Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ Rose and Nine The Inbetweens and backstories ❯ Chapter Four ( Chapter 4 )

The Doctor managed to run out of Sneed and Company undertakers just before it exploded, sending him flying across the street. Rose and Charles Dickens ran over to him to see if he was all right as he slowly climbed to his feet.

'She didn't make it,' Rose said, realising that her friend Gwyneth had ignited the gas to destroy the Gelth. She just looked at the Doctor in disbelief.

'I'm sorry,' said the Doctor with sadness in his voice. 'She closed the rift.'

'At such a cost. The poor child,' Dickens added.

The Doctor could see that Rose was upset at her friend's death. She wasn't used to seeing people die, and certainly not in such terrible circumstances. 'I did try, Rose, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes.'

'What do you mean?' Rose asked, puzzled.

'I think she was dead from the minute she stood in that arch.'

Gwyneth had used her latent psychic ability to try and contact the Gelth and help them through the rift. But they had deceived and betrayed her, using her to try and invade the Earth.

'But she can't have. She spoke to us. She helped us. She saved us. How could she have done that?'

'There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy,' said Dickens. 'Even for you, Doctor.'

'She saved the world. A servant girl. No one will ever know,' Rose reflected sadly.

'Right then, Charlie boy, I've just got to go into my, er, shed. Won't be long,' the Doctor told him as he put the key in the lock.

'What are you going to do now?' Rose asked Dickens.

'I shall take the mail coach back to London, quite literally post-haste. This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital.'

The Doctor turned from the door and smiled. 'You've cheered up.'

'Exceedingly! This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world. Now I know I've just started. All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor. I'm inspired. I must write about them.'

'Do you think that's wise?' Rose asked, wondering if he would change the future.

But Dickens really was inspired, enthused with a new vision. 'I shall be subtle at first. The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this Earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word, tell the truth.'

'Good luck with it,' the Doctor said sincerely, shaking his hand. 'Nice to meet you . . . Fantastic!'

'Bye, then, and thanks,' said Rose as she shook his hand and kissed him on the cheek, not realising that it was not the done thing in that era.

Dickens became all flustered and blushed. 'Oh, my dear. How modern. Thank you, but, I don't understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?'

The Doctor gave him his enthusiastic smile. 'You'll see, in the shed.'

'Upon my soul, Doctor, it's one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained. Answer me this. Who are you?'

The Doctor considered his answer. 'Just a friend passing through.'

'But you have such knowledge of future times. I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books. Doctor, do they last?'

'Oh, yes!'

'For how long?'

'Forever.' Dickens looked stunned by this answer at first, and then proud. 'Right. Shed. Come on, Rose.'

'In the box? Both of you?'

'Down boy,' the Doctor said with a cheeky smile. `See you.'

Rose followed the Doctor up the ramp to the console. 'Doesn't that change history if he writes about blue ghosts?'

'In a week's time it's 1870, and that's the year he dies,' he told her. 'Sorry. He'll never get to tell his story.'

They watched Dickens on the view screen, waiting expectantly. 'Oh, no. He was so nice,' said Rose sadly.

The Doctor tried to give her some perspective. Tried to alleviate her sorrow. 'But in your time, he was already dead. We've brought him back to life, and he's more alive now than he's ever been, old Charlie boy. Let's give him one last surprise.'

He started up the Time Rotor, and they saw Dickens start to laugh with the joyous sound of time and space being bent out of shape.

`Well, that's that then,' he said, rubbing his hands together. `How's about a cuppa then, and then you can change out of that outfit.'

She looked down at the burgundy dress and remembered the half compliment he'd paid her. 'I thought I might keep it on,' she said teasingly. 'What's the matter, don'tcha like it?'

He raised an eyebrow as he gave her an appreciative gaze. 'Very nice, yeah. But not really practical when you need to run for your life is it?'

She gave a single laugh. `Yeah, s'pose so. C'mon, let's go an' have that cuppa.' They walked hand in hand out of the console room.

When she returned from the wardrobe, she was wearing her purple and grey hoodie, blue jeans, and white trainers. The Doctor was no where to be seen. She wandered around the console and noticed a floor panel had been lifted up.

`Doctor?' She heard the whistling warble of his sonic screwdriver coming from under the floor. She got down on her hands and knees and looked under the floor. `Whatcha doin'?'

`Just making some adjustments to the flux capacitor.'

`Wha? Y'mean there really is a flux capacitor?' She said in surprise, wondering if the Doctor had been a technical advisor on the film or something.

His intense blue eyes crinkled as he flashed her a playful grin. `Nah, only joking. But it might as well be, because if I told you I was adjusting the Artron flow through the Helmic regulator to offset the resonant feedback through the Chronon Shell, you'd probably be none the wiser.'

`Fair enough,' she said, returning his smile.

`Anyway, that's all done.' He wriggled his way back to the floor opening. `Oh, look what I've found under here. I haven't seen these for ages.' He sat up and put a pair of futuristic boots on the floor.

`Snazzy boots,' she said.

`Kinetic augmentation boots to be more accurate.'

`What do they do?' she asked as she picked one up and examined it. They looked like fibreglass ski boots.

`What it says on the tin. Power boots, they allow you to run faster and jump higher than you could normally.'

`Can I have a go?' she asked, like a child asking for a go on a swing.

`Not in here, you'd bang your head on the ceiling or run face first into the wall. I'll find us a nice open space for you to run around in.' He climbed out of the hole in the floor and started to adjust the controls on the console.

`Where are we?' asked Rose, as they stepped out onto a wide open grassy plain. She could see hills gently rolling into the distance, towards hazy mountains on the horizon.

`Er, South Dakota, Nabraska-ish,' he said as he licked his finger and held it in the air.

`America then,' Rose confirmed.

`Yeah, the Great Plains of the mid west. Plenty of room to run around. Right, let's get these on you then.'

Rose flashed him an excited smile and sat down on the grass as the Doctor fitted the boots over her trainers. He helped her to her feet and held her hands as he stood in front of her.

`Now, start off nice and slowly, get your balance and get the feel of the amplified movement.'

She tried bouncing gently on her toes, and found herself jumping three feet in the air. `Ha hah, this is brilliant. It's like bein' on a pogo stick.'

`Good. Now not only do they amplify the movement, they dampen the deceleration as well so that you don't fall flat on your face when you stop.' Rose looked a bit doubtful. `Okay, so let's try stepping forward then.' She took a single step and shot forward about ten feet.

She laughed and whooped as she started to run ahead faster and faster. The Doctor shook his head and smiled as he set off at a jog, following her trail of dust.

A while, and a few miles later, the Doctor caught up with her. He could see her leaping into the air, performing graceful somersaults and pirouettes. When she saw him approach, she landed and sat down, before reclining onto the grass to look at the fluffy clouds drifting overhead.

`Did I tell you I got a bronze medal for gymnastics?' she asked him as he came and lay down beside her.

`Jericho Street under seven's,' he told her.

`Oh yeah, Nestene plastic blob by the Thames,' she remembered. She stopped and listened. `It's so peaceful here. How far are we from civilisation?'

`I'm not sure, fifty, maybe a hundred miles . . .' He stopped talking and frowned. `Can you feel that vibration?'

`Oh yeah. What is it, an earth tremor?' she said as she sat up.

`Doubtful, it's not a geologically active area,' he told her as he stood up and looked around. `Tell you what, jump up and have a look around.'

She crouched down and leaped 20 feet into the air. She landed gently, as if it had only been a couple of feet and jumped up again looking in another direction. She landed gently again and looked at the Doctor.

`Doctor, what year is this?'

`I'm not sure; I only looked for a wide open space. Why?'

The vibration was now a rumbling noise. `There's some kind of black sea movin' towards us, and there are men on horseback with bows an' arrows an' spears.'

`Fantastic! It must be 19th Century or before, and they must be the indigenous natives. Blackfoot, Arapaho, Cheyenne, maybe Comanche. They must be herding the Bison.'

`That's all very interestin' an' educational, but they're herdin' them in our direction. We're gonna get trampled.'

`Ah, good point. I think we'd better get back to the TARDIS,' he said, starting to walk back the way they had come.

Rose leaped into the air again and quickly looked left and right. She could see the approaching wall of Bison, and she could see the TARDIS in the opposite direction. They were roughly equidistant.

She took one augmented step and easily caught up with the Doctor. `How fast can a Bison run?'

`Flat out, about 40 miles an hour, why?'

`About half way to the TARDIS, we're gonna get squashed.' The rumble was now becoming a roar, and the Doctor started to run.

`Rose, you go on to the TARDIS and get inside. I'll take my chances.'

`I'm not leavin' you out here,' she told him, insulted that he would even consider that she would. `Can't I use these boots and carry you piggy back?'

`Nice idea, but the power to weight ratio would be all wrong. It would make them ineffective. Now get out of here.' There was a cloud of dust approaching them with a roaring thunder.

`NO,' she shouted. The Doctor was sprinting now, as Rose strode beside him. 'There must be somethin' we can do,' she said and then the idea hit her. `Three legged race!'

`What?' he asked. `We've both got two legs,' he pointed out breathlessly.

She sat down and started to take her left boot off. `Didn't Time Lords ever have a sports day at school? Here, put this boot on quickly.'

`Rose, what are you doing? There's a herd of angry Bison . . . Sports day?' he said with a puzzled expression as he sat down and put the boot on.

They stood up, and Rose hugged him around his waist with her left arm. `Hold on tight, and on three, hop.'

He raised his eyebrows in understanding and gave her a proud smile. He gripped her around her waist, and she tangled her left leg around his right.

They counted together. `One, two, three.'

They shot forward, and sailed gracefully through the air. They landed together and hopped forwards again.

`I think we're going to make it,' the Doctor declared. `This is a first for me, hopping for my life.'

On the last hop, he got the key out of his jacket and held it ready. As they landed, the key slotted into the lock and he pushed the door open, falling with Rose through the door. They looked back and saw the enormous head of a charging bull heading towards them through the dust. He kicked the door shut, and the TARDIS rumbled and shook as the herd thundered past.

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'How long have I been gone?' Rose asked as they stepped out of the TARDIS. It had parked opposite the Chinese Takeaway and the youth club.

'About twelve hours.'

'Oh. Right, I won't be long. I just want to see my mum.'

'What're you going to tell her?' he asked as he leant against the TARDIS and folded his arms.

'I don't know. I've been to the year 5 billion and only been gone, what, twelve hours? No, I'll just tell her I spent the night at Shareen's. See you later,' said Rose as she started to walk away. `Oh.' She stopped and turned back to wave her finger at him. 'Don't you disappear.'

Rose ran off towards Bucknall House, and the Doctor wandered over to the post office and shops opposite. And then, that's when he saw the missing person poster.

'I'm back!' Rose called out as she entered the flat, dropping her keys on the hall stand. 'I was with Shareen. She was all upset again. Are you in?'

As she entered the living room, her mum came out of the kitchen with a mug of tea. 'So, what's been going on? How've you been?'

Jackie just stared at her, as though she'd seen a ghost.

'What? What's that face for? It's not the first time I've stayed out all night.'

Jackie dropped her mug of tea, smashing it on the floor. 'It's you.'

'Of course it's me,' Rose replied, wondering why her mum looked so shocked to see her.

'Oh, my God. It's you. Oh my God.' Jackie rushed forward and hugged Rose really tight. Rose looked over her shoulder at the dining table where a number of missing person posters were ready to be distributed. Rose was wondering who had gone missing when she noticed that it was her face on the posters.

The Doctor burst in through the door of the flat. 'It's not twelve hours, it's twelve months . . . You've been gone a whole year. Sorry,' he said with a sheepish smile.

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`Did you think about me at all?' Jackie asked. She'd calmed down a bit, and was just grateful that Rose was back, alive and uninjured.

`I did. All the time, but . . .' Rose was still tearful that she'd upset her mum so much.

`One phone call. Just to know that you were alive.'

`I'm sorry,' Rose cried. `I really am.'

`Do you know what terrifies me is that you still can't say. What happened to you, Rose? What can be so bad that you can't tell me, sweetheart? Where were you?' Jackie pleaded as she stroked her cheek with her hand.

Rose blinked back the tears as she looked into her mother's anguished face. What could she tell her? That she'd been to the year 5 billion? That she'd met Charles Dickens in Cardiff? She'd get a bigger slap than the Doctor for telling lies.

No, she would have to think of a story that her mum would believe; something based in fact. `I was with the Doctor Mum. He needed help investigatin' that explosion at Henrick's'.

Jackie huffed. `Oh he's not an insurance investigator.'

`No, he's a scientist. He . . . works as an advisor for the government,' Rose thought quickly. `An' do you remember the dummies in the shops comin' to life? Well I helped him stop them. We were in this chamber by the Thames, but it's the official secrets act, we're not supposed to talk about it.'

`Official secrets act,' Jackie scoffed, but somehow that kind of made sense.

`I've probably said too much already. I'd better go an' check if it's all right with the Doctor. I don't want you getting' hauled away to the Tower for treason,' Rose said with a weak smile. `You won't tell anyone, will ya?'

`My daughter, a secret agent,' Jackie said with a hint of pride in her voice. `It'll be our secret.'

Rose hugged her mother. `I love you Mum, and I'm really sorry.'

Jackie's anger had abated now. She nodded and kissed Rose's cheek, just so glad that she'd got her daughter back.

Rose found the Doctor lurking on the landing outside the flat, keeping out of Jackie's way. Something gave him the impression that she didn't like him, and the feeling was mutual.

`We need to talk,' she said sharply, walking towards the stairs. `My office, now.'

`What did you tell her?' he asked tentatively as he followed her up the stairs instead of down.

`I told her you were a government scientist and that I couldn't say anythin' because of the official secrets act,' she said in an annoyed tone as they reached the door to the roof.

She couldn't see his grin behind her. `Rose Tyler, you are brilliant! I can show her my credentials on the psychic paper if you like.'

`That'll help,' she said sarcastically. They walked onto the roof, and Rose climbed up onto a flat section of the roof. `What happened? What went wrong? Can't we go back and fix it?'

The Doctor leaned against the roof and crossed his arms. `I'm afraid crossing into established events is strictly forbidden.'

So that was that. Apparently, what was done was done and couldn't be undone. `I can't tell her. I can't even begin. She's never going to forgive me,' she said, looking away from him. But then she turned her anger towards him. 'And I missed a year. Was it good?'

`Middling.'

`You're so useless.'

`Well, if it's this much trouble, are you going to stay here now?'

Rose paused in thought. That was a very good question. `I don't know. I can't do that to her again, though.'

`Well, she's not coming with us.' There was a long pause as they both thought about Jackie Tyler meeting aliens and running amok through history. Suddenly, the tension was gone, along with the anger, and they both started laughing.

`No chance,' Rose laughed.

`I don't do families,' he said firmly.

`She slapped you!' Rose teased.

`Nine hundred years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother.'

`Your face.' She was laughing at him now.

`It hurt!' he whined

`You're so gay.' She thought about what he had just said. 'When you say nine hundred years?'

`That's my age.'

`You're nine hundred years old?'

`Yeah.'

`My mum was right,' she nodded. 'That is one hell of an age gap.' She jumped down from the small roof and walked a few steps.

`Every conversation with you just goes mental. There's no one else I can talk to. I've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and I can't say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things, and I'm the only person on planet Earth who knows they exist.'

Suddenly, there was a deep horn behind her that made her flinch. A spaceship, trailing black smoke passed overhead which made them both duck, as it headed for the city. They watched as it just missed Tower Bridge, weaved around St Paul's, and then with a back-fire and a splutter, it dropped towards the Thames, taking out St Stephen's Tower. They heard Big Ben chime once as the ship dropped out of view, presumably to splash down into the Thames. The Doctor and Rose watched a plume of black smoke rise into the air on the horizon.

`Oh, that's just not fair,' Rose said.

The Doctor started laughing and grabbed Rose's hand, all the anger and awkwardness forgotten. Of course she wasn't going to stay.