Disclaimer: Doctor Who and all characters recognizable from that series are the property of RTD and the BBC. Stargate Atlantis and it's characters are likewise not mine. I'm just playing around with the ideas and characters of these two series.
Author's Notes: This story was vastly improved by the efforts of my beta, Commodore Norrington.
She'd never forget the hopeful expression on his face as he'd asked to come along. For all of the defensiveness in his speech, his face had been incredibly easy to read, every emotion fully expressed.
Instinctively, she'd turned to glance at the Doctor. He'd tensed up again, and his expression had been stormy. She'd known even before he spoke what the answer would be, and part of her had broken with the knowledge that the teenager was going to be rejected. For a fleeting moment, she'd wished that she and the Doctor had met this boy before they'd dealt with Adam. It hadn't been fair that he had been judged by Adam's actions.
Sure enough, the Doctor had responded with a curt, "No." The boy's face had crumpled, and he had looked as if he had only narrowly avoided bursting into tears as he had grabbed the black dufflebag and fled the TARDIS.
She'd glared furiously at the Doctor, but he had leapt up to the TARDIS console and had started entering in a new set of coordinates. From the set of his back, it had been obvious that he had not been willing to discuss his actions, and that he would have stonewalled any arguments she could have made. She'd turned and fled the console room. In the morning, they'd made up, but things had remained a bit tense for the next few days.
It had been a week since they'd met Rodney McKay. She'd only known him for about a half an hour, but he'd left a dramatic impression. Even now, when she walked into the control room, she almost felt like he should be there, talking with the Doctor or being taught a bit about how to control the TARDIS. She had no doubt that he would have been eager to learn, or that the Doctor would have taught him everything that he thought Rodney could handle.
Maybe some of her reflections showed on her face this morning, because when the Doctor looked up from whatever bit of the TARDIS's innards he was tinkering with today, he frowned. "You're still thinking about the kid, aren't you?" he asked, but his voice was softer, less accusing, than she would have expected given the subject.
She hadn't planned on having it out with the Doctor, but if he was willing to bring it up, she wasn't about to back down. "You hurt 'im. He wanted to come with us, an' you know he wouldn't have been another Adam. He wanted to see the universe and learn, not just use it to get rich." She folded her arms defensively across her chest. She hated this, arguing with the Doctor, but sometimes he didn't think about what would happen to the people he interacted with. And if she didn't call him on it, who would?
The Doctor looked almost affronted. "I know he wasn't another Adam! I'm a better judge of character than that, thank you very much. I was all set to bring him along, till he mentioned what his name was."
"His name? What difference…oh." Rose stopped midway through her sentence. She knew by now the reason why the Doctor would recognize someone's name. "He does something in the future, doesn't he, something important?"
"Very important, Rose." The Doctor looked serious, but less upset now that he'd gotten through to her. "In fact, he's just started the most important part of it by your time. If you like, I'll take you to go see what he becomes." By now, he was shooting her his familiar, slightly manic grin.
She grinned back. "What're we waiting for?"