Title: "Mickey Smith, Tin Dog"

Author: Wish Wielder

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing / Character Focus: Mickey Smith

Challenge: 15 Minute Fic

Theme / Prompt: Word #22

Word Count: 441

Rating: K / G

Summary: He knew long before she did that she would never come back to him; he had just been a stepping stone on the way to where she really wanted to be.

Notes: Set during "School Reunion", when Mickey's stuck in the car with K-9.

Disclaimer: "Doctor Who" and all respective properties are © the BBC. Meg D. (Wish Wielder) does not, has never, nor will ever own "Doctor Who".

"Mickey Smith, Tin Dog"

It had started that night, trapped somewhere below London with Rose in some foolhardy attempt to save some guy with big ears in a leather coat. He didn't quite remember how they had survived that, but once they were back up on proper ground he didn't really care. He was just glad to be alive, though he wanted to get as far away from Dumbo as possible.

Rose hadn't seen it that way, though. She almost had; she had almost stayed with him, but then Dumbo had brought his box (ship?) back and had poked his head out.

"Did I mention? It also travels in time."

That had been all the strange man had needed to say to get Rose to look at him, apologize, and run off into the night.

And every time he saw her, it became more and more obvious how deeply ingrained she was in Dumbo's – no, sorry, the Doctor's – life. He knew long before she did that she would never come back to him; he had just been a stepping stone on the way to where she really wanted to be. The safety net before the freefall.

That thought was enforced all the more now, as he sat in a stifling car with a tin dog next to him. It wasn't so much as he wasn't important to the Doctor; he could live with that. The Doctor – whether as Dumbo or Little Mister Pretty-Boy – would always be the one that took Rose away, in some warped sense, so he could cope with not being important to him. What bothered him was not being important to Rose. He didn't like sitting on the sidelines, sending in random calls about suspicious test scores at a local brain farm. He didn't like being the tin dog.

He wasn't the Doctor's tin dog, either; he was Rose's. He knew Rose had no intention of leaving the Doctor, but now more than ever he realized that – if something ever did tear them apart – she wouldn't return to him, either. He was K-9, the faithful sidekick and nothing more. He was the backup you had waiting on the wings for when everything went wrong; your safety in a world that promised anything but. He was the tin dog.

Something in his mind snapped as he saw the boy run up to the windows, pounding on the glass in an attempt to catch someone's attention. His eyes narrowed as he saw the distress, and moments later (after a rather brief, infuriating conversation with the ever-blunt K-9) he had the car ready to crash through the glass.

He wouldn't be the tin dog anymore.

A.n.: Ok, I totally hated this word. Mainly 'cause I had a hard time thinking this up; most of my time limit went to staring at the screen wondering just how I was gonna pull this off. That being said…eh. P.s.: Word is 'pawn'.