This chapter has a Rosie point of view. I don't do many Rose/Doctor chapters, maybe I should do more.
Back on the TARDIS the Ponds had gone straight to their room, Jenny had gone to the kitchen, the Doctor had gone to talk to Jaime and J.D and Rose remained in the console room, still in a thunderous mood as she sat on the jumpseat, watching the Rotor go up and down as they flew through the Vortex. She hadn't noticed she was not alone until she felt a bout of curiousness and heard the sound of careful footsteps.
Standing up quickly, Rose turned to whoever else was in the console room with her…and found it was Alexia. "Oh, it's you!" She said, surprised and smiled, though it looked more like a grimace. "Nice slap by the way, it certainly rivals my mum's by strength. You really showed him." She noticed that Alexia didn't return the smile or thank her for the compliment. Which made Rose feel a tad nervous.
"Could I have a word, please?" Alexia requested and she sounded so serious that Rose began to get twitchy and shifted awkwardly on her feet.
"Uhh, yeah…okay…" She replied.
"We need to talk about that green streak of yours." Alexia stated and scowl reappeared on Rose's face.
"Oh, that…" She muttered and turned away from Alexia, folding her arms and a moody expression appearing shortly after. "Suppose Jaime told you."
The woman furrowed her brows, wondering if Jaime had told Rose the same thing.
"No," Alexia replied and moved to stand in front of Rose, who was about to walk away until Alexia caught her by the shoulders. She didn't struggle but instead looked away from the other woman with a petulant expression. "She didn't need to. I worked that out on my own."
The blonde snorted. "Oh, really?" She muttered.
"Yes, really!" Alexia replied. "I'm a parent, so I know these things."
This time Rose shrugged away and walked around the console so that the control panel was between herself and Alexia.
The woman sighed and rolled her eyes. "Rose, your jealousy is astonishing sometimes…" No wonder Sarah Jane told her to call around anytime she needed. "…I have no interest in The Doctor because I know you're both meant to be together. We're just two parents having an adult conversation. Nothing more, nothing less."
Angered by the conversation, Rose looked over at her. "Oh, what? You're going to accuse me of being childish as well?" She snapped.
"Of course not!" A surprised Alexia answered her, making her further wonder what her daughter had actually said to Rose. "All I'm saying, is that you'll understand one day, when you'll have kids of your own."
A derisive sounding laugh came from the blonde as she shook her head. "If." She mumbled.
Alexia narrowed her eyes when she thought she heard Rose say something. "Sorry, what was that?" She asked.
"If!" Rose said, louder now. "Not 'when', just 'if'." She looked down at the console, fiddling with some non-important buttons. "I doubt he wants anymore kids. Not with me anyway."
Alexia was confused by this admission and walked around the console to join Rose. "What makes you think The Doctor wouldn't want to have children with you?" She asked and the blonde looked at her with a grim expression.
"Because he's already been a father before, on Gallifrey," Rose answered. "And Jenny's fully grown, yet she's more like a child than a teenager. The Doctor's already got his hands full with her." She sighed sadly. "What exactly can I give him? I'm just boring old Rose Tyler!" She muttered.
But Alexia shook her head in disagreement. "What?" She took the blonde by the shoulders. "Look at me, Rose." She requested and Rose did so. "You're anything but boring. You're Rose Tyler, defender of Earth, the Bad Wolf. You've saved the Doctor in so many ways. You didn't let a wall between universes hamper you. He only has eyes for you, Rose. He was meant to be with you, you stopped being 'ordinary, boring old Rose Tyler' the day you met The Doctor. Of course he'd want to have kids with you!"
Rose just looked away and grumbled something under her breath.
"Have you spoken to the Doctor about these concerns of yours?" Alexia questioned.
"How can I?" Rose groaned out. "When there's so many on board we're likely to get interrupted in some way."
Alexia smiled. "Then go out somewhere, just the two of you," she suggested. "We won't mind."
A look of thoughtfulness appeared on Rose's face. "Okay…" She mumbled. "…what do you suggest then?" She felt a bout of confusion from a wide-eyed Alexia. "It was your suggestion!" She added.
Alexia chuckled and nodded her head. "Then I suggest you go visit Clive's family." That only left Rose looking very confused. "You know, the fella who was obsessed with The Doctor."
"Oh, yeah, Clive," Rose remembered and suddenly felt worried. "Why? Did something happen?"
Alexia nodded. "Shortly after you met him, he met his demise at the hands of an Auton…" Rose gasped, horrified. "…he was in the same shopping centre with his family as Jackie was."
"Oh my god!" Rose uttered, hand over her mouth.
"I think the Auton may have singled him out for his obsession with The Doctor." Alexia added.
The blonde shook her head in disbelief. Sad for Clive's death and shocked that her mum was in the middle of all that danger.
"I'll leave it up to you." Alexia said and before she walked away had something else to say. "By the way, if you're ever feeling down, you can always come to me if you ever need a chat. I may not be Jackie, but I'm still a parent." Alexia hugged Rose for several seconds before letting go and exiting the console room.
Feeling much better about herself the blonde smiled happily and went off to look for the Doctor.
Finding the Doctor wasn't all that hard, he was in the lab, cleaning it up and Rose could feel that he was pre-occupied with thoughts that he probably wouldn't have noticed her come in.
"What are you doing, Doctor?" Rose asked, noticing him jump in surprise and turn to her, wide-eyed.
"Did you have to sneak up on me like that?" The Time Lord complained.
Rose sighed. "I didn't. You were too busy to notice me."
The Doctor winced. "I wasn't that busy, Rose," he replied incredulously. "I was just thinking. I just told Jaime and John that they were going to live longer than normal and they didn't seem all that bothered. Do you know what she said, Rose? 'Well that was bloody obvious!' Like they didn't need me breaking the news because they had figured it out long before Alexia raised the issue."
Rose sighed as he chattered away. When he went all motormouth she could never get a word in. "Doctor!" She snapped at him and he stopped talking, a look of bewilderment on his face, yet a bout of hurt was felt making Rose grimace. "I'm sorry!" She apologised. "But I really wanted to talk to you." She told him.
Furrowing his brows, the Doctor stared at Rose, sensing she was nervous for some reason. "Are you okay, Rose?" He asked, worried.
"I'm fine!" Rose replied with a grim smile. "Can we go somewhere…just on our own?" She suggested.
"Uhh…yeah…" The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck out of confusion. "Umm…why?"
This time Rose smirked as she approached the Time Lord. "Doctor, do you remember that time LINDA was obsessed with you?" He was about to open his mouth until she hushed him. "Not that Lynda, but the one in London that were being picked off by the Abzorbaloff?" He nodded, listening intently. "Well, before I started fully travelling with you I met this man…" She noticed his eyes widen. "…don't worry, he had a family so he was safe…but he had a website about you and files filled with pictures of you when you were all ears and attitude."
The Doctor understood that was his Ninth incarnation she was talking about. "Oh, that can't be too good!" The Doctor said with a groan.
Rose nodded in agreement. "Only it gets worse," she added. Because he apparently died, killed by an Auton."
The Doctor raised a surprised brow. "How long have you known this?" He asked.
"I've only just found out," the blonde replied. "Alexia told me." The Doctor nodded his head, looking thoughtful. "But what if Torchwood at Canary Wharf were monitoring him and they saw their chance to take it all?" She went on to say and The Doctor grimaced.
His Rose had a point but he really couldn't go back on his own timeline. It just meant they would have to go two or three days after the incident with the Autons. "Okay then," the Doctor took a hold of her hand. "Allons-y!" He said with a grin and they hurried out of the lab and took a short run to the console room.
At the control panel, the Doctor asked Rose for the co-ordinates, and she surprised herself that she could still even remember the name of the street she had only ever gone too the once. After putting in the co-ordinates the Doctor sent the TARDIS on its way and once it landed they exited out onto the street.
Rose looked around at their surroundings, remembering the location. It was a drabby cloudy day, threatening to rain. "It's the 8th of March, 2005," she said, sounding amazed. "And a younger me is currently off-world travelling through time and space. How weird is that?" Rose uttered, looking at The Doctor.
He was smiling grimly. "Not to mention you were reported as missing by your mother," he added.
"Oh, yeah." Rose mumbled thoughtfully, thinking about what her mum was going through and how worried she must be.
"So we can't go anywhere else." The Doctor continued. "Do you remember the way," he asked.
Rose nodded. "This way," she pointed down the street. "I know we drove here in the car, and it was years ago now, but it's so clear in my mind it's as if I only just visited yesterday."
The Doctor narrowed his eyes at Rose as they started walking down the street. "Who's we?" He asked.
"Me and Mickey," Rose replied. "He offered to drive me here because he thought I'd gotten in touch with a serial killer."
The Doctor grinned. "Good for him," he said. "Good old Mickey."
Rose stopped suddenly and looked across the road. "We parked right here," she pointed at a spot on the road. "I can see it clearly in my mind." She frowned suspiciously. "What's that?" She suddenly said, followed by a wry smile. "Oh, now I see what happened!"
"Rose?" The Doctor sounded puzzled enough to look at her…and sucked in a surprised breath. Rose's brown eyes were glowing gold. "Oh!" He uttered, realising the Bad Wolf was present.
"One of the neighbours put their bin out and Mickey saw it moving so he got out to investigate it. And it ate him!" She went on to say.
"Rose!" The Doctor worried and he watched as she shook her head, the glow fading from her eyes. He expected her to faint in some way, except she managed to keep her balance as she glared at the empty spot where Mickey car had been parked just days ago. The Doctor realised she must be getting strong enough to hold the Bad Wolf.
"My boyfriend was abducted and swapped by a plastic duplicate and I didn't even notice!" She said in disbelief. "Not one bit! He drove erratically and talked funny. I know he's always been a bit weird but he became even weirder as a duplicate." Rose heard the Doctor chuckling and looked at him. "What?" She asked.
"Oh, I was just thinking," the Doctor replied. "When I saw you in that Restaurant with 'Not-Mickey', my first thought was 'Her again'. I'd already met you twice before. For it to happen a third time was something akin to…" He couldn't find the right word he needed.
"Destiny?" Rose asked with a tongue-in-teeth grin and the Doctor nodded.
"Something like that," he said. "As for my second thought…I wondered if you would ever notice the boy you were sat with had been duplicated by the Nestene as I watched you natter away to him as if nothing was wrong." Rose's face turned an embarrassed shade of pink and smiled sheepishly. "I waited to see if you would ever catch on, but he started interrogating you so it was time to step in and interfere."
Rose and The Doctor stared at each other, then Rose gave her best Tyler smile and said: "Thank you for inviting me aboard, twice and showing me the stars."
The Doctor grinned happily at her words. "You're very welcome, Rose Tyler." He replied.
"C'mon, it's this way." Rose stated, taking his hand and they both turned towards a gate where she opened it in order to approach the door.
Once they reached it, Rose knocked on the door, hoping that somebody was in. The Doctor looked around at his surroundings, keeping his eye on anything suspicious or out of place. When he heard the sound of the handle being pushed down, the Doctor turned his attention back to the door just as it opened. Rose looked at the barely familiar woman stood in the open doorway and knew the inevitable had actually happened. Clive really had died because the woman's eyes were red from crying so much.
"Hi, you're Clive's wife, right?" Rose spoke up, feeling all sorts of emotions from the woman, though a bout of suspicion could be felt the strongest. "Can we come in?" The blonde now requested.
The woman seemed to stare at Rose, which only made the Doctor feel nervous enough to speak up…until she stepped aside to let them in.
"Thank you!" Rose said and she and the Doctor entered the house, going through a door that led into the sitting room. The front door closed and Clive's wife followed them in. Letting go of the Doctor's hand, Rose fully turned her attention to the woman. "I'm sorry for your loss," she spoke up. "I've…we," she glanced at the Doctor. "…have only just heard."
The woman grimaced sadly, yet she also felt confused. She once again stared at Rose. "You're Rose Tyler!" She said. "You're all over the news. Reported missing."
Rose smiled grimly, followed by a nervous chuckle.
"Well, not exactly!" The Doctor replied and gulped when the woman glared at him.
"Who are you?" She demanded. "Have you abducted her?"
The Time Lord scowled at her. "Be serious!" He protested. "As if I would bring her here. And since you asked, I'm The Doctor."
The woman's eyes widened and she took a quick step back with a gasp.
Rose felt a heavy bout of shock from her. "It's okay," she said, moving towards the woman in a bid to comfort her. But stopped when she heard footsteps on the stairs.
"Mum? Who are you talking too?" The voice of a boy called out before walking into the sitting room seconds later. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Rose and The Doctor. "Why has one of dad's nutters come back?" He questioned. "And who's that?" He asked about the grinning Doctor.
Rose just continued to smile grimly.
"He claims to be The Doctor," the woman answered her son. "Only this must be a sick joke in a long line of sick jokes!" She said and The Doctor stopped grinning. "Because you certainly don't look like the man from the pictures. And if you really were The Doctor you wouldn't be standing there as brazen as a bastard, knowing he was the very reason my husband is dead!" The woman raised her voice now but her young son was doing his best to calm his mother down.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor could only apologise and felt the urge to escape. "I'm so, so sorry."
Rose looked at the Doctor, feeling a little guilty for bringing him here and also more than a little worried for him. She could feel he was at war with his emotions, so she had to defend the Doctor and looked back at Clive's wife and son. "Look, the reason why he looks different from the photos is because there is this thing he can do when he's dying. He can literally change his face." Rose looked at the nervous Time Lord and took hold of his hand. That seemed to snap him out of his thoughts and he looked at Rose. "Doctor, tell them." She encouraged.
He nodded his head and looked over at the Fisher family. "It's called regeneration. Every cell in my body changes and a new man goes sauntering away. Different look, different personality…"
"But same old Doctor." Rose added with a smile at the Doctor and once again looked at the woman and her son. "The reason we came is because we just found out what happened to Clive," she said. "All those years ago we put a stop to the Nestene from trying to take over everything made out of plastic. But it seems we took too long. So I'm…"
"Woah, okay.." The woman spoke up. "What do you mean, 'years ago'? It only happened three says ago!"
The Doctor and Rose looked at each other, worried. It was hard to explain something so complex to somebody who wasn't all that interested in her husband's 'hobby'. Though they were surprised when the boy spoke up, apparently having a keen eye for noticing odd things. Just like his father.
"Haven't you noticed it, mum?" He asked, looking at Rose. "She looks older than she did three days ago. Her hair is shorter too."
The woman stared at Rose. Although she didn't get much of a good look when she first came in, she did after the girl left her husband's shed. And her son was right. She did look older, which was impossible in just three days. "Who are you people?" She asked, suspicious and worried.
"Like you said, Rose Tyler." Rose said. "My younger self isn't missing or been murdered by her ex-boyfriend. She's currently travelling with The Doctor, the one from the photos."
"And I'm the Doctor," he introduced again. "I'm a Time Lord with the ability to travel through time."
There was a stunned silence from the Fisher family and the more it went on, the more it made the Doctor nervous.
"That would make sense," the boy spoke up. "Dad often wondered if The Doctor could time travel."
The woman looked at her son, surprised he'd listened to her husband's nonsense, before looking back at Rose and the man she knew to be a version of The Doctor. "Why are you even here?" She asked, still annoyed he had the gall to turn up here.
The Doctor gulped before answering. "Because…what was your name?" He queried her.
"Caroline." Mrs Fisher replied.
"Caroline!" The Doctor repeated. "Because your husband had a lot of sensitive information about me, and if that were to get into the wrong hands…" He trailed off, letting her understand how serious the situation was.
Caroline got the picture easily. "Right. And you want to take it all away?" She asked, watching the Doctor nod his head. "Be my guest," she then said. "Because that stuff has caused nothing but trouble." She spat out and looked at Rose. "You'll know where the shed is. I can't stand to look at the bloody thing."
Rose nodded her thanks and led the way into the back garden.
The light blue shed stood at the far end of the garden looking ominous. She heard the Doctor take in a deep breath and looked at him. "Are you okay?" She asked and he nodded, frowning.
"I expected some sort of backlash, but that was unexpected."
"Sorry." The blonde muttered.
However, the Doctor shook his head. "No need to apologise, Rose." He said and walked off towards the shed, Rose following along. "So this is where he keeps his files on me!" He said, sounding much chirpier now.
"Yeah," Rose replied. "He kept it locked up with a padlock." The Time Lord stopped and she could feel his worry. "Doctor?" She asked, concerned.
"Then we have a problem," he said. "Because that lock is open."
"What?" Rose moved to the shed door to inspect the padlock. She had expected it to have been opened up by bold cutters, but that wasn't the case. Although by the looks of it, the lock had still been opened in an unconventional way.
"Somebody's already been here!" The Doctor stated, noticing there was no marks on where it had been opened.
With a worried look at each other they opened the door and walked into the shed. It looked like any normal shed found in any normal garden, but there was a glaring problem. Most of the shelves were empty.
"We were too late," Rose said rather sadly, staring at a shelf that had previously held dozens of files on The Doctor. "He had a lot, and I mean A LOT of files, footage, photos. Now it's gone." She sighed and shook her head.
"Not necessarily." The Doctor said and Rose looked around to find he was holding a piece of paper.
"What's that?" She asked and the Doctor showed it to her. On it were two lines of Circular Gallifreyan writing.
"It's written on the same notepaper I use," the Time Lord told her. "Except it's not my handwriting."
The blonde stared at the note, only managing to understand two, maybe three of the Circles. "What's it say?" She asked after awhile, determined to continue learning the Doctor's language.
"It says that Clive's research has been taken care of and its been signed by Jenny, Freya, Leo and Jaq."
Perking up at the names, a hint of a smile appeared on Rose's face. "Jenny we know, but who are the other names?" She asked.
"Probably just companions." The Doctor quickly dismissed, causing Rose to sigh. "But that's not all that was written and it's more than a little worrying," he continued. "P.S, Torchwood will be here in ten minutes. That probably gives us six minutes to get out."
Rose gasped and looked out of the shed window. "Do you think she called them?" She asked, meaning Clive's wife.
The Doctor shook his head. "I doubt she's even aware of them. They're probably been attracted by the TARDIS." He quickly stuffed the note in his pocket and took a hold of Rose's hand. "Allons-y, Rose Tyler!" He said and they exited the shed.
They used a side gate to make a quick exit and once they were out on the street they walked back to the TARDIS. When they got to the Time Machine the Doctor unlocked the door, but before he could step inside he was stopped by Rose.
"I wanted to apologise." She said.
He frowned at her, confused. "What are you apologising for this time?" He asked.
Rose blushed and looked away. "I've been a bit bull headed lately and I'm sorry for letting it happen."
Now the Doctor looked at with a raised brow and a hint of a wry smile. "Have you? I hadn't noticed!" He said and entered the TARDIS.
A surprised Rose just gawped at his reply, not sure what to think. Until she sensed his cheekiness and encouragement and she finally understood. Rose chuckled and followed the Doctor into the TARDIS, the doors closing behind her.
On a quiet street in 2005 the TARDIS dematerialised with a windy wheeze-groan.