Chapter 2 Going Spare

Upon entering the kitchen, the Doctor spies Rose at the counter making lunch while Nana sits patiently at the table with Haven curled at her feet. Rose makes a gesture towards two freshly made pitchers of lemonade sitting next to her and asks, "Doctor, would you please pour each of us a glass?"

He licks his lips as he eyes up the two different flavored batches. "Ooooh," he exclaims in delight, "pink and yellow lemonade! My two favorite flavors!"

Nana shifts in her chair to face the Doctor and asks sweetly, "Poof, could you please pour me a glass of water first?"

Nodding, he grabs a bottle of water from the refrigerator and pours it into a glass while politely inquiring, "Is there anything else that you'd like me to add to your glass, Nana?"

"Yes, there is," concurs Nana. "Here." She then proceeds to drop her teeth into the glass of water along with a tablet of denture cleaner.

"Glad to be of assistance," states the Doctor with a grimace before turning back to pour them each a glass of lemonade. Smiling, he places the glass in front of Nana and then reaches for his own to fill up and leave on the table before pouring one for Rose.

When he spins around to pick up his glass, he finds Nana sporting a malicious grin and her glass eyeball staring at him while it bobs up and down in his lemonade. He merely stares at her until she finally offers, "I just love how the lemon makes the glass so shiny."

Rose chastises, "Nana Prentice, that wasn't very nice, especially when you want to ask the Doctor for a favor!"

"A favor?" questions the Doctor suspiciously. "What kind of a favor?"

Nana sips her lemonade while Rose answers, "Nana and Haven both need injections on a daily basis for a week and instead of going down to the Health Authority each day, she was wondering if you could help her out."

The Doctor rocks back onto his heels as he claps his hands together in delight. Finally, a chance to stick it to the old bin bag and her little cat too. He leans back against the counter and casually mentions, "Why I'd be delighted to help. It's nice to see that you finally appreciate my expertise."

"Yes," agrees Nana wholeheartedly. "From what I've heard, nobody is better at handling a little prick than you."

The Doctor's smugness quickly falls away and he shuts his eyes as he rubs the bridge of his nose. "Nana, we need to get some things straight while you're on my ship. First off, I am the Captain of this ship, which happens to be very large so no wandering off. Also, I fully expect to be…"

He stops when he opens his eyes to find that has Nana gone. He scans the room and finding no trace of her asks, "Where did she go?"

Rose gives him a sympathetic smile and replies, "I told her earlier where the entertainment room is, she wants to have her lunch in there so she doesn't miss her favorite television show."

Noting the weary slump of his shoulders and his cheerless expression, Rose inquires hopefully, "Doctor, would it make you feel any better to know that you're apparently making her last days more enjoyable?"

"Only if you can promise me that these are actually her last days, Rose!" retorts the Doctor hotly while crossing his arms tightly across his chest and glaring at the opposite wall in a stance reminiscent of his former self.

Viewing Rose's saddened countenance spurs the Time Lord to drop a quick kiss onto his wife's lips as she finishes placing the last of Nana's meal on a tray. He picks it up for her in a gesture of apology and sighs, "Let's go take Her Majesty's lunch to her."

He's holding the tray for less than a minute when he smells something odd. He hazards a glance down to discover that his worst fears are confirmed. Below his gaze rests a rather large dish of pear pudding. The Doctor immediately hands off the tray to Rose and urges, "On second thought, you better carry it."

They stroll down the corridor until they reach the entertainment room where the Doctor, in true gentlemanly fashion, enters the room first to hold the door open for Rose. Unfortunately, the sight that greets him causes him to rapidly backpedal and nearly collide with Rose as she follows him into the room.

As she struggles to maintain her balance and uphold the tray, she demands angrily, "What's wrong with you? You nearly knocked everything over!"

"What's wrong?" he repeats in abject horror and revulsion. "You obviously didn't see what I just saw!" He hastily motions her towards the doorway and prods, "Go on! Take a look!"

Rose darts a curious glance in his direction before she cautiously hedges her way to the entrance. She nearly bites through her bottom lip when she spies the reason for the Doctor's complaint.

Nana was comfortably ensconced on the sofa watching the Doctor's 1950's television set that they picked up a while back and that he had jiggery pokery'd back to life and soniced with more convenient settings for the modern day time traveler while Haven was busy unraveling a very familiar multi-colored scarf. What was causing the Doctor to be so upset however, was the fact that Nana was also wearing his Ninth self's leather jacket while cuddling a framed picture of said self that now displayed a freshly placed lipstick imprint over the glass.

With a slight shudder and shake of her head in amusement, which from behind the Doctor took to be sympathetic understanding mixed with incredulous disbelief, she walks calmly into the entertainment room and announces, "Here's your lunch, Nana. The Doctor and I have some things to take care of onboard the ship so just give us a shout if you need anything, alright?"

At Nana's nod, she returns to the Doctor who is still frozen in position and completely gobsmacked by this recent turn of events. He manages to croak out, "What? That's it? We don't rush in and reclaim my jacket from that miserable old harpy or at least have to go in and join her?"

"No, we'll worry about your jacket later," soothes Rose. "Besides, she doesn't like to be interrupted with any distractions while she's watching her favorite show."

The Doctor peeks inside the room when he hears the show's theme music begin to play. Waiting for God, hmmm? It figures, He would be the only one to come for her.

"I don't know, Rose," he whines, "I'm still worried about my jacket. You heard her at her birthday party." He trembles at the memory. "Who knows what she'll do to it."

Rose rolls her eyes in exasperation before pinning him with a pointed stare. "Do you want to fight her for it?"

The Doctor exhibits a scowl before answering, "No, just mark it up to one more casualty to a rapidly growing list. But she's not leaving with it! I absolutely refuse to have anything associated with any of my persons coveted by Nana Prentice!" He glumly surveys the scene over Rose's shoulder one more time before grousing, "I'll simply sonic it later along with my overcoat."

"You poor thing," purrs Rose seductively before she brushes a kiss across his mouth. "Why don't you follow me and I promise to make it all better."

The Doctor's eyebrows practically jump into his hairline as he squeaks in excitement, "Really?" Then in a more suggestive tone, he asks, "Exactly just what did you have in mind, Rose Tyler?"

"Wellll…," she drawls as her fingertips trail up his necktie, you've been awfully tense since Nana arrived and I thought that maybe that you would enjoy it if I…"

"Yes?" he yelps expectantly.

"How would you like me to massage your back?" she inquires animatedly.

"A back massage?" he repeats slowly. He pouts a bit in obvious disappointment as he admits, "Yeah, sure, why not? I guess that we can't really do anything else as long as she's here anyway." His eyes alight with sudden hope. "Could you throw in a foot massage as well?"

She starts tugging him down the hall by his tie as she advises, "Don't push it, "Doctor."

To be continued….