Chapter 27 – We Go Together Like...
Rose was staring at the phone in her little hotel room, and had been for a while. She kept reaching forward to pick it up, then drawing her hand away and staring at it some more.
He was probably awake by now. She wanted to phone him, but he was probably angry. She didn't want an argument. She wanted to delete the last month entirely. She wanted to just be back in the TARDIS like it had been a month ago, her only worries being about Alex and what they were going to do for Leah's birthday.
She swallowed, still staring at the phone. She considered her options. She could always hang up if he started yelling, and she couldn't see his face so she wouldn't be able to see how angry he was.
That seemed like a good deal...
She reached out to the phone again, slowly, carefully...
There was a knock on the door, interrupting her movement. She let go a sigh of relief at being interrupted, got off of the bed and went to the door, pulling it open.
She froze on the spot.
"Rose Tyler, you're a hard woman to find," the Doctor said, grinning at her.
She stared at him. "You're... You're walking."
"I have legs," the Doctor pointed out with a sniff.
"Yeah, but..." she paused, stopping herself. "... How did you find me?"
"Well, I thought to myself, if I was Rose Tyler and I was being utterly stupid where would I go? Then it came to me! I'd go 61 miles away to Rhossili Bay just off the B4247 to a tiny hotel with a Lobstery name," he said, beaming.
She just stared at him, unblinking.
He winced slightly. "Look, can I come in? I'm going to admit, Jack drove me here, carried me up the stairs and helped me to this door so I could make a grand entrance. My legs really hurt right now."
Rose gasped instantly. "Oh God, I'm sorry, come in..."
She took his arm and pulled him inside, closing the door before guiding him over to the sofa and sitting him down. He breathed a sigh of relief, falling backwards to relax before looking up at her.
"Why are you here?" he asked seriously.
Rose sighed, dropping to sit down next to him. "I don't deserve you."
"Well, that's a stupid reason. What's the real reason?"
"That is the real reason..."
"Really?" he asked, scratching a sideburn and looking genuinely puzzled. "That's a new one. Why don't you deserve me?"
"I... doubted you. I thought you were insane. I'd nearly decided on taking Leah and Alex and getting Jack to find us a house... I can't believe I doubted you. I thought we were like... umm..."
"A ham and cheese sandwich?" the Doctor suggested gently, smiling. "I'm cheese, obviously."
She giggled at that, then looked at the floor again. "But I could've stopped all that happening. I should've known you wouldn't have tried to punch your dad or attack him for no reason. I feel so... guilty."
He paused, gazing at her for a moment. "... Wanna know what I think?"
"What?"
"I think you're being ridiculous."
"But I'm not," she insisted in a trembling voice, tears at the ready. "I told you to talk to your Mum, I forced you to accept her. Then I didn't listen when you had those doubts. Then I trusted Ulysses... Even after everything I thought about him at the start, I actually trusted him... I trusted him with you and you nearly died. And he tried to kill Alex, too, right? I should've known something was wrong"
"Are you seriously saying that everything that happened is your fault?"
"It kinda is," Rose muttered. "After you attacked him I just let him strap you down and I just left you there on your own. When... Well... The morning I went back and you were absolutely covered in blood you could've been there for hours before I found you..."
"What does it matter now?" the Doctor asked seriously. "I've got all my blood back in me and my brain's near perfect again."
"I just... I hated every second of it, you were begging me to help you, bleedin' so bad, and I just know I was the one that put you there. I... I hurt you."
"Oh, Rose," he sighed, gathering her into a hug. "You've hurt me loads of times before."
"What?" Rose gasped, pulling away in alarm. "When have I hurt you?"
"Well," the Doctor began, clearing his throat. "How about when Cassandra possessed you and you knocked me out with perfume and put me in a pod linked up to every single known disease?"
"Oh c'mon," Rose protested. "That wasn't my fault!"
"Or," the Doctor continued, ignoring her. "How about when we were on Linox and you decided it'd be funny to push me in the mud just before we were honoured by the King live on Linox TV?"
"How was I supposed to know it was septic!"
"I got knighted live in front of millions of people covered in toxic poo!"
"You weren't hurt though, were you?"
"This was only just after I regenerated, I wasn't about to tell you I had a blistering itchy rash that went into my groin for a week."
"That's why you were walkin' like a penguin!" Rose realised.
"Yeah! And how about when Leah was a baby I was walking down the TARDIS corridor and you rolled out that toy car under my feet and I tripped and face-planted the floor?"
Rose burst in laughter at the mere thought of that.
The Doctor looked disgruntled. "I had a bruise shaped like the grating on my face for three days and everyone we met thought a tiny motorbike had run over my face!"
Rose laughed even harder. "Oh, come on, that was funny!"
"It's domestic violence, that's what it is!" the Doctor insisted with a mock frown.
Rose wasn't paying attention though, just sat there laughing her head off. She struggled to get it under control, but one look at the Doctor's face sent her off again.
The Doctor smiled gently, brushing back her hair so he could see her smile better until she finally managed to get it under control. "See how much it just doesn't matter? Bonding is for life, Rose. We had this conversation before we did it, you knew what my life is and you chose to live it with me. Getting hurt, you or me, is just a part of that. I wouldn't have bonded with you if I thought you couldn't handle it, or if I thought for one second that I'd ever stop loving you. I love you. And it's completely ridiculous that I do, I know, because I'm a 900-year-old alien with a spaceship and no planet and dead parents and you're a human being who had a mum and a council flat and a job... And now all this has happened I just... I'm so glad I blew up your job."
She just smiled at that, taking him into another hug. "I love you."
"Feeling's mutual," he assured her, then pulled away. "And to that effect..."
He suddenly got up, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small box. Instantly she realised what he was doing as he grunted and got down onto one knee in front of her, holding up the box and opening it to reveal a diamond ring inside.
"Will you marry me?" he asked, grinning. "And you'd better say yes because it's already arranged and happening in three weeks."
"What?" Rose croaked, absolutely stunned.
"Your mum can be surprisingly fast at this kind of thing," he replied with a shrug. "Marry me? And it'll be a proper one, with everyone watching and music and proper rings and things, not like the other one."
She frowned slightly. "But you don't..."
"I do," he interrupted. "Marry me?"
"Why are you doing this?" she asked, genuinely puzzled.
"This is my way of convincing you how much you mean to me. Marry me?"
"But, Doctor, I..."
"Rose, please marry me or within the next ten seconds I'm going to be screaming on the floor in agony."
She gasped, realising he was still kneeling down. "Oh god, yeah, I'll marry you. Now sit down!" she said, grabbing him and lifting him on the sofa to sit down.
"Thanks," he breathed, slipping the ring onto her finger. She gazed at it for a moment. It was a very nice ring.
"Jackie gave it to me," he said. "It was the one Pete gave her. I mean, this universe Pete."
"How the heck did he afford this?" she wondered seriously, then smiled. "Thank you. It's beautiful."
He just smiled back.
She gazed at him for a moment, sitting there grinning at her. "You seem kinda... Happy, you know? I mean, I thought you'd be depressed about your mum?" she asked.
"I was," he admitted. "Believe me, you weren't the only one being stupid recently. I thought you left because you didn't love me anymore. I... I cried in our room for quite a while. Then Jackie screamed at me until I got it together to come and find you. And you know... You broke your promise."
"What promise?"
"That if it went horribly wrong you'd be there for me."
"Oh. I know," she muttered. "But... I haven't broken it yet."
"What?"
"Because you're not done grieving yet and I'm here now."
He smiled sadly. "You really do know me."
"We're ham and cheese," she told him, giggling.
"Salt and vinegar," he continued.
"Cod and chips."
"Sausages and mash."
"Clotted cream and scones."
"Now I'm hungry," the Doctor announced, and then got up again. "We'd better go or we'll be late for our booking."
"Booking?"
"Yeah, I got Jack to book us into that restaurant just up the road. Should be fun. I'll have steak."
"Is this a date?" Rose asked cheekily, tongue between her tongue.
"Yes, it is," he supposed, grinning. "Our second date."
"I'll warn you, I don't do sex till at least the fourth date."
"Let's see if we can change that," he said, grinning. "I'm going to take you to dinner, and then we'll have an evening walk on the beach, after that we'll go to bed. Jack's picking us up at nine tomorrow morning, then we'll go sort out these aliens, then I'll get a big tub of Ben and Jerry's and we can snuggle up on the sofa and I can cry into you, then we'll get married, have a honeymoon, get back in time for Christmas and that should be 2012 over and done with," he said, looking at his wrist as if consulting an imaginary watch.
She laughed and got up next to him, frowning as he winced. "Are you gonna be okay to walk?"
He nodded, reaching into his pocket and bringing out a strange metal tube. He fumbled with it for a moment, before it shot out either end and folded out into a crutch. He then seemed to peel it in half, getting two crutches out of one.
He beamed at her, slipping his arms into them. "Ready."
"Shouldn't your legs have healed by now?" Rose asked, concerned.
"They were rebroken about five times I think. When I went into a healing coma they were aligned wrongly so they healed all out of shape, and Martha had to re-break them again and pin them in place. So it'll be a few weeks."
She nodded, and smiled. "Let's go and have steak."
The next morning Leah was sitting in her room, deep in thought. Her Mummy had gone on the mission three days ago and now her Daddy had left to join her, or so Uncle Jack told her. Though she knew there was something going on that Uncle Jack didn't really want to tell her. Which was worrying of course, but Floppy had been doing her best to cheer the girl up as best she could.
But Leah decided she wasn't going to worry about that. She was sure if something was wrong her Daddy would've told her.
Soon her gaze drifted to the toy chest, where she knew Bundy was under the heaps of toys at the bottom. She felt a little guilty at that. Toys were meant to be played with, she knew, and just knowing Bundy was lying there doing nothing was breaking her heart. Bundy had always been her favourite bear by far.
Then she suddenly had an idea. She got up off of the floor, moving to the toy chest and pulling it open. She rummaged through until she found the bear, pulling her out.
"Please leave me, Leah," she sobbed.
"No," Leah replied strongly. "You need to be played with. But... maybe not by me. I've got an idea, okay?"
Bundy didn't answer, so Leah got to her feet and took the bear out of her room and down the corridor. She emerged into her parent's room to make towards the nursery, but instead she found Alex sitting on her parent's bed, jabbing the TV remote and watching Jeremy Kyle with fascinated eyes.
"No, no, no," Leah began, jumping up next to her brother and taking the remote and turning onto Cbeebies. "You watch that channel, Alex."
Alex giggled in delight at the bright colours of the cartoon on TV then started watching it, transfixed. Leah looked at Bundy, and gave the bear a smile.
"Alex," she began, and held up the bear. Alex looked at her, then the bear. "Do you want this bear to keep forever?"
Alex nodded gleefully, and reached out his arms to take Bundy. He held her to his chest, and hugged Bundy tightly.
"She's called But..." She suddenly stopped herself, and then smiled. "She's called Bundy, okay?"
Alex nodded again, and hugged the bear even tighter. Leah smiled at that.
"Take good care of her," she told him, then slid off the bed and towards the door. She was sure she heard the little voice of bear saying, "thank you" behind her.
She smiled, and stepped out into the corridor, and almost walked head-first into her daddy.
"Daddy?" she asked, looking up at him standing there leaning on a crutch.
He smiled gently at her, her Mummy by his side. "Where's your brother?"
"On your bed," she replied, and then folded her arms with an indignant look on the face. "Where have you been?"
"Umm, long story," he said, glancing at her Mummy. "Here, we need to talk to you two."
He ushered her back inside the bedroom, where Alex was sitting on the bed transfixed to Rastamouse.
"Alex," the Doctor began, and the boy looked up, still clutching Bundy tightly. "You two, me and Mummy have got something we need to do and we can't do that with you two in the TARDIS, because we'll be going somewhere very dangerous. So Uncle Jack's going to look after you a bit more in Torchwood."
"Where are you going?" Leah asked.
"Somewhere you can't," was all he replied, serious. "Don't make me beg, Leah. We'll be fine, I promise, we just need you two somewhere we know you're safe."
Leah sighed. "Fine," she finally said.
The Doctor smiled, taking her hand as Rose picked up Alex. They took them out of the TARDIS to where Jack was waiting outside.
"Good luck," Jack said seriously to them.
The Doctor just nodded at that, limping back into the TARDIS and closing the door behind Rose.
"You never said, where are we going?" Rose wondered.
He looked at her, his expression suddenly darkening. "We can't keep treating the symptoms of this level change. There is only one way to stop this."
Rose paled slightly. "You mean..."
"Yes," he replied gently. "The Shadow Proclamation."
And with that, he tapped a few controls, and the TARDIS surged into life.