Opening the door of the TARDIS, Rose stepped into what appeared to be a shuttlecraft parking lot with the mega mall on the horizon. She heard the Doctor ramble on about the history of the planet, how they came to be the best merchants with the best deals in the galaxy, and how they carried and assortment of the best candies here.
"Pear jelly babies! Can you believe it? Out of all the disgusting things that they would ever carry, let alone invent, PEAR jelly babies," the Doctor said, pulling a horrified face. Rose could almost hear the shudder in his voice from behind her but she couldn't bring herself to watch him escort that woman on his arm.
The Doctor had blessed Mickey to wander to the games block, but told Rose to stay close. However, Rose had no intention of following them. She instead opted to wander into an adjacent store as Reinette and the Doctor went into the confectionary store. The shop she was drawn to happened to be a baby store, and Rose couldn't fight the allure. As she entered, she stilled and took in the size of the inventory that was there.
Miniature hats, shoes, socks. She felt a lump rising in her throat, and tears coming to her eyes as she caught sight of miniature trainers. They were just like the Doctor wore. Her hands brushed the tiny laces and she smiled. She promptly made the purchase, and asked for a plain bag to hide the shoes in.
Rose quickly exited the store and moved away as quickly as she could. She stood outside and closed her eyes, soaking in the warms suns. For one brief moment, she pretended that she was out for a leisurely shopping trip. Then she reminded herself that leisurely was rarely, if anything, fun.
Opening her eyes Rose saw the Doctor and Reinette exited the shop and walked towards her. Rose averted her eyes, instead choosing to enjoy the sun more. Looking back up to the sky and gasped with a look of horror, and the Doctor followed her gaze.
The sky was suddenly littered with three large flaming balls of fire hurtling directly towards the mall. In an instant, everyone looked to the heavens as the sound started to crescendo. Instantly panic erupted as people started to flee.
Time seemed to slow for Rose as she saw the massive fireballs hurtling towards the ground. She calculated the speed and angle of trajectory in her head, and scanned the area it was sure to hit. Two small humanoid alien children stood frozen to their spots watching as adults everywhere were rushing away, each were wide-eyed and radiating fear.
Rose knew she would only be able to save the little girl who was closest, and she sprinted as fast as her body would allow her. Rose swept up the little girl and then tried to steer towards the boy.
Suddenly Mickey appeared out of nowhere and had reached the other child just in time, yanking the boy by the arm and running in the opposite direction. Rose ran away from the fireballs as fast as her legs and body would afford, launching them both to the ground at the moment of impact. She had grabbed the little girl close to her body, cradling the child's head, and curled into fetal position mid-air. Rose landed on her side just .2457 seconds before impact, she had calculated.
The force of the drop should have knocked the wind out of her, but she felt a secondary source of air kick in. Rose wondered if she'd gained a respiratory bypass recently.
Looking up to survey the damage, she found that no one was critically hurt in the immediate vicinity. Rose saw the Doctor on the ground draped protectively over a now hysterically sobbing mass of silk and lace. He hopped to his feet gingerly pulling the Madame onto hers as well. Her crying grew louder, and Rose would have feel sorry for her, if it weren't for the fact that her sobbing grew more intense when the Doctor looked at her.
The little girl's mother raced to collect the girl, and cried hard once the child was protectively in her arms. She was imparting blessings to Rose, who smiled and gave a quick nod before she realized that her own leg had sustained damage. The skin from Rose's shin to her knee was seared pretty severely, a third-degree burn from the looks of it. Her black jeans were grafted to the burn, and when she moved, she winced at the intensity of the pain.
Her left hand also held a deep burn, but probably second-degree. Her breath caught as she thought about her baby. She held her hand over her stomach, she'd need to run tests later to be sure, but she sensed it was okay.
Rose only had a moment to process the injuries before she saw an alien rise out of the 15-foot crater, its round craft smashed from the impact. The alien was huge, around 8 feet tall. It was angry, armed, and facing the Doctor.
Rose was stunned at the sudden flood of knowledge that was occupying her brain with such ease. She quickly identified the alien. Species: Quake Warpers. Planet: Sirius. Demeanor: aggressive.
The massive alien brought his gun from his side holster and held it cross wise before his loud booming voice spoke.
"PLANET OURS. WE TAKE. ON GROUND NOW, WE KILL."
Based on their grammar, Rose was certain this species wasn't particularly bright.
"Leave them alone," shouted the Doctor, "I am a Time Lord, this Planet is protected!" He raised his sonic screwdriver in defense.
Reinette's crying grew louder and he shoved her even further behind himself, shielding her.
The Quake Warper pointed his gun at the Doctor. "YOU DIE!" he boomed.
As the scene unfolded, Rose noted the Quake Warper's companion was passed out towards the top of the crater with his body ejected from the impact. The awake and gun toting Quake clearly hadn't noticed. With Rose situated behind him just out of his line-of-sight, she could probably take him down. Launching herself to the crater's edge, she grabbed the unconscious Quake's gun out of his sling, engaged the gun to its stun sequence, and shot him in the back.
The alien fell unconscious backwards into the crater, smooshing his buddy. Rose lowered her gun as her eyes met the stunned Time Lord in front of her.
"Stun sequence four, seemed rather obvious…" she smiled a small smile and coyly, shrugging.
The Doctored eyed her curiously, trying hard to identify what was different about her.
Mickey and Rose made their way over to Reinette and the Doctor to regroup. The Doctor swooped Rose into his arms in a big hug before she had time to protest. He reeked of expensive, revolting, perfume and Rose wasn't quite sure if it was her extra sensitive pregnant nose, or just the fact that perfume from the 18th century was disgusting. Either way she couldn't stand the smell and she pushed hard against the Doctor cutting their hug short.
Rose rolled her eyes at the sobbing courtesan who was currently trembling and pleading with the Doctor.
"Trouble is afoot, surely we must take safe harbor!" Reinette screamed in sheer panic.
The Doctor glanced at her, furrowing his eyebrow, before turning around to face Rose.
"Rose, can you take her back to the TARDIS?"
Rose paused in surprise, and then set her jaw before turning and saying, "Nope. I've got some more aliens to stun." She promptly turned and walked off.
Mickey smiled back at the Doctor with a look of pride. "Ha! She told you, didn't she, boss?"
The Doctor glared at him before rubbing the back of his neck and sighing. "Mickey could you?"
Mickey held up a hand. "Don't worry boss, I'll make sure Reinette gets back safely to the TARDIS." Reinette started to protest as the Doctor turned on heel running after Rose.
Rose couldn't believe the Doctor had the gall to try to send her back to the TARDIS with that theatrical nutcase. Apparently, he no longer considered them to be team. The thought pissed her off considerably and she hastened her walk as fast as her injuries would allow. As she scoped out the smoke rising from the other fireball pits she heard the Doctor.
"Rose!" he shouted after her. She ignored him and used the thought of him pursuing her as motivation to push through the pain and walk faster.
"Rose!" he said again.
This time he was striding next to her casually. Rose damned his quickness. She didn't have the time or energy to have it out with the Doctor. The more she thought about the scene back there, the angrier she got with him. The Doctor grabbed her shoulder forcing her to halt. She turned impatiently and ripped her shoulder out of his grasp.
He face fell a minute in confusion when she broke free, but then he gave her that charming "you-just-must-love-me" smile.
"What?" she demanded more forcefully then she meant to.
His face softened. "Rose, you were brilliant back there."
She didn't move or change her expression.
"How exactly did you know to how to use that gun?" he asked, in surprised awe.
Rose shifted on her feet, contemplating the best answer. 'Gee, Doctor, seems my brain is changing and I'm evolving into a superior being,' didn't seem like the best thing to say at the moment.
The information on alien species, artifacts, and things she had never experienced had been filtering in the past few days. It was almost as if her mind was growing and being filled with this information.
"It was easy, the transmodifier was set for disintegration, just needed a quick adjustment four knocks to a stun sequence that could incapacitate a large elephant. Or well, Quake Warper, in this instance," she said in a hurried release of breath.
The Doctor looked stunned, titled his head, and opened his mouth for another question before Rose yelled at him.
"We haven't got time for this! Now let's go incapacitate the others that are sure to be climbing out of their shuttles about now, before someone gets hurt, yeah?" Rose shouted back at him.
Just before Rose started to walk away he tried to take her hand, but Rose slipped from his grasp and gripped the top of the gun before once again striding off. She was sure acting strange, the Doctor thought something was wrong with Rose. Perhaps a brain-invading virus had a hold of her.
The thought that she was genuinely mad at him passed through his mind, but he wouldn't allow himself to consider it. The Doctor followed behind her. He was off to save another planet and its people with his Pink and Yellow human, but unlike the other adventures, his hand was empty of her grasp.