Chapter Five
He rubbed his cheek. "That hurt!" And apparently he had found the only person in the entire universe whose slaps were worse than Jackie Tyler's.
"Good." She stood in front of him, arms crossed and said, "And now you're gonna explain to me how you're going to get us out of this mess!"
"Do you know what day it is, Donna?"
The non-sequitur seemed to annoy her even more. Her eyes blazed with anger. "How should I know? You're the bloody Time Lord. I thought I would spend a day in ancient Rome, and what do I get? London and an execution."
"Today, Donna Noble, is the evening of 2 February, 1101."
"And what's that got to do with the price of tea?"
He grinned. "In a couple of hours Ranulf Flambard, the first ever prisoner of the Tower, will escape through his window, using a rope smuggled into his cell in a flagon of wine."
"And what exactly is your point?" She spat out every word.
"Guess, where his cell is?" He pointed at the ceiling, still grinning.
She stared at the ceiling, at him, at the small window that allowed them an unimpeded view over the Thames and back at him again. Then she asked incredulously, "You want me to climb out of that window and more than sixty feet to the ground, on a rope that we'll have to catch first before we can use it? Are you insane?"
"Well, the bishop survived it," he pointed out reasonably.
Unfortunately the point was completely lost to Donna.
"I am not climbing out of that window!" she snapped, sounding suspiciously like Jackie Tyler. Again.
"You can always stay here and try your luck with the hangman on the Tower Green. It's your execution," he told her with a smirk.
For nearly ten seconds Donna was absolutely speechless. "You... you... Time Lord!" The last two syllables came out like they were the worst offense she could think of.
"That's me!" he grinned, unfazed. "Well, you also could have tried to seduce the guards, if you'd been less creative with the name-calling." He paused briefly, still a smirk on his face. "Not that it would have worked."
"What's that supposed to mean?" She narrowed her eyes, and he could almost physically feel another Oncoming Slap.
"It almost never does. Unless it's a more or less elaborate trap." He should know. He had statistical evidence.
Donna glared at him, but relented eventually. "And what do we do now?"
"We wait."
"What for?"
"The delivery of the flagon and the guards getting drunk. And I really would appreciate if you could shut up for a bit while I try to figure out what a Fegesdan is doing in medieval London." Once again he wished that he had kept his mouth shut. Fortunately Donna was neither a Basilisk nor Medusa, otherwise he would have either dropped dead or turned to stone at her gaze.
~o~o~o~
Drinking songs were the same all over the universe. Fun while being drunk, downright annoying while being completely sober. Being imprisoned tended to make things worse, since one lacked the opportunity to change one's location. By the fourth time the guards repeated what must have been a medieval version of 'Seven Drunken Nights' the Doctor was seriously considering to throw overboard what was still left of his sanity and give utter madness a try.
Donna on the other hand was fast asleep, exhausted from more banging against the door and glaring at him. Her head was leaning against his shoulder, and she was snoring softly, although for the sake of his wellbeing he would never tell her. Once or twice he had caught himself looking at the dead weight resting against his shoulder, expecting to see blonde hair, to hear the soft noises Rose made while she was sleeping. Then he would remember and go back to staring at the opposite wall, thinking about the numerous times he had watched Rose in her sleep, missing the feeling of her warm hand unconsciously reaching for his.
Half an hour later the drinking songs eventually died down, not one second too early, because insanity had been looking like a more inviting option with every repetition of that infernal song. He got up, steadying Donna's body to prevent her from gliding down the wall. Time to leave their present accommodations for good – or at least until the next time he ended up in the Tower.
"Donna?" he said, touching her shoulder.
She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him through bleary eyes. "Hmmm?"
"Are you up for a bit of abseiling or do you still wanna try your luck with the executioner?" he asked cheerfully and held out his hand to help her up.
Despite the huge yawn she tried to cover with her hand she still managed to glare at him murderously. He sighed inwardly. Getting her imprisoned couldn't have been that bad, not even for a first trip, could it?
He suppressed a sigh and set about to explain how exactly this escape was going to happen.
~o~o~o~
It took him more than two minutes to wriggle through the small window, mostly because he refused to shed his leather jacket during the process. Three minutes later he reached the end of the rope and dropped down the last five feet. Admittedly his night sight was much better than a human's, so he was fairly certain that it would take Donna at least twice the time.
"Now, Donna," he hissed, looking up to discern her figure against the dark walls of the building. "Like I said, one foot after another. No need to hurry."
If only it was true. Given his track record they'd run into a couple of guards before this was over. He adjusted his position slightly, so he was standing directly under her, focussing on her descent.
"Don't you dare stare at me! My knickers are none of your business," she yelled down.
He really should have explained the whole 'escaping' thing better, he thought. If she continued to make herself clear in that volume, they'd be discovered before she'd have even reached the ground and end up in that prison cell again. He had the dim feeling she wouldn't like that either.
"One, I'm not interested in your knickers, two, either I'll make an attempt at catching you if you fall, or I'll stop looking up. Your choice. And for god's sake, shut up," he hissed.
"Oi! Don't talk to me like that!"
"If you two could stop your bickering for the time being, I'm trying to escape here," a sarcastic voice made itself known. Judging by the sound the man was hiding in the bushes that covered the foot of the building.
"Who's that?" Donna demanded to know.
"That, Donna, is His Excellency, the Bishop of Durham. And he definitely has got a point, so be quiet."
Apparently the presence of the bishop was enough to grant them heavenly interference, because a miracle happened: Donna kept silent until she reached the ground, panting heavily.
The Doctor turned to the bishop. "I don't suppose you could give us a lift to the other side of the river, Your Excellency?" he asked lightly.
"How do you know that I'm waiting for a boat?" the man asked, sounding surprised.
The Time Lord leant against the wall. "Well, the southern wall is least guarded because it's protected by the river, so it's an obvious escape route."
"And why would I help two criminals to escape from their just punishment?"
"Oi! We didn't do anything!" Donna protested. The bishop looked at her in astonishment, apparently having completely forgotten her presence.
"Donna, what did I say about being quiet while escaping?" the Doctor said. "Although she's got a point. It was a misunderstanding."
"You'd say that when you were guilty, too."
"Yes, we would," the Doctor conceded with a smile. "But if we were guilty, do you really think refusing to help us would stop us?"
"I guess not," Ranulf Flambard gave back.
The Doctor grinned. "Then what are we waiting for?"
~o~o~o~
They had to wait a couple of minutes for the signal, then they left the shadows and dashed across the open space towards the southern wall. After sneaking up on the guard's walk they discovered that their boat was already waiting for them, hidden in the shadows. One of the crewmen threw up a rope which the Doctor caught and fastened to a battlement.
Ten minutes later, after yet another abseil, they crossed the Thames. They landed slightly down the river, and from their position Donna could see the tower of a smaller church standing where once Southwark Cathedral would be. After saying goodbye to the bishop, she followed the Doctor into the maze of small streets that was Southwark until he eventually stopped.
"And what do we do now?" Donna asked and leant against a wall, thoroughly exhausted. If she never had to see a prison cell again, let alone abseil in any way, shape or form, she'd count herself lucky. The Doctor on the other hand looked as if he'd only been for a walk, although he'd helped with the rowing.
"We ask the Fegesdan what he's doing in a timeframe he doesn't belong to and offer him a ticket home."
"We ask?" She stared at him incredulously.
"Basic form of communication among most non-telepathic species. It's been known to work," he replied sarcastically. "Sometimes you even get useful answers. And I really don't make a habit out of hitting people over their heads in dark alleys so I can read their minds without them making a fuss. Too complicated."
"You can read minds? Oh my god, did you read mine?" She'd kill him if he had, alien or not, having saved her life from that spider or not.
"Why would I want to do that? You never stop talking as it is; I really don't need to read your thoughts on top of that. Besides, trying to read a human mind needs a lot of concentration, 'cos you lot have got the attention span of an excited cocker spaniel. Humans! How do you manage with your funny little brains? Trying to read them constantly would be the direct route into madness, and I can manage that on my own, thanks."
Excited cocker spaniel! If she wasn't so exhausted, he'd get another slap for that. Sometimes she really wondered why anyone would want put up with that sort of behaviour, but then he did something incredible or smiled one of those rare smiles that lit up his entire being. In those moments she could understand why someone would fall in love with him.
She sighed. "Right. So we visit that alien. Do you've got any idea where to find him?"
"Nope."
"Let me guess: We'll ask for him as well?"
He wouldn't really do that, would he? Because in that case she would definitely kill him. She wasn't certain that exhaustion counted as a valid excuse for self-defence, but right now she was more than willing to take the risk. She wanted a shower and a bed, although not necessarily in that order, and if he forced her to knock on every bloody door in this town until they found the alien she would not be responsible for her actions.
"Nah. Just this once, Donna Noble, I'm gonna scan for alien tech." He grinned at her.
She couldn't help herself. She grinned back.
~o~o~o~
They wandered through the dark streets, the Doctor occasionally pointing his sonic screwdriver in various directions and mumbling something completely indistinguishable. Eventually Donna reached a point where all she wanted was to curl down somewhere and sleep.
"Can't we wait until tomorrow to find him?" she asked, trying to suppress a yawn.
"Probably. But he doesn't belong in this time frame, let alone this planet, and with every day he stays it's more likely that he'll change history somehow. And believe me, whenever that happens it turns into a disaster sooner or later. Usually sooner." He paused for a moment. "I'll offer to take him home, but I need you to play along. The Fegesdan are a trader race, and they don't respect anybody who doesn't live according to their rules."
"What do you mean?"
"I normally wouldn't do this, but he'd be offended if I didn't haggle with him. And you really don't wanna know what the result would be. Let's just say, he's got sharp teeth for a reason. I need you to get the price down without making it look suspicious." He grinned at her. "Just think of it as playing 'good cop – bad cop', just with bargaining."
Another thirty minutes later the Doctor stopped in front of a nondescript house and knocked on the door, using some sort of rhythm. There was absolutely nothing to distinguish it from its neighbours, nothing to indicate that an alien was living here. The thought gave Donna the creeps. How many of them were there in her time, going about their business without people even knowing they were among them?
The Doctor knocked a second time, and this time Donna could hear something moving in the house. Eventually the door opened and revealed a man who seemed to be in his fifties, wearing contemporary clothes. He said something that almost sounded like a hissing and the Doctor answered with a similar sound. Then suddenly she could understand everything again.
"I take it you're not here for business," the man said, shooting her a glance.
"Depends on your point of view," the Doctor gave back. "But I don't think you want to discuss this on the street, do you? I'm the Doctor by the way, and this is Donna." He looked questioningly at the man in front of him.
"Tauslir Clan Cigisd." He bowed slightly, then stepped back and the Doctor entered the building. Donna followed, stopping briefly at the threshold. Inside the presence of electronic bits and bobs that covered every available surface gave away that this was nothing but a contemporary house.
"Your main tachyon drive?" the Doctor asked.
Tauslir nodded. "I don't know what happened. I was on a journey to Talaxir Seven when I got hit by a shock wave. It didn't even show up on my instruments. Next thing that happened was the gravity of this planet pulling me in. All I could do was land my ship safely, but it destroyed my engines."
He gestured awkwardly with his arm. Although he had appeared human, on closer look it seemed as if he had two elbows and his eyes looked almost snakelike. Donna hadn't noticed this back at the market.
"This may seem like a stupid question, but when did your ship get hit by that wave?" the Doctor questioned.
"15 Hubab."
"And which year?" The Doctor tried to hide it, but there was a note of impatience in his voice.
"It is the seventeenth year of the reign of Colvis Clan Teregsd. Where are you from that you don't know that?"
The Doctor's shoulders slumped briefly, as if this had been an answer he'd been dreading. Then he straightened and looked at the alien.
"I can offer you a passage home." He paused deliberately. "Against adequate payment, of course."
"Doctor!" Donna hissed.
He ignored her and gave the Fegesdan a disinterested glance.
"What do you want?"
"Three quarters of the jewellery you didn't sell yesterday."
"Unacceptable."
"Half. And only because I was in such a good mood when I got up this morning."
"That's armed robbery! I wouldn't even be able to pay my bills when I get home."
The Doctor shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, you can always stay here. The next few decades are a bit boring, but with a bit of luck you'll get to see The Anarchy." He turned to her. "Let's go. He's obviously not interested."
"But, Doctor, you can't just leave him here!" Donna exclaimed and threw her hands up in the air theatrically. "He'll never see his home again!"
Out of the corner of her eye she could see the Doctor shaking his head infinitesimally. Maybe less hand-waving?
"Not my problem," the Doctor said. "He doesn't want to pay the price, he doesn't get a passage. Simple as that."
"Doctor, imagine if you could never see your planet again!" She wrung her hands, and the Doctor winced slightly. Still too much acting? "Couldn't you go down with your price? Just a bit more."
The Doctor glared at her, then turned back to the Fegesdan, rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Women. No business sense and too much heart. One third of your jewellery. And I get to choose which."
"One piece. And I decide which."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Do you take me for an idiot? Do you really think you can fob me off with junk? I get to choose one quarter of your stuff, or you can spend the next couple of decades in a time period without indoor plumbing and risk being burnt on a stick if someone discovers that you're not human. And without your cloaking device that's decidedly more likely than not. I'd have to shut down your electronics, you see. Can't have that lying around in this time period. Would cause all sorts of paradoxes."
"Doctor!" she exclaimed, sounding shocked. He wouldn't really do that, would he?
The alien slowly closed his inner pair of eyelids, hiding his snakelike eyes, then opened them again. "A tenth. And you can choose one piece."
"Done."
~o~o~o~
The Doctor closed the door behind them, shutting the noise of Fegesd out and sent them into the Time Vortex.
"Prison break, easy. One person safely returned to his correct timeline and for once no alien plot to change history or take over the planet, even better." He grinned at Donna. "Not sure how that happened, 'cos this is London after all, but who am I to complain?"
It had been a long time since he last had had a day like this, without the world almost ending, a day where everybody lived. Rose being here to see it would have been the one thing that would have made it truly fantastic.
In the end, the pendant was the only thing he had taken as fare. For him, it had been the only piece of value anyway, although some of the others had been worth much more. Normally he wouldn't even have considered using a trip in the TARDIS as bargain, but this had allowed the Fegesdan to keep up appearances.
He ran his fingers gently over the contours of the pendant, feeling every scratch and every mark that dented the metal. The stone that was set in the middle of the tiny piece of jewellery looked almost like amber, and it seemed to change its colour depending on how the light fell on it, sometimes to a dark brown, sometimes to gold. It told stories of a life, of having been worn with pride. It wasn't perfect, but that was part of its beauty.
"What is it?" Donna asked. "Is it dangerous? Is that the reason why you wanted it?"
"No. It's not dangerous. It's a very old pendant," he said softly. "Something my people gave to their beloved ones, back in the time when they still bonded out of love and not out of political interest. The legends said that young men went looking for gemstones that matched the eye colour of the woman they loved, and they wouldn't come back until they found the perfect stone."
He trailed off, still staring the little piece of jewellery in his hand, still unable to believe that it even existed. It should have been impossible. Everything connected to Gallifrey had been removed from the timelines when he had used the Moment, but not only did this pendant exist, it looked as if it had been designed for Rose. Maybe it had fallen through time, like that Dalek in Utah, and somehow the Fegesdan had gotten hold of it. He doubted that he'd ever find out.
He ran his thumb over the locket once more, the motion almost a caress. Then he slipped it into one of his pockets and turned back to his companion, his hand hovering over the controls. "So, Donna Noble, where to next?"
She stared at him as if he had lost his mind. "Bed. And if you disturb me during the next twelve hours, the slap you got in the Tower will seem like a light summer breeze to you. So no waking, not even if the world is ending." With that she turned on her heel and left the room.
The Doctor just stared at her retreating back. And they called him the Oncoming Storm?
~o~o~o~
The annual Vitex charity party was the society event of the year. Her mum had been nagging her almost constantly since they had returned from Norway three months ago, so Rose had finally agreed that this would be her debut. Besides, it would raise questions if the new-found daughter of the Vitex CEO didn't attend the party.
Jackie had almost driven her crazy during the last two weeks, with endless shopping trips for the perfect dress, the perfect shoes and the perfect accessories. Three years ago she probably would have loved it, nowadays she simply wanted to pick a fitting dress, reasonable shoes, preferably a pair that would allow her to run for her life, and be done with it. Although she had to admit that the TARDIS wardrobe room might have spoiled her in that regard.
If she was honest she hadn't even minded the shopping or the dressing up, although she would have had much more fun if there had been a chance of the Doctor getting her out of the dress afterwards. No, what drove her up the walls was her mum telling her what a wonderful opportunity this was to get on with her life, despite the discussion they'd had about that specific topic a couple of weeks ago.
Rose stood in front of her mirror, examining the fall of the dress. The dark blue satin gown had an empire waist that was embroidered with tiny golden flowers. It was held up by thin straps and fell to her knees. Compared to the latest fashion in this universe it was positively chaste, despite the low neckline. It had taken her some time, but eventually she had discovered matching shoes and a light silk shawl in exactly the same shade of blue. It reminded her of the TARDIS.
If she closed her eyes she could almost imagine the Doctor standing behind her, observing her in the mirror. His cool fingers would glide over her shoulders until they reached the straps of her dress and straighten them. Then they would wander further along her collarbone to the thin gold chain that held her TARDIS key, the only jewellery she had decided to wear, to show the world who she belonged to. He would follow the chain until he reached the soft curve of her breasts, his fingers ghosting over her skin but not quite touching her.
He would whisper dark promises in her ear, telling her what he wanted to do to her, how jealous he was of every man who saw her in that dress and how wonderful it would look on the floor of their bedroom. Then he would run his thumbs over her nipples and circle them lightly, until she wished he would really touch her body. But he would simply step back and hold out his arm for her like a gentleman while she would almost groan with frustration, burning for him. She would spend the entire evening teasing him in every way she could possibly imagine, until…
A knock on the door shattered the fantasy.
"Are you ready, darling?" her mum's voice said.
Rose took a deep breath, grabbed shawl and purse, and went to face the hyenas.
~o~o~o~
Rose had refused any suggestion to make a grand entrance, and simply appeared among the guests. It took her less than half an hour to decide that staying away from this event would have been wiser. Although she had expected that her first appearance in society would be the topic of conversation, it was overwhelming.
She usually didn't mind crowds, and normally she loved parties, no matter where and when in the universe, but this was getting to her rather quickly. The hyena comparison wasn't far from reality. Everyone was staring at her, pointing and whispering when they thought she was looking elsewhere. She had met alien species that were considered as the proverbial example of rudeness in their respective galaxy who behaved more politely than the people who thought of themselves as 'high society'.
But she was Dame Rose Tyler, at least in her original universe, and she had seen and done more incredible things than most of them could ever imagine. She straightened her back, gathered her courage and decided to have fun.
Her mum seemed to love it. But then she was the Jaqueline Tyler, not some long lost daughter the paparazzi had declared as their prey of the year. Her mum just had to pretend that she had suffered severe memory loss during the Cybermen attack and was only recovering slowly. When Pete had come up with that explanation Rose had had to suppress a grin, because she had been imagining what the Doctor would have to say on the topic. Probably something along the lines of, "Wished she'd lost it in the first place," or, "No big difference."
Rose still wondered that people actually believed her cover story. The whole tale was so see-through that one could read the small print of an insurance policy through it. Let alone that it had led to a couple of completely unexpected problems. Try to make up a plausible lie about your past when you didn't know anything about the country you lived in. This was still Britain, true, but things were different here, had been for centuries.
She let her eyes sweep over the crowd until she discovered Mickey and Jake near the bar. Two friendly faces where she didn't have to pretend. Not much, anyway. She was already halfway there when Jackie stopped her.
"Rose? May I introduce Jason Avery? His father is the CEO of Obsidian Ltd."
Jason was tall and blonde with green eyes, wearing a suit that screamed money. But despite his outward appearance, his expression told her that she was in severe danger of dying of boredom if she spent more than half an hour in his presence.
"I'm pleased to meet you, Rose," the young man said politely, taking her hand and shaking it lightly.
Run for your life. The words popped into her mind unbidden and her heart clenched at the memory. It wasn't the first time someone had said that he was pleased to meet her, not by far, and most of the time the words didn't trigger that reaction. But this time it was different somehow. She knew exactly what her mum was going to do, and it hurt that Jackie didn't seem to be able to follow her request and leave her alone.
With a polite smile she began to make small talk, although even that was a problem. Talking about the weather could lead only so far. And 'Hello, nice to meet you, what do you think about parallel universes and aliens?' would have her in a padded cell rather quickly. Talking about travel on Earth would lead to the conclusion that she was probably even more empty-headed than any society princess in her universe she could think of, since she might mention countries that didn't even exist here. Gingerbread houses was the wrong expression, bloody maze would be much more accurate, she thought wryly.
Eventually Jason suggested the garden and she agreed, deeming the rare flowers this universe's Jackie Tyler had let her gardeners plant there a safer subject for further conversation than anything else she could think of. Besides, the mansion was still giving her the creeps, especially with all those guests around, despite the changes Pete had made. Every time she looked at a window she expected a metal arm breaking glass.
She still had the urge to run, but forced herself to stay. She had promised herself that she would have a fantastic life, and she was fairly certain that the Doctor wouldn't want her to bury herself in work instead of living. Although he would be marvellously jealous if he could see her talking to Jason. She could almost hear his snarky comments about her penchant for pretty boys.
Rose followed him outside. The garden was lit with white lampions that illuminated the paths, the air heavy with the scents of various flowers. It was devastatingly romantic, and she would have given anything to share the moment with the Doctor instead of a high society idiot. Although, knowing the Doctor she'd probably running through the garden instead of walking, either in pursuit of something or running for her life.
Jason stopped under a tree and turned to her. "So, Rose, what does a beautiful flower like you do when you don't adorn society events with your presence?"
Had he really said that? The only person she had ever known who could have delivered that line more or less successfully was Jack Harkness, and the pretty boy in front of her certainly wasn't him. "Oh, you know, work for my father," she answered evasively, her mind preoccupied with coming up with a believable excuse to get rid of him.
"Work?" The way he repeated the word sounded like he was forced to think about something distasteful. "What about having some fun?"
The way he leered at her told her what he was referring to. She shuddered inwardly. "With you?" She raised an eyebrow. "I'd rather cuddle with a Cyberman."
"Come on, Rose. You certainly won't regret it." He smirked at her and produced a small metal box. "You need something to relax."
"No." Her voice was like ice.
Suddenly he was pressing her against the tree and tried to kiss her. She moved her head to avoid him and wriggled a bit to adjust her position, then looked at him. "What letter of the word 'no' did you not understand? All those drugs fried your brain, or what?" she asked scathingly. It took more than a bit of groping to intimidate a girl who had grown up on a council estate and dissolved the Dalek Emperor into atoms.
Jason took half a step back, but didn't let her go. "Stupid bitch! You should count yourself lucky that you got out of your zone. Nobody insults me without paying for it," he sneered at her.
"Oh, really?" She raised an eyebrow, her fingers already touching a pressure point Jack had shown her once. It had already come in handy a couple of times, but she would never have thought that she would have to use it at a party. "And how are you gonna make me if I do this?" She pressed and he broke down to his knees, yelping in pain.
"You're insane!"
She ignored the comment. "You can count yourself lucky that I'm in a forgiving mood. But if you do that ever again I'll cut your balls and feed them to the kois in the pond. Although I'm not entirely convinced that the poor fish would survive it. And that would be a pity, don't you think?" She gave him a smile that was so sweet it hurt.
Jason winced.
"And I suggest you prepare a couple of believable excuses for the next, oh, three hundred Vitex parties." Without another word Rose turned back to the mansion. She held her head high and her shoulders straight, desperately trying not to run. She felt sick. She had known this would happen. Probably not exactly like this, she certainly hadn't expected to be propositioned by one of the pretty society boys, but people treating her like she was nothing more than an object labelled as 'Vitex heiress' was what she had feared.
It was humiliating. It was like being a shop girl again, just with fancier clothes. Everybody had just seen a girl from the estates who could count herself lucky that she was folding jumpers and trousers in a shop in the city instead of working in a chippy or at the butcher's, until the evening the Doctor had blown up her job. Now everybody was just seeing an empty-headed society princess and Pete's money.
She entered the house, determined to leave the party instantly. In the main hall she was stopped by Jackie who had been talking to the Mayor of London.
"Where are you going?" she asked, sounding genuinely curious.
Rose could have exploded, but somehow stopped herself from yelling at her. Sometimes Jackie's timing was even worse than the Doctor's. "Do that never again," she hissed at her mum, then she left the room.
~o~o~o~
"You're gonna freeze to death, Rose," Jake said from behind, draping his jacket around her shoulders.
"Thanks." She stared into the dark landscape, watching the reflections of the streetlamps in the waves of the small river, then gazed at the stars above her. "That's Orion's belt," she said eventually, pointing. "The left star, Alnitak, has got a planet which is inhabited by blue humanoids. I met one on my very first trip with the Doctor. She was a plumber, of all things." She fell silent, lost in memories.
"You miss him," he stated. It wasn't a question.
It took her some time to answer. "More than I can tell. You miss Rickey, don't you?"
He nodded. "Mickey is my friend, but seeing him... Sometimes it makes things worse."
They fell silent for awhile.
Eventually Rose turned to him, a tiny smile on her face. "Care for a pint? I think the patrons in the village pub will be much better company than the hyenas in there." She gestured at the mansion.
Jake grinned. "I thought you'd never ask."
A/N: This is the last chapter set before Wings of Gold. If you haven't read that yet, you should probably do, because otherwise the following chapters will make a lot less sense. If you don't care for smut or are underage, go straight to the second chapter...