A/N: So, this was really a bizarre idea that came from far too much TV and reading over term break. Honestly, I had nothing to do with it!! It had to be written; it wasn't letting me study for my Later European Prehistory exam! Oh, and I apologize for the rather heavy-handed Doctor/Rose in the first chapter(s?), but I was still pouting over Doomsday!
This chappie is really just character development and basically a way to get the story to where I want it, so please bear with me! Action coming up, I swear!
Disclaimer: Oops, forgot this last time! I own absolutely nothing except the sitch and my character: Rachel.
"You don't belong here." Rose was intrigued by the Doctor's words and more than a little interested in how this girl was going to take them. As she drew closer to the pair, though, her attention was captured by the stranger's eyes. At first glance, this person had seemed to be just another conscientious student bumping heads with a difficult subject. However, now that Rose could see her eyes, she was forced to revise her estimation. Ignoring momentarily the striking blue-grey irises lined by a deeper, almost indigo blue, the sheer intelligence and knowing that radiated from her gaze was an almost physical force.
"Now, there's an ambiguous statement for ya. 'Here' is such an amorphous term, isn't it." The girl's voice was almost as much of a shock as her eyes. She had a quiet but firm tone, with a gentle American accent that brought to mind rolling fields of corn, despite her oddly precise diction. She continued, "Were you perchance referring to the physical, as in this specific bench? I'll agree, I really shouldn't be just sitting here indulging my naughty little urge to read something other than course work. Especially if you're indicating that this is in some way your personal bench, in which case I apologize profusely. Or were you indicating that I shouldn't be in this country, cos, again, you're correct, as you can no doubt tell by my accent. Oh, please tell me you aren't one of those rabid anti-American people! Honestly, I have no say in how our less-than-illustrious president runs the country. As they say, 'I voted for the other guy.' Or," this was said in a sharper tone, with a slight narrowing of those startling eyes, "Or, were you perhaps referencing this particular manifestation of time/space known as London, England 2007?"
This astonishing, near Doctor-worthy, ramble had Rose whipping her head around to the Doctor, only to find him staring, with an adorably open-mouthed expression of pure shock on his face. She couldn't help it; the giggles completely took over.
"H-how…wha…huh?" Oh, pull yourself together! This is disgraceful! He shook himself slightly, trying to pull his not-inconsiderable mind back from its unintended vacation. "Right, ok, much better. Quite a few questions pop into mind from that little speech o' yours. Rambling really isn't a good habit for a young thing like you to pick up. Gives an impression of weakness of mind." He was valiantly trying to ignore Rose, who was practically rolling on the ground, snorting with hysterical laughter at his gall in criticizing someone else's rambling. "So, number one, who the devil are you? Number two, how did you, (Rose, would you stop, please?!) happen to acquire an energy signature from the Vortex, which, of course, ties in to number three, which is, how can (Rose, honestly!) sorry, how can you possibly know that I was referring to the temporal aspect of 'here', unless of course, you actually are a Time Agent, as Rose suggested? That would be neat and (By Rassilon, Rose, if you don't stop…) tidy, excepting the massive anomaly I noticed originally, which brings me back to my original question of 'Who are you?'"
The mystery girl had been looking on the exchange with a more-than-slightly irritating knowing look which the Doctor should have been able to recognize as one of his own.
"In answer to your first and last questions, my name is Rachel Bailey. I'm, as you no doubt can tell, American, but in England for grad school. In answer to your other questions, which it pains me to admit that I didn't fully understand, appearances can be deceiving. While I was absorbed in my reading, I was still perfectly aware of your approach and subsequent discussion seeing as how I'm neither blind nor deaf. Ya know, if you want to have a private conversation about someone, which is rather rude, by the way, you really shouldn't stand three feet away from said someone. Anyway, as you seemed inordinately interested in time, I decided to see how you would react if I threw out that subject. Plus, I'm obsessed with scifi and couldn't resist." Her façade of omnipotence was abruptly shattered by a very impudent grin that instantly reduced her appearance to that of a cheeky teenager. Rose found herself drawn to the girl, not only for her amusing ability to reduce the Doctor to incoherence, but also because she seemed to be a kindred spirit: able to adjust to any situation.
Rachel had in fact been observing the couple for some time while she appeared to read her book. They were well-matched; a number of clues were readily apparent as to the extent of their feelings for each other. That was what had drawn her attention in the first place. Such complete confidence in another person was rare and she was never one to pass up the opportunity to study the intricacies of human relations. Her obsession with knowing everything about anything was what had driven her to anthropology; it allowed her a little more freedom to pursue the more eclectic of her interests as anthropologists were generally accepted as weird. Even her parents, being well-educated middle class, had never really understood their daughter's inquisitive nature, although they had good-naturedly dragged themselves to every museum, art gallery, and lecture that had caught her eye. To say she was intrigued by the couple in front of her would be an understatement; she just had to get to the bottom of this! Deciding it was her turn to go on the offensive, Rachel inquired, "And just who might the two of you be? I've been more than tolerant in answering your questions and turn about is fair play. I'm really rather interested in your explanation of the more, unusual, shall we say, parts of your questions."
The Doctor was flummoxed for a brief moment, trying to regain his sense of equilibrium. At least Rose had quieted down, giving him time to think. He had briefly regretted his opening tactic of confrontation, especially when it was made clear that this girl knew nothing about time travel, other than the ridiculous drivel presented by TV, that great human soporific. But then again, there was that odd dark, pulsing energy that he had recognized. Maybe he should think this out, wait, actually plan? Him? That was almost as bad as going domestic. Oh, right. Focus. He ran his hand through his hair, trying to think about how to go about this. "Right, well, this is going to be difficult for you to accept, tiny little unimaginative human brains, can't stretch your mind to even contemplate something…Right, anyway," he trailed off at a glare from Rose, who took the opportunity to interject.
"Maybe we should talk 'bout this somewhere else? As in, not public?" Rose was slightly worried that whatever mystery surrounded Rachel seemed to have thrown the Doctor off balance. On the rare occasions she had seen that happen, something always went wrong, even more than usual. Rose suddenly realized that their cryptic remarks hadn't explained a thing and that the poor girl was probably more bewildered about these two bizarre strangers that had accosted her. She smiled reassuringly at Rachel, asking, "Do you have a flat or someplace close we could go an' talk? I know this is weird, two strangers an' all, but my friend here usually knows what he's talkin' about, so when he talks about trouble, it's usually a good idea to listen." The Doctor shot her an approving grin. Trust Rose to know exactly what to say to make people feel at ease.
Rachel considered their request, cocking her head slightly in her habitual thinking pose. There was no reason to trust these two, but her intuition told her she could and she always followed her gut instinct. She stood, saying, "My flat's close by and I don't think my roommate is in right now. Before we go though, I would like to at least know your names."
Rose breathed a sigh of relief. Not for the first time, she wondered how the Doctor managed to convey a sense of trustworthiness to complete strangers. She had trusted him from their first meeting, after all, never questioning that feeling. Well, not much.
"Well, I'm the Doctor and this is Rose Tyler. Lots and lots to talk about, but as Rose pointed out, probably not the best idea to discuss things here." He continued to burble on as they headed for Rachel's modest flat, managing to draw out details about her life, trying to determine where, when and how she had picked up that anomaly that surrounded her like an aura.
A/N: Rubbish place to leave it, I know, but I couldn't keep this chapter going without spilling too much info. Please, please review!! And do be kind; this is my firstborn!!
