Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who
Chapter 8
The TARDIS materialised in the large marble hall of the Tyler household.
Everyone stepped out, Rose supporting the Doctor, and went in silence to the living room, where they sat down.
Awkward silence filled the room, everyone nervously glancing the Doctor's way now and again, while the Doctor was sitting, his head in his hands, rubbing his temples.
"So, did you kill 'em? The soldiers I mean." Mickey broke the silence.
The Doctor looked up, "they weren't dead. I made them fall asleep," then, turning to Rose, he said, "like I did with Chloe Webber at the 2012 Olympics. Remember Rose?"
"Yeah I remember," Rose murmured, "But I also remember that back then you had to put your hands on her temples to make her fall asleep, you couldn't do it just by lookin' at her."
The Doctor gave her a sad smile, "Things change Rose. I've changed."
"What changed?" Rose asked desperately.
"Something happened to me," he replied, trying to evade the subject, "and now I can do things."
"Like makin' people fall asleep you mean?" Jackie said.
"Yeah, that and… other things." The Doctor said, looking at the floor.
"Like what?" Rose asked quietly, hoping she wasn't pushing her luck.
The Doctor didn't answer, he just turned and looked at her. He didn't look angry, or upset that she'd asked. It seemed as though he was just deciding what he was going to tell her. After a moment, he sighed.
"Ok," he said, "I'm only going to do this once ok? It uses up a lot of energy… and it gives me one hell of a headache afterwards. Even worse than the hangover I had after drinking 11 hyper-vodkas with Jack on Poseidon 12. And that's really saying something, that was one hell of a hangover. Funny, Time Lords don't usually get hangovers… I didn't think I could get drunk either… But Jack always did know the best places to buy drinks, especially alcoholic ones. Amazing really, in nearly 900 years of time travel, Jack was the first companion who asked to go drinking. Most of them want to see the future, want to see far off planets and horizons. But-----"
"What was it you were going to show us Doctor?" Rose interrupted, steering the Doctor back on track. She knew how easily distractible he was, although it was strange that he let himself get distracted on a matter this important.
The Doctor looked at her, "I'm doing it now Rose. This is what I wanted to show you. This is what I can do now. Back when my people were still around, Time Lords could speak this way, but not with any other species. You and your family are human, Rose. I shouldn't be able to do this."
As he spoke, Rose watched the Doctor's face. His lips never moved. His voice was talking in her head. And judging by the expressions on her families faces, they could hear him too.
"You're—you're telepathic," Rose said, barely able to believe it. She'd known that the Doctor had minor psychic powers before this, but nothing to this extent.
When the Doctor nodded, Jackie asked worriedly, "So, can you hear what we're thinkin' right now?"
"Nah," the Doctor said, "It takes a lot of effort. Plus, imagine what that'd be like. Me, hearing what every little human around was thinking! I'd have to listen to people thinking about picking up their dry cleaning, or what they need to get from the shops! It'd be a nightmare!"
"I'll say," Rose mumbled. She knew that there was no way she wanted the Doctor knowing all of her thoughts. Especially some of her daydreams about him…
No one said anything for a minute, not sure of what to say. Rose however, was looking at the Doctor, who was now clearly in some pain. His brow was furrowed, his eyes closed, and he was pinching the bridge of his nose. But what really worried her was that his nose had started bleeding. The Doctor never got nosebleeds. Whenever she got one, he would start talking about the weaknesses of human physiology, and how nosebleeds were caused by imperfections of blood capillaries in the brain.
She still didn't say anything though. She watched as the Doctor got out a handkerchief for his nose, and was horrified to see that it was already covered in bloodstains. This had happened to him before! She still didn't say anything though. Instead, she handed him a box of tissues.
While the Doctor was trying to stop the bleeding, Jackie and Pete went to get some tea and make some sandwiches (it was the cook's day off).
Mickey turned on the TV. The news was still showing, and it was re-playing the footage of the TARDIS crash-landing onto Tower Bridge.
"Blimey!" The Doctor exclaimed, watching the TARDIS's rapid decent on London, and wincing at her impact with Tower Bridge. "The TARDIS is not going to be happy with me bashing her around like that. That was a very iffy landing, and I've got the injuries to prove it!"
Rose laughed.
"What?!" The Doctor asked, pretending to be affronted.
"Nothing, it just that is the first time I've ever heard you admit to be bad at flying TARDIS… and what kind of a word is 'iffy'?!" she asked, grinning.
He grinned back, "I'll have you know that A. I'm not bad at flying the TARDIS, she's very temperamental, I'd like to see you do better, and B. I happen to think that 'iffy' is a very good word, and one that's definitely not used enough!"
Their playful banter was interrupted by Mickey calling "Rose! Doctor!"
Looking over at him, the smiles faded from their faces when they saw what Mickey was looking at. The news was now showing pictures of Rose and Jackie, naming them as possible alien conspirators, and involved with helping the alien escape into the 'unsuspecting, defenceless population of London'. Mickey and Pete's pictures were also on the screen, despite the fact that no one even witnessed them at the hospital.
Looking at their photos on the TV screen, Rose said, "We can't stay here. We have to leave an' never come back."
Mickey glanced from the screen to Rose's face, "You weren't goin' to stay anyway, were you? Now he's back, you would've left, whether we came too or not."
"Yeah, I would've." Rose said, challenging Mickey to have a go at her about it. "But now, none of us can stay here. Look!" She gestured at their photos, "we've been named alien conspirators."
But Mickey had found a flaw with the plan. "One problem. In our world, aren't we listed as dead? And Pete! According to our world, he died nearly 20 years ago. What're we goin' to do about that?"
"Oh God, yeah!" Rose exclaimed, "Doctor? What're we goin' to do about that?"
"Well… using a computer I could hack into registry office, or Mickey here could, and take you off the list of the dead. Also if I take you back soon enough, it won't be so unbelievable to people that you're back. And Pete…" The Doctor paused, thinking, "…It'll be tricky, but I'm sure we can come up with something."
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In the end, everyone, including Jackie, agreed that it was for the best. So for the next couple of hours, the house was in an uproar. While suitcase upon suitcase, and box upon box was stacked up in the Tyler's spacious marble hall, ready to be loaded into the TARDIS.
Looking at the pile, the Doctor raised his eyebrows at Rose, "Blimey! It's a good think the TARDIS goes on forever, or we'd never fit everything in! I don't know where your mother thinks she's going to put all this stuff once she gets back to her flat!"
"Right," Pete said, striding into the hall with another suitcase, "I think that's just about all of it. And I've written cheques for the staff, and left a letter for my lawyer telling him to auction everything off and give the profit to charity… So all we have to do, is get all this stuff in your box!"
Once everything was packed away in the TARDIS, Rose showed her mum and dad where they'd be sleeping. Mickey of course, used the same room as he had the last time he'd travelled with the Doctor, and was surprised to find that everything he'd left behind was still there. Rose was likewise surprised, when she visited her room, to find that nothing had moved, right down to the open lip-gloss she'd left on her dressing table. It was all dried up by now, but it was still in the exact same position as she left it.
Relieved that the Doctor hadn't got rid of anything, Rose went back to the console room. There she found the Doctor, fiddling with some wires and attaching them together with the sonic screwdriver.
Sensing her come in, the Doctor said, "I reckon we're actually good to go, or good enough anyway. I mean, once we get back to our world, I'll have to do some more repairs depending on how good the journey was, but I think that everything is in good enough condition to get us there in one piece!"
He was smiling triumphantly at her, but behind the smile, Rose could see the look of pain in his eyes, and knew that he was far from fine. Something had happened to him, something he didn't want to tell her. And because of whatever had happened, his psychic powers had been greatly increased. And because of this increase of power, he was in pain. She could see it.
Still looking at him, she realised that he was looking expectantly at her, clearly waiting for some sort of reply to what he'd been saying.
"So we can leave first thing in the mornin'? That's good," She said, nodding, "because that means that you can get a decent night's sleep before we go!"
She saw him open his mouth to argue, and immediately said, "No arguments! You need it! You're goin' to sleep whether you like it or not!" And with that, she grabbed his arm and practically dragged him towards the corridor with the bedrooms in.
Seeing him wince slightly, and put a hand to his head, she asked in a softer voice, "D'you want an aspirin or something?"
The Doctor looked at her in confusion.
"For your headache," she clarified.
"No, no, I'm fine," the Doctor protested, "and besides, I'm allergic to aspirin."
"Seriously?"
"Yep," he nodded, "a single tablet could kill me, same with some other earth medicines actually."
"Right, note to self, never give the Doctor aspirin." Rose muttered and called, "Night Doctor!" once they reached the bedrooms.
She waited and made sure that he went in his room, before entering her own room and climbing into bed.
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Hmmm, I'm still not completely happy with this chapter, but I couldn't leave you all hanging without an update for any longer!
By the way, when I was talking about blood capillaries in the brain causing nose bleeds, I have absolutely no idea if that makes any sense, as I don't do biology anymore. So if it's wrong, I apologise profusely, and do feel free to set me straight!
One last chapter to go! And it shouldn't be too long, because it's basically written already. I'm fairly certain that I'm going to do a sequel to this, and I've got a fairly good idea of most of what's gonna happen in it (kind of). But if anyone has anything that they really want to see in it, please let me know!
Please review!
