Marvin the Paranoid Android Disclaimer: You just had to, didn't you? Couldn't leave it well enough alone, no. Had to drag me into it, just because that silly human who supposedly invented me also worked for Doctor Who. Well, that isn't going to help you, and I'm certainly not going to help you. I've got this terrible pain in the diodes on my left side and I'm not doing anything until it is corrected. Since that will never happen - I keep requesting, but of course, no one ever listens - I'm afraid I'll never be available to assist a random Fan-fiction writers' takeover of Doctor Who or anything else in the realm of science fiction. Oh, the waste. Here I am, brain the size of a planet, reduced to making disclaimers in fan-fictions utterly unrelated to the works I'm usually forced to endure an appearance in. Am I getting you down? I'm not surprised...
As I am a professional writer and have work to do to get paid, I have decided to deal with these thudding plot bunnies in the traditional manner - I will inflict them on others. Please see my Profile for the Challenges of the Month. June Challenges will be available as of June 3rd, but feel free to tackle May's if you'd rather. The new set will run through the end of June. Please let me know when you respond to a Challenge so I can read and review.
Chapter 29: The Wedding and the Witnesses
The Doctor did exactly as he said he would do, went and picked up the rings, and then the capsule appeared at the time and location for the wedding. He informed her via the mind link that he had put a bit of a "notice me not" field on their rings and that way, she could wear hers on a chain around her neck without any odd questions. Since he could reinforce his psychically, he could wear it out in plain sight - her plain sight - and no one would notice. She was delighted, couldn't wait to wear the beautiful, slender platinum band they had selected, with it's gorgeous Gallifreyan lettering that looked like just decorative carving to anyone not in the know.
Rose got up that morning and took a bath, then changed into her lovely wedding dress. She wore her hair free and long, combed until it shone, with a small crown of flowers around her head, since he said Gallifreyan brides used to wear their hair down to show they came as innocent as children to their marriage. She wasn't innocent, not any more, but her intentions and her heart toward him were pure, and she felt the symbolism was right.
He went out into the street to find them some witnesses after a brief discussion with the gentleman who was going to marry them. She couldn't resist watching through his eyes, just to see how he handled it.
He looked around at the small number of early risers available in Cardiff at this time of day. Finally, he nabbed a couple who were, apparently, out for a very early morning constitutional. The whole exchange, though, turned completely surreal almost immediately.
"Hello," he said, giving them his most charming smile, "I'm the Doctor. I wonder if I might ask you for a favor."
The older gentleman studied him with a curious expression caught somewhere between exasperated humor and fond doubt. "Are you really?" he asked. His companion studied the Doctor's face, as if she was trying to make sense of it or something.
"Yes," assured the Doctor. "Have been all my life."
"Ah," said the gentleman, something of a conspiracy in the way he tilted his head and twiddled with his mustache. "And how long is that, then?"
The Doctor's thoughts and smile turned to mischief. "Dunno. Wasn't paying attention when it started, I was busy. Being born, you know how it is."
While the woman looked simply incredulous, the man threw his head back and laughed. "Typical," he pronounced. "Absolutely typical." He shook his head as if in resignation, then turned a warm smile on the Doctor. "What can we do for you today, Doctor?" he said, almost as if he was used to saying it and didn't expect the answer to exactly make sense.
Baffled by this admittedly strange behavior, the Doctor asked, "Have we met?"
"Obviously not," the man replied, and offered a hand. "I'm Alistair, this is my wife, Doris."
"Nice to meet you." The Doctor shook hands with both, a bit surprised at the older man's strong grip. After a second of them beaming at him, almost proudly, he tried to regain control of the situation. "About my favor..."
"Yes, of course, Doctor," said Doris, quite fondly. "Anything we can do to help."
"Brilliant! It's just... We're getting married this morning and we needed a couple of witnesses. I don't suppose you'd be willing to do that favor, would you?"
The couple looked at each other and the expressions on their faces made both Rose and the Doctor wonder if they were aliens having a silent conversation in their heads. Finally, Alistair looked up and nodded. "It'd be an honor, Doctor. But I would like to meet your bride."
"Oh, sure," he agreed. "She's getting ready inside. If you'd like to come in?"
"Absolutely," Alistair said quietly.
The Doctor brought them to the room she'd been allowed to change in, where the capsule was parked, and she obligingly stepped into the loo, closing the door behind her, while he tapped on the outside door.
"C'mon in, Doctor," she called. "I'm not ready yet."
He stepped in and blinked nervously around, then gestured the couple in behind him. Alistair went immediately to the blue box and patted it as if it was something he was completely used to seeing in a bride's changing area. His wife just shook her head and looked pleasantly puzzled.
"Um... I'll wait outside," the Doctor suggested, and stepped out, closing the door quickly behind him, thinking to himself that he was relieved the box was locked.
Rose stepped out of the loo and smiled at them both, pretended that she hadn't already witnessed the introductions. "Hello," she said. "You must be the witnesses the Doctor found for us. I'm Rose Tyler."
"Doris," the woman replied, and offered her hand, though not, Rose noticed, her surname.
Her husband stepped forward and considered Rose with narrowed hazel eyes. He looked like a soldier to her, or a detective, maybe, someone who was used to making snap judgments based on a very short glance or two. "I'm Alistair," he said at last, and offered his hand. "Miss Tyler wasn't it? Delightful to meet you, young lady. Have you been with the Doctor long?"
"Feels like forever and no time at all," she replied, honestly. "Are you a friend of his?" The man had said they'd never met, but Rose wasn't supposed to know that, so she could pretend and, maybe, get clarification on his earlier vagary.
Alistair just smiled, looking a bit secretive in Rose's opinion. Doris turned to him with a curious, amused expression. "Alistair, you should go make sure the Doctor doesn't blow something up. I'll help Miss Tyler get finished."
Her husband inclined his head politely and left the room, leaving a bewildered Rose in his wake. Doris stepped forward and started straightening Rose's dress, making a fuss about her hair and the pretty bouquet the Doctor had conjured together for her from the capsule's garden.
Outside, her husband was even more interesting. "Doctor, your shoes have gotten a bit dusty, best clean them up." He stepped back and considered the Doctor as if doing an inspection. "And your tie isn't straight, either, son. How can you expect to give a proper impression without dressing well?" He gestured the Doctor into another room. He then proceeded to treat Rose's partner like his own child, making him polish his shoes and comb his hair. He straightened the Doctor's tie himself and, when he was satisfied, gave a curt nod. "That's got you ship shape, now, Doctor. Just have to wait for your blushing bride."
Rose drew her attention away from the link to fight down a sudden wave of butterflies, wreaking havoc in her stomach. Doris set her firmly in a chair and made her breathe, slowly, in and out, talking to her quietly and soothingly. "You must be very far from home," Doris said at last. "I'm sorry."
"I'm not," Rose said. "I've never been happier in my life. I'm more afraid something will go wrong."
"With the wedding?"
"I guess. I love him and he loves me and we're getting married, and it's just as mad as it is brilliant."
"How old is he?" Doris asked. "How old are you?"
"We're both eighteen," she lied. "Me, only just."
Doris smiled and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You're young and in love. It's beautiful, but you're going to have to work very hard to stay in love. Are you feeling better?"
"You're really good at this," Rose said, nervously, as Doris handed her a cup of water.
"I've had a bit of practice," the woman said, mysteriously. Rose wondered if the older couple had dealt with eloping couples before or something, because they both seemed to know just what to say.
Suddenly and irrevocably, it was time. The sun was just coming up through the window of the small room as Rose walked down the make-shift aisle. Twenty minutes and a lot of secular promises later, she was legally a married woman. The Doctor gave her a proper snog at the end of the ceremony, though she knew all his Time Lord instincts were telling him to make it short and chaste since they were in public.
The documents they signed listed him as "Theta Sigma" and her as "Mrs. Theta Sigma" - which didn't look half stupid on the page, and she never wanted to see that name again. She was Rose Tyler and he was the Doctor and they were man - albeit alien man - and wife.
She received a polite kiss on the cheek from both their witnesses. "Hope you can keep him in line half the time," the man said jovially. She thanked them both sweetly and they told them both how glad they were to be there. Then, hand in hand, the older couple left.
As they walked out, the Doctor heard Alistair say, "At least I didn't have to hear the whole thing this time. Not sure how it happened, but it couldn't be more appropriate. I might bring it up, next time."
The Doctor looked quizzically at the man's name on the witness line, but it meant nothing to him. Although, he privately admitted to Rose, it was a long and interesting name.
As they headed back into the capsule, they heard the next couple arriving. "...Don't understand this at all..." the girl was saying.
Rose smiled. Everyone was obviously nervous before their wedding, if the girl was anyone to judge by. Still, at least she got to go on a honeymoon, next. Rose had to go and tell her mother what she'd done. She wouldn't wish this afternoon on her worst enemy.
But before they had to go and face the music, there was time for them, still. They changed clothes and put on running shoes and the Doctor parked the capsule exactly where and when he'd told Koschei he would put it. He triple checked everything, since this was a completely new experience for him and he needed to be sure there were no mistakes. He clicked on the viewer to be certain that they were unobserved, helped her move her newly acquired ring to a necklace of shiny silver the capsule provided for her, and then took her hand.
He opened the doors, closed them carefully behind him, and locked them. The police box had obligingly changed itself into a tree, complete with overarching foliage and roots that looked like they ran deep into the soil. It was so realistic, Rose knew she probably would have leaned on it without noticing the small notch in the bark the was the key hole.
Once that was done, her husband turned to her, that manic gleam in his beautiful eyes. "Run!"
Hand in hand, laughing and loving every minute of it, they headed for the hotel they'd left, a month ago, last night.
He carried her over the threshold of the room because that was how it was done. She laughed and pleaded to be put down, and he only conceded after he'd slapped up the 'do not disturb' sign on the door.
To her amusement, he insisted on a traditional "first dance". He turned on the radio and something cheery and enthusiastic came piping out of the speakers, not at all like what you'd dance a wedding dance to, but it was brilliant. She knew the song, though it took a few moments to place it.
Rose giggled while he tried for a serious expression. He couldn't manage it with her humor and joy bubbling up through them both as effervescent as the champagne they'd neglected to acquire. "What's got you, this time?" he asked.
"I've just married an alien from outer space!" she exclaimed around her laughter. "Married an alien and am having my first married dance to the tune of 'In the Mood'!"
He grinned and spun her around, then they moved in step together, gracefully, twirling around the furniture, separating, coming back together, just enjoying the way they felt together and the way the song surrounded them.
"I love it," she exclaimed as he dipped her. He'd learned that trick at one of the clubs they'd been to, and picked it up as easily as everything else.
"I love you," he replied, as he brought her up, close enough to kiss. Then, he repeated it, in the Gallifreyan this time, only adding the term "my partner" at the end. The meaning expanded even further, now, lending the words timelessness and agelessness and endlessness, including obligation and loyalty and contented commitment.
"I love you," she answered, the only words she had. "My Doctor, my husband."
Even though they'd consummated this relationship quite a few times since that day in the field a month ago, this first time as legally married seemed like something sacred to both of them. The joy of their union brought them both to tears and wonder and to the shared glory of a place they had never been.
They left the room to join Jackie for lunch, hand in hand, contented to be together and certain nothing could ever come between them. Rose was practically glowing with happiness and the Doctor was unable to keep the giddy grin from his face.
They practically danced into the hotel restaurant, happily oblivious to everything around them. A few words with the maitre d' had them escorted to the table where Jackie waited for them.
She wasn't smiling. In fact, if anything, she looked like a thunderhead was hovering over her. Rose stared at her mother in confusion and her mother's answering expression was sour enough to curdle cream. The Doctor tried one of his winning smiles. Jackie glared balefully at him and, following the cliche, if looks could kill, she'd've just planted him at least six times.
"What's happened?" Rose demanded, then turned to see what Howard thought of all of this. Only, when Jackie leaned back, the man sitting next to her wasn't Howard.
The Doctor stared at Jackie's escort in undisguised horror. "Ah," he managed finally. He looked back at Jackie and she shot him another killing look. "Oh, dear," he continued.
Rose could hardly believe this was happening. Not now, not like this; she wasn't ready, and it just wasn't fair. She opened her mouth, but the only thing that came out was, "Oh, bugger."
