Chapter One
She could smell the familiar scent as soon as the Doctor opened the front door. The sweet aroma of apple grass filled the room and Rose's mind was instantly flooded with memories of their last visit here. She closed her eyes, sniffing the pleasant odor, enjoying the mental picture of her and the Doctor lying on his coat in the grass while they looked at the hover cars flying over their heads.
"You gonna stand there and sniff the air or are you actually gonna go outside?"
Rose opened the eyes and saw the Doctor leaning against the ramp railing with an amused look on his face. She smiled.
"I was just smelling the grass and remembering," she said, walking towards him, "remembering the last time we were here."
"I gathered that, but you know the whole purpose of landing somewhere is to get out and explore, not to stand here in the TARDIS and stare out the door, so come on!"
He put his arm around her shoulders and they stepped outside. It was a bright sunny day on New Earth. Rose noticed that they had landed in almost the same spot and she smiled while she watched the hover cars zooming overhead. Now that they were outside, the apple grass scent filled her nostrils. Contained within the pungent odor were tiny hints of exhaust from the flying cars and the familiar, comforting scent of the Time Lord standing behind her. She felt him put his arms around her and she leaned back into him.
"Beautiful," she whispered.
"Yes, very beautiful."
Rose looked up at him and noticed he was staring right at her. Smiling, she stroked his cheek and he held her tightly against him. Feeling completely at peace, she gazed at the city. Then, her eyes were drawn to the familiar grey building with the green moon on the side and she began to feel nauseous.
"Doctor," she said, pointing to it.
"I know," the Doctor said, tersely, "but, unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it, not without creating a paradox. As much as I'd like to go over there and shut those underground labs down today, we have to ignore it and just concentrate on having a nice time in New, New York."
He walked around her and took her hand.
"Come on, let's get a ride into the city," he said.
He led her to the edge of the hill. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small flat disc, aimed it at the cars, and turned it on. Rose watched as a blue light in the center of it flashed on and off. A few minutes later, a yellow hover car stopped and slowly descended in front of them. Rose noticed that the words, New, New York Taxi Service was painted on the door. The Doctor turned off the disc and stuck it back in his coat pocket. He and Rose walked around to the passenger side. The driver was a balding, middle-aged man wearing a red jumpsuit with a yellow TAXI patch on the left side just below his shoulder. He lowered the window.
"Where to, buddy?" he asked.
"We want to go into the city; do you know any good touristy places?" the Doctor asked.
The man scratched his cheek while he thought.
"Could take ya to downtown, there's shops, and restaurants, and museums there."
"Sounds good, take us there."
"Hop in," the man said, hooking his thumb at the back seat.
The Doctor grabbed the door handle and lifted the door up. He ushered Rose inside, slid in, and slammed the door down. The driver pushed a button on the dashboard, activating the meter. Then, he quietly watched the readout on the dashboard. The Doctor and Rose saw the words, SAFE TO ASCEND, appear on it and the man put the car into gear, rose up into the sky, and flew off towards the city.
The Doctor settled back in the seat and smiled when he noticed Rose's face was pressed against the window, watching the view. He let out a soft sigh, staring at her backside.
My precious Rose. He thought to himself. If you could only see what I see. If only you could see the storm that's looming on the horizon, threatening to tear us apart. How little time there is left for us. This anniversary might be our last, which is why I insisted we do this. I want to give you as many happy memories as I can before we are parted forever.
He laid his hand on her back, making a mental imprint of it that would last forever. Rose turned her head and smiled.
"Not gonna look out the window like a typical tourist?" she teased.
The Doctor smiled at that.
"Nah, not interested, I've seen stuff like this before," he said, casually.
Rose leaned into him.
"If you've seen it all before, then why are we coming here?" she asked, "why not take me somewhere where you won't be bored out of your mind?"
"I won't be bored out of my mind the whole time we're here; I'm just not interested in watching buildings going by the window."
Rose giggled softly.
"You know, we could tell the driver to go out to the hospital, so we can find Cassandra and beat her up for a laugh."
"Hmmm, sounds tempting. I'd love to give that mouthy, vain flap of skin a savage beating, but…better not, paradox and all."
Rose stuck out her lower lip and pretended to pout. The Doctor stared at it and burned the image of her doing that into his memory. Then, with a wicked grin, he poked her in the side.
"Oi, cheeky!" Rose said.
She poked him back. The Doctor gave her an affronted look.
"Excuse me; did you just poke me, Rose Tyler?"
"Yeah, I did."
She poked him again and stuck her tongue between her teeth. Another thing that the Doctor stored away in his mind for safekeeping. His eyes widened when she poked him again.
Rose gasped when he grabbed the flesh on her upper arm and gave her a pinch.
"Ow, you little wanker," she said.
She pinched his cheek and with a devilish grin, ruffled his hair.
"Oi, keep your greasy ape fingers out of my fabulous doo!"
He reached down, grabbed the area below her knee, and squeezed it twice. Rose laughed, poked him in the chest and ruffled his hair some more.
"Quit that!"
"Oh, like anyone is gonna notice your hair is amiss, mister ruffley locks!" Rose teased.
The Doctor grabbed the end of her hair and gave it a sharp tug.
"Ow, you ass!" Rose said, poking him repeatedly in the side with her index fingers.
"Takes one to know one!" the Doctor taunted, forcing his fingers in her armpits.
He began to tickle her. As Rose howled with laughter, he looked over and noticed the odd look the cab driver was giving them. He broke off the assault and cleared his throat.
"Sorry, our teasing tends to spiral out of control sometimes," he said to the driver.
"Um…yeah…sure, buddy," the driver muttered.
The Doctor and Rose snickered when they noticed the guy was now quickly scanning the street below him so he could land and get them out of his cab. Rose leaned her head back against the Doctor's shoulder and giggled when he waggled his eyebrows at her. The driver shook his head. Looking down, he noticed a parking spot and quickly landed, so he could get the two loonies away from him.
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After paying the driver with his credit stick, the Doctor took Rose's hand and looked around.
"So, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New York. Where should we go first?"
"Pick something."
"Um…I've only ever been to the hospital, Tyler, same as you. You do remember I told you a year ago that five billion and twenty three was the furthest I'd ever gone before."
"Well, then I s'pose we just walk around and find something then while we're waiting for trouble to happen," she said, shrugging.
The Doctor looked around and saw a huge, white domed building a block and a half away from them.
"That there looks kinda museum-y, let's go wreck that first," he said, pointing to it.
Rose scrutinized it.
"I don't know, that's kinda large. Shouldn't we wreck something a bit smaller and then work our way up to the big things?"
The Doctor grinned at that.
"Nah, aim high, that's my motto. Anyone can blow up a small structure; it takes a couple of pros to reduce a huge marble building to rubble in a short amount of time."
"Then, let's do what we do best and turn that building into a pile of pebbles."
"Lead the way, anarchist junior."
Rose laughed and tugged on his hand. A manic grin spread over the Doctor's face as the two of them took off running.