Title: Second Chances and Hard Choices
Summary: Tag to Boom Town. Rose is upset about Mickey and the Doctor tries to cheer her up.
Genre: Angst, Drama
Pairing: 9th Doctor/Rose, Mickey/Rose
Rating: G
Content Warning: Mickey-the-Idiot, insults, and the Slitheen
Spoilers: Rose, The End of the World, The Doctor Dances, Boom Town
"Off we go, then. Always moving on..." the Doctor said brightly, not wanting to dwell on Mickey and Rose.
He set the coordinates for Raxacoricofallapatorius. He could tell that Rose was upset and he wanted to dispute her claim that Mickey-the-idiot, Ricky Smith, Mister "it's a thing" himself, deserved better than her. That was the stupidest thing Rose had ever said. She was so clever. How could she think that Mickey in anyway deserved her, let alone deserved better than her?
Jack was smirking about the name of Blon Fel Fotch's home planet. The Doctor said cheerfully, "We'll just stop by an' pop her in the hatchery. Margaret the Slitheen can live her life again! A second chance."
Rose was still staring off into space, a stray tear clinging to her eyelashes. "That'd be nice…" she said sadly.
The Doctor's heart clenched painfully. Is that what she wanted? A second chance with Mickey? He had seen the way they'd walked off together to do their dating and dancing. He had thought that maybe she had forgotten about Mickey; right up until he found her calling to tell him to bring her passport. Oh, sure, a passport…who needs a passport on a space and time machine?
The TARDIS creaked and shuddered to get his attention and he cranked a lever to steady her out. He pulled it a little harder than necessary and the TARDIS moaned in protest.
Sorry, he thought in his ship's direction. He felt a mental ripple of disapproval. "What are you on about?" he asked aloud, drawing a look from Jack. Rose was still standing by the door. The TARDIS shuddered again. Jealous? The Doctor protested silently after he'd deciphered what the ship seemed to be telling him, yanking another lever roughly. He wasn't jealous. He wasn't. He was a Time Lord and above such trivial, dare he say it, human emotions—
Who was he kidding? The anger, hurt, and despair he had felt as he'd watched Rose walk away from him with that stupid, little human…leaving him for Mickey Smith. Even Rose's flirting with Jack hadn't bothered him so much. It had felt like she was leaving for good. They always left, his companions; every single one of them. But Rose was different and so was he. If she left him…
The Doctor glanced at Rose. She had wiped away the remnants of her tears and joined Jack—who was talking animatedly about some ridiculous adventure that probably had a very loose basis on reality—on the other side of the TARDIS from him. He tried to catch her eye, but she averted her gaze. Selfish thing, you are, he scolded himself. Thinking about yourself and your stupid jealousy while Rose is hurting. Jack's been doing everything to cheer her up and you haven't even noticed.
The TARDIS sighed and settled, seemingly satisfied with the Doctor's revelation. He patted the console fondly. She was a good ship, the TARDIS. A bit stubborn, but hale. He turned to address Rose only to find her disappearing into the depths of the TARDIS. "Where's she gone off to?" the Doctor demanded of Jack.
Jack shot him an exasperated look.
"Oi! Not you, too. I get enough of that lip from the TARDIS," the Doctor said, annoyed.
"Well?" Jack prompted.
"Well, what?"
"Are you dense or just insensitive?"
"I'll have you know—"
"Come on, Doc! Anyone can see that she's upset. Even the TARDIS! Somebody's got to talk to her," Jack said.
"So why don' you?"
"She won't talk to me about this. Besides it's not my type of thing. But she might talk to you."
"Domestic, that's what this is! I told her not to go makin' my ship domestic!" the Doctor declared in frustration. He sighed. "Alright," he said, resigned. "You happy? I'll go." Quietly, he added, "I was plannin' to anyway."
Jack nodded. "I know, Doc," he said sincerely. Then he grinned, "I wouldn't mention the spying though."
"I wasn't spyin'! I was checkin' our surroundings!" the Doctor insisted. Jack just smirked. The Doctor huffed in exasperation and followed Rose out of the console room. He tossed over his shoulder, "If we land, don't leave the TARDIS. It'll take a bit of persuading to explain our presence on Raxacoricofallapatorius."
"Sure, thing, skipper. Good luck," Jack called after him.
The Doctor found himself outside Rose's room fairly quickly and smiled, grateful to the TARDIS for rearranging her corridors for him. He hesitated briefly. Did he really want to get involved in—or to start—this conversation? Talk to Rose about Mickey? Tell her things that might just send her back to him?
He shook himself mentally. This was Rose. It didn't matter. He'd do anything for her. Even die…though that wasn't so much when you really didn't have a lot left. He'd even live alone and miserable; or let her bring Mickey, or even her mother. She was hurting and so he would go to her. But if Mickey had done something to her…
He knocked lightly on the door. "Rose? It's the Doctor. Can I come in?"
Rose opened the door with a sniffle, brushing at her face. It was pointless. He could see the lines of mascara that had run down her cheeks. "Are we there, Doctor?" she asked, her voice a little shaky.
"No, still on our way," he told her. Anger welled up inside him. "What did he do? What did that idiot do to ya?" he demanded.
"Nothing! He didn't do anythin'. It was me!" she defended Mickey.
"I don't believe it, Rose," he said sternly. "You wouldn't hurt a fly unless it was threatenin' your planet."
"Well, it's true! I left him, Doctor. I just left him sittin' all alone in the middle of the Estate. I ran off with some stranger 'cause he offered me an adventure through time an' space in a blue box. How can you say I didn't do nothin'?"
"Rose—"
"It's you. It's always been you. How could Mickey Smith, mechanic, from the Powell Estates, ever compete with you and your TARDIS? But what about Mickey, Doctor? What about him? Does he just get left behind because you think he's an idiot? Maybe I'm the idiot because I came with you."
"Rose, you're not an idiot. You're the cleverest human I've ever met. But if you're tryin' to insult me, you're doin' a good job of it. Well done. Fantastic. You didn't have to come, you know," the Doctor said, hurt.
"I know! That's jus' it. I did come with you, Doctor. And, until now, I've never regretted a day. Not a single moment. I just left him and forgot about him. He deserves so much better."
"Don't be stupid. Ricky doesn't deserve you; 'e's never deserved you," the Doctor said indignantly.
"Don't call him that!" Rose cried angrily.
"Force of habit, but doesn't make it less true," the Doctor insisted.
"It isn't!" Rose argued
"Yes! It is!" the Doctor shouted. He lowered his voice and looked at her intently. "Look at yourself. Rose Tyler, shop girl from the Powell Estates, as close to a nothing as exists, a nobody—turned time traveler, apprentice alien expert. You see a person with three sets of arms, tentacles, green skin, purple skin, blue hair, no hair, porcupine hair"—he got a twitch of a smile for that one—"and you don't bat an eye. Fair do's, alright, all in a days travels…what's another alien when you've been to the end of the world and exchanged snappy banter with a human trampoline?
"You're a survivor, Rose Tyler. You're clever, quick, adaptable…brilliant! A rarity among humans, among species. Absolutely fantastic! Who's Mickey Smith or Adam Mitchell or even Jack Harkness when you've got Rose Tyler? Did you ever think maybe if you'd hung 'round, you wouldn't have stayed with 'im? If you left him for a daft, ol' alien in a finicky police box, maybe you two were already over? You deserve more than Mickey Smith, Rose. You deserve the universe. There's not a bloke alive who deserves you, Rose Tyler, and don't you forget it."
Rose stared at him, her mouth hanging open, unable to respond to that. The TARDIS shook and the Doctor broke eye contact. With a grin, he clapped his hands together. "Here we are! Raxacoricofallapatorius! Margaret Slitheen goin' home and good riddance." With that, he walked briskly back to the console room.
Jack raised a questioning eyebrow and the Doctor started to answer, but stopped as Rose came in behind him.
"So, this place, Raxacorico…fallapatorius," Rose said, looking up at the Doctor. "Is the sky…green? Like the Slitheen? I mean, 's an alien planet, yeah? Should be all…different?"
The Doctor frowned. "That bad?"
"Nah. Just curious," Rose said with a smile, catching her tongue between her teeth.
The Doctor grinned. He loved that smile. "Fantastic!"
The End