Chapter 8 - Spike

On Saturday, the Doctor rushed off in the early morning before Rose was awake to go job hunting, after leaving her a quick note. He had decided on becoming a detective, or a spy, or something that involved solving mysteries. He knew could never do an office job. Sitting still in a chair all day would drive him barmy. So, after trying out a few different places, he got offered an interview with the Metropolitan Police Service. With the help of his psychic paper, his exceptional babbling abilities, his past UNIT experience and his many, many university degrees, he was offered a job as a plainclothes Detective Inspector.

"Hi," he said, grinning as she opened the door for him later that morning.

"Hello!" she said.

"Do you know who just got a job as a detective inspector?" He stepped inside. "Betcha can't guess!"

"Ooh, I dunno, could it possibly be a man called the Doctor?" she said, scratching her head, theatrically.

"Correct!" he said, beaming.

"Yay! I knew you could do it!" she said, before embracing him suddenly. When she pulled out of the hug, she asked him how he'd managed to get a place so high up with just one interview. He answered in fine detail, explaining exactly how things had gone that morning.

Later, when dinner time approached, they realised that there wasn't really much they could eat, apart from the same dish they'd cooked the previous day.

"I guess we'll be eatin' pasta again," Rose said, narrowing her eyes.

"Looks like it, yeah," the Doctor said. "Ah well, it was actually very tasty. You're quite the little chef, Rose Tyler."


Their Sunday was lazy and relaxing. They stayed in and lounged around, spending the whole day eating, chatting and messing about. In the afternoon, the Doctor discovered a packet of old Gallifreyan playing cards in his suit pocket that he'd forgotten to take out a few weeks earlier. He opened up the little cardboard packet and pulled out a stack of cards. The cards had been intricately decorated with a mixture of colours; beautiful browns, golds and deep reds in swirling patterns and some words which had been written in the mysterious language of the Time Lords, circular Gallifreyan. Rose thought they were beautiful. He taught her one of his old favourite card games that he'd played with his fellow Time Lords, many, many years back. Just as they were getting into a good game, they heard a knock at the front door.

Rose got up, walked over to the front door and opened it to reveal an unfamiliar face. "Hello," she said.

"Alright, mate?! Guessin' you're the new neighbours," the man said, with a strong cockney accent. He edged closer and poked his nose into the living room, then peered around. The young man was fairly tall and big built, and he was wearing black jeans with silver chains that hung from the sides and a black t-shirt that showed he was a fan of some eighties rock band.

"Er, yeah, we are," Rose said, frowning. She felt a little intimidated by the over-confident man. The Doctor walked over to them to see what was going on. He stood by Rose protectively and took her hand. She was glad to feel his comforting palm in hers, and gave it a quick, appreciative squeeze.

"How ya doin'?" the man said, directing his attention to the Doctor. The Doctor gave him a wary nod. "I'm Spike, I live just opposite you guys, in number forty five. Thought it'd be good to introduce meself," he said, placing his hand on the doorframe and leaning against it.

"Hi, Spike, this is Rose and I'm, er, John," the Doctor said. Rose gave Spike a quick smile. She wasn't sure what to think of him. He seemed like an average guy, but he was getting too close for comfort, and frankly, the way he had just peered into their living room was quite rude.

"You plannin' on livin' here long, then?" Spike said. He ran a hand through his stubbly black hair.

"Mm, we'll certainly be here for a while," the Doctor said. After a moment of slightly awkward silence, Spike piped up again.

"So you two are together then? Y'know, like a couple?" he said, rather bluntly.

"Um, we-," Rose said, not quite sure what to say.

"Weeellll, in a sense, I guess you could say we're together, but not romantically if that's what you mean," the Doctor said.

"Ah, I see," Spike said, with a glint in his eye, "I'm getting ya!" He gave them a wink.

"Honestly, I'm being serious-" the Doctor said, only to be cut off.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, since when do friends hold hands, then?" Spike said, giving a quick nod towards Rose and the Doctor's hands which were still locked together. He was wearing a cheeky grin, clearly not believing the Doctor for a second. Instead of dropping her hand, like Rose thought the Doctor would, he only held it tighter.

"We're very close friends, if ya must know," Rose said.

"So I can see!" Spike said, winking at them again. The Doctor sighed and Rose shook her head and smiled.

Just as Spike looked as if he was going to taunt them about being a couple further, they heard some shuffling from the end of the hallway. They could see the figure of a woman, and as she approached, they heard a voice.

"Spike! How are ya?!" a woman said loudly, almost breaking out into a jog as she got closer to them.

"Abbie! Get your ass over here old gal," Spike said as his face broke out into a wide grin.

"Hey, watch it, Spike. I'm not old just yet," Abbie said, glaring at him. She was wearing black Metallica t-shirt, black fingerless gloves with studs and ripped leggings. Her raven hair was styled into a wild perm. "So, these your mates?"

"Yeah, they just moved in," Spike said. Rose wasn't sure they could be considered 'mates' that soon, but smiled at Abbie all the same.

"Hi," Abbie said. Rose and the Doctor returned the greeting and introduced themselves.

"So, are you two together?" Rose said, cautiously.

Spike snorted. "Come off it! 'Course not. I'm very single and she's just a good friend." Rose raised her eyebrows. So it was perfectly okay for Abbie to have male friends, but not her. She didn't voice that point though, as she wasn't sure she wanted to risk getting beaten up by these two tough-looking people.

"I was just popping 'round to say hi, on my way back from work," she said to Spike. Then, she turned to Rose and the Doctor. "I live on the top floor here," she said to them.

"Well it's wicked to see ya, Abbie. You still up for next Saturday?" he said.

"Yeah, I can't wait!"

Spike turned to face the Doctor and Rose. "Yeah, so I'm havin' a small get together next Saturday, wanna join us? It'll help you meet new people 'round the area."

Rose and the Doctor looked at each other. Rose felt apprehensive about saying yes, but at the same time, this brash, impertinent guy had turned out to be quite friendly and a bit of a joker, and Abbie seemed nice enough. The Doctor nodded at Rose.

"Yeah, why not, sounds like fun. What time's it gonna be?" Rose said.

"Be there for about six. I'm orderin' a take out, so make sure that you come 'round with empty stomachs," he said, grinning.

Rose smiled. "Okay, we'll be there."

"Well, we better be getting on with dinner," the Doctor said. They said their goodbyes to Spike and Abbie and closed the door. They walked into the kitchen and stared at the small amount of ingredients on the side.

"It's going to be pasta and sauce again, isn't it?" Rose said. The Doctor assured her that he was fine with it, and told her how delicious he found it, but she knew that she was getting bored of it, and soon, he would be too. Nonetheless, they didn't have much choice, so they got on with making it, just as they had done for the last couple of evenings, but instead, this time, they were also chatting about Spike and Abbie. They agreed that although Spike was a bit intimidating at first, he seemed okay in the end.

"I thought he was gonna stab me when I opened the door," Rose giggled. "He just looked a bit dangerous!"

"Yeah, he has a full on way with people, I must say," the Doctor said.

"I reckon he's gonna turn out to be a really nice bloke," she said.

"Yeah, I think he will. He's certainly an interesting one anyway, I'll give him that," he said, chuckling.


Later, Rose walked into her bedroom having brushed her teeth. She pulled the curtains shut, then stripped out of her clothes, which were considerably less bright and colourful than what she'd worn for their first few days. Then, she pulled on her tiny pink shorts and vest top that she wore for bed.

Pulling herself beneath the covers, she began to think over the day. She had loved it being just Rose and the Doctor. It reminded her of the lazy days that they would sometimes have back on the TARDIS, after their more tiring adventures. They would read to each other in the library, cuddle up while they watched movies in the TV room, or she'd simply admire him as he tinkered with the TARDIS console.

There was a yearning, longing sensation deep in the pit of her stomach, which she'd tried to push aside and keep under control since they first arrived in 1987. The longing for the TARDIS and the longing for her mother burned inside her like a raging fire. She picked up her mobile phone that had been discarded by the side of her mattress. Scrolling through the contacts, she realised just how many friends that she hadn't called or seen in over a year. She'd been so busy with the Doctor that she'd barely spared a thought for those that were her life before all the monsters and the world saving. She wanted to call them all, catch up with them, hear the latest gossip and tell them that she was all right, like a normal human being.

But she knew she couldn't.

After what had happened at Canary Wharf, she would be on the list of the missing as that would be where she was recorded as last seen. Her mum's flat would sooner or later be cleared out, her friends informed of her disappearance. It wouldn't be right for her to go back. She didn't belong on Earth anymore. She had nowhere to call home, no-one to call family. As time went on, her friends would slowly forget her. To those who remembered her, she would become figments of their imagination, that witty, nice, reliable girl who they once knew so well, but had faded from their lives. The planet would keep on turning without her. Her life was with the Doctor now.

A sharp blade of guilt surged through her when she got to her mum's number on her contacts list. Her finger hovered over the green call button, but she knew that it wouldn't do any good. The Doctor may have fixed her phone so that she could call anywhere in space and time, but that didn't include other universes that had been sealed off forever.

Rose locked her phone and before she knew what she was doing, she had thrown it at the wall out of frustration. She grabbed her duvet cover roughly and pulled it up. Tears of anger, guilt and desolation rolled down her cheeks as she wrapped the covers around her body until she was inside a soft duvet cocoon. She buried her face into her pillow and let out her sorrow in quiet sobs. She thought about the man she'd given everything up for. The Doctor. Her lonely Doctor. He'd lost everyone. Not just his family or his friends, everyone. He must have felt a hundred times worse than she did. She cried for him, as well as herself, and tears kept on falling as she wept herself to sleep.