WELL, MY ADORING PUBLIC (AHEM!) SEEMS TO BELIEVE THAT DUE TO SOME CHARACTER TRAITS ASCRIBED IN MY STORY TO CERTAIN BLONDE COMPANIONS, THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER IS NOT VERY REALISTIC. UPON REFLECTION, I MIGHT HAVE TO AGREE. HOWEVER, I DO THINK THAT GIVEN ENOUGH TIME, SHE COULD DEVELOP INTO A MATURE ENOUGH ADULT THAT THIS COULD HAPPEN. PERHAPS IT IS, IN FACT, TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR HER TO BE THIS ENLIGHTENED AT TWENTY-TWO (NO OFFENSE IF YOU ARE THIS AGE OR YOUNGER - TAKE COMFORT IN KNOWING THAT YOU ARE NOT ROSE).
BUT, I SHALL PROCEED FROM HERE AS THOUGH THIS WERE COMPLETELY NORMAL... ROSE AND THE DOCTOR HAVE DECIDED TO CUT THEIR LOSSES AND PART COMPANY IN THE INTEREST OF TAKING CARE OF THOSE WHO HAVE SUFFERED AS A RESULT OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP. PERHAPS IT'S TRIPE, BUT I HOPE IT'S ENJOYABLE TRIPE. :-)
PLUS, THE STORY HAS BEEN FINISHED FOR, LIKE, THREE WEEKS. I'M NOT TURNING BACK NOW!!
THE STORY GOES ON
"Okay, I see how this thing works," Mickey said, studying all the little dials and switches on the board. "This one is for the depth of the building, this one is for the height, this is for the width."
Martha watched as he pointed to each, and as he did, it all made sense. "Yes! And this one here, that's for the volume of water needed, and this one activates the upward rain! We'll just have to hit that button when the time comes."
"But wait," Mickey warned. "Let's make sure we're not sending the building to the planet Mongo or something."
They both ran their eyes over the board. "Okay, I see the latitude and longitudinal coordinates here," he said.
"And I see what I think is our current location. Shin-Fang 6, right? Okay." She reached into her pocket and extracted a pen, and jotted them down on her arm. "Tell me the Earth coordinates, and I'll type it in as the destination. Or I'll try anyway."
He read off the original starting-point for the Judoon's transportation of the building from London, and Martha did her best to enter them using a keyboard designed for the Judoon's beefy fingers. Then she extended her arm so that Mickey could read the destination coordinates and type them into the starting-point field.
The com light began to flash. Martha pressed the button. A voice crackled over the speaker. "Mickey? Martha?" It was Rose.
"We're still here," Martha said. "How's it going up there?"
"We're nearly finished," Rose told her. "We've disarmed the explosives, but now the Doctor's trying to get in touch with the Shadow Proclamation to see if they can send someone to meet us on Earth to dispatch the Judoon."
Mickey and Martha looked at each other with bewilderment. "Erm, all right."
A few seconds passed in which nothing was said, and then Martha could hear the Doctor's voice in the background, shouting as he always did when his adrenaline was pumping. "Allons-y!" he was saying.
"Did you hear that?" Rose asked.
"Loud and clear. Prepare for landing in west London!" Martha flicked the switch with gusto. Within seconds, they could hear the rain outside, and then they felt the tremor. They held onto the control board for leverage, and then the flash of bright light came and went.
When it stopped, they could hear chaos once more outside. The Judoon squad was shouting all at once, people were screaming, and the sound of the Doctor and Rose trundling down the metal stairs was growing closer and closer. The two of them appeared in the doorway. Martha and Mickey jumped up and each of them hugged their loved one in celebration. "Let's get the hell out of here," he suggested.
When they opened the spaceship door at the bottom of the stairs, Martha took in the very welcome sight of London spread out before her. She also saw another ship parked nearby. It was white, saucer-shaped and looked practical.
"That's the Shadow Proclamation," the Doctor said.
Nearby, they could see Judoon squad members being escorted onto the white saucer by various entities, some more humanoid than others.
"Need any help?" the Doctor called out.
A female voice sounded in reply from a position near the opening of the ship. "No thank you, Doctor. We've secured the lobby so that no-one can leave until we've finished gathering all of the Judoon. And then we'll send the nice people home to their families."
The Doctor gave a salute and led his companions through the door onto the fifteenth floor, across the office space, and then down the stairs. The four of them chattered about the experience as they descended, joking lightheartedly, telling stories of their own fear, their own "I didn't think I could do it" anecdotes. Others in the building were doing the same as they, now calmer, came up and down the stairs.
The lobby was a sea of people. Martha sought out the two she had helped – one girl with possible concussion and the female security guard with a fractured rib. She saw the latter, and two men trying to help her to her feet.
"No no no no no," she cried out as she ran toward them. "I'm calling you an ambulance. You just put her right back on the floor."
Mickey sidled up next to her, followed by the Doctor and Rose. "Did you help this girl?" he asked.
"Tried," she said. "Not a lot I can do here."
One of the men said, "Hey, thanks for helping us lift that piece of marble."
"No problem, mate," Mickey replied with a little wave.
Martha gave information to the ambulance dispatcher, and closed her phone. Then she asked the Doctor, "Do you think we should call in the bomb squad or anything?"
"No, the Shadow Proclamation have already brought in some... beings... who will deal with that. I'm not sure a human bomb squad would know what to do with Judoon explosives anyway," he told her.
"Right," she said.
Just then, a voice sounded from near one of the main doors. "The area is secured. You may now leave the premises."
The doors opened and people began spilling onto the streets of London, where, as before, family members and friends had been waiting, holding vigil near where the bank building had disappeared. The four of them watched as relieved humans filed out, each with a really great story to tell at the next dinner party.
They were left nearly alone in the lobby, and they all looked at each other, somehow, without making eye contact.
"Mickey," Rose said, taking his arm. "I think we should be getting back. We have a report to make to Randall."
Mickey looked at her with surprise. "Really?"
"Of course," she said. "I'm not going to let you face him alone. Besides, my dad will be waiting in that awful white room for me, I can't just abandon him there."
Mickey and Rose faced Martha and the Doctor. "Thank you," Rose said to the Time Lord, "For everything."
He only nodded slightly, and said you're welcome with his eyes. They hugged, and Rose whispered in his ear, "Take care of her, will you?"
"Yes," he whispered back.
"Same as you took care of me?"
"Yes," he agreed.
Rose turned to Martha. "Good luck, love," she said. "Whatever is next, good luck." They hugged as well, and to her surprise, Martha felt a bit choked-up to be saying goodbye.
Next, Martha hugged Mickey. They each pulled away and sighed. "It was fun," he said, smiling.
She nodded. And then, next thing Martha knew, Rose Tyler and Mickey Smith were walking out of the bank, hand-in-hand.
This is not how I thought this evening would end, she thought.
She turned to the Doctor. Before she could open her mouth to ask what had gone on up in that control room, he said, "Come on. I'll give you a ride home."
And now Martha Jones and the Doctor walked hand-in-hand toward the bank vault. He had left it ajar just slightly, so they heaved it open and stepped across the threshold. The old warm, familiar sight of the TARDIS greeted them as they did, and they went inside, both smiling, both relieved and apprehensive at the same time.
Rose and Mickey found an area in an alley just behind a department store. He took a device out of his pocket that looked like a yellow disc, and Rose did likewise. They held onto each other and pressed the buttons at the same time. For any onlookers (of which there were none), it would seem as though they had blinked out of existence. But in a millisecond, they found themselves back in the same spot, in a different London, in a different universe.
As they walked back toward Canary Wharf, Mickey couldn't help asking, "Rose, why did you come back with me?"
She didn't answer for a few seconds. She stared at the stars, looked at the pavement, made eye contact with other pedestrians, but said nothing. And then finally, she took a deep breath and said, "Because it was the right thing to do."
He gave an amused smile, and asked, "It was the right thing to do?"
"Yeah," she said. "Let's sit."
They sat down on a park bench on the edge of a little patch of urban green. Again, she waited quite a while before speaking.
"How long have we known each other?" she asked.
"Four years," he answered. "Why?"
"What did I give you for your last birthday?"
"A classic Led Zeppelin album on vinyl," he answered. "It was brilliant."
"And the year before that?"
"Those trainers I wanted," he told her.
"And the year before that?"
"Rose, what's this about?"
"Mickey, I can't remember what you gave me for my birthday two days ago. I can't remember where we went, what I ate, what I wore, what was said or how we got home," she confessed. "I know we made love, but my mind wasn't on you any more then than it had been all evening."
"Lovely," he said. "Just what a bloke wants to hear."
"No, I'm telling you this because I know it's not fair," she told him, taking his hand again. "You think of me all the time, you remember everything we did together, and I can barely concentrate on the moment."
"I've learned to live with it."
"You shouldn't have to do that."
"So what are you saying, Rose?"
"I'm saying," she said, choking a bit on her words. "I'm saying I want to make it right. I want to be yours again. I want your devotion for all this time not to have been in vain. I want to be the girlfriend that I know I can be, and that you deserve. No one – not me, not you, not the Doctor, not even Martha – can be happy until we stop pining for the past."
"You don't want to be with the Doctor anymore?"
"I've decided that what I want is irrelevant," she told him. "I've spent three years imposing upon you with what I've wanted. It's time for me to stop being such a child. We are in a relationship, it's not just you towing the line and making all the effort anymore."
Mickey laughed happily. "I can't believe I'm hearing this! What the hell happened in that control room, Rose?"
"It doesn't matter anymore. Will you let me be your girlfriend again?"
He kissed her. It was the most engagement he'd felt in her kiss since... he didn't know when. He loved it – he dared to think that he might finally have Rose's full attention again.
Trouble was, he didn't want to be anyone's penance.