Chapter 19: Can I Build a Home?

A/N- Hey everyone! I'm back! I was gone a little longer than I thought so sorry for the delay. Work has been crazy and this is my first full day off in four weeks. Because of this I haven't had anytime to write. My next update should be in another three weeks and then after that I'll be getting back to my two week update schedule again. Again sorry for the wait, the camp that I work at has no wifi. Hope you guys enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, it belongs to BBC

Home- Gabrielle Aplin

'Cause they say home is where your heart is set in stone

Is where you go when you're alone

Is where you go to rest your bones

It's not just where you lay y`our head

It's not just where you make your bed

As long as we're together, does it matter where we go?

Home home home home

After making their way back to the Tardis, they made their goodbyes to Rose and she left to see her mom. Kit wasn't really sure what was going to happen to Rose next. She didn't exactly say if she was coming back or not. She seemed unsure herself. Kit figured Rose was going to have to make a decision, her mom or the Doctor. It wasn't very fair, if you asked Kit.

The Doctor and Kit entered the Tardis and walked up the ramp. There was a calmness in the air when the made their way in. It was a calmness she felt every time after coming back from a dangerous adventure. It was like the Tardis was saying, it's alright, you can breathe now.

"It's good to be home," the Doctor smiled.

Kit had to agree. Even if this Tardis didn't look like hers, it was still good to be back. This place meant that she was safe, that she could put her guard down.

Kit plopped down in the captain's chair. "So, what do we do now? Just wait for Rose?"

He shrugged. "More or less. I need a couple of hours to send out a dispersal. As well as… I want to talk to you."

Oh no, Kit groaned in her head.

It was never good when the Doctor wanted to talk to her. She didn't think she said anything that gave who she is away. Still, the Doctor was clever and for all she knew, he already figured it out.

"Talk about what?" She asked cautiously.

"What you did back there with the Slitheen was extremely dangerous—no not dangerous—stupid. We were safe in the Cabinet Room. You didn't need to risk your life."

She wanted to tell her that yes she did. That if she didn't then who knows what would have happen. But like always, she couldn't. Sometime she didn't care if she told him the truth. She just wanted him to know.

"I thought it was a good idea at the time," Kit justified.

"Well, it wasn't. And because you did something so stupid, you have to clear the graffiti off the Tardis."

Kit's jaw dropped. "You're punishing me? For trying to save you?"

She had a feeling that she wouldn't get credit for saving the Doctor very often. If he knew what she did to make sure the future was safe, then he wouldn't be making her clean anything.

"Don't think of it as punishing but more as…"

"Grounding?"

"No, more like teaching you to listen to me and not do anything stupid ever again."

"You know this won't stop me from doing stupid thing," Kit crossed her arms.

"I know but I need someone to scrub that graffiti off."

"I hate you."

"I can live with that. Now, the sponge and bucket are just down the hall, take a right and then a left and then another left. It's right beside a big red door."

"This is such bullshit," Kit grumbled as she made her way out of the control room.

"Language!" The Doctor shouted.

It wasn't too difficult to find the door. She got the sponge and bucket, and made her way back to the control room, still grumbling on her way. When she got the control room, she noticed the Doctor talking on the phone. She assumed he was talking to Rose.

"Well, you can stay there if you want, but right now there's this plasma storm brewing in the Horsehead Nebula," he said into the phone. "Fires are burning ten million miles wide. I could fly the Tardis right into the heart of it then ride the shock wave all the way out. Hurtle right across the sky and end up anywhere. Your choice." He hung up the phone.

"That's not very fair," Kit piped in. The Doctors head snapped towards her. "Making her choose like that. Do you really think that's right?"

The Doctor didn't say anything at first but then shook her head. "Shouldn't you be scrubbing some graffiti?"

Kit rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Just think about what I said."

She made her way outside. Once out she noticed Mickey sitting on a garbage bin, reading a newspaper.

"Mickey? What're you doing here?" She asked.

He jumped when she spoke. "J-just waiting around."

"Right," she said slowly.

"What're you doing?" He inquired, nodding to the bucket in her hand.

"The Doctors making me clean the graffiti as punishment for saving his life," Kit explained.

"Punishment? For saving his life?"

"Okay, that's what I say but he thinks I was being stupid."

"Well, did you save his life?"

"Yes! He just doesn't know it," she sighed. Mickey gave her a questioning look. "You wouldn't understand."

Mickey rolled his eyes but Kit ignored him. She went over to where the graffiti was and stop. The words 'Bad Wolf' were written on the side. For some reason Kit shivered. Something felt very wrong about those words. Kit shook her head, telling herself she was just tired. She knelt down and started scrubbing.

"Kittredge? Can I ask you something?" Mickey asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

Kit shrugged. "I guess."

"Where are you from?"

Kit stopped scrubbing. "Why?"

"Well, when you were gone for a year, I tried to find your family. I thought maybe we could team up to find you guys. But I couldn't find them. I searched everywhere, looked at every resource and nothing."

Kit sighed. This type of conversation kept coming up a lot. She figured that there was not point trying to lie to Mickey.

"I'm not really from anywhere. Don't really have a family. I'm just kind of a traveller."

"You seem kinda young to be travelling alone."

"I'm an overachiever. I'm starting ahead of the game."

"But what—"

"Mickey, if you ask anymore questions I will dump this bucket on your head!"

That seemed to shut him up. She was fine telling Mickey that she didn't have a family but she didn't want him to ask too many question.

Kit worked in silence. The more she scrubbed away the words 'Bad Wolf', the better she felt. Kit was almost done when the Doctor finally came out of the Tardis.

"Good lass. Now, what did we learn?" He asked her.

"That the Doctor sucks?"

"No, try again."

"That I shouldn't save the Doctor because he likes to play hero?"

The Doctor glared at her. "No. How about… I should listen to the Doctor when he says something is stupid."

Kit finished the last bit and threw the sponge in the bucket. "How about no."

The Doctor was about to say something when he noticed Mickey. He walked over to him and gave him a nod.

"I just went down the shop, and I was thinking, you know, like the whole world's changed. Aliens and spaceships all in public. And here it is," Mickey turned the newspaper around to show them. The words 'Alien Hoax' was printed in bold black letters. "How could they do that? They saw it."

"They're just not ready," the Doctor shrugged. "You're happy to believe in something that's invisible, but if it's staring you in the face, nope, can't see it. There's a scientific explanation for that. You're thick."

Kit rolled her eyes. "Thanks," she muttered.

Mickey smiled. "We're just idiots."

"Well, not all of you."

"Yeah?"

"You did help us save the world. That counts for something," Kit added which caused Mickey to smile widely.

"Present for you, Mickey." The Doctor pulled out a CD and gave it to him. "That's a virus. Put it online. It'll destroy every mention of me. I'll cease to exist."

"What do you want to do that for?"

"Because you're right, I am dangerous. I don't want anybody following me."

Mickey shook his head. "How can you say that and then take her with you?" He nodded to Rose who came out of the block with Jackie. "Or her." He pointed at Kit.

"You could look after Rose. Come with us," the Doctor offered.

"I can't. This life of yours, it's just too much. I couldn't do it. Don't tell her I said that," he whispered as Rose and Jackie made their way towards them.

Kit understood what he was saying. It wasn't easy. Most of the time it was fun but it could get to you now and again.

"I'll get a proper job. I'll work weekends. I'll pass my test, and if Jim comes round again, I'll say no. I really will," Jackie said to her daughter.

Kit turned to see Rose and Jackie walking towards them. Rose had a large backpack with her and Kit realized that Rose made her decision.

"I'm not leaving because of you. I'm travelling, that's all, and then I'll come back," Rose insisted.

"But it's not safe!"

"Mum, if you saw it out there you'd never stay home."

Rose turned to the Doctor and Kit. She swung her bag off her back.

"Got enough stuff?" The Doctor joked.

"Last time I stepped in there, it was spur of the moment," she told him, handing her bag to him. "Now I'm signing up. You're stuck with me!" She grinned at Kit, "And so are you!"

"Oh joy," Kit grumbled.

Rose walked over to Mickey. "Come with us. There's plenty of room."

Mickey looked over at the Doctor and Kit for help.

"No chance. He's a liability, I'm not having him on board."

"Plus, I'm still not of big fan of him," Kit lied.

"We'd be dead without him," Rose argued.

The Doctor shook his head. "My decision is final."

Rose turned back to Mickey. "Sorry."

They kissed and Mickey waving slightly. "Good luck, yeah."

Jackie suddenly turned and marched over to the Doctor. She wasn't exactly angry but held a more worried expression.

"You still can't promise me. What if she gets lost? What if something happens to you, Doctor, and she's left all alone standing on some moon a million light years away. How long do I wait then?"

Kit thought of a moment. Not too long ago that happened to her. She was left alone, without the Doctor, in the middle of the streets of London. How long would her Doctor wait?

Rose turned her mom around to face her. "Mum, you're forgetting. It's a time machine. I could go travelling around suns and planets and all the way out to the edge of the universe, and by the time I get back, yeah, ten seconds would have passed. Just ten seconds. So stop worrying. See you in ten seconds' time, yeah?"

"Or another ten months," Kit whispered under her breath.

"Hush, you," the Doctor whispered back. "Come on, let's give them some space."

They made their way back into the Tardis and waited for Rose. They didn't wait for her for too long. When she ran up the ramp, the Doctor started up the Tardis.

"I figured we'll sit in space for a bit while I show your rooms," the Doctor told them.

Rose grabbed her backpack from the Doctor. "Wait, we get our own rooms?"

"Of course. What, did you think you were going to sleep here?" He gestured to the control room.

Rose shrugged. "Sorta."

"The Tardis is bigger on the inside, can travel through time and space, and you think it wouldn't have any beds?"

"I don't know!"

The Doctor shook his head. "Come on. Let me show you just how much the Tardis has."

They followed the Doctor out of the control room and down the hall. Kit was excited to see what Rose thought. The Tardis was infinite. Even she hadn't seen all the rooms yet. Rose was in for quite the surprise.

"So, the Tardis has an arcade room, a music room, a sports room, a library, a study, a pool, a pool in the study, a kitchen and just about anything else you can image," the Doctor explained.

Rose eyes were wide and her jaw was hanging open. "Anything else I should know about?"

"Yeah, the Tardis likes to play games. She likes to move doors around and switch up corridors to confuse you. So just, be careful."

"Is there anything this ship can't do?"

"Yeah, fix his piloting," Kit joked which got a giggle out of Rose.

"Oi!" The Doctor exclaimed.

They finally stopped at a big pink door. The name 'Rose' was plastered at the top.

"So I'm guessing this is mine?" Rose inquired.

"Yep. Remember when I said that the Tardis was inside your head? Well, it's picked important things from your mind and customized your room accordingly."

"You're kidding!" Rose beamed.

"Nope! Open the door and see."

Rose opened her door. Kit couldn't see what was inside but Rose face told all. It showed a mix between shock, astonishment and pure joy.

"This is amazing!"

"I know." He smiled at her joy. "Right, I'll let you get settled in and sleep. I'll come and get in in a couple of hours."

Rose just nodded and walked in her room, closing the door behind her.

"Well, I think she likes her room, don't you think so?"

"I never seen her so happy. What did her room even look like?" Kit asked.

"No idea. I don't like to look in people's rooms. The Tardis made it specially for them. It feels like I'm looking into their minds and most people don't like that," he explained. "Anyways, next stop, Kit's room!"

They passed a couple of doors. Some of them she recognized and some she's never seen before. The Doctor stopped at a red door that had her name on it. She thought the door was odd. It looked exactly like hers from her Tardis. The door knob even had the dent in it from when she fell and hit her head when she was six.

"Here we are! There's a shower in there for you because you really need it. There should also be some clothes for you in the closet."

Kit looked down at herself and frowned. She was still covered in Slitheen guts. "Yeah, that sounds good right about now."

"Oh and one more thing, Kit." He stopped her before she could go in her room. "I know you don't really have anywhere to go so, you can stay here as long as you need. At least until you find that man you were travelling with."

Kit nodded and force a smile. "Thank you."

He smiled. "I'll leave you to get settled in."

The Doctor walked away and Kit was left alone with a door that looked very familiar. She moved her hand shakily to the door knob and turned it. She opened the door and left out a gasp.

In front of her was her room. The exact room from her Tardis. Everything was the same. The walls were still a deep red and the image of space were still projected onto her ceiling. Her shelf of souvenirs she got from her adventures were still perfectly in place. Her big bed was still unmade and just how she left it before she ended up in the past. There were clothes on the ground from when she was picking out what to wear.

She walked in slowly and closed the door behind her. "Thank you," she said to the Tardis.

She hadn't been able to speak to the Tardis since she was a kid. The Doctor said only children and Time Lord could really do that. Still, she wanted to let the Tardis know she was thankful for what she did.

She went over to her desk that still held her half drunken chocolate milk. Beside the cup was a picture of her and her Doctor. She reached over and picked it up. She looked over at their happy faces and her throat tightened. The fact that it could be a very long time before she would see him again hit her suddenly. She hugged the picture and slide down to the floor. After a moment, she finally let herself cry.