DOCTOR WHO

I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN

DISCLAIMER: Let's not forget that Doctor Who doesn't belong to poor little me, else Tennant wouldn't have been able to quit so soon.

As with all my stories all thoughts are in italics. To ease any confusion I have added a single quotation and Whose thoughts. (IE: 'Italics' thought the Doctor.)

All thanks to Jordan K West- my Beta, and my Mom who I bounce ideas off of and who also reads through my work before I send to JKW.

CHAPTER 1: MEETING ROSE

The Time War had left the Doctor more alone than ever before. He was used to loosing people he cared for. He had lost friends and people that had traveled with him many times. They all left him sooner or later. They left because of one too many close calls, or because they wanted something more, or to settle down with someone they love, or because they fell in love with him- a love he could not return. Once or twice, he had even had them die on him.

But now he didn't even have his home or his people- however much he had disliked them- to fall back on. His mind was so quiet. He was so used to the background noise that had always followed him on his travels. The voices of all the Time Lords that followed him wherever and whenever he went. Now all silenced; and it was all his fault.

He wasn't planning on picking anyone to travel with so soon after the Time War ended. He was too uncertain of himself. He didn't know what danger he might be to a new traveling companion. He might take his anger out on him or her. But there was something about this girl, Rose, that called out to him. Maybe the Tardis sensed it, too, and brought him here to find her. She tended to do things like that.

The doctor was tracking down the Nestene Consciousness and its Living Plastic Autons that was making itself at home in London. It had a big controller on the roof of a shop called Hendricks, and he was making his way through the basement and to the roof without attracting too much trouble. Up ahead he saw a group of Autons about to kill a young blonde girl. He quickly ran to her aid.

When he took her hand, he felt a strange tingling inside of him he had never felt before. Shoving the feeling aside to focus on the girl and the danger, he quickly said, "Run!"

Rose had gone down to the basement of the shop to give the lottery money to the electrician, Wilson. Not finding him in his office, she had looked around for him, hoping to find him so she could leave and go home. It was late and they were closing the shop. Wilson was nowhere to be seen, but she had found what she quickly realized wasn't a joke but real trouble. She had come to realize- too late- that she was in danger from whoever those people dressed up like mannequins were. Closing her eyes and preparing for the worst, she was suddenly grabbed by a strange man and told to run. Going with her instincts, she trusted him and took his hand and ran with him.

The two of them ran for their lives with the Autons following quickly behind, getting faster the longer they ran. They ran to the elevator and got inside, barely making it in time. As it was a mannequin got there in time to put his arm in the door to keep it from closing. The Doctor grabbed its arm and pulled it till it came off.

"You pulled his arm off!" Rose said. She had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was she didn't like it. This man seemed to know about it.

"Yep. Plastic," The Doctor told her tossing the arm at her so she could see for herself and so his hands could be free. She was just a young girl, he realized, caught in the middle of things bigger than her normally small world.

"Very clever. Nice trick. Who were they, then– students?" She asked, trying to make sense of the strange things she was now being exposed to. "Is this a student thing, or what?"

"Why would they be students?" The Doctor asked, trying to figure out the girl's thought process.

"I don't know," Rose replied, suddenly hesitant to say what was on her mind. Afraid of looking like a foolish girl. Enough people had ridiculed her in the past for being an idiot and dropping out of school and having no A-levels, or for going out with that loser Jimmy Stone, or for other things.

"Well you said it. Why students?" He asked, pushing her a little, realizing that she was mostly just nervous to voice her opinion. He wondered what had happened in her past that made her so scared to give her opinion.

"'Cause to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they got to be students," she replied, explaining her reasoning at last.

"That makes sense. Well done," he told her. He was a bit impressed with her. For a simple human who had no experience with aliens and the like, it was a sensible answer. She was a fairly smart girl. She didn't overreact in the situation and she asked good questions, he liked that.

"Thanks."

"They're not students," he told her as the elevator stopped on the correct floor and he walked out.

As he escorted her to safety, he watched her reactions out of the corner of his eye. She was confused and out of her usual element but still going, wanting to know more. She didn't run scared like most people do. She was brave and impressed him with her caring and her daring. Maybe that's why he was more careful than he intended to be on the roof. He had originally not cared if he made it out of there alive or not. But then he took the hand of a human girl and told her to run. And suddenly he felt like running again, too.

Rose listened as this stranger explained who the people who attacked her were. He said, "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 held up a device of some sort in his hands, Rose had no clue what it was.

"So...I'm gonna go upstairs and blow them up, and I might well die in the process. But don't worry about me. No. You go home, go on. Go and have your lovely beans on toast," he told her, showing her to the door. Rose didn't know what to make of him at this point, but she was grateful he had saved her, and that was enough.

"Don't tell anyone about this, 'cause if you do you'll get them killed," he finished, frankly, closing the door behind him.

Rose was just about to leave the confusing and strange man behind her and do as he suggested by heading home when the door he had disappeared behind opened up again. "I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?" he asked.

"Rose," she answered in a dazed sort of voice, she noted. Well, who could blame her given all the events of the last ten minutes? She was lucky she still knew her name!

"Nice to meet you, Rose," he replied in a cheery voice, far to cheery for the sort of day she was having. "Run for your life!" he said, waving the device he was still holding in his hand.

Rose was only a block away when the shop blew up. She knew this strange "Doctor" had done that. But according to him, lives depended on it, and her instincts told her to trust him. So she headed home deciding not to say a word about the strange events of the night to her mum.

D * W

The next day, as the Doctor continued to tracked down the Autons, he once again met Rose. She didn't let him just leave when he ran into her either; she wanted answers, ones she wasn't quite ready for- in his opinion.

The arm the Doctor had been tracking down, that he thought hadn't been there, was in fact still there and took him by surprise. Of course, Rose didn't realize that it was in fact choking him. But when it went after her, she got a different opinion of it. He finally got it off of her and took off to take it to the Tardis to track the signal back to it's source.

Rose had continued to think about the stranger she met the previous night the rest of the night and all that day. Now here he arrived in her apartment out of the blue, and she wanted to understand what had happened at the shop. Having a plastic arm suddenly attack her by itself had not made things any easier on her and left her with a greater desire to understand what was going on.

Therefore, Rose did not just let him go off without a fight. She followed him out the door demanding answers the whole way. "Hold on a minute you can't just go swanning off!" she called to the Doctor as he ran down the stairs of Rose's apartment building.

"Yes, I can. Here I am, this is me, swanning off– see ya!" He called back to her, cheerily. He didn't want her involved in his life. He didn't want to get attached and lose another person. He had lost too much already.

"That arm was moving. It tried to kill me. You can't just walk away. That's not fair. You've got to tell me what's going on!"

"No, I don't," the Doctor said simply. And it was that simple. If he kept her in the dark, she would continue to be small, but she wouldn't get sucked into his dangerous life. She could continue to be a wonderful human. He walked out the door of the building and started off in the direction of the Tardis with Rose trailing along behind him.

Rose tried to bluff him then. "All right, then. I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone. You said if I did that I'd get people killed. So, your choice– tell me, or I'll start talking." Rose said. She hoped that he was serious when he had told her that, he had seemed to be, so she tried to call on his desire not to get people killed. Course, she wouldn't really, if it would get people killed, but she had to do something to get him to talk.

'Was that supposed to be a threat?' thought the Doctor. "Was that supposed to sound tough?" He wasn't impressed with that tactic, he knew she wouldn't actually do it. Never try and bluff someone who's even remotely telepathic. Though he couldn't actually read her thoughts, he could read intentions and emotions, and he read people well enough to know she wouldn't tell people. Rose had believed him last night, consequently she would keep quiet.

"Sort of," she said, less cocky now that he had called her bluff.

"Doesn't work."

"Who are you?"

"Told you– the Doctor," he replied, as he always did.

"Yeah, but Doctor what?" Why did they always want a "John Doe" to go with the "Doctor"? Was Doctor not enough? He couldn't tell anyone his true name, not ever, well...there is one time he could, but he didn't think it would ever happen.

"Just 'the Doctor'," he casually responded.

"The doctor?" she asked doubtfully. That couldn't seriously be his name? Why wouldn't he give her a proper name to call him? Was it some secret or something?

"Hello!" Rose laughed as he waved at her as if they were just greeting each other rather than in the middle of a conversation.

"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" she questioned, wondering if his title was supposed to be famous like "The Moon" or "The Professor" or something.

"Sort of," he said just as she had moments ago.

"Come on, then. You can tell me," Rose coaxed. She wanted to understand this strange man that for some reason she had trusted with her life last night. That she still trusted despite the fact that he was the one who blew up her job last night. Something about him called out to her. She didn't know what it was, but she wanted to understand him. "I've seen enough. Are you the police?"

"No! I was just...passing through. I'm a long way from home," he told her.

"But what've I done wrong?" she asked. "How come those plastic things keep coming after me?"

"Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you! You were just an accident. You got in the way that's all," he told her. Humans usually thought it was all about them, so he didn't blame her too much. He wanted to see how she would react to his accusation.

"It tried to kill me!" Rose cried. 'Why would it try and kill me if it had nothing to do with me at all?' she thought.

"It was after me, not you," he explained. "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 is 'cause you've met me!"

"So what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you?" she asked with joking disbelief clear in her voice. He couldn't seriously be saying it tried to kill her because she had met him, could he?

"Sort of, yeah"

"You're full of it," she laughed.

"Sort of, yeah," he was really enjoying her company.

"But all this plastic stuff, who else knows about it?" Rose asked, switching from joking back to serious.

'Now that's a good question for someone who is just getting started on this kind of thing' thought the Doctor. What was he thinking? He was not taking her with him. He couldn't take someone in the Tardis anymore; his hearts couldn't handle it. She was safer on Earth anyway.

"No one."

"What, you're on your own?" Rose asked. 'The Doctor is trying to stop what ever these things are from doing whatever damage they are trying to do all be himself, no help from anyone?' she thought to herself. That's not right; no one should be alone.

"I mean what else is there? I mean, you lot– All you do is eat chips, go to bed and watch telly. While all time underneath you there's a war going on!" The human race. Big bunch of stupid apes, the lot of them. But he loved them. He really did, and Earth had always been a second home to him after Gallifrey refused him. And since Gallifrey was gone now, Earth was all he had left besides the Tardis.

Rose reached around him as they were walking on and took the plastic arm from his hands. "Hey, start from the beginning," she said kindly. Oh, he liked her more and more. Most humans closed their eyes to that sort of stuff. Back in the old days, he would have offered her the stars, but it was too risky to take her now.

Rose had decided that at the very least the Doctor needed someone else to confide in, even if it was only for a minute. She wanted to understand what was going on, what he was talking about. She reached around him to take the plastic arm from his hands so that she would have his complete and undivided attention- and so that he couldn't leave until he was done talking and she gave him the arm back. She wanted the story, and the sooner the better.

"I mean, 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?"

The Doctor had finally decided to explain some of what was going on to Rose. She was smart enough to understand, and she did deserve some answers. He hoped he didn't come to regret his decision. "The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal– dead."

"So that's radio control?" she asked, trying to relate it to something familiar to her.

"Thought control," he corrected. Rose said nothing for a moment and a glance in her direction told the Doctor that she was trying to process that information. It was something beyond anything she knew to be possible before she met him last night, it probably sounded like something out of a science fiction or fantasy series. Like a Jedi Mind trick from that movie saga "Star Wars".

"You all right?" He asked, wondering if it was all too much for the young girl.

"Yeah. So who's controlling it, then?"

"Long story,"

"But what's it all for? I mean– shop window dummies, what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?" she asked mock-seriously, laughing. Once again it was a ridiculous thought but almost reasonable with the little information and experience she had. He liked the way she thought. It lightened the mood and made things easier to deal with right now, just like she had last night.

She chuckled as if she too knew it was ridiculous "No. It's not a price war," the Doctor replied with a small laugh. Then he got real serious telling her bluntly, "They want to over throw the human race and destroy you.

"Do you believe me?"

"No."

"But you're still listening," the Doctor said. He was pleased with that. He had told her a lot of things that were hard for a normal girl from early 21st century Earth to believe, but she was still listening instead of declaring him mad and running away. That is the kind of things you needed to survive a life with him- not that he planned to offer her one, but once upon a time, he might have.

Rose stopped dead. "Really, though, Doctor. Tell me– Who are you?" She asked him yet again as the Tardis came in sight- though of course she didn't know about that. The Doctor stopped and gave her a small smile at her persistence. How to explain in a way that wouldn't attract her attention any further? He needed to sate her curiosity. But something about the quiet innocence of this young human girl who was so quietly intelligent called to him. He felt himself opening up further the longer he explained.

The Doctor turned back and walked toward her to explain. "Do 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 its standing still."

Rose watched the Doctor with interest. What did this have to do with who he was? She noticed that some of his outer shell had dropped. He was no longer putting on an act of toughness or joking for her benefit. This was a glimpse of his true self that he kept hidden from the rest of the world.

"I can feel it," he said. The Doctor took her hand in his as he continued to explain. "The turn of the earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, the entire planet is hurtling 'round 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..."

In that moment, while the Doctor held her hand Rose almost thought she felt it too. Her head began to spin a bit and felt the wind move across her skin stronger than it should. The Doctor had unconsciously opened himself up to Rose to let her experience it for herself. So while their hands were connected, she felt the turn of the earth, just at a much less strength than the Doctor did, only 1/100 the strength of the feeling the Doctor got. (He did not even know that he had done this. He wouldn't think it was even possible because normal, everyday humans couldn't establish that kind of connection with a Time Lord like him.)

The Doctor suddenly let go of Rose's hand, realizing that he was saying too much. Telling her far too much about himself. Yet, he didn't regret that he had done so. For some unexplainable reason he wanted her to understand that about him.

"That's who I am. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler." He told her. Hoping she might listen this time. His resolve to resist the appeal of companionship was getting more and more difficult to maintain. And Rose Tyler was so clever and young and made him feel so alive already. He took back the arm and told her to go home, and he walked the rest of the way to the Tardis, which had been in sight for the past fifteen minutes.

Rose had felt so alive, holding the Doctor's hand. Somehow she knew that she had felt what he had been describing, but having no other way to explain it, she put it down to an overactive imagination. It had been an incredible feeling, but an overwhelming one. She let it go, and she let him go as he so firmly told her to go home.

His words had felt like a warning. He was telling her that he was dangerous and he didn't want her hurt. Her research into him later that day just did more to prove that. But she couldn't get him out of her mind. She got to hear of a life worth something as he told her of the events that happen all around them everyday, and Rose didn't want to go back to her small existence.

More than that, her heart called out to the Doctor's pain. She had felt that loneliness when he spoke of being "a long way from home" and wondered what had happened to cause it. She had felt his loneliness again when she asked if he was on his own. And again when he finally opened up and explained that he felt the turn of the Earth. He needed somebody, Rose hoped he found someone.

She slowly turned and began to walk back to her flat. Not long after she began to walk back she heard a strange and pleasant Whirring sound and a strange wind came from nowhere. She ran back to where she had last seen the Doctor, only to find the park empty. There was no one, and nothing there. Rose had the funny feeling that something was missing that had been there just minutes ago. Dismissing it, she continued on home.

D * W

When the Doctor next met Rose later that night, it was to save her from a Plastic Mickey. He admired her quick thinking in setting off the fire alarm to get the rest of the customers out of the place. She was so worried about everyone else. He would come to learn that was a key trait with her- compassion. He worried about the big picture; she worried about all the people hurt along the way.

Rose was shocked to see the Doctor again, she had been sure she had seen the last of him. Mickey had been acting funny all afternoon, and when the cork had gone straight into his head she had realized he was plastic. Which was the Doctor's goal, of course. She was glad the Doctor was there to help deal with that, but did he just pull off his head?

With the plastic targeting her the Doctor now had no choice but to bring her into the Tardis for her own relative safety. He went into the Tardis, knowing she'd follow sooner or later. He wondered what her reaction would be. She had reacted fairly well to everything she had seen or been told so far.

Rose followed the Doctor out of the restaurant and into the back alley. He pulled some weird mechanical tube out of his pocket and pointed it at the door after it closed behind them. She had seen him use it the night they met for doing something to make the elevator inoperable after they used it.. It seemed to barricade the doors, this time. She ran to the alley doors, which were chained shut. "It's locked! Use that tube thing, come on!"

"Sonic screwdriver," he told her. But instead of heading for the exit, he made for the small- phone-booth sized blue box in the middle of the alley.

"We can't hide inside a wooden box!" she cried.

After making another attempt to get through the alley gate, she finally entered the blue box. Rose opened the door, turned around to close it behind her... and then turned around again to see the inside of the "small" blue box. She took one look, and ran right back out. 'Either that is a really good painting of a 3-D room, or my eyes are deceiving me, or something weird is going on. How can it be that big inside?!' Rose thought.

She stepped outside again to make she had the outside dimensions right. Yes, it was just a little bit bigger than a normal red phone booth. One or two people might be able to fit inside comfortably, three or four if they cram in. 'No way could that huge room fit inside that box. At least, no way on Earth, or in the 21st century' she thought.

But as the plastic, headless Mickey came closer to breaking through the restaurant door she put aside her reservations and ran back inside.

Meanwhile the Doctor heard Rose run into the Tardis- and could tell that she ran right back out again. Well, not the first time that had happened. It could freak people out, he supposed, if they weren't used to it. Humans. Oh, well. He figured she was double checking the size of the outside, like they always did. Stupid apes. He continued setting up to track the signal of the Plastic head while he waited for her to come back in.

Sure enough, a few seconds later she ran back inside. "Its gonna follow us!" she said.

'Interesting. Not focusing on the Tardis or its size, or impossibility, just the danger outside. I like her. No, I like that about her. That's what I meant.' the Doctor thought. The Tardis thrummed in his head, as if laughing at him. The Doctor scowled at the Tardis console.

"The Assembled Hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through those doors and believe me, they've tried. Now, shut up a minute," he told Rose, concentrating on tracing the signal. "You see, the arm was too simple, but a head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source.

"Right. Where do you want to start?" he asked turning around to face her at last.

Rose chose to remain close to the door, and far away from the obviously alien control tower in the center of the room. She wasn't sure what to make of this alien yet, but he had just saved her life, again, and that was always a huge plus in her book. In the back of her mind she heard a Thrumming, a comforting sound, as the ship seemed to welcome her.

TBC...

Stay tuned tor chapter 2.

Thank you to Godric'sGrl01, for pointing out a grammar error so I could correct it!