Plots and the West Wing

A snowstorm blew in the village. In the pub, Jimmy Stone was fuming. His rejection and wedding disaster had become public knowledge and he was humiliated by the other men cracking jokes at his expense. How dare Rose, a mere woman, make a mockery of him like that? Who did she think she was? No one in their right mind said no to Jimmy Stone! He was in such a foul mood, he ignored his lackey or boxed his head.

LeFou brought him more beer to cheer him up, but it did little good as he just tossed it in the fire.

"Come on, Jimmy, you've got to pull yourself together! You don't need Rose. You can do better than her."

"Rose is the only girl for me and she's ruined me!"

"Who; you? Never! Jimmy, you've got to pull yourself together!"

"LeFou:
Gosh, it disturbs me to see you, Jimmy
Looking so down in the dumps
Every guy here'd love to be you, Jimmy
Even when taking your lumps
There's no man in town as admired as you
You're everyone's favorite guy!
Everyone's awed and inspired by you
And it's not very hard to see why...

No one's slick as Jimmy Stone
No one's quick as Jimmy Stone!
No one's neck's as incredibly thick as Jimmy Stone's!
For there's no man in town half as manly
Perfect! A pure paragon!
You can ask any Tom, Dick, or Stanley
And they'll tell you whose team they'd prefer to be on!

Men:
No one's been like Jimmy
A kingpin like Jimmy!

LeFou:
No one's got a swell cleft in his chin like Jimmy!

Jimmy Stone:
As a specimen, yes, I'm intimidating!

Men:
My, what a guy, that Jimmy!
Give five "hurrahs!"
Give twelve "hip-hips!"

LeFou:
Jimmy is the best, and the rest is all drips!

Men:
No one fights like Jimmy Stone!
Douses lights like Jimmy Stone!

Man:
In a wrestling match, nobody bites like Jimmy Stone!

Minor Village Beauties
For there's no one as burly and brawny!

Jimmy Stone:
As you see, I've got biceps to spare!

LeFou:
Not a bit of him's scraggly or scrawny!

Jimmy Stone:
That's right!
And every last inch of me's covered with hair!

Men:
No one hits like Jimmy Stone!

Man II:
Matches wits like Jimmy Stone!

LeFou:
In a spitting match, nobody spits like Jimmy!

Jimmy Stone:
I'm especially good at expectorating!
Ptooey!

Men:
Ten points for Jimmy Stone!

Jimmy:
When I was a lad, I ate four dozen eggs
Every morning to help me get large
And now that I'm grown, I eat five dozen eggs
So I'm roughly the size of a barge!

All:
No one shoots like Jimmy Stone!
Makes those beauts like Jimmy Stone!

LeFou:
Then goes tromping around wearing boots like Jimmy Stone!

Jimmy Stone
I use antlers in all of my decorating!

All:
My, what a guy, Jimmy Stone!

Jimmy felt extremely smug and quite cheered up, but then Rose's father came in, begging for help to rescue Rose from a supposed alien called a "Time Lord" up in the castle. No one listened to Pete's raving and Pete was ordered to leave, which he did so, looking upset and reluctant as he left the pub.

An idea then struck Jimmy. Rose cherished her father more than anything. If Pete were to be locked in the lunatic insane asylum, Rose would do anything to keep him from being locked up—maybe even marry him! It was brilliant! He quickly whispered his plot to LeFou and left to speak with the keeper of the asylum.

XXX

Back in the castle, the Doctor was brooding in a dark corner in the West Wing. He couldn't believe Rose had been kind enough to give up her freedom for her father's sake. He would not admit it, he was growing fond of her. His conversation with Sarah-Jane kept echoing in his mind.

"Doctor, she could be the one to break the spell," said Sarah-Jane.


"She isn't. You know I can't love her, Sarah. One day either she'll leave or she'll die of old age," he argued. "I can't risk losing someone I care about again."

"Rubbish! You're going to lose a lot more if you don't open up your hearts. Doctor, you know we don't have much time left. The watch has already started to slow down and stop ticking."

"I know! You think I can just forget about that?" he shouted. "Every single day I see that watch and hear it slowing dying out, everyday I feel the sounds of my people slipping away and they've grown softer than ever now!"

"Then why don't you at least try?" she asked. "You need her. She could be the one."

He sighed. "Sarah, it isn't that simple. Yes, Rose could be the one to save me and turn all of you back to normal but she can't. How could someone as wonderful as her love a broken old man like me?"

"Honestly, you underestimate her. Just let her in and let her get to know the Time Lord we all care about."

He sighed. He had endured so much loneliness and loss. Could Rose help him forget about that? He was fond of her, but what could Rose ever see in him? He sang to himself.

"And in my lonely lives
Full of pain and of lies
Not a single trace of love in any space
And from my tortured hearts
No comfort, no escape
I see, but deep within is utter blindness

Hopeless
As my dream dies
As the time flies
Love a lost illusion
Helpless
Unforgiven
Lonely and broken
To this sad conclusion

No kindness could move me
No adventure intrigue me
No power on earth, if I can't love her
No passion could reach me
No lesson could teach me
How I could have loved her and have her love me too
If I can't love her, then who?

Long ago I should have seen
All the things I could have been
Careless and unthinking I moved onward

No pain could be deeper
No life could be cheaper
No point anymore if I can't love her
No spirit could win me
No hope left within me
Hope I could have loved her and that she'd set me free

But it's not to be
If I can't love her
Let the worlds be done with me."

He didn't think himself worthy of Rose's love, but no one else seemed to be worthy of someone like Rose. Someone who was clearly eager and ready for adventure, someone selfless and caring, someone as beautiful as she was, someone as perfect as she was.

Sighing again, he cast a glance at the silver watch, which floated in the glass case, before going off to another part of the Wing. What hope did he have of breaking the spell? He would remain alone forever and his friends would remain as they were forever.

XXX

Rose was exploring the castle with Jack and Mickey. She was only half paying attention to Mickey and Jack's talk about the history of the castle. She was fascinated, but she was starting to get a bit bored. Suddenly, she heard a soft female voice call out to her.

Rose…Rose…come to me…

Rose froze and looked around, but saw no one beside herself, Jack and Mickey. The two didn't look as though they had heard anything either. Was it just her imagination? She shook herself and continued following the two, but kept hearing the voice.

Rose, I know you can hear me. I'm in the West Wing.

Rose swallowed painfully and saw a huge dark staircase. "What's up there?" she asked.

Jack and Mickey froze.

"Ah, nothing! Nothing's up there," said Jack.

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Is there nothing interesting up there?"

"There is nothing at all interesting in the West Wing!" Mickey blurted out.

"Ah-ha! So, that's the West Wing."

Jack whacked Mickey. "Nice going, genius. Uh, Rose, do you like to read?"

"Quite a lot, why?"

"We've got a library with mountains of books. Why don't you come see it?" he said, trying to drag her away.

"You've got a library?"

"Yes, yes, now come along, so much to read, so little time, eh?" said Mickey.

But both of them failed to notice Rose wasn't following them any longer. She climbed the staircase and continued to heed the call of the strange voice.

I'm not going to hurt you, Rose. Just keep following my voice. Don't be afraid, I'm speaking to you through your mind.

"Just keep out of my memories. Who are you?" Rose whispered.

I'm a friend and the closest companion of the Doctor. I'm the TARDIS. There's something in here that I want you to see.

"What is it?"

I'll speak more when you've come.

"But how will I know you? What do you look like?"

You ask good questions. I look like a big blue box with the words "police public call box on the front." You can't miss me.

Rose opened the door of the West Wing to reveal a huge, dimly lit room. The walls were lined with portraits of what she guessed were the Doctor's previous incarnations, former companions, friends and family. She saw the TARDIS, glowing brightly in the corner and was fascinated, but she didn't go in. A silver watch caught her eye. It was open, but the cover of the watch had strange designs on it. It was slowly ticking and floating in a glass case.

Rose carefully lifted the case and reached out to touch the watch, but then, out of nowhere, the Doctor swooped in on her and quickly covered the watch. His brown eyes were full of anger and blazed with fire.

"What're you doing in here?" he demanded.

"I-I'm sorry."

"I told you never to come in here!"

"The-the TARDIS said…" Rose stammered.

"Do you have any idea what you could've done? GET OUT! GET OUT!"

Rose didn't need to be told again. She grabbed her cloak and fled, ignoring the protests of Sarah-Jane and the others. She grabbed a horse and rode off into the dark winter storm, but ran straight into a pack of vicious hungry wolves that quickly surrounded her.

Rose was thrown off the horse, but she wasn't down yet. She grabbed a stick and tried to beat them off, but they overtook her. Just when the pack leader had her pinned and was about the deliver the killing blow, a loud whirring noise startled them.

The TARDIS was appearing and the Doctor came out. He aimed his sonic screwdriver at the wolves, sending out a high frequency that sent most of them running away. But one remained. The pack leader, angry at this, attacked the Doctor; he bit his arm and scratched his chest.

Rose, despite still being a bit shaken, grabbed the screwdriver and miraculously used a higher frequency to send the pack leader running away before kneeling by the Doctor. "Doctor! Doctor, are you okay?" she asked. "Doctor, talk to me."

But he didn't. He remained unconscious, bleeding and unmoving in the snow. He needed medical attention and fast. She struggled to carry him to the TARDIS and get him back to the castle. The TARDIS immediately flew them to the castle where Rose got Sarah-Jane and the others to get bandages, medicines and water.

After half an hour, the Doctor was awake, on a spare bed in the castle and nearly protested when Rose insisted on treating his injures. She had already bandaged his chest, but his arm still needed tending to.

"Hold still, this might sting," Rose warned.

When the soaked cloth touched the Doctor's arm, he let out a loud hiss of pain. "Might?" he said.

"I'm sorry," said Rose.

The Doctor looked at her, confused. "For what?"

"For this," Rose beckoned to his injures. "If I had just ignored the TARDIS and stayed out of the West Wing like you asked me to and not run off, you wouldn't have had to come after me and you wouldn't be hurt like this."

She tried to stop a few tears as the Doctor touched her face and gently wiped them off with the pad of his thumb before lifting her chin and making her look at him.

"Rose, look at me. It isn't your fault. I was the one who scared you off and sent you into a pack of wolves. I should've listened to your explanation and I was wrong to yell like that. So don't blame yourself, okay?"

Rose looked into his eyes and nodded. "Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you…for saving my life."

The Doctor looked touched and smiled. "You're Welcome."

XXX

Late that same night, Jimmy was making a bargain with the head of the asylum. In exchange for ten thousand coins, he would put Pete in the asylum unless Rose agreed to marry Jimmy. The bargain was quickly agreed upon and Jimmy went to Rose's house, only to discover both Pete and Rose were gone.

After the men in pub had refused to help Pete, Pete had left to find the castle and get Rose back—no matter the cost and had left no traces for the other villagers to find.

But they'd have to return at one point, so Jimmy made LeFou stand guard at the house until they did. One way or another, Jimmy would have Rose's hand in marriage.