightened her throat sharply. Had she unknowingly stirred some dark memory of his with her childish actions? Had she hurt him?
The Doctor blinked and the look faded slightly but didn't disappear. He shifted, his leather jacket creaking slightly as he folded his arms and leaned against the door frame.
"Wouldn't have picked that as your sort of music." The words were lazy and drawled slowly across the space towards as he nodded at the computer, hiding everything and nothing all at once.
His voice seemed to release her from his thrall and she started, licking her suddenly dry lips as her eyes darted anywhere but his as she struggled to decipher what he'd said.
"Radiohead?" A grin of relief spread over her face, her tongue curling over her teeth. "Yeah, my guilty secret. Why what did you think I listened to?"
He grinned back at her a little sheepishly his eyes sparkling with amusement. "Girls Aloud?"
Rose laughed and her head fell back slightly, her messy curls trembling as her shoulders shook. "Nah." She motioned to the computer and the dress whispered softly around her. "But don't tell Mickey yeah? If he found out I liked anything without a hip-hop beat I'd never hear the end of it." She rolled her eyes and he nodded again, still smiling.
"So, Rose Tyler. Thought you'd be a little old for playing dress up?" He teased her and she grinned, pink staining her cheeks again. It was a lie, they both knew Rose's obsession with the T.A.R.D.I.S wardrobe. She played along like she was supposed to.
"Wanted to see if there was somewhere I could wear this, it's gorgeous." She fixed him with an indignant look. "And women never get tired of playing dress up; the hemlines just get a little shorter."
He laughed loudly at that and she smiled. "I found this place on the way to ask you, an' it just sort of... called to me." She gestured to the room around her and he followed the action with his eyes.
"I like the song." He was still grinning, leaning lazily against the door and Rose felt her heart skip a beat. "pretty good."
"For stupid apes you mean?" Her tongue made an appearance and she saw his rolled eyes. She wasn't ever gonna let that slide.
He tilted his head in acknowledgment laughter dancing in his endless ice blue eyes.
"Well, they're better than that fly band at any rate." He allowed. He paused a moment and then that look was back, fire and ice, the wolf and the hunt.
"You can sing." The air seemed to quiver around them, stretching indefinably into something she could almost taste. She opened her mouth to deny the compliment but a movement behind The Doctor stayed her words and her mouth tugged into a rueful grin.
"Hey, Jack."
The Doctor jumped slightly, looking nonplussed at Jack's ability to creep up behind him unawares. Jack grinned over his shoulder at her, his eyes dancing with flirtation and something else that was pure Jack Harkness
"Rosie, looking like a princess! Hey is this Radiohead? I love this band, always wanted to see 'em live. I like the song about the pigs, and that video where they're all just lying on the ground! Genius"
Rose shook her head at his hyperactive chatter. "Just." She named the song he had described and chuckled at his loud 'Aha!'
Rose paused and looked at him inquisitively. "You still listen to Radiohead in the 51st Century?" She grinned at him, her eyes fixed on the time agent and she missed slight look of regret that flickered in the Doctor's eyes.
"Oh, yeah! Transcend time and space. Everywhere I've been you've still got Street Spirit." They both laughed at this and this time she didn't miss the Doctor's frown.
"So? Fancy going out for lunch?" The Doctor interrupted their camaraderie.
Rose nodded and Jack grunted an affirmative as he pushed past the Doctor into the room to look at Rose's mp3 player.
"Come on then. Best change first, though, beautiful as it is, I don't think it'd go down well in Cardiff." She blushed prettily at his comment and grinned shyly at him.
He held out his hand to her and Rose slid her fingers into his, feeling that strange mixture of danger and safety as her fingers locked with his. She followed The Doctor's gentle tugging as he pulled her from the room. Behind her she heard Jack's steps rush to catch up with them.
"Hey wait a minute? Rose can sing? Why didn't you say! There's a karaoke bar on Yelpsin 5 that does mean Hajurhs. They have a competition for best duet, prize is 10,000 credits. We should go there!" Rose could hear the laughter in his voice and she giggled as the Doctor replied his voice dry.
"Do I look like a karaoke kind of person to you?"
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