A Beautiful Friendship 2/3
Title: A Beautiful Friendship
Spoilers: small for LOM 2.06 and DW 'Christmas Invasion'
Rating: Blue Cortina/PG-14 for swearing and violence.
Summary: Five times Rose Tyler met Gene Hunt.
A/N: Written for catyuy's challenge about the five times Rose and Gene met :) Unbeated so far, because was in a rush to post! Sorry about that, you'll just have to suffer through the errors I suppose :/
This here is chapter one
1981
It had been at least a month since the Sycorax invasion, and the Doctor had thought that things had been going quite well. They'd even gone to the eighties in London for some record shopping. But for some reason, Rose had been moping around. He sighed.
'All right, what is it?'
'What?'
'Whatever it is that's gnawing away at you like mouse with a Toblerone bar, what is it?'
She looked up at him, biting her lip. 'I...I was just thinking about Manchester.'
The Doctor's eyes lit up.
'Manchester! God it's been ages since we've been in Manchester! We haven't been there since...'
'1933.'
Rose turned away from him, sniffling. The Doctor ran his hands through his hair.
'Look, I'll tell you what, we'll look him up, make sure he's okay.'
Rose spun around, her face lighting up.
'Really?'
'Oh yeah, no problem.' The Doctor twisted and turned a few knobs.
'Let's see...Ah! Here we go! Gene Hunt...oh he's married! That's a little daring, even for the 80's..Oh, wait, no he's fifty five now. That make more sense.' He smiled. 'Here's the wedding photo.'
Rose looked at the picture of a young married couple.
'That's him now?' She pointed at the picture. Time travel certainly played funny tricks on you.
'Sort of. Keep in mind, that was twenty years ago... mmm he's here now. Wonder why....now let's see....he's a policeman, a Detective Chief Inspector. Got a pretty good arrest record, although, quite a few complaints against him for aggravated assault on prisoners.' The Doctor shot Rose a quick look, but she schooled her face into a blank mask.
'Anything else?'
'Let's see...well that's odd...'
'What is?' Rose leaned over, trying to read from the console.
'The year of his death....it keeps changing.....At first it was 2006, but now it's 1998, 1989...oh.'
'What?! What!!!'
'It's stopped changing. It's come to rest on May fourteenth, 1981.' He looked up at her.
'That's today.'
She ran across to the door.
'Rose-'
She whirled to face him. 'Don't stop me, don't you dare stop me!'
The Doctor grabbed his coat and ran across the room, opening the door to the TARDIS. 'Wouldn't dream of it.'
Gesturing to the city outside, he followed her as she dashed madly out into the street.
They were running through the streets, drawing curious looks from the people walking by.
'Doctor, where does it happen?'
'Er...abandoned shopping mall.'
'Which way?'
'Left, NO! Right, right!'
'You sure?'
'Yes, yes this way! We've got to hurry!'
They'd finally gotten there. Rose feels like her lungs are gonna collapse and her legs are going to collapse under her any second. She can hear shouting inside.
They're inside the building now, she can see someone up ahead, Gene, looking so much younger then when she'd been a kid, so much older then his photograph. His arms were up in surrender as another man pointed a rifle at him.
'No!'
It was more then a protest, it was a battle-cry. She'd failed him before, she wasn't going to do it again. She tackled him just as the gun went off.
'Fuckin' hell! What hit me!'
Rose groaned, putting her hand to her stomach.
'Oi! What did you think you were doing you-'
She found herself looking up into deep green eyes.
'Shit!' He was scrabbling at his sports coat.
'I don't think that's quite appropriate.' she slurred. Now was not the time to get your kit off. He balled it up and pushed it onto her stomach. She felt her teeth chattering as she started to get cold.
'Just...just hold still Rose.'
The Doctor. Where was the Doctor?
'Rose? Rose! What happened?' He looked down at her, frantic.
'Oh God...' He pulled off his coat and threw it over her.
'Hold on, just hold on!'
'...wha' happened?' He looked grim.
'You've been shot.'
Shot. She could feel it all of the sudden, the bullet burning inside her. She cried out as pain wracked her.
She felt Gene grab her hand.
'Just hang in there all right? Hang in there. Come on love.'
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver.
'What's that?'
'I'm a Doctor, trust me.'
Rose felt a strange tingling and then the Doctor sat back up.
'I've stopped the bleeding, that's the best I can do with this.' he said, waggling the screwdriver. 'We have to keep her conscious.'
'What happened....to the man...with gun?'
Gene looked up, cursed, and looked back down again.
'He's gone lass. No worries, catch that bastard later. Give him a piece of my mind.'
Rose groaned as his eyes darkened. 'Thought... you didn't want to be like your Dad...'
'What?'
But she's gone.
She woke up to pain. Bit her lip, but a whimper still escaped.
'She's awake.'
'Don't worry, we've got you.'
Gene and the Doctor. She opened her eyes to see Gene at the foot of her bed looking grim, the Doctor holding her hand.
'The doctors say....she won't last. Couple of days at the most.' the DCI looked away.
'I can save her.' The Doctor was looking down at her, his eyes intense.
The other man's expression changed from despair to hope.
'I can save her Chief Inspector, but I need to get her out of here. Please, I need your help.'
Gene hesitated.
'Trust him.' she whispered.
He put back his shoulders, his face resolute.
'All right. We can go out the back way like, the laundry. You get take care of the wires and such while I make sure no-ones watching.'
The Doctor held onto Rose's hand as he detached her from the life support machine and the IV lines. 'Don't worry. There's this lovely little hospital ship berthed on the edge of a comet wave front in 3098. Hop in the TARDIS, be there quick as you like.'
Rose nodded weakly.
'Sounds great.....you can get me chocolates...from the store.'
'That's the spirit Rose Tyler! Never say die, that's my motto.' He sounded worried, even through his humour.
'Right, there's the last of them! Come on now, let's get you fixed up.'
The movement of the bed rolling was soothing, and soon rocked her back to sleep.
'Morning.'
She groaned, turning over in her bed.
'Just five more minutes Doctor.'
'Nope, you have to take your medicine. Here you go, sit up now.'
Rose opened her eyes, and sat up in the clean white bed. She opened her mouth to say something, only to have the Doctor push a spoonful of something....green into her mouth.
'Come on now, drink up. It'll do you good.'
Making a face, she swallowed. 'Echh! That is disgusting!'
'Medicine's supposed to be disgusting. Practically a universal constant, like how there's always someone in front of you for the bank machine, or how the library's always closed by the time you get there.'
Sticking out her tongue at him, Rose suddenly remembered Gene.
'I didn't get to say goodbye.'
He patted her hand. 'Don't worry, he understands. Besides, he said he'll see you again.' He looked at her thoughtfully.
'Should I be jealous?'
Giving him a saucy smile, Rose lay back onto her soft pillows.
The Doctor narrowed his eyes as he folded his arms.
'By the way, did I mention that the medicine is made of parasites?'
'....what?'
'Oh yes. They bond to the damaged areas and then squirm their way inside,' the Doctor made a little wriggling motion with his hand and Rose felt quit unwell.
'Quite fascinating really. Then they start knitting things together again. Oh it takes millions of them, busy little things. Just....don't cough.'
'Why!?'
'You wouldn't like it.'
1973
'A rift? In Manchester?' Rose wrinkled her nose. The Doctor grinned at her, almost tap dancing in his Converse trainers.
'Yup! Isn't that amazing?'
'But...Manchester?!'
'I know!' he crowed. 'It's great isn't it?'
Rose groaned in frustration. 'Sometimes it's like baby sitting a kid.'
'I'll have you know that I'm very mature for my age.' said the Doctor, winking at her.
Rose turned her back on him, frowning. The Doctor ruffled a hand through his hair, trying to think of something to appease her.
'Do you want to see it, the rift?' he said finally.
Rose turned around, feigning indifference. 'If you like.'
'Let's see...source of the rift...well that's interesting.'
'What is?'
'It's a person.'
'How can that be possible, the rift is a person?' Rose said as she looked at the monitor.
'It's not exactly...' he hummed thoughtfully.
'It's like...suppose you put a blanket over a hole. You don't see the hole right? Might as well not be there. But if you step onto the blanket, you fall in the hole and you pull the blanket in with you. Whoever this is, they've fallen into the rift and they've pulled time in with them.'
'So...time is running through the hole?'
'Yup. Well...no it is. Well..as best I as can explain it anyway.' He grinned.
'What, you're not clever enough to do better?' said Rose cheekily, her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth.
'No, you're not.'
He smiled brightly and then frowned as she stormed away.
'What did I do this time?'
Rose and the Doctor looked out of the doors at 1973 Manchester.
'It looks very...brown.' said Rose. The Doctor scoffed.
'Oh come on! It's just the buildings. Remember Godspell? And Hair? Those came out in the 70's and it was definitely not brown, more like.....rainbow madness.'
They walked onto the street.
'So how do we find this rift...person? Is it a man or woman, do we know?'
'Nope! All we do know is that they fell through in 2006. But luckily I have this!'
He pulled out a sheet of paper. Rose just looked at him.
'We're going to find them with a piece of paper?'
'Ah ha! But not just any old piece of paper!'
'It definitely looks like any old piece of paper.' Rose smirked.
The Doctor just smiled, a little patronizingly, and carefully turned in a circle. Suddenly, the paper darkened.
'Wait! What was that!'
'That, Rose Tyler, was a reaction to the rift energy. The closer we get, the darker the paper will become. Ideally it should be completely dark by the time we find our rift person.'
Holding the paper in front of him like a geiger counter, the Doctor skipped happily down the street, drawing a few stares from the early morning street goers. Sighing, Rose followed him.
Gene pulled Annie aside.
'Cartwright, what, in the name of Sir Stanley Matthews, is wrong with Tyler?'
They both glanced at Sam who was walking up and down, muttering to himself.
She bit her lip.
'Besides the usual sir?'
'This is a little more then his usual. We've gone from "I might be looney but I still do me work" to "I'm crazy as bat shit and talking to the bog walls." ' Gene retorted, folding his arms.
'He did say he hasn't been sleeping well lately.' she said lamely.
Gene grunted.
'Could be that last job we had,' He said grudgingly. 'A dead child tends to linger in the memory.'
Annie shook her head.
'I don't think it's that Guv. I think it's something more sinister somehow. It's like somethings driving him mad.'
'Short trip that.'
The voices, the voices were going to do his head in! They just wouldn't stop!
(Sam, Sam if you can hear us, you have to fight. You have to come back to us.)
'Shut up!'
(Come on Sam, you can do it! Just one step-)
'No!' Trying to talk over the voices in his head, trying to shout his threats out as quiet as possible, rubbing his ears, holding his breath until the blood rushing in his veins drowned the sounds out.
'Tyler.' He looked up to see Gene standing in front of him.
'A word.'
Sam laughed shortly. 'A word? It's never just a word with you Gene. As the saying goes, if you can get more with a brick and a kind word, why settle for just a kind word?'
There was a flash of hurt in Gene's face before he turned away. Then he turned back, swinging a finger up to point at him.
'You know Tyler, you should remember who your friends are. Or one day you'll wake up an' they'll be all gone.'
He stalked away, a wounded bear. Nothing more dangerous thought Sam idly.
Gene walked outside to lean up against the CID.
Sam bloody Tyler. Always thinking he's cock o' the walk, the toffee nosed git.
Lighting up a fag, he felt someone looking at him. Glancing up, he saw a young couple, a bloke in a trenchcoat and some blonde bird. The bloke was holding a piece of pale purple paper and frowning.
Seeing Gene looking at him, he grinned so large he looked like some old bird with her dentures poping out.
'Hullo! Do you work here?' Some southern tourist poof. Figured.
'No, I'm just standing here so's to keep this wall from fallin'.' he answered sarcastically, jabbing his thumb at the wall.
The man looked at him. 'Really?'
Un-bloody-lievable. Why did all the nutters come to him?
'If you're looking for some mild altering and illicit substances, you've come to the wrong place. However, if you're looking to get the shite kicked out of you, you're in exactly the right place mate.'
He stubbed his fag out on the ground and took a step towards the other man, towering over him.
'Ah. I don't suppose I could talk you out of it could I? Just cause it might make my friend upset.'
Gene sneered. This toff? Only friends he'd make were ones that'd have him kneeling, and not church wise neither.
'You don't bother me scum. I see shit like you every day of the bloody week. You're nowt but some jumped up fairy boy who thinks 'es better then the rest of us!'
He grabbed him, shaking him so hard he could hear the fairy's teeth rattle like Ray's car on a Saturday night.
'Oi! That's police brutality that!'
That voice....
Gene turned to the blonde, dropping the other man having forgotten him for the moment. He peered at her, an uneasy feeling in his stomach. She looked...familiar.
'I know you.'
She looked at him, looking a bit worried.
'You do?'
'Yeah from....how do I know you?' He took a step towards her, peering into her face.
Chips.
Something about chips.
He'd been scared, hiding. Then friendly brown eyes, and a kind hand over his own.
'You have family 'round 'ere? Cause you look just like someone I knew.' He was staring at her.
'You know who she is Gene.' He swung around, glaring at the poof.
'Doctor...' the bird said warningly.
'She dosen't look like the person you know. She is her. Rose.'
Not possible.
'...That's impossible.'
'Is it? Look at her.'
Gene Hunt didn't take orders, he gave them. But against his will, he found himself looking. Remembered being small, hurt, afraid.
Without a word, he turned and walked away.
'Gene-'
'Stay away from me.'
'But I-'
'Stay the fuck away!' He turned, pointing a shaking finger at her.
'You're not real. You disappeared, in a big blue box. I dreamed you up!'
She was looking at something behind him.
'What?!'
She nodded.
Turning, he stared up at a tall blue police box.
'No, no it's just a police box! When I open this door I...'
A large green room, strange and familiar. He shut the door suddenly, his face grey.
'God I need a drink.'
He sat down, well, almost fell. With a shaking hand, he took a swig of his hip flask. Then swearing, he threw it away.
'I swore, I swore I'd never be that man.' he whispered, looking down at his hands, tried to stop them shaking.
Two small hands grasped his.
'Ey now, it's all right. It's all right.'
And without meaning too, he wrapped his arms around the girl and cried his eyes out.
Sam was looking for Gene to appologize when he heard the voices again.
(Hello Sam, how are we doing today?)
'Fuck off!' he hissed to the ceiling.
(I'm Doctor John Smith. Oh my, seems you have been in a coma for a long time, hasn't it? Perhaps you haven't the ability to wake up.)
'I can! I can wake up, and I will!'
(Sleep and sleep again. Like that story you know? Rip Van Winkle? You could wake up old and grey.)
'Not going to happen!'
(Anyway Sam, got to go. See you tomorrow.)
(Sam?)
His mothers voice. He relaxed instinctively.
(Sam, Doctor Smith says we should....we should consider alternatives.)
'What! No, wait!'
(It's no use us coming to see you all the time, when you can't wake up. It's a waste of our time and yours. Best to just....let you sleep. Forever.)
'Mum, you can't mean that!' Sam pleaded.
(There's something that your Dad told me, that death is just another kind of sleep. Just take comfort in that darling.)
'Wait, don't go!' But the hospital sounds faded away. Considerably shaken, Sam ran out of the building.
Rose looked up as someone burst through the doors. A man around the Doctors age (physical age) wearing a leather jacket. He looked around in a sort of a panicked kind of way, like he was trying to find something.
Gene stirred in her arms.
'M'all right now. Let me up.'
Standing up, she reached out her hand, which he took with a wry glance.
'Gene!' The panicky man ran up to him, grabbing at his coat.
'Gene, they can't do it, they can't turn me off!'
'Who's this?' Rose looked at Gene with an arched eyebrow.
'Just my insane DI. Don't worry, I know how to handle him.'
He pushed the other man away and gave him too quick slaps to the face.
' Ey Calm down now Tyler! Jesus, I bloody hope this is just some hippie drug flashback.' he muttered.
'Tyler?'
The two men turned to look at her.
'That's my name too.' Were they related? She didn't remember having any family in Manchester..
Gene turned back to his DI.
'Hear that? Guess you got the brains from the family kiddo, 'cause you sure didn't get the looks.'
Rose wasn't quite sure what to make of this backhanded compliment.
'Can I help?' the Doctor piped up.
The man, DI Tyler, turned quickly to face the him.
'...Doctor Smith?'
'Er, maybe?' he answered, tugging on his ear.
She hadn't even seen him move, but the DI was suddenly standing in front of the Doctor.
'Stay away from me. * Stay away from us *, or you'll regret it.'
Something flickered in his eyes and Rose smelt something burning. Then the other man turned away down the street.
'Well, you certainly have a way with people,' drawled Gene to the Doctor as he pulled out another cigarette.
'Keep on like that, an you'll have more friends then Mr. Heath.'
He nodded to the Doctor. 'This yer new fella then?'
Rose blushed. 'Not exactly...'
'If I had a girl who was runnin' around with some many different blokes, I'd put 'er over me knee, make no mistakes- What am I talking about!? I'm gabbing on to me imaginary friend and her...rent boy!'
Rose opened her mouth to protest and then closed it, smirking at the Doctor.
'What're you looking at me like that for.' he said, leaning away from her.
'I don't like that glint in your eye. The last time you looked like that, we had to apologize to a whole planet.'
'Not the whole planet,' she protested. 'Just the eastern continent.'
'Oh right, my mistake then.'
'Sucuse me, but I've got better things to do today then hang about with Andy Pandy and Booby Loo.' Gene pushed by them to walk down the street.
'No wait Gene.' She ran after him, struggling to keep up.
'Don't call me that!' he snapped. 'It's DCI Gene Hunt. Or Mr. Hunt. Or "Yes, oh God yes faster!".'
She laughed in spite of herself.
'Think pretty highly of yourself, don't you?'
'When yer life is high comedy, you might as well.' he retorted.
'Look, I'm sorry to keep chasin' you like this Ge - Mr. Hunt. But didn't you notice that there was something wrong with your DI?'
'Preachin' to the choir love. There's always been sommat wrong with Tyler.'
'It might be more then just mood swings.' said the Doctor.
He was looking at something in his hand. She turned to him.
It was the paper. It had gone completely dark.
'I think we've found our rift.' said the Doctor grimly.
'Rifts, aliens, ruddy impossible boxes! What next, MP poofs in Downing Street?' Gene grumbled as he took another swig from a hip flask.
Rose bit her lip to avoid speaking up. She was starting to learn that disagreeing with Gene lead to shouting, punching, and more shouting.
'It's called a TARDIS, not an "impossible box".' The Doctor said, rolling his eyes.
'Bigger on the inside then outside? Sounds ruddy impossible to me, unless they've changed the definition.'
'Mr. Hunt, can you tell me if Sam ever complains of hearing voices? Or reacts to things that aren't there?'
'That's all the twat ever does.'
The Doctor's face fell. 'Oh...not good.'
'What? What is it?' Rose tugged on his arm.
'Enians. I was hoping it was something a little less complicated.'
'Complicated and Tyler, they go together like football and punch-ups.' Gene snorted.
'You see, Enians create rifts, paradoxes in time and space. And then they feed of them, like great big leeches. Well, predatory carnivorous leeches. They form a symbiotic relationship with their victim, in this case Sam, pulling in time and space through the rift that they create around them. They use the victims ties to their own time to create the illusion of people they know, loved ones, friends, family, talking to them. Eventually it drives them mad. Which is what they want of course. Because madness is a great paradox on it's own, a mind existing within two realities at once.'
'And what happens? To the victims?' Gene growled low and dangerous.
'Once the Enians have completely drained them...they leave them a mindless husk. And the poor things will either end up in an asylum, or they'll kill themselves.'
'Not gonna happen. Not in my city. Come on.' Gene threw his cigarette away and started to run.
'Where you going?' She asked, jogging to keep up.
'The place where most people go when they don't wanna hear the voices in their head.' Gene shouted over his shoulder.
'Scotch Nelson, double.' Sam sank onto the stool with a sigh.
'Right away mon brave.' Nelson looked at Sam concernedly.
'What?'
The barman leaned forward. 'Sam, is someting' wrong?'
He shook his head.
'No, nothing wrong Nelson, why you ask?' He took a deep sip of his whisky.
'Noting' I guess...just...anything wrong at work? Everyting' well?'
Sam frowned.
'Why all the questions Nelson?' He pushed back from the bar, standing.
Something unfolded inside him, like a flower turning towards the sun.
'What are you getting at?' He looked closely at the barman.
Nelson looked at him. 'I sense a darkness in you Sam.'
He felt a grin split his face.
'A darkness? So little you know. It's not a darkness *you stupid creature*.'
'Then what is it?'
He closed his eyes, savoring the strange sensations.
'It's like...light. The light that makes the flowers grow and the world spin on it's side. Light you can bathe in and drown in... it's the power and the grandeur and * it's the details Nelson. Oh yes. Sam's little details *.'
Nelson squared up to him.
'You are Sam.'
The feeling, the strange unfolding inside him, withered slightly.
'...What?'
'Tyler.'
Sam swung around to see Gene standing in the doorway.
'Not in the mood Gene.'
'Don't tell me, you've got a headache, yeah?' Gene strolled in, walking up to Sam. He leaned over.
'I know they're in there.' he whispered.
Sam snorted and pushed him, but Gene grabbed his arm.
'I'm here to help you Sam.'
'Get away from him!'
In spite of her best efforts, Rose had fallen behind, only now reaching the pub.
She leaned over, gasping at the stitch in her side, then glanced through the doorway. The DI, Sam Tyler, was facing Gene a hand raised above his head. As Rose watched, a strange purple smoke seemed to form around his fingers.
'Get away from him!'
The DI, Sam, turned towards her, and his eyes flickered strangely, like train windows catching light and shadow. Then it was gone.
'Who are you?'
'You're worst nightmare mate. I'm here to get rid of you, stop you from feeding off him!' she pointed to Sam.
'...er, do you feel all right miss?' He looked so strangely bewildered and upset that she almost backed down.
'Don't you try that with me Mister! I've gone up against the best. Slitheen, Sycorax, Daleks. You're just a footnote to that.'
'No! Rose don't threaten it!'
She turned to see the Doctor run up, panting.
'Why, why not?'
'Don't you know what happens when you corner a predator?! They fight back!'
Rose turned to see Sam smiling impossibly wide, his eyes flickering quickly, as something inside them was breathing in and out. She smelled something burning again. Flowers, it smelled like burning flowers. The air around them grew thick with purple smoke.
' *Sammy boy is coming to play. La la la la la. Sammy boy is here today. La la la la la.* '
Gene took a step towards him, but Sam gestured and a ribbon of smoke curled around him, pulling him off the ground. The DCI struggled, trying to break free as Sam turned to the Doctor and Rose, frozen in horror.
' *Time to go home, Time to go home, Sammy is waving, It's time to go home.* ' he chanted, as he pointed a hand towards them.
TBC...
Chapter 3a here
Spoilers: small for LOM 2.06 and DW 'Christmas Invasion'
Rating: Blue Cortina/PG-14 for swearing and violence.
Summary: Five times Rose Tyler met Gene Hunt.
A/N: Written for catyuy's challenge about the five times Rose and Gene met :) Unbeated so far, because was in a rush to post! Sorry about that, you'll just have to suffer through the errors I suppose :/
This here is chapter one
1981
It had been at least a month since the Sycorax invasion, and the Doctor had thought that things had been going quite well. They'd even gone to the eighties in London for some record shopping. But for some reason, Rose had been moping around. He sighed.
'All right, what is it?'
'What?'
'Whatever it is that's gnawing away at you like mouse with a Toblerone bar, what is it?'
She looked up at him, biting her lip. 'I...I was just thinking about Manchester.'
The Doctor's eyes lit up.
'Manchester! God it's been ages since we've been in Manchester! We haven't been there since...'
'1933.'
Rose turned away from him, sniffling. The Doctor ran his hands through his hair.
'Look, I'll tell you what, we'll look him up, make sure he's okay.'
Rose spun around, her face lighting up.
'Really?'
'Oh yeah, no problem.' The Doctor twisted and turned a few knobs.
'Let's see...Ah! Here we go! Gene Hunt...oh he's married! That's a little daring, even for the 80's..Oh, wait, no he's fifty five now. That make more sense.' He smiled. 'Here's the wedding photo.'
Rose looked at the picture of a young married couple.
'That's him now?' She pointed at the picture. Time travel certainly played funny tricks on you.
'Sort of. Keep in mind, that was twenty years ago... mmm he's here now. Wonder why....now let's see....he's a policeman, a Detective Chief Inspector. Got a pretty good arrest record, although, quite a few complaints against him for aggravated assault on prisoners.' The Doctor shot Rose a quick look, but she schooled her face into a blank mask.
'Anything else?'
'Let's see...well that's odd...'
'What is?' Rose leaned over, trying to read from the console.
'The year of his death....it keeps changing.....At first it was 2006, but now it's 1998, 1989...oh.'
'What?! What!!!'
'It's stopped changing. It's come to rest on May fourteenth, 1981.' He looked up at her.
'That's today.'
She ran across to the door.
'Rose-'
She whirled to face him. 'Don't stop me, don't you dare stop me!'
The Doctor grabbed his coat and ran across the room, opening the door to the TARDIS. 'Wouldn't dream of it.'
Gesturing to the city outside, he followed her as she dashed madly out into the street.
They were running through the streets, drawing curious looks from the people walking by.
'Doctor, where does it happen?'
'Er...abandoned shopping mall.'
'Which way?'
'Left, NO! Right, right!'
'You sure?'
'Yes, yes this way! We've got to hurry!'
They'd finally gotten there. Rose feels like her lungs are gonna collapse and her legs are going to collapse under her any second. She can hear shouting inside.
They're inside the building now, she can see someone up ahead, Gene, looking so much younger then when she'd been a kid, so much older then his photograph. His arms were up in surrender as another man pointed a rifle at him.
'No!'
It was more then a protest, it was a battle-cry. She'd failed him before, she wasn't going to do it again. She tackled him just as the gun went off.
'Fuckin' hell! What hit me!'
Rose groaned, putting her hand to her stomach.
'Oi! What did you think you were doing you-'
She found herself looking up into deep green eyes.
'Shit!' He was scrabbling at his sports coat.
'I don't think that's quite appropriate.' she slurred. Now was not the time to get your kit off. He balled it up and pushed it onto her stomach. She felt her teeth chattering as she started to get cold.
'Just...just hold still Rose.'
The Doctor. Where was the Doctor?
'Rose? Rose! What happened?' He looked down at her, frantic.
'Oh God...' He pulled off his coat and threw it over her.
'Hold on, just hold on!'
'...wha' happened?' He looked grim.
'You've been shot.'
Shot. She could feel it all of the sudden, the bullet burning inside her. She cried out as pain wracked her.
She felt Gene grab her hand.
'Just hang in there all right? Hang in there. Come on love.'
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver.
'What's that?'
'I'm a Doctor, trust me.'
Rose felt a strange tingling and then the Doctor sat back up.
'I've stopped the bleeding, that's the best I can do with this.' he said, waggling the screwdriver. 'We have to keep her conscious.'
'What happened....to the man...with gun?'
Gene looked up, cursed, and looked back down again.
'He's gone lass. No worries, catch that bastard later. Give him a piece of my mind.'
Rose groaned as his eyes darkened. 'Thought... you didn't want to be like your Dad...'
'What?'
But she's gone.
She woke up to pain. Bit her lip, but a whimper still escaped.
'She's awake.'
'Don't worry, we've got you.'
Gene and the Doctor. She opened her eyes to see Gene at the foot of her bed looking grim, the Doctor holding her hand.
'The doctors say....she won't last. Couple of days at the most.' the DCI looked away.
'I can save her.' The Doctor was looking down at her, his eyes intense.
The other man's expression changed from despair to hope.
'I can save her Chief Inspector, but I need to get her out of here. Please, I need your help.'
Gene hesitated.
'Trust him.' she whispered.
He put back his shoulders, his face resolute.
'All right. We can go out the back way like, the laundry. You get take care of the wires and such while I make sure no-ones watching.'
The Doctor held onto Rose's hand as he detached her from the life support machine and the IV lines. 'Don't worry. There's this lovely little hospital ship berthed on the edge of a comet wave front in 3098. Hop in the TARDIS, be there quick as you like.'
Rose nodded weakly.
'Sounds great.....you can get me chocolates...from the store.'
'That's the spirit Rose Tyler! Never say die, that's my motto.' He sounded worried, even through his humour.
'Right, there's the last of them! Come on now, let's get you fixed up.'
The movement of the bed rolling was soothing, and soon rocked her back to sleep.
'Morning.'
She groaned, turning over in her bed.
'Just five more minutes Doctor.'
'Nope, you have to take your medicine. Here you go, sit up now.'
Rose opened her eyes, and sat up in the clean white bed. She opened her mouth to say something, only to have the Doctor push a spoonful of something....green into her mouth.
'Come on now, drink up. It'll do you good.'
Making a face, she swallowed. 'Echh! That is disgusting!'
'Medicine's supposed to be disgusting. Practically a universal constant, like how there's always someone in front of you for the bank machine, or how the library's always closed by the time you get there.'
Sticking out her tongue at him, Rose suddenly remembered Gene.
'I didn't get to say goodbye.'
He patted her hand. 'Don't worry, he understands. Besides, he said he'll see you again.' He looked at her thoughtfully.
'Should I be jealous?'
Giving him a saucy smile, Rose lay back onto her soft pillows.
The Doctor narrowed his eyes as he folded his arms.
'By the way, did I mention that the medicine is made of parasites?'
'....what?'
'Oh yes. They bond to the damaged areas and then squirm their way inside,' the Doctor made a little wriggling motion with his hand and Rose felt quit unwell.
'Quite fascinating really. Then they start knitting things together again. Oh it takes millions of them, busy little things. Just....don't cough.'
'Why!?'
'You wouldn't like it.'
1973
'A rift? In Manchester?' Rose wrinkled her nose. The Doctor grinned at her, almost tap dancing in his Converse trainers.
'Yup! Isn't that amazing?'
'But...Manchester?!'
'I know!' he crowed. 'It's great isn't it?'
Rose groaned in frustration. 'Sometimes it's like baby sitting a kid.'
'I'll have you know that I'm very mature for my age.' said the Doctor, winking at her.
Rose turned her back on him, frowning. The Doctor ruffled a hand through his hair, trying to think of something to appease her.
'Do you want to see it, the rift?' he said finally.
Rose turned around, feigning indifference. 'If you like.'
'Let's see...source of the rift...well that's interesting.'
'What is?'
'It's a person.'
'How can that be possible, the rift is a person?' Rose said as she looked at the monitor.
'It's not exactly...' he hummed thoughtfully.
'It's like...suppose you put a blanket over a hole. You don't see the hole right? Might as well not be there. But if you step onto the blanket, you fall in the hole and you pull the blanket in with you. Whoever this is, they've fallen into the rift and they've pulled time in with them.'
'So...time is running through the hole?'
'Yup. Well...no it is. Well..as best I as can explain it anyway.' He grinned.
'What, you're not clever enough to do better?' said Rose cheekily, her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth.
'No, you're not.'
He smiled brightly and then frowned as she stormed away.
'What did I do this time?'
Rose and the Doctor looked out of the doors at 1973 Manchester.
'It looks very...brown.' said Rose. The Doctor scoffed.
'Oh come on! It's just the buildings. Remember Godspell? And Hair? Those came out in the 70's and it was definitely not brown, more like.....rainbow madness.'
They walked onto the street.
'So how do we find this rift...person? Is it a man or woman, do we know?'
'Nope! All we do know is that they fell through in 2006. But luckily I have this!'
He pulled out a sheet of paper. Rose just looked at him.
'We're going to find them with a piece of paper?'
'Ah ha! But not just any old piece of paper!'
'It definitely looks like any old piece of paper.' Rose smirked.
The Doctor just smiled, a little patronizingly, and carefully turned in a circle. Suddenly, the paper darkened.
'Wait! What was that!'
'That, Rose Tyler, was a reaction to the rift energy. The closer we get, the darker the paper will become. Ideally it should be completely dark by the time we find our rift person.'
Holding the paper in front of him like a geiger counter, the Doctor skipped happily down the street, drawing a few stares from the early morning street goers. Sighing, Rose followed him.
Gene pulled Annie aside.
'Cartwright, what, in the name of Sir Stanley Matthews, is wrong with Tyler?'
They both glanced at Sam who was walking up and down, muttering to himself.
She bit her lip.
'Besides the usual sir?'
'This is a little more then his usual. We've gone from "I might be looney but I still do me work" to "I'm crazy as bat shit and talking to the bog walls." ' Gene retorted, folding his arms.
'He did say he hasn't been sleeping well lately.' she said lamely.
Gene grunted.
'Could be that last job we had,' He said grudgingly. 'A dead child tends to linger in the memory.'
Annie shook her head.
'I don't think it's that Guv. I think it's something more sinister somehow. It's like somethings driving him mad.'
'Short trip that.'
The voices, the voices were going to do his head in! They just wouldn't stop!
(Sam, Sam if you can hear us, you have to fight. You have to come back to us.)
'Shut up!'
(Come on Sam, you can do it! Just one step-)
'No!' Trying to talk over the voices in his head, trying to shout his threats out as quiet as possible, rubbing his ears, holding his breath until the blood rushing in his veins drowned the sounds out.
'Tyler.' He looked up to see Gene standing in front of him.
'A word.'
Sam laughed shortly. 'A word? It's never just a word with you Gene. As the saying goes, if you can get more with a brick and a kind word, why settle for just a kind word?'
There was a flash of hurt in Gene's face before he turned away. Then he turned back, swinging a finger up to point at him.
'You know Tyler, you should remember who your friends are. Or one day you'll wake up an' they'll be all gone.'
He stalked away, a wounded bear. Nothing more dangerous thought Sam idly.
Gene walked outside to lean up against the CID.
Sam bloody Tyler. Always thinking he's cock o' the walk, the toffee nosed git.
Lighting up a fag, he felt someone looking at him. Glancing up, he saw a young couple, a bloke in a trenchcoat and some blonde bird. The bloke was holding a piece of pale purple paper and frowning.
Seeing Gene looking at him, he grinned so large he looked like some old bird with her dentures poping out.
'Hullo! Do you work here?' Some southern tourist poof. Figured.
'No, I'm just standing here so's to keep this wall from fallin'.' he answered sarcastically, jabbing his thumb at the wall.
The man looked at him. 'Really?'
Un-bloody-lievable. Why did all the nutters come to him?
'If you're looking for some mild altering and illicit substances, you've come to the wrong place. However, if you're looking to get the shite kicked out of you, you're in exactly the right place mate.'
He stubbed his fag out on the ground and took a step towards the other man, towering over him.
'Ah. I don't suppose I could talk you out of it could I? Just cause it might make my friend upset.'
Gene sneered. This toff? Only friends he'd make were ones that'd have him kneeling, and not church wise neither.
'You don't bother me scum. I see shit like you every day of the bloody week. You're nowt but some jumped up fairy boy who thinks 'es better then the rest of us!'
He grabbed him, shaking him so hard he could hear the fairy's teeth rattle like Ray's car on a Saturday night.
'Oi! That's police brutality that!'
That voice....
Gene turned to the blonde, dropping the other man having forgotten him for the moment. He peered at her, an uneasy feeling in his stomach. She looked...familiar.
'I know you.'
She looked at him, looking a bit worried.
'You do?'
'Yeah from....how do I know you?' He took a step towards her, peering into her face.
Chips.
Something about chips.
He'd been scared, hiding. Then friendly brown eyes, and a kind hand over his own.
'You have family 'round 'ere? Cause you look just like someone I knew.' He was staring at her.
'You know who she is Gene.' He swung around, glaring at the poof.
'Doctor...' the bird said warningly.
'She dosen't look like the person you know. She is her. Rose.'
Not possible.
'...That's impossible.'
'Is it? Look at her.'
Gene Hunt didn't take orders, he gave them. But against his will, he found himself looking. Remembered being small, hurt, afraid.
Without a word, he turned and walked away.
'Gene-'
'Stay away from me.'
'But I-'
'Stay the fuck away!' He turned, pointing a shaking finger at her.
'You're not real. You disappeared, in a big blue box. I dreamed you up!'
She was looking at something behind him.
'What?!'
She nodded.
Turning, he stared up at a tall blue police box.
'No, no it's just a police box! When I open this door I...'
A large green room, strange and familiar. He shut the door suddenly, his face grey.
'God I need a drink.'
He sat down, well, almost fell. With a shaking hand, he took a swig of his hip flask. Then swearing, he threw it away.
'I swore, I swore I'd never be that man.' he whispered, looking down at his hands, tried to stop them shaking.
Two small hands grasped his.
'Ey now, it's all right. It's all right.'
And without meaning too, he wrapped his arms around the girl and cried his eyes out.
Sam was looking for Gene to appologize when he heard the voices again.
(Hello Sam, how are we doing today?)
'Fuck off!' he hissed to the ceiling.
(I'm Doctor John Smith. Oh my, seems you have been in a coma for a long time, hasn't it? Perhaps you haven't the ability to wake up.)
'I can! I can wake up, and I will!'
(Sleep and sleep again. Like that story you know? Rip Van Winkle? You could wake up old and grey.)
'Not going to happen!'
(Anyway Sam, got to go. See you tomorrow.)
(Sam?)
His mothers voice. He relaxed instinctively.
(Sam, Doctor Smith says we should....we should consider alternatives.)
'What! No, wait!'
(It's no use us coming to see you all the time, when you can't wake up. It's a waste of our time and yours. Best to just....let you sleep. Forever.)
'Mum, you can't mean that!' Sam pleaded.
(There's something that your Dad told me, that death is just another kind of sleep. Just take comfort in that darling.)
'Wait, don't go!' But the hospital sounds faded away. Considerably shaken, Sam ran out of the building.
Rose looked up as someone burst through the doors. A man around the Doctors age (physical age) wearing a leather jacket. He looked around in a sort of a panicked kind of way, like he was trying to find something.
Gene stirred in her arms.
'M'all right now. Let me up.'
Standing up, she reached out her hand, which he took with a wry glance.
'Gene!' The panicky man ran up to him, grabbing at his coat.
'Gene, they can't do it, they can't turn me off!'
'Who's this?' Rose looked at Gene with an arched eyebrow.
'Just my insane DI. Don't worry, I know how to handle him.'
He pushed the other man away and gave him too quick slaps to the face.
' Ey Calm down now Tyler! Jesus, I bloody hope this is just some hippie drug flashback.' he muttered.
'Tyler?'
The two men turned to look at her.
'That's my name too.' Were they related? She didn't remember having any family in Manchester..
Gene turned back to his DI.
'Hear that? Guess you got the brains from the family kiddo, 'cause you sure didn't get the looks.'
Rose wasn't quite sure what to make of this backhanded compliment.
'Can I help?' the Doctor piped up.
The man, DI Tyler, turned quickly to face the him.
'...Doctor Smith?'
'Er, maybe?' he answered, tugging on his ear.
She hadn't even seen him move, but the DI was suddenly standing in front of the Doctor.
'Stay away from me. * Stay away from us *, or you'll regret it.'
Something flickered in his eyes and Rose smelt something burning. Then the other man turned away down the street.
'Well, you certainly have a way with people,' drawled Gene to the Doctor as he pulled out another cigarette.
'Keep on like that, an you'll have more friends then Mr. Heath.'
He nodded to the Doctor. 'This yer new fella then?'
Rose blushed. 'Not exactly...'
'If I had a girl who was runnin' around with some many different blokes, I'd put 'er over me knee, make no mistakes- What am I talking about!? I'm gabbing on to me imaginary friend and her...rent boy!'
Rose opened her mouth to protest and then closed it, smirking at the Doctor.
'What're you looking at me like that for.' he said, leaning away from her.
'I don't like that glint in your eye. The last time you looked like that, we had to apologize to a whole planet.'
'Not the whole planet,' she protested. 'Just the eastern continent.'
'Oh right, my mistake then.'
'Sucuse me, but I've got better things to do today then hang about with Andy Pandy and Booby Loo.' Gene pushed by them to walk down the street.
'No wait Gene.' She ran after him, struggling to keep up.
'Don't call me that!' he snapped. 'It's DCI Gene Hunt. Or Mr. Hunt. Or "Yes, oh God yes faster!".'
She laughed in spite of herself.
'Think pretty highly of yourself, don't you?'
'When yer life is high comedy, you might as well.' he retorted.
'Look, I'm sorry to keep chasin' you like this Ge - Mr. Hunt. But didn't you notice that there was something wrong with your DI?'
'Preachin' to the choir love. There's always been sommat wrong with Tyler.'
'It might be more then just mood swings.' said the Doctor.
He was looking at something in his hand. She turned to him.
It was the paper. It had gone completely dark.
'I think we've found our rift.' said the Doctor grimly.
'Rifts, aliens, ruddy impossible boxes! What next, MP poofs in Downing Street?' Gene grumbled as he took another swig from a hip flask.
Rose bit her lip to avoid speaking up. She was starting to learn that disagreeing with Gene lead to shouting, punching, and more shouting.
'It's called a TARDIS, not an "impossible box".' The Doctor said, rolling his eyes.
'Bigger on the inside then outside? Sounds ruddy impossible to me, unless they've changed the definition.'
'Mr. Hunt, can you tell me if Sam ever complains of hearing voices? Or reacts to things that aren't there?'
'That's all the twat ever does.'
The Doctor's face fell. 'Oh...not good.'
'What? What is it?' Rose tugged on his arm.
'Enians. I was hoping it was something a little less complicated.'
'Complicated and Tyler, they go together like football and punch-ups.' Gene snorted.
'You see, Enians create rifts, paradoxes in time and space. And then they feed of them, like great big leeches. Well, predatory carnivorous leeches. They form a symbiotic relationship with their victim, in this case Sam, pulling in time and space through the rift that they create around them. They use the victims ties to their own time to create the illusion of people they know, loved ones, friends, family, talking to them. Eventually it drives them mad. Which is what they want of course. Because madness is a great paradox on it's own, a mind existing within two realities at once.'
'And what happens? To the victims?' Gene growled low and dangerous.
'Once the Enians have completely drained them...they leave them a mindless husk. And the poor things will either end up in an asylum, or they'll kill themselves.'
'Not gonna happen. Not in my city. Come on.' Gene threw his cigarette away and started to run.
'Where you going?' She asked, jogging to keep up.
'The place where most people go when they don't wanna hear the voices in their head.' Gene shouted over his shoulder.
'Scotch Nelson, double.' Sam sank onto the stool with a sigh.
'Right away mon brave.' Nelson looked at Sam concernedly.
'What?'
The barman leaned forward. 'Sam, is someting' wrong?'
He shook his head.
'No, nothing wrong Nelson, why you ask?' He took a deep sip of his whisky.
'Noting' I guess...just...anything wrong at work? Everyting' well?'
Sam frowned.
'Why all the questions Nelson?' He pushed back from the bar, standing.
Something unfolded inside him, like a flower turning towards the sun.
'What are you getting at?' He looked closely at the barman.
Nelson looked at him. 'I sense a darkness in you Sam.'
He felt a grin split his face.
'A darkness? So little you know. It's not a darkness *you stupid creature*.'
'Then what is it?'
He closed his eyes, savoring the strange sensations.
'It's like...light. The light that makes the flowers grow and the world spin on it's side. Light you can bathe in and drown in... it's the power and the grandeur and * it's the details Nelson. Oh yes. Sam's little details *.'
Nelson squared up to him.
'You are Sam.'
The feeling, the strange unfolding inside him, withered slightly.
'...What?'
'Tyler.'
Sam swung around to see Gene standing in the doorway.
'Not in the mood Gene.'
'Don't tell me, you've got a headache, yeah?' Gene strolled in, walking up to Sam. He leaned over.
'I know they're in there.' he whispered.
Sam snorted and pushed him, but Gene grabbed his arm.
'I'm here to help you Sam.'
'Get away from him!'
In spite of her best efforts, Rose had fallen behind, only now reaching the pub.
She leaned over, gasping at the stitch in her side, then glanced through the doorway. The DI, Sam Tyler, was facing Gene a hand raised above his head. As Rose watched, a strange purple smoke seemed to form around his fingers.
'Get away from him!'
The DI, Sam, turned towards her, and his eyes flickered strangely, like train windows catching light and shadow. Then it was gone.
'Who are you?'
'You're worst nightmare mate. I'm here to get rid of you, stop you from feeding off him!' she pointed to Sam.
'...er, do you feel all right miss?' He looked so strangely bewildered and upset that she almost backed down.
'Don't you try that with me Mister! I've gone up against the best. Slitheen, Sycorax, Daleks. You're just a footnote to that.'
'No! Rose don't threaten it!'
She turned to see the Doctor run up, panting.
'Why, why not?'
'Don't you know what happens when you corner a predator?! They fight back!'
Rose turned to see Sam smiling impossibly wide, his eyes flickering quickly, as something inside them was breathing in and out. She smelled something burning again. Flowers, it smelled like burning flowers. The air around them grew thick with purple smoke.
' *Sammy boy is coming to play. La la la la la. Sammy boy is here today. La la la la la.* '
Gene took a step towards him, but Sam gestured and a ribbon of smoke curled around him, pulling him off the ground. The DCI struggled, trying to break free as Sam turned to the Doctor and Rose, frozen in horror.
' *Time to go home, Time to go home, Sammy is waving, It's time to go home.* ' he chanted, as he pointed a hand towards them.
TBC...
Chapter 3a here