Crossover Fic: Lending a Hand (12/12), Firefly/Doctor Who
Title: Lending a Hand (12/12)
Authors: goldy_dollar and hjea
Disclaimer: DW and Firefly does not belong to us. Please don’t sue. We are only poor university students.
Keywords: Tenth Doctor, Rose, Ten/Rose, Firefly crew, Mal/Inara
Summary: Ten does some jiggery pokery, Mal frets like an overbearing mother bee, and everything ends smashingly - provided there are no more life and death situations.
Spoilers/Timeline: Doctor Who: Post-Fear Her, pre-AoG/Doomsday, Firefly: post-Serenity
Word Count: 3, 056
Rating: PG
A/N: Well, this is it. I know I’ve had a great time writing this. Huge thanks to hjea for agreeing to do this with me. Hope you’ve enjoyed this as much as we have. :D
( Chapter One)( Chapter Two)( Chapter Three)( Chapter Four)( Chapter Five)( Chapter Six)( Chapter Seven)( Chapter Eight) ( Chapter Nine)( Chapter Ten)( Chapter Eleven)
Chapter 12
Mal closed the shuttle door behind him as quietly as possible and then stuck his head out over the catwalk, checking to see if the Doctor was hovering around his TARDIS. He wasn’t, but Mal was surprised to see that Zoe was down in the cargo bay instead, sitting on the bottom step, eyes trained calmly on that blue box.
Slowly, Mal walked down the steps to where she was sitting and, with a sigh, lowered himself onto the step above her.
“It was never going to work, was it?”
Zoe didn’t turn around. Her question seemed aimed more at the Doctor’s ship than at Mal himself, but he felt he owed her the answer.
“No. It wouldn’t work. Doctor said… well, don’t rightly understand what he said, but it didn’t sound good. Wash is dead and…”
“Yes, I know he’s dead.” Zoe’s hands gripped the stair’s railing as she pulled herself up and turned to face Mal. She offered him a tight-lipped smile. “It just feels like some sort’a cruel cosmic joke that here we got a time machine, but we can’t do anything… anything worth doing.”
Unsure what to say, Mal just nodded.
Zoe looked away, back to the other ship. “Our visitors off tomorrow?”
“I believe that’s their plan.”
“Well, then,” Zoe wiped her hands against her pants and then, as if unsure what to do with them, let them hover over her hips before she finally settled on crossing them over her chest. “I’ll be here to wish them well.” She started up the stairs. “Night, Captain.”
Mal stood up and turned. “Night, Zoe.”
When she reached the top, Zoe turned to look down at him. “And say goodnight to Inara for me, too.”
***
Mal wasn’t entirely certain what possessed him to go down to the infirmary instead of heading back to the shuttle.
The thing was, Inara wasn’t entirely wrong. The Doctor and Rose may have been strangers, but he still felt responsible for them. And it all came down to the same thing-it wasn’t right what happened to Rose. Not when it was his people the Alliance was aiming for.
He entered the infirmary to find Rose trying to hobble her way across the room, one hand braced on the counter to support her weight.
He cleared his throat. “Want some help?”
Rose’s look implied he might lose a hand if he tried. “Nah,” she said. “I’m fine.”
“Sure,” Mal said, wincing at her pained shuffles. “Really… got the hang of that.”
She stopped to take a breather and then regarded him uncertainly. “Is everything okay? Is the Doctor…?”
“No, nothing like that,” Mal said. “I-uh, how are you feeling? Simon patch you up?”
“Yeah,” Rose said, leaning back against the counter. “Reckon I’ll be good as new, few days time.”
“Glad I’m paying him for something.” He scratched at his chin and then found himself trying to explain. “Weren’t right,” he said. “Alliance was targetin’ me and mine. Had no business with you.”
Rose shrugged. “Me and the Doctor, we get in all sorts of trouble all the time, yeah? I knew the risks when I chose to travel with him.”
Mal didn’t doubt it. “Don’t seem like the safest way to see the ‘verse.” He was surprised at the concern in his voice. “True, this ship’s seen more’n its fair share of trouble, but we don’t go looking for it. Not like you and the Doctor do.”
Rose flushed and looked away. “That’s who he is.” She paused, and then added. “I used to work in a shop. But with the Doctor, I-we’re just so… we’re happy. There’s nothing wrong with that. At least, there shouldn’t be.”
“I get it,” Mal said. “Girl like you, probably like being handed all the riches of the world on a silver platter. And he ain’t exactly what you’d call bad looking-even if I’m prettier, dong ma?”
Rose cracked a smile. “He needs me,” she said. “His planet’s gone, you know. But he’s not on his own. ‘Cause he’s got me. And I’m not ever going to leave him.”
“Huh,” Mal said. He didn’t point out that ‘not ever’ was a great deal of time. “How old are you?”
“I don’t… time passes differently on the TARDIS.” She bit her lip and thought about it. She finally settled on, “Twenty.”
Younger than Kaylee. Only a couple of years older than River. The thought hit him hard. How was anyone that age supposed to know what they’d want for the rest of their life?
“And the Doctor…?”
Rose held his gaze and said, “Don’t know, exactly. More than nine-hundred.”
“Of course he is,” Mal said. “And that sort’a age gap ain’t a problem?”
“Well, he doesn’t look it, does it?” Rose said. “He doesn’t look any older than you.”
Mal didn’t point out that, as far as he concerned, he was far too old for her. “No,” he admitted. “So he don’t… age? Ever?”
“It doesn’t work that way,” Rose said. “It’s-he does this thing-you know what? Never mind. It’s not important.”
“Right,” Mal said. He didn’t know what else to say. “Just… do me a favour. Take care of yourself.”
Rose looked like she might protest but then she nodded. She pushed off the counter and took a few steps forwards.
“And…” Mal started again. “Try’n avoid getting shot again.”
She grinned. “Believe me, learned my lesson there.”
***
Kaylee leaned over the Doctor’s shoulder, wide eyes zinging back and forth over the screen. As best she could figure, it’d only taken him seconds to hack into the Alliance’s mainframe, and he was busy wiping out any mention of them and Serenity.
“Didn’t figure it were possible,” she said. “How can something do that? Don’t make no sense.”
“It’s… sonic,” said the Doctor. “It’s a sonic screwdriver. And… I’m very good.”
“That ain’t much of an explanation,” Kaylee said. “It’s sort’a like… magic.”
“There’s no such thing as magic,” said the Doctor, hitting the screen with one fist. Kaylee jumped and shot him an accusing look. “Sorry.”
Kaylee held her breath, worried that she might break his concentration if she asked any more questions.
“I think we’ve got it,” said the Doctor. “Just need to…” He stood up, pushing the screwdriver against the screen. “Yes, there we go-that’s it.”
Words flashed across the screen too quickly for Kaylee to catch. She blinked.
“And after you do this… we won’t be fugitives no more?” she said.
“Well,” said the Doctor. “Not until the next time you lot get caught for petty thieving-”
“-oh, we ain’t-I mean, we don’t…” she trailed off and sighed. It seemed very important that the Doctor didn’t think poorly of them. “We’re not bad folk.”
“Never said you were,” said the Doctor gently. “But if you get caught again, there’s nothing I can do about it, Kaylee. I’ll be a long way from here.”
She nodded, feeling morose at the thought. “Are we ever gonna see you again?”
“If I’m lucky,” said the Doctor. Something caught in his eye, and he bent down, reaching under the console. “Do these belong to you?”
He emerged with a pair of 3D eyeglasses she’d found at a market place on the last planet they’d been at. They must have fallen underneath the console after Serenity crash-landed.
“Yeah,” said Kaylee. “Bought ‘em from a real nice man on Persephone. Didn’t cost too much coin and I thought they was pretty. Why?”
The Doctor tried them on, experimentally glancing down at his hand. He sucked in a sharp breath, and ripped them off.
Kaylee frowned. “Doctor?”
“Nothing,” he said, but he put them on again and flexed his hand in front of his face before taking them off and studying them.
Kaylee smiled at his poor attempts at being discrete. “Keep ‘em,” she said.
He looked up. “Sorry?”
“Keep ‘em,” she repeated. “As… thanks for helping us. Don’t really need ‘em for anything. Just a bit of fun, was all.”
“Thank you,” said the Doctor absently, still staring at the glasses like they were prone to bite his hand off.
“Doctor?”
At Rose’s voice, the Doctor hastily folded the glasses and shoved him in his pocket. He turned around, warm smile on his face.
“Hello,” he said. “Look at you.” He inspected her up and down. “No lingering side-effects, and I think you’ve still got both arms.”
“Oh, shut up,” said Rose.
“Heya, Rose,” Kaylee said, grinning.
Rose waved at her. “How’d it go?”
“Fixed us right up,” said Kaylee. “Never seen nothing like it. Alliance won’t even know what happened.”
“I’d say, team TARDIS is up one today, what do you think?” said the Doctor. “Come here, I want to show you something.”
“What is it?” Rose said, moving to stand beside him.
He pointed towards the cockpit window. “Look, up there, what do you see?”
Rose chanced a glance at his profile. He was serious. She followed his finger. “The… stars, I suppose.”
“Yeah,” said the Doctor, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “That’s the one thing the TARDIS doesn’t have. A view of the stars.”
“It’s beautiful,” Rose said. “Like… it’s all around us. Like you’re living right inside it.”
The Doctor nodded approvingly, but he was watching Rose’s face.
Rose blushed under his stare. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” he said. He turned back to the cockpit window.
Rose nudged his arm, obviously not fooled. “Hey, I’m fine. Gonna take more than some sort of new age weapon-thing to take me out, yeah?”
“Yeah,” said the Doctor. They smiled at each other and then joined hands.
Kaylee felt like she’d disappeared into thin air. Humming loudly, she dropped down under the console to finish up the repairs. Neither of them noticed.
**
Mal walked into the cargo bay to find the doors to the TARDIS hanging open and the Doctor wandering around it and mumbling to himself.
“Ah, Captain!” he said, catching sight of Mal. “Just the person I was hoping to see. Best we shove off.” He paused and then grinned, “Good news is, you and your crew are safely off the Alliance record-books. Fugitives no longer. Well, not for another day or so. Just try and stay out of trouble.” He paused, frowning deeply. “I really just said that, didn’t I? Anyway, been fun, hasn’t it? Hope to see you again one day.”
Mal eyed the blue wooden box sitting in his cargo bay. “Reckon you’ll have more control over that than me,” he said. He suspected the Doctor wasn’t a man to come back and visit once he took off. “Thank you,” he continued. “Appreciate what you’ve done for me and mine.”
“Nah,” said the Doctor. “Just a bit of a flick of the sonic screwdriver, was all. I have a feeling you would have found a way through with or without me. It’s quite a crew-family, I should say, that you’ve built yourself.” He paused. “You’re lucky.”
He looked away and Mal felt uncomfortable at the sudden silence. He cleared his throat and gestured to the TARDIS. “And it actually… flies?”
The Doctor perked up at the reference to his ship and he gave it a small pat. “Yep,” he said. “Does this sort of… dematerialising and rematerializing thing. It’s… Time Lord.”
The Doctor said ‘Time Lord’ like it ought to explain everything.
“Well…” Mal said. “That’s… mighty interesting.”
“Doctor-” Rose’s voice echoed from inside the ship and she popped out a moment later, a backpack slung over one shoulder. She seemed hesitant.
The Doctor looked at her, apprehension dawning on his face. “No.”
“Oh, come on,” she said. “We haven’t been back in ages.”
“Yes! Yes! Yes, we have,” said the Doctor. “I remember because every time I’m over, your mother tries shoving the entire contents of her fridge down my gorge! Like I’m some sort of rubbish bin!”
Rose rolled her eyes. “It’s only ‘cause you’re so thin,” she said. “She’s just… trying to show she cares. ‘Sides, look at all the laundry I have to do.”
Rose heaved the backpack off her shoulder and it hit the grating of the TARDIS with a dull thud.
“I do have a washing machine in the TARDIS, you know,” he said. “What, you think you’re the only person who needs clean under-”
“She likes doing it,” Rose said. “Makes her feel useful. It’ll only be for a few hours-days, at most.”
“Days?” he mouthed, abject horror on his face.
Rose leaned against the doorjamb and widened her eyes. The Doctor opened his mouth and tried very hard to stare at the ceiling.
It was obviously a losing battle.
A few moments later, he muttered, “Fine. Soon as we say good-bye to this lot, we’ll pop in to see Jackie.”
Rose beamed. “Won’t be that bad,” she said. “I promise.”
She disappeared into the TARDIS again.
Mal shook his head. “Doctor, I seen my share of sad sights in this world, but that there’s gotta be among the most pathetic.”
The Doctor considered. “Yeah,” he finally said, but he didn’t sound upset.
***
The Doctor’s goodbye was a quick “thanks” and a wave of his hand before he fled into the TARDIS, shutting the doors behind him. Rose supposed she should just be thankful that he wouldn’t take off without her.
After 900 years of goodbyes… well, Rose could understand, even if she didn’t like it. Mostly, she told herself he wouldn’t do it to her.
She faced the crew. Kaylee had her hand in Simon’s and sniffed audibly. River stood next to them, knowing smile on her face. Mal and Inara stood together, their arms folded across their chests in nearly identical poses. Jayne’s lips were twitching in a valiant effort not to cry. Zoe stood partly away from all of them, expression giving nothing away.
Rose went to Jayne first. She held out her hand. “You’re not so bad, you know,” she said. “Guns and all. Not as scary as you think you are.”
Jayne scowled, “You take that back.”
“Nope,” Rose said, eyes twinkling.
She moved onto Zoe. Rose hesitated and then leaned in to hug her. Zoe stood stiffly in her arms.
“I’m really, really sorry about your husband,” Rose whispered. “I wish there was something we could do, but we can’t. Had the same thought as you once. Nearly destroyed the entire universe trying to bring my dad back. He wouldn’t want that.”
Zoe returned her hug and then pulled back. She walked away without a word.
Rose swallowed and then turned around. Inara and Mal looked sympathetic, so she moved to them next.
“Best of luck, both of you,” she said. “I reckon you’re really great together.”
Inara and Mal looked at each other, both of them fighting down smiles.
“Yeah,” Jayne muttered. “Real good. If they don’t go and tear this ship apart with their arguing!”
“Ignore him,” Inara said, leaning forward to hug Rose. She smelled spicy, a little like cinnamon. “I wish we’d had more time to talk.”
“Me, too,” Rose said.
“Best of luck, sweetie. I must say - it’s a dangerous life you’re choosing to live.”
“Worth it, though,” Rose said, pulling away. She turned to Mal. “Captain-thank you. Sorry about dropping in unannounced. Just sort of… happens.”
“Yeah,” Mal said, scratching his chin. “Next time, send us a wave first.”
Rose grinned and stood up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. He smirked at her and Inara rolled her eyes.
Rose turned to Simon and Kaylee, swinging her arms nervously. “Doctor Tam,” she said. “Always remember you as the man who saved my life.”
Simon flushed and Rose grinned, biting down on her bottom lip. “I-thank you,” Simon said.
“Do you two really gotta go?” Kaylee said. “We got quarters if you want to stay a while, don’t we, Captain? Been empty too long, anyway.”
Rose hesitated. She wanted to, she did. She’d really like to get to know these people better. Leaving like this-she’d never get a chance to giggle late into the night with Kaylee and Inara, to try and get by the Captain’s defences.
She could convince the Doctor if she pushed him. But that wasn’t… him. Never had been.
“Can’t,” Rose said instead, wondering when she started to sound so much like him. Kaylee nodded in resignation, squeezing Simon’s hand.
Finally, Rose turned to River. The girl brushed her hair out of her face and then moved forward, grasping Rose’s face with both hands.
She smiled sadly. “He loves you,” River whispered, barely loud enough for Rose to hear. “He tries to say it, but it’s hard. He’s so afraid. He thinks you must know, but sometimes you’re not sure.” River drew in a sharp breath. “But he does. I’ve felt it.”
Rose stared at the girl, hardly daring to breathe. She had no idea how to respond. “Thank you,” she managed. She forced a clumsy smile.
River pulled away. Rose straightened her shirt, nervous energy making her palms feel sweaty.
“Well, I should probably…” she trailed off and moved towards the TARDIS. “Guess this is goodbye, then.”
Vision blurring, Rose opened the door and stepped inside, leaning back against it once she was through. Yes, she could understand why the Doctor never lingered on goodbyes.
The Doctor looked up hopefully when the door swung closed, hands already setting the console into motion. He beamed at her and then said, “I was thinking, we might be able to fit in one quick trip to the past before we head back to the Powell Estates, what do you think? Just one trip? I’ll buy you dinner.”
Rose forced a laugh and pushed off the doors. River's words echoed through her mind, but she only said, “You? Buy dinner? Did you hit your head this morning?”
“Well,” he said, wounded. “Thought it might be nice. Just… you and me. Anyway.”
He turned back to the console, pulling down on a lever. Rose smiled at his sudden shyness.
She closed the distance between them, turning her head to watch him prod the TARDIS to life.
“Sounds nice,” she said.
He paused, one hand hovering over the console. “Yeah?”
“Yes,” she said. “Powell Estates can wait a few days, can’t it?”
Authors: goldy_dollar and hjea
Disclaimer: DW and Firefly does not belong to us. Please don’t sue. We are only poor university students.
Keywords: Tenth Doctor, Rose, Ten/Rose, Firefly crew, Mal/Inara
Summary: Ten does some jiggery pokery, Mal frets like an overbearing mother bee, and everything ends smashingly - provided there are no more life and death situations.
Spoilers/Timeline: Doctor Who: Post-Fear Her, pre-AoG/Doomsday, Firefly: post-Serenity
Word Count: 3, 056
Rating: PG
A/N: Well, this is it. I know I’ve had a great time writing this. Huge thanks to hjea for agreeing to do this with me. Hope you’ve enjoyed this as much as we have. :D
( Chapter One)( Chapter Two)( Chapter Three)( Chapter Four)( Chapter Five)( Chapter Six)( Chapter Seven)( Chapter Eight) ( Chapter Nine)( Chapter Ten)( Chapter Eleven)
Chapter 12
Mal closed the shuttle door behind him as quietly as possible and then stuck his head out over the catwalk, checking to see if the Doctor was hovering around his TARDIS. He wasn’t, but Mal was surprised to see that Zoe was down in the cargo bay instead, sitting on the bottom step, eyes trained calmly on that blue box.
Slowly, Mal walked down the steps to where she was sitting and, with a sigh, lowered himself onto the step above her.
“It was never going to work, was it?”
Zoe didn’t turn around. Her question seemed aimed more at the Doctor’s ship than at Mal himself, but he felt he owed her the answer.
“No. It wouldn’t work. Doctor said… well, don’t rightly understand what he said, but it didn’t sound good. Wash is dead and…”
“Yes, I know he’s dead.” Zoe’s hands gripped the stair’s railing as she pulled herself up and turned to face Mal. She offered him a tight-lipped smile. “It just feels like some sort’a cruel cosmic joke that here we got a time machine, but we can’t do anything… anything worth doing.”
Unsure what to say, Mal just nodded.
Zoe looked away, back to the other ship. “Our visitors off tomorrow?”
“I believe that’s their plan.”
“Well, then,” Zoe wiped her hands against her pants and then, as if unsure what to do with them, let them hover over her hips before she finally settled on crossing them over her chest. “I’ll be here to wish them well.” She started up the stairs. “Night, Captain.”
Mal stood up and turned. “Night, Zoe.”
When she reached the top, Zoe turned to look down at him. “And say goodnight to Inara for me, too.”
***
Mal wasn’t entirely certain what possessed him to go down to the infirmary instead of heading back to the shuttle.
The thing was, Inara wasn’t entirely wrong. The Doctor and Rose may have been strangers, but he still felt responsible for them. And it all came down to the same thing-it wasn’t right what happened to Rose. Not when it was his people the Alliance was aiming for.
He entered the infirmary to find Rose trying to hobble her way across the room, one hand braced on the counter to support her weight.
He cleared his throat. “Want some help?”
Rose’s look implied he might lose a hand if he tried. “Nah,” she said. “I’m fine.”
“Sure,” Mal said, wincing at her pained shuffles. “Really… got the hang of that.”
She stopped to take a breather and then regarded him uncertainly. “Is everything okay? Is the Doctor…?”
“No, nothing like that,” Mal said. “I-uh, how are you feeling? Simon patch you up?”
“Yeah,” Rose said, leaning back against the counter. “Reckon I’ll be good as new, few days time.”
“Glad I’m paying him for something.” He scratched at his chin and then found himself trying to explain. “Weren’t right,” he said. “Alliance was targetin’ me and mine. Had no business with you.”
Rose shrugged. “Me and the Doctor, we get in all sorts of trouble all the time, yeah? I knew the risks when I chose to travel with him.”
Mal didn’t doubt it. “Don’t seem like the safest way to see the ‘verse.” He was surprised at the concern in his voice. “True, this ship’s seen more’n its fair share of trouble, but we don’t go looking for it. Not like you and the Doctor do.”
Rose flushed and looked away. “That’s who he is.” She paused, and then added. “I used to work in a shop. But with the Doctor, I-we’re just so… we’re happy. There’s nothing wrong with that. At least, there shouldn’t be.”
“I get it,” Mal said. “Girl like you, probably like being handed all the riches of the world on a silver platter. And he ain’t exactly what you’d call bad looking-even if I’m prettier, dong ma?”
Rose cracked a smile. “He needs me,” she said. “His planet’s gone, you know. But he’s not on his own. ‘Cause he’s got me. And I’m not ever going to leave him.”
“Huh,” Mal said. He didn’t point out that ‘not ever’ was a great deal of time. “How old are you?”
“I don’t… time passes differently on the TARDIS.” She bit her lip and thought about it. She finally settled on, “Twenty.”
Younger than Kaylee. Only a couple of years older than River. The thought hit him hard. How was anyone that age supposed to know what they’d want for the rest of their life?
“And the Doctor…?”
Rose held his gaze and said, “Don’t know, exactly. More than nine-hundred.”
“Of course he is,” Mal said. “And that sort’a age gap ain’t a problem?”
“Well, he doesn’t look it, does it?” Rose said. “He doesn’t look any older than you.”
Mal didn’t point out that, as far as he concerned, he was far too old for her. “No,” he admitted. “So he don’t… age? Ever?”
“It doesn’t work that way,” Rose said. “It’s-he does this thing-you know what? Never mind. It’s not important.”
“Right,” Mal said. He didn’t know what else to say. “Just… do me a favour. Take care of yourself.”
Rose looked like she might protest but then she nodded. She pushed off the counter and took a few steps forwards.
“And…” Mal started again. “Try’n avoid getting shot again.”
She grinned. “Believe me, learned my lesson there.”
***
Kaylee leaned over the Doctor’s shoulder, wide eyes zinging back and forth over the screen. As best she could figure, it’d only taken him seconds to hack into the Alliance’s mainframe, and he was busy wiping out any mention of them and Serenity.
“Didn’t figure it were possible,” she said. “How can something do that? Don’t make no sense.”
“It’s… sonic,” said the Doctor. “It’s a sonic screwdriver. And… I’m very good.”
“That ain’t much of an explanation,” Kaylee said. “It’s sort’a like… magic.”
“There’s no such thing as magic,” said the Doctor, hitting the screen with one fist. Kaylee jumped and shot him an accusing look. “Sorry.”
Kaylee held her breath, worried that she might break his concentration if she asked any more questions.
“I think we’ve got it,” said the Doctor. “Just need to…” He stood up, pushing the screwdriver against the screen. “Yes, there we go-that’s it.”
Words flashed across the screen too quickly for Kaylee to catch. She blinked.
“And after you do this… we won’t be fugitives no more?” she said.
“Well,” said the Doctor. “Not until the next time you lot get caught for petty thieving-”
“-oh, we ain’t-I mean, we don’t…” she trailed off and sighed. It seemed very important that the Doctor didn’t think poorly of them. “We’re not bad folk.”
“Never said you were,” said the Doctor gently. “But if you get caught again, there’s nothing I can do about it, Kaylee. I’ll be a long way from here.”
She nodded, feeling morose at the thought. “Are we ever gonna see you again?”
“If I’m lucky,” said the Doctor. Something caught in his eye, and he bent down, reaching under the console. “Do these belong to you?”
He emerged with a pair of 3D eyeglasses she’d found at a market place on the last planet they’d been at. They must have fallen underneath the console after Serenity crash-landed.
“Yeah,” said Kaylee. “Bought ‘em from a real nice man on Persephone. Didn’t cost too much coin and I thought they was pretty. Why?”
The Doctor tried them on, experimentally glancing down at his hand. He sucked in a sharp breath, and ripped them off.
Kaylee frowned. “Doctor?”
“Nothing,” he said, but he put them on again and flexed his hand in front of his face before taking them off and studying them.
Kaylee smiled at his poor attempts at being discrete. “Keep ‘em,” she said.
He looked up. “Sorry?”
“Keep ‘em,” she repeated. “As… thanks for helping us. Don’t really need ‘em for anything. Just a bit of fun, was all.”
“Thank you,” said the Doctor absently, still staring at the glasses like they were prone to bite his hand off.
“Doctor?”
At Rose’s voice, the Doctor hastily folded the glasses and shoved him in his pocket. He turned around, warm smile on his face.
“Hello,” he said. “Look at you.” He inspected her up and down. “No lingering side-effects, and I think you’ve still got both arms.”
“Oh, shut up,” said Rose.
“Heya, Rose,” Kaylee said, grinning.
Rose waved at her. “How’d it go?”
“Fixed us right up,” said Kaylee. “Never seen nothing like it. Alliance won’t even know what happened.”
“I’d say, team TARDIS is up one today, what do you think?” said the Doctor. “Come here, I want to show you something.”
“What is it?” Rose said, moving to stand beside him.
He pointed towards the cockpit window. “Look, up there, what do you see?”
Rose chanced a glance at his profile. He was serious. She followed his finger. “The… stars, I suppose.”
“Yeah,” said the Doctor, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “That’s the one thing the TARDIS doesn’t have. A view of the stars.”
“It’s beautiful,” Rose said. “Like… it’s all around us. Like you’re living right inside it.”
The Doctor nodded approvingly, but he was watching Rose’s face.
Rose blushed under his stare. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” he said. He turned back to the cockpit window.
Rose nudged his arm, obviously not fooled. “Hey, I’m fine. Gonna take more than some sort of new age weapon-thing to take me out, yeah?”
“Yeah,” said the Doctor. They smiled at each other and then joined hands.
Kaylee felt like she’d disappeared into thin air. Humming loudly, she dropped down under the console to finish up the repairs. Neither of them noticed.
**
Mal walked into the cargo bay to find the doors to the TARDIS hanging open and the Doctor wandering around it and mumbling to himself.
“Ah, Captain!” he said, catching sight of Mal. “Just the person I was hoping to see. Best we shove off.” He paused and then grinned, “Good news is, you and your crew are safely off the Alliance record-books. Fugitives no longer. Well, not for another day or so. Just try and stay out of trouble.” He paused, frowning deeply. “I really just said that, didn’t I? Anyway, been fun, hasn’t it? Hope to see you again one day.”
Mal eyed the blue wooden box sitting in his cargo bay. “Reckon you’ll have more control over that than me,” he said. He suspected the Doctor wasn’t a man to come back and visit once he took off. “Thank you,” he continued. “Appreciate what you’ve done for me and mine.”
“Nah,” said the Doctor. “Just a bit of a flick of the sonic screwdriver, was all. I have a feeling you would have found a way through with or without me. It’s quite a crew-family, I should say, that you’ve built yourself.” He paused. “You’re lucky.”
He looked away and Mal felt uncomfortable at the sudden silence. He cleared his throat and gestured to the TARDIS. “And it actually… flies?”
The Doctor perked up at the reference to his ship and he gave it a small pat. “Yep,” he said. “Does this sort of… dematerialising and rematerializing thing. It’s… Time Lord.”
The Doctor said ‘Time Lord’ like it ought to explain everything.
“Well…” Mal said. “That’s… mighty interesting.”
“Doctor-” Rose’s voice echoed from inside the ship and she popped out a moment later, a backpack slung over one shoulder. She seemed hesitant.
The Doctor looked at her, apprehension dawning on his face. “No.”
“Oh, come on,” she said. “We haven’t been back in ages.”
“Yes! Yes! Yes, we have,” said the Doctor. “I remember because every time I’m over, your mother tries shoving the entire contents of her fridge down my gorge! Like I’m some sort of rubbish bin!”
Rose rolled her eyes. “It’s only ‘cause you’re so thin,” she said. “She’s just… trying to show she cares. ‘Sides, look at all the laundry I have to do.”
Rose heaved the backpack off her shoulder and it hit the grating of the TARDIS with a dull thud.
“I do have a washing machine in the TARDIS, you know,” he said. “What, you think you’re the only person who needs clean under-”
“She likes doing it,” Rose said. “Makes her feel useful. It’ll only be for a few hours-days, at most.”
“Days?” he mouthed, abject horror on his face.
Rose leaned against the doorjamb and widened her eyes. The Doctor opened his mouth and tried very hard to stare at the ceiling.
It was obviously a losing battle.
A few moments later, he muttered, “Fine. Soon as we say good-bye to this lot, we’ll pop in to see Jackie.”
Rose beamed. “Won’t be that bad,” she said. “I promise.”
She disappeared into the TARDIS again.
Mal shook his head. “Doctor, I seen my share of sad sights in this world, but that there’s gotta be among the most pathetic.”
The Doctor considered. “Yeah,” he finally said, but he didn’t sound upset.
***
The Doctor’s goodbye was a quick “thanks” and a wave of his hand before he fled into the TARDIS, shutting the doors behind him. Rose supposed she should just be thankful that he wouldn’t take off without her.
After 900 years of goodbyes… well, Rose could understand, even if she didn’t like it. Mostly, she told herself he wouldn’t do it to her.
She faced the crew. Kaylee had her hand in Simon’s and sniffed audibly. River stood next to them, knowing smile on her face. Mal and Inara stood together, their arms folded across their chests in nearly identical poses. Jayne’s lips were twitching in a valiant effort not to cry. Zoe stood partly away from all of them, expression giving nothing away.
Rose went to Jayne first. She held out her hand. “You’re not so bad, you know,” she said. “Guns and all. Not as scary as you think you are.”
Jayne scowled, “You take that back.”
“Nope,” Rose said, eyes twinkling.
She moved onto Zoe. Rose hesitated and then leaned in to hug her. Zoe stood stiffly in her arms.
“I’m really, really sorry about your husband,” Rose whispered. “I wish there was something we could do, but we can’t. Had the same thought as you once. Nearly destroyed the entire universe trying to bring my dad back. He wouldn’t want that.”
Zoe returned her hug and then pulled back. She walked away without a word.
Rose swallowed and then turned around. Inara and Mal looked sympathetic, so she moved to them next.
“Best of luck, both of you,” she said. “I reckon you’re really great together.”
Inara and Mal looked at each other, both of them fighting down smiles.
“Yeah,” Jayne muttered. “Real good. If they don’t go and tear this ship apart with their arguing!”
“Ignore him,” Inara said, leaning forward to hug Rose. She smelled spicy, a little like cinnamon. “I wish we’d had more time to talk.”
“Me, too,” Rose said.
“Best of luck, sweetie. I must say - it’s a dangerous life you’re choosing to live.”
“Worth it, though,” Rose said, pulling away. She turned to Mal. “Captain-thank you. Sorry about dropping in unannounced. Just sort of… happens.”
“Yeah,” Mal said, scratching his chin. “Next time, send us a wave first.”
Rose grinned and stood up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. He smirked at her and Inara rolled her eyes.
Rose turned to Simon and Kaylee, swinging her arms nervously. “Doctor Tam,” she said. “Always remember you as the man who saved my life.”
Simon flushed and Rose grinned, biting down on her bottom lip. “I-thank you,” Simon said.
“Do you two really gotta go?” Kaylee said. “We got quarters if you want to stay a while, don’t we, Captain? Been empty too long, anyway.”
Rose hesitated. She wanted to, she did. She’d really like to get to know these people better. Leaving like this-she’d never get a chance to giggle late into the night with Kaylee and Inara, to try and get by the Captain’s defences.
She could convince the Doctor if she pushed him. But that wasn’t… him. Never had been.
“Can’t,” Rose said instead, wondering when she started to sound so much like him. Kaylee nodded in resignation, squeezing Simon’s hand.
Finally, Rose turned to River. The girl brushed her hair out of her face and then moved forward, grasping Rose’s face with both hands.
She smiled sadly. “He loves you,” River whispered, barely loud enough for Rose to hear. “He tries to say it, but it’s hard. He’s so afraid. He thinks you must know, but sometimes you’re not sure.” River drew in a sharp breath. “But he does. I’ve felt it.”
Rose stared at the girl, hardly daring to breathe. She had no idea how to respond. “Thank you,” she managed. She forced a clumsy smile.
River pulled away. Rose straightened her shirt, nervous energy making her palms feel sweaty.
“Well, I should probably…” she trailed off and moved towards the TARDIS. “Guess this is goodbye, then.”
Vision blurring, Rose opened the door and stepped inside, leaning back against it once she was through. Yes, she could understand why the Doctor never lingered on goodbyes.
The Doctor looked up hopefully when the door swung closed, hands already setting the console into motion. He beamed at her and then said, “I was thinking, we might be able to fit in one quick trip to the past before we head back to the Powell Estates, what do you think? Just one trip? I’ll buy you dinner.”
Rose forced a laugh and pushed off the doors. River's words echoed through her mind, but she only said, “You? Buy dinner? Did you hit your head this morning?”
“Well,” he said, wounded. “Thought it might be nice. Just… you and me. Anyway.”
He turned back to the console, pulling down on a lever. Rose smiled at his sudden shyness.
She closed the distance between them, turning her head to watch him prod the TARDIS to life.
“Sounds nice,” she said.
He paused, one hand hovering over the console. “Yeah?”
“Yes,” she said. “Powell Estates can wait a few days, can’t it?”