Return to Memory
Chapter 8 : Hwhat?
Rose nibbled on the candyfloss the Doctor had bought for her, gazing intently at the wolf cage. They had been all around the zoo, looking at every animal in the place. They had been there for over four hours. She grinned, thinking about how long her lunches really were. She supposed that was one of the perks of having lunch dates in a TARDIS. Her mum thought she was only gone for an hour, and sometimes she and the Doctor were gone for an entire day. It was getting difficult to keep her own timeline straight. She had only known the Doctor for a week, but the amount of time they had spent together added up to much longer than that.
In all consideration, though, she still didn't think she had known him long enough to be feeling as strongly about him as she did.
One of the wolves in the cage locked eyes with her, and her thought froze. There was something about this exhibit that she couldn't quite tear herself away from. The Doctor was nearby, chatting with one of the other visitors. He kept shooting her worried looks, though, and it was making her more than a little uneasy.
Why had he gotten so tense when she had talked about the bad wolf? She didn't know what it was, but there was just something about the animal that continued to stare at her through the bars that was very, very bad.
But then, it also seemed like it knew what she was feeling. She was connected to it somehow.
She finally tore herself away from the wolves to stand near the Doctor. He seemed to relax as she stood by his side; he reached over her head and stole a piece of her candyfloss and shoved it into his mouth.
"Rude." She teased.
"And not ginger!" he replied.
She looked at him with a confused expression, and he was reminded that she didn't remember the joke.
The man that he had been talking to left, after another few minutes of intense discussion about the importance of bananas. Rose was beginning to see that this was an obsession with him. She was willing to bet that there were probably several in his pockets. The Doctor turned to her, still grinning widely after having discussed one of his favorite subjects.
"Ready to go back, Rose? Or, if you're not, we could go to the music festival of Scarbrothae! It's a bit irritating after a while, but they have flutes that play themselves! Imagine, Rose, sentient instruments!"
She laughed at his excited tone, despite the niggling feeling that something was missing. It seemed that whenever she was with him, everything fell into place. She thought of his intense gaze in the TARDIS earlier, the look in his eyes when he announced his intentions to her. She had never imagined that she would have a man look at her that way. Plain old Rose Tyler, shopgirl, had a courting partner. She grinned at the thought as he babbled on excitedly about how the Scarbrothians raised their sentient instruments in plant nurseries, where they could learn how to photosynthesize.
As he led her away from the zoo, he continued to talk and she continued to imagine what it would be like to hold his hand.
The Doctor wasn't sure whether to be excited or concerned at recent events. Every once in a while, Rose would pause and get this far away look in her eyes. He could swear he had seen a glimpse of recognition in them earlier. And he didn't know what to make of her earlier statement.
A bad wolf. Those words coming from her lips had left his hearts stuttering to catch up, and he wasn't sure if he should be afraid of the phrase. Rose was the bad wolf, and she had scattered the words throughout time and space. Was the phrase an echo, or was it a reassurance?
He tried his best not to worry and kept his concern hidden from Rose in a way that she would have instantly seen through before. He began to babble incessantly. It was his way of coping, and his beautiful Rose only listened intently to what he had to say. She didn't search his gaze for hints as to what was troubling him, nor did she take his hand. Sorrow pulled at his hearts at this, but he knew it wasn't her fault. The love in her eyes when she looked at him helped ease the pain of her amnesia. They wound their way back to the TARDIS in the darkening evening.
The ship welcomed them back with a chime and he heard Rose sigh beside him. He quickly went to the controls and sent them into the vortex. He knew it was time to ask her if they could take the next step in their relationship. He wanted to go public with their relationship before his classes at the university began the next week. It was time to ask if he could announce his intentions to her mother.
He swallowed nervously, glancing over at her. She was situated comfortably on the captain's chair, gazing intently at something in a magazine from one of the third system of Kilen's planets. He took a deep breath to calm his hearts and went to sit next to her.
"Rose?" he said softly.
She looked up at him, her brow furrowed at his tone. "Yeah? Something wrong, Doctor?"
He shook his head, forcing a smile through his nerves. "No, no, not at all. I just wanted to talk to you about something."
She put the magazine down, shifting to face him in the chair. Her knee brushed his leg and he suppressed a shiver at the spark between them. "What is it?" she asked.
He looked at her cautiously, trying to phrase things perfectly. "Well, I told you my intentions earlier."
Her eyes widened at the memory, her hearts quickening in anticipation for where this conversation was going. "Yes, you did."
He tried to keep his hands from shaking by clenching them in his lap. It wasn't quite working. "And do you accept those intentions?"
She gasped quietly. This was the first step of a formal courting. He really was serious. She had hoped he would do this, but didn't dare to invest too much into that dream. It went against everything she knew of their society. She looked him in the eye and the intensity she found there made her breath catch. He was asking her the one question she had never dreamed she would be asked by a man that made her feel like the universe would implode if she were not with him. She could really only give him one answer. "Yes."
A grin spread across his face, his eyes lighting with a happiness she hadn't yet seen in him. "Well, that's just brilliant!" he couldn't help but exclaim.
Rose laughed at that, blushing sweetly. "So, does that make us official courting partners?"
His smile dimmed a bit, worry flitting across his face. "Not…yet."
His response worried her a bit. He had asked, she accepted, what else was there to do? She was never very familiar with the courting laws of Gallifrey. They were for the higher class, and she had never imagined that any man with respectable stature would give her a second glance.
And then a funny man in a pinstriped suit stepped into her mum's shop and whisked her away. He had the universe in his eyes and he was offering it all to her.
"Do you want us to be?" she asked, confused and needing him to explain.
His smile widened again and he nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yes. There's just one problem."
She frowned. "What?"
He took a deep breath. "I have to ask your mother."
She paled at that. Her mother was not the type of person to just accept the Doctor's request. She didn't even know that Rose knew the Doctor, let alone that she had been going on long lunch dates and falling in love with him. How was she going to react to him showing up and asking for her daughter's right side?
"M-my mum?"
He nodded.
"O-ok. When?"
He stood and punched a few buttons on the console. The TARDIS landed and he turned to her with an anxious expression.
"Right now."
She glanced on the monitor and saw that he had landed them only twenty minutes after they had left. He walked down the ramp to the door and turned, waiting patiently for her to move from her spot. She wasn't too inclined to do so just yet.
She was terribly nervous. What if her mum rejected the Doctor? She was already far too in love with him to go with the rules of their society on that matter. She didn't want to go against her mum or the laws of their planet, but if she was faced with a choice she would immediately choose the Doctor.
"What are you thinking?" he asked gently.
She looked up at him. "What if she says no?"
He nodded solemnly, glancing down at his trainers. When he looked back at her, she gasped at the expression on his face. His eyes were dark, intense and beautiful. His mouth was turned slightly upwards in what could almost be called a smile. The look he gave her promised a lifetime of happiness. It spoke of unbelievable passion and overwhelming love, and she wanted nothing more than to drown in his gaze. He spoke softly, reverently. "What if she says yes?"
She stood from her spot and joined him at the door. They stepped into the square together.
Jackie Tyler was having the most peculiar of days. She kept having this nagging feeling that she was forgetting something. That morning, as she was getting ready for her day, she had reached for a tie for her hair. Her hand had reached out for the top of her dresser, but had found nothing but air. She had looked to her right, only to see that she had never had a dresser there to begin with.
The same thing had happened when coming to work. She had looked all around her small home to find some keys. She couldn't remember why she needed the keys, only that she needed them to leave for work. She eventually aborted her search, frustrated further by the nagging feeling. This continued throughout the day.
Her daughter had left that day for lunch, just as she had every day for the past week. It was very strange, the way she kept disappearing at lunchtime. They usually ate together. Rose had started wearing her best clothes to work, was eager to get up in the morning when she usually tried her best to stay in bed as long as possible. She had a beautiful glow about her face and Jackie feared its origins. She knew that glow.
She had looked like that when Rose's father had started courting her.
She had continued on with her day, closing up the shop for her lunch break. It wasn't until Rose entered the shop with a man in a pinstripe suit that everything fell into place.
As they entered the shop, Rose was positively panicking in her mind. She was terrified of introducing the Doctor to her mum. She had a horrible feeling that it was going to go badly. She only hoped her feeling was wrong.
Her mum was eating at the back of the shop, at the counter next to the register. She looked up when they came in, and immediately her eyes went to the Doctor. She froze for a moment and a strange expression crossed her face. Then her mum looked her in the eye, and Rose knew that her mum knew what was going on.
The Doctor was terribly nervous. He didn't know what he would do if Jackie said no. He wouldn't stop seeing Rose, but he didn't want to ask her to choose between her mum and him, especially when she got her memories back.
He could tell that her mum knew the instant she looked at him what was going on. When they reached the back of the shop, Jackie stood.
"Hello, Doctor." She said politely. It was no surprise that she knew who he was. Everyone did.
He tried to smile, he really did, but he was far too nervous. "Madame Tyler." He addressed her formally.
Rose tried to decide whether she should intervene or just allow them to meet each other. Her mum certainly knew what was goin g on between them.
"Rose, mind the shop." She said.
Rose frowned. "What? It's closed for lunch."
"Re-open it. I need to have a word with the Doctor. Alone."
The Doctor shot her a look that said it was okay, so she obeyed her mum and began to re-open the shop. Jackie led the Doctor into the back room.
The back room was dingy and dark, but not necessarily as menacing as it seemed in the doorway. There were friendly items here and there, and the Doctor had to admit (if only to himself) that this encounter seemed a lot less scary with the stuffed animals looking at him over the top of a box. Jackie cleared her throat for his attention, adopting what he had always believed as her serious pose.
"So, Doctor. Would you like to explain why I have two sets of memories?"
Well, that was certainly not at all what he was expecting. There was really only one response for that.
"Hwhat?"
A/N:
Sorry it took me so ridiculously long to update this fic! I'm trying to write quickly, but classes have started up again and I don't have much time for anything but homework. I'll try to update again as soon as possible! Thank you for reading and let me know what you think!
With love,
doctorrosetyler