CHAPTER ELEVEN : ROPES
Rose stretched and yawned as she opened her eyes sleepily. She gave a contented sigh then rubbed away the comfort of sleep from her eyes and looked up. The velvet night sky and its wealth of stars had crept away during her dreams. Now, as she gazed up at the glass dome above her bed, she watched a bright early morning sun waking as reluctantly as she was, preparing for its day in a perfect green-blue sky.
She sat up and glanced to the other side of the large bed, only to let out a small groan of frustration. Of course she hadn't really expected the Doctor to still be there, but she had hoped just a little that he might have stayed with her, well... maybe more than a little. She sighed and pushed away the feeling of disappointment that chewed in her stomach and trying to put it down to hunger she swung her legs out of the bed. It was only then she remembered her dream. It returned to her like a hazy, almost forgotten memory, but as she held on to its cloudy tendrils a smile grew broad at her lips and she blushed helplessly. Dreams, she decided as she stood up and began searching for her clothes, were fantastic things.
xxxxx
Rose didn't know if it was the warm memory of the dream that she was holding in her heart, or the fact that she'd just woken from the deepest sleep she'd had in months, but as she left her room and walked down the corridor she found herself to be in a surprisingly good mood. She almost felt like whistling a happy tune. Grinning to herself she pushed open a door, wondering where the Doctor was and if there was any chance of getting a cup of tea. However, as she walked into the room all such thoughts slipped away as she stared in absolute astonishment at the sight that met her eyes.
The Doctor was sitting in a chair, his hands firmly secured behind his back and his feet roped together. He looked at Rose with wide eyes and 'bounced' a little in the chair. Rose took this as a plea for help and dashed over to undo the ropes.
She pulled at the knots around his ankles. "Why are you tied to a chair?" She concentrated on undoing the knots and controlling her smile. It wasn't a question she'd ever asked before. The Doctor mumbled something unintelligible and Rose looked up.
She frowned."What did you say?"
More mumbling -- a little louder this time.
There was something about the Doctor's face which struck Rose as being vaguely reminiscent of a hamster she'd had when she was nine. She bit her lip and considered the matter before leaning forward and pulling out a rather large amount of white cloth that had been firmly stuffed inside the Doctor's mouth.
"What happened?" she asked as the Doctor coughed and spluttered and kicked away the rope from his boots.
"What happened?" the Doctor exclaimed in an incredulous tone. "I'll tell you what happened -- your friend Korrok happened!"
Rose worked on the ties that bound the Doctor's wrists at the back of the chair. "Korrok?" she said in surprise.
"Who else?" the Doctor asked, not liking the slight tone of disbelief he could detect in Rose's voice. "Fairies? Pixies? Rudolph the red nosed reindeer?"
Rose swallowed down her laughter and felt it twist in her stomach. "Why would Korrok tie you to a chair?"
His hands now free the Doctor rubbed at his wrists and stood up, disgruntled. "He caught me coming out of your room this morning ."
"This morning?" Rose repeated, just to make sure she hadn't misunderstood.
"That's what I said."
"You stayed the night?" Nothing wrong with double checking. It was need to know information after all and she was right at the top of the need to know list.
"Yes -- no -- sort of." The Doctor sighed, exasperated. Rose and her endless questions. "Does it matter?"
Rose frowned. "Didn't you explain why you were there?"
"I tried," the Doctor said. "But it turns out that Korrok's a man of action, not words."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rose put her hands on her hips and waited. She got her answer, not from the Doctor but from Korrok as he walked into the room carrying a small tray of what looked and smelt like fresh baked bread.
"It means I hit him," Korrok said without the slightest hint of remorse and put the bread down onto the table.
Rose spun around and gave Korrok a look her mother would have been proud of. "What do you mean, you hit him?"
"It was more of a punch," the Doctor corrected helpfully. "Right in the face -- could have broken my..."
Rose looked back over her shoulder and from the look on her face the Doctor guessed that now would be a good time to shut up, so he did.
"Did you sleep well, Scrawny?" Korrok asked as he cut into the loaf of crusty bread.
"Yes, thanks," Rose said, more than a little distracted by the aroma of the fresh baked bread. "You can't go around punching people."
Korrok looked up, apparently considering the matter. "On reflection, perhaps I was a little hasty."
The Doctor gave a disgruntled snort and crossed his arms but said nothing.
Korrok put a thick slice of the bread on to a plate and pushed it across the table to Rose. "You must be hungry."
Rose found herself staring at the bread on the table while trying to ignore the stirrings of hunger in her stomach and concentrate on the matter at hand. She looked up at Korrok, fixing him with an expectant look. "So you're sorry then?"
Korrok gave a sour and uncomfortable look, which Rose took to mean that he was indeed sorry, and she pulled out a chair from the table, sitting down and at once reaching for the bread.
"Well..." She bit into the bread and continued with her mouth full. "Mmmm... just as long as you're sorry. I accept your apology." She smiled brightly at Korrok. "This is great bread."
"Thank you. It's an old family recipe."
"Hang on." The Doctor uncrossed his arms and moved to the table. "You accept his apology? What apology? I didn't hear an apology."
"That's because there wasn't one," Korrok said smugly. "If there had been, I'm sure you'd have heard it with 'those' ears."
"Oh pick on the ears why don't you? That's charming I must say -- especially when I've kept schtum about your halitosis."
"If anyone should apologise it should be you," Korrok said with certainty.
"Me?" The Doctor's eyes grew wide.
"You have abused your position as a guest in my home."
"Abused my position?" the Doctor echoed in disbelief. "My 'position' was tied to a chair!"
Korrok gave a shrug. "I took steps that were necessary to protect Scrawny's virtue."
The Doctor glanced to Rose then back to Korrok. "Rose's virtue?" He said, as though not quite sure he'd heard right. "Unbelieveable! You go around tying people up -- an' you're lecturing me about morals!"
"Doctor, do the words mountain and mole-hill mean anything to you?" Rose asked with as much patience as she could scrape together.
However the Doctor was not for turning. "I should complain to my MP," he huffed.
"You haven't got an MP," Rose pointed out.
"That's a technicality -- anyway, I'm sure Harriet Jones would take up the case." He gave Rose a winning smile. "She has a soft spot for me."
"What case?" Rose asked.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I was taken hostage, Rose. Keep up!"
"You weren't taken hostage."
"Excuse me -- I was. It was a clear and blatent breach of the Geneva Convention, relating to artical..."
"The Geneva Convention?" Now it was Rose's turn to roll her eyes. "The Geneva Convention wasn't set up to deal with hissy fits between aliens."
"Loopholes!" the Doctor scoffed. "What are you -- his lawyer?"
"He dosen't need a lawyer," Rose said. "But if you ask me, you might need a psychiatrist."
The Doctor gave it one last shot. "I was imprisoned without trial."
Rose gave a sigh. "Look, I've just about had enough of you two. I want you both to give each other a big manly hug and that'll be the end of it." She set them both with a determined stare. "I'm not moving from this table till I see a hug."
The Doctor and Korrok glared at each other for a second or two, then there was a half-hearted hug followed by much overly zealous slapping of backs.
"Ignoramus," Korrok muttered.
"Fur-ball," the Doctor responded.
With that, both men pulled apart and stepped back.
Rose was grinning from ear to ear. "There now, don't you feel better?" She looked to Korrok and tilted her head a little as she studied him. "But you know, we're really going to have to work on your people skills."
The Doctor gave a snort, pulled a chair out from under the table and sat down opposite Rose.
"Lesson one," he said with authority. "Tying up your house guests is considered rude." He stopped then gave a quick grin. "Well, unless it's that kind of party an' even then it should be by mutual consent."
Rose gave him an odd look. "You been to many of those 'parties' Doctor?"
"What? No. Well, there was that one time, but I didn't have an invitation so it doesn't really count."
"So... you gate-crashed... that sort of party?" Rose asked. It was just one surprise after another.
"Sort of, yeah." He smiled again. "The hostess was a lovely woman, very... approachable. The whip was more of a fashion accessory."
"Approachable? Yeah I bet she was." Rose was scowling. "I'm surprised she didn't offer to show you her dungeon."
"She did as a matter of fact," the Doctor said, sounding utterly amazed at Rose's accuracy. "I had to turn her down though, I wasn't there to admire her interior design -- I was tracking a Drallosk. I only had time to grab a couple of vol-au-vents before I spotted him leggin' it over the back garden fence. Shame really, they were just about to start the party games." The Doctor patted his jacket pockets. "I think I still have her card somewhere." He produced the card from an inside pocket, glanced over it then offered it to Rose. "She said if I was ever in the neighbourhood again she'd put me up for the weekend."
Rose stared at the crisp red card, the look on her face increasingly darkening. "Dominatrix Dominique," she read out, trying to keep her voice as level as she could. "Mistress of Dark Pleasures." She looked up and met the Doctor's smile. She shook her head a little and looked back to the card. Nine hundred years old and still so naive. Sometimes the Doctor needed saving from himself -- and she was just the girl to do it.
"I don't think so," she said with a fixed certainty and promptly ripped the card into several pieces, dropping them down onto the table. Then without a backward glance or giving any indication that she regretted her blatant act of vandalism, she got up and walked to the door.
The Doctor stared in confusion at the red confetti on the tabletop then looked up at Rose as she opened the door and walked outside into the morning sunlight. Even if he lived through all twelve of his regenerations he'd never understand woman -- especially ones from Earth.
"You'll be sorry you did that," he called after her. "Next time we're in Sheffield and need a bed for the night, don't think I won't bring this up."
The Doctor looked up Korrok, who as usual was glaring at him. Not one to be put off, the Doctor responded with an irrepressible grin and with his attention fixed on Korrok he attempted to mentally wheedle something of the man within. Maybe something that would explain Rose's inexplicable fondness for an eight-foot-tall, one-eyed, overly hirsute alien, with a penchant for jewellery made from skeleton remains.
However, he quickly realised that Korrok was wheedle proof and reluctantly gave up. The Doctor stood up and moved to stand in front of Korrok, even refusing to be beaten back by bad breath.
"Well," he said, folding his arms and fixing Korrok's one eye with his two. "I won't say it's been nice meeting you -- 'cos it hasn't."
"You took the words right out of my mouth," Korrok replied.
"Let's not keep in touch, eh?" the Doctor suggested brightly.
"My thoughts exactly." Korrok nodded.
The Doctor glanced to the door that Rose had walked out of, then he looked back to Korrok. "I can't see what she sees in you," he said, genuinely confused.
Korrok cast his disapproving eye over the Doctor before giving a curt grunt. "Her taste in men is... perplexing."
The Doctor let that one slide and gazed up at the ceiling for a second. They'd hit that awkward moment. This was exactly why he didn't 'do' goodbyes. He gave a restless sigh and opened his arms wide.
"Another manly hug?" he suggested with a wicked glint.
"No," Korrok said with absolute certainly and more than a dash of revulsion.
"Thought not," the Doctor said and pushed his hands into his jacket pockets as Korrok continued to scowl.
"Doctor!" Rose called loudly from outside the house, and both men's attention turned toward the door as it opened and Rose appeared. "Doctor, Korrok, come and look! Come on!" Then she ducked back outside.
Both Korrok and the Doctor set off toward the door. They reached it at the same time and pushed past eachother with much shoving and elbowing, until they made it to the outside world in a dead heat despite their apparent eagerness to out-do eachother and be the first to respond to Rose's call.
Rose stood and stared at them for a second. She shook her head, words failing her after having watched the 'who can get out of the door first' contest.
She turned to face the distant mountains and pointed. There was a large plume of coloured smoke rising in a straight line up into the sky.
"Purple smoke," Rose said in confusion, then turned to look back at Korrok and the Doctor, surprised at the looks of concern showing on both of their faces.
"Actually, it's mauve," the Doctor corrected.