The Companion Connection

By Lumendea

Chapter Thirty-Six: Rose of Earth: Visiting Friends

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

….

It was a cool March evening in Central London and Rose Tyler was enjoying dinner with Malcolm Taylor and Toshiko Sato in a small restaurant just off a busy shopping street. She had arrived back in London the previous night to visit her friends and of course her Mum. Her first night home Rose and Jackie had gone out together for dinner and done a little shopping together. Earlier today Rose had lunch with Sharon and Shareen and she was rounding out her visit home with seeing Malcolm and Toshiko.

The trio was sitting in a booth tucked back in the far corner of the restaurant giving them privacy to talk. Rose had wanted to know about the Bubble Shock clean up after Malcolm brought up her report. Keeping her word to Sarah Jane, Rose didn't mention Luke to Malcolm even if she knew that he wouldn't go after the genetically engineered boy. Rose could tell that Malcolm knew she was leaving something out but decided not to push her for the information. Toshiko had listened calmly to the exchanged, mainly asking questions about the phone that the Doctor had given her which Rose had admitted to in her report. In the end, Rose had refused to allow Toshiko to take her phone apart and the woman had respectfully dropped the subject. Then they had switched topics to Malcolm's research and then to Rose's classes. Dinner had been excellent and now they were winding down the night with some dessert.

"Well I'm not surprised that your classes at Cambridge are going well," Malcolm said with his wide grin. "I imagine that it is actually a little dull for you."

"A bit at times," Rose admitted. Shrugging, she took another small bite of her cake. "But Ian tries to make sure that I get a challenge every so often. He actually gave me this really interesting paper a few days ago that I'm helping him review. Plus dinner with him and Barbara is always interesting." Rose set her glass down and turned to Toshiko. "How are things for you Tosh?"

The Asian woman gave Malcolm a small smile before looking back at Rose. "Things with UNIT are a lot better than I thought they would be. General Lethbridge-Stewart still follows all the regulations about my parole of course, but most of the enlisted men and other officers are a lot more comfortable with me." Tosh chuckled and blushed a bit. "Honestly I think our friendship helps with that and Mickey is always very kind."

"That's great," Rose said with a grin.

"Yeah, I'm up for review in a few months and I might be allowed some extra privileges since I've done what I'm supposed to." Tosh gave a small sigh, "I hope I'll be allowed to see my Mother next Christmas."

"That would be great!" Rose looked to Malcolm eagerly. "Is that likely?"

"On the original terms of her parole no," Malcolm said. "But Tosh has since earned my full confidence and of course you've never made your confidence in her a secret." Malcolm grinned and looked proudly between the two women, rather like a beaming father. "You have a lot more influence at UNIT than you realise."

"I doubt that." Rose rolled her eyes at the familiar argument. "I'm just a kid to most of them."

"A kid that many thought might be related to the Doctor," Tosh insisted. "For months before they verified you were human, there were rumours that you were his granddaughter from when he lived on Earth as UNIT's scientific advisor."

"And then when that was ruled out your family tree was inspected for any reasons that the Doctor might have a stronger interest in you," Malcolm added.

Rose blinked at them for a moment in stunned silence before she shook her head. "Does UNIT really have nothing better to do? I'm a future companion who has a slightly off timeline in comparison to him. Surely that has happened before." She toyed with the straw of her drink, suddenly feeling a bit nervous.

"Yes," Malcolm admitted carefully. "It has happened before that UNIT was told by the Doctor to stay away from certain people because of the timelines. You're much more… interesting than those cases due to dealing with aliens by yourself."

Rose shook her head and pushed her empty dessert plate away. "Any other rumours I'd find amusing?"

"Well there is the rumour that you're the Doctor's girlfriend," Toshiko said with a chuckle. "I think Mickey Smith started that one."

"What?" Rose gasped in equal worry and amusement. Her stomach tried to twist into a nervous knot. "Seriously? His girlfriend is the new rumour."

"I'm afraid so," Malcolm confirmed. "The General and Colonel Benton had similarly shocked reactions the first time they heard that theory." A giggle escaped the scientist. "It was funny. It's a pity that the camera didn't catch that."

"I wonder if he ever has been in a romantic relationship," Toshiko observed with a distant look. "I mean I know that he's an alien, but still."

"Honestly," Malcolm huffed with a shake of his head. "Why do you people feel the need to gossip like that?"

"It amuses us," Tosh replied with a teasing smile. She did look a lot happier and healthier now and Rose almost smiled. "You've never wondered what his life is like away from Earth?"

"His companions have made reports," Malcolm reminded her. "He travels the universe and saves planets, species and keeps history intact."

"And you say that you're not a fanboy." Rose leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand and smirked at Malcolm.

"I'm not trying to be disrespectful," Toshiko added quickly. "I'm just curious as to what he's like when he isn't doing that stuff." Tosh looked over at Rose, "What do you think?"

"Uh…" Rose once again was at a loss for words. The term conversation minefield came to mind. "I suppose he could be in a romantic relationship, but I'd imagine with his time travelling that it would be strange since they might not also meet in the same order. Plus he seems to be in love with travelling and seeing new things so they'd need to share that passion…"

"Anyway that's the rumour," Malcolm told her with an embarrassed smile. "Just to warn you."

"Well you can warn Mickey that he'll be hearing from me," Rose retorted.

"I'll be sure to do that." Malcolm looked up as their waitress walked over and handed Malcolm the bill. Rose reached for it, but he swatted her hand back. "Don't even think about it young lady," Malcolm said sternly.

"You're so old-fashioned." Rose gave him a look. "I asked you to join me for dinner."

"And I see myself as your surrogate uncle," Malcolm told her seriously. "And that means making sure that my niece in university has a decent meal every so often."

"What does that make me?" Tosh questioned.

"An excellent colleague that isn't allowed to enjoy an evening out on the town nearly as often as she should," Malcolm told her with another grin.

Toshiko shook her head, knowing that she wasn't going to win the argument. Malcolm reached into his pocket and then paused as an odd expression crossed his face. He pulled out a small box and put it on the table in front of Rose. His eyes widened and he shook his head a bit.

"I almost forgot to give you this," Malcolm said. He chuckled lightly, blushing a touch.

"Oh," Toshiko said as she glanced at the small box. "They finished then?"

"Yesterday," Malcolm confirmed.

Flipping it open, Rose smiled as she found the stone from her old pendant that the Doctor had given her all those years ago. She had wondered if she ever really would get it back from UNIT. "Did it help?" Rose asked as she slipped the box into her pocket. The necklace was tucked away at her home on Bannerman Road and she could fix it tonight. Rose smiled at the thought of repairing that necklace finally, although it would just be a necklace as the original protective elements of its circuitry had long since burned out. It was still a testament to her and the Doctor first meeting… well mostly since he didn't remember their meeting in Rome during his first body. Rose forced herself back to the present in order to hear Malcolm's answer.

"We're still a ways from creating a stabilising point of the sonic modulator technology, but that provided information about what kind of crystalline structure we need. I have high hopes for the current experiments we are running."

"I'm glad." Smiling, Rose pulled out her mobile and checked the time. "I'm afraid it's getting late."

Malcolm looked at his wrist watch and Tosh pulled out her mobile only to nod in agreement. "You're right," Malcolm said with a chuckle. "Well then, shall we depart?" Malcolm looked over at Rose. "You alright to drive home?"

"Of course," Rose said. "I need to stop in at Henrik's. The coffee maker that Mum bought there yesterday doesn't work and she asked me to return it."

"Then you should hurry," Tosh said. "They will probably close soon."

Rose stood up from the table and pulled on the red zip up hoodie that she had worn due to the warming temperatures. She accepted hugs from both Malcolm and Toshiko. They calmly walked outside and Rose wandered over to her SUV, waving at Malcolm and Tosh as they walked towards Malcolm's car. Rose sighed at the cool temperature and wished that she had driven her motorcycle home instead of the SUV. She chuckled at the thought since even five years ago the notion of being able to afford a motorcycle for in town driving and an SUV for out of town driving would have been unthinkable.

It took her longer than she would have thought to get to the right area and find a place to park. She ended up a few streets down as there was next to no parking immediately by the shop. Grabbing the bag with the coffee maker inside, Rose climbed out of her SUV and locked it. There was still traffic on the roads and many people walking about so Rose wasn't too concerned as she started walking towards Henrik's. She made it into the store just as a warning for closing was announced and sighed in relief. She really didn't want to bother with coming into Central London tomorrow if she could avoid it.

The girl at the returns counter smiled widely at her as Rose placed the coffee maker box on her counter and pulled out the receipt. Rose forced herself to remain patient as a manager was called over to test the machine to verify that it did in fact not work. The transaction took only a few minutes, but Rose heard the new warning for closing as she accepted the refund and signed the returns slip. Heading for the door, Rose moved around the staff which was cleaning up the floor in a frenzy of activity.

Stepping outside, Rose glanced around at the other closing shops and the dark fronts of the businesses in the area. Now that she wasn't in a hurry, Rose started walking back towards her car at a slow pace. Her mobile rang, catching her attention and Rose sat down on a bench to take a call from Shareen.

"Remind me never to go on a date that Sharon arranged for me ever again," Shareen said darkly. Rose could hear the lingering anger and frustration.

"That bad?" Rose grimaced and wondered just what had happened. "You were so excited at lunch today."

"I know I was, but clearly Sharon does not understand how a guy can differ from being a nice guy in class to a total arrogant wanker outside of it. All he did was boast about himself and what a great footballer he is. I spent the last two hours trapped hearing about the greatest goals of Henry Bates! Then he got handsy!"

"Deep breath," Rose advised. "So are you just looking to vent or something else?"

"I just want to yell about it and Sharon is out since she really did try to introduce me to nice guy." Shareen was grumbling now but had already calmed a bit.

"Alright then," Rose said with a chuckle. "I'm listening."

"I need more female friends," Shareen said a moment later. "You're not really well suited to this."

"Why not?" Rose asked.

"Well you're in probably the strangest relationship that any human has ever been if so I don't know how qualified you are to give advice on the subject of dating a human male," Shareen said. "I mean you went out on only a handful of dates with human boys and never went out with the same guy more than once."

"I thought you just wanted to vent," Rose interrupted. "Believe it or not, I'm aware that I'm not really well versed on normal human relationships."

"Saddest thing is that you've got the best relationship of the three of us," Shareen groaned. The frustration was back. "And how is that fair?"

"What do you mean?" Rose asked in confusion. "I barely ever see him and when I do our timelines may or may not be in synch. The version of him that I'll actually get to know in my future has no idea that we'll ever be romantic while I do. How do I have the best relationship?"

"You actually have a relationship," Shareen said. "That makes you the winner by default."

"Oh, now that is just sad." Rose slumped back on the bench. "You two need to date more." She groaned a little herself. "Or reevaluate the guys you do date."

"It wouldn't be as sad if you were more honest with the Doctor about your feelings," Shareen said gently. Her tone had shifted and Rose felt herself becoming alert and a touch suspicious. "You haven't told him that you love him yet after all and you really should."

"Isn't this call supposed to be about you?"

"Technically," Shareen replied. "But you know how much analysing you makes me feel better."

"Yes, I have issues," Rose said. "But seriously-"

Rose was interrupted by a massive explosion back at Henrik's as the top floor was blown outwards in a blast of fire. Everyone nearby started screaming and Rose jumped to her feet as she stared across the street at the burning building. Her eyes searched the area for anyone injured, but then her eyes landed on a familiar blue box parked next to the bank in the shadow, now illuminated by the glow of the fire.

"Shareen," Rose said with a swallow, "I'm going to have to call you back."