amberfocus: (Leap of Faith Icon--Do Not Take)
[personal profile] amberfocus

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Title:  Leap of Faith (6/?)
Author: 
[info]amberfocus
Characters/Pairings:  John Smith (alt!Nine)/Rose Tyler, Toshiko Sato, Jake Simmonds, Mickey Smith, Ianto Jones, Jackie Tyler/Pete Tyler, Tony Tyler, various original characters
Genre:  Romance, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe
Rating:  Adult
Betas: 
[info]amyo67, [info]
jeprdyfrndly
Summary:  Hiding from the Family of Blood, the alt!Ninth Doctor turns himself into John Smith via the chameleon arch and with his companion Toshiko Sato, takes a job at Torchwood.  He clashes with everyone he meets and Rose Tyler, the beautiful young director of Torchwood Field Operative Training and the daughter of his boss, is no exception.  AU after season 2 and based mostly, but not completely, on my short story Third Time's the Charm: 
http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/319447.html, but it is not necessary to have read that.
A/N:  Background information for this chapter:  Josie Yates is a real person in the past of alt!Nine, not simply made up for John Smith's past history.  She was his first companion in his ninth incarnation and he went several years after her without one before he asked Tosh along.  The Doctor's TARDIS has incorporated real memories into John Smith's identity inserting them into the fiction of who he is.  The events he remembers in this chapter are real, except that they happened to the Doctor and not to John Smith.

Previous Chapters: 
http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/327895.html

Chapter Six:  Assumptions Unfounded

It had been almost twenty-four hours and John Smith could not get Rose Tyler out of his head. The woman had set his pulse racing. He’d felt desire for her on a physical level in a way he wasn’t used to anymore. In fact he couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually wanted a woman. Well, he could, but he didn’t want to. The start of the Cyberwar had been years ago. What was it now? Five? Six years? He didn’t like to think about it, but now the memory came unbidden.

He’d met Josie Yates when Toshiko had gone off on one of her scientific expeditions. They’d clicked instantly and there had been a relationship forming between them that had bordered on romance. She’d made it clear that she’d liked him, but he’d been too slow or too stubborn or maybe just too stupid to move on his feelings. Then the day had come, nearly ten months after he’d met her that she’d marched into Cybus Industries wearing those damn ear pods and never marched out again.

“Not true,” he muttered, harshly rubbing his face. She’d come back out again, but not as a human. Then the emotional inhibitor chips had failed. He still had no idea how because he hadn’t done it. He’d found Josie in the agony of discovering she was trapped in an artificial body forever, that she’d have no human future, that if she was even allowed to live in this world now it would be as some sort of inhuman thing that people feared and hated. She had begged him in a devastatingly broken, metallic voice, to kill her. When he had faltered she’d said, “Please don’t let me die at the hands of a stranger. Love me enough to be the one who gives me peace.”

He knew there was nothing he could have done to save her; that if it hadn’t been him, it would have been the military or UNIT or Torchwood. All around him the sounds of Cybermen being put down clogged his senses. She would die this night one way or another. It had taken everything he had within him to raise the weapon she had given him and fire. His only wish was that he could have held her hand, stroked her brilliant red hair back from her face while the light in her green eyes went out forever. But the only light he saw go out was the one in her battery cell. He’d not looked at a woman with any kind of desire since he’d lost her. He’d never told Tosh about it. He didn’t know if he’d ever tell anyone.

Now this ridiculous attraction to the boss’s daughter was throwing him for a loop. It wasn’t because she was beautiful. He spent day after day with Tosh, who was very beautiful, but he’d never even looked at her with the slightest thought of desire. This was different. Rose Tyler affected him on a level that was bone deep. He didn’t like it, he didn’t want it, but there it was; unavoidable unless he avoided her completely.

Every instinct he had was telling him to bed her. And she’d felt it, too. That smile she’d given him when she’d seen him sitting in her chair had been so vibrant he’d felt for the first time since coming to work for Torchwood like he actually might want to stay there, if only to be bathed in that radiance. It had been like she was greeting a lover come to visit unexpectedly. There had been so much intimacy in her smile. It was as if she were truly seeing him in a way that no one ever did.

It certainly hadn’t escaped him the way her eyes had searched his with an expression that bordered on hunger. He had noticed her taking in every aspect of his face and body and the naked, fiery desire and fierce longing that had flashed across her features before she’d shuttered it away, dismissing it as if it had been nothing, as if he’d been found wanting, her eyes empty of that flame as they reached his again. The light in her eyes dying away the same way that—no. He wasn’t going to think of Josie. She was dead, gone, buried.  She needed to stay that way. He forced his mind back to the complication that was Rose Tyler.

When she’d opened her mouth, at first she had seemed to be almost flirting, but then she’d turned cold and had become all business and no warmth. It had gotten under his skin fast, bringing out the worst in him. It felt like she’d dismissed him before she’d even attempted to listen to his complaint, and even though he’d known getting out of training was a long shot, it would have helped if she’d really just listened to him. But she hadn’t. It was obvious she was someone who not only went strictly by the book, but had probably written it that way in the first place. She had refused to make him an exception to the rules simply because to her the rules were the end all and be all of everything and it had infuriated him. He had better things to do with his time than show the idiots in the training center that he was perfectly able to take care of himself should the need arise.

Worse yet, it felt like she’d dismissed him as a man. He’d hated her coldness when he knew there’d been fire there at first, and childish as it was, it had made him want to strike out at her. Everything he’d heard from Tosh prattling on, and indirectly from anyone else, about Rose Tyler had told him that she worked hard, harder than anybody at Torchwood, proving to all that she wasn’t just there because of her father. So he’d known that riling her about her job and how she got it would be the most likely way to bring that fire back to the surface. And it had come roaring to life, making her spit at him like a hell cat. He’d enjoyed seeing that feistiness and couldn’t help egging her on.

He’d pushed it too far, of course. He always did. He never had been good at knowing when to stop. It was even possible he’d made an unfixable mess of things with the girl. Not that it mattered. Young twenty-something women who looked like that would never end up with battle-scarred old men born a generation before them. Perhaps that had something to do with his behavior as well. If he made her hate him from the start, it wouldn’t bother him that she wouldn’t want someone like him. Only the desire had been there. He was sure of it. It had flashed so hot and so fast, but he’d seen it. Seen her force it away and decide to ignore it, too.

When he encountered her again, he’d better watch his step. He was pretty sure he’d already come as close to violating the sexual harassment clause in his contract as he could without getting reprimanded for it and he felt bad about it. He hadn’t actually meant to, but his eyes and his mind had not been working in tandem. And his mouth…he’d been lucky that when she’d asked him where he got off he didn’t say under her poster in his bedroom, because he’d been thinking it. The poster was obviously a touchy subject for her. He wondered why. She looked beautiful in it. Certainly not as voluptuous, but she was plenty curvy for his own tastes despite his snarky comment. Still, it was good he had kept his mouth shut about the other. No girl wanted to basically be told they would be a man’s masturbatory material of choice.

Normally he was distantly respectful of women. Tosh certainly had never had anything to complain about. Rose had brought up both the primal and the stupid within him. The primal he could handle, but he’d be damned if he’d behave like…like a stupid ape again. Rose didn’t deserve stupid. She might deserve primal though, if he ever got the chance. Bloody unlikely the way he’d treated her.

Damn it, he was never going to get anything done if he didn’t get the girl out of his mind. Then again, maybe he didn’t want her out of his mind. Or want himself out of her mind. Pushing her had made her push back and he’d liked it more than he cared to admit. Tosh gave as good as she got, but this was different. He didn’t want to sleep with Tosh, and unfortunately for him, that was about all he could think about now when he thought of Rose. Stupid of him, too, when he knew she was a real person, a full person with thoughts and ideas and feelings that he’d stomped all over. Was it even worth trying to repair the damage he’d done?

He could go to the damn training tomorrow he supposed, useless as it was, but only if he actually held her to what she’d said. If she had to drag him up there herself when he didn’t show up, it meant that he’d get to see her again, possibly make a better impression. Of course she might not care if he tried to make amends if she was the sort to hold a grudge and have a long memory. He wondered if her dragging him would actually involve real dragging. He fingered his ears protectively.

When they’d shaken hands, when she’d brushed by him to get to her desk, it had set his skin buzzing where they’d touched. When he’d grabbed her arm to stop her angry poking against his chest and she’d been so close to him, just inches away, he’d wanted to yank her those few remaining inches and hold her plastered against him and kiss her until she couldn’t breathe. The way her chest had heaved after yelling at him had about driven him mad. He wanted her to touch him again, even by accident. The way it had made him feel, he hadn’t been this alive in ages.

He’d thought after Josie that he’d never dare to fall again. He didn’t want to fall. He didn’t want to have anything to do with Rose Tyler if it meant opening up his heart again. So why was he even still thinking about getting into her good graces? There was no future for him with this girl. It wasn’t like he could look ahead and see—. Sudden pain lanced through his temples and a momentary golden light blinded him before it was gone. The shattering of glass brought his attention back to what he’d been doing and he swore.

He’d dropped and broken a component of the device he was supposed to be taking apart. Great. He might still be able to figure out what the object did, but he most likely wouldn’t get it working again if he happened to. He swore again, quite a bit more fluently and imaginatively than before. “Thank you, Torchwood Barbie,” he mumbled under his breath. It wasn’t right to blame Rose. The momentary headache hadn’t been her fault. But still, he’d been thinking of her when it happened and been distracted.

“What is wrong with you, Doctor?” Tosh asked. “You’ve been in a foul mood all day. And most of yesterday.”

John sighed and pushed back from his desk. “Met your friend yesterday. Bit cold, isn’t she? No sense of humor?”

“Rose?” she asked in surprise.

“Any other little girls with too much authority you’ve befriended lately?” he asked. Oh, just shut up now, he told himself. He really didn’t need Tosh mad at him, too, for tearing down her friend.

“Rose is the warmest person I’ve ever met,” Tosh said with a frown. “She’s funny and kind and smart and clever and the last thing I’d ever think she could be described as is cold. Restrained, yeah, but she’s been hurt. I’ve gotten the impression that her life has had a lot of hardship in it.”

“Oh, come on. She’s a Tyler. What kind of hardship could there be? You’ve seen the kind of excess that family displays.”

“The Tylers contribute to more charitable causes in Great Britain than any other family,” Tosh said.

“Did she tell you that?” he asked.

“No, the London Times,” she said mildly. “Anyway, her parents might be ostentatious, but Rose doesn’t live like that. She lives off her own salary and has a flat in Torchwood Housing, same as us. It’s no luxury flat, either. I haven’t seen anything so sparsely decorated in my life. I’ve got more mementos after living in London for a couple months. Her place has no permanence, like she could walk away at a moment’s notice and leave everything behind and never miss it,” Tosh mused. “A lot like you.”

He snorted. “Probably just crashes there while she’s working, then. Probably has some fancy flat in the heart of the city,” he said.

“What has gotten into you?” Tosh asked. “You’re never this judgmental. You don’t even know the woman. Rose lives simply. I get the feeling that before she met me she ate, slept, and breathed Torchwood. She’s not a society princess, Doctor, and she’s certainly earned her position here. You should hear the guys in the training program talk about her. They all respect her. Half of them are terrified of doing anything wrong just because they don’t want to earn her disapproval or the sharp edge of her tongue. And it has nothing to do with being a Tyler. It has to do with being expected to work up to a certain standard. A standard that she excels at herself!”

“Well, she’s certainly got your loyalty.”

“I think you’ll find she’s got the loyalty of everyone at Torchwood. Even the ones that are scared of her,” Tosh said.

“Well, I’m not scared of her.”

Tosh looked at him thoughtfully. “No, fear is not what this is about.”

“What’s that meant to mean?” he asked.

“Exactly what I said. I’ve never seen you get so riled up over a woman before,” she said thoughtfully. “All this because she wouldn’t excuse you from the mandatory field training? Is that why you don’t like her? Because she’s just doing her job.”

John looked away from her. “I didn’t say that. She’s just a stubborn, obstinate, ornery, opinionated, uppity—.”

“You want her,” Tosh gasped.

“Hell’s bells, woman, haven’t you heard a word I’ve said?” John protested.

“Yeah. I’ve heard every word you’ve said,” she told him. “But I know you, Doctor. You want Rose Tyler. You don’t want to want her, but you want her.” There was so much wonder in Tosh’s voice that he frowned. It shouldn’t be inconceivable that he could be attracted to a woman. He was a man after all. He had needs. The way Tosh said it made it sound like it was the last thing she’d ever have thought might happen.

“I didn’t say that, either.”

“You didn’t have to. Well, I’ll tell you one thing, Doctor. If you screw over my friend you’re going to have to find a new assistant,” she said sternly.

“Not bloody likely. She can’t stand me. And anyway, I don’t want her,” he said stonily.

“Are you afraid to want her?” Tosh asked carefully.

“Not afraid of anything, me,” he said. It was a lie of course. There were a few things he was afraid of. His memories of the Cyberwar and all he’d lost there still woke him in a cold sweat. He was afraid of being alone for too long. He lost his judgment without someone like Tosh around to rein him in. He couldn’t use a gun again after—after—Josie. He swallowed hard and shoved that thought away. But of a woman like Rose? No, he wasn’t afraid of Rose Tyler. He just needed to shag her against the nearest wall. That’s all it would take to get her out of his system. Too bad he’d never have the chance.

Tosh let it go and then excused herself for lunch. He was a little disappointed. She’d eaten with him the day before because Rose had been called out on a field assignment and it had been like old times. Well, pre-Rose times anyway. He didn’t like to admit to needing anyone, but Tosh was his friend before she’d ever met Rose and sometimes he resented it that all of her spare time was no longer at his disposal. “Selfish old man,” he muttered. Tosh deserved a life not fully tied to his. She’d made that clear more than once after she’d met Rose and he tried to respect it. He wondered if maybe some of his antagonism towards Rose was because it took away his only friend.

He sighed and pushed away from his lab table and went over to the fridge. He pulled out the polystyrene box from Iago’s that was leftover from the day before and dumped its contents onto a paper plate that he put into the microwave. As he waited for it to warm he thought back over his meeting with Rose for the umpteenth time. When she’d told him that if he knew the truth he’d never speak to her the way he had, she’d emphasized the words, “Not you.” As if he in particular would never treat her so. It had been bothering him off and on since she’d said it, but he couldn’t put his finger on exactly why.

If he combined it with the way she’d first looked at him when she’d seen him sitting there behind her desk, it really was as if she’d somehow known him. That was impossible of course. If he’d ever met Rose Tyler before yesterday she would have been burned deeply into his memories. Although, given her age, it was entirely possible he might have known her as a child. He’d not recognize her if that was the case. But a Tyler? When would he have run across a Tyler child?

The microwave dinged and he took his plate over to his desk and turned on his computer monitor. He used his access code to leave the Torchwood network and go out onto the world wide web. He input the name Rose Tyler in the search box. Thousands of hits came up, but nowhere near the hundreds of thousands that he’d expected for someone who had been in the public eye for 24 years. He frowned wondering where on earth to begin. Well, he supposed at the beginning. He’d look for the announcement of her birth in the papers.

He entered new search parameters and waited to see what would show up. For some reason the search engine was being incredibly slow at bringing up links. The only thing he found 25 years ago, when Jackie Tyler would have been pregnant, was information on the up and coming president of Vitex corporation and how he’d expanded the juice company he’d run for the last two years into a business to be reckoned with. He managed to locate some photographs of Pete and Jackie from that year, but in every one of them Jackie looked slim.

He pushed back from his desk a bit. There were pictures available from the entire year, but there wasn’t a single one of Jackie swollen with child. He tried again to find birth records for Rose, expanding the parameters to the two years surrounding what had to be her birth year. Again the search engine was very slow and came up with nothing, though late in the year before Rose was born there was a brief article on Jackie Tyler being rushed to the hospital after falling down the stairs and being hospitalized for three days.

Okay, then, if there was nothing online about her birth, and it was possible there couldn’t be as the internet wasn’t as widely used for media storage back then, maybe there was something about her school years. Year by year he entered her name into the search box. It wasn’t until three years ago that there was a solid hit. Well, a few hundred solid hits. He clicked on the first one.

Secret Vitex Heiress Comes Forward

Peter Tyler, Vitex Millionaire, and wife Jacqueline Tyler announced today the discovery of a child long thought dead. Although the family has issued no further comment, the private investigator hired to look into the past of Rose Marion Jacobs, raised by a former maid of the Tylers, found conclusive evidence that the young woman is indeed the newborn baby kidnapped from the Tyler Estate five days after her birth. DNA tests have also confirmed that she is indeed the daughter of both Peter and Jacqueline.

Photographs of the young woman have been difficult to come by, but in a press conference scheduled for tomorrow at 11:15 a.m., the newly discovered Tyler will give a statement to the press…

He clicked on a link that took him to the press conference coverage. There he saw a very young looking but adult Rose surrounded by her parents and standing at a podium. He read the statement she gave about how she’d been raised in secret by Melinda Jacobs. She’d been homeschooled and kept away from other children for the first ten years of her life before she and her adoptive mother had moved to Oxford and she’d entered the school system. Oxford? Had she known him then? As a little girl? Is that why she’d said that if he knew the truth he’d never speak to her that way because she had known him? He struggled to remember anyone named Jacobs, but he couldn’t. It had to be coincidence that she had lived in the town where he’d taught for years.

He returned to the article. Rose had explained that her adoptive mother had only told her the truth as she lay dying and that Rose had waited until after the woman’s death to seek out the truth. She also announced that she was legally changing her last name to Tyler and taking a job with Torchwood. When asked if she’d be moving into the Tyler Manor she’d said no, she was taking a flat in Torchwood Housing. She wanted to know her parents, but she’d always lived simply and she saw no reason to change it. She’d answered a few other questions before being swept into a limo by her parents.

John sighed. He’d really put his foot in it, hadn’t he? Assuming she was a pampered princess when nothing could be further from the truth. Well, there was nothing he could do to change the past. He clicked on a few more links and saw various tabloid articles and photographs of Rose being paired with various men as love interests. He had to laugh when he realized they were all men from Torchwood and Rose was always in field gear when they were snapped.

He never once came across a photo of her that looked the least bit like she was actually in a romantic situation. Even the one of her and Jake in plainclothes at an outdoor café didn’t look as suspicious as the caption tried to make it out to be. She must have had a hell of a time adapting to suddenly being in the public eye every time she wanted to grab a quick bite. Not to mention suddenly finding out she was the daughter of a millionaire.

He ought to apologize to her, only if he did, she’d know he’d been checking up on her. He didn’t want that. He ran his hands through his hair accidentally tugging out the small ponytail he’d gathered it into this morning. Well, he’d seen what the world outside Torchwood had to say. It was time to see if Rose Tyler was really as good at her job as everyone claimed. Returning to the Torchwood network, he hacked into Rose’s file.

Ch. 7: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/330674.html



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Date: 2010-03-22 12:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] feerocious.livejournal.com
Another fantastic chapter, I love that we're getting them all so quickly. :)

Date: 2010-03-24 09:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
Thank you. It helps that this is the only thing I'm working on right now.

Date: 2010-03-22 12:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kholly.livejournal.com
Every instinct he had was telling him to bed her.
That was a bit of a crude way to think of it and made me wonder about Smith and alt!Nine. In the end I decided what it tells me is that even his internal filter turns off when he's worked up a bit. No wonder Tosh is his only friend. And then no wonder that jealousy is one of the emotions in the mix when Rose is getting quality Tosh time on top of everything else.

Loved how quickly Tosh pegged what was going on with him. She's too smart for his own good.

Date: 2010-03-24 09:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
John Smith reacts internally very much on his baser instincts. It certainly is abrasive at times. But I really wanted him to have his own distinct personality from alt!Nine, who is still certainly rough around the edges and difficult to get on with, but who isn't quite so base in his reactions and can see the value of playing nice and getting along with people when necessary a little more readily. John will have to learn not to be so isolationist. Rose will help him with that as they work towards a friendship and begin to grow closer.

Tosh knows him very well, despite only having been with him less than a year. And she's definitely figured out "John" pretty darn quickly. Rose, too, for that matter.

Date: 2010-03-22 12:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emraldeyedauter.livejournal.com
I'm quite incapable of leaving a decent comment right now.

your alternate John Smith has completely fried my brain after that chapter. Primal indeed. God knows what I'll be like when he really gets the chance. GAH.

Date: 2010-03-24 09:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
*grins* Thanks. I haven't quite figured out yet just exactly how that's going to go when the time comes, primal or tender. Or a mix of both. It's many, many, MANY chapters away still.

Date: 2010-03-22 01:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dudewithak.livejournal.com
So, the doctor eats humble pie. It suits him, really. This was a great chapter, well-written and engaging! I love how you sorted out the 'Pete and Jackie Tyler have and adult child' angle. Excellent work! Please update soon!

Date: 2010-03-24 09:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
Thank you. He needed to, a little bit. I'm glad you liked the back story for Rose's existence. It made a lot of sense to me that if she'd been snatched as an infant, a lot of people would not know she'd ever existed, so it would be believable.

Date: 2010-03-22 02:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] shadowchsr79.livejournal.com
Finally! A look in John Smith's head. (does happy dance) And as I guessed he's not gonna want to admit he was wrong in public. Which means when he sees Rose again, he's gonna be at major risk for opening mouth inserting foot, followed by the rest of the leg. The loss of Josie Yates obviously left a scar on him. I wonder if she was a companion he lost in this reality for him to remember it so deeply after the chamelion arch built his past. It certainly explains his defensiveness to his reaction to Rose Tyler. I have a feeling things might get a bit worse before they get better and they meet on some kind of mutual ground. I still want to see rose tumble him to the mats. Might help them call a bit of a truce.

I loved the back story you created for Rose, kidnapped at birth and all. It's one of the few well thought out ones I've read in stories in the Alt Universe. the only hole is the lack of evidence of Jackie's pregnancy. Then again first pregnancies usually take well into the second trimester to show. And DNA won't lie.

I wonder if the dear doctor will the some of the subject matter of Tosh and Rose's lunch together. That will most likely be quite an illuminating conversation for the both of them and possibly increase Tosh's shock and potential worry for the situation.

And the hacking into Torcwood. I wonder if there are any flags that go up when people hack into higher up accts. After all Rose is a department head and Pete Tyler's daughter. I'm sure Mickey is also keeping and eye on Dr Smith and a confrontation is in the works there as well I'm certain. I kinda like seeing Mickey go all protective big brother.over Rose.

I also wonder if it's gonna come out that John Smith is a (for all intents and purposes) a doppleganger of Rose's past love. If it ever comes to light, that will possibly put a ding in things. But if that does happen, I'm sure it will be several chapters away. Anywho, look forward to the next one

Date: 2010-03-24 09:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
It was time. So much other groundwork had to be laid before that. Yeah, he is scarred pretty bad. Josie was Nine's first companion in this incarnation and they were close. Not like our Nine and Rose, but still close.

Thanks, I wanted a back story that would be believable and realistic to most people who weren't around them at the time.

You know, you wonder a lot of things that are on target most of the time. It's spooky.

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From: [identity profile] shadowchsr79.livejournal.com - Date: 2010-03-24 11:46 am (UTC) - Expand

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From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com - Date: 2010-03-24 11:53 am (UTC) - Expand

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From: [identity profile] shadowchsr79.livejournal.com - Date: 2010-03-24 03:46 pm (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2010-03-22 02:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanb03.livejournal.com
This is wonderful. I have a feeling I'll be buying a new folder and printing this!

Date: 2010-03-24 09:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
*grins* Thank you! I like that idea.

Date: 2010-03-22 02:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wiggiemomsi.livejournal.com
Hah! John Smith!alt Nine is having an about-face change in his opinion of Miss Rose Tyler. Eat humble pie, Doctor!

I love Tosh ... she's a great friend to have.

*Hugs*

Date: 2010-03-24 09:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
*grins* You might be enjoying his being wrong just a little too much.

Thank you.

Date: 2010-03-22 02:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ninthraven.livejournal.com
Fireworks! What a great way to start the week!

Date: 2010-03-24 09:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
Thank you.

Date: 2010-03-22 03:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] epiphany-gun.livejournal.com
This was lovely to wake up to. I'm eager to see what's in Rose's file, this promises to be entertaining. :)

Date: 2010-03-24 09:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
Thank you. Well, the revelation of that won't be until chapter eight or nine.

(no subject)

From: [identity profile] epiphany-gun.livejournal.com - Date: 2010-03-25 06:46 am (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2010-03-22 03:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] honorh.livejournal.com
I thought he might be interested in finding out more about Rose after that meeting, and you do not disappoint. I love the cover story he found--that she was kidnapped as a baby--because it makes sense. Yeah, sensational, but it would explain things better than most Watsonian explanations of Rose's presence in Pete's World that I've seen. Wonder what he'll think when he learns the truth, eh?

Now, the only question is, can he speak to her again without digging himself in deeper? I have my doubts.

A touch of Brit-picking from this American, btw--"gotten" is a dead giveaway that the author doesn't speak the Queen's English. Brits almost always use "(have) got" as the past participle. I always have to go through and nitpick it in my own fics.

Date: 2010-03-24 10:04 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
He's definitely very interested in her. Especially after what Tosh tells him. It's a little soap opera, kidnapping, but it does happen. People do just snatch children to raise as their own. I felt like it was a better explanation than she was away at boarding school for her whole life or whatever. Or she was a love child of Pete's. Or Jackie gave her up for adoption before she met Pete, or something like that.

Yes, I know about got and gotten. My problem is I can't stand to do it the British way. It looks wrong to me, it sounds wrong to me, and it reads wrong to me. It's like when they say "he was sat at the table." It bugs me to no end. I just go sitting, sitting, sitting, in my head. Yet I have no problem with them going down the pub instead of going down to the pub. Got is just one of those things I can't get past.

Date: 2010-03-22 04:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hazelwho.livejournal.com
Getting in John Smith's head was really great. And it's satisfying that Rose got under his skin just as much as he did hers. I love that Tosh called him on it so quickly - she's just fantastic. Your version of Rose's origins in Pete's World was really great - I don't think I've heard anything like that before. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Date: 2010-03-24 10:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
Thank you. Well, the way they clashed she would definitely get under his skin. He's used to intimidating people and not having many people stand up to him. So of course he's going to be interested in a woman who does. Plus, she's his type so add it all together and bingo. Tosh can read him like a book. I wanted a realistic explanation of Rose's origins. If it is a trifle soapy, it makes more sense that people would actually believe it than some of the cover stories I've read.

Date: 2010-03-22 05:12 pm (UTC)
keladry_lupin: (Wheeeee (Calvin))
From: [personal profile] keladry_lupin
FYI: I've recced this at my LJ (including using an excerpt to show why this should appeal to my friends list, most of whom are Severus Snape fans). Will write a proper review later, because this chapter definitely deserves one.

Date: 2010-03-23 12:29 am (UTC)
keladry_lupin: (Nine (I <3 Dorks))
From: [personal profile] keladry_lupin
Okay, now the proper review!

I really like the original Nine references you've put in here, like "stupid ape" and him being aware of his ears, even though he's very different. Still haunted by his past, but the TARDIS sure was thorough about his background!

Is Rose going to find out that he's been checking up on her, just like he saw that she was looking at his file? I wonder what she would make of that.

Gorgeous chapter!! I love angsty romance.

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Date: 2010-03-22 05:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] foalen.livejournal.com
The last couple of days I have been re watching the first few episodes of Doctor who, way back with William Hartnell and its almost spooky how similar the first Doctor is to this Alt version of the Doctor. There is a scene in the third episode "Edge of Destruction" where the Doctor acts abominably toward Barbra and Ian and says some pretty nasty things to them threatening to force them off the Tardis in an unknown situation possibly to their deaths because he is suspicious of them.. Barbra stands up to him and saves the day. Go Barbra. After which she was rightfully angry with him, but somehow without even apologizing he managed to get her to forgive him just by being himself.

How does he do that? I really want to know, it might come in handy one day. Anyway, I just thought it was interesting that alt nine acts so much more like the first Doctor than any of the other Doctors. It really is like he is starting from scratch here.

I suppose this is rather random and rambly, but I couldn't help but notice the parallels. I can't wait to see what happens next. :) Keep up the good work.

Date: 2010-03-24 10:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
In so many ways, the first Doctor is the base personality of the ones that follow. Yes, there are distinct changes, but you always see that streak of selfishness, self-preservation, jealousy, and superiority in all versions of him, even the clownish ones. And he never likes to apologize before the Time War. Building around that is very much where John's personality comes from, along with some more human feelings and emotions, and of course hormones.

Thank you.

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Date: 2010-03-22 06:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sunnytyler001.livejournal.com
OMG§ SQUUEEEE!!! New chapter! I LOVE YOU!!!!

One brilliant chapter, as always! i'm glad John is honest with his feelings... :D I can't wait for him & Rose to meet again

Date: 2010-03-24 10:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
Thank you, hon. He's not one to lie to himself, certainly.

Date: 2010-03-22 06:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mondaymyers.livejournal.com
Favourite chapter so far. I love the Tosh|alt!JohnSmith //Doctor relationship. It's completely solid but it's nice and rocky too.

Date: 2010-03-23 11:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kk-animation.livejournal.com
Agreed about loving the Tosh/Alt!John Smith/Doctor relationship. It makes me a bit excited about Christopher Eccleston and Naoko Mori being in Lennon Naked together. Probably the only reason I would see the movie.

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Date: 2010-03-22 07:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amishamj.livejournal.com
there's really not much i can say that hasn't already been said, except i'm so glad i decided to check here before taking a nap. I'm glad we're able to see into Nine's head here and see he's not as much of a pig as he made himself out to be. Now we just need to get on to making up so we can get to the relationship, smut, and final reveals. Are you going to stick to the out line in the one shot/? I mean, it is your alt'verse, but i really do like knowing how it's going to end, And i really love the original explantion of rose's background, which seems to me as having less gaping plot holes than the story about her being send away at a young age. and that detail about oxford and the Doctor wondering if she knew him before was just so perfect. And I love how quickly tosh figured out what was up with him, and was able to confront him a bit over his actions. and i'm going to stop now before i gush over every detail.

Date: 2010-03-24 10:19 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
*grins* Well, you can't take him fully at face value, that's for sure. I haven't fully decided how closely I will stick to the short story. I've got different ideas about their first kiss that may not occur the way it did in the oneshot. But I think most of it will follow more or less, unless I totally get ganged up on by the characters and they make me go a different way, which has happened before in other fics. *laughs*

And just so you know, I am never opposed to gushing! *giggles* Thank you so much.

Date: 2010-03-22 09:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kk-animation.livejournal.com
Wow, brilliant chapter. I liked getting the insight of Doctor after his argument with Rose. I think I'm a bit too excited about their next meeting, oh what a show that might turn out to be. :D

Date: 2010-03-24 10:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
Thank you. I think their next meeting is going to be slightly confusing for Rose. *smiles* It certainly doesn't go quite the way she is expecting.

Date: 2010-03-22 10:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] novacancymind.livejournal.com
oh, wow! i really really liked this chapter! one of the best ones so far (of course they're all good, but this was a nice piece, a bit of introspection from the Doc's point of view)
we all know John Smith is a genius: will he start to wonder how real her past is? i kinda hope not as i want him to find out her past AFTER he opens the watch, like your one shot hints at :D still you'll make it brilliant no matter what!!!
love you and love this fic! XD

Date: 2010-03-24 10:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
Thank you. I think it was important to get into his head at this point and show that he's more complex than his actions are making him out to be. There won't be an exchanging of full truths before that fob watch is opened, but he will be aware of some things.

Date: 2010-03-22 11:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dark-aegis.livejournal.com
I find it fascinating the differences here between Nine and John. Well, alt!Nine and John. There are differences, rather marked ones. Especially in the whole brain to mouth filter not quite being there. I do enjoy this scene into John's mind. I also feel for him and his jealousy.

I look forward to the next installment! And Tosh is pure love :)

Date: 2010-03-24 10:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
John is in many ways the most basic and disagreeable of the Doctor's personality traits in any incarnation, with human failings and hormones thrown in on top. He'll find some of the better traits within him as well as the story progresses. Yeah, he really doesn't self-censor well. He's not had to and he's sort of having to learn it on the fly. Aw, I'm glad you like Tosh. I really like giving her character so much to do and filling in all of the blanks that never really were on Torchwood. Thanks for reading.

Date: 2010-03-22 11:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] relative-time.livejournal.com
Loving this fic! Make me a +1 on the list of folks who were thrilled to get a peek into alt!Human!Nines head.

Wondering about the comment that the search results were taking a while to come back ...I'm guessing Torchwood's watching for people snooping into the Tyler family background....

Date: 2010-03-24 10:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
Thank you. It was important here to show that John isn't quite as big a prat as he appears to be at first blush. Yes, Torchwood, or people within Torchwood do keep an eye out for this sort of thing.

Date: 2010-03-23 12:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tardisblue.livejournal.com
It's going to be hot when the two finally get together!
I absolutely loved how Tosh caught onto him so quickly.

Date: 2010-03-24 10:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
*grins* Pretty likely. And Tosh can see right through him.

Date: 2010-03-23 12:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mkejenkins.livejournal.com
What a lovely surprise to have waiting for me when I got home from the first absolutely insane day of my new job.

...he hacked into Rose's file.

Hmmmmmm...that is either going to be fascinating reading or an exercise in futility. Can't wait to find out which.

You're making this so fascinating and fun! Tosh is soooo full of win! I can't wait for the next chapter.

Date: 2010-03-24 11:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
Oh, I hope the new job is going well, sweetie, even if a little crazy.

It won't be an exercise in futility.

Thank you.

Date: 2010-03-23 03:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sigmastar79.livejournal.com
loved it he was made to eat some humble pie, john smith really had that coming
cant wait til him and rose come face to face, especially if its at the nexts day's training lol.

loved the background story on rose, and the baby's birth could have been keep secret and when the supposed "fall down the stairs" incident happened.

and i so knew he would hack her files, he is so going to get it when rose finds out, and im pretty sure she will XD
cant wait to see what happens next!

Date: 2010-03-24 11:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
Yeah, he really did.

Thanks. Well, you'll just have to wait and see how the whole files situation plays out.

Date: 2010-03-23 04:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] janna-hawkins.livejournal.com
Mmm a wonderful thing to start out a birthday(can I say that? it is nearly midnight)with! Lovely Alt!Nine :D

Date: 2010-03-23 07:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
Happy to help start your birthday out right. If you want to leave me a drabble prompt and which version of Doctor/Rose you want, I can try to come up with a little something for you.

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Date: 2010-03-23 04:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] yenly-gozal.livejournal.com
Ooh... That's really interetsting. Just one question, did this Josie really exist, as The Doctor's former lover, or is she one of John Smith's 'planted' memories? Only Rose Tyler would be able to turn The Doctor to be so... randy. I'd love to see how their relationship will progress. Next please...

Date: 2010-03-23 05:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberfocus.livejournal.com
I explained in the author's notes who Josie was. She and the Doctor were not romantically involved but in time they might have been. She certainly liked him like that. His true memories of her and Cybus were woven into the fiction of who he is as John. He did love her, but not in a full blown romantic way. He grieves her and the loss of what might have been possible given more time as the Doctor. As John Smith his feelings are a bit more tangled up because the human element is mixed in there, too. So she certainly didn't turn him randy. Not like Rose. *grins* But he might have fallen in love with her eventually.

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