Red Bicycle Chapter Four: Any Other Day (4/8?) (Doctor Who)
Type: Fanfiction
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: T/PG-13
Status: Incomplete (but not by much)
Title: Red Bicycle
Pairings/Characters: The Doctor (Ten), young!Rose, young!Mickey, younger-Jackie, Boe!Jack; Ten/Rose, Ten/young!Rose
Spoiler Warnings: This story is AU post-Doomsday. It could take S3 into account, but it might not. I read my ficathon prompt over and over and this is the one idea that kept coming back. It is Rose pre-Doomsday, however, I do realize that it was one of the looser interpretations of my prompt. There is a very ambiguous reference to a Torchwood character (not Jack) in later chapters but you'd have to watch closely to catch it. The thing that's most important to understand about this story is that the Doctor has been through the events of Doomsday (at least) and the others have not.
Beta(s), other credit: fancy_galloway for beta-ing, jedi_of_urth for her plotting help
Summary/Public Notes: The Doctor decides to do something reckless to ease his conscience. A Time Agent is given an assignment that may change the history and future of the Universe. A teenage girl on a Council Estate in London is caught in the middle.
*[This summary could do with some work.]
**The reason for the delay is a good one: I had two important essays, a governor's school application, and a research paper I had to work on during the writing period. I also have an icon challenge that needs doing in the next week.
This story is a response to a challenge at the time_x_space Ficathon
Previous Chapter list:
Chapter One: Christmas Presents
Chapter Two: Breaking the Rules
Chapter Three: Orders from Above
Red Bicycle
Chapter Four: Any Other Day
Rose tugged on her light blue tracksuit jacket and ran her fingers through her hair quickly as she looked in the mirror one last time before haphazardly gathering her bag and a stray book from her floor. She ran out her bedroom door and to the coffee table to grab her keys as quietly as she could. Her mum was still asleep and she didn't want to wake her. After she shut the door as quietly as she could she ran down the steps, nearly falling down them in her haste, and then went on at a near jog toward the school. 'Stupid, stupid, late, late,' she was mentally scolding herself. School was just getting to be too much...
Jack swallowed down his squeamishness for the moment and went about checking the school for all the exits as discreetly as he could, eyes trained on the building and memorizing everything about it. He was running his hand up and down the rear-entrance door thoughtfully, checking to see how secure it was. He was so engrossed in his work that it actually startled him when something or someone ran into him and a loud thud was heard against the pavement.
"Oh, sorry," came the simultaneous response from his own throat and the voice of the thing, the person, that had run into him. The first thing he noticed and catalogued was that the voice was female and something about it seemed familiar, like a shadow of someone he'd met a lifetime ago. That couldn't be right, though. He hadn't spent that much time in the 21st century and, as a general rule, he didn't start seeing who was available in the area until he at least understood their slang. It would be really embarrassing if you misunderstood something a person said during... well, never mind, he thought with the softest of chuckles to himself.
He looked to see what had made the noise and saw a thick, paper book and assumed that it must be a textbook. He looked up slowly and saw slightly dirty white Reeboks, the sequin-trimmed blue trousers that fit snugly around rather shapely human-female legs, and the white tee-shirt that came down just over the waist-band of them with a star across her chest that reflected like tin foil in the sunlight. After leisurely looking up he made eye contact with her, giving her his most charming smile as he repeated himself.
"Sorry," he said again. He bent down and retrieved the book from the ground and placed it back in her hands. He felt her eyes still following him as he did and saw that when he looked at her face again they readily trained on his. They were beautiful, dark hazel eyes, full of life, youth, curiosity- humanity. That was one of the reasons he loved his job. He got to meet all sorts of people, human or not, and each one of them had the (that) same lively tenacity somewhere beneath the surface; this girl was teeming with it.
"Thanks," came her eventual reply as she smiled at him, pressing her front teeth against her lower lip briefly. She pushed the book under her left arm and brought her right hand up and folded her hair behind her ear, not looking away but not saying anything for a moment.
"What's the hurry?" Jack asked, not entirely surprised that he had completely distracted her from whatever reason she had been running in the first place.
She watched his face for a moment longer as if a beautiful vase had just started a conversation and she wasn't quite sure how to respond.
"S-School," she murmured as she felt her right index finger point toward the door, which Jack was half-leaning against, then come back down to touch her lip briefly. She laughed at herself, he wasn't that good-looking and how old was he? The longer she looked, though, the more something inside her made her feel like he was very familiar but also like she wanted to start running again. She wanted to run away and stand there forever all at once.
Jack nodded and stepped away from the door and opened it, holding it ajar for her.
"Thanks," Rose said as she nearly walked inside but then poked her head back around the door. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"Inspecting," Jack responded casually. He pulled out a tattered wallet and flipped it open and Rose read it and seemed satisfied.
"Right. Well, I'm already late," Rose continued with a nervous laugh as if she felt she needed his permission to leave.
Jack motioned with his hand for her to go inside and she did, turning around once more just over the threshold to look at "the Inspector's" piercing but warm blue eyes.
"I'm Rose, by the way," she said, not sure if she should but unable to stop herself.
"I'm Ja-" he began to say while reaching out his hand to shake hers but when he got closer his wrist device started beeping madly and he felt a cold, sick feeling settle in his stomach. It took him a moment to recover his thoughts but his hand never did make it to hers. "Actually, I'm really late too. I-I'll see you later."
"Wai-" Rose began as he turned away, but was quickly interrupted by the Headmaster's clipped but very loud reprimand.
"Miss Tyler," he said with something that bordered on absolute contempt. "Late again?"
Rose rolled her eyes before turning around to look at him but she also felt a certain amount of dread creep over her. She thought quickly, trying to come up with some reasonable excuse other than the charming yet too-old-for-her man by the door. A grin came across her face as she thought of him. Maybe he was just the excuse she needed- after all, he was there doing inspection which the Headmaster must know about.
"I was just talking to--" She stopped when she looked over her shoulder out the door which she still held open with her body.
"To whom, Miss Tyler?"
"To...to..."
"Well, I'm sure you can tell me at great length. After school today."
With that the Headmaster turned to leave and Rose just groaned and rolled her eyes again, tempted to kick the door but instead she just spared one more look around before she closed it. The Inspector was nowhere to be seen. He was just there and then gone like the little burst of cold wind that blew into the corridor as she shut the door.
She trudged down the hall, feeling more and more each day like she was walking into a dungeon. When she got to the Hall she wrapped her hand around the door and thought about not turning it. She sighed and with an unenthusiastic motion turned the handle and walked inside, spotting Shareen on the back row looking rather upset.
"What's wrong?" she whispered once she slipped quietly into the seat next to her and rubbed her forearm.
"Daniel's taken ill. He's gone to hospital."
"Hospital?" Rose asked in a loud whisper, careful not to rouse much attention.
"Yeah. He woke up screaming in the middle of the night with a fever. Kept saying something about the Big, Bad Wolf coming. He was out of it for a while, and they keep saying he'll be okay, but..." Shareen wiped a tear from beneath her eye and smiled halfheartedly as she looked at the liquid on her hand. "Dumb kid."
"He'll be all right," Rose cooed reassuringly, though she had trouble swallowing the lump in her throat.
"I know."
Rose grinned at her as they began dismissing the pupils to their classes. "So that's why you came to school today?"
"Shut up."
The final bell rang and Rose got up from her seat, tiredly shoving her homework into her bag. Ordinarily she would have been headed home or to the garage to sit on an oily bench and watch Mickey work. She went to the room where after-school detention was held and took her seat. The time went by quickly because she somehow managed to not think while she worked. Her mind wasn't there but was still trapped in that morning and in the eyes of the Inspector. Who was he? Why did something within her think she should know? Why was something deep in the pit of her stomach telling her to stay away?
"You're dismissed," Mrs. Pellington, looking over a book she was reading to speak to the handful of pupils in the classroom.
Rose gathered her things again and started to walk out the door.
"Rose," Mrs. Pellington said, seeming surprised to see her standing there. "What were you here for today?"
"Being late again," Rose replied with a tiny smile. At least Mrs. Pellington didn't hate her.
"Get to bed earlier," Mrs. Pellington said softly, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
"It's the getting out part I don't do so well with," Rose sighed, deciding not to mention the particular set of circumstances this morning. The more time passed away from it the more she felt like it was something to be kept secret.
Rose went through the school and into the Hall to take the exit closest to the garage. She heard a door not far off open and close but she thought nothing of it. At least the rest of the day could be like any other...
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: T/PG-13
Status: Incomplete (but not by much)
Title: Red Bicycle
Pairings/Characters: The Doctor (Ten), young!Rose, young!Mickey, younger-Jackie, Boe!Jack; Ten/Rose, Ten/young!Rose
Spoiler Warnings: This story is AU post-Doomsday. It could take S3 into account, but it might not. I read my ficathon prompt over and over and this is the one idea that kept coming back. It is Rose pre-Doomsday, however, I do realize that it was one of the looser interpretations of my prompt. There is a very ambiguous reference to a Torchwood character (not Jack) in later chapters but you'd have to watch closely to catch it. The thing that's most important to understand about this story is that the Doctor has been through the events of Doomsday (at least) and the others have not.
Beta(s), other credit: fancy_galloway for beta-ing, jedi_of_urth for her plotting help
Summary/Public Notes: The Doctor decides to do something reckless to ease his conscience. A Time Agent is given an assignment that may change the history and future of the Universe. A teenage girl on a Council Estate in London is caught in the middle.
*[This summary could do with some work.]
**The reason for the delay is a good one: I had two important essays, a governor's school application, and a research paper I had to work on during the writing period. I also have an icon challenge that needs doing in the next week.
This story is a response to a challenge at the time_x_space Ficathon
Previous Chapter list:
Chapter One: Christmas Presents
Chapter Two: Breaking the Rules
Chapter Three: Orders from Above
Red Bicycle
Chapter Four: Any Other Day
Rose tugged on her light blue tracksuit jacket and ran her fingers through her hair quickly as she looked in the mirror one last time before haphazardly gathering her bag and a stray book from her floor. She ran out her bedroom door and to the coffee table to grab her keys as quietly as she could. Her mum was still asleep and she didn't want to wake her. After she shut the door as quietly as she could she ran down the steps, nearly falling down them in her haste, and then went on at a near jog toward the school. 'Stupid, stupid, late, late,' she was mentally scolding herself. School was just getting to be too much...
Jack swallowed down his squeamishness for the moment and went about checking the school for all the exits as discreetly as he could, eyes trained on the building and memorizing everything about it. He was running his hand up and down the rear-entrance door thoughtfully, checking to see how secure it was. He was so engrossed in his work that it actually startled him when something or someone ran into him and a loud thud was heard against the pavement.
"Oh, sorry," came the simultaneous response from his own throat and the voice of the thing, the person, that had run into him. The first thing he noticed and catalogued was that the voice was female and something about it seemed familiar, like a shadow of someone he'd met a lifetime ago. That couldn't be right, though. He hadn't spent that much time in the 21st century and, as a general rule, he didn't start seeing who was available in the area until he at least understood their slang. It would be really embarrassing if you misunderstood something a person said during... well, never mind, he thought with the softest of chuckles to himself.
He looked to see what had made the noise and saw a thick, paper book and assumed that it must be a textbook. He looked up slowly and saw slightly dirty white Reeboks, the sequin-trimmed blue trousers that fit snugly around rather shapely human-female legs, and the white tee-shirt that came down just over the waist-band of them with a star across her chest that reflected like tin foil in the sunlight. After leisurely looking up he made eye contact with her, giving her his most charming smile as he repeated himself.
"Sorry," he said again. He bent down and retrieved the book from the ground and placed it back in her hands. He felt her eyes still following him as he did and saw that when he looked at her face again they readily trained on his. They were beautiful, dark hazel eyes, full of life, youth, curiosity- humanity. That was one of the reasons he loved his job. He got to meet all sorts of people, human or not, and each one of them had the (that) same lively tenacity somewhere beneath the surface; this girl was teeming with it.
"Thanks," came her eventual reply as she smiled at him, pressing her front teeth against her lower lip briefly. She pushed the book under her left arm and brought her right hand up and folded her hair behind her ear, not looking away but not saying anything for a moment.
"What's the hurry?" Jack asked, not entirely surprised that he had completely distracted her from whatever reason she had been running in the first place.
She watched his face for a moment longer as if a beautiful vase had just started a conversation and she wasn't quite sure how to respond.
"S-School," she murmured as she felt her right index finger point toward the door, which Jack was half-leaning against, then come back down to touch her lip briefly. She laughed at herself, he wasn't that good-looking and how old was he? The longer she looked, though, the more something inside her made her feel like he was very familiar but also like she wanted to start running again. She wanted to run away and stand there forever all at once.
Jack nodded and stepped away from the door and opened it, holding it ajar for her.
"Thanks," Rose said as she nearly walked inside but then poked her head back around the door. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"Inspecting," Jack responded casually. He pulled out a tattered wallet and flipped it open and Rose read it and seemed satisfied.
"Right. Well, I'm already late," Rose continued with a nervous laugh as if she felt she needed his permission to leave.
Jack motioned with his hand for her to go inside and she did, turning around once more just over the threshold to look at "the Inspector's" piercing but warm blue eyes.
"I'm Rose, by the way," she said, not sure if she should but unable to stop herself.
"I'm Ja-" he began to say while reaching out his hand to shake hers but when he got closer his wrist device started beeping madly and he felt a cold, sick feeling settle in his stomach. It took him a moment to recover his thoughts but his hand never did make it to hers. "Actually, I'm really late too. I-I'll see you later."
"Wai-" Rose began as he turned away, but was quickly interrupted by the Headmaster's clipped but very loud reprimand.
"Miss Tyler," he said with something that bordered on absolute contempt. "Late again?"
Rose rolled her eyes before turning around to look at him but she also felt a certain amount of dread creep over her. She thought quickly, trying to come up with some reasonable excuse other than the charming yet too-old-for-her man by the door. A grin came across her face as she thought of him. Maybe he was just the excuse she needed- after all, he was there doing inspection which the Headmaster must know about.
"I was just talking to--" She stopped when she looked over her shoulder out the door which she still held open with her body.
"To whom, Miss Tyler?"
"To...to..."
"Well, I'm sure you can tell me at great length. After school today."
With that the Headmaster turned to leave and Rose just groaned and rolled her eyes again, tempted to kick the door but instead she just spared one more look around before she closed it. The Inspector was nowhere to be seen. He was just there and then gone like the little burst of cold wind that blew into the corridor as she shut the door.
She trudged down the hall, feeling more and more each day like she was walking into a dungeon. When she got to the Hall she wrapped her hand around the door and thought about not turning it. She sighed and with an unenthusiastic motion turned the handle and walked inside, spotting Shareen on the back row looking rather upset.
"What's wrong?" she whispered once she slipped quietly into the seat next to her and rubbed her forearm.
"Daniel's taken ill. He's gone to hospital."
"Hospital?" Rose asked in a loud whisper, careful not to rouse much attention.
"Yeah. He woke up screaming in the middle of the night with a fever. Kept saying something about the Big, Bad Wolf coming. He was out of it for a while, and they keep saying he'll be okay, but..." Shareen wiped a tear from beneath her eye and smiled halfheartedly as she looked at the liquid on her hand. "Dumb kid."
"He'll be all right," Rose cooed reassuringly, though she had trouble swallowing the lump in her throat.
"I know."
Rose grinned at her as they began dismissing the pupils to their classes. "So that's why you came to school today?"
"Shut up."
The final bell rang and Rose got up from her seat, tiredly shoving her homework into her bag. Ordinarily she would have been headed home or to the garage to sit on an oily bench and watch Mickey work. She went to the room where after-school detention was held and took her seat. The time went by quickly because she somehow managed to not think while she worked. Her mind wasn't there but was still trapped in that morning and in the eyes of the Inspector. Who was he? Why did something within her think she should know? Why was something deep in the pit of her stomach telling her to stay away?
"You're dismissed," Mrs. Pellington, looking over a book she was reading to speak to the handful of pupils in the classroom.
Rose gathered her things again and started to walk out the door.
"Rose," Mrs. Pellington said, seeming surprised to see her standing there. "What were you here for today?"
"Being late again," Rose replied with a tiny smile. At least Mrs. Pellington didn't hate her.
"Get to bed earlier," Mrs. Pellington said softly, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
"It's the getting out part I don't do so well with," Rose sighed, deciding not to mention the particular set of circumstances this morning. The more time passed away from it the more she felt like it was something to be kept secret.
Rose went through the school and into the Hall to take the exit closest to the garage. She heard a door not far off open and close but she thought nothing of it. At least the rest of the day could be like any other...