Held in Trust: Chapter 5
Title: Held in Trust (5/?)
Characters/Pairings:Duplicate Doctor/Rose, Alt!Donna, the Tyler clan, and lots of OC's.
Rating: Teen
Summary: An Alt!Ten, Rose and Alt!Donna Adventure!
Join our heroes as they investigate a mysterious man from the future, an apocalyptic death cult, and the wonders of the internal combustion engine.Previous Chapters: Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4
A/N: Sequel to The One True Free Life
. It's not entirely necessary to have read that, but if you're finding yourself at any point going, "Huh?" it's just probably something that was explained in that story.
"I don't know what to do."
Since their original confrontation with someone who'd quite personally and specifically wanted to do bodily harm to the Doctor and, by extension Rose, there had been very little actual serious jeopardy involved in their subsequent jaunts about the countryside. With the Doctor, Donna had encountered plenty of strange things--mutants, aliens, and a few rather harmlessly misguided humans--but mostly it had all been quite a laugh. Even the time they got covered in purple goo from head to foot had, in hindsight, been fairly amusing, most especially the chagrined look on the Doctor's face as he examined himself in the reflection of a shop window and realised that his hair had been quite thoroughly pasted down with the stuff.
It had only been a few months, however, and Donna reasoned that their luck was bound to change sooner or later. Now that it appeared to have done, she found herself for a few brief seconds at a loss for what to tell the Doctor. His unusual admission of helplessness was so outside of the purview of their normal working relationship, she felt like she almost had to reboot her entire system to deal with it.
"Nonsense," she said finally, and beyond it just being a reassuring thing that one says, she meant it. "You know what to do, you just don't know how. Tell me what you need and we'll worry about the why later."
"We have to get to her, get to Glastonbury, I have to save her--"
"Save her from what?" Donna packed up the telescope and tea as she held her phone between her shoulder and ear.
"I don't know!" the Doctor shouted again, as if it were a personal affront to him to even ask. "She dropped her phone and I could hear a struggle and I don't know what happened next."
"Do you know for certain that she even needs saving?" Had Donna been face to face with the Doctor, she wasn't sure she would have had the nerve to gainsay his assessment of the situation in this way, but at a distance she felt bound to present the possibility that he may just be massively over-reacting.
The Doctor's reply began with a lot of flustered spluttering and the beginnings of words that never wound up having an end attached to them. "Well, no, but that's not the point!" he finally managed to bite out. Both "no" and "point" emerged as having two syllables each and Donna held the phone away from her ear due to his increasing volume.
"All right, keep your shirt on. I'm not in London so I'll have to make some excuse to get away from my mum and dreadful cousin Charlotte. Might take some time, is that okay?"
"How fast can you get here?" It was really more of a demand than a question and Donna tried to focus on the possible danger Rose was in rather than the extremely presumptuous attitude of the Doctor.
"I'm in Bexhill, so a good hour, maybe more. Don't Rose's parents have a car and driver? They're a lot closer."
There was a silence that seemed in some inimitable way to be a bit more than just a dodgy connection or lack of things to say.
"Well...I wouldn't want them to worry...needlessly." The Doctor said quietly, at length.
"If by worry needlessly you mean kick your arse halfway to Llandudno for putting their daughter in harm's way, I can see what you mean. I would like to point out that it's not always about you, however." She entered cousin Charlotte's house and dumped the various items from the stargazing outing in the mud room. "Look, I've got to go. I'll get there as soon as I can. Don't worry, we'll find her. It'll all be okay, I promise. All right? Tell me you're not going to do something stupid between now and when I get there."
"What would I--"
"Tell me you're not going to do something stupid between now and when I get there,' she repeatedly, more deliberately.
"I will not do anything stupid between now and when you get here," he sighed. "Just...please hurry."
In the ten or so minutes after Donna rung off (eleven minutes, thirty-nine and nine-tenths of a second, give or take a few nanoseconds) the Doctor made a few new discoveries.
It is very hard to pace on crutches, and it is even harder to pace while pulling one's hair on crutches.
Smell is the strongest and most evocative of the five human senses.
Having "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" as one's ringtone is not appropriate in all circumstances. The Doctor didn't recognise the number of the incoming call and came close to silencing it under the assumption that it was someone in need of a mechanic for classic cars.
"Hello?" His greeting was clipped and cold, letting whomever was on the line know instantly that this was not a good time.
"Doctor! Doctor, it's me!"
Rose. Of course, Rose. Naturally she'd been able to get out of a scrape. And of course she also knew he'd worry until she contacted him again. The Doctor suddenly felt extremely silly and embarrassed.
"Rose! Oh, jolly good! I knew you'd be all right, was just waiting here for your call. Just, you know, got my foot up, glass of wine, I'd Do Anything is on the telly. Knew you'd ring--'course you would! Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth, ringer of phones. Jolly good! Did I already say that?"
"You were freaking out, weren't you?" she giggled, like this had been no big deal, just another tight spot, easily gotten out of. Just another little lark.
"Me? Not at all. Well, maybe just a little. Had to talk Donna off a ledge though."
"Yeah, that's likely," Rose snorted sarcastically. "Hang on...I've only been off the line with you for like fifteen minutes. I drove straight in to town and popped in to the first hotel I could find to call. When did you talk to Donna in the midst of all that relaxed foot-putting-upping and naff-reality-TV-show-watching?"
"Well, I may have rung her just to...you know, keep her apprised of the situation in progress."
"I think you had better let her know she can turn around and go back home now," Rose said casually.
"Oh, yes I suppose I...wait. I never said I asked her to go anywhere."
"I'll be home in a couple of hours, yeah? Think I might need some, you know, reassurance from my big strong protector."
"But how did you know--" he spluttered, his voice going up an octave, as it did when he was confused.
"Goodbye, Doctor."
***
"Hello, Doctor." Rose popped her head through the doorway first, followed by the rest of her. Her jeans were covered in mud around the ankles and knees, and there were a few stray leaves still in her hair. She wiggled her fingers in greeting and tossed his keys back on to the coffee table. "I'm sorry I lost yourgizmo."
"Thingamajig," he corrected from his perch on the sofa.
"Whatever." She fell back in to a chair and started taking her trainers off. They too were covered in mud and she'd left cartoonish little tracks on the hardwood. "So I'd say our time travelling friend or friends aren't very friendly after all. More like time travelling grump or grumps. Misery or miseries. Arsehole or arseholes--"
Rose found herself mid-amusement being approached at a very fast rate and alarming angle by the Doctor, who had lurched off the sofa one-legged and launched himself directly at her.
"Oi!" she cried, putting her hands up reflexively. "Let me get my shoes off!"
Gravity had taken over, however--treacherous force that it is--and the Doctor toppled in to her lap with little dignity and even less grace.
"I was freaking out," he admitted as he awkwardly wedged his skinny frame in to the chair with her.
"And did you apologise to Donna?" Rose managed to kick her second shoe off while he struggled to get himself rearranged.
"Profusely."
"Did you say you were sorry for being all shouty and bossy? And don't try to deny that you were."
"Maybe not in so many words," he said softly against her neck as he began to land tiny kisses there.
"And can you apologise to me for just assuming I'd get myself killed if you weren't around to save me?"
He sat up straight again and put his hands back in to his own lap. "It's not like that."
"What's it like, then? Because you and Donna go gallivanting off all the time and I worry, of course I worry, but I have a little faith that you don't need me around all the time. Even if I really am the brains of the operation."
He craned his neck so he could more properly cock his head to the side and give her a perplexed look. "You're the what now?"
"Oh, did I let the big secret slip out? Whoops!" She snuggled in to his chest and he managed to unwedge his arm and encircle her as she did so. "I had some time to think on my drive back. Do you want to know what I was thinking about?" she asked, running a finger in circles on the top of his thigh.
"Oh...uh, yes?" he squeaked.
"Well, I was driving, right, and still all hopped up on adrenaline--and I might have picked up a latte after ringing you, maybe--and a girl gets to thinking, yeah? About her bloke. About how he's got some control issues, but there he is all laid up at home with a busted ankle. Helpless. Having to rely on other people to do for him. My poor, poor Doctor, how you must be hating it." She continued to run her index finger around his leg in an increasingly distracting manner, causing him to squirm, which was difficult considering he was one of two people in a chair built for a solo occupant. "You have to be in control all the time, but here you are, very much not."
He closed his eyes and let his head rest on the back of the chair. "I'm rubbish as a human," he sighed. "I get it."
She moved her hand up to his stomach and began to feel around for the gap between his t-shirt and his jeans. "No, I don't think you do. I think I'm going to need to teach you a little something about control, and the lack thereof."
(To Chapter 6: Human vs. alien)
(Or, if you prefer, the adult-rated "missing scene": Loosening Bonds)
Characters/Pairings:Duplicate Doctor/Rose, Alt!Donna, the Tyler clan, and lots of OC's.
Rating: Teen
Summary: An Alt!Ten, Rose and Alt!Donna Adventure!
Join our heroes as they investigate a mysterious man from the future, an apocalyptic death cult, and the wonders of the internal combustion engine.Previous Chapters: Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4
A/N: Sequel to The One True Free Life
. It's not entirely necessary to have read that, but if you're finding yourself at any point going, "Huh?" it's just probably something that was explained in that story.
"I don't know what to do."
Since their original confrontation with someone who'd quite personally and specifically wanted to do bodily harm to the Doctor and, by extension Rose, there had been very little actual serious jeopardy involved in their subsequent jaunts about the countryside. With the Doctor, Donna had encountered plenty of strange things--mutants, aliens, and a few rather harmlessly misguided humans--but mostly it had all been quite a laugh. Even the time they got covered in purple goo from head to foot had, in hindsight, been fairly amusing, most especially the chagrined look on the Doctor's face as he examined himself in the reflection of a shop window and realised that his hair had been quite thoroughly pasted down with the stuff.
It had only been a few months, however, and Donna reasoned that their luck was bound to change sooner or later. Now that it appeared to have done, she found herself for a few brief seconds at a loss for what to tell the Doctor. His unusual admission of helplessness was so outside of the purview of their normal working relationship, she felt like she almost had to reboot her entire system to deal with it.
"Nonsense," she said finally, and beyond it just being a reassuring thing that one says, she meant it. "You know what to do, you just don't know how. Tell me what you need and we'll worry about the why later."
"We have to get to her, get to Glastonbury, I have to save her--"
"Save her from what?" Donna packed up the telescope and tea as she held her phone between her shoulder and ear.
"I don't know!" the Doctor shouted again, as if it were a personal affront to him to even ask. "She dropped her phone and I could hear a struggle and I don't know what happened next."
"Do you know for certain that she even needs saving?" Had Donna been face to face with the Doctor, she wasn't sure she would have had the nerve to gainsay his assessment of the situation in this way, but at a distance she felt bound to present the possibility that he may just be massively over-reacting.
The Doctor's reply began with a lot of flustered spluttering and the beginnings of words that never wound up having an end attached to them. "Well, no, but that's not the point!" he finally managed to bite out. Both "no" and "point" emerged as having two syllables each and Donna held the phone away from her ear due to his increasing volume.
"All right, keep your shirt on. I'm not in London so I'll have to make some excuse to get away from my mum and dreadful cousin Charlotte. Might take some time, is that okay?"
"How fast can you get here?" It was really more of a demand than a question and Donna tried to focus on the possible danger Rose was in rather than the extremely presumptuous attitude of the Doctor.
"I'm in Bexhill, so a good hour, maybe more. Don't Rose's parents have a car and driver? They're a lot closer."
There was a silence that seemed in some inimitable way to be a bit more than just a dodgy connection or lack of things to say.
"Well...I wouldn't want them to worry...needlessly." The Doctor said quietly, at length.
"If by worry needlessly you mean kick your arse halfway to Llandudno for putting their daughter in harm's way, I can see what you mean. I would like to point out that it's not always about you, however." She entered cousin Charlotte's house and dumped the various items from the stargazing outing in the mud room. "Look, I've got to go. I'll get there as soon as I can. Don't worry, we'll find her. It'll all be okay, I promise. All right? Tell me you're not going to do something stupid between now and when I get there."
"What would I--"
"Tell me you're not going to do something stupid between now and when I get there,' she repeatedly, more deliberately.
"I will not do anything stupid between now and when you get here," he sighed. "Just...please hurry."
In the ten or so minutes after Donna rung off (eleven minutes, thirty-nine and nine-tenths of a second, give or take a few nanoseconds) the Doctor made a few new discoveries.
It is very hard to pace on crutches, and it is even harder to pace while pulling one's hair on crutches.
Smell is the strongest and most evocative of the five human senses.
Having "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" as one's ringtone is not appropriate in all circumstances. The Doctor didn't recognise the number of the incoming call and came close to silencing it under the assumption that it was someone in need of a mechanic for classic cars.
"Hello?" His greeting was clipped and cold, letting whomever was on the line know instantly that this was not a good time.
"Doctor! Doctor, it's me!"
Rose. Of course, Rose. Naturally she'd been able to get out of a scrape. And of course she also knew he'd worry until she contacted him again. The Doctor suddenly felt extremely silly and embarrassed.
"Rose! Oh, jolly good! I knew you'd be all right, was just waiting here for your call. Just, you know, got my foot up, glass of wine, I'd Do Anything is on the telly. Knew you'd ring--'course you would! Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth, ringer of phones. Jolly good! Did I already say that?"
"You were freaking out, weren't you?" she giggled, like this had been no big deal, just another tight spot, easily gotten out of. Just another little lark.
"Me? Not at all. Well, maybe just a little. Had to talk Donna off a ledge though."
"Yeah, that's likely," Rose snorted sarcastically. "Hang on...I've only been off the line with you for like fifteen minutes. I drove straight in to town and popped in to the first hotel I could find to call. When did you talk to Donna in the midst of all that relaxed foot-putting-upping and naff-reality-TV-show-watching?"
"Well, I may have rung her just to...you know, keep her apprised of the situation in progress."
"I think you had better let her know she can turn around and go back home now," Rose said casually.
"Oh, yes I suppose I...wait. I never said I asked her to go anywhere."
"I'll be home in a couple of hours, yeah? Think I might need some, you know, reassurance from my big strong protector."
"But how did you know--" he spluttered, his voice going up an octave, as it did when he was confused.
"Goodbye, Doctor."
***
"Hello, Doctor." Rose popped her head through the doorway first, followed by the rest of her. Her jeans were covered in mud around the ankles and knees, and there were a few stray leaves still in her hair. She wiggled her fingers in greeting and tossed his keys back on to the coffee table. "I'm sorry I lost yourgizmo."
"Thingamajig," he corrected from his perch on the sofa.
"Whatever." She fell back in to a chair and started taking her trainers off. They too were covered in mud and she'd left cartoonish little tracks on the hardwood. "So I'd say our time travelling friend or friends aren't very friendly after all. More like time travelling grump or grumps. Misery or miseries. Arsehole or arseholes--"
Rose found herself mid-amusement being approached at a very fast rate and alarming angle by the Doctor, who had lurched off the sofa one-legged and launched himself directly at her.
"Oi!" she cried, putting her hands up reflexively. "Let me get my shoes off!"
Gravity had taken over, however--treacherous force that it is--and the Doctor toppled in to her lap with little dignity and even less grace.
"I was freaking out," he admitted as he awkwardly wedged his skinny frame in to the chair with her.
"And did you apologise to Donna?" Rose managed to kick her second shoe off while he struggled to get himself rearranged.
"Profusely."
"Did you say you were sorry for being all shouty and bossy? And don't try to deny that you were."
"Maybe not in so many words," he said softly against her neck as he began to land tiny kisses there.
"And can you apologise to me for just assuming I'd get myself killed if you weren't around to save me?"
He sat up straight again and put his hands back in to his own lap. "It's not like that."
"What's it like, then? Because you and Donna go gallivanting off all the time and I worry, of course I worry, but I have a little faith that you don't need me around all the time. Even if I really am the brains of the operation."
He craned his neck so he could more properly cock his head to the side and give her a perplexed look. "You're the what now?"
"Oh, did I let the big secret slip out? Whoops!" She snuggled in to his chest and he managed to unwedge his arm and encircle her as she did so. "I had some time to think on my drive back. Do you want to know what I was thinking about?" she asked, running a finger in circles on the top of his thigh.
"Oh...uh, yes?" he squeaked.
"Well, I was driving, right, and still all hopped up on adrenaline--and I might have picked up a latte after ringing you, maybe--and a girl gets to thinking, yeah? About her bloke. About how he's got some control issues, but there he is all laid up at home with a busted ankle. Helpless. Having to rely on other people to do for him. My poor, poor Doctor, how you must be hating it." She continued to run her index finger around his leg in an increasingly distracting manner, causing him to squirm, which was difficult considering he was one of two people in a chair built for a solo occupant. "You have to be in control all the time, but here you are, very much not."
He closed his eyes and let his head rest on the back of the chair. "I'm rubbish as a human," he sighed. "I get it."
She moved her hand up to his stomach and began to feel around for the gap between his t-shirt and his jeans. "No, I don't think you do. I think I'm going to need to teach you a little something about control, and the lack thereof."
(To Chapter 6: Human vs. alien)
(Or, if you prefer, the adult-rated "missing scene": Loosening Bonds)