CHAPTER THREE
The Doctor popped his head out of the TARDIS and surveyed his surroundings with the usual interest he held for just about everything he did. It was the possibilities you see, the endless possibilities of what lay outside his beloved TARDIS that always called to him, the distractions of a universe in constant flux meant there was always an adventure to be found or more typically, to find him. Right now though, it wasn't adventure he was looking for. He leaned back into the TARDIS.
"Just popping out for a bit. Won't be long."
"Of course, Doctor," replied Neris calmly as she hovered in one corner of the console room, tinting everything green with her warm glow.
"I'm getting Rose."
"Yes. You said. I assume you had not changed your mind since setting coordinates."
"Because three days is plenty of time to calm down and get some perspective." The Doctor was nervous. He was looking for reassurance. "Don't you think?"
"I have no reliable data on how long it takes a human to see reason," observed Neris. "There appears to be too many variables to make even a passingly accurate assumption."
"Quite, quite," said the Doctor hastily. He paused. "But still, three days, that sounds about ballpark, doesn't it?"
"I have not gained any further data on the matter in the nine seconds since I previously stated my position on this, Doctor."
"You're a giant, empathetic brain, Neris," said the Doctor in mild frustration. "Surely you must have some insight into Rose's state of mind when she asked me to take her home?"
"Rose Tyler was upset with you, and felt you were not listening to her, so she requested she be returned to her own species."
"Yes, yes," said the Doctor impatiently. "I remember."
#
"Doctor?"
He was fiddling with the data recorder from the doomed space station they'd rescued Neris from. "Mm?"
"Can I talk to you?" Rose was by his side.
"Absolutely," he said happily, still intent on extracting the data from the damaged device.
"In private."
He looked up from what he was doing. "We are in private." The Doctor followed Rose's gaze to where Neris was floating on the other side of the room. "Neris doesn't count. She is going through a regeneration, creating new cells. She cuts off all telepathic links while that is happening. You've seen her do it dozens of times in the last month."
Rose's lips thinned as she moved towards the door. "Doctor."
"Oh, alright, alright, I'm coming." He stood up and passed by Rose into the corridor. "Totally unnecessary as it is." Rose was by his side now as they walked. "What is it?"
Rose threw a look back over her shoulder. "I want to talk to you about Neris."
"What about her?"
"I think she's up to no good."
The Doctor stopped walking and frowned. "Why would you say that?"
"Well, for one thing, she tried to kill me," said Rose hotly.
"Rose that was an accident. Her recollection functions about the human digestive system were altered because of how badly damaged she was at the time. Neris was very sorry about what happened. She apologised to you, didn't she?"
"And you believe it was a real accident?" asked Rose in disbelief.
"Of course. Why wouldn't I? The Dushraki are highly evolved beings who would never dream of hurting another living being. Their whole mantra is to serve and protect. They are a venerable race who are far above causing harm-"
"Yes, yes," snapped Rose, "she's your unicorn, I get it."
The Doctor was a little taken aback. "Actually, I-"
"What about all the weird things which have been happening in the last couple of weeks," persisted Rose?
"What weird things?"
"I had to sleep in the library for three days because my bedroom went missing."
"It was always there when I went to look for it," he reasoned. "Perhaps you just got a little turned around. You lost a lot of electrolytes post that vomiting frenzy. That affects brain function, you know. Not to mention the effect it had on the poor receptacle you chose to be repeatedly violently ill into. It was a hand-carved bowl given to me as a gift from the King of Siam." The Doctor pulled a face. "I had to flush it out into space. Such an ignoble end for such craftsmanship," he lamented.
"Hey!" Rose clicked her fingers in front of his face to get his attention back on her. "Your stupid waste bin isn't the point-"
"It was for umbrellas."
"I don't care if it was for housing elephants," she said tersely. "I'm trying to tell you something is up with Neris."
"Again, what exactly?"
"I hear you calling me, but when I get there, you're not there." Rose held up an imperious finger. "And don't say it's because I'm brain damaged from vomiting my entire body weight up again!"
"I never said your brain was damaged in the first place," he protested. "Just perhaps a little disorientated."
"Every time I've tried to talk to you about this we've been interrupted," Rose persisted. "An alarm bell here, a faulty exhaust panel there. She doesn't want us to be alone together."
"Why wouldn't she want that?" asked a bewildered Doctor.
"Because she's jealous of me."
The Doctor couldn't help but smile. "Rose."
"What is funny about that?" she asked hotly.
"Don't you think that's just a little bit… absurd?"
"No," said Rose putting her hands on her hips. "I don't. She resents any time that you and I spend together, even though you and she have spent countless hours talking together in a little huddle. You don't see it because you're besotted with Neris, and she can't do any wrong!"
"I am not besotted, and there is no wrong doing to see," he said in exasperation.
"Neris is trying to make me look crazy to you."
"Neris is?"
Rose's eyes narrowed menacingly. "Her story, there is something wrong with it."
"Such as?"
"Such as if her ship was overrun with pirates and everyone taken, where were all the signs of laser fire and a battle going on? Do you think everyone on board just gave up?"
"Maybe. Maybe they were promised safety if they came quietly?"
"Okay, then what about the space station itself? That had more damage to it than just someone opening fire on it. It was practically torn in half. You telling me some pirate ship did that to an unarmed space station? Why? They had no weapons to fight back, why bother?"
"Because pirates tend to be singularly unpleasant people who are just out to cause mayhem and make money?" he offered up.
"And that's another thing. If Neris is so precious and a one off, why didn't the pirates take her? Wouldn't a legendary Dushaki fetch a pretty penny on the open market? Why leave behind arguably the most precious thing on board?"
"Maybe because they didn't know what they were looking at?"
"And what about that smell?" she persisted. "There has been a weird funk in the air, like wet dog, ever since she got here, and it's only getting stronger."
"Mickey had a weird smell to him when he was travelling with us," he pointed out. "I'm not really seeing your point here."
"That's because she's got you under some kind of spell," said Rose in frustration.
"That is absolutely not true," he said sharply. "I just happen to find Neris interesting, and am glad of a chance to learn more about her species."
"Even if she ends up killing us all?"
"Rose," he groaned, "the Dushraki don't kill. I keep telling you, they are far too evolved-"
"I know what you said, but we've only got Neris' word for what happened to the Kout. I think we're in danger, and Neris has gotten herself into the TARDIS somehow."
"Rose-"
"You said that she can extend those tentacle things of her to go throughout ships and control them."
"First of all, the TARDIS isn't just any ship, and second of all, you can see her neural links floating around her. They don't extend into the TARDIS at all. Neris isn't controlling anything." The Doctor put his hands on her shoulders. "Look, this feels like a case of cabin fever. I know we haven't been anywhere since picking up Neris and having to stay in close proximity to a blue sun for her to heal. Maybe we should take a little jaunt to a nearby planet and get some fresh air, eh?"
"Maybe you should ask yourself why that black box thingy was so badly damaged when nothing else in that control room was?" shot back Rose. "And while you're asking yourself that, you might want to ask yourself why all of your attempts to retrieve the corrupted information has failed, despite how much more advanced your technology is. It keeps on shorting out while running the program, doesn't it?"
"Well, yes, but that could be just a quirk of the TARDIS. I've been meaning to give that circuitry a good clean out for ages."
"Can you hear yourself?" asked Rose, her voice now raised. "You're not willing to listen to anything bad about Neris at all, are you?"
"I did listen," he protested quickly. "I just think there is a perfectly logical explanation for it all-"
"Guess I'll just have to prove it to you then," said Rose, her lips set in a thin line of determination. "I-"
Rose didn't get a chance to finish her sentence, because suddenly the TARDIS lurched to one side violently, throwing them against the corridor wall and then tumbling to the floor. The Doctor leapt to his feet. "Are you alright?"
A dazed looking Rose blinked up at him. "Yes."
With her assurance, the Doctor was now free to run back to the console room and check to see what happened. He ran to the console and started checking readings. "Neris, are you alright?" he asked urgently, flicking her a quick look before going back to the read outs in front of him.
"Yes, Doctor. My centre of gravity is unaffected by the movements of my surrounds."
"Good, good," he murmured distractedly, hands flying over the console.
Rose was suddenly beside him again. "What was it? What happened?"
"We just lost stabilisers for a moment," he deduced. "They're back working now."
Rose sent Neris a dark look. "Is that right? How convenient."
"To not be careening through space at this moment? Highly convenient," he agreed with her.
"This is exactly what I was talking about," hissed Rose to him in a low voice. "Neris is doing this."
"How, Rose, how? The TARDIS would alarm at any foreign infiltration, and that'd be the only way Neris could do any of the things you're accusing her of."
"Fine, you know what, you love that big green glob so much, you can have her," said Rose fiercely. "You clearly don't need me, so you can just take me home."
"Rose, don't be unreasonable-"
"Now, Doctor! I don't want to be here anymore, with you, like this!"
"But-"
"Take me home right now. We're done talking about this!"
#
"You fought and Rose Tyler expressed her desire to no longer be in your company, Doctor."
"Again, yes, I remember that," he said with mild ire. "My question was did you have any empathetic feel on just how angry she was, and how long it might take for her to calm down?"
"You continue to ask me the same question in various ways, and my answer remains unchanged."
"It's just that this is our first big fight," he fretted. "I mean, we fought once before, but I had a different face back then." The Doctor remembered their huge fight about her father and Rose trying to save him. He'd been so angry, because he'd been so scared by what she'd done. Undoing death never came without a terrible price to be paid. He grimaced. "I don't know if a new face makes a difference in a fight." Suddenly the Doctor was second guessing everything in his nervousness. "I feel like I wouldn't have this worry if I'd been ginger this time around."
"Ginger?"
"It's a thing," he waved her off. "Rose would know. Rose would understand."
"If Rose Tyler is so knowing and understanding, then there is no reason for your hesitation, Doctor. She will return to you, if that is what you want."
"Of course it's what I want." He sighed. "It's what I always want, even when I'm sending her away," he murmured.
"Then all that remains to be seen is if Rose Tyler feels the same way," stated Neris practically.
"Which she will because she loves travelling in the TARDIS," said the Doctor brightly. "With me. In the TARDIS. Us, together. In the TARDIS." His head bobbed up and down. "Okay, good talk, yes, everything is going to be fine. Thank you, Neris."
"You are welcome, Doctor, although I am not sure I was actually helpful in anyway."
"Mmhm, yes, good," he said distractedly. "I'll be right back." The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, carefully locking her behind him and then started to make his way down the familiar street, shoving his hands in his pockets and whistling a cheerful tune as he did, forcefully telling himself he wasn't worried.
Only he was.
The TARDIS and its many rooms had never seemed so empty to him as they did now, even though Neris was still with him. All those companions that had come and gone over the centuries; none had filled those rooms the way Rose did. Each of his companions had meant something special to the Doctor, treasured memories of friendship and shared adventures ensuring that he'd never forget them, no matter how many times he'd regenerated.
But Rose was something different… something altogether unexpected.
That first time he'd seen her, in the roof of the shop she worked in, he'd fallen and fallen hard. He'd seen it in her eyes too, the sense of recognition even though they'd never met before. It was why he'd offered her a place in the TARDIS a second time after she'd said no to his first invitation, something he'd never done before. Somehow, he just knew that was where she was meant to be, and she'd known it too. The memory of the look on her face as she'd run to join him on board the TARDIS was still brightly etched in his mind's eye.
It was why Rose's demand for him to take her home had stung him so badly. She belonged with him, she knew, he knew it. For heaven's sake, even Mickey and her Mum knew it, despite their collective disapproval. So, why had Rose wanted to leave him when they fought over Neris? That had never happened before. They'd disagreed before, but she'd never asked him to take her home because of it before now. It scared him that Rose might come home and decide never to leave again. Jackie would certainly be pushing for that, having never been pleased at her daughter gallivanting off round the universe in the first place. He'd given her three days at home before returning for her, fearful of leaving it any longer in case Jackie's concerns had started to make sense to Rose all of a sudden.
It bothered the Doctor how much he cared whether Rose would stay or go, having always managed some measure of distance between himself and his previous companions, protecting himself in some way against the inevitable separation that he knew was always just around the corner. He'd told Rose himself that she might spend the rest of her life with him, but he couldn't do the same with her. He'd only been speaking the truth, but he'd seen the flash of pain in her eyes as she realised for the first time what it fully meant to travel with him. The Doctor had experienced it many times before but this concept had been something Rose had obviously never really considered properly before.
Now his fear was that away from the many distractions from life on board the TARDIS, Rose had time to think about it all, and decided that the ride wasn't worth the fall - that he wasn't worth it. However, therein lay the problem because the Doctor had decided long ago, almost from the first that she was worth it. It was why he was climbing the steps to her mother's flat when what he should really be using this opportunity to leave Rose to have a normal, carefree and uncomplicated life.
The feelings that he'd so totally lost control over the very first time she'd smiled and said his name had made him selfish. He used to be a lot more selfless the Doctor decided, any one of his previous regenerations would do the right thing, and save her any further heart ache by leaving her be. Even the previous one had tricked her into returning to her home without him, but that was to save her life. He'd do the same again if the situation called for it, however, if there any way to be with her then he was going to grab onto it with both hands until fate wrenched her from his grasp.
The Doctor stood at Jackie's door and took a deep breath. He lifted his hand and knocked on the door, finalising his plan to lure Rose back in his head. He was going to start with tantalising talk of watching the rise of the three suns on Traxx, and then after that whisk her off to meet some real mermaids in the Corvanath waters of New Babylonia. Of course, they weren't proper mermaids, what with the third eye and all, but they came very close to the mythological creatures Rose would know from the Earth stories. He knew she wouldn't be able to contain her curiosity, especially when he told her what they could do with that third eye. At least he hoped she wouldn't be able to. As a last resort he could tell her that Neris would be leaving them soon, and she wouldn't have to worry anymore about their guest. The Doctor hadn't technically spoken to Neris directly about it, but he was sure she was eager to make a new home for herself somewhere in the universe. Now, all Rose had to do was answer the door and they could get everything sorted out, and all would be right with their world again.
"Jackie's not home, luv."
The Doctor turned around at the sound of the woman's voice and shot her a broad smile for her trouble. "I was beginning to think that was the case," said the Doctor, turning to face her properly. "I don't suppose you know when she'll be back do you Mrs-?"
The neighbour looked him up and down. "Daphne," supplied the older woman. "Lived next door to Jackie and Rose for years now. Are you that doctor our Rose is travelling with?"
"Yes, that's right," said the Doctor with a big smile, pleased that she had obviously been talking about him. That was surely a good sign. Wasn't it? "It's actually Rose that I'm looking for, Daphne. You don't happen to know where I might find her or Jackie, do you?"
"Oh love," said Daphne, looking at him in dismay, "you don't know, do you?"
"Don't know what, Daphne?" asked the Doctor, feeling his smile freeze on his face at her tone.
"Jackie's in the hospital," she said quietly.
"What happened?" asked the Doctor, his brow furrowing in concern. "Is she alright?"
Rose would be devastated if anything happened to her Mum, and the Doctor hated the thought of her having to suffer the pain of the loss of another parent.
"Jackie's fine."
Doctor felt himself begin to relax a little.
"It's Rose."
"What's Rose?" he said hoarsely, tensing up again immediately.
"There was a car accident and Rose, well, Rose-" Daphne faltered, looking very sad. "It doesn't look good, luv."
Her words seemed to hang there in the air between them, it felt to the Doctor that he could simply reach out and pluck them from where they hovered in front of him, and crumple them in his hands, destroy them and make it all not true.
"Where?" he managed to force out through stiff lips.
"Where did it happen?" asked Daphne confusedly.
"Where is Rose?" the Doctor rasped.
"West Lake Hospital up the road and five streets over," she said, laying a sympathetic hand on his sleeve. "Jackie was home a little while ago, but the hospital called, and said she should come back right away. They said she'd taken a turn for the worse. I'm sorry, Doctor, but it may already be too late."
The Doctor took a backward step, and then another, as though trying to put some distance between himself and what Daphne had just told him. He needed to see Rose, needed to see with his own eyes what he just heard was true. It didn't seem possible, not his vibrant Rose, she couldn't possibly be gone, it was inconceivable. As long as she still had breath in her body, he could save her. He could somehow he could fix this. The Doctor began to run then, back down the stairs he'd casually walked up only minutes previously, before everything had changed. He ran the distance between Jackie's flat and the hospital as though the Daleks, Cybermen and every other enemy he had ever faced was hot on his heels. His only thought was for Rose to keep breathing, the sheer force of his will would see to everything else, it would just have to.
A/N: Place your bets… does Rose live or die? The answer might surprise you. Thanks for reading!
