The crowd seemed to part around the Doctor as he strode across the fair toward Rose, crisp stack of white notes in hand. Rose took a deep breath and smiled at him as he got closer, trying her best to shake off the residual chills she felt from little girl's ominous message.
"Turns out the exchange rate from credits to solar bills is quite favorable," he grinned, handing Rose the majority of the pile of notes.
She forced a smile, examining the money — which was plain, aside from the number denoting its denomination and some sun-shaped watermarks — while she fought to regain her composure.
He'll try, but it won't help. He can't change it.
Rose noticed that the warning wasn't focused on her death, but on the Doctor's attempt to stop it. The thought of him trying and failing, of the way he'd blame himself afterwards, mourning in her bedroom, made her want to cry right then and there. Rose finally understood why old dogs on the estate, sensing their time was up, would sneak off to die in an alleyway or under a stairwell — somewhere those who loved them couldn't see.
She was yanked from her gloomy thoughts by none other than the Doctor, who had suddenly wrapped his arms around her and enveloped her in a tight hug, her toes lifting off the ground. Rose couldn't help but grin, squeezing him hard as he swayed her body back and forth a few times before setting her back on the ground.
"What was that for?" she asked, keeping her arms on his waist. Remembering her promise to herself to remain upbeat around the Doctor, to make the time they had left together as happy as possible, Rose pushed the worried thoughts to the back of her mind.
"Oh, I dunno," he said, shrugging coyly as he moved his hands from her shoulders to cup her face. "Missed you."
"You were hardly gone five minutes," Rose laughed, nuzzling her cheek against one of his hands.
"Well, if you listened to anything I've taught you, Rose," he replied with a tone of jovial superiority. "You'd know that time is relative."
Rose only giggled in response as the Doctor pressed his lips to hers, the music and chatter of the crowd fading away as her world narrowed to where he was touching her; his mouth on her lips, his hands caressing her face, his hips lightly nudging her waist.
Wrapping her arms tightly around the Doctor's back, Rose leaned into him and flicked her tongue across the seam of his lips as the thoughts of last night flooded her mind. She sighed into his mouth as she imagined them back in her bed, his lips on her skin, that look in his eyes, the feel of his fingers inside her.
She felt the Doctor begin to grind his hips against hers when he pulled back suddenly, Rose whining quietly at the loss. His hands, which had returned on her shoulders, moved to her neck, long fingers tracing the lingering love bites he had created the night before.
Rose studied his face as he seemed to appraise her skin, before letting his hands drop and shoving them into his pockets. It took a moment before she could assign an emotion to his look — pride.
"Right then," the Doctor said, clearing his throat loudly. "Shall we go purchase some pastries?"
Rose nodded, slipping her arm through his as they headed back in the direction of the stall selling the jumpingbean toffee.
The toffee was delicious, just as the Doctor had promised, as was the appleberry ice-crumble, a matcha-flavored foam, and the Doctor's favorite — the banana-lemon suncakes.
The Doctor spent the remainder of his solar bills on the suncakes, purchasing an entire tray that he shoved into his transdimension pocket. ("You never know when we'll be back here, Rose!)
Rose could sense the anticipation mounting among the crowd as she browsed the artisan stalls, all filled with items made from the beautifully woven fabric. She chose a gorgeous gold scarf covered in tiny hand-stitched suns and moons, handing over the remainder of her bills and pocketing the change as she noticed the Doctor slyly sneaking another suncake out of his pocket and nibbling on it.
"Just don't come moaning to me when you get a belly ache," Rose winked at him, wrapping the light scarf around her neck.
The Doctor mumbled something about superior Time Lord digestive bacteria as he shoved the rest of cake into his mouth. Rose grinned at him, wetting her thumb and wiping a smudge of icing from the corner of his mouth, just barely stopping herself from grabbing his face and licking the confection from his skin.
She brought her thumb to her mouth, wrapping her lips around it and sucking the sticky sugar from her fingertip as the Doctor watched slack-jawed. Suddenly his hand gripped her waist, roughly pulling her to him, causing Rose's breath to catch in her throat. She dropped her finger from her mouth, grasping the lapel of his jacket for purchase as her knees grew weak from the fiery look in his eyes.
That's when the crowd began to scream.
All around them, the Intuitives began to frantically flee from the fairgrounds, knocking over anything and anyone in their way. Soon the Unknowings began to follow suit, swept up in the Intutivies' panic.
"What's happening?" Rose yelled over the screams, still gripping the Doctor's jacket so she wouldn't be knocked over and trampled by the crowd.
The Doctor wrapped one arm tightly around Rose's waist and reached into the swarming masses to grab the collar of a fleeing Intuitive with his free hand.
"What's happening?" he barked at the man. "What do you see?"
"An explosion!" the man yelled, desperately trying to free himself from the Doctor's strong hold. "The fair, it's going to blow up before the sun rises!"
The Doctor released the man's shirt and he stumbled, quickly recovering and disappearing among the escaping crowd. Gently prying Rose's hand from his jacket, the Doctor gripped her fingers in his own.
"We've got to make a run for it," he said, dropping his arm from her waist. "No matter what, don't let go of my hand."
Rose nodded and they were off, sprinting through the frenzied masses as the Doctor lead the way, effectively paving a path for Rose behind him. Aside from a few elbows to the ribcage and a near miss with a blow to the head, Rose reached the calmer outskirts of the fairgrounds unharmed. The Doctor, she suspected, wasn't as lucky, but he hid any pain he may have been feeling.
"Are you alright?" he asked, gripping her chin as he solemnly examined her face from every angle before feeling her pulse at her wrist and then running the sonic over the length of her body for good measure.
"Yeah, I'll just have a few bruises come morning," Rose breathed, unsettled from what she'd just seen. "We're lucky — some people were getting trampled."
"Sometimes the panic caused by a stampeding crowd is worse than the source of the panic itself," the Doctor replied distractedly — satisfied Rose was unharmed his eyes had begun scanning the trees above them.
For the first time, Rose noticed the fairground was in a vast clearing that seemed to be in the middle of a thick forest. As she followed the Doctor's gaze, she noticed the tall, slim trees had smooth, white bark – the same bright color of the solar bills – and were completely leafless, save for a few early buds on the spindly branches. The trees, like the Solissi, must be waiting for the sun to arrive.
"I don't understand what just happened," Rose said, keeping her hand locked on the Doctor's arm in case any of the remaining trickling stampeders headed their way. "The Intuitives, you said some of them know things months, even years in advance — why didn't they see this coming?"
The Doctor pointed the sonic screwdriver skyward as he moved it along the tree line, tongue caught between his teeth in concentration.
"Some sort of tech must be jamming the psychic field, blocking the Solissi from seeing that specific moment in time," he replied, focusing the sonic on a nearby cluster of trees. "Whatever it is, it has to be placed somewhere high in order to get the necessary range — bingo!"
The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand and they were off again, running in the direction of the trees with Rose struggling to keep up mentally as well as physically.
"But you said the Solissi's timelines are fixed," she panted, practically sprinting to match the Doctor's pace. "If the psychic field jamming, or whatever, failed, and they saw the fair exploding, how were they able to run away? That changes the future."
"Yes, their timelines are fixed insofar as they're not interfered with by some external force," the Doctor replied, slowing to a halt as they approached the trees. "So that means whoever is jamming the frequency, whoever planted the bomb, is not from this planet."
The Doctor determinedly began approaching each tree, placing his hands on the trunks. Rose followed, with an eyebrow cocked.
"The tree holding the device jamming the field would be vibrating on a low level and I'd be able to feel it," he explained when he noticed Rose's confused look. "And if we find the device, my guess is we can find the culprit."
"Um, Doctor," Rose said quietly, pointing upward.
"Yes Rose?" he replied, running his hands along the bark of another tree.
"Doctor!" she whispered fiercely, causing him to finally stop what he was doing and follow the direction of her finger. "There's someone up there."
There, about 30 feet off the ground in a tree just to their left, Rose could just make out a hooded figure tampering with what looked to be a cone-shaped device — she would bet the Doctor's remaining suncakes that it was responsible for jamming the psychic field.
Luckily, the disguised alien didn't seem to have noticed them – perhaps it had poor night vision.
"Oh, you're brilliant!" the Doctor exclaimed quietly, pulling Rose to him and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Here I am, literally not seeing the forest through the trees, and Rose Tyler spots the baddie in an instant."
Rose beamed back at him, rubbing his arm affectionately.
"How are we gonna get to him, then?" she asked. "He's so high up, and the branches don't look too strong."
"Oh, but looks can be deceiving," the Doctor replied, jumping up and grasping a tiny low-hanging branch, which, though bending under his weight, didn't splinter. "The fiber in these trees are about ten-times stronger than those on earth. You stay here – I'm gonna go have a chat with this gal or fella."
Rose opened her mouth to object, but the Doctor was already scampering up the tree, climbing the slim branches like a ladder. Biting her thumbnail, Rose debated following his instructions and staying put. She didn't much like heights, but she felt vulnerable standing all alone on the forest ground – and what if one of this hooded guy's friends came along?
That settled it. Rose tucked the ends of her scarf into the top of her dress – didn't want those getting caught on the branches and ending things long before her less-than-seven months were up – and began to climb the tree, following the Doctor's technique.
Her sandals were surprisingly useful for tree-climbing – the soles gripped the branches and were flexible enough to bend around them, giving Rose a sturdy hold.
She was about 15 feet off the ground when she heard the Doctor shout. It was hard to make out exactly what was happening in the dark – though the sky was beginning to brighten – but Rose could tell the Doctor and the hoodied alien were scuffling based on the sounds coming from above her.
The alien appeared to have abandoned its work on the satellite-like device and was now clutching a slim piece of plastic with a blinking button on it. Rose's hair stood on end when she realized what it must be – the bomb's detonator.
Though the fairground was now a ghost town, she had no idea just how powerful the explosive might be. The bomb could be atomic, or worse.
Rose wondered if she might be of better use locating the bomb and somehow disarming it than she was clinging to a tree yards below where the action was happneing. She turned her gaze back toward the clearing, trying to pick out a spot where a bomb could be hidden, when she noticed a small crowd of Solissi – Intuitives and Unknowings alike, were quietly gathering at the base of the tree.
Though she frantically motioned for them to move away, the crowd stood their ground and continued to grow in number. Rose was about to climb down the trunk and usher them back to the safety of their village when, one by one, the Intuitives began to point toward the hooded alien and the Doctor.
Rose's eyes followed their gesture, but whatever they had seen had yet to come to pass. She started to climb down the branches, determined to move the people away from the area, when she heard the Doctor shout again.
The alien was beginning to barrel down the tree, climbing along the branches at an alarming rate – and heading directly toward Rose. In its haste, however, it still seemed not to have noticed her.
After a moment of panic, Rose realized she could use this to her advantage.
"Parallel bars were always my favorite," she muttered under her breath, jumping to grab hold of a nearby branch and sucking in a nervous breath as it bent under he weight.
Once she was sure the branch would hold, Rose pointed her toes and began to swing her legs back and forth, building momentum. The alien was still hurtling toward her and would likely reach her in seconds.
The branch, though smooth, was chafing Rose's hands, but she hardly registered the pain as she urged her body forward, trying to get up enough speed to do a handstand on the branch.
Finally she managed it, wobbling a bit as she fought to hold her balance. Her former gymnastics coaches would be horrified by her form, but it would do the trick. Rose didn't have to wait for long, thankfully, because the alien flew right past her and paused on a branch below where she was positioned.
Rose had to suppress a giggle – it was really making this easy. She took a deep breath and let her body fall forward in an arching swing, her sandaled feet connecting with the unsuspecting alien with a loud thwack.
It tumbled through the air, its heavy cloak billowing, before landing on the ground with a thump. Rose let out a loud whoop as it took a few staggering steps in an attempt to flee, but was quickly subdued by members of the Solissi crowd. An Unknowing with a badge – possibly a policeman – carefully picked up the detonator, which had landed a few feet away.
Rose felt a pair of hands on her waist, guiding her dangling feet back until they were firmly on a branch.
"Told you to wait on the ground," he murmured in her ear, obviously pleased despite his mild scolding.
"Well you're lucky I didn't because I saved your tail," Rose laughed, wishing the branch was large enough for her to turn and face him. "What happened to you up there?"
"I saw what you were planning," the Doctor said, wrapping his arm around her waist as she wobbled. "Drove him right too you."
Rose smiled and rolled her eyes, resting her hand on his arm.
"Gee, thanks."
The Doctor and Rose carefully descended from the tree and were surprised to be met with loud cheers from the Solissi crowd – now quite large – once their feet touched the ground.
Rose blushed and did an awkward curtsey, quickly fixing her bunched-up scarf. The Doctor beamed and waved, before stalking off to exchange information with the small group of badge-wearing individuals, who did indeed turn out to be policemen.
The thankful Solissi attended to Rose, giving her a glass of water and offering her yet more suncakes, until the Doctor returned.
"They've taken the alien to hospital and then he'll be in police custody until they hold a trail," he reported, smiling as he took a large bite of a suncake offered by an Unknowing woman. "The police believe he's part of a terror cell from Lunatrabem, one of Solisortis's neighboring planets. He's part of an extreme faction that believes it's unnatural for any being to see into the future. Police don't think he was acting alone, but they've launched an investigation to find the other terrorists and the bomb itself. The immediate threat seems to have been lifted."
The Doctor shoved the rest of the cake into his mouth and wrapped his arms around Rose, giving her a sticky kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks to you," he said, voice muffled by her hair. "Oh! And the Solissi have invited us to be their special guests at the sunrise celebration, which is now taking place in the village square."
"Lovely," Rose murmured, hugging him close as she felt the remaining adrenaline course through her veins. She hoped the celebration would help burn off her excess energy, though she could think of other ways…
"We better hurry, because it's starting to get bright," the Doctor said, giving Rose a squeeze before he stepped back and reached for her hand.
Rose winced when his fingers closed around hers, her hand still raw from swinging around the branch.
"You're hurt," the Doctor said quietly, turning her palms up and inspecting them with a furrowed brow.
"It's fine," Rose smiled, hoping he didn't blame himself as much as his face suggested. "They're just scratched."
The Doctor scowled and led her away from the crowd, motioning for Rose to sit on a tree stump as he kneeled before her. Rose swallowed, emotion building in her chest as she watched him adjust the settings on the sonic before gingerly beginning to run the tool over her scrapes.
He looked acutely focused as he worked, acting as if he was restoring a lost Renaissance masterpiece instead of mending a few minor lacerations. Rose searched to find words that would comfort him, but nothing she thought of would express how she truly felt.
Instead she watched him quietly, relieved when he finished with one hand so she could reach out and touch his face, tenderly brushing her thumb along his cheek. He smiled while keeping his eyes locked on his task, sonicing the last of her pain away.
Once he'd placed the screwdriver back in his pocket, Rose leaned into him, running her hands over his back as she kissed him longingly. The Doctor responded immediately, inching one knee between hers as he pressed his body flush against hers.
Rose tried to express everything she had wanted to say with her lips and tongue and occasionally her teeth, moaning quietly as the Doctor ran a cool hand down the length of her spine, making her shiver beneath the thin fabric of her dress.
The Doctor seemed as lost in Rose as she was in him, tongue gliding along the roof of her mouth before edging her molars. He growled quietly each time he felt the sharpness of Rose's teeth against his skin, wrapping his arms around her even tighter.
As the wetness began to pool between Rose's thighs, she knew she would either have to stop snogging him or shag him right here on the forest ground, within view of the remaining Solissi milling around the area.
Sighing, she regretfully chose the former option, gently removing her lips from his and burying her face into his neck, hugging him close.
"Talk about kissing it better," she giggled, smiling as she felt the Doctor's laugh rumble through his chest beneath hers. "It's even brighter now. We should probably head to the village or we'll miss the sunrise."
The Doctor gently extricated himself from her arms enough to look at her face and cup her cheek with one hand.
"I suddenly don't care very much about the sunrise," he said lowly, eyes dark.
Rose blushed and bit her lip – she loved it when he looked at her like that, like he wanted to devour her then and there, but it wouldn't do either of them any good while she sat on a tree stump, while he kneeled in the dirt. However, she hoped the desire in his eyes would resurface soon, when they were alone on the TARDIS, when he might finally let her make him feel as he had done last night.
"Oh, come on," she said, standing and pulling the reluctant Time Lord along with her. "It's what we came here for – and I believe I heard rumors of dancing."
The Doctor smiled as he crooked his elbow for Rose to lace her arm through his, and the two set off down the winding path leading toward the village.
