"Doctor, I don't think they're here," Reinette told him for what had to have been the tenth time at this point. He looked frenzied at this point, his fingers digging through his hair so it now spiked crazily. They had searched back and forth, and had asked around if others had seen them. What had been a pleasurable evening was now turning into chaos as the Doctor realized he had done the very thing he'd promised Jackie he'd never do - he had failed to protect Rose.
"They can't just disappear," he told Reinette irritably. "You stupid humans, always doing this. When I say to stay somewhere, no one ever listens." She stared at him, shocked, her mouth pressed into a firm line. He almost apologized, but that irritated him more. "They're probably at the TARDIS already, and we missed them. That's all." He turned about, fighting through the crowd to head in the opposite direction. Reluctant at first, Reinette finally followed after him. He was understandably upset to lose his two companions, but she thought it beneath him to snap at her in such a way. She would be sure to tell him once they reached the TARDIS.
He found them in the media room, snuggled up together beneath a large blanket with a bowl of popcorn between them. It was innocent, really, but he glared at Mickey nonetheless. "Were either of you going to tell me that you had wandered off," he asked them sharply. Rose slowly unraveled herself from beneath the blanket, a popped kernel still in her hand. "You were busy," she told him, "and you said it was safe there. How many times have you wandered off and left us to follow?"
He made a dismissive sound. "Is that what this is about? You're angry at me?"
"No, I'm not, actually." She gave Mickey an apologetic look as she exited the room, forcing the Doctor to follow after. Once in the corridor, she told him in a low voice, "You were with Reinette, I was with Mickey. We were safe, like you said, so I don't see what the problem is."
"The problem, Rose Tyler, is that you could have gotten lost. Something could have happened."
"Like having fun?" She drummed up a laugh she didn't really feel. "Doctor, I can't ... I can't follow you around all the time and expect that you'll deign to notice me." She stopped herself. She didn't want to have this conversation, but it seemed she would have no choice. "I left to have fun, just as you were having fun with Reinette. I needed to enjoy myself. Is that so bad? Time after time, I have stuck at your back, but this time I went off alone. Not even alone, I was with Mickey. What if I had gone off with you instead? How do I even know you were going to be there? What if something had happened and you left again? Would you have come back? Do I know that you would? That you won't just up and leave again? I'm not going to stick myself in the TARDIS and wait to see when you might show up. If you disappeared again, then I would figure things out. If I get left behind, then I do. I'll miss my mum, yeah, and I'll miss Earth, but I'd rather be dropped off at a planet I could try and live on instead of some airship that was lost out in the cold like last time."
He snorted. "I wouldn't leave you behind, Rose. I wouldn't leave you in that kind of danger, either."
She frowned in answer as she said, "Are you sure about that? I wouldn't be the first." There was a look of guilt from him in answer. She nodded, saying, "I'm not angry with you, but I don't exactly trust you, either. I'm going back to my movie. Let me know if we're taking off yet."
The Doctor glared after Rose in agitation, tempted to strike something to release some frustration. That wasn't him, though. He didn't use fists, he didn't use weapons. He was a tactical man. And tactics is what he needed to remedy this mess. Reinette found him shortly after, pacing around the console, his fists shoved into his pockets, glasses perched on his nose. "Doctor, is something amiss?"
"Not a thing," he assured her, his smile on the edge of fierce. "We're going into the capitol tomorrow, the four of us. We're going to see the festival. You might like it, since some of their architecture could almost be Parisian in design. They'll have some dresses you might like. Or some shoes." He made a dismissive gesture, his mind still wound about Rose and earning her trust again. When Reinette approached, he didn't favor her with that indulgent grin she was used to receiving from him. He instead glanced away.
"What is it, Doctor? Why are you so troubled?"
It wasn't in him to be open with others, not really. Not since Rose, and he held back even from her. It was ingrained in him. Nonetheless, he found himself telling Reinette, "I left her there. I didn't think about her. Or Mickey. I just left off to chase after those clockwork. She didn't know what I was thinking or doing, because I always know. This time I really didn't. I left her for five hours, scared, on some remote spaceship."
"You were saving me."
The Doctor glanced at her. "Yeah, I was, and I'd do it again. I shouldn't have done that to Rose, though. I shouldn't have abandoned her like that and made her think she isn't important."
"Because you love her?"
The Doctor glanced at Reinette, but didn't answer. "I know a nice spot along the water that we can dine at before the parades begin. There's nothing like a Rasiguli parade, you know. The banners will be hard to understand, I'm sure, but the colors are amazing. There'll be some you never realized existed, too. It should be warm again tomorrow, so you may want to consider light clothes again."
"Doctor." She could see he was hurting, could feel it when her hand touched his. Such a lost boy, always running away. "You don't have to run away from the truth, Doctor." Gently, she kissed him, sorrowful. "I look forward to tomorrow. Good night." He gave her a wary, but saddened, look in return as she drew away.
He had promised to show her the stars, and here he was making a mess of that promise. She should be awed by the different rooms the TARDIS harbored. She should be gazing at the majestic skies of New Earth. She should see the delights that the heavens could unfold, and then she should be tucked safely back beside the king, happily living her life as Madame de Pompadour while he and Rose went back to exploring the whole of the universe. He folded his arms up and continued pacing. Humans were such problems, sometimes he wondered why he bothered with them. He gave a small kick to the console, and the TARDIS hummed in irritation. "Oh sure, turn on me, too, why don't you?"
The streets of the capitol were filled with so many life forms that Reinette clung to the Doctor, frustrating both him and Rose. However, he couldn't very well shake her off. He was too polite to do so. The Parisian mistress had opted for her thick skirts again, and was suffering for it. She hung onto his arm, making vague comments about the scenery around them. She was too polite to confess that this strange world both frightened and disgusted her. There were bugs crawling on everything, but no one seemed to bother with them. Her lack of interest annoyed the Doctor greatly. Rose, on the other hand, was dressed in her usual jeans and t-shirt, and was exuberant in describing the races that she knew in a soft voice to the others. The Doctor would fill in here and there with more information as needed. Pretty soon, Reinette and Mickey were forgotten as the two began to laugh about the Emperor of Gat and his propensity for farting. "I thought he was a Slitheen," Rose explained. "But I didn't know how he could be that short. Plus his head was all wrong."
"They are related, actually, but they've had centuries to both evolve from each other. The gravity on Gat is so dense, it compressed their bodies over time until they became a shorter, thinner version of the Slitheen. They're just as lethal, but the females don't have the darts in their fingers. They have it..." he looked pointedly at Rose, wiggling his brows. She giggled in reaction. "They use it on males for copulation. It won't kill them, just knock them out. Otherwise, the males are brutally rough, for being so short. Don't think the males don't like it. Who doesn't like a little nooky now and then?" He paused with a grimace, adding on, "Remind me never to use that word again."
"I'll remember," she assured him, then gasped in excitement as bright fireworks went off across them. These danced, they hummed, and played intriguing music as they swam around the sky. "What are those?"
"They're bugs. Beetles to be exact," he explained. "This is a mating ritual for them. They will swim around in the sky, singing, until they find their mate. You'll know when they do, because they turn red and explode. That releases their shells, which they'll grow back after-"
"After nooky," Rose couldn't help interjecting, tongue in cheek. His grin answered hers. "Something like that, yeah," he answered. "They grow the shells back, and the ones that are dropped are swept up and used in everything you see around here. That's what gives off that iridescent glow."
"I noticed the shells at the beach were also glowing," Reinette commented. "Is it because of the sea water or the insect shells?" She was feeling off-put. Every attempt she had made to lure the Doctor's attention had failed so far. The Doctor favored her with a winning grin, nodding, and explained to them all, "The water has so much phosphorescent residue from the bugs that it affects everything in its water. From the shells to the fish ... well, not really fish, more like organisms. Small organisms. Not everything on this planet has evolved, which is why it's such a prime place for a carnival. I should warn you that these beetles-"
Slap!
Reinette had smacked a bug, leaving a phosphorous smear on her arm. The Doctor stared at her in shock as he finished, "are considered rare and are protected. Intentionally crushing one can result in death or life imprisoned." Those around them who had seen what Reinette had done gasped in horror, moving away as three tall guardians in black plate moved around the group. "Wait," the Doctor tried to interject, hands spread out. "Wait, she didn't realize. She's not even from this galaxy. It can be considered an accidental crushing."
There was a buzz as the guardian scanned Reinette from head to toe. "By the signacode 2-47 protection act, this human willfully destroyed a rare glowphoid beetle. She will be detained and put to trial." They hauled Reinette up to clasp her arms together in a thick tube. She shrieked as she was hoisted up by her arms, another device placed around her waist. "You have been arrested," the guardian told her. "If you attempt to leave the moon or try any form of escape, your arms will be cut off and your pelvis crushed. You will follow us or be destroyed immediately."
"Doctor, what do I do?" Tears streamed along Reinette's face as she was prodded along from the crowds. He hurried along after her, trying to get the guardians to speak to him. Neither responded to his attempts. Finally, he fell back beside Reinette, assuring her, "Don't say anything at all. I will get you out of this, I promise you. We can't take you back into the TARDIS right now. It would be seen as removing you from the moon. Do as they say." He fell back to let Rose and Mickey catch up to him, his face tense with worry. "I'm going to have to let them arrest me. Otherwise, she's going to do something else stupid, I just know it."
"You don't have to do it. I could let them arrest me instead," Rose offered.
He stared at Rose long and hard, as though seeing her for the first time. A smile broke out finally as he commented, "You would do that, wouldn't you? You really are brave, Rose Tyler. I need you to do something else for me, instead." He gave her his psychic paper and leaned forward to whisper in her ear. Then he slapped at his arm to crush a bug. As before, three guardians appeared to arrest him, dragging him away from Rose and Mickey, who stood there without a word.
Once the Doctor had been taken away, Mickey asked her, "What is it that he wanted you to do?"
Rose glanced at the paper, then burst into laughter. "Learn to drive the TARDIS," she answered, lifting the paper so he could see step by step instructions to get the TARDIS moving.
