Title: Not The Reunion I Was Hoping For
Author: TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Story Summary: The Doctor wasn't expecting a blonde woman in a suit to burst into the TARDIS and tell him he was real. Reunion fic, kind of.
Setting: After series two of New Who, ignoring series four. Takes place in Pete's World.
Author notes:
Yes! There's more! Because I can. Enjoy!
This borrows something from Jessa L'Rynn's fic "Double Crossing" - specifically, what "Banned From Argos" is about, although the lyrics are mine. Oh, and this is reunion fic. Eventually...
NOT THE REUNION I WAS HOPING FOR
CHAPTER TWO
BAD WOLF
The Doctor came out to breakfast to find the Master's face decorated by a handprint and a large scowl, and Rose cussing him out in Gallifreyan.
"He should do what with his uncle's spatula?" the Doctor asked, heading straight for the tea-kettle.
Rose repeated it.
The Doctor nodded in appreciation of her creativity.
"Other you used to swear a bit when he was tinkering with the console," Rose explained.
"A vocabulary like that, I'm doubtful you ever heard him say anything but curses," said the Master. Whatever he'd done, he had presumably been properly punished for it. Normally he was disgustingly chipper in the morning.
"Shut it, you," the Doctor advised him. "I'm sure you've pushed your luck enough this morning."
"He did, yeah," Rose agreed, but didn't say how.
He tried to pin her against a wall and grope her, the TARDIS explained, humoring his curiosity. She kneed him in the privates, ducked under his arm and hauled off and slapped him. She's been swearing at him all through breakfast.
"What are you grinning at?" the Master demanded.
"Nothing," the Doctor said.
The Master scowled and went back to his cornflakes. Rose finished her toast and dumped her plate and butter knife in the wall alcove for the TARDIS to take care of.
"So," she asked cheerfully, "where we off to today?"
The Doctor eyed her consideringly.
"Anywhere you want," he decided. It was a good test of a new companion, seeing where they'd choose to go, and what they did once they got there.
Myriad emotions flashed across Rose's face, but she settled on contemplative.
She was dressed quite differently today, in jeans and a t-shirt and an unzipped blue leather jacket, with her pale blonde hair loosely falling just below her shoulders. While she tried to decide where to go – and the fact that she actually thought about it was an interesting sign – the Doctor decided she looked much nicer this way than in the suit.
"How 'bout Barcelona, then," Rose announced. "The planet, not the city. I wanna see these dogs with no noses.
The Master snorted, but,
"Barcelona it is," the Doctor agreed, wondering about the odd look she'd given him as she announced her decision. At this rate, Rose was going to occupy his thoughts a lot. She was an enigmatic little ape, even if she didn't seem to realise it.
Mind you, he told himself fairly, usually it was the humans finding him enigmatic, so maybe it was just that this one seemed to know him pretty well when he didn't know her at all.
oo o0o oo
As it turned out, Barcelona proved to be an excellent idea.
Rose was clearly having a fantastic time, and thought the dogs with no noses were adorable, if kind of strange. The Doctor kept an eye out for trouble, and twice had to stop the Master from hypnotising the locals, but more or less had a great time as well.
"Can't take you anywhere," he told the Master the second time he had to haul him out of the local police station where he was convincing them all that they were his personal minions. The Master looked annoyed at the failure of his spur-of-the-moment plans, but smirked infuriatingly.
"Come on," the Doctor said, "let's get back to Rose."
"Wouldn't want your little pet human to stray too far," the Master said happily, seeing a chance to insult Rose without risking a slap.
"Gonna tell her you said that."
The Master glowered.
They found Rose in a pub, exchanging verses of an inappropriate drinking song with a group of giggling purple aliens.
"I was banned from Argos in seventy-three
When I stopped by a courthouse to take a pee
Unfortunately I couldn't find the loo
So I decided the courthouse doors would do...
-
I went back to Argos later that year
For a hyper-vodka and a case of beer
And I met this guy in my favorite bar
Who dared me to hotwire the Mayor's sky-car...
-
I got banned from Argos in seventy-four
For shagging up against someone's front door
They opened the door, we fell in...
And I was banned from Argos again.
-
I was banned again in seventy-nine
When I went in search of an old mate of mine
Who asked me for help in robbing some place
Which turned out to be a military base...
-
I was banned from Argos in eighty-one
When I went out to experience a new kind of fun
And I bought some spark from a dealer I saw
Who unbeknownst to me was one of the Law..."
Rose finished singing and turned away from the insectoid intently scribbling it all down in its notebook.
"He's trying to collect every known version of 'Banned From Argos' in the galaxy," she explained. "Say's he's got 1300 verses at the moment, but time travellers keep coming through and introducing new lyrics. Time Agents, mostly. You mind if I get a drink?"
The Doctor eyed her warily, but she'd shown herself to have good sense so far. He patted his hidden pockets until he found the one he wanted, and handed her a small thing like a mechanical spider.
"Get me a hyper-vodka and an Arquillian brandy for the nuisance," he told her. Rose grinned at him and walked up to the bar.
"Nuisance?" the Master asked looking hurt, but his eyes were gleaming.
"Like none other," the Doctor confirmed.
Rose returned with two bottles and a glass of something bright green and sparkling.
"I have to drink out of a bottle?" the Master complained, disgusted.
"If you don't like it, get your own glass," Rose said reasonably. The Master frowned and pulled out a laser screwdriver, which he used to loosen the seal on his bottle.
"Show off," the Doctor muttered, opening his bottle the normal way. Rose's eyes sparkled with mirth.
While they'd been sitting there, a band had been setting up their instruments. Now, as they began to play, a pretty pink-haired girl moved forward and began to sing.
"Born of Time itself
All the chaos and ever-changing order
A goddess
Holding all existence in her hands
Eternity burns in her gaze
Bad Wolf."
The blood drained from Rose's face.
"You alright?" the Doctor asked in instant concern. She waved distractedly at him to be quiet, and listened to the rest of the song.
"She looks across creation
Golden eyes burning brighter than a sun
And howls
Reordering the timelines to her wish
Fear her ceaseless vengeance
Bad Wolf.
-
There's a man who never dies
A lonely god protected by Time
All alive
While the monsters are destroyed to dust
Burnt in the Eternal flame
Bad Wolf."
When it finished, the band went on to a new number, something about a girl who was more beautiful than the stars.
The two Time Lords stared at Rose, who was shaking uncontrollably.
"Didn't know I was famous," she managed, trying to sip at her drink and spilling a bit on the table.
The Doctor blinked and absorbed this immediately.
"That song's about you?" he asked.
"You, a human, a goddess?" the Master sneered.
Rose nodded jerkily.
"Looked into the heart of the TARDIS and into the Vortex –"
"You did what?!" the Doctor exclaimed involuntarily.
"– and took it into me," she continued. "Saved my Doctor, brought Jack back to life, and turned the entire Dalek fleet to dust. I didn't even remember for the first couple o' decades."
The Doctor suddenly realised that she was going into a kind of shock. He moved around the tale and grabbing her by the shoulders looked into her eyes.
"Rose, you need to calm down," he ordered, further alarmed by the faint ring of gold around her irises. "Trust me, you need to take deep breaths and try to calm down."
Rose did as he said.
"Sorry."
"That's better." He returned to his seat. "How old are you?"
She looked a little guilty.
"Fifty-eight," she replied, and made a face. "Wasn't gonna say anything."
"How much of the Vortex stayed with you?" the Master wanted to know, greatly interested. The Doctor made a mental note to watch him around Rose. No telling what that one'd get up to if he thought he'd gain power from it.
Rose gave him an odd look.
"Not much, far as I know," she replied. "Just enough to see a bit of the timelines, age slowly, that sort of thing."
"And you didn't think I might be interested?" the Doctor asked with deceptive mildness.
"Well, the TARDIS sorta knew."
"Fantastic," he muttered, darkly.
The Master gave him an over-the-top, needling grin.
"Stop rubbing it in," the Doctor told him.
"But I haven't even started yet," the Master said.
"Exactly."
Rose sighed at the way her revelations had killed the pleasant mood and stood, holding out a hand to the Doctor.
"So, Doctor, tell me, you got the moves?" she asked suggestively.
The Doctor gave her a look as though she were the most alien of all the aliens he'd ever met.
"I mean," Rose said, managing to sound not quite patronising but perilously close, "d'you dance?"
"No."
"Just one dance?" Rose wheedled, her smile going tongue-in-teeth mischievous.
The Doctor was immovable as stone.
"I don't dance."
Rose stared at him for a moment, but seemed to decide she didn't know him well enough to press further because she gave up, looking at the Master speculatively.
He gave her a leering smirk in return.
"I dance," he purred lowly.
"Oh, for Rassilon's sake," the Doctor muttered.
"Alright ten, out on the floor with you," Rose agreed, but with terms, "but your hands wander too far in the wrong direction an' you're getting it, we clear?"
Knowing the Master's love of risk, the Doctor was pretty sure Rose had just offered him an irresistible temptation.
"Oh, we're clear," the Master smirked, and went out to dance with her.
-
He wasn't a bad dancer, the Doctor noticed as he drank the hypervodka and watched the two, although he tended to stand very close to Rose and moved against her in ways that were perilously close to groping.
Oh, hell.
"Might I cut in?" he announced, looming close and looking at Rose.
"No. Sod off," said the Master, "go find your own alien to dance with. There's an alien like a pig over there who's been eyeing your regimentals all night."
Rose snorted with laughter and tried to cover it with a hand over her mouth.
"Don't fancy that, thanks," the Doctor responded, hoping that the Master was referring to his coat but aware he probably wasn't. "Rather dance with the pink and yellow human, if you don't mind."
Rose flushed, and looked at him starry-eyed. Then she looked at the Master, while the Doctor tried to work out what he'd said to make her look at him like that.
"Sorry," she said.
The Master snorted, but went off to steal the girlfriend of a tall bloke who'd gone off to get drinks.
The Doctor was surprised at the way Rose easily settled into a waltz with him.
"Alternative me dance with you much?"
She smiled at him.
"Sometimes. Mostly after he regenerated, and went all enthusiastic and hyperactive." She laughed a little at the memory. "Really different from you. Like a giant kid sometimes."
She looked over his shoulder and frowned.
"I think the Master's trying to use that drink to set the table on fire."
"What?" The Doctor turned away from her.
Sure enough, the Master was doing something with the laser screwdriver and a glass of alcohol while keeping an eye on the man who'd chased him away from his dance partner.
As they watched the alcohol burst into flames, and the Master casually walked over and set the other man's clothes alight.
In the chaos that followed, the Doctor thought that maybe he should intervene, but he wasn't the Master's babysitter, and why couldn't he have a day with the Master in it that didn't involve him wreaking havoc, just one?
Someone pointed in their direction, and several burly men started towards him and Rose.
"Time to run," the doctor announced, and grabbing Rose's hand he ran, leaving the Master to sort out his own mess – although if the Doctor knew him at all, he'd probably scarpered in all the confusion and left the Doctor to be blamed for the lot.
-
Sure enough, when they got back to the TARDIS it was to find the Master already there, sitting with his feet up on the console.
"Like I said, can't take you anywhere," the Doctor said darkly. "I'm gonna lock you up in the TARDIS and only let you out to use the bathroom."
"You wouldn't," the Master said breezily.
This was true, the Doctor wouldn't; not for more than a few days, anyway.
"Leave him alone, he can't help it," Rose said. "He's like one of those five year olds who throw things an' have tantrums when no one's paying attention."
The Master sat up properly with a jerk, outraged.
"I am not!"
But Rose had left the room.
The Doctor knew that he needed to speak to Rose about her stint as a goddess – he was seriously alarmed about the possible side effects – but supposed it could wait until morning. Rose looked tired, and besides, he needed to have a little chat with the Master.
"You," the Doctor said forebodingly. The Master rolled his eyes at the lecture he knew was coming, and sat back with a look of fake attentiveness on his face.
"Yes?"
END CHAPTER
AN:
So there you go.
Also, anyone fancy heading over to take a look at my fic "Daughter of Time"? (story ID: 4920283) Normally I wouldn't ask, but it has got no reviews. At all. And I worked on it pretty hard. It's got a young Doctor, it's got a young Master, it's got Bad Wolf and Rassilon briefly, it's got Susan being taught bad Time Lord jokes by the Master, it's got the Doctor thieving a TARDIS. Please?