Chapter Text
The Doctor opened the Tardis doors, eager to show Rose and Jack a new planet, and stepped outside. Pleased he had nailed the date (for once), he drew in a lungful of air.
And he immediately froze.
A blazing-hot bolt from a laser gun hit the blue panel. It sizzled and cracked barely a millimeter away from his ear.
“Get back!” the Doctor shouted.
He pivoted and slammed into Jack, knocking the captain down on the ramp. Another blast skirted his shoulder and smacked into the console inches from where Rose stood. Angry sparks and smoke billowed into the room as he frantically slammed the doors shut.
“What’s going on?” Jack winced, rubbing his aching bum.
The Doctor jumped over him and dashed straight to Rose by the damaged console.
“Did it hit you?” He clutched her tightly by the arms and scanned her for injuries.
Wide-eyed, Rose shook her head. “No, m’fine. Who’s out there?”
“The Family.”
He let her go and danced around the controls, sending them into the vortex faster than he’d ever done before. The Tardis whined but he’d have to apologize later. They had to shake off the threat now!
Jack leapt to his feet. “What can I do?”
“Hold the gravitronic lever.” The Doctor commanded, grabbing the computer terminal. His fingers flew over the keyboard and he cursed. “They’ve got a vortex manipulator. Rose, that blue button,” he hastily pointed, “hit it!”
The ship lurched violently. Eyes glued to the monitor, the Doctor ignored both Rose and Jack as they bombarded him with questions. Questions had to wait. No time for questions until they were safe. His stomach dropped as the Family popped up on the screen, managing to follow the ship through the vortex.
“Rose, again!” he bellowed.
Rose slammed the blue button and the Tardis hopped in and out of the vortex at a maddening speed. The cloister bell boomed. Warning lights flashed. Wires popped and a panel split open as the ship was pushed beyond her limit. But his fancy maneuvers didn’t matter. The Family kept up, hopping alongside no matter where or when in time and space he jumped.
Dread filled his veins. The Doctor caught Rose’s gaze through the thick, green-tinted smoke. There was only one thing he could do — he’d have to hide, disguise himself as he never had before. But it terrified him. If he did this, he’d have no ability to lock away forbidden thoughts of her lips on his. No superior biology to tamp his rampant hormones whenever she was near. No unequal lifespan to fear. No reason not to hold her forever. Take away the Time Lord and he’d succumb to his hearts desire.
But if he didn’t do it, the Family would find him. They’d drain the life force from his bones and live forever, wreaking havoc across the galaxies. He couldn’t outrun them in this form. They were the universe’s perfect bloodhounds, able to smell his genetic code from a million light years away.
Unless he changed every cell in his body.
Eyes still on Rose, the Doctor gulped. “I have to become human.”
A beat of silence interrupted the mayhem. And then Rose and Jack cried out, “What ?!”
~*~
One month later…
With a weary sigh, Rose tightened her grip on a bag of sandwiches and trudged along the pavement. She’d never thought she’d be back here, back living with her mum on the Powell Estates. The Doctor had thoroughly spoiled her with every moment in time and every corner of space at their fingertips. And now, she was forced to slow down, to live linear again. It was driving her spare. Her skin itched for the next adventure. Jack kept reminding her that they were technically on an adventure now, just one with a bit more domestics.
Domestics. She never thought the Doctor’s loathing would rub off onto her. She’d had nearly twenty years of domestics under her belt. It shouldn’t bother her this much. If she had the Doctor around to commiserate with, it would be tolerable. But, no, he’d gone and turned himself into a stupid ape like her. He had a job. He shared a flat with Jack. He had a normal, humdrum name; John Smith.
She shouldn’t complain. It was nice to see her mum so happy, thrilled to have her daughter safe in her childhood, bubble-gum pink room again. Each day seemed to repair some of the damage from the whole disappear-for-a-year incident. And she didn’t mind doing laundry or dishes again, no matter how tedious folding or scrubbing was. She pitched in a lot on the Tardis, after all, not wanting the sentient ship to do all the work. No, the chores were simply an easy scapegoat for her restlessness.
Really, she was a ball of anxious energy, gnawing her cuticles away during the many quiet moments. Neither she nor Jack knew what to expect from the Family, and they didn’t have the Doctor around to guide them. They were practically flying blind.
There hadn’t been a lot of time for the Doctor to explain everything before he’d changed. He’d somehow recorded a video with a set of instructions, but he’d forgotten to include a few key details such as what the Family looked like, how many there were, or what they were supposed to do once they’d landed on Earth. He’d only barked at them to pack a bag and by the time they had returned with stuffed suitcases, the Doctor had parked himself under a helmet-like device dangling from the ceiling. He had rambled about a watch, begged for them to look after him, placed a kissed on her forehead, and then…
Then, the screaming had begun. The second the machine had turned on, he’d howled in agony. He’d dropped to his knees, clutching his head in a white-knuckled grip as though he was being burned alive. The sound still rattled her bones and pierced her heart. For as long as she lived his cries would haunt her. Out of instinct, she had run to him but Jack had held her back. She’d struggled in his arms and watched, helpless, as every cell in the Doctor’s body had been painfully forced to change from Time Lord to human. When it had finally, mercifully, finished, a fob watched had clattered onto the grating. The Doctor had slumped forward, eerily still and silent.
After that nightmare, it had been a bit of a blur. The Tardis had landed like a sledgehammer onto the Estates and a brief set of instructions magically appeared on the console. Jack had quickly followed them, dragging the passed out, now-human Doctor through the door while Rose had struggled with all their luggage. The clever ship had set Jack and the Doctor up in a flat across from her mum’s and gotten them jobs at the garage Mickey worked at. Three employees had quit without notice, all three having won the lottery even though they’d never played. In all the uncertainty, at least she hadn’t had to polish up the ol’ CV.
However, when the Doctor — no, John Smith — had woken, he’d had no idea who she was. The Tardis had fit Jack into John’s backstory as a decade-old friend. But her? Nothing. In John’s mind, his first day of work was their first meeting. She’d had to swallow a stab of jealousy every time Jack pretended to remember one of John’s implanted memories. Technically, she’d known him longer than Jack. Been through more with him. Shared more inside jokes. But John only knew her as the lady who answered the phone.
So, here she was, a receptionist for a bunch of mechanics. Carting lunch back to the shop. Waiting for the threat to be over. Waiting to open the watch and bring back the Doctor.
The swings creaked in the breeze as Rose approached the park. She remembered playing there when she was younger with an overly cautious Jackie keeping a sharp eye. There hadn’t been much graffiti back then, just a few indents in the pavement where mischievous kids had disturbed the wet cement before it had cured. Now, the brick wall was covered in spray paint and she grimaced every day as she walked past it.
The bell on the front door tinkled when Rose swung it open. “Lunch!” she announced.
Jack waltzed from the back with a sunny smile. “Thanks, Rose! I’m half-starved.” He arranged a few chairs around her reception desk and plonked himself down.
Mickey and Rob (a part-time mechanic) grabbed their sandwiches without a word, ostensibly too famished to bother with a polite word of gratitude. And then John finally sauntered in and sat without hesitation next to Rose. He frowned slightly and scooted his chair closer.
“How’d you know tuna was me favorite? You’re the angel of mercy, you are.” John took a large bite of food, his arm brushing hers with the movement, and hummed in delight.
As it always did, Rose’s heart skipped a beat at his proximity. “Du’no about angel. Don’t think an angel would dance at the clubs like I used to.”
“Oh?” Jack smirked. “Care to show us your moves?”
Rose laughed. “In your dreams, Jack.”
“M’sure he’d be lucky to have that dream,” John murmured, so only she’d hear.
Cheeks flaming, Rose stole a glance at John. He looked at her and winked.
She could handle their impromptu situation on Earth if it weren’t for one thing — the flirting. John fancied her and he made no attempts to hide it. Unlike the Doctor, Mr. Avoidance Extraordinaire. After Downing Street and his hesitation to hurl a bomb at the problem because she’d been in the room, he’d avoided her questions. After a Dalek had claimed she was the woman the Doctor loved, he’d hidden from her in one of the Tardis’ many rooms until she gave up the chase. She knew he felt something for her, but he carefully kept his distance, never toeing over the just-friends line.
Except in a darkened hospital basement during the London Blitz. The memory of him not-dancing with her, gazing at her as if she were a forbidden piece of chocolate cake, always sent a shiver up her spine. He had looked like he’d been about to chuck away whatever rules he restrained himself with and press his lips to hers. She’d been seconds away from doing it herself. But then Jack had teleported them onboard his Chula ship and the spell had been broken. Until he’d twirled her around the console later that same day. But instead of acting on any snogging impulse he may have had, after only one dance he’d busied himself with a (supposedly) broken seismic scanner and instructed her to escort Jack to a room.
John had no reservations. He’d shamelessly flirted with her since day one. And forty-eight hours later, he’d taken the chance the Doctor hadn’t and asked her on a date.
~*~
Rose was busy filing the day’s paperwork when she heard someone clear their throat. She flicked her eyes to the right and caught John standing by her desk, nervously wiping his greasy hands off with a rag.
“Do you need something, John?”
“No… Yes. Erm…” The tips of his ears flushed red.
After tucking away the last file, she turned to give him her full attention. “John?”
“Would you like to go to dinner with me? Tonight, maybe?” He shoved his hands in his pockets — soiled rag included — and rocked nervously on his feet from ball to heel.
Rose blinked. “What?”
“Dinner? Maybe a film? If you don’t turn into a pumpkin at midnight, that is.” He grinned sheepishly.
“Like… like a date?”
“Yes.”
The entire English language fled her brain, and she could only manage to stare at him.
He took in a breath, clearly stealing himself for a speech. “I like you, Rose. A lot. You’re kind, funny, always able to calm down a flustered customer. Don’t know how you do that. Seem to anger them further, me. One word from you has them laughin’.” He cleared his throat again and swallowed heavily before continuing, “You’re beautiful. I’d love to take you out sometime. If you want.”
Still at a loss for words, Rose opened and closed her mouth like a ridiculous goldfish. Every cell in her body was screaming at her to say yes, yes, a thousand times yes ! How often had she dreamed about this moment with the Doctor? Dared to imagine he might ever put aside his disdain for domestics and whisk her away to a new planet for a romantic evening?
The mechanic’s coveralls and stubbly chin forced her brain to remember one important detail — this was John Smith. Human, not Time Lord.
“Sorry,” John interrupted her internal struggle. “I thought that you… nevermind. Guess I got it wrong.” Rejected, he turned to walk away.
“You didn’t get it wrong,” Rose finally blurted.
John spun back around. “I didn’t?”
“No but…” she paused, floundering for an explanation. “I would like to go out with you. But I can’t.”
“Oh.” His shoulders dropped.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, no. It’s alright,” he assured her.
“I do like you. I just can’t. Not right now.”
“Fair enough.” He pasted a smile on his face. “Guess I’ll dial down the flirtin’ then.”
“You, um…” She bit her lip, embarrassed. “You don’t have to. I don’t mind.”
“No?” He chuckled as she shook her head. “Well, let me know if you change your mind?”
Unable to help herself, she beamed at him, tongue poking through her teeth. “Count on it.”
~*~
“Speaking of dreams.”
Rose jumped as John’s voice cut into her reverie. She shook herself out of it and bit into her sandwich.
“Had a funny one last night,” he continued. “Aliens in parliament usin’ people as a skin suit.”
“Aliens?” Jack straightened in his chair. He shot Rose a worried look.
She mirrored his concern. Was John supposed to remember? Would the Family be able to track them down if he suddenly regained his memories? Could he even do that without the watch? There were too many questions and no answers.
“Yeah, aliens. Bizarre, it was. Even more bizarre that Rickey was there!” John waved at the man to his left.
“It’s Mickey,” Mickey grumbled and stood, angrily tossing his half-eaten lunch in the bin on his way back to the garage.
“What were these aliens up to then?” Rob prodded, one skeptical brow arched high.
“Not sure. It was a bit jumbly. There was one of those old-fashioned Police Boxes, though.” John shrugged. “Remind me to lay off the whiskey, Jack.”
Jack laughed nervously. “Knew you couldn’t hold your liquor.”
With no more to say on the subject and finished with their lunches, Rob and John went back to work. As soon as they disappeared behind the glass partition, Jack turned to Rose. “Is he remembering?”
“I have no idea.” She swatted his arm. “Why are you givin’ him liquor?”
He smiled sheepishly. “Well, he’s human now. No Time Lord livers to get in the way of a good buzz. Besides, he’s not keen on sharing personal info. Thought the whiskey would loosen his tongue.” His smile grew larger. “All he did was talk about you.”
Rose blinked. “Me?”
“Yep!” He eyed her thoughtfully. “His video didn't mention the possibility of him regaining his memories. Maybe you should keep an eye on him in case he remembers more.”
“Why me? You already live with him.”
“True. But like I said, he’s not keen on the girl talk. I know he wants to ask you out again. If you were to date—”
“No.” She cut him off. “No, I can’t. It wouldn’t be right.”
“Rose—”
“No, he doesn’t know who he is!” she hissed. “If it was the Doctor askin’, then I’d say yes.”
“That man back there is still the Doctor in every way that counts. All that’s missing is his Time Lordy hangups. He’s infatuated with you, even in human form.”
“You don’t know that for certain. What if you’re wrong? What if he’s mad at me when he wakes up?”
Frustrated, Jack dragged a palm down his face. “You two are ridiculous. Deny, deny, deny. The sexual tension is going to kill me.” He sighed heavily. “Alright, answer me this— how many times have you two pretended to be married?”
“Three, maybe four? But that was only out of necessity.”
He smirked. “Not on Alpha-Dashiriin. There was no imminent threat there like the other times, even if that was the excuse the Doctor gave you. The only reason he introduced you as his wife was so he’d be allowed to hold your hand. I didn’t say anything because I thought it was just too cute.”
Rose bit her lip and glanced at John. He looked up at the same moment, catching her gaze with a bright smile. She had no idea if the Doctor would ever act on his thinly-veiled feelings for her. If he did want to change the nature of their relationship, wouldn’t it be wrong to do so now when she couldn’t ask? Even if his human-self was bursting to do more than hold her hand.
“Trust me, Rose,” Jack implored, gathering her in a friendly hug. “I’m not wrong.”
~*~
The rest of the afternoon was packed. Business had been booming since John and Jack had swanned in out of the blue. Word of the mechanics who were never wrong had spread like wildfire across the Estates. Every day was booked solid with desperate customers, all eager for the two mystery men to diagnose their vehicle’s ailments. There was a continuous line of broken cars in and out of the shop and a never-ending amount of calls to answer.
Today, Rose was thankful for the distraction. After her conversation with Jack at lunch, she’d slugged back a cup of coffee from the beverage cart and stationed herself at her desk. Thinking about how the Doctor might or might not feel about her romantically had given her a headache. So, she distracted herself by answering the phone with a too-cheery tone, helping customers with a too-wide smile, and gluing her foot to the ground so she wouldn’t swivel around in her chair and wave at John.
It had become a habit over the past month, to observe him through the glass partition. She couldn’t help herself. She had always watched the Doctor while he fixed bits and pieces on the Tardis and seeing him tinker on a car wasn’t much different. Other than the beard. And the blue coveralls that had no business being as alluring as they were.
When the last customer finally left, Rose flipped the door sign from “Open” to “Closed” and let out a sigh of relief. She was just gathering her purse, beyond ready to end the workday, when Mickey stomped into reception.
“Even as a human, he won’t stop!”
Rose frowned at his scowl. “You alright?”
“Did you have to come here?” he angrily burst. “I was tryin’ to move on, tryin’ to get over you and you all blunder back into my life with himself human. All flirty with you. All Rose this and Rose that back there.”
“I’m sorry, Micks. The Tardis chose this place, not us.”
“Yeah, you’d never willingly come here again,” he grumbled.
“Oi! My mum’s here.”
“Doesn’t matter that I’m here, too, does it?” When she said nothing in response, Mickey nodded, his fury morphing to sadness. “It’s just hard, that’s all. You were with me not long ago. Now you’re with him.”
“We’re not together,” she corrected.
He snorted. “Maybe not right now. But you will be.”
Without another word, Mickey left. Consumed with guilt, Rose eyed his retreating back. She’d never meant to hurt him. They’d both made mistakes in their relationship, one that probably should never have happened. He was her oldest friend and she had never envisioned him as her boyfriend. But after the mess with Jimmy Stone had ended, Mickey had been there. Comfort and safety after months of pain. She had clung to him and he had let her. They were two lonely kids on the Estate who settled for each other because they both believed they’d never find someone else.
Rose blinked back tears and left the shop, desperately hoping she could salvage their fractured friendship.
~*~
Since the cabinets were dangerously low on tea, Rose stopped at Tesco on the way back to her mum’s flat. She plucked her favorite brand from the shelf and then headed straight to the frozen section. Ice cream. After the day she’d had, she desperately needed ice cream.
“Rose?”
She stopped abruptly and nearly dropped her basket. With a steadying breath, she turned to the voice that had called out to her. “Hi, John.”
“You ok?” he kindly asked, quickening his steps to stand beside her. “You look a bit frazzled.”
Rose shrugged. “Nothing sugar can’t fix. What brings you here?”
He lifted his basket with a grimace. “Frozen dinners.”
“Frozen dinners? That’s depressin’, that is.”
“Eh, easier than tryin’ to cook. Tried that once, me. Filled the flat with smoke. Jack ran outside naked.”
“I bet he wasn’t bothered.” She smiled at the mental image and yanked open a freezer door to peruse the dessert options.
Suddenly, John moved closer, so close she could feel the heat wafting off his body. “You know, Rose,” he whispered, “it’s dangerous for you to be here.”
“Oh?” she squeaked, shivering from more than the icy air hitting her face. “Why’s that then?”
“Because you could melt all this stuff,” he rumbled in her ear.
It took her a few seconds to process his words and then she began laughing. Loudly. Rose clutched her stomach, unable to control the giggles bursting from her throat. Her shoulders shook as she dropped a pint of ice cream into her basket. When she turned and caught John’s eye, she whooped again, swiping the moisture dripping from her eyes.
“That, that—” she drew in a lungful of air after a few more chuckles, “that was the cheesiest pick-up line I have ever heard!”
“It’s awful,” he agreed, also laughing. “But now you’re smiling.”
Her stomach swooped. He’d made a complete fool of himself just to lighten her mood. The Doctor had done that on more than one occasion, cracking a joke in a tight spot to make her laugh.
It was in the frozen food section of Tesco where she realized Jack was right; John was just like the Doctor. He fiddled with a car the same way he fiddled under the Tardis console, though there were fewer sparks and zaps with a combustion engine. During the rare lull, he’d talk her ear off at reception, impressing her with his extensive knowledge. He still loved all her questions and beamed with pride whenever she caught on quicker than he had expected her to. And when it was quiet and he thought she wasn’t looking, John gazed at her like the Doctor always did. Eyes alight with a heart-stopping emotion she was terrified to name.
There was no need to be jealous of Jack’s bond with John. Somewhere deep down, buried beneath all the humanness, John knew her. It was as though the Doctor’s soul were bleeding through, remembering her despite the Tardis having forgotten to write her into John’s memories.
John cleared his throat. “Anyway. You looked sad. Thought you needed a laugh.”
“Ask me again,” Rose blurted.
He blinked in shock. “What?”
She giggled at his confusion. “Ask me out again.”
“Really? That horrendous line worked?”
“Only one way to find out.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Rose, will you go to dinner with me?”
“Tomorrow night work for you?”
He grinned in delight. “Tomorrow’s perfect.”
“Good. Until then…”
Before she lost the nerve, Rose pressed up on her toes and pecked his scruffy cheek. She scurried away down the aisle and glanced over her shoulder. John was rubbing the spot she’d kissed, staring at nothing with a dazed expression. When he realized he’d been caught, he sent her a shy wave and departed in the opposite direction, grinning like a loon.
She couldn’t predict the Doctor’s reaction when he was no longer human. But, at this moment, all he wanted in the world was to take her to dinner. There were no universal obligations or Time Lord rules holding him back. Even if she ended up with a broken heart, she’d be a fool not to savor it while it lasted.