Through the Storm to Find the Rainbow...

Number of boyfriends: 0
Number of potential boyfriends: 2
Number of Jobs: 1 (hurrah!)
Alcohol units: 0 (v.g)
Cigarettes: 1 (v.g)


Started new job at the CPS today... was very nervous and secretly happy mother dropped me in. Met new temp I’ll be working with for the next three months as I waited in reception- well, I say 'met'- I should say "observed" as he was sat in a suit reading a Japanese phrase book and chuckling to himself. Couldn’t help but notice that from the side he looked rather attractive, and let myself ponder about possible office romance; like some Hollywood rom-com starring Mathew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. Fantasy was shattered however when he looked up and he had a startlingly creepy face, really long and angled. Couldn’t help but be reminded of the long faced Uncle-ghost from ‘Casper’.

Shadowed fellow employees doing numerous exciting jobs such as filing and entering dates on the computer, it was very tedious and I didn’t really understand what was going on... even my lunch break was confusing (we got lost).

Had a little Spanish lady explain all the different jobs, I felt bad because I couldn’t understand her accent very well so tried extra hard to concentrate (which was hard as my stomach was rumbling and all I wanted to do was eat my Prawn Mayonnaise sandwich and brag to my friend Sam over the phone about how I have my own desk like adult), only to have her announce “But you won’t have to worry about any of this as you won’t have to do this!” She could tell by the expressions on our faces we had no idea what she was on about which made me feel even worse as she was getting frustrated.

So in conclusion, first day of work was very scary and confusing. On a happier note they gave us a booklet on how to carry boxes. Win...!

Title: The Threeper (2/?)
Author: Lauren_loux
Characters: Doctor/Rose, OC's
Spoilers: None, set sometime during series 2
Rating: All ages
Summery: After the TARDIS is blown out of the Time Vortex, the Doctor and Rose quickly realise they are being hunted down.
Author's Notes: This is my first multi-chaptered fic, so please go easy on me! Unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine! I love comments, so feel free to let me know how you think I'm doing!
 

|Chapter 1|

Chapter 2

                From the way the Doctor was talking, Rose had half expected some kind of ambush outside of the TARDIS doors; if something had enough power to blast them out of the Time Vortex, then surely whatever it was would be waiting for them.

So it was a bit of a pleasant surprise to find that they had in fact landed on top of hill, overlooking a small village, complete with a traditional church with a long unused flag pole. It was a clear day, Rose noticed only one sun in the sky, and the rays shone down on a nearby forest, with a river running by it; the whole thing looked like something off the lid of a chocolate box.

“Well, it looks like Earth...” the Doctor sniffed, locking the TARDIS “Smells like Earth. No sign of any alien invasion going on. Let’s see what these people know, then, shall we?” He held out his hand and the pair bounced down the curve of the hill towards the nearest houses.

It was hard to imagine that anyone in the village would want to do anyone any harm; as they reached the edges of the ‘chocolate box village’ people greeted them with warm nods, all dressed in plain black clothes with silver crosses sewn to their chests.

“Christians, by any chance?” Rose muttered to the Doctor, who nodded as an elderly woman approached them.

She, like the rest, was dressed in a long black robe, with the same silver cross sewn neatly to her chest, hobbling towards them with a thin walking stick she asked with a friendly smile up at the Doctor “May I help you, deary?”

The Doctor gave her a warm smile, “I think you might, yes! Odd question I know, but do you mind telling us where we are? Stumbled across your lovely village by accident, you see.”

The old woman’s mouth tugged with a smile as a breeze caught her wispy white hair “Why, my dear, you’re in Tabdef-Howl! My name is Agnessdee, may I know yours?”

The Doctor had a curious look scrawled across his face, clearly, like Rose, he had never heard of this place before.

“I’m the Doctor and this is Rose.”

“Hello.” Rose smiled, but Agnessdee did not make any eye contact, and Rose was sure she saw the old woman flinch when the Doctor introduced her.

The Doctor gave an uncomfortable smile “Lovely to meet you. Tell me; has been anything strange going on lately? No mysterious people carry great big guns around and aiming them up at the sky?”

“Subtle...” Rose muttered with a forced grin, but the Doctor ignored her.

Agnessdee peered up at him in confusion and then shook her head slowly, replying “Not that I have noticed, my dear.”

“Oh... Right, ok.” The Doctor looked disappointed.

“So you’ve not noticed anything strange at all then?” Rose ventured “No odd contraptions in those woods over there or anything?”

“No.” Agnessdee replied, gazing up at the Doctor as if it were he that had asked the question.

Rose went to say something but the Doctor cut across her, causing an argument with an old woman in a place he had never even heard of before didn’t sound like a good idea.

“Agnessdee, would you be able to direct us to the nearest Public House? I’m parched!”

The old lady gestured up the cobbled road lined by old stone houses, a few yards up it split off into three forks all in different directions into the heart of the village. “Up there and to the left, The Howling Dog, it’s called. Have a pleasant day, Doctor.” She nodded uncomfortably at Rose before tottering off to a group consisting of three others, all younger than she, whispering amongst themselves.

“She didn’t like you...!” the Doctor noted, slightly teasingly, as they made their way into the village.

“Yeah, I got that.” Rose answered still eyeing the group of people who slit up as soon as they saw her looking.

As they made they made their way deeper into Tabdef-Howl, Rose asked if the Doctor had figured out what the date was.

“Oh I’m guessing it’s quite a bit away from your time, the 13^th incarnation of Earth, if I’m correct. They had a soft spot for all the lovely old stone villages, liked to think a person didn’t need to have a lot of money and big buildings to have a good life- just morals and values. Just the simple things, you know. There’s still a big city in every country, but just the one, all supplying the villages and towns with food and water and everything they need. ‘Simplicity’! That’s the key thing here, Rose. No sky scrapers, no angry yellow taxis, no televisions! Lovely.”

“Sounds nice.” Rose answered, noticing a rather ornate fountain spurting water high into the air where it dropped tinkling into the shimmering pool. There was a plaque at the base, and Rose made a mental note to read what it said later.

“Oh yeah it was for a while.” The Doctor continued, strolling up a small hill as he spotted the pub “Lasted for about... oh... a hundred and seventy years, until BOOM! Big alien invasion blew the whole thing up. No defences you see, didn’t think they’d need them... thought they could reason with them.” The Doctor trailed off, catching the look on Rose’s face.

“That’s horrible...” she said, looking around sadly.

“Oh it is.” But then he smiled “But you humans, some of you survived. Found a new Earth eventually. Made new lives for yourselves; a new planet!”

He beamed at her proudly.

“Here we are! The Howling Dog! Excellent.”

They were outside another stone building, and Rose looked up at the swinging sign as the Doctor pushed open the wooden door. She could hear him addressing whoever he had found in there, asking them questions. But Rose continued to stare up at the sign that hung from pub wall.

“The Howling Dog...” she muttered to herself.

There was certainly an animal howling up at a cracked moon, but what appeared to be the dog looked eerily uncanny like another wild animal that sent shivers down Rose’s spine. Whatever the pub was called, Rose was sure she was looking up at the depiction of a wolf.

Chapter 1

                The Doctor was making his way slowly round the console, pushing buttons and pulling levers here and there to keep the TARDIS drifting steadily in the Time Vortex. It had been a long day chasing an escaped Warph; a kind of giant lizard that had broken free of a galactic zoo. It had taken himself and Rose over six hours to herd it back into it’s cage, both of them receiving cuts and bruises for their trouble.

He glanced over at Rose from where he was standing. She was curled up on the jump seats breathing slowly, fast asleep. The chase had worn her out, but keen to see where they were going next, she had stayed in the console room. But the Doctor had thought it best to let her rest and was quite contented to just letting his ship drift for a few hours while Rose regained her energy.

The Doctor was just pondering the complexities of human sleeping patterns when from out of nowhere the TARDIS gave a rather alarming shudder. The Time Lord screwed up his face in confusion, gripping onto the console to regain his balance.

“Wha’s happening?” he heard Rose mumble, the force of the shudder awakening her.

The Doctor didn’t answer as the TARDIS gave another violent shake, and he ran to the console’s screen and began tapping away on various keys. He stopped suddenly as a red warning light began flashing next to him and the screen started throwing various Gallifrayen symbols up at him.

“Doctor, what’s going on?” Rose was at his side within seconds, staring in confusion at the flashing images.

“Hold on!” The Doctor said hurriedly as he began racing around the console and Rose stepped back to let him work.

“No!” He shouted, pointing to the railing, “I mean hold on to something! We’re going to-”

Before the Doctor could finish his sentence, the TARDIS let out an almighty bang and the two of them were thrown across the room, sparks exploding from the base of the console singing Rose’s jeans as she tried to dive out of the way and she heard herself let out a cry as she was sprawled across the grating floor, banging her head on the hard surface. And with a crash, the TARDIS was still and dark.

It took a few moments for Rose’s vision to stop blurring and she managed to push herself up onto her elbows.

“Doctor...?” she croaked, rubbing her head and looking around.

“I’m here! You alright?” He ran over to help her up off the floor “Nothing broken?”

“I’m fine.” She replied, squinting over to the console worriedly. Dark green light was all the TARDIS seemed to be able to offer and smoke lingered in the air.

The Doctor made his way over to the console and small sparks and hissing noises issued from it, it sounded like it had over heated. He had a grave look on his face as he tapped the monitor, but the screen flickered and fuzzed over before he could get a proper reading.

“This is definitely not normal...” The Doctor commented, jumping down to his hands and knees, sticking his head far under the console.

“Be careful!” Rose warned as a spark fizzled by his elbow.

“Come on old girl, what’s the matter?” Rose could hear him muttering to the ship before going silent and muttering “Uh oh.”

“That doesn’t sound like good news...” Rose bent down to try and see what it was he’d found, but the Doctor shot out from underneath making her jump backwards.

“It’s not good news, in fact; it’s the worst news... It’s almost as if something was firing at us.”

“From inside the Time Vortex?” Rose wasn’t quite sure if that was possible.

“A huge surge of energy hit the underside of the TARDIS,” He explained, diving out of sight again, his voice muffled “It must have been immensely concentrated, high level stuff ‘cos it’s somehow bled through and mashed up the wiring.”

“That a technical term ‘mashed up’?” Rose said sarcastically.

“Why would anyone want to try and blow a hole in the TARDIS?!”

“I thought you said nothing could get through?” Rose asked quickly, confused.

“Well, it can’t normally, like I said, it was a high powered surge of concentrated energy, directed directly at the base. Must have blown us out of the Vortex... it shouldn’t take too long to fix... hopefully. But for now it looks like we’re stranded.”

The Doctor pulled himself out from under the console and scratched the back of his neck distractedly, “I don’t want to risk attempting to fly her like this, God knows what might happen.”

“So what do we do?” Rose’s voice was quiet; the TARDIS had always been their place of refuge and without it she felt horribly vulnerable. 

The Doctor rubbed his face in frustration and tapped the bottom of the console with his foot, sighing “We can’t do anything here; I need to try and find the right parts to fix her back up again.” He looked over to the TARDIS doors “Which means we’ll have to have a nose outside. Come on, let’s see where we’ve landed!”

The Doctor made his way over to the blue doors as Rose followed, “So much for a quiet afternoon.” She smiled.

“Oh, Rose, you should know there’s no such thing around here!” The Time Lord replied, pulling the doors towards him.

Rose had awoken earlier than usual as music drifted under her door, rousing her from a light sleep. It had taken her hours to drop off; her head didn’t seem to want to shut down, images of the Doctor before he had regenerated, gangly and bouncy, freckles, crooked teeth, long fingers and piercing brown eyes. She would never see them again

He’s a new man she thought to herself, lying on her back as she stared up at the ceiling, What if he doesn’t need me anymore? New man... new life...  the thoughts circled endlessly round her head until she finally drifted off.

Pushing herself out of bed she stood, pulling on a dressing gown over her pyjamas, opening the door to the corridor, the music became louder as she followed it into the console room and couldn’t help but grin at the sight in front of her.

Frank Sinatra was booming around the room as if the walls were made up of one giant speaker, and the Doctor was dancing around the console, pushing buttons and pulling levers as he went, twirling a black cane in his hand as he sang along “I won’t dance! Don’t ask me! I won’t dance! Don’t ask me! Ba! Ba! Ba!”  He didn’t stop as Rose entered, a grin lighting up his features as he carried on, making his way towards her, “You know what? You’re lovely! You know what you’re so lovely, and oh! What you do to me!”

Laughter erupted from the pit of Rose’s stomach and she tried to stifle it by placing both hands over mouth, the worries of the night before seemed a distant memory.

“Who’d have thought it?” He shouted over the chorus “These new, new, new ears love a bit of Frank!”

Rose laughed again before eyeing his new attire; he wore black jeans, a black jumper and a black suit jacket, which contrasted with his pale skin, yet highlighted his hair brilliantly.

“You like?” he asked, gesturing at his new outfit.

“Not bad at all!” Rose grinned but then scrunched up her nose, “Cane might be a bit too much though...”

The Doctor gave a sniff, “Yeah I thought so too.” He then threw the cane over his shoulder where it clattered into a corner.

Rose gave a small laugh as he held out a hand to her, a crooked smile sweeping across his mouth, “You dance as well as sing, now?” She teased, her tongue poking cheekily through her teeth.

“I am a very talented man, Miss Tyler!” The Doctor boasted, adding casually “Care to dance?”

Rose placed her hand in his and he twirled her around, her dressing gown undoing itself slightly so it caught the air, fanning out like a ball gown. He placed a hand on her waist, and she moved with him, her hand on his shoulder, as they began to waltz over the grating echoing an event that happened two life times ago.

“You’re very happy this morning!” Rose noted.

“Ah it’s just left over energy from the regeneration, got to get rid of it somehow!” And with that he threw her backwards over his arm, and Rose gave another cheerful giggle. He brought her up a little too enthusiastically however, and Rose banged her forehead on his chin, bringing the dancing to an untimely end. The pair both clutched their faces in pain, embarrassed laughter filled the air almost as loud as the music.

“Sorry!” The Doctor apologised, “I’m not used to my arms yet!” He was finding the situation highly amusing.

“It’s alright!” Rose grinned rubbing her forehead “I’m sorry for head-butting you.”

“Let me see.” The Doctor said seriously for a second, taking the top of Rose’s head in his hands, leaning down and pressing his lips over the red mark, Rose caught herself smiling. “There you are, all better.” He smiled.

“Thank you.” Rose grinned back.

“No problem.” The Doctor winked at her.

A thud caused them to both turn their attention to the monitors on the console as the ship hit hard ground.

The Doctor gave her an excited look and grabbed her hand “I think we’ve landed.”HH

HH