Hey all! So…. it's been about five or six years since I last posted something on here. It was a huge thing for me in middle school and now I'm in college, which seems totally crazy to me! I'm pretty sure I swore I'd never post anything again… but then I watched Doctor Who. Trust me when I say I've been through quite a few obsessions in the last few years and Doctor Who was the first to inspire a fully-fledged one shot out of me. I hope you all enjoy and I hope this isn't way too far in the past for everyone!
Jenna Morris sighed heavily as she folded the last of the t-shirts on the front display. It was thirty minutes until the shop opened and Mr. Anderson would have her fired in a second if she did not get everything tidied up perfectly. As she turned to make sure the mannequins were fully dressed and in the right positions, she let out a sigh. She was stuck in this no good, dead end job and she was bored out of her mind. There was no one to go home to at night and it all just seemed so purposeless. She sighed again, loudly, as if it was the only thing she could do. She was just about to go grab the sale signs from behind the counter when someone knocked loudly on the front door of the shop.
Startled, she turned to see a stranger; a tall, lanky man with crazy brown hair, knocking madly on the glass. For a second, she wanted to turn around and go in the back to get Mr. Anderson, but something about the man made her stop. He was grinning wildly at her, but he also had a strangely apologetic look on his face. Maybe he didn't really want to bother her, but had to because it was urgent. Yes, it was certainly urgent if he was trying so desperately to get her attention.
As she approached the door, she heard him calling through the glass, "Rose! Oh Rose! Am I glad to see you! Told you I'd come find you, didn't I? And here I am!"
He stepped back from the door and gave it a once over, looking around the edges before pushing on it again.
"Is this door locked from the other side too? I seemed to have misplaced my sonic screwdriver, although I'm sure…" The man's quick and excited voice suddenly trailed off as he finally noticed the confused expression on her face.
"What is it Rose? What's wrong?" He pulled a hand up to his face and rubbed across it roughly. "Has something happened to my face?"
She almost wanted to laugh at his strange behavior, but his serious confusion was a little off-putting. "No, there's nothing wrong with it, at least I don't think so. It's just-" she paused and continued apologetically, "I don't know who Rose is."
Shock flitted across the man's face, which was actually a very good looking face. Nothing wrong with it indeed. But the look of worry that settled across it was certainly troubling.
"The store's closed right now, I'm sorry." She smiled apologetically at him once again and then began to turn away, a little disturbed by his unexplainable behavior. It would probably be best to go and get Mr. Anderson…
"Wait!" The desperation in his voice made her turn back. He pressed his hands up against the glass. He stared at her for a few seconds, looking like his mind was spinning at a million miles an hour. Then he stepped back from the door and cleared his throat. "Yes, sorry. Can I come in? I uh… I've had a little trouble with my car. I could use a phone." He looked at her imploringly.
She glanced nervously back at the door that led to the back. Her boss was just in the other room and there were large glass windows that let the whole world see into the store. It wasn't like she was in any danger. And anyway, there was something about the man that made her trust him, completely inexplicably, considering his strange behavior.
She bit her lip, and then nodded. The door opened from the inside even when it was locked from the outside, so she leaned forward and it opened easily. The man nodded at her, looking grateful, but still a little confused.
She watched him awkwardly for a second and then said, "Well the phone's in the back, through that door there. Mr. Anderson is back there, I'm sure he'll let you use it." She jerked her thumb towards the back of the store.
"Thank you so much!" The man said. "I'm the Doctor by the way," he said, leaning in a little close and sticking out his hand to her. "And what's your name?"
Everything in her was telling her not to shake his hand; to step back and to lie to him, but for some reason she didn't. "I'm Jenna."
The man's eyes slipped close for a second, but then they popped back open and he smiled brightly at her. "A lovely name. Could I ask you another question?" He paused for a second and then gestured to the back of the store. "What door would you be referring to?"
She was startled by the confusing question and turned to confirm that there was only one door in the store other than the one the man had just come through. She turned back to the man in front of her, "the Doctor", and gave him another once over. Maybe he had escaped from a nearby psych ward.
"I'm going to get my boss." She told him, not wanting to handle this situation on her own anymore.
"You do that." The Doctor replied, sounding assured about something.
She walked away from him towards the back door, but he once again called out to her. "Before you get him, could you tell me about this Mr. Anderson?"
She just walked more quickly, more worried by the moment. But the Doctor kept calling to her as she walked. "What is he like? What does he look like? How did you first meet him?"
She tried to ignore him, but she suddenly found that his questions bothered her. What did Mr. Anderson look like? For some reason she suddenly could not call his face to mind. She turned to give the man a hard look. He stood, watching her intently with a strange expression on his face that she could not read. Frustrated at the man and her inability to think, she turned back to the door she had been about to reach. But it wasn't there.
She stood and gaped at the blank wall for a second, her mind completely unable to come up with a logical explanation. She had worked at this shop for three years, and that door had always been in the same place. It had always been there, and it had always led to the back rooms. She reached up to run her hands along the wall, confusion making her frustration grow even more.
"I can help you." The man had come up behind her with no warning and she spun around quickly.
"Stay away from me!" She warned him, backing up against the wall. "I don't know who you are and I don't know what you're doing to me. What is this? Why can't I remember Mr. Anderson's face? Where did this door go?" She shot the questions rapid fire at him, trying to seem on top of things on the outside while on the inside she felt like she was going crazy.
The man stood in front of her, backing up just a little. He had a kind of controlled sadness in his face. "I haven't done anything to you." He said quietly and calmly, "But I know who did. And I think I know what they've done. I can help you." He repeated emphatically.
She still didn't completely trust him. "Look, I know this all has to do with you. It all started when you knocked on the glass a few minutes ago. Before that I was having a perfectly normal morning, thank you very much."
"Oh yes?" The man replied. "And how was that perfectly normal morning? Where did you wake up? What did you have for breakfast? Do you remember the drive in?"
She stared at him with wide eyes as her stubborn mind refused to supply her with any details. "Stop it!" She finally yelled, shutting her eyes, hating the way it felt not to be able to answer any of his questions.
"There's something very wrong here, and I can help." He repeated.
She opened her eyes and looked at him, knowing her fear was showing plainly. Again, she was struck by a strange sense of trust. It was probably because he seemed to have some idea about what was going on and she had no idea. She nodded at him, slowly and unsurely.
He stepped towards her with his hands out cautiously. She tried not to immediately shrink back from him. He came and stood directly in front of her and then carefully placed his hands on either side of her face. Even though she had never met him before, the contact made her stomach flutter and her eyes fell closed.
"Someone has erased your memories." He said softly and she murmured her agreement. However that was possible, it certainly made sense. She couldn't remember anything.
"They've erased them and replaced them with false ones." He continued. She furrowed her brow in denial and then opened her eyes ready to refute that, but she was startled from her protestation by the intense look he was giving her.
"Where are we right now?" He asked as he dropped his hands and stepped back.
She stared at him for a second before replying, "In the store I work at."
"What does it look like in here?"
"Why are you asking me? Just look around yourself!" She told him, feeling her frustration rise to the surface again.
"I can't see what you see." He told her, "If this place is supposed to be a store, it's a real dump. It's dark and gloomy and there's a pipe leaking in the corner."
She felt her hackles rise as he insulted the store she worked so hard to keep clean every day. "Well that's very nice of you to say!"
"Don't believe me?" He led her over to the corner of the room and it wasn't until they had arrived that she realized he had grabbed her hand. It hadn't even registered, but once she realized it, she dropped it immediately. He glanced at her quickly but then returned his attention to the ceiling in the corner.
"There is a leaky pipe right above us. Hold out your hand and you'll feel the water drop on you."
She stared up at the nice, white ceiling and dubious thoughts ran through her head. But the morning had already been stranger than she could have ever imagined and she decided to go along. Maybe when no water came he would give up and tell her what was really going on. She held out her hand and nothing happened. She looked over at him, but he was still staring at the ceiling.
"Ahh, here comes a drip!" He said suddenly and she almost jumped out of her skin when she felt a cool drop of water splash onto her skin. She pulled her hand back like it had been burned and stared at it.
"And there you are!" The Doctor said happily, turning towards her. She faced him but still looked at him warily.
"What is this? Where did it come from?" She looked back up at the ceiling and saw no evidence of water damage or leaks.
"I know you can't see it, but you can't deny that you felt it."
"I still have no idea what's going on!"
He nodded in understanding. "But you will admit that all is not as it seems, right?"
She considered him for a second, his wide eyes imploring her to agree with him, and she really wanted to. But it was hard business letting go of your entire understanding of the world.
"Show me more." She told him after a few moments of consideration and he grinned widely at her.
He stepped back and spread his arms toward the wall. She looked and saw a small jewelry display and a poster of a smiling boy and girl showing off some of the store's brands.
"I told you that someone has been messing with your memories. They've also tampered with your perceptions."
She gave him a sidelong glance and waited for him to continue.
"I'm assuming that looking at this wall, you see a nice paint job and maybe some advertisements. Now I want you to reach out and touch the wall and tell me what you feel."
"Even if you're right, I'm not going to feel anything weird." She protested. "I was just over there folding shirts. If you're going to tell me they weren't real, you can't convince me that I couldn't feel them while I folded them."
"Yes, you probably did!" His voice rose slightly as he stepped towards her. "But you have to concentrate! Now that you know it's an illusion, you can break through it!"
She huffed skeptically and looked back at the wall. The paint job gleamed back at her, shining bright in the morning sun she could see coming in through the store window. She wasn't sure if she believed the man standing next to her. But the disappearing door and water droplet wouldn't let her dismiss the whole thing as ridiculous. So she summoned up as much concentration as she could and reached out and touched the wall. At first, her fingers were met with painted dry wall. But she furrowed her brow and closed her eyes, concentrating on the feeling under her fingertips. When she began to drag them up along the wall, she suddenly yelped and pulled her hand back. Her fingers were covered in cold, brown and gray grime, something that looked like it had been building up for years. She looked wildly back at the wall and the jewelry and poster were gone. In their place a dirty wall had sprung up, one she certainly wouldn't be touching again. She looked back down at her fingers and then back at the man who had summoned up a handkerchief which he handed over to her. She took it from him hesitantly and he was watching her carefully.
"Do you see it now?"
Her mind was going at a million miles an hour trying to possibly sort any of this into a decent explanation. But she couldn't come up with anything, so she did the only thing she knew she could. She asked the Doctor.
"If this shop isn't real, then where am I? Is that whole town out their fake too? Is the whole world?" She pointed out the window to where the parking lot in front of the shops was beginning to fill up as the shopping day began.
"There is nothing out there." He replied gently.
She gaped at him. "Of course there is! I might be in some dirty old room with no door out the back, but you can't tell me the sun isn't shining out there!"
She started to storm toward the front door to show him, to make him feel the sun on his face, to pull aside one of the shoppers and make them talk to him, but halfway across the room her determination suddenly ran cold. Was she so sure that what was outside wasn't an illusion too? With everything he had shown her, she had clung to what she thought was true and he had turned out to be right. She stood still in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do. Did she want her entire world shattered by this man? Where would that leave her?
He felt her come up behind her and take her hand gently. Then he came around in front of her to look her in the eye, taking a hold of her other hand as well.
"Let me show you." He told her gently.
"I don't want you to."
He faltered slightly and she felt his grip on her hand loosen, but he didn't let go. His eyes bore into hers and she stared back at him, knowing her fear was showing on her face. For the second time, his closed his eyes and when they opened, he seemed to have steeled himself.
"I know it seems like everything you've ever known is falling out from underneath you, but that isn't the real truth." He gripped her hands. "You are strong. Incredibly, extraordinarily, strong, and I know you can do it."
His words bolstered her up in a way that a stranger's words never should have been able to. When he started to pull her towards the door, she didn't fight him.
They stepped out of the store.
Maybe it was because she had seen through so much of the illusion already, but she needed no convincing when they stepped through the door that there was no sunlit parking lot on the other side. She faced a wall, as dark and dirty as the wall she had begun to see inside. On either side of her, the wall ran along a long, dimly lit corridor that turned out of sight in both directions. The Doctor stood beside her, watching her reaction.
She stepped quickly back into the room and he followed her. She looked around her and saw the interior clearly for the first time. The walls were indeed dark and grimy, and the ceiling and the floors too. The displays and racks of clothing were gone, suddenly vanished. Had they ever been there at all? Her mind screamed in confusion.
"Okay, okay!" She turned to him, her eyes wide with and unsettled. "I believe you, I do! But what is going on? Where am I really? What's happening to me?"
She could feel the panic creeping into her voice, but she couldn't stop it. He stepped closer to her, his eyes conveying worry and comfort at the same time. His concern for her was tangible and she held onto it like a rock in her sea of thoughts. He reached his hands out to her like he had done earlier and held them on the sides of her face.
"What's your name?" He asked her.
"Jenna." She replied.
"That's wrong." He said shortly, and she was startled by the anger she heard in his words. "Think of what Jenna means to you and then compare them to this."
As he spoke she felt his hands move towards her temples, his fingers splaying out slightly. He hesitated for a second, breathing out a slow stream of air. Then her mind was suddenly overcome by the strongest emotion she had ever felt. It made her knees give out and she sank to the floor, the Doctor coming with her. A second later she felt his hands pull away and she opened her eyes, tears spilling out. She could barely see him kneeling in front of her, so she reached up and wiped her eyes and was met with his small, warm smile.
"What was that?" She gasped, a little shocked.
"That's what Rose is. That's who she is. To me." He paused, and then continued. "I couldn't make that up, could I?"
She shook her head at him, completely overcome by the strength of the emotion she had just experienced. It was love; deep, deep love. It wasn't just joy, but a mixture of sadness, of longing, of regret. There was delight there also though, and laughter and song. She suddenly felt cold and empty without it anymore, only the memory of it echoing through her head. But she could see it still in his eyes, his face only inches away from hers.
"Doctor." She whispered and it all suddenly came crashing back to her. The weak illusions that had chained her mind were suddenly broken down and understanding and memories flooded through her mind as startlingly as ice water. She was glad she was sitting down. She reached up to hold her head and her hands covered the Doctor's.
"That's it Rose. That's it." She heard the Doctor's soothing voice reverberate through her head as he withdrew his hands from hers and pulled her closer to him. She fell against him, her head leaning on his shoulder.
She breathed heavily, overcome for a few seconds by her whole self, her entire life, coming back to her in a flash. But very soon, she began to feel much better. In fact, as her real memories settled into place, she quickly found that she felt infinitely better than she had moments before. She was Rose! Of course she was, she had never known anything as true as that. Joy escaped her lips in a tiny laugh and she felt the Doctor smile as he wrapped his arms around her.
After a few moments she pulled her face back so she could look at him. Tears were still drying in her eyes but a huge grin spread uncontrollably across her face.
"How could I possibly forget you?" She asked him, the teasing lilt in her voice dispensing the weight of the question.
"Beats me! But you seemed to have replaced me quickly enough. Who exactly was this Mr. Anderson?"
"Nothing to be jealous of, I'm sure." Rose laughed and then stood, pulling the Doctor up into a proper hug. She felt him wrap his arms around her tightly and she let herself become completely ensconced in the feeling of safety and protection he gave her.
"Don't beat yourself up." He said quietly, his lips brushing the side of her neck as he spoke. "That was a very powerful hallucination you were under."
"Don't have to tell me twice." She agreed.
He squeezed her tight against him and then pulled away, holding her at arm's length and smiling brilliantly at her. "Now, let's see about getting out of here!"
He grabbed her hand and she followed him down the corridor, away from the small room she had been held in. As they ran along the passage that connected the prison cells, he looked back at her again and said, "I can't tell you how glad I am to have you back!"
They continued on and Rose was filled with the memory of the deep emotion the Doctor had shared with her. She thought she could understand a fraction of just how glad he was. She squeezed his hand and they kept on running.
Hope you guys enjoyed!
There's not a lot of how and why explained in this story, but I have it all thought out in my head, so if you're curious, you could ask me. I wanted to add in some of the Doctor's explanation but it didn't fit in anywhere. It's something they'd talk about once they get back to the TARDIS.
I'm a little rusty when it comes to the writing department, but I hope you liked it.
Thanks for reading!