Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.
Author's Note: First order of business: an advance warning. I just found out I've been accepted to the graduate program I applied to. Soooo… I am going to get at least the equivalent of a "season" finished, but come September I doubt very much I will have the time to write fics. If I can squeeze one in on occasion, I will, but all I can promise right now is that I will see to it that The Doctor and Rose are finally together before I drop off the face of the planet. That said, here's the fifth episode of the Parallax series!
For those just dropping in, you might want to go back to episodes I – IV and catch yourself up. Otherwise, this won't make a ton of sense, being an AU and all. The previous episodes can be found on my profile. Their titles are, in order:
Doctor Who: Parallax – I Won't Dance
Doctor Who: Parallax – Counting Stars
Doctor Who: Parallax – Shake It Out
Doctor Who: Parallax – King And Lionheart
"I blame you," Rose mused, shaking her head and taking another bite of ice cream.
"What've I done?" The Doctor defended, arms crossed and long legs stretched out before him. His big, booted feet were propped up on the cushy green ottoman, and his leather jacket was slung over the back of the sofa.
"I just met Shakespeare. He made a pass at me. 'S your fault I can't enjoy this movie, now," she gestured toward the screen with her spoon.
"Be fair, there's always been scholarly debate over the authorship of Shakespeare's works."
"Not for me. Not anymore. You've taken all the mystery out of it."
"No refunds," he grinned at her, "Besides, there's still mystery in the universe. Tons of it."
"Speaking of, why did Queen Elizabeth run us off? What did you do to her?"
"Nothin'," he insisted, truly baffled. Then, he thought a moment, "Yet."
"Oh, fun with time travel," Rose grinned, "Hang on, I'm gettin' a call," Rose pushed the half-eaten pint of Half Baked toward The Doctor who hastily uncrossed his arms to take it from her as she slouched down in her seat to dig the ringing phone out of her pocket. Rose looked at the screen and sighed, "'S mum."
"Again?" he rolled his eyes, taking the spoon and poking at the frozen contents.
"Also your fault," she chimed in before bringing the mobile to her ear, "Hey, mum."
"You couldn't have gotten Chunky Monkey?" The Doctor asked, blatantly ignoring the fact she was on the phone.
"I asked if you wanted anything, you said 'no.'" she reminded, moving the receiver briefly away from her mouth, "What? No, sorry, mum, not you… No, I'm not saying I won't bring back gifts when I come home… yes, I know it's been awhile, but I have called… I was only a week out, that was a slight overreaction on your… yes, mum." Rose slumped further in her seat and stared up at the coral struts that lined the media room and supported the vaulted ceiling. She felt nineteen again, being scolded by her mother for staying out late. Given her time with Torchwood, one might have thought Jackie Tyler would have grown accustomed to not hearing from her daughter every day, but in light of the fact she was now traveling on a time machine, her absence was inexcusable.
"Sorry, what was that?" Rose asked. She'd gotten so caught up in her internal reflections on the conversation that when Jackie had paused expectantly, the first breath of silence in nearly five minutes, Rose realized she didn't know what she was being asked.
"I said, I want you home for the party," Jackie repeated, exasperated with her grown daughter.
"What party?" Rose asked, cringing.
"Oh, for… have you been listenin' at all?"
"Sort of," Rose bit her lip.
"Pete got board approval, he's back in as head of Torchwood. That awful Chamberlain fellow got drummed out for losin' The Doctor. There's gonna be a proper party, a ball, at Torchwood Tower to formally recognize the switch." As Jackie spoke, Rose glanced over at The Doctor, wondering if he could hear her mother over the phone, only to see him pulling the spoon from his mouth. Without thinking, she reached over and grabbed for her ice cream, but The Doctor pulled it away, holding it just out of reach.
"Stop that, that's mine," Rose hissed.
"Sorry, what?" her mother said.
"If waf melfing," The Doctor insisted through a mouth of ice cream.
"Nothing, mum, not you," Rose reassured, then muffled the phone receiver against her shoulder, "Give it back." The Doctor shook his head, edging away and digging the spoon back into the pint. Rose lunged forward, and he turned his back to her. She could hear her mother's voice echoing from the mobile held at her shoulder, but she was intent. Rising to her knees on the sofa behind his turned back, she leaned over his shoulder and yanked the cardboard container out of his hand. She sat back on her half of the couch, triumphant, until he turned back to face her, smug as ever, and she realized he still had the spoon. Rose brought the phone back up to her ear.
"Sorry, mum, I missed that last bit," she said, eyes darting between the ice cream and The Doctor who had reclined back, one arm draped casually over the back of the couch as he wiggled the spoon in the other hand. She narrowed her eyes at him. There was a moment of silence and a labored sigh over the phone.
"You and that daft alien," her mother half scolded. Then more seriously, "What are you two up to?"
"Nothin'," Rose assured, her voice pitched a little higher than she intended. She tilted her head, cradling the phone against her shoulder and started tearing at the lip of the paperboard ice cream container, "Jus' a bit of turbulence. Nothin' to worry about."
"Turbulence?" Jackie asked, clearly skeptical. Rose got the side of the pint torn down nearly to the level of the remaining ice cream and changed directions, ripping around the circumference of the container.
"Nothin' to worry about," Rose said cheerfully, "All taken care of." In seconds, she was all the way around, and she discarded the torn-away paper.
"Whatever you say, dear," Jackie answered, clearly mistrustful, "Can you make it, though?" Rose lifted the now-half pint of Half Baked up to her mouth and stuck her face in, taking a big bite before looking back up at The Doctor with victorious glee and a nose and chin smeared in partially melted cookie dough. "Rose?" Jackie inquired when she didn't answer right away.
"Righf here," Rose mumbled wiping her face clean and trying to swallow quickly. A quick, sharp pain blossomed inside her skull, and she winced, ignoring the near instantaneous look of vindication on The Doctor's face. "Gah, what day is the party?"
"I already told you."
"Sorry, I was… busy."
"Rose, what's goin' on?"
"Gluttony and brain freeze. Take your pick," The Doctor chimed in, making it clear he could hear every word Jackie Tyler said.
"I heard that," Jackie informed.
"Never mind 'im. Just tell me what day we need to be there."
"I'm not goin'," The Doctor said, sternly.
"Who said you were invited?" Rose pointed out, putting her hand over the receiver.
"The night of the fifth," Jackie said.
"Fifth of what?" Rose asked.
"Really?"
"Time machine," Rose reminded.
"June," Jackie nearly shouted, "For heaven's sake, Rose…"
"I'll be there," Rose cut her mother off, mid-scolding.
"You promise?" Jackie Tyler asked. Rose darted a glance at The Doctor.
"Fine," he ground out, leaning forward and snatching the ice cream from her hand. Rose rolled her eyes at him.
"Yes, mum, I will be there for the party."
All in all, despite Jackie Tyler's occasionally overbearing personality, Rose was happy to be going home for a visit. She estimated she'd been gone about a month and a half, now; it was really hard to keep track in the TARDIS; and she found she missed Tony and Pete and, well, even Jackie. She and The Doctor had been plenty busy the last few weeks, jumping from one near-disaster to the next. Though, to be fair, the two days they'd spent on Barcelona after saving it from the Judoon had been splendid. The Doctor had taken her to the art galleries, the natural history museum, and two symphony performances, one of which had been conducted in a natural rock amphitheater outside Catalonia. Moreover, the food had been spectacular.
That little break had been punctuated, however, by a distress signal that landed them on a disabled ship somewhere in the Torajii system that was being pulled slowly into a nearby star. As it turned out, the star they were hurtling toward was alive, and the crew had been mining it for fuel. They didn't discover the source of their problems until after The Doctor had been, for lack of a better term, "possessed" by the star's life force. As he'd been lying on the table, ready to be placed in the cryogenic stasis machine, Rose had been listening to his instructions in near panic. When he'd begun apologizing, telling her he might have to break his promise, she hadn't been able to stop herself from crying. Though she'd covered her mouth to prevent any sound escaping, there was no telling what he might have heard.
Afterward, by way of recompense and The Doctor's bizarre sense of balance, he'd taken them to Chamonix, France in 1924 to see the "International Winter Sports Week" that would be retroactively designated as the first Winter Olympic Games. Once she'd shown a little too much interest in men's ice hockey, however, The Doctor had decided it was time to move on, and they'd spent several days drifting in the Time Vortex for some much-needed repairs. From there, he'd brought them to 1599 London with the intention of taking her to an original production of one of Shakespeare's plays. Of course, things hadn't gone quite to plan, and the pair had stumbled across a race of intergalactic 'witches' called the Carrionites bent on, what else, global domination.
She was ready to see her family again, to forget for a time all the close calls they'd had of late. As Rose gathered together the things she intended to bring; photos for Tony, jewelry from Barcelona for her mum, cigars for Pete; she couldn't help smiling. She placed everything in a bright orange Mylar shopping bag and made her way to the console room where The Doctor was busy piloting them toward their destination. She'd expected greater resistance from him, and he had attempted to talk her into one or two more adventures before bringing her to London, but when she'd shown even the slightest initial reluctance, he'd dropped the issue altogether. She'd thought it a bit unusual until she remembered this Doctor hadn't had the history with Jackie that her original Doctor had. There was still time for that.
As Rose walked into the console room, The Doctor looked up and smiled briefly before returning to the task at hand. She'd left her hair down for once, clearly not anticipating any need to run for their lives, and it was such a rare sight he found he could easily get distracted if he let himself. She set her bag down on the grating and took her usual place on the jump seat. He hadn't missed the fact that, ever since the hospital he'd taken her to to have her wrist mended, she'd begun pairing her cargo trousers with her bespoke blouses. At the time, she'd criticized his style choice, but she'd quickly decided she'd liked it. Now, there was something comforting about the sight of her slate gray trousers and a bold red button-up as she propped her feet up on the console frame.
"Are we there, yet?" she teased, touching her tongue to her teeth in a brilliant smile.
"I'll have a bit of hush, or I'll turn this time machine around," he volleyed, pointing a finger at her, but the mirth was clear in those keen gray eyes.
"So, what are you going to do while I'm visiting?" she asked, changing the subject. It seemed a natural question to her, but after he pulled the lever Rose had long thought of as the 'parking brake' he stopped and gave her a look that was both questioning and unsure.
"You were joking about me not bein' invited, yeah?" The Doctor attempted to clarify, his brows lifted.
"You want to go to the ball?" Rose gaped at him, and his face instantly screwed up in a moue of distaste.
"'Course not," he scoffed, "I'll skip that bit, thank you verra much. But I did just land us in your wardrobe. I assumed…" He didn't really know how to finish that statement, realizing he'd not thought much at all about his place in all this. He'd simply assumed he'd be with Rose, and it suddenly occurred to him she might want this time with her family and not him.
"No, no, no!" Rose rushed, seeing the sudden uncertainty in his demeanor, "Of course you're invited, I just didn't think you'd want to. My mum and the other Doctor really didn't get on much. Besides, won't you be a bit, you know, bored?"
"Rose, we've been runnin' for weeks, I can handle a little dullness for one day," he assured. It wasn't really a reassuring answer, but she knew it was the closest he'd ever come to that.
"All right," she shrugged, standing from the jump seat and scooping up her bag before offering the crook of her arm, "Shall we?"
Footnote: The movie they were watching is "Anonymous." In case that wasn't terribly clear.