Just Our Luck: Chapter 2

[my_meta_twin]

Title: Just Our Luck
Author: my_meta_twin
Pairing: 10/Rose
Summary: A brush with death too close even for the Doctor's liking leads him to make the most important decision of his life.
Rating: Teen
Authors' Notes: This story is dedicated with all the love in the world to two of the most awesome people ever to like Doctor Who: kelkat9 and who_in_whoville, who are two sisters of a secret Dalek cult, but we're not telling anyone.

"Yeah, I'll see ya," Rose called back to Shareen, waving as her friend drove away. She put her hands in the pockets of her jacket and started walking towards the TARDIS, which was waiting at the other end of the alley behind the Estate. She'd thought it was odd that the Doctor had wanted to talk to her mother without her there, but she hadn't pressed. He had been strange ever since their adventure on the planet Zatharenasomethingorother.

Sure, they had been in a tight spot what with her almost getting her head chopped off, but she didn't understand why that particular scrape had left the Doctor so distant and strange. It wasn't as if he hadn't been hurt in the escape. As far as she could tell (not that he would let her get very close to find out for certain), he'd been hurt worse than she had. He had limped around the control room for nearly a week, which was a ridiculous amount of time for someone who didn't get injured that easily. He had also left a roll of tape and a packet of gauze pads out lying out on one of the counters in the infirmary a few days after their escape, though her injuries had never required dressing.

And then there was the change in the way they traveled. He had taken her to bazaars and concerts and to museums, remote planets and all sorts of beautiful, safe places with absolutely no threat of danger. He even refused to let her visit the alien zoo on the leisure planet of Suthka until she agreed not to leave the tram that drove through the park. She didn't know what exactly had turned him into such an old nanny, but she was really starting to miss the running.

The last straw had come the day before. He had taken her to Earth, the year 2863, and dropped her off for the day at a spa with a full credit stick and no further explanation. She was not accustomed to being dumped off at the beauty parlor like a good little wifey while the Doctor went adventuring alone in the TARDIS, so when he came back to pick her up, she’d stormed into the TARDIS, gone straight into the pool and jumped in, washing off all the spa’s hard work.

“What are you doing?” he’d asked with a laugh as she swam to the side and climbed out. Her clothes sagged off her and she’d lost a shoe in the water, but she just stood there, glaring at him, arms folded across her chest.

“I am not one of those kinds of girls,” Rose said. “That’s the one and only time you get to just leave me at the spa while you go and have fun. You got it?”

His mouth fell open. “What are you talking about? We’ve gone to the spa hundreds of times. You love it!”

“Yeah, you and me together! That’s different - that’s romantic. You ditchin’ me so you can have an adventure on your own is not how we do things!”

“You think that’s what I was doing?” he’d snapped, stalking around the edge of the pool to stand in front of her. “You don’t even know what I was doing. I couldn’t have you going along. What would be the point in that?”

“Oh!” Rose cried, leaning back with a laugh. “Okay, well if that’s how you feel about things, then maybe you should just take me home. We haven’t done anything in days, anyway!”

“Because I don’t want something to happen to you!” he shouted. His voice had resonated off the tile in the pool room with a metallic ring.

He'd looked like he had wanted to say more to her, but he just gave her a look of what she could only interpret as disgust, then jumped into the pool in his clothes to retrieve her shoe. He climbed out and handed it to her and she'd taken it without a word to stomp off to her room. Her exit would have been far more dramatic and poignant if she hadn't slipped on the wet tile floor and fallen into the doorway on her way out.

And now he'd brought her home and asked to talk to her mother. Alone.

She had made up her mind while she'd been with Shareen; she was going to apologize to him, even though she didn't think she'd done anything wrong. She knew he wasn't going to admit that he'd done anything wrong, so she was going to have to be the bigger person. She took it as a good sign that the TARDIS was still there when she got back; she'd been a little afraid that he might have left her behind, possibly for good, while she was off with her friend. He was probably back in the TARDIS by now. He couldn't possibly stand spending all that much time with her mother alone.

As she neared the TARDIS she thought she saw a light flickering inside. Someone on the Estate was watching a horror movie with their volume all the way up. Judging by the sound of the screaming, somebody was having a rough night.

When she realized the sound was coming from inside the TARDIS, coming from what sounded like the Doctor, she panicked. She ran to the doors, banging on them and shouting for him, but the screaming just went on and on. She rattled the handles, but the doors wouldn't budge.

"Doctor!" She threw her shoulder against the doors, knowing full well the TARDIS could stand up to a lot more than she was able to dish out. She battered the doors with her hands, nearly hysterical with fear for what was happening inside, when she finally remembered her key. It was on a string around her neck, and she was so used to its presence that she'd forgotten it was even there. She dug it out from under her shirt and her jacket and her shaking hands tried to get the key inside the door.

And suddenly the doors opened, and Rose found herself face to face with her mother. The TARDIS lights were flickering behind her and the Doctor's screams were twice as loud as they'd been a moment before. Her mother's face was grim, streaked with tears.

"You're not goin' in there," Jackie said, pushing Rose away from the doors while she shut them behind her, muffling but not eliminating the sound of the Doctor's tortured agony inside the ship.

"What's going on?" Rose shouted, trying to wrestle her way past her mother. "What's happening to him? What did you do? Mum, please! Let me help him!"

"You're goin' upstairs with me to wait," Jackie said with a sniff. The calm in her voice did nothing to settle Rose down. Was he ever going to stop screaming?

"Wait for what?" Rose cried as Jackie turned her bodily and pushed her towards the stairs to the flat. "He could be dying!"

"He's not dying," Jackie said, patting Rose on the back. She kept looking back at the TARDIS with such sadness on her face it made Rose feel like she was going to throw up. Rose relented, though she didn't know why she did, and went with her mum up to the flat. Once inside, Jackie began pacing around, straightening things she hadn't bothered to straighten in years.

"What's going on?" Rose shouted again. She was crying, partly out of frustration but mostly out of fear.

"Just sit down!" Jackie snapped, her face softening as soon as the words left her mouth. "It'll be over soon."

***
Rose had an untouched mug of cold tea in her hands, and the television was on with the volume low as she and her mother sat together on the couch, both staring in the direction of the television, neither actually seeing what was on the screen. From time to time they each glanced at the door.

Rose jumped with a gasp when she heard someone trying the knob, and heard what sounded like a palm hitting the door.

"Almost an hour exactly," Jackie said as she and Rose got up from the couch at the same time. The door slammed open against the wall and the Doctor stood in the doorway. He was ghastly pale, his hair standing almost straight up, his tie hanging loose and twisted around his neck. He was wearing only his pinstriped pants and his light blue oxford, which was untucked on one side. He was clutching the doorframe with one hand while the other arm hung limp at his side. His eyes were dark and dull.

Rose started to go to him, but Jackie pushed past her and hugged him tightly, taking his weight as he slumped against her. She was patting his back and smoothing his hair just like she did when she would comfort Rose when she was a little girl. When she gave him a kiss on the side of his head, Rose felt a stab of ludicrous jealousy.

"I'm so sorry I had to leave you," Jackie whispered. The Doctor lifted his arms with considerable effort and put them around Jackie's waist. He buried his face in her shoulder and Rose's jealousy amplified a thousand fold.

"It's all right," he murmured into her shoulder. "I didn't want her to see me like that. Besides, I lost consciousness after the first ten minutes or so."

When Jackie finally let him go, he lifted his head and smiled at Rose. "Hello," His voice was raw and it looked like the only thing keeping him from falling over was sheer force of will. Rose ran to him and they embraced. He felt like lead in her arms, and when she felt the heat coming from his body, she pulled away from him in fear.

"What's...why are you so hot? I mean, hot for you? You're burning up…for you! Do you have a fever?" She asked, putting her hand to his forehead.

"No. Rose, please...you need to listen," he said. "I need to tell you something."

"Come sit down," she said, pulling him over to the couch. She saw him exchange a look with Jackie, and she felt another stupid twinge of jealousy. She felt his forehead and his warm cheeks and then pressed two fingers to the side of his neck. He closed his eyes and looked almost pained as horrified realization spread over Rose's face.

"Oh my God - your hearts! There's only one heartbeat! What happened? We've got to get you back to the TARDIS." she pulled on his hands to get him to his feet but he didn't budge.

"Please, just listen," he tried again. "I have something to tell you."

"But your hearts! Why do you only have one heartbeat? You're sick. You could be dying." She stood up and sat back down several times, hands fluttering as she looked to her mother for help.

"I only have one heartbeat because I only have one heart," he answered at last.

Slapping her across the face wouldn't have brought Rose to a more abrupt halt. "What did you say?" she asked after a moment.

"I only have one heart," he repeated. "Because I'm human now."

Rose heard a strange, strangled squeak coming from somewhere in the room. It took her several seconds to realize it was coming from herself. "You're what?" she asked.

The Doctor sighed. "This is going to be a very long conversation if I have to say everything twice."

"He made himself human for you," Jackie said, sitting on the couch next to the Doctor. She put her hands on his shoulders. "Isn't that just the most wonderful thing? It's like a fairy tale. You may have found the most wonderful man in the whole universe. I can't wait to call Babs and Cheryl and tell them all about it."

“Mum,” Rose whined, then turned her attention back to the Doctor. “I don’t understand. How can you be human?”

“There’s this thing on the TARDIS,” Jackie began. “He put it on his head and-“

“Would you let him answer for himself?” Rose snapped. Jackie frowned and got up from the couch to bustle in the kitchen. Rose scooted closer to the Doctor and took his warm hands in her own. “Please just explain it to me.”

He sighed again. The sigh turned into a sprawling, throaty yawn at the last second and the Doctor looked horrified. “What was that? Ape sounds. Blimey, I really am human now. Rose, you would not believe how exhausted I am. That took a lot out of me. Literally.” He tried to smile, but the look on her face stopped it from growing to its usual strength. “I’m not going to get to sleep until I explain, am I?”

“Not a wink,” she said, crossing her arms across her chest.

He sighed again, his shoulders sagging. “When we were on Zatharenafolconorrae, and you were being led to the guillotine, and I couldn’t stop what was happening, I vowed that if I could find some way to get you out of this, I would never put you in danger again. No sooner had I said it to myself than the guillotine jammed and I was able to get away to free you, and off we went. Of course, I threw that whole stupid vow right out the moment we were off and running. But then you got shot, and for a few minutes I thought you were dead, or dying, and I knew that I couldn’t take one more risk with your life, ever again.

“But, I didn’t want to leave you, either. I’ve made the decision that time and space and the universe did fine without me before I came along, and it will do fine without me now. There’s a device on the TARDIS called a Chameleon Arch. It’s supposed to be used so a Time Lord can disguise themselves as human in a situation when they might be subjected to biological methods of detection. Everything that made me a Time Lord is stored in this fob watch,” he said, taking the watch out of his pocket to show her. Rose reached for it, but he kept hold of it. “Don’t open it, or I’ll have to go and do it again. Which reminds me.” He took the sonic out of his other pocket and soniced the watch. When he was done, he tossed it to Rose. Try as she might, she couldn’t open it. He took it back and got up, steadying himself on the furniture as he crossed the room to the kitchen. He grabbed Jackie’s hand and pressed the watch into her palm.

“Get rid of it,” he said, and then went back to sit with Rose. “There. Now, there’s no going back, and no temptation to try. I’m human - one heart, two kidneys, sub-par lungs. And I’m all yours.”

“You just decided all of that without talking to me?” she asked softly.

The Doctor scoffed. “I’m not going to consult you on something as serious as this. This was a decision about my own existence.”

He had not been expecting her to slap him across the face. His new muscle tone was not what it had once been and the slap slung him sideways with a grunt. He had to catch himself on the arm of the chair, and his mouth fell open when he felt the first flare of truly human pain in his cheek.

“What in the world did you do that for?” he cried, putting his hand over the injured spot.

“You can’t just go turnin’ into something else without talking to me first!” Rose shouted.

“What would you have said?” he shouted back, getting to his feet to match her. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been so easily angered. Humans and their short fuses.

“I would have said don’t do it!” She stepped closer to him, sticking her finger in his face. “I would have said don’t throw your whole life away!”

“And I would have told you you’re a daft cow and you obviously cannot comprehend how much I love you!” he bellowed, the last of his voice giving way with the effort. Rose stood there with her mouth hanging open. The Doctor saw the television out of the corner of his eye; a duo of pink and yellow pandas were dancing down the street. He smiled at the juxtaposition, which only served to rankle Rose further. Her mouth caved in to a puckered scowl, her eyes flashing.

Jackie cleared her throat from the kitchen. He looked back at her and she shook her head.

“Apparently that was rude,” he said back to Rose. “I’m going to actually have to pay attention to human social mores now, aren’t I?”

Rose looked at him as if she’d never seen him before in her life. “I don’t care what you do,” she said softly before she ran out of the flat.