Chapter 4
The Doctor's attempt at small talk did little to ease the queasiness in Roses stomach as she drove, though not for lack of trying. "So, tell me about this job of yours. Working with dear old dad then, eh?" he prompted in a change of subject.
"Oh," Rose began. "Well, I would tell you about it but that's classified information," she teased looking his way briefly, her tongue between her teeth.
His heart flipped to see her smile in that entrancing and incredibly distracting way with her pleasantly pink tongue perched between her teeth like so. Never could resist her anything when she used that one on him. He shook off his distraction and countered. "Rose, my very existence is classified information being part alien and all. I'm pretty sure you can tell me."
"True," she responded with a small laugh. "Well it's at lot of the same things I did before with... with the Doctor only minus the time traveling," she explained, the lightness in her voice fading at the mentioning of his name.
His eyes fell slightly at her referring to the Doctor instead of him but he didn't interject.
"We investigate possible alien encounters and we neutralize any threats," she continued. There's a lot of diplomacy involved as well. This earth has been giving intergalactic political asylum to other species but we've been keeping it quiet. This world hasn't had a full scale alien invasion so a lot of people don't even believe in aliens. I mean, sure they know about the Cybermen but they weren't technically alien were they?"
"By neutralize you mean..."
Rose smiled once more. "They agree to stay out of trouble or we ship them home."
He grinned, happy to hear that her compassion was still very much intact. "Rose Tyler," he said proudly. "Defender of the earth."
She smiled sheepishly. "Well it wasn't all about aliens. Well... I guess in a round about way it was. A lot of my time lately was spent on the dimension cannon. I went to school and got a masters in engineering and physics too. I was the overseer of the project."
He couldn't help but beam at her. Not only was he thoroughly impressed by her abilities to do what even he thought was impossible by crossing between parallel worlds, she had done it to find him again. But that in a nut shell was Rose Tyler: the impossible girl. Fearless and driven, nothing got in her way. "You're brilliant!" he stated affectionately.
"Thank you," she responded smugly. She glanced his way to see him still watching her and her cheeks flushed ever so slightly at his expression. Maybe this was a bad idea. He was testing her resolve looking at her that way. She cleared her throat. "Well here we are then," she declared in relief, pulling in next to a large mall.
The Doctor looked about as he shut the car door. They stood at the base of an enormous multilevel department store, not unlike the one he had rescued her from so many years ago. But there was no adventure to be found this time around. Nope. This time he was here for something far worse. "Riiiiight. Shopping," he muttered, popping the 'p'. As he stood in the shadow of the looming the building, he found himself wondering how something so ordinary could be so comically imposing. Then with a start, he realized Rose was far ahead. He had to nearly sprint across the lot to catch up with her just as she entered the automatic sliding glass doors.
"Well, where would you like to start?" she asked as they entered the busy building. When he didn't answer, she turned to see an utterly lost look upon his face. "Oh sure, save the universe any day but take you shopping and you're useless! Come on then," she said pushing him toward the men's suits as a sales associate introduced himself.
"Right," said Rose to the young man. "We'll need two suits, several shirts, and two pairs of shoes." She nudged him forward slightly once more. "And I'll be over this way."
"Oi! Wait a minute! Where are you off to then?" This was only bearable because she was there with him after all. "Still wandering off I see," he cracked towards her departing form.
"Oh I hardly think there's any trouble here," she called out to him over her shoulder.
"You never know, Rose Tyler!" he quipped, stealing a suspicious look at the mannequin next to him.
Turning, Rose stifled a laugh to see him so very put out, his boyish features pouting much like a child who just had his favorite toy snatched away. "Look I know how much you hate shopping. We'll get out of here faster if we divide and conquer, yeah? Besides, I won't be far. Just having a look at ties," she reasoned, nodding her head off to the right.
As much as he didn't want her to go, the thought of getting out of there faster was enough for him to admit that she had a point. He nodded glumly in agreement as she disappeared. Outwitted by Rose Tyler. With a sigh the Doctor turned toward the associate. "Oh alright then. Off we go," he moaned, tugging at his ear in frustration.
If the Doctor hadn't been part Time Lord and known better he would have sworn it took longer than an hour and half before they made their final purchases. He rather enjoyed browsing markets in far off lands but having to buy stuff out of necessity was off-putting. Still, he thought to himself looking at the lovely blond woman beside him, could be worse.
Bags in hand they made their way toward the smell of food, his request. It felt so natural to be walking next to her. If he hadn't been carrying so much he would have taken her hand in his. He settled for bumping her shoulder playfully with a bright smile as they strolled along.
She responded with a cautious smile of her own, her brow wrinkling at the sight of him. His dark hair was slightly disheveled, flatter than usual, his face speckled with stubble, but at that moment he was more real and more handsome than she had ever seen him. And happier too. He looked so carefree with that signature Doctor smile and she wondered just how he could walk so surely with the air of man who wanted for nothing when he had lost absolutely everything.
"Oh!" he suddenly exclaimed stopping them both. "Oh, oh oh! Do you smell that? Chips!" He inhaled deeply with a manic grin. "Come on!" He led the way with far too much enthusiasm toward a fish and chip restaurant in the food court.
Meal in hand, they took a seat among the several tables and chairs that lined the area. "Oh these are marvelous!" he proclaimed busily downing his chips.
She couldn't help but laugh at his manners or lack thereof as he happily stuffed his mouthful. "Blimey, you must be hungry. Did the meta-crisis give you two stomachs?" she teased. Ever the exemplary pinnacle of fine dining etiquette, him. For someone who knew so much about culture he was rather... well... uncultured at times. Not that it mattered at a place like this. She'd like to see the look on her mum's face if he ever tried that at one of her posh charity functions.
"Nope! Weeeell, I don't think so anyway. Highly unlikely."
"But not impossible?" she added, nibbling at her meal with her eyebrow raised slightly.
He smiled brightly at her with a snort. "Exactly." He instinctively brought his hand forward to find hers but she hesitated beneath his grasp, her shoulders hunching. Tilting his head to the side he looked at her questioningly, his kind eyes inspecting hers as he chewed. "Is something wrong?" he asked concerned.
Rose's face felt hot as she took a deep breath. "No, no, I'm fine," she lied tucking a strand of blond hair behind her ear with her other free hand as she stared downward at the table. He could still hold her hand as a friend, she rationalized. Nothing wrong with that. After all she and the real Doctor had been holding hands since the moment they'd met.
Bad idea. Thinking of him brought on a fresh wave of hurt. Looking up at him she suddenly saw her Doctor's face in his and she realized with a start that the hand holding hers was his, really his. Emotional pain shot through her and she let out a small breath.
The Doctor clasped her hand tighter, bringing up his other hand around hers at seeing her in distress. "Rose what is it?" he demanded. "What's wrong?!"
"'S nothing," She winced. At that moment she couldn't take it any longer. "Please, don't." She took her hand back and folded her arms underneath the table, suddenly not hungry any longer, especially not for chips.
A bit taken aback at her reaction, his spirits once so high fell in an instant. Time, he reminded himself. She said she needed time. Of course she did, how daft of me, he chided himself. "I'm sorry," he spouted, rubbing the back of his neck.
"It's okay, really, I'm just..." her words caught in her throat. "Tired," she said finally settling on a word she hoped wouldn't offend him. It was still a ridiculous excuse.
His eyes narrowed as he scrutinized her. He wasn't at all convinced of her explanation. Seemed she was still grieving for him, the other him. He leaned forward. "Rose, you should know that I..."
"Shall we go?" she cut him off with a forced smile.
Something was most definitely wrong. He surveyed her carefully, leaning back. "Yeah sure, fine. Ready when you are. Best not to quarrel with the designated driver after all." Regretfully leaving his meal half eaten, he grabbed his things as they departed.
An uncomfortable silence had settled between them on the way home. Try as he may to come up with something witty to say, he couldn't stop thinking about what had just happened. Last night when he held her he had hoped... and then this. He looked briefly her way. Best not bring it up now. Obviously she didn't want to talk about it.
While he was beyond nervous at the prospect of being left here to live the rest of his days without the TARDIS he had been brimming with hope at the thought of having a life with Rose- a hope that now seemed to be faltering. What if she had changed her mind? Maybe he could manage without the TARDIS, yes it's loss was raw and it would be almost unbearable, but life without the TARDIS and Rose... He studied the profile of her face but saw no change in her demeanor. His jaw tensed.
And he still had yet to ask her about Pete's job offer. Well, he'd have to get around to it sooner or later. "Rose," he began, anxiously rubbing his right hand as it tingled once more. She stirred slightly at her name but didn't take her eyes from the road. "Pete offered me a consulting position at Torchwood."
She relaxed slightly. "Oh, well that's great. I mean, if that's what you want to do." Somehow thinking of the Doctor with a job seemed... wrong but of all the jobs to have on this world it was the best fit for him.
"What do you want?" he asked her point blank.
She nervously stole a glance his way. "What do you mean?"
"Look, I realize this was all sort of sudden," he said clearing his throat. "And... if you need time away from... me..." his voice trailed off.
She turned her head to find him gloomily peering out the window. Her heart went out to him. She was his only friend now, unless one counted her mum which was a stretch. No, she couldn't leave him all alone. "Um, no. That's fine. I don't mind." And despite her difficulty in being around him she felt his presence was also somewhat soothing, like having him there. "Anyway they could really use you. There's no one better for the job in all the universe as far as I'm concerned."
He turned to study her. Sadly her response wasn't as revealing as he had hoped it would be. He couldn't tell if she was just trying to be polite or if she truly meant it.
"Speaking of which, what are you going to do now. I mean, I'm sure mum and dad don't mind you staying at the mansion..."
Eyes wide, he gave out a long sigh, absently staring at the road in front of him. "Haven't got the foggiest."
"Well don't worry about it for now. I'm sure you'll think of something."
His spirits fell. Didn't she know? Hadn't he told her he wanted to be with her? Obviously she wasn't of the same mindset. This quite upset him.
It didn't take long for her to notice the silence. Rose observed him. He was undeniably getting jittery. His foot was tapping impatiently in that tell-tale Doctor way, his face noticeably tense as he stared at the passing buildings. "Doctor? Are you going to be alright?"
He looked up at her quizzically.
"With day to day living I mean. Carpets and doors?" she clarified as she looked back and forth between him and the road worriedly. "None of this has to be permanent if you don't want it to be."
Oh but he did want something permanent, something very very permanent with her.
The intensity of his gaze took her by surprise. "Doctor?"
"Hm?"
"Are you okay?"
"Right, um sorry," he said looking away. "Yes, fine. I'm always alright, me," he quietly added, looking out the window once more.
Rose knew that whatever was the matter it was decidedly not alright. Seemed this Doctor was as good at lying as the other.
