Tangled Skein, Chapter 1
Title: Tangled Skein, Chapter 1
Characters: Rose Tyler, The Doctor (10th), Jack Harkness, Jenny and many others
Raiting: All
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me. They belong to RTD and the BBC.
Spoilers: up till JE
Continuity: sequel to "Universe is Cruel"
Summary: Rose's regenerated into someone achingly familiar...
Previous
The TARDIS is humming quietly; too quiet to be in the vortex so Rose suggests they’ve landed somewhere.
“But she can’t be! Rose met her in the past! You know what happens when there are two versions of the same person in one place simultaneously! And they touched! And no explosions as far as I know! No reapers!” Jack's agitated voice comes from the door to her left. If memory served Rose right it is the library.
“It’s different! Not that simple, Jack,” comes the Doctor’s irritated response. “I’ve met my other incarnations, saved the world together a few times. No problems because physically we were different people-different bodies and all that. Time Lords…”
“But Mum isn’t a Time Lady,” Cathy interrupts. “She’s human!”
“We don’t know that. Dad hasn’t finished his test yet,” Jenny replies quietly. “But still, they met and you knew her before she met mum. She wasn’t hiding or lying, or else you’d never have her onboard.” She turns inquisitive eyes on the Doctor, who sighs and rubs the back of his neck.
“No, if she were lying, I’d have never asked her to come. She wasn’t. I’m sure of that. She didn’t know… No way was she that cruel… or Rose really only used her as a template for regeneration.”
Rose leans on the doorframe listening to the discussion, not yet ready to participate. For all she knows she still is human. One heart at least tells that story. She feels the same. Well, as a thirty-something normal woman would feel. The ease with which she can move, the strength of her hands and legs, the sharpness of her vision-it all is so alien to her. Two long years she had spent in bed before she… before she died. Ten years she was using thick-lenses glasses. Thirty years since she last ran longer than a few feet around her flat in search of a mobile. Fifty years since she last stepped onboard the TARDIS on the day Cathie felt the turn of the Earth for the first time. Sixty-something since she made her last time trip in the ship on the day she returned to this universe, the day she saw her mum last time. Oh how she wishes she could talk to her right now!
A sigh escapes her and she moves further through the corridor. The clothes she found in her old room in the TARDIS are too tight and she thinks of visiting the wardrobe once again. She remembers the full length mirror and thinks better of it. Deep in her thoughts, she doesn’t notice coming to the control room. A single bed the ship created for her earlier is still there. She used it only a few hours before, but it seems like a lifetime ago. In some sense it was another life.
She walks to the door and opens it. Her flat is empty and Rose is glad they landed there and Luke is away. It probably would be hard to explain her new body to him. To think about it, not harder than to anybody else. She walks around the flat. It’s messy, and she doesn’t like that. Her bedroom is the messiest one. The night stand is full of pills and other little and big packs of medication she used to take. Her glasses. For once she’s not complaining. A wheelchair.
But the smell is the worst. It’s not something utterly unpleasant. The room doesn’t stink. It is the smell of old age, of a life well lived a long time ago, a life no longer hers. Somehow, this brings everything that happened to her since she’s last been here home. She might still think as she used to, she might still have the same memories. But even now she feels strange attitudes well inside her. She feels like she’s acting and thinking off habit, not because it’s the way she does it. The word the Doctor said such a long time ago pop into her mind.
“I’m the Doctor but apart from that I have no idea… I literally don’t know who I am. Am I funny? Sarcastic? Sexy?..”
Rose looks around her again and can’t help noticing all the things that are out of place. She grabs the pills and mixtures from the night stand and throws them onto the blanket on her messy bed. Glasses follow shortly. She moves quickly, removing little figures and souvenirs from their respective places as if afraid of being late.
In ten minutes she makes the blanket into a tight knot and pulls it to the front door. The kettle whistles happily from the kitchen and she moves to make her tea, looking around with a content smile. Oh, how she missed her kitchen! The kettle is a new one; she’s never seen it before. Same goes to the fringe. Mugs are in another cupboard and she can’t find the teabags. In one of the drawers she finds a big box of strangely smelling tea. Another ten minutes and she finds a teapot. Not the one she used when she still could manage her tea. By the time the pot is clean the kettle is cold and she turns it on again. Rose walks to the window and for the first time in two years. It’s winter and it’s snowing. Jack told it’s been getting colder lately despite all the buzz about global warming. There used to be a park once right out of the window. It’s a kindergarten now. Torchwood School. Luke said he was working not far from her. She just never imagined how close it really was.
“Mum?”
Rose turns around to see Cathie in the doorway to the tiny kitchen. “It’s so beautiful,” she says, looking out of the window again. “I had no idea how I missed before I could see it again.” She feels her daughter’s arms snake around her waist and her sharp chin rest on her shoulder.
“I’m so happy you’re back,” Cathie whispers. “I couldn’t believe you were gone. I know I haven’t spent much time with you lately and I’m so sorry. So very sorry, Mum.” Words pour from her interrupted only by quick sobs. “I promise I won’t leave for long ever again. Not now and not when you grow old again. I’ll still be here… I’ll take you out. You’ll never miss the sky… or stars… or snow because I’ll take you everywhere. I…”
“Sh… sweetheart. It’s okay, really,” Rose interrupts her girl, gently turning around to hug her. “You came so often and told me such wonderful stories about your travels. And I was just so weak and tired that I didn’t even bother to look out of the window. I was stupid, you know… And I’m glad I’m back, love. Never going to leave you, you hear?” Rose kisses Cathie on her forehead and hugs her while the younger girl sobs quietly. The kettle whistles again just then. “I’ve found the teapot and tea so let’s not waste my efforts and have some.” She smiles tenderly brushing a lose strand of her girl’s brown hair out of her face. “ Okay?”
“Yeah. I’d love to,” is the reply.
Next
Characters: Rose Tyler, The Doctor (10th), Jack Harkness, Jenny and many others
Raiting: All
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me. They belong to RTD and the BBC.
Spoilers: up till JE
Continuity: sequel to "Universe is Cruel"
Summary: Rose's regenerated into someone achingly familiar...
Previous
The TARDIS is humming quietly; too quiet to be in the vortex so Rose suggests they’ve landed somewhere.
“But she can’t be! Rose met her in the past! You know what happens when there are two versions of the same person in one place simultaneously! And they touched! And no explosions as far as I know! No reapers!” Jack's agitated voice comes from the door to her left. If memory served Rose right it is the library.
“It’s different! Not that simple, Jack,” comes the Doctor’s irritated response. “I’ve met my other incarnations, saved the world together a few times. No problems because physically we were different people-different bodies and all that. Time Lords…”
“But Mum isn’t a Time Lady,” Cathy interrupts. “She’s human!”
“We don’t know that. Dad hasn’t finished his test yet,” Jenny replies quietly. “But still, they met and you knew her before she met mum. She wasn’t hiding or lying, or else you’d never have her onboard.” She turns inquisitive eyes on the Doctor, who sighs and rubs the back of his neck.
“No, if she were lying, I’d have never asked her to come. She wasn’t. I’m sure of that. She didn’t know… No way was she that cruel… or Rose really only used her as a template for regeneration.”
Rose leans on the doorframe listening to the discussion, not yet ready to participate. For all she knows she still is human. One heart at least tells that story. She feels the same. Well, as a thirty-something normal woman would feel. The ease with which she can move, the strength of her hands and legs, the sharpness of her vision-it all is so alien to her. Two long years she had spent in bed before she… before she died. Ten years she was using thick-lenses glasses. Thirty years since she last ran longer than a few feet around her flat in search of a mobile. Fifty years since she last stepped onboard the TARDIS on the day Cathie felt the turn of the Earth for the first time. Sixty-something since she made her last time trip in the ship on the day she returned to this universe, the day she saw her mum last time. Oh how she wishes she could talk to her right now!
A sigh escapes her and she moves further through the corridor. The clothes she found in her old room in the TARDIS are too tight and she thinks of visiting the wardrobe once again. She remembers the full length mirror and thinks better of it. Deep in her thoughts, she doesn’t notice coming to the control room. A single bed the ship created for her earlier is still there. She used it only a few hours before, but it seems like a lifetime ago. In some sense it was another life.
She walks to the door and opens it. Her flat is empty and Rose is glad they landed there and Luke is away. It probably would be hard to explain her new body to him. To think about it, not harder than to anybody else. She walks around the flat. It’s messy, and she doesn’t like that. Her bedroom is the messiest one. The night stand is full of pills and other little and big packs of medication she used to take. Her glasses. For once she’s not complaining. A wheelchair.
But the smell is the worst. It’s not something utterly unpleasant. The room doesn’t stink. It is the smell of old age, of a life well lived a long time ago, a life no longer hers. Somehow, this brings everything that happened to her since she’s last been here home. She might still think as she used to, she might still have the same memories. But even now she feels strange attitudes well inside her. She feels like she’s acting and thinking off habit, not because it’s the way she does it. The word the Doctor said such a long time ago pop into her mind.
“I’m the Doctor but apart from that I have no idea… I literally don’t know who I am. Am I funny? Sarcastic? Sexy?..”
Rose looks around her again and can’t help noticing all the things that are out of place. She grabs the pills and mixtures from the night stand and throws them onto the blanket on her messy bed. Glasses follow shortly. She moves quickly, removing little figures and souvenirs from their respective places as if afraid of being late.
In ten minutes she makes the blanket into a tight knot and pulls it to the front door. The kettle whistles happily from the kitchen and she moves to make her tea, looking around with a content smile. Oh, how she missed her kitchen! The kettle is a new one; she’s never seen it before. Same goes to the fringe. Mugs are in another cupboard and she can’t find the teabags. In one of the drawers she finds a big box of strangely smelling tea. Another ten minutes and she finds a teapot. Not the one she used when she still could manage her tea. By the time the pot is clean the kettle is cold and she turns it on again. Rose walks to the window and for the first time in two years. It’s winter and it’s snowing. Jack told it’s been getting colder lately despite all the buzz about global warming. There used to be a park once right out of the window. It’s a kindergarten now. Torchwood School. Luke said he was working not far from her. She just never imagined how close it really was.
“Mum?”
Rose turns around to see Cathie in the doorway to the tiny kitchen. “It’s so beautiful,” she says, looking out of the window again. “I had no idea how I missed before I could see it again.” She feels her daughter’s arms snake around her waist and her sharp chin rest on her shoulder.
“I’m so happy you’re back,” Cathie whispers. “I couldn’t believe you were gone. I know I haven’t spent much time with you lately and I’m so sorry. So very sorry, Mum.” Words pour from her interrupted only by quick sobs. “I promise I won’t leave for long ever again. Not now and not when you grow old again. I’ll still be here… I’ll take you out. You’ll never miss the sky… or stars… or snow because I’ll take you everywhere. I…”
“Sh… sweetheart. It’s okay, really,” Rose interrupts her girl, gently turning around to hug her. “You came so often and told me such wonderful stories about your travels. And I was just so weak and tired that I didn’t even bother to look out of the window. I was stupid, you know… And I’m glad I’m back, love. Never going to leave you, you hear?” Rose kisses Cathie on her forehead and hugs her while the younger girl sobs quietly. The kettle whistles again just then. “I’ve found the teapot and tea so let’s not waste my efforts and have some.” She smiles tenderly brushing a lose strand of her girl’s brown hair out of her face. “ Okay?”
“Yeah. I’d love to,” is the reply.
Next