She rolled her eyes, ignoring her brother as he preached his useless platitudes at her. She was wiring a bomb to the base of the receiver on the roof of the department store and could not afford to lose focus. Needing both hands, her phone was tucked between her ear and her shoulder. Finally when he paused for a breath, she cut in.
"Jack, you worry too much," she told him, "Compared to whatever disaster the rift usually spits out, this is a bloody cakewalk. I think I can handle a few disgruntled plastic dummies."
She could practically hear her brother glaring at her, "Disgruntled?" he said incredulously, "More like homicidal! You read the reports, what happened the last time the Nestene Consciousness was on Earth. You better be taking this seriously Rose Tyler."
"I've yet to even encounter one single plastic creature," she told him, "And if I do this right, I shouldn't. Hence why it would be nice if you stopped lecturing me."
Jack growled, "You're alone in a different country, no back up, and only a damned sonic probe. I'll lecture you as much as I damn well please."
"Jack please," sighed, putting down her sonic, "I thought we agreed that I was the best person for the job. Suzie's injured, Tosh isn't ready for solo field work, and you have to be there guarding the rift. I'm the only agent you have that can handle this and you know One would bugger this up."
Jack sighed. She could only imagine her image conscious brother running his hand through his hair, messing it up. "Just be careful." He stressed.
Rose smiled, "I won't do anything you wouldn't do," she said.
Jack immediately protested, "No! Do the opposite of what I would do. What I do is a perfect example of what not to do in the field."
Rose laughed and finally set the timer for three minutes. It would be plenty of time to escape. "Good bye Jack. I…" Rose turned around, spotted someone, and froze. There was someone else on the roof. She stared at him with wide eyes, her sonic automatically pointing in his direction. She could hear her brother yelling on the other end of the line, trying to figure out what had just happened but she couldn't really concentrate on him right now. She took a step back but bumped into the aerial.
"You!"
She jumped, not expecting the man to shout.
"What are you doin' here?"
Rose hung up. She had two options. On the one hand, she could run. It was easy, probably safer, and most definitely saved her from an awkward encounter. On the other hand, she recognized him. How could she not? Her brother had been telling her bedtime stories about the man since he first met her. This was her chance to finally meet the wizard behind the curtain, the man behind the legend. He was barely ten feet away, in all his leather glory. She narrowed her eyes.
"You really do look like a U-boat captain," she blurted out, and then cringed, "Did I just say that out loud?"
"Yep," he said, a cruel hint of amusement clearly evident.
"Can we forget that I ever said that?" Rose asked hopefully.
"Nope,"
Rose moaned, "Oh god! That was not at all what I was planning to say."
The man tilted his head and frowned, "And what words would you have picked?"
Rose opened her mouth, ready to spew out the words she had practiced a million times before, but her mind went blank. She mentally panicked, her brain had stopped working. Why did her brain stop working? After several moments, the man gave her an impatient look, one that was definitely specific to her species, but she still couldn't spit anything out.
With a sigh, "I can't remember them now," she told him, very sure that she was just reinforcing his 'humans are stupid' mindset.
"Right," he just sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Rose immediately protested, "But they were good. My brother insisted that I use those exact words when meeting you but in the end I just bollixed it up."
The man started to give her a placating smile before what she said hit him. Instead he frowned, "Wait, you knew you were going to meet me?" he demanded, "Specifically me, not some random bloke off the street me."
Rose shrugged and opened her mouth to explain but the thirty second warning on the timer beeped. She looked back and forth between the bomb, the man, and the elevator before coming to a decision. With a determined look on her face she made quick haste towards the edge of the building. On her way she grabbed the Doctor by the hand and told him one word.
"Run!"
Without any hesitation, he accepted her hand and followed Rose across the rooftop. Just as the timer started beeping at one second intervals, denoting the last five seconds, she thrust herself at the building next door, the leather clad man right at her side. He managed to land gracefully on his feet, but Rose had to fall forwards in a somersault, to land on hers.
"Oh that was so much fun!" Rose couldn't help but exclaim once she landed properly, grinning broadly at her accomplice.
"It was alright," he shrugged, biting back his own grin.
"Alright?" Rose exclaimed, her hands on her hips, "That was more than alright. It was brilliant and you know it Doctor!"
The Doctor let his grin spread across his face, "Yeah," he finally admitted but then frowned again. With a crescendo of frustration, he demanded, "But who are you? And how do you know me? Are you with UNIT? Though they shouldn't be able to recognize me." By the end of his little monologue he seemed to be talking to himself, "Course I could still reveal myself in the future...past..."
Rose rolled her eyes good naturedly, "21st century English is a rather rubbish language for temporal tenses." she sympathized.
His focus was redirected towards her, "What?" he demanded, silently referring to everything from the explosion to her knowledge of temporal senses.
Rose bit her lip and hid a grin. It wasn't every day that one of her lot got the Doctor confused. Usually he was the one holding all the cards, but this time, it was all her. She was almost proud of herself. Jack certainly would be. Finally she just sighed and tried to explain it the best she could without telling him too much about the future.
"I'm going to be your companion."
The Doctor took an involuntary step back, "No you're not because I'm not going to have any more future companions. It's already been decided."
Rose knew exactly how to argue his point, "Well that's too bad because I know for a fact that I travel with you."
He gave her a very condescending look, "And why is that?"
Rose opened her mouth to answer but a brilliant, yet slightly evil plan slowly encroached causing her to grin. The Doctor did not like that grin, not at all, especially since she just shrugged, and said, "Well I guess it doesn't matter, considering that you've decided against any future companions."
The complete 180 gave even the Doctor a modicum of whiplash, "Er...right," he finally said with a firm nod, "Absolutely no companions. So run along, little human, go your eat beans on toast."
Rose sent him one last small smile before turning around, reassuring herself that this wasn't the end. The Doctor couldn't help but feel cheated. He only had more questions and because of his own words, he couldn't get the answers. The further she got away, the more his hearts raced, and honestly he had no idea why. She was about to make her way down, out of his view, when he called out for her. She paused and turned her head, looking at him curiously.
"What is it?"
"It's just..." He struggled to find something to say, having no idea why he called her back, "Uh...you know my name," he finally said, "But I don't know yours."
"Oh," she said, and then grinned, "Rose, Rose Tyler."
"Good to meet you Rose Tyler," the Doctor said with a grin. It was a nice name. "Now go on, you missing the telly or something."
Rose rolled her eyes and shot him a sarcastic salute. Suddenly she couldn't remember just why she wanted to meet the doctor so badly but then again... As Rose ran down the stairs, she pulled out her phone and dialed her brother.
"You better have a good reason for hanging up on me Rose Marion," Jack threatened.
Rose grinned, "Oh Jack," she ignored his threat, "You'll never guess who I just met."
He sighed. Little sisters were tough work and honestly, Rose Tyler was probably the worst of them. He was going to die of heart failure, worrying about her and unlike the rest of the world, he wouldn't get to rest in peace. He took a deep breath, mimed shooting himself in the head, and humored her.
"Johnny Depp?" he asked, suggestively.
She laughed, "Oh I wish," she said, "But no, even better."
"Better than the guy who made pirates look sexy?" Jack asked incredulously, but Rose could tell he was teasing.
"If you put it like that…" she giggled, and after a moment just blurted her news out, "It was the Doctor!"
"Your gynecologist?" Jack asked suggestively, "Is he going to get you that drink he owes you?"
Rose turned beet red, "Is everything sex with you?" she demanded before rolling her eyes, "No Jack, THE Doctor."
He was silent for what seemed like the longest time. Meanwhile, Rose made it to the street and started heading towards her hotel, ignoring the police presence. Suddenly, she spotted the Doctor running into an alley and grinned. Checking traffic so she wouldn't be run over, Rose quickly made her way to a place where she could discreetly get a glimpse of the Tardis.
"The Doctor?"
"The one and only," Rose chimed, craning her neck to get a better look.
He laughed out and clapped, "Well done Rose!" he exclaimed, "And by the way, he's not the only Doctor. Besides humans with their doctorates…"
Rose sighed, "You can't let me have this one thing, can you?" she asked.
"…there's the Doctor with the scarf, Mr. Cricket and celery, technicolored orphan Annie..."
"They're all the same man," she insisted, watching the Tardis dematerialize, "Sarah said so."
"Well if Sarah says it, it must be true." Jack laughed, "Which version of the man did you see then?" Jack put an emphasis on the word version.
As she walked off, she spotted a plastic hand and grabbed it. The thing had probably been blown out of the shop as it exploded. It would make a nice souvenir, commemorating the first time she met the Doctor.
"U-boat...I mean..." Rose pouted, "It's your fault."
Jack groaned, "What did I do this time?" he asked. Little sisters.
Rose didn't know whether or not to tell him. For one, her brother would most probably laugh at her, but on the other hand she wanted to share her misery with somebody. Jack was the safest if not the wisest choice, at least he was if she wanted to preserve the timelines.
"I said..." She cleared her throat, "The first thing I said..." She let out a long breath, "I told him that he looked like a U-boat captain."
Jack didn't react, playing silent once more. She counted to three, expecting laughter, but Jack surprised her. Either he was growing up or he she sounded more miserable than she thought.
"That's not horrible, Rosie. It could have been worse." He understood the need to impress the man. After all, he died to impress the Doctor.
Rose scoffed, "Worse? Really?"
"Hey," he shrugged, "You could have jumped the guy and told him you wanted to carry his Time Lord babies." Jack told her bluntly making Rose blush, of course Jack would say that.
"Jack!" she whined.
Quietly he added, "You could have endangered the entire world, forcing him fix your mess before time ran out."
"But I blew it Jack," she said, not really listening anymore, "I was supposed to impress him. And then I stupidly told him that he was supposed to take me on as his companion. He was supposed to invite me to travel with him on my own merit, not because it would prevent a paradox. Me and my big mouth…"
Rose entered her hotel and made her way to her room. She shucked off her boots, hung up her jacket, and unclasped her hip and holster bag. Jack called her style desert steampunk refugee chic, but it worked for her. She put her phone on speaker, lay down on the bed, her wavy blonde hair hanging down to the ground and sighed. She started playing with the plastic hand, using her sonic probe to examine it, see if she would figure out how it worked.
"I don't know what to do Jack," she admitted, "I'm supposed to be a companion, the Doctor's companion like you, but I don't know if I can do it."
"Are you in the room?" Jack asked. Rose made an affirmative hum.
Seconds later, there was a strange sound, like air trying to clap and where there was once empty space, was now her older brother. He was taller than her, standing at 6 foot 2, where she was only 5 foot 8, had brown hair and had slate grey eyes. His WWII greatcoat was as prominent as ever, making her brother more memorable than he already was.
Jack took a moment to shake off the feeling of traveling through the void without a capsule before made his way towards Rose. She looked at him with wide, honey eyes. His heart melted.
"Don't underestimate my sister," Jack told her, sitting down beside her head, "She's a badass. I raised her after all. She's more than a match for any Time Lord."
Rose sat up, and twisted around, allowing Jack pull her onto his lap and hold her tight. She savored the feeling. Jack's arms were home for her, a place where she always felt safe.
"I can't help but feel like I screwed everything up," she confided, "What if I..."
Jack hugged her tighter, thinking back to when he first got custody of her, a little girl of eight. She had been so small then, but even so, she had this presence about her. The world kept trying to knock her down, and while she did get a few bruises, everyone was allowed an off day, she never let it keep her down.
Her mother had disappeared when she was three years old, leaving little Rose Tyler in the system. They had no other choice as she had only two relatives, her Nan, a sickly woman in a nursing home battling dementia, and a young cousin, even younger than Rose. No family friends stood up to get custody, preferring to take care of themselves and their own.
When Jack found out that Rose was an orphan in the system, he did everything he could to find her. It didn't matter to him that he wasn't supposed to meet Rose until later on in her timeline, what mattered to him was that the girl he considered a little sister was all alone and needed him. Jack found Rose in a children's home a month before her fifth birthday. From there it took just about the same amount of time to even get the orphanage to consider his application for adoption, and a further two years and several thousand pounds to finally get custody. Jack made sure to visit her as often as he could, intent on convincing the last Tyler that she wasn't alone anymore.
When he brought her home for good, Jack made sure to tell her exactly who he was, how he knew her, and why he adopted her. She was young, but Jack always made it a point to be as honest as he could with her. It was her life he was playing with, good intentions or not. He also made sure to give her the option of finding a new family if she was uncomfortable. It would probably break his heart, but Rose was more important than that. Luckily for Jack, she had made her mind up a long time ago. Jack made the effort to accept her into his heart, it was only fair that she return the favor.
"I know exactly how you feel, because believe it or not, I'm scared too."
Rose frowned, "Jack?" she asked.
Jack sighed, figuring that Rose probably didn't really remember everything he told her so long ago, "Remember Rosie, I'm just as in the dark about this as you are." He said, looking away, "I have no idea what the Doctor will do next and honestly that scares me more than anything."
"But you've lived through this...my future is your past." Rose insisted.
Jack shook his head, "More like my past is in your future. The thing is, I don't know what will happen because everything I knew to be true back when I was traveling with you, got messed up somehow.
"Your mom, Jackie, she was never supposed to disappear. I wasn't supposed to raise you. You weren't supposed to have your A levels let alone a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering and a doctorate in Xenology from Luna University in the year 5106. You know aliens, you work for Torchwood. You're practically everything but an estate girl working in a department store."
Rose looked at Jack for the longest time. Memories from long ago assaulting her conscious mind. He didn't know how she'd react. How would a normal person react to relearning that they lived the wrong life? He knew that his reaction would be extreme to say the least. Finally she just leaned forward, lifted up her hands, making Jack flinch at the memory of one of her famous slaps, and ultimately just hugged him.
"Thank you," she whispered into his shoulder.
"Huh?"
Rose gave him her famous tongue in tooth grin, "You saved my life," she told him point blank, "It's sad about my mum, but honestly, I never knew her. You risked your own timeline to make sure that I would grow up with someone that loves me. If that's not love, I don't know what is. "
Jack broke out into a grin, "So," he stood up, Rose still in his arms, and sat back down so that his back was leaning against the headboard and his feet were extended out in front of him, "Star Trek?"
Rose leaned against him and made herself comfortable, "Thought you'd never ask," she sighed, snuggling in, making herself comfortable.
Jack fiddled with his vortex manipulator, linking its image inducer to the television. He navigated to his video library and started the 42nd century remake of the Star Trek TV shows. Rose especially loved them because they used shimmers and voice replicators to make it seem like the original actors were in it, especially considering the mostly unedited script. She fell asleep, watching as the captain and his second in command were beamed down to an alien planet.
The next thing Rose knew, there was a tall dark figure standing over her, waving an eerie glowing light. She would never admit it, but she screamed, and quite loudly too. She scrambled out from under the covers, her limbs flailing every which way. One of her hands hit something and she heard a loud yelp. She scrambled around for the light switch and flicked it on.
It was the Doctor, and he was glaring at her petulantly, holding his cheek. Rose immediately got out from under her covers and stood up, never mind that she was scanty clad in a tank top and panties. She sent him her best death glare, her palm itching for a slap. Unfortunately, it seemed that he wouldn't stand still long enough to receive one.
"What the bloody hell are you doing," she demanded, "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"You hit me!" he exclaimed, standing straight up, using his other hand to point at his cheek.
Rose growled, "Damn right I hit you! How did you get in here?"
The Doctor didn't answer. He just stood there, holding his cheek, looking at her with his most accusing blue eyes. If Rose didn't know any better, and if Sarah Jane and Jack hadn't told her that it wasn't possible, she would say that he was pouting. Finally Rose just sighed and released all her anger in a breath. She just couldn't stay mad at the tosser. Rose walked over to her bag, reached in, and pulled out a small round plastic pocket. It had a red dot on one side of it and a blue one on the other. Without a thought, she pressed the blue dot and shook it a few times before walking over to the Doctor. He raised his hand defensively, as if to ward her off. She snickered, lowered his hand, and quickly pressed the pack on his cheek. He braced himself, as though expecting something more painful, but relaxed when he felt the cool. She used this opportunity to kiss his other cheek.
"There you big baby," she said, her caring tone belaying her harsh words, "This should help. I'm sorry I hit you, but you really shouldn't stand over a girl like that when she's asleep. It's creepy."
The Doctor nodded and, now trusting her, he allowed Rose to steer him to the desk chair. She sat down across from him on the bed, and tucked her legs underneath her. She was about to ask the Doctor what he was doing in her hotel room when there was a knock on the door.
"Miss," she heard, "Is everything alright in there?"
Rose groaned and fell backwards, her shirt riding up slightly, "Everything is fine," she assured the man.
"Are you quite sure ma'am?"
Rose sat up again and rolled her eyes. She plastered a fake grin on her face and began to speak in a falsetto, "Am I sure?" she asked fake incredulously, "My boyfriend's here! He snuck in early this morning, surprising me. It's our one year anniversary. He brought me flowers, and jewelry and those little French pastries I adore so much for breakfast. You see, my coworker let him in early this morning before she left. I had no idea John was coming and since I'm blind as a bat without my glasses, I didn't recognize him. Sadly, I made a mess of breakfast. Those poor delicious croissants… But honestly this is the best surprise I've had in a long time." She paused, waiting for the man to speak.
"Don't worry about the cleanup miss," the man behind the door said quickly as though to stall another wave of babble, "Our maids will take care of it. You just enjoy your anniversary with your boyfriend. Will he be checking in as well?"
"Unfortunately he can't," Rose sighed, sending a smirk in the Doctor's direction "I'm on a business trip you see, and we live all the way up in Cardiff. I work…"
"Very well," the man said, eager to be off, "We wish you a pleasant stay here at the Dunkirk. Good Day, ma'am, sir."
"Oh thank you!" Rose shouted before she burst into laughter.
The Doctor wouldn't admit it, but he was impressed. Not only did Rose manage to explain away all the noise they...well she made earlier, but she managed to do it in a way that sent the concerned party all but running as far away from them as possible. That skill would be quite useful in sticky situations, not that he was thinking about asking her to stay around.
"So," she finally said, "Let's get down to business."
The Doctor nodded. Right down to business was exactly what he wanted. No fuss, clear and concise facts. Maybe this human wasn't as dreadful as he originally thought she was.
"Are you stalking me?" she asked in the same breath.
The Doctor had been nodding, keen on getting straight to business, until she said that last part. His eyes widened comically, "What?" he exclaimed, "No! Of course not! Why would I want to stalk you?"
Rose shrugged, completely unfazed, "Well you were on the roof like a creeper," she started.
"That's because I was trying to stop the living plastic creatures hiding in the basement."
"And then you're here, standing over me like a deranged serial killer about to stab one of his helpless sleeping victims." She said, speaking over him.
They looked at each other, neither giving in until the Doctor sighed and rolled his eyes, "I don't have time for games," he said, "I've been tracking another batch of plastic creatures and my sonic led me straight to your hotel room. You're not plastic are you?"
Rose rolled her eyes, "Tissue, blood, and bone just like you," she said.
"That's just what a plastic creature would say," the Doctor pointed out.
She narrowed her eyes, "Do you want a slap?" she threatened.
"Oi!" he exclaimed.
"And use the technical terms," she told him, "Saying plastic creatures is redundant."
The Doctor stood up, pulling out his sonic screwdriver. "Well maybe I don't like using the technical terms."
Rose just shrugged and pulled out her own sonic probe, "Whatever," she said, focusing on her device, syncing the two sonics so that she'd have the correct tracing signal and used it to scan the room. The Doctor didn't realize what Rose was doing and thought his own probe was malfunctioning. He slapped it against his hand until the little flashing light turned off. Suddenly he heard the sonic sound, and frowned at his again. No matter how many knobs and dials he turned and how many buttons he pushed, it would not go silent. He looked up, about to tell Rose that his sonic was broken when he spotted her's. He stared at it in shock.
"You..."
Rose hummed in question but he didn't clarify. He kept repeating the same word over and over like a broken record. Finally she had enough of his repetition, and turned to face him, "I what?"
"Sonic," was the only thing the poor Time Lord could get out.
She couldn't help but glance down at her sonic probe and grin proudly, "Isn't it great? I found an old broken sonic wand at an auction and used it to build my own."
The Doctor couldn't help but lean in closer to peer at it. Unfortunately that put his face in striking distance, but it wasn't Rose he had to look out for. The old plastic hand that Rose had found outside the blown up department store and brought home had come to life. It had been hiding under her bed, gathering intel, but couldn't resist the opportunity. The Doctor had a special attack on sight directive attached to his name.
The Doctor fell back, leaning on his chair. He dropped the sonic, more intent on grabbing the plastic arm and ripping it off his mouth do that he could breathe. It had a tight hold and wasn't letting go anytime soon. Rose immediately went over to help, grabbing the hand around the wrist and pulling as hard as she could. The Doctor overbalanced and fell flat on his back, pulling Rose forward and so that she ended up straddling the Doctor. It didn't bother her, in fact, it was a bit more comfortable in this position to pull, but the Doctor was very aware of how she landed and was turning a bright red. He couldn't help but think that she was in clad solely in her knickers. What was worse was that she was making all sorts of noises in her efforts to get the hand off his face. Rose peaked down at the Doctor from the corner of her eye and bit back a smirk, Jack was a very bad influence on her. Finally the Doctor reached out, and tried to grab his sonic, needing to get both the hand and the girl off of him. He was only a man after all, and regardless of his respiratory bypass, still needed to breathe.
Still keeping an eye on the man, Rose saw what he was trying to accomplish and decided to help. She grabbed her sonic from the bed, and went through a spectrum of sound waves until she managed to shut the damned thing off. Almost immediately, the Doctor sat himself up, meeting Rose chest to chest, gently pushed her off of him, almost scurrying to the other side of the room, and pretended that he had his composure. Rose just sat back and crossed her ankles.
"That was quite the hand-job Doc," Rose said, with her best Harkness grin.
"Yeah, well..." he shifted in place, refusing to look in her eyes.
Rolling her eyes again, she crawled over to her bag and grabbed her favorite pair of old comfy jeans, "Better?" she asked once she slipped them on.
The Doctor barely glanced at her before just nodding. She quickly grabbed a bra and her favorite tunic before slipping into the bathroom to put them on. Looking in the mirror, she hand combed her wavy blonde locks, and outlines her eyes with black kohl. Once she reentered the hotel room, she slipped on a pair of black converse, attached her hip and holster pouch to her leg, and finally pulled on her jacket. She walked over to the door and looked to the Doctor.
"You coming?"
The Doctor blinked, "Just where do you think you're going?"
Rose scoffed, "Well obviously there's the main transmitter. That hand didn't just come to life on its own."
The Doctor made his way to the door and arranged himself so that he was in between her and the door, "And?" he asked, "I still don't see what that has to do with you."
Rose quirked her eyebrow, crossed her arms and gave him a look, "Seriously?" she asked, and upon seeing his resolute expression, she repeated herself, "Seriously?"
"I don't joke," he said, looking very serious indeed.
Rose snorted, "You are a joke," she blurted out and then with wide eyes she covered her mouth, "I swear I do not know where that came from!"
The Doctor looked at her suspiciously once more before pointing at her, "Stay," he commanded.
"I'm not a dog," she mumbled as she watched the Doctor leave. Finally she pulled out her cell and called Jack again, "Jack? Could you bring me my vortex manipulator? I want to upstage the Doctor."
An hour later, Rose hit the pavement, a vortex manipulator secured on her left arm, and her sonic probe grasped tightly in her right hand. She used the sonic to scan the surrounding frequencies, hoping to locate a nearby Auton if not the Nestene Consciousness itself. She sighed, figuring that she had a long day ahead of her.
