FIC: Mortgage-Phobic
Title: Mortgage-Phobic
Series: There's The Door!
Rating: T (yelling and some language)
Author: tkel_paris
Summary: The Doctor has some words for Rose regarding her idea of their fate from “The Impossible Planet.” None of which she wants to hear. NOT A ROSE-FRIENDLY FIC.
Disclaimer: That line would never have been uttered had I anything to do with Who. Or else, Rose would've received multiples shocks about how the Doctor lives.
Dedication: My on-line mummy, bas_math_girl.
Author's Note: Didn't anyone notice how horrified the Doctor looked when Rose said that? And what's with saying that when he's just lost his oldest and most important friend in his history?! Really, RTD, what was up with that?!
Mortgage-Phobic
Started May 14, 2012
Finished February 6, 2013
Getting away from the Impossible Planet was the immediate priority after being reunited with Rose. Yes, a hug was called for. They had each survived things that ought to have killed them today. And several hadn't. Several very good people who deserved better. Especially Scootie, the poor kid dying so young. He hoped the three survivors would leave a good legacy.
Although he really felt bad about the Ood. He should investigate them more, because he'd never seen one before that day - and felt bad about Rose's dismissal of them as “so alien”. He'd only ever heard of them as serving humans. He wondered where they came from and how they evolved. Especially how they could possibly have evolved into the “perfect” servant race. His House on Gallifrey had servants, but they were people, too. Something seemed off, and had to be investigated one day.
Giddiness was somewhat expected when one survived a massive threat of death. And he was perhaps the most naturally giddy of the ten men he'd been. His companion certainly was giddy at times. Possibly too giddy. All the time.
Which reminded him, once they were in the Vortex, of something he had to comment on. He didn't bother changing out of his new spacesuit. A psychological boost because he figured that it detracted from his usual good looks, and so Rose might have to listen to his words for a change. Also, if this him could be the giddiest of his ten selves, this him also had the most and the quickest mood swings.
It reminded him of when the... creature that called itself the Devil asked what he believed in. Thanks to anger, all he could say was, “If I believe in one thing... just one thing... I believe in human potential.”
He'd believed that Rose was going to die, and found he wasn't as disturbed as he once had been. Oh, he didn't want a companion to die, but he knew what the greater good was, and if she couldn't be saved... then he'd have to find a way to live with that.
And tell her mother. That had him more scared than the thought of losing Rose. Telling thought.
He turned to Rose, folding his arms and giving her a big frown. “What were you thinking when we thought we'd lost the TARDIS?!”
Rose blinked. “What? What did I do?”
“Your mortgage comment!” His eyes flashed, feeling the sting of the moment afresh. The TARDIS reached out to him, trying to soothe his troubled mind.
She frowned. “But we had to think about something to do.”
“Oh! Come on! We had plenty to do to survive! Long-term housing was the last thing you should've been thinking of! Yours comments were completely uncalled for! Have you even noticed how much my ship means to me?! Did you even think about how I was feeling then?! The Old Girl has been my friend and companion for many years! Millennia! And you just dismissed her! Like she was just a machine! Like my pain was nothing!”
The growl and shouting made Rose take a few steps back. Okay, she knew how to handle a man when he got angry. “I'm sorry,” she said meekly, pouting. “I was wrong.”
“Wrong doesn't even begin to cover it! And then your comment afterward! A mortgage!” he scoffed.
“Mortgages are a human thing.”
He laughed harshly, shaking his head. “Not in every part of the human world. Certainly not over human history! And may I remind you that I'm not human!”
She started crying. This wasn't going the way she thought.
“Don't cry! It's undignified! Are you really one of those women who use tears to get out of an argument? It won't work on me!”
She stopped crying, stunned.
“It also shows you don't respect me as a person with individual differences. An alien with considerable differences in thinking and biology! Should've known after your reaction to the Ood! You expect everyone to be like a human. At least one that you understand! Well, here's a clue: there is so much more to your own species that you couldn't even suspect with your stunted ape brain.”
“Excuse me?!” Such language hadn't come from him since he was... Oh, dear.
“Nearly forgot about him, eh? The one who gave up a life to stop the Bad Wolf that you had become?” The Doctor was growling each word now, losing patience. “If I hadn't been so worried about what the energy would do because you wouldn't give it up, I might have let you burn!”
Rose blinked. “I don't remember that.”
“Of course you don't! Your worst moment ever as my companion! You hurt my TARDIS, killed all the Daleks when that energy gave you alternatives! I would have only killed had there truly been no other choice! I don't want more reminders of what I had to do in the Time War, and you made all those wounds fresh!”
She was practically shaking now, terrified to take a step in any direction. “But... I am important to you, more than your ship.”
The TARDIS growled.
He seethed and turned to the Controls. “You're missing the point! Again! Assuming you're important because I invited you to come along! Because you took advantage of a helpless ship when I wasn't around to protect her! Well, I've had enough of you and your whining!”
“Fine!” she snapped, hoping to derail his mood. “I'll go to my room and pack my bags. Take me home!”
“Deal. Go on, then. Pack.”
She wanted to protest that she was bluffing. But he was beyond angry, and she wondered what he might do if she pushed him any further. So she slipped quietly away and packed as quickly as she could. The thump as she put her backpack on told her they'd landed. She closed her eyes and swallowed. She had to walk out with her head held high and leave him with a good memory of her. Or maybe, if she held her tongue and acted like a good girl, he'd change his mind. She could hope, and would. Indeed, she clung to that as she packed.
When she entered the Control Room, she had the TARDIS key in her hand. She risked walking up to him (and he was still in his spacesuit) and held out the key. “Not mine to keep, I guess,” she murmured, still hoping he'd changed his mind. Acting all sober might do the trick if he hadn't.
He took it without a word. “Your phone. I need to undo the upgrade.”
Tears grew and multiplied as she held out her phone, and watched as he removed the special battery and returned the old one. Oh, God, he wasn't going to change his mind. She took it back and put it in her pocket. “Goodbye, Doctor.” And walked outside, not looking back.
He watched her. He'd called her bluff. Now she had to reap what she'd sown. The question was whether she could handle it like an adult. Not that he cared to find out.
Rose wonder what else could she have said. Not back on the Impossible Planet, but right then. It would haunt her, as would the sound and sight of the TARDIS leaving her life for the last time.
Now she had to go to her mother and explain what happened. She'd be so mad. Mickey was gone, and now this. Rose knew she was in for a nagging... and was slowly realizing that she might've earned this one.
Oh, God, she'd have to get a job. Else her mum might throw her out of the flat. And wasn't her not having a job in over a year... no, almost two years... going to hurt her chances? She cried. She was going to have to go back to school. She was worse off than she was before she'd met the Doctor. She wished she never had - she'd still have a job and a boyfriend. And her mum might still be able to be worked on.
THE END