"Rose River" AU:
'The Desert of San Helios'
Chapter One
(The Planet of the Dead)

Ooooh, things are VASTLY different now. =)

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It was a typical night in London, minus all the rain. For once, the weather seemed to play nice with everyone. This was especially odd since it was April the eleventh. John was busying himself in pretending to be a London commuter, catching the sights as he went. Rose and his brother asked rather nicely for a weekend to themselves. A sort of honeymoon, as it were. He especially loved how they asked, though.

One of the problems in having an instant twin, was the dual ownership over most of their things. The particular object in question this time? One Janis Joplin Coat. It's brilliant and both of them wanted to wear it. The Doctor, forestalling the inevitable brotherly infighting over said clothing statement, went to the tailor where it was made while Rose distracted him with a fresh seeing of Woodstock, day two. (from a respectable distance of course... his brother was already there after all) Rose spent her time laughing at him while he got all groovy with the Grateful Dead's set... purple tee, tie for a headband, Lennon sunglasses, and something resembling a cigarette. He was really 'far out' and 'outta sight' that day. Fortunately, Rose wasn't having anything to do with the local 'colour', so she was his designated driver. Good thing too, because he was totally trashed.

John was tickled beyond belief over his presents. To better tell them apart, his brother had this one done up in a light grey with a forest green liner. Of course, this started a whole new wardrobe for the boisterous gob of one Johnathon Edward Storm: New suits; New trainers; the lot. He'd be beside himself if he wasn't already. In addition, his brother got psychic paper for both him and Rose. The Doctor let him make the pockets bigger on his own though, seeing as how they both enjoy doing that immensely.

On the same day, John presented Rose with her very own personalized sonic screwdriver for a late wedding present. It was a bit smaller, but did everything the others did. Were it not for the fact that the Doctor had grabbed a small case of them when he was on Villengard, he would've had to make it from scratch. Instead, he'd replaced the casing with something that better fit in her hand. Slightly curvy, not unlike herself, not to mention the fact that it was a metallic lavender with a red light on the end. Not quite pink, but not quite purple either. She loved it, and the Doctor kicked himself for not thinking of it first.

So there he was, relaxing on a double-decker bus and playing the late night commuter — taking in the sights and sounds of London at night. He loved his new slate grey suit, and he was wearing green trainers to match both the lining of his coat as well as the shirt he was wearing. He was sans tie though. For some reason, he didn't appreciate them as much as his brother did, even though he was given a rather large supply of them. As Easter was the following morning, John was busy nibbling the ears off of a chocolate bunny.

The bus stopped and picked up a rather suspicious looking character. The woman was dressed all in black, and from what he heard... she'd offered the driver her earrings instead of a bus pass. Very suspicious indeed. Who doesn't have an oyster card these days? Well, besides him and his brother at any rate. Her demand of 'drive' was missed by everyone else except him... and that was the most suspicious thing of all.

This impression of her got worse when he noticed London's Finest running about in a tizzy. So, being the sort of bloke that laughs at social graces, he changed seats and started running his gob. "Hi there! Happy Easter!" Her muted reply made him snigger. When the bus went by the police cars, he placed himself in between the officers and the woman, blocking their view by making it appear that he was 'snogging his girlfriend'. "Chocolate?"

This made her raise her eyebrows at him. "Uhh... thanks?" She had no idea who this bloke was, but he had absolutely no sense of personal space. "Mind backing off a bit?"

John grinned and whispered conspiratorially. "You should be thanking me. Not sure why the police are following you, but I just made sure they didn't see your getaway." She'd just broken off a piece of bunny tail and popped it in her mouth when he said that, and her eyes got round. "Don't worry, wont say a word s'long as you tell me why they're after you."

"C'mplete mishundershtanding," she said around her mouthful, blushing. "They thin' I shaw shomething."

John sat back and tilted his head at her with a smirk. "A witness? That doesn't look like standard night wear, unless your a Goth. Lack of black lipstick and mascara swing that away from being a possibility." He turned in his seat and placed his arm over the backrest. "That big black bag can't be your purse either. What was it?"

"What was what?" she feigned ignorance.

"What'd you nick?" he countered softly.

She swallowed her bit of chocolate before it'd melted. "What makes you think I stole anything?" She batted her eyelashes at him in an attempt at a diversion.

John chuckled. "Oh, you must get away with that with a lot of people to try that on me, missy."

"Don't tell me I'm unattractive." She looked offended, especially since this dangerous acting bloke was quite the looker in her book.

John's eyebrows went up, in full apology mode. "Oh no. I think you're rather pretty, to be honest. But, it takes a lot more than appearances to dodge past my questio..."

Their banter was interrupted by the bus flipping about. Some woman in the back was yelling about voices, and John had enough sense to grab his verbal partner's head before it slammed into the back of the seat in front of them. "What the bloody hell is going on?" he yelled.