Disclaimer: I wished I owned Doctor Who, but alas! I don't!
Chapter 2: London, 2005
Beep! Beep! Rose Tyler groaned and without even bothering to open her eyes, reached over and hit the snooze button on her alarm clock. "Five more minutes." she muttered. Then her eyes flew open as she remembered that she hadn't set her alarm clock the night before.
Then her alarm clock was forgotten as Rose realized that she was in her room, her old room. The room she used to have when she and her mum were still living in the other universe. Her old room that she hadn't been in for years.
Rose wondered if she were dreaming, but there was an awful feeling of reality about it that assured that she wasn't and that was unquestionably back in her old room. A flood of emotions hit her and Rose was just too overwhelmed and confused to deal with them right now.
How could she be here? It just wasn't possible. The wall between the universes had closed and travel between them was impossible. Yet, not only had she, with no reasonable explanation, traveled between universes, but she had also come back to her old home.
Rose tentatively threw back the covers and slowly got out of bed. Her eyes scanned the room for any hint, any sign at all of how she had gotten here, but there was nothing at all. She sighed. Nothing made any sense.
For reasons that she could not explain, Rose felt a sudden chill. She shivered, but not with cold. Something was wrong, very wrong. She shouldn't be here. She couldn't be here!
"Rose?" startled, Rose turned to see her mum, Jackie, standing in the doorway. One look at her face and Rose knew things were about to get much more complicated. Jackie looked...different. She was more careworn than she had been for a while now, yet at the same time she looked younger.
Younger. That one word turned Rose's world upside down. It couldn't be...could it? "Mum," said Rose urgently, "this is going to sound like a stupid question, but what today's date?"
"The 26th of March." said Jackie, starting at her daughter intently. She frowned and Rose could see that Jackie was certainly puzzled by her question, but Rose knew she had to ask.
"And the year?" Rose pressed.
"2005." said Jackie. "Rose? Are you feeling alright?" Rose had suddenly grown very pale and Jackie thought she was going to faint.
2005. Rose did not know how, but one way or another, she had waken up in her own past. 2005. 26th of March, 2005.
Rose blinked. She didn't know why, but she knew that the date was important. Think, Rose, think! 26th of March, 2005. Why did that day sound so familiar? Rose's eyes widened as she realized that it was the day that her life had changed forever...the day that she had first met the Doctor.
All of her fears drained away and were replaced with a sudden hope. Had fate really granted her a second chance? It sounded almost too good to be true. The Doctor. How her heart leaped at the very thought of him.
True, this would the be the first regeneration she had met, but what of that? He was still the Doctor. He was still the man...or rather Time Lord, that she had fallen in love with and now she would get to see him again!
"Are you alright?" Jackie repeated, breaking into Rose's thoughts. "Maybe you should home and not go into work today."
"No!" said Rose quickly. Jackie jumped back in surprise. "I mean...I'm fine, Mum. Honestly. I'll be fine. No need to worry about me." Rose smiled, hoping to assure her mother. Jackie didn't look convinced, but she let the matter drop.
Rose felt greatly relieved when Jackie left the room. As she dressed, Rose's mind went over all her memories of that first meeting. She froze. Wilson. The chief electrician. He had been killed by the shop-window-dummies.
Rose's first instinct was to try and save him, but then she remembered what had happened when she had tried to save her own dad. The reapers. Even the Doctor hadn't been able to do anything to defeat them. But surely that was different? That time she had merely traveled back in time, but this...this time she had somehow gone back on her own time line. Didn't that mean that Wilson's death hadn't happened yet?
Rose was a little confused and unsure as to how to proceed on that score. She sighed. She guessed she would just have to do her best until she met the Doctor. She hoped that if she did manage to save Wilson, that it would not cause any damage.
She had just finished getting dressed when there was a frantic knock on her door. "Come in!" The door was thrown up and Rose was pleasantly surprised to see Mickey. She hadn't seen in a few years and her arms were around him in a big hug before she remembered that to him, he had probably just seen her yesterday. But the look on his face as she pulled away told her something was very wrong. Then she realized that she didn't remember Mickey coming to her house that day.
Mickey took several deep breaths as if to steady himself. "Look," he began, "I know you have to go to work, but we have to talk. It's important!" Rose looked at her alarm clock. She wouldn't meet the Doctor for several more hours and work could wait.
"Alright." she sat down on her bed and Mickey sat down next to her. She patiently waited for him to begin while he collected his thoughts.
"I know this is going to sound crazy," he began, "and I won't blame me if you don't believe me, but I didn't know who else I could tell." he took another deep breath. "This is..wrong. Everything is. I don't mean our relationship...per say...but when I went to bed last night...it was the year 2010. And when I woke up this morning I found it was 2005. I've somehow traveled back in time."
He paused and refused to look at Rose, as if he were afraid she would laugh in his face, but was the last thing on Rose's mind. Mickey knew too! It thrilled her that she was not alone. She had already been feeling guilty about leaving Mickey behind...again when she left with the Doctor, but if he remembered?
"I know." she said simply and Mickey turned to her in surprise. "The same thing happened to me, Mickey. I remember it all. The last time we say each other we had just finished saving the whole of reality from the Daleks."
Mickey let out a huge sigh of relief. "Oh, good! I was afraid you wouldn't believe him. In fact I was afraid you'd have met locked up."
"Never."
"But how did this happen?" asked Mickey.
Rose shook her head. "I wish I knew." Then she smiled at him. "But I am glad to see you again," Mickey. And I am sorry things turned out the way they did. I'm sorry for the way I treated you. "
"Don't be." said Mickey with such sincerity that Rose looked at him in surprise. "I'm not. Things turned out for the best in the end. As a matter of fact, Rose, I am...well, I was before I woke up here in the past, a happily married man."
Rose's eyes widened in delighted surprise. "Married? Mickey's that's fantastic! May I ask who the lucky Mrs. Smith is...er...was?"
"Martha."
"Martha? Martha Jones?" Mickey nodded. Rose smiled. "Mickey! Congratulations! I'm happy for you
both!"
"Yeah, but it's not anymore is it?" he said gloomily. "I mean I've woken up in the past! Right now she doesn't even know I exist!"
"Well, we both remember. Maybe she does too. Besides," she added happily, "do you know what day we've woken up on?" Mickey thought about for a while then shook his head. "Today's the day we first met the Doctor!"
Mickey jumped up in excitement. "Then what are we waiting for! The Doctor's the only one who can help us. Let's go meet him!"
"What a minute, Mickey." said Rose getting to her feet. "I don't meet the Doctor for another few hours. We have to be patient."
Mickey sighed. "A few hours!" he moaned. "I don't know if I can wait that long. I'll go crazy with boredom."
That gave Rose an idea. "Well, I have to go to work now, but there is something you can do for me that might relieve your boredom, but it will be dangerous."
Mickey smiled. "What is it?"
"Wilson, the chief electrician at the shop. He got killed by the shop-window-dummies last time and..."
"And you want me to make sure that doesn't happen?"
Rose nodded. "Like I said it will probably be dangerous. Maybe I should do it instead." Mickey shook his head.
"No way, Rose. You have to meet the Doctor. I'll look after Wilson." Rose looked doubtful, but Mickey just laughed. "No sweat, Rose! I've had a lot of practice dealing with things like this since the last time we met. I've been fighting monsters while you, Donna, and the Doctor have been off traveling the universe."
Mickey did not notice the pained look on Rose's face. Little did he realize that the entire time he, Martha, and Jack had been merely assuming Donna and Rose were still traveling with the Doctor, but he never could have guessed the real truth. A tear rolled down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away, hoping Mickey didn't notice it. She did not want to have to tell them that the Doctor had dumped her behind in the alternate universe with the human/metacrisis doctor, whom they all had come to call "John Smith".
John Smith. He no longer existed Rose realized and she felt suddenly guilty for being so happy to have gone back in time. Her relationship with him had been rocky from the start and it had been getting rockier as time went on. The more time passed the more Rose had come to realize that John just wasn't the Doctor, nor would he ever be. Not that she blamed him for that, on the contrary she had felt incredible sorry for him. It wasn't his fault. Rose had considered him a friend, but he wanted much more than that, but Rose just couldn't accept him as the Doctor. John had understood that in silence and in pain, Rose knew.
She would definitely miss him and she wished she could have loved him like he wanted her too, but she just couldn't. And now he no longer existed. Rose sighed. Why did the universe have to be so complicated?
She shook herself from her thoughts and realized that she had better hurry or she'd be late for work. Mickey offered to escort her and she accept the invitation readily. She had Mickey had much to discuss and as they headed off to the shop, Rose listened in delight as Mickey told her the details of how his and Martha's relationship had started.
Rose arrived at the shop with only a couple seconds to spare, but thankfully no one asked any questions. It took her a few minutes to get back into the routine of things, but before long it felt almost as if she had never left. As she went about her work, it suddenly dawned on her that the shop would be destroyed in a few hours and that the next day her coworkers would all be out of jobs. She knew it couldn't be helped. The shop had to be destroyed in order to stop the dummies. Still, if there was just another way...
The day passed much more slowly than Rose remembered it doing, but she knew that was before she was so excited and that she knew what was going to happen afterwards. She tried to pass the day by coming up with a mental list of all the places the Doctor would take her. She also tried to come up with a plan on how to stop herself from getting trapped in the alternate universe, but as that was a long time away, she would have plenty of time to develop it.
After what seemed almost an eternity to Rose, it was closing time. Her first thought was to run to the basement, but then she remembered how things had happened, so instead she started heading towards the doors. Sure enough, one of the security guards handed her a bag of cash. She took it and happily strolled towards the lifts that would take her to the basement, her future, and the Doctor.
A few minutes later she was walking towards the room, that she remembered meeting the Doctor in. She was sure her heart was pounding so loudly that even a deaf person could have heard it. She walked past the dummies, careful not to let on that she knew they were alive. Then they began to move and she hid a smile.
She had to make them think she was frightened. She had to pretend to think it was all a joke. So that's what she did. "Is it Derek? Very funny! I got the joke. You can knock it off now." The dummies backed her up to the wall. This was it. This was when her world would change forever.
A dummy raised an arm and Rose didn't even flinch. The Doctor would be there. He would save her. She never doubted that for a second, which is why what happened next came as such a huge shock. The dummy hit her hard and knocked her to the floor. Rose was too shocked to let out a cry of pain. She looked over to where she had expected the Doctor to be coming to her rescue, but there was no one there. This could not be happening! He had to be there. He had to be!
It wasn't until part of the dummy's hand slid open, revealing a gun ready to shoot her that she realized that it was happening and that the Doctor wasn't here to save her. Her instincts took over and she dove out of the way as the dummy shot at her. She rushed passed the other dummies and ran towards the lift. The dummies where slow and Rose did not have any trouble out distancing them. She only hoped that they wouldn't try to shoot at her. She made it into the lift. And quickly pushed the "up" button. She took several deep breaths.
The Doctor hadn't been there. This wasn't right! He was suppose to have been there! He was! That's how Rose had remembered it happening. A tear rolled down her cheek and then another. The Doctor wasn't there. Something was wrong, very wrong and she had to find out what.
Rose dashed out of the shop and ran towards her home, her mind a whirl. If the Doctor wasn't there, then the city...no, the entire world was in danger from the Nesteen consciousness. It had to be stopped. But how?
Rose was so focused on this that she bumped into Mickey who had been waiting for her. "Hey!" He smiled at her, but then the smile quickly disappeared when he noticed the expression on her face. "What's wrong? What happened?"
"The Doctor wasn't there."
"What!" Mickey looked back over her shoulder as if suddenly realizing that the shop hadn't been blown up. "But...I don't understand. He was supposed to be there!"
"But he wasn't, Mickey! Something...something's wrong, and we have to find out what." Mickey nodded and then Rose suddenly remembered something. "Wilson?" she asked.
Mickey shook his head sadly. "He was already dead by the time I got to him." Rose sighed. "So what do we do now?" he asked.
"First we have to stop the Nesteen, and I know right where to find it."
"But how?" said Mickey. "The last time the Doctor was only able to stop it because he had the thing of anti-plastic! And since he's not here..."
Rose knew what Mickey was getting at, but she also knew that if they didn't try, the whole planet would be destroyed. They had to do something. "Think like the Doctor, Mickey. We'll thing of something."
Author's Note: Whew! Sorry it took a while, but I kept having to rewrite this chapter as I didn't like how it kept turning out. Anyways, please, please, review!
