Get ready for a few fluffy chapters before we get back to angst city. See if you can spot the "impossible girl."
Chapter 4: Red Bicycle
As the Doctor and Rose entered the TARDIS, Rose stood shuffling her feet for a bit. "I-I'll just pack up my stuff, then," she said in a voice that was not quite her own.
"What for?" The Doctor asked, slightly taken aback.
Rose met his eyes for a moment, then looked resolutely past his left shoulder. "Aren't you going to make me leave?"
Understanding dawned on the Doctor's face. "Of course not," he said gently.
"But Adam-"
Once again, words slipped out before he could stop them. "Adam isn't you, Rose." Then an uncertain thought came to the Doctor's mind. "D'you want to go home?"
"No," Rose answered rather quickly. "I just...I do want to stay. Very much." Rose said, still speaking in the odd tone.
The Doctor thought to ask if she was alright, but he doubted he would get an honest answer. Besides, he already knew she wasn't.
"I'm knackered," Rose said, attempting to smile. "I think I'll go for a kip, yeah?"
"Sure. Take all the time you need. I've been meaning to get to some maintenance I've been neglecting."
Attempting to smile again, Rose left the Doctor alone in the console room. Rose was upset-obviously smarting from the events of the day, and he had no idea what to do.
Another strange thought occurred to him that he never fully realized before. Jackie was a widow. Through the strangeness of timelines and such, Jackie's husband died saving the world. Rose Tyler was quite literally all she had.
Since the Doctor ultimately felt responsible for the death of Pete Tyler, he would do everything in his power to make sure Rose Tyler would be safe with him. If something should happen to him, then he needed to have a plan to return Rose Tyler safely home to her mother.
Once the Doctor finished the programming for what he called Emergency Program One, he thoughts went back to Jackie Tyler. Her husband died a bit more than a month away from Christmas. The Doctor felt compelled to see if there was anything he could do to make the holiday easier for her. Maybe drop off an anonymous Christmas dinner or a large box of nappies and other baby things.
The Doctor could have sworn he entered the coordinates for Powell Estates, South London, 24 December 1987. The moment he stepped off of his ship, he knew he had landed in the late nineties. However, he was fairly certain it was still Christmas Eve, exactly 10:08 AM. He glanced back at his ship, not quite sure if it was his bad driving or the interference of his TARDIS that landed him in this time.
His eyes scanned the Estates, and he spotted two young girls. They couldn't have been more than eleven or twelve. One was olive-skinned with thick curly hair. The other one was fair-skinned with mousy brown hair, but her eyes and were unmistakable. Rose Tyler.
The two girls took no notice of him or his Police Box as they walked right past. He caught a bit of their conversation.
"For the last time, Shereen," Rose was saying, "I am not in love with Mickey Smith. We're just mates."
"Alright, alright," Shereen said placatingly. "By the way, I'm getting a new bike this year. I saw it! The handlebars was sticking out from under Mum's bed. It'd be great if you got one too! We could ride them around the play park!"
"I don't think so," Rose said sadly. "Money's been tight this year." Rose added in what she supposed was a grownup tone, "I'm getting a bit old for bikes and such things, anyway."
Shereen looked doubtfully at her friend. She, like the Doctor, could sense that Rose very much wanted a bicycle. Rose's friend smiled good naturedly and teased, "You could always pen a letter to Father Christmas. I hear he'll set you up proper if you've not been naughty!"
"Shut up," Rose said as she playfully nudged her mate with her elbow. They linked arms and walked on as they chatted happily.
The Doctor knew exactly what he wanted to do.
Later, the Doctor found himself at a shop, not far from the one he blew up on the day he met Rose, eyeing children's bicycles. He was inspecting a pink one when he felt someone staring at him.
He looked up to see a girl about the same age as one of young Rose's school mates. She had a clever inquisitive face, dark brown hair and brown eyes. She was standing quite close and boldly staring.
"Can I help you with something?" the Doctor asked the little girl.
She asked, "Are you buying that bicycle for your daughter?"
"No, for a friend," the Doctor answered.
"Oh. Do you have any kids?" the girl asked.
The Doctor blinked before he answered. "I...No."
"You didn't look like the type that would have kids." The girl said with a shake of her head. "I'll bet you don't have a wife either."
"Don't you have somewhere to be?" the Doctor said crossly.
"I came over because you looked like you could use some cheering up. It's Christmas Eve, after all!"
"Well, I'm all cheered up, now, thanks!" The Doctor bit back.
A woman, presumably the young girl's mother, eyed the Doctor suspiciously before reaching a hand out to the girl. "Come along. It's time to go!"
"Well, Happy Christmas, Mister," the girl said as she turned to leave.
The Doctor nodded. "Happy Christmas."
The girl paused and added, "That pink bike is atrocious, by the way. Everyone wants red bikes this year!"
The Doctor heard the woman say as she pulled the young girl away, "How many times do I have to tell you not to talk to strange men. You don't know what kind of people they are."
"He looked sad. Besides, someone had to tell him not to buy the ugly pink bike for his friend," the girl answered with a smirk.
Abandoning the pink bicycle, the Doctor picked up the red one next to it, chuckling to himself.
He jumped the TARDIS ahead a few hours-after midnight, when he was certain Rose and Jackie Tyler were asleep. The Doctor sonicked the front door of the Tyler flat open. He silently parked the red bike, to which he'd tied with a TARDIS blue ribbon, in front of the gaudy tinsel Christmas tree. There was a small card attached that read: To Rose Tyler from Father Christmas.
At least he was certain Rose would have a good Christmas that year.
Returning to the TARDIS, he felt his ship brush his mind affectionately. He lightly patted the console in response.
"Suppose I should go and check on her," the Doctor said to himself as he headed down the corridor. The TARDIS obviously agreed. She had moved Rose's room so that it was the first door he came to. "Haven't I told you to stop interfering?" he hissed at his ship. The lights in the corridor flickered slightly, the TARDIS equivalent of an eye roll.
The Doctor shook his head as he lifted his hand to knock, but he froze when he heard her. She was crying. Deep racking sobs. His hand fell limp to his side. Should he knock? Should he just go in? Come back when she's a bit calmer?
Rose's door opened slightly on it's own accord. The Doctor shook his head at his stubborn time ship before quietly stepping inside. She was curled into a tight ball with her eyes squeezed shut and clutching a pillow. She hadn't bothered to take off her makeup, and mascara ran in dark tracks down her face.
"Rose?"
Her breath hitched, but she didn't move.
The Doctor stepped into the room and quietly shut the door behind him. He'd seen bits of Rose's room from the corridor, but he had never been inside. He could see how fond the TARDIS was of Rose Tyler. Her room was adorned with bright pink walls and a plush, TARDIS blue carpet. Her bed was covered in a fluffy pink duvet and several ruffled pillows. The ceiling was decorated with star constellations from around the universe.
On the night stand next to her bed was a lamp with a pink shade, and several books stacked: A romance novel from the 22nd century, a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and A children's book written in circular Gallifreyan.
The Doctor half smiled at that last book for a moment before moving closer to Rose. Hesitating for a moment, the Doctor sat down next to Rose. "Alright," he said gruffly, "what's wrong, then?"
"You died," Rose said miserably. "You died because of me. The whole world! This whole stupid day was my fault."
"No, Rose. It was mine."
Finally, Rose looked at him. With difficulty, the Doctor managed not to smile at her red splotchy face that was shooting him a look of annoyed disbelief. She looked rather adorable.
"I don't expect you to know the laws of time, Rose. You said yourself, you didn't know all this would happen." The Doctor sighed, "The thing is, I did."
Rose sat up. "What do you mean, you did?"
"I knew that us interfering with a fixed point like that could attract the Reapers, but I didn't know it would get that bad."
"My dad said you'd worked it out right off. You knew how to set everything right, but-"
"I wasn't going to make you go through that again. I know how hard it is to watch a loved one die."
Rose looked at him questioningly. He knew she wanted to ask about his family, but she let it drop. "The things I said to you," Rose shook her head regretfully.
"We both said some things. The difference is what you said about me is all true." Rose blinked, and the Doctor continued, "You were right. I'd never just leave you. And...you're not stupid, Rose. Far from it. You're..." beautiful, brave, amazing, my universe, my savior, absolutely fantastic, "...quite clever."
"But you died."
"Thanks to your dad, I'm back. Thanks to you, your dad didn't have to die alone." More tears leaked from Rose's eyes and the Doctor said, "Think back to all those stories your mum told you about the day he died. You should remember them differently, now."
Rose frowned in thought, then her eyes went wide. "There was a girl. A blond girl. We never found out who she was. She was with him until he died!"
"You did that. You changed the past. You and I both know, Rose Tyler, your father died a hero."
With a great sniff, Rose leaned into the Doctor and hugged him fiercely. She held on for quite a long time, and the Doctor didn't mind in the least.
"You're tired," he said finally. "You should get some sleep."
"Will you stay?" Rose asked, her face still buried in his jumper.
The Doctor's hearts skipped a beat. "What?"
Rose amended, "Will you stay until I fall asleep?
"Alright," the Doctor said, hoping she didn't notice how his hearts sped up at her suggestion.
She'd noticed.
The Doctor stood and shrugged out of his leather jacket as Rose folded back the duvet. He willed his hearts rate to slow down as his watched Rose climb back into the bed and looked at him expectantly. The Doctor never took Rose up on her offer to "sleep together." This would be their first time sharing a bed...even if it was just for a little while.
The Doctor climbed into to bed next to Rose, and she immediately nestled into his side. He wrapped his arms about her, and she was sound asleep with in minutes. Seven minutes, to be exact. Why she trusted him so, he would never understand.
The Doctor indulged in holding his precious Rose (Rose is not mine!) for another half hour. When he found that he, too, was nodding off, the Doctor carefully maneuvered Rose back down to the pillows, and, taking his jacket, he slipped out of her room.
