Chapter Three-
After the Doctor had left in the TARDIS Rose sighed and made her way to Mickey's. She had someone to look up, and a way for the Nestene Consciousness to get Mickey. After a quick online search she found Clive, and after a much longer time, she convinced Mickey to take her to see him. And as Rose had listened to Clive talk to her about the Doctor, she had Bad Wolf look into his timeline to see if she could save him. She could not. After her meeting with Clive, she allowed the plastic Micky to take her to eat pizza.
"Do you think I should try the hospital? I think I'd be really good at running around and helping a doctor." Rose asked with a small smirk at her little inside joke while biding her time for the Doctor to show up. "I could do A-levels. I don't know." Rose smiled at the awkward living plastic, trying to figure out how she hadn't noticed the first time. "What do you think?"
"So where did you meet this Doctor?" The plastic-Mickey asked.
"No, you're not going to get that information out of me." Rose told the living plastic.
"Cause I reckon it all started back at the shop, am I right?" The plastic-Mickey continued and Rose shook her head with a smile.
"Nope, my lips are sealed." Rose told it.
"Come on." The plastic-Mickey said with a smirk before reaching out to try and grab her hand, but Rose nonchalantly moved her hand away. She had learned her lesson the first time, she wasn't going to let him grab her this time. "What was he doing there?"
"Secret." Rose told him with a smile. This game was kind of fun this time around, now that she knew the rules and what would happen.
"But you can trust me, sweetheart. Babe, darling, sugar..." The plastic said as it started to malfunction. Rose had to keep herself from laughing. "You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning, and I can help you, Rose. That's all I want to do, sweetheart. Darling, babe, babe, sugar, sweetheart." The plastic said malfunctioning again. Rose let out a snort.
"Seems you're malfunctioning, just a little." Rose said with a smirk as the Doctor made his way over to them with a champagne bottle. He was there to save her, just like she knew he would. All though, this time she didn't actually need saving.
"Your champagne." The Doctor said offering the champagne to the plastic.
"We didn't order any champagne." The plastic told the Doctor without looking away from Rose. She watched the Doctor walk around Mickey to stand in front of her. "Where's the Doctor?"
"Madam, your champagne." The Doctor offered her the bottle.
"Why thank you, kind sir." Rose said with a smile, taking the bottle, shaking it up before pointing it at the plastic just as he spotted the Doctor beside her. "Cheers, mate!" She cried before popping the cork. It flew at the plastic-Mickey and hit him in the middle of his forehead, his plastic head absorbed it before he spit it back out.
"Anyway!" The plastic-Mickey said before moving to launch over the table at the Doctor, but Rose kicked the table flipping it over to land on the stunned plastic. She hopped onto the over turned table, pressing all her weight on it and grabbed the plastic-Mickey by the head. Now that the Doctor was here, she was free to act. Rose quickly pulled the plastic-Mickey's head off before allowing the Doctor to take her by the arm and pull her away.
"Don't think that's gonna stop me." The head in her hands said before the headless body threw the table off him and got up before it began to flail. The restaurant quickly flew into a panic before the Doctor hit the fire alarm.
"Everyone, out! Out now!" The Doctor ordered. The guest ran towards the front of the restaurant while Rose allowed the Doctor to pull her towards the back, where she knew the TARDIS was waiting for them. When they burst out the back door into the closed in area out back, Rose couldn't stop the bark of laughter that flew out of her mouth. She twirled and spun as the Doctor used his screwdriver to seal the back door as the headless plastic-Mickey began to try and beat it down. Rose tossed the head into the air, catching it before calmly following the Doctor into the TARDIS, smiling as the TARDIS nuzzled into her mind.
Welcome home, My Wolf. The TARDIS sung in her mind as Rose allowed herself to look around the room with a large smile. She was finally home.
"So, we're safe in here, yeah?" Rose asked tossing the head to the Doctor, who quickly caught it and began to scan it.
"The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door. Believe me, they've tried! Now, hush up a minute." the Doctor told her before he began to hook the head up to the TARDIS letting her locate where the Nestene Consciousness was. Rose slowly walked around the console room allowing her hand to run along every coral pillar as she soaked up the feeling of finally being home.
"You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source." The Doctor explained before turning to look at her. "Right. Where do want to start?"
"She beautiful." Rose whispered knowing he could hear her as her eyes roamed the room.
"No." The Doctor said causing Rose to look at him, she laughed at his confused face. He had not expected that.
"You find her ugly?" Rose asked teasingly causing the Doctor to lightly blush.
"That's not what I meant. All I meant is that's not what you're supposed to say. And how did you know she was a she?" The Doctor asked walking over to her as Rose began to lovingly pet the coral pillar next to her.
"She's a ship, right?" Rose asked and the Doctor nodded. "Well, aren't all ships feminine? But I'll take a guess and say that she's alien."
"Yeah. How'd you know?" The Doctor asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
"It's obvious. Take a look around you, anyone with a brain can see that this is not human technology. The outside is made to look smaller than the inside. And there's this-this strange feeling in the air. It's as if your ship is alive." Rose told him, giving him her smile that was meant only for him.
"You're clever, Rose Tyler. I'll give you that."
"Are you alien?" Rose asked watching as he tensed up. Did he expect her to run away from him.
"Yes. Is that alright?" The Doctor asked stiffly and Rose smiled at him before latching onto his arm.
"Of course. You're still the same man from this morning, the one that saved my life. Your eyes are still the same as they were when we met. The fact that you're not human doesn't change a thing." Rose told him truthfully. She felt him relax in her arms and smiled at him.
"You're an odd one, Rose Tyler." The Doctor whispered to her. Rose stood on her tippy-toes and kissed his cheek.
"I take that as a complement." Rose told him before letting go of his arm and spun around with a large smile. "So, what's her name?"
"She's called the TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space." The Doctor informed her with a smile as she looked back at him, he was so adorable when he bragged about his ship.
"So, tell me, why a Police Public Call Box?" Rose asked.
"It's a disguise." The Doctor told her.
"Okay. How's that work? Is there a device embedded in the TARDIS that makes her appear as something that will help her blind in?" The Doctor nodded. "Okay. So, going by logic here, you must have landed somewhere they had Police Public Call Boxes, which could have only been in the 50's. The device malfunctioned and got stuck, leaving the TARDIS to continue to appear as a Police Public Call Box." Rose continued before looking at the Doctor. "TARDIS: Time And Relative Dimension In Space? Is she a time machine as well as a space ship?"
"How'd you figure that out?" The Doctor asked in amazed shock.
"I just put all the facts and clues together before coming to a conclusion." Rose told him with a smirk as the TARDIS laughed in her mind.
"Rose Tyler, you are a clever little ape." The Doctor breathed out.
"I have a question." Rose told him.
"Shoot... I never got that phrase. What are you shooting? You're obviously not shooting a gun at me, so why would I say that? It's sort to stupi-" Rose cut off the Doctor's ramblings by kissing him on the lips. Rose slowly pulled away from the kiss, blushing. When the Doctor had started rambling Rose couldn't stop the warm feeling of love in her heart, nor did she want to stop it. And then, without thought, she had kissed him.
"Sorry, you were rambling. Don't know why I did that." Rose whispered against his lips.
"It's fine." The Doctor whispered back before shaking himself out of the stooper she had seemed to put him in as he unconsciously took hold of her hand. "Right, your question?"
"You sound like you're from the North. So, does every planet have a North or is there some other reason?" Rose asked.
"Lots of planets have a North." The Doctor told her as the sound of melting plastic hit her ears, Rose glanced around the Doctor to look at the console.
"Um, Doctor, the head's melting." Rose told him.
"What?" The Doctor asked spinning to look at the console. "Aw, no, no, no, no!" He cried running over to the melting head, dragging her with him since he had yet to let go of her hand. Not that you'd catch her complaining about that, mind you. The Doctor began to quickly hit buttons and flip switches, all while holding her hand. Rose had to stamp down the urge to help him. He had technically just met her, he didn't know her or trust her enough to allow her to touch the controls to his ship.
"Have we lost the signal?" Rose asked.
"No, but it's fading!" The Doctor told her as the TARDIS began to dematerialize. "Wait a minute. I've got it." He told her. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Almost there, almost there. Here we go!" The Doctor cried as the TARDIS materialized else where. Rose allowed the Doctor to lead her, by the hand, out of the TARDIS. "I lost the signal. I got so close!" He growled out as he forced them to start pacing, she refused to let go of his hand and he seemed to have forgotten he was still holding her hand.
"We've moved." Rose said, knowing it would be suspicious if she didn't at least say something about it. "It doesn't fly? Does it?"
"It disappears there and reappears here." The Doctor told her distracted, and Rose knew that his mind was racing to try and figure out how to find the Nestene Consciousness.
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the headless body has melted along with the head." Rose said as they leaned up against the wall separating the street from the river.
"Are you going to witter on all night?" The Doctor snapped at her and Rose felt her hackles rice. It wasn't her fault that he had lost the signal, he didn't need to take his frustration out on her!
"Hey! I'm just trying to make sense of all this! 'Cause unlike you, I don't do this every day!" Rose snapped back at him before her thoughts turned to Mickey. And even though she knew he was going to be physically alright, he was no doubt scared out of his mind. "Poor Mickey." She muttered causing the Doctor to look at her in confusion. "Mickey, the person the living plastic was trying to mimic. You forgot about that didn't you?"
"Look if I did forget some kid called Mickey..." The Doctor growled out.
"He's not a kid." Rose snapped back automatically.
"... it's because I'm trying save the life of every stupid ape blundering about on this planet, all right?" The Doctor continued as if he hadn't heard her.
"All right!" Rose cried.
"Yes, it is!" The Doctor growled as the two stood there glaring at each other while panting. Their augments had always been fierce and passionate.
"And, this living plastic, what's it got against us?" Rose asked trying to bring them back to the problem at hand.
"Nothing. It loves you. You've got such a good planet, lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air. Perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the war," Rose had to fight from tensing up at the mention of the Time War knowing that it was still fresh for him, "it's protein planets rotted. So Earth. Dinner." The Doctor finished while miming eating.
"Right, so how do we find it?" Rose asked and the Doctor snapped his head around and continued looking.
"How can you hide something that big in a city this small?"
"Hide what?" Rose asked.
"The transmitter!" The Doctor snapped at her, as if having expected her to have already figured it out. "The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."
"What's it look like?" Rose asked him letting her eyes roam the street around them.
"Like a transmitter!" The Doctor told her and Rose gave him a blank look. Even though she knew what the transmitter was, to be able to point it out to him without looking suspicious she needed just a little more information from him. "Round and massive, somewhere slap-bang in the middle of London. A huge, metal, circular structure like a dish, like a wheel, radial."
"Oh, you mean that?" Rose asked pointing to the Eye of London that was across the river from them. The Doctor turned to look at the Eye of London before looking back at her.
"Oh." The Doctor said before pulling releasing her hand to gently grab her face and kiss her. "Fantastic!" He cried once he broke away from the kiss as he took her hand in his again before they took off running to the Eye of London.
"Think of it. Plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to be alive." The Doctor panted out once they made it to the Eye. "The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables."
"The breast implants." Rose joked with a smirk causing the Doctor to shake his head at her with a small smile. If only Jack were here, he would have jumped right onto that joke and rode it as far as he could. The image that thought just created caused her to blush. She had hung around Jack way too much.
"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath." The Doctor told her as Rose looked around for the hatch that would lead them to the underground sewer. Rose dropped the Doctor's hand, receiving a worried look from the man, as she ran towards the ledge over looking the river shore.
"What about down here?" Rose called to the Doctor and seconds later was joined by him.
"Looks good to me." He told her taking her hand and led her towards the hatch. The Doctor quickly opened it and they carefully climbed down the ladder, the Doctor going first. At the bottom, the Doctor helped her down all while looking around the small room. They made their way to the only door out of the room and opened it as quietly as it would let them. They walked onto a metal landing leading off to rickety metal stairs in a huge room. "The Nestene Consciousness." The Doctor told her nodding his head to the giant red-orange blob inside a vat. "That's it, inside the vat, a living plastic creature."
"Right, so, I'm sure you have a back up plan encase talking with it doesn't work?" Rose asked as she searched the huge room for Mickey.
"Why'd you think I was going to talk to it first instead of killing it?" The Doctor asked.
"If you did that, then what would make you better than it?" Rose whispered back causing the Doctor to smile at her before he pulled out a small vial of bright blue liquid.
"Would you like to try and guess what's in here?" The Doctor teased shaking the vial.
"I'm guessing that since the Nestene Consciousness is plastic that that vial holds something called a very literal name, say Anti-Plastic?" Rose 'guessed' causing the Doctor to look at her in shock. "What?"
"That's right. This is Anti-plastic. This is a very literal name because it's used on plastic and is supposed to melt-" Rose kissed him again, stopping him from rambling.
"Sorry, but we don't have time for you to ramble right now." She whispered against his lips, liking this new way of stopping the Doctor's long-winded ramblings.
"Yes, right, sorry." The Doctor mumbled taking her hand in his once more before leading her down the stairs of the scaffolding towards the Nestene Consciousness. "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to Convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation." The Nestene Consciousness gargled out a reply as Rose's eyes landed on Mickey huddled in a corner. "Thank you. If I might have permission to approach." The Nestene Consciousness gargled once more, giving them consent.
"Mickey!" Rose cried, releasing the Doctor's hand to rush to Mickey, allowing him to focus on the Nestene Consciousness.
"Rose!" Mickey cried out and latched on to her the second she was close enough. "That thing, down there... The liquid, Rose, it can talk!" Mickey told her as he clung to her.
"I know. But you're fine. Everything is going to be alright. The Doctor will make sure of it." Rose told him as the Doctor walked by them, glaring at Mickey, jealousy clear in his eyes. Rose lovingly rolled her eyes at him before standing up to get a good view of his conference with the Nestene Consciousness, ready to jump in and save him like last time.
"Am I addressing the Consciousness?" The Doctor asked coming to a stop just above the open vat. "Thank you. If I may observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?" The Doctor said with a smirk causing Rose to giggle at his little joke. Hearing her, the Doctor glanced at her with a wink before focusing back on the Nestene Consciousness when it growled at him.
"Oh don't give me that!" The Doctor growled back. "This is an invasion, plan and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights." The Nestene Consciousness hissed and growled while flailing about in the vat, clearly agitated. "I AM TALKING!" The Doctor roared at it causing the Nestene Consciousness to stop. "This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learned how to walk. But they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf, please, just go."
"Doctor!" Rose yelled as a couple of dummies ran up behind him and grabbed him as the Nestene Consciousness hissed and growled. One of the dummies reached into the Doctor's jacket and pulled out the vial of Anti-Plastic.
"That was just insurance! I wasn't gonna use it!" The Doctor cried as the Nestene Consciousness hissed and growled louder. "I was not attacking you! I'm here to help! I'm not your enemy, I swear, I'm not!" The Nestene Consciousness continued to hiss and growl. "What do you mean?" A door beside Rose and Mickey opened to reveal the TARDIS.
"Right, Mickey, you'll be safe in there." Rose whispered to Mickey before pushing him towards the TARDIS, knowing that it was about time to save the Doctor. Mickey ran to the TARDIS, expecting Rose to follow him while she ran towards the chain she had used last time.
"No, no, no! Honestly, no." The Doctor cried out as she grabbed the axe and waited. Watching the Doctor and the Nestene Consciousness for the perfect time to save the Doctor. "Yes, that's my ship." The Nestene Consciousness squealed harshly at him. "That's not true! I should know, I was there. I fought in the wars. It wasn't my fault!" The Doctor cried and Rose flinched at the mention of the Time War. "I couldn't save your world. I couldn't save any of them.
"Right, time to end this. Once again, I haven't got my A-levels, I fell in love with a Time Traveling Alien, got left. And now I'm reliving my time with the Doctor. But hey, I still have a bronze in Gymnastics." Rose muttered to herself as she swung at the chain, easily cutting it from the wall with the help of Bad Wolf. She quickly dropped the axe, took hold of the chain and swung towards the Doctor and the two dummies. The Doctor used that distraction to toss the dummy that was holding him into the Nestene Consciousness, destroying the dummy. Rose kicked the dummy that held the vial of Anti-Plastic into the Nestene Consciousness.
"Rose!" The Doctor yelled as the Nestene Consciousness began to crack, he quickly grabbed her on her swing back. He held her as close to him as he could, his eyes roaming over her, checking her for injuries. The Nestene Consciousness whined, pulling their attention away from each other and back to it. "Now we're in trouble!" The Doctor told her with a large grin on his face before taking her hand and leading her as quickly as he could to the TARDIS, pulling out the key with his free hand. The room began to explode as the Doctor rushed to unlock the TARDIS. Once the TARDIS was unlocked, the Doctor kicked Mickey inside before pulling Rose in after himself.
Mickey huddled near the door, eyes wide in shock and fear as he took in the TARDIS for the first time. Rose and the Doctor quickly passed him towards the console where the Doctor began the dematerialization sequence. Rose couldn't stop the annoyance that filled her when Mickey whimpered in fear, she knew that he would get used to it, but it still annoyed her that Mickey was afraid of the TARDIS. She lightly smiled when the TARDIS nudged against her mind soothingly, letting her knew that she wasn't offended by Mickey's reaction. Even reminding her of Rose's first reaction to seeing her the first time.
After they had materialized in the back alley behind her building, Rose let go of the Doctor's hand to walk over to the doors and open it. She sighed lightly when Mickey, in his haste to leave the TARDIS, pushed her out of the way. Rose rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone to call her mum, knowing that she had been out shopping when all this happened.
"Rose, don't go out of the house, it's not safe!" Was the first thing her mother told her and Rose laughed before hanging up on her. Her mother was safe, that's all she needed to know.
"Fat lot of good you were!" Rose growled out to Mickey, making her way over to the man trying to hide behind some rubbish. She grabbed Mickey's arms and started to try and pull him up. He whimpered and pointed behind them. Rose looked over and smiled at the Doctor.
"Nestene Conspicuousness? Easy!" The Doctor said proudly.
"You were useless in there! You'd be dead if it weren't for me." She told him playfully. The loving look he gave her caused her heart to skip a few beats.
"Yes, I would." The Doctor admitted. "Thank you." Rose bit her lip to keep herself from running over to him and kissing him. This was when he was going to ask her to join him, she had to get ready to deny him and make him come back to ask her once more.
"Right, then. I'll be off. Unless... I don't know." The Doctor looked nervous. "You could come with me." He said trying to sound nonchalant, Rose felt her heart stop, knowing that she had to tell him no, that she had to get him to come back. "This box isn't just a London-op, but you already knew that. It goes anywhere in the Universe. Free of charge."
"Don't!" Mickey cried, latching onto her legs, nearly causing her to fall. "He's an alien. He's a thing."
"He's not invited." The Doctor growled out, eyes flashing in jealousy as he glared at Mickey. Rose had always found the Doctor quite sexy when he was jealous. His eyes locked on to hers, and the smoldering look that he held in them causing her to gulp. "What do you think?"
Remember, My Wolf, you have to make his ask twice. The TARDIS sung in her head. Rose opened her mouth to deny him, but the words got caught in her throat as fear gripped her. He will come back. I promise, My Wolf. He will always come back for you.
"You could stay here. Fill you life with work and food and sleep," The Doctor told her, and Rose knew he was trying to tempt her into coming with him. Rose bit her lip. He'd come back to her. "Or you could go... Anywhere. With me." He finished.
"Is it always this dangerous?" Rose asked finally getting her mouth to work properly.
"Yeah." The Doctor smirked at her flirtatiously. Mickey tightened his hold on her, reminding her that he was there.
"Yeah, I can't." She chocked out, forcing herself not to tear up at the heart broken look in the Doctor's shocked eyes. He hadn't expected her to deny him. With all the kissing and hand holding and cuddling they had done, the Doctor had expected her to instantly accept. It tore her up inside. "I've, um, I've gotta go and, um, find my mum" Her throat tightened up as she continued to fight from tearing up. Realization flashed through his eyes, he had realized she actually did want to go but was keeping herself from agreeing. "And someone's gotta look after this stupid lump, so..."
"Okay." The Doctor said, once again glaring at Mickey. "See you around." He said locking watery eyes with her before slowly backing into the TARDIS and shutting the door, as if to give her time to change her mind. Rose forced herself to stay where she was. She gave a shuttering breath as the TARDIS began to dematerialize.
"Right. Listen, we don't have much time." Rose told Mickey forcing him to stand, using a little of the strength she had gained from Bad Wolf, shocking Mickey. "No, shush." She ordered when Mickey began to open his mouth to question her.
"First things first: I love you Mickey, but I'm not in love with you like you are with me. So, I'm breaking up with you. Shush." She ordered when Mickey went to object. "Next, when he comes back, I'm going to go with him. You, Mickey, will then go to my flat, give my mum this when she returns." She quickly dug in her bag and pulled out the letter she had written the night before and handed it to him. "I'm going to be gone a year. Don't worry. Tell my mum I'll call her whenever I can. I have my passport. Mickey, I'm trusting you with this." Mickey could do nothing but look at her in shock and nod. Seconds later the TARDIS materialized in the same spot it had just been a few minutes ago. The Doctor poked his head out of the TARDIS.
"By the way, I know you've already figured this out, but she is also a Time Machine." He told her with a smile. Rose smiled at him before running into the TARDIS never looking back.