Disclaimer: I do not own any part within the Doctor Who franchise nor do I own the music of Sara Bareilles. This is purely done for my own amusement.
A/N: Sorry this took so long to be available. I got a new job for the holidays which takes up a lot of my free time and I also had to deal with serious writer's block. I hope you all enjoy this chapter right now though and please send me a note letting me know if you're enjoying it so far. Thanks for reading. :)
Chapter 7: Between the Lines
Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me
Always between the lines
Between the lines
It was quiet in the giant, spacious mansion. Almost too quiet for Andrew and the grandeur of the house itself greatly unnerved Rose. They were ten minutes into the tour and every employee that they passed only gave them a cold, blank look before returning to their duties.
"Are employees allowed to speak while they work?" Andrew asked, sounding concerned as they passed another chef who held up a knife and brought the object down on a chop of meat unnecessarily hard, causing the knife to smack the wooden cutting board with a loud 'whack'.
The lady, who introduced herself as Mrs. Peterman, chuckled and said patronizingly, "but of course. We like to keep a busy, if quiet, household. Better for the ears."
The entire tour of the house took almost two and a half hours and that was mainly because, in Andrew's case, the stop in the kitchen included a demonstration of his cooking skills by cooking a full meal since he was technically applying to be a household chef. During that time, Mrs. Peterman asked Rose a battery of questions about home maintenance and whatever else was necessary for a good housekeeper to know and remember at all times. Andrew ended up serving them brunch with all sorts of tasty sandwiches, omelets, and other food things that looked surprisingly delicious.
"So, is there anything else you would like to ask us…Ma'am?" Rose asked as Andrew's mouth was currently full of ham and cheese omelet.
"No, I believe that's all for the moment," Mrs. Peterman said wiping her mouth. She stood and, while smiling widely with all of her huge teeth showing, continued saying, "I'll just be in the family office talking this over with my, um, my husband. If you'll excuse me."
The minute she was out of the room, Rose turned to Andrew and asked him the burning question on her lips, "when did you learn to cook?"
"Little parting gift from Donna. Granted, I'm not quite at her level yet but I think that what we should do right now is not focus on me but rather on the case at hand. All right?"
"Yeah, fine. Not so loud though or they'll hear us," Rose said, casting a suspicious look around the room, checking for any video cameras or microphones out in the open.
"Did you get a good look at the rest of the staff?" Andrew asked, now eating a banana that happened to be sitting in a nearby bowl. "First day on the job we should ask about these people so we can better work on their profiles."
"Obviously. What kind of cheese did you use in this?" Rose asked, pointing to the toasted cheese sandwich on her plate.
"Swiss."
"S'good. So what did you think about her staff though in general?"
"Seemed a bit, I dunno, gray in the face. Tired or somethin' like."
"Everyone here has their own quarters and we'll obviously have our own too. Maybe we should pay attention for noises or suspicious activities to report back when we get back in touch with Tristan."
Rose noticed a bit of banana was stuck to the corner of Andrew's mouth so she grabbed his napkin and wiped it off gently. He poured himself another cup of coffee as Mrs. Peterman sauntered back into the room. Rose stood up in reverence and pulled Andrew to his feet as well, almost knocking his coffee cup out of his hand in the process.
"So, Ma'am, what's the verdict?" Andrew asked making absolutely sure he didn't spill anything on himself or the table.
Mrs. Peterman smiled again. "Congratulations Ms. Quinnlan, Mr. Turner, you've got the jobs."
Rose squealed in excitement and gave Andrew a hug around the neck before composing herself. Mrs. Peterman looked a bit upset about the display but didn't say anything about it.
"Brilliant! Starting when?" he asked.
"Starting immediately of course. Follow me to your rooms."
"Our rooms? Already?" Rose asked, looking to Andrew and quickly back at Peterman, "What about our things and we really should contact our families-"
"Nonsense, you can just do all of that during your free hour tomorrow morning. Come along."
"But-"
"Now, now Rose," Andrew said taking her hand and patting the back of it, "new jobs and all. You do want to do this, right?"
Mrs. Peterman walked to the door and waited for Rose and Andrew to follow. Rose gave Andrew a look that said "she knows" but he shook it off. It wasn't possible that the woman, alien or human, already knew anything yet after only a few hours time. Mrs. Peterman just really wanted them here, in this house, and they were going to have to quickly get to the bottom of everything.
Rose was told to wait in her room for one of the other maids to give her a job to do and she had already been sitting on the bed for over twenty minutes. The outfit she had been given fit like a dream but distinctly reminded her of the one she wore to this world's original Jackie Tyler's birthday party. Someone suddenly knocked on her door and Rose got to her feet and answered only to be pushed aside as someone barreled past her.
"What sort of outfit is this for a chef?" Andrew asked sounding unusually exasperated.
Rose looked down the hall but no one was coming. "What do you mean?" she asked, shutting the door and turning about face.
"It's all…black? Black! For a chef's outfit? It's like they already think the foods gonna get all burned and I'll be fired before we find out-"
Rose looked him over and nodded satisfactorily."Actually, I think it makes you look rather dashing."
Andrew shut his mouth and Rose's face turned beet red. "So what're you supposed to be doing now?" he asked, breaking the awkward silence.
"Waiting for one of the maids to "collect" me," Rose said while making quote marks in the air, giving cause for Andrew to chuckle.
"I should probably go. If you can get back in touch with Tristan then let him know we're in for the night a'right?"
"Yeah, that's fine."
Andrew turned to leave but instead looked back and put his hands on Rose's shoulders, holding her in place, leaning down and kissing her. Rose felt like she was floating on air, feeling his lips against hers after so long…
Just a second later, a voice called out through the closed door, "Ms. Quinnlan; are you ready?"
Rose reluctantly pulled away and shouted, "Yeah, jus' a sec." She turned to the door making sure whomever it was wasn't peeking in before returning her attention back to Andrew, pulling him down to her height and kissing him back again. Rose was still a bit dazed when she finally pulled away and Andrew looked as though he enjoyed it just as much. She opened the door to find a nervous maid who looked awkwardly around the room and spotted Andrew who waved back, equally awkward, and then wiped his mouth.
"Well I should leave you two girls to your...work? Yes, work. See you later, Rose. Remember what I did, I mean said."
"Yeah, later."
Andrew reached outward, meaning to take her hand but instead he dropped it and left making Rose feel alone again.
"...Ms. Quinnlan?" the girl asked.
Rose turned to the poor girl and sighed before saying, "Please, call me Rose. Shall we?"
The girl led Rose downstairs to the laundry where others were waiting. There they remained, folding and washing clothes, for over four hours. In that time, Rose discovered that a) the girls really didn't like to talk while working (shockingly) and b) they seemed to be frightened. That part bothered her the most.
Deciding to break the ice, so to speak, Rose asked, "So, where're you all from? I'm from England in case you couldn't tell." She even threw in a fake laugh and a smile trying to make the others feel more at ease.
"We come from Guatemala; my husband and I," one of the women said a minute later with a heavy Spanish accent. "He works in the garden."
"I lived just across town, with my parents," another girl who looked to be a few years younger than Rose said. A few others relayed other bits of information but most said nothing at all.
"Oh well, that's nice," Rose said, "And are you all enjoying yourselves here?"
They all spoke at once, saying just how wonderful the Peterman household was and how lucky they were to have jobs in the current economy.
After almost no time at all, it was time for their evening meal which was well after the family had eaten their own of course. Rose and the other girls arrived in the kitchen and finally Rose could see the extent to the Peterman family's staff. Thirty diverse people were either seated around the dining room table or standing as they ate their meals which consisted of ham sandwiches and crisps. Rose spotted Andrew immediately, standing by the window having a drawn out conversation with some tan-skinned, black bearded man wearing a green jumpsuit who was wiping his brow with a dirty handkerchief. Andrew noticed her looking and nodded his head, giving Rose a sign that it was okay to walk over.
"This is my mate I was telling you about. Rose, this is Ramon. He works in the gardens."
"Pleased to meet you," Rose said shaking the man's hand.
"Nice to meet you. You work with my wife yes? Josephina?"
Rose smiled kindly at him and nodded. "Oh, yes. She's a very lovely woman."
Ramon wiped his brow again and, looking him over very closely, Rose could see that he looked incredibly exhausted.
"You okay?" Rose asked, putting her hand on his shoulder.
"Si, si," Ramon said wearily. Not even a second later, Ramon barely moved even his head when he wordlessly fell backwards to the floor. Everyone gathered around him wondering what was happening. Andrew did his best to rouse the man when a new voice entered the fray.
"Would everyone just settle down! What is the problem here?" a man announced loudly over the ensuing chaos.
Everyone turned to see an older gentleman, head topped with salt and pepper hair and standing well over six feet tall in stature, walk to the prone man and bent over him, checking for his pulse. He adjusted his suit jacket and looked at the crowd of faces before saying, "Meal time is over. Would everyone please vacate the room? Now!"
"Please, he is my husband," Josephina the maid whom Rose worked with earlier said, tearfully.
The strange man gave her a once over and nodded very solemnly. "Very well. Everyone else, back to work."
Rose gave Andrew a raised eyebrow and he could do nothing but shrug. The two of them remained at the back of the group and, once out of the room, they looked back through the kitchen door's window.
"Something isn't adding up here," Rose said. "We should stay vigilant, yeah?"
"I've only been human a few months," Andrew said, "and I know it isn't right when people randomly faint on the job – except in deserts and places of noxious fumes I suppose..."
"You planning on going somewhere with that statement?" Rose asked, trying not to grin but doing so anyway.
"What I'm saying is – ask as many questions as you can. See if this happened before now. Were you ever able to get back in contact with Tristan?"
"No; it's like this house is cut off or somethin'."
"Hmm, we're probably going to have to sneak over to him tomorrow during our "off time" in the morning. Rose?"
"Yeah?" she asked, turning to him.
Andrew touched his hand to her cheek and leaned down, giving light, feather of a kiss. "Stay safe."
The two agents looked back and watched as Mr. Peterman lifted Ramon over his shoulder and walked out of the room with a tearful Josephina following behind them. Andrew walked back into the kitchen and Rose wished, for just that second, that she could stay there with him, safe and in his loving care. Just like old times. Shaking off the feeling that the walls surrounding her were closing her in, Rose straightened her shoulders and began to walk away. She stopped a moment however and looked back to the white kitchen door. She walked back and placed her hand gently against it before turning again and finally leaving. Little did she know that, on the other side, Andrew did the exact same thing before letting out a deep breath he didn't even know he was holding and preparing to clean up the kitchen for the remainder of the evening.
The rest of Rose's shift mainly comprised of dusting a few guest rooms in the western wing and before she knew it, it was eleven o'clock and Rose was free for the remainder of the evening. Of course, what else was there to do in household where the servants weren't even allowed in any of the rooms unless told to be there by the owners themselves? No, the only thing to do was to just get ready for bed and hope that the morning arrived fast. Rose was just getting into a nightgown (provided by the household) when there was a knock at her door. Wishing it was Andrew, Rose was disappointed when it was a girl she had seen earlier in the day from the kitchen. One of the other chefs who was in the room when Ramon fainted.
"Rose Quinnlan, right? Turner's friend?" the girl asked in a snotty tone that Rose didn't like at all.
"Right…?"
"Your friend is making some pretty strange moaning noises that're keeping the farther end of the wing up. Mind checking up on him?"
"What; you mean Andrew?"
"What other guys do you know?" she asked giving Rose a once over.
Rose was out of her door the instant whatever-her-name-was stopped talking. It was a very long walk down a seemingly endless and dark hall. She listened to every door she passed until she came upon a crowd of people standing by a closed door who looked at her as she walked closer. Rose glowered at them before leaning her ear in and listening. She could definitely hear someone talking inside but the wood was making it difficult to understand what they were saying. Rose turned the knob and slowly opened the door and walked inside, closing it behind her and letting the darkness wrap itself around her like a blanket.
Thrashing almost didn't even begin to cover what Andrew was doing in his sleep. All of his covers and a blanket lay in a small but messy pile beside his bed as his body swiveled back and forth and the sleep talking continued. "She isn't safe! It's not stable. Oh, Donna – no," he whispered the name pitifully before beginning to sob. "Can't be saved. Can't and it's all my fault. Bloody timelines. All because I had to be bloody created."
What was wrong with Donna? Wasn't she all right in the other world – with the Doctor, like she wanted? "Andrew? Andrew wake up," Rose whispered, hoping it was loud enough for him to hear.
Andrew's sobs continued and slowly tore Rose's heart into two.
"Andrew!" she tried louder.
"She can't stay. He's alone. It's all my fault."
Rose couldn't take it anymore and she fell to her knees beside him, grabbed his shoulders and shook him, hoping it would finally be enough to rouse him. "Andrew!"
He seemed to jump and Andrew took several gasping breaths as he finally awoke from whatever nightmare he was trapped in, looking and no doubt feeling disoriented in being in a strange place. He looked into Rose's tearstained face. "What're you doing here, Rose? What's wrong?" he whispered.
"Someone sent for me. You, you were having a nightmare or somethin'. I was worried you wouldn't wake up when I started calling for you."
His mind only latched onto one word she said. "Nightmare?"
Rose sat back on her heels and cocked her head to the side. "What, you don't remember?" Andrew shook his head in obvious confusion leaving Rose confused as well. "How could you not remember - you were moaning and talking loud enough I'd have thought you'd wake yourself up."
"I was?" he asked shocked, "Did anyone hear me?"
"Hear?" Rose now got to her feet and crossed her arms against her chest. "Of course they heard you otherwise why would I be here?"
Andrew fiddled around with the mattress, running his fingers along the seams looking a bit bashful. "I thought you, um, wanted to say good night. Haven't seen you since Ramon was taken away and..."
Rose was curious. "And what?"
Andrew opened his mouth but after a few seconds closed it again.
"Right then, I'd better go," she said using her thumb to point at the door.
Andrew still said nothing and instead rearranged his sheets, flipped his pillow and turned over. He was just closing his eyes when he heard Rose call to him one more time.
"You mentioned Donna in your sleep."
Andrew turned back and Rose was looking at him again.
"Is she okay?" Rose asked carefully.
Staying silent for several seconds, Andrew finally said, "Yeah. She's safe."