Rose lost sight of Chip as she made her way carefully down the hall. She entered the room at the end where a movie was playing on a projector. It was Cassandra, laughing and drinking and flirting, back when she was still human. Ever the center of attention, she was. Rose turned around and there she was; the bitchy trampoline herself.
"Peek-a-boo."
"Oh, no. Don't even think about it." Rose scoffed.
"What do you think I'm gonna do? Flap you to death?"
"Yeah, well, wot about him?" She said, pointing to the patterned man.
"Oh, that's just Chip. He's my pet."
"I worship the mistress." Chip chimed in. He moisturized Cassandra at her command.
"He's not even a proper life-form. He's a force grown clone. I modelled him on my favorite pattern. But he's so faithful. Chip sees to my physical needs."
"Bit much information." Rose said. "How comes your still alive?"
"After you murdered me?" Cassandra growled rhetorically.
"Tha' was your own fault." Rose pointed out.
"The brain of my mistress survived." Chip answered. "And her pretty blue eyes were salvaged from the bin."
"And wot you just had some extra skin lying about? Lemmie guess, tha's the back half, right?" Rose laughed. "So, you're talking outta you're a…"
"Ask not." Cassandra stopped her.
"The mistress was lucky to survive." Chip continued. "Chip secreted m'lady into the hospital."
"So, they don't know you're 'ere."
"Chip steals medicine. Helps m'lady. Soothes her. Strokes her."
"You can stop right there, Chip."
"Oh, but I'm so alone, hidden down here." Cassandra moaned. "The last human in existence."
"This again?" Rose rolled her eyes. "Cassandra, we're on New Earth."
"A vegetable patch." Cassandra muttered.
"There's millions of humans out there."
"Mutant stock."
"They evolved, Cassandra. They just evolved, like they should. But you stayed still. You got yourself all pickled and preserved, and wot good did it do ya? Stuck down here."
"Ah, I remember that night." Cassandra sighed, watching the film. "Drinks for the Ambassador of Thrace. That was the last time anyone told me I was beautiful. After that, it just became such hard work. But I've not been idle, Rose. Tucked away, underneath this hospital, I've been listening. The Sisters are hiding something. These cats have secrets."
"And wot, you expect me to trust you? Even if there is somethin' goin' on, why would you wanna help the Doctor and me? No, I don't think so."
Rose backed up, going back from where she came in. As she did, a paralyzing energy surrounded her as though being restrained by handcuffs made of light.
"Chip!" Cassandra called excitedly. "Activate the psycho-graph!"
"Don't think you'll get away with this!" Rose yelled. Bars of light surrounded Rose and she could feel a pain behind her eyes.
"It's goodbye trampoline and hello blondie!" Rose heard Cassandra boast, then everything went fuzzy.
Rose shut her eyes tight, but she was still conscious. When she opened her eyes, she was surrounded by darkness. In the darkness, Rose noticed golden lights swirling around in the distance. She was going to explore her surroundings when she heard her voice on her right.
"Moisturize me." She said.
Rose looked over and saw what looked like the film reel Cassandra was watching, but there was no source. Rose was on the ground in the video, Chip hovering over her, concerned. Rose was watching Cassandra in her body from a third person perspective. But the first time around, Rose wasn't even aware any time had passed between Cassandra's possessions. What was different now? Was this something to do with Bad Wolf.
Rose watched as Cassandra both admired and criticized her new stolen body. Rose bristled at the chav comment and was angered ever further as Cassandra compared her body to a bouncy castle.
"But what of the Rose child's mind?" She heard Chip ask.
"Tucked away." Cassandra answered. "She very protected, I can hardly access the surface memories."
Rose stopped listening for a moment. Protected? Was it like that last time? How could she be telepathically protected without knowing it? When her phone started ringing, Rose perked up. The Doctor would know it wasn't her immediately, and he'd know what to do. They'd figure all this out and move on.
Rose was quite offended by Cassandra's attempt at her accent, both personally and as a Londoner. Cassandra shed her jacket and unbuttoned the top two buttons on her shirt, showing off far more than Rose liked. She was plotting to use the Doctor to get to ends meet, money was surely involved, Rose was sure of it.
Rose watched as Cassandra strutted her way up to the Doctor, Chip following closely in the shadows. The Doctor noticed Cassandra immediately, thinking it was Rose. He started telling her about the odd cures the Sisters had going on, all these people in the ward who were miraculously cured when it should be impossible in their current time. Rose, listening, thought this was very odd indeed.
"I need to find a terminal." The Doctor continued, pulling Rose/Cassandra out of the ward and into the hallway. "I've got to see how they do this. Cos if they've got the best medicine in the world, then why is it so secret?"
"I can't Adam and Eve it." Cassandra said in an odd tone, clearly still trying to sound like Rose and failing miserably. It honestly made Rose cringe.
"Wot… wot's with the voice?" The Doctor asked, also cringing slightly at the fake cockney.
"Oh, I dunno, just larking about New Earth. New me."
"Well, I can talk. New new Doctor." He joked, trying to ease the tension under Cassandra's intense stare.
"Mmm, aren't you just?" Cassandra mused, looking at the Doctor like a predator.
Then, to Rose's horror, she kissed him. She just grabbed the Doctor's face and kissed him. Cassandra ran Rose's hands through his hair as she attacked him. The Doctor, on the other hand, had no problem with this, his hands immediately on her hips, pressing her against his frame. Finally, she pulled away with an audible pop.
"T-t-terminal's this way." She stuttered, breathing heavy.
The Doctor was shell shocked, just staring at her face dumbfounded. Cassandra walked away, but Rose could still see the Doctor as his eyes followed her. He ran a hand through his hair, smiling lightly, and followed. Rose had no clue why Cassandra would do that, but there was gonna be a lot of explaining on the Doctor's part when Rose got her body back.
Rose had a feeling that very moment wasn't something new to this timeline, so why did he never tell her that they kissed? Probably because feelings weren't something the Doctor liked to discuss. In that case, though, that meant he'd liked it. Because he thought she was Rose, no doubt. Not to mention, he pulled her close, kissed her back. He wanted to kiss Rose. That made her feel warm inside. Clearly, he did have feelings for her by now in this timeline. Maybe now was the time to move it forward.
"No, nothing odd." She heard the Doctor say. Returning her attention to the screen, she saw they were browsing the terminal screen. "Surgery, post-op, nanodentistry. No sign of a shop. They should have a shop."
"No, it's missing something else." Cassandra said, annoyed. "When I was downstairs, those nurse-cat-nuns were talking about intensive care. But where is it?"
"You're right." The Doctor said, a hint of something in his eyes as he looked at her. "Well done."
"Why would they hide a whole department? It's gotta be there somewhere. Search the subframe."
"What if the subframe's locked?" The Doctor asked, clearly testing her now. He knew she sounded nothing like Rose, he was catching on.
"Try the installation protocol." Cassandra said irritably.
"Yeah. Course. Sorry." The Doctor said, putting his sonic to the screen. "Hold on."
He scanned the screen and a moment later, the whole wall went down, revealing a hall behind it. Cassandra looked pleased as she strutted forward, the Doctor following behind.
"Intensive care. Well, it certainly looks intensive."
