The Girl in the Fireplace Part 1

A.N: The things I do... in all honesty, even though I ship the Doc. and Rose, unlike many other D/R shippers who want to murder Moffat for this one, I really don't mind this Episode… in fact, I've got to say it's one of my favourites. Not because of the romance between the new character and the Doctor, but because the story's good, the soundtrack is beautiful and the badies used to scare the shit outta me. I didn't really want to change anything between the Doctor and Reinette (even though I don't support it), but I thought people would be expecting a change, so… enjoy.

What a day… the Doctor thought as he wondered through the TARDIS halls, passing the previous bedroom of one Sarah-Jane Smith. The Doctor smiled as he though back on their small reunion. He was happy she was still doing her small investigations, helping in any way she can. Although, her meeting with his newest female companion could have gone a lot better.

"The missus and the ex," Mickey had whistled. "Welcome to every man's worst nightmare." And didn't he mean it. First of all, it set off an uncomfortable phase with Rose, making her think he'd just dump her off somewhere like he did with Sarah-Jane, followed by an awkward conversation between the two. He'd nearly said it… he wanted too, but he couldn't.

"I don't age," the Doctor told her brokenly. "I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither, and you die. Imagine that happening to someone who you-" he bit his tongue, not allowing that four lettered… forbidden word to pass his teeth.

He knew Rose was jealous of Sarah-Jane, and the cruel fact is, he did next to nothing about it. The Doctor supposed he did it to, maybe, stop Rose from having these feelings for him, which he knew she had. In a way, he felt guilty for using Sarah-Jane like that, but he didn't want the same thing that happened to her to happen to Rose. That plan went out the window when he found Rose and Sarah-Jane laughing together about who knows what. For some unknown reason, the sight of him made the two to laugh even more, sending him into a deep phase of paranoia.

"I waited for you," Sarah-Jane had told him. "I missed you," ending it off with a, "You were my life."

More than ever now, he wished his annoying, old nuisance was around. She was patronising sometimes, but she was someone you could talk too. Surprisingly, she hadn't turned up like she'd said she would. The Doctor remembered looking over his shoulder, expecting to see Eliza chasing after him. He could feel her there, but she didn't appear.

After they'd returned to the TARDIS, Mickey had requested that he come with the Doctor and Rose, Rose not looking too happy about it. After spinning into the Time Vortex, she went straight to bed, Mickey doing the same not too long later.

The next morning seemed a lot lighter. The two had bounded out of their rooms, pestering the Doctor on where they where going to go on Mickey's first trip.

"It's a space ship!" Mickey exclaimed as they stepped out of the TARDIS. "Brilliant! I got a space ship on my first go!"

Rose took in her surroundings, noticing the extreme lack of crew. "Looks kind of abandoned," she said. "Anyone on board?" she asked the Doctor.

"Nah," the Doctor replied. "Nothing here. Weelll, nothing dangerous. Weelll, not that dangerous," he looked around the room, nodding his head sharply. "You know what, I think I'll just have a quick scan… in case there's anything dangerous," he walked over to a Control Panel, tinkering with the many different buttons, hoping to make something happen, bad or good.

Rose smirked as she joined him. "So, how far have we gone?"

"About… three thousand years into your future, give or take," he replied, pulling a lever, lighting up the whole room, opening up the ceiling to reveal a deep space, stars scattering across the black void. "Fifty first century. Diagmar Cluster! You're a long way from home, Mickey! About two and a half Galaxies!"

Mickey walked over to whole of the ship's small portholes, watching in awe at everything outside. Rose joined him, the Doctor rummaging on and in the Control Panel as they spoke. "Dear me, they had some cowboys in here," the Doctor muttered. "Got a ton of repair work going on." The Doctor chucked a piece of metal on the Panel, glancing at one of the monitors. "Now that's interesting… all the warp engines are going… full capacity? There's enough power in this ship to punch a hole in the Universe, but we're not moving. So where's all that power going?"

"And where'd all the crew go?" Rose added, walking back with Mickey, who was reluctant to leave the porthole.

"Good question," the Doctor replied. "No life reading on board."

"Well, we're in deep space, they didn't just nip out for a quick fag," Rose stated.

"Nope," the Doctor agreed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Checked all the smoking pods." Rose rolled her eyes at the reply, a smirk tugging at the side of her mouth. She frowned, taking a few deep breathes in. "Someone's cooking," she commented, the smell of meat filling her sinuses.

"Sunday Roast," Mickey added. "Defiantly."

The Doctor flicked a switch on the Panel, a door, well, wall, sliding open behind them, revealing a magnificent fireplace, roaring with the dancing colours of red, yellow and orange, a clock sitting comfortably on top of the mantle. "Well, there's something you don't see in your average space ship," the Doctor mumbled. "Eighteenth century… French, nice mantle," he observed, taking his Sonic Screwdriver out and scanning the fireplace. "It's not a hologram, in fact, it's not even a reproduction, this actually is an eighteenth century fireplace," the Doctor bent down to have a better view at the wall- or the other side. "Double-sided, there's another room through there!"

"But it can't be," Rose denied, looking out through another porthole. "That's the outer side of the ship, look!" She moved for the Doctor to have some room, surprised when he started talking. "Hello!" he greeted.

"Hello…" a tiny voice greeted in reply. The Doctor smiled at the small, pretty, blonde girl, who was staring back at him with a confused expression. "What's you name?" the Doctor asked politely.

"Reinette," the girl replied, her confusion growing when two more people joined the strange man in her fire place.

"Reinette," the Doctor repeated. "That's a lovely name! Could you tell me where you are, Reinette?"

"In my bedroom," she answered hesitantly.

The Doctor gave a tight smile, giving a small laugh. "And where is your bedroom?" he asked more specifically. "Where do you live, Reinette?"

"Paris, of course!" Reinette replied, wondering if the Doctor was playing a joke.

"Paris," the Doctor nodded, as if remembering where he was and what he was doing.

"Monsieur, what are you doing in my fireplace?" the young girl asked seriously.

"Oh, it's just a… routine… fire check," the Doctor stumbled. "Could you tell me what year it is?"

The girl smiled. "Of course I can! Seventeen hundred and twenty seven."

The Doctor chuckled. "Lovely, one of my favourites! August is rubbish, though… stay indoors," he suggested. "Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for your help! Hope you enjoy the rest of your fire, nah-night!"

Reinette watched the Doctor in confusion as he got back on his feet, nevertheless saying, "Good night, Monsieur."

Rose and Mickey joined him a few seconds later, the young man looking very un-amused. "You said this was the fifty first century," he said accusingly.

"I also said this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the Universe," the Doctor replied. He looked to the fireplace. "And I think we just found the hole. Must be a spatio-temperal hyperlink."

"What's that?"

"Don't know," the Doctor replied honesty. "Just made it up. I didn't want to say magic door."

Rose gave the Doctor a look, then asked, "So on the other side of this… magic door… is France seventeen twenty seven?"

"Well, she was speaking French," the Doctor wondered. "Right period French, too."

Mickey shook his head in denial and replied, "She was speaking English, I heard her."

Rose draped an arm over Mickey's shoulder as the Doctor took his coat off, striding back towards the fireplace. "That's the TARDIS," Rose supplied. "Translates it for ya."

"Even French?" Mickey asked in awe. Rose nodded as the Doctor inspected the fireplace, running his hands across the mantle. He felt something out of place, almost like a lever. He smiled, grabbing hold of it. "Gotcha!" He yanked it firmly, sending the fireplace into a rotation. Once the fireplace had finished turning, the Doctor found himself in a dark, shadowy room, little Reinette sleeping in a large bed. He looked around the room, listening to the loud clockwork ticking in the background. The Doctor looked out of a window to see the Paris Skyline, the sky shedding millions and millions of little snow flakes, all falling to the ground. There was a horse neigh from outside, quickly followed by a gasp behind him, the quick sound of ruffling quilts telling the Doctor the little girl behind him was stirring. The Doctor turned to see Reinette, wide awake and staring at him. "It's okay!" he hurried to stop her from screaming. "It's me, fireplace man!" he took out his sonic screwdriver and walked towards an unlit candle, using his devide to give it a flame. Reinette gave him a shocked look, turning her from him to the candle, repeating this motion many times. "We were talking, just a moment ago. I was in your fireplace."

"Monsieur, that was weeks ago!" Reinette exclaimed. "That was months!" The Doctor gave her a confused look, scratching his head. He quickly changed it to surprise, asking, "Really?" he went back to the fireplace, knocking it and listened to the sound. "Loose connection," the Doctor sighed. He turned back to Reinette, giving her a smile. "You need to get a man in."

"Who are you?" she demanded. "What are you doing here?"

The Doctor didn't give her a reply as he looked at the clock on the mantle. A broken clock, the ticking still making a noise in the background, but more prominent now. "Okay, that's scary," the Doctor muttered.

"You're scared of a broken clock?" Reinette asked sceptically.

"Just a little bit, yeah," the Doctor admitted as the ticking continued. "Just a little, tiny bit, 'coz you see, if this clock's broken," he craned his neck, looking about the dark room. "and it's the only clock in the room, then what's that?" Reinette, after finding he was correct, acquired a look of fright. "'coz you see, that's not a clock," he continued. "You can tell by the resonance. Too big, six feet, I'd say... the size of a man."

"What is it?" Reinette quivered as the Doctor checked behind the curtains, glad to say nothing was there. "Now, let's think," he told the girl, hopefully to calm her. "If you were a thing that ticks, first thing you do is break the clock. No one notices the sound of one clock ticking, but two? You might start to think you're not alone," he quickly strode to the bed, giving the young girl instruction to stay still. Leaning under the bed, he took out his sonic screwdriver, and began to scan the darkness. Before he could even finish, something swiped at him, scurrying away before the Doctor could get a proper look. Emerging from under the bed, looking behind Reinette to see someone- or something- standing right behind her, wearing typical aristocratic French dress, complete with creepy clown mask. "Reinette," the Doctor whispered to the girl. "Don't look round. You stay where you are." the Doctor looked at the figure, then back at Reinette. They had to be in her room for something... "Hold on... let me see," the Doctor ordered, placing two hands of Reinette's face so he could look around. "You've been scanning her brain!" he accused. "You crossed two galaxies and one thousand years just to scan a child's brain? What could there be in a little girl's mind worth blowing a hole in the Universe?"

"I don't understand..." Reinette said quietly. "It wants me?" she looked back at the figure, asking the same question. The figure replied, moving its head towards her in a robotic fashion. "Not yet, you are incomplete."

"Incomplete?" the Doctor questioned. "What does that mean, 'incomplete'?" The figure stayed silent, its empty eye sockets still seeming to rest on the little girl in front of it. "You can answer her, you can answer me," the Doctor spoke again. "What do you mean 'incomplete'?" he rose his Sonic Screwdriver so it was right in front of the figures face, which grabbed its attention. The figure looked quickly at the Doctor, moving around the bed and walking towards it, sticking its arm foreword once the Doctor was within reach, a razor sharp knife, no way from the seventeen hundreds, sprung from its sleeve.

"Monsieur, be careful!" Reinette warned, gripping her covers close to her face.

"Just a nightmare, Reinette," the Doctor comforted. "Don't worry about it. Everyone has nightmares," the Doctor added as he lunged backward, missing the swipes the figure was making. "Even the monsters from under the bed have nightmares, don't you, Monster?" The Doctor had made his way back to the mantle, side stepping as the 'Monster' threw another swing, catching its knife on the wooden material. The Doctor felt for the lever down by the fireplace again as Reinette asked, "What do monsters have nightmares about?"

"Me!" the Doctor exclaimed as he gripped the lever, tugging it sharply, feeling the rotation of the fireplace once again as Reinette disappeared from view, Rose and Mickey taking her place as the Monster kept tugging to free its hand. He quickly ran over to one of the walls, taking down one of the gun-like objects and using it to spray the figure, a white, freezing substance surrounding it. The figure stopped struggling to free its hand, freezing to a stop.

"Excellent, ice gun!" Mickey said happily. Throwing the 'gun' to Rose, the Doctor corrected, "Fire extinguisher."

"What'd that thing come from?" Rose asked as she inspected both the figure and the extinguisher.

"Here," the Doctor replied. "Field trip to France, some kind of basic camouflage protocol- nice needle work... shame about the face," the Doctor continued as he walked towards the figure, pulling off the mask, and there for face, revealing an ornate clockwork mechanism, covered in clear plastic, which shaped the head. The Doctor gave a giddy noise, followed by, "You are beautiful! No, really, you are! You're gorgeous! Look at that," he exclaimed to Rose and Mickey, who had stepped foreword in curiosity. "Space age clockwork, I love it! I've got chills!" Coming back to a serious tone, he began talking to the droid again. ""Listen, seriously, I mean this from the heart- and by the way, count those- it would be... a crime, an act of vandalism to disassemble you," he smiled again, them took up his Sonic again. "But that won't stop me." Realising playing dead wasn't going to work, the droid allowed its ticking to continued, and hit something on its arm, causing a small, blue sliver, the droid disappeared from view.

"Short range teleport, cant have gotten far," the Doctor explained as he walked back to the fireplace. "Don't go looking for it, i'll be back in a sec," he ended as he tugged on the lever again, rotating with the fireplace.

Strange... the Doctor thought as he re-entered the room. When he left, the room had been dark, it was night-time and the suite had obviously belong to a child. Now, however, he was standing in a room that was full of light, it was a sunny day outside, and the room looked like it belonged to a young woman. "Reinette?" he called. "Just checking to see if you're okay." Receiving no reply, he walked away from the fireplace and near a large harp, idly brushing his fingertips across the strings. There was a noise behind as the notes vanished. The Doctor turned to see a young, beautiful woman looking at him a small smile on her face. "Hello," he greeted kindly. "I'm looking for Reinette- this is still her room, isn't? I've been away, not sure how long."

The woman continued to smile as she walked to the foot of the long bed, a woman's voice calling from the hallway, "Reinette! We're ready to go!"

The woman standing in front of the Doctor replied, "Go to the carriage, mother, I will join you there!" A small hint of realisation washed over the Doctor's face as he figured out who this woman was, a smile tugging on his lips. "It is customary, I think, to have an imaginary friend during one's childhood," Reinette teased. "You should be congratulated for your persistence."

The Doctor smile broadened as he scratched his ear. "Reinette," he greeted again. "Goodness, how you've grown."

"And yet you have not appeared to age a single day," she countered, walking towards him. "That is tremendously impolite of you."

"Right, yes... sorry," the Doctor stumbled. "Listen, lovely to catch up, but you'd better be going, eh? Don't want your mother finding you in here with a strange man, do we?" he joked. He needed to get back to the ship. Undoubtedly, Rose and Mickey had ignored his pleas and gone in search of the droids, much to his displeasure.

"But how could you be a stranger to me?" Reinette questioned. "I've known you since I was seven years old."

The Doctor frowned at her claim, then cocked his head as he considered it. "Yeah, I suppose you have..." he agreed. He chuckled and added, "I came the quick route." Taking note she wasn't smiling, and how close they were, he jolted slightly when she placed her hand on his cheek, feeling the skin with her fingers. "Well, you seem to be flesh and blood, at any rate, but this is absurd." she scolded. "Reason tells me you cant be real."

That explains it all, the Doctor thought. He shook his head. "You never want to listen to reason."

"Mademoiselle!" called another voice, a male's this time, probably a servant. "Your mother grows impatient!"

"A moment!" Reinette hissed, clearly annoyed. She turned back to the Doctor and gave him another smile. "So many questions, so little time," she told him. Quickly, she placed one hand on the back of the Doctor's neck, the other on the lapels of his jacket, and pulled him down, pulling him to her lips where she moved passionately. The Doctor was surprised, to say the least. When he registered what was happening, he walked back, trying to take his lips away from hers, but she followed him, pressing him up to the mantle and kissing him harder. Gulping, he placed one hand on her shoulder, pushing her back gently. She gave him a small, hurt look, then she turned on heel and ran out of the room, grabbing her bag as she went.

"Madame Poisson!" the servant called again, this time walking into the room. He took in the Doctor confusing image, as the Doctor himself looking into space. "Poisson?" he asked, completely forgetting what had just happened. "Reinette Poisson?" The servant continued to stare at him as realisation kicked in. "No... no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Reinette Poisson?" he asked again, this time running up to the servant. "Reinette Poisson? Later Madame Etoiles? Later still mistress of Louis the Fifteenth, uncrowned Queen of France?" The servant continued to give him a bemused look as the Doctor walked back to the fireplace. "Actress, artist, musician, dancer, courtesan?" he added, forgetting the most important thing. "Fantastic gardener!" he stood so he was near the fireplace, leaning down the lever as he laughed.

"Who the hell are you?!" the servant demanded when he finally registered what was happening.

"I'm the Doctor!" he chuckled. "And I just met Madame de Pompadour!" he tugged on the lever, laughing manically as he rotated, reminding himself very much of one of those villains in the films that sit in revolving chairs while stroking cats.

When the fireplace stopped, he found that his suspicions were correct. Rose and Mickey had disappeared. "Rose?" he called. When the silence replied to him, he cursed. "Every time!" he muttered as he began to walk. "All the time! Rule one: don't wonder off! I tell them, I do, rule one! There could be anything on this ship!" he ended, sighing in irony when he was met face to face with a snowy white horse.

You just love proving me right, don't you? he thought to the Universe. He walked passed the horse, falling into the wall as it nudged him with its nose. "Do you mind?" he asked the horse, who turned around and was now facing the Doctor again. The Doctor turned and continued walked, surprised when the sound of hooves followed him. "Rose!" he called, walking from corridor to corridor, the horse still as his heels. It nudged him again, and the Doctor turned around. He rose a hand to stop it from doing it again, the horse neighing as its ear flew up in surprise. "Will you stop following me?" the Doctor asked. "I'm not your mother." The Doctor looked over to see another door, a light peering through the slightly ajar panels. "So this is where you came from, ey, horsey?" He opened the door to find he was walking out some sort of shed, which was sitting in the back of a massive courtyard. He walked by a wall, a stone urn sitting on one of the edges.

The Doctor looked around the courtyard, noticing two women walking through it, grimacing slightly at one of them, who was Reinette. "Oh, Catherine, you're too wicked!" Reinette exclaimed as she laughed, walking arm in arm with her friend. The Doctor his behind the wall from behind seen as Reinette turned her head quickly.

"Speaking of wicked," Catherine spoke. "I hear Madame de Chateneux is ill, and close to death."

"Yes," Reinette replied sarcastically. "I am devastated," she and Catherine looked at each other, laughing instantly. "Oh, indeed," Catherine agreed. "I myself am completely inconsolable. The king will therefor be requiring a new mistress. You love the King, of course?"

Reinette nodded. "He is the King, and I love him with all my heart," Reinette replied, then added cheekily, "and I look foreword to meeting him." Catherine laughed at the comment, Reinette insisting on the fact she was being watched as she spun round to the hidden Doctor again, who hadn't moved from his spot. "Is something wrong, my dear?"

"Not wrong, no," Reinette replied uncertainly, but continued walking nonetheless.

"Every woman in Paris knows your ambitions," Catherine told her.

"Every woman in Paris shares them," Reinette countered.

"You do know that the King is to attend the Yew Tree Ball?" Catherine asked, the Doctor unable to hear Reinette's reply as they walked away. All these doorways, the little hidden passageways from the ship to eighteenth century France, they are all connected to her... but WHY? the Doctor thought as he scratch his hair, walking back to the shed to see the horse there, waiting for him. What could this one woman have that these droids couldn't get anywhere else?

A.N: Arghh! Decision making, I hate it! And since it's not one of my favourite things, i'm letting you guys decide. Do you want the ending of this Ep. to be fluffy (Doc/Rose) or angsty? Seriously, I need to know, this ones been bugging like hell *grits teeth*