Chapter 2: Atmospheric disturbance (Meteor shower)
Rose was standing in front of him, peering out of the window that showed the glowing light of red and dusty rocks that swirled past the observation deck.
"The end of the Earth. Its gone, we were too busy saving our selves. All those years, all that history and no one was even looking.. It's just.." The doctor took her hand and held it firmly in his.
"Come with me." He said, with her walking with him into the TARDIS. He let her hand go to work on the controls. She looked around the main deck as he worked and heard the grinding sound that always hummed whenever the TARDIS was beginning it's departure and arrival. Suddenly it stopped and The Doctor looked at Rose. She looked at him curiously.
"Where are we?" She asked.
"Look outside." He said nodding his head towards the door. He saw her walk out and noticed the daylight shine inside the TARDIS before she had shut the door behind her. He quickly followed and found her standing there observing everyone and everything around her. She was seeing it with new eyes.
"You think it'll last forever, people and cars and concrete. But it won't one day it's all gone, even the sky." He looked up at the blue sky and thought of the red sky that had belonged to his home planet."My planet's gone." He continued. "It's dead. It burned like the earth. It's just rocks and dust , before it's time." He felt the dull ache of loneliness return inside him.
"What happened?" She asked.
"There was a war and we lost."
"A war with who?" She asked. He didn't answer, not wanting to scare her away with the tales of the Daleks. "What about your people?" She asked.
"I'm a time lord. I'm the last of the time lords. They're all gone I'm the only survivor I'm left traveling on my own 'cause there's no one else." He said looking around, not meeting her eyes. He could feel her eyes looking at him with sorrow.
"There's me." She noted. He wanted to smile but he turned to her to address her seriously.
"You've seen how dangerous it is. Do you want to go home?" He asked
"I don't know. I want..." She then sniffed the air and looked around. "Can you smell chips?" The change of subject was a relief to The Doctor.
"Yeah." He answered smiling at her.
"I want chips." She said, drawing out her words to make it however more clear her urging for chips..
"Me too." He said watching her.
"Right then, before you get me back in that box, chips it is, you can pay" She said quickly.
"No money." He said. She looked at him incredulously. Someone that could travel in time and didn't have a pence on him. She smiled at him
"What sorta date are you? Come on tight wad, chips are on me. We only have five billion years before the shops close." She said jokingly putting her tongue out between her teeth in a smile. They fluidly walked together in sync, hand in hand. She then turned to him before they arrived at the chip shop on the nearby corner.
"Doctor?" She said. He waited for her to say something, but she kept just repeating his name.
"Doctor? Doctor...Doctor?" He suddenly felt himself being shaken and slowly opened his eyes. He looked quickly to the side of him and realized he was inside the zeppelin, he had been dreaming. He put his hand behind his head and rubbed his neck.
"Ah." He exclaimed, trying to move his neck to either side. His neck felt stiff and sore against the paneling of the wall he had leaned against. He then looked at the form in front of him almost giving a sigh of relief seeing it being Rose. She seemed a bit at ease now.
"Crick in your neck I'm guessing? That's what you get for sleeping in a corner on the floor." She put her hand out to take his and help him up from the ground. He lifted himself up, trying not to pull her down with him and brushed his backside off.
"We landed?" He asked. Looking out one of the windows and seeing trees and buildings in the distance.
"Yeah a few minutes ago. Mum wanted to wake ya but I figured you wouldn't want a good floggin' on your first day here." She said smirking a smile.
"Well I appreciate the rescue Rose Tyler." He said, keeping her hand in his. "Alons-y!"
They walked out of the zeppelin and onto the helipad where Jackie and Pete were standing waiting for them.
"Finally got him up eh? I was worried I was going to have to make some tea to get him up again." She said giving out a small laugh. The Doctor smirked a smile at her and then towards Rose who in turn still carried a small smile on her face. Not a big smile that he was used to seeing, but a smile none the less. They all crowded into the car that was waiting for them and they were on their way back to the mansion.
When they reached the mansion, Jackie made it in first. An excited little child came running out from one of the rooms near the front door.
"Mummy mummy!" The little boy said running towards Jackie. Jackie scooped him up and gave him a big hug.
"There's my little Tony!" He giggled as she put kisses all over his face. "Have you been good while I was gone?" Jackie asked him. Tony nodded his head and looked towards the room where he had came out of. A woman entered the room then. She had dark brown curls all around her head and wore a black and white dress a bit on the hefty side but her energy made up for it keeping up with the little boy.
"I assure you he was behaving." The woman said.
"Thank you Katherine." Said Jackie. "I know it was such short notice to take care of him."
"Oh nonsense, it was no problem at all." She said waving it off. She looked towards the man in the blue suit and smiled for a moment.
"Don't tell me..." Katherine said looking him up and down and then turning to Rose.
"Hello! I'm the Doctor." Said The Doctor.
"You finally found him Rose! How wonderful!" Katherine said, practically beaming.
"Yeah, only took the threat of the end of existence but yeah.." She looked towards him and gave him a small smile. "I found him." Katherine hugged Rose for a moment and looked towards them all.
"You must all be hungry from your trip! I'll go and make tea."She said about to walk away.
"Just some proper tea will be all Katherine." Said Jackie. Katherine stopped and turned around.
"Are you all not hungry mam?" She asked and looked at their faces.
"I think we are all more tired than anything. I think it's some camomile tea for my nerves and then bedtime."
"Yes mam." She then looked at the rest of them. "Any other requests?" Katherine asked.
"Just regular tea for me." Said Rose.
"I second that." Said the Doctor looking and Rose and smirking a smile.
"Coffee for me, thank you Katherine." Said Pete.
"It'll be ready in a few moments." She said walking down a hallway into what appeared to be a large kitchen.
"I almost forgot how big this place was." The Doctor said looking around and looking up at the chandelier that hung from the ceiling another floor up. It produced elegant lighting for the small space.
"Mum, I think after tea, I'm going to just head to my flat." She said.
"Don't be silly Rose! There's plenty of room here for you two, you know that!" She said extending her arms out to signify the size of the mansion. Rose looked at her uneasily then looked at the Doctor. "Besides, you don't have any clothes for the Doctor to wear tonight. I know we have to have something here that would fit him. I bet Mickey has some jim jams. In fact I'm sure of it. I always give him a set of jim jams for Christmas and I've never seen him wear the bloody things." Said Jackie.
"Alright mum, we'll stay. At least for tonight." Rose said. Pete then cleared his throat, not trying to be rude.
"Well now that that's sorted, Rose I-"
"Don't worry dad, I'll have a full report on your desk first thing when I can get to my laptop." She said. It caught him by surprise.
"Well that's a relief but I was about to say maybe you wanted some proper time off? It would do you some good and you could show the Doctor around. He can get properly adjusted that way." Rose looked at the Doctor who was beaming away at that thought.
"How long are we talking about 'proper time off'?" She asked him quizzically, she wasn't enjoying the idea of being away from work for an extended amount of time. The Doctor then realized it wasn't exactly an option for her, he studied her reaction as she was still gripping onto his hand.
"A month, maybe? Rose after everything that went on.."
"You weren't there. I'm fine! I can take a week, but a month? Do you know how behind I'll be?" She said obviously trying to find excuses.
"Rose, sweetheart, you haven't taken really any time off since we got here. You need some time to get the Doctor situated here and you need to relax." Jackie said looking at her.
"You won't be behind on your work either Rose, you know you're ahead of everyone there. It'll take a month or two for everyone to catch up as it is. If you're so worried then I can have Ianto send you a report every morning on what everyone is up to and if something major goes on you will be the first to know." She looked at her mum and dad for a moment and then looked at the Doctor and studied his face. He looked concerned to say the least. She gave out a small sigh and rolled her eyes, something the Doctor was used to seeing when she had first boarded the TARDIS with him when he was in his 9th regeneration form.
"Fine." She said. "But I want a report from Ianto in the mornings."
"Of course." Said Pete. Katherine then entered the main lobby again, they all still stood there in the doorway.
"Well are you all ever going to move out of the lobby? Your tea and coffee is ready." Said Katherine. Everyone then proceeded into the kitchen where they all grabbed a mug of tea.
"Oh, this is just what I needed." Said Jackie lightly sipping her tea. They all sat there in silence in the room for a while. Rose finished her tea first and put the mug into the sink, washed it out and dried it with a tea towel. She then put it back in the cupboard.
"You didn't have to do that mam, I could've taken care of that." Said Katherine.
"It was only a mug Kat, no worries." She said putting it back into the cupboard. The Doctor walked up the Rose at the sink and handed her his mug. She did the same to his as she did her own and put it away. She then dried off her hands and took the Doctors hand.
"Come on you, let's find ya some jim jams." Pete and Jackie watched them both as they walked out of the kitchen hand in hand and then went up the flight of stairs.
They walked down the hall and opened a door. Rose walked in as the Doctor stood at the doorway, slightly fidgeting.
"I know those jim jams are in here." She said, opening a lower dark oak chester drawer, then proceeding to the next one down. The Doctor scanned the room, looking at the bed that was neatly made along with the pictures that hung on the wall and the pictures that were in small frames around the tables. Some of them having Rose and Jackie in them and some having Mickey with his gran.
"Rose.." The Doctor said. She still was going through the drawers, moving all the material in each drawer this way and that to look deeper into it.
"Rose?" He repeated. She then turned to him and her breathing hitched for a second, taking all of him in with her eyes for a moment. He looked down towards his stomach and she could hear his stomach grumble from where she was in Mickey's room.
"Sounds like your hungry mate." She said giving out a small giggle. "Ah here they are!" She exclaimed pulling out a pair of dark blue sweatpants and a matching tee shirt. She closed the drawer and brought them over to him. She placed them shirt against his front.
"Looks like the shirt will fit ya. I know the pants will, they are adjustable anyways." She said, handing the clothes to him. He took them from her as she whirled him around and pushed him lightly out of the door, shutting it behind herself as they both exited the room.
"You're room is here." She said, opening the door showing a nice guest room with a small telly and a comfortable full size bed. The sheets were a nice white tone that popped from the red walls and plush red carpeting. He placed the jim jams on the edge of the bed and walked with Rose back out into the hallway.
"I'm right across the hall from you. So if you need anything..." She trailed looking at him. He nodded towards her then heard his stomach again.
She smiled and took his hand again.
"Come on you, lets get you something to eat. I know just the place." She said smiling and pulling him with her. He followed her to the kitchen where Jackie was reading a fashion magazine as Pete was reading the newspaper.
"We're going to the shop. We'll be back." She said.
"Alright." Jackie said barely looking up from her magazine. "I think it's about time to put Tony to bed." Jackie said. Rose walked over to her little brother and hugged him.
"You'll probably be in bed before I get back then, yeah? Goodnight Tony." Rose said kissing her brother on the forehead.
"Night night." Said Tony as Jackie took Tony's hand and they walked out of the kitchen. Rose and the Doctor then opened the door and looked out into the night sky.
"You might want to get an umbrella!" Said The Doctor as he opened the door.
"It sure is coming down now." She said looking at the rain falling quickly.
"Atmospheric disturbance." He said, looking glum for a moment. "Still it'll pass." She handed him an umbrella as she walked out of the front door and opened the umbrella she had in her hand. The Doctor opened his umbrella up and closed the door behind him, walking with Rose down the street.
"So where are we going?" He asked curiously.
"Chip shop, just down the street here." She said.
"I could go for some chips." He said smirking a smile, thinking back to his dream. "Sadly, I think this time you're going to have to pay this time too. I haven't any money."
"You really are a bad date." She teased. "Maybe I should've listened to mum when she warned me about you." She gave him a small smile as they walked along the road.
"It's not my fault, you know. I don't know what's worse really..." He trailed while he was in thought.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"Well, I'm here without any clothes besides the ones on me now, no TARDIS, no sonic screwdriver, hell he could've at least traveled back and gotten me five quid to pay for chips." She stopped walking and looked at him. He noticed her movement stop and he turned around to face her.
"I-I'm sorry. I've been so selfish, having other things on my mind and here you are." She said gesturing her hand at him.
"Yes, here I am." He said, walking up to Rose and taking her hand. It felt so pleasant, to hold her hand.
"And you know what?" He asked. She looked at him as he looked around the neighborhood for a moment.
"What?" She asked, watching him. He then turned and gave her a smile.
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
I can finally see, that you're right there beside me. I am not my own, I have been made new. Please don't let me go. I desperately need you – Owl city "Meteor shower"