"Sorry, where are my manners, are you hungry?"
"Nah, I'm fine, thanks. I'll be out of your way in the morning."
"No rush, my mum won't be back that early, I can at least make you breakfast."
"Then I look forward to it. You go ahead, don't mind me, I'll watch a bit of telly if you don't mind?"
"Nah, I don't mind, there won't be much on though," she replied, going over and switching it on. "We don't have the sports channels."
"That's quite alright, if there is only you and your mother, or is there someone else?"
He could have sworn Jackie had said Mickey was her sometimes boyfriend but he shouldn't assume anything.
"No, no-one else. Well I sort of have a boyfriend, I was supposed to go to a party with him but he'll have gone on his own now. My mum's friend was supposed to pick us up from the pub but his car broke down, so he said. I think he'd had too much to drink and didn't fancy getting caught."
"Quite right too and I really didn't leave my car at a pub, sorry."
"What can I believe about you?"
"I'm a teacher from Chiswick?" he smiled.
He hoped she believed that, well the teacher bit would be easy, wait for the schools to re-open, present his qualifications and convince them they needed extra help. As for the living in Chiswick bit, he'd have to be careful he didn't run into a certain ginger bride.
"Okay, I'll believe ya, you don't seem to be penniless, unless you're like me when my card keeps getting chewed up?"
"No, I have money."
All he could do was rely on his psychic paper and his sonic and hope no-one noticed their dwindling bank account but if he thought about it, UNIT had supposed to have kept him on their books, he could see if they still did. It would only take one phonecall to the brigadier.
"Well I'll go get you the spare duvet, don't stop up all night, will ya?"
"I will do my best not to. Why do you keep looking at me like that? Have we met before?" he asked, trying to throw her off.
"You sort of look familiar but no, I've never met a John Smith before. Who are you, really?"
She put the cups down and sat on the sofa next to him.
"Are you in trouble?"
"No Rose, well sort of but not with the law. The thing is, I don't belong here."
"No, you belong in Chiswick. They'll be some buses tomorrow, I'll lend you the fare into town and you can get some cash, yeah?"
"That's very kind of you Rose but the truth is, I don't live in Chiswick, well I know someone who does live there, sort of."
"You're not making sense Doctor, care to explain?"
He was already too deep in this, after she met his past self, he'd regenerate and she would know instantly but he couldn't risk her not being in the store that night it had blown up, after he'd got her out safely.
"I will tell you in the morning, it's late."
"I'm not tired and I'm not stupid so tell me or I'll call my mum's friend and he'll come over and find out who you are."
He believed she would as well.
"Where do I start? You work in a department store, right?"
"How do you know that? Did Mickey put you up to this?"
"Mickey the idiot? No, he didn't."
"You know him then?"
"Rose, you watch TV, science fiction, right?"
"What are you getting at?"
"You'd better go get a refill, you are going to need it."
She went off, undecided as to ring her mother and have Jimbo and his mates come over, if the bloke messing with the TV remote was actually crazy, which served her right for picking up strays after lying to her mother she had done no such thing. She made the drinks, unaware she had made his the way he liked it but everyone got the same as she had, there was no asking what they wanted.
"Right, out with it, who are you, John Smith or should I say Doctor?"
"Just Doctor, well The Doctor if you want my full title, John Smith is just the name I go under sometimes, it saves a lot of explaining."
"Not this time it doesn't."
"Right, of course, down to business then. I told you that you were going to have a great year, ask me how I know?"
"I keep asking ya questions but I'm gettin' no answers. Go on then, how did you know?"
"Because, Rose Tyler, you are going to meet a very important person this year, well in around six months or so. When you do, your life will never be the same again."
Rose almost got up and threw him out until he put his arm out to stop her.
"Hear me out Rose, you wanted to know."
"How did ya know my surname? Have you been going through my stuff?"
"No, I would never do that."
He had, well the other him had when he'd first been in her living room and that had been the first time he'd really noticed his appearance and Rose had not even bothered, she'd gone with him anyway. This could completely ruin any chance of ever getting back but he had to risk it, to tell her some of it, without interfering in her destiny.
"Rose, you are going to meet a man who will take you away from all this and when you do, you have to do exactly what he says and then go with him, not right away though, he will go away and come back and ask you again."
"How do you know all this?"
"Because, how can I explain this? I'm from a few years in your future, I know what happens and I know you are going to call your mum's friend but hear me out first. I got here by accident, into the past, well my past actually, call it a freak accident because I wasn't paying attention."
Well that part was true, he'd been thinking about her, maybe that was why he was here?
"Then how did you get here?"
"The touch of an angel, well a weeping angel to be exact. There are these creatures, in 2007 that can send you back to the past but I think they had been a bit off with me. They are supposed to send a person back to before they were born and they consume all the energy and let you live your life in the past. The only creatures who kill you off in the present and do it nicely. I was being nosy, seeing why people had disappeared and they got me."
Well she had sat back, that was a good sign.
"You're right, you should have waited until morning, you might have sobered up a bit more by then. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and let you stay but you had better still have the same story in the morning, right?"
That seemed fair enough to him, at least she'd not kicked him out or got Jackie's then boyfriend to toss him over the balcony and his story wouldn't have changed, that was all he could tell her at present, at least until she trusted him.
"You'd better have gone in the morning before my mother gets back, I lied to her."
The Doctor thought that was not the first or the last time Rose would do that in the not so distant future. She disappeared and came back with a pink floral duvet and put it on the chair, noticing he was watching some channel she didn't recognise the logo of. He had 'zapped' the TV box to get all the premium channels but before his past self came along, he'd have to change them back. Well maybe?
"How did you do that? Mess with the TV box?"
"That penlight I showed you, it's not just a torch."
"It can upgrade TV's? If you are right and you're stuck in the past, do you realise what everyone would do?"
He hadn't thought of that. "Enlighten me."
"This is just too weird. If you know what's gonna happen, people will think you can predict the future and they won't leave you alone so why are you telling me?"
She had a point. "I trust you Rose but you can't tell anyone else, especially not your mother."
"Do you know me in the future then?"
"Sort of. When you meet this man, after you have done what he asks you to do, I need you to get him to meet me and take me back to the time I come from."
"How will he be able to do that?"
"Trust me, he'll be able to."
He knew that Timelords always recognised each other but it wasn't that simple if it was a past or future incarnation of yourself, especially if your brain happened to be scrambled at the time but he had to risk it, he had very little choice.
"What, he has a time machine?" Rose laughed and stifled a yawn.
"Get some sleep Rose, we'll talk in the morning, I don't need much sleep but I'll keep the volume low on your upgraded TV, no charge for that."
"Well Okay then but if you want to leave, my key's on the table."
"Right, got it but you promised me breakfast. Do you believe me?"
"Sort of, I suppose. Why would you make a thing up like that?"
"Exactly. Goodnight Rose, see you in the morning."
"Yeah, night Doctor. Oh and if my mum does come back early, you're not a stray, you know me and I bumped into you after she left me and invited you for a drink, just stick to your original story that you couldn't find the party."
He had to smile, Rose was always thinking on her feet.
"Gotcha, party, you invited me for coffee since I'd apparently already had one drink too many but I can assure you I never touched a drop, except for your excellent coffee."
"Don't think praising my coffee will get you anywhere. Just one question though, when am I gonna meet this man and how will I know him?"
"In around six months time and trust me, you'll know him."
"Are you gonna bump into yourself? Oh, you're the man I'm gonna meet but how's that even possible?"
"Rose, I can't tell you, honestly but you can trust the man you are going to meet and as for me meeting myself, let's just say I wasn't around here during this time."
He had told her more than he'd wanted to but Rose had always been curious, she had clearly been like that before he'd met her and now he knew why he'd gone off after she'd turned him down and gone back for her. He never went back for anyone and there had been times he'd regretted it, such as when he'd seen Sarah-Jane again but that was his life and Rose had been the exception.
He thought Martha would take his mind off things for a while but it was clearly getting out of hand and the sooner he told her when he did get back, the better. It would be six months or so for him but to Martha, it would be the next day, if she didn't go looking for him, which he suspected she may. She had a Tardis key and it would glow when she got nearby and she'd know he'd gone looking for trouble, it was a simple matter of her finding something he'd be interested in, like people disappearing from an old house.
He hoped she wouldn't go near it because he wasn't there to help her and she would be sent back to another time period and even if by some miracle she got sent back to 2005, he had Rose to think about. He had been more than fortunate to find himself there before she had met him, it would have been awkward if there had been two of him there.
Since he didn't need much rest, he turned off the TV so as to give it a rest and taking off his Converse shoes, laid back against the cushion and closed his eyes. He should be happy he had found her again and he was but he would have to be very careful not to tell her too much but Rose was curious and wouldn't take no for an answer.
The next morning, Rose found him in the kitchen making eggs and toast, after she'd tried to sneak to the bathroom without being seen.
"Morning Rose, I woke early so I thought I'd make you breakfast for letting me stay. Here, sit down, it's almost done."
"Wow, thanks. Morning Doctor."
"Good morning to you too Rose. As you can see, I am completely sober, not that I was drunk, it's virtually impossible for me to get drunk, it takes some doing, trust me."
"I believe you. Okay, I'll go with your story, what do you want me to do?"
That was a relief, he'd expected to be told to walk to the nearest town centre and not come back.
"You can help me in lots of ways Rose. I can get a job, no problem but I need somewhere to stay."
"No place in Chiswick then?" she smiled.
"Afraid not, sorry. I can probably find somewhere but I don't really have a bank account, there was no bank card, just a blank piece of paper that shows people what they want to see. I can bluff my way into a job though but I need help with the rest. I have no idea how to get a bank account or where to look for somewhere to stay."
"Blimey, where do you come from then?"
"Let's say I never had any need for either shall we?"
"Right. I can talk to mum, see if she'll let you stay on the sofa for a few nights but she might get a bit suspicious."
The Doctor thought for Jackie Tyler, that was a bit of an understatement.
"What will you tell her?"
"What do you want me to tell her? I could stick to what I said last night? Maybe add a bit more to it? You have to say you have a job though or that you're waiting to start a new one, she hates people being unemployed."
"Whatever you say Rose. What did you have planned for today?"
"Nothing much, watch a few old films on the telly later. Mum might just turn up, she doesn't normally call first so you're a friend, right?"
"She had better not have a load of questions for me," the Doctor smiled.
"Oh she will, just leave it to me though, I've done it before."
"I just bet you have."
"So, do you stick to the same story you had last night then?"
"Yep, afraid so. Look Rose, I can't tell you too much, about where I came from. I made a mistake, a rookie mistake and I got sent back in time and I'm sorry Rose, I am really sorry but right now, you are the only person who can help me and who I can trust. I have to wait until that man you are going to meet in around six months time comes along then, before you meet him, you will have to do everything I say in order to do so."
"What if I don't meet him? What if you're wrong about me?"
"I'm not but now I'm here, things are in danger of changing so I'm sorry but you have to stay friends with me because if you don't, I am stuck in the past."
"Won't you meet up with yourself in six months time?"
That was a fair enough question he supposed. Temporal mechanics were not Rose's strong point so he had to explain in a way she would understand.
"It's not that easy Rose, technically, I will eventually run into myself and that's very bad because I won't have done the things I've already done and that can have a huge impact on a lot of things."
Yeah, nice one Doctor, if not for you, Rose would still be here, in the future.