Hunger Moon: Chapter Eleven

[amberfocus]

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Close Quarters

 

It had been a week since Rose’s family and friends had moved into the TARDIS and the Doctor was slowly losing his mind. It wasn’t the kids he minded, although Kyle had left a chocolate bar to melt into the inner workings of the console and that had not endeared him to the TARDIS. And more than once he’d found the remnants of Sarah’s grilled cheese sandwiches stuck to the backside of his jeans because he hadn’t looked in the jump seat before plopping down on it. No, it was the adults that were driving him crazy with their neediness for Rose's time.

 

He was not used to having to share Rose and he didn’t like it. He knew he was being unreasonable, and that helped him to keep a curb on his temper, but if they didn’t get back to making love more than once in a twenty-four hour period soon, he wasn’t going to be responsible for what he did. He was hiding in the workshop trying yet another method of trying to get the small sphere to open.

 

The thing wasn’t large, maybe the size of a Nerf ball, and easily fit in his hands. He had tried everything he could think of with the sonic screwdriver and it had refused to yield its secrets. He’d tried using his fingers to poke and prod at all the interesting indentations on the surface of the device and was rapidly coming to the conclusion that it might be opened only biometrically and since he wasn’t a Monoc’teru and he saw no way at present of getting a hold of one, he was close to admitting the thing was impenetrable.

 

The door to the workshop opened and Rose stuck her head inside. “Doctor, I hate to tell you this, but Kyle and Sarah were having a squirt gun fight in the console room and something shorted out. Or I assume it did. Sparks shot out of the panel and it smells like burnt wiring.”

 

“Oh, bloody hell,” he muttered under his breath and rushed out of the workshop, failing to secure the sphere behind him as he left. As the door to the workshop clicked shut, the little device activated, rose from the surface of the table and began to scan the interior of the room.

 

 

 

Sarah Tyler was curled up in a ball on the jump seat with tears in her eyes and Kyle was standing defiantly beside her with his hands on his hips. “It was an accident, Sarah!” he insisted.

 

“But we hurt her!” Sarah wailed. “Can’t you feel it? We hurt the TARDIS.” She choked on a sob as the Doctor strode into the control room. If possible she shrank in on herself even more.

 

“Move,” the Doctor said abruptly to Kyle and when the boy did he stepped forward and studied the smoking panel. Gingerly he pried it loose and looked underneath. He groaned in dismay.

 

“What’s wrong?” Rose asked moving to his side and slipping her hand into his.

 

“They’ve fried the chameleon circuit,” he said.

 

“What’s that mean?” she asked.

 

“It means that the TARDIS is going to be stuck in the shape of a pink Police Public Call Box until I can find a new one.” He removed the destroyed circuit from the interior with a few zaps of his sonic screwdriver.

 

“I’m sorry,” Rose said tentatively.

 

“It’s not your fault,” he told her.

 

“But it is. She was going to change back to her normal self until I moved in all these people. Made her grumpy and stubborn,” Rose said.

 

“So she would have been stuck as a china cabinet or a highboy instead,” the Doctor said. “Not really an improvement.”

 

“It would mean blending in inside places easier,” Rose said.

 

“Well, I’ll just have to tweak the perception filter and make it stronger. I can do that,” he said trying to soothe Rose’s obvious distress.

 

“I’m just…I’m so sorry,” Rose said again.

 

“Stop feeling so guilty. It’s not your fault, Rose,” the Doctor repeated.

 

“No, it’s—it’s—it’s ours,” said Sarah stuttering through a sob. The Doctor and Rose turned around to look at the twins. Kyle stepped protectively in front of Sarah.

 

“It’s not her fault,” said Kyle. “It’s mine. It was my idea to play with squirt guns and I’m the one that chased her into the control room. And it was my water that hit the console. Don’t be mad at Sarah!”

 

“Stop it, Kyle,” Sarah said getting herself under control and starting to unwrap herself from the bundle she’d made of herself. “You can’t take all the blame. I didn’t have to run in here and I could have said no when you suggested squirt guns. It’s my fault, too.”

 

Sarah looked imploringly up at the Doctor. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to hurt your ship.” She held one hand out hesitantly. The Doctor dropped down to the floor in front of her and took her hand, then reached over for Kyle, pushing him onto the seat next to his sister.

 

“I’m sorry, too,” he muttered afraid to raise his eyes. The Doctor lifted his chin until the boy’s vivid blue eyes were looking into his own.

 

“I can’t have any more of this nonsense in the console room,” he said gently but firmly. “No more food, no more drinks, no more horseplay in here. There are rooms for that on this ship and you know where they are. I want your word as Tylers that you’ll abide by these rules.”

 

“Our word as Tylers?” Sarah gasped.

 

“Nothing stronger than the word of a Tyler. Least the word of a Tyler woman. I’m assuming it carries over to the men of the family, too.” His eyes held Kyle’s gaze and the slumped little boy stood up, his pride stung awake.

 

“I give you my word,” he said.

 

“Me, too,” said Sarah. “I promise,” she added for good measure.

 

The Doctor’s stern expression broke into a soft smile and he gathered the children into a hug. When he let them go he said, “You’ve apologized to me and I’ve accepted it, but you need to apologize to the TARDIS, too.”

 

Sarah walked over to one of the coral support struts and put her hand against it. “I am. I’m sorry,” she said softly and smiled as the sound of little bells tinkled through her head. Kyle, not to be outdone flung his arms around another support and said, “Me, too. I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt ya.” His worried expression eased as the faintest chimes rang in his own head.

 

They suddenly heard a sniffle from the doorway and everyone looked up to see Jackie standing in the doorway to the control room. “Kids, Suzie has lunch ready in the kitchen. Why don’t you scoot on over there?” she suggested.

 

When the kids were gone she came forward, reached out and took one of the Doctor’s hands between her own. “I’m sorry,” she told him. “I misjudged you. You’re...you’re a good man. A good man for Rose, the right man. You handled the children beautifully. And I’m just…really sorry for the way I’ve acted.”

 

The Doctor’s surprise was quickly masked and he simply said, “Thank you, Jackie.” Rose, on the other hand, threw her arms around her mother in a giant hug.

 

“I better get back to the workshop,” the Doctor said. “I need to…oh, no. The sphere!” And he dashed out of the room.

 

Rose’s eyes widened as she suddenly realized that she didn’t remember the Doctor securing the device before he’d left it alone. “Mum, go make sure the kids are safe. I’m going to help the Doctor.”

 

As Rose ran to the workshop she hoped desperately that everything was going to be just fine, but she was dreadfully afraid that one moment’s careless error was going to make all their careful hiding and protecting of the twins’ minds just go up in a puff of smoke. When she entered the workshop her worst fears were realized as the Doctor stood stock still in the middle of the room, the sphere nowhere in sight.

 

“Where is it?” Rose asked the TARDIS.

 

“I’ve trapped it in my ventilation system. It made it almost as far as the swimming pool,” she replied.

 

“There’s a swimming pool?” Rose asked.

 

“It’s old,” said the Doctor. “Doesn’t have any water in it, either. Diverted it to the pond ages ago,” he said.

 

“There’s a pond?” Rose asked.

 

“Focus,” he told her.

 

“It’s using a laser beam to try to cut through the emergency hatch I slammed down. I suggest you hurry,” the TARDIS replied.

 

Rose followed the Doctor as he grabbed the lead lined box he had been keeping the sphere in when he wasn’t tinkering with it, and ran through the corridors. The ship had never seemed as large to her as it did in that moment when they had to quickly cover so much ground. With so many people scattered across the ship, the TARDIS couldn’t safely move rooms around to bring the location any closer. At last they burst into the chamber with the swimming pool and the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

 

He set the box down. “Let it out,” he whispered to the TARDIS. They heard the sound of the hatch retracting and then a moment later a panel fell to the ground at their feet. As the little sphere emerged the Doctor zapped it with his sonic screwdriver and the thing fell from the air, neatly caught in the Doctor’s empty palm. Quickly he put it into the box and sealed it in.

 

The device safely stored away for the time being, Rose let her eyes wander to the cracked and dried out swimming pool. “It must have been pretty nice in here once,” she said.

 

“Romana liked to swim,” he said. “I never really cared for the pool, though. It was one of the first changes the TARDIS allowed me to make, diverting the water to a pond and making a more natural habitat. I don’t think the ship likes to think about all the time Romana spent in here, she’d rather forget it exists.”

 

“Not enough to get rid of it altogether, though,” Rose mused.

 

“No,” agreed the Doctor softly.

 

“Where is the pond?” Rose asked.

 

“It’s through the Gallifrey room. There’s an archway. It’s hidden by a stand of trees, but you go around them and it’s there on the other side. I’ll take you there after it’s just the two of us living here again. I don’t…I don’t want your family doing anything to destroy the Gallifrey room so I’ve deadlock sealed it until they leave.”

 

Rose looked at him. “I don’t mind them being here, Rose, honestly. Well, not that much,” he admitted. “But I won’t let anything happen to the last bit of home I have left.”

 

She nodded. “No, it’s good, sealing it off. You wouldn’t want Kyle to accidently blow it up or something.” She moved into his body and hugged him. “I’ve missed you,” she said raising her face to his.

 

He dipped his head and met her questing lips in a kiss that seared right through her. She was a little dizzy when he released her mouth. “I’ve missed you, too,” he told her. He caressed her hip and then sighed, pushing himself away from her and picking up the box. “Let’s get this back to the workshop. Then tonight…” His eyes held promise.

 

“Forget waiting until tonight,” she told him. “We can lock up the workshop and go and find a place to hide for an hour or two. I need you,” she admitted openly. “I haven’t felt my skin itch like this since before we started making love.”

 

“That’s what it is! I’d forgotten,” the Doctor said as he realized the skin hunger kicking back in must be why he’d been feeling so irritable.

 

“It’s never as bad as it was,” Rose said. “More of a tingling itch than an overwhelming one, but I don’t like it.” She held out her hand and the Doctor put his free one in it. Quickly they made their way back to the workshop.

 

The Doctor placed the lead-lined box into a larger metal box and deadlock sealed it. Then he dug around until he found a chalkboard and wrote on it. Rose laughed when she saw what he’d put. It read: Experiment in Progress. Do Not Interrupt. Things may Explode if you do. That’s not an invitation, Kyle.

 

He hung the little chalkboard from the door and shut it, locking the doors tight. Then he led Rose over to a little cot in the corner of the room, divested them both of their clothing and made slow and lingering love to her for the rest of the afternoon.

 

“Should have thought of that ages ago,” the Doctor said as he held an exhausted Rose in his arms afterwards.

 

“They do seem to be leaving us alone,” she said with a tired grin. She kissed his chest and settled her body more firmly against his on the little cot. “I know we should be getting up soon, but I miss having the time to just lie in your arms like we used to.”

 

He kissed her forehead, then her nose, then took thorough inventory of her mouth before releasing it again with a sigh. “Me, too,” he said.

 

“Mum’s insisting on family movie night tonight,” she said with a grimace. “She wants to keep things as normal as possible for the twins.”

 

“What movie?” the Doctor asked with a sense of dread.

 

“Henry Potter and the Goblet of Fear,” said Rose with a wince.

 

“What, you don’t like the Henry Potter movies?” he asked.

 

“In my old universe it was Harry Potter and the books weren’t so dark, and that’s saying something because they were still pretty dark. I still can’t believe Mum lets them watch those things. I had nightmares for a week when Hermi’s uniform caught on fire from the back blast of the dragon’s breath. I know they used magic to heal her, but it was so graphic…I mean, the twins are only nine!”

 

“That sort of thing is pretty standard in kiddie movies here,” the Doctor shrugged. “They’re pretty immune to it from what I’ve seen.”

 

“Well, I’m not,” said Rose. I think the only part I really like is when they take the egg underwater and it--.” The Doctor stiffened under her and she broke off. “What?” she asked.

 

“That’s the one thing I haven’t tried, submerging the sphere underwater. I bet it’ll open up then if for no other reason then to defend itself. Rose, you’re a genius. Now off, my love and let me get back to work.”

 

With a grumble Rose rolled off him and set about retrieving her clothing while the Doctor dressed more hastily. He filled a tub with water, unlocked the boxes the sphere was contained in and plunged the sphere under the surface. Multi-colored lights shot out of the sphere in all directions and the tub burst, water flooding the floor of the workshop and bursting up into the air.

 

When Rose looked back at it, it had cracked open into two perfect hemispheres connected only with a thin piece of metal ribbon. With a manic smile of delight at his beloved wife, the Doctor went to work.

Ch. 12:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/70037.html

Comments

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Well, I've intended for her to get stuck pink for a long time. Just because it'll irritate the Doctor to no end everytime he sees it. In fact, I wouldn't put it past the TARDIS to have deliberately fried the circuit herself and used the water as an excuse, just to stay in this form. Not saying she did, just saying I would't put it past her.