Echoes of Summer - Chapter Thirty-Five: Awakening
Disclaimer: Neither Doctor Who nor any characters, items or materials of any kind pertaining to Doctor Who or the Whoniverse belong to me. I’m just looking for a good time. Hee. Trying them out for a bit, see how they fit.
Plot Summary: He was left with his lips against her jaw, her figure pressed to him as if she belonged there. One of many moments between the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler after he breaks his own rules to retrieve her from Bad Wolf Bay. The walls between worlds begin to fall, two different realities merging. And on the horizon a threat rises that threatens to destroy everything the Doctor holds dear.
Pairing: Ten/Rose
Beta: bratflorida
Rating: Starts at PG. Runs the gamut straight through to NC-17.
Spoilers: Oh yes. Series One through Series 4 Specials.
Timeline: AU after the end of Series 2. Spoilers up to, including and going past Series 4 though. I’ve seen all of Series 1 through 4, including the series 4 specials but am not very familiar with the Classic Who much. As such, if I happen to include anything that really touches upon Classic Who, other than it being unintentional, I’ll be surprised out of my head. Really. You’ll probably see a lot of familiar things in the fic that play into the series of DW. Bear with me, it all ties in together.
Chapter Thirty-Five: Awakening
“So!” the Doctor began, a container of chips in his palm, his other hand poking at controls on the console. “I actually…have no plans for the day. Any place you want to go in particular? Anything you want?” He glanced toward Rose who had settled herself into the jump seat comfortably, her own small container of chips in her hand.
A chip sticking out of the corner of her mouth, she gave it a thought. “I want everything,” she stated firmly, chewing thoughtfully. “Doctor, get me everything.”
He snorted at her. “You can’t have everything, Rose Tyler,” he said to her with a tilt of his head. “I mean, honestly, where would you put it all? Hmm? Ever thought about that?”
And that was what she appreciated about him. The fact that sometimes he was just much too logical. “Not really,” she said after a moment, sticking another chip into her mouth and crunching down on the middle of it. Chewing around it contentedly, she fished out another one, pausing. “No one in dire need of a rescuing?”
He stared at her intently, searching her face but she gave nothing away, seeming much too content to stare at her next chip. Coming back to the question at hand, the Doctor frowned a bit, eyes returning to scan the TARDIS monitor. “Nope. Looks like we have a day off.” His grin came easily. Leaving the console, he plopped backward, joining her on the jump seat.
Glancing at him, she watched as he pulled a chip free and popped it into his mouth with a sigh. “Oh, don’t tell me. Tired of running?” She smiled at him as he threw her a look of disbelief.
“Tired of running? Me? Hardly,” he replied around the chip, shaking his head. “I am going to have to change out my trainers soon. I’m going through them quickly.”
“Love the running, though.”
“Love the running,” he agreed. “I mean, really, what’s life but a series of-“
The console suddenly lit up, readings shooting down the TARDIS monitor. Glancing over, the Doctor squinted at the screen and then quickly set down his chips on the seat to pull out his specs. Slipping them on, he rose back to his feet and bent toward the monitor, Rose looking past him to the screen.
“What is it?” she asked him, pulling another chip out.
Scanning the readings, the Doctor groaned under his breath. “Oh, are you serious?” he questioned the monitor in exasperation and Rose wondered for a moment if he was speaking to her. But then, as he tapped a few buttons, she understood he was speaking to the TARDIS. “As if one wasn’t enough to have to deal with. What is it with Clom these days?”
Rose blinked. “Clom? The planet Clom?”
“Is there another?” the Doctor tossed her a weary look. “It would seem we have something to do after all.”
Shoving the chip into her mouth, Rose got to her feet and came up beside him, pulling yet another chip out. “Well, it’s not like Raxicoricofallipatorious would have been so much better,” she sighed.
The Doctor straightened slightly to peer at her owlishly, a wide grin breaking over his face. “Oh, look at that, it just rolls off your tongue now! That’s wonderful!”
She tossed him a small wry glare, turning her attention back to the screen once more. Still unable to decipher the readings on the monitor she instead leaned back on the console, tilting the chip in his direction slowly.
Already inputting coordinates and pulling levers, he fished the chip out of her hand with one fluid bite, chewing away as the TARDIS jolted.
“Where we off to then?” Rose asked, glancing over her shoulder to the controls he was setting beside her.
“New York!” he piped up, swallowing the remains of his chip.
She blinked. “New York? As in, North America? The United States?” she asked in confusion.
“The same,” he nodded and he hit one last button, causing the TARDIS to bump once more. Standing back to his full height, he grinned at her. “Never been?”
She threw him a look. “You’ve never taken me,” she stated.
He blinked at her answer. “Well, there are planes…”
Bumping him at his cheek, she motioned. “So what does Clom have to do with New York? Is it Present New York? Not New, New, New, New…York? And can we see the Statue of Liberty? Oh, the skyline! I hear it’s beautiful-”
“It would seem an Abzorbaloff is having a bit of a go there,” he answered, scanning the readings as they continued to trail down the monitor.
Rose tilted her head. “And we’re just going to go swanning off to New York?”
He blinked once more, turning to glance at her. “It’s what we do,” he said to her as if she didn’t know. “Who else is going to take care of it? Torchwood?”
He held the blank expression on his face for as long as humanly possible which was why he almost made it. But then as humor slipped across Rose’s face, he allowed his expression to crumble and threw his head back with a mirthless snort, looking at the monitor as the two of them erupted into raucous laughter.
“Torchwood. That’s funny,” Rose giggled.
A moment later the TARDIS shook once more before settling. Glancing over, Rose watched as the Doctor pulled on his long coat, another chip in her hand. “We’re here already?” she questioned.
“Yep!” He was already heading toward the door.
“W-we’re going now?” she demanded, hopping off the console. “But we haven’t finished our chips! I mean, would it kill you to-“
But she was speaking to an empty console room as the Doctor had already disappeared out the doors. With a sigh, she set down her chips and quickly pulled on her red sweater, adjusting her hair before following after him.
The area, the streets, were much too recognizable. Rose hesitated momentarily before racing after the Doctor, searching the buildings and not understanding where she had seen them previously. Ahead of her the Doctor had pulled a small device from his pocket, one she was unfamiliar with, and he pointed it in all directions intently. Then, as the machine lit up he darted down the street and around a corner. Quickly following, she rounded the corner in time to see the Doctor dash down a quiet alleyway. “Where are you going?” she cried after him, still moving to catch up.
“Down this way!” he tossed back, and he reared up before a dingy metal door, aiming the device around. As he turned it back toward the door the machine let loose a high pitched whistle, lights flashing erratically on its face.
Catching up, Rose waited as the Doctor pulled free his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the metal door with one hand. After a concentrated moment the door unlocked and popped open. He quickly caught the door before it sealed with an elbow, pocketing the screwdriver and motioning to Rose with his head. “Come on!”
She was already following, taking hold of the door and allowing him to run in ahead of her. As they burst into the building they found themselves in a sterile metal kitchen, several cooks looking up at them as they came to a stop at their respective stations.
“Afternoon!” the Doctor cried brightly, the device in his hand still whistling. He glanced at Rose. “It is still afternoon, isn’t it?”
“Sorry, we’ll just…be on our way,” Rose apologized to the kitchen staff and she nudged the Doctor, motioning to the device.
“Oh, but it smells lovely in here! What is that, Asian cuisine? Much better idea now than the chips-“ And feeling Rose’s stare on him he quickly nodded. “Right!” he said, returning to the matter at hand. He pointed the device, observing it as its whistle grew louder when he pointed it to their right. Instantly he moved in that direction, Rose sending out an uncomfortable smile to the staff as she followed.
Bursting out another door, they found themselves in a staircase and instantly took it, their steps clattering in the quiet hallways.
“Doctor,” Rose said, calling to him.
He made a small sound that he heard her, still intent on the device in his hand. Reaching a landing, he glanced up momentarily, observing the skylight two floors up and he pointed the device in his hand toward the roof with a frown. As the beeps shrieked again, he rounded the landing, moving for the next staircase to continue heading up.
“Doctor, I know this place,” she said, quickly following.
He frowned, taking the steps three at a time. “Do you? I thought you said you’ve never been to New York. Well, not present New York. We’ve been to New, New, New, New, New-“
“I haven’t,” she cut him off before he continued. “But this place is really familiar and I can’t put my finger on it but-“
They reached the top landing within moments, the Doctor pointing the mechanical device in his hand at the door waiting for them at the top. Following the whistles, he burst out through the door and found himself on a roof. And just as he took that step out he suddenly darted away as a large, green-tinged hand swiped at him.
Rose gasped, coming out onto the roof and also recoiling at seeing the creature waiting for them.
“Abzorbaloff!” the Doctor cried and he quickly took hold of her wrist, yanking her to his side as the large, bulbous creature advanced on them.
“Limitation field!” Rose yelled as he suddenly began to pull her, dragging her across the roof and out of reach of the Abzorbaloff. “He doesn’t have a cane!”
The Abzorbaloff was faster than she had previously realized and she cried out as she felt a swipe just barely miss her neck.
“They don’t all use canes!” the Doctor shouted back over his shoulder.
She realized a second later that now they were the ones being chased as they raced across the roof to the other side. “Oh, this is so typical!”
“Fire escape!” the Doctor ordered over her impatience and he halted, pushing her on ahead, at the same time pocketing the device. Not one to immediately fight with him when their lives depended on it, Rose bowed her head and took to the metal stairs, instantly winding onto the top landing. And as she went to circle down to the landing directly below, she felt it once more. Much too familiar, this place. She had been here before, had stumbled down these metal stairs once. Behind her came the growl of the Abzorbaloff, the Doctor grunting, and she ducked her head down against her chest, racing blindly.
“Keep going!” the Doctor cried a step behind her, his steps loud across the metal.
Down on the landing below, she saw the open window, white curtains billowing out through it. And her heart suddenly raced, images flying through her head of another such window. She just couldn’t place where she had seen it before. She only saw the window and a sudden stark image of blood. Blood on the floor, sunlight gleaming down on that blood, all around her. Blood and diamonds. But she couldn’t remember why she associated that window with blood. Behind her she heard the distinct sound of the sonic screwdriver, the quiet whirr as it worked, and the Doctor’s triumphant shout but she didn’t bother looking back. She just had to stay a step ahead to give him space to catch up.
There was a loud clang from behind as she reached the window and she stretched to push aside the curtains that were floating out toward her, flinging herself through the window at the same time. Her hand found nothing but air where the curtain should have been and a moment later her body suddenly smashed into a solid pane of glass, breaking clear through it. A gasp strangled in her throat as she immediately impacted against a counter to her right just inside the window. Her body reflexively recoiled from it, legs tangling against the windowsill, her vision flaring white. Slipping clumsily, she crashed onto a hard floor and slid across broken glass before coming to a shuddering stop.
“Rose!”
For a moment she couldn’t move, her figure frozen in stunned terror at finding herself on the floor surrounded by pieces of broken, jagged glass. The air seemed to shimmer, her red sweater swimming in and out of focus, the hood having fallen across her cheek. There was the vision, the one she had just seen in her head a moment before. Of sunlight on blood, of diamonds in the blood. Only it wasn’t diamonds, it was glass. Shards of glass.
Then fire swept her body, from her twisted legs to her bruised ribs and straight through her hands as she dragged them toward her face. She immediately lost focus and through a blurred haze she saw the glint of glass and realized pieces of it were embedded in her palms, in the tender center of her hands. As she blinked rapidly, more blood welled up, a sudden gush of the red fluid streaming down to soil the floor from the gashes. The gasp slid from her at last, her chest beginning to heave and then freezing up to prepare herself against the waves of pure white agony.
Someone shifted at the window behind her, obstructing the sunlight, before dropping into the flat, trainers scraping over glass. Then the brown coat came into view beside her face as she instinctively curled into her chest soundlessly, her form beginning to tremble from the fire sweeping through her. Dropping to a knee beside her, glass crushing under him with the gesture, the Doctor came into view at last on her left as she turned onto her hip jerkily. He frantically put away his sonic screwdriver inside his coat pocket before reaching for her. And he hesitated, uncertain for a moment. “Blimey, Rose,” he whispered faintly, his gaze falling to her face and then slipping to her hands. “Didn’t you see the glass?”
“There was…” she uttered, her fingers clawing before her shakily as she convulsed from the pain. “There was no glass-“
He didn’t reply for a moment, his hands finally taking hold of her wrists and wrestling them down to inspect them as she reflexively fought him. “I beg to differ,” he replied but as a sob caught in her throat his face became hard as stone, his lips turned down slightly at the corners as he examined her.
She shook her head at him senselessly, trembling uncontrollably. “No-“ she groaned and he held her wrists in a vice-like grip, studying her hands as blood ran fluidly from gashes and lacerations across her palms. Swallowing, attempting to shut out the pain, she tried to speak but it came out in a shriek. “There was no glass!”
The Doctor lifted his eyes to stare at her under a furrowed brow, his face almost angry though somewhere in the back of her head she understood it was not anger there but worry. And the slightest hint of fear. Then, jerking slightly, his gaze flew toward the left, catching on something.
Heaving, her hands twitching uncontrollably, she shifted clumsily along her side to look as well.
At the head of the kitchen she had crashed into, a little girl stood at the doorway with wide eyes, long blond hair streaming down her shoulders in beautiful waves.
The Doctor merely stared at the little girl for a silent moment, Rose’s wrists caught in his grip.
But Rose recognized the little girl, her frame stiffening once more in terror, the blood running from her hands forgotten for an instant.
Feeling her becoming rigid, the Doctor looked down at her again with a frown before his attention flew back to the girl.
It was the girl from her dream. With the long blond hair and the red jumper. Little Red Riding Hood. Fearfully, her breath strangling in her throat, she merely stared at her for a long silent moment as images of her dream overtook her real vision, the girl’s figure overlapped by her nightmare likeness in distorted, pounding flashes. Then, as the girl at the doorway became real once more, she hesitantly looked from her to the right, just the slightest bit toward the refrigerator beside the girl and up against the wall.
There were drawings all over the surface of the refrigerator, tacked up with small letter magnets. But beneath the outermost drawing she saw the child’s sketch. The wolf behind a girl in red.
The tears rose, unbidden. Just like that, everything came down on her like a tidal wave, all the voices of the people who had come to see her, who had warned her. Something bad was coming. Something was almost here. And she was powerless to stop it, to stand up against it. The world was going to get swallowed up and there was nothing she could do. Nothing but-
I am the Bad Wolf.
The Doctor was moving at her side, his grip on her wrists becoming even stronger as he began to drag her up. But she couldn’t think of that, the pain receding to the back of her head as she realized it, as she began to understand.
I am the Bad Wolf. I can be the Bad Wolf again. If I become that again, I can stop what’s coming. I can stop it all.
“Rose, get up. Come on. I need to get you back to the TARDIS. I need to look at-“
A woman appeared behind the girl at the doorway of the kitchen, her hair wrapped up in a towel, clothed in a bath robe. “What is going on in here-“ she demanded and she came to a sudden stop at seeing the two strangers in her kitchen. Instinctively she reached out and took hold of the little girl, her daughter it seemed, and pulled her back against her frame, suddenly screaming. “Who are you? What are you doing in my kitchen?!”
The Doctor heaved Rose to her feet in one forceful yank, catching her as she stumbled against him numbly. “So sorry, madam. Very, very sorry. We’ll be out of your hair in just a moment, leave you to…the mess that we seem to have…did I mention how sorry I am?” And he wound one of Rose’s arms around his neck rapidly, pulling her to his side before wrapping his other arm around her waist firmly. She merely allowed him, limp, her eyes blank as they held to the child’s sketch on the refrigerator door.
Pushing the little girl into the hallway and out of sight the woman reached into the kitchen and took a broom from the wall into her hands frantically, her skin paling. “Get out!” she shrieked, holding the wood of the handle across her body protectively.
“Right now!” the Doctor agreed and as he darted toward the doorway the woman recoiled fearfully, trembling.
“Bad…Wolf,” Rose whispered, her eyes falling away from the sketch as they passed it, her head bowing against the Doctor’s wearily.
The Doctor’s grip on her stiffened, his eyes shifting toward hers momentarily before brushing past the woman and out into the darkened hallway. “I’m sorry, your front door would be…”
The woman wordlessly motioned to the right with the broom, the little girl hiding directly behind her.
Glancing over in the direction she pointed, the Doctor nodded his thanks. “We’ll be on our way then! Thanks very much! C’mon, Rose! Allons-y!” When the girl at his side didn’t respond at all, he continued on in a chipper tone, trailing almost senselessly. “Lovely home you have, by the way. Marvelous décor-“ And he turned toward the door, rambling off as he propped Rose against his side and undid the locks, pulling the door open.
“Just go!” the woman shouted angrily.
He slammed the door shut behind himself without another word.
Next Chapter - Chapter Thirty-Six: A Kiss Unnoticed
What did he want her to say? That the worlds were converging once more around her? That she had seen an open window when in actuality, in this reality, that window had been closed? That she was slowly but surely losing her mind when it came to what was real and what was false? She clenched her eyes tighter, her breath catching slightly as she thought it, as she realized that things just weren’t right anymore.
That they hadn’t been right for a while now.