The Chameleon Circuit
"Doctor?" called Rose as she walked into the console room. As usual the Doctor was under the console, tinkering away. She sat on the Captain's seat and watched him. "Yes Rose" he asked as he continued to turn something. "Can I ask you something?" she asked.
"Sure" he said coming out to get another tool and flashing a smile at her at the same time before disappearing back under "What is it?" She settled comfortably before asking, "Do you remember when you were your previous self, you said that the Tardis is a blue police box because the chameleon circuit broke?"
It was surprising for the Doctor that Rose was speaking about his previous self. It had been a long time since he'd regenerated but no matter how happy Rose looked he knew she still hadn't come to terms with it. Not fully anyway and they would never talk about. It was good to see that she was finally coming to terms with it.
"Yeah I remember" he said "Why?" Rose asked her next question carefully, "Well… did it really break?" Now that wasn't what he'd been expecting. What he had thought was that Rose would ask how the circuit worked or something intelligent like that. Not this.
"Yes it did" he answered her surprising question. "I see" she was quiet for a moment and then she said, "Are you sure?" At this he came out from under the console and faced her. "What do you mean?" he asked confused. "Are you sure that the chameleon circuit actually broke?"
"Yes…" he said wondering where this was going. "Ok!" she smiled happily before picking up a discarded magazine and starting to flick through it. The Doctor stared at her in puzzlement. Was that the end to their rather random conversation? It seemed so as Rose didn't seem to be saying anything else. Pushing the last few minutes out of his mind, The Doctor went back to his work under the console.
Until… "So you're sure that it wasn't you who broke it?" Aha! thought the Doctor, so that's what this was all about. "Yes Rose" he said getting out again and walking towards her, "I did not break it" She nodded. Her face was a mask of innocence. This meant that he didn't know what she was going to say next.
"And you're very, very sure that you didn't start tinkering with it and then broke it?" she asked still innocent. "Yes" he nodded. He looked down into her big brown eyes. They were brimming with innocence and sweetness. He almost dropped his guard before remembering that this was Rose and just like her namesake she could be sweet and lovely but also sting.
But as he continued to look in her eyes and she continued to press him about it he finally gave in, "Ok fine. So maybe it didn't just break" Still all innocent, she asked, "So what really happened then?" She asked it so enquiringly that she sounded as if she was only curious. But the Doctor was too smart for that. He knew she must be planning something.
"I wanted to see whether I could make my own designs rather than just the ones that are already on it and…" he trailed off. "And…" she prompted. He mumbled something incoherent. "Sorry Doctor. I didn't catch that" He sighed knowing what would happen after his declaration.
"And I used the sonic screwdriver but the setting was too high and so it broke" he said looking anywhere but her. However he had to look at her when she reacted. The innocent look had dropped off and now she was laughing. Pointing at him she giggled, "I knew it! I knew you must have broken it"
"Nice to see you have faith in me" said the Doctor annoyed. This just caused her to laugh even more. "I do have faith in you" she said between giggles, "I have faith that when you go to fix something that's already in perfect condition, you're going to break it" She went into another peal of laughter.
The Doctor glared at her. Why did he insist on taking humans for companions? They were always so annoying. Why hadn't he just stuck to metal dogs? K9 had been such a great companion. A dog would be better that a human. He flinched at his harsh comment.
Hopefully Rose would never know. Especially after seeing that in the parallel universe, Rose was a dog. She'd been so upset by that. "Done?" he asked when he saw that Rose had gone quiet and was now gasping for breath.
Rose nodded and seeing his pout she smiled. "Awww… Doctor, I'm sorry. You know me. I just couldn't resist" she said standing up and walking towards him. She put her arms around him and gave him a hug. The Doctor was tempted to just remain still and not hug back but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
After all, he liked Rose a lot and didn't want to be in a strop with her. Even if he was in a strop with her, it wouldn't have lasted long. All she'd have to do would be bat her eyelashes and show her big brown eyes, like she'd done while trying to persuade him to see the parallel Tyler's, and he'd forget that he was annoyed with her and be doing whatever she asked.
He hugged her back before pulling away. "So where are we off to next?" he asked as he bounded back towards the console and promptly tripping over the tolls he'd left there. Rose burst out laughing again and the Doctor sighed. He was just going to have to get used to this now.
Especially if Rose was going to stay with him forever like she promised and like he wanted her to.