And now we get into series 4 properly! The series doesn't give a hint what happened between Voyage of the Damned and Partners in Crime, so let's explore that just a bit.
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Oh, and by the way, Hawkerin and I don't own anything you recognize. Or anything related to Doctor Who at all. Wellllll, that's not quite true. Hawkerin has a backpack, thermos and some other stuff, and I have some stuff I made out of licensed fabric, a sonic, and a bunch of books and audios. But that's it.
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Are you sure you're ready for a new companion?" the Doctor asked Rose as they laid in their bed. His fingers were slowly drawing the circles, lines, and dots that made up the written form of his language on her ribcage. She still didn't know what he was saying for sure, but she found it to be a comfort.
"Yeah, it's time," she replied. "We've been knocking about alone for almost two years now. And we were gonna take Astrid along for a bit, but she found adventure on her own. Wonder how they'll get on?"
"Oh, brilliantly, I expect. Banna's gonna treat her like royalty," the Doctor answered.
"Bannakaffalatta," Rose teased, barking out the name like the Zocci man had.
"Oh, not you too," he complained. His fingers stopped their circuitous path and dug into her sides, tickling her. He only continued his torture for a moment before she told him to stop.
"And there was that woman with the wedding dress. Dana or something like that," Rose said after a moment.
He wrapped his arms back around her waist and told her, "Donna of the very ginger hair."
Rose giggled at that. "Figures you'd remember her like that."
"I like it being just the two of us," he told her, moving his hands to less innocent areas.
"Me too," she assured him. "But something tells me it's not so good for us to be just us for too long. And I miss showing people-"
She gasped when he dug his fingernails into tender flesh and scratched her. It wasn't long before she was gasping for other reasons.
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They agreed on a series of tests for people. First of all, the person had to catch their attention on a trip. After that, they could go to the past of their own planet, the future, or somewhere else altogether and meet people who were really alien to them. If they worked out after all three of those criteria, which could usually be done in two trips, then they'd ask the person to come along on a more permanent basis.
But selecting someone to come along wasn't easy. Selecting someone they both agreed on was harder.
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Silmafrax Apla Hilta was a beautiful place. The social structure, not so much. They had a strict caste system that had men at the top of every level of society and even the highest woman had to listen to a middle class man. It wasn't time for everything to change yet. Even Rose could tell that without trying much, but the seeds for change were being sown.
They had found a young woman, Alecai, who stuck out to them. She was stronger willed than most women and they decided to take her somewhere where women were treated equally.
Alecai was taken right back home after her first trip. She was progressive for her time, but taking her to see the future of her own planet was too much for her.
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After stopping an assassination on Lan Kil that would have thrown the entire system into even greater chaos, they invited the man who created the diversion along with them. He, like all his people, had eyebrow ridges that protruded just a bit too much to say he looked human. He was too old to be properly young, but too young to be called middle aged and seemed to have a level head on him.
They had thought they found a great companion in Childra. He properly enjoyed the past, listened to what they had to say, and even wandered off when it was appropriate to do so. The last point, the Doctor grumbled about and Rose inwardly cheered, but when it came time to ask him to stay on, he asked to go home instead. He missed his family.
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Another time, they had let the TARDIS pick the coordinates and wound up on Olnado, which was a small planet that was the seat of power in the Plesandious constellation. The Plesandious constellation was in the same part of the Universe as the Kasterborous constellation, or so the Doctor told her when they stepped out of the TARDIS to a cool night. He looked up at the sky and pointed out a blank spot in the otherwise star filled sky.
"That's the center of Kasterborous," he told her solemnly. "That's where-" Rose wrapped her arms around him and held him until they both felt someone else come up to them.
"Time Lords," the woman hissed. "Get off of my planet!"
It was a rare thing for them to be recognized by species on sight. It was the first time it happened to Rose since her change. "How did-" she started, but the Doctor stopped her quickly when he touched her.
He approached the woman slowly. "Hello, I'm the Doctor, this is Rose. Our TARDIS brought us here, and whenever that happens, there's something that needs doing."
The woman stared at him, then she looked at the TARDIS. "You're the Doctor. Your Capsule is stuck like that, right?"
"Yep, that's me, Doctor, Police Box, TARDIS," the Doctor said, rocking back on his heels. Someone who didn't know him would think him happy, but Rose knew better. She didn't need any kind of telepathic link with him to see the tension underneath.
"You're the Doctor of War," she accused and the Doctor stopped moving.
"What?" Rose questioned. This had been the first time she'd heard that.
"There are legends of the Doctor of War in this part of the cosmos. He never carried a weapon, but would drop onto your world and tear it to pieces," she told Rose without taking her eyes off the uncharacteristically silent man. "Is that why you're here?" she asked fearfully. "The legends also say you would listen to reason if someone talked to you. Are you here because of the Tioki?"
"No," he spoke shortly, breaking the impersonation of the statue that he was doing. "The War is over. The Time Lords were never at war with you." When the woman relaxed, he asked, "Tioki? What's your leader doing that has you sure I'm here to stop it?"
"The Tioki sees what we all see. The War is over and the core of Kasterborous is black. She thinks the Time Lords are gone and we can take their place."
The Doctor scoffed at that. "Your civilization'll collapse long before you could ever-" Rose elbowed him. "What?"
"You don't tell people their civilization will collapse," she admonished telepathically at the same time she said out loud, "Rude."
"What? It's true of every civilization that ever rises," he replied.
"Yeah, but she knows you can go to the future, for all she knows, you've seen it. It's one thing to know, it's another to KNOW."
The Doctor nodded. "Okay, yes, that was a bit rude of me, wasn't it?" He then took another step toward the woman and began interrogating her. "What's your name?"
"Lona."
"Hello Lona. This Tioki of yours, how does she plan on doing...that?" he asked distastefully.
"And how could it happen?" Rose wondered.
It turned out that the people of Olnado were time sensitive, as the Gallifreyans were, though they'd never acquire the level of technology to truly be masters of Time and Space. The Tioki was conducting experiments in time travel with a capsule, as traveling through the Vortex without one would do harm to a person over time.
The experiments weren't as dangerous to timelines as some early ones conducted by humans, thanks to the time sensitive nature of the people of Olnado, but they were exceedingly dangerous to the people themselves and the places they travelled to and from.
Time travel needed a lot of energy, and the capsules would often destroy the places where they landed. If, they didn't, the people would often not be able to go home, as the capsules energy output would harm them more than simply using a Vortex manipulator.
The Doctor and Rose, with Lona's help were able to put a stop to it, but owing to the knowledge of the people, they were only able to stop the dangerous experiments.
Before they left, Lona told them to watch for what wasn't where it was supposed to be. The statement left them confused, but they both remembered it. Lona was time sensitive herself.
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A quick trip to Lianatedu saved the local people there from a nasty disease carried by a time traveler from their own future. After that trip, they brought along a woman named Kali at Rose's suggestion. Kali was a firecracker, in Rose's opinion, and she loved that about her.
Unfortunately, once on board, Kali became more interested in the Doctor than in the trips, and Rose had to stop herself from shoving the woman out the door when she took her right back to where she came from.
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The Doctor was beneath the grating in the console room, busily working on some wiring, while Rose scrolled through data on the monitor. The TARDIS was giving her a list of odd happenings to help her choose their next destination. Not much of it interested her at all, but she came across one that was happening in London, around her time and decided that maybe they could give that one a try. They hadn't been back to her home in quite a while afterall.
"Adipose," Rose said allowed as she read over the summary that the ship was giving her.
"It means fat. What are you reading?" the Doctor wondered.
"Some company in London. They're selling these diet pills, yeah? 'Adipose Industries, the twenty first century way to lose weight. No exercise, no diet, no pain. Just lifelong freedom from fat. The Holy Grail of the modern age. You just take one capsule, once a day for three weeks, and the fat just walks away,'" she read to him. "Sounds a bit sketchy to me."
The Doctor hummed his agreement as he thought over what she said. "You want to look into it, then?"
"I think so. We could go under cover. Infiltrate and investigate," she giggled teasingly.
"Infiltrate? You really want to go that route? Couldn't we just do what we usually do?" he asked with a frown. The Doctor climbed up out of the hole in the floor and sat on the edge of it.
"You mean barge in there asking a million questions and get ourselves arrested?"
"Well," he began, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Tell you what, you go poking around where you shouldn't be. I'm going to get myself in there inconspicuously and find out what I can. We'll see who gets more information in one day," Rose challenged.
"I accept your challenge, Dame Rose, and the winner gets to choose our next destination," the Doctor replied, standing next to her and kissing the back of her hand formally.
Rose giggled at him and shook her head before turning back to the computer. The TARDIS managed to arrange a job for her in the Adipose call centre, selling pills over the phone. She thought that seemed like a pretty good cover for herself. Low enough that no one would pay much attention to her, but she would have access to client information and phone numbers. She might even be able to get into some of the offices and search filing cabinets.
"While you fly us to the right date, I'm going to get changed for my new job," she told him as she walked toward their bedroom.
"Job? Ugh, that's a dirty word, Rose Tyler!" he called to her, but piloted the TARDIS to their destination as requested. He did his own bit of research on Adipose Industries while he waited for her. There was definitely something odd about this place.
When Rose walked back into the console room, the Doctor's breath caught in his throat. She was wearing a pencil skirt that matched his suit perfectly, a light blue blouse, and she was carrying a pair of stiletto heels. Her hair was tied up in a loose bun, a few curls framing her face loosely.
"There is no possible way that I can allow you out of my sight wearing that," the Doctor informed her. He walked around her appraisingly, not wanting to miss a single angle of the sight she presented.
"It wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but the TARDIS refused to give me anything else that would be appropriate in an office. And I certainly can't wear these shoes in here without getting caught in the grating on the floor," Rose complained, but she smirked at the effect her outfit was having on her husband.
"I think the Old Girl is taking your side in this little competition. She either doesn't want us to split up at all, or she wants me completely distracted by thoughts of every man in that office staring at my wife," he told her, still staring at her shapely behind in the very fitted skirt she was wearing.
"Well, good luck, then. I've got work to do," she responded with a wink over her shoulder and headed for the doors. The TARDIS was parked just outside of the tall building that housed Adipose Industries, and Rose took a moment to put on her shoes. She had the psychic paper tucked safely in her pocket for proof of who she was according to what the TARDIS had set up ahead of time.
The Doctor watched appreciatively the way her ridiculously high heels made his wife's hips sway as she walked into the building and took a moment to regain his wits before closing the door behind him and heading for the back entrance. He opened the door easily with his sonic, and strolled down the hallway to find an empty office where he could access their computer system. Coming across a security guard, the Doctor reached into his pocket for the psychic paper, but couldn't find it.
"I'm the Health and Safety inspector," the Doctor informed the young man.
"I need to see your identification, please. This is a restricted area," he replied.
"Of course, just seem to have misplaced it," the Doctor told him with a nervous smile as he searched through all of his pockets. Telepathically contacting his wife, he asked, "Rose, do you know what happened to my psychic paper?"
"You mean this psychic paper? Did you need it, love?" she responded smugly.
"It would seem that I left it in the car. I'll just go and get it, shall I?" he told the security guard sheepishly. The young man crossed his arms and nodded before walking the Doctor back to the nearest exit.
"You did that on purpose. Now I CAN'T investigate anything in the building," he pouted telepathically.
"You don't have another one of these things?" she argued.
"Why would I need another one? It's not like I would ever lose it or anything," he replied logically.
"Oh, I dunno, in case maybe I needed to use it for something?" she countered.
"Yes, fine. Enjoy your day at work. I'll just have to find something else to do," he told her as he stomped back to the ship.
Rose endured her brief training session and several hours of trying to sell pills over the phone. She didn't worry too much about the people she was selling them to since they'd likely have this whole thing taken down before their orders were ever processed. At her first opportunity, she wandered through the building, looking for useful files or information about where things were stored in the building. She managed to find out the location of the boss' office, snagged a box of the little necklaces they were giving all the customers, and found a bottle of the pills to take back to the ship with her. The Doctor could probably analyse their contents to get a better idea of what these things were. It wasn't long though before she had to get back to her desk or she'd be discovered.
On her way through the cubicles, she spotted a very familiar ginger woman looking around the room appraisingly, and grabbed her arm. Rose pulled Donna back to her desk before saying anything and sat them both down. The whole way, Donna was protesting being dragged along, but her mouth dropped open in shock when she finally realized who it was that was pulling her.
"Oh my god!" Donna whispered excitedly, squeezing Rose's hands.
"Donna? What are you doing here?" Rose whispered back, glancing around them to make sure the other employees weren't going to say anything about this strange woman talking with her.
"Rose! This is brilliant!" Donna nearly squealed, but still managed to be whispering. "It's me!"
"Yes, I can see that. But why are you here?" Rose asked again.
"I was looking for you and the Doctor," she replied.
"What for?" Rose wondered.
"I read it on the internet. Looking at this place, I thought, that's weird. So I came to check it out, thinking the two of you would probably get involved if there's alien trouble about," Donna rambled.
"Ok, I get it. I've been trying to get some information from the inside here. What was your plan?" Rose questioned.
"Thought I'd get a list of customers and find out how these things work. 'Cause pills like that never work properly. It's always some kind of scam, but if these people are really losing weight with this, then something alien's gotta be behind it," Donna explained.
"That's a brilliant idea, Donna. Let me print out a list and we can check it out tonight. I've got to be here for another couple of hours, but as soon as I'm done, we can follow up with your plan. The Doctor will be thrilled to see you again, Donna," Rose assured her.