Title: Live In Concert 2/3
Fandom: Doctor Who/Lost
Characters: Rose Tyler, Nine, Ten, Jack Harkness, Charlie Pace, Mickey Smith
Rating/Warnings: PG, very vague drug and sexual references
Spoilers: everything up to The Idiots Lantern is fair game
Summary: Desmond isn’t the only time traveler that Charlie Pace ran into during his time as a rock star. Two different Doctors and two different reasons bring Rose Tyler into his life.
Disclaimer: Lost and Doctor Who don’t belong to me. Duh.
PART ONE ~*~
“What d’you mean you won’t let us in?” the Doctor demanded, flabbergasted.
“Your names not on the list mate,” the bouncer said simply.
“But I’ve got...” he brandished the psychic paper angrily but Rose spoke over him, plastering the widest smile she could muster onto her face.
“We just wanna go in for a minute,” she said beseechingly. “It won’t take long. You can even escort me in and out or whatever - I just need to see the bassist real quick.”
“Nothing doing miss,” the bouncer said, folding his rather large forearms over each other.
“Now hold on a minute here,” the Doctor was really beginning to get stroppy now. He shook the psychic paper at the bouncer and jabbed a finger at it. “Hold on, hold on. This piece of paper right here in my hand says that Rose Tyler and two guests can enter the backstage area...”
“I don’t care what your fancy bit of paper says,” the bouncer interrupted him. “Your names aren’t on the list. That means you don’t come in.”
“Oh it doesn’t matter,” Rose muttered finally, tugging at the Doctor’s sleeve. “Let’s just go. We should be gettin’ Jack back to the TARDIS anyway...”
Still scowling, the Doctor hoisted the semi-comatose Jack more securely into his arms and went to turn away but then...
“Rose! Wait!”
Rose frowned in confusion as the bassist appeared out of nowhere, a wide smile on his face.
“Rose,” he said breathlessly before appealing to the bouncer. “She’s cool man - let her in yeah?”
Rose stepped forward, edging around the bouncer tentatively but to her great surprise the bassist grasped her hand firmly and pulled her through into the mash of the backstage party.
“Hang on - what about my friends?” she shouted over the noise and the bassist looked a little disappointed.
“You bring that spiky haired bloke again?”
“Jack?” Rose asked, confused but the bassist was already resignedly letting the Doctor through, half carrying Jack.
“Thanks,” the Doctor said sourly. “I’m the Doctor and this lump here’s Jack an’ this is...”
“Rose Tyler,” the bassist interrupted him. “I know.”
“Ah,” the Doctor said. Silence - and then... “...and you are?”
“Charlie,” he said, looking a little peeved. “Charlie Pace. I play bass.”
“Sorry,” the Doctor said bluntly, not sounding very apologetic at all. “Don’t know much about your little operation - I’m only here because Rose wanted to come.”
Charlie didn’t look very impressed at this admission but even as Rose began to apologise for him the Doctor spoke up again.
“You lot from Manchester then?”
“Originally yeah,” Charlie looked somewhat appeased. “Started out at the Night and Day Bar.”
“Ahhh!” the Doctor said, as though this explained everything. “Good old Oldham Street.”
Charlie latched onto this piece of information with interest. “So you’re from my neck of the woods then?”
“Bit further north,” the Doctor said dryly.
“Heh, yeah. Very north...” Jack managed to slur out and Rose elbowed him.
“Lancashire?” Charlie guessed, apparently having not heard Jack.
“Something like that,” the Doctor said cheerfully and then nodded down at Jack who was swaying slightly, his eyes mostly closed. “Don’t suppose there’s anywhere back here I could get a glass of water for my friend is there?”
“Sure,” Charlie stretched up on his toes and pointed to the other side of the room. “Bottled water’s on the catering table - that way. Make sure you get one that hasn’t been opened though.”
“Right,” the Doctor hoisted Jack a bit straighter and then looked pointedly at Rose. “I’ll be back,” he told her and then turned to the man who was still hanging limply over his arm. “Let’s go get you a bit sobered up shall we? Come on.”
Jack groaned slightly in response as the Doctor began to drag him off.
“What’s he on?” Charlie asked with interest as they watched the Doctor manhandle Jack through the crowd.
“I think he’s just had too much to drink,” Rose said, embarrassed. “He was tryin’ to outdrink the Doctor.”
Charlie raised his eyebrows. “‘The Doctor’? What the hell sort of name’s that? Sounds like a rubbish sort of nickname.”
“Well he’s really good at...” Rose struggled to find some reasoning that Charlie might buy. “Fixing...things?”
“You’re telling this story luv,” Charlie motioned at one of the sofas not currently being occupied by various rowdy members of the band and their hangers on. “Sit?”
“Yeah my feet are killing me,” Rose gratefully took the spot next to him but Charlie didn’t say anything for a long time. Instead he merely stared at her, occasionally taking a pull from a beer that he seemed to have magicked out of thin air. “What?” Rose demanded finally. His constant attention was unnerving her.
“You look really...” he considered her a moment longer, searching for the right word. “Young,” he finally decided upon. “With your hair all long like that.”
“It was short when we met?” Rose tried not to make it sound too much like a question.
“Shorter and straighter,” Charlie said, still puzzling at her. “And you were just as bloody enigmatic then as you are now.”
Rose blushed. “I...don’t really know what that means.”
“Means you’re interesting,” Charlie supplied, accentuating his point by gesturing at her with his beer and winking. “And mysterious.”
Rose flushed even deeper as he smiled at her - fondly she thought - and his eyes crinkled in the corners in much the same way that the Doctor’s did. Despite Charlie’s crooked jaw and snub nose, he really was quite good looking Rose thought absently. His eyes were startlingly blue up close too, especially with the dark smudges of eyeliner outlining them...
“You know I never forgot what you said to me?” Charlie said softly and Rose startled out of her reverie. She actually had to lean forward in order to hear him properly. “Not in all these years. And you were absolutely right. I’ve seen so many amazing places on tour and it’s been brilliant...”
“Baby brother!”
Rose jumped back as a set of lanky arms appeared over the back of the couch and enveloped her counterpart in a half nelson that was obviously intended to be a hug.
“Liam!” Charlie said tersely, struggling with the man behind him. “Get off me you idiot!”
“Right, right sorry. Who’s this?” Liam asked. His eyes fixed blearily on Rose and he startled clumsily when he saw her shirt. “Whoa! Great T-shirt!”
Rose plucked at the hem of it uncertainly. “Thanks?”
“We should’ve had T-shirts like that on our drive across America tour!” Liam said, jaw dangling lopsidedly as he openly ogled the Union Jack design. “That’s brilliant that is! Where’d you get it?”
“I dunno,” Rose admitted shooting a desperate glance at Charlie. “Can’t remember now.”
“This is my brother,” Charlie explained, finally managing to detangle himself from Liam’s stranglehold with great embarrassment. “Liam this is Rose.”
Liam reached a sweaty hand over and Rose took it briefly. “You’ve got gorgeous eyes,” he slurred, leaning right forward and leering at her. His breath reeked of stale beer and Rose shrank back a little, trying to pull her hand out of his tight grasp. “I’ll bet you’ve got a nice arse too. Do you?”
“Liam,” Charlie said sharply as Rose began to burn with embarrassment. “Stop being a git and bugger off would you?”
Liam stared at Rose a moment longer before turning back to his younger brother. Charlie looked absolutely livid. “Yeah alright,” Liam mumbled, finally pulling away. Rose surreptitiously wiped her hand on her jeans. “I got it right? She’s your shag not mine. I’ll just piss off then...”
And with that he ambled off back into the crowd, weaving drunkenly through a group of scantily clad girls and leaving an awkward silence hanging between the two he’d left behind.
“Sorry about him,” Charlie muttered, touching his hair self consciously and avoiding her eyes. “He’s not usually that much of a wanker.”
“S’alright,” Rose said but just at that moment, there was a sudden roar from the crowd and the Doctor came rushing back supporting a decidedly green tinged Jack Harkness.
“I think we need to get Jack back to the TARDIS...” he began tersely and then paused as Jack bent over double and vomited in a rather spectacular fashion all over the floor, splashing the Doctor’s boots. All present grimaced and then the Doctor offered Charlie a tight smile. “Nice to meet you Charlie Pace. Sorry to cut this short but we really must dash. Rose?” he turned to her.
“I’ll meet you outside in a mo’,” Rose told him quickly.
“Be quick would you?” the Doctor said in desperately clipped tones as he hauled Jack bodily towards the door. “I really can’t stand the smell of human sick...”
“So who exactly are those two then?” Charlie said and Rose turned to see him frowning after her companions. “They’re a bit...off.”
“They’re my friends,” Rose said, somewhat defensively. Charlie raised an eyebrow at that and she shrugged defiantly. “We sort of...travel together.”
“Interesting company for a bird your age,” Charlie observed with a wry grin. “Especially that Doctor bloke. Didn’t think you were that sort.”
Rose flushed. “Oh,” she said. “No it’s not like...we’re not...”
“It’s alright,” Charlie grinned cheekily. “Not like I haven’t gone for older birds before. Or two at once for that matter.”
“Look...I’m really sorry but I’ve got to go,” Rose apologised quickly, trying to hide her rapidly darkening blush. “Sorry. Wish I could stay.”
“Yeah,” Charlie said heavily. “Never mind though. D’you need someone to walk you guys to your car or the tube or something? I’d offer but...well I’d probably get mobbed by fans looking for autographs and pictures and stuff.”
Rose giggled momentarily at the mental image of one of the bouncers walking them back to the TARDIS and watching it dematerialise. But then she suddenly remembered part of the reason she had wanted to come backstage in the first place and a crafty smile spread across her face.
“Actually,” she said, linking her arms with his. “I was wondering if you could do something for me...”
~*~
Lunch in Cardiff had become a rather rowdy affair - especially with Jack constantly taking the floor and regaling them all with cautionary tales from his days as a con man. But when Mickey started banging on about the latest band he was keen on Rose squealed so suddenly and so loudly that all three men with her froze.
“Oh my God I can’t believe I forgot to tell you!” she said excitedly. “You’ll never believe who we went and saw Mickey!”
“Who?” Mickey asked, non-plussed.
“You’ll never guess it,” Rose told him somewhat smugly and the Doctor rolled his eyes good humouredly.
“Well maybe you’d better tell me then,” Mickey said patiently. “I’m rubbish at guessing games.”
Rose leant forward, lowered her voice, and then spilled the proverbial beans. “DriveShaft.”
“No way!”
“Yes way! That’s not the best bit though...” Rose flapped her hand at the Doctor to garner his attention. “You still got the CD in your jacket?” The Doctor grumbled and it took him several minutes of rummaging through his multitude of pockets but eventually he located the CD case and after wiping something that looked suspiciously like apricot jam off it he offered it to Mickey. “Look,” Rose said, triumphantly leaning across the table to jab a finger at it. “Autographed an’ everything.”
“No kidding?” Mickey’s eyes popped. “Oh my God! That’s got Charlie Pace’s signature on it! He’s the bassist!”
“I know!” Rose squealed. “I met him!”
Mickey looked up at her, still agog, and stabbed a finger at the CD case in his hand. “You know this is worth a fortune right?”
“What you mean?” Rose asked, oblivious.
“Well...he’s dead - the bassist that is.” Mickey said but at Rose’s shocked expression he elaborated slightly. “It was all over the news - a plane crash or something. Yeah. It happened a year or two back. Don’t you remember?”
“Oh,” Rose deflated slightly. “Yeah. I remember now.”
There was a long silence between the four of them.
“You alright?” the Doctor finally asked, his voice a tentative mixture of gruff tenderness.
“Yeah...s’just...” Rose paused and as her demeanour crumpled further Jack put a protective arm around her shoulders and took the opportunity to glare at Mickey.
“I don’t like this guy,” he whispered loudly to the Doctor and Rose. “He’s a bit of a party pooper.”
Rose gave a tiny smile at this but Mickey didn’t look pleased.
“Yeah well this guy’s got ears.” he said sourly.
“And terrible fashion sense too apparently,” Jack shot back immediately, eyeing Mickey’s jacket with disdain. “Fake fur? I mean really...”
“At least I don’t tuck my shirt in,” Mickey snorted. “Who picked out your gear anyway - your mum?”
“Oi, behave you two!” the Doctor interjected loudly. “You’re like a pair of bickering children.”
The two men looked momentarily stunned at this assessment and then they took to glaring at each other. Rose glanced sideways at the Doctor and they shared an exasperated look.
“Thanks though,” Mickey said, finally breaking eye contact with Jack. “For the CD. S’great.”
“S’fine,” Rose said faintly and then Jack barrelled back into the conversation with about as much subtlety as a rampaging bear.
“Well then - shall we get off this topic and onto something a little more fun? Did I ever tell you guys about the time...?”
PART THREE