IT'S BETTER WITH TWO
I do not own Doctor Who, and I am making no profit off of this.
This is the sequel story to War of the Guardians and takes place right after Chapter 100 of that series.
CHAPTER 1
Reunion of the Daleks Part 1
Ian and Barbara Chesterton were enjoying a nice, normal evening in their home when they heard a familiar sound just outside their front door. They had last it heard about a year ago when they had both run across the Doctor and his granddaughter, Susan, again for the first time in almost 50 years. It was the sound of the TARDIS materializing.
Both of them ran outside to see the familiar blue box was indeed parked right outside of their door. The doors swung open to reveal Rose Tyler standing there. Her eyes lit up at the sight of them, and she hugged them both tightly. Both of them had met Rose the last time that they saw the Doctor and Susan, and they were quite shocked to discover that not only was she the Doctor's wife but also Susan's grandmother.*
"It's so nice to see you two again. It's been almost a year for you, right?" Rose asked as she sniffed the air to determine what the date was with her time sense.
"Yes, that's right. It's nice to see you again too. Are the Doctor and Susan with you too?" Ian asked.
"The Doctor is but not Susan this time around I'm afraid. She's traveling with my daughter, Jenny, these days. You remember her, right? You met her the last time that I saw you," Rose answered.
"So it's just the two of you these days then?" Barbara asked.
"Not always. We travel with some friends and family usually, but this time the Doctor and I decided to take a trip with just the two of us. We've been through some hard times lately what with me being dead for a while and all. We wanted to have a little time just to ourselves after an experience like that. I think he missed me," Rose said as she whispered the last sentence almost conspiratorially to Barbara.
Ian and Barbara looked at each other and exchanged a smile. Only the Doctor and now Rose apparently would treat being dead as just a minor inconvenience.
"Yeah, I know what you're thinking. She's lost it. You might not be far off the mark either. Maybe I have started to lose it a little lately. If you only knew what all I've been through, you'd think that it was a wonder that I wasn't stark raving bonkers. Luckily for you, I'm just my usual slightly crazy self," Rose joked.
"There's nothing crazy at all about you, Rose. You're perfectly normal," the Doctor reassured her as he finally emerged from the TARDIS and smiled at his old friends.
"That expert diagnosis coming from a man that most of our classmates at the Academy always considered 'a little odd'. That makes me feel so much better," Rose said with a giggle.
"I'm not odd at all, Rose. You, more than anyone else, should know that I'm just always slightly ahead of the curve. That just makes me seem odd to everyone else who still haven't caught up to me yet. I'm just unappreciated in my own time because I'm just too brilliant that's all," the Doctor babbled.
"Yes and you're so humble and down to earth as well," Rose quipped.
"No, I have to admit that I'm not really humble at all. Who could blame me though as clever as I am? I do tend to get a swelled head, and that's what I have you around for. You keep me grounded," the Doctor said.
"Really? Is that the only reason that you want me around?" Rose asked with fake anger.
"Oh, no. There are lots of other reasons too, of course," the Doctor said.
"Such as?" Rose asked with a growing look of irritation on her face.
"Well you're absolutely brilliant for starters, and you usually get to the solution of a problem at almost the same time as I do. You've also proven quite useful to me in giving me vital clues on occasion that help me to save the day that much quicker," the Doctor said with a smug grin.
"Oh, I'm so glad that I could help you solve things quicker. Is that why you keep me around then? I'm your 'go to' gal?" Rose asked with an even angrier look on her face.
Ian and Barbara looked at each other for a second and each knew without speaking that they were both wondering if this was a real fight or just flirting. They honestly couldn't tell.
Rose broke character for just a second to give them a quick smile, and they now knew that this was just a game that they were playing with each other. Barbara thought that it was sweet that a couple that had been together this long would still act this way towards one another.
"No, you're much more than just my 'go to' gal. You're my everything, Rose Tyler. You're my reason for existing and getting up in the morning when I bother to go to sleep at all that is. You're the one who gives me my get up and go and helps to replenish my mojo when it's running too low. You're what keeps my hearts beating day in and day out. You're just so . . . cool! That's it. You're the Queen of Cool! You're even cooler than me, and that's saying something because everyone knows just how cool and amazing that I am!" the Doctor said with a big goofy grin on his face.
Rose's fake frown quickly transformed into one of her face wide grins with her tongue sticking out of her teeth as she said, "Yes, you are pretty amazing, aren't you?"
"And cool too. Don't forget cool," the Doctor added with a serious face.
"Of course, Doctor. That too," Rose said as she gave him a quick peck on the lips.
"Why don't the two of you come in?" Ian asked them.
"Thank you very much, Ian. I'm sorry for just dropping in like this. I didn't even know myself that we were coming here though until we arrived," the Doctor said.
"You and that TARDIS. We never did know where we were going to wind up next when we traveled with you, and neither did you. You never did know how to make it work properly," Barbara said with a fond smile on her face.
"That's rubbish, Barbara. I always knew where I was going. I just made it appear that way at the time so that I appeared more human and vulnerable in order to fit in better with the two of you," the Doctor said.
"That's a wonderful tactic, Doctor. I'd almost believe that was true if I didn't know about you failing your TARDIS driving test many, many times," Rose said.
"Rose! I told you after the last time to never mention that again to any of my friends. Sarah Jane was still laughing at me for weeks afterward every time that I saw her," the Doctor said with a groan.
"I have to hear that story sometime," Barbara whispered in Rose's ear.
"I'll tell you every detail. You're going to love it," Rose whispered back.**
"I heard that," the Doctor said pouting.
"Still think I'm cool?" Rose asked mischievously.
"More than ever," the Doctor said as he kissed Rose this time.
"So did the TARDIS bring you here for a reason then? It always seemed to take you to places where there was trouble," Ian said.
"I'm not sure, Ian. Maybe the old girl just got nostalgic and wanted to see the two of you again," the Doctor reasoned.
"You don't really believe that though, do you?" Barbara guessed.
"No. Nothing's ever that simple. I'm sure that there's some terrible menace or other running around here right now even as we speak," the Doctor said gloomily.
"He's always so upbeat and optimistic, our Doctor," Rose joked.
"He's probably right though," Ian admitted.
"Oh, I know that he is. I just don't want to admit it. I've been having too good a time seeing the two of you again. I don't want it to end so quickly," Rose said with a serious face now.
"What do you know?" the Doctor asked Rose.
"I know what you already suspect, Doctor. You can feel their presence, can't you? You always could," Rose said as her eyes glowed with golden energy.
"Whose presence?" Barbara asked.
She had seen Rose use her abilities the first time that they had met so seeing Rose's eyes glow produced no reaction in her. She was used to having to adapt to strange new things both when she was on the TARDIS and in her classroom. She had had some students after all who she could swear were aliens.
"Some of them probably were just like Susan was once," Rose said.
"What?" Barbara asked in confusion.
"Sorry, Barbara, I accidentally picked up on your surface thoughts and was just saying that some of your students probably were aliens. I didn't mean to read your mind. It just happens sometimes when someone's surface thoughts are loud enough. As to the answer to your first question . . . ," Rose said and then trailed off before she could finish her last sentence.
"You can tell us, Rose. We grew used to being in danger a long time ago," Ian prodded her.
"It's the Daleks, isn't it? I have this odd feeling that I always get whenever they're around," the Doctor asked Rose.
"Yes, it is. I said that I wanted some good old fashioned aliens to fight again, but I really wish that it hadn't been them," Rose said.
"You basically dared the universe to beat us, and it's answering you with the best it's got on its opening salvo," the Doctor said.
"I know. I'll have to learn when to keep my mouth shut from now on," Rose said with a smile.
"Where are the Daleks, and what are they up to this time?" Ian asked as he seemed to steel himself for combat.
"I don't know yet. I just know that they're somewhere close," Rose said.
"We'll just have to go out and explore. I usually find myself bumping right into whatever I'm looking for in the first few minutes of trying to find it. I'm really lucky that way," the Doctor said.
"Or unlucky depending on your point of view," Rose added.
"Well, I kept bumping into you after we first met, didn't I? I consider that very lucky," the Doctor said.
"You really are quite the charmer in this regeneration, aren't you? I like this version of you even if you do have a big chin," Rose said with a snicker.
"Oi!" the Doctor protested.
"Hey, it could be worse. At least your ears are normal this time," Rose quipped.
"I thought that you liked the ears. You once said that they were . . . ," the Doctor started to say.
He suddenly stopped because he had just received a sharp glare from Rose that told him to stop talking immediately. Sometimes the Doctor forgot that he shouldn't mention certain things except when they were alone.
"I said that they were fantastic. That's what I said," Rose quickly said to cover up his sudden silence.
"Yes, that's right," the Doctor said in a bad attempt at covering up.
Barbara laughed at the two of them, and Ian could barely repress a smile himself. Rose's face grew red in embarrassment, and she quietly resolved to slap the Doctor very, very hard once they were alone. The Doctor started to shake inside just a little because he saw that look on Rose's face. It was a look that meant that he was going to get hurt later on. He absentmindedly rubbed the side of his face without realizing it.
The Doctor, Rose, Ian, and Barbara then decided to go out around the neighborhood in Ian's car and attempt to find any traces of the Daleks' presence among them. The Doctor had his sonic screwdriver out and was using it to scan for Dalek signals while Rose kept trying to find them with her Vortex powers. Neither of them was having much luck so far. That worried Rose a lot. What could block her abilities like that?
In an underground base made out of dwarf star alloy, the Daleks lay in wait until they were ready to begin their newest plan. They had chosen this as the ideal location to hide from the watchful eyes of their enemies, and the dwarf star alloy helped to keep them from detection. No one would ever think to look for them here until it was too late.
"CONFIRM ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL PROJECT REBIRTH BEGINS," the Dalek Supreme ordered one of its subordinates.
"PROJECT SCHEDULED TO BEGIN IN LESS THAN 6,000 RELS," a Dalek reported.***
"SOON WE WILL STOP THE DEFECTION OF ROGUE DALEKS TO THE FALSE EMPRESS. ONCE PROJECT REBIRTH IS COMPLETED, HE WILL RETURN; AND THEN THE DALEKS WILL EXTERMINATE HER," the Dalek Supreme said.
"EXTERMINATE HER! EXTERMINATE HER! EXTERMINATE HER!" the assembled Daleks shouted out together in a chorus of hatred.
*This story is told starting in Chapter 5 of The Adventures of Rose Tyler, Time Lady.
**See Chapter 43 and 44 of The Adventures of Rose Tyler, Time Lady to see the story for yourself.
*** 6,000 rels is equivalent to 2 hours in our time.
Next: The Doctor and Rose come across the Daleks as the Doctor's usual good, or is it bad, luck comes into play. What are the Daleks up to anyway? Who is the False Empress, and what is Project Rebirth? Some readers of a certain other title of mine will already know the answer to one of these questions.