The moment the TARDIS landed, Rose rushed out the doors and was greated with the less-than-spectacular sight of the ally way in front of her building in the estate. She let out a loud laugh and twirled, she was really back! She was gonna see her mum. Oh god, her mum.
She was going to see her mum. She had to play it cool, she couldn't let her know about the emotional roller-coaster she was going through on the inside. She had to be careful, if anyone could read her it was her mother. If her mum knew something was off, it could ruin everything.
"How long have I been gone?" Rose finally asked the Doctor, who was now leaning against the TARDIS.
"About 12 hours."
"You sure?"
"Oi, you doubt me?"
"Well, you also said Naples 1860 but.." she teased.
"Alright, one mistake. I'm allowed one."
"Right, well I won't be long. Just wanna see my mum." She started walking to her building.
"What're you gonna tell 'er?"
"I dunno," she said airily, turning back to the Doctor, "Time travel and all tha' may be a bit much for 'er. I'll just say I was out with a mate." She gave him that special grin and he chuckled. She started jogging away, but the suddenly turned back and yelled, "Don't you disappear, now!" He just grinned back at her and she ran off.
She jogged all the way up until she got to her door. She froze, steeling her nerves for the absolute shit storm she was about to face. She could feel her keys in her pocket weighing a ton. Finally, she opened the door.
"Mum?" she called, walking into the apartment slowly.
It had always looked exactly the same for as long as she can remember. They rarely moved around furniture or anything. She walked through the entryway and towards the kitchen where her mum stood in the archway. She looked shell shocked, to say the least.
"Hi, mum." Her mug dropped to the floor with a crash.
"It's you." She said breathless. "Oh my god, it's you. Oh my god!" she began sobbing, enveloping Rose in a tight hug. Now Rose could clearly see the missing posters on the kitchen table. Almost immediately, the Doctor busted in. Rose turned to him, still in her mother's arms.
"It's not 12 hours, it's 12 months. You've been gone a whole year." he chuckled, clearly embarrassed, "Sorry."
"Who the hell are you?" Jackie yelled.
"Mum, this is the Doctor. I've been with him this whole time." Rose said slowly, moving out of her mother's arms and in front of the Doctor to protect him from an oncoming Tyler Slap. "Look, why don't you sit down and we will explain everythin', alrigh'?"
"Everything?" the Doctor murmered in her ear.
"Everything." She said firmly.
"Wait a minute, I know you! You were with the paper or somethin', about Rose's job blowing up. You came to interview her, then she disappeared!" Her mum was livid, and it was too late. No talking it out. She grabbed the phone and called the police, taking the landline to her room.
"I suppose if we run, we'll look guilty." The Doctor tried to joke, but Rose just glared at him. "Right."
So there Rose was, again, sitting on the sofa chair with the Doctor standing next to her, a policeman across from her, and her mother screaming at her.
"The hours I sat here, days and weeks and months, all on my own! I thought you were dead. And where were you? Travelling! What the hell does that mean, travelling? That's no sort of answer!" she turned to the police man sitting on their couch who was looking like he'd rather be anywhere other than this living room. You and me both, mate, Rose thought. "You ask her, she won't tell me. That's all she says, travelling."
"Look, I know wot it sounds like, but I was…" Rose started.
"With your passport still in the drawer! It's just one lie after another!"
"I wanted to explain this to you calmly and privately," Rose said, looking to the policeman, "but you wouldn't listen."
"I don't believe you!" her mother huffed. "Why won't you tell me where you've been?"
"Actually, it's my fault." The Doctor pipped in. Oh, no. "I sort of employed Rose as my companion."
"When you say companion, is this a sexual relationship?" the policeman asked.
"No!" Rose and the Doctor exclaim simultaneously.
"Then wot is it?" Jackie yelled, rounding on the Doctor. "Because you, you waltz in here all charm and smiles, and the next thing I know, she vanishes off the face of the earth! How old are you then? 40, 45? Wot, did'ja find her on the internet? Did'ja go online and pretend you're a doctor?"
"I am a doctor." He said, and Rose wished he had shut his mouth.
"Prove it. Stitch this, mate." WACK! She slapped him hard across the face. Rose stood up instantly.
"Alright! Tha's enough!" She yelled. "You can leave." She said to the policeman, who honestly looked ready to either run out or call backup. "You, wait outside." She said to the Doctor, who was cradling his cheek. "You and I are talkin', now." She said to her mother and stormed into the kitchen.
Her mother ushered the policeman out before joining Rose in the kitchen. Rose turned to look at her mother to find tears in her eyes. Immediately, she crossed the room and hugged her mum. They both let out a sob.
"Did you think about me at all?" her mum asked, tears choking her words.
"I did, mum. All the time. But it's not wotcha think. Didn't Mickey tell ya anythin'?"
"Oh, Mickey." Jackie scoffed, waving it off. "One phone call. Just to know you were alive."
"I'm sorry, I really am." Rose sniffled.
"But do you know what terrifies me is that you still can't say. What happened to you, Rose? What could be so bad that you can't tell me, sweetheart?" her mum practically begged for an answer. "Where were you?"
Rose took a deep breath and tried to steady her voice. She had to tell her mum the truth, because one way or another she was going to find out. Telling her was her best bet.
"Here's the thing, mum. The Doctor, he's not… normal. He's an alien."
"My god, Rose, what did he do to you?" Jacking began to frantically cradle Rose's face, but she shook her off.
"No, mum, you're not listening! I'm not jokin', I'm not crazy, and I'm not lyin'. He's an alien called a Time Lord, he's got a ship that can travel through time and space, and he's brought me along with him."
And when that conversation turned into a disaster, her mother ready to call up every psychiatrist in the greater London area, Rose and the Doctor ended up sitting on the roof as far away from Jackie as possible.
"She thinks I'm mad, absolutely barmy! That I'm brainwashed or somethin'. She's never gonna forgive me."
"I still can't believe you told her." He scoffed. Then he said, in a mostly crass voice, but with a hint of insecurity which he hoped Rose wouldn't pickup on (which she did pickup on), "Well, if it's this much trouble, are you gonna stay here now?"
"And miss out on adventures with you? No way!" They smiled at each other, but then Rose looked away. "But I can't do that to her again."
"Well she's not coming with us."
"No chance!" Rose laughed and it spread to the Doctor.
"I don't do families."
"She slapped you!"
"900 years of time and space, and ive never been slapped by someone's mother."
"All that time, that gob hasn't gotten you in trouble?"
"Trouble, maybe. But, not like that!"
"Your face!" she giggled.
"It hurt!" he whined. He started cradling his previously hurt cheek, which made Rose laugh harder.
"So," she sighed, getting her giggles out, "you're 900 years old?"
"Yeah."
"Huh, mum was right. That's one hell of an age gap." Rose hopped off the wall. That spaceship was going to fly overhead soon, she just had to wait. She was just about to start pacing when a horn blew and the ship flew overhead. Her and the Doctor ducked as it flew past them, making its way to Big Ben. The crash was deafeningly loud against the clock. Finally, it landed in the river. They both sprang up, looked at each other, and started laughing.
"C'mon!" he yelled excitedly, grabbing Rose's hand. She pulled him back.
"Hold it. Eager much? A spaceship just landed in the middle of London."
"Precisely why we should go." Sassed the Doctor.
"A spaceship just crashed into Big Ben, ya don't think the whole place is gonna be on high alert? It's gonna be gridlocked down there, we can't get in."
"Right. And I wouldn't wanna take the TARDIS in. There's already one spaceship there don't wanna add another in the mix."
"Well, we can do wot everybody else does." He looked at her, a blank expression on his face. "We can watch it on TV."
A/N: And back to the main story! Hope you all enjoyed it, more on the way!
