Just Another Shop Girl (10/18)
May. 3rd, 2009 01:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amberfocusTitle: Just Another Shop Girl (10/18)
Author: amberfocus
Characters/Pairings: Nine/Rose, Jack Harkness, Tessa Morgan
Genre: action/adventure, tease/flirt, bit of romance
Rating: PG-13 (Teen)
Beta: Amyo67
Summary: After acquiring an accidental passenger while escaping from an alien attack, the Doctor, Rose and Jack find themselves on the planet Tir in the middle of its population's uplifting to full sentience as they come fully into their pyschic gifts. But there is evil in the mix as a man named Harrington Conrad tries to use the creatures' unique abilities for his own ends. It's up to our trio plus one to stop him.
A/N: If you have read this before on Teaspoon, this is an extensive rewrite adding anywhere from 500 to 1000 words per chapter.
1. http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/171965.h
3. http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/173300.h
5. http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/174848.h
7. http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/179915.h
9. http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/229409.html
Chapter Ten: Decisions
“I’m really going to be sorry to leave here if your Doctor’s plan works,” Vincent said resting his hand on Retu’s shoulder.
“He’s not my Doctor,” Tessa said firmly. “If he’s anyone’s Doctor he’s Rose’s, but he is most definitely not mine. Why don’t you want to leave here? It’s kind of isolated. Don’t you miss Earth?”
“Not really. I don’t have anything this exciting back there waiting for me. Being here, working with the Tirawls has changed my life. An emerging sentient species. Who wouldn’t want to study that? I know people who would pay for this opportunity. I’d gladly stay here and never return to Earth if we can just get rid of the hunters. I could devote my entire life to something like this.”
“They are amazing creatures,” Tessa said, her hand reaching up to stroke Retu’s shoulder, once again marveling at how soft and supple the creature’s soft blue hide was. “It would certainly be a life full of meaning. But wouldn’t you miss your family?”
“Amy’s here. I think she’d stay. I think most of us would stay.”
“But you must have people back home waiting for you. Your parents? A girlfriend?” Tessa swallowed hard. What had possessed her to add on that last line?
“My parents passed on a couple of years ago when Amy and I were in college. They were both only children and my grandparents are long dead.”
“And a girl?” she asked again before she could stop herself.
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he told her. When she snuck a glance back up at him he was looking down at his feet and blushing so hard the tips of his ears were pink.
“I don’t either,” she said quickly, again without thinking. “A boyfriend, I mean. I don’t have a boyfriend.” He looked up at her and gave her a shy smile. “It would be a wonderful opportunity, living amongst the Tirawls, studying them. I don’t have that much ahead of me, more school, more days in the shop. I never knew what I even wanted to study. This would be worthwhile.”
“You could stay, too,” he said, his eyes looking somewhere in the vicinity of her left ear. “We could use the help. We’re horribly short-staffed. This was never meant to be a permanent expedition.”
“I’d like that.”
“Tessa?” He reached out and picked up her hand and finally looked her in the eyes. She smiled at him, at the sweetness she saw in his eyes, at the hope. “I’ve never met anyone like you before. I—.” The sound of the TARDIS materializing drowned out whatever he’d been about to say to her. Tessa cursed the Doctor’s bad timing. Time Lord indeed.
“Well, this is your venture,” the Doctor said as soon as he had entered the TARDIS. “You brought us here. You wanted us to solve their problem. But now we’re going to need some help. We’re going to need you to talk to the Tirawls. We need you to ask them a question. And you’re not going to like it,” he informed the ship.
The lights dimmed for a moment. “We have a plan that has a fair shot of working, only it means that some of them are going to get killed. It’s a certainty. There’s no way around and none of us can see any other way to catch the hunter’s camp off guard. We need for the herd to wait for our signal and then stampede through their base.”
A harsh grating noise came from inside the console and the rotor made a single flash of green light. “I told you that you wouldn’t like it, but you’ve got your role to play if you want to save what’s left of this species before it goes extinct. It has to be their decision. I can’t make it mine. That’s where you come in. I need you to ask them if they are willing. We can save some of them if they do this. Their species will survive. If they aren’t willing…well, we’ll lose them all. They’ll be gone. Another species wiped from time and space and there’s just been too many of those…”
Rose put a gentle hand on the Doctor’s shoulder and when he turned towards her she hugged him tightly. He leaned into her touch, taking comfort from it. The girl always knew when he needed her, always knew when the memories of the war were starting to overtake him. “I’m okay,” he told her before gently pushing back from her embrace.
The lights flickered as the TARDIS made her decision and the central column began to rise and fall. When they rematerialized they were in the middle of the refugee Tirawl herd. Jack glanced over at the view screen. “Looks like things with our unexpected passenger and our head scientist have heated up a bit.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me. He’s a good six years older than her,” the Doctor said.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Rose with a grin. “I can think of worse age gaps. Surmountable ones, even.” She winked at him and his breath hitched.
“Too bad,” said Jack with a pout of disappointment. “Tessa’s a cute little thing. Guess I’ll have to find a bed partner somewhere else.”
“She’s just a kid, Jack. I wouldn’t have let you, anyway,” Rose informed him.
“She’s eighteen. She’s of age,” Jack said.
“There’s of age and then there’s of age. I wouldn’t have let you either,” the Doctor said. “Same as I won’t let you have Rose.”
“You won’t what now?” Rose asked. The Doctor suddenly looked very absorbed in something on the console in front of him.
“I think he said he wouldn’t let me have you. Which is true and such a shame, but it’s not because of your age, Rosie. It’s because the Doctor wants—.”
A loud grinding of gears cut off the end of Jack’s sentence and the Doctor gave the console a grateful pat. “Well, do your thing, girl,” he told the ship, glaring at Jack in case the man decided to finish what he'd started to say.
The TARDIS began to emanate a soft hum and they watched as the Tirawls edged towards the ship until as many of them as possible were touching it. Those that weren’t touching it were touching a Tirawl that was. It went on for 30 minutes then at last the lights came up to full power and the humming stopped.
“They’ll tell us their decision tonight in dreamsong,” the Doctor said.
The three of them stepped outside the TARDIS. Tessa and Vincent were no longer holding hands and had moved apart when the herd had moved forward, but Rose saw the looks that were passing between them. Well, Tessa wouldn’t be the first girl to go halfway across the universe to fall in love.
Rose stopped, blinking. Oh. She looked over at the Doctor, staring at him for a long time. That was why she’d follow him anywhere. She loved him. It wasn’t just an attraction, she loved him. When did that happen? She tried to think back on it, tried to remember the first inkling she’d had of it.
It had been that night, locked in the cellar with the Gelth emerging from the rift in Cardiff, when they’d both thought they were going to die. He had held her hand and told her he was so glad he’d met her. That’s when it was. That’s when she’d started to fall. And she’d been falling deeper ever since.
Of course, there had been others along the way but her first loyalty had always been to the Doctor. Even when Jack had come along and she’d been distracted by his flash and his charm, it had been too late. She was already too far gone.
The Doctor turned and caught her staring at him. “What is it, Rose?” he asked.
“It’s nothing,” she said softly. But it wasn’t nothing. She moved to stand by him and slipped her hand into his. It was everything. He was everything. And she was never going to leave him.
Author: amberfocus
Characters/Pairings: Nine/Rose, Jack Harkness, Tessa Morgan
Genre: action/adventure, tease/flirt, bit of romance
Rating: PG-13 (Teen)
Beta: Amyo67
Summary: After acquiring an accidental passenger while escaping from an alien attack, the Doctor, Rose and Jack find themselves on the planet Tir in the middle of its population's uplifting to full sentience as they come fully into their pyschic gifts. But there is evil in the mix as a man named Harrington Conrad tries to use the creatures' unique abilities for his own ends. It's up to our trio plus one to stop him.
A/N: If you have read this before on Teaspoon, this is an extensive rewrite adding anywhere from 500 to 1000 words per chapter.
1. http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/171965.h
3. http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/173300.h
5. http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/174848.h
7. http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/179915.h
9. http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/229409.html
Chapter Ten: Decisions
“I’m really going to be sorry to leave here if your Doctor’s plan works,” Vincent said resting his hand on Retu’s shoulder.
“He’s not my Doctor,” Tessa said firmly. “If he’s anyone’s Doctor he’s Rose’s, but he is most definitely not mine. Why don’t you want to leave here? It’s kind of isolated. Don’t you miss Earth?”
“Not really. I don’t have anything this exciting back there waiting for me. Being here, working with the Tirawls has changed my life. An emerging sentient species. Who wouldn’t want to study that? I know people who would pay for this opportunity. I’d gladly stay here and never return to Earth if we can just get rid of the hunters. I could devote my entire life to something like this.”
“They are amazing creatures,” Tessa said, her hand reaching up to stroke Retu’s shoulder, once again marveling at how soft and supple the creature’s soft blue hide was. “It would certainly be a life full of meaning. But wouldn’t you miss your family?”
“Amy’s here. I think she’d stay. I think most of us would stay.”
“But you must have people back home waiting for you. Your parents? A girlfriend?” Tessa swallowed hard. What had possessed her to add on that last line?
“My parents passed on a couple of years ago when Amy and I were in college. They were both only children and my grandparents are long dead.”
“And a girl?” she asked again before she could stop herself.
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he told her. When she snuck a glance back up at him he was looking down at his feet and blushing so hard the tips of his ears were pink.
“I don’t either,” she said quickly, again without thinking. “A boyfriend, I mean. I don’t have a boyfriend.” He looked up at her and gave her a shy smile. “It would be a wonderful opportunity, living amongst the Tirawls, studying them. I don’t have that much ahead of me, more school, more days in the shop. I never knew what I even wanted to study. This would be worthwhile.”
“You could stay, too,” he said, his eyes looking somewhere in the vicinity of her left ear. “We could use the help. We’re horribly short-staffed. This was never meant to be a permanent expedition.”
“I’d like that.”
“Tessa?” He reached out and picked up her hand and finally looked her in the eyes. She smiled at him, at the sweetness she saw in his eyes, at the hope. “I’ve never met anyone like you before. I—.” The sound of the TARDIS materializing drowned out whatever he’d been about to say to her. Tessa cursed the Doctor’s bad timing. Time Lord indeed.
“Well, this is your venture,” the Doctor said as soon as he had entered the TARDIS. “You brought us here. You wanted us to solve their problem. But now we’re going to need some help. We’re going to need you to talk to the Tirawls. We need you to ask them a question. And you’re not going to like it,” he informed the ship.
The lights dimmed for a moment. “We have a plan that has a fair shot of working, only it means that some of them are going to get killed. It’s a certainty. There’s no way around and none of us can see any other way to catch the hunter’s camp off guard. We need for the herd to wait for our signal and then stampede through their base.”
A harsh grating noise came from inside the console and the rotor made a single flash of green light. “I told you that you wouldn’t like it, but you’ve got your role to play if you want to save what’s left of this species before it goes extinct. It has to be their decision. I can’t make it mine. That’s where you come in. I need you to ask them if they are willing. We can save some of them if they do this. Their species will survive. If they aren’t willing…well, we’ll lose them all. They’ll be gone. Another species wiped from time and space and there’s just been too many of those…”
Rose put a gentle hand on the Doctor’s shoulder and when he turned towards her she hugged him tightly. He leaned into her touch, taking comfort from it. The girl always knew when he needed her, always knew when the memories of the war were starting to overtake him. “I’m okay,” he told her before gently pushing back from her embrace.
The lights flickered as the TARDIS made her decision and the central column began to rise and fall. When they rematerialized they were in the middle of the refugee Tirawl herd. Jack glanced over at the view screen. “Looks like things with our unexpected passenger and our head scientist have heated up a bit.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me. He’s a good six years older than her,” the Doctor said.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Rose with a grin. “I can think of worse age gaps. Surmountable ones, even.” She winked at him and his breath hitched.
“Too bad,” said Jack with a pout of disappointment. “Tessa’s a cute little thing. Guess I’ll have to find a bed partner somewhere else.”
“She’s just a kid, Jack. I wouldn’t have let you, anyway,” Rose informed him.
“She’s eighteen. She’s of age,” Jack said.
“There’s of age and then there’s of age. I wouldn’t have let you either,” the Doctor said. “Same as I won’t let you have Rose.”
“You won’t what now?” Rose asked. The Doctor suddenly looked very absorbed in something on the console in front of him.
“I think he said he wouldn’t let me have you. Which is true and such a shame, but it’s not because of your age, Rosie. It’s because the Doctor wants—.”
A loud grinding of gears cut off the end of Jack’s sentence and the Doctor gave the console a grateful pat. “Well, do your thing, girl,” he told the ship, glaring at Jack in case the man decided to finish what he'd started to say.
The TARDIS began to emanate a soft hum and they watched as the Tirawls edged towards the ship until as many of them as possible were touching it. Those that weren’t touching it were touching a Tirawl that was. It went on for 30 minutes then at last the lights came up to full power and the humming stopped.
“They’ll tell us their decision tonight in dreamsong,” the Doctor said.
The three of them stepped outside the TARDIS. Tessa and Vincent were no longer holding hands and had moved apart when the herd had moved forward, but Rose saw the looks that were passing between them. Well, Tessa wouldn’t be the first girl to go halfway across the universe to fall in love.
Rose stopped, blinking. Oh. She looked over at the Doctor, staring at him for a long time. That was why she’d follow him anywhere. She loved him. It wasn’t just an attraction, she loved him. When did that happen? She tried to think back on it, tried to remember the first inkling she’d had of it.
It had been that night, locked in the cellar with the Gelth emerging from the rift in Cardiff, when they’d both thought they were going to die. He had held her hand and told her he was so glad he’d met her. That’s when it was. That’s when she’d started to fall. And she’d been falling deeper ever since.
Of course, there had been others along the way but her first loyalty had always been to the Doctor. Even when Jack had come along and she’d been distracted by his flash and his charm, it had been too late. She was already too far gone.
The Doctor turned and caught her staring at him. “What is it, Rose?” he asked.
“It’s nothing,” she said softly. But it wasn’t nothing. She moved to stand by him and slipped her hand into his. It was everything. He was everything. And she was never going to leave him.
