AN: Aaaaand it's another domestic toned chapter. I've got say, I'm actually enjoying writing this aspect of Rose's experiences. On the show you never have anyone referring to how the people in Rose's life got on when she disappeared, so I figured they were due a bit of the spotlight.
'Oh, that's just what I need. Don't you dare make this place domestic!'
Intergalactic species trafficking ring or not, the Doctor obviously felt bad about the whole thing, because he brought her home with nary a complaint. It was a day later for her mother, instead of ten seconds, but they were still there and that was the important thing.
He'd even let her talk him into coming up to the flat, although that visit didn't last long.
'See you tomorrow,' he grunted as he beat a hasty retreat from the sitting room where Jackie Tyler glared at him. She had been slinging cutting jabs about everything from his timing to his ears.
When Rose started to follow him, he shot her a wan version of his usual grin, 'Said I wouldn't go anywhere without you and I won't. So do what you said you wanted to do – sort things with your mum and we'll leave tomorrow.'
And he was gone, the sound of his heavy tread retreating from behind the closed door.
For a moment, Rose lingered uncertainly in the entranceway, hand inching into her pocket to palm the key he had given her during the last visit to London. It was a warm and comforting to the touch, but somehow it also saddened her.
She felt bad about talking him into coming up.
The Doctor had no one left unless you counted his ship. His own people, his family and friends, even his planet – gone. Reminders of anything even resembling the concept of home must be excruciatingly painful. Rose had experienced an echo of that on the observation deck above the burning Earth, two billion years into her future. The idea of everything she had ever known being obliterated by a wave of light and heat had been suffocating.
And Rose had known she could go back. The Doctor never could.
'Is that the Doctor gone then?' Jackie sniffed, returning from the kitchen with tea. 'Not much of a stayer, is he?'
Rose swallowed and shook herself out of her thoughts before turning a pointed glare on her mother.
'Not when you're going off on him all the time. He didn't even want to come up cos of you, you know. But he did. To apologise. And you barely let him get the words out.'
'You were gone a year. Himself's got at least that much worth of grovelling to do.'
Rose opened her mouth to argue when her mother's words registered. Despite her reservations on the matter, Jackie unconsciously expected the Doctor to be in Rose's life for at least a year.
It was the closest to approval she would manage this soon after everything. Rose went over to hug her mother tightly.
'Come on, let's have a cuppa,' she said, leading her mother back into the kitchen. 'Showed you pictures, but I never got a chance to tell you what we've been up to the past few days.'
'Past year,' her mother grumbled, but allowed herself to be drawn away.
'How've things been since yesterday?' Rose asked, shamelessly changing the subject. 'No more aliens breaking into the flat, yeah?'
'No, thank God,' Jackie replied. 'Still, was talkin' to Bev about getting one of those fancy alarm systems. Wonder if they've got anything out there with a setting for aliens…'
'Probably not, but I bet the Doctor would make you something if you asked nice.'
'Hmph. Knowing him, he'd set it to attract aliens. Never mind, I'll stick with the cricket bat. Worked for my mother…'
'Mickey been by at all?'
'Haven't seen 'im since he left yesterday,' Jackie shrugged. 'He said he's be around, but… well, dunno if he actually will be.'
Her mother had the decency to look guilty for a moment. This time she was the one changing the subject. 'Oh, it was on the telly this morning – Harriet Jones announced she'd gonna make a try for the Labour leadership. The cheek of it, I tell you! Usin' this alien nonsense for her career – I had half a mind to call her up and give her a piece of my mind! No one even heard of her 'til yesterday, and now she's takin' the credit for what you did?'
'And the Doctor.'
'Still! You should be the one getting the credit for that! I mean it, Rose, if she's such a chum of yours that she takes all your credit, least she could do is find you a job.'
'Mum, I'm travelling now. I don't need a job,' Rose reminded her mother. 'You know I'm only home for a quick visit, yeah? Just to show you the Doctor can get the time right. I'm going back with him tomorrow.'
Disappointment flitted across her mother's face, but she turned away and busied herself with the kettle. 'Yeah, well, I meant for when you come back. S'like you said – time travel. Travel for months and when you're done you might well end up here next week. And you're gonna need a job when you do come back.'
Rose didn't answer. She didn't want to admit to her mother she had a stubborn (and admittedly naïve) belief that her days of applying for mundane jobs were over. If she said anything like that, though, she'd start Jackie on a rant about how travelling with the Doctor would give her airs.
Even if it sort of did.
'Yeah, well, I'll deal with it when I get back,' Rose said, biting at her thumb nail in her discomfort. She really didn't want to worry about that for a while. 'Lots of people take a gap year and manage fine.'
'Lots of people finish their A-Levels before they go on a gap year,' Jackie retorted. 'All I'm saying, sweetheart, is to make sure you've got something set up when you get back.'
'Right, I'll just give Harriet Jones a call later, shall I?' Rose deadpanned.
Later. Much later. Like, never.
'Ooh, when you do, tell her she needs someone to show her how to do her colours,' Jackie commanded. 'Won't do us any good to have a Prime Minister who won't spend over twenty quid on a haircut – that's what Bev reckons, anyhow. That she's gonna be the next Prime Minister.' The kettle sang, and she pulled down two mugs. 'Might well happen – d'you know what twit they got in there now? Didn't even wait for the last one's body to go cold, and they've shoved some pretty face in, without even a by-your-leave. They call it "interim", and all, but still. Didn't even asks us our opinions or for a vote, and it's not like we do anything important like pay taxes and…'
Rose let her mother's voice wash over her, basking in the familiarity of it all. She hadn't realised that she had actually missed Jackie's inane chatter in the time she had travelled with the Doctor. Upon returning, her mother had been too upset to talk about everyday matters, and Rose had worried she would never see that side of her mother again.
'Rose?'
'What?'
'You haven't heard a word I've said, have you?!'
'Sorry, Mum, just a bit tired,' Rose apologised, the words barely a lie. 'The Doctor and I helped this woman stop a bunch of alien slavers running an intergalactic species trafficking ring, so I didn't have time to sleep yet.'
'Is that what they're calling it now?' Jackie deadpanned. Before Rose could ask what she was talking about, she went on, 'I was asking you if you packed that sparkly blue shirt of yours when you left.'
'No, I didn't pack it.'
'You sure? Cos when I looked I couldn't find it.'
'Why were you looking for my top in the first place?'
'You don't listen, do you? Told you Billy Crewe asked me out, didn't I?'
'And what's that got to do with my blue shirt?' Rose grumbled, though usually questions like that meant she her mother intended to borrow her clothes. 'It's in the same drawer I left it, unless you've been moving stuff around while I was out.'
'Course not – could barely go into your room most days, could I?' Jackie sniffed. 'I wasn't about to root through your things, even if you weren't around. Figured you'd want your privacy if you… if you…'
Jackie trailed off and swallowed heavily. Rose winced.
So much for getting over the past.
She crossed the few steps across the kitchen and pulled her mother into a hug that was equal parts apology and comfort.
'I'm sorry, Mum,' she whispered.
They'd get better at this at some point – the talking. It had been so easy before she left, and now every time she opened her mouth she worried about reminding her mother about the year she had been missing.
Rose pulled away.
'I'll check my room again, maybe it ended up under the bed,' Rose offered lightly, squeezing her mother's shoulder.
Jackie nodded, reaching up to squeeze her hand back, but obviously too overcome to speak right then.
She headed for her room, but instead of going looking for the top, she sat down heavily on her bed and tried to collect her thoughts.
Doubt and guilt rushed over her once more. Perhaps she hadn't thought this through as much as she should have. Should she stay a little longer than a day? She'd told the Doctor she wanted to sort things with her Mum, and after their conversation on the Amaranian satellite, he seemed open to making exceptions for her needs. She might be able to convince him to let her stay for a little longer. Hell, if she decided she needed a week to sort things out, he could just skip ahead and come get her then?
But what if in that week, her mother convinced her to stay behind permanently. What if –
'Where is she?!' a familiar, angry voice demanded, and Rose straightened up. She hadn't even heard the door open.
'Her room, but –'
'Here, I don't want her to see this.'
There was the sound of shuffling.
'Now hold on there, Sh – '
'Not now, Jackie!'
Shareen Costello stalked into Rose's room with all the menace of a sabre-tooth tiger. It was a considerable change since Shareen was normally one of the prettiest people Rose knew. She was all heart-shaped face, dark-navy eyes and naturally arched eyebrows. The type of woman whose come-hither stare had pulled men from across a packed pub during a World Cup Final. Right now, though, those features twisted into an ugly snarl, and before Rose could get a word out, Shareen hauled back and slapped her.
'Rose Tyler, you right bitch!'
'Jesus Christ, Shareen, what the hell –?!' Rose yelped, one hand flying to her face and the other rising to fight off any other assaults.
'Where the hell have you been?!' her best friend shouted, trying to land several more blows on her. 'We thought you was missing! Abducted! Dead in a bleeding ditch!' Rose grabbed her friend's hands and keep them still, but Shareen was still yelling. 'Me an' Keisha an' the gang down the pub, we looked everywhere! And then I've to get it from your mum – you're mum, Rose – that you just took up with a mister and swanned off!'
'I didn't – that's not what – !'
'Why didn't you pick up the bloody phone!?' Shareen howled.
'It's more complicated than –'
'Not telling your mum, I understand, but me? I'm your best mate!'
'Now you watch yourself, Shareen,' Jackie interrupted disapprovingly, striding into Rose's room now. 'Won't have you running her off again cos you're in a strop. Been through all this with her already, I have.'
Rose would have commented on the satisfaction her mother was getting from someone else ripping into Rose if it weren't for the tiny figure she carried in her arms.
A baby, not much more than a few months, nestled into Jackie's shoulder, dark blue eyes as reproachful as possible to be at that age. The little stranger seemed to sense that Rose was the reason for the tension in the room, and wasn't happy about it. She made an inquisitive, annoyed sound around the dummy in her mouth and reached out a smooth, dark hand for Shareen.
'Told you I didn' want her seeing this,' Shareen scowled at Jackie, but released Rose and moved over to take the child. She settled her expertly over her shoulder and rubbed smooth, practised circles on the baby's back.
'Shareen?' Rose squeaked, dimly aware of her mother leaving them alone. 'Is she–'
'Your fault, you know,' Shareen muttered darkly. 'You went missing. We all thought you was dead. Went to a bar and got pissed. Shagged the first bloke I met, and he wasn't long in running off. And here we are.' She smoothed her hand through the baby's wiry hair, her expression softening. 'I named her Tanisha Rose. Figured the name should live on if you were –' She shot Rose an accusing look. 'Might change it something else, now, though.'
'I wouldn't blame you,' Rose responded, still trying to wrap her head around this new reality.
Her best friend. Hard-partying, offensive and bawdy Shareen.
With a baby.
It was like the world had turned on its axis.
'She's gorgeous,' she croaked. 'Looks just like you.'
'What happened, Rose?' her friend asked, sounding sad for the first time since she entered the room.
Shareen's rages were like fireworks; outright devastating in one instant and then fizzled out and over the next. It wasn't like Jackie, who could and would hold a grudge, bringing it up every few days or weeks or months.
Rose was sure this one would probably be years.
'Your mum won't say – figured you didn't have time to tell her yet, what wif all this alien stuff happening,' Shareen went on. 'Go on, you can tell me.'
Rose was torn.
On the one hand she was desperate to relate the entire story to someone that wasn't the Doctor. He sometimes leaned toward patronising even when he wasn't trying to be. Then there was her mother, who just didn't get it, and Mickey, who she knew still felt betrayed.
But on the other hand, she knew what the reaction would be. Rose loved Shareen, but her friend had never had an imaginative bone in her body. She was fiercely practical, and if Rose said anything, she would think Rose was taking the piss or worse, insane.
So she decided to lie.
'It's… um… well, it's one of those crisis things, yeah?' Rose murmured, not looking at her. 'Everything with Jimmy and Mum and work and the debts and all… and, you know, Henrik's blew up, so no more job…'
Which had happened almost a week ago for her, but a year ago for everyone else, apparently.
'Jus' got so… it jus' hit me all at once, so I ran. Couldn't worry about it anymore.'
Rose found that even though she was spinning a story, a lot of it actually rang true. She had felt variations of all those worries. She didn't know what she might have done if the Doctor hadn't invited her to travel with him.
'You idiot,' Shareen told her, sitting on the end of Rose's bed and bouncing the little one on her lap. 'You realise how dangerous that was?'
'Yeah, I… I didn't think about, when I left –'
Which was an outright lie. She'd specifically asked the Doctor if it would be dangerous, and that's why she had wanted to go in the first place!
' – but it's been amazing. Shar, the things I've seen… and the people we met, it's just been… I can't even explain it all, cos I'm still processing it.'
'Guess that makes sense…'
'Can I… can I hold her?' Rose asked, tentative.
Shareen gave her a considering look, like she was wondering if she should continue punishing Rose, before handing the baby over to her. 'Don't think I've forgiving you, yet.'
'Course not – oof, she's solid, ain't she?'
'And she's a stubborn little fool, too. It's why the name fits so much, I figured. Not like the bloody coward who run out on her,' Shareen sniffed. 'Speakin' of blokes – saw yours marching across the street on my way over. Can sor' of see why you ran off with him. He's well fit!'
'Yeah, well, it's not like that.'
'Bullshit – it true what they say about older blokes?'
'Huh?' Rose asked, craning her neck away from a fat baby finger that made to grab at her hoop earrings.
'The sex, Rose, is it good?'
'I'm not shagging the Doctor!' Rose protested, starting off loud and going quiet when it occurred to her Jackie might be hear her out in the living room.
'Yeah, right, pull the other one – s'got bells on it.'
'I'm serious!'
'Then you're seriously stupid, cos he's looks like he'd be good.'
'No wonder you ended up pregnant, all you think about is sex,' Rose snorted.
'Oh my God! I can't believe you just said that!' Shareen cried, equal parts scandalised, amused and offended.
Rose grinned, and just like that it was as if the past few days (and year) hadn't happened.
She spent the next two hours regaling Shareen with a heavily edited version of her adventures with the Doctor. It was hard not to mention time travel or aliens in any capacity.
She turned the trip to the end of the world into a trip to Tropics. She still had the sunburn from that and technically she had seen trees, even if they had walked and talked). Her brief stint on Mt Everest became a mountain climbing expedition in a lesser known area. The incident in Cardiff became pranksters at Christmas and going to see A Christmas Carol at the theatre. She talked about visiting a jungle somewhere in Asia and having a drink that resulted in such a strong hangover she didn't even remember the full experience.
'Bring me back some of that next time!' Shareen crowed.
The trip to see Cicero became a touristy trip to Rome, the Christmas Truce commentating on a casual football match in France. She passed off their visit with Dr Merrivale Carr as a visit to the country with a friend of the Doctor's before returning home.
Eventually Shareen had to leave. She worked at a twenty-four-hour call centre now, instead of the fast-food restaurant Rose remembered from before she'd left.
'D'you, er, want me to keep an eye on her while you're out?' Rose asked, a bit uncertain as she glanced at the baby. That's what you did when one of your mates had a baby, right? Offer to babysit?
'Thanks, Tyler, but she's got a place at the crèche Keisha's cousin owns,' Shareen snorted, then shoved a finger in Rose's face. 'But don't think I'm forgetting that offer. I'm due a night on the town in a bit, so when I call, you'll bloody well answer!'
Oh, yeah, the Doctor will love that one, Rose thought grimly. Breaks out in hives at the mere idea of domestic, and that's just the possibility of dinner with my mum. Babysitting… I bet he'd have a heart attack. Well… hearts attack.
Out loud, however, she said, 'Of course – if I'm in town. We're off again this week, though.'
'Oh yeah? Where're you going this time?'
'Dunno, really. He usually just makes it up as he goes along. Bit like throwing darts at a map of the world, really.'
She thought Shareen might be watching her with a little envy, but as Rose's eyes drew back to the child in her arms. It seemed her friend had had a different sort of adventure. Unbidden, the Doctor's words about time lines and erasing people came back to her, and she experienced an overwhelming relief that the little girl still existed.
'Well, wherever you end up, next time take pictures,' Shareen ordered. 'And next time I see you, you'd better be introducing me to your bloke. I've got a few choice words for him.'
'Not my bloke, Shareen.'
'Sure, Rose – I believe you. Thousands wouldn't, but I do,' she winked, and swept from the room, her daughter snug in her arms.
Watching her friend leave, it was as if she'd been offered a premonition of what her life would be if she decided not to travel with the Doctor. It wasn't a bad life. In fact, despite the difficulty in it, she had the sneaking suspicion Shareen wouldn't change her circumstances for all the world.
But it wasn't what Rose wanted.
The lure of adventure and danger blocked out everything past the next day, and the idea of any other kind of future seemed lacklustre to her.
Smiling at finally having a concrete sense of certainty, Rose crossed her room and began rummaging around in her jewellery box. She needed a strong chain for the TARDIS key the Doctor had given her.
She wanted it to always be within easy reach.
· ΔΩ ·
