Tenth Doctor Ficathon Story
Title: Volcano Day
Author: Settiai
Rating: PG
Characters: Mickey, Rose, Tenth Doctor
Thanks: Many thanks to deludedvision, donna_c_punk, and kesomon for all of their help with this story, whether it was volunteering to beta read, bouncing story ideas back and forth, or threatening to beat me over a head with a 2x4 if I didn't get this thing finished.
Notes: This story was written for casirafics, and I'm really sorry that it's so overdue. It's been fighting against me the entire time, and I kept having to rework it. For some of your prompts, I think I might have intepreted them a little differently than what you meant ... so, if this story isn't at all what you wanted, please let me know. I'm more than willing to give it another shot.
Rose Tyler let out a moan as she buried her head in her pillow. Even though time wasn't exactly something you could bank on inside the TARDIS, it had only been a few days-plus or minus a few years, centuries, or maybe even millennia-since the world as she knew it had been thrown into complete chaos.
She had known, in the back of her head at least, that there had been others who had traveled with the Doctor before her. He had even mentioned that fact once or twice. Actually meeting one of his former companions had made it real to her, though, forcing her to actually think about what his words had meant. Until she had met Sarah Jane, Rose had never really considered the possibility that other people might have once been as close to the Doctor as she was now.
Or that he had left them behind.
"You just leave us behind. Is that what you're going to do to me?"
"No. Not to you."
Rose sighed. Despite the warning Sarah Jane had given her, she had really thought that the Doctor was telling the truth. He had promised that he'd never leave her behind, and she had been certain that he wouldn't.
Then, on their very next trip, he had abandoned her and Mickey without a second thought.
She reluctantly pulled her head away from her pillow and focused her attention on the wall opposite her instead. When the Doctor had first gotten back, she had just been relieved to see him. It wasn't until she'd actually had time to think about what had happened, and what could have happened, that she had started to get angry.
What if he hadn't found a way to get back? She and Mickey were on a broken-down spaceship, two and a half galaxies and over three thousand years away from home. Neither of them knew how to work the TARDIS, not completely on their own at least.
He had, essentially, abandoned them. It had only been a stroke of luck that it hadn't been permanent.
As if he could read her mood-and, at times, she honestly wasn't sure if he really could or if he just had impeccable timing-the door to her room suddenly flung open and the Doctor poked his head in. "Mind if I come in?"
"Would you actually listen if I said 'no' to that?" Rose asked dryly.
He just gave her a cheeky grin and took several large steps inside. After a second, Mickey came in as well, but he stopped just inside the door and stared at her.
"I thought you'd like to pick where we went next," the Doctor said, still grinning.
Rose shot him a dark look. "I'm not in the mood."
His grin faded just a bit as he seemed to realize that she was serious. "Is something wrong, Rose?"
"Let's just say I've got a lot on my mind."
Mickey's eyes suddenly widened in comprehension. "Like what?" the Doctor asked, still looking completely confused as to what was going on.
"Oh, nothing much," she replied dryly. "I'm just trying to figure out your definition of 'no, not to you.' You see, I took that to mean never. Of course, Jack probably figured the same thing, same as Sarah Jane did."
The Doctor looked completely baffled at her reaction, but it was obvious that Mickey knew her well enough to know that retreat would be the best option at that moment. He grabbed the Doctor's arm and quickly gestured toward the door. "Right then," he said, with the practice of someone who'd learned the hard way not to ignore her moods, "we'll just leave you alone for a bit."
"We will?" the Doctor asked, raising an eyebrow as he glanced at Mickey. Then he looked back at Rose, studied her face for a second, and nodded. "We will."
Rose couldn't help but smile a bit as she watched Mickey practically drag the Doctor out of her room and shut the door behind them. When she realized what she was doing, though, she grimaced and let out a self-deprecating laugh. She was supposed to be angry at him, not annoyed with a bit of amusement on the side.
She sighed again, but this time it was one of resignation. "I'm hopeless," she muttered. "I can't even stay upset with him when he deserves it."
"And you used to call me an idiot," Mickey muttered.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "What exactly does that mean?" he asked. Then he glanced at Rose's shut door and frowned a little. "And do you have any idea what just happened?"
Mickey just shook his head. "You know, for a however-old-you-are alien, you can be pretty clueless at times."
The Doctor just stared at him.
Sighing, Mickey reached up to run his fingers through his hair. "She's upset that you left us on that spaceship," he said pointedly. "It's probably just sinking in that we would have been stuck there if you hadn't happened across a way back."
At that, the Doctor frowned. "If I hadn't found a way back, you could have used the TARDIS to return home. That's what I expected you to do anyway. I was actually surprised that you waited. Relieved, but still a little surprised."
Mickey couldn't help but shoot him an incredulous look at that. "Used the TARDIS to return home?" he repeated. "Seriously. Do you really think Rose knows how to use that ship of yours on her on?"
The Doctor's frown deepened. "The TARDIS knows how to get the two of you home," he explained slowly, as if he was speaking to a small child. "If something happened to me, she'd know what to do."
Mickey just raised an eyebrow. "And we were supposed to know this ... how?"
For a minute, the Doctor stared at him. Then he frowned and glanced at Rose's door. "I see your point," he admitted reluctantly before taking a few steps back toward her room. "Maybe I should try to explain."
Mickey quickly grabbed him by the arm to stop him from taking another step. "I really wouldn't do that if I was you," he said warningly. "Trust me, you want to wait until she's in a better mood."
"And how would you know that?" the Doctor asked, more than a hint of exasperation in his voice.
"I've known her for practically my entire life," Mickey said, an almost amused look on his face. "I've seen her in this kind of mood every month for the past eight years. Trust me, unless you want to risk changing bodies again, I'd wait."
The Doctor was smart enough not to comment on that. Instead, he let his gaze drift between Mickey and Rose's closed door for several seconds. "Since you're trying to prove that you're not an idiot anymore, what would you suggest?"
Mickey didn't say anything for a second, and he looked like he was thinking. Then he smiled just a little. "She mentioned that Jack bloke, right?" he asked, pretending not to notice the way the Doctor flinched when he mentioned the former conman's name. "The one you traveled with for awhile?"
"Your point?"
"If she mentioned him, then that probably means she's been missing him lately," Mickey explained, though he got the impression that the Doctor knew where he was going since he was already shaking his head. "Couldn't you, I don't know, go find him or something?"
The Doctor just shook his head. "He has things to do," he said firmly. "We don't need to go looking for him right now."
Mickey frowned for a second, but then he shrugged. "Then why can't you go looking for him in the past? His past, I mean. Rose mentioned that he used to hang out in Pompeii right before it was destroyed, so why couldn't you go looking for him there?"
"Volcano day," the Doctor said quietly, suddenly appearing lost in thought. Then he snapped back into the present. "There's only one problem with that," he said, shooting Mickey a look that pretty much said any he was back to being an idiot in his books. "Jack had obviously never met us before, so changing that fact would mean we were meddling with our own time streams. Trust me when I say that's not a good idea."
Mickey just smirked. "Did I say anything about him seeing us?"
The Doctor opened his mouth ... and then he shut it back. "Mickey Smith," he said, suddenly grinning again. "You might very well have just moved yourself from idiot to genius."
Rose was careful to keep a blasé expression on her face as the Doctor literally pulled her toward the TARDIS's exit, but she couldn't help but admit to herself that she was feeling a little bit of excitement. The Doctor had refused to say where they were, and she couldn't help but be a bit curious. She was fairly certain that the outfit he had given her to wear was from ancient times, or at least close to ancient times.
"For the last time," she asked plaintively, "will one of you tell me where exactly we are?"
The Doctor gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Let's just say it has something I thought you might be interested in seeing."
Mickey cleared his throat. Loudly.
"He might have helped a little," the Doctor admitted, gesturing vaguely behind him.
Rose had to struggle to keep herself from smiling, but it was obvious to both of the men with her that her mood was rapidly improving. "And what exactly is it that you think I'd be interested in seeing?"
"Jack."
She froze. "I thought you said we couldn't...."
"Before you met him," Mickey cut in quickly. "The Doctor gave me that spiel too, so I thought this would be the next best thing."
A slightly confused look on her face, Rose let her gaze move between the two of them for a second. "I don't understand," she finally said. "How could you know where to find him if it's before we...." She trailed off and comprehension suddenly dawned on her face. "Volcano day," she said, her mouth twitching just a bit as she struggled not to smile. "We're in Pompeii, aren't we?"
The Doctor just grinned at her as he reached for the door. "Close your eyes."
As she closed her eyes, Rose quickly ran her mind over pictures she'd seen of the ruins of Pompeii. Villas, bath houses, well-built Roman roads....
Rose felt a rush of warm air suddenly run over her face, and she eagerly opened her eyes. She was expecting to see a well-built Roman city, with Roman citizens making their way through their daily routine without a second thought.
Instead, the buildings looked a lot more primitive ... and most of them seemed to be in the process of being enlarged.
"You know, I've seen pictures of the ruins of Pompeii," Rose said dryly. "This doesn't look like them."
"I see what you mean," Mickey said as he stepped up beside her.
Behind them, the Doctor clapped his hands together. "Oh, this is fantastic!"
Both of them glanced back at him. "How did I know he was going to say that?" Mickey asked, a hint of worry in his voice.
"Because he always says that," Rose said, blowing a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. Then she turned her attention completely onto the Doctor. "So, just how far off course did we end up this time?"
"This time?" Mickey cut in. "I thought you had things pretty much figured out. Are you saying you don't know where or when you're going to end up in this thing?"
The Doctor shot him an exasperated look. "This thing has a name," he said coldly. "She's called the TARDIS, and she takes us exactly where we want to go. Usually."
Mickey frowned. "Usually?"
"Still waiting for an answer," Rose cut in, her mouth twisting into a smile despite herself.
The Doctor immediately turned away from Mickey and grinned at her. "We're exactly where we wanted to be," he said. "We're just a few millennia too early."
Mickey's face lit up. "So we're talking BC?"
"I'd say so," the Doctor said, sounding just as eager. "If I'm not mistaken, we're probably somewhere in the 5th century BC. This entire region's been conquered by the Samnites recently, so everything's in turmoil."
"That's so cool," Mickey said, peering outside.
Rose cleared her throat. "We were here for a reason, remember?"
Both of them had the good grace to look sheepish. "Right," the Doctor said. "Let's try this again."
They all gathered around the door and peered out, moments before Mickey and Rose shared a quick look.
"This still doesn't look right," Mickey said.
The Doctor peered over their shoulders and nodded. "It looks fairly Greek," he said after a second or two.
Rose couldn't help it. Even though she was still trying her hardest to stay angry with the Doctor, the light-hearted words slipped out before she could stop them. "It's all Greek to me."
Mickey snorted, and the Doctor gave her an amused look. "It looks like we went further in the past," he said. "Let's make sure we hit the future this time."
They waved at the startled-looking tourists wearing clothes that were obviously from what Rose and Mickey considered to be modern times standing outside the TARDIS before quickly shutting the door.
"A little too far in the future?" Rose suggested.
"Funny," the Doctor said dryly. "Very funny."
A wave of volcanic ash blew into the TARDIS as soon as they opened the door, causing Mickey to jump back as Rose and the Doctor quickly shut the door back.
"Well, I think we made it to when Vesuvius erupted," the Doctor said with a weak grin.
Rose only opened the door a tiny crack before she slammed it shut. "There are pink aliens out there," she said, raising an eyebrow.
"Really?" Mickey asked, trying to push past her. "Let me have a look."
The Doctor just frowned. "Do they have three arms?"
"Yeah," Rose said with a nod. "And four eyes."
"33rd century then," the Doctor said after a few seconds had passed. "More tourists."
"Don't even open the door," Rose said suddenly.
Mickey and the Doctor both stared at her, and she managed to give them a weak smile. "I'm getting the impression that someone really doesn't want us to be in Pompeii at the same time as Jack," she said, her eyes drifting over to the main controls of the TARDIS.
"You're just going to give up?" the Doctor asked incredulously.
"Why don't we just call it taking a hint," Rose said with a weak grin. Then she shrugged. "Besides, you were doing all of this to get me into a better mood, right? Look at it this way ... it worked."
At that, Mickey let out a relieved sigh. "It's about time," he said, shaking his head as he headed toward hallway that led to his room.
"Hey!" The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Hold on a second, just where do you think you're going?"
Mickey rolled his eyes. "I'm going to go get cleaned up," he said, gesturing down to his ash-covered shirt. "Besides, it doesn't take an idiot to see that the two of you need to talk." He held up a finger when the Doctor started to comment. "Don't say it, just ... don't."
Rose barely held back a laugh as he disappeared from the room, and the Doctor couldn't help but shoot an impressed look in the direction that Mickey had disappeared in. "You know, I think he's already starting to grow a spine."
"Don't start in on him," Rose said lightly. Then she sighed and dropped down to sit on the floor. After a minute, the Doctor knelt down beside her and carefully crossed his legs underneath him.
"Mickey told me that you'd fixed up the TARDIS so we'd be able to get home," Rose said quietly. "I probably should have known you'd have something like that set up."
"Yeah, you should have," the Doctor said immediately. Then he reached out and gently squeezed her hand. "I probably should have mentioned it, though."
"Yeah, you should have," she shot back, smiling a bit as she spoke.
For several minutes, they just sat there in silence. "Can I ask you a question?" Rose asked suddenly.
The Doctor didn't say anything for a few seconds, but then he nodded. Rose took a deep breath. "Sarah Jane wasn't the only one that you left behind, right?"
After a second, he nodded.
"Did anyone of them leave for other reasons?"
For a minute, he didn't say anything. "Some chose to leave," he said reluctantly. "Some had about as much choice in the matter as I did."
Rose frowned. "Did any of them die?"
His silence answered that question quite clearly.
"I meant what I said about not leaving you," he finally replied.
They stared at each other for a minute before they both started to smile. Then the Doctor's morphed into an outright grin. "Come on," he said lightly, grabbing her hand and pulling Rose to her feet. "We better go find Mickey before he wanders into that room with the man-eating plants."
Rose raised an eyebrow. "I thought you got rid of those after they tried to eat Adam?"
He just winked at her.
Author: Settiai
Rating: PG
Characters: Mickey, Rose, Tenth Doctor
Thanks: Many thanks to deludedvision, donna_c_punk, and kesomon for all of their help with this story, whether it was volunteering to beta read, bouncing story ideas back and forth, or threatening to beat me over a head with a 2x4 if I didn't get this thing finished.
Notes: This story was written for casirafics, and I'm really sorry that it's so overdue. It's been fighting against me the entire time, and I kept having to rework it. For some of your prompts, I think I might have intepreted them a little differently than what you meant ... so, if this story isn't at all what you wanted, please let me know. I'm more than willing to give it another shot.
Rose Tyler let out a moan as she buried her head in her pillow. Even though time wasn't exactly something you could bank on inside the TARDIS, it had only been a few days-plus or minus a few years, centuries, or maybe even millennia-since the world as she knew it had been thrown into complete chaos.
She had known, in the back of her head at least, that there had been others who had traveled with the Doctor before her. He had even mentioned that fact once or twice. Actually meeting one of his former companions had made it real to her, though, forcing her to actually think about what his words had meant. Until she had met Sarah Jane, Rose had never really considered the possibility that other people might have once been as close to the Doctor as she was now.
Or that he had left them behind.
"You just leave us behind. Is that what you're going to do to me?"
"No. Not to you."
Rose sighed. Despite the warning Sarah Jane had given her, she had really thought that the Doctor was telling the truth. He had promised that he'd never leave her behind, and she had been certain that he wouldn't.
Then, on their very next trip, he had abandoned her and Mickey without a second thought.
She reluctantly pulled her head away from her pillow and focused her attention on the wall opposite her instead. When the Doctor had first gotten back, she had just been relieved to see him. It wasn't until she'd actually had time to think about what had happened, and what could have happened, that she had started to get angry.
What if he hadn't found a way to get back? She and Mickey were on a broken-down spaceship, two and a half galaxies and over three thousand years away from home. Neither of them knew how to work the TARDIS, not completely on their own at least.
He had, essentially, abandoned them. It had only been a stroke of luck that it hadn't been permanent.
As if he could read her mood-and, at times, she honestly wasn't sure if he really could or if he just had impeccable timing-the door to her room suddenly flung open and the Doctor poked his head in. "Mind if I come in?"
"Would you actually listen if I said 'no' to that?" Rose asked dryly.
He just gave her a cheeky grin and took several large steps inside. After a second, Mickey came in as well, but he stopped just inside the door and stared at her.
"I thought you'd like to pick where we went next," the Doctor said, still grinning.
Rose shot him a dark look. "I'm not in the mood."
His grin faded just a bit as he seemed to realize that she was serious. "Is something wrong, Rose?"
"Let's just say I've got a lot on my mind."
Mickey's eyes suddenly widened in comprehension. "Like what?" the Doctor asked, still looking completely confused as to what was going on.
"Oh, nothing much," she replied dryly. "I'm just trying to figure out your definition of 'no, not to you.' You see, I took that to mean never. Of course, Jack probably figured the same thing, same as Sarah Jane did."
The Doctor looked completely baffled at her reaction, but it was obvious that Mickey knew her well enough to know that retreat would be the best option at that moment. He grabbed the Doctor's arm and quickly gestured toward the door. "Right then," he said, with the practice of someone who'd learned the hard way not to ignore her moods, "we'll just leave you alone for a bit."
"We will?" the Doctor asked, raising an eyebrow as he glanced at Mickey. Then he looked back at Rose, studied her face for a second, and nodded. "We will."
Rose couldn't help but smile a bit as she watched Mickey practically drag the Doctor out of her room and shut the door behind them. When she realized what she was doing, though, she grimaced and let out a self-deprecating laugh. She was supposed to be angry at him, not annoyed with a bit of amusement on the side.
She sighed again, but this time it was one of resignation. "I'm hopeless," she muttered. "I can't even stay upset with him when he deserves it."
"And you used to call me an idiot," Mickey muttered.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "What exactly does that mean?" he asked. Then he glanced at Rose's shut door and frowned a little. "And do you have any idea what just happened?"
Mickey just shook his head. "You know, for a however-old-you-are alien, you can be pretty clueless at times."
The Doctor just stared at him.
Sighing, Mickey reached up to run his fingers through his hair. "She's upset that you left us on that spaceship," he said pointedly. "It's probably just sinking in that we would have been stuck there if you hadn't happened across a way back."
At that, the Doctor frowned. "If I hadn't found a way back, you could have used the TARDIS to return home. That's what I expected you to do anyway. I was actually surprised that you waited. Relieved, but still a little surprised."
Mickey couldn't help but shoot him an incredulous look at that. "Used the TARDIS to return home?" he repeated. "Seriously. Do you really think Rose knows how to use that ship of yours on her on?"
The Doctor's frown deepened. "The TARDIS knows how to get the two of you home," he explained slowly, as if he was speaking to a small child. "If something happened to me, she'd know what to do."
Mickey just raised an eyebrow. "And we were supposed to know this ... how?"
For a minute, the Doctor stared at him. Then he frowned and glanced at Rose's door. "I see your point," he admitted reluctantly before taking a few steps back toward her room. "Maybe I should try to explain."
Mickey quickly grabbed him by the arm to stop him from taking another step. "I really wouldn't do that if I was you," he said warningly. "Trust me, you want to wait until she's in a better mood."
"And how would you know that?" the Doctor asked, more than a hint of exasperation in his voice.
"I've known her for practically my entire life," Mickey said, an almost amused look on his face. "I've seen her in this kind of mood every month for the past eight years. Trust me, unless you want to risk changing bodies again, I'd wait."
The Doctor was smart enough not to comment on that. Instead, he let his gaze drift between Mickey and Rose's closed door for several seconds. "Since you're trying to prove that you're not an idiot anymore, what would you suggest?"
Mickey didn't say anything for a second, and he looked like he was thinking. Then he smiled just a little. "She mentioned that Jack bloke, right?" he asked, pretending not to notice the way the Doctor flinched when he mentioned the former conman's name. "The one you traveled with for awhile?"
"Your point?"
"If she mentioned him, then that probably means she's been missing him lately," Mickey explained, though he got the impression that the Doctor knew where he was going since he was already shaking his head. "Couldn't you, I don't know, go find him or something?"
The Doctor just shook his head. "He has things to do," he said firmly. "We don't need to go looking for him right now."
Mickey frowned for a second, but then he shrugged. "Then why can't you go looking for him in the past? His past, I mean. Rose mentioned that he used to hang out in Pompeii right before it was destroyed, so why couldn't you go looking for him there?"
"Volcano day," the Doctor said quietly, suddenly appearing lost in thought. Then he snapped back into the present. "There's only one problem with that," he said, shooting Mickey a look that pretty much said any he was back to being an idiot in his books. "Jack had obviously never met us before, so changing that fact would mean we were meddling with our own time streams. Trust me when I say that's not a good idea."
Mickey just smirked. "Did I say anything about him seeing us?"
The Doctor opened his mouth ... and then he shut it back. "Mickey Smith," he said, suddenly grinning again. "You might very well have just moved yourself from idiot to genius."
Rose was careful to keep a blasé expression on her face as the Doctor literally pulled her toward the TARDIS's exit, but she couldn't help but admit to herself that she was feeling a little bit of excitement. The Doctor had refused to say where they were, and she couldn't help but be a bit curious. She was fairly certain that the outfit he had given her to wear was from ancient times, or at least close to ancient times.
"For the last time," she asked plaintively, "will one of you tell me where exactly we are?"
The Doctor gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Let's just say it has something I thought you might be interested in seeing."
Mickey cleared his throat. Loudly.
"He might have helped a little," the Doctor admitted, gesturing vaguely behind him.
Rose had to struggle to keep herself from smiling, but it was obvious to both of the men with her that her mood was rapidly improving. "And what exactly is it that you think I'd be interested in seeing?"
"Jack."
She froze. "I thought you said we couldn't...."
"Before you met him," Mickey cut in quickly. "The Doctor gave me that spiel too, so I thought this would be the next best thing."
A slightly confused look on her face, Rose let her gaze move between the two of them for a second. "I don't understand," she finally said. "How could you know where to find him if it's before we...." She trailed off and comprehension suddenly dawned on her face. "Volcano day," she said, her mouth twitching just a bit as she struggled not to smile. "We're in Pompeii, aren't we?"
The Doctor just grinned at her as he reached for the door. "Close your eyes."
As she closed her eyes, Rose quickly ran her mind over pictures she'd seen of the ruins of Pompeii. Villas, bath houses, well-built Roman roads....
Rose felt a rush of warm air suddenly run over her face, and she eagerly opened her eyes. She was expecting to see a well-built Roman city, with Roman citizens making their way through their daily routine without a second thought.
Instead, the buildings looked a lot more primitive ... and most of them seemed to be in the process of being enlarged.
"You know, I've seen pictures of the ruins of Pompeii," Rose said dryly. "This doesn't look like them."
"I see what you mean," Mickey said as he stepped up beside her.
Behind them, the Doctor clapped his hands together. "Oh, this is fantastic!"
Both of them glanced back at him. "How did I know he was going to say that?" Mickey asked, a hint of worry in his voice.
"Because he always says that," Rose said, blowing a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. Then she turned her attention completely onto the Doctor. "So, just how far off course did we end up this time?"
"This time?" Mickey cut in. "I thought you had things pretty much figured out. Are you saying you don't know where or when you're going to end up in this thing?"
The Doctor shot him an exasperated look. "This thing has a name," he said coldly. "She's called the TARDIS, and she takes us exactly where we want to go. Usually."
Mickey frowned. "Usually?"
"Still waiting for an answer," Rose cut in, her mouth twisting into a smile despite herself.
The Doctor immediately turned away from Mickey and grinned at her. "We're exactly where we wanted to be," he said. "We're just a few millennia too early."
Mickey's face lit up. "So we're talking BC?"
"I'd say so," the Doctor said, sounding just as eager. "If I'm not mistaken, we're probably somewhere in the 5th century BC. This entire region's been conquered by the Samnites recently, so everything's in turmoil."
"That's so cool," Mickey said, peering outside.
Rose cleared her throat. "We were here for a reason, remember?"
Both of them had the good grace to look sheepish. "Right," the Doctor said. "Let's try this again."
They all gathered around the door and peered out, moments before Mickey and Rose shared a quick look.
"This still doesn't look right," Mickey said.
The Doctor peered over their shoulders and nodded. "It looks fairly Greek," he said after a second or two.
Rose couldn't help it. Even though she was still trying her hardest to stay angry with the Doctor, the light-hearted words slipped out before she could stop them. "It's all Greek to me."
Mickey snorted, and the Doctor gave her an amused look. "It looks like we went further in the past," he said. "Let's make sure we hit the future this time."
They waved at the startled-looking tourists wearing clothes that were obviously from what Rose and Mickey considered to be modern times standing outside the TARDIS before quickly shutting the door.
"A little too far in the future?" Rose suggested.
"Funny," the Doctor said dryly. "Very funny."
A wave of volcanic ash blew into the TARDIS as soon as they opened the door, causing Mickey to jump back as Rose and the Doctor quickly shut the door back.
"Well, I think we made it to when Vesuvius erupted," the Doctor said with a weak grin.
Rose only opened the door a tiny crack before she slammed it shut. "There are pink aliens out there," she said, raising an eyebrow.
"Really?" Mickey asked, trying to push past her. "Let me have a look."
The Doctor just frowned. "Do they have three arms?"
"Yeah," Rose said with a nod. "And four eyes."
"33rd century then," the Doctor said after a few seconds had passed. "More tourists."
"Don't even open the door," Rose said suddenly.
Mickey and the Doctor both stared at her, and she managed to give them a weak smile. "I'm getting the impression that someone really doesn't want us to be in Pompeii at the same time as Jack," she said, her eyes drifting over to the main controls of the TARDIS.
"You're just going to give up?" the Doctor asked incredulously.
"Why don't we just call it taking a hint," Rose said with a weak grin. Then she shrugged. "Besides, you were doing all of this to get me into a better mood, right? Look at it this way ... it worked."
At that, Mickey let out a relieved sigh. "It's about time," he said, shaking his head as he headed toward hallway that led to his room.
"Hey!" The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Hold on a second, just where do you think you're going?"
Mickey rolled his eyes. "I'm going to go get cleaned up," he said, gesturing down to his ash-covered shirt. "Besides, it doesn't take an idiot to see that the two of you need to talk." He held up a finger when the Doctor started to comment. "Don't say it, just ... don't."
Rose barely held back a laugh as he disappeared from the room, and the Doctor couldn't help but shoot an impressed look in the direction that Mickey had disappeared in. "You know, I think he's already starting to grow a spine."
"Don't start in on him," Rose said lightly. Then she sighed and dropped down to sit on the floor. After a minute, the Doctor knelt down beside her and carefully crossed his legs underneath him.
"Mickey told me that you'd fixed up the TARDIS so we'd be able to get home," Rose said quietly. "I probably should have known you'd have something like that set up."
"Yeah, you should have," the Doctor said immediately. Then he reached out and gently squeezed her hand. "I probably should have mentioned it, though."
"Yeah, you should have," she shot back, smiling a bit as she spoke.
For several minutes, they just sat there in silence. "Can I ask you a question?" Rose asked suddenly.
The Doctor didn't say anything for a few seconds, but then he nodded. Rose took a deep breath. "Sarah Jane wasn't the only one that you left behind, right?"
After a second, he nodded.
"Did anyone of them leave for other reasons?"
For a minute, he didn't say anything. "Some chose to leave," he said reluctantly. "Some had about as much choice in the matter as I did."
Rose frowned. "Did any of them die?"
His silence answered that question quite clearly.
"I meant what I said about not leaving you," he finally replied.
They stared at each other for a minute before they both started to smile. Then the Doctor's morphed into an outright grin. "Come on," he said lightly, grabbing her hand and pulling Rose to her feet. "We better go find Mickey before he wanders into that room with the man-eating plants."
Rose raised an eyebrow. "I thought you got rid of those after they tried to eat Adam?"
He just winked at her.