Fic: Relativitiy
Title: Relativity
Author: ladychi
Characters: Ten/Rose
Rating: Young Teen (In other words: Go ahead, Adri!)
Summary: On a cold October evening, the Doctor and Rose spend some time in an abandoned playground and discuss life, the universe and everything.
Author's Note: Written for apurplepatch, for her donation to Support Stacie to earn a set-price fic. She gave me the prompt "Not of this earth, but not so different", and then I happened to rewatch "Einstein and Eddington" while I was pondering the direction to take the opening paragraph, which had been lingering in my mind for a few days. This is what we ended up with. I hope you enjoy it.
Relativity
There was a playground, not far from where Rose lived and grew up, and in the cool fading light of an October evening, when the sky was turning red and everything was on the cusp of frost, it was abandoned. A swing set stirred gently in the breeze, the faint creaking eerie as it echoed over the empty space. A leaf broke free from one of the trees and was tossed, relentlessly, away from its home to fall at the opposite end of the park, where a light began to flash as a sound other than the wind ground its way across the space, and a blue box appeared there.
The door opened and a blonde head appeared, looking both ways before she stepped out into the chill. “It's a bit chilly, Doctor!” she called.
A jacket flew from the console room and hit her on the shoulders. “Well... it's October. You distinctly said October. You told me not to miss October or you'd shave me bald. Do you remember that conversation?”
“I do,” Rose said, buttoning up the jacket. “Just, unexpected, yeah? Last planet we were on was so bleedin' hot I thought I wouldn't mind the chill.”
The Doctor gently pushed her out the door and locked it, surveying the council estate in the distance. “Here we are. Your mother's flat. What are we here for?”
“It's Mum's birthday. And the anniversary of her first date with Dad,” Rose said simply, brushing her palms off on her jeans. “I didn't want her to be alone. You parked a bit far.”
“Fancied a bit of stroll, didn't you?” The Doctor wriggled his hand at her. “Early evening, London town. All is quiet on the western front. Besides, your mum's probably... baking, or something.”
Rose squeezed his hand. “Race you to the swings!” She let go of it and propelled herself forward, over the grass of the park and over the wooden boundary around the play area itself. The Doctor stood for a moment in shock, but then quickly picked up his feet and followed her, enjoying the joy of simple exercise for exercise sake, and the way the coldness of the air seemed to permeate even his (superiorly designed) lungs.
Rose launched herself onto the swings, her legs pumping until she was swinging high in the air and then plummeting back to Earth again. The Doctor found himself slowing as he neared the contraptions and then watching her for a few seconds until she realized he hadn't followed her.
“Doctor, grab a swing!” She slowed herself, pushing her feet into the ground until she came to a stop. “Or did you want to go in and see Mum?”
He whirled and sat himself down on the very uncomfortable sling-like seat and rocked back and forth on his heels. “I always think playgrounds are creepy at night, don't you?”
“Used to love it here at night. Shareen and me, we'd sneak down here and muck about in the bushes and stuff till Mum would come looking, shouting bloody murder. I'd be covered, head to toe in mud and grass and stuff and she'd just sigh and haul me up to the flat, you know? But it was fun, to be out here, by ourselves. Us girls against the world.”
“We didn't have playgrounds on Gallifrey,” the Doctor said, walking back on the swing and then releasing it, his absurdly long legs almost too lengthy to swing properly. “But our house was right next to a mountain, and I'd sneak out there sometimes.”
Rose bit her lip, and then leaned back until her hair was almost touching the ground as she swung back and forth. “Did you rip your clothes up and make a mess and figure out earth worms and bugs and stuff?”
The Doctor smiled faintly. “I did some of that, yeah.” Uncertain of why he'd even brought it up, the Doctor cleared his throat. “What else did little Rose Tyler like to do?”
“Oh, you know. Run around with Mickey. Get into trouble while Mum was dressin' hair. Paint my nails, play with my dolls.” Rose smiled. “Watch telly. Normal stuff. What do little Time Lords like to do?”
“Displace radiation,” the Doctor said promptly, thinking of a little boy in the desk next to him that used to zap him with it. That thought, of what he used to be like hurt too much, so he moved quickly on. “Change the properties of matter. Play with time.” He laughed. “Typical lord of the universe type stuff.”
“Doesn't sound very fun,” Rose muttered, kicking at the ground to try and gain more height.
“Why do you think I run around now?” the Doctor asked, a big grin on his face. “I'm compensating, Rose! Or that's what Freud would say. Mind you, the man did consume an obscene amount of opiates, so, take that with a grain of salt.”
“Wouldn't Freud have been talking about your... you know?” Rose asked, her tongue sticking out and her face bright with laughter.
“No. Freud would have been very impressed with that particular bit of my anatomy,” the Doctor said launching himself off the swing and landing on his feet. “Sometimes I'm impressed with it, Rose. Very impressive, me.”
Rose laughed and slowed herself to a stop. She got off the swing and wandered over to the monkey bars, testing their sturdiness before she jumped up and grabbed hold of one. “We do have fun, running around the universe, you and me.”
“The best fun,” the Doctor agreed. “Except for occasionally, you will insist we stop and see your mother.”
“Oh, shut up. You like her,” Rose said carelessly, moving her hand from one bar to the next. “You just don't want to admit it.”
“She slapped me!”
“Ages ago,” Rose said. “You're over it, aren't you?”
“It was a year! Which can seem like an age, I suppose, under the right circumstances,” the Doctor said, “but is really only a very, very small sliver of the amount of time I will live, and given Einstein's theory of relativity, means that in actuality it is much closer in my mind than it is in yours!”
“How long do you live?” Rose dropped from the monkey bars. “I mean, do you just go on forever? Regeneration after regeneration, until the end of time?”
“Now there's a decidedly unpleasant thought,” the Doctor mumbled.
“You're already nine hundred years old,” Rose said, as though the thought had just occurred to her. “Is that... middle-age, or what?”
“Time Lords weren't meant to go mucking about the universe fixing things,” the Doctor said, kicking the ground with the toe of his trainer. “I'm on the youngish side of things. I've got thirteen regenerations, and this is my tenth cause I'm a bit reckless.”
Rose was silent for a long minute, then straightened her shoulders. “I'm on the youngish side of things, too.” She beamed at him. “See, relatively speaking, the age difference isn't so bad, yeah?”
The Doctor laughed. “Yeah.”
She extended her hand out to him. “C'mon, old man. Let's go say hi to Mum.”
The Doctor groaned, but took her hand - warm in his own, and something like love stretched between his two hearts and warmed his whole body.
Author: ladychi
Characters: Ten/Rose
Rating: Young Teen (In other words: Go ahead, Adri!)
Summary: On a cold October evening, the Doctor and Rose spend some time in an abandoned playground and discuss life, the universe and everything.
Author's Note: Written for apurplepatch, for her donation to Support Stacie to earn a set-price fic. She gave me the prompt "Not of this earth, but not so different", and then I happened to rewatch "Einstein and Eddington" while I was pondering the direction to take the opening paragraph, which had been lingering in my mind for a few days. This is what we ended up with. I hope you enjoy it.
Relativity
There was a playground, not far from where Rose lived and grew up, and in the cool fading light of an October evening, when the sky was turning red and everything was on the cusp of frost, it was abandoned. A swing set stirred gently in the breeze, the faint creaking eerie as it echoed over the empty space. A leaf broke free from one of the trees and was tossed, relentlessly, away from its home to fall at the opposite end of the park, where a light began to flash as a sound other than the wind ground its way across the space, and a blue box appeared there.
The door opened and a blonde head appeared, looking both ways before she stepped out into the chill. “It's a bit chilly, Doctor!” she called.
A jacket flew from the console room and hit her on the shoulders. “Well... it's October. You distinctly said October. You told me not to miss October or you'd shave me bald. Do you remember that conversation?”
“I do,” Rose said, buttoning up the jacket. “Just, unexpected, yeah? Last planet we were on was so bleedin' hot I thought I wouldn't mind the chill.”
The Doctor gently pushed her out the door and locked it, surveying the council estate in the distance. “Here we are. Your mother's flat. What are we here for?”
“It's Mum's birthday. And the anniversary of her first date with Dad,” Rose said simply, brushing her palms off on her jeans. “I didn't want her to be alone. You parked a bit far.”
“Fancied a bit of stroll, didn't you?” The Doctor wriggled his hand at her. “Early evening, London town. All is quiet on the western front. Besides, your mum's probably... baking, or something.”
Rose squeezed his hand. “Race you to the swings!” She let go of it and propelled herself forward, over the grass of the park and over the wooden boundary around the play area itself. The Doctor stood for a moment in shock, but then quickly picked up his feet and followed her, enjoying the joy of simple exercise for exercise sake, and the way the coldness of the air seemed to permeate even his (superiorly designed) lungs.
Rose launched herself onto the swings, her legs pumping until she was swinging high in the air and then plummeting back to Earth again. The Doctor found himself slowing as he neared the contraptions and then watching her for a few seconds until she realized he hadn't followed her.
“Doctor, grab a swing!” She slowed herself, pushing her feet into the ground until she came to a stop. “Or did you want to go in and see Mum?”
He whirled and sat himself down on the very uncomfortable sling-like seat and rocked back and forth on his heels. “I always think playgrounds are creepy at night, don't you?”
“Used to love it here at night. Shareen and me, we'd sneak down here and muck about in the bushes and stuff till Mum would come looking, shouting bloody murder. I'd be covered, head to toe in mud and grass and stuff and she'd just sigh and haul me up to the flat, you know? But it was fun, to be out here, by ourselves. Us girls against the world.”
“We didn't have playgrounds on Gallifrey,” the Doctor said, walking back on the swing and then releasing it, his absurdly long legs almost too lengthy to swing properly. “But our house was right next to a mountain, and I'd sneak out there sometimes.”
Rose bit her lip, and then leaned back until her hair was almost touching the ground as she swung back and forth. “Did you rip your clothes up and make a mess and figure out earth worms and bugs and stuff?”
The Doctor smiled faintly. “I did some of that, yeah.” Uncertain of why he'd even brought it up, the Doctor cleared his throat. “What else did little Rose Tyler like to do?”
“Oh, you know. Run around with Mickey. Get into trouble while Mum was dressin' hair. Paint my nails, play with my dolls.” Rose smiled. “Watch telly. Normal stuff. What do little Time Lords like to do?”
“Displace radiation,” the Doctor said promptly, thinking of a little boy in the desk next to him that used to zap him with it. That thought, of what he used to be like hurt too much, so he moved quickly on. “Change the properties of matter. Play with time.” He laughed. “Typical lord of the universe type stuff.”
“Doesn't sound very fun,” Rose muttered, kicking at the ground to try and gain more height.
“Why do you think I run around now?” the Doctor asked, a big grin on his face. “I'm compensating, Rose! Or that's what Freud would say. Mind you, the man did consume an obscene amount of opiates, so, take that with a grain of salt.”
“Wouldn't Freud have been talking about your... you know?” Rose asked, her tongue sticking out and her face bright with laughter.
“No. Freud would have been very impressed with that particular bit of my anatomy,” the Doctor said launching himself off the swing and landing on his feet. “Sometimes I'm impressed with it, Rose. Very impressive, me.”
Rose laughed and slowed herself to a stop. She got off the swing and wandered over to the monkey bars, testing their sturdiness before she jumped up and grabbed hold of one. “We do have fun, running around the universe, you and me.”
“The best fun,” the Doctor agreed. “Except for occasionally, you will insist we stop and see your mother.”
“Oh, shut up. You like her,” Rose said carelessly, moving her hand from one bar to the next. “You just don't want to admit it.”
“She slapped me!”
“Ages ago,” Rose said. “You're over it, aren't you?”
“It was a year! Which can seem like an age, I suppose, under the right circumstances,” the Doctor said, “but is really only a very, very small sliver of the amount of time I will live, and given Einstein's theory of relativity, means that in actuality it is much closer in my mind than it is in yours!”
“How long do you live?” Rose dropped from the monkey bars. “I mean, do you just go on forever? Regeneration after regeneration, until the end of time?”
“Now there's a decidedly unpleasant thought,” the Doctor mumbled.
“You're already nine hundred years old,” Rose said, as though the thought had just occurred to her. “Is that... middle-age, or what?”
“Time Lords weren't meant to go mucking about the universe fixing things,” the Doctor said, kicking the ground with the toe of his trainer. “I'm on the youngish side of things. I've got thirteen regenerations, and this is my tenth cause I'm a bit reckless.”
Rose was silent for a long minute, then straightened her shoulders. “I'm on the youngish side of things, too.” She beamed at him. “See, relatively speaking, the age difference isn't so bad, yeah?”
The Doctor laughed. “Yeah.”
She extended her hand out to him. “C'mon, old man. Let's go say hi to Mum.”
The Doctor groaned, but took her hand - warm in his own, and something like love stretched between his two hearts and warmed his whole body.