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Gardeners World
Chapter Five
Rose held onto her stake trying not to fall over as the heavy strawberries the hung off her skin threatened to pull her down. She knew if she fell it would be all over – she would lose her final advantage: height. Alan and the flower tots were coming towards her as the Doctor also backed towards her. Just as all the minions looked as though they were about to kill Rose a voice called out over the loud speaker
'Alan – we have a problem in the potato rooms' the voice rang out over the strawberry rooms. Alan sighed before shouting back
'What is it? I'm trying to harvest the crops!' he complained. The voice paused before speaking – it sounded very small and frighten, a familiar phrase came to Roses' mind – Don't shoot the messenger.
'They've all died'
Rose froze on her stake
'Died?' Alan bellowed
'Yes Sir' the voice replied
'Of what?' Alan shouted sounding completely dumbfounded
'It would seem…. seem that… they were…' the voice stumbled afraid to tell its' master the truth
'Get on with it boy!' he warned, his lip curling
'They were taken by the potato blight' the voice revealed as quickly as possible as if that would make the punishment even less.
'That's not possible!' Alan whispered in disbelief to himself – they had protect against it so carefully after the famine in Ireland.
'You - boy!' Alan accused 'You allowed this to happen!' he yelled
'Go to the Crencent rooms now!' he ordered unforgiving
'Please…. no!' the boy begged but the sound of screaming played through the speakers before they switched off. The Doctor was at Roses' side and he was slowly working through the ropes that held her using the Sonic Screwdriver.
Rose frantically glanced around her seeing that Alan was distracted – she studied the other plants and noticed small dark purple spots appearing on the plants near her. She squinted at the plants that were further away and saw the spots were numerous – the furthest plants had dried up and died. Rose swallowed heavily
'Doctor' she squeaked
'Just a second… almost done' he said from between clenched teeth
'Look' she whispered. There was something in her voice that caused the Doctor to glance up – his jaw dropped as he watched the plants rapidly dieing around them
'Show me your hands' he briskly instructed. She stuck them out and he moved the leaves searching for any dots
'You don't have any' he whispered thankfully
'So I'm safe?' she asked
'For now' he warned as her went back to her ropes. He felt her body gently shake as he worked on her ropes, he looked up to see tears gently rolling down her face – he stood up so he was eye to eye with her. He gently wiped her tears away with his thumbs
'Rose' he called softly, she stared at the floor crying
'Rose look at me' he asked her gently. She glanced up – her eyes troubled
'I am not going to let anyone hurt you okay?' he told her
'Really?' she asked weakly. He smiled and nodded
'I promise' he told her. He watched her troubled eyes
'If I don't make it out' she began, he raised an eyebrow at her and moved to silence her
'Let me finish' she asked, her eyes watered 'If I don't make it out of here – promise you won't turn me into jam' she asked deadly seriously. He smiled at her
'I will get you out of here' he promised before pressing his lips to hers. She squeaked in shock before kissing him back.
'See – sealed with a kiss, now you have to believe me' he said with a smile. There was nothing Rose could do but grin manically at him and their kiss.
Alan had noticed them now – he'd also noticed his plants dieing
'No!' he shouted 'This can't be!'
'What's happening to them?' the Doctor asked curiously
'They… they have Diplocarpon earliana' Alan exclaimed in disbelief
'Which is…?' the Doctor asked
'Scorch! Strawberry blight!' he shouted as he ran towards his precious plant fingering their dying leaves. The Doctor finally freed Roses' final cord and caught her before she fell – her legs were wobbly and she was still made of strawberries. The Doctor knew he needed to get her out of there and fast, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder in a fire mans lift
'Oi!' she shouted – he ignored her. They watched as one of the runners from the strawberry plant grasped Alan's ankle. He screamed as the strawberry plants anchored him down – dozens of transformed humans acting out their final revenge on their keeper. The Doctor smiled before running out of the room carrying Rose before she also caught 'Scorch'.
The Doctor set her down in the officeon a desk before searching all the draws and cabinets. He was continuing with his fruitless search when Bill and Ben walked in.
'Obble greooble dooble' they said in unison. The Doctor glanced at Rose still unable to understand what they were saying.
'They are apologising' she said softly. The Doctor seemed to fumble before nodding down at the little pot men
'That's alright' he told them with a grin. The pot men whispered something to Rose before running out.
'What did they say?' he asked
She beamed at him
'That you have compost on your shoe and it stinks' she said giggling despite still being a fruit. She then turned serious
'And that the anti-dote is in the second draw on the right'
The Doctor grinned as he opened the correct draw
'Did I even mention how much I love pot men?' the Doctor commented as he pulled the lid off the bottle. Roses' sweet laughter filled the room and the Doctors' soul convincing them both everything was going to be okay.
Several hours later back in the Tardis Rose had been de-strawberryfied and the Doctor sat with her in the control room.
'Well that was…. an interesting experience' Rose finally said before collapsing in a fit of the giggles.
'Well we came away smelling of roses' the Doctor quipped.
Roses' glare silenced him.
'Well all I cant say is that I am certainly no longer eating strawberries – especially since I know where they come from'
'Right from the Roses' mouth' the Doctor laughed. The stay strawberry colliding with his head was enough to shut him up.
The End
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