Chapter Two-
The next morning Rose was already up and about before her alarm went off at 7:30. She had a small bag that could pass as a purse with her passport, her money from under her mattress that she had been saving up to try and get her A-levels, her phone and a small letter to her mum, plus anything else she thought she might need. The second her alarm went off, Rose shut it off as her mother called to her. "There's no point getting up, sweetheart. You've no job to go to." Rose couldn't help but smile at that, she still had to be ready for when the Doctor dropped by. Rose sighed before leaving the room, shocking her mum by already being dressed, and dropped her small bag beside the couch where she could easily grab it. "You're up early."
"Thought I'd get ahead start on looking for a new job." Rose told her. Her mother nodded before going into the kitchen to make herself some tea as Rose absentmindedly flipped through the help wanted section in the newspaper.
"There's Finch's. You could try them. They've always got jobs." Her mother called out.
"Of course." Rose said, not really paying attention as she watched the clock. When had he gotten there the first time? Why hadn't she checked the clock the first time? But then again, she hadn't known the Doctor would wonder to her flat the first time. Should she go looking for him? No, she had to be in her flat when he got there. It'd be too suspicious if she was out looking for him.
"It might do you good. That shop was giving you airs and graces." Her mother told her, misreading her tone. Rose looked at her when she exited the kitchen. "I'm not joking about compensation. You've had genuine shock and trauma." Her mother told her as she began to head back to her room to finish getting ready. "Ariana got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek!" Rose laughed at that.
"But she is Greek." Rose said still laughing.
"That's not the point!" Her mother snapped at her as she entered her room. "It was a valid claim." Rose shot out of her chair when she heard the cat-flap and knew the Doctor was there. She had to fight the urge to throw open the door and bent down to look through the cat-flap to see the Doctor staring at her. Rose smiled and jumped up, throwing the door open and laughed at the Doctor's shocked and confused face.
"What are you doing here?" He demanded.
"I live here." She told him with a slight laugh.
"What do you do that for?" The Doctor asked, his confusion hidden behind sarcasm.
"Cause I do. I'm only home 'cause someone blew up my job." Rose teased with a smirk as the Doctor pulled out his screwdriver.
"Must have got the wrong signal." He muttered as he turned the screwdriver on. Rose had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from telling him that the plastic arm he was looking for was hiding behind her couch. "You're not plastic are you?" He asked before lightly knocking on her forehead. "Nope, bonehead. Bye, then!" The Doctor said before turning to leave. Fear shot though Rose, he was about to leave her again! She couldn't let him leave her again! Without thanking, Rose quickly grabbed him by the back of his leather jacket. His shocked look snapped her back to reality.
"You, inside, right now." She ordered before dragging him into her flat.
"Who is it?" Her mother called from her room. Rose unconsciously took the Doctor by the hand before leading him to the living room. Peeking into her mother's room as she did so.
"It's about last night. He's part of the inquiry. Give us 10 minutes." Rose told her mother before continuing to lead the Doctor into the living room.
"She deserves compensation!" Her mother called out from her room as Rose forced the Doctor to sit on the sofa with her right beside him.
"Oh, were talkin' millions." The Doctor called back. Rose bit her lip watching as he awkwardly searched the room with his eyes. She had never felt more thankful that she had straightened up some last night than she had ever been.
"Right!" Rose cried out shooting up from the couch. "Do you want a coffee?"
"Might as well, thanks, just milk." The Doctor told her as she flew into the kitchen, her eyes never leaving him, ready to save him when the arm attacked. She watched as the Doctor slowly stood up from the couch and began to roam around the room. The Doctor picked up the magazine from the coffee table and began to flip through it. "That won't last. He's gay and she's an alien." He muttered. And had her hearing not been enhanced by Bad Wolf, she would have never heard him.
Rose blinked in confusion, technically this body had not looked into the Heart of the TARDIS. So how was it that this body now had some of the effects of Bad Wolf? The sensing of the Earth Turning and feeling some Timelines she could understand, that was a mental thing, and she had Bad Wolf in her mind. But the enhanced hearing was another thing. Rose bit her lip. She so desperately wanted to ask the Doctor about this, but she couldn't. She blinked once more as the image of Jack flashed through her mind before she shook it away and felt Bad Wolf huff in annoyance before she focused back on the Doctor.
The Doctor dropped the magazine back onto the coffee table before picking up a a book and read it lightning quick. "Mmm. Sad ending." He muttered dropping the book back onto the coffee desk. The Doctor walked over to their dining table, his eyes locking onto hers for a minute before he looked away as he picked up a piece of mail that had been left on the table. "Rose Tyler." He read off the envelope, causing a shiver of want to run down Rose's spine at the way he had said her name. When he spotted the small mirror hanging on the wall, he dropped the mail and began checking himself over. Just as had done after he had regenerated after the Game Station.
Rose gasped in shock. Had he just regenerated? Was this the first time he had been able to get a look at himself? "Ah, could've been worse. Look at the ears!" The Doctor complained and Rose had to stop herself from claiming how much she loved his ears in this form. Of course they could never compete with his big, brown, puppy-dog eyes in his next form, but he was still very handsome in this form, ears and all. Rose continued to watch him with a small smile as he tried to figure out who he was in this body.
"Luck be a lady." The Doctor said in a sing-song voice as he picked up a deck of cards. He shuffled them for a bit before they flew out of his hands and scattered all over the living room floor. "Maybe not." He muttered. Rose straightened up when she heard the pitter-patter of the arm running across the floor.
"What's that then?" The Doctor asked, having also heard the noise. Rose began to make her way out of the kitchen as the Doctor walked back over to the couch, where the sound had come from. "Have you got a cat?" He asked looking behind the couch. Rose flew over to him when the arm began to choke him. She quickly pulled the arm off him and began to fight it when it turned and tried to choke her.
"Doctor!" She cried out in reflex just before it latched onto her face, cutting off her air supply. Rose and the Doctor began to fight the arm trying to get it off of her face. They crashed into the glass table, shattering it, with her on top of the Doctor as they continued to fight the arm.
Somewhere in the back of Rose's mind, she wondered what her mother was doing and why she hadn't run into the room during all this commotion. She felt the Doctor roll them over and pin her beneath him, and was thankful that her ability to hold her breath longer than normal humans had also seemed to pass over to her younger self. That was, once again, thanks to Bad Wolf. Rose heard the sound of the Sonic Screwdriver just seconds before the arm released her face to allow her to take a deep breath.
"Cutting it a bit close there, Doctor." Rose gasped out with a small smile. The Doctor tossed the arm beside them before he ran shaky hands across her face and through her hair.
"You're safe." He told her softly, and Rose had a feeling he had said that more to himself than her as she nodded having finally caught her breath.
"Yeah. But you won't if my mum comes in here and finds us like this." Rose told him jokingly as she lightly squeezed her legs around his slim hips. She couldn't help chuckling at the Doctor when his face turned bright red before he jumped off her. He held out his hand to her and she gladly took it, allowing him to help her up.
"Right, lots to do." The Doctor said quickly bending down to pick up the arm before bolting out the door. Rose grabbed her bag and took off after him, she was not going to let him get away that easily.
"Hold on a minute, you can't just go swanning off!" Rose called after him as they jogged down the stairs of her building.
"Yes. I can. Here I am. This is me, swanning off, see ya!" The Doctor told her in a tone that she had heard him use whenever she had caught him doing anything embarrassing. Rose smirked at that, he was embarrassed!
"That arm just tried to kill me!" Rose pointed out.
"Ten out of ten for observation." The Doctor snapped at her. She didn't take it to heart knowing that he would be testy until he got over his embarrassment.
"I'm not letting you walk away." She informed him. "You're going to tell me what's going on."
"No, I'm not." The Doctor gowled out to her. She was pushing his buttons, she knew that. But she also knew which buttons to push to get him to do what she wanted.
"I'm involved in this now, rather you like it or not. You can't get rid of me." Rose told him as they exited the building. The Doctor whipped his head around to look at her.
"Is that supposed to be a threat?" The Doctor asked, his eyes narrowed as he tried to read her.
"No, it's a promise." She told him with a soft smile as they sped walked across the Estate.
"A promise can break." The Doctor told her.
"Not this one." Rose told him. "Who are you?" She asked quickly changing the subject before the Doctor could question her and get her to say something she shouldn't and expose the plan.
"Told you, the Doctor." The Doctor told her with a warm smile.
"Doctor What?" Rose asked already knowing the answer. She also knew that the Doctor loved this part, it was one of his favorite part of meeting people. His other favorite part was hearing his new companions telling him that the outside of the TARDIS was smaller than the inside.
"Just the Doctor." The Doctor told her with a laugh.
"The Doctor?" Rose asked.
"Hello." He said with a smirk causing Rose to laugh.
"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" She teased him with her own smirk.
"Sort of." The Doctor told her, his smirk slipping a little when he didn't get the reaction he was hoping for. Rose smiled at him before latching onto his arm and resting her chin on his shoulder, looking up at him through her eyelashes. She was flirting with him, but she couldn't help it, she loved him.
"Come on then, you can tell me. I've seen enough." Rose told him softly and felt him tense up slightly before relaxing. "I'm smarter than you think. I'll understand it. I know that the living plastic is only targeting me because of you, I also know they won't stop coming after me. They want to use me to get to you."
"Oh, so the entire world revolves around you, does it?" The Doctor asked teasingly. Rose knew he was trying to stall for time, hoping that she would get bored or frustrated and leave on her own. She smirked, there was no chance in hell she would leave him now.
"I know the world doesn't revolve around me. Just like I know the only reason that the arm tried to kill me was because it was after you." Rose told him. "Just like last night, in the shop, you were there and I blundered in."
"Almost ruined the whole thing." The Doctor cut in glaring at her. And had Rose not known him as well as she did, she wouldn't have seen that his glare was more playful than angry.
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that." Rose said playfully smirking at him, not actually sorry. "And then this morning, you were tracking it down, and it was tracking you down."
"How do you know that?" The Doctor asked suspiciously.
"It's obvious when you look at the facts." Rose told him resting her cheek on his leather clad shoulder and breathed in the smell of the leather. She was going to enjoy this Doctor for as long as she had him. "The only reason it fixed on me was because of you. So, as I said before, I'm involved in this now."
"So, what you're saying is the entire world revolved around me?" The Doctor asked teasingly.
"Yup." She said popping her 'p' as she lifted her head up enough to look at him.
"That sounds about right, yeah." The Doctor joked back with his goofy grin. They stayed staring at each other for a long minute before they burst out laughing.
"You're full of it." She teased causing him to laugh louder.
"Sort of, yeah." He teased back.
"I'm guessing that we're the only ones who know about the living plastic?" Rose asked sobering up, knowing the answer.
"Just us." The Doctor confirmed.
"You're not on your own, are you?" Rose asked fight back her tears at the thought of her Doctor traveling through time and space all on his own, having just regenerated.
"Well, who else is there?" The Doctor asked, his tone light as he tried to make fun of the situation, but his eyes were dark and lonely. "I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time underneath you, there's a war going on." Rose sucked in a breath at the mention of a war. And logically she knew he wasn't talking about the Time War, but that still didn't stop her mind from bringing up the images she had imagined when the Doctor had first told her about the Time War. She would not allow her Doctor to be alone any longer.
"Okay. Start from the beginning." Rose ordered tightening her grip on his arm. The Doctor looked at her in shock before he maneuvered the arm in her grip to take hold of one of her hands while still allowing her to keep ahold of him. And he explained everything to her as they continued to walk around the Estate, ignoring the looks and whispers they were getting. Rose knew what everyone was whispering about, she was still dating Mickey and they knew that. And yet, here she was with another man being all lovey-dovey. She would have to properly break up with Mickey this time around.
"Right, so we've got living plastic. So there is obviously something controlling it. How do we stop it?" Rose asked.
"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal. Dead." The Doctor explained.
"Thought control? Or is it radio control?" Rose asked.
"Thought control." The Doctor confirmed and Rose nodded.
"It's alien, so thought control makes sense." Rose muttered just loud enough for the Doctor to hear.
"How do you know it's alien." The Doctor asked, his tone letting her know this was a test. He was trying to test her deduction skills.
"Nothing on earth can do something like this. At least, not that I know of." Rose informed him.
"You're right." The Doctor told her with a gentle squeeze of her hand.
"So who's controlling it?" Rose asked.
"Long story." The Doctor told her and Rose playfully rolled her eyes at him.
"What's it all for? I mean, shop window dummies, what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britian's shops?" Rose joked causing the Doctor to laugh, his laugh was contagious and soon she was laughing with him.
"No." The Doctor told her while still laughing.
"So, it's not a price war?" Rose asked jokingly, happy that he was smiling. This Doctor didn't smile or laugh nearly as much as she wanted him to. They both laughed loudly as the Doctor unconsciously leaned his head atop hers.
"They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you." The Doctor informed her as they sobered up. "Do you believe me?" He asked her softly, his voice barely above a whisper. They stared at each other for a long minute before Rose nodded.
"Of course." She whispered to him confusing him.
"Why? I just told you the most ridiculous thing anyone could come up with, and yet you believe me, just like that?" The Doctor asked as they came to a stop.
"Of course." Rose repeated. "It's your eyes. I can look at them and see that you're telling the truth. They tell me that you've seen your fair share of nasties, that you've been through hell and back." Rose told him and had to stop herself from telling him that he didn't have to be alone anymore, that she was there with him now. "Who are you, Doctor?" She whispered not actually asking for his name. And with the way the Doctor was staring at her, Rose knew he understood what she was asking. His grip on her hand tightened just a little.
"Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving?" He asked her softly and Rose nodded. "It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standing still." The Doctor looked away from her, his eyes becoming distant. She knew he was feeling the Earth moving, the Timelines flowing, the universe growing. She knew because she could feel it too, through Bad Wolf.
"I can feel it." He whispered to her looking into her eyes once more. Rose had to stop herself from telling him that she could feel it as well. She was supposed to be human, and humans didn't feel things like that. "The turn of the Earth." The Doctor continued pulling her away from her thoughts. "The ground beneath our feet is spinning at 1,000 miles an hour. And the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at 67,000 nukes an hour. I can feel it, we're falling though space, you and me." Rose felt her heart sped up and her breath began to come out as pants. She wasn't afraid or scared of him, no, it was at times like these that Rose truly understood how much she loved this man, how much she wanted him.
"Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world," The Doctor continued as they stared into each other's eyes, each forgetting the world around them, "and if we let go..." As if in sync, the Doctor and Rose let go of each other. The loss of contact with the other seemed to snap them back to reality. "That's who I am." He told her, and she understood more than he thought she did.
"Now forget me, Rose Tyler." The Doctor ordered sadly as he took a step away from her and towards the TARDIS that Rose just realized was less than ten feet away from them. "Go home." Rose watched the Doctor walk away from her, her heart aching to run after him. But it wasn't time for her to enter the TARDIS yet, she still had things to do. Rose smiled sadly as the TARDIS brushed up against her mind in a soothing manner before she dematerialized. Soon, she would be home. Soon.