Life After Death
Chapter 3; Repairs
By Kate Carter
Reasons I have been so long in updating this…
Loads of homework
Moving to a new room
Mysterious sickness that caused me to have horrendous stomach cramps and a really high fever (some sort of food poisoning, I think…it was very unpleasant, but gave me an idea for a story, so I consider it a good thing)
No ideas!!!! (well, not for this story anyway
The easiest thing to do if you like reading what I've been putting out is to add me on Author Alert! (and thanks to those who have already, I feel so honored!) I've got…um, three different "Doctor Who" ideas (and I hope one of those doesn't turn out as completely stupid as I'm afraid it might!) and a "Stargate: Atantis" one currently stuffed somewhere in the file cabinets of my mind.
Eventually, Rose came to accept that the Doctor was back, he was real, and he wasn't going anywhere, and she was all right with letting him out of her sight. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said about him. Apparently, he was going to make up for having not seen her in the last ten years. Understandable, really, but she didn't quite understand why she had to be "helping" him repair the TARDIS.
"Rose, can you hand me the…" He poked his head out from under the console of the TARDIS, running his fingers through his hair impatiently as he tried to remember the name of the tool he wanted. Mechanical skills still weren't high on his list of priorities. "The, er, whatchacallit."
Rose gazed blankly at the assortment of tools, and finally picked one at random. He glanced at it and shook his head.
"No, no, that's the, er, whatsit. I mean the whatchacallit, you know, with the…and the…" He gestured vaguely as words failed him.
Ah. The whatchacallit. Seemed to be a cross between an electric drill and a hammer, with what seemed to be radio controls on the side. Rose handed it to him and he disappeared back under the console.
After another forty-five minutes, during which time he alternately asked Rose for more vague items, shouted at the TARDIS, and implored the TARDIS, he finally jumped out from under the console, twiddled with a few knobs, and stood back, hands jammed into his pockets with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Well, that's that," he finally said, turning to Rose. "Have you got a spare bedroom?"
She hadn't been anticipating that question. "Yes," she said, eyes narrowing quizzically. "What d'ya want a spare bedroom for?"
He ignored her question. "Still a rift in Cardiff, isn't there?"
"Yes…" said Rose, unsure of where this was going.
"Good. We'll need to hire a van, move the TARDIS there, and let her charge back up. Should only take six months or so."
"Six months?!" Rose asked, incredulous. "You're all right with not doing anything for six months?"
"Well, it's not my first choice," the Doctor drawled. "However, given the choices – which, by the way, are recharge for six months or don't go anywhere at all, ever – it seems to be the best option." He grinned cheekily at her. "Besides, aren't you going to be a big sister in about six months?"
She'd nearly forgotten. "All right then, six months, you're just going to let the TARDIS sit in the middle of Cardiff? What about Torchwood? They're not going to just leave it alone."
"Ah. I've picked up a few neat little tricks, however!" he said proudly, grabbing her hand and pulling her over to a section of the console. "This," he said, pointing at a big black button, "is a cloaking mechanism. Runs on solar power. Picked it up in the year 315,689. Rather handy, it's saved me a couple of times. I was fairly irritated when Riley tried to turn it on when we were avoiding the Merloxians, and it almost blew out all the power we had, but aside from that, it's been wonderful."
"Riley? The Merloxians? Who're they?" Rose asked, curious.
"Oh, well, Riley was the….eighth? I think eighth companion I had. The Merloxians were a lovely group of land-dwelling giant squid, who considered only those who could breathe underwater as well as on land to be worth living. They were a little irritated that we weren't willing to go through their ultimate test."
"Ah," Rose said, digesting this fact. She felt a bit of a flare of jealousy that this mysterious Riley – not to mention the other companions the Doctor had – had been able to experience these things, and not her.
But, she vowed mentally to herself, it was all right now. From now on, the Doctor was going to have her, and her only.
"What other adventures have you had?" she asked him. Perhaps he heard the note of jealousy, or wistfulness, or whatever it was she had in her voice. But he squeezed her hand and then put an arm around her shoulder.
"Actually, along those lines, I've got something to show you," he said, and he pulled her off into the depths of the TARDIS.
A/N: You should adore me. I felt so bad that I hadn't updated this in so long, I did it even though it's nearly one in the morning, and tomorrow kicks off midterms week for me. So show me how much you love me and leave a review. Or add this to Favorite Stories. Or add me to Favorite Author. Or add this to Story Alert. Or add me to Author Alert. If you really want to show me some love, do all of those.