For badcompany_muse June
[Patience]
“Did you see that?” Rose asks but the girl chattering next to her doesn’t pause in folding. Rose tilts her head and watches.
“What is it?” the girl finally asks and Rose shakes her head, disappointment making her face fall.
“It’s…nothing,” Rose confirms, forcing the corners of her mouth to turn up in a farce of a smile. “It’s nothing. I thought I saw the mannequin move.”
And that of course makes the girl burst into peals of laughter. Mannequins moving, no one ever heard of a such a thing.
Her shift ends and she goes home and there are no blimps, no alien craft smashing into Big Ben and no blue boxes waiting for her on corners. Jackie is talking from the moment Rose walks in the flat, prattling about her day and asking about the shop.
“M’tired, Mum. Just going to go to sleep, alright?” Rose says as she kisses Jackie’s cheek and heads for her room.
“You sleep so much, Rose. He’s not coming back, y’know. He told you that.”
Rose stops in her tracks, back to her mother and she nods. “I know, Mum. M’just tired. Been a long day. I worked with Beth.”
That sets Jackie off on another tangent but it frees Rose to crawl into her bed, blankets pulled up to her chin as she drifts off. She knows she sleeps too much now but it’s not an exercise in sloth or depression as Jackie thinks. Rose is working when she sleeps, she’s figuring it and she’s finding a way. He can’t come to her and she knows it but she’s tied to the TARDIS and she’s bound to him. She looked into the whole of that little, blue, box one time and now she’s not entirely human. She’s not a time lord either or an alien of any sort. She’s Bad Wolf and she’s learned how to do more than scatter words to lead herself home.
“Did you see that?” Rose asks but the girl chattering next to her doesn’t pause in folding. Rose tilts her head and watches.
“What is it?” the girl finally asks and Rose shakes her head, disappointment making her face fall.
“It’s…nothing,” Rose confirms, forcing the corners of her mouth to turn up in a farce of a smile. “It’s nothing. I thought I saw the mannequin move.”
And that of course makes the girl burst into peals of laughter. Mannequins moving, no one ever heard of a such a thing.
Her shift ends and she goes home and there are no blimps, no alien craft smashing into Big Ben and no blue boxes waiting for her on corners. Jackie is talking from the moment Rose walks in the flat, prattling about her day and asking about the shop.
“M’tired, Mum. Just going to go to sleep, alright?” Rose says as she kisses Jackie’s cheek and heads for her room.
“You sleep so much, Rose. He’s not coming back, y’know. He told you that.”
Rose stops in her tracks, back to her mother and she nods. “I know, Mum. M’just tired. Been a long day. I worked with Beth.”
That sets Jackie off on another tangent but it frees Rose to crawl into her bed, blankets pulled up to her chin as she drifts off. She knows she sleeps too much now but it’s not an exercise in sloth or depression as Jackie thinks. Rose is working when she sleeps, she’s figuring it and she’s finding a way. He can’t come to her and she knows it but she’s tied to the TARDIS and she’s bound to him. She looked into the whole of that little, blue, box one time and now she’s not entirely human. She’s not a time lord either or an alien of any sort. She’s Bad Wolf and she’s learned how to do more than scatter words to lead herself home.