"Well, come on then!" the tall man in the leather jacket called to the blonde trailing behind.
"I thought we were going somewhere interesting!" the young woman replied. "We're in bloody Cornwall! Not even old fashioned or cool futuristic Cornwell. Just plain old boring Cornwell!"
"Oh, come on, Rose, it's not boring! And it is futuristic for you, it's 2015! Sure it's not that different from 2005, but it's still the future in comparison to your time"
"But we've fought aliens! Seen the end of the world! Now we're back in the UK. What could be so interesting here?" the blond, Rose, complained.
"I have someone I want you to meet" he says somewhat hestitantly as he stops infront of a small stone cottage, his hand resting on the white picket gate that stands under a grape vine covered archway. "Just, uh, be yourself, be polite, but be yourself. And don't worry, she knows everything about the TARDIS and me"
Rose pales slightly. There's a human woman who knows all about the Doctor who he obviously cares about. It made her question, not for the first time, what did she mean to him?
"Alright, ready?" the Doctor asks with slight anxiousness in his voice.
"Of course!" Rose replies, forcing a smile onto her face.
The Doctor opens the gate to allow Rose into the beautiful garden filled with delicate, roses and fragrant lavender and then walks purposefully towards the white wooden door, knocking twice. The response was instantaneous. The door flung open and a petite woman roses towards the lanky man crushing him tightly in a hug.
"You," the woman starts as she untangles herself, "are four darn months late!" she states with a glare to the Doctor, before turning to Rose and smiling sweetly. "Hi, I'm Cassie, what's your name?"
"Ah, Rose" the woman in question replies, semi-shocked before finding herself to be in a tight, but less crushing hug from this 'Cassie'.
"Pleasure to meet you, Rose" Cassie replies, ignoring the Doctor who is looking ashamedly at the ground, trying to figure out how he had miscalculated his arrival time. "Shall we go inside and have some dinner? I am afraid I only have lasagna and chips, I wasn't expecting visitors. But the lasagna is homemade, so it should be reasonable. Unless you're vegetarian, you're not, are you? Because I could go pick some veggies and make you a quiche or something if you want. Or are you vegan? I'm not really sure what to make you if you are, but I'm sure I have a recipe somewhere"
"Lasagna's fine" the Doctor replies, nor effected by her ramblings in the slightest, looking to a shell-shocked Rose with a smirk.
"Right," Cassie sighs with a smile, "well come in!"
They walk into the little cottage to find it, unlike the front, completely modernized. An entire wall was a television screen with a white leather couch opposite it and two matching arm chairs facing inwards on either side of it. All the walls were painted a vibrant red, with a beautifully soft black carpet and all the furniture white. Everything was in perfect condition and obviously top quality.
"Right," Cassie turns to her guests, "this is the lounge room, down the hallway to the left are the two spare bedrooms and a bathroom, down the hallway on the right you can access my bedroom, the other bathroom and the library. The kitchen and dining room can be accessed by either hallway and are directly behind this room."
They walk down the left hallway and Cassie again stops, this time between the bedrooms. "If you two decide to stay the night, which you're welcome to accept or decline, these will be your rooms. Rose, you can have the one on the right, Doctor, you know your room" she then continues onto the kitchen/dining room. Cassie quickly lights the oven and takes a full dish of lasagna our of the fridge before placing it into the already hot oven and turns around to face Rose and the Doctor with a sigh. It was the first time Rose had been able to get a proper look at her, and her first thoughts were 'stunning'. She had long black hair with streaks of neon pink laced throughout., wore a black summer dress with neon green cherries printed all over it. She had a pale complexion and a perfect figure with curves in all the right places. But the most stunning aspect were her eyes, which, like her dress, were the most vibrant green Rose had ever seen. They seemed to draw you in and sparkled with joy with everything she did.
"Alrighty then, that'll take about half an hour, so why don't we go and get to know one another?" Cassie suggested, smiling at Rose as she always did.
"Yeah, sure" Rose replies, still slightly overwhelmed by the other womans exuberance as Cassie takes her by the hand and practically skips as she leads them back to the front door and out to a small garden table with four chairs.
"So, Rose, how did you meet the Doctor?" Cassie asks.
"Um, well, he blew up my work because of these plastic dummy things"
"Autons?" Cassie asks looking to the Doctor who nods. "So that would be either two weeks ago or 2005, judging by your clothing I'm guessing the later?"
"Yea" Rose starts.
"Wait, two weeks ago?" the Doctor interrupts.
"Yeah, I didn't think you were there, made it a lot harder for us to stop them without a timelord and his sonic screwdriver" Cassie replies with a smirk. "They seem to have adopted the weeping angels idea of moving only when they're not being seen, meant less panic and more paranoia, also made it harder for us to determine which had and which hadn't been activated"
"Us?" the Doctor asks, eyebrows now raised impossibly high.
"Yeah, my boyfriend helped, mainly with the technology to find them, but I came up with it all"
"Boyfriend?" the Doctor asks, now sitting at the edge of his seat.
"Yes, Doctor, boyfriend. These things do happen every now and again" Cassie replies rolling her eyes at him and smiling at Rose.
"Do I know him?"
"No, you don't, but you will, he has an important role in your future. Both of yours actually"
"How so?" the Doctor asks.
"Spoilers, dear, spoilers"
"Humph" the Doctor grunts, sitting back in his chair, arms crossed. Rose looks between the two. She would have laughed were it not for the confusing feeling of relief running through her mind. She didn't understand why, after all, she had only known the Doctor for a brief amount of time, and Mickey was at home waiting for her.
"Can you at least tell me his name?" the now grumpy Doctor requests.
"You know the rules. All I'll tell you is you'll meet him at your end" Cassie replies.
"What's that meant to mean?" Rose asks, thoroughly confused.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you. It might not happen, I suppose, that depends on you two. And I'm not necessarily saying that it'll be this you either, Doctor." Cassie states airily. "So, Rose, tell me more about yourself, what makes you different to all the others on this piece of rock?" Cassie asks attempting to change the conversation.
The following twenty minutes the conversation was light, talking about Jackie, Mickey all the things Rose used to love doing and of course the adventures she had experienced with the Doctor.
"Alright, I'm going to go fetch dinner, shall we eat outside or inside?" Cassie asks.
"Outside" the Doctor replies.
"Inside" Rose replies at the same moment.
"Inside it is!" Cassie smiles. "Human's core temperature are lower than yours Doctor, don't forget" and with that she disappears inside.
"Right" the Doctor says as he stands up.
"Doctor," Rose starts quietly as she two stands to go inside. "What did she mean by us staying overnight? And what was all that about you having your own room? And what the does she mean by spoilers? And what was that about with the whole, 'not necessarily this you'?"
"Rose, slow down, breathe. In response to your questions, in order, she always has spare rooms incase I decide to take a break for a while or for when I come here and introduce someone to her. Due to this I have my own room. Spoilers are things she can't tell me because they have yet to happen in my life but have happened in hers. As for not this me, timelords, my people, can regenerate. It's like dying. We change all our features and are practically someone entirely different, however we still have the same memories and thoughts. Ok? Now I'm hungry, and it's been ages since I've had her lasagna!" he replies, not even seeming to think about the responses, before striding off towards the dining room where there sat a large lasagna and bowl of chips with three places set out and a jug of homemade orange juice in the centre of the table.
"So," Cassie starts as she clears the table with the help of the Doctor, "are you two planning on staying tonight or are you running off again?"
Rose and the Doctor look at each other, trying to discern one another's thoughts. "I think we had better be off" the Doctor starts, "you know me, can't stay in one spot for too long!"
Cassie laughs at this. "Of course, go explore the universe! It's probably for the best anyway, I have work in the morning, and I can't really just tell them I can't come in due to your being here!"
"Thanks so much for dinner, Cassie" Rose starts as she joins them properly in the kitchen. "It was fantastic!"
"Thank you, dear. Actually, Rose I have something for you, do you mind? We'll only be a minute Doctor" Cassie explains before taking Rose by the hand and leading her to another room. "I want you to memorize this number, put it in your phone if you can. If anything ever goes wrong, you call me, ok? It doesn't matter where or when you are, if you call me I promise I will come help you ok?"
"Why would you do that? I mean, we've only just met, why are you so protective all of a sudden?" Rose asks trying to figure out the pale woman.
"Any friend of the Doctor's is someone who needs to have a backup number. You can't always expect him to be alright, I know he's brilliant at fixing his own problems, but there might be a time when you need someone, whether it be to talk, or to save your lives. I swore a long time ago to always help those who travel with the Doctor, and I plan to stick to it. Besides, if you're traveling with the Doctor, you must be someone particularly special" Cassie smiles as she hands Rose a small business card with her details on it and walks back to the Doctor.
"Oh, I'm going to miss you! Don't screw up again! I expect to see you in a month, no longer!" Cassie playfully scolds the Doctor as she holds him tight in a hug. "Look after yourself, and Rose, look after her, she seems wonderful"
"You look after yourself too, you're sure you won't come along?" the Doctor asks.
"No, this is Rose's time, besides, I couldn't just leave Jack, he'd feel ever so betrayed" Cassie replies sadly. The Doctor merely nods, mentally memorizing that the mysterious boyfriend's name was Jack.
"Rose, it's been such a please meeting you," Cassie starts as Rose reenters the room. "Look after him, but more importantly, look after yourself, alright?" Cassie asks.
"Of course, you too" Rose smiles slightly, allowing Cassie to hug her and this time returning the hug.
They walk back to the door and, with a final hug, Rose and the Doctor walk off into the dark night to the TARDIS standing a block away.