Surprises and Lessons in Smugness

Feeling much better after a relaxed lunch of sandwiches in the Kitchen, the pair head off to the Library to keep working on Rose's telepathic skills. She's fairly bouncing off the walls with barely suppressed energy. The Doctor, the one usually so afflicted, is amused at her exuberance. He can see it sparkling around her, and the happy hum in is mind makes him excited, too. Swinging their clasped hands in the air like a pair of seven year-olds they reach the Library...unprepared.

Apparently the TARDIS is having a great deal of fun redecorating. They both come to an abrupt halt in the doorway; not even able to clear the threshold. Before them, the warm and cozy space that had always reminded Rose of what she thought the library in the game Clue should look like: all dark wood, fireplace, comfy chairs-everything worn and well-loved, had been transformed. It was now a high and airy space, filled with light. On one side was an enormous bank of curved windows that extended from the domed ceiling to the floor. They were currently opaqued, with a warm frosted light. The three sides of the room containing books had three floors, with staircases going to each level. All the books housed in clean silver-colored shelving. The furniture was still comfortable, but where the pieces had been dark and somewhat threadbare the new pieces were a mix of bright pattens, subdued velvets, and leather; they all looked oversized and comfortable. They were arrayed on carpeting done in burgundy with many-sized orange circles woven into it. It was very similar to the embroidery on her coverlet, except she felt that this pattern had meaning. The fireplace was now more of a fire-pit centered in the room made from black stone with copper-colored tiles and with a low table built all around it. All in all, it felt more modern, and was gorgeous.

Eyes wide, Rose is drawn to the windows. She didn't notice that had she released the Doctor's hand and is making her way to them alone; the Doctor is still frozen in the doorway.

/What are you doing?/ He asks the TARDIS with barely suppressed angry unease.

#living#

With the this terse reply, he feels the TARDIS specifically ignore him, and turn her attention to Rose. He can sense the edge of them communicating through the link.

/Are they talking? Like properly...talking?!/ He thinks incredulously. Shaking his head at the ridiculous thought, he starts toward Rose who has nearly reached the windows. Turning, she looks questioningly at him.

Rose is slowly walking toward the windows almost mesmerized, drawn to the sifting of the warm light. She needs to see what's on the other side. She knows there's something out there and the opaquing is the TARDIS's way of making it a surprise.

~It is a surprise, my Wolf, but I need my Thief to release it. It is for both of you, but he must accept it.~

/What is it?/ Rose is wondering now, what it could be. But she finally notices that the happiness at the back of her mind has been gone, probably since they hit the doorway and she was too distracted to pay attention. Feeling a little guilty, she now senses the feelings of distress, nervousness, and anger, but mostly sadness coming from her Doctor.

~Home.~

Turning to watch the Doctor as he trudges forward eyes to the floor, Rose speculates on what he might be feeling. She can gather from what the TARDIS just said that this is more of Gallifrey, but why would Darling be reticent now? She has already seen the Gallifrey Room, what was so different...and then it strikes her-this is an actual place.

Taking the final step to meet her Doctor, she takes his hand in hers and shakes it, encouraging him to look up at her.

"It's someplace familiar isn't it, some where you know?"she asks him gently.

"Oh yes. I know it. I spent years here." An actual smile flirts with his lips as he thinks of all the time he had read in this room, argued in this room, and spent many sleepless nights hating this room.

"Doctor, you don't have to show me this," she says sincerely, mindful of the vulnerability she senses beneath his words. Her compassion gives him strength.

"No. It's alright. I was just surprised. I'm not sure why the TARDIS thinks this is the best place now, but it's as good as any other, I guess." Taking the final steps to the windows with Rose, he lays his hand on the curved silver railing that follows the windows attached to the outward facing struts. "View," he says clearly, and the windows go from opaque to hearts-shatteringly clear.

They are very, very high suspended above a city that is hazy beneath them. Whether it is a trick of the light or the quality of the air, it is clear enough Rose can see all the way past a range of sharp mountains to an ocean. The smaller sun is setting, while the other is high to her right where she can also see a pinkish moon shining in the sky. There's an odd disturbance between here and there, and it takes a moment for Rose to realize the visual discrepancy is the shine from a dome. An enormous glass dome that they are very near the top of, large enough to entirely encase the city. It is awe inspiring.

"Rose Tyler, I give you...well really the TARDIS gives you...the Prydonian Chapter Library in the Citadel of the Time Lords on Gallifrey," he says grandly, with a sweep of his arms to include the room as well as the view. "I spent what felt like centuries of my life here studying to be a Time Lord. Well I say studying, that actually implies I cared enough to listen to all the old windbags. I studied just enough, that they would leave me alone...mostly. Which was really only part of the time...and not really at all. My father didn't like my...approach to learning shall we say."

Sighing he steps closer to Rose, and pulls her into a sideways hug. She gratefully wraps her arms around him and uses him to steady herself, though she feels his need for comfort as well. She is feeling a little like she could fall through the glass, and it would take days for her to reach the bottom. Still looking out the window eagerly devouring the scene, Rose feels how tense he still is.

"Would it be easier for you, if it stayed opaque?" She asks softly, wanting him to know she sympathizes with him, but hoping he says, no.

"No..no it wouldn't. Not now that I know it's there," he says, giving her a little squeeze. "I would stand right here and look out for hours sometimes, wondering why I had to be a Time Lord. It is easy to detest what you take for granted."

With another heavy sigh and a last look at the view, he determinedly turns from the window and leads Rose over to one of the sofas. Nearby, a tea service has popped into existence, and they both relay their thanks to the TARDIS.

Setting his cup down after a sip, he turns to face Rose. In completely unveiled excitement she sets her cup aside, and looks eagerly at the Doctor. She tries to be mindful of his discomfort with the situation, but she's just too keyed up to remain serious for long.

"Are you ready to begin, Rose?" he asks with a smile. Rose's excitement is contagious and he decides to try and focus on that.

"Yep!" She exclaims.

"Alright, what I want you to do, is enter the front of your own thoughts. This is not the Foyer, but before that; where we feel the link. Once you're there I want you to envision your mind as protected. Think of something no one can get past. You want it impregnable," he explains. "I am then going to do my best to knock it down! Let me know when you're ready." He says this last with a smug grin that says he knows how to play this game, and he always wins.

Rose, is not amused. Narrowing her eyes at him, she takes a deep breath. Glancing one more time at that smug little smirk, she closes her eyes with determination.

The Doctor uses the opportunity to look around the room while he waits for Rose. He's still a bit shocked and miffed at the change. He really liked the old Library. It was comfortable, and his...it was cozy. He did have to admit to himself though, that now having been removed from it for so long, this was an impressive space. With its Prydonian colors, the Time Lord seal in the carpeting, even the fire-pit with its Gallifreyan Zinc tiles, the Library managed to be not so much pretentious, as majestic. And he could tell that Rose loved it. Finally relaxing, he chooses to give up the fight. It is an awful lot of demon facing for one day, but he is determined to be better...for Rose.

"I'm ready. Do your worst, Time Lord." She tosses this out with a smirk of her own, and a supreme amount of confidence. Grinning like a fool, the Doctor focuses on Rose, and strides toward her mind fully intent on winning, and quickly. Reaching the front portion of her mind, he stops. He can go no further. He should be able to sense or at least 'see' her shields, but there's nothing there. He slides along the 'barrier' that's keeping him out looking for holes, chinks in the armor, anything that will let him in. He is at this for quite some time, 18 minutes and 26 seconds to be exact, before he notices Rose's growing amusement and smug satisfaction outshining his frustrated indignation at not being able to find a way in.

"Rose! How did you do that?!" He nearly shouts at her as he finally gives up. Leaning back against the arm of the sofa and wiping the perspiration from his brow, he is clearly fuming. That had been a lot of hard work to get no where. He sees that she's leaning against the opposite side, tea cup in hand, gazing mildly back at him; completely unconcerned with his outburst. Infuriating woman!

"That does seem to be your question for the day. Could you not 'knock it down'?" she asks, gently mocking him. Smiling, she sets her cup down, folding her hands in her lap. Her own smirk firmly in place.

Taking a deep breath, the Doctor lets go of the frustration. He has never felt shields like that, like they weren't even there. Something was there because he could't go forward, but he might as well have been on an asteroid, for all the good it did him to find her.

"Right. Would you please tell me what you did? Your shields are, as far as I can tell, perfect. I couldn't find them let alone get past them, and I'm a very strong telepath...certainly the strongest we're likely to meet," he says confidently, but with renewed curiosity.

"There you go thinking you're all impressive again," Rose says, grinning at him.

"I am impressive, Rose Tyler," he says, preening. "In a millennia of Time and Space travel I have met very few truly strong telepaths that weren't my own people. But what you have done is also very impressive. Please tell me. I..well...it would...weeelll...," burying a hand in his hair and rubbing the back of his head, he finally spits out, "yoursarebetterthanmine...annd...Ishoulddoityourway! There, so please?" He said all of it so fast, that Rose has to replay the 'yours are better than mine, and I should do it your way' over a couple of times to make sense of it. Oh this is good. She'll have to save it up to use on him, when he's being insufferable in the future.

Deciding to take pity on him, she begins explaining , "You said to make my shields so no one could get past, impregnable, so I did. I thought of the void ship and how we could see it, but nothing could read its existence, and I thought of the TARDIS which you said the charging hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get in to. Then, I smashed the whole idea together, and locked it up tight!" She's feeling very pleased with herself. She receives a warm proud caress from the TARDIS across her thoughts in agreement.

"You extraordinary creature!" the Doctor enthuses. "Rose Tyler, that is brilliant, utterly fantastic! Void ship, ha! None of that would have ever occurred to me. We were taught a very specific way of shielding. I considered just teaching you the same, but thought I would see what you'd come up with on your own first." Pausing a moment and looking at his hands, he glances back up at her with a slight squint, "I'm ashamed to admit, I was looking forward to flaunting my more superior Time Lord knowledge at you, but here you go and toss it all on its head...again. You, my dear girl, are magnificent!" he finishes with a broad grin. He's so pleased and proud of her that he reaches out, pulls her forward, and kisses her soundly.

"If that's the gold star I get every time I'm magnificent; I will endeavor to be magnificent more often!" she says, a little breathless but grinning. She sits back and reaches for her tea, "So is the shielding all I need to know; I thought there'd be more."

"You want to be able to raise and lower various layers of them at will, but once you have good shields, everything else develops on its own," he explains, taking a sip of his own tea. "You may have certain talents that are stronger than others, like empathy, traveling sight- where you can look at places with your mind, healing, or even telekinesis or foresight. We'll just have to see what happens. Telepathy comes naturally to Time Lords, but you aren't a natural Time Lord." Shrugging, the Doctor watches Rose over his teacup.

She's having an interesting time processing all the available possibilities. All she can think about is mutant X-men, and super powers. She's completely distracted with these thoughts when the Doctor breaks in to her reverie.

"Why don't you practice giving me access through the layers of your shielding. Keep me out of the doors in the balconies, but eventually let me have access to the Foyer where we'll meet up. Okay?" he asks. At some point he wants to see if adding her tricks to his own shields works as well. He's looking forward to seeing if Rose can get past her own ideas.

Nodding, Rose focuses inward one more time, -Alright, I'm ready,- she sends him, mentally. Remembering a picture of the interior of the Earth from when she was in school, Rose models the layers of her shields from what she saw there—a hard crust, gooey mantel layers, and protected core. She can do this.

Reaching forward with his mind, he comes to the same outer waiting area. Pressing against the invisible shield, it's at first completely unyielding, then it swallows him whole, and he's in another space. This one he can 'see' as a gray fog, but he can't move...either direction.

-Rose. Can you hear me?- he asks, reaching for her. He can't feel himself or see his avatar, but he can communicate, though it sounds like he's in a tin can.

-Of course.- comes the smug reply.

-I can't seem to move forward or back. I'm stuck.-

-Good. That's what I envisioned, In case I need to trap something.-

-Interesting. Are you planning something I need to know about?-

-Nope! Just being ready.-

-Would you please let me through this layer then?- he asks, just a little worried.

-Yep!- is the instant happy reply.

Now he's in her Foyer, but where he could previously see the balconies with many doors, it's now a walled garden. He can see nothing past the top of the wall, only sky. Rose is also standing there with him, still sporting a cheshire grin.

"Very good, Rose. Can you now let me see the rest of the Foyer?" he asks, sounding just a touch petulant.

"See if you can find it first. I left a 'key'," Rose responds with amusement. She's enjoying keeping him off balance.

"Really? Well, let's see," he murmurs to himself. He always likes a good puzzle. "If I was a key...and Rose Tyler wanted to hide me...where would I be, that she'd know I'd find, but no one else? Hmmm...mmm..mmm." Humming to himself, he walks around the garden, looking for clues. "Why did you leave me a key? It's a good idea, but I want to know what your reason is." A key was actually a great idea. He can think of several times in his past where that would have been helpful.

"If something has happened to me, I want you to be able to get past these shields if I need help. You're the only one I trust." The last part she says quietly, and he can feel she's just a little timid about it. "Well, quite right, too." He's pleased with the sunny mental response this elicits.

The garden walls are stone with vine arbors spaced here and there. Looking closely at the stones he sees that each one has a small carving of something on it. A bear, a cat, moon, an apple... Wait, he knows exactly what she'd pick. He starts looking around for the banana. Only he would know that they are his favoritest of things...clever girl!

"Ha! Found it!" He crows. Near one corner, he finds a little palm tree with a cluster of bananas hanging from it. Placing his fingertips to it, it glows blue and the garden vanishes. They are now in the Foyer proper. He can see all the balconies and their accompanying doors.

"Well done, Doctor! I knew you'd figure it out, and thoughts of bananas will get you past the front shields now as well." Laughing, she claps her hands in delight. Returning her grin, he now notices something that bothers him.

"What did you do with your doors, Rose?" he asks looking around with a worried expression on his face, concerned that it may actually be a sign of instability.

"Hid them. If you want them, you have to think of what you're looking for in circular Gallifreyan, and..."

Rose suddenly pitches forward and would have fallen if the Doctor hadn't caught her. "Rose! Rose?! What's happening?" Her eyes are wide and glazed, her pupils completely blown. Still holding her, he starts to pull them from her mind, trying to be as quick and gentle as possible.

"No! No...," Rose gasps out. Blinking rapidly her knees buckle and the Doctor sets her gently to the floor of her Foyer. Before loosing consciousness she manages, "D..down..download from TARDIS."

Oh! She's reached a trigger to the knowledge that the TARDIS and the Sphynx had left her. That's good, no that's great! He starts thinking of all the things that he and Rose can talk about now, that she wouldn't have comprehended before—TARDIS repairs, navigating temporal fluctuations, all the minutiae of seeing time—Oh! He nearly swoons himself when he thinks of hearing his own language from the lips of another living person. Watching her eyes flicker behind her lids rapidly like she's dreaming a marathon, he can't help but be excited. Of course, he's still unsure about what to make of some of the lab reports, but once this download settles he should be able to get her baseline, and start really working on the mystery of Rose Tyler, Time Lady.

~She will need guidance to understand all of what she is now given, my Thief.~

/What the hell! What? My, TARDIS?! What? How? Are you talking to me...TALKING?!/ He can't believe it. The TARDIS is talking to him, in sentences, proper sentences!

~Yes, my Thief. This is how my Wolf and I communicate, and we are here.~

/But how is that possible? You don't even entirely exist in the same dimension as us. That's why our communication is so limited, and mostly confined to pictures and emotions./ For an instant he is incredibly jealous of this gift Rose has that he cannot share, but lets it go remembering how she'd acquired it.

~This is true, but my Wolf was in me, and I in her. We are/were/will be one. Parts of us is always together, always the same.~

Well that explained how Rose could understand things about the TARDIS so easily. Oh! How she knew how to take out the picc-line all by herself! And how the rooms always came to her. He had just thought the ol' Girl liked her, but now he can feel that the TARDIS almost thinks of her as a sister, an equal even. Floored, the Doctor is astounded. He has never heard of such a thing. Well to be honest he has never heard of anyone taking in the Vortex and not dying...instantly. Thinking back to something the Sphynx had said, "How long do you think Rose was filled with the Vortex; how long it took her to reach you? Time is not linear. For you, she was only gone a few minutes, an hour? She spent what I would call a moment interacting with the Universe the same way I could." It could have been centuries for Rose. He can have no way of knowing. Well, he supposes, he can ask...

~It is irrelevant. We were/was/will be at the task as long as it needed to take. You were saved, my Thief. Much was accomplished and made ready, but saving you was the end goal in that Moment in Time.~

Humbled by the response, of course, he doesn't need to ask. He is currently laying on the ground...with the woman he love's head in his lap...in her head...talking to his even more magnificent Time-ship; who was in here with them. Blimey!

/Will we 'talk' later? When we aren't here...like this?/ He knows it's a slim hope.

~Not until you are bonded.~

Yes! Wait...Bonded? He can't pretend he hasn't thought about it. Can't hide his thoughts here, not now, with his ship in communion with him, while they wait on Rose. He had only just worked up the nerve to kiss her; he wasn't ready for that step. And it had to be Rose's decision. Being the male, he could complete it, but he can't initiate the Marriage Bond. He will need to make sure that she understands what all that means exactly.

/That wouldn't be so bad, eh Sexy? Would you mind us having some Time-tots running around plastering their jam sticky fingers all over your levers and buttons?/ he says teasingly, trying out the thought. He's actually pretty proud of himself for thinking it at all.

~There could be other benefits.~ she says slyly.

He has no idea what that means and he's about to question her further, when he feels Rose start to come to.

~I have given her all she needs, but that is not the same as comprehending. You will have to guide her. She knows this. Please be gentle. I did not open the Time War to her. It has a separate trigger, that only you or necessary circumstances will release. Do NOT take the gift of my Wolf for granted.~

With that final cryptic warning, he feels the TARDIS pull back. Rose blinks and groans her way back to him.

"Doctor? Where are we? Oh, my head. What is it with these headaches. Why does all the most interesting stuff, have to hurt first?" she says in exasperation. Taking her hand away from her face, she sees her head is laying in his lap, and she's still in her Foyer. Looking up at him, his eyes are huge and shining.

"Hello, Rose. My precious, precious girl." The Doctor pulls Rose up into his arms, and clutches her to him. Somewhat confused, she returns the embrace. Thinking furiously back over the past 42 seconds, she realises that she spoke to him in Gallifreyan. At the same instant she knows for certain that he hasn't heard it out loud from anyone but himself since all his people died.

Pulling back from the hug, she looks up at the Doctor's face. Laying a palm against his cheek she whispers, "Let's get out of here." Abruptly, she 'knows' something else new, and tightens her grip on his hand. With an added glint in her eyes, and a touch of steel in her tone she adds, "We need to talk."