I just want to say a giant thank you to everyone who has followed this story so far! I'd give you all hugs if I could but seeing that everyone probably lives in different countries and airfare is EXPENSIVE, I don't think that's feasible. So instead I suppose you'll all have to settle for virtual high fives. XD
You guys are awesome and thank you again for your support.
As always I don't own Doctor Who.
It all seemed to happen in slow motion and to someone else entirely. But when the Doctor realised that Pete was lying in a crumpled mass on his bedroom floor and the knuckles of his right hand were throbbing in pain, he knew what happened and that he was to blame. He had over nine hundred years of life experiences in his mind, and with it should have come with the restraint he had indoctrinated into him by the Time Lords. But he had something else now that seemed to override that.
Donna and her fiery temper.
He loved that woman like a sister, but when she got angry at someone, they better get out of her way. He was a recipient of her slaps on more than one occasion and he could swear they were harder than anything Jackie could muster up.
That aggression was passed on into him. Sure, the Doctor got angry in the past. The Time War was proof enough of that. But aside from defending himself by using Venusian Aikido or getting involved in sword duels, he very rarely got involved in physical altercations. Violence was almost revolting to him, and he much preferred to deal with conflicts with words and not fists. And he knew from personal experience that humans were capable of that too. When he was forced to hide in 1913, his fully human self couldn't bring himself fire a gun even when faced with deadly foes.
Now he was neither Human or Time Lord. He was something in between. And Human impulses seemed to dominate everything else.
The Doctor took his eyes off of the crumpled mass of Pete Tyler and looked over to Rose who was just moments ago laughing heartily at the silly noises his new human body was fond of making. Now her face was locked in an expression of fear. Only once before was this expression directed at him, right after he first changed into the face he was now wearing. Then it wasn't just fear, it was distrust. She was looking at him like he was a different man. Again! Even the Time Lord version of him did his best to convince her that they were for all intents and purposes the same man.
Was he wrong? Did this added dose of Humanity make him a completely different person? One who was prone to violence?
He already committed genocide. Maybe he was.
He couldn't hold Rose's gaze. He wouldn't blame her if she never spoke to him again after this. He looked down at his hands. They were shaking terribly and the knuckles of his right hand were beginning to bruise. His right hand. The one originally chopped off by an angry Sycorax. The one that originally belonged to the Time Lord known as the Doctor. The one that grabbed Rose's hand when he whispered "Run". The one that she held unreservedly during all their adventures. But that wasn't him. Not anymore. How could he call himself 'The Doctor' when he was given to such random acts of violence?
He drew in a shaky breath, and swallowed around the lump that had developed in his throat. Yes, his fist started it, but maybe, he thought, he could use words to end it. He may no longer be the exact same man, but he could learn from The Doctor's experiences. He quickly glanced at Rose again. He loved her so much and felt such regret over losing his control and making her doubt him. He wanted to be better for her. He opened his mouth and began to speak.
"I… I… uh—"
Okay, it was speech… sort of. If only he could get the words to gather coherently in his still impressive Time Lord brain and exit his mouth properly, that would be a fantastic start.
Pete responded immediately. And it was a response that shocked him. He expected shouting from Pete. He expected colourful words in the English language; crude euphemisms, or even insults and insinuation regarding his parentage. Or perhaps he expected the man to leap to his feet and plant his fist directly into his teeth. That's what he felt he deserved after all.
But that's not at all what he got.
Laughing. He got laughing.
He looked down at Pete and saw that he was grinning ear to ear, despite the black eye that was beginning to develop. No malice was present at all on his face.
This was confusing. Very confusing.
"Suppose I deserved that." Pete said between chuckles. He reached out his hand towards the Doctor in a silent request to help him get back to his feet. The Doctor numbly reached out with his uninjured hand and heaved Pete back to his feet.
"Yeah, I suppose you did." The Doctor was shocked by his own cheeky response, the kind of response a certain red-head would conjure up. "Look… I… I didn't… I mean, I-" Pete silenced him with a wave of his hand.
"I just came to say… I'm sorry." Pete said simply. "Jackie already gave me a pretty good…uh… talking to…" He gestured to his cheek where there was still a faint mark on his face that was suspiciously the same shape as Jackie's hand; a small scratch on his face where her diamond ring would be. Neither the Doctor nor Rose needed any more elaboration on what he meant by 'talking to'.
"Two universes owe you a debt of gratitude, Doctor, and I went and ignored it." Pete continued. "That was a real rubbish way of welcoming you to the family."
"You can say that again…" Rose grumbled, almost under her breath. Pete sighed and turned to her.
"Rose, I'm tryin' to apologise here. To both of you!" Pete's words seemed to fall onto deaf ears as Rose fled the room. A moment later, he heard her bedroom door slam shut. Pete sighed and turned back to the Doctor.
"Don't mind her. She's had a rough time of it since she's been lookin' for you." Pete explained. "You best go after her. I don't think she really wants to speak with me right now."
"Not sure she wants to speak with me either…" The Doctor sighed. Pete shook his head.
"You may be nine-hundred, but I think you need to learn a bit more about women." The Doctor blinked.
"First off: I'm only a day old, well… almost. Sorta. Second-"
"First off:" Pete cut in. "She's completely in love with you. No 'almost' or 'sorta'. Second: you just scared her silly!" His face softened somewhat. "Look, Doc, we both messed up royally, but I'm willing to forgive you 'cos I know you've been through something no human could ever hope to comprehend. Plus I totally deserved it after what I did to you. But you'll be messing up even more if you let her walk away!" The Doctor sighed. Humans. They had the irritating habit of being right more often than not.
"Thanks, Pete." The Doctor had a hint of a smile on his face as he moved to go find Rose.
"Wait, almost forgot." Pete reached into the breast pocket of his suit jacket and handed the Doctor an envelope. "Your documents. Welcome to the human race, Dr. Johnathan Noble-Smith." The Doctor eyed the envelope for a moment before taking it.
He was now officially human.
Rose sat on the edge of her bed absently playing with the small cube the future Doctor gave her. She still didn't know its significance, and she desperately wanted to ask her Doctor about it now, but…
She'd seen him angry before, just not like that. She was also still livid at Pete, and felt like he deserved the punch to the face.
She sighed. It wasn't really like her to want such things.
There was a soft knock on her door, and before she could even say anything the door swung open slowly. The Doctor poked his head in.
"Hi." He said softly. She only nodded slightly in acknowledgement. "Can I…?" He gestured towards an empty spot on her bed. She shrugged. He walked in and sat down on the bed next to her. "Rose, I…"
"You scared me." She interrupted without looking up at him.
"I know." He replied simply. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Rose could hear the sincerity in his voice, and she found it within herself to look up at him.
"It's just this bit of Donna in me. Can be a bit overwhelming." He ran a hand through his hair sighed. "Besides, it's not going to happen again. Pete and I worked it out."
"Seriously? After what he did?"
"Rose… love, it's okay." Her eyes widened at his words, both by the fact that he seemed willing to actually forgive Pete for drugging and dragging him to Torchwood, and by the fact that he never before used such a term of endearment towards her.
"But Doctor he—"
"I know. Remember what… well… what he, what the Doctor said yesterday?" It was incredibly strange for him to distinguish between himself and the Time Lord. "He said that you made him better, and that you could do the same for me." Rose nodded, remembering that rather difficult conversation. He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Well, I want to be better for you."
"I want that too." She gave him a small smile. He smiled back. "And I suppose, if you're willing to forgive Pete… I can too."
"See, now I'm making you better as well." He smiled cheekily and nudged his shoulder with hers. She leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Isn't that how it's meant to work?" She replied with a smile.
"Definitely." He reached over to take her hands into his; discarding the envelope Pete had given him. Then he realised she was holding something in her own hands. "What'cha got there?" Rose looked down at her hands, almost forgetting what she was holding.
"It's a long story." She said with a smile.
"Then tell it."
Yup. Me and my cliffhangers. Again. :)
Please review and tell me what you think. This chapter was harder to write than I thought it would be.
