Doctor Who Fic: Stealer of Thieves and Heiresses
Title: Stealer of Thieves and Heiresses
Series: From Forever to Eternity
Author:
silverlunarstar
Characters/Pairings: Theta/Rose, slight 5/Rose, Doctor/Rose in general, TARDIS; slight mention of the Tylers
Rating: G
Genre: Romance/Fluff/Humor
Warnings/Spoilers: Heading into unknown territory. Run while you still can. If you don't heed, please keep in mind that these Tyler parents are completely different from their canon counterparts (yes, even the alternate canon ones - it was so weird to write them so, even for only a few lines!).
Words: 1,898
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership.
Summary: One-shot. Once upon a time, there was a TARDIS who stole a Time Lord and a Time Lord who stole a Princess. But one could say the TARDIS embezzled them both. They traveled time and space together where the three forever lived happily ever after.
Author's Note: Basically completely AU. These two are the same, but not. You’ll see. It was meant to be another entry for challenge 90, but I hadn't finished it. So it's an entry for challenge 91 of the then_theres_us community.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
He'd be in so much trouble if he was caught. He wasn't planning on getting caught, though. No, Theta Sigma was too smart for that. Swiftly, he entered the junkyard and, moving around blindly in the dark, found what he was looking for. Something tickled his mind and he responded. A door was open and he grinned.
She knew she was saved and, even if it was just basically a Time Teen of fifteen-and-two (about fifty-two Earth years); she'd take her blessing in disguise.
Or maybe she was better off where she'd been… She shuddered and trembled as he drove her, unsure of where he wanted to go, sure that he didn't even know where he wanted to go. She tried to fight for some control, but he wouldn't let her. It was a game of tug war, one they both lost as soon as they crashed. All was dark, with only a pinprick left. Her energies had hit a critical low that she'd never felt before in her existence, so much so that she didn't feel the hole they'd just created in the universe.
Theta stumbled out of the TARDIS he'd just stolen and saw a blue box. "What's a police public call box?" he muttered, looking at it from all angles. He got annoyed and was just about to kick the door open when, suddenly, he felt it. Or didn't feel it. Panicking, he pushed the open door carefully and rushed inside. He could hardly feel it, her, he corrected himself. He searched everywhere and sighed in relief as he felt a tiny spark. He didn't know what to do, though. They hadn't covered this at the Academy yet. Did they even have a class for this? He held the small, dim cell tightly in his hand. If he could find a power source strong enough on this planet… A weak throb pulsed in him. Yes, he could try, but he doubted it could be done. They'd landed in a universe where the time vortex was nonexistent… Suddenly, he felt a slightly stronger throb. The TARDIS had felt something not far from where they were that could help. He rushed out, letting the vague timeline guide him.
As soon as he stepped out, something suddenly collided into him. "Oof!" He landed on his back, as someone landed right on top of him, her - he could feel her completely pressed against him as she was - palm somehow landing on his clenched fist where he held the TARDIS's cell. His fist suddenly felt warmer until it felt like it was burning.
"Ow!"
--
"Mrs Tyler, Miss Tyler, may I introduce my son, Timothy Haas?"
Rose Tyler wanted to scream as she was introduced to one suitor after the other. Ever since she turned eighteen a couple of months ago, her mother had made sure she made at least monthly appearances to the most ‘important’ gatherings of her father's company. She danced with every eligible bachelor in London, it seemed, and she was tired of it all. When she got the chance, she dodged away, changing her heels for a pair of red Converse.
Without a second thought, she ran and ran and ran. Away from it all. Away from the masks, away from the pomp, away from the hounds, away from the charms, just away, away, away. Her father sent his security team after her, but she knew this city like the back of her hand. She had them running around in circles.
She chanced a glance back and ended up stepping on the hem of her blue dress. Tripping, she landed right on top of someone with an, “Oof,” her palm pressing on a clenched fist.
"Ow!" she exclaimed as something burned her. Pushing herself up, she looked down and was suddenly drowning in the warmest pair of blue eyes she'd ever seen. The spell was broken when she heard scuffling sounds getting closer. Her eyes widened and she quickly looked around. Spotting what looked like a blue shed a few feet away, just around the bend. She got up, pulled the guy she'd landed on up, her hand still around his fist no matter the burning sensation, and told him to, "Run!" Thankfully, the shed was ajar so they quickly shoved their way inside the dark alcove. The door shut and Rose's yelp echoed through the dark space as she and the boy fell once again.
'How are we lying down?' was the first thought she had. Rose looked around, but it was completely dark.
"Mind getting off of me?" a voice grunted below.
She couldn't get up fast enough. She heard a bit of shuffling and then silence. Quickly bored, she carefully moved around.
"What are you-?"
Suddenly, Rose's hands hit a bumpy surface and a dim glow surrounded the area; she gasped. "How…?" Her mind raced as she tried to remember the exact size of the small blue shed she'd seen outside. She didn't dare go outside for fear of getting caught by her father's men.
"You're in my-" The place slightly shook. "In a TARDIS. Stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space." He glared at the wall. "It-" More shaking. "She’s a ship."
"And she…travels through time and space?" she replied, skeptical. "There's nothing on Earth that can do that." She could swear she heard a pleased hum when she said ‘she’ and felt something close to exasperation at her tone.
"You're right." The boy smirked.
"So, she's alien?" Another slight grumble at her skepticism.
"Yes."
She looked the boy up and down, noting his formal black trousers, white dress shirt whose sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, and his schoolboy tie loosely knotted. His hair was dark with a neat trim. Meeting his eyes once again, she saw something she'd never seen before in anyone she'd ever met in her life (and coming from a background where it was mandatory to make appearances everywhere, it was quite a number of people in her short life). "Are you alien?"
"Yes."
She took a breath.
"That alright?" he asked, not really knowing why he cared.
"Yes," she replied, almost right away and she felt warmth wash over her. Later she wouldn't be sure if it was the TARDIS' reaction or her own to his warm smile.
"What were you running away from anyway?" He silently applauded her for not backing up or flinching when he neared her so he could fiddle with the console as he finally noticed the lights brightening a little more as time flowed by.
"My father's guards. They…" Before she knew it, she was ranting about her life, how constricted it was and, while she never wanted for anything, her parents would barely give her the time of day. When she tried to convince them to host charities, they'd roll their eyes. "It's as if they didn't come from a lower class." Then she went off again, explaining her father's company.
Theta, to his surprise, didn't scoff or roll his eyes at her little human life. When she said, “There's just so much out there,” and she gestured around with her hands to prove her point, “to explore”, he knew he'd found a sort of kinship with this girl, human or not. He knew exactly what she meant. After all, weren't her reasons his reasons as to why he stole the TARDIS? Suddenly, he was telling her his story.
They didn't know it, but hours had passed them by before they finished talking.
Finally, she decided to take a peek outside. "Looks like they've given up for now." She took in a breath. "I guess I should be heading back…"
"Or you could come with me?" Could he surprise himself anymore after all this?
"To explore time and space?" She grinned cheekily.
"To explore time and space in a different dimension."
"Oh, come off it." She scoffed. "I can accept that you're alien, I can accept your alien spaceship," barely a grumble, "but other dimensions?"
"Want to prove me wrong?" In his mind, he could already feel the TARDIS getting stronger and he had a feeling this girl had something to do with it. She was special; there was no doubting it and his curiosity grew all the more during their conversation.
Rose looked out, frowning. "But my-" No matter what, they were still her parents.
"Do you want to spend the rest of your life abiding by their rules or do you want to do what you were always meant for, what you know you were always meant for?"
"I don't know…"
"It's your choice," he said as neutrally as possible, trying his best not to manipulate her by enticing her with the wonders of the universe. Maybe he hadn't seen it yet, but he knew enough to ensnare her. He was being frank, though. He wanted it to be her choice. "We could always come back, if you'd like." He was sure he could at least get Koschei to help him get to this universe so he wouldn't damage the TARDIS next time.
"No." Rose finally said, firmly. "That part of my life is over. It's time to start anew and I won't be able to do that here. Rose Tyler will just have to simply disappear." It hurt her and her conscious gnawed at her like nothing before, but it was time to be just that little bit selfish. She vaguely wondered if her parents would even miss her. A little niggling in the back of her head felt more welcoming than she'd ever felt in her life.
The TARDIS suddenly brightened considerably and Theta's grinned widely, running back towards the console, Rose right behind him as she watched him start to push and pull buttons and levers. "Can I help?"
"Hold that and that." He pointed. Soon the TARDIS was shaking as she moved through the void.
"By the way," Rose asked loudly over the noise, "what's your name?"
"You wouldn't be able to pronounce my actual name, but I'm called Theta Sigma," he said reluctantly and Rose immediately noticed how he disliked it.
A scant few weeks later, Rose would tell Theta just how much he'd made her better and nicknamed him the Doctor.
Those they'd bump into and those they'd travel with always found it odd that Rose called her husband of years by a title.
"Wonder what they'd think if I called you Theta." She grinned, tongue poking out.
The Doctor made a face at his detested nickname from home, though he secretly liked how she said it with more love than he'd ever known before her.
Her grin widened and he knew she knew.
"Mischievous wolf." He chided, as he followed her retreating tongue, feeling his Panama hat fall off as she ran her fingers through his thick, blond locks.
All around them, the TARDIS hummed with joy.
--
The Tylers were running around in circles, trying to find their daughter, for three days before all hell broke loose and the public found out that Rose Margaret Tyler was missing. Various stories sprouted from the spoiled, runaway heiress to being kidnapped and slaughtered. The two utmost popular stories were those about an alien abduction or how the big bad wolf devoured her.
Decades later the youngest Tyler, Anthony, sat in his office shuffling through papers wondering what had happened to the sister who'd disappeared before he'd even been conceived.
No one ever discovered the truth and it became one of that world's greatest mysteries.