Author: RamblingRose
Rated: PG
Summary: Rose tells the Doctor to take her back to her time and come back in twenty years to get her. But after leaving her, TARDIS takes him to a post-time war Barcelona where he is assigned the task of taking on several companions and teach the ways of the Gallifrey.
Notes: 10/Rose. AU.
Chapter Two - The Companions
It had been an interesting return trip to Earth.
He learned the girl child was six years old and named Lilith. She had been born on Gallifrey and sent to the temple at the Empress' request, even though her house had no real social standing. He was also surprised to learn that looming had long been abandoned and several other laws and rules had changed since the end of The Last Great Time War.
Lilith was more than eager to learn the basic controls of the TARDIS, even though she was too short to reach a lot of the controls on the console. When the Doctor had tried to select the date to the same year he had left Rose, the TARDIS had instantly reset it for twenty years later. After several attempts to change it, the Doctor figured it was futile to argue with the ship. She seemed to be teaming up with the Empress against him.
He could feel his hearts beating faster as the TARDIS began materialising in her chosen time and place, at the Powell estates. IWill I have to hunt Rose down/IThe Doctor wondered. ITwenty years is a long time for her to have stayed in one place. Will she even be Rose Tyler anymore? Or could she have made a life with some bloke that wouldn't have been able to give her all the adventure she deserved in her life/I Lilith looked up at him. "Well, Doctor, aren't you going to let them in?"
The Doctor paced nervously, scratching at the mussed tumble of hair. "Do you think she'll still feel the same way about me? How much do six year olds know about life in your time?"
"Why wouldn't she?" Lilith asked. "You're IThe Doctor/I. And I know everything Doctor, comes with being a descendant of the Reborn Time Lords. At least Ithat/I hasn't changed from the original rules."
The Doctor had so many questions he wanted to ask Lilith. Since she "knew everything about him" maybe she could tell him who his "legendary students" were and what role Rose played in all of this. But the only thing his mind kept shifting back to was the thought of Rose, standing outside waiting for him to let her back in.
"Do I look alright?" he asked the child, straightening his jacket and finger combing his unruly hair to make himself look a little less unkempt. "I don't look horribly mutated or anything do I?" He swiped at his nose slightly. "No sort of gross old nose hairs hanging out?" he sniffed deeply a few times just to make sure.
"No, now quit smartin' and let them in already Doctor," Lilith said with an impatient sigh that seemed oddly ironic for a six year old of Gallifreyan decent. Then again she Ihad/I said several things had changed "If you wait much longer they'll die of old age. The anticipation is killing me! I can't believe I'm part of Time Lord history! Let them in!"
The Doctor looked at Lilith oddly, "You are aware that you are a very strange child?"
"You haven't any idea," Lilith said with a serious tone.
Finally unable to find other distractions, the Doctor bounded down the platform. He held his breath as he swung the door open.
It wasn't the cold rush of winter air blowing into the TARDIS from outside that made his breath whoosh from his lungs the moment he saw Rose, twenty years older but, unmistakably Ihis/I Rose. The hair colour was different. The blond seemed to be ages gone, what remained was a lovely, natural, mild brown. Other than that and darker freckles, Rose was still Rose.
She broke between the four people that had been standing in front of her and threw her arms around him in a fierce hug. "I never doubted you would come back, Doctor," she murmured against his neck. She stepped back a few paces and smiled at him.
The Doctor looked her over. The look of sophistication and maturity that radiated around her made Rose look even lovelier than he remembered. He looked at the four companions she had with her. IDoes she know they were commanded by the Empress to come along with them on their new adventures? Do the companions know/I His hearts fell as he saw Rose's characteristic nose on the faces of three of the four young companions, two of them even had her eyes. IShe moved on/I, he thought sadly. The three strapping lads and lovely young girl alone proved that.
"Oh!" Rose gasped. "My children… I almost forgot." She scurried over to the tallest one and rubbed his arm affectionately. "The oldest, he likes to be called Dee. Then we have, Mick." The second tallest boy waved slightly. "My daughter, Ambrosia. And lastly, the youngest of my evil spawn, Jack. I forgot, this is Itechnically/I the first time you have met them."
The youngest, Jack, looked to be about eleven. He had his mum's big brown eyes and apparently his father's dark, almost black, hair. From there, they all went upward in age. Ambrosia was the spitting image of her mother when he had first seen her as a London shop girl, including the ridiculously bleach-blond hair. The only thing un-Rose about Ambrosia was her nose, which The Doctor could have sworn he had seen on another face, in another time.
Mick was a bored looking boy with dark eyes and his mother's mild brown hair. There was also something very, oddly familiar about Dee. The Doctor couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he felt he Iknew/I his face from somewhere and some time in the past.
From the look of Dee, Rose had spent no time mourning her decision to stay in her time for twenty years. The children, however, looked almost as ecstatic to see him as Lilith had been upon his arrival outside of the shrine. Only they seemed to be torn between the idea of giving him a hug and avoiding his gaze.
The Doctor definitely felt like he was missing something, but decided not to let Rose know precisely how much it hurt to know she had evidentially moved on. "Rose, you've been busy!" he managed with good humour that he worried had sounded somewhat flat the moment they left his lips.
"Yeah, I guess I have." She gazed over her children with pride. The Doctor was gaping at her like a fish out of water. Rose beamed at him, trailing her fingers affectionately through his hair. "I'll explain later," she managed with nearly a straight face. The look in her eyes betrayed the calm demeanour. It was the same look he had seen several times before she had decided to leave him. It was the look she gave him when she was about two seconds away from pouncing on him.
The Doctor cleared his throat and took a step away from Rose. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let--" His voice cracked so he cleared his throat again. "Let's all get going. You are all coming, yeah?" Rose's children smiled with excitement and rushed into the TARDIS. "Rose what stories have you been telling these wee monsters about me?"
Rose lingered, a smile evident on her lips. The Doctor gazed at her bundled up form. He didn't know whether to kiss her or shake her hand, in the presence of her children. It dumbfounded him. IWould they give him dirty glares for trying to make a move on their mother/I In the end, Rose made the decision and hugged him tightly once more. He felt the warmth of a tear on the side of his neck. She sighed, "Just this an' that."
He wanted to ask why she was crying and about the children. But it could wait, he knew there would be a time and place for that later. For now, he would take all of them on a series of adventures. He pulled away from Rose and started for the door of the TARDIS. He grinned widely as he asked Rose, "Well, Rose Tyler, where would you like to go? Your choice. That is… if you want to go?"
Rose's eyes shined at hearing those old, familiar words. She rushed around him excited to be off. He felt a quick tug as Rose latched her hand to his. It seemed almost nothing had changed. She still had the adventurous blood streaming through her veins, eager to see what sort of wild things her Doctor had to show her. He stopped and it yanked her so abruptly that she crashed into him. She grinned up at him.
"You don't have to ask Doctor," she said. "I'd rather be zooming through space and time than stuck in this place for one more minute."
"But are they ready?" He gestured towards the kids that he could heard rummaging around inside the TARDIS. "Is this why you left me? Were you just so easily ready to have the life that involved kids."
"Oh there's more to it than that Doctor," Rose replied with a sly smile. "Let's go."
888
As The Doctor walked into the TARDIS with Rose, the oldest of her children popped up out from under the console, sonic screwdriver in hand. He tossed the screwdriver to The Doctor with a crazy smile. "How did you get this? And what were you doing to her?" the Doctor demanded sternly. The Doctor raced to the console to make sure the boy hadn't done anything to harm his TARDIS.
"You left it on the console so I tinkered. At any rate, that should fix her for a few jumps," the boy said and ran around the console to start turning knobs and tap things with his hand. When the TARDIS came alive, the boy threw his arms up victoriously, "She sounds wonderful!"
He could see no visible signs of harm, and the TARDIS was gearing up with a contented hum. He looked down at the sonic screwdriver in his hand then at Dee. He looked at Rose, which was gazing at the boy with maternal affection. "So he likes fixing things, does he?"
Rose looked at the Doctor and chuckled softly. "Oh, he loves tinkering. Where are we going Doctor?" The youngest of her children had attached himself to her side and she was petting his hair lovingly.
"Where do you think we're going Mum?" the boy asked wildly. He petted the console with reverence and affection. His face went pale. "Oh, you said 'IDoctor/I'. Thought you said 'Dee' mum, sorry." Dee looked across the console at the Doctor. "Care to share the destination, Doctor?"
"I think you know better than me," the Doctor replied, watching the boy's every move with interest. IHe's a little too familiar with the TARDIS/I he thought.
Dee gave one of the knobs a slight turn, never once breaking his gaze with The Doctor. "Barcelona, of course, mum." He grinned knowingly. "The planet, mind you, Doctor, Inot/I the city."
The Doctor opened his mouth to ask the boy how he knew about the planet Barcelona, then remembered… Rose was the boy's mother. Of course she was bound to tell her children about her adventures. The Doctor looked about the room and realized that he had never had quite so many companions at once before. Had the counsel been around, they would have definitely been onto him for having so many non-Time Lords on his TARDIS.
Then again, the Empress of Time had said that the ones coming along with Rose had the ability to take on Gallifreyan training. IWas there something he didn't know about them/IOf course, the answer was obvious since Dee had managed to tinker with the TARDIS without causing her any noticeable damage. Though, that didn't rule out the prospect of Dee causing unseen damages.
The Doctor was completely unsure what to teach them. He couldn't think of anything that he could instil in their minds at their advanced ages. In order to properly instil the knowledge that Time Lords possessed, he'd have to at least known them while they were children.
Suddenly an idea came to The Doctor… All the pieces began to fall into place, how the boy knew how to work on and set the TARDIS, not to mention the sonic screwdriver.
"Rose, when we get to Barcelona, would you mind if struck out on my own for a while," The Doctor asked. He was afraid of what her answer might be. After all, from her perspective, he had been away for twenty years. She might take unkindly to being left alone again so soon.
"Of course Doctor," Rose replied unexpectedly, a little too easily for his liking. She smiled softly. "I am under strict orders to not say why I am so willing to be rid of you."
"Who would give you an order like that?" The Doctor asked crossly. "Was it your mother?"
"No Doctor," Rose replied. "It was you."