I will walk on water and you will catch me if I fall
Rose used to have a lovely morning ritual. Wake up with the Doctor, have breakfast. Get ready for work. A small slice of time where they focused solely on each other. Taking care of the TARDIS was a small interruption in that routine, and she really didn't mind it.
But now things have changed. She has been replaced by a sheet of newsprint, and it's hard not to be annoyed.
"Watch where you walk today. Danger may be behind every corner, beneath every stairwell. Mars is ascending. Don't forget to drink plenty of water." The Doctor frowns as he contemplates today's predictions.
"I'm canceling our subscription," Rose threatens him.
"This is vastly interesting. I wonder if Mars really is ascending. I'm not sure that's possible. And this part about water means...something."
"Ridiculous."
"Interesting."
"Stupid."
He rattles the newspaper shut, eyeing her.
"You know," she says pleasantly, "I don't mind all the journals and People and even the cooking magazines that you read but never use to cook a meal. But I really think you're obsessing over this horoscope thing."
"It's a human thing, Rose. Humans like to read them. I'm a student of human nature."
"You're becoming very annoying is what you are. And I don't remember you acting quite like this before, so you have to stop."
"Oh, I'm sorry," he says politely. "Shall I start looking for a breach so I can return to the other universe? I'll just send him on through for you, shall I? Oh, that's right," he continues before she can close the mouth that's opened in astonishment, "he won't be there because he left you here with me and ran away."
Rose has to work to fill her lungs with air. "What the hell are you going on about?" she demands in a voice that's barely audible.
"You're not happy about my reading preferences," he snaps. "Clearly the fact that I've changed is detestable."
"I said nothing of the sort! I just said that horoscopes aren't real! You may as well go to a psychic and ask what's going to happen to you this week!"
"No, that's not what you said!" he snaps, all angry and Oncoming Storm now. "You said you don't remember me being like this before. Which means you are keeping track of what I was like before and what I am now and you don't like it now."
There are tears of astonishment in her eyes, and he curses himself for putting them there. But her words have made him admit something to himself that he hasn't been able to think about before now. Maybe she really does want the other one back.
"He's not coming back, Rose. I'm afraid you're stuck with me. If you want me to go then I can, but he will never come back."
"I don't want him back!" she says angrily, standing up and throwing her spoon at him. "But you can go away whenever you damn well please."
It is not Jake's lucky day. A mishap the day before in the parking garage has left him with a twisted ankle and desk duty. It's galling for him to have to sit by and watch the other field teams do their jobs. He's saved the world from Cybermen. In a van! He should not be sitting back with a bandage on his ankle.
Torchwood's medical team had other ideas, though, so here he sits. It would be almost bearable, given the coffee and doughnuts that people have been bringing him, if not for the odd development this morning has brought.
Rose stalks into the office and flings her bag down on her desk. She's frowning and mad, and Jake would have to be an idiot to approach that.
"Good morning," he says, eyes trained firmly on his computer.
She doesn't answer, only huffs in disgust and checks her email.
"Sea monsters down by the river," Jake offers an hour later. Rose is still seated at her desk, eyes sending out sparks. He's surprised her computer hasn't fried itself.
She doesn't respond, so he keeps going. "Probably just a big fish or something, but someone called in a mermaid sighting, so Simon and Ian went to check it out."
Rose makes a sound of disgust.
"My guess is that it's some kind of mutant fish. You know, too many chemicals or something."
Rose speaks for the first time that morning. "Probably some kind of half-fish, half-alien that doesn't know what to do and should be shot."
Jake blinks. "Shot?" he repeats. "The fish?"
"Not the fish!" Rose snaps. "The bloody half-human alien!"
"We're not having the same conversation, are we?" Jake asks after a pause.
Rose slams a desk drawer and stands up. "Right," she says through gritted teeth, and is heading for the office door when it opens. She almost slams into the Doctor but catches herself at the last minute.
"There's a dead security guard at a factory in Chelsea," he says, eyes giving nothing away. "Violent attack, strange sights and sounds. Let's go." He turns around, leaving Rose standing there.
She looks even angrier than before, but Jake does not bring this up. "You'll want your coat," he says instead. "It's cold out this morning."
"I won't be needing my coat," she says clearly, and goes back to her desk.
The Doctor loads the jeep, starts it up, and waits. And waits. And waits some more. Checking his watch, he gives Rose five more minutes. And then five more.
"Bloody hell," he swears under his breath, looking around the parking lot. No sign of Rose. He activates his headset so hard he gives himself a headache. "Control," he says through clenched teeth. "Where is Rose Tyler?"
"We don't show her headset tracker," the disembodied voice says in his ear.
"We have an assignment."
"She's still logged into her workstation."
"That doesn't mean anything," he says impatiently. "Can you-"
"Activity on her workstation, Doctor Smith. She's in her office."
He swears again. "Control, I'm heading out."
"Not if you're alone. Let me call another agent and-"
"Smith out," he interrupts, and turns off his headset. He's saved the worlds - worlds - alone how many times? He doesn't need help on this one. He certainly doesn't need Rose Tyler.
He fumes all the way to the factory. He'd been having a bit of fun in the mornings with the horoscopes. He knows perfectly well that there's no such thing as fortune tellers. He also knows perfectly well that Rose isn't impressed with his habit. She tolerates it, perhaps a bit less than his stuffed animal problem, but he knows that she's been tossing the toys almost as soon as he brings them home.
It isn't about the horoscopes. This morning she compared him to himself, which isn't always the easiest complaint to understand but it's perfectly clear to him. She doesn't want him to act the way he's been acting - she wants him the way he was before.
He's not the same man as before. It's physically impossible, for one thing. He's human now, with one heart and everything. His personality is fixed, and while he's pretty close to the same as before, there are parts that they're both still getting used to.
Only Rose doesn't want to get used to it. She wants him back. The Time Lord. Clearly the chance to spend their lives together was just a novelty.
The street is cordoned off, Torchwood personnel in black field gear guarding each side. He pulls up and through, flashing his ID card through the window. They let him pass. Good or bad, he is known throughout the organization as either as the alien or as Rose Tyler's boyfriend. He objects to the term but prefers it over boy toy, which he knows has been thrown around once or twice in his absence. The newspapers and tabloids aren't always as tasteful as that, unfortunately.
He pulls up to the factory, only marginally disgusted to find that it's one of those deserted places in the middle of nowhere. Typical.
He clicks his headset on. "Control, I'm at the factory. No signs of damage or violence. Where is everyone?"
"We took the dead man away and advised the owners to empty out for the day."
"So no one is here?"
"They shouldn't be."
"I'm going in."
"You're alone, aren't you? Don't you dar-"
He turns it off again. If the Control room doesn't know by now that he's not going to listen, there's no hope for them.
The door isn't locked. He enters through a side entrance. It's dark and cold and something, a window or door, is open because it's windy inside. Something knocks over in the distance, and he reaches into his pocket out of sheer habit.
No sonic screwdriver. No weapon, either. He's forgotten it. The Doctor holds a furious inner debate with himself about whether to return to the jeep to get it. He doesn't care for it, doesn't like carrying it and hasn't used a weapon since Rose was being threatened a few months back.
He's here alone, though, and he's human. He needs to be armed to remain alive long enough to make Rose explain herself. Decision made, he steps back to the door and would have kept going except for the cry.
A shrill, angry cry coming from the depths of the factory. Weapon forgotten, he moves quickly toward the sound.
oOoOo
Rose sits perfectly still at her desk, avoiding Jake and the ringing phone and her ringing mobile phone. She's not sure what happened this morning. One moment the Doctor was prattling on about horoscopes - a past time she admits is harmless - and the next they're arguing about the Doctor. The other Doctor. She's not been comparing the two - why would she? The one she has now is superior in every way. He's human and he's hers. Why would she ever think she wanted anything else?
In a flash of insight she sees the problem. A careless word on her part opened up some insecurities she didn't think he had. What she meant about his actions before, he took to mean she missed. He's still second-guessing himself, still waiting for her to tell him to go.
And she's been waiting for him to leave. She's a right idiot, isn't she? Instead of plotting to hold onto him, she's all but asked him to take off.
Rose sighs and rubs her eyes with her fingers. When did this get so complicated? They were just talking about how happy they were and making plans for buying a house and living a proper life.
She comes to a decision and stands up. Turning to Jake, she's about to tell him that she's leaving when Simon comes into the office. He's wet and dirty, and it's a sign of their profession that Rose and Jake don't react to the sight except to note the water he's dripping onto the floor.
"Control just flagged me," Simon tells them, staying in the hallway so he doesn't get their floor wet. "The Doctor is in Chelsea but is out of reach."
"Out of reach?" Rose asks sharply.
"Headset's off."
"That doesn't mean anything," Jake says slowly, cursing his ankle.
"We think it might be of alien origin," Simon says back.
Rose has already started gathering her things. "Call for a car for me," she says, hastily unlocking her gun from the bottom drawer of her desk. "I'm going."
"Rose," Jake begins.
She's out the door before he can continue. Simon follows her down the hallway.
"Rose, you can't just go blindly into this. Wait for us and we'll go."
She whirls around to face him. "I let him go off alone because I was mad at him, Simon. I need to be there."
"Wait for me, then!"
"I'll meet you there," she calls, and is running down the hallway.
oOoOo
The factory is empty and dark. Why are they always empty and dark? Rose wonders to herself in annoyance. Parking the car, she gets out slowly. No signs of any animals, no signs of any people. The front door is locked. Walking around to the side, she finds the door ajar and slowly eases it open. Pausing to listen, she doesn't hear anything. She takes a few steps forward. The door closes behind her and she winces at the noise it makes. She reaches in her pocket for her weapon, hoping she won't need it today.
"I'm here," she whispers into her headset. "Do you have the Doctor?"
"No," Control answers. "No signal."
"Doctor," she whispers, "can you hear me?"
"Yes," he says from behind her.
Rose spins on her heel, gun coming up. It's the Doctor standing there, headset on but clearly turned off. His arms fly into the air, the gun almost knocked from his hand.
"It's you!"
He stares at her. "Of course it's me," he says incredulously. "Who else would it be?"
She swallows hard, standing there in the cold dark hallway, looking up at him. She lowers her weapon abruptly and reaches for him, pulling his head down to hers and kissing him hard.
His arms go around her and he's kissing her back, with the kind of desperation she hasn't felt from him in a long time.
A distant crash finally brings them back to their senses, and they pull apart, slightly dazed.
"Hello," he says. "What was that for?"
Rose feels foolish, but she's braver than this. "I'm sorry about this morning. I didn't mean to say that I want you back the way you used to be. I don't. I want you, just as you are."
"You didn't say it. I made myself think that," he admits. "It's hard sometimes, Rose, waiting for what happens next."
"What happens next? Why is that hard?"
"I don't know when - if - it's possible that you may change your mind about us."
"Are you forgetting how hard I worked to get to you?"
"Your single-minded devotion was very touching," he agrees, "but that was all for another man, wasn't it? Not me."
"It was you," she disagrees. "Just you." That's part of her anger, that she chose this man over the other Doctor. Anger at herself, for doing so, for being selfish enough to take what was offered because she knew it would be her only chance to have a proper forever with him. Rose finally accepts this. Her guilt over her choice has been tearing at her without her even realizing it.
"You're better than my dreams. We have a life together. We're starting to build something wonderful here, aren't we?" She can't keep the anxiety out of her voice. "Or are you ready to go and see the world before it's too late?"
"I've seen the world, Rose Tyler. I've seen many worlds. I've seen it with you and without you, and I've been with you and without you. I know which I prefer."
"The TARDIS..."
"The TARDIS is growing, and someday maybe we can take it for a ride. But I have you, and it's you I want."
"I don't mean to be stupid. But sometimes I can't help thinking that you don't want to be here, that you're gonna go."
"Rose, if I ever want to go, rest assured that I will be taking you along with me."
"Well. Good." She clears her throat. "I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry, too. I love you, Rose."
"I love you," she says back, earnest and trying not to cry. "We can-"
"What in blazes are the two of you doing?" Simon demands from behind them. "There's something loose in here and you two are having a lover's spat?" He sounds absolutely horrified.
"We were making up, actually," Rose says repressively.
He moves beyond them. "You two are so annoying. I'm going left down here. You go right." He shakes his head as he starts to walk into the factory. Riley and Ian are standing behind him, both armed to the teeth and wearing looks of astonishment.
"If your father knew what you got up to, he'd sack you," Ian tells Rose sternly before following Simon.
"What is wrong with you?" Riley hisses at them. "I'm about to chase down who-knows-what and you two are snogging!"She stalks down the hallway after Simon and Ian, shaking her head.
Rose and the Doctor exchange a look. "I thought you were getting bored with this," she admits.
There's a mad sparkle in his eyes that mirrors the excitement in hers. "Bored of this? Oh, no."
They both have mad grins on their faces.
"Let's go," she says, and grabs his hand.
The factory is absolutely dark.
"Where is everyone?" Rose murmurs, verbalizing the Doctor's thoughts. "Where's an alien fit in here?"
"I don't think it's an alien," Simon says into the headset. "We've got a trail of grey slime here."
"Oh, gross."
"Is it dark grey or light grey?" the Doctor demands.
"Light grey."
"Is it foamy and sort of frothy or is it more lifeless?"
"How the hell should I know that?" Simon asks.
"I'd say foamy," Ian's voice says. "More foamy than frothy."
"What sort of odor-" the Doctor starts, but Simon cuts him off.
"If you want to smell it, be my guest. We are not going to smell it. Or taste it! There's a trail of the stuff leading down to the back here. We'll check it out."
"Be careful."
"No animal leaves a trail of slime like that," Rose says. "Unless it's some sort of giant mutant snail."
"Oh, that's disgusting," Riley whispers into their ears.
"It attacked someone and left them for dead," the Doctor muses out loud, slowly walking down the hallway with Rose. "Was it attacking or defending? Was it looking for food or a way out?"
"A way out? Of this place?" Rose looks around with sharper eyes. "What is this place?"
"They make birthday candles."
"Candles?"
"For birthday cakes," Ian whispers into their headsets. "Little waxy things you stick onto cakes. All kinds of colors. Some of them relight after you blow them out."
"I hate those trick candles," Simon mutters. "There's an open door over here. I'm checking it out."
"Another down the way," Riley says.
"I'll wait right here in the open," Ian says.
"What could this thing be?" Rose asks the Doctor.
"I don't know yet." He indicates a hallway. "I'm going to go down here. I see something wet on the floor - it might be more slime."
Rose glances around. "I'll go down the other end. That crashing we heard had to come from somewhere."
She walks down the hallway, moving slowly and carefully. The only light is coming from a few grimy windows set along the top third of the walls. Rose can't think of a less inviting place to have to work in. As she moves down the hallway drafts of air hit her from an unseen source. She can make out shadowy shapes here and there that she assumes are machines for making those birthday candles.
She's passed by five small rooms in a row. Digging out her torch, she shines it inside one of them. A desk and chair, a computer station and a coatrack. She must be in the office section. She swings the torch around to get a better look at her surroundings. Holding it high to see in front of her, she peers down the long hallway. How big is this factory, anyway? she asks herself in annoyance.
Something falls not too far away and she turns toward the sound. "Was that one of you?" she whispers.
Negatives all around. Holding up the torch again, she starts to walk. By this point she's not really expecting to find anything, but the adrenaline is still rushing through her, and her heart is pumping madly. All she needs is the Doctor's hand to hold as they rush through this madcap adventure. Her train of thought comes to an end as the light bounces off something shiny up ahead.
"I see something," she murmurs.
"Be careful," several voices respond at once.
Rose steps forward. The puddle of slime is about a meter across. Light grey, definitely foamy. "Oh, yuck."
"What do you have, Rose?"
"Foam, Doctor. Slimy grey foam."
"Did it leave a trail?"
A trail? Looking around, Rose does indeed spot a trail. "Yeah. It's going down the hallway here."
"We'll be right there," Simon and the Doctor say in unison. "Don't move."
Rose lowers her torch and starts to follow the trail.