The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 48
A/N: Here's another Ninth Doctor episode, deviating away from the plot, of course, because it's been awhile since we had the Ninth Doctor. It's times like this that I wonder how many episodes I'll have left in between each of the other season finales.
Replies to Reviews:
grapejuice101: Thank you so much!
NicoleR85: Here's the Ninth Doctor :)
Guest: Actually, I live in Australia, so 6:00 for you is like 8 at night for me. I am somewhat a teenager and I am used to getting up freakishly early, but I could never bother to update a story that early in the morning.
leahkc. 16: Thanks!
Loveless150050: Thank you so much!
Marmalade1512: I like the slow progression to full disclosure between them, because it feels like we have something to look forward to. I mean, I like writing realistic romances. With Rhea's history, she's not likely to get close to anyone all that quickly, in fact, the Doctor is quite quick for her. So, I try and have her open up little by little, so it makes it all the more sweeter in the end. Hopefully you like my choice of episode and Doctor!
lostiesgirl: I know, I was tempted to change the Martha kiss, but I don't like deviating from canon if I can. Sometimes I will, like in The Idiot's Lantern, but I think Rhea likes establishing that relationship with the Doctor and the companions without being the centre of attention in every episode. I like it more when she helps the Doctor out, instead of becoming his damsel in distress. I am planning on doing all of the New Who episodes, including Rose. Rose in this story will start off earlier than usual, closer to when the Doctor regenerates into the Ninth Doctor, so that he and Rhea can have some private time post-regeneration, but I am really looking forward to that episode.
DRWfangirl: Thank you so much!
TheGirlWhoLives: Thank you so much! It's not really about the updating, actually. It's about the writing. I haven't actually finished this story, so I still have to keep writing, and if I'm being absolutely honest, I haven't written a single word in three weeks. I just like being ahead in my chapters, so I don't have to keep all of you hanging for an update. But I have gone on mini-hiatuses before, so I might do that soon, so I can catch up. I've actually written 55 chapters of this story so far, so I'm feeling really proud of myself. This is the longest story I have ever even thought about writing and I'm glad it's still going strong. Thank you so much! I'm being really tight-lipped about Rhea's backstory, because I didn't want to give it all away in one hit. You guys know a few things, like she had a husband, his name was Damian etc. but nothing concrete yet. I do have two specific episodes where some more important things get spilled and they are coming up soon, I promise.
Warnings: Flirting, swearing, sexual innuendo. The usual.
Aliens of London: Close Encounters
Rhea's body dragged her mind to the fuzzy surface of consciousness, her eyes opening, slowly and wearily, her hands clutching onto the console as if it were a lifeline, her forehead resting against the cool metal in a soothing gesture. She felt warmth radiating from the console and felt the comforting song of the TARDIS croon in her mind, easing the pain in her head and softening her entire disposition.
She felt strong, muscled arms wrap around her waist and help her off her knees into a standing position. The remaining fatigue in her limbs and mind forced her to lean into the man's chest for support. The minute her head hit the smooth leather, she knew exactly which Doctor she had found herself with this time. She looked up to see the worried ice blue eyes of her biker boy and her fingers curled into the jacket, helping her to increase the strength in her legs, so that she could stand on her own.
"Okay, now?" His gruff voice sounded in her ears.
Rhea nodded against him and used the edge of the console to straighten herself further.
"Is she alright?" Rose asked, hesitantly.
Rhea gave her a weary smile and nodded. "I'm fine." She stretched out her neck. She reached out and curled a hand around the Doctor's bicep, such a familiar gesture for her, no matter what Doctor it was. "Where are we, now?"
"We just saw Dickens." The Doctor said, slowly.
"Really?" Rhea's eyes widened. "I wasn't very big on him as a kid. I was more of a Nietzsche, Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker kind of girl."
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Figures."
Rhea narrowed her eyes at Rose, noticing the familiar pink sweats she was wearing. "Oh," Her eyes widened. "This is like really early for you, blondie. The only thing I've done with you this early is Platform One." She looked at the Doctor. "Have we done that?"
The Doctor nodded. "With Cassandra." He frowned at her attire, the long sleeved pink shirt that she had tied underneath her bust, revealing her bare stomach, the patterned tights, the scarf tied in her hair. His eyes were immediately drawn to the bare skin she had uncovered. "Where were you? You look like something out of Breakfast in Tiffany's."
Rhea gave him a bright smile. "A hospital." She said, simply.
The Doctor's eyes widened and he rushed to her side. "Why? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
Rhea rolled her eyes, but was secretly a little pleased by his worry. "I'm fine, biker boy. Just fine."
The Doctor nodded, pushing himself, reluctantly, away from her and walked over to the console, pressing down the lever for dematerialisation, the TARDIS rocking as he did so. After a moment and after a few scares, the rocking stopped and the TARDIS stilled, allowing both Rose and Rhea to get purchase before they fell.
Rose walked over to the doors, the Doctor and Rhea following her, and opened them, stepping out into a brightly lit alley of the Powell Estate. The Doctor and Rhea leaned against the door, folding their arms, looking like mirror images of each other, as they watched Rose look around in awe.
"How long have I been gone?" Rose asked them, a smile forming on her face.
"About 12 hours." The Doctor said, nonchalantly.
"Are you sure?" Rhea asked him, quietly, knowing that he had a history of getting the time wrong.
"Of course I am." The Doctor scoffed and that was the end of that conversation.
"Ooh! Right, I won't be long, I'm just gonna see my mum." Rose told them.
Rhea frowned, trying to place herself in that position. She had no idea what she would tell her mother if she had the chance to see her anytime soon. She didn't think the whole 'I went travelling in time and space with an alien who changes his face' explanation would go over well with her mother. She might come after her with a rolling pin. "What are you going to tell her?"
"I don't know!" Rose exclaimed. "I've been to the year 5 billion... and only been gone, what, 12 hours?" The Doctor let out something in between a laugh and a snort and Rhea smiled, fondly. "No, I'll just tell her I've spent the night at Shareens. See you later!" She started to walked off, but stopped and spun on her feet and narrowed her eyes at them in a warning glare. "Oi, don't you two disappear."
The Doctor rolled his eyes and Rhea saluted her with two fingers and Rose ran off in the direction of her flat. They settled themselves against the TARDIS to wait for her.
Rose ran up the stairs to her flat, grinning wide.
The Doctor and Rhea wandered around the Powell Estate. The Doctor folded his arms and kicked an empty bottle across the yard.
Rhea glared at him. "Hey, what did the bottle ever do to you?" She shook her head.
"Sorry," The Doctor said. "I'm just getting antsy."
Rhea rolled her eyes. "You just hate sitting still for a little while. You're like a little boy. You know, that's a primary symptom of ADHD. And you kinda fit the bill for that."
The Doctor gave her a withering look. "Are you psychoanalysing me?" He asked, snarkily.
Rhea levelled him with a measuring look. "I should. You'd be an interesting patient." She turned around and muttered something to herself. "PTSD or survivor's guilt in this body, ADHD in all of them so far, Asperger's or Autism in his Eleventh, emotional dependence on his companions." And you.
Her eyes were drawn to a poster tacked onto one of the poles. She walked over to it and her eyes widened as she read the writing 'CAN YOU HELP?' and she paled when she saw a photograph of Rose.
"Doctor!" Rhea called out, urgently, and the Doctor ran over to her, his eyes widening as they scanned the poster. She tugged on his hand and they raced over in the direction of the flats.
Rose opened the door to the flat she shared with her mother and stepped into the living room.
"I'm back! It was Shareen. She was all upset again. Are you in?" Rose called out.
Her mother walked out of the kitchen, looking tired and wearing a pink bathrobe, holding a cup of tea close to her chest.
"So, what's been going on? How've you been?" Rose smiled over at her mother, a little relieved to see her after everything she had just been through with the Doctor and Rhea.
Jackie looked at her, as if she had just seen a ghost, her eyes red, her face sickly pale and gaunt, dark circles under her eyes, contrasting against the whiteness of her skin, as if she hadn't slept properly or had been sick for awhile.
"What?" Rose softened and her eyes shifted in concern, stepping closer to her mother. "What? What's that face for? It's not the first time I've stayed out all night."
The teacup slipped from Jackie's hands and fell to the floor, hitting the ground and smashing into pieces, spilling tea everywhere and staining the carpet.
"It's you." Jackie whispered, her voice soft and unsure and hurtful.
"Of course it's me!" Rose exclaimed, frowning, wondering why her mother was acting so strange.
Jackie trembled. "Oh, my God. It's you. Oh my God." Jackie sobbed out, her voice wet with tears, and she threw her arms around Rose, whose confusion grew into alarm at her mother's behaviour.
Then, only when she looked around the rest of the apartment, over her sobbing mother's shoulder, did she notice all the variations of a 'WHERE IS ROSE' poster, stacked up in piles on every available surface of the apartment. At that moment, the Doctor and Rhea came crashing inside the apartment.
"It's not 12 hours, it's er... 12 months. You've been gone a whole year." The Doctor laughed, apologetically, despite Rhea's withering glare, while Rose and Jackie looked at him stunned. He smiled over at Jackie. "Sorry."
Jackie looked back at Rose, simply stroking her hair.
"The hours I've sat here. Days and weeks and months all on my own. I thought you were dead. And where were you? Travelling. What the hell does that mean? Travelling? That's no sort of answer." Jackie snapped, her voice quaking with uncontrolled fury.
Rose was sitting in an armchair, looking very downtrodden, while Jackie was spilling out everything she had bottled up inside for a year. A policeman was sitting in another armchair, opposite to Rose, while Rhea and the Doctor stood next to Rose, not saying a word in the face of Jackie's anger.
"You ask her." Jackie spun around to look at the policeman. "She won't tell me! That's all she says. Travelling." She scoffed.
"That's what I was doing." Rose protested, lamely.
"When your passport's still in the drawer?" Jackie screamed, gesturing furiously. "It's just one lie after another!"
"I meant to phone," Rose said, guiltily. "I really did, I just... I forgot."
"What," Jackie raised an eyebrow. "For a year? You forgot for a year? And I am left sitting here? I just don't believe you. Why won't you tell me where you've been?" Her voice faltered, hurt entering the words.
"Actually," The Doctor chimed in, despite Rhea shaking her head in warning. "It's our fault. We sort of, er, employed Rose as my companion."
"When you say 'companion', is this a sexual relationship?" The policeman asked.
"No!" The Doctor and Rhea and Rose shouted at once.
Jackie spotted her next target and advanced, dangerously, on Rhea and the Doctor. "Then what is it?" She snapped. "Because you two, you waltz in here all charms and smiles, and the next thing I know, she vanishes off the face of the earth! How old are you then?" She narrowed her eyes at the Doctor, who seemed the true cause of everything in her eyes. "40? 45? She's pretty young, herself." Jackie pointed at Rhea, who started to smile. "And you, young lady, do your parents know where you are or did you ditch 'em too?"
The smile fell from Rhea's face and ice started to slip into her eyes. She hated it when people brought her parents into conversations where they weren't needed. Especially her mother. "Actually," She began with gritted teeth. "My father is dead. Thanks for asking." She snapped. "And I'm 28, I don't need my mother's permission to do anything."
Jackie looked taken aback by Rhea's tone and what she had just said. Rose frowned over at Rhea, not knowing that her father was dead. Jackie turned her anger back towards the Doctor, who remained the main person responsible for her daughter's disappearance in her eyes.
"What, you find them on the Internet? Did you go online and pretend you're a doctor?" Jackie growled.
"I am a Doctor!" The Doctor protested.
"Prove it! Stitch this, mate."
Jackie's hand swung in an arc to slap the Doctor across the face, but Rhea's hand lashed out and gripped her wrist before the hand could make contact.
"Look," Rhea growled, losing her patience all of a sudden. "I get that you're angry and you have every right to be. I understand that you've just spent the last year…" She glared at the Doctor, who had the decency to look ashamed. "…Not knowing where your daughter is. But this is all a big mistake."
The Doctor grimaced. "It was a mistake." He muttered to her, making Rhea pat him on the arm with her other hand.
Rhea stared at Jackie, her eyes hard and her blood boiling at the thought of another mother trying to hit the Doctor. "But I'm only going to give you one warning, and that's all you get from me. If you put your hands on him, I'll kick your ass from here to New Zealand and he'll really have to stitch you up." She threatened, her voice low and deadly serious. She looked at Rose. "No offence, blondie."
Jackie wrenched her wrist away from Rhea's grip with some difficult, wincing at the slight redness on her wrist. "Well, what do you want me to say?"
"Look, my name is Doctor Sunehri Adwani." She fished into the back pocket of her tights, pulling out her wallet. "I'm a psychologist and I work at the UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco." She showed Jackie her driver's license, flicking it back in her wallet before she could see the birth date on the card. "The Doctor and I were doing some research in England and we engaged Rose as our assistant." She raised an eyebrow at Jackie and the policeman. "That enough of an explanation for you?"
Jackie and Rose were embracing in the middle of the Tyler kitchen, both burying their tearing faces in each other's shoulders.
"Did you think about me at all?" Jackie whispered, slightly afraid of the answer.
Rose stood back, slightly so that she could look her mother, properly, in the eye. "I did!" She nodded, furiously. "All the time! But..."
"One phone call. Just to know that you were alive!"
"I'm sorry. I really am." Rose said, her voice thick.
"Do you know what terrifies me, is that you still can't say. What happened to you, Rose? What could be so bad that you can't tell me, sweetheart? Where were you?" Jackie pleaded for Rose to answer her, just to assuage some of the dark thoughts she had been having for the past year.
Rose pursed her lips and remained silent, fighting every instinct inside of her that screamed in her mind to tell her mother everything since the moment she had ran inside the Doctor's and Rhea's spaceship/time machine.
Rose and Rhea were sitting on a wall on the roof of the apartment block, while the Doctor was leaning against it, next to Rhea.
"I can't tell her. I can't even begin..." Rose shook her head. "She's never gonna forgive me."
"She's your mother." Rhea said, softly. "Trust me, they're very good at that." She mused and smiled over at the Doctor when he reached to the side and entwined their fingers.
Rose smiled at Rhea, gratefully, and turned to them. "And I missed a year? Was it good?"
"Middling." The Doctor said, nonchalantly.
Rhea looked at him. "You are so useless." She rolled her eyes, making the Doctor scowl. She looked over at Rose. "It was kinda boring. The Pope died, there were the London and Bali bombings, Jude Law slept with the nanny, Martha Stewart went to jail. Oh, and Charles and Camilla got married."
The Doctor shook his head. "How do you know all of this?" He asked her, incredulously.
Rhea smirked. "I was in college in 2005. I wasn't living under a rock." She grimaced. Although, many of those years weren't exactly lucid, now that I think about it.
"Well, if it's this much trouble, are you gonna stay here now?" The Doctor asked, his voice slightly displeased.
"I dunno." Rose shrugged. "I can't do that to her again, though."
"Well, she's not coming with us." The Doctor warned, determinedly.
Rose and Rhea burst out laughing at the put out tone in the Doctor's voice and the Doctor eventually joined in.
"No chance." Rose managed to say in between her giggles.
"I don't do families." The Doctor said, slowly.
Rhea snorted. "Bullshit." You've got a married couple in the TARDIS. I don't think you can talk. Plus, we've met Martha's and Donna's families.
"She almost slapped you!" Rose crowed. "You know, if Rhea hadn't been your knight in shining armour."
"900 years of time and space, and I've never been almost slapped by someone's mother." The Doctor grumbled.
"Your face." Rose continued.
"It was going to hurt." The Doctor said, defensively.
"You're so gay." Rose laughed and the Doctor rubbed his cheek, offended.
Rhea rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't say that. I hate it when people say that."
Rose frowned. "What d'you mean?"
"Gay. You're saying there's something wrong with being homosexual by using the word 'gay' as a joke. It's kinda demeaning and slightly homophobic."
"Oh, Rhea," The Doctor groaned. "Don't start."
"What? I'm not saying it's her fault. People in 2014 use it the same way as well. I'm saying it's wrong as a whole." Rhea sighed. "Sorry, I didn't want to get into a huge thing. Homophobia's kind of a sore point with me, I've got a cousin who's too scared to come out 'cause his mother, my aunt, will probably disown him." She murmured. She nudged Rose with her elbow. "Sorry, I wasn't trying to insult you."
Rose smiled over at her, suitably chastened. "It's okay. Sorry, I shouldn't have used it like that."
Rhea hopped down from the wall and moved to stand in front of the Doctor, placing her hands on his cheeks. "And anyway, I didn't want his face damaged by the slap. I like his face. He's so good-looking." She crooned and threw her arms around him.
Rhea smiled and nuzzled into his neck, sighing when she smelled leather and that same dark time taste that every Doctor she had seen had. The Doctor wrapped his arms around her waist, tugging her up against his hard, muscled body and kissing the side of her neck, his nose flicking against her scarf. He swung her around and rolled his eyes at Rose, mouthing 'she's delusional' to Rose, who smiled at the couple, fondly.
Rose frowned, something the Doctor had said making itself known in her mind. "When you say 900 years..." She trailed off.
"That's my age." The Doctor nodded.
Rose's eyes widened. "You're nine hundred years old." She said, incredulously.
"Yeah." Rhea said, wistfully. Soon to be 1200.
Rose chuckled at the irony. "My mum was right… you do like 'em young."
Rhea snorted. "I'm 28. That's not exactly young."
"Wait," Rose turned to look at Rhea. "What did you show her? You know, she went all quiet on you and she went off at the Doctor."
"Oh, here. My driver's licence." Rhea pulled out her driver's license from her wallet and she showed Rose the card.
"No way!" Rose exclaimed, her eyes running over the printed information. "The issue date says 2012. You're from 2012?"
"No, I'm from 2014." Rhea corrected. "I just got my licence renewed in 2012."
"No way." Rose said, simply, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Yes way." Rhea grinned, winking at her. "I was born in 1986. I'm 28 in May. And it was February when I left."
"So, we're the same age? I'm born in 1986 too." Rose asked, excitedly, her eyes bright with humour.
"Uh, no," Rhea corrected. "I'm 28, you're 19."
"But-"
"Don't bother, Rose, you won't win with her. She'll go down fighting." The Doctor said, with the experience of someone who had tried to argue with her and lost, miserably.
"But, 2014? Wow? You really are from the future." Rose shook her head. "28 and 900. That is one hell of an age gap." She jumped off the wall, walking away from the Doctor and Rhea. "Every conversation with you two just goes mental. There's no one else I can talk to. I've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and I can't say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things, and I'm the only person on planet earth who knows they exist."
All of a sudden, a large spacecraft flew right over their heads, the engines sounding loudly, making them wince, and narrowly missing their heads, as they knelt to the floor to avoid it. They stood up once it had passed the roof of the Powell Estate and watched the spacecraft careen towards Central London, its altitude decreasing, haphazardly and dangerously. They watched in horror, their jaws gaping and their eyes wide, as the side of the spaceship smashed into Big Ben, and then landed with a splash in the Thames.
"Oh!" Rhea exclaimed and the Doctor and Rose turned to look at her with confusion. "Spaceship flying into Big Ben! I get it now!" She laughed, remembering what Martha had said back on the balcony in the hospital. "I watched this on TV in 2005."
Rose's shoulders slumped as she realised that this was actually happening at this precise moment. "Oh, that's just not fair." She moaned.
The Doctor laughed, gleefully, grabbed Rhea's and Rose's hands, and pulled the two off in the direction of the action.
There was absolute mayhem on the streets, the streets piled with stopped cars and road blockades, when the Doctor and Rose and Rhea arrived on the scene.
"It's blocked off." The Doctor said, squinting off into the distance.
"We're miles from the crash site." Rhea stood on her toes, looking out. "The scene will be gridlocked. The whole of London should close down… at least that's what I remember." She mused. "They don't want anyone to see what happened. Governments are notorious about that sorta thing."
"I know, I can't believe I'm here to see this! This is fantastic!" The Doctor grinned and rocked back on his heels, looking like a little boy at dawn on Christmas Eve.
Rose looked at the Doctor, strangely. "Did you know this was going to happen?"
"Nope!" The Doctor said, gleefully.
Rhea frowned. "Do you recognise the ship?"
"Nope!"
"Do you know why it crashed?" Rose asked.
"Nope!"
Rhea rolled her eyes. "We should be so glad we have you." She said, dryly.
"I bet you are!" The Doctor said, not picking up the sarcasm in her voice. "This is what we travel for, Rose! To see history happening right in front of us."
"Well, let's go and see it!" Rose exclaimed. "Never mind the traffic, we've got the TARDIS!"
"No way." Rhea shook her head. "Morons from all over the world will be coming here to check out the spacecraft. We can't shove another one on top."
"Yeah, but yours looks like a big blue box. No one's going to notice." Rose pointed out.
"You'll be surprised at the efficiency of morons to find something big. The TARDIS stays where it is." She gave the Doctor a warning look.
The Doctor nodded in agreement and looked at Rose. "You'll be surprised, an emergency like this… there'll be all kinds of people watching. Rhea's right, the TARDIS stays where it is."
Rose looked distinctly disgruntled. "So, history's happening and we're stuck here."
"Yes, we are." The Doctor nodded.
"Well," Rhea started, making the Doctor and Rose look at her with interest. "We could always do what I did for this in 2005." They looked at her, questioningly. "We could watch it on TV."
Rhea started to laugh when the most bewildered look formed on the Doctor's face, suggesting that this was a completely foreign idea to him.
The Doctor and Rose and Rhea sat in the living room of the Tylers' flat, watching the news report on the television, intently, for any possible information they could get about who had crashed into the TARDIS.
"Big Ben destroyed as a UFO crash lands in Central London. Police reinforcements are drafted in from across the country to control wide-spread panic, looting and civil disturbance. A state of national emergency has been declared. Tom Hitchinson is at the scene. The police urge the public not to panic. There's a help line number on screen right now if you're worried about friends or family."
Rhea rolled her eyes and changed the channel to an American news station.
"The military are on the lookout for more spaceships. Until then, all flights in North American air space have been grounded."
She changed the channel again.
"The army are sending divers into the wreck of the spaceship. No one knows what they're going to find."
"The President will address the nation live from the White House. But the Secretary General has asked that people watch the skies."
Jackie walked over to them and handed Rose a cup of tea.
"I've got no choice! Either I make 'em welcome, or I run the risk of never seeing you again!" Jackie exclaimed and started to babble along with one of her friends, angrily.
"Hey!" Rhea snapped, effectively managing to silence the older women. "We're trying to watch something here."
"... his current whereabouts. News is just coming in, we can go to Tom at the embankments."
"They've found a body."
That announcement made the Doctor and Rhea sit up their seats, avidly watching the television.
"It's unconfirmed but I'm being told a body has been found in the wreckage. A body of non-terrestrial origins. It's being brought ashore."
"Non-terrestrial origins?" Rhea looked at the Doctor, who shrugged.
Jackie entered the living room, giving a bottle of wine to a couple of people.
"Oh, guess who asked me out… Billy Crewe." Jackie said, excitedly.
The Doctor grimaced and shook his head at the banality of the conversation that was occurring throughout the room, much to Rhea's amusement.
"Unconfirmed reports say that the body is of extra-terrestrial origin. An extraordinary event unfolding here live here in Central London. The body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary. The whereabouts is yet unknown."
The television changed channels, haphazardly, and rested on some random cooking shows.
"And when you've stuck your things on, you can cover the whole lot..."
Rhea laughed as the Doctor tried to wrestle with a toddler on his lap for the remote. She lifted the boy off the Doctor and placed him on the floor, so that he could walk away.
"Ooh, look at that. Then, ice it, any colour you want… here's one I made a little bit earlier… look at that. Your very own spaceship ready to eat. And there's something a little extra special-"
The Doctor changed the channel back to the original news station, he and Rhea leaning in so they could hear the reporter over the chatter of whoever Jackie had invited to her 'First Contact' party in the apartment.
"… in hospital. We still don't know whether it's alive or dead. Whitehall is denying everything. But the body has been brought here, Albion Hospital, the roads closed off… it's the closest to the river."
The little boy, a little irritated by the way he had been ignored by the Doctor and Rhea, stood in front of the television screen, blocking their view. The Doctor pointed, violently, to the side, his face a picture of severity.
"Go on!" The Doctor growled.
The little boy glared at him, refusing to move. Rhea sighed at his inability to deal with children. She reached out and pulled the boy towards her, tickling his sides and making him giggle and twist in her arms. She smiled, fondly, and lightly nudged him in the direction of the kitchen.
"Honey, why don't you go and get some chocolate, huh?" She whispered and winked at the little boy.
The toddler wandered off and the Doctor stared at Rhea, amazed that she could deal with children so efficiently.
"I'm being told that... General Asquith is now entering the hospital. The building's evacuated. The patients have been moved out onto the streets. The police still won't confirm the presence of an alien body. Contained inside those walls..."
It was late at night, the sky had already gone dim and the stars had started to shine, when the Doctor and Rhea slipped out of the back door of Rose's apartment. They stared to walk down the balcony, hoping they wouldn't be noticed, when Rose emerged out of the door, right behind them.
"And where do you think you're going?" Rose asked, crossly, folding her arms over her chest.
The Doctor and Rhea spun on their feet, looking at her, guiltily.
"Nowhere!" Rhea grinned at the blonde girl.
"It's just a bit human in there for me." The Doctor explained.
"Hey, watch it! Human… over here." Rhea said, pointedly.
"Don't mean you." The Doctor said, rolling his eyes, as if it were the most obvious thing on the planet. And there had been a number of times he had made a disparaging comment about humanity and Rhea had gotten angry at him and he had amended his statement to not include her. He did do that quite often.
"Oh, yeah, 'cause that makes it better." Rhea rolled her eyes. She looked at Rose with a smile. "What he means is that it's a bit too crowded in there for us."
The Doctor shook his head. "History just happened and they're talking about where you can buy dodgy top up cards for half price. We're off on a wander, that's all."
"Right," Rose rolled his eyes. "There's a spaceship on the Thames and you're just 'wandering'?" She asked, incredulously.
"Nothing to do with us!" The Doctor shrugged. "It's not an invasion! That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of descent, colour of smoke, everything! It's perfect!" He crowed.
"You get excited over the weirdest of things." Rhea shook her head in disbelief and rubbed his arm.
"So…" Rose trailed off, wondering what they meant by that.
"So maybe this is it! First contact! The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. We're not interfering because you've got to handle this on your own. That's when the human race finally grows up. Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay! Now you can expand!" The Doctor laughed in delight, clutching Rhea closer to him, who nuzzled into him for warmth. Rose smiled, fondly, at the slightly oblivious couple. "You don't need us, go and celebrate history." He urged. "Spend some time with your mum."
The Doctor grabbed Rhea's hand and they started to walk away, when they heard Rose speak again.
"Promise you won't disappear?" Rose called out, her voice soft and a little insecure.
Rhea nudged the Doctor in the side, meaningfully, and he stopped and turned around again, nodding at what he could read in Rhea's eyes. He patted down his leather jacket, searching for something.
"Tell you what… TARDIS key." The Doctor grinned at her, handing her the small silver key. "About time you had one. See you later!"
The two left and Rose looked down at the key in her hand, a small smile worming its way onto her lips. She tightened her fingers around the key, determined to not let it go, and she walked back down the balcony towards her flat, looking significantly chuffed by the gesture.
The Doctor and Rhea started to walk down the courtyard, away from the block of flats. There was a raucous party on the third floor of the apartment block with a banner hanging over the balcony saying 'THE ALIENS HAVE LANDED'. A banner hung from another window of an apartment, reading 'WELCOME TO OUR WORLD'.
"So, why don't I get a key for the TARDIS?" Rhea waggled her eyebrows, her eyes bright with interest.
The Doctor looked at her, strangely. "Why would you need a key?" He asked, confused. "The TARDIS loves you. She'd open the doors any time you needed her to."
Rhea smiled. "That's very sweet of her… and you." She looked back at the flats, making sure her fingers were still entwined with his. "You know, those banners… they seem a bit dodgy to me."
The Doctor grinned. "Humans… they're just having fun."
"Hey, gorgeous! Come back and join the party!" A woman called down from one of the balconies.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and he dragged Rhea towards the TARDIS, as she watched him with amusement and confusion.
"Hey, why did you look like that when that chick hit on you?" Rhea asked, curiously.
"She wasn't hitting on me." The Doctor scoffed.
"Uh, yes, she was." Rhea said, slowly. "Trust me, I know when a woman is hitting on a guy." She smiled over at him. "She was hitting on you. And, of course, why wouldn't she? You're handsome as hell, biker boy." She winked at him. "You're like really buff. Look at your arms." She curled a hand around each bicep. "They're like fucking steel." She hummed in agreement and appreciation, her hands sliding over the leather jacket.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Are you drunk? Maybe you got drunk at that hospital. Or, you're sick. You might have a virus. I could take you to the Med-Bay and check you out."
"Ooh," Her eyes turned all wicked and seductive. "Check me out. Are you gonna play Doctor with me?" Her head tipped of her own accord and she wet her lips with her tongue, resisting the urge to smirk when the Doctor's eyes flicked down from hers to her tongue running over her red lips.
A red flush started to rise in the Doctor's cheeks and the smile on Rhea's lips just grew, rejoicing in the fact that she was able to turn the stoic, broody 900-year-old Time Lord into a blushing teenage boy. Not many women could claim that ability. Rhea moved closer to the Doctor, pressing one side of her hip against his. Her hand slid up his chest, stroking against his muscles, and her fingers curled in his leather jacket.
"Come on, biker boy. You've gotta know that you're dead sexy." Rhea said. Her voice had no undercurrent of humour, but her eyes were still wicked with something she would rather hide than expose to him. "Like really sexy." She purred.
"But…" The Doctor started to protest, not willing to let go of his side of the argument just yet, his insecurity urging him forwards. He still had doubts, every now and then, that Rhea may not be attracted to 'this' him. He knew he wasn't classically handsome. He had a daft old face, big ears and he was almost bald. "You've seen what my other selves looked like. I was an old man in most of them. How can you say that?"
"Okay, first of all, I dig older men. They're so experienced." Rhea breathed, biting her lower lip, playfully. "And your fourth body and your eighth body. Hubba-hubba." She laughed, gleefully, smiling up at him. "And second of all, don't talk smack about the guy I'm travelling with. Of course, you're handsome. You're smart, funny, hot as hell, you've got a good sense of humour, you're not racist, homophobic or sexist. That's a win-win in all of my books."
The Doctor looked at her, strangely, as if she were something in a dream and not actually standing there in front of him. His hands shook at his side, an action that Rhea observed with interest, suggesting to her that he may have wanted to touch her. And that was exactly what was going on in his mind. He knew it was wrong, considering how young she was. He didn't even know what she felt towards him yet. His hand reached up and cupped her face, his fingers slipping into her hair.
Rhea took in a sharp breath through her teeth and bit her lower lip in anticipation, feeling the presence of him so close to her, making her a slightly bit dizzy. She licked her lower lips and bit back a whimper when his blue-grey eyes turned all dark and fixated on her wet lips. Her head tipped up and his eyes left a burning trail across her body. One low growl left his lips and came down, swiftly, crushing his lips against her, his arms coming around hers, one spread across her shoulder blades and the other splayed across the small of her back.
Rhea squeaked in surprise but her arms came around his neck, tugging him closer.
"I think this definitely proves you're attractive." Rhea breathed and the Doctor lips swallowed the last few words with a groan.
Her hands slid under his jacket, smoothing against the rock hard muscles and sighing into his mouth when she felt cool skin from underneath his jumper. She slid them up, feeling the thumping of his twin heartbeats against both hands. His hands pushed her into him, until she wasn't exactly sure where he began and she ended, as his tongue stroked against hers, eagerly, turning the kiss all the more heated. She felt her skin flush and grow warm against him, despite the low temperature of his skin and she forced herself, with some unknown strength, to pull away from him, reluctantly, falling back against the console and breathing, heavily.
"Sorry," The Doctor said, guiltily, wondering if he had gone too far. "That was a bit too forward of me."
Rhea sighed and turned to smile at him, wearily. "Oh, honey, the sad thing is that you're always welcome with me." She bit her lip and breathed out, sharply. "I'm sorry. It was my fault." She whispered. "I'm giving you all these mixed signals and that's not fair." She gestured with her hands to emphasise, which were shaking.
"Rhea…" The Doctor began, his voice low and soothing. "It's okay."
"No, it's not." Rhea shook her head, feeling her skin starting to clam up. She ran her hands through her hair and she pressed her chilly palms against the flushed skin of her neck and cheeks.
Her shoulders slumped, defeated, and the Doctor yearned to rush over to her, wrap himself around her and reassure her. That whatever choice she decided to make, he would accept it. Even if it broke his hearts, he would accept anything she gave, he had nothing else in his hearts but devotion for her.
"Rhea, I'm sorry." He finished, softly. "I know this is hard on you and I don't always give you enough space to deal with our relationship."
Rhea bit her lip and swung around to face him. "I suck at this." She said, suddenly, an absolutely shy smile stammering on her lips. "I am really bad at this. And I'm kind of a slut and that doesn't work well for me in these sort of situations… and – and it really should. And I keep going all hot and cold on you and that's not fair." She bit her lip and stepped, hesitantly, towards him, curling her fingers in the lapels of his jacket. "But it can't work between us, Doctor." She whispered and it hurt her inside to say those words. "No matter how much I want it to work. It can't. I – I really do wish it could. But I'm not capable of that kind of relationship and I'd only – only drag you down with me." She swallowed past the ache in her throat and blinked away any tears that had found themselves in her eyes. She turned away from him and closed her eyes, sliding her hand over her face as she attempted to regain control over her emotions, every wall that had surrounded her heart tearing down the moment the Doctor had looked at her with those dark eyes.
His hearts twisted in his chest and there was absolutely no sound in the TARDIS except for Rhea's shoulders, shaking imperceptibly. Even the TARDIS lights had dimmed somewhat, the twelve-dimensional ship slightly broken by her Golden Girl's wrecked out emotions and absolute lack of self-worth. The mocking echo of her words reverberated through his mind and he gritted his teeth, feeling their timelines, which looked like two long golden threads twisting and weaving and entwining throughout each other's, shift under his eyes and crack and splinter, until terror chilled his bones, wondering if this was the point in her timeline where she would give up on him.
"Yeah." He managed to whisper. It was the only thing he could say and it hurt like hell to say it.
It was a tiny whisper, so far out from his usual demeanour, that it broke something inside of Rhea to hear him speak like that. Somehow, she managed to drag herself from the dark place she had inhabited and met his gaze head on. She stepped closer, until there was barely three inches in between them. She took a harsh breath in and curled a hand around the back of his neck, pulling him down and pressing her lips against the middle of his forehead, gently, and tried to put as much emotion and thought into that one action as she possibly could.
It was a myriad of I'm sorry and you deserve better and please, let me stay with him and you already mean the world to me, that has to be enough for now.
She pressed her face against the soothing smooth leather jacket, wrapping her arms around his waist, feeling as wrecked as she had been outside her bedroom after Lazarus. She pressed an imperceptible kiss to one of his hearts and stepped away.
She cleared her throat. "So, I'm sure you wanted to go and investigate. Where'd you wanna go?" She asked, hoarsely, looking everywhere else but his eyes.
The Doctor stared at her, an unreadable look in his eyes. He swallowed, despite the heartsbreak, and clenched his fists in an attempt to control his emotions. His lungs and hearts and ribs and veins in his chest were twisted into some fucked-up version of a painting and hurt every time he tried to breathe, the blood pounding in his ears. So much for a respiratory bypass. He thought, mournfully. So much for Time Lord stoicism. His nails dug into his palm and he took in a sharp breath in between his teeth, thinking of a beautiful green-eyed woman who cocked her head and gave him that sexy grin and those wicked eyes and had more love in that one broken heart than so many people he had met over nine hundred years. And that was what brought him back from whatever cliff he had found himself on.
After a moment of silence, he grinned over at her. "How'd you guess?"
"It's you." She said, slowly. "Of course you wanted to go and investigate." She joked, half-heartedly, still feeling the tension and awkwardness between them.
A young dark-skinned man emerged onto another balcony in the Powell Estate, a few floors higher than Rose's. He picked up a trainer that was lying on the floor, smelled it and grimaced in disgust, shying away from the shoe. He looked out of the balcony to see the Doctor and Rhea walk up to the TARDIS, the Doctor taking a bunch of keys out of his pocket.
"Oh my God!" He breathed and ran back inside, taking the smelly trainers with him.
The Doctor smacked down a few of the buttons on the console and Rhea turned a handle, both of them watching the time rotor rise and fall with glee, as the TARDIS started to move.
Outside, the TARDIS started to dematerialise, just as Mickey ran out of the flats.
"Oi, Doctor! Doctor!" Mickey shouted.
He sprinted up to the TARDIS and threw himself at it, but missed it by a second and just ended up hitting the heavily graffitied corrugated iron behind the place where the TARDIS was parked and fell backwards onto the ground from the impact. He jumped to his feet and brushed himself off, casting furtive looks around him to make sure no one had seen the embarrassment he had just gone through. He then walked off, away from the Powell Estate, with as much dignity as he could possibly muster.
The console started to smoke and the Doctor started to the hit the console with a mallet, looking slightly put-out. Rhea rolled her eyes and ripped the hammer out of his hand, throwing it somewhere off to the side.
"You have to stop doing that! She doesn't like it and she'll go somewhere else just to piss you off." Rhea snapped.
"Oh, hush, she doesn't mind." The Doctor waved off.
"Uh, yeah, she does." She smacked his hands away from the console. "Albion Hospital, yeah." She started to press a few buttons on the TARDIS and flick a few switches, the Doctor leaning against the console with crossed arms, watching her with interest and pride.
The two of them stared at the time rotor with equally childish beams on their faces, as Rhea piloted them towards their destination.
With one final flick of a switch and a turn of a handle, Rhea grinned, proudly, as the TARDIS rematerialised with a shudder.
The two of them rushed down the ramp and the Doctor threw open the doors, the two of them reeling back in shock when they figured out the TARDIS had landed squashed up in a small storeroom. There was just enough space, in between all of the other objects and trays in the room, for them to emerge out and lock the TARDIS behind them. The two stepped out and the Doctor closed the doors and locked them with a key. The two managed to manoeuvre around the other stuff in the storeroom, until they were both pressed against the door to the storeroom.
The Doctor started to dig his hand into his jacket pocket, in order to find his sonic screwdriver, and his fingers brushed against something soft and curvy on his side on their descent.
Rhea let out a breathy laugh from her position, half pressed against the door and half pressed against him, standing perpendicular to the Doctor in order to avoid the trays of objects.
"I can assure you, honey. That is not your screwdriver." She purred.
The Doctor flushed and immediately withdrew his hand, shoving it into his jacket. "Sorry." He muttered and Rhea grinned when she saw the tips of his ears turn red.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and turned it on, pointing it at the lock on the storeroom door. The two of them winced at the loud humming noise it created and the Doctor switched it off, hurriedly.
"Shh." He ordered the screwdriver, much to Rhea's amusement.
After a few seconds, the Doctor managed to unlock the door, put his sonic screwdriver away and opened the door, motioning for Rhea to step out of the closet.
The Doctor and Rhea found themselves in an anteroom where around twenty soldiers were sitting around in a circle, talking and laughing. They fell silent when he opened the door and they stepped out. There was a pause while they all stared at each other, the soldier staring at the couple with bewilderment and the Doctor and Rhea staring at the soldiers with dread. The soldiers leapt to their feet, grabbed their guns and aimed the barrels in their direction.
"Oh, wonderful, we'll get shot." Rhea muttered to the Doctor. "See, this is why I don't like it when you get all hot for investigations."
Her shoulders slumped and the Doctor grinned, knowingly and in resignation. Of course.
A/N: Hope you all liked the first chapter of Aliens of London. I hope you enjoyed a bit more vulnerability in Rhea. She's getting there, I promise. But, a warning, even after she and the Doctor get together, they'll still have these moments where she pulls away. It's what she does. It's her defence mechanism. That, and flirting. And the moment was sweet, wasn't it? Rhea reassuring the Doctor that she found him sexy. And the kiss. Of course, the heartbreak after that tore at my heart strings. And Rhea was really wrecked by the conversation. Poor Rhea.
And I changed it so that Jackie didn't hit the Doctor in this episode. I always found it quite strange that Jackie did that in front of a policeman. I'm fairly sure that was assault. And that 'gay' comment. Did anyone else cringe when Rose said it? Rhea won't take any of that prejudice from anyone, fortunately. And I thought it'd be a good time for Rose to find out which year Rhea was from. The UCSF Medical Center is a real hospital in San Francisco.
I just mainly tried to make this chapter a bit more bonding between the Doctor and Rhea and Rhea and Rose. I hope you all liked the chapter and don't forget to review!