Here it is! Finally. Episode One: Rose.
Life continued on at a very human rate. Slowly, and in the right order. There were times when he was tempted to jump ahead in the TARDIS, but he forced himself to keep at a normal rate.
Christmas came and went. A few days after New Year's, Rose told him about a drunken man who insisted she was going to have a "really great year."
Ah yes, the companion tour. Why he'd been so sentimental about that regeneration, he would never understand.
The day Rose's shop exploded was the day it all came crashing down on him.
The fact that she didn't call him left him a bit annoyed; he raced to her flat. Jackie was busy gossiping and Rose was sitting on the couch, looking deflated
"I've been phoning your mobile! You've could've been dead. It's on the news and everything! I can't believe the shop went up," he hugged her.
"I'm alright. Honestly, I'm fine. Don't make a fuss."
"But what happened?"
"I dunno."
"But what was it, though. What caused it?" he was curious to see what her first impressions of him had been.
"I wasn't in the shop. I was outside. I didn't see anything."
"It's Debby on the end," Jackie interrupted. "She knows a man on the Mirror. Five hundred quid for an interview!"
"Oh, that's brilliant. Give it here," Rose took the phone and clicked it off.
Mickey smiled in pride.
"Well you've got to find some way of making money," Jackie lectured. "Your job's kaput and I'm not bailing you out."
The phone rang again and Jackie raced to gossip more. The Doctor looked down at the mug in Rose's hand.
"What you're drinking tea? No, that's no good. You're in shock. You need something stronger."
"I'm alright."
"No. You deserve a proper drink. You and me. We'll go down to the pub. My treat. How about it?" One last go, just the two of them.
"Is there a match on?" Rose guessed.
Darn. She wasn't going to take him seriously. "No, no just thinking about you, babe."
"There's a match on, ain't there?"
"Well that's not the point, but we could catch the last five minutes," he lied easily.
"Go on then," Rose smiled. "I'm fine, really; go. Get rid of that," she pointed at the hand.
He sighed, then waited. Rose sighed, leaning up and kissing him. He pushed her back onto the couch lightly and she chuckled.
As he picked up the hand, he smiled at the memory. Unable to resist, he waved the hand at her. "Bye, bye!"
"Bye," Rose said.
He held the hand to his throat, pretending to be strangled. Rose rolled her eyes at him.
He walked down the street and dumped the hand into a bin on his way out, sighing.
Rose showed up at his house the following day.
"Hey, hey, here's my woman," Really, he was sounding ridiculous at this point. Humanity was going to his head.
"Oh shut up," Rose rolled her eyes.
They kissed.
Probably the last time... he winced at the thought.
"Coffee?"
"Yeah. Only if you wash the mug," Rose said. "And I don't mean rinse. I mean wash."
His personal hygiene habits had taken a hit. But hey, at least he changed his clothes, unlike some of his previous incarnations.
"Can I use your computer?"
"Yeah," he agreed.
As she walked towards the door, a thought struck him, "Don't read my emails!"
He occasionally corresponded with Jack via email, as well as UNIT, very occasionally. Another perfect way for him to screw up the timeline.
"You're not coming in," Rose told him stubbornly. "He's safe. He's got a wife and kids."
"But who told you that? He did. That exactly what a lunatic internet murderer would say!"
Rose ignored him and got out the car, walking up to the house where Craig lived. He watched her go, frowning at how fast it was all happening.
When he saw the bin moving on its own, curiosity and the need to keep a time loop stable overwhelmed him and he walked over to it, opening it in one swift move. "Coming in."
Empty.
Dread welled up in him and he pulled away from the garbage can, only his hands were stuck to the plastic. Typical. Play an idiot long enough, and eventually some of the idiocy was bound to rub off on you.
The bin lid opened wider, looking like it wanted to eat him...
Where was a sonic screwdriver when you needed it?
When he woke, he recognized where he was: underneath the London Eye.
"Doctor?" the nestene consciousness was practically laughing at him. Well, in a roaring monster sort of way.
"Yeah. I'm just going to stay out of this one," he said.
"As long as you don't interfere with our plans, you will be allowed to live."
"Thanks," he said, unable to keep the sarcasm from his voice.
"Mickey!" Rose was running towards him. "It's me! It's okay. It's alright."
Behind her, his Ninth incarnation rolled his eyes, annoyed.
"The thing down there. The liquid thing. It can talk!" he said, trying to play the part of a confused, frightened Mickey.
"Doctor, he's alive!" Rose called.
"Yeah. That was always a possibility," the younger Doctor allowed. "Keep him alive to maintain the connection."
"You knew and you never said?"
"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?"
Mickey could barely keep from laughing.
The younger Doctor walked over and began berating the alien on breaking the Shadow Proclamation. Then the TARDIS was revealed and the terrified nestene consciousness began the invasion. Somewhere above, people were dying... panic filling the streets. Shop window dummies coming alive and killing everyone in sight. He shuddered at the thought.
Mickey and Rose rushed to the TARDIS, trying to open it.
"I haven't got the key," Rose cried.
"We're gonna die!" he shouted. His memory, despite being very good, was no where near pefect. And what Mickey Smith was doing the first time he met Rose Tyler had never been something he felt he should remember. So he resorted to whatever he felt Mickey Smith would do. And that was pounding onto the doors of the TARDIS, wanting nothing more than to be let in.
Beside him, Rose was getting to her feet.
"Just leave him!" he shouted stupidly. "There's nothing you can do!"
Partially because he wanted her to get out, in the middle of it all. Time could be rewritten, couldn't it? Rose could die here and now and there was nothing he could do to stop it. But if she didn't save him down there, he wouldn't be here now. Stupid timey wimey ball of stuff...
Rose ignored him and raced away, grabbing onto a chain and swinging down, knocking over some dummies and altogether saving the day like the heroine he knew her to be.
The younger Doctor rushed over, opening the TARDIS and allowing Mickey and Rose inside.
The TARDIS reacted strongly to his presence, seemingly very uncomfortable with two versions of him being there at once, fearing he might cause a paradox.
I'm sorry, girl, he thought.
When the TARDIS landed, he rushed out of the door, diving into the street. Rose followed him out, calling Jackie to make sure she was alright. Jackie babbled, and Rose chuckled.
"Fat lot of good you were," Rose said, running over to him. She turned back to the Doctor, smiling.
"Nestene consciouness, easy," the younger Doctor said with a snap of his fingers.
"You were useless in there," Rose declared. "You'd be dead if it wasn't for me."
"Yes, I would; thank you," he nodded. After a moment's pause, he smiled, "Right then. I'll be off. Unless, I dunno, you could come with me. This box isn't just London only. It goes anywhere in the universe, free of charge."
"Don't," Mickey said, grabbing onto her legs like a child. More than anything, he wanted to have more time with her. "He's an alien. He's a thing!" Yes, a very convincing argument towards the girl who befriends Daleks.
"He's not invited," the younger Doctor scowled. "What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep. Or you could come with me and go, well, anywhere."
"Is it always this dangerous?" Rose asked.
"Yeah," the younger Doctor gave her a manic grin.
"Yeah, I can't. I gotta go phone my mum. And someone's got to look after this stupid lump."
"Okay. See you around," his face fell. He closed the door and the TARDIS dematerialized.
"Come on, let's go," Rose said, taking his hand and starting to walk away.
And then the sound returned, the younger Doctor poked his head out, "By the way, did I mention? It also travels in time."
Rose looked at Mickey, "Thanks."
"Thanks for what?" This was it... and he wasn't ready.
"Exactly," Rose raced into the TARDIS.