Fic: The Doctor and His Time Ladies (Chapter 3)
Title: The Doctor and His Time Ladies
Author: country_who
Rating: PG
Word Count (This chapter): 4765
Genre: AU, Actions/Adventure
Characters/Pairings: Ten/Rose, Tenth Doctor, Human Doctor, Rose, Jenny
Summary: AU Journey's End. Rose gets trapped in the TARDIS instead of Donna and now holds the mind of a Time Lord protected by the Bad Wolf, but what happens when the human Doctor dies, and the Time Lord tries to take her to a planet to get her mind off of him, and fulfill a promise? Does the Doctor have more to lose than gain?
Author's Note: Thanks to othermewriter who solidified the main ideas swimming in the soup I call my brain.
Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update this, Script Frenzy is very drawing.
Prologue| Chapter 1| Chapter 2
“So, it’s your turn, what was your most embarrassing moment, since I last saw you?” the Doctor asked, lounging back next to Rose on his jacket.
They were sat in the middle of a clearing about two miles away from the TARDIS. Trees similar to oak surrounded them and cast shade over their bodies. Rose was lying on her side facing the Doctor; the smooth fabric of the interior of his coat was supple against her elbow. He took his turn asking her a question over what happened to her while they were separated, a good natured smirk dancing across his lips.
Rose would never tell the Doctor, but this was how she loved to think of him. Not, the Oncoming Storm Doctor that so many people respected out of fear, but him being him, her Doctor. The way he lounged back with his hands cupped behind his head, staring at the birds as they flew across their view was how she always thought of him. He wasn’t always the protector of the Universe; sometimes he could be the silent observer.
They were sitting very close to each other now. The awkward moment of the morning had passed them and they were back to being best friends-or slightly more.
She pondered the Doctor’s question for a moment before giving him a soft laugh. “I was going on this mission for Torchwood. We were chasing these aliens-oh, what were they called? They were green and fat, sort of stocky-had an affinity for yellow apples.”
“Zorgons,” the Doctor offered, with a cocky grin.
Rose’s eyes grew wide with recollection, and she nodded vigorously. “Yes, that’s it. When, they feel threatened they-”
“-Like to produce large quantities of foul smelling mucus from their mouths,” the Doctor finished with her. “You must have been scrubbing for weeks.”
“I was,” Rose giggled and flipped her hair back with her hands, as the wind blew through it. “Months even. A smell like rotting cabbage.”
“Yeah, had a nasty run in with them before too, I believe it was my eight regeneration,” the Doctor stated nostalgically, while he stared off into the distance. “So, we’ve been through embarrassing, funny, strange, and moments that you thought you were going to die from being way too high up on the empire state building, while getting electrocuted. Your turn to ask me something.”
Leaning her head backwards, Rose smiled and stared at the Doctor, while he rolled on his side to face her with his head propped up on his palm. Something painful came across her face, as she looked down and contemplated if she should ask the question.
“One thing you missed most after we were separated,” Rose asked finally. It wasn’t that she thought that the Doctor shouldn’t have moved on. She prayed that he had and that he didn’t spend all his days mourning her loss. But, it pained her to think that she might have slipped through the cracks of his memories and never been mentioned again, like with Sarah Jane.
The effect of the question was immediate on the Doctor. His face became drawn and the shine in his eyes that had been present seconds ago was gone completely, replaced by the soft glisten of pained and controlled tears.
Rose shook her head. “I’m sorry, Doctor, I shouldn’t have asked. Just… just forget that I said anything.”
She dropped her head down lower, but the Doctor picked her chin up, so that she had to face him. His eyes now shone with an unsuppressed myriad of emotions. Among which, she thought she might have caught a glimpse of love.
“Chips.”
“What?” Rose asked, slightly bewildered.
“I missed chips, while you were gone,” the Doctor whispered softly, but after he realized what this must have sounded like to Rose, he explained hurriedly. “And, all those other little things that make humans… well, human.
“I mean, Donna and Martha were humans too, but they relished in the alien aspect of the ‘job’ a bit more than you do. I missed you wanting to do those simple things. I sometimes thought that maybe they were trying too hard to get on in an alien world. You though, Rose Tyler, saw the end of the world, and you came back, noticed the smell of chips, and wanted them as if they were your only care in the world. You stayed human, that’s what I missed most when you were gone. Not many of my companions can claim that, but you can, Rose.”
Rose felt relief wash over her, as the Doctor drew his hands around her and pulled her closely to him. She returned his hug and breathed in his scent-Doctor smell was the only way she learned to describe it-there was something about it that just screamed his name in her mind over and over again. She felt the weight of the worlds lift off of her, while he placed a gentle kiss in her forehead.
‘Ask him now,’ Rose’s heart prodded her. ‘He’s being so open to you now; don’t let him slip back away. Ask him.’
“What about you, Rose? What did you miss?” the Doctor whispered, while he smoothed her hair away from her face.
“You,” Rose stated, without hesitation.
The Doctor gave a soft chuckle, which was returned with a friendly smack on his shoulder. His wounded expression was given away by the soft wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes.
“I missed the way that you would leap into the console room all smiles, and how you changed your mind a million times and still had a plan. I remember just lying in bed and thinking about how much I wished something spontaneous would happen. Like, I don’t know, meteors falling from the sky, alien invasions, or a little blue box showing up at my doorstep.”
The Doctor gave a mirthless laugh, but Rose distracted him.
“But, the one thing that I think I missed most about you was that mop of brown heaven you call, hair,” Rose teased, while she pushed her hand over the top of it and marveled at the luxuriousness of it. “I dreamed of your hair.”
The Doctor gave a whimper. “Didn’t you dream about my marvelous brain?”
“Nope,” Rose said, winding him up.
“Rose Tyler, I’m ashamed-no appalled-that you would rate meager appearances over aptitude.” The Doctor sat bolt upright and stared at her.
“Oh come on, Doctor, you can’t honestly tell me that you don’t treat your hair like it’s your next of kin.”
“Well, it is pretty amazing,” the Doctor said, flopping back down and pretending to conceded. “It’s big, you know.”
Rose rolled her eyes.
“What about lunch?” Rose asked.
“I had a rather nasty one on this planet called Midnight. I’m not sure if it was chicken or beef, but it was pretty foul. I mean blech, I don’t even think it would have been legal to consume on most planets.”
“No, I meant why don’t we eat?” Rose said, while she sat up and opened the basket. “I packed your favorite.”
“Banana cream pie?” the Doctor inquired hopefully, trying to crane his neck over to see what was hidden in the basket.
Rose looked stunned for a moment. “You like bananas? I could have sworn that your favorite food was pear cobbler.”
The Doctor pulled a face and was about to say that Rose shouldn’t even be joking about something so serious, but a rustling stopped them. He held up a hand for Rose to keep quiet, while he got to his feet and tugged on his coat.
The rustling continued, and the Doctor looked at Rose. “Do you hear that?”
Rose nodded and looked around her. The fear in the Doctor’s voice alarmed her, as she watched him close his eyes and listen to the sound.
“You’re not gonna get anywhere by just listening,” Rose told him. “There are too many echoes for you to pinpoint something that soft.”
Rose glanced up at the trees, and bit her tongue between her teeth as she concentrated on what she was planning on doing.
“Wait here, Doctor,” Rose said, before he could stop her.
The Doctor watched her carefully and found himself crossing his fingers behind his back. Rose was carefully scaling a tree and staring out over the forest. She brought her hand up to shade her eyes against the sun and held up a hand for the Doctor to come up as well. There was a smile forming across her lips that infected the Doctor, as he joined her on the sturdy branch. His arm gripped the trunk of the tree, as he leaned over and saw what Rose was staring at.
What had caught their attention was a deer-like creature leading her two fawns across the forest. The babies were obviously still getting used to the ground beneath their feet, as one of them stumbled and he head-butted his twin. Their fur was dark brown and completely smooth save for one place on one of the fawn’s heads that stood up on end.
“Oh, Doctor, they’re just darling,” Rose whispered, not wanting to scare them. “Look at that one’s fur, he’s gotta cow-lick just like you.”
The Time Lord opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of an explosion cut him off. The three deer bolted into the thicket; while Rose and the Doctor stayed frozen in the tree, unsure if it was safe to venture down.
A group of soldiers appeared from the trees-at least that’s what the Doctor assumed they were. They carried hard looking machine-guns, as they marched through the forest. One shot ahead of them and the others listened intently. As if they were waiting for something to show itself.
Their individual appearances were far from human. Despite the fact that they were bipedal, their faces were stretched and misshapen from a human’s perspective. They were covered in grey fur with black spots around their eyes, and rings around bushy tails that jutted from their backs. Rose and the Doctor were staring at what appeared to be half-human, half raccoon creatures that kept creeping closer and closer to them.
Rose tensed, as they stopped beneath the tree and looked around. The Doctor’s hand tightened around hers, and she looked up at him with fear leaching from her dark, hazel eyes. His fingers slowly traced circles in Rose’s hand. His breath stayed firmly in his chest and refused to release itself. The soldiers moved to where the Doctor and Rose had been lounging back and laughing a few minutes ago.
“Doctor,” Rose whispered, but he silenced her with a finger to her lips.
“Shh,” he whispered.
The picnic basket flipped over after it met a soldier’s boot and scattered sandwiches, chips and the Doctor’s precious banana cream pie onto the ground. There was confused talk among the creatures, but it quickly turned to sniggers, as they clapped their hands on each other’s back and started to move on.
However, one of them happened to glance around. For a split second, one of the creatures locked eyes with Rose. She silently begged him not to alert anyone, but her hopes were in vain. She felt the Doctor’s hand place a firm pressure between her shoulder blades and push her hastily from the tree. She tumbled to the ground and within an instant; the Doctor’s arms were helping her to her feet and urging her on.
They were running by the time that the leader of the group shout, “Humans,” at the top of his lungs and a barrage of bullets followed them through forest. They weaved their way past trees, daring to go deeper and deeper into the forest.
Rose didn’t want to think about how far away they were getting from the TARDIS, or how lost they would be eventually. All she wanted was to break free and be safe, just her and the Doctor. She thought longingly to the time that they had just had together, how close she had gotten to asking him if he loved her or not. She was beginning to understand why the Doctor had never told her his feelings before.
It might not have been the fact that he didn’t want to; it was that neither of them could ever get the words out together without being interrupted or cut off by the rest of the universe. No one wanted them to be together. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.
As they pressed on through the forest, thirty minutes later, Rose noticed the Doctor was lagging behind further than she was used to. The bullets had stopped flying past them and she risked a look behind her.
The Doctor’s face was pale, trying to conceal pain with a stoic mask and failing very miserably at it. He forced a smile, but Rose was no longer staring at his face. She was staring at the hole in the back of the Doctor’s pants, right at his calf muscle. Blood was soaking through the pin stripes and leaving a trail of blood droplets behind him.
“Doctor,” Rose risked slowing down further and forcing him to do the same.
“I’m fine, Rose. We’ve got to keep going,” the Doctor said, forcing strength into his voice. “Come on.”
He tried to cut past her, but she stubbornly slowed to a walk and forced him to sit down under a tree so that she could view his wound more closely. She rolled up his pant leg and could clearly see where the bullet had entered through the left side of his calf and cleanly exited the right.
“Why didn’t you say?” Rose asked, as she began to tear away the hem of her t-shirt and wrap it tightly around his leg. The blood flow was not easily staunched, but she eventually got it to a small trickle, barely soaking through her the fabric torn from the hem of her shirt.
“Didn’t want you to worry,” the Doctor told her, while he tried to get up, but she pushed him back down.
“You’re not going anywhere, Doctor,” Rose said stubbornly.
“We’ve got to get out of here Rose,” argued the Doctor. “They might be following us, or something. Who knows what they could be after, or why they shouted ‘humans,’ like that. Which, puts you in major danger Miss Tyler.”
Rose smirked. She was certainly not the one who was in the most danger at the moment. The Doctor caught her look and laughed softly, while he looked down at his leg. He reached down to take of the bandage off, but she swatted his hands away.
“Don’t mess with it, Doctor,” Rose said sternly, while she tightened the bandage a bit more for good measure. “It needs to stay right there. You’re lucky it missed any major arteries and veins or you could be on your way to becoming a completely new man right now.”
Rose meant the words to sound like joking threat, but she couldn’t keep the hint of pain from her voice. She had just found him, watched him almost regenerate and another version of him die within the last two days. She wasn’t ready to lose him just yet. She just couldn’t. Regeneration would be too much for her to bear right now.
The Doctor didn’t reply, just sat back against the tree and watched as Rose joined next to him. She kept looking him over, like he might collapse at any moment, or as if he was hiding another injury from her eyes. He bit the bottom of his lip and tried not to think of the thoughts running through her head right now.
“Rose, I’m fine, honestly,” the Doctor promised.
“Alright,” Rose conceded, “but, you’re still not going anywhere, yet. Not before we figure out a plan.”
“Rose…” the Doctor stared, but he was cut off.
“They were heading that way,” Rose said point to the east. “But, we went this way.” She pointed to the north. “Two people are not the goal of a whole platoon like that. They probably chased for a while and dropped away, going back to where ever they were going before.”
His head bobbed up and down in a nod, while the Doctor marveled at her logic. “Rose Tyler, I do believe that I’ll make a scientist of you, yet.”
Rose snorted and kept watching behind her back as if she expected something to appear out of nowhere.
“Doctor, what were those creatures?” Rose asked after a few moments of silence.
“Saigans,” the Doctor said. “There like the Judoon, but worse, much worse. They seek to protect uninhabited worlds from being used by other species. They’re a species of wars, Rose. Specifically with the human race. They don’t like how you humans expand and ‘conquer’ new worlds or how you alter the natural balance of things.”
Rose looked to see the Doctor shaking his head. “All those lives lost for an uninhabited piece of land. I must have taken you to this planet in the middle of one of their battles.” The Doctor’s voice turned apologetic. “Some date, eh?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think it would be a proper date if we didn’t run for our lives,” Rose teased, poking him in the stomach and giggling. “So, what’s the plan?”
Laughter bubbled up from inside the Doctor. “I thought you were the leader on this mission. You’ve shot down all my ideas.”
“I only shoot down the wrong ones. If you came up with a good one then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Rose leaned back and began reaching into the Doctor’s coat pocket and feeling around until she found what she was looking for. “Aha!”
Cupped in Rose’s hand, was the Doctor’s Timey-Wimey detector and his sonic screwdriver. She fiddled with its knobs until a small tray popped out for underneath it with what appeared to be a soft-touch screen.
“How long’s that been in there?” the Doctor asked confused.
“Since you built it,” Rose told him with a roll of her eyes. “You don’t happen to have a push pin or needle to you? Anything really pointy?”
The Doctor stared at her with confusion, but nodded and dug his hands into his pocket and pulled out a safety pin. “This?” He asked.
“Perfect,” Rose said, working the needle out of its protective area and swiftly jabbing her finger with it. She smeared the blood on the screen and closed the tray.
After adjusting the sonic screwdriver to setting 67e, Rose started to push the sonic in the direction of the Timey-Wimey detector. However, just as her finger grazed the button, the Doctor snatched away the sonic and gave her the I-know-you’re-only-a-human-but-sometimes-you-can-be-really-thick look.
“Setting 67e causes automatic disintegration of molecules into their basic elements,” the Doctor said, rubbing the side of the sonic screwdriver and cooing to it before Rose grabbed it back from him.
“You’re thinking of setting 67g and even so, it only works on steel, this is aluminum. It’s already a basic element.” Rose corrected him and buzzed the Timey-Wimey detector, until it lit up and indicated a direction with its little dish.
“This way,” Rose said, beginning to walk southward, but the Doctor grabbed her shoulder.
“Why that way?” the Doctor asked incredulously.
“Humans are that way, instead of detecting Time Stuff, this little baby is gonna detect large settlements of humans, namely in this direction.”
“Wait... let me get this straight, you’ve just discovered that this planet is crawling with armies and you want to go in the direction of the most people?”
“Not just people, Doctor, humans,” Rose said slowly, “the Saigans are after humans, remember? So, I’m betting that the humans would be more than happy to get a helping hand from us, fellow humans-well humanoid in your case. And, they’re only a half mile in that direction, which is five and a half closer than the TARDIS is.”
Looking stunned, the Doctor stared at Rose until she helped him to his feet and supported his weight as they walked through the forest.
~//~
The first thing Jenny noticed when she woke up was a tingling sensation across all of her limps, warmth spreading over her body, and the stark lack of pain that she should have been feeling. She opened her eyes carefully and saw the golden energy floating around her, while she sat bolt upright, suddenly remembering what had happened.
Despite her dumping of the fuel, the shuttle was still smoldering slightly, as she pushed to her feet and began to move chunks of metal out of the way until a soft breeze blew through and the sunlight shined in. A squeak signaled behind her, and Jenny smiled.
“Mr. Anderson,” Jenny said cheerfully, as she opened the backpack and the Chubchuck showed himself. He looked a bit dazed, but didn’t seem hurt in any other way. “How you doing?”
“Boom make Anderson feel sick,” Anderson stated pitifully, as Jenny scooped him up into her hands and hopped out of the clearance she had made. She checked that the picture of her father was still in her pocket, before she took in her surroundings.
They were surrounded by trees, wrapping around in every which direction. Most of them appeared to be oak trees, like the ones she had seen on Earth. The undergrowth was sparse, as only a few bushes seemed to be able to grow in the intense conditions.
“Which way then, Anderson?” Jenny asked him, but he was tilting his antennae to his left and listening closely. “What is it?”
“Anderson hear footsteps,” he whispered, and stared up at Jenny, fearfully. “Huge footsteps.”
“How many of them can you hear?” Jenny asked.
“One,” Anderson whispered.
“Oh, well that’s no problem then, GI Jenny remember?” Jenny teased and rubbed his yellow tummy.
She turned in the direction of the rustling, as it became audible to her ears, and she put on a smile. Anderson squealed in fear and dropped his antennae to the sides of his furry head.
A woman appeared from behind the tree and looked worriedly at Jenny. Her dark hair was pulled back in a pony tail and had a tinge of red to it, as she walked up to her and lowered her sidearm into her holster.
“Hello, are you alright? I heard a crash and figured someone might have been injured,” the woman said, addressing the ruined spacecraft in front of her.
“Hi, um, yes, that was us, no one injured fortunately, although we’d take very kindly to you showing us where we might be able to settle down and figure out where to go next. I’m Jenny by the way, Jenny Anderson, and this is Mr. Anderson.” Jenny introduced
the two of them and held up Anderson for the woman to see.
“I’m Atali,” the girl said and her eyes darted from Anderson to Jenny. “You two aren’t married are you? I mean… He’s not exactly... erm…”
“Going on seven years in a few months,” Jenny said, glaring at the woman, but broke into a beam, as the woman’s mouth dropped. “Nah, I’m teasing, he’s a friend I picked up in my travels. He needed a home and I needed a first officer. He volunteered in a heartbeat.”
Atali looked slightly less perplexed, as she reached out a finger and gently stroked Anderson’s head moving with the soft red and black hairs. Jenny smiled at her and followed as Atali led them to the encampment.
“So, what brings you two here? I mean it’s not exactly a prime tourist spot or anything,” Atali joked, while she pushed some branches aside and exposed a pathway.
“My ship was crashing, and I had to make an emergency landing, not exactly smooth, but I’d say the falling was rather fun,” Jenny said with a wide beam.
“Jenny and Anderson, rollercoaster.” Anderson played along, moving his short arms down in a swooping motioned.
“I should warn you,” Atali continued, her voice turning to a no-nonsense tone, “No one stays under the General’s watch without earning their keep. You good at anything? We could use a mechanic.”
Jenny’s grin grew wider. “I love it, get it from my Dad, I think, never really met him for very long, but he’s brilliant. Anderson can help too, he’s good with wires.”
“Anderson, make sparks fly,” the creature said with a soft giggle.
Atali smiled at them as a military camp appeared through the trees. There were some permanent structures made from wood, but a greater number were collapsible, dark, green tents. There were men and women walking about wearing the same type of clothes that Atali was clad in, tight tan pants and a short darker tan t-shirts. Jenny noted that they weren’t very good for camouflage in the area, but she figured surprise wouldn’t have been an encampment this size’s worry. It was defense.
“I’ll take you to the General, and he’ll sign you up, hopefully in the motor pool fixing up our toys, the boys can’t seem to get any of them to work, but we’ll see where you can go with it, all right?”
Jenny nodded to Atali and followed her into one of the few wooden buildings marked, General Tents. She smiled silently at the irony and composed herself, as they walked through the doors.
Atali saluted the General upon entering and smiled at him, when he returned it and told her to stand at ease.
“Bringing home strays again, Atali?” the General said lightly, as he held out a hand for Jenny to take and she shook it.
“Jenny Anderson, sir, I was a bred a soldier on the planet Messaline, been a freelancer ever since the leader of my unit tried to shoot my father. I’m very much willing to take any position if you are willing to offer one. My specialties include marksmanship, tactics, hand to hand combat, as well as mechanics, sir.” Jenny addressed the older man seriously, while a grin spread across his face. She made sure to leave mechanics last so it would stick in his mind.
“Good, I need someone in mechanics, as I’m sure my daughter has told you. I like your composure, Jenny.” The General stated. “You should know that we’re less than a formal unit. I’m General Tents, but feel free to call me by my first name, Brandford. We’re a big family around here, and some of us really are. My son, Bent, is a lieutenant, and you’ll report to him when you go into the motor pool. Atali here is a major and the chief medical officer. You have any questions about this place, and I’m sure she can answer them better than I can. So, if you’re comfortable and ready, I’d like you to report immediately to Bent.”
Jenny nodded, but paused for a moment. “Sir, do you mind if I ask you something, quickly?”
“Certainly not.” General Tents smiled kindly.
Jenny drew her father’s picture from her pocket and passed it over to him. “You haven’t seen this man have you?”
The General studied the Doctor, with a look of appreciation, but he shook his head. “Never in my life, Jenny. This man… he’s your father.”
It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. The general had been a father long enough to know how a child looked at their parent. This girl must have been missing hers if she was willing to show a picture of him to a complete stranger, but judging by how rehearsed the words sounded, it was a question she was used to asking.
“Yes, sir. I took the bullet for him, he thinks I’m dead,” Jenny said, taking the picture of her father back from the General’s proffered hand. She gave it another longing glance, before she stuffed it back into her jeans. “I’ve been looking for him ever since. I… I don’t even know if he’s alive himself. He seemed like the type to get into trouble.”
The General nodded sympathetically, and placed a worn hand on her shoulder. “I’ll put out an APB, see if anyone at all had seen him.”
“Thanks,” Jenny said, forcing a smile. “I know it’s a long shot, but you gotta hope, right?”
“Yeah, ‘hope,’” General Tents said wistfully. “That’s something we need more of around here. Welcome aboard Jenny Anderson, honorary private in the Humanoid Federation.”
“Thank you sir,” Jenny said, giving his a salute before walking out the room.
Author: country_who
Rating: PG
Word Count (This chapter): 4765
Genre: AU, Actions/Adventure
Characters/Pairings: Ten/Rose, Tenth Doctor, Human Doctor, Rose, Jenny
Summary: AU Journey's End. Rose gets trapped in the TARDIS instead of Donna and now holds the mind of a Time Lord protected by the Bad Wolf, but what happens when the human Doctor dies, and the Time Lord tries to take her to a planet to get her mind off of him, and fulfill a promise? Does the Doctor have more to lose than gain?
Author's Note: Thanks to othermewriter who solidified the main ideas swimming in the soup I call my brain.
Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update this, Script Frenzy is very drawing.
Prologue| Chapter 1| Chapter 2
“So, it’s your turn, what was your most embarrassing moment, since I last saw you?” the Doctor asked, lounging back next to Rose on his jacket.
They were sat in the middle of a clearing about two miles away from the TARDIS. Trees similar to oak surrounded them and cast shade over their bodies. Rose was lying on her side facing the Doctor; the smooth fabric of the interior of his coat was supple against her elbow. He took his turn asking her a question over what happened to her while they were separated, a good natured smirk dancing across his lips.
Rose would never tell the Doctor, but this was how she loved to think of him. Not, the Oncoming Storm Doctor that so many people respected out of fear, but him being him, her Doctor. The way he lounged back with his hands cupped behind his head, staring at the birds as they flew across their view was how she always thought of him. He wasn’t always the protector of the Universe; sometimes he could be the silent observer.
They were sitting very close to each other now. The awkward moment of the morning had passed them and they were back to being best friends-or slightly more.
She pondered the Doctor’s question for a moment before giving him a soft laugh. “I was going on this mission for Torchwood. We were chasing these aliens-oh, what were they called? They were green and fat, sort of stocky-had an affinity for yellow apples.”
“Zorgons,” the Doctor offered, with a cocky grin.
Rose’s eyes grew wide with recollection, and she nodded vigorously. “Yes, that’s it. When, they feel threatened they-”
“-Like to produce large quantities of foul smelling mucus from their mouths,” the Doctor finished with her. “You must have been scrubbing for weeks.”
“I was,” Rose giggled and flipped her hair back with her hands, as the wind blew through it. “Months even. A smell like rotting cabbage.”
“Yeah, had a nasty run in with them before too, I believe it was my eight regeneration,” the Doctor stated nostalgically, while he stared off into the distance. “So, we’ve been through embarrassing, funny, strange, and moments that you thought you were going to die from being way too high up on the empire state building, while getting electrocuted. Your turn to ask me something.”
Leaning her head backwards, Rose smiled and stared at the Doctor, while he rolled on his side to face her with his head propped up on his palm. Something painful came across her face, as she looked down and contemplated if she should ask the question.
“One thing you missed most after we were separated,” Rose asked finally. It wasn’t that she thought that the Doctor shouldn’t have moved on. She prayed that he had and that he didn’t spend all his days mourning her loss. But, it pained her to think that she might have slipped through the cracks of his memories and never been mentioned again, like with Sarah Jane.
The effect of the question was immediate on the Doctor. His face became drawn and the shine in his eyes that had been present seconds ago was gone completely, replaced by the soft glisten of pained and controlled tears.
Rose shook her head. “I’m sorry, Doctor, I shouldn’t have asked. Just… just forget that I said anything.”
She dropped her head down lower, but the Doctor picked her chin up, so that she had to face him. His eyes now shone with an unsuppressed myriad of emotions. Among which, she thought she might have caught a glimpse of love.
“Chips.”
“What?” Rose asked, slightly bewildered.
“I missed chips, while you were gone,” the Doctor whispered softly, but after he realized what this must have sounded like to Rose, he explained hurriedly. “And, all those other little things that make humans… well, human.
“I mean, Donna and Martha were humans too, but they relished in the alien aspect of the ‘job’ a bit more than you do. I missed you wanting to do those simple things. I sometimes thought that maybe they were trying too hard to get on in an alien world. You though, Rose Tyler, saw the end of the world, and you came back, noticed the smell of chips, and wanted them as if they were your only care in the world. You stayed human, that’s what I missed most when you were gone. Not many of my companions can claim that, but you can, Rose.”
Rose felt relief wash over her, as the Doctor drew his hands around her and pulled her closely to him. She returned his hug and breathed in his scent-Doctor smell was the only way she learned to describe it-there was something about it that just screamed his name in her mind over and over again. She felt the weight of the worlds lift off of her, while he placed a gentle kiss in her forehead.
‘Ask him now,’ Rose’s heart prodded her. ‘He’s being so open to you now; don’t let him slip back away. Ask him.’
“What about you, Rose? What did you miss?” the Doctor whispered, while he smoothed her hair away from her face.
“You,” Rose stated, without hesitation.
The Doctor gave a soft chuckle, which was returned with a friendly smack on his shoulder. His wounded expression was given away by the soft wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes.
“I missed the way that you would leap into the console room all smiles, and how you changed your mind a million times and still had a plan. I remember just lying in bed and thinking about how much I wished something spontaneous would happen. Like, I don’t know, meteors falling from the sky, alien invasions, or a little blue box showing up at my doorstep.”
The Doctor gave a mirthless laugh, but Rose distracted him.
“But, the one thing that I think I missed most about you was that mop of brown heaven you call, hair,” Rose teased, while she pushed her hand over the top of it and marveled at the luxuriousness of it. “I dreamed of your hair.”
The Doctor gave a whimper. “Didn’t you dream about my marvelous brain?”
“Nope,” Rose said, winding him up.
“Rose Tyler, I’m ashamed-no appalled-that you would rate meager appearances over aptitude.” The Doctor sat bolt upright and stared at her.
“Oh come on, Doctor, you can’t honestly tell me that you don’t treat your hair like it’s your next of kin.”
“Well, it is pretty amazing,” the Doctor said, flopping back down and pretending to conceded. “It’s big, you know.”
Rose rolled her eyes.
“What about lunch?” Rose asked.
“I had a rather nasty one on this planet called Midnight. I’m not sure if it was chicken or beef, but it was pretty foul. I mean blech, I don’t even think it would have been legal to consume on most planets.”
“No, I meant why don’t we eat?” Rose said, while she sat up and opened the basket. “I packed your favorite.”
“Banana cream pie?” the Doctor inquired hopefully, trying to crane his neck over to see what was hidden in the basket.
Rose looked stunned for a moment. “You like bananas? I could have sworn that your favorite food was pear cobbler.”
The Doctor pulled a face and was about to say that Rose shouldn’t even be joking about something so serious, but a rustling stopped them. He held up a hand for Rose to keep quiet, while he got to his feet and tugged on his coat.
The rustling continued, and the Doctor looked at Rose. “Do you hear that?”
Rose nodded and looked around her. The fear in the Doctor’s voice alarmed her, as she watched him close his eyes and listen to the sound.
“You’re not gonna get anywhere by just listening,” Rose told him. “There are too many echoes for you to pinpoint something that soft.”
Rose glanced up at the trees, and bit her tongue between her teeth as she concentrated on what she was planning on doing.
“Wait here, Doctor,” Rose said, before he could stop her.
The Doctor watched her carefully and found himself crossing his fingers behind his back. Rose was carefully scaling a tree and staring out over the forest. She brought her hand up to shade her eyes against the sun and held up a hand for the Doctor to come up as well. There was a smile forming across her lips that infected the Doctor, as he joined her on the sturdy branch. His arm gripped the trunk of the tree, as he leaned over and saw what Rose was staring at.
What had caught their attention was a deer-like creature leading her two fawns across the forest. The babies were obviously still getting used to the ground beneath their feet, as one of them stumbled and he head-butted his twin. Their fur was dark brown and completely smooth save for one place on one of the fawn’s heads that stood up on end.
“Oh, Doctor, they’re just darling,” Rose whispered, not wanting to scare them. “Look at that one’s fur, he’s gotta cow-lick just like you.”
The Time Lord opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of an explosion cut him off. The three deer bolted into the thicket; while Rose and the Doctor stayed frozen in the tree, unsure if it was safe to venture down.
A group of soldiers appeared from the trees-at least that’s what the Doctor assumed they were. They carried hard looking machine-guns, as they marched through the forest. One shot ahead of them and the others listened intently. As if they were waiting for something to show itself.
Their individual appearances were far from human. Despite the fact that they were bipedal, their faces were stretched and misshapen from a human’s perspective. They were covered in grey fur with black spots around their eyes, and rings around bushy tails that jutted from their backs. Rose and the Doctor were staring at what appeared to be half-human, half raccoon creatures that kept creeping closer and closer to them.
Rose tensed, as they stopped beneath the tree and looked around. The Doctor’s hand tightened around hers, and she looked up at him with fear leaching from her dark, hazel eyes. His fingers slowly traced circles in Rose’s hand. His breath stayed firmly in his chest and refused to release itself. The soldiers moved to where the Doctor and Rose had been lounging back and laughing a few minutes ago.
“Doctor,” Rose whispered, but he silenced her with a finger to her lips.
“Shh,” he whispered.
The picnic basket flipped over after it met a soldier’s boot and scattered sandwiches, chips and the Doctor’s precious banana cream pie onto the ground. There was confused talk among the creatures, but it quickly turned to sniggers, as they clapped their hands on each other’s back and started to move on.
However, one of them happened to glance around. For a split second, one of the creatures locked eyes with Rose. She silently begged him not to alert anyone, but her hopes were in vain. She felt the Doctor’s hand place a firm pressure between her shoulder blades and push her hastily from the tree. She tumbled to the ground and within an instant; the Doctor’s arms were helping her to her feet and urging her on.
They were running by the time that the leader of the group shout, “Humans,” at the top of his lungs and a barrage of bullets followed them through forest. They weaved their way past trees, daring to go deeper and deeper into the forest.
Rose didn’t want to think about how far away they were getting from the TARDIS, or how lost they would be eventually. All she wanted was to break free and be safe, just her and the Doctor. She thought longingly to the time that they had just had together, how close she had gotten to asking him if he loved her or not. She was beginning to understand why the Doctor had never told her his feelings before.
It might not have been the fact that he didn’t want to; it was that neither of them could ever get the words out together without being interrupted or cut off by the rest of the universe. No one wanted them to be together. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.
As they pressed on through the forest, thirty minutes later, Rose noticed the Doctor was lagging behind further than she was used to. The bullets had stopped flying past them and she risked a look behind her.
The Doctor’s face was pale, trying to conceal pain with a stoic mask and failing very miserably at it. He forced a smile, but Rose was no longer staring at his face. She was staring at the hole in the back of the Doctor’s pants, right at his calf muscle. Blood was soaking through the pin stripes and leaving a trail of blood droplets behind him.
“Doctor,” Rose risked slowing down further and forcing him to do the same.
“I’m fine, Rose. We’ve got to keep going,” the Doctor said, forcing strength into his voice. “Come on.”
He tried to cut past her, but she stubbornly slowed to a walk and forced him to sit down under a tree so that she could view his wound more closely. She rolled up his pant leg and could clearly see where the bullet had entered through the left side of his calf and cleanly exited the right.
“Why didn’t you say?” Rose asked, as she began to tear away the hem of her t-shirt and wrap it tightly around his leg. The blood flow was not easily staunched, but she eventually got it to a small trickle, barely soaking through her the fabric torn from the hem of her shirt.
“Didn’t want you to worry,” the Doctor told her, while he tried to get up, but she pushed him back down.
“You’re not going anywhere, Doctor,” Rose said stubbornly.
“We’ve got to get out of here Rose,” argued the Doctor. “They might be following us, or something. Who knows what they could be after, or why they shouted ‘humans,’ like that. Which, puts you in major danger Miss Tyler.”
Rose smirked. She was certainly not the one who was in the most danger at the moment. The Doctor caught her look and laughed softly, while he looked down at his leg. He reached down to take of the bandage off, but she swatted his hands away.
“Don’t mess with it, Doctor,” Rose said sternly, while she tightened the bandage a bit more for good measure. “It needs to stay right there. You’re lucky it missed any major arteries and veins or you could be on your way to becoming a completely new man right now.”
Rose meant the words to sound like joking threat, but she couldn’t keep the hint of pain from her voice. She had just found him, watched him almost regenerate and another version of him die within the last two days. She wasn’t ready to lose him just yet. She just couldn’t. Regeneration would be too much for her to bear right now.
The Doctor didn’t reply, just sat back against the tree and watched as Rose joined next to him. She kept looking him over, like he might collapse at any moment, or as if he was hiding another injury from her eyes. He bit the bottom of his lip and tried not to think of the thoughts running through her head right now.
“Rose, I’m fine, honestly,” the Doctor promised.
“Alright,” Rose conceded, “but, you’re still not going anywhere, yet. Not before we figure out a plan.”
“Rose…” the Doctor stared, but he was cut off.
“They were heading that way,” Rose said point to the east. “But, we went this way.” She pointed to the north. “Two people are not the goal of a whole platoon like that. They probably chased for a while and dropped away, going back to where ever they were going before.”
His head bobbed up and down in a nod, while the Doctor marveled at her logic. “Rose Tyler, I do believe that I’ll make a scientist of you, yet.”
Rose snorted and kept watching behind her back as if she expected something to appear out of nowhere.
“Doctor, what were those creatures?” Rose asked after a few moments of silence.
“Saigans,” the Doctor said. “There like the Judoon, but worse, much worse. They seek to protect uninhabited worlds from being used by other species. They’re a species of wars, Rose. Specifically with the human race. They don’t like how you humans expand and ‘conquer’ new worlds or how you alter the natural balance of things.”
Rose looked to see the Doctor shaking his head. “All those lives lost for an uninhabited piece of land. I must have taken you to this planet in the middle of one of their battles.” The Doctor’s voice turned apologetic. “Some date, eh?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think it would be a proper date if we didn’t run for our lives,” Rose teased, poking him in the stomach and giggling. “So, what’s the plan?”
Laughter bubbled up from inside the Doctor. “I thought you were the leader on this mission. You’ve shot down all my ideas.”
“I only shoot down the wrong ones. If you came up with a good one then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Rose leaned back and began reaching into the Doctor’s coat pocket and feeling around until she found what she was looking for. “Aha!”
Cupped in Rose’s hand, was the Doctor’s Timey-Wimey detector and his sonic screwdriver. She fiddled with its knobs until a small tray popped out for underneath it with what appeared to be a soft-touch screen.
“How long’s that been in there?” the Doctor asked confused.
“Since you built it,” Rose told him with a roll of her eyes. “You don’t happen to have a push pin or needle to you? Anything really pointy?”
The Doctor stared at her with confusion, but nodded and dug his hands into his pocket and pulled out a safety pin. “This?” He asked.
“Perfect,” Rose said, working the needle out of its protective area and swiftly jabbing her finger with it. She smeared the blood on the screen and closed the tray.
After adjusting the sonic screwdriver to setting 67e, Rose started to push the sonic in the direction of the Timey-Wimey detector. However, just as her finger grazed the button, the Doctor snatched away the sonic and gave her the I-know-you’re-only-a-human-but-sometimes-you-can-be-really-thick look.
“Setting 67e causes automatic disintegration of molecules into their basic elements,” the Doctor said, rubbing the side of the sonic screwdriver and cooing to it before Rose grabbed it back from him.
“You’re thinking of setting 67g and even so, it only works on steel, this is aluminum. It’s already a basic element.” Rose corrected him and buzzed the Timey-Wimey detector, until it lit up and indicated a direction with its little dish.
“This way,” Rose said, beginning to walk southward, but the Doctor grabbed her shoulder.
“Why that way?” the Doctor asked incredulously.
“Humans are that way, instead of detecting Time Stuff, this little baby is gonna detect large settlements of humans, namely in this direction.”
“Wait... let me get this straight, you’ve just discovered that this planet is crawling with armies and you want to go in the direction of the most people?”
“Not just people, Doctor, humans,” Rose said slowly, “the Saigans are after humans, remember? So, I’m betting that the humans would be more than happy to get a helping hand from us, fellow humans-well humanoid in your case. And, they’re only a half mile in that direction, which is five and a half closer than the TARDIS is.”
Looking stunned, the Doctor stared at Rose until she helped him to his feet and supported his weight as they walked through the forest.
~//~
The first thing Jenny noticed when she woke up was a tingling sensation across all of her limps, warmth spreading over her body, and the stark lack of pain that she should have been feeling. She opened her eyes carefully and saw the golden energy floating around her, while she sat bolt upright, suddenly remembering what had happened.
Despite her dumping of the fuel, the shuttle was still smoldering slightly, as she pushed to her feet and began to move chunks of metal out of the way until a soft breeze blew through and the sunlight shined in. A squeak signaled behind her, and Jenny smiled.
“Mr. Anderson,” Jenny said cheerfully, as she opened the backpack and the Chubchuck showed himself. He looked a bit dazed, but didn’t seem hurt in any other way. “How you doing?”
“Boom make Anderson feel sick,” Anderson stated pitifully, as Jenny scooped him up into her hands and hopped out of the clearance she had made. She checked that the picture of her father was still in her pocket, before she took in her surroundings.
They were surrounded by trees, wrapping around in every which direction. Most of them appeared to be oak trees, like the ones she had seen on Earth. The undergrowth was sparse, as only a few bushes seemed to be able to grow in the intense conditions.
“Which way then, Anderson?” Jenny asked him, but he was tilting his antennae to his left and listening closely. “What is it?”
“Anderson hear footsteps,” he whispered, and stared up at Jenny, fearfully. “Huge footsteps.”
“How many of them can you hear?” Jenny asked.
“One,” Anderson whispered.
“Oh, well that’s no problem then, GI Jenny remember?” Jenny teased and rubbed his yellow tummy.
She turned in the direction of the rustling, as it became audible to her ears, and she put on a smile. Anderson squealed in fear and dropped his antennae to the sides of his furry head.
A woman appeared from behind the tree and looked worriedly at Jenny. Her dark hair was pulled back in a pony tail and had a tinge of red to it, as she walked up to her and lowered her sidearm into her holster.
“Hello, are you alright? I heard a crash and figured someone might have been injured,” the woman said, addressing the ruined spacecraft in front of her.
“Hi, um, yes, that was us, no one injured fortunately, although we’d take very kindly to you showing us where we might be able to settle down and figure out where to go next. I’m Jenny by the way, Jenny Anderson, and this is Mr. Anderson.” Jenny introduced
the two of them and held up Anderson for the woman to see.
“I’m Atali,” the girl said and her eyes darted from Anderson to Jenny. “You two aren’t married are you? I mean… He’s not exactly... erm…”
“Going on seven years in a few months,” Jenny said, glaring at the woman, but broke into a beam, as the woman’s mouth dropped. “Nah, I’m teasing, he’s a friend I picked up in my travels. He needed a home and I needed a first officer. He volunteered in a heartbeat.”
Atali looked slightly less perplexed, as she reached out a finger and gently stroked Anderson’s head moving with the soft red and black hairs. Jenny smiled at her and followed as Atali led them to the encampment.
“So, what brings you two here? I mean it’s not exactly a prime tourist spot or anything,” Atali joked, while she pushed some branches aside and exposed a pathway.
“My ship was crashing, and I had to make an emergency landing, not exactly smooth, but I’d say the falling was rather fun,” Jenny said with a wide beam.
“Jenny and Anderson, rollercoaster.” Anderson played along, moving his short arms down in a swooping motioned.
“I should warn you,” Atali continued, her voice turning to a no-nonsense tone, “No one stays under the General’s watch without earning their keep. You good at anything? We could use a mechanic.”
Jenny’s grin grew wider. “I love it, get it from my Dad, I think, never really met him for very long, but he’s brilliant. Anderson can help too, he’s good with wires.”
“Anderson, make sparks fly,” the creature said with a soft giggle.
Atali smiled at them as a military camp appeared through the trees. There were some permanent structures made from wood, but a greater number were collapsible, dark, green tents. There were men and women walking about wearing the same type of clothes that Atali was clad in, tight tan pants and a short darker tan t-shirts. Jenny noted that they weren’t very good for camouflage in the area, but she figured surprise wouldn’t have been an encampment this size’s worry. It was defense.
“I’ll take you to the General, and he’ll sign you up, hopefully in the motor pool fixing up our toys, the boys can’t seem to get any of them to work, but we’ll see where you can go with it, all right?”
Jenny nodded to Atali and followed her into one of the few wooden buildings marked, General Tents. She smiled silently at the irony and composed herself, as they walked through the doors.
Atali saluted the General upon entering and smiled at him, when he returned it and told her to stand at ease.
“Bringing home strays again, Atali?” the General said lightly, as he held out a hand for Jenny to take and she shook it.
“Jenny Anderson, sir, I was a bred a soldier on the planet Messaline, been a freelancer ever since the leader of my unit tried to shoot my father. I’m very much willing to take any position if you are willing to offer one. My specialties include marksmanship, tactics, hand to hand combat, as well as mechanics, sir.” Jenny addressed the older man seriously, while a grin spread across his face. She made sure to leave mechanics last so it would stick in his mind.
“Good, I need someone in mechanics, as I’m sure my daughter has told you. I like your composure, Jenny.” The General stated. “You should know that we’re less than a formal unit. I’m General Tents, but feel free to call me by my first name, Brandford. We’re a big family around here, and some of us really are. My son, Bent, is a lieutenant, and you’ll report to him when you go into the motor pool. Atali here is a major and the chief medical officer. You have any questions about this place, and I’m sure she can answer them better than I can. So, if you’re comfortable and ready, I’d like you to report immediately to Bent.”
Jenny nodded, but paused for a moment. “Sir, do you mind if I ask you something, quickly?”
“Certainly not.” General Tents smiled kindly.
Jenny drew her father’s picture from her pocket and passed it over to him. “You haven’t seen this man have you?”
The General studied the Doctor, with a look of appreciation, but he shook his head. “Never in my life, Jenny. This man… he’s your father.”
It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. The general had been a father long enough to know how a child looked at their parent. This girl must have been missing hers if she was willing to show a picture of him to a complete stranger, but judging by how rehearsed the words sounded, it was a question she was used to asking.
“Yes, sir. I took the bullet for him, he thinks I’m dead,” Jenny said, taking the picture of her father back from the General’s proffered hand. She gave it another longing glance, before she stuffed it back into her jeans. “I’ve been looking for him ever since. I… I don’t even know if he’s alive himself. He seemed like the type to get into trouble.”
The General nodded sympathetically, and placed a worn hand on her shoulder. “I’ll put out an APB, see if anyone at all had seen him.”
“Thanks,” Jenny said, forcing a smile. “I know it’s a long shot, but you gotta hope, right?”
“Yeah, ‘hope,’” General Tents said wistfully. “That’s something we need more of around here. Welcome aboard Jenny Anderson, honorary private in the Humanoid Federation.”
“Thank you sir,” Jenny said, giving his a salute before walking out the room.