4.
"patience and light, the world is in your eyes. we're holding onto the stars to keep this off the ground." stars by ben riddle
When Rose was younger, in the midst her petty teenage rebellion, she used to turn up the volume on her CD player all the way and blast angry girl rock until she couldn't hear her mother's shrill voice asking her to stop, to talk to her, to just listen for one minute. She has since learned that using headphones and an iPod is a much more efficient way to listen to music, which she does whenever she is working on a project (like redecorating her room or sorting through her clothes).
Rose has always liked drawing and painting and making little clay sculptures. On her seventeenth birthday, a month after she came home from running away, her mother got her an expensive sketchbook, the kind with thick, creamy white paper, and an easel for her canvases. Rose likes to turn up her music full blast and just go, painting whatever she wants to on that day. Her favorite subject is space, and most of her notebooks from school are lined with her little doodles of nebulae and supernovas.
The morning when she is supposed to meet Jack and the Doctor the day before Jack leaves, she is sitting at her chair, lathering acrylics onto her brush as she adds detail to the wings of her subject. She is immensely grateful to the Doctor for showing her all that literature, because she now has many more ideas about what to paint. She finds that birds are one of her new favorites, since they offer a shocking number of creative possibilities.
She sings quietly along to the song playing, amused to realize that she's listening to "Space Oddity" by David Bowie (she hates to admit that Jimmy was ever right, but he has fantastic taste in music). With the music playing so loud, she fails to notice the Doctor poking his head into her room until he speaks.
"Rose Tyler!"
She shrieks, jumping up to grab the baseball bat next to her desk. She shakes the weapon angrily at the door until realizing that the intruder is only the Doctor. She huffs angrily at him, setting the bat down again. "Jesus, Doctor, you scared me half to death! How did you even get in here?"
"Jackie let me in. I think she's finally starting to like me."
Rose laughs lightly. "Never think that. She doesn't like anyone." She picks up her brush from where she dropped it on the floor and sets in gently back in the water cup. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"Jack knows what he wants to do for his last day! Apparently, there's some sort of banquet and Jack's been invited because one of his clients knows the host. He asked if he could bring some friends, and they said yeah! So we're going to a ball! Isn't that exciting?" He grins at her brightly, and Rose can't help but grin in return.
"That sounds fun. But I don't really have anything to wear to a ball. An' I can't just go out and buy something that fancy."
"No problem, Jack and I will take you shopping. A young woman like you needs one good gown, don't you think?"
Rose's smile is wider than normal, the tip of her pink tongue poking out between her teeth. A real ball. Just like Cinderella. She's suddenly immensely glad that she met the Doctor, more so than usual.
"I'm going to a ball!" she yells, waving her hands in the air in victory and throwing her arms around the Doctor. He wraps his arms around her in a bone-crushing hug, laughing at her childlike enthusiasm.
"We have to go now, 'cause it's tomorrow an' this is an extremely important dress. Jack's waiting outside, we're gonna take you to the tailor he uses whenever he's in the city." He grabs her hand, making to lead her out the door before spinning on his heel and walking toward her desk. "I almost forgot." He walks around Rose's easel until he is facing the painting she was working on. He is speechless for one moment, until locking eyes with Rose and beaming. "Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic."
He grabs her hand and runs through the flat as Rose calls to Jackie, "Bye mum, I'm going out with the Doctor and Jack, I'll be back later, love you!" She laughs all the way to the car, grinning madly at Jack as he waves from the driver's seat.
"Alright, I guess I'm your chauffeur today," he grumbles as she and the Doctor settle into the backseat.
Rose glances around the interior of the rented car, totally unsurprised to find that it is unnecessarily extravagant. She glances down at the floor and then looks back at the Doctor with shock.
"You got new boots."
He shifts around in his seat as he says, "Yeah. D'you like them?" He makes a show of waggling his feet, doing a faux jig for Rose's benefit.
"I love them. Much better than the old pair."
"Oh, I'm keeping the old set. I jus' thought I could do with something new."
Rose chuckles at the Doctor's excitement, leaning her head against the cool glass window as she watches the city go by. She sings "Heroes" under her breath as she looks outside, tapping a rhythm on her legs as she does. When she hears the Doctor join in, and then Jack, she sings louder until they are all screaming the words in the little car. They get looks from the people next to them at the next red light, and Rose and the Doctor break into laughter as Jack asks loudly, "What is it?"
When the car is quiet again, Rose can hear a blackbird singing over the roar of the engine, it's voice straining above the white noise like a violin.
"Are you lot done yet?" the Doctor calls impatiently from the hallway as Rose twirls in her dress for one final check. She glances at Jack, who nods happily.
"Yeah, we're done, Doctor! Jus' one minute." Rose unzips the gown, careful not to disturb any of the beading. The one article of clothing costs more than she makes in a week, but Jack assured her that he will pay for anything she wants. She wonders why he's doing such a nice thing for her when he's only in town for one more day. She thinks that maybe he's just a genuinely kind and generous person, that maybe that's one of the reasons he and the Doctor are such good friends. She decides on that explanation as she hands him the dress once again outside of the fitting room.
"It'll be perfect. You look gorgeous in it," he assures her. "Plus, you get to see me in a tux, which is a bonus."
Rose snorts even as Jack brings them over to his tailor to pay. The Doctor waits outside of the shop, having walked two steps in, seeing all of the elaborate gowns, and walked right back out. Rose hopes that he can still appreciate the party despite not being very interested in fashion. Jack seems to enjoy it (although really, Jack seems to enjoy everything).
"You lot done then?" the Doctor asks upon their exit from the shop. "I still need to get lunch before my shift."
"You're not working tomorrow, are you?" Jack questions worriedly.
"No, I've got a double shift today, so I'm off tomorrow."
"What do you want to eat?"
"We can just get takeout back at my flat." Rose suggests. "I'm working the late shift tonight, too."
"Sounds good to me. Thank god all of my work here is done. I always give myself an extra day on these trips."
They have lunch on the coffee table, Jack and Rose sitting on the floor across from the Doctor, who perches on the dreadful floral couch.
("I like it!" he insists as Rose giggles in disbelief.)
Rose gets ready to leave, remembering suddenly what she wanted to do. As she gets ready to push Jack and the Doctor out of the door, she hands Jack a sketch she did the other day. "I didn't think I'd have time to get this to you before you left, so here."
"Hey, it's me! Did you draw this?" He holds the pencil drawing up for the Doctor to see.
"Yeah, I like to draw a bit. You're a good subject, you have a very memorable face. Although I did google you to make sure I got you right. You look very handsome in your official lawyer picture thing, by the way."
Jack laughs incredulously. "This is an amazing rendition of me. Have you taken any art classes?" Rose shakes her head no, and Jack titters. "You should do something with this. I'll keep it very close to my heart, Miss Rose Tyler. Thank you for your hospitality, and for the picture. I will see you at the banquet tomorrow, and we'll have a proper farewell." He waves his hand, turning down the hall to leave, shaking his head in wonder at the paper.
"No picture for me?"
"Of course not, Doctor. I'll still be seeing you after tomorrow, I hope. Don't worry, I'll get around to making you one too. I've got to leave in just a minute, walk me down?"
At the bottom steps to the building, the Doctor gives her a hug goodbye. He stands with his hands on her shoulders as he says, "Jack's right, you know. You should really do something with that." He grins and heads in the opposite direction.
At work, Rose spends most of her time trying to determine how exactly she's going to capture the Doctor in just a picture. She decides that she has plenty of time to figure it out and goes back to folding clothes, daydreaming about beautiful dresses and feathery wings.
The Doctor picks her up from her flat promptly at seven. Rose rushes about her room attempting to tidy up her appearance as she hears Jackie answer the door.
"Well you clean up nice, don't you, John? Rose is almost done, just wait 'ere."
Rose applies a coat of lipstick and groans as she hears her mother call the Doctor "John" again. She knows that it's her mother's way of exerting some form of control over the man. She does one final glance at her appearance and nods, satisfied with her work. She adjusts the glittery blue dress and checks her hair, making sure the braided bun is secure. Well, here goes nothing.
Apparently she did a halfway decent job because when she appears in the living room, the Doctor is speechless once again. Twice in two days must be some sort of record, one that Rose is proud to have set.
"You look beautiful!" he says, so sincerely it makes Rose want to cry.
"You don't look so bad yourself, Doctor. I didn't realize you owned a tuxedo. Or a bow tie."
"Probably because I avoid them. Suits are ridiculous and bow ties are stupid."
Rose laughs. "I like them." He does, in fact, look very handsome. The intense black of the jacket wonderfully offsets his eyes, making them look even more blue. "Ready to go?"
The Doctor holds out his elbow for Rose to take. "After you, Miss Tyler."
The ballroom is the picture of opulence, with large crystal chandeliers dangling from the ceiling and red velvet curtains lining areas of the gold walls. Soft string music fills the air, lending to the elegance of the atmosphere. When Rose first enters the room, she gasps as she looks at it all.
"Oh my god. This is so amazing!" The Doctor leads her over to one of the tables, the one that Jack set them up for. "It's so beautiful."
The Doctor shrugs his shoulders briefly before saying, "Yeah, it's grand. I've seen better."
"Better? Like what exactly, Doctor?"
"There are things out there that this can't even compare to. If you saw them, you'd say the same as me."
Rose clicks her tongue in disappointment. "Can't we just appreciate that this is the most elegant party I've ever been to? I've never seen anything like this."
The Doctor grins at her, all traces of dismissiveness gone from his features. "You know, I could show you some really fantastic things. Places that would make this look like nothing. There's the Vatican and the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building and the Taj Mahal. Humans are amazing, aren't they? Stick with me, Miss Tyler. You haven't seen anything yet."
Rose returns his grin, happy to see his good mood returning. "Where's Jack then?" She turns to the door and points in excitement. "Oh, there he is."
Jack waves, bringing along his obviously irritated colleague. "Rose, Doctor, this is one of our partners here in London, Donna Noble. Donna, this is Rose Tyler and one of my old friends, Doctor John Smith. Just call him the Doctor."
Donna shakes the Doctor's hand as he reaches it out and smiles slightly at Rose as she takes hers. "Nice to see someone here who isn't sixty-three. We'll stick together then, yeah? Make sure we don't get eaten alive by any of these old bags." She settles into the chair opposite Rose as Jack sits down across from the Doctor. "So you two are friends with Jack then? Has he tried to hit on you yet?"
"Tried? Succeeded, I think you mean."
"Buy me a drink first," the Doctor quips. "No, I made sure Jack didn't get his fangs into Rose here. She's a little too pretty for him anyway. He wouldn't get past the first sentence."
"I resent that statement."
"He's always like this," Donna says to Rose conspiratorially. "Trust me."
Rose spends most of the time before dinner gazing around the room, while Donna and the Doctor argue agreeably about one thing or another and Jack interjects with innuendoes or smart comments as necessary. The food they serve is rich and expensive looking, although Rose discovers quickly that she hates caviar.
She notices halfway through dessert that some of her hair is coming loose from her up-do, so she pulls the rest down, eliciting some judgmental looks from the women further down the table. Donna simply smirks and high-fives her across the table. The Doctor grins when she laughs at the gesture.
Jack invites Donna to dance after dinner, holding his arm out for her to take. Instead, she pulls an elderly gentleman out of his chair and slow dances with him while the Doctor laughs in amusement. Jack only shrugs and invites Rose instead.
From her vantage point on the floor, Rose can see the Doctor fiddling with the rest of his food as a woman who is obviously there with her husband flirts with him. She can see him shake his head "no" and smile, and the woman huffs in anger as she turns away. He turns and waves at Rose and Jack across the room, and the two wave back at him.
On their way back to the table, several things seem to happen at once. First, a drunk old man stumbles into Rose and Jack. Second, Rose breaks her heel but avoids twisting her ankle in a show of uncharacteristic dexterity. Third, the Doctor's pager goes off, blaring a harsh beeping sound from his jacket pocket.
There is a moment where everything seems to stand still, as the Doctor looks up at Rose with fear in his eyes. The pager beeps once, twice, five times, before it's in his hands.
"I need to go," he says hurriedly. "One of my patients." He pushes himself up from the table in such as graceful and feral manner that he looks like some sort of wild animal, shoving his way through the crowd as he sprints to the door.
Jack tries to pull her back to the party, whispering to her quietly, "c'mon, Rose, let's go, you don't need to see that," but she wrenches her arm from his and runs to the door, limping in her broken shoe.
As she emerges from the building, she can see the Doctor already in the process of getting into a cab. She trips her way down the steps and opens the door to settle herself next to him just as the Doctor gives the driver the address.
"Rose, what the bloody hell are you doing here?"
"Going with you."
"Oh no you're not, get out."
She smiles triumphantly at him as she points out, "We're already moving, Doctor. Besides it was getting a bit stuffy in there."
He makes some sort of angry motion with his hands, not seeming very sure what to do with his limbs. "I need to do this, Rose. It's my job."
She bristles at the comment. "Yeah, but not alone. I'm going with you, whether you like it or not. Got it?"
They sit in silence for the rest of the ride there, Rose gauging his mood as he sits. As they walk up to the building he seems to calm a bit, so Rose asks, "What happened?"
"A lot of things. What you need to know is that one of mine had- complications, and we needed to move his surgery to now as opposed to later. It's not gonna be something you can just wait out. You should go home, and I'll call when it's over. Here's money for a cab." He deposits three twenty pound notes into her hand and attempts to walk away, but Rose keeps her grip on his wrist.
"I told you, I'm not going. I'll wait."
The fluorescent lights coming from the awning above their heads makes the Doctor look likes he's only just skin and bone as he shakes his head. "Fine. Your funeral."
"Yeah, just be sure it isn't his, okay?" She attempts to smile at him, clasping his hand tightly. "Good luck, Doctor."
He nods firmly and rushes into the building, pulling off his suit jacket as he walks, looking to Rose like a warrior going back into battle (which Rose thinks that, perhaps, he is). She shakes her head and ambles after him, pulling out her phone to call her mother. She might as well have something comfortable to be in while she waits.
It's going to be a long night.
A/N: Donna! Brief, but I hope you guys enjoyed that. Dramatic Backstory is actually coming, I promise. I'm just trying to time it right in the story. So that will be soon. Also, if any of the working hours I've given for the Doctor are unrealistic, please forgive me. I don't actually know that much about the typical shifts of surgeons and Google can only say so much. If you want to see the dress I put Rose in, go to dressempire dot com and look at La Femme 16546 Dress, the blue color. Woohoo, Rose in a ball gown!
Please keep reading and review! Thank you to those who already have, especially the guest who keeps giving me really awesome feedback. You know who you are, thank you kindly. Those of you who haven't reviewed, please do! I'm not going to stop working on this story, but reviews really do motivate me.