Chapter 21: With a Whimper
Back at the reception, confused donors and partygoers milled around in the dark with half-filled glasses of champagne in their hands. Across the room, the Doctor spotted the closed doors.
Security protocols. He rubbed his hand over his face. "Tish, is there another way out of here?"
She pointed to the opposite corner. "There's an exit in the corner, but it'll be locked now."
He looked at Rose, who was already reaching into her handbag for her sonic screwdriver. "I'm on it," she assured him, motioning for Martha and Tish to follow her.
While they ran to the exit, the Doctor leapt up onto the dais in front of the transformation chamber. "Listen to me! You people are in serious danger! You need to get out of here right now!"
A blonde woman in a gold dress scoffed at him. "Don't be ridiculous. The biggest danger here is choking on an olive."
Breaking glass heralded Lazarus' arrival, and everyone looked up at the mezzanine in time to see him jump down onto a table. There was a moment of stunned silence, then the tableau broke and the party erupted into chaos.
The Doctor's mind raced, trying to come up with the best way to keep Lazarus occupied, keep the attendees safe, and contain the situation. When the crowd of people suddenly formed a line flowing through the door, he checked the second item off the list.
Except not everyone was out yet. Lazarus loomed over the woman who'd just moments ago declared the party to be completely safe. She was staring up at him, frozen in terror, and he took advantage of her paralysis, swooping down on her with his mouth opened wide.
"No! Get away from her!" the Doctor yelled, but it was too late. Her desiccated corpse collapsed onto the ground.
The mutant stomped across the room and hulked over two humans huddled up on the floor. The Doctor groaned when he recognised Martha's mother and brother.
"Lazarus! Leave them alone." Lazarus turned towards him, and out of the corner of his eye, the Doctor saw Martha rush back into the room to help her family."What's the point? You can't control it." Lazarus' attention was firmly focused on the Doctor now, and he purposely riled him up, wanting him to follow when he ran. "The mutation's too strong. Killing those people won't help you. You're a fool. A vain old man who thought he could defy nature. Only Nature got her own back, didn't she? You're a joke, Lazarus!" Lazarus reared up, and the Doctor spouted one last taunt before running. "A footnote in the history of failure!"
oOoOoOoOo
From the door, Martha watched in horror as her brother was knocked to the ground. She looked at him, then at Rose. "Stay with your family," her friend told her. "I'll get everyone else down into the foyer."
Martha gave her a grateful smile, then jogged over to where her mum was supporting Leo, followed soon by Tish.
"What's the Doctor doing?" Tish asked.
"He's trying to buy us some time. Let's not waste it." Martha's medical training came to the fore, and she tilted her brother's head back. "Leo, look at me. Focus on me. Let's see your eyes." Leo's pupils were unevenly dilated, as she'd expected. "He's got a concussion. Mum, you'll need to help him downstairs."
She grabbed ice from a champagne bucket and wrapped it in a napkin and showed her mum how to keep it pressed to the bump on Leo's head. "This'll keep the swelling down. Go! I'll be right behind you." Her mum helped Leo out of the room, but Tish was still staring in the direction Lazarus and the Doctor had gone. "Tish, move! We need to get out of here."
Halfway down the stairs, a new problem appeared. They'd managed to get out of the room, but the doors to the building were still sealed, and the panicking crowd was pounding against them. From her vantage point, she could see the danger to the people at the front of the crush as more people poured down the stairs and pressed forward.
"We can't get out," Tish said, seeing the same thing. "We're trapped!"
Martha was still analysing the situation when she heard the faint buzz of the sonic over the sounds of the crowd. The lights came back on and the doors unlocked, letting the crowd spill out of the building.
To the right of the door, Rose vaulted lightly over a desk as the crowd thinned out. "There's always an override switch by the security station," she said, a wide grin on her face. "And now that everyone's out, I'm gonna go help the Doctor."
Martha watched her take the stairs two at a time, then took a deep breath and faced her family, already anticipating their reaction to her plan. "I'm going back," she said, and she was proud of how firm her voice was.
Her mum turned around, her mouth hanging open. "You can't! You saw what that thing did. It'll kill you."
Martha didn't tell them that in the last week, she'd faced death half a dozen times. She didn't tell them that running from danger had become a daily activity. She just straightened her shoulders and shook her head.
"I don't care. I have to go."
Francine held her hands out to her. "Martha, I know you want to help, but his wife is there. They can handle this—it's their job."
"He was buying us time, Martha," Tish added. "Time for you to get out, too."
"I'm not leaving them." She looked at her mum. "This is the right thing to do." Grudging pride crossed her face, and Martha turned and ran back up the stairs.
Rose was waiting for her at the door to the reception room, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. "I figured you'd come," she said. "Now, where do you think the Doctor is?"
An explosion sounded distantly from the second floor, and both women chuckled wryly. "That answers that question," Rose said as they raced up the stairs.
oOoOoOoOo
The Doctor ran from the reception room with Lazarus on his tail. He wasn't sure yet how he was going to neutralise the mutant, but the first priority was to keep him away from the crowd long enough for Rose and Martha to get everyone out of the building.
At the stairs, he made a split second decision and went down instead of up. The basement of a building like this should have plenty of places to lead the creature on a long chase, plenty of turns too tight for him to make easily.
They ducked through corridors, and then finally, the Doctor spotted the sign he'd been looking for: the boiler room. He dove through the door and climbed a ladder up onto a catwalk, then started creeping through the pipes, trying to stay out of sight.
"It's no good, Doctor," Lazarus said in a raspy voice. "You can't stop me."
The Doctor looked in the direction the voice came from. "Is that the same arrogance you had when you swore nothing had gone wrong with your device?"
"The arrogance is yours. You can't stand in the way of progress."
His s's were turning sibilant, and the Doctor wondered how much humanity remained. "You call feeding on innocent people progress? You're delusional!"
Pipes clanged against each other as Lazarus tried to fit into a space slightly too narrow for his new and improved body. "It is a necessary sacrifice."
That argument, that life mattered less than scientific progress, had always angered the Doctor. It was the main ideological difference that had set him against the Rani after her exile from Gallifrey. "That's not your decision to make."
The Doctor crept a few more feet into the room, and then the lights turned on. Good job, Rose, he told her, then realised he'd just lost his only advantage. He heard an odd crackling and looked up.
"Peek a boo," Lazarus said from where he dangled from the ceiling.
"Oh, hello," the Doctor said, then ran for the door. Out in the corridor, he raced for the stairs, taking them as fast as he could to get to the level the labs were on. Lazarus fell a little behind, which gave him time to put his plan into motion.
He darted into a lab and grinned when he saw all the tables. A chemistry lab; excellent. He jumped up on a table and pulled the globe off a light, revealing the fitting. A few quick twists, and the fuses were exposed.
That done, he dropped to the floor and turned on a Bunsen burner, snuffing out the flame. He managed to pull the tube off the gas nozzle on the table behind him before he heard Lazarus burst through the door.
The Doctor crawled through the lab, turning on as many gas spigots as possible while Lazarus stalked him.
"More hide and seek, Doctor? How disappointing. Why don't you come out and face me?"
"Have you looked in the mirror lately?" The Doctor sucked in a breath and stood up. "Why would I want to face that, hmm?"
Lazarus lunged at him, but the Doctor was ready; he ran towards the back door of the lab, hitting the light switches with his elbow on the way out the door. The lights he'd undone shorted out, and the spark ignited the gas that had flooded the room.
He was only a few feet from the door when the explosion blew it off its hinges, knocking him to the ground. Aware that there wasn't much time, he jumped up, dusted himself off, and ran for the stairs.
The last thing he expected was to catch Rose by the waist as he turned a corner. "What are you doing here?" he demanded, his eyes darting from her to Martha.
Rose raised her eyebrows, but he didn't bother apologising for his tone. The whole point of his diversion was to allow everyone—including Rose and Martha—to get to safety. And yet here they were, diving right back into danger.
"We heard the explosion, figured it was probably you," Rose told him.
"I blasted Lazarus."
"Did you kill him?" asked Martha.
Behind her, Lazarus leapt across the atrium from one corridor to another.
"More sort of annoyed him, I'd say," the Doctor said, and they all ran for the stairs.
Back in the reception room, Rose spun around, looking for something to use against Lazarus. "What now? We've just gone round in a circle."
The Doctor didn't look at her, and she realised he was more upset than she'd anticipated. "We can't lead him outside." He leapt across the dais and opened the door to the genetic manipulation chamber. "Come on, get in."
The three of them climbed into the decidedly not bigger-on-the-inside chamber as Lazarus entered the room. Rose was sandwiched between the Doctor and Martha, and the sounds of three people breathing heavily echoed in the chamber.
"Are we hiding?" asked Martha.
"No, he knows we're here," the Doctor said quietly. "But this is his masterpiece. I'm betting he won't destroy it, not even to get at us."
"But we're trapped," she pointed out.
He looked around the chamber, somehow managing to avoid looking Rose in the eye, even though they were standing face to face. "Well, yeah, that's a slight problem."
"So, what's the plan, Doctor?" Rose asked, forcing him to acknowledge her.
She recognised the little furrow between his eyebrows that meant he was irritated. "Well, the plan was to get inside here."
When he didn't continue, Martha prompted him. "Then what?"
"Well, then I'd come up with another plan," the Doctor said.
Rose felt Martha's ribcage expand as she sucked in a panicked breath, but she couldn't help but laugh. The Doctor's eyes flicked down to hers, and oh yes, that was definitely annoyance.
It's deja vu, isn't it? Us, trapped someplace with a monster trying to get in. She took his hand. I'm so glad I met you.
Some of his anger faded, and she smiled up at him. "I think you'll want this," she offered, pulling her sonic out of her handbag. "I don't think you could get to yours with all of us squeezed in here."
The Doctor kissed her forehead. "Thanks."
"What're you going to do with that?" Martha asked, spotting it over Rose's shoulder.
He started to slither down to the floor, and Rose was suddenly glad she'd been in the middle of this arrangement and not Martha. "Improvise." A moment later, they heard the buzz of the sonic as he opened the panel in the floor.
Through the translucent glass, they could see the mutant's shadow as he circled the chamber, trying to find a way in. "I still don't understand where that thing came from," Martha said. "Is it alien?"
The Doctor's voice was muffled when he spoke. "No, for once it's strictly human in origin."
"That thing is not human," Rose said vehemently.
He glanced up at her. "You know how easy it is to manipulate human DNA, given enough power. The energy field in this thing must have reactivated some dormant genes in his DNA, and now they're becoming dominant."
"So it's a throwback," Martha said.
Rose looked down at him as the Doctor pulled the wires out and started splicing them together, rambling about genetic mutations the whole time.
"Some option that evolution rejected for you millions of years ago, but the potential is still there. Locked away in your genes, forgotten about until Lazarus unlocked it by mistake."
Martha sucked in a breath. "It's like Pandora's box."
"Exactly."
Rose shifted her weight from one foot to the other. The Doctor shot her a glance before going back to his wiring project. Very sexy footwear, Rose.
She shivered when he purposely let his fingers brush against her ankle. Well, they had to match the dress.
They certainly do.
A loud electronic hum interrupted their flirting, and the interior of the chamber was flooded with blue light.
"Doctor, what's happening?" Martha asked.
At the same time, Rose said, "Did he just do what I think he did?"
The Doctor grunted. "If you think he turned the machine on, then yeah. He did."
Martha's voice shook. "And that's not good, is it?"
The hum got louder and the chamber began to vibrate. "Well, I was hoping it was going to take him a little bit longer to work that out," he muttered.
"Are you about done down there, Doctor?" Rose asked, just managing to keep her own voice calm.
She felt his fringe brush against her skirt when he nodded. "Nearly done."
"Well, what're you doing?" Martha yelled.
Rose glanced down and watched the Doctor hook wires back up inside the electrical panel. "I'm trying to set the capsule to reflect energy rather than receive it."
"Will that kill it?" Martha asked.
"When he transforms, he's three times his size. Cellular triplication. So he's spreading himself thin."
A flash of blinding white light filled the chamber, and Martha screamed. "We're going to end up like him!"
"Just one more!"
The capsule stilled and the Doctor got back to his feet. "I think it's safe out there now, ladies," he said and pushed the door open. Rose followed him out into the open room, and he handed her sonic back to her. "Thank you for that."
Martha stepped out slowly, her hand on her stomach. "I thought we were going to go through the blender then."
The Doctor looked back at the chamber. "Really shouldn't take that long just to reverse the polarity. I must be a bit out of practice."
A naked man lay on the floor only a few yards away, and they approached him slowly. "Oh, God," Martha murmured. "He seems so human again. It's kind of pitiful."
The Doctor nodded. "Eliot saw that, too. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper."
oOoOoOoOo
When Martha called for paramedics, she discovered that emergency vehicles were already on the scene. "If the building is clear, ma'am," the dispatcher said, "we can send them in immediately."
"Yeah… yes, it's clear."
The dispatcher ended the call, and Martha looked at the Doctor and Rose. "They're already here," she said.
A moment later, the door opened and two paramedics wheeled a stretcher in. They expertly lifted the body up onto it, then covered him with a red cloth.
Martha, Rose, and the Doctor followed them out of the building. Martha didn't want to admit it, but the sight of that body had shaken her more than anything she'd seen so far.
Tish's voice pulled her out of her daze, and she turned to accept her sister's hug. Over her shoulder, she spotted her mother, her face drawn tight with lips pressed into a thin line. Martha swallowed and let go of Tish after one more quick squeeze, moving to stand beside the Doctor and Rose as her mum slowly approached them.
"I don't like this," Francine said, enunciating each word. "I know you're doing your job, doing what you do, and I admire that—but I do not approve of you dragging my daughter into it."
"Mum, helping the Doctor and Rose tonight was my choice," Martha protested. "They didn't force me to come along."
Her mum shook her head. "He may work for UNIT, but he does the most dangerous work. I've been told things."
Martha shook her head slowly. "What are you talking about?"
Her mum took her by the shoulders and looked at her imploringly. "Look around you. Nothing but death and destruction. That's the kind of work he does."
"The Doctor stops the death and destruction." Martha brushed her mum's hands off her shoulders. "Look at all the people still alive—that's because of him."
"And it was Tish who invited everyone to this thing in the first place," Leo broke in. "I'd say technically, it's her fault."
A loud crash from the direction the ambulance had gone interrupted Martha's reply. The Doctor and Rose stiffened and looked down the street, then started jogging towards it. Both of them cast a backward glance at Martha as they went, and she took a step to follow her friends.
A hand on her arm stopped her. "Leave them," her mum pleaded.
Martha shook her head slowly, then turned to run after Rose and the Doctor. The instincts she'd been honing through her adventures with them told her that crash had something to do with Lazarus, and if it did, then they needed to stop him.
She found them staring at the open doors of the ambulance. As she got closer, she saw two more shrivelled corpses, these wearing the standard yellow jackets of paramedics.
"Lazarus, back from the dead," the Doctor muttered. "Should have known, really." He pulled the sonic out and started scanning the area.
Tish ran up to them, and Martha smiled proudly at her sister before focusing on Lazarus. "Where's he gone?"
The Doctor tilted his head towards the church. "That way. The church."
"Cathedral," Tish corrected as they stared at the bell tower. "It's Southwark Cathedral. He told me."
The Doctor led the way silently through the open doors of the cathedral, holding the sonic in front of him.
"Do you think he's in here?" Rose whispered from his side.
The Doctor nodded. "Where would you go if you were looking for sanctuary?"
They walked down the long nave filled with wooden seats ready for parishioners. Behind an altar covered with a red and gold brocade cloth, they found Lazarus, shivering on the stone floor and wrapped in the red blanket that had covered his dead body.
Lazarus looked up at them. "I came here before, a lifetime ago. I thought I was going to die then. In fact, I was sure of it. I sat here, just a child, the sound of planes and bombs outside."
The Doctor had been slowly moving across the sanctuary until he stood directly opposite Lazarus. "The Blitz."
Lazarus grimaced. "You've read about it."
The Doctor's eyes flicked over to Rose. "We were there."
Lazarus huffed out a breath. "You're too young."
"So are you," the Doctor said, and something about the way he said it made Martha wonder how old he was.
Lazarus laughed, but then his spine cracked again and he gasped in pain. The Doctor circled him, looking at Lazarus, then up at the bell tower that was directly above them.
"In the morning, the fires had died," Lazarus continued when he could speak again, "and I was still alive. I swore I'd never face death like that again. So defenceless. I would arm myself, fight back, defeat it."
Rose watched the Doctor as he moved around Lazarus and stared up at the bell tower. Do you have an idea?
I might, but first I have to give him a chance.
"That's what you were trying to do today?" the Doctor asked, trying to understand.
"That's what I did today," Lazarus countered hotly.
The Doctor's anger swelled. "What about the other people who died?"
"They were nothing," Lazarus said coldly. "I changed the course of history."
"Any of them might have done too," the Doctor retorted. "You think history's only made with equations? Facing death is part of being human. You can't change that."
Lazarus snarled. "No, Doctor. Avoiding death, that's being human. It's our strongest impulse, to cling to life with every fibre of being. I'm only doing what everyone before me has tried to do. I've simply been more successful." He cried out then as another spasm wracked his body.
"Look at yourself," the Doctor demanded. "You're mutating! You've no control over it. You call that a success?"
"I call it progress." Lazarus declared, then hunched over in pain. "I'm more now than I was. More than just an ordinary human."
"There's no such thing as an ordinary human."
Rose looked at the man convulsing on the floor in front of her. He's going to change again any minute.
I know, the Doctor agreed. If I can get him up into the bell tower somehow, I've an idea that might work.
Up there? Rose looked up at the bell tower, then back at Lazarus, a plan forming in her mind.
"You're so sentimental, Doctor," Lazarus whispered. "Maybe you are older than you look."
"I'm old enough to know that a longer life isn't always a better one. Because unless you're very lucky—" The Doctor's gaze flicked over to Rose—"you will end up losing everyone that matters to you. And you won't be that lucky. You will watch everything turn to dust." He squatted down beside Lazarus. "If you live long enough, Lazarus, the only certainty left is that you'll end up alone."
"That's a price worth paying," Lazarus insisted mutinously.
"Is it?"
Lazarus writhed again, and Rose sidled over to Martha. "The Doctor says he needs Lazarus to go up into the bell tower. I'm gonna lure him away from here."
Marthalooked at her like she was crazy,but she nodded. "Okay."
Lazarus panted. "I will feed soon."
"I'm not going to let that happen," the Doctor told him quietly.
"You've not been able to stop me so far," Lazarus challenged.
Rose saw her chance and took it. "You're right, Lazarus—he is older than he looks. Why take him when you could have fresher meat?"
The Doctor looked up at her, comprehension and consternation warring in his expression. "Rose, no."
Lazarus lunged at her, and Rose spun away from him, running towards the stairs leading up to the tower. She heard two other pairs of dress shoes click against the stone floor and glanced behind her at both Jones sisters.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Keeping you out of trouble!" Tish told her.
"Making sure you live long enough for your husband to yell at you for this," Martha added.
I'm taking him to the tower, Doctor.
They paused when pained cries echoed up the stone staircase. "Did you hear that?" Tish whispered.
Rose took off through the gallery towards the bell tower while Martha explained. "He's changed again. Keep moving. We've got to lead him up."
"Rose!" the Doctor shouted.
Rose realised he needed to see her, and she looked down at him from the gallery. "Doctor!"
Even from where she was, Rose could see how rigidly his fists hung at his sides. "Take him to the top. The very top of the bell tower, do you hear me?!"
"Up to the top!" Rose agreed, then ran off. She could hear the mutant getting closer; they didn't have much time.
They burst out onto the wooden catwalk that ran around the perimeter of the belfry. "There's nowhere to go," Tish said. "We're trapped!"
"No," Rose countered. "We're bait. The Doctor said he had a plan, if we could get him up here, so I led him up here."
Tish stared incredulously at her sister, but Martha smiled. "He knows what he's doing. We have to trust him."
"Ladies." The mutant entered the bell tower and perched on top of the railing opposite them.
Rose looked at him and steeled her resolve. "Stay behind me," she said, positioning herself in front of the sisters. "If he takes me, make a run for it. Head down the stairs. You should have enough time."
"But—" Martha protested.
"Tish, make sure she runs, yeah?"
Lazarus climbed onto the railing and tried to jump across the gap under the bell, but he lost his footing and swung out with his tail to keep from falling to the ground. Rose ducked the blow easily.
Organ music echoed up the tower, and Rose grasped the Doctor's plan. Hypersonic sound waves had created the monster, so maybe they could uncreate it too.
Lazarus' tail lashed out at them again, this time breaking the railing in front of them. Rose dodged one way and Tish and Martha dove the other. She stood up again and looked at him, and he answered her silent challenge by swinging his tail once more, swiping at her face this time.
Rose ducked and missed the first hit, but didn't anticipate the tail swinging back. He caught her against the right side of her face and sent her flying, nearly over the edge of the catwalk.
"Rose!" Martha yelled as Rose latched onto the base of the wooden walkway, holding on with all her strength.
Rose?
Just take care of it, Doctor, she told him as Lazarus kept swishing his tail at her, trying to knock her off.
"Hold on!" Tish shouted. "Get away from her!"
The music reverberated even more loudly in the tower, and Rose had to fight the natural urge to cover her ears with her hands. Tish and Martha were both cringing from the noise, and above her, the mutant started to shriek with pain.
It's working, Doctor! Rose told him as she adjusted her grip.
He sent one last shrieking pulse of music up the tower, and Lazarus roared in pain and tumbled over the edge of the walkway. Far below them, Rose heard a dull thud as he hit the cathedral floor.
Her fingers slipped, and Rose gritted her teeth, determined to hold on. Just when she thought she was going to lose that battle, Martha and Tish each grabbed a hand.
"Rose?" the Doctor hollered.
The sisters pulled her to safety, and Rose took a few panting breaths. "I'm okay, Doctor." She looked at her friends. "We're all okay."
She shook her fingers, trying to ease the throbbing from clenching onto the walkway. "I don't suppose we could agree not to tell my husband the part where I was dangling over the edge of the bell tower?" she asked, even though she knew she wouldn't keep it from him.
All three women laughed, and then Rose took one of their hands each in hers. "Thanks."
Tish shook her head, still laughing. "It's your Doctor you should be thanking."
Rose grinned proudly. "I told you he had a plan."
Martha rolled her eyes. "Some plan."
"He cut it a bit fine there, didn't he?" Tish asked.
Rose snorted. "Yeah, for a Time Lord, he does have a habit of nearly running out of it."
Tish looked at her, some of the laughter disappearing as the initial shock of the events wore off. "Who is he?"
"He's the Doctor," she said simply, because that was really all the answer they needed. Then she winced when his panic sharpened. "And we need to go back down there so he can see I'm really all right," she added, getting to her feet.
They ran down the stairs, and Rose met the Doctor in the transept. He caught her elbow and she let him pull her into his arms. She tilted her head back, but he skipped her lips for the moment, brushing feather-light kisses all over her face first. Then he pulled back for just a moment and caressed her face before sinking his fingers into her hair.
Rose leaned into him when he fit his lips over hers in a sensual kiss. When the hand on her waist moved up to trace patterns on exposed skin in the middle of her back, she shivered and licked at his bottom lip. Almost immediately, his tongue swept into her mouth.
She could practically taste his dual fear and anger in the passionate kiss, and Rose stroked the nape of his neck and tried to pass calm to him. He sighed against her lips and gentled the kiss, relaxing the hold he had on her waist and finally pulling back, pressing his forehead to hers.
After a few more moments, Rose pulled out of his embrace and took his hand instead. Tish and Martha stood off to the side, shifting their weight from one foot to the other, and she smiled at them sheepishly.
"I didn't know you could play," Martha said, changing the subject.
The Doctor shoved his hands into his pockets. "Oh, well, you know, if you hang around with Beethoven, you're bound to pick a few things up."
Martha nodded. "Especially about playing loud."
"Sorry?" the Doctor said, and Rose groaned at the joke.
Tish stepped forward, her eyes on Martha. "So are you going again?" she asked.
Martha looked at them, then back at her older sister. "I've got to," she said. "There's so much out there, Tish; you can't even begin to understand it."
Rose smiled; that line sounded so familiar. "I promise we'll do our best to bring her back to you in one piece," she told Tish.
"I suppose that's the best I can ask for," Tish agreed. "I won't tell Mum you said that, though."
The sisters looked at each other for a long moment, then Martha surged forward and wrapped her arms around Tish. "I love you," she whispered. "And I am so proud of you."
oOoOoOoOo
The Doctor waited until they were in the car on the way back to Martha's flat to ask the question that had been burning at the back of his mind. "So, what happened up there?" he asked casually as he wrapped his arm around Rose.
He didn't miss the way Martha's eyes met Rose's in the rear view mirror. He also didn't miss the conflicted feelings Rose was projecting over their bond. So I was right, he thought. Something did happen.
He waited, and after a moment, Rose validated his trust in her.
"Lazarus—the mutant—he kept swinging his tail around. We dodged him a couple times, but one time he broke the wooden railing."
The Doctor stiffened, and Rose faltered in her storytelling. "Keep going," he said mildly.
"He was gonna swing at someone, so I made sure Martha and Tish were safe, and then…"
"You let him swing at you," the Doctor said flatly. He knew Rose could feel his building anger, but he didn't care. How could she do something so reckless?
"Yeah, sorta." Something in the way she said that alerted the Doctor to the fact that there was more to the story than that. "He missed me the first time," Rose said, "but then he came back and hit me in the face."
Concern momentarily overrode the anger surging through the Doctor. "Where did he hit you?" In the darkened cathedral, he hadn't noticed any marks on her.
She turned her face so he could see the large red welt forming on her right cheek. The Doctor held her jaw gently so he could turn her cheek toward the light to get a better look at it. The skin around it was already turning black and blue, and Rose winced when he brushed his fingers over it.
"Hold still," he murmured, pulling his sonic out of his pocket. He turned it to the setting that healed minor bruises and abrasions and waved it slowly over the injury. "Better?" he asked when most of the discolouration and swelling were gone.
"Yeah."
"Good. So, what happened after that?"
Rose shifted in her seat, and the Doctor was suddenly aware that he hadn't heard the worst of the story yet. He remembered then what she'd said about the broken railing, and he tensed. "What happened after he hit you?"
"I think you know," Rose muttered.
The Doctor opened his mouth to demand an answer, but Rose's eyes flicked up to Martha, and he realised she didn't want to continue this row in front of an audience. Well, that was fine. He could wait until they were in their room to tell her exactly what he thought about the disregard she'd shown for her wellbeing on this trip.
oOoOoOoOo
The Doctor didn't say a word as he sent the TARDIS into the Vortex. Rose tamped down her own building anger as best as she could; at least one of them should remain calm.
"Well, I think I'm going to change into something comfy and watch a film," Martha said. "I'll see you in the morning."
When Martha squeezed Rose's hand as she said goodnight, she knew the tension between herself and the Doctor was obvious. She looked up at him quickly, and the muscle was twitching in his jaw.
"Good night, Martha. Thanks for your help tonight," Rose said.
"Let's get changed," the Doctor suggested, pulling his bow tie off. "This suit is definitely bad luck."
"Didn't it seem like there were a lot of coincidences tonight?" Rose asked as they walked to their room, not ready for the inevitable argument. "Did you see how surprised Martha was when Tish said she was the head of the PR department?"
The Doctor pushed their door open and shrugged his tuxedo jacket off as he stepped inside. "Well, it's not uncommon for siblings to underrate each other's accomplishments—especially if they've had to fight for their parents' attention."
"It doesn't seem odd to you that someone so young would have that much responsibility?" Rose asked as she took her earrings off.
He paused in the middle of unbuttoning his shirt. "I hadn't thought of it like that."
"And that the person in question just happens to be our companion's sister?"
"Add to that the mysterious Mr. Saxon putting our names on the guest list so we could get in without difficulty. Okay, yes. Those are a lot of coincidences."
An awkward silence hung over them, then Rose took a deep breath and turned to the Doctor. "Are we going to talk about how you're angry with me for coming back inside to help you?" she asked.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and took his black Chucks off, throwing them into the corner of the room with more force than was strictly necessary. "You and Martha were supposed to stay safely outside."
She snorted and took her own shoes off. "Even if we set aside the fact that you never actually said that, since when have either of us just waited patiently while the other was in danger?"
"And what's your excuse for that stunt in the cathedral?" he asked, his voice biting.
"You said you needed to get Lazarus into the bell tower."
"But I didn't say I wanted you to act as bait!"
Rose took a deep breath and blew it out her nose. "Did you have another plan to get him up there?" she asked calmly.
The Doctor paced in front of their bed in his black trousers and unbuttoned dress shirt. "No," he admitted finally, running his hand through his hair. "But I might have come up with something if you hadn't decided—again—to put both yourself and Martha in danger."
"Why do you keep going on about what Martha did?" Rose asked.
"You heard her in the theatre with the Daleks," he said through gritted teeth. "'If Rose is staying, then so am I.' She looks to you for guidance on when it's safe to follow or hang behind, and you led her straight into danger."
Rose's own anger boiled over. "Of all the arrogant… I can't decide what's worse," she spat out, "that you've apparently decided I'm nothing more than a babysitter for our companion, or that you think she needs one. Martha is a grown woman, Doctor. She chose to come with us, fully aware of the life we lead."
He looked away from her, and she shook her head. "And I'm supposed to be your partner," she whispered, letting her hurt seep into her voice. "You promised you wouldn't send me away again. Didn't you mean it?"
His anger faded, and he ran his hands wearily over his face. "Yeah," he said, his voice hoarse.
Rose walked towards him slowly until they were standing face to face, about three feet apart. "What's this really about, Doctor?"
His hands dropped to his sides, and he sagged in defeat. "I just want to keep you safe."
"We stick together as much as possible to keep each other safe, don't we?" Rose watched his face, and when she thought he was softening, she reached for his hand. "And we don't just stand aside watching when people are in trouble; we help."
"I know," he groaned, "but if you were hurt…"
"Says the man I've found unconscious three times this week," Rose retorted. "Are you going to stop running into dangerous situations?"
He sighed. "No."
"Then you can't expect me to."
"Expect, no," he agreed. "Wish for…"
Rose chuckled wryly. "I know the feeling."
The Doctor nodded, and she thought she'd finally made her point. He took her hand, and she went willingly into his arms, breathing in the comforting honey scent of his skin.
"I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear.
Rose pressed a kiss to his collarbone. "You're forgiven." She rested her cheek against his chest, considering her next words. "Can I tell you a secret?" she asked.
"Of course," he said.
"I always feel safest when I'm with you." His surprise rippled across their bond, and Rose tightened her arms around his waist. "Always," she repeated firmly.
"But… why? How?" he asked. "I don't try to find trouble, but somehow it seems like almost every trip ends in danger. How could you possibly feel safe with me?"
Rose took a half step back so she could look him in the eye. "Because you're brilliant. When we're in those situations, I know that if we're going to get out of it, it'll probably be because you figured out the magic secret that'll solve everything."
"Only if you haven't figured it out first," the Doctor interjected. "You don't give yourself enough credit, Rose—you're brilliant too."
"About time you noticed," Rose said cheekily. "I've been saving your life since day one, and don't you forget it."
A small smile finally crept across his face. "How could I? A pink and yellow girl swings into my life on a chain, taking out the bad guys and sweeping me off my feet in one move. That's not something I'll ever forget."
Rose undid the Doctor's cufflinks and slid the shirt off his shoulders. "I also feel safe when I'm with you because… because you love me," she said quietly. "I know you'll always protect me if you can." She tossed the shirt onto the bed, then pulled his vest over his head and threw that into the laundry."Don't you feel safe with me for the same reason?"
"Of course I do," he said, his sincerity and conviction easing the little doubt she'd had.
Rose hung the Doctor's shirt up in the wardrobe, then walked back to him and turned her back to him. He silently unzipped her dress, and that was soon hanging up as well.
"Then are you going to yell at me the next time I follow you into something dangerous?" Rose asked.
"No," he promised.
She pushed herself up on her toes and brushed a kiss over his lips. "Good. Now, I think I deserve an extra apology, since you started a fight with me on my birthday."
He rubbed at the back of his neck. "We could go someplace fun and relaxing tomorrow," he offered. "Ice skating on the mineral lakes of Kur-ha, maybe?"
"That sounds like fun," Rose agreed. "I was thinking of something a little more immediate, though."
"Anything you want."
"Take me to dinner." She laughed when the Doctor blinked. "I told you hours ago that I was starving, and I haven't had anything to eat since then. It's my birthday. I want more than a quick sandwich from the galley."
They were quiet as they finished changing into everyday clothes. "I have an idea for dinner," the Doctor said. "Would you mind eating here, if I picked food up?"
"Calling for take-away?" Rose asked. The Doctor nodded, and she smiled. "That's fine by me."
"Meet me in the study in ten… no, fifteen minutes," the Doctor said, then darted out of their room.
He called their order in from the console room, then set the coordinates for Glaurus, twenty minutes after they received his call. The food was waiting when he reached the restaurant, and he could smell the crab cakes through the take-away container.
"Will there be anything else, sir?" the server asked.
The Doctor shook his head, then said, "Wait. A bottle of Rigellian wine."
Back in the TARDIS, he moved a package from his coat pocket to his jacket, then took the food to the galley where a tray was waiting with two place settings. He dished the meal up quickly and balanced the tray on one hand while holding the bottle of wine in the other.
The door to the study was ajar, allowing him to push it open with his foot. Rose smiled at him from her spot in the corner of the couch. "Can you take the wine, love?" he asked, handing it to her.
Rose took the bottle, then looked at the food as he set the tray down. "You went to Glaurus," she guessed right off the bat.
"I did." The Doctor took the bottle from her and opened it, pouring the deep red wine into the waiting glasses. "And I got your favourite wine. After all, even time travellers only get one birthday a year."
Rose looked at him over the rim of her glass. "You know, this romantic streak you've got surprised me at first," she told him. "But I think I've got it figured out. You really are so impressive, Doctor."
"Finally, she admits it!" the Doctor said, shaking his head. Rose giggled, and he dropped the act. "It's easy to understand, Rose," he told her. "I love to do things that make you happy. Speaking of…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out the package.
"Another gift?" Rose asked when he handed it to her.
"Well, the necklace isn't really something you can use every day," the Doctor explained. "And… Sometimes I just see things and they remind me of you."
Rose shook her head and smiled softly as she tore the wrapping open. "Doctor," she breathed when she saw the set of alien pigments. "These are amazing!"
"There are some colours you can't really get on Earth," the Doctor said, pointing out a unique shade of turquoise that seemed to shimmer. "That comes from Ekbrilon. The sand and seaweed on the beaches is iridescent, and they turn it into a pigment."
"That sounds beautiful," Rose said. "Maybe we could go there sometime?"
"I'll put it on the list."
Rose took a bite of a crab cake and studied the Doctor. "I can't believe this is just occurring to me," she said after she swallowed. "When is your birthday, Doctor?"
He blinked a few times. "I'm not really sure," he admitted. "Once you've had more than a hundred of them, the date starts to lose some of its significance."
"As a birthday, maybe," Rose agreed. "But I want to be able to surprise you the way you've done me today." She gave him a wink and a smile. "Maybe I'll just pick a day without telling you. You'll wake up, and it'll be your birthday."
The Doctor arched an eyebrow. "Well, that would be a different spin on the surprise party."