Don't Blink - 27/?
Title: Don't Blink - 27/?
Characters: Ten, Rose
Summary: AU. What if Rose had stayed through Doomsday and was the one to end up in 1969 with the Doctor? How would they get back to their proper time? Would they want to?
Rating: PG
Beta: nattieb
AN: This fic is going on hiatus for several months while I am out of the country. Please do not be alarmed. The entire story is written out in my head and needs only to be typed out. I will resume updating around the end of February.
(ch 1) (ch 2) (ch 3) (ch 4) (ch 5) (ch 6) (ch 7) (ch 8) (ch 9) (ch 10) (ch 11) (ch 12) (ch 13) (ch 14) (ch 15) (ch 16) (ch 17) (ch 18)
(ch 19) (ch 20) (ch 21) (ch 22) (ch 23) (ch 24) (ch 25) (ch 26)
Billy was making dinner when Rose got home. She was leafing through the post when she let herself in, and the unfamiliar smell of food cooking made her pause and look around. The Doctor, still at Cambridge and likely to be away for several more hours, couldn’t be responsible. Not that he would ever cook, even when he was home.
Setting down the mail and her bag, Rose walked into the kitchen. She peered cautiously around the open door, not sure what she’d find. Billy was standing over the stove, stirring something in a pot. A loaf of bread sat on the table, which was set with three plates and glasses and a bottle of wine.
Rose stared and stared until Billy happened to turn around.
“You’re home!”
“Yeah,” she managed to say. “You’re...you’re cooking.”
“Making dinner, yeah.” Billy turned back to his pot. “Hope you like curry.”
“Oh, I love it.”
“Wasn’t easy to get all the ingredients. Finally found this little Indian market for the spices. Can’t wait for when London isn’t afraid of foreign foods.” He shook his head and lifted the lid off another pot on the back of the stove. “Rice is almost done. Should we wait for the Doctor?”
“I think he’ll be late again.” Rose spoke with some regret. The Doctor’s new job at Cambridge required that he leave early and return late. She suspected that when he’d accepted the position, he hadn’t been thinking about the fifty-mile distance to the college. The TARDIS would have made short work of that, but a Doctor without the TARDIS was on his own.
“Well, go wash your hands so we can eat. I’m not waiting around on him - I want to watch the news.”
“You are becoming obsessed,” she said in amusement, washing her hands at the sink.
“Come on! How often are we going to see the moon landing happen live?”
It was such a pleasant experience to sit down and have someone serve her dinner. Rose thoroughly enjoyed it, and couldn’t help laughing at Billy’s description of his day.
“So I’m at the shop down the street,” he said as he poured himself another glass of wine. “I’m pretty focused on my shopping list, and I look up and see this bloke in a jumpsuit. A jumpsuit! It was baby blue and had a zip that started at his groin!”
Rose shrieked with laughter. “No! Was it unzipped down to his navel?”
“Almost. And he had a gold medallion on.” Billy sighed. “This is an ugly, ugly time. If I don’t find some normal clothes I’ll die of shame.”
Rose glanced down furtively at her dress. It was lime green with a polo neck, and had bands of hot pink and bright blue around the short sleeves and hem. It was short but otherwise not so dated that she would look strange going back home to the estate.
“Yeah,” she pointed out, helping herself to another large spoonful of curry, “but at least right now no one thinks you look weird.”
“I think I look weird. Speaking of weird,” he added, “that landlady of yours is crazy! Every time I came up or down the stairs there she was by her door. Doesn’t she ever come out of her flat? It’s like she’s a troll living under a bridge or something.”
“She’s out all the time. Maybe she’s wondering if she should charge us extra rent for you,” Rose mused worriedly.
“Or else she’s unhappy because I’m black.”
Rose gazed at him. “What?”
“I’m black. Maybe she doesn’t like that.”
It was such a foreign thought to Rose that she didn’t know how to respond. Billy saw this and kept going.
“In this time...well, it’s not easy. I don’t expect I’d exactly have an easy time getting a badge again even if I wanted to.”
“Then what will you do?”
“Become a movie guy, apparently.” The thought didn’t thrill him.
“Sometimes,” Rose started, and then stopped, because it was something she’d never really talked about with anyone before.
“Sometimes what?”
“Sometimes I wonder what time is like. Why it works the way it does. Sally Sparrow left us a message that said you were going to help us, and you’re helping us. But did she leave the message because you helped us, or did you help us because she left the message?”
“Is that like the chicken or the egg?”
“Just because you’re here doesn’t mean you have to do what Sally says you’ll do.”
“But what if I’m supposed to? And if I don’t, you never get back?”
Rose sighed and slumped in her chair. “It’s all so confusing. I used to have a friend who could think things through like that. He was a time agent, though. He was used to time being all twisty-turny.”
Billy looked at her, puzzled. “What’s a time agent?”
Rose smiled slowly. “Let me tell you about Captain Jack.”
Twenty-eight
Characters: Ten, Rose
Summary: AU. What if Rose had stayed through Doomsday and was the one to end up in 1969 with the Doctor? How would they get back to their proper time? Would they want to?
Rating: PG
Beta: nattieb
AN: This fic is going on hiatus for several months while I am out of the country. Please do not be alarmed. The entire story is written out in my head and needs only to be typed out. I will resume updating around the end of February.
(ch 1) (ch 2) (ch 3) (ch 4) (ch 5) (ch 6) (ch 7) (ch 8) (ch 9) (ch 10) (ch 11) (ch 12) (ch 13) (ch 14) (ch 15) (ch 16) (ch 17) (ch 18)
(ch 19) (ch 20) (ch 21) (ch 22) (ch 23) (ch 24) (ch 25) (ch 26)
Billy was making dinner when Rose got home. She was leafing through the post when she let herself in, and the unfamiliar smell of food cooking made her pause and look around. The Doctor, still at Cambridge and likely to be away for several more hours, couldn’t be responsible. Not that he would ever cook, even when he was home.
Setting down the mail and her bag, Rose walked into the kitchen. She peered cautiously around the open door, not sure what she’d find. Billy was standing over the stove, stirring something in a pot. A loaf of bread sat on the table, which was set with three plates and glasses and a bottle of wine.
Rose stared and stared until Billy happened to turn around.
“You’re home!”
“Yeah,” she managed to say. “You’re...you’re cooking.”
“Making dinner, yeah.” Billy turned back to his pot. “Hope you like curry.”
“Oh, I love it.”
“Wasn’t easy to get all the ingredients. Finally found this little Indian market for the spices. Can’t wait for when London isn’t afraid of foreign foods.” He shook his head and lifted the lid off another pot on the back of the stove. “Rice is almost done. Should we wait for the Doctor?”
“I think he’ll be late again.” Rose spoke with some regret. The Doctor’s new job at Cambridge required that he leave early and return late. She suspected that when he’d accepted the position, he hadn’t been thinking about the fifty-mile distance to the college. The TARDIS would have made short work of that, but a Doctor without the TARDIS was on his own.
“Well, go wash your hands so we can eat. I’m not waiting around on him - I want to watch the news.”
“You are becoming obsessed,” she said in amusement, washing her hands at the sink.
“Come on! How often are we going to see the moon landing happen live?”
It was such a pleasant experience to sit down and have someone serve her dinner. Rose thoroughly enjoyed it, and couldn’t help laughing at Billy’s description of his day.
“So I’m at the shop down the street,” he said as he poured himself another glass of wine. “I’m pretty focused on my shopping list, and I look up and see this bloke in a jumpsuit. A jumpsuit! It was baby blue and had a zip that started at his groin!”
Rose shrieked with laughter. “No! Was it unzipped down to his navel?”
“Almost. And he had a gold medallion on.” Billy sighed. “This is an ugly, ugly time. If I don’t find some normal clothes I’ll die of shame.”
Rose glanced down furtively at her dress. It was lime green with a polo neck, and had bands of hot pink and bright blue around the short sleeves and hem. It was short but otherwise not so dated that she would look strange going back home to the estate.
“Yeah,” she pointed out, helping herself to another large spoonful of curry, “but at least right now no one thinks you look weird.”
“I think I look weird. Speaking of weird,” he added, “that landlady of yours is crazy! Every time I came up or down the stairs there she was by her door. Doesn’t she ever come out of her flat? It’s like she’s a troll living under a bridge or something.”
“She’s out all the time. Maybe she’s wondering if she should charge us extra rent for you,” Rose mused worriedly.
“Or else she’s unhappy because I’m black.”
Rose gazed at him. “What?”
“I’m black. Maybe she doesn’t like that.”
It was such a foreign thought to Rose that she didn’t know how to respond. Billy saw this and kept going.
“In this time...well, it’s not easy. I don’t expect I’d exactly have an easy time getting a badge again even if I wanted to.”
“Then what will you do?”
“Become a movie guy, apparently.” The thought didn’t thrill him.
“Sometimes,” Rose started, and then stopped, because it was something she’d never really talked about with anyone before.
“Sometimes what?”
“Sometimes I wonder what time is like. Why it works the way it does. Sally Sparrow left us a message that said you were going to help us, and you’re helping us. But did she leave the message because you helped us, or did you help us because she left the message?”
“Is that like the chicken or the egg?”
“Just because you’re here doesn’t mean you have to do what Sally says you’ll do.”
“But what if I’m supposed to? And if I don’t, you never get back?”
Rose sighed and slumped in her chair. “It’s all so confusing. I used to have a friend who could think things through like that. He was a time agent, though. He was used to time being all twisty-turny.”
Billy looked at her, puzzled. “What’s a time agent?”
Rose smiled slowly. “Let me tell you about Captain Jack.”
Twenty-eight