So, here's the second chapter. It was a bit later then I said it would be, but here it is none-the-less. I'm ecstatic that this story has gotten such a wonderful response. As a few reviewers have mentioned, I am not a ship-basher. I think it's really creative and unique just how many different pairings there are in general, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I am willing to read any pairing at least once, and I've found some pairings that I've quite liked (such as Barty Crouch Jr. and Hermione Granger, which I know is a bit odd).
Anyway, the story. I would like to take my time and thank to those who reviewed, favorited and followed this fanfiction. It makes me feel very happy to know that my work is appreciated. I should warn those that read this though, some of this will be a bit similar to the show (in the way of phrases and what happens), but it will also have some originality. I apologize if the characters seem a little OOC, because I am trying to keep the characters as much like their selves on the show, but it can be a bit difficult a times.
I obviously do not own Doctor Who. If I did, things would be a bit different. Enjoy!
The next morning, Roxi awoke, hearing Rose's alarm clock next door. She was feeling glad that she actually heard the clock and didn't sleep in as she usually did. That is, until she heard Jackie yell out, "There's no use in getting up, sweethearts. You've no job to go to today."
A cloud of confusion settled into Roxi's mind, before the events of yesterday rolled through her mind. And since she wouldn't start working at the bookstore until this coming Friday, she was currently jobless.
That fact didn't bother Roxi as much as the memory of the events in the basement did. Flashes of the plastic men marching towards her, and them cornering her played in her mind, still vivid in her memory. The face of the man who had pulled her away, and then pushed her out of the building was brought to her mind's eye.
Who was he? Roxi thought, sweeping her hair out of her face. What was he doing there?
Roxi blinked and shoved the thought aside when Rose hobbled in, already dressed and with her hair brushed.
"Morning," she greeted quietly, walking over and plopping onto the end of Roxi's bed.
"Yes, it is," Roxi returned humorously, rubbing the sleeping dust out of the corners of her eyes. Rose snatched a pillow from behind the other blonde, and hit her sister weakly with the pillow at the comment, chuckling, "Cheeky."
"You love me for it."
The two sisters laughed a bit, before a minute of silence enveloped them. Roxi spoke first, "Do you want a job at the book store? I think I might be able to get you one."
"I might take you up on that, actually," Rose replied, bobbing her head back-and-forth in thought.
Another small pause followed, before Roxi, deciding to speak up about something that had been weighing on her mind the past few days, wondered out loud to Rose, "Do you ever feel...that maybe there's more to life than what there is now?"
Rose, shocked by her question, observed her sister with confused and curious eyes, asking, "How do you mean?"
Roxi tried to think of a viable reason, an example of her thoughts of there being more to life than the day to day processes. But she couldn't think of anything specific. Besides the odd basement event, which she knew Rose wouldn't believe, she found that it wasn't a thought as much as a feeling. A feeling that inched to the forefront of her mind each day.
"I don't know," she replied to Rose, befuddled. "I honestly don't know."
"Hmm...well, let's get some breakfast, shall we?" Rose suggested, a lighthearted grin on her lips as she stood up, and ambled towards the door.
"Alright, let me get dressed first," replied Roxi, who swung her legs over the edge of her bed, rising up off of it. She stepped over to her dresser, and snatched various bits of clothes from the drawers, throwing them on before looking into the mirror. She had subconsciously picked out a matching outfit of jeans, a gray tank-top, and a red-and-gray-and-blue plaid button-up shirt, the buttons undone. Usually, even consciously, she had trouble finding a matching outfit in a matter of seconds (she tended to be fashion-challenged).
After brushing through her hair a few times, straightening out the bent strands of her blonde hair, she ventured into the living room, and at the kitchen table, she saw Rose sitting in silence and eating breakfast. She sauntered over to the table, grabbing a banana off of it, and sitting down to eat it.
Jackie walked in, and to Rose, suggested that she work at the local butcher shop, which Rose shot down almost immediately.
"Well, where do you think you're going to work?" Jackie asked her seriously.
"I might work with Roxi at the book shop," Rose answered, looking over at her sister eating a banana next to her, who smiled brightly, her mouth full, and dropped the empty peel onto the table.
"Well, you should demand compensation, too," the older woman suggested, and started rambling on about a woman who received money for being told she looked Greek.
Roxi and Rose exchanged exasperated looks, rolling their eyes in unison. At the sudden sound of the cap-flap opening, the two girls' heads rotated around to face the front door, a pair of brown eyes and a pair of teal eyes carefully trained on the small plastic flap near the floor.
"Mum, you're such a liar!" Rose exclaimed, getting off her chair and moving towards the door, Roxi following suit. "I told you to nail the cat door shut, or we'll get strays again."
"I did do it, last week!" Jackie insisted, calling out from her bedroom.
"Yeah, you thought about it!" Roxi returned sarcastically, kneeling down. On the floor, she found a few nails that she realized had been used to nail the flap shut. Mom actually did do it, then she thought as she saw the slip of plastic move. Looking up at Rose, she saw her sister had a slightly frightened expression. Returning her gaze to the flap, Roxi reached out and poked the plastic out once, to see if it moved. It did. She then proceeded to push the flap out, and on the other side of the door, she saw the man from the basement, kneeling down on the ground and peering back through the cat door.
Jumping up off the floor, Roxi took a step back from the door, causing Rose to move away, and gripped the handle, tugging the door open. The man stood up, looking very bewildered.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, staring at her.
"I live here," Roxi answered, her tone hinting that it was obvious.
"Well, what do you do that for?' he wondered, genuinely dumbfounded.
"I just...do. And I'm only here because someone blew up my and my sister's job!"
The man looked at his weird, metal tube thing, which made a strange whirring noise as he muttered to himself, "Must have gotten the wrong signal." Looking at Roxi, he raised a hand and knocked on her forehead, wondering out loud, "You're not plastic, are you?"
Roxi cringed away from his hand as he murmured, "Nope. Bonehead. Well, see ya!"
As he was about to leave, Roxi grabbed his arm, exclaiming as she dragged him into the flat, "Oh, no you don't! Inside! Now!"
Once he was inside and she had closed the door, Roxi looked to Rose, who watched her with wide brown eyes and questioned, "Roxi, who is this man?"
"He's..." Roxi started to answer, scrutinizing the odd man that had saved her life as he returned her gaze with a curious one. His blue eyes searched her face as she said to her sister, "He's just a man I met recently. He saved my life not too long ago. Now, Rose, would you please make this man some coffee while I talk to him?"
Rose eyed her sister suspiciously, and was about to make a comment, when the three of them heard Jackie yell from her bedroom, "Who was at the door?"
Sighing audibly, Rose peeked inside her mother's bedroom, telling her, "Oh, it's just someone who wants to interview me and Roxi for the news about the explosion."
Rose walked away, heading towards the kitchen, and Roxi watched as the man passed by the bedroom door, hearing Jackie yell to him, "They deserve compensation!"
Stopping at the threshold, he peered in and told the older Tyler woman, "Oh, we're talking millions."
Roxi inched closer, about to peek inside, when she heard her mom say, "I'm in my night gown."
"Yes, you are," the man answered, oblivious to the tone of the older woman, which Roxi recognized (and inwardly cringed at) as her mom's flirty voice.
"There's a strange man in my bedroom."
"Yes, there is."
"Well...anything could happen."
Roxi, with a devilish smirk, observed as the man realized what Jackie was implying, and shook his head, stating, "No."
The young woman suppressed a snicker as she followed the man into the living room.
"How do you take your coffee?" Rose called out from the kitchen as she bustled around in it.
"Just milk, thanks," he returned, cheerfully, shuffling around the room.
As Rose made the tea, Roxi strode up to the man, and asked, "Who are you?"
"I told you, the Doctor." He flipped through a magazine, stopping at a random page to comment, "That won't last. He's gay, and she's an alien."
Roxi's eyes bulged out of her head at the remark, but he took no notice as he flipped through a book in a few seconds.
"No other name? Just the Doctor?"
The blue-eyed man just smirked at her, wiggling his fingers at her and greeting, "Hello!" Moving over to the table, he picked up a letter, reading out loud, "Roxi Tyler."
Roxi rolled her eyes, snatching the letter away from him as he turned to look into the mirror on the wall, remarking, "Ah, could've been worse. Look at the ears." He flicked his earlobes.
"What are you doing here?"
Ignoring her in favor of a deck of cards, he proceeded to shuffle the deck before sending the cards everywhere. Roxi glared at him the Doctor returning it with a sheepish grin. The grin broke the glare, and Roxi ended up chuckling softly, then repeated her question.
"Remember the plastic arm I tossed you?" he asked, watching her intently.
"You mean from one of the plastic men that tried to kill us? Oh yeah, I remember."
"Well, as it turns out, there's still a signal coming to it."
"Wait, what does that mean, exactly?"
The Doctor opened his mouth to answer her, but the sound of something scuttling across the floor interrupted him, causing both of them to look in the direction the sound was heard from, which just so happened to be from the couch.
"You don't have a cat, do you?"
Roxi shook her head. "We used to have strays, but we nailed that cat door shut, so we wouldn't get anymore." She walked over to the sofa, kneeling on the cushions and leaning over the back to look.
Suddenly, something flew up and latched itself to Roxi's throat, squeezing her neck. She pulled back in shock, finding the arm from last night firmly gripping her. She grasped the arm, choking and gasping for air, and frantically tried yanking the arm off, failing. The Doctor saw this and immediately tried to help. The arm clutched her throat in a tight grasp, and made it hard for the two of them to get it to release her.
"I thought Mickey threw that out," commented Rose as she ambled into the room with the cup of coffee, setting it down on the table, all the while not realizing that the arm was attacking her sister. "Men and plastic arms! Now, I don't recall you mentioning your name. I heard Roxi say something about 'doctor,' but Doctor who?"
In a flash, the arm relinquished its hold on Roxi, sailing through the air, and attaching itself to Rose's face. Rose tried to pry the arm off her face, to no avail, Roxi and the Doctor jumping up to help her. Rose, in a panic, ended up pushing Roxi back, causing her to be knocked back into the Doctor and sending the two of them toppling onto the coffee table. The table collapsed, with a large thud.
"Sorry!" Roxi exclaimed in surprise, rolling to the side and off the Doctor (who cushioned her fall).
"It's fine!" he grunted, jumping back up to help her sister, who was flailing her arms about in fear.
Roxi leaped up, and grabbed the arm with both hands, pulling with all her might. The Doctor finally manged to pry the fingers off, freeing Rose, who plopped onto the couch in shock. Roxi wrestled with the arm, finally trapping it in her arms. The Doctor pulled out the metal-tube thing, clicking it like a lighter a few times, the blue end lighting up a little more each time until the light was brightly shining. He grinned in success, and aimed it at the plastic arm for a few seconds. Roxi felt the arm's strength slowly fade, and soon there was no resistance.
She released her hold on the arm slightly finding it still, like it should be. Her eyes moved up from the arm to the Doctor, who gave her a large toothy grin and exclaimed, "There you are! 'Armless!"
Roxi couldn't help but faux laugh in shock, while Rose, with a furious expression aimed at the Doctor's back, growled, "Yeah, you think so?!" Rose swatted his arm, which made him yelp in surprise.
"Hey, what'd you do that for?" he questioned in great shock as he looked back at Rose.
"While you're laughing away and having a grand old time, could you explain why this plastic arm tried to kill me and Roxi?" Rose inquired, her tone frantic.
The Doctor stood up and brushed the dirt off of his leather jacket, grabbing the arm from Roxi and telling Rose, "Sorry, can't stay. Not enough time. Must be off...hang on." He looked between the two blondes with a thinking expression before his gaze stopped on Roxi and, pointing a finger at her remarked, "You're an American. With an English family in London."
Roxi blinked in astonishment, and then replied, "Yes, Jackie, Rose's mom, adopted me when I was thirteen."
"And you kept the accent?"
"I'm a little stubborn."
"Good trait to have."
"Thank you."
The Doctor nodded once, and with the plastic arm in hand, paced through the living room and out the front door.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Roxi called out, sprinting after him, with Rose shouting after her from the door. Ignoring her, Roxi flew down the estate stairs after the Doctor, shouting, "Where do you think you're going?! You can't just show up and then...vamoose away."
"Yes, I can!" He returned, enthusiastically. "Here I go, 'vamoosing' away!"
"Hold on Doctor, what's going on!?" Roxi soon managed to catch up to the fastly retreating man. "Look, if you don't tell me what's going on, I'll call the police! You said that if I told anyone, I'll just get them killed. So, tell me...or I'll start talking."
The Doctor just gave her a sideways glance before remarking, "Is that supposed to sound tough?"
Roxi shrugged calmly, and answered, "Yeah, sort of."
"Doesn't work."
She sighed in frustration, and then asked, "Well, could you explain why it was after me, then?" She snatched the arm from him.
"Oh, and suddenly the whole world revolves around you!"
"It did try to kill me and my sister."
"It was after me, not you. Last night, in the shop, I was there, you blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down. The only reason it fixed on you two is because you've met me."
"Well, it didn't exactly attack you, now did it."
"You were the first thing it saw, but I was expecting me."
Roxi, still walking alongside the Doctor, watching him curiously, snarkily commenting, "So, you're saying the whole world revolves around you?"
He grinned happily, replying back, "Yeah, sort of."
"You, Doctor, are full of it."
"Yeah, sort of."
Roxi giggled quietly to herself, before she wondered aloud, "But, anyway, all this plastic stuff...who else knows about it?"
"No one."
She observed him with sad eyes as she muttered softly, "What, you're on your own?"
The Doctor heard the sad edge to her voice, and after a moment's pause after she said it, he retorted, "Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on."
"War?"
The Doctor nodded mutely, not breaking his stride as he journeyed further.
"Okay, start from the beginning. This living plastic, how did you kill it?"
"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead."
"Radio control?"
"Thought control?" Glancing at her cautiously, he asked, "Are you all right?"
Roxi nodded, and questioned, "Who's controlling it then?"
"Long story."
"But what's it all for?" Roxi asked, adding on sarcastically, "What are they going to use plastic dummies for? Take over Britain's stores?"
The Doctor snorted in answer, making Roxi grin a little, her cheeks dimpling a bit, before he told her, seriously, "No, it's not a price war. They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you."
Roxi's face held a look of disbelief as he asked, "Do you believe me?"
"No..." she stated, though her tone held uncertainty.
He smirked at her answer, remarking, "But you're still listening."
Roxi stopped in her tracks, while the Doctor continued his trek away. "Really though, Doctor...who are you?"
This got him to stop, and he regarded the young blonde with an unrecognizable look, before going on to inquire, "Do you know like we were saying, about the Earth revolving?"
She thought for a second, before nodding in answer, and as he slowly made his way back to her, he continued, "It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still." Standing in front of her, he watched her face and uttered, "I can feel it."
The Doctor took Roxi's hand, and clarified, "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go..."
Roxi released his hand in wonder, and he then told her, in a grave manner, "That's who I am. Now forget me, Roxi Tyler."
He slipped the plastic arm out of her hands, waved it in front of her with a grin, and demanded, "Go home."
As he strolled away in one direction, Roxi turned and started slowly walking in the opposite direction, thoughts tumbling in her mind like clothes in a dryer. As she strolled, she heard an odd sound.
VWORP...VWORP...VWORP...
Roxi whirled around in surprise, running back to the spot she was before, but she saw nothing. No Doctor in sight.
Roxi, after a moment of pondering, smirked mischievously, muttering quietly to herself, "I've never been good at doing what I'm told."
Thanks for reading! Please review! And favorite. And follow!
