A/N: Hey guys! Almost exactly two years later, and I've decided that instead of uploading this to my archiveofourown account, I'd just continue this story here. The dialogue is still going to be near identical to the transcript as of now, but I plan to start veering off from it within the next few episodes. Also, I'm not sure if I'm going to continue A Destiny to Unfold yet, but I'll take it one fic at a time. Until then, here's the rest of "Rose"! Next chapter will feature the beginning of "The End of the World". Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: Two years later and I still don't own Doctor Who. Damn.
Meditation was the one form of relaxation that the Doctor actually decided to use. Unlike the evil that was yoga, meditation actually relaxed his whole body, clearing his mind of everything except what he actually needed to know and helping him focus on said things he needed to know. Currently, the Time Lord in question was sat on his bed (he did have one, thank you very much) with his legs crossed, eyes closed as he thought the events of the day so far through. In a few hours, Earth-time, Rose Tyler would be seated in a restaurant with the Auton Mickey, and he'd go in to save the day, so to speak. He needed a bottle of champagne. He needed to keep Rose with him.
He needed to figure out how the hell he got sent back a lifetime in the first place.
Through his head he searched, recalling the reptilian creatures that shot him in the first place and what he did exactly to them. From what they said, he had a hand in destroying their planet. If he was being honest with himself, he had a hand in so many ruined planets that it was hard to figure out what exactly he did. Then he remembered, and the Doctor sprang up, searching the poison he had been shot with.
Kavar poison, known to mess with the state of being for certain creatures, often creating the illusion-or, on the rare occasion, actually-that the victim has been sent back to another moment in life or a completely different time period or lifetime. There is no known cure. Effects are said to wear off over a period of a few days to a few months.
The Doctor sighed. Time wasn't relevant for him, but the TARDIS he owned was a fickle being, so actually going into the future to find a cure for this madness was far from advisable. He was currently in his ninth form (or tenth, depending on how it was viewed), and ruining his encounter with Rose was not an option. Once Rose was aboard the TARDIS, however, there would be an even less chance for him to go search. He could look while she visited with Jackie, but…
Rassilion, he missed Rose Tyler more than he could let on. Why would he give this opportunity up?
Sighing, the Doctor stood and went to the console room. He would figure it out as it went on. Until then, he had an auton to stop.
-DW-
"Open the gate! Use that tube thing!" Rose ran from the restaurant, shaking the gate furiously. "Come on!"
The Doctor was honestly offended. Tube thing? "Sonic screwdriver."
"Use it!"
"Nah," he said with a shake of his head. "Tell you what, let's go in here." He unlocked the TARDIS and went inside, listening to the Auton pound on the door and Rose panic.
"You can't hide inside a wooden box, it's going to get us! Doctor!" She ran inside, desperate, then stopped. The Doctor smiled a bit. He loved the companion's reactions to his ship. Rose ran back out, looking at the exterior, before running back inside as the Auton broke through the metal door. "It's going to follow us!"
He snorted. "The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried. Now, shut up a minute." He walked around his ship, looking at the head he'd taken from the Auton. "You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source." He looked at Rose, who still looked flabberghasted. Cute. "Right. Where do you want to start?"
"Er…" She shook her head. "The inside's bigger than the outside?"
"Yes."
"It's alien."
"Are you alien?"
"Yes." A pause. "Is that alright?"
"Yeah." Rose nodded, eyes wide as she looked around. The Doctor smiled fondly. "It's called the TARDIS, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S. That's Time and Relative Dimension in Space." His eyes widened as Rose began crying, and he quickly shook his head. No, he didn't remember her crying. "That's okay! Culture shock. Happens to the best of us."
"Did they kill him?" Rose asked, shaking her head. "Mickey? Did they kill him? Is he dead?"
Oh. "Oh. I didn't think of that."
"He's my boyfriend. You pulled off his head. They copied him, and you didn't even think?" Oh, she was mad. "And now you're just going to let him melt?"
"Melt?" He turned in time to see the plastic head on the console melting. "Oh, no no no no no!" He ran over and set the TARDIS to move, shocking Rose.
"What're you doing?"
"Following the signal. It's fading-wait a minute, I've got it!" He messed with the controls, trying to keep the signal locked. "No, no no no no no! Almost there, almost there….here we go!" The TARDIS landed with a loud thud, and the Doctor ran out of the ship at once, Rose squeaking in protest and running after him.
"Doctor, you can't go out there! It's not...safe…" she trailed off, eyes wide. They were no longer in an alley being attacked by not-Mickey, but in Westminster. The Doctor barely glanced back, focusing on the task at hand. This had to go well.
"I lost the signal, I got so close!"
Rose didn't seem to care. "We've moved. Does it fly?"
"Disappears there and reappears here. You wouldn't understand." And wow, that was rude.
"If we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It's still on the loose."
"It melted with the head." He looked back finally, watching Rose pace in shock. "Are you going to witter on all night?"
"I'll have to tell his mother." She looked up. "Mickey. I'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you just went and forgot him, again! You were right." She shook her head. "You are alien."
"Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey-"
"Yeah, he's not a kid."
"-it's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, all right?"
Rose stared for a moment, and the Doctor fought not to sigh. This version of him really did have a temper. "All right."
"Yes, it is!"
Then, like always, the little human that caught his hearts surprised him. "If you are an alien, how comes you sound like you're from the North?"
"Lots of planets have a north!"
"What's a police public call box?" On to the next topic. His head was spinning.
"It's a telephone box from the 1950s. It's a disguise."
"...okay." Maybe not a good one, then. "And this, this living plastic...what's it got against us?"
"Nothing. It loves you. You've got such a good planet-lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!"
"Any way of stopping it?"
He held up a tube, giving her a manic grin. "Anti-plastic."
"...anti-plastic."
"Anti-plastic!" The Doctor grinned wider. "But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something this big in a city this small?" Of, course, he already knew, but Rose figured it out. She found and saw what the Doctor never thought to look at, and that little fact made him love her that much more. Not that he'd say it out loud, of course. Rose frowned.
"Hold on. Hide what?"
"The transmitter. Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London." He turned, and unlike the first time around, he saw the London Eye in his view. Wait for it… "A huge circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel. Radial. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible!" He looked at her. "What? What is it? What?"
Rose nodded toward the background, and he looked at the Eye once again, grinning madly. Their first adventure was underway. "Oh. Fantastic!"
-DW-
It was just like he remembered. He spoke long speeches to the Nestene Consciousness, the vial was found, Mickey was found, and he shouted for Rose to run. It was instinct by now. He didn't want Rose to be injured in their adventures, even if he knew the outcome. Things could and will change. Luckily, this time, nothing did, and Rose kicked the vial of anti-plastic into the vat that held the Nestene Consciousness, destroying it. Now, Mickey the Idiot and Rose were in the alley with him. It was the moment of truth. "I'll be off, unless, er...I don't know, you could come with me." He sounded hopeful. "This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge."
"Don't, he's alien! He's a…a thing!" The Doctor could have killed Mickey in that instant.
"He's not invited. What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or...you could go anywhere."
Rose looked tempted. "Is it always this dangerous?"
"Yeah."
She looked down, and he sighed. "Yeah, I can't. I've, er, I've got to go and find my mum, and someone's got to look after this lump, so…"
"Okay. See you around." He got into the TARDIS and left, floating in space idly in his ship. He'd go back, but he had time. Now, he had to decide: to change the future, or to not? If he didn't,things would end as they already did, and Canary Wharf would end in heartbreak like it always would. If he did, he may very well be stuck in this body for good. Then again, he'd have Rose, and wasn't that what mattered?
It was a risk he was willing to take. "Allons-y," he murmured, and The Doctor flicked a switched. Poking his head out of the door, he saw Rose turn back toward him in shock. "By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?"
Rose grinned and looked to Mickey. "Thanks."
"Thanks for what?"
"Exactly."
She kissed his cheek and ran into the TARDIS, ready to begin the adventure of a lifetime. It would be absolutely fantastic.