Well here's the second chapter. I'm not really sure how many chapters there'll be, I'm pretty much going with the flow of the fic right now, though it'll probably be at least five. I'm enjoying writing this one, I think that in a lot of AUs the Doctor suddenly becomes really clumsy and awkward and besotted with Rose (though we all know he really is besotted with Rose ;P), which I love, but I wanted to keep some of his famous arrogance - he is after all still extremely clever, and he knows it :P Anyway, enjoy!
It was two days before Rose saw the mysterious Doctor again. She had not exactly been waiting for him, but there was definitely a sense of disappointment as she put on her coat and went home in the evening, having passed another day without the appearance of the only decent person in the hospital that she had met.
It was the afternoon of the third day and Rose was leaning on the desk, staring out of the glass doors and wishing she was far away, when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
She turned round in a split second, jerked out of her thoughts by the appearance of John, who had jumped back in order to avoid getting smacked in the face and had apparently almost spilt the two cups of coffee he was carrying, balanced precariously one on the top of the other.
"How do you manage to sneak up on people like that?" Rose asked accusingly, as John carefully placed the cups of coffee down on the desk.
He grinned at her before stepping backwards and holding up one leg for her to admire the converse boot that was on his foot. "Rubber soles, swear by 'em!" he said, before adding "I got you a coffee, seems like I was just in time too, couple of seconds later and you'd have been off to sleep."
"Well it's not exactly like this job is allowing me to stretch my mind," Rose said, taking a sip of her coffee. "Hey, this has sugar in it – how did you know?"
"Lucky guess?" He shrugged. "You look like a sugar sort of person, you know…sweet?" He said it as a question, as though he hadn't really considered it before, but the way he looked at her was making Rose feel a bit woozy again, so she took another sip and decided to ask him something she had forgotten to ask the last time they had met.
"So what do you actually do? I mean, what does a consultant have to do around here, you seem to wander around a lot."
"Well that's basically what I do," John agreed, leaning one elbow on the desk and holding his coffee with his other hand. "Bit of a lonely wanderer I suppose, people ask me to come in for patients that they can't help or when they need a bit of extra help in diagnosing."
"Like Dr. House," Rose said without thinking, hoping that he had watched "House MD" and that she wasn't going to seem stupid.
"Yeah, only less grumpy and without the team of helpers. Oh, and without the limp." He danced a little dance on the spot to demonstrate, causing an old woman walking past to give him a look of disapproval, as though a doctor should know better than to dance like a fool in the hospital foyer. They managed to hold in their laughter until she was out of sight, bursting into hysterics the moment the automatic doors had closed behind her.
"So, you work alone then?" asked Rose when they had finally regained their composure, though not quickly enough to escape an accusing glance from Tracy the other "evil" receptionist, who was working at the other end of the desk and apparently didn't approve of people being happy.
"Yep. It's not the best, but it's the way it's always been. I've had assistants you know, now and then over the years, but in the end they all leave, they get promoted or whatever and I'm on my own again. I suppose I'm a bit of a pain to work with after a while – the last one left a few months ago, there's no-one else." He looked very sad for a moment – Rose supposed he was remembering all the friends who had left over the years – and she found herself itching to hug him, to stop him looking so melancholy.
"There's me." Rose did not even realise she'd said it, but when his face slowly transformed into a warm smile she was glad that she did.
"Indeed there is," he said happily, taking another gulp of his coffee and throwing the empty cup with unerring precision into the bin. Rose did not want him to witness her atrocious throwing skills and so she took a small sip from her cup and put it down.
"Actually, that's a thought." John had suddenly began to smile wider, if that were even possible, moving his lab coat back in order to stick his hands into his trouser pockets, rocking on his heels with glee. "Rose Tyler – found out your surname from where you signed that form," he added when she looked confused at how he had known, pointing at the aforementioned form accusingly, "would you care to leave your extremely boring job as hospital receptionist and come and work with me as my assistant?"
Rose was astonished at his casual approach to picking a person to work for him, especially since he had only met her twice and had absolutely no idea if she was any good at what she did. "It it always this…weird?"
"Yeah," he said, eyes opening wide as though he though weird was the most exciting thing on the planet.
Rose didn't know what she was going to say to him, but when the answer finally came it was definitely not what she was expecting. "No, I'm sorry I can't. You know, I've just started here, I don't think I can just leave…"
She trailed off, hating to see the expression of carefully controlled disappointment that had appeared on his face. He did not suit controlled, he was bizarre and wild and unpredictable – seeing him closed off just seemed wrong. "It's fine," he said, casually waving a hand at her as she began to try to apologise. "No really, it's OK. See you around, Rose Tyler."
John walked away at a carefully measured pace – not slow and dejected, but not as though he were running away either. He rounded the corner and Rose slumped, leaning her head on the desk. Why had she done that? Why had she just turned him down? The oddest part was that it wasn't the fact that she had turned down his offer that made her want to go after him, it was the fact that she had made him look so forlorn and dejected, however blank his expression may have seemed. She couldn't leave him looking like that, she just couldn't.
Rose had stood up again, tucking her hair behind her ears, and was wondering whether he would ever come back and talk to her again when she saw his head poke around the corner, searching for her. He found her and said, with utmost seriousness, "did I mention you get the office next to mine?"
Rose began to grin. His face was full of mischief and mystery and glee and she knew what her answer was going to be immediately. She grabbed her bag from under the desk, turning towards Tracy, who was still working at the other end of the desk and clearly disapproving of Rose's conduct. Rose couldn't find it in herself to care. "You know I'm not coming back, right?"
Tracy nodded stiffly, looking as though she were glad to be rid of her. Rose turned, running out from the side of the desk and towards John, whose grin at that moment could've lit up a Christmas tree. He held out his hand and she took it, relishing the way it gripped hers and the way it felt completely right. He pulled on her arm and they were off, running down the hospital corridor, dodging patients and doctors and laughing hysterically. Rose wondered why they let John Smith even work in this hospital, when it was clear all he really did was cause trouble. Not that she cared.
Hope you enjoyed, there'll be more either tomorrow or the next day, I swear. Also, if you didn't get the House MD reference then you really should watch it, it's awesome and had Hugh Laurie in it :P And for those of you who asked, yes there will be John's point of view. As for when, well that's for me to know and you to find out...
