~ Part 8 ~
::
Seven weeks later, Rose had found and moved into the perfect house for her and the baby. It was a semi-detached, three bedroom property with a front and back garden and a gorgeous kitchen. She loved it, and it was only a half hour walk to her mum's, and a five minute walk to the local shops, so its location was convenient, too.
She was coming to the end of her fifth month of pregnancy, and was already showing quite prominently. Jackie, Mickey and the Doctor had helped her redecorate the living room in her first week of living there, and the place was looking brilliant, if she did say so herself. She'd never dreamed she'd live in such a lovely little house.
Keeping to her word, Rose had allowed the Doctor to park the TARDIS amongst the aptly placed rose bushes in the back garden. He didn't stay there permanently, for he conceded to Rose's point that he'd left the universe to fend for itself for rather too long as it was, so he popped back and forth between his life in the stars and his life on Earth.
It was easier than he thought it would be, combining both the relatively domestic – relatively because he didn't actually live in the house with her, and she barely let him help her around the house when he did get invited in – and the saving planets thing. He could tell, however, that Rose was jealous of his trips into space; she really, really missed the travelling, and would get him to tell her all about his adventures when he saw her.
He was allowed to visit every few days or so. Rose thought that this was the appropriate amount of time; the Doctor rather disagreed, thinking there was enough distance between them as it was, but he did as she asked. He missed her tremendously, of course, and he hoped that Rose missed him too, despite her never saying so. On his visits, he tended to stay until she told him to leave, which was, occasionally, not until quite late in the evening. He ran tests to check everything was progressing healthily with regards to her and the baby, they had lunch and chatted about what they'd both been up to, and then in the afternoons they'd go for a walk, or go shopping for things for both the house and their future addition to the makeshift Tyler family.
The job that Rose had told him she had acquired several weeks ago was one that she could do from home – typing up reports and articles for a local private investigator. The Doctor found this very intriguing, and often tried to snoop at what she was writing on her new laptop, but she insisted that it was confidential and he had to keep his nose out. Until one day, when something changed.
The Doctor had just sonicked his way into the house when he heard Rose calling his name. He immediately panicked, and ran so quickly into the living room that he knocked over the hall table. "What is it? What's wrong?"
Rose looked sheepish. "Oh, I'm fine, sorry. No, it's just that I've got something that you might be interested in checking out." She patted the sofa and he came to sit down next to her. "Take a look at this." She handed him her laptop and the accompanying notes to whichever investigation she was typing about.
"I thought I wasn't allowed to look at this sort of thing? Confidential, you said."
"Yeah, well, you're gonna want to see this," she said knowingly. "Just read it! I'll go and stick the kettle on."
The Doctor shrugged and started reading the file. His eyes widened. "Oh, no. Not again."
A few minutes later, Rose returned with their tea. "So? Interesting, eh?"
"Mmm," he murmured, and sipped at his drink.
"So, who's L.I.N.D.A? And why is my boss investigating them? And why are they investigating you?"
"They are investigating you, too. I'm surprised that your boss didn't have something to say about that."
"He did."
"Oh?"
"He handed me the file and said, 'I know who you are now. I knew there was something odd about you.' What a charmer."
"The plot thickens," the Doctor mused.
"Anyway, you know who these L.I.N.D.A people are?"
"Yep. They're my fan club."
Rose spluttered her tea. "Your what?"
"My fan club."
She burst out laughing. "You have a fun club," she stated, amused. "Should've known."
"Yes, well, anyway, this Victor Kennedy bloke looks a bit suspicious, don't you think? He's appeared out of nowhere."
"Exactly. What do you reckon? He just some random guy or has he got sinister motives?" Rose asked, her eyes lighting up.
"You needn't look so enthused by the idea," the Doctor chuckled, though of course, he was delighted that Rose was so intrigued.
"Well, we could go check it out, and - "
"No," he said firmly, interrupting her. "He looks shifty. I'm not having you go anywhere near him."
"Doctor!" she groaned. "I'm so bored. Please let me come with you."
"You can't travel in the TARDIS - "
"We can get a cab!"
"No."
"Doctor, look, if they are just your fan club - "
"Except that with the sudden appearance of this man, they don't appear to be harmless anymore. Look at these photos, Rose. Your boss has been watching them watch you. And look, here's your mother! You really think that there's no danger here, when they've been trying to hunt me down through you and your family?"
"Okay, fine, I know that it could be dangerous. But that's the point! I'm bored with just sitting around waiting. I need to do something, and I need to help you in case you end up getting hurt."
"Rose, you can't possibly think it's a good idea. What if something happens to you or the baby? We'd never forgive ourselves. No. It's better if I check this out on my own."
"But you wouldn't have known about it if it wasn't for me -"
He rolled his eyes and stood up. "Then thank you for the tip-off. I'll sort this. They won't be coming near our family again, all right?" And with that, he strode from the room, ignoring Rose's shouts of protest.
That night, just as Rose got into bed, she heard the front door open. Groaning in annoyance, she stood up and walked out onto the landing, about to call out a greeting to the Doctor and demand him to tell her what he'd found out.
Except that it wasn't the Doctor in the hallway. Rose stifled a gasp and quickly retreated to her room, keeping her footsteps soft so as not to alert the intruder to her whereabouts. Two opposing instincts warred within her; the instinct to confront the stranger lost out to the instinct to protect her unborn child. She reached for her mobile, and dialled the number of the phone Rose had made the Doctor carry around with him in case of emergencies.
"Hello, Rose," the Doctor answered cheerfully on the other end of the phone. "Guess what, I found out that – wait, what's wrong? Is something wrong? What's happened?"
"Shh, just listen," Rose whispered. "You need to get to the house quickly. Someone's broken in downstairs."
"What! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I'm in my room."
"Okay, right, stay there, I'm on my way – are you ringing from the same day as when I left earlier to find out about L.I.N.D.A?"
"Yes."
"Okay, good. I'm still here, so it's the same time for me. I'll be as quick as I can. Don't go downstairs."
He hung up, and Rose tossed the phone onto the bed and crept over to the door and onto the landing again, peeking through the banisters to see if she could see or hear anything.
There was a rustling sound followed by a pile of washing being knocked over. Rose knew this because she heard the man mutter and curse about it being the second time that day that he'd had knickers waved in his face. She arched an eyebrow, bemused. Then she heard the man repeating, "God, I hate this. I hate this I hate this I hate this. This is so wrong. I hate him, I hate this, ouch – bugger – stupid bloody coffee table."
Rose stifled a giggle. He sounded like the most incompetent burglar ever. And she suspected he was a member of L.I.N.D.A, because she caught a better sight of him when he stumbled back into the hallway; he resembled a man in one of the pictures her boss had given her. Blond and normal-looking. Harmless. Rose decided to go downstairs.
"Ahem," she coughed pointedly, as she found him rifling through her hallway table, where she kept her bills and other bits of post and things.
The man spun around and stared at her with wide eyes. "Oh! I'm – that is – I'm – I'm not - " he stammered. Then he sighed, heavily. "I'm sorry."
"I know who you are," Rose said quietly, lingering on the bottom step of the stairs. "Your name's Elton. You've been stalking me and my mother, taking photos. Why?"
He winced. "Me and some people – my friends – we had this club thing designated to talking about the Doctor. But there's this new bloke, he's…it's not fun anymore. I told me that I had to break in to see if I could find any clues to the Doctor's whereabouts. We know that you are together, and he reckoned the best way to find the Doctor was through…you."
Rose nodded. "I see. And why exactly do you need the Doctor?"
Elton blinked at her, speechless.
"I mean, is someone in danger? Does someone need help?"
He stood silent.
"Or do you want him for a darker reason? Are you trying to kill him?"
"No!"
"Are you going to kill me?"
"No, of course not!"
"Then why the sudden interest in me and my family?" Rose demanded, crossing her arms.
"I – I – "
"Fair enough that you formed a little fan group for him. But coming after him and me and our baby? Big mistake, Elton Pope."
"I'm really sorry. Really."
"You reckon you were forced into this by that Victor bloke?"
"Yeah – wait, how do you know his name?"
"I have my own spy, spying on you lot. The Doctor left here earlier to seek you all out and put a stop to your stalking."
"I'm sorry."
"Hmm."
"Really, I am, Rose. I never wanted – it's just – oh, I dunno. Victor's very…domineering. We couldn't help but do as he said."
"Okay. Well, the Doctor will sort him out. Talking of the Doctor, he's gonna be here in a minute, and he's gonna be very, very angry that you broke into my house and posed a threat to his family, so you'd better leg it unless you want to risk being on the receiving end of his wrath."
Elton's face paled. "Right, well, okay, I'll just - "
But just as he started to back towards the front door, it swung open, and the Doctor came storming in. Elton looked at him in wonder, half-scared, half-relieved to have finally seen him in the flesh.
And then the Doctor, looking very, very angry – just as Rose had predicted – seized Elton by the shoulders and flung him outside. He turned to Rose and admonished, "I told you to wait upstairs!" before following Elton into the front garden and slamming the front door shut.
Rose sighed, hearing shouts from outside. She was going to have to intervene.
Following the boys outside in her night dress, Rose called out to the Doctor, "It's all right. I've interrogated him already. Now, are you gonna let me sort this out with you or what?"
"Rose, this man broke into your home -"
"And I've sorted it. The real bad guy here is Victor Kennedy, not Elton."
Elton smiled at her gratefully and shakily.
"Fine. Elton, take us to Mr Kennedy please. I presume you brought a car with you."
"One sec, let me grab my coat," said Rose.
"You're coming out in your nightdress, then?" the Doctor asked, raising his eyebrows.
Rose grabbed her longest coat off the hook just inside the front door, and put it on, fastening all the buttons. "Yep. Let's go."
Upon meeting Victor Kennedy in his true form, just as he was about to absorb poor Ursula, and after Rose had remarked that he looked rather Slitheen-ish, it emerged that he was in fact from the planet Clom. A brief stand-off ensued - the Doctor, an indignant Rose, and Elton on one side – with the Absorbaloff, as he had agreed to be named, on the other, threatening Ursula's life as she knelt in front of him, horrified. He had already absorbed the other members of L.I.N.D.A.
Fortunately, those members of L.I.N.D.A were a bright bunch. They gave the last remnants of their existence to effectively pull apart the Absorbaloff. Ursula broke his cane and he was fittingly absorbed by the Earth.
After which, the four people stared at the ground in disbelief.
"Wow," murmured Rose eventually.
That seemed to spark them all back to life. "I can't believe that just happened," gasped Elton, and then he was running to envelope Ursula in his arms. "I thought I was going to lose you."
Rose and the Doctor shared a smile at the sight. Then, the Time Lord's smile faded, and he said, "You shouldn't have put yourself in danger like that."
"Doctor - "
"It was bad enough when it was just you at risk. You're five months pregnant, Rose."
"I know. And I'm fine."
"Yes. Luckily," he remarked tersely.
Rose shivered. "Can we go home? Looks like those two need some alone time."
"Yeah. I do have to speak with Elton about something, though."
"What's that?"
"Well, I knew his mother." Rose's eyes widened and he laughed at her horrified expression. "No, Rose. I should clarify – I didn't know her, as such, but I did find her dead in her sitting room when Elton was just a little boy."
Rose gasped. "What?"
"Long story short, I was tracking something, and it killed her before I could stop it. I think he deserves an explanation."
"Yeah." She paused, glancing around them. "Maybe we should invite them back to talk, instead of standing out here in the middle of the night. Plus, we need a lift back, and he'll be too emotional to drive us home if you tell him now."
"Good thinking. Let's do that."
