Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ Rose and Ten The Inbetweens and backstories ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

The Doctor and Rose hopped off the horse drawn cart by the TARDIS, thanked Dougal, the driver, and walked across the heath land.

`No, but the funny thing is, Queen Victoria did actually suffer a mutation of the blood. It's historical record. She was haemophiliac. They used to call it the Royal Disease. But it's always been a mystery because she didn't inherit it. Her mum didn't have it, her dad didn't have it. It came from nowhere,' the Doctor told her.

`What and you're saying that's a wolf bite?'

`Well, maybe haemophilia is just a Victorian euphemism.'

`For werewolf?'

`Could be.'

`Queen Victoria's a werewolf?'

`Could be. And her children had the Royal Disease. Maybe she gave them a quick nip.'

`So, the Royal Family are werewolves?'

`Well, maybe not yet. I mean, a single wolf cell could take a hundred years to mature. Might be ready by, oh, early 21st century?'

`Nah, that's just ridiculous!' Rose said dismissively, and then thought about the Royal Family. `Mind you, Princess Anne . . .'

`I'll say no more.'

Rose thought about it some more. `And if you think about it, they're very private. They plan everything in advance. They could schedule themselves around the moon. We'd never know. And they like hunting!' she said as they stepped into the TARDIS, she was on a roll.

`They love blood sports,' she continued as the Doctor walked up the ramp ahead of her and started the time rotor. `Oh my God, they're werewolves!' she laughed in disbelief.

`Hah! And if they aren't at the moment, they will be,' he said with a grin.

`And you owe me a tenner,' Rose reminded him.

`Ah, now the bet was that YOU could make her say it, and if I recall correctly, which I always do, I said that her husband was protecting her from beyond the grave, and she said, `Indeed, then you may think on this also, that I am not amused'.'

`Yeah, she said it!'

`Yes, but I made her say it, not you, and the bet was definitely for you to make her say it, so I think you'll find that the tenner is mine,' he said with a triumphant smile.

`Oh no, no, hang on,' she said thinking furiously. `Er . . . ah, I actually said, `I want her to say we are not amused. I bet you five quid I can make her say it'. Now for you to win the bet, she would have had to NOT say it, so I think that's a draw.'

`What?' he said incredulously. `Rose Tyler, have you been taking lessons from your mother.'

It was Rose's turn to have a satisfied grin. `Yep, I was taught by one of the best, you have to get up really early to get one over on my Mum.'

The Doctor shook his head and laughed in resignation. `Okay, it's a draw, where do you want to go as a consolation prize then?'

`Well, Sir Doctor, I seem to remember you promisin' to take me to see Ian Dury, so, are you takin' me to this concert or what?' Rose asked him with a cheeky grin. `I mean, I didn't get dressed up in this 'naked' outfit for nothin'.'

`Ah, of course Dame Rose, allow me to escort my wee, naked, timorous, beastie, to an evening of musical entertainment for your delight and delectation.' He took her hand in a gentile fashion and bowed.

`Och aye, I'll be oot an' aboot kind sir,' she replied with a laugh and did a little curtsey.

The Doctor grimaced. `Nah, still don't do it, please.'

He reset the console and started up the time rotor. `Now, if the TARDIS doesn't interfere this time, we might be able to get to the concert.' The lights flickered in a way that could only be described as `huffy', which caused Rose to laugh and stroke the coral strut.

`It's all right girl, the nasty man doesn't mean it.' The lights flickered again, this time in a `thank you' kind of way.

The time rotor stopped, and the Doctor started to shut down the console. Rose walked around to the view screen, and switched it on. The Doctor gave her a questioning look.

`Just checkin' there aren't any soldiers out there with guns, or aliens with ray guns or somethin',' she told him.

He rolled his eyes and headed for the door. `Are you comin' or what?' he said impatiently. `We'll miss the first number if you're not careful.'

Having seen that they were in a concert hall, and with the only thing that could be considered dangerous, being a randy roadie, she ran down the ramp with her hair flying around her shoulders to take his waiting hand.

They stepped through the door into the backstage area of the Top Rank Hall in Sheffield.

`Oi . . . you two . . . where's yer passes?' a man in a high-vis jacket called to them. `You need passes in this area.'

`Oh, sorry,' the Doctor said, reaching into his inside pocket. `Here you are,' he said showing the man his psychic paper in the wallet.

`Ah, you're reporters for NME are ya? DEREK . . . we need two reporter passes over here,' he shouted to a man standing at a long, trestle table. `Go and see Derek, he'll sort you out.'

`Thank you,' Rose said with a smile, and then whispered to the Doctor. `Reporters for New Musical Express?'

`Yeah, I know, isn't that brilliant!'

They were escorted around the edge of the stage to an area where other reporters were preparing to watch the performance, and write a commentary. From where she was standing, Rose could see some of the audience, and she could feel the waves of anticipation coming from them.

`I don't know about you, but I would love to be down there with that lot,' she told him, pointing to the crowd.

The Doctor looked around the stage, and then at the crowd and smiled. `You're right, come on.'

He took her hand and led her into the wings, down some steps and through a door into the auditorium. A man in a high-vis jacket looked at them suspiciously, but they held up their press passes on the lanyards around their necks, and high-vis jacket man let them through. They made their way through the crowd until they were in a good position to see the stage, when the house lights went down, replaced by spot lights on the stage.

The Blockheads started to wander on and pick up their instruments, and the crowd started to cheer and applaud. There were a few random notes as the musicians checked the tuning, and then they started playing a riff from `Hit me with your rhythm stick' over and over, which got another cheer from the crowd.

A small, unassuming man, with curly dark hair, wearing a white sleeveless T-shirt, dark glasses and white gloves, shuffled on to the stage towards the microphone. He got a deafening cheer from the crowd, and the Doctor and Rose were jumping up and down with excitement with the best of them.

`Good evening Sheffield,' he said, with an accent that was both posh, and yet rough at the same time. The crowd whistled and cheered.

`Are you ready for this?' he asked them.

`YES!' they all yelled back.

`I can't hear you,' he said in a sing song voice. `I SAID ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?' he yelled.

`YYYEESSSS!' the crowd roared back.

He smiled and started nodding his head to the beat, waiting for the riff to come around. `In the deserts of Sudan . . . And the gardens of Japan . . .' he started singing, and that was it, Rose and the Doctor started swaying to the beat, and never stopped. They were even pogoing to some of the songs, along with everyone else.

When the concert was finally over, Rose hugged the Doctor around the neck. `Thank you for that, it was fantastic,' she said, realising that she'd used her `old' Doctor's favourite expression.

`Wasn't it just,' he answered, a big grin on his face.

The adrenalin fuelled horror of an alien werewolf was forgotten, replaced by the adrenalin fuelled excitement of the concert.

`Y'know, we should do this more often,' the Doctor said.

`Too right we should,' Rose replied enthusiastically.

`And not just on this planet or in this century.'

`Whatcha got in mind?'

`Motzart, Vienna, in the eighteenth century. Balhoon opera, in the five billions, mind you, that's a bit of an acquired taste, oh, and one all day concert that changed the planet Earth, it was the first global event that brought everyone together.'

`Which century was that then?' she asked.

He gave her that "dribbled down her T-shirt" look. `Yours of course, 13th July 1985, at noon, in Wembley stadium, 72,000 people came together for an unprecedented event. At around two o'clock at the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 100,000 people joined them in a combined, satellite broadcast.'

Rose thought about this. `1985, I was two,' she said, and then realised what he was talking about. `Live Aid? You mean the Live Aid concert?'

`Yep, how's about making it 72,002, and 100,002?'

Rose squealed with delight and hugged him again; he returned the hug and swung her around.

That night, Rose slept well, having been exhausted by the day's events. The Doctor had sat in her chair again and told her another tale of his adventures before he met her. She'd had another vivid dream, which involved her kissing the Doctor when he had big ears and a daft face. It was so romantic, as a soft golden light, the sort that you see in a romantic movie or an advert for chocolates surrounded them.

The next day, the Doctor took Rose to Vienna in 1874, where she enjoyed dressing in the period costume. She had been to the TARDIS clothing department, and dressed in a low cut, stiff-bodiced, blue silk mantua. She was the picture of elegance as they spent their time exploring the beautiful city.

In the evening, they made their way to the Mehlgrube restaurant, a first rate establishment, which served exquisite food. During the meal, a young couple entered the restaurant, and seemed to be very popular. The man wore a white and gold justaucorps, jacket, and breeches, whilst the woman wore a cream gown; similar in style to the one Rose was wearing.

When Rose looked at the Doctor to ask if he knew who they were, she saw a smile of anticipation on his lips. `Who are those two then?' she asked quietly as she leaned towards him.

'That Rose, is Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, and his wife Constanze, and he's going to be performing one of his concertos in the ballroom.'

Rose's mouth fell open. `Oh my God, y'mean that's him . . . THE Mozart?'

`Yep, music superstar of his day, a genius. C'mon, eat up and we'll go and get a good seat.'

On their way to the ballroom, they stopped at his table. `Mr Mozart, I'm the Doctor, and this is my companion, Rose, I'd just like to say that we're SO looking forward to your performance this evening,' the Doctor said.

Mozart stood and nodded politely. `Than you sir, ma'am, I shall try my best to live up to your expectation.'

The Doctor gave a slight bow, and Rose bobbed a curtsey, before going through to the ballroom, and an evening of music she would never forget.

They went to Balhoon one day, and the Doctor was right, Balhoon opera was definitely an acquired taste, also, Rose ran out of saliva, what with all the spitting of approval.

At the end of the week, they found themselves on the multicultural planet of Karkinos, a busy, teeming metropolis of a planet, which was a sort of galactic Constantinople. One of the moons of Karkinos was a captured hollow asteroid, the shape of which, gave the interior outstanding acoustics, and performers from all over the galaxy came to give sell out concerts.

Today was an all day, eclectic festival of music, from a number of performers, and a variety of different styles. There was a carnival atmosphere inside the arena, and Rose had a momentary feeling of motion sickness as she entered the auditorium and looked up.

In the middle of the asteroid, was a floating stage that slowly rotated in all three planes. That was okay (sort of), but when she looked beyond that to the roof, half a kilometre away, she saw people walking about, upside down. And when you looked to the curving walls, there were people standing sideways.

There were a number of performers there, jugglers, magicians, comedians and contortionists. There were market stalls selling trinkets, official concert memorabilia, and fast food outlets providing a mind boggling range of snacks and drinks.

Young alien children were running past, holding sticks of smoking food. Rose and the Doctor were walking in the direction that the children were coming from, when they saw a small, blue alien woman, about a metre tall, with large round eyes and hair like a porcupine.

Rose smiled at the woman, who looked like she had a bout of indigestion, before she roared a belch, and flames shot out of her mouth. Rose squealed in alarm, and a number of children laughed and held up sticks of food to be cooked.

They heard many different styles of music, some rhythmic and hypnotic, others that made your teeth rattle, and others still that left you breathless, either with the sheer force of it, or the sheer beauty of it. When the festival was over, they went back to the TARDIS and the Doctor put his key in the door.

`Excuse me,' a voice called out behind them, and they turned around to see who had called them.

They both craned their necks to look up at the eight foot tall crayfish that was standing in front of them. She had six legs but only stood on four. Her segmented body was arched backwards so that her two front legs were held up and out like arms, one of them ending in a huge knobbled claw. She had a head of sorts with four black bead-like eyes, and a gaping hole in the centre of her face, filled with row upon row of tiny sharp jagged teeth, surrounded by waving feelers that seemed to claw at the air

`Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else,' the young, female Karkinian said.

The Doctor furrowed his brow. `Ali, is that you?'

The knobbled claw clacked in suspicion, and her feelers twitched. `Do I know you? Because I knew a man once, who owned a box like this, is he inside? He calls himself the Doctor.'

`That's me, Ali, I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose,' he said with a grin.

`Rose, Rose Tyler?' her voice was full of disbelief. `You went back for her.'

Rose's mouth fell open. `Wha, you know me? I think I'd have remembered meeting you before.'

`Then you really are the Doctor,' she said. `You've changed.'

`Yep, why don't you come in and I'll tell you all about it.'

The Doctor explained to Rose how he'd met Ali after leaving her in that alley with Mickey. It was Ali that convinced him to go back and ask her again. They then told Ali about their adventures, and how the Doctor had regenerated. Rose was amazed at how this alien girl, reminded her so much of herself (when you got past the fact that she looked like a cross between a cockroach and a crayfish). She was brave, adventurous, and had a wicked sense of humour.

After catching up with everything that had happened to each other, Ali realised that her family would be looking for her, and that it was time for her to go. They said their goodbyes, and Ali left, calling to her parents and siblings, who they could see standing on a wall across the arena. The Karkinians stood and watched as the magical blue box slowly disappeared.

Rose awoke one morning and padded into the kitchen in her pyjamas to prepare breakfast, only to find waffles waiting for her, along with a jar of maple syrup. The Doctor was putting a large picnic together for them that fitted into a shoulder bag that was far too small for it all.

`That'sh an awful lot of food,' Rose said through a mouthful of waffle.

`Well, we are going to a sixteen hour concert; we might get a bit peckish.'

`Wha? y'mean we're doin' Live Aid today?' she asked with excitement. `What should I wear?'

`It's hot and sunny, so something summery.'

`Right, shorts, and vest top,' she said, as she finished the waffles and went back to her room to get dressed. Whilst she was fastening her bra behind her, her mobile phone rang on the bedside table. She walked around the bed and looked at the display. It said `Mickey'.

`Hiya Mickey. Howya doin'?' she said cheerfully, always happy to speak to her old friend.

`Rose Babe, it's good to hear your voice. I was just callin' to ask when you would be comin' home, cus I've got somethin' amazing' to show you,' he said excitedly.

`Well, we're goin' to be busy for a coupl'a days, but after that we can come back. Why, what have you found?'

`Oh, I can't tell ya, you won't believe it unless you see it,' he said mysteriously.

`Ooh, you tease. Okay, I've got to finish gettin' dressed so I'll see ya in a coupl'a days.'

`Okay, see ya soon Babe. Bye.'

When she came into the console room, she was wearing denim shorts, white trainers, and a white vest top. The Doctor was wearing his blue, pinstriped trousers, red converse, and a dark blue T-shirt; it was one of those rare occasions where he wasn't wearing a shirt and jacket.

The TARDIS landed in a staff area of Wembley Arena, where they could mix with the crowds, and make their way into the arena, where the Coldstream Guards band where opening with the `Royal Salute' of, `God Save the Queen'.

The irony of this wasn't lost on the Doctor and Rose, who had just been knighted (and exiled), and laughed when they looked at each other. But they sang along with the rest of the audience, cheering and applauding when the band finished.

They then watched Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Alan Lancaster, and Pete Kircher walk on stage and start playing.

`Ah here we are and here we are and here we go-o-oh, all aboard and we're hitting the road, here we go-oh, rockin' all over the world.'

`Oh, this is unbelievable,' Rose, said, beaming a smile at him. It was the start of sixteen hours of partying. At ten o'clock, the Wembley concert ended with Band Aid and `Do They Know It's Christmas?' which in the middle of a hot July night, was an odd question. They made their way to the TARDIS to have supper in the kitchen before jumping over to the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, to catch Hall and Oates performing their set.

After watching rock royalty perform their pieces, it came time for USA for Africa to sing `We Are the World', to end the `Live Aid' phenomenon. Hand in hand, the Doctor and Rose slowly made their way back to the TARDIS, exhausted after their marathon concert.

`Y'know, I feel a bit guilty about not buyin' a ticket. I mean, the whole thing was to help people who are starvin',' Rose said, resting her weary head on his shoulder.

`Don't be, we've saved the planet on more than one occasion, and will probably save it again in the future. I think two tickets out of 172,000 is payment for all our hard work.'

`Mmmm, I suppose when you look at it like that . . .'

The Doctor put the key in the lock and opened the door for Rose to enter. He followed her up the ramp, past the console and into the corridor beyond. Rose went past the kitchen and straight to her bedroom door.

`If ya don't mind, I'm goin' straight to bed,' she said.

`No, I'm going to bed myself, so I'll see you in the morning.'

`Oh, right,' she said, surprised by his admission that he needed sleep, and disappointed that he wasn't going to tell her a story. `Thanks again for a brilliant day. Goodnight.'

Lying in bed, Rose was thinking about the last few days. She had found out a lot about the Doctor's musical tastes, and she hoped that she would soon find out more about the man she loved to travel with, the man she loved to be with, the man she loved . . .