The Game- Chapter 11- Just like old times
A/N Sorry it's been so long, half the pairing has been hospitalised.
Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Just Like Old Times
Rose stared at the Doctor, her eyes wide. She desperately didn't want him to stop talking but 'uh oh' definitely won.
"Uh oh? Why uh oh?"
"Accessed the...lifesign detect...detect...thing" The Doctor rolled his eyes at his own inability to talk properly but pushed his irritation to the side and focused on the matter at hand. "About six Dianarians heading this way."
"Oh...Uh oh..." Rose muttered softly.
"Yep." Was the almost normal carefree reply, the only thing missing was the 'popping' of the 'p' at the end of the word.
"Right" Rose reached onto a shelf and handed the Doctor three phials. "Payback" Her face was grim.
The Doctor blinked and quirked an eyebrow at her. "What?"
"Hallucinogen"
"I know...I just..." He frowned at her. "Well...seems like stooping to...their level. Doesn't it?" He eyed her, his expression giving a small hint of what looked like disapproval.
Rose eyed him skeptically. "You have a better idea?"
A grin spread across the Doctor's face, the aforementioned disapproval disappearing from his expression. "You even have to..ask?"
Rose grinned back "Missed you!"
"You too.....Now!" The Doctor slapped his hand down on the console and started to explain his idea. "Dianarians...are Canine....give or take a few chromo..somes...here and there.....so their hearing is quite sensitive...." He paused to fiddle with the settings on the sonic screwdriver. "The right freq..uency....should.....knock them out....for a bit..." He trailed off and fixed a glare towards the far side of the room. "..and I don't care what you think!" he snapped angrily.
Rose followed his gaze, understanding what he was staring at. She wondered what it actually was, who. With her it had been friends, family, team members, but mostly him, close enough to touch, just like before.
She responded as Bree had, walking to where his gaze rested and judging properly to step straight through whatever he saw.
The Doctor blinked, his eyes flicking to look at Rose. A frown creased his forehead.
"Because of that stuff, I saw you, every day...I know, they're telling you you can't do this, that they never..." She bit her lip. "That you're failing, dying and they're glad? It's to break you, and it isn't real."
The Doctor sighed and ran a hand down his face. "I know...they're not real..." He shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck. "They're just hard to ignore." He ignored her slight questioning tone. He refused to tell her what the hallucinations were saying. He knew it was a way to break him...but the things they said just cut to close to the truth to ignore easily.
"You had a better idea?" Rose asked in a hurried tone.
"Oh? Oh....right yes!" The Doctor changed the setting on the sonic screwdriver. "Right....if they come in...just need to press button here." He indicated the button at the base of the tool. "And it should knock them out.....you won't hear the noise though, so don't worry...ermm..if think not working..." As he trailed off he thrust the screwdriver into her hand and turned back to reconfiguring the computer terminal.
"Just like old times." Rose muttered softly, falling back a step and hitting the button as several Dianarans burst through the door. Even though Rose couldn't hear anything, she gave a satisfied nod as they fell yelping to the floor.
The Doctor turned round and grinned at her. "Oh yes...old times."
"Now what?"
"Almost done here....then...need to work out, how to get your friend....Bree, was it?....in here during the Game." He paused, his tone changing to one of musing. "I think the medic could help with that....perhaps."
Rose's face softened "Well, I think he has a bit of a soft spot for Bree so it could work"
The Doctor quirked an i"ntrigued eyebrow at that. "Oh?"
"He helped her off the tonics...she told me to come to him." Rose explained "If he was going to have a soft spot for anyone, it would be her." Her fierce pride in her friend surfaced.
"Ahh...Then I guess he can help with that." The Doctor allowed himself a small smile at the pride in Rose's tone as she mentioned her friend.
Rose chuckled wearily "The Visier's the only thing with a thing for me."
"Depends...on...what you mean...by that." The Doctor muttered, his eyes still firmly on the computer terminal. "May I?" He held out his hand for her to give back the sonic screwdriver.
Rose relinquished the screwdriver, a tad reluctantly. "I'm not afraid of him." Rose rolled her eyes "Gives him the horn."
" Oh..he's just a big dog....just need a rolled up newspaper."
Rose's response was unintentionally angry. "Chained and drugged? You try it."
"Ohhh....you should know, I'd try," the Doctor replied, deliberately ignoring her angry tone. "I just don't have a news..paper."
"I did try" Rose smiled slightly. "Nose."
"Ahh...yes." The Doctor nodded and quirked a smile. "So I saw."
Rose poked a now stirring Dianaran guard with her toe. "Could you hurry up with that?"
"Oh....right..." The Doctor turned back to the terminal. "Almost done." He ran the sonic screwdriver over the terminal again before straightening up. "Aha! There!" He turned to face Rose, flashing a grin at her. "Control Centre!"
"This isn't hurrying!"
"Alright, alright." The grin fell from his face. "Do you...have a comm...commun...commun..." The Doctor let out an exasperated breath and rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."
Rose reached into her pocket and put the silver device she found there into his hand "Tosh special."
"Right." The Doctor turned the device over in his hands, inspecting it. He gave it a shake and frowned. "It's broken."
"Best I can do" Rose replied "They broke my fingers at the same time if that makes you feel any better." She flexed her battered hands.
The Doctor winced and threw her an apologetic look. "Sorry." He turned the communicator over in his hands again before picking up a handheld scanner from a workbench. He walked over to where his trenchcoat lay. "They'll be moving us soon. Do they bring us back here...before the game?"
"They intend to keep us together...as a test...I heard them before they knocked me out." Rose said gravely.
"As a test?"
"They think we care about each other..." Rose's voice caught "That we'll be fun to play with."
"Ahh...o..ok..." The Doctor frowned, tilting his head to one side before speaking again. "But...do they bring us back here, before the game? If they do...I can recon..figure communi...comm..." He rolled his eyes again and didn't bother to try to say the word again. "...later...this!" He held up the handheld scanner, "needs to be here...linked to this.." He continued, holding up the communicator. "...which we'll have."
"Mhm, more testing."
A light shudder ran through the Doctor's body and he pulled an unhappy face at her words. "Wonderful."
Rose spoke softly. "Did they get into your memory yet?"
"...what?" The Doctor blinked at her.
"The tests, they get into your mind...play with it" Rose said softly, distantly.
"They tried...it hurt." The Doctor instantly regretted letting that little fact slip and gave an offhand shrug, in an attempt to make it seem as if the pain he'd felt had been nothing short of a small irritation. "Not...that much mind. Didn't get all the way in."
Rose winced and offered a sympathetic look.
The Doctor shrugged again. "Apparently....if you're 'unknown'....they do all kinds of...barbaric..things to you.." He snapped his mouth shut and cringed, he hadn't meant to say that outloud. Could be that the silencing tonic was wearing off.
"They do it anyway" Rose said softly "With me...with me they used grief."
"Grief?" The Doctor ducked his head, rubbing a hand round the back of his neck. "Guilt...it's always guilt," he muttered in an almost inaudible whisper.
" No, grief....that last time...they took that feeling and replayed it...over and over" Rose was distant.
The Doctor bit his bottom lip, his eyes still firmly fixed on the ground. "I meant for me...guilt....they did guilt." He shook his head, shrugging, his tone switching to an almost carefree one. "But I'm used to it." He glanced up and looked at her with sad eyes. "I'm sorry."
Rose strengthened her tone "No more guilt...not for me."
The Doctor smiled softly at her, but the sadness remained in his eyes. "They'll be waking up soon." He picked up his coat and went to put it on, before remembering what Rose had said earlier. "Can you....not keep the gun...somewhere else?"
Rose sighed and moved close to him, snagging the gun from his inside pocket and stepping away from him, sighing as she shoved the gun into the waistband of her trousers.
"They find this on me and kill me...I'm haunting you." She warned jokingly.
The Doctor involuntarily winced at her choice of words, his eyes flicking briefly over to the corner of the room. "I didn't mean...I just...that is..." He sighed and slipped the coat on.
Rose sighed "Never mind...and you were saying something before 'Uh oh?'"
"Was I?"
Rose hedged the subject wanting to hear, but not in case she was wrong. "You were, about what you were going to tell me...that day..."
The Doctor blinked at her in confusion until his eyebrows rose in realisation. "Oh! Yes. I was going to say.....Rose Tyler, I..." It was at that moment that the guards decided to rouse themselves and thus cutting the Doctor off...yet again.
Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Just Like Old Times
Rose stared at the Doctor, her eyes wide. She desperately didn't want him to stop talking but 'uh oh' definitely won.
"Uh oh? Why uh oh?"
"Accessed the...lifesign detect...detect...thing" The Doctor rolled his eyes at his own inability to talk properly but pushed his irritation to the side and focused on the matter at hand. "About six Dianarians heading this way."
"Oh...Uh oh..." Rose muttered softly.
"Yep." Was the almost normal carefree reply, the only thing missing was the 'popping' of the 'p' at the end of the word.
"Right" Rose reached onto a shelf and handed the Doctor three phials. "Payback" Her face was grim.
The Doctor blinked and quirked an eyebrow at her. "What?"
"Hallucinogen"
"I know...I just..." He frowned at her. "Well...seems like stooping to...their level. Doesn't it?" He eyed her, his expression giving a small hint of what looked like disapproval.
Rose eyed him skeptically. "You have a better idea?"
A grin spread across the Doctor's face, the aforementioned disapproval disappearing from his expression. "You even have to..ask?"
Rose grinned back "Missed you!"
"You too.....Now!" The Doctor slapped his hand down on the console and started to explain his idea. "Dianarians...are Canine....give or take a few chromo..somes...here and there.....so their hearing is quite sensitive...." He paused to fiddle with the settings on the sonic screwdriver. "The right freq..uency....should.....knock them out....for a bit..." He trailed off and fixed a glare towards the far side of the room. "..and I don't care what you think!" he snapped angrily.
Rose followed his gaze, understanding what he was staring at. She wondered what it actually was, who. With her it had been friends, family, team members, but mostly him, close enough to touch, just like before.
She responded as Bree had, walking to where his gaze rested and judging properly to step straight through whatever he saw.
The Doctor blinked, his eyes flicking to look at Rose. A frown creased his forehead.
"Because of that stuff, I saw you, every day...I know, they're telling you you can't do this, that they never..." She bit her lip. "That you're failing, dying and they're glad? It's to break you, and it isn't real."
The Doctor sighed and ran a hand down his face. "I know...they're not real..." He shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck. "They're just hard to ignore." He ignored her slight questioning tone. He refused to tell her what the hallucinations were saying. He knew it was a way to break him...but the things they said just cut to close to the truth to ignore easily.
"You had a better idea?" Rose asked in a hurried tone.
"Oh? Oh....right yes!" The Doctor changed the setting on the sonic screwdriver. "Right....if they come in...just need to press button here." He indicated the button at the base of the tool. "And it should knock them out.....you won't hear the noise though, so don't worry...ermm..if think not working..." As he trailed off he thrust the screwdriver into her hand and turned back to reconfiguring the computer terminal.
"Just like old times." Rose muttered softly, falling back a step and hitting the button as several Dianarans burst through the door. Even though Rose couldn't hear anything, she gave a satisfied nod as they fell yelping to the floor.
The Doctor turned round and grinned at her. "Oh yes...old times."
"Now what?"
"Almost done here....then...need to work out, how to get your friend....Bree, was it?....in here during the Game." He paused, his tone changing to one of musing. "I think the medic could help with that....perhaps."
Rose's face softened "Well, I think he has a bit of a soft spot for Bree so it could work"
The Doctor quirked an i"ntrigued eyebrow at that. "Oh?"
"He helped her off the tonics...she told me to come to him." Rose explained "If he was going to have a soft spot for anyone, it would be her." Her fierce pride in her friend surfaced.
"Ahh...Then I guess he can help with that." The Doctor allowed himself a small smile at the pride in Rose's tone as she mentioned her friend.
Rose chuckled wearily "The Visier's the only thing with a thing for me."
"Depends...on...what you mean...by that." The Doctor muttered, his eyes still firmly on the computer terminal. "May I?" He held out his hand for her to give back the sonic screwdriver.
Rose relinquished the screwdriver, a tad reluctantly. "I'm not afraid of him." Rose rolled her eyes "Gives him the horn."
" Oh..he's just a big dog....just need a rolled up newspaper."
Rose's response was unintentionally angry. "Chained and drugged? You try it."
"Ohhh....you should know, I'd try," the Doctor replied, deliberately ignoring her angry tone. "I just don't have a news..paper."
"I did try" Rose smiled slightly. "Nose."
"Ahh...yes." The Doctor nodded and quirked a smile. "So I saw."
Rose poked a now stirring Dianaran guard with her toe. "Could you hurry up with that?"
"Oh....right..." The Doctor turned back to the terminal. "Almost done." He ran the sonic screwdriver over the terminal again before straightening up. "Aha! There!" He turned to face Rose, flashing a grin at her. "Control Centre!"
"This isn't hurrying!"
"Alright, alright." The grin fell from his face. "Do you...have a comm...commun...commun..." The Doctor let out an exasperated breath and rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."
Rose reached into her pocket and put the silver device she found there into his hand "Tosh special."
"Right." The Doctor turned the device over in his hands, inspecting it. He gave it a shake and frowned. "It's broken."
"Best I can do" Rose replied "They broke my fingers at the same time if that makes you feel any better." She flexed her battered hands.
The Doctor winced and threw her an apologetic look. "Sorry." He turned the communicator over in his hands again before picking up a handheld scanner from a workbench. He walked over to where his trenchcoat lay. "They'll be moving us soon. Do they bring us back here...before the game?"
"They intend to keep us together...as a test...I heard them before they knocked me out." Rose said gravely.
"As a test?"
"They think we care about each other..." Rose's voice caught "That we'll be fun to play with."
"Ahh...o..ok..." The Doctor frowned, tilting his head to one side before speaking again. "But...do they bring us back here, before the game? If they do...I can recon..figure communi...comm..." He rolled his eyes again and didn't bother to try to say the word again. "...later...this!" He held up the handheld scanner, "needs to be here...linked to this.." He continued, holding up the communicator. "...which we'll have."
"Mhm, more testing."
A light shudder ran through the Doctor's body and he pulled an unhappy face at her words. "Wonderful."
Rose spoke softly. "Did they get into your memory yet?"
"...what?" The Doctor blinked at her.
"The tests, they get into your mind...play with it" Rose said softly, distantly.
"They tried...it hurt." The Doctor instantly regretted letting that little fact slip and gave an offhand shrug, in an attempt to make it seem as if the pain he'd felt had been nothing short of a small irritation. "Not...that much mind. Didn't get all the way in."
Rose winced and offered a sympathetic look.
The Doctor shrugged again. "Apparently....if you're 'unknown'....they do all kinds of...barbaric..things to you.." He snapped his mouth shut and cringed, he hadn't meant to say that outloud. Could be that the silencing tonic was wearing off.
"They do it anyway" Rose said softly "With me...with me they used grief."
"Grief?" The Doctor ducked his head, rubbing a hand round the back of his neck. "Guilt...it's always guilt," he muttered in an almost inaudible whisper.
" No, grief....that last time...they took that feeling and replayed it...over and over" Rose was distant.
The Doctor bit his bottom lip, his eyes still firmly fixed on the ground. "I meant for me...guilt....they did guilt." He shook his head, shrugging, his tone switching to an almost carefree one. "But I'm used to it." He glanced up and looked at her with sad eyes. "I'm sorry."
Rose strengthened her tone "No more guilt...not for me."
The Doctor smiled softly at her, but the sadness remained in his eyes. "They'll be waking up soon." He picked up his coat and went to put it on, before remembering what Rose had said earlier. "Can you....not keep the gun...somewhere else?"
Rose sighed and moved close to him, snagging the gun from his inside pocket and stepping away from him, sighing as she shoved the gun into the waistband of her trousers.
"They find this on me and kill me...I'm haunting you." She warned jokingly.
The Doctor involuntarily winced at her choice of words, his eyes flicking briefly over to the corner of the room. "I didn't mean...I just...that is..." He sighed and slipped the coat on.
Rose sighed "Never mind...and you were saying something before 'Uh oh?'"
"Was I?"
Rose hedged the subject wanting to hear, but not in case she was wrong. "You were, about what you were going to tell me...that day..."
The Doctor blinked at her in confusion until his eyebrows rose in realisation. "Oh! Yes. I was going to say.....Rose Tyler, I..." It was at that moment that the guards decided to rouse themselves and thus cutting the Doctor off...yet again.