Title: "Lifeline"
Rating: PG/Teen
Summary: Rose gains a little more understanding about the Doctor and why he needs her as a companion. Takes place a little time after 'The End of the World'.
Author's Notes: In case there is some confusion, especially with any US readers, 'AA' is a service similar to 'AAA' where one can call and get a car towed away if it breaks down.
Dedication: To Jillybean, whose stories got me thinking about writing about the show. Thank you again for the 'completely painless' beta-ing, as well as the cultural references!
Read and Review!
Rose watched in amusement as the Doctor tried his famous 'jiggery-pokey' at trying to fix the TARDIS that appeared, at the moment, to be acting considerably wonky. She leaned back on the railing surrounding the center console and sipped the rest of her soda, idly wondering the next time she'd finish such a huge portions of chips. It would take something like watching the world end to gain such a healthy appetite, wouldn't it?
Once they had returned to London and had located the vendor selling the delicious chips, two mounting portions were purchased and the two companions sat underneath a tree. While she had eaten and talked and laughed with the Doctor, Rose couldn't help letting her eyes wander to the people bustling around. Everywhere she had looked, life was happening around her: children crying, friends laughing and couples loving. Part of her had wanted to grab the nearest person and tell him or her to live each day as if it were his or her last, because the world would eventually end, the earth's time would pass.
Her eye, at that precise moment, had caught the Doctor's and she could see such gentle, sad understanding in that pale, cerulean gaze. Her world would end when nature deemed it so; his had been ripped away from him in a catastrophic conflict. When they had finished eating they sat for a while in silence, then the Doctor looked over at Rose, a question in his eyes. Rose thought about it for a moment, what she had, what she could have and simply stood up and extended a hand to her friend.
Once back, however, the TARDIS proved less companionable. Not two minutes after leaving did the console produce a grinding noise from somewhere in its interior. Several levers and hand cranks later, the noise had refused to leave. Sighing, the Doctor had pulled several floorboards and began mucking around with some wires. Rose, who could barely understand the fundamentals of VCR programming, had stood at a respectable distance, thinking that the Doctor worked better without someone nagging him with questions.
As she slurped the last of her soda, the Doctor's head popped up just as the grinding got louder and the TARDIS shuddered more so than usual.
"Come on, you!" The Time Lord growled. He kicked the console. Nothing happened. "Damn, bloody piece of…!" His foot went back and it slammed even harder than before.
The lights suddenly went out, and the ship ceased all movement & noise.
"Um…Doctor?"
"Ah. It's only temporary, Rose…trust me!"
Rose said nothing as she stood there in the pitch-black darkness. She could hear several bumps, muffled curses and finally something went snap. The lights dimly came back on. The Doctor looked at his main screen and shook his head with a sigh.
"The old girl's just temperamental. Guess we'll have to wait till she cools off." Crossing his arms, the Doctor leaned back and smiled.
Rose blinked then chuckled at the Doctor's calmness. "This might be a silly question, but isn't there some kind of, I don't know…AA Service you could call?" she said, smiling and wagging her 'upgraded' cell phone.
The Doctor returned the smile with a shake of his head. He was about to answer, looked thoughtful and then leaned over behind him. "You could try, Rose." A switch was thrown. From the very top of the rotunda-like control room of the TARDIS, the outer walls slid down like black curtains.
As the 'curtains' fell, what Rose saw made her gasp.
Filling almost the entire sky, and brightening the semi-darkened TARDIS, was a massive spiral galaxy seen almost edge on. One spiral 'arm' filled the immediate vicinity and Rose could see countless stars of differing size and brightness. Even this close to be able to see individual stars still had to mean they were thousands of light years away. Traveling through time, even witnessing the death of a star was one thing, but Rose's head swam what she saw before her.
The Doctor walked up and stood next to her. "Somehow I doubt AA could get this far. And could you imagine the bill?" he said lightly. Rose actually giggled at the thought, though she felt so small, almost insignificant, at the sight of something this magnificent. On it's own, her hand slid down and entwined fingers with another hand next to hers.
The Doctor smiled and squeezed her hand gently. "You may not be able to fathom this, but this is only one in a countless number of galaxies in the universe. Each one with millions of stars, countless civilizations, eons of time…"
Rose looked up and caught a look of innocent wonder on the Doctor's face. "You really are an unearthly child, aren't you?"
He actually blinked at that. "I haven't been called that since, oh, my 'rebellious youth' ", he said with a grin. He looked back up at the majesty of the stars and sighed. "All this…is my playground, Rose." He blinked a few more times and a lump formed in his throat. "It's all I have left," he murmured.
Rose remembered the almost casual way the Doctor had talked about being the last of his people, how bleakly he looked when he talked about his world being 'rocks and dust'. She felt guilty that she had the option to go home whenever she wanted to. The Doctor…would just keep going, never looking back. Rose remembered friends in school who'd either lost loved ones or whose parents had gone through a terrible divorce or had suffered some form of tragic loss in their lives. Some were able to continue, but some others…well, maybe they figured that with everything they lost, they had nothing left to lose. So, they just let go. The same vacant look in her friend's eyes, Rose could now see in the Doctor's. Maybe…maybe that was why he'd come back that second time with the offer to come along. Even traveling to all those galaxies, stars and civilizations with something as wondrous as the TARDIS means nothing if you have no one to share it with.
Rose's other hand came up, cupped the Doctor's chin and gently turned his head to look into her eyes.
"Hey…there's me, remember?"
Those pale, blue eyes focused on her and he took a deep breath. He smiled thinly and nodded.
"Then I guess I'd better take care of what I do have, right?" He gave her hand one final squeeze and walked towards the console. "Oh! I almost forgot. I've got something for you." He gestured towards a darkened corner. "Hope you like it," he said simply.
Rose looked guardedly at something that was almost as tall as her and covered in a thick black cloth. Glancing one last time at the now-grinning Doctor, she pulled the cloth away…and immediately broke down in hysterical laughter.
Standing there, pristine and full of 'classical music from humanities greatest composers'…was Cassandra's 'iPod'.
"I had it wheeled in when no one was looking," the Doctor said while Rose wiped away tears of laughter. "Figured you'd like a little bit of home to listen to while you're away."
"Thank you, Doctor. I really appreciate the thought."
"Well, pick a song, then!" he said as he went back to the console.
Rose, still chuckling, flipped through the different songs, trying to find one that fit. One came up and she smiled as she punched it up. The Doctor paused in his bringing the systems back up when the first few cords were heard and nodded in approval.
"Good choice."
Rose walked over and reached the Doctor just as the lights came back on line and the TARDIS sounded like it's old self again. The Doctor wagged his eyebrows and pulled a large lever. Instantly, the TARDIS shuddered and Rose looked up to see the spiral galaxy fade to be replaced by some form of vortex.
"So, Rose…where to next?" The Doctor said excitedly.
Rose could only shrug. "You pick. Surprise me."
The Doctor grinned wickedly and spun the wheel in a random direction just as the last few strains of the song ended.
"And who can say where the road goes,
Where the day flows?
Only time...
Who knows?
Only time...
Who knows?
Only time..."
FIN