A/N: Hiya, guys. It has been waaaay to long since I have posted something, but I had midterms and a week-long horrible flu and and and. . . no one actually wants my excuses *sigh* so here's the third chapter:
Chapter Three
Rose shut the door behind her, cutting off the soft murmurs of the television and leaving behind the warm glow of the apartment. She walked down the stairs and stepped out into the cold night. Pulling her arms tightly around herself, she looked upwards. The tar-black sky stretched overhead, sprinkled with stars. It was a bit of a tradition for her, checking the sky. Everywhere she went the constellations were different. But—Orion's Belt, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, the Big Dipper, and the Little Dipper— it only took a quick glance to tell her she was on Earth. She no longer thought of Earth as home, but that didn't mean she wasn't comforted by the familiar constellations. Still, her home was with the Doctor in the TARDIS, now, and she would give anything to be there. Rose kicked a pebble with the toe of her trainer and strolled down the street. She passed a shop playing the R.E.M. song, "the One I Love," and she hummed the tune as she continued on.
She had no particular destination or route in mind. Instead, she went where her feet took her. Well, until her nose took over. She caught wind of a warm, cinnamon-tinged scent and she wasted no time in following it. It took her to a small café that she never would have noticed had it not been for the alluring scent that led her there. A bell tinkled as she opened the door to the dimly lit room. She went to the register and bought a cocoa. It wasn't until the steaming mug was in her hands that she finally looked about the place. It was a very cozy set-up, with couches and armchairs and even the occasional beanbag. A small man sat, hunched over his computer and typing away. Two women sat in armchairs facing each other, sipping their tea and giggling. A couple sat on a couch and speaking softly and smiling. In the shadowed corner sat a man. A thin, spiky-haired, pinstripe-suit-wearing man, flicking through a book.
It didn't surprise her, somehow, but it was odd for him to be sitting there so quietly. There had been no whoosh of the TARDIS to announce him like fanfare, he wasn't in the midst of saving anyone from anything, he was just. . .sitting there. Rose walked slowly over and sat down across from him. He gave no indication that he was aware of her presence, save for his teeth worrying his bottom lip.
"Hello," she said.
It was then that he looked up.
.&.
Rose.
There she was, in all her pink-and-yellow glory, looking straight at him. Her face was an impasse, clearly manufactured this way until she could assess the situation. Would she forgive him? It hadn't been intentional. In fact, he was so used to having her around that he had felt an almost physical pain in her absence. He tried to respond, to say anything, but he hadn't narrowed it down enough and all that came out was a "hng" of confusion and worry.
.&
Well. She didn't know what she had been expecting, but that certainly wasn't it. Maybe excuses, maybe a confused, "Hello, I'm the Doctor! What's your name?" but not the strange noise that had come between them a few seconds previously.
"I don't know if you knew, but I was just released from a psychiatric facility. We tried to reach you. I tried to reach you."
"Yeah, I, erm, I was just at the apartment. Jackie told me everything. And then she slapped me."
Quelle surprise.
"Where were you?"
"In the TARDIS. She wouldn't let me out. I guess she cloaked herself, too."
Rose closed her eyes. It was starting to make sense. She sent a mental message to the TARDIS: That was evil, but thank you. She took a breath to steel herself, and reached across the table for the Doctor's hand. His eyes widened and his eyebrows knit together in confusion.
.&.
That was. Did she just? That's—not new for them or anything, it's just, hrm. There was something different about it. Usually their hand-holding came out of fear, exhilaration, or possessiveness. This was intentional.
.&.
Get it over with, idiot.
"I love you."
The Doctor's lips parted, ever so slightly, and his hand clenched around hers. Sudden panic overtook her.
And that was the single dumbest thing you have ever said or done.
But it needed to happen.
The Doctor's lip curled up on one side, and he let out a small chuckle.
"That's one hell of an age gap." And then they were both laughing, the intensity of the situation being shrugged away with each shake of their shoulders. Soon he was asking about the past few days, about what it was like there. She told him everything, about Mark, about Charlie, about the food and the therapy, about how glad she was to have escaped without medication.
.&.
When she had taken the last sip of her cocoa, they decided to go back outside and wander around. They walked down the dark street, side by side with their steps in sync. She shivered in the cold and he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her and inhaling the sweet scent of her shampoo.
"I love you, Rose Tyler," he whispered into her hair. "There's one thing I'd like to ask, though. Why aren't you mad at me? You needed me and I wasn't there." She laughed, causing him only more confusion. "What? I really don't understand!" She laughed harder, and he pulled away to inspect her for injury. She seemed to register that he was, indeed, very serious, and she attempted to compose herself.
"You are as thick as a boulder. She did this. I mean, she wasn't the one to lock me up, but she was the one to keep you away. She must've known that all it would take was one conversation for me to realize that this," she gestured between them, "would be worth the risk of embarrassment."
"Who is this mysterious woman that you speak of?"
"The TARDIS, you big useless lump." She poked him in the chest and smiled at his bemused expression.
"Huh," he smiled, "well, then, I owe her a thank you."
"Speaking of giving thanks, there's someone I'd like to see."
.&.
Breathe, idiot, breathe.
Charlie pushed open the door to Doughty's Books and the entrance bell jangled.
Well, so much for entering unannounced.
Mona looked up from the register at the bell, and caught Charlie's eye.
"Hi," Charlie said, fiddling with one of her shirt buttons.
"I thought you were gone," Mona blurted, pushing her hair away from her face and glaring. "One day you just don't show up and I thought you were sick. But you didn't come back the next day or the day after that. It has been over a week. Where were you?"
Honesty, remember. You promised.
"I was in the hospital. I was just released yesterday."
"Oh. Are you okay?" Charlie looked over at the clock. It was 11:30.
"Are you game for an early lunch? I could really go for some non-hospital food, and it's kind of a long story."
.&.
They stepped out of the TARDIS, Rose first then the Doctor, and into daylight. Across the street was a small store with an open-book-shaped sign that read "Doughty's Books." The Doctor turned to Rose and asked, "Is this it?"
"As far as I know. Let's go take a peek inside."
A bell jangled as the opened the door. The Doctor pushed past Rose eagerly, putting his stupidly-sexy-glasses on, stuffing his hands in his pockets and eagerly going through the shelves. Rose sighed in amusement and followed after him. She yanked on his arm, "Come on, you idiot, we're on a mission here."
"But, books, Rose, books!" he spluttered.
"Charlie!" she said fiercely, and pulled him towards the counter where an old man stood behind the register. "Hi, um, I'm Rose. Charlie works here, right?"
"Yes, but I'm afraid she and Mona went on their lunch break about twenty minutes ago." Rose couldn't help but smile and hope that Charlie was keeping her promise. Seeing her expression, the old man smiled. "It's about time, isn't it? This had better be the day they get to really talking or I'll fire the both of them. Well, I couldn't actually do that. But I know a good match when I see one and I'll be damned if I don't try something drastic soon." Rose laughed, and his eyes widened. "Hey! You must be the one Charlie was telling me about. Blonde, gorgeous, a little peculiar and hopefully with a man—John?" He looked over at the Doctor. "On her arm." Rose couldn't help but laugh again.
"Sounds like me, alright."
"So what are you doing here? As you can see, I've got books of all kinds coming out of my ears, but I have a feeling that's not what you're here for."
"You're good. We may come back for a book, or twenty," she said with a glance over at the Doctor, who was pulling away from her and staring with childish want at the shelves. "But I'm really here to thank Charlie for pushing me in the right direction," she pointed her thumb at her idiot Doctor, "and to see that she kept her promise. See, we made an agreement that we would be honest. I would tell the Doctor that he's an idiot and that I love him, and she would tell Mona what she's got going on."
"I could hug you! This might actually work. Okay, they usually go to lunch at the café down the block. Take a cookie for your journey," he picked a cookie out of the basket on the counter and shoved it at her, "I expect you to return and give me all the details. If this doesn't work, I'm going to lock you two in here with me and we're going to plan our next move in this battle."
"It's a deal." Rose took the cookie and gave him a salute. "Come on Doctor, we have lovebirds to spy on." She tugged on his arm. He didn't move. She growled and took his hand. He turned to her –finally—and smiled. She led him out the door and the bell jangled behind them. Once they were out the door, he held his other hand out towards her expectantly. She gave him her best what-now-you-idiot look. He raised his eyebrows, grinned, and waggled his fingers.
"Come on then, Rose, I need fuel for the journey." She pulled out the cookie from her pocket and handed it towards him. He stopped, took a nibble, and chewed. "That's lovely, Rose, thank you, but that wasn't exactly what I was going for." And then he was leaning down and kissing her and he tasted like a sugar cookie and she didn't care about the cookie she was holding anymore and just went after the one with its lips to hers and then her hands were in his hair and his hands were in the small of her back, pulling her towards him. He felt solid and real and she was between crying and laughing because he was all hers and she was all his. A whistle whipped through the air and she pulled away to look.
.&.
Soft and warm and pink and yellow and feels like home
Wait, why is she pulling away no come back Rose
He stumbled forward at the loss of her and no that funny little noise definitely did not come from him thankyouverymuch
He looked in the direction Rose was looking. Through the glass window of Doughty's Books Mr. Doughty himself was grinning like a maniac and giving them a double thumbs-up. Rose laughed next to him and put her arm around his waist, underneath his jacket.
This isn't so bad. I can deal with this. Well, I would like to do that kissing thing again. Right now, preferably, but we're on a mission.
He sighed and let Rose steer him away from the shop and down the block.
.&.
They passed a pet store and a clothing shop and they were passing a bike shop when Rose spotted them. The two women were sitting at a table outside of the café, Charlie's face was towards them, but Mona's back was towards them. To avoid being seen, Rose pulled the Doctor into the alley between the bike shop and the café. She stuck her head around the building and took a peek. Charlie looked damn happy. She was smiling openly and Rose was struck by the difference between hospital-Charlie and Charlie-with-Mona-at-the-cafe.
"I can't see a thing, and I think it's time we said hello," said the Doctor from behind her.
"What? No! We can't just—" but the Doctor ignored her and pulled her out of the alleyway. He put his hand in hers and she felt herself relax a bit despite her frustration. She resisted the urge to hide behind his thin figure and walked beside him indignantly. They neared the table and Charlie looked up.
"Rose! Hello! What are you doing here? I thought you would be in Timor Leste or somewhere equally as exotic by now."
"Well, I wanted to say thank you. Really, thank you."
"Me too!" the Doctor added. "Can I hug you?" Rose stomped on his foot.
"Sorry 'bout him. He's a little peculiar." Charlie laughed, and then her eyes narrowed.
"This is John, then? I think a slap is more in order than a hug, honestly. Where were you when Rose was stuck in the hospital? Beijing?"
"There was an incident with his . . . plane," Rose explained. Charlie harrumphed, but relaxed a bit.
"Um, hi, my name's Mona." the dark-haired woman said and stuck out her hand to Rose. The Doctor reached past Rose and shook Mona's hand.
"I'm the Doctor!" Rose stomped on his foot again and he grimaced. "John, I mean, like Charlie said. Doctor John." If Mona or Charlie noticed anything strange about this, they didn't say anything, and Rose was very grateful.
"I also came to see that you kept your promise," Rose said. Charlie blushed, but raised her eyebrow.
"Did you keep yours?" Rose smiled, and kissed the Doctor on the cheek. He tried to turn his face and catch her on the mouth, but she brought her hand up and pressed a finger to his lips.
"That would be a yes," she said to Charlie. The Doctor made a face, and tried and failed to squirm away. "So?" Charlie laughed and chucked her balled up napkin at Mona. Mona stuck her tongue out at Charlie after it bounced off her forehead, then turned to Rose.
"Ten minutes in and she's already an annoying girlfriend."
"Hey! You stole some of my sandwich earlier."
"Yeah, and then promptly choked on it when you asked me out."
"That was terrifying; I thought you were going to suffocate and I would never get an answer."
"How sweet. I'm so flattered I think I should share my soup with your shirt."
"Gah!" Charlie cowered and tried to cover her torso with her arms. Mona smiled deviously and sipped at her soup. Charlie looked up and glowered.
"What? I'm not wasting perfectly good minestrone on you." Rose and the Doctor were cackling at this point.
"You guys are brilliant!" the Doctor gasped out through giggles. "Now can I hug someone?" It was Mona and Charlie's turn to laugh. Charlie stood up and caught the Doctor in a bear hug.
"Hnng! Ow! Ribs!" Charlie pulled away and held her hand out to Mona. Mona took the offered hand and stood up.
"Let's go for a walk, shall we? If I eat anymore soup I'm going to pop." Charlie went in to pay for their meal as the Doctor started joking around.
"Would you like a mint? It's just a wafer thin mint!" Mona laughed, puffed up her cheeks, and pretended to explode. When Charlie returned, the Doctor was doing his best impression of Eric Idle. Charlie giggled, it was pretty accurate. The Doctor turned to Rose and waggled his eyebrows.
"You are not allowed to start singing 'Every Sperm is Sacred,'" Rose warned.
"Every sperm is sacred! Every sperm is great! If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate!"
"You are awful and I hate you."
"I love that movie!" Mona said with a grin.
"Aren't you Catholic?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, well, funny is funny and the Meaning of Life is funny."
"Can we show them?" the Doctor asked Rose, "Pretty please with a Slitheen on top?"
"Leave out the Slitheen and it's a deal."
"What on Earth are you talking about?" Mona asked.
"Well, she's on Earth right now, but-" he was cut off when Rose slammed her hand over his mouth. "Ow," was his muffled response.
"We want to show you something." Rose explained. Mona and Charlie looked at each other. Charlie shrugged.
"I'm game as long as it doesn't come out from underneath a trenchcoat."
"Did you really have to go there?"
"Um, yeah. That's the kind of surprise I like to avoid." Charlie sighed, and turned back to the Doctor.
"Lead the way, weirdo."
.&.
"A phone box. You brought us to a phone box," Charlie stated. The Doctor grinned and turned on his heel towards the door of the TARDIS. He stepped inside and Rose followed.
"Do you have any idea what they're playing at?" Mona whispered to Charlie. Charlie shook her head, and continued to stare at the blue box. After a moment, Rose stuck her head out of the door.
"What are you waiting for? Come inside already!" she said and pulled her head back inside. Mona shrugged at Charlie.
"I don't see any trench coats. Can't be that bad," she said. She opened the door and stepped inside. She got both feet inside, but froze in the doorway. "Great Merlin's Ghost, Batman." Charlie pushed past her only to fall on her butt next to Mona.
"Damn it all, it was only a matter of time before I started hallucinating. This sucks, I only just got out of the hospital."
"Does this mean I'm hallucinating, too?"
"Hold on, what are you seeing?"
"This big room with a funny-looking column in the middle. It looks alien."
"Weird. I'm seeing that, too." Rose sighed and jumped down from her perch on the console. She walked over to Mona and Charlie. She helped Charlie up, and placed one hand on each of their shoulders.
"Calm down, you idiots. Neither of you are hallucinating. You're in the TARDIS. That stands for time and relative dimension in space. This freak," she gestured towards the Doctor, who was leaning against the console and watching them with amusement, "is an alien. A Time Lord, to be specific. He's nine hundred years old and he's got two hearts. We travel together, but not just around Earth. Although we do seem to spend a lot of time in 21st century London, what's that about?" she asked the Doctor. He just shrugged. "Anyways," she continued, "this is his ship. We can go anywhere in space and time. Oh, and he changes his appearance every once and a while."
"I think I'm gonna pass out," Charlie said.
"I second the motion," Mona said.
"Okay, breathe. That was probably a bit much to take in at once. Sorry about that." She looked at them, thinking. "Oh! You haven't done the checking outside and inside thing yet." She pushed them out the door.
"I think you just attacked them verbally," said the Doctor from behind her.
"Shut up. It's exciting, I can't help it."
.&.
"It looks like a police box. Why does it look like a police box? You know, I never thought I'd be asking why a spaceship looks like a police box. What has my life come to?" Charlie mused as she followed Mona in a circle around the TARDIS.
"This is the strangest thing I have ever encountered, and I've been through you," Mona said.
"You are so mean, I swear. But I get what you're saying. I mean a spaceship-slash-time-machine? Aliens? First of all: aliens. Second: spaceships. Third: time travel. Fourth: somehow we're mixed up in this. I think my brain is going to explode."
"Well, neither of us passed out, so maybe we'll avoid the brain-explosions, too."
"You know what would help right now? Tea."
"I'm on board. Think they have some?"
"I can deal with aliens, I think, but I don't think I can do aliens without tea. Let's go find out."
.&.
"Stop sucking face. We need tea." Rose and the Doctor disentangled themselves, looking a little disheveled. Rose felt her face burn. She cleared her throat.
"Tea. Yeah, tea."
"Hold on, I'm still waiting for it," said the Doctor.
"Waiting for what? Oh, come on, really?"
"It's my favorite bit!" He looked over at Mona and Charlie. "Really? I can't believe you two. Come on, then! Out with it!" He stared at them expectantly. When Mona just shrugged, he swore in what Rose knew to be Gallifreyan but what sounded to the newcomers like a mix between Mandarin and Klingon. "Seriously? It's bigger on the inside!" he sputtered.
"That's what you're getting at?" Mona asked.
"Honestly we're a bit too distracted by time travel and aliens to care much about silly things like that. Speaking of aliens, Rose, you said earlier that he's 900 years old. That's one hell of an age gap." Charlie said.
"Oh, God, that's what my mum says."
"But seriously," Mona said.
"Tea!" Charlie finished. The Doctor led them out of the console room and down the hallway towards the kitchen. Rose could've sworn she heard him grumble something along the lines of "worse than Fred and George."
.&.
"So, Rose, how on—well, not Earth, I guess—did you meet the Doctor?" Mona asked.
"Ooh, yeah. I'm guessing you left out some interesting bits when you told me," Charlie added.
"Alright, then. I used to work at Henricksen's," she started.
"The place that blew!"
"Yep. I was there that night."
"And I was the one that blew up the place!" the Doctor announced with glee.
"Please tell me there was a good reason for it. And not liking their jumpers is not a good reason." Rose laughed and explained about the living plastic and the rest of their adventure.
"But their jumpers really were awful," the Doctor added.
"Oh my gosh, when you told me about your adventures I thought you were talking about getting on the wrong plane or culture-difference-based mishaps. I definitely did not consider that you were talking about monsters and aliens that were bent on world-domination."
"Occasionally universe-domination," Rose said.
"More tea. Now." Mona said. Charlie nodded.
Their conversation continued similarly. Rose told Charlie how she really got stuck in the hospital, about the Slitheen and Cassandra and the Gelth. Mona joked about how some of their adventures had similar plots to her favorite books, and Charlie asked about how realistic her favorite sci-fi shows were. Rose was thinking to herself about just how much she was enjoying having Mona and Charlie around when the Doctor nudged her in the shin with his foot. She looked up at him and he gave her a funny look.
"Sorry, I don't speak strange-eyebrow-movements, Doctor." Mona and Charlie looked at them. The Doctor jerked his head towards the hallway. "Be right back," Rose said, and followed him into the hallway. "What's up?"
"How about them?"
"Mona and Charlie? They're fantastic, why?"
"Think they'd be nice to have around?" Rose smiled.
"Let's find out."
.&.
Rose and the Doctor stepped back inside the kitchen with matching mischievous glints in their eyes.
"I smell trouble," Mona said.
"Well, there's always trouble when he's involved," Rose admitted. "But we have an offer."
"What's the offer?" Charlie asked.
"Come with us," the Doctor blurted.
"Please? Without a Slitheen on top?" Rose added. Charlie squeezed Mona's hand under the table. Mona turned to her and raised her eyebrow. Charlie turned back to Rose and the Doctor.
"Give us a second, okay?" The Doctor nodded.
.&.
Charlie sat down in the hallway, and Mona sat next to her. They were silent for a while. Mona was the first to speak up.
"I'm terrified, but I want to try it. What are you thinking?"
"I don't know. I'm used to careful deliberation and Spock-like logic. But this isn't one of those situations that becomes clearer with time or thought. This isn't exactly something that you can plan for, either. I've never thought about whether or not I'd like to run off with an alien and his girlfriend before. I never knew there were aliens or that time travel was possible until two hours ago. Hell, I haven't even had a girlfriend for much longer than that!" Mona laughed. "But maybe, I don't know, maybe we should just roll with it. I mean, I have always loved traveling, and I've always loved looking up at the night sky. This is our chance to see the stars and planets up close and personal. So I say yes. God, yes. It would be an instant no if it meant leaving you behind but you're coming too, and that's fantastic."
Mona was kissing her and that was fantastic too.
"Wait," Charlie gasped, "what about Batman?"
"Only you would think about a bird when you're on board a spaceship!"
"Hey! I'm serious here, I can't leave Batman behind."
"And I can't take you seriously when you say Batman."
"Well, I couldn't name my bird Robin. That's too easy."
"You are ridiculous. Let's go find out whether or not this ship is pet-friendly or not."
.&.
"Yes." Rose whooped and the Doctor grinned.
"On one condition," Charlie added, "Batman."
"What?" The Doctor and Rose said together.
"It's her bird," Mona explained, "they're inseparable."
.&.
"I've gone domestic!" the Doctor groaned as Charlie brought her bird on board. Rose patted him on the shoulder.
"One last stop," Mona said, "Doughty's Books." The Doctor cheered up at the prospect of books.
"Can we get another cookie?" he asked Rose. She blushed.
.&.
"I'll only forgive you for not returning after lunch if you're together now," Mr. Doughty announced. Charlie blushed and Mona narrowed her eyes at him.
"You were scheming this whole time you evil—" Charlie shut her up with a kiss. The old man cheered. Everyone jumped when the Doctor dropped a pile of books on the counter with a thud. Rose sighed, grabbed a few cookies from the basket, and fished out her wallet.
.&.
"I'm not entirely sure, but I think your bedroom will be down that hallway somewhere."
"Very helpful, thanks," Mona said.
"Hey, be grateful. That's more direction than he gave me." The Doctor made a face.
"Found it! Charlie shouted a few minutes later.
"This is a good idea, right?" Rose asked the Doctor.
"You were a good idea," he said, looking at his toes.
"You're terrible."
"I'm brilliant, but that's beside the point. I only pick the best."
A/N: And that's a wrap, folks. But honestly I have so much fun writing this that I could definitely be convinced to continue this. Maybe if you ask pretty please with a Slitheen on top. . .
