Kallisti

Chapter 2: Chain Chain Chain

"I didn't invent it, Rose!" he argued as they entered the console room in their new clothes. "I didn't even want to go out, but now all the women in my life are having a go at me, and I'll bet you any amount of money Jackie Tyler put her up to this! That woman could conquer empires with that voice and that slap, Rose. Good thing she was born before cloning, or we'd all be up to our ears in the evil forces of Jackie Tyler's dictatorship!"

"I'll tell 'er ya said it, yeah? She'll probably be right impressed." She grinned at him dryly, still trying to sort out how she felt about the thing she was holding in her hand.

"No no no no no no no! She'll hit me, I know she will. Look, all I'm saying is they don't even understand their crazy customs. And by their customs men have to be..."

"But why? I mean, yeah it's great getting my own back after those last four women-are-to-be-groped-not-heard planets, but I dunno 'bout this." She held up the thing in her hand, shaking back the too-long sleeves of the ridiculous coat she was wearing. "Did Jack leave this here or something?"

He sighed. "Probably. Or I was here before. Or she's having another laugh at my expense. You gotta admit, it's fetching." He tilted back his head and the bright jewelry at his throat caught the light and sparkled brilliantly at her, but not quite so brilliantly as his grin. This was one of the things she loved about him the most. Even when he was drowning in the chaos around him, he could pull himself and his arrogant ego, and her too, above it at the drop of a hat.

Right at the moment, though, his hat probably had already been dropped too much. It was an old, battered fedora, and it had obviously seen better days long before he'd found it. His blue pin-striped suit was still blue, but the stripes were now in every loud color of the rainbow over a shirt that even Jack wouldn't have been caught dead in the woods wearing. The tie defied description, but if she had to say anything it would be "evil."

Still, she'd talked him out of the leather trousers. They had both looked at those and giggled several times but in the end decided against them. "Jack wore them, you know he did, to that god-awful bar he dragged us to. They were so tight on him you could tell his parents' religion." The Doctor had been so flummoxed by that statement, she'd nearly bloodied her lip trying to keep from laughing at him. He had apparently changed clothes and then gone to try to run down the source of the statement in the TARDIS computer.

She had arrived a few minutes later, wearing the outfit they'd picked for her - bright red jeans and a spaghetti strap blue top - she felt like she'd escaped from the 80s - and, over it all, the loudest jacket or most jacket shaped quilt she'd ever seen in her entire life, hanging down most of the way to her ankles. It was, apparently, the Doctor's, one of the signatures of an earlier regeneration of his. She'd laughed out loud and asked him how in the world he'd avoided getting stoned while wearing it, and he'd confessed that he thought he had been once. She didn't know what he'd looked like while wearing this coat - probably distinctly dotty - but she did know that the Doctor who'd worn this coat had been a large man compared to the ones she knew, barrel-chested and broad-shouldered. And she knew she liked the way it smelled. The cologne was different from his usual, but the underlying smell was decisively him - the thing that convinced her above all others that her Doctor was still her Doctor - that smell of Time and the unknown.

Now, standing here waiting for him to work up the nerve, she drew the coat close and inhaled, smiling, and looked up to realize the Doctor was still watching her. His dark eyes had gone almost black, and his face was set and stern. She didn't know what to make of that expression but, by the time he realized she was watching him, it cleared. He grinned at her broadly and took her hand, the one carrying this idea she still hadn't gotten used to.

"So, ready to go then?" he asked. "It's a female dominated planet, and they worship an old goddess. Should be right up your alley. Speaking of which, Bowling Alleys are sacred here, so no astonished remarks about that, please."

"Right." She shook her head. "What about this then?"

His grin broadened, though she wouldn't have believed it possible. "Don't let it go, Rose. You wouldn't want someone to steal your property, would you?"

She looked at her toes so he couldn't see her blush at the implications of that statement. "Yeah, well," she managed finally as they opened the door to what the Doctor had assured her would be the weirdest world she would ever see, "it sorta adds a whole new dimension to the idea of unleashing you on something, right?"

His laugh was both merry and proud as he lead her away from the TARDIS, his hand on the arm that held the chain attached to his brightly displayed jeweled collar.