Author's Note: Let's get out of the sad place so we can get back to the fluff!
There will be an adult version of this chapter over at Teaspoon, but it may not be available until morning.
Standard Disclaimer: Guess whether I own Doctor Who. No? You're right!
Chapter Seven
"When was this?" she asked, turning to face her Doctor in time to see his face fall.
"I remember my first time there, of course, but when was I there with both of you?" she continued, needing to know.
"What do you remember about how we got back to Pete's World?" the Doctor asked.
"We, uh… I don't. I don't remember how we got here," Rose replied, her breathing a little heavy.
"What is the first thing you do remember after we came here?" the Doctor tried again.
Rose calmed some as she found the memory.
"It was the day after we got here," she said, "because you came to comfort me early that morning when I had the dream about the Doctor losing Donna."
"What do you remember before that?" he asked.
"Davros. He was taunting the Doctor," she answered, frowning. "I can't remember you before that dream."
He pulled her into his arms.
"We'll get it back," he said, "and we'll ensure this doesn't happen again."
They stood there a moment, arms wrapped around each other, the Doctor still holding both the device and the sonic as he looked over her head at the painting. They broke apart at the sound of somebody trying to open one of the doors they'd yet to enter.
The Doctor took a look at Rose and a look at the painting, then walked quickly to the door, unlocking and opening it in a smooth motion. The person on the other side was Janet, the employee they'd seen earlier, and Janet looked startled at the sight of the Doctor and Rose standing in the room. Her look shifted to one closer to fear as she took in the Doctor's expression.
"I need to see your boss immediately," said the Doctor firmly.
"Mr. L… Lankerfrey doesn't see anybody unless the interview process…" she trailed off at something she saw in the Doctor's eyes.
"The interview process is a sham put into place to steal memories from unsuspecting victims," he said angrily, not softening as Rose came to stand by his side, carrying the painting she retrieved from the wall. "I will speak to him regarding this matter, and I will do it now."
The woman managed to squeak something that sounded a bit like, "This way," before she turned and walked away from them. Rose and the Doctor followed, and Rose tried to reach out telepathically to comfort the Doctor.
Since he had a tendency to shut down when he was angry, Rose wasn't surprised at the mental block she encountered. She was just a little hurt but decided to let it go for now, helped along by the hand he reached out to take hers when he felt her attempt. She took his hand in her free one, grateful her painting was smaller than some of the others, as they walked through a short corridor and stopped at an unmarked door.
Janet knocked nervously on the door, looking over her shoulder at the Doctor before knocking a second time.
"What is it?" came a rough voice from inside the room.
"There's someone who needs to speak with you, sir," said Janet, voice wavering.
"I'm busy," returned the voice that presumably belonged to Todd Lankerfrey.
Janet turned to dart a worried look at the Doctor, who nodded at her before moving toward the door himself. She quickly got out of his way, and the Doctor opened the door without hesitation, revealing an office with a man behind a desk.
The man was unremarkable in appearance. He was handsome enough, with salt-and-pepper hair, but he wasn't the sort to stand out in a crowd and had no defining features. He looked up from his desk with a face that reflected his outrage at the interruption.
"I am busy!" he repeated, standing as he raised his voice.
"I am talking!" retorted the Doctor, holding out the memory-stealing device in his hand.
Todd Lankerfrey blanched, and Rose was worried he may vomit.
"How did you…" the strength left his voice and he sat back down, covering his face in his hands.
"Presumably, you know what this is, Todd?" said the Doctor in a calm, steady voice.
"Yes," he said from behind his hands.
"And do you feel it is acceptable behavior to steal people's memories from them?" the Doctor continued, and Rose found a moment of amusement in picturing him lecturing Lily a few years from now using similar wording and tone. By his slight twitch at her thought, Rose was pretty sure the Doctor had picked up on that amusement.
"It was an accident," said Todd defensively, removing his hands from his face to see the Doctor's eyebrows raised in disbelief.
"I mean," he continued with a defeated sigh, "I didn't know what it did at first. Didn't realize it actually took the memory instead of just making it into an image. I was getting ready to paint somebody, and I had that at my easel. I found it, and it kinda felt like it could be my lucky charm, you know? I didn't have a reason for it, just a gut instinct. I was trying to get a certain look on my model's face, so I was having her remember specific things, and the device got triggered. That first time, I thought maybe I had blacked out and painted it subconsciously or something." He paused, rubbing his eyes before continuing. "Of course, I figured out that it was the device rather quickly when I tried to copy the results for my next model. By the time I realized it was actually taking memories, anywhere from an hour's worth to a day's, my work had already been discovered, and the people were demanding more. At that point I figured they couldn't miss something they didn't know they had, right?"
"Except they did," interrupted Rose quietly.
He took a look at Rose and then at the painting she held, hiding his face again before he resumed speaking.
"Yes," he said, "they did. But by the time I worked that out, demand had gotten huge. If I stopped or admitted what happened, I would be ruined. You have to understand," he finished pleadingly.
"You have to understand that you were changing people's lives for the worse," said the Doctor, steel in his voice. "You have to understand that you were raping their minds for your own profit. You have to understand that you will be leaving here with the authorities, who can hold you for a very long time for forgery of art until they figure out what rules were broken with the memory theft itself."
Todd slumped in his chair, nodding. Rose felt herself relax when she saw he wasn't going to fight.
"Now, you are going to tell me everything you did to amplify this device so that I can reverse the damage you've done," said the Doctor.
Todd retrieved schematics from his desk.
"You're lucky," the Doctor told him as he read the designs. "Because of these circuits here, I will be able to reverse everything with just the device itself, so we won't need to track down your buyers."
Todd nodded and ran a hand through his hair.
"It's all over then, isn't it?" he said. "I'll be a nothing again. Less than."
"Your actions are what did that to you," said the Doctor, "not your lack of previous success."
The Doctor took out his sonic and then paused.
"We need the authorities here before I reverse this," he said, indicating the phone that sat at the corner of Todd Lankerfrey's desk as he looked over the schematics again. Rose handed him the phone to make the call, not feeling up to speaking with the authorities on a strange planet while the feel of a hole still lingered in her mind.
The Doctor called the police, quickly explaining the situation. When he hung up, he explained to Rose that they should be there very quickly. Any form of tampering with art was taken quite seriously in this particular time and place. She nodded and sat down, studying her painting, and the Doctor spoke.
"The brain is a delicate thing," he said to Todd. "Removing memories is never something that should be done lightly. When it has to be done, it should be for the sake of saving a life. At minimum, it should improve life at the person's request."
Rose teared up slightly as she remembered Donna's pleas to keep her memory.
"To take memories for profit," continued the Doctor, "for fame or for recognition is unacceptable. If the return of these memories is unsuccessful, you will have to hope the authorities can keep you safe."
Rose turned toward the Doctor and put a hand on his arm. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He turned toward Rose and opened his mouth to speak, but the police chose that moment to arrive.
The Doctor explained again what had happened, carefully using Rose's picture as illustration when needed.
"My brother interviewed for you," muttered one of the policemen as he instructed Todd in his rights. He applied some form of handcuffs and escorted Todd from the room. One official remained behind to witness the return of the memories.
"Ready?" said the Doctor, looking Rose in the eye as he took both device and sonic screwdriver in hand.
She nodded, taking one more look at both him and the painting.
"Ready, Doctor," she told him.
Rose heard the sound of the sonic and then a loud ringing in her ears, and she grabbed her head as pain returned, less this time then when the memory had been removed. The discomfort was brief, and she looked up as the Doctor was setting down the device and moving toward her. She caught a glimpse of a blank, white canvas before the Doctor's face was right in front of hers. He appeared to be checking her eyes and her reaction time, having slipped into doctor mode at her pain.
"M'okay, Doctor," she told him, placing a hand over his heart in a familiar way that almost made the heart in question skip a beat. "'Together,'" she said, repeating the word that had been so true for them since that moment on the beach. She saw recognition in his eyes before he pulled her to him, wrapping her in a hug so tight that it felt as if his life depended on being as close to Rose Tyler as possible.
The policeman who had stayed in the room cleared his throat. "Well, if that's settled, then I'll just…" he gestured out of the office, and Rose gave him a quick, appreciative nod at his offer of privacy before burying her face in the Doctor's chest, and she was vaguely aware of the door shutting behind him.
Rose wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, embracing, not moving, but eventually, the Doctor pulled back, just a bit, without letting go.
She stroked his face as he studied hers.
"I know that losing that memory didn't change who we are," said Rose, quietly, looking from his eyes down to his lips, "but I'm glad I got our first kiss back."
She flicked her eyes back up to his just in time for his lips to press against hers, a desperation in them as his mental walls came crashing back down, letting Rose feel the tumultuous range of emotions he had been keeping from her, from himself, even, while he needed to remain calm and functional. She kissed him back with all of the love she felt for him, showing her regret for the temporary loss of her first memories with him and her sadness at the unpleasant connections the experience had for the Doctor. His hand moved down from her waist and fisted in the material of her dress as he slowed the kiss.
"Let's get out of here," he said, and Rose nodded, taking his hand and standing, following him out of the door after he slipped the memory device into a pocket.
They weren't stopped as they left the now-colorless gallery, the blank white canvases lining the main display room. Rose blinked again as they stepped into the light.
"What time is it?" she asked, surprised.
"Around lunch time," said the Doctor. "We've only been gone from the TARDIS for three hours, forty-six minutes. We should still have a few hours before Lily wakes up, if we want to do anything else."
Checking her mobile and seeing a recent text from Jack saying that all was well and he was going to sleep, Rose looked at the Doctor.
"Is there someplace we can go with just us?" she asked, and he nodded.
"This way," he said, leading her down the steps and along the sidewalk. As they walked hand-in-hand, people started speaking more loudly about the blank paintings and about memories they'd forgotten they had. The volume continued rising, and Rose was pretty sure that if the public ever got ahold of Mr. Lamperkey, he wouldn't be a very happy man.
They came to a small building that appeared to be closed.
"I called ahead while you were showering earlier, pulled some strings, and we have the place to ourselves," said the Doctor, entering a code on a numeric keypad as he spoke. He beamed at her as the door opened, and he gestured for her to enter.
Inside, there were just a few small tables, one of them set with a meal and some small lights. The walls on three sides were glass, and on the other side of the glass were numerous, brightly colored fish. Rose looked around, impressed at the immersive aquarium.
"They call it 'living art,' and this type of thing is very popular right now. I thought you might enjoy it," he said, fiddling with his earlobe nervously. "There are different forms of art behind the glass at different restaurants, of course, but I thought you might like this one.
"I love it, Doctor," she said, placing both hands on his chest as she looked up at him.
O~O~O~O~O~O
After their meal, the Doctor and Rose returned to the TARDIS, exhausted. They collapsed into bed and fell asleep instantly, waking just half an hour later when Lily loudly informed the TARDIS's occupants that she was awake and ready to start her day.
Reviews!
britgirlatheart: I really am sorry! This chapter didn't get super fluffy, but I have pretty much nothing but fluff planned for next chapter.
jacks marie: Here's the update! It's rare for me to go more than a day or so without an update, especially when people are awesome and let me know they're waiting :) Thanks so much for reviewing, and I am glad you're liking it!