Hello all! This has been a long time coming. Welcome to "A New Beginning: Rewrite". I've been meaning to rewrite my Doctor Who story for a long time now, as I found myself struggling to write Viviana's character, and struggling to write in 1st person POV. I've finally found time in my hectic life to sit down and write and honestly, I'm quite excited to get my creative juices flowing again :)
Welcome to the rewrite of the first story in The Lost Princess' Journal. This story is a revision of Doctor Who season 1, with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler. This story will include episodes from the series along with some original chapters and adventures of my own. Each episode will be broken into two parts of varying lengths.
My OC is a girl named Evelyn Viviana Davis. She's a 19-year-old American girl living in London. She's short, petite, with wide green eyes, and long, dark brown hair.
"italics" is telepathic communication in later chapters
~)8(~ is a scene break
This story is told from 3rd POV
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.
Episode 1: "Rose"
Part 1
Chapter 1: Rose and Viviana
Viviana wasn't quite sure what to expect from the day. To most people, it was just another day. It should've been just that to her as well.
In the end, it wasn't.
She'd done her normal morning routine. Getting up way earlier than was needed, being the natural early riser that she was. Spending an unnecessary amount of time in the shower. Throwing on the first clothes she saw and hoping they weren't horrendously mismatched. Cooking breakfast while singing obnoxiously to show tunes. Packing her bag for the day consisting of a lunch, a book, her keys, wallet, and an extra shirt. Then, she left her tiny little apartment in central London.
She took the tube to work. She preferred that over walking to be perfectly honest. There were some days she felt like walking, but most of the time she was too darn lazy.
Viviana worked at a department store in London called Henrik's. Not glamorous, but it was a job. It kept her busy and paid. She worked full time, having finished school at 18. She'd been uninterested in going to Uni, and the only reason she'd stayed in school so long instead of doing an apprenticeship was because her Grandfather, Grandpapa Nathaniel, had insisted. He did not condone her complete lack of interest in her formal education. Viviana was completely content to go to work at a shop during the day, come home, cook, watch telly, and read.
At least, she tried to convince herself she was okay with that sort of life.
The truth was, Viviana was not content to just sit there and live a boring little shop life. She'd always wanted to travel. She'd always wanted to visit the world's museums. She'd always wanted to go see battlefields and memorials and live in dingy motels and hostels. However, neither of her guardians had been okay with that.
Before she'd moved to London when she was 13, Viviana had lived in America with her aunt, Maggie. Viviana's mother had died in childbirth. Her father had left the picture before either he or her mom knew she was pregnant. Viviana never had a desire to find him. She was content with her aunt. They'd lived in a large home in the mountains of Colorado. Estes Park was close by, and Aunt Maggie had owned a tea and coffee shop on the main street. Viviana started helping there when she was around 11. She'd been homeschooled as well. Viviana did not care. Again, she was perfectly content with just her aunt.
Then the accident happened.
Aunt Maggie and Viviana got in a car accident when she was 13. A drunk driver… in the mountains… with inches of snow on the road… It was a miracle any of them made it out alive. But Viviana did. So did the drunk driver. She was in jail for vehicular homicide. The sentence was 20 years. The woman had received two previous DUIs.
Aunt Maggie did not survive.
So the house and shop were sold, Viviana's things packed, and she was shipped off to London to live with a grandfather she didn't remember having.
Grandpapa Nathaniel.
Poor sod, he was not prepared to take care of a teenage girl who just lost her mother-figure. He loved her though, and their relationship, though strange, was something Viviana wouldn't trade for anything.
It was only when she began attending school did Viviana realize how sheltered she really was. She'd never been outside of Colorado before, let alone the U.S., and now she was living in a foreign country that seriously confused her and sometimes still did. That was when her desire to travel and seek adventure emerged. But Grandpapa was older, and not quite fit for travel. He could be sprightly and energetic sure, but even the weekend holiday to Stratford-upon-Avon to visit everything Shakespeare had seriously wearied him. Viviana accepted that Papa couldn't take her many places. And with how protective he was of her, he sure as hell wasn't going to let her go off on her own.
Anyway, when Viviana had finished school, she began working at Henrik's full time. Some days she was working the registers, some days she was working customer assistance, and some days she spent working with new shipments in the basement of the building.
She hated working in the basement.
Luckily, when Viviana arrived (after being squished between a woman with a whining pug and a black man twice her size speaking Dutch), she was told to work customer assistance in the women's section that day. There was a store-wide sale going on, so Viviana knew she wouldn't be wasting time folding and refolding shirts.
Viviana mostly kept to herself at work. She wasn't shy, but she was definitely an introvert, and therefore never went out of her way to speak to her co-workers. She was friendly with them, sure, but she didn't consider any of them friends. However, that day, Viviana kept seeing one of her coworkers over and over again. Rose Tyler.
The girls both worked full-time at the shop. Viviana honestly could not remember if they'd ever held a decent conversation. It seemed whenever Viviana was working the till, Rose was on customer assistance, and opposite.
Viviana was decently surprised when Rose greeted her with a grin and asked how she was, remarking that they rarely worked together.
Between the sale and the amiable conversations with Rose, the day passed fairly quickly, and it was soon closing. That night, Viviana and Rose were leaving the shop together, the security guards waiting to lock up.
"Oi!"
Viviana's eyes crossed when a plastic bag was waved right in front of her face. A similar bag was being waved in front of Rose.
Lottery money for Wilson.
Bugger.
With groans, the girls took the money and went to the elevators, ignoring the guards telling them to hurry up.
"And I wanted to cook dinner," Viviana pouted to herself. Rose giggled a bit.
"You cook?" Viviana nodded.
"I love it. Making all sorts of dishes and desserts. There's endless things to try." Rose grinned.
"My mum would love you. She's always cooking up new things for me. Not that she's any good though." Viviana smiled a bit, amused at Rose's teasing of her mom.
The elevator dinged.
"Wilson?" Rose called. The Chief Electrician was nowhere to be seen. "Wilson, we've got the lottery money. Wilson?" The two girls walked over to his office door. It was shut. Rose knocked.
"You there?" There was no response. Viviana had to frown. This was unlike Wilson. She didn't know him well, but she knew him well enough to know that he rarely ever left the shop before it closed. Especially with lottery money coming his way.
"Look, we can't hang about because they're closing the shop," Rose called. Viviana continued to look around, calling out as well.
"Wilson?" She then looked at Rose. "Maybe he's just knee-deep in work." Right as she suggested it, there was a clattering behind them. Almost like something was accidentally knocked over.
"Hello?" The two girls exchanged glances before moving in that direction. "Hello, Wilson, it's Rose and Viviana. Wilson?"
"Hello?" Viviana yelled. There was still no response from him or anyone else for that matter. The two girls ducked into a storeroom. Inside were boxes of shipments and extra mannequins.
"Wilson?" Rose called through the room. No response.
"Wilson? Where are you?" Both girls were getting a little frustrated. Viviana hoped Wilson had merely popped in headphones and couldn't hear them from where he was working. The girls were about to try another door when the one to the storage room slammed shut.
"Oh no," Viviana whispered, hurrying after Rose as the blonde darted to the door.
"Oh, you're kidding me," Rose whispered in disbelief as she and Viviana tugged on the door handles. The doors did not budge. They were locked in. "You're kidding me!"
There was a very loud clanking noise making Viviana's heart leap. Why did she feel like they were the unfortunate victims at the beginning of a horror film?
"Is that someone mucking about?"
"Who's there?" The girls warily walked deeper into the storage room, hoping to God that someone was just messing with them. Honestly, all Viviana wanted to do was pig-out on Mac n' cheese in her elephant onesie while watching Aladdin. Because honestly, was there anything better than Disney? And was there any character funnier than the Genie?
"Who is it?" Rose hesitantly called out. Both of them heard a strange squeaking and turned to see a mannequin facing them. Neither one thought much of it until the mannequin began to move… right before their eyes.
"What?" Viviana breathed. She blinked. Nope. The mannequin was still moving. And judging by Rose's extremely wide eyes, they were either hallucinating the same thing, or this was real. Behind the moving mannequin, other mannequins began to move and lumber towards them as well.
"Okay, you got us, very funny," Rose chuckled nervously. The mannequins didn't stop approaching. Rose and Viviana became more frantic.
"Right, we've got the joke!"
"Rose…" Viviana whispered, gently taking a hold of her arm. Rose instead moved her arm and clasped Viviana's hand. The mannequins were still approaching. "I don't think this is a joke." The girl's gasped as they saw the mannequins were coming from all sides. Rose gasped and Viviana tugged her backward, her breathing stuttering with fright. Soon, the girls were pressing themselves against a wall, boxed in as the mannequins still lumbered towards them.
Simultaneously, when they were mere inches from the girls, the mannequins began to raise their arms. Rose began to whimper. Her grip on Viviana's hand was like a vice. Viviana had lost what little color she had, her bottle-green eyes wide and unblinking.
And then, there was a large, warm hand gripping Viviana's. Her head whipped over to find a tall man staring at her urgently.
"Run."
And they did.
Right in time, too. The mannequins had brought their arms down rapidly, the pipe bursting upon impact.
The man tugged Viviana behind him. Viviana tugged Rose behind her. Viviana stupidly looked behind her.
The mannequins were pursuing them. And quite quickly, too. She faced forward and began to run faster, falling into step with the man. Soon, the three burst through a pair of doors and quickly got into a lift. Rose and Viviana backed as far away from the doors as possible as the man jammed the button, trying to get the doors to close. They did, but not before a mannequin reached its arm in.
The man caught the mannequin's wrist and began tugging while simultaneously avoiding the grappling hand right in front of his face. The girls watched wide-eyed as the man tugged on the arm. And with a pop, it came right off, the lift doors closing.
"You pulled his arm off," Rose breathed.
"Yep." The man tossed the arm behind him and Rose caught it. "Plastic."
"Very clever. Nice trick. Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing, or what?" Rose asked. The man looked back at her, looking genuinely confused.
"Why would they be students?" He noticed the pale brunette was eyeing the arm warily, color beginning to return to her face.
"I don't know."
"Well, you said it. Why students?"
Rose shrugged. "'Cause… to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they got to be students." He smiled at her.
"That makes sense. Well done."
"Thanks."
"They're not students."
"Well what were they, then?" Viviana had to ask. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, as if challenging her to guess. Viviana sarcastically remarked the first outrageous thing that came to her mind. "Living plastic? Or I don't know, robots?"
The man's expression did not change, but his eyes expressed mild surprise.
"Well, whoever they are," Rose said, "when Wilson finds them he's going to call the police."
"Who's Wilson?" the man asked.
"He's the Chief Electrician," Viviana replied. The man turned serious.
"Wilson's dead."
Viviana thought her heart skipped a beat or two. Dead? She and Rose exchanged shocked looks.
"That's just not funny," Rose said as she and Viviana followed the man out of the lift. "That's sick!"
"Did those things kill him?" Viviana asked, half-hoping that he wouldn't answer. The man suddenly turned to the two girls and gently pushed them back.
"Hold on! Mind your eyes."
"I've had enough of this now," Rose declared as the man held a silver wand-thing towards the button of the elevator. A high-pitched buzzing filled Viviana's ears for a few seconds before the elevator button shorted with a small explosion. The man dashed off.
"Who are you, then?" Rose yelled after him. "Who's that lot down there? I said, who are they?" And the two girls followed after the man, half running in order to keep up with his brisk pace.
"She said it. They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. And they're being controlled by a relay device on the roof. Which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He waved a beeping device at them and Viviana briefly wondered what it was. "So, I'm gonna go upstairs and blow it up."
Oh, great. He casually had a bomb in his jacket pocket.
The man looked at the two girls. "And I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, you go home." He ushered the two girls outside. "Go on, go and have your lovely beans on toast. Don't tell anyone about this 'cause if you do, you'll get them killed." And the man disappeared inside.
Viviana blinked. He seemed disturbingly flippant about the living plastic, bomb, and threat to his own life. Viviana looked at Rose, the two girls sharing a glance before turning to leave. However, the door burst back open.
"I'm the Doctor, by the way, what're your names?"
"Rose."
"Viviana."
"Nice to meet you, Rose and Viviana." His eyes became slightly crazed as he held up the bomb once more. "Run for your life."
And the door slammed shut once more.
Rose and Viviana wasted no time getting the hell out. The two gripped hands while running away from the building, almost getting run over by a cab in the process. The two barely made it across the street when Henrik's exploded.
The ground shook and the windows blew out, orange flame starting to consume the building. Viviana barely registered Rose grabbing her hand again and tugging her away. Neither girl noticed the strange blue police box tucked away on the side of the pavement.
Viviana didn't know where they were running to. She didn't care at that particular moment. All she was aware of was her pounding heart and her rushing blood.
Soon, Viviana was getting off a bus she didn't remember boarding. She and Rose were still clutching each other's hands. Viviana felt better. She was more aware of everything now. Like that her other hand was clutching the strap of her shoulder bag. And that Rose was still carrying the plastic mannequin arm. Viviana almost laughed upon seeing it, but then remembered that she and Rose had almost died. With that thought, she clutched Rose's hand tighter and allowed the blonde to lead her towards a flat building. The two went up a flight of stairs and Rose only let go of Viviana's hand to unlock the door.
"Rose!" Viviana was jolted out of her mind once more as a blonde woman who resembled Rose came barrelling down the small hallway. She immediately wrapped her daughter in a big tight hug, nearly crying with relief.
"Are you all right, sweetheart?" Jackie Tyler asked, pulling away and cupping her daughter's face, reassuring herself that Rose was alive.
"We got out in time," Rose breathed, still in slight shock. Jackie then noticed Viviana awkwardly standing in the door, allowing the blonde women to have their moment.
"Hi," Viviana waved a bit.
"Come in, come in, darling," Jackie immediately said, ushering the girl into the flat.
"This is Viviana, mum. We work together and we were standing outside together when the building blew." Jackie sighed and hugged her daughter again. She didn't know what she'd do if Rose was gone.
A little while later, Rose and Viviana sat on the couch watching the news report on the telly. Jackie had made the girls tea and Viviana was clutching hers like a lifeline, finding extreme comfort in the heat.
"I know, it's on the telly!" Jackie was saying to a friend over the phone. "It's everywhere, she and her friend are lucky to be alive! Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old Bible. Walking in now you'd think I was her daughter." Viviana couldn't help but grin at the woman. Suddenly, the door of the flat opened and Jackie moaned, "Oh, here's himself."
A black man walked into the living room, gasping at the sight of Rose. "I've been phoning your mobile! You could have been dead! It's on the news and everything." Viviana remembered from one of her conversations with Rose during the day that she had a boyfriend named Mickey. This was probably him.
Mickey, just as relieved as Jackie that Rose was alive, sat on the couch and embraced his girlfriend tightly.
"I'm all right. Honestly, I'm fine, don't make a fuss!" Rose insisted when Mickey pulled away.
"And who's this?" Mickey asked upon seeing Viviana.
"Viviana was with me when the shop blew up," Rose said. Viviana gave Mickey a small smile and he returned it.
"But what happened?" he asked the two of them. The girls shared a look that Mickey did not catch. They both remembered what the Doctor said. If they told anyone, someone could be killed.
"I don't know," Rose said.
"What was it though? What caused it?"
"We weren't in the shop," Rose said.
"We were across the street talking when it happened," Viviana continued. Jackie came into the living room, the phone pressed into her shoulder.
"It's Debbie on the end. She knows a man on The Mirror. Five hundred quid each for an interview." Viviana wrinkled her nose at the idea of an interview.
"Oh, that's brilliant! Give it here," Rose exclaimed. She promptly took the phone and hung up.
Viviana grinned.
"Well you've got to find some way of making money," Jackie scolded. "Your job's kaput and I'm not bailing you out." The phone began to ring and Jackie darted for it.
"Bev! She's alive! I've told her, sue for compensation! She was within seconds of death!" Jackie disappeared into the kitchen once more.
"What are you drinking, tea? No, no, no, that's not good. That's no good," Mickey suddenly said, catching what was in Rose's mug. "You're in shock. You need something stronger."
"I'm all right," Rose insisted.
"Now come on," Mickey said, pulling on her arm. "You deserve a proper drink. We're going down the pub. You and me. And Viviana if she wants. My treat. How about it?" Viviana was a little shocked and touched that Mickey would offer that, but she was honestly fine. Alcohol would not do anything for her shot nerves. Nevermind that she was allergic to most alcohols.
"Is there a match on?" Rose immediately asked him. Mickey paused.
"No, no! Just thinking about you, babe."
"There's a match on, ain't there?" Rose asked, an amused, knowing gleam in her eyes.
"Well that's not the point," Mickey admitted. "But we could catch the last five minutes."
"Go on, then," Rose said. "I'm fine, really, go. I think Viviana and I will just relax here." Mickey relented, standing up to leave. "And get rid of that." Rose pointed to the plastic arm resting on the armchair. Mickey picked it up and pretended to strangle himself with it. Rose and Viviana looked away uncomfortably, remembering what they'd seen.
Rose suddenly looked at Viviana, a question swirling in her mind.
"What is it?" Viviana asked, noticing Rose's stare. Rose paused, but spoke.
"Don't you have someone to call?" Viviana blinked, but then smiled a bit sadly and shook her head.
"No. It's just me," she told Rose. The girl looked like she really hadn't expected that.
"You live on your own?"
"Yep."
"What about your parents?" Viviana's sad smile grew a little sadder, but she wasn't afraid to talk about it.
"I never knew my parents." Rose looked even more shocked.
"Then why don't you stay the night?" Rose offered. It was Viviana's turn to look shocked.
"Really?"
"Please?" Rose practically begged. "I don't think you should be alone tonight. You're more than welcome to stay."
"Well, I don't… I don't really have anything-"
"We can go to your flat and pick up some things." Viviana blinked at the girl she had never known was this kind.
"Are you sure?" Viviana bit her lip looking quite insecure. Rose smiled and nodded. Soon, Viviana began to smile as well. "Thanks. I'd like that." Rose's smile grew.
"Mum!" Rose called. Jackie looked up from her phone call. "Viv and I are going to drop by her flat to get some things. She's going to stay the night." Jackie merely nodded and went back to whoever she was talking to.
Within half an hour, the girls had reached Viviana's flat. Her tiny little flat that she had shared with Grandpapa. It was a bit cluttered, but warm. The walls were a warm beige and the floors were rich mahogany. There was a small open kitchen connecting with the living room where there was a brown leather couch and a squashy leather armchair that was big enough to seat two people comfortably. A large secretary sat in the corner of the room next to a filing cabinet, both were overflowing with paper. A typewriter sat at a desk on the opposite wall, paper surrounding it as well. Rose noted that the whole place smelled like ink and vanilla.
"It's small, but it's home," Viviana told her. Rose smiled.
"It's amazing." Viviana smiled.
"Want anything to drink? Some dinner?" Viviana asked. Rose hadn't had an appetite after the event with the mannequins, but she was evidently over it because her stomach cramped a bit with hunger.
"If it's not too much trouble," Rose accepted. She didn't want to bother Viviana. However, the girl didn't look bothered at all and beamed at the prospect of finally getting to cook her mac n' cheese.
Viviana had several macaroni and cheese recipes stored away in her mind, but she went for a simple one tonight. Normal elbow macaroni with butter, milk, and lots and lots of cheese. She simply cooked the pasta, drained it, added the butter, milk, and cheese, and done.
"Eat up," Viviana said, serving Rose a bowl. "There's plenty more. You can help yourself to anything to drink as well. I'll go pack."
Viviana didn't take long to pack. Just a set of shorts and a t-shirt for pajamas, a change of clothes for the next day, and some toiletries. Also her phone, keys, and wallet. Viviana was about to leave her bedroom when something made her pause. Something… something in her gut. There was a little sensation there she'd felt a few times before. She remembered it. She got that feeling whenever she was missing something, forgetting something.
Viviana turned and eyed the things in her room. Her eyes fell on a little hook on the wall. A hat sat on it. Grandpapa's old hat. When he'd passed away a year ago, Viviana got rid of a lot of his things. And he had a lot of things. His hat was one of the things she'd refused to let go. He'd loved that hat. Hadn't gone anywhere without it. Something made Viviana take the hat from its hook and gently tuck it into her bag. There was something else.
Viviana found the next thing quickly. With a small smile, Viviana placed her stuffed elephant into her bag. What else…?
Viviana turned to her dresser. It had a mirror, some candles, some books, lots of paper, and a jewelry box on top. Viviana bit her lip, moving to open the bottom drawer of the jewelry box. Tucked into the very back corner was a small velvet box. She opened the ring box slowly. She'd only looked at the ring a few times. It hurt too much. But something prompted Viviana to remove her mother's sapphire and diamond ring and slip it onto her finger.
The feeling in her stomach settled. That was everything. As she shouldered the bag, Viviana couldn't help but feel that tomorrow was going to be an important day. A fantastic day.
~)8(~
Viviana found herself waking up to the blaring of an alarm clock. seven-thirty AM, it read. Strange, Viviana normally didn't sleep that late. Guess she was more tired from yesterday's events than she realized when she and Rose fell asleep last night.
Rose emerged from underneath the covers, an A+ bedhead going for her. Viviana smiled amusedly upon seeing it.
"There's no point in getting up, sweetheart. You've got no job to go to," Jackie called from presumably the kitchen.
Rose flopped back on the bed.
~)8(~
"There's Finch's. You could try them," Jackie suggested. "They've always got jobs."
"Oh, great. The butcher's," Rose remarked sarcastically. Viviana smiled a bit, munching happily on her banana while Rose rolled an apple between her palms.
"It might do you good," Jackie said. "That shop was giving you airs and graces. And I'm not joking about compensation." Rose didn't reply, so Jackie rounded on Viviana.
"What do you think?" The girl frowned a bit.
"My aunt back in the states owned a tea and coffee shop. I could do that again."
"Your aunt?" Jackie asked, cocking her head a bit. Jackie had noted that the girl was American. She'd assumed the girl was an international student.
"I lived with my aunt in Colorado until she died. Then I came out here to live with my grandfather. I never knew my parents."
"Oh, sweetheart," Jackie cooed. The woman gently covered Viviana's hand with her own, and the young brunette didn't mind the affection at all.
"The ring was my mother's," she said showing it to the Tyler women. "My necklace was my aunt's." It was a long chain with a simple crescent moon charm. "The hat was Papa's." Rose thought not many people could pull off the vintage-style hat like Viviana could.
"Why not apply for compensation?" Jackie said, steering the conversation back to money. "You've had genuine shock and trauma. Ariana got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek!" Rose frowned a bit. "I know she is Greek but that's not the point. It was a valid claim." Then Jackie disappeared into her bedroom. A noise coming from the door made Rose stand abruptly.
"Mum, you're such a liar!" she exclaimed, moving towards the front door with Viviana on her tail. "I said to nail that cat-flap down. We're gonna get strays!"
"I did it weeks back!" Jackie protested.
"No, you thought about it."
Viviana kneeled down, spotting something on the floor.
"Rose," she muttered. The two girls stared at the nails on the ground. Viviana gingerly picked one up. Seems Jackie had nailed the cat-flap down. But why were the nails now on the floor?
Viviana gasped and dropped the nail in fright when the cat-flap rattled. Rose swiftly kneeled down beside her and Viviana slowly reached forward. She pushed the flap forward, both her and Rose gasping when they saw a familiar face peering back. Rose quickly stood and opened the door, Viviana standing up behind her. On Rose Tyler's doorstep was the Doctor.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I live here," Rose answered.
"What do you do that for?" Viviana could hardly believe he was even asking that.
"'Cause I do."
"Do you live here, too?" the Doctor asked Viviana. She shook her head.
"I spent the night."
"Besides," Rose said, "we're only here because someone blew up our job." Both girls gave the Doctor pointed looks which he didn't seem to notice.
The Doctor pulled out the silver wand-thingy again, pressing the button. The whirring sounded the same, but this time Viviana noticed that there was a blue light at the end.
"Must have got the wrong signal," the Doctor was muttering to himself, looking down at the instrument. He looked up at the girls. "You're not plastic are you?" He knocked them both on the forehead a couple times. "Nope. Boneheads. Bye, then."
Viviana was not having it. Neither was Rose. Viviana reached out and dragged him into the flat by his leather jacket.
"You, inside, right now," Rose demanded. The Doctor didn't fuss and merely let himself be pulled in.
"Who is it?" Jackie called.
"It's about last night," Rose told her. Not a lie. "He's part of the inquiry." Lie. "Give us 10 minutes." Maybe.
"They deserve compensation!"
"Oh, we're talking millions!" The Doctor agreed. Jackie suddenly stood and cleared her throat.
"I'm in my dressing gown."
"Yes, you are," the Doctor idly agreed, taking no real notice of her.
"There's a strange man in my bedroom." Viviana watched in complete amusement as the Doctor still didn't register Jackie's flirting.
"Yes, there is."
"Well, anything could happen." The Doctor finally got it.
"No." And he swiftly moved into the living room. Viviana was muffling sniggers behind her hand.
"Don't mind the mess," Rose said. "Do you want a coffee?"
"Might as well, thanks. Just milk."
"Viv?"
"No, thank you." Viviana honestly was not the biggest fan of coffee. Loved the smell. Loved coffee-flavoured things like candy and ice cream, but the drink itself? Nope.
"We should go to the police," Rose said from the kitchen. The Doctor seemed to ignore her and picked up a magazine. He flipped through it.
"Hmm, that won't last," he remarked upon seeing a photo of a couple. "He's gay and she's an alien." Viviana blinked. Then, she laughed a bit, unable to help herself. Was he serious? The Doctor looked up at Viviana's laugh and smiled mischievously, as if the two were sharing a secret. Rose was still talking in the kitchen. Neither the Doctor nor Viviana listened to what she was saying.
The Doctor picked up a book and flipped through it rapidly. "Hmm, sad ending." Viviana blinked again. He couldn't possibly have read a book in two seconds.
The Doctor reached down and picked up a piece of mail. "Rose Tyler," he read. His reflection caught his attention. "Ah, could've been worse." Then he scowled a bit. "Look at the ears." He flapped his lobes a bit, seemingly dissatisfied with them.
Viviana had felt so overwhelmed last night in the shop that she had hardly paid the Doctor any attention. Now… she was feeling curious. More than curious, really. Downright curious. Positively and inappropriately interested in this stranger who saw aliens in tabloids, acted as if he'd never seen his own reflection, and went about blowing up department stores.
As the Doctor flipped through a deck of cards, he was extremely aware of the young brunette watching him avidly. That was partly why he was doing all these ridiculous things. He wanted to see how she'd react to his antics. She seemed to grow more and more curious with everything he did. Her comment the night before about the living plastic, no matter how sarcastic it might have been, had caught his attention.
Something about her. It seemed strange. Familiar almost.
"Who are you?" her quiet, American accented voice asked. The Doctor looked at her.
"Why do you seem familiar?" he countered. The girl frowned a bit.
"I asked first." She nearly winced at how childish that seemed but the man was an enigma. She wanted answers, and he wasn't exactly giving them. The Doctor's eyes shone with slight annoyance.
"I'm the Doctor, now what's your last name?" Viviana paused a bit, but answered.
"Viviana is my middle name. It's the name I use now. My real name is Evelyn Davis." Aunt Maggie had always called her Evelyn. It was only when she moved to London that she started using the name Viviana. Grandpapa called her that, said he thought it suited her better. She got used to it quickly, even preferred it now.
Viviana frowned as the Doctor's eyes lit up with light recognition.
"As in the only living relative of Nathaniel Davis? The famous author?" Viviana nodded, not being used to being recognized like this. It was always Grandpapa who was recognized, not her. These thoughts were banished from Viviana's mind when the Doctor broke out in a brilliant grin.
"Oh, this is fantastic! I am such a huge fan! His books are fantastic! Especially that one, what's that one, you know, with the optical illusion goggles? Stunned, that's it! That one was fantastic that one!" Viviana had to smile and giggle at the excitement on the Doctor's face as he spoke about Grandpapa's books. His entire temperament shifted. He went from Leather Jacket Broody-man to an excited looking puppy with oversized ears. That and he said "fantastic" three separate times during his little spiel.
"He was my grandfather," Viviana said. The Doctor nodded, still looking excited. He was hiding his frustration. Even though he now knew her relation to the famous author, he still felt like that wasn't why he found her to be familiar. There was something else… Something he was missing…
Something about her… She didn't scream familiarity. It was like a whisper. A light, comforting whisper floating around in the back of his mind. Oh, he hadn't planned on getting to know these human girls at all, but this girl… This tiny little human girl with long dark brown hair and wide bottle-green eyes that quietly demanded attention… He had to figure out what it was about her that whispered to him.
Viviana opened her mouth to ask a question when a scuttling from behind the couch cut her off. The Doctor and Viviana looked at the couch.
"What's that, then?" he asked. "Have you got a cat?"
"No."
The mannequin arm from last night, the one Mickey had thrown out, zoomed up from behind the sofa and began choking the Doctor.
Viviana's eyes widened and she rushed forward as the Doctor began to choke, his air supply suddenly cut off. The two of them tugged and tugged at the arm, but it would not budge. The Doctor's face was beginning to turn a bit red.
"Rose!" Viviana cried, needing help.
"He's faking it, Viv. I thought Mickey had chucked that out." The girl didn't understand and merely set the coffee mugs on the table, continuing to speak. "You're all the same. Give a man a plastic hand… Anyway, I don't even know your name. Doctor what-was-it?"
It was right then that the Doctor and Viviana were able to wrench the arm away. Viviana threw it across the room, but it halted and switched directions all on its own. Next thing Viviana knew, the arm had taken hold of Rose's face. The girl shrieked and Viviana scrambled forward, tugging on the arm once more. It took both the Doctor and Viviana to pull the arm off poor Rose, but they made a terrible mess in the process. Including falling and shattering the glass coffee table.
As soon as the arm was off Rose, the Doctor took out his tube thingy and pressed the button several times. It took a few tries, but when the instrument began whirring, he pressed it against the plastic arm. It fell still. Viviana rubbed Rose's back while the girl tried to get her breath back. That arm had just grabbed her! It had almost killed her!
"There you go, I stopped it. 'Armless," the Doctor said tossing the arm to Rose while looking rather proud of his pun. Neither girl appreciated it at that moment.
"Do you think?" With that, Rose whacked the Doctor on the arm. The man winced in pain, but it took him all of five seconds to grab the arm and leave the flat.
"Hey, wait!" Viviana cried, scrambling to follow him. She still wanted the answers he was refusing to give. Rose was right behind her.
"Hold on a minute, you can't just go swanning off," Rose protested as they descended the stairs.
"Yes I can. Here I am. This is me. Swanning off." The Doctor held up the plastic arm and waved. "See you!"
"That arm was moving, it tried to kill me!"
"Ten out of ten for observation."
"You can't just walk away. That's not fair!" Rose cried.
"Considering we've been caught up in this twice now, I think we deserve to know what's going on," Viviana added, slightly out of breath. Wow, this man was quick! "You've got the tell us."
"No I don't." And he sounded perfectly cheerful while saying it.
"All right, then," Rose decided. "We'll go to the police. We'll tell everyone." Viviana blinked. They would? "You said if we did that, we'd get people killed. So, your choice. Tell us, or we'll start talking." Viviana wasn't quite comfortable with the idea of risking lives just to get answers from the Doctor.
The Doctor caught Viviana's blink of uneasiness and grinned. "Is that supposed to sound tough?"
"Sort of."
"Doesn't work."
"Doctor, please tell us," Viviana said. There was a slight pause in his step, but he kept going.
"Who are you?" Rose asked.
"Told you, the Doctor."
"Yeah, but Doctor what?"
"Just the Doctor."
"The Doctor?"
"Hello!" And he gave a great big grin and wave. Viviana came up from behind him and Rose and began walking on the other side of him. His pace was truly hard to keep up with. Both girls were half jogging, but they managed. Their curiosity at this point was too strong. Again, Viviana couldn't help but be slightly ashamed of herself. Her desire to know more about this man and the living plastic was ridiculous. Aunt Maggie would've scolded her hard. Grandpapa would've smirked and asked if he could use the Doctor as a character in his new story.
"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" Viviana couldn't help but ask with a small smile. Despite her frustration with him, the man was amusing.
"Sort of, yeah," the Doctor replied with a cheeky grin in her direction. Viviana's smile began to grow against her will.
"Are you the police?" Rose asked.
"No!" the Doctor responded like the idea of was ridiculous. "I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home." Viviana was suddenly hit with a wave of sadness and loneliness she had never felt before. She almost stopped from the intensity of it. But as soon as it came, it was squashed, and she was left wondering if she'd imagined it.
"But what have we done wrong? How come those plastic things keep coming after us?" Rose inquired.
"Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you!" the Doctor quipped. "You two were just an accident. You got in the way, that's all."
"It literally just tried to kill Rose," Viviana protested.
"It was after me, not her! Last night, in the shop, I was there, you two blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing." Well, excuse me. "This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down… The only reason it fixed on you is because you met me." The Doctor didn't sound particularly apologetic, but based off of what she already knew about him, Viviana wasn't really surprised.
"So, what then?" Viviana asked. "The whole world revolves around you?"
"Sort of, yeah." Viviana had to fight a smile.
"You're full of it!" Rose cried with a laugh.
"Sort of, yeah."
"But, all this plastic stuff, who else knows about it?" Rose queried.
"No one." Viviana frowned a bit. Surely someone would've noticed. Or if not, how did the Doctor know about the living plastic if no one else did?
"What, you're on your own?" Rose asked. Viviana empathized with the Doctor a bit. She knew all about being alone.
"Well, who else is there?" The Doctor replied. "I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly." Viviana pouted a bit. She rather liked eating chips and watching telly. The Doctor continued. "While all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on."
"Hey, start from the beginning," Rose requested, reaching out and taking the arm from the Doctor. The Doctor seemed to contemplate the two girls for a moment before shrugging.
"I mean," Rose continued, "if we're gonna go with the living plastic, and I don't even believe that, but if we do… How did you kill it?"
"Is it possible to kill plastic?" Viviana mumbled to herself. The Doctor apparently heard her, because he shot her a smile. Viviana flushed a bit. He wasn't supposed to hear that. There she went, stuffing her foot in her mouth.
"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm, and I cut off the signal. Dead," the Doctor explained, answering Rose's question.
"So that's radio control?" Rose guessed.
"Thought control." The two girls fell silent at his correction. "You all right?"
"Yeah," they answered in unison.
"So who's controlling it?" Rose asked.
"What even has the ability to control things with their mind?" Viviana continued. "And even if they do, why animate plastic?"
"Long story," the Doctor merely replied. Viviana scrunched her face in frustration. That wasn't an answer.
"What's it all for?" Rose asked instead. "I mean, shop window dummies, what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?" The three snickered.
"No," the Doctor said. "It's not a price war." The three laughed a bit more. Then, the Doctor said something that made Viviana sober quite quickly.
"They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you." The girls looked at him. "Do you believe me?"
"No," Rose immediately said. Viviana wasn't sure. If by the slim chance what the Doctor said was true, then how did they stop it?
"But you're still listening," the Doctor pointed out.
"Really though, Doctor. Tell us. Who are you?" Both Rose and Viviana stopped walking, staring inquisitively at the mysterious man. He paused and looked at them, his gaze lingering on Viviana a little longer than necessary. The Doctor smiled a bit.
"You know like we were saying? About the earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid, the first time they tell you that the world's turning, and you just can't quite believe it, 'cause everything looks like it's standing still." Viviana's breath hitched when the Doctor's pale gaze locked with hers. "I can feel it." Viviana felt his hand slip into hers and suddenly, she was very aware of his voice and nothing else. "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at 1,000 miles an hour. And the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour. I can feel it, we're falling through space, you and me. And I think you can feel it, too." Viviana's gaze widened as he spoke to her.
"I can feel it," he whispered. "We're clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go…"
"What have you seen?" Viviana suddenly whispered. The Doctor merely returned her gaze. Viviana stood on her toes, her fingers gently grazing his face. "What horrors have you encountered, Doctor? How can a man come to have such old, wearied eyes?"
Viviana was barely aware of the observations that slipped off her tongue. The Doctor gazed down at the tiny little human girl. This perceptive little girl who had his mind tingling with a whisper of familiarity.
Viviana felt as if she'd been dropped from a great height as the Doctor quite suddenly broke their gaze. His hand slipped from hers and he retook the arm from Rose, who was staring at the other two with a look of wonder.
"That's who I am," the Doctor said, his voice at full volume again. "Now forget me, Rose Tyler, Evelyn Viviana Davis. Go home."
The teenage girls watched the Doctor go silently. Neither of them could move from their spots. Viviana couldn't move, period. She was still reeling from the interaction she'd just had with the Doctor. That eye contact… The way she stared at him… Her questions... Who was she to stare at him like that? God, he probably thought she was some sort of wacko now.
"Come on, Viv," Rose murmured, taking the brunette's hand before tugging her away. Viviana pulled her gaze from the man and followed obediently. The girls passed the playground when the breeze suddenly picked up. Viviana placed a hand on her hat, keeping it from blowing away in the gust.
"What's that noise?" she asked. A strange, repetitive wheezing filled the air. It was getting louder and louder. And it was coming from the parking lot the Doctor had been walking towards. Rose and Viviana looked at each other before taking off toward the parking lot. However, when they got there, there was nothing there. Viviana could've sworn there had been a blue police box there. Rose looked disappointed for a moment before her face hardened with determination.
"Come on, Viv."
"Where are we going?" the girl asked as Rose started briskly walking away.
"Mickey's flat. He's got a computer. We're going to get some answers about this Doctor." Viviana was fully on board. Her gait lengthened with her determination for answers and together, the two women stalked away.
Hey all! Let me know what you think of the rewrite? Is it better than the original so far? Worse? I'm curious to know if I should continue this or just leave the original. Let me know your thoughts :)
Cheerio!