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Chapter 18 - A Do-Over
The four bodyguards had joined them on the private promenade deck for tea. The sun was hanging low in the sky. It was warm, but the breeze was blowing gently into the deck.
Everyone was seated around the table, having small sandwiches and tea. Everyone except for the Doctor who was drinking coffee in hopes that it would help wake him up some more.
Rose talked to the men like she had known them forever. The Doctor loved how personal she seemed with people she knew. She even had a way about her that made all in the room comfortable. Rose told the Doctor that these had always been her bodyguards, as per Mickey's instructions.
She smiled as she introduced them.
Shakes', he already knew of course. He was big as a door. Shaved head and dark skin.
One of the other men was called, Lewis. He was a muscular man who appeared to have the air of an old soldier about him. He noticed that he had a tattoo peeking out from under his shirt collar and sleeve. He wondered what the tattoo was of.
And then she introduced Sam. Not Samuel, nor Sammy. Just simply, Sam. "It's easy to remember. You can yell for me fast. I'm usually there before you get to the 'm' in my name."
Another man was named simply, John. He had really short brown hair that he used a lot of gel on it to make look wet. He also had perfect, American teeth when he smiled. He seemed to be the youngest of the group.
"How did you guys meet Mickey?" the Doctor asked them.
"He never told you?" Shakes ask him.
"Honestly ,the last time I saw Mickey, I didn't get a chance to really talk to him." the Doctor admitted.
Shakes said, "I'm sure he probably had told Miss Tyler, then."
Rose shook her head. "No, I just knew you were all mates. That's all."
Shakes laughed and shook his head. "Yeah, that we were. We all met Jake and Mickey in Paris. We were fighting the Cybermen. They came in and were a tremendous help to us. We had been stuck there for a while because of an accident we had been in earlier. We saw when the Cybermen started to bleed through the Void and knew they were coming, so we took up the defense.
The Doctor looked shocked. "You had seen the Cybermen before?"
"Yes," Lewis told them. "We came here to escape them. They converted our people on a colony we were a part of."
"But, that would mean... you aren't from Earth, either." the Doctor worked out.
Shakes' smiled. "Surprised? Mickey said you wouldn't be. He said you wasn't either. Although, he did tell us that Rose was from Earth."
The Doctor crossed his arms. How had this gotten by him? Was this human head of his really this thick? Shakes and his guys were all aliens?
Rose seemed unsurprised. "All of that makes sense. Mickey told me he found some aliens in Paris and brought them to Pete to have new identities when he first got here. I just never knew it was you guys."
"Before your first kidnapping, Mickey put us on a detail to protect you. We've been in the shadows since. The person that hit you with a car did so because we neutralized the shooter in that case. The driver got away and hit you, Miss Tyler. With the third kidnapping, two of us were on duty that night. We were tranquilized as well. By the time we woke up, Torchwood was already there, so we just filled in with that detail."
Rose couldn't help she was a bit creeped out knowing now that she had been watched and followed for months without her knowing. She looked at the Doctor across the table. He was oddly quite, sipping his coffee.
"Why hadn't you told me this before?" Rose asked.
"We were under orders not to. Jake and Mickey knew you would hate having bodyguards. It was only after things escalated that we were ordered to have a more visible presence." Shakes told them.
"We figured that's why we had a sudden invitation to tea today. Jake called and told us to come clean with the Doctor and tell him everything we knew." John told them.
The Doctor rolled his eyes back in his head. He didn't want to alarm Rose, but that probably wasn't a good sign at all. Why would Jake suddenly tell these guys to inform them of the information they had been carrying for months? He realized he knew why, but didn't want to scare Rose. He decided to try to redirect the conversation.
"You guys are Quauhtin!" he exclaimed. "Right?"
John turned and smiled. "Yes, sir! How did you figure that out?"
"A race that the Cybermen would be able to convert. Warriors. Able to hid in the darkness, hell...I never even detected you. Haven't I told you Rose, that these bodyguards are so good you forget they are there? Well, that's why! Quauhtin can fade in between realities. They disappear from our view and detection, but can still see us and the enemy. It's fantastic! Mickey gives us the best bodyguards the galaxy can offer."
His excitement quickly faded away as he started to think about who could be responsible for these attacks that could have spotted the Quauhtin and shot them with a dart that night they kidnapped Rose. He absentmindedly scratched his chin, he hadn't shaved today and had an impressive bit of stubble.
"I've thought the same thing that now plagues you, Doctor, sir." Shakes told him. "There are people that can detect us even with the reality shifting. But, I don't believe it is that. The first kidnapping attempt happened so fast, we couldn't stop it. With the car incident, they already knew we were there. And they were looking for us during the third one because of our previous encounter."
The Doctor was scratching his chin as he looked over to Rose. She was looking down at the ground, completely shocked. How could he had been so stupid? Of course this had to be hard for her to hear.
"Rose?" he said as he walked over to her. He kneeled down in front of her and looked up in her face. "I didn't think. Are you alright?"
She simply shook her head no. He picked her up out of the chair and told the bodyguards, "Go ahead and finish tea and show yourselves out. I'm sorry, but I need to attend to Miss Tyler at the moment."
"Quite alright, sir. We will be right outside the door if you need us." The men left as the Doctor carried Rose into the bedroom and lay her down in the bed. He lay down next to her and stroked her face. She started to cry.
He wrapped his arms and leg around her. "Rose, I'm so, so sorry. I'm an idiot. I don't know what I was thinking. You didn't need to hear any of that."
"If they have been looking out for me since this thing happened, how have they been able to kidnap me and hurt me?" she said in between tears.
The Doctor held her tightly. "I don't know, love. But, I'm working it out. We'll figure it out. There's no telling how many attacks these Quauhtin have fought off."
She continued to cry into his shoulder.
"Yeah, that's probably not the best thing to hear, either is it?"
He kissed her on the head. "Oh, Rose. I'm so sorry. It's alright to be scared."
She cried for a long time. He held her, never easing his grip on her. He continued to tell her it was alright, and that he was there. The last few days of being so happy had made him forget how hurt she had been. Even though she was physically fine, the mental injuries might be with her forever. Healing fast on the outside seemed very unimpressive when he saw her like this. He longed for a way to speed up the TARDIS growing so he could take her away from all of this. He knew at least she would be safe inside of the TARDIS.
She let go of him and pulled back to wipe her eyes. He offered her a box of tissues. She looked up at him.
"Tell me you think you know what's going on." Rose demanded.
"I could say that." the Doctor told her quietly as he wiped away her tears.
"Tell me that you have seen much worse than this, and been able to help."
"And you know that I wouldn't be lying with that." he told her as he stroked her face.
"Tell me that you love me."
He cupped her face in his hands and looked her in the eyes. "Rose Tyler. I really do love you. I have always loved you. I will always love you. All of my lives and all through time. You are what is most precious to my soul."
She smiled and whimpered at the same time. He kissed her quickly on her forehead and wrapped his arms around her again to pull her into a tight embrace. "This will be one of those stories we tell one day. Just like all of the other things we never thought we would never be able to get ourselves out of."
Rose's phone beeped. The Doctor leaned over in the bed to get it.
"Harriet wants to know if we are coming to dinner." he told Rose as he read the screen. "I can tell her no. Tell her that -"
"No, let's go. It would be rude not to. Especially since she's giving us a ride off this ship tomorrow."
The Doctor considered for a moment, "Alright. So, we'll be there in...?"
"Tell her 45 minutes. Will that work?" Rose asked him.
The Doctor typed in the reply on Rose's phone. Then he stood up and sat the phone back on the nightstand. He ran his hands down in his pockets as he watched Rose climb out of the bed. She was wiping her eyes and nose again.
"How can I help you get ready, darling?" the Doctor asked her. She smiled at him as she threw away the tissues that littered the bed.
"I'll be alright. Probably 'Doctor alright', but alright." she told him.
"Well, see we found a good use for that after all." he told her as he rubbed the back of his neck.
She smiled, "No really. I'll tend to myself. I just need to wash my face and put back on some make-up. You go on and shave, and change your shirt. I'm alright."
He walked over to her and put his arms around her waist. "You're sure? We can just see Harriet tomorrow. It's alright."
"No, we need to eat something anyway. It will be good to get everything off of my mind." Rose sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince the Doctor.
"Okay, if you are sure." he told her. "Everything is going to be alright, Rose."
"I want to believe you, but it's still just too scary."
"I know, sweetheart. It's alright to be scared. It's a monster. But remember, I'm the one that fights the monsters. And we will figure this all out."
She looked up at him and smiled. "That does make me feel better."
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Instead of meeting in the grand dining room like they had the night before, the Doctor and Rose went to President Harriet Jones' suite. It looked surprisingly a lot like the one that they shared. They ate dinner causally on the private promenade deck at Harriet's suite. The waves splashed up on the side of the ship as the wind blew a gentle breeze of sea mist in on them. As they dined, the sun began to set. It was so beautiful that they all stopped their conversation to watch the colors dance across the sky. The Doctor only took his eyes off of the sunset to look at Rose, who looked positivity glowing. No one would have suspected her break down less than an hour ago.
They enjoyed a lovely pasta dish with shrimp that Harriet couldn't remember the name of. "It's one of my favorites! You would think I would be able to remember the name!" she laughed with them.
They also enjoyed white wine with their meal. Rose had decided she was going to keep count of how many glasses of wine the Doctor had just to see if her suspicions were correct. She had been thinking, even since they shared that bottle back in Norway, that he was not able to ignore the effects of alcohol as much as he used to be able to when he was a full on Time Lord. He was currently on his second tall glass.
"I hope you two haven't made any plans tomorrow after we get back to the mainland." Harriet informed them. "President Shepherd asked me to invite you both to join us at Camp David."
The Doctor was surprised. "Really? Camp David?" he exclaimed. "Oh, that's fantastic!"
Rose smiled, "What is Camp David? Sounds like a military base."
"Well, it is. Technically." the Doctor informed her. "Something to do with Naval Support for the United States. But it is also the country retreat that the President there uses. It was built back in the 1930's. Franklin Roosevelt named it Shangri-La after the Himalayan paradise. But, it was President Eisenhower who named it Camp David after his father and his son. He spent a lot of time there recovering from a heart attack that he had. Every President since has used it to get away from the White House when they needed a little R&R."
Harriet listened to the Doctor's explanation. "Now, see. I didn't know that. You are quite the historian!"
The Doctor smiled, "Did you know that the American national anthem, 'The Star-Spangled Banner', wasn't even adopted until 1931? And that's only because this cartoonist, Robert Ripley, pointed out that America had no national anthem in 1929? President Hoover made it a law on March 3, 1931, and made it official. It's set to the English drinking song 'To Anacreon in Heaven.'"
Rose smiled at her Doctor and Harriet. He seemed to be on a roll.
"You should be an archaeologist with all of that knowledge." she told him.
"Ugh. Archaeologists," he complained as he refilled his wine.
"You don't like archaeologists?" Rose asked him.
"No." he said simply as he took a drink of the wine.
Rose wondered what that was about, and made a mental note to try to remember to ask him about that later.
Harriet chuckled at him. "Did you make it back down to the candy store to get Tony some candy?"
"No, we got busy with other stuff. But, I'm going to just give him some of what I got. I really don't need to eat it all. I want to keep these teeth."
That made Rose laugh into her wine glass. I suppose that was something he would have to think about now that he wouldn't regenerate anymore.
"Well, that's probably for the best." Harriet agreed. "Have you spoke to Tony today? I called him earlier. He told me all about you saving him from his dog that he thought was a monster."
Rose laughed, "You wouldn't had believed that snoring was coming from that dog! It was terrifying!"
That made the Doctor laugh. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, that was funny. Poor Zeus was exhausted."
"We did talk to Tony. He had read five books! He is so proud of himself." Rose told Harriet.
"Five books! Wow! I must say, that speaks a lot of your teaching method, Doctor."
The Doctor was drinking wine and shaking his head. "No, no, no. He already had figured it out. He just needed someone to help him fill in the gaps. I barely helped."
"Well, the end result speaks for itself. A toast!" Harriet raised her glass. "To having help when you need it."
They all clanged glasses and drank. "Here! Here!" Rose said with a smile.
The Doctor was enjoying himself so much more than he thought he would. It made him happy to see Rose smiling and laughing. He had felt so helpless earlier when she was so upset. He wasn't used to feeling so helpless. It was a new sensation for him. Before, he could always talk his way out of the problem, or just use his smarts and work a solution out. And if that didn't work, he could always run into his TARDIS and go someplace else. He was determined he wasn't running away though. He wasn't going to leave her. Granted, he had no way to go anyway. He unconsciously patted his pocket that held his growing TARDIS in it.
"Did you both have a good time dancing last night?" Harriet asked them.
Rose had a look of complete surprise come across her face. "You know, I've known the Doctor for years and never knew he could dance. Well, we had danced once before, but he really surprised me last night."
"Showed you the right moves, huh?" he asked her.
"Yeah. Surprised the hell out of me." she agreed.
He proudly laughed out loud at Rose's embarrassment.
Harriet laughed too. "Sounds like you both had a wonderful time. I'm so thankful. There will probably be some dancing tomorrow at Camp David. President Shepherd and his family are from Texas and had me dancing the last time I visited. It's good for the soul, I think."
"Texas, huh? A cowboy, then?" the Doctor asked.
"Oh, in every sense of the word. They broke the mold when they made President Shepherd. But, he'll show us a good time."
The Doctor smiled and made that happy sound in the back of his throat. "Oh, I'm looking forward to this!"
Rose laughed at him. She was happy to see her Doctor smiling again.
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They had returned back to their suite. Rose excused herself to the loo, while the Doctor took out his box to tend to his TARDIS.
She reflected that she had seen him have six glasses of wine at dinner.
When Rose came out of the bathroom, she was met with the strangest sight. The Doctor had crawled halfway into the 'bigger on the inside' box that was sitting on the floor. It looked as if half of a man was laying on the floor of the sitting room.
"I'll never get used to this madness." she said to herself as she watched the Doctor bend his leg and start to wiggle himself back out of the box.
He stood up and dusted his hands off. He flipped the box back upright, then replaced the top back on it. Rose noticed the muffled sound of something she couldn't explain when the lid was back on the box.
The Doctor turned and saw her standing there. He took off his glasses and put them back in his pocket.
"Oh, hey! I need to wash my hands." He told her.
She was so curious. She followed him into the bathroom. He leaned over the sink to wash his hands.
"Still won't tell me what's in the box?" she asked as she leaned into the doorway of the bathroom.
He looked up in the mirror at her reflection. "Nope."
She crossed her arms. "We said 'no secrets'.
He took a towel and dried his hands as he turned around to face her as he leaned on the sink. "Yep, we did." he agreed.
"But, you won't tell me?"
"Nope." he popped the 'p' as he crossed his arms. "I really hope I can at some point. But, it's not the time right now."
She considered for a moment.
"What's the matter?" he asked her.
"I think I can hear it. Whatever you have in there. It makes a strange noise. Is that weird?"
There was no doubt about it. His eyes were a big as saucers. "You can hear a noise? Coming from my box? What does it sound like?"
"I don't know, I only just heard it when you were in there. As soon as you shut the lid, it muffled it."
He continued to look surprised. "Really?" he asked her quietly.
"Yeah, I figured I would tell you in case it's something with your strange experiment."
Suddenly, as if he was coming out of a daze, "Yeah, I'm glad you did. That's actually really good news." He smiled at her.
"But not good enough news for you to tell me what's in there?" she inquired.
He started to walk back into the sitting room. She caught him as he walked by her in the doorway. She held her hand up to his chest to stop him. He looked down at her face as she said, "No secrets."
Sweat beaded up on his forehead as he considered telling her.
"You know, Rose. I think I want a do-over."
He grabbed her hand and walked back in the sitting room.
"A do-over? What is that?" Rose asked him.
"When you want to do something over, because you didn't get it quiet right the first time." he explained as he picked up his phone. He clicked a few things and turned on a song.
"What do you want to do again?" she chuckled.
"This." He told her as he turned up his phone to play the song he had picked out. He came over to her and took her in his arms and began slow dancing to James Taylor's 'How Sweet It is'.
"The first song we danced to wasn't ours, it was yours and Jack's. The first song we danced to last night was terrible. I want our song to be something cheerful and meaningful. This song reminds me of you." he said as he leaned down to kiss her as they began to dance.
She smiled. "You are like trying to nail Jell-o to a tree you slippery old man." she chuckled at him.
He just laughed, "Years of practice my dear!"
He spun her around in time with the music and continued dancing.
Rose had to admit that it was a far better song for them, and she would never pass up an opportunity to let the Doctor hold her close. She decided she'd fuss at him about the box later.
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