~revised~

Chapter XVI

Rose

Rose had known from the look on Mickey's Face ever since he went to the console room to ask for the swimming pool that something had happened. He had grinned like a Cheshire cat whenever he had looked at her. It had taken her a while – actually until the next morning - but she knew that Mickey just wasn't able to keep anything from her for long. That stupid little... That just couldn't be happening. That's what Mira's stupid talking had been all about, just to throw herself at him at the first opportunity. But not on her watch. Mira wanted a fight? She could have one.

"Slag!" Rose yelled at Mira as she found her sitting in the library. Mira put the book that she was reading aside and looked at her. Rose eyed her carefully. Mira kept a straight face and didn't seem to be surprised at all.

"Excuse me?"

"I knew it," she continued. "I really knew it. How could I be so stupid to even consider for a second that maybe I might be wrong? Though I'd never thought you're so daft to do it right in the console room. Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Rose, no matter what Mickey told you: We were just hugging each other. That's it."

"That's it? You're so arrogant. I might not be such a smart-arse as you are, but I'm not stupid. I know what I saw, how you're behaving towards him since the first day I met you. And most of all, telling Mickey to shut up about what he saw?"

"Rose, we-"

"Shut up! Do you really think I haven't seen all your flirting?" she yelled at her.

"We weren't flirting, Rose," Mira sighed. "I'm sorry if you got that impression, but honestly, that wasn't my intention. And by the way, what if? What's it to you? I thought you were together with Mickey," she continued in such a calm voice that it made her want to slap the calm and composed look out of her face.

"Not your intention? Well then stop doing it! And leave Mickey out of it! You know what? You'll leave. At the next opportunity you're off the TARDIS. Messing with me like that was a big mistake."

"What makes you think I'll leave?" Mira replied, still annoyingly calm.

"Because you've no idea how long I know the Doctor. How much we've been through together. I rescued him once. I destroyed the Emperor of the Daleks. So whatever I'll tell him, he'll listen to, trust me. So either you leave or I'll convince him to get rid of you." That wasn't a bad idea at all, she thought whilst speaking it. It hadn't occurred to her before. Just tell him a few bad things about this freaky woman and off she would be.

"And you really think with me leaving all your problems will vanish as well?" Mira replied.

Rose just gaped at the other woman. Really? "You're my only god damned problem! So just get lost!" Mira's face was still a mask of self-control, her grey eyes glaring at her as if she was just a particularly interesting lab-rat.

"You can't drive anyone away he might meet in his life. That's not going to help you", Mira said.

"What?"

"Even if I leave, it won't solve your problems. There'll be other women he might meet. What then?"

"Oh quit it. Who do you think you are? Spare me your shrink-babble and your sick mind-games, you freak."

"You don't need to be a shrink to work out the actual problem here."

"Shut up! Either you leave on your own, or I'll get him to kick you out. And who do you think he'll believe?"

"I don't respond well to threats, Rose. Just so you know," Mira said quietly

Her calmness was maddening. She wasn't even properly defending herself. Just this cold, blank and

overbearing facade. Even the Doctor had shown more emotions when they were arguing.

"Yeah, got it," she said. "You're so old and so wise that you don't even have to bother about me, huh? Has anyone ever slapped that arrogant look out of your face?" Not that she actually was about doing that. She had rarely slapped people, and if so, not that hard. She basically wasn't even into threatening someone like that, or insulting them in that way, but somehow this woman was just driving her crazy.

"This is what you think it is? Arrogance?" Mira replied. At least now she stood up. "I'm an Empath, Rose. What do you think happens when I let myself go with all the anger and fury I'm getting from you? When I start spitting filth at you just like you are doing? I'm unfortunately very good at working out where someone's sore spots are, and I also know exactly when I'm hitting them. I feel what makes people tick and how to hurt them. That's why I'm trying not to get into fights like that. Because I might just loose it and then it's getting really nasty. Unfixably nasty."

She stared at Mira for a moment, not quite sure what to make out of it. All she realised was just how different they were. She would never find common ground with her. And she didn't want to. High time for Mira to leave.

"So I take it that you're not leaving? Well, then I'm gonna have to have a talk with him..." She hoped that Mira would give in. She didn't want to put her words into action, not really. But she was prepared to do so, at least so she had thought. But now? It would have been so much easier if she just...

"Go on then!" Mira said. "Tell him whatever you like. Shall I come with you or wait here?" Mira really didn't give the impression of feeling intimidated at all. Fine, she asked for it.

"I've already heard enough," A voice from behind almost caused her heart to stop and the blood in heir veins to freeze. She even forgot to breathe for a moment. Her glance fell on Mira, who didn't look surprised. What was that? A set-up?

Slowly she turned around, although she really didn't want to. She didn't want to look into his eyes, didn't want to explain herself and most of all, didn't want to hear what he certainly was about to say to her. He stood there with his arms crossed and glaring at her out of eyes so dark as she had hardly ever seen them. The worst thing was that he didn't look angry. Not really. He just stared at her out of unblinking eyes. If she had ever found it hard to read in his face, surely it was now.

"I... " She looked too and forth between Mira and the Doctor. "You made this all up, didn't you? You just want to get rid of me!" She decided to go into the offensive.

"Rose, that's not true...", she heard Mira's voice behind her.

"Not true? You've planned that from the beginning, you manipulative...," Rose spat at her as she turned on her heels.

"Rose!" she got interrupted. Something in his voice forced her to turn and face him again, although she didn't want to. She was afraid of him right now, no matter how much of this she had brought upon herself. "What's gotten into you?"

"What's gotten into me?" she repeated, her voice now shaky and feeling close to tears. "You were kissing her in the console room and then the both of you set this all up!" She nestled at the sleeve of her jumper, only to look at something else than his expressionless stare that frightened her more right now than all the anger she had ever seen in his face before.

"We weren't kissing, Rose," he said quietly. "Mira, stay." Mira had tried to walk past him and out of the library. She hesitated for a moment, but then stopped next to him. Now Mira seemed to be rather uncomfortable as well, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "And no one wants to get rid of you. But I don't want to hear you making threats like that ever again. Got that?" he continued.

"I... ," she started as he just continuously stared at her. "Yes. Got that." Oh hell. Did this just really backfire at her? And it was all Mira's fault. She shot a deadly glance at her.

"Honestly, Rose, what's that all about? Did you really think you can talk me into throwing her out? Manipulate me in such a way? You really would have gone that far? I thought I could trust you. I thought you care about others. What's wrong with you?"

She looked at him in sudden realisation.

"I.. I'm sorry. I don't know, it's just... I..." she stumbled. He had sounded hurt, really and honestly hurt. What he had accused her of hadn't occurred to her so far, at least not in that way. But now it hit her like a ton of bricks. She wasn't about to betray his trust and she really hadn't wanted to manipulate him out of ill intent. She just wanted to get Mira off the TARDIS, so she had just wanted to tell him some things that might not have been entirely true. He would have believed her rather than Mira, and everything would have been back to normal in no time. That was all she had wanted. Hell, she hadn't even planned it beforehand. It just had come to her as a simple and convenient solution. The realisation of what she had just accidentally done made her feel sick to her stomach. Now she knew what it was that she saw in his eyes: Disappointment. "I'm really sorry," she whispered once more, unable to look him in the eyes.

"Just to get a few things straight: Mira stays as long as she likes. And you will listen to her from now on when we´re not in the TARDIS and I'm not around. Understood? No more threats, no more blackmailing, no more fighting," he completely ignored her apologies.

Now all that's missing was that he wanted her to apologise to Mira. Tears were now in her eyes, blurring her vision and she could feel that she was about to start crying really badly. "Understood," she sniffed and then hurried past the Doctor, her gaze down to the floor. Neither should he see the tears streaming down face, nor did she want to see the look of disappointment in his eyes once more. Disappointment that was caused by her.

"Rose!" he called after her, but she didn't stop.


Mira

She hadn't expected that Mickey would tell Rose so fast. And, of course, it was sort of a very unlucky coincidence that the Doctor had been standing somewhere behind the book-shelves. She herself hadn't seen nor heard him before he had went around the corner and addressed Rose. How long had he been standing there?

As Rose left the library, Mira saw another chance to get out there as well. Not that she had a bad conscience (Well, not really. She had been a bit bitchy and arrogant, but it could've been worse. It hadn't really contributed to the obvious damage.), but nevertheless, being out of the line of fire was never a bad thing. Besides that she'd had enough of dealing with inter-human-alien drama for one day. In addition, it had been quite hard to witness Rose's self-demolition. The stakes had been high and the girl had lost, no matter if she had wanted it or thought it through.

"Mira! Where're you going?"

No sneaking past him... She shrugged and looked at him. "Um. Nowhere? Don't know.. My room?" She eyed him more closely. He looked somehow tired, with his hands in the pockets of his suit and sloping shoulders. Almost a bit like earlier in the console room, as he had just heard of Reinette's death. It had really hit him gravely, she realised.

"Did she try that before?" he asked quietly.

She shook her head in response. "I don't believe she thought this through. Not as in planning it. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, you get a funny idea and hold on to it, not thinking about the consequences. I told you this would happen sooner or later."

"Didn't plan it? I trust her, and she wants to utilise my trust like that?"

"That's not what she said..."

"But that's what she was about to do!" He was yelling now and she wasn't entirely sure at whom or what – Rose, herself or the whole situation. Probably all at once.

"Maybe, but I'm quite sure she didn't mean it in that way!"

"She threatened and tried to blackmail you. And you're still defending her?"

"I'm not defending her. I'm just trying to understand. She thought we were kissing or whatever, and she lost it. Apart from that: Yes, she tried to threaten me. Slightly. But still, that's not something I take lightly, but that's between her and me."

"Between her and you? Would you have told me at all?"

"I don't know. Maybe, depending on what she would have done, I guess."

"You guess?! You would have let her walk away, spreading lies, trying to use my trust in her to manip-"

"Wait! Now it's my responsibility to stop her from tricking you into something? Seriously?" Now she was yelling herself.

"Well, at least you took care of Mickey, didn't you? Damage control, really? Worked out pretty well, I might say!"

"Yeah, at least I tried! Didn't quite work, but hey! If it had been for you he would have told her right away!"

He didn't answer but just stared at her out of narrow eyes. He was good at it, she had to give him that. Anyone else would have flinched by now, but she just stared back, pretty much in the same way. Thankfully, it wasn't one of his I-look-right-through-you looks. It was just hotheaded and a bit wilfully. But she was also not bad at this. She was her father's daughter after all, and if there was one physical attribute she clearly had gotten from him – aside from her wiry frame - then it were her steel-grey eyes and her way of glaring at people.

"Am I supposed to feel intimidated in any way by you staring at me like that?" she asked eventually.

"What?!"

"If there is one thing I'm really good at, it's staring others down!"

Their gaze was locked together for one more moment, before his features softened and he blinked. She looked aside as well, her anger vanishing into thin air. Enough fighting.

"Sorry, " they said almost simultaneously.

She took a deep breath and collapsed on the nearest chair. "What a mess. I didn't want that, honestly. That's why I wanted you to talk to her. She's just lost it for a moment and didn't know what she was saying."

He sat down as well and just stared into space out of wide eyes, his brows furrowed and his features full of sorrow.

"Maybe it's best to talk to her when she has calmed down," she said after a moment of hesitation. "Things aren't as bad as they seem, I guess. It's just a huge, unlucky and ugly misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding?" he asked bewildered.

"Yeah, I mean, she has a bit of a temper..." She looked down on her hands in discomfort. Oh hell. She herself had never threatened someone like that. Well, not really, and if so under different circumstances and not out of personal rage. If her memory served her right. Things tended to get a bit vague over the ages. Though she definitely had said pretty nasty things out of rage. At least when she had been younger – she had quite a temper herself.

She had thrown quite a few fits at her father back in the days. The things she had said to him really scared here when looking back. Not that there had been any trust to destroy to begin with, at least not from her side, but nevertheless it had been ugly, unjustified and even outright vicious of her. It was true, they had had a rough start, but she also had lost her temper way more often and easier then, especially before she had found out that she was actually psychic and not just mentally unstable or plain mad. At that time she had been a mess and basically angry at everything - fate, the people around her, life at a whole, It (Who she still hold personally responsible in some way) and the universe as such.

It wasn't that she had blamed everything on her father, she basically hadn't even hated him. She just couldn't stand him at this time. His whole attitude of sympathy and calmness and not giving up on her (or, as she had put it: Not leaving her alone for god's sake and finally getting out of her life.) had caused her to explode several times. All her anger had focused on him as he had been the only one physically available. Yelling at the universe or fate wasn't really satisfying.

All in all it clearly had been a difficult time back then, although she knew now she couldn't blame all of her behaviour on external circumstances.

"What are you thinking?" the Doctor asked and she realised that she had been silent for a while now.

"Nothing. Nothing important, really. Well, one thing. Do I even want to know what a slag is? Apart from the literal meaning, which doesn't make much sense here."

"Take me back home." All of a sudden Rose stood there again, a backpack thrown loosely over her shoulder, her eyes red from crying.

Mira looked at the Doctor. He just stared at Rose as if she had just slapped him. "Rose," she began saying, "Maybe we should talk about it, all three of us..."

Rose shot her a deadly glare out of red eyes.

"Or maybe not," Mira finished quietly.

"You really want to go home?" The Doctor finally said as he stood up. Rose just nodded. "For good?"

Rose shrugged and looked at her feet in obvious discomfort whilst nestling with the straps of her backpack. It was more than clear that she was just waiting for a sign from him to stop her. At least to her it was.

"Fine," she heard him say. "If that's what you want."

She felt the sudden urge to shake him as she glanced at him in disbelief. Really? Before she fully realised what was going on he was about to leave the library, Rose following behind him. She stayed there and looked after them a bit in shock. That's it? No talking, nothing?

Right now she didn't understand him at all, even though she had not only a degree in Psychology, but also in Xeno-Psychology, the psychology of aliens. She could figure out the behaviour of other species, but for that she had to know more than one representative of that very species. One just couldn't judge the whole lot by observing the behaviour of an individual. Or judge anything at all, as for that. What did she know of him? Nothing. Nothing about his culture, his believes, his personal history. Well nothing besides that he was the only survivor if she got things right. Puts him somehow out of the normal way of evaluating representatives of a species anyway, because he wasn't typical any more. Strictly scientifically speaking.

After a few minutes she decided to follow them. Most likely they had gone to the console room and she really believed that there was no way to make things even worse by her presence. It was already screwed up as much as possible.

As she had halfway made it to the console room, suddenly and totally without warning the TARDIS was shaken with a gigantic impact. At least to her it seemed like one, the ship was violently thrown around as if they were under attack. She fell and glided over the floor until she hit the opposite wall. All that happened before she was fully aware that something had happened at all. She would have sworn that she could here the TARDIS scream in her mind, then all the lights went out.

A bit more from Rose in this chapter. And yes, I know, she speaks dialect. But I just can't do that, it would be just weird and awkward, so I won't do it. I can't even fake most German dialects, not to speak of one in my second language.

Thanks to 10th squad 3rd seat, time-twilight, bored411 and alibird1 for the reviews :-)

(bored411, our birthday is actually at the same day ;D although not in the same year.)

And also thanks to whoever put my story into that community. That's really awesome. :-D