When Rose roused from her sleep it was dark in her room, as if all the light had been sucked from the world. She blinked a few times and reached up to rub the sleep from her eyes. "Where am I?" she thought to herself, disoriented from her deep sleep. Blinking a few more times, she sat up and scanned the room for any light source she could find. She huffed in disapproval when her fumbling fingers found no switches or lamps.
"Lights low," a gentle voice spoke from the corner, but it still made Rose lurch in surprise.
The lights in the room blinked onto to a low setting, and Rose yawned. "Where am I?" she voiced quietly. The Doctor knelt down next to her. "This is my home… it's called the TARDIS," he said kindly, smiling frequently and trying to seem nonthreatening. He hadn't dealt with kids in such a long time.
"What's a tarnish?" Rose asked, her eyes lighting up with wonder. The Doctor smirked.
"No, it's a TARDIS. Time and relative dimension in space," he explained. Rose blinked a few times.
"Space?" she said quietly, a tone of wonderment entering her voice.
The Doctor paused, trying to decide how to best explain who he was to an eight year old.
"Well, Rose… you see, I like to travel—" he began.
"Oh, me too! This one time, mummy took me all the way to Liverpool…" Rose paused, finally grasping the magnitude of the situation. "Mummy…" she sniffled before tears began pouring down her face. "I want my mummy!"
The Doctor stood before her unblinking and unmoving. I have a sobbing, orphaned eight-year-old on board my ship without the slightest hint as to who I am, he suddenly realized, his internal monologue cursing at him. I'm such a stupid ape! What am I supposed to do with her?! I can't just leave her on the streets of London, but I can't bloody well take care of her! I'm not daft enough to take a child through time and space… am I? Wait, am I?! Well… maybe we'll just see how it goes… His inner monologue had escalated into a full blown conversation, and the Time Lord suddenly felt awkward, as if Rose could hear him. Her quiet sobs and her tiny, broken form slowly came back into focus. I really should comfort her…
"Rose?" the Doctor said quietly, sitting down beside her. She scooted away slightly and rubbed her puffy eyes. "No, please… talk to me," he said slightly desperately.
"Who are you?" she asked, the quiver in her voice signaling her fear.
"My name is the Doctor. I was friends with your mummy for a long time, and I even met you when you were just a little tot. Like I mentioned, I really like to travel… farther than you can even imagine…" he began.
"The Doctor? That's not a real name, you need to have a proper name… like mine! Rose Tyler, see that's a real name," Rose interrupted.
The Doctor scrunched his face. "Now, Rose… I've always been called the Doctor for longer than anyone on Earth has even been alive!"
"Nuh uuuuh, Shareen's gran is eighty five! You're not eighty five!" she scoffed at him.
"Well, that's a story for a different time. But as I was saying, I've traveled farther than scientists believe exist. And I normally wouldn't ask this, but considering the circumstances, would you like to see some place new, Rose?"
"Yes!" she said, suddenly attentive.
"Where would you like to go? Anywhere you want, Rose, the world is at my command!" the Doctor said excitedly.
"I want to see… Paris! Can we go in the Eiffel Tower? Are there really pink poodles there?" she babbled quickly.
"I guess you'll just have to see for yourself! Come with me, Rose!" She popped out of bed and followed the Doctor into the TARDIS console room.
"Paris, France, 1995! Fantastic!" the Doctor exclaimed as the TARDIS whooshed familiarly and entered into the vortex.
A/N: Sorry for the super long wait and rather short chapter. I have been extremely busy with school and homework and whatnot.
Update: A review from Guest alerted me to a typo I made! The Doctor and Rose were in fact supposed to be traveling to Paris in 1995, not 1997. Sorry about that, it did seem like a random year to choose!
