Beta'd by hibari heza.

Chapter 17 - Love from the Doctor (1969)

Billy looked away from the bus window as Rose took the seat next to him.

"How ya doin'?" she asked.

"Fine, I'm fine," he answered, turning over the videotape in his hands. "Just thinking." He looked between her and the Doctor, who had twisted around in the seat ahead of them, resting his chin on his arms. "I guess, I've really just gotta stop thinking of this as a crazy dream, and get on with the living part of it."

Rose gave him a lopsided, sympathetic grin.

"At least you're well set up," the Doctor told him. "Got a roof over your head, a career path. And I have it on good authority you've got a successful life ahead of you."

The bus pulled up at their stop.

"I've got it, too. Good authority," Billy told them both as they stood to make their way out to the pavement. "Got something to show you, back at the flat - Tiny TARDIS - thing."

The Doctor read and reread Billy's letter from himself. "Oh, this is brilliant!" he enthused. "Just brilliant," he told Billy.

They were gathered at the comfy couches by the fireplace. The Doctor let Rose take the paper, then dug out Sally Sparrow's purple folder from his trench coat pocket.

"That's three more items to add to your list," the Doctor said, nodding to Billy.

He withdrew a page from the folder, entitled "Billy Shipton, March-April 1969".

"Step One, renovate the Tiny TARDIS," the Doctor read. "And then we'll just add..." he took a pen out to make the note, "buy a painter's van and schedule Wester Drumlins wallpapering with Sally Wilshire... at some point. Then, we had Step Two; leave the keys to the flat with Dana Phelen for a 'Mr. & Mrs. J. Smith'. Let her know you'll be back in one week to deal with the lease and any renovation details. And now we can add Step Three; write yourself a note to get settled in 1969 and help the Doctor and Rose. Molto bene!" He dropped the paper and pen to his lap. "Oh, I like that," he said, turning to Rose. "Molto bene!" he repeated, savoring the feel of the syllables. "I could say that all day. Molto bene!"

Rose shook her head, rather patronizingly, and told Billy, "Sorry; ignore him." However, she satisfactorily soothed the verbal injury by entwining her fingers with the Doctor's.

"The chequebook's just like it said," Billy told them, fingering a ring of keys onto which he had just attached the spare for the Tiny TARDIS - re-attached, most likely. "If the van's there like I told me, I thought I might drive us all in the morning. You won't have to take the bus, Rose. You can even give 'em your notice."

Rose handed Billy his letter. "That'd be so great, thank you! Course," she reflected, "pretty much gave my notice when they hired me on. Should be able to come along when we head back to Wester Drumlins. Noon, is it?"

The Doctor nodded between her and Billy. "To meet the enthralling Ms. Wilshire; big day ahead," he added, with a wink towards Billy.

Billy grinned in answer to the Doctor's encouraging smile.

Rose sighed a little as Billy parked the van in the driveway at Wester Drumlins beside a yellow, Volkswagen Bug.

She remembered one of Mickey's old, proudly refurbished cars with a pang at his absence, and took a brief moment to will her well-wishes to him and the rest of her family; a parallel world and a Void apart.

The house looked almost just as she remembered it, in only slightly better repair than when she'd seen it in 2007. Rose felt a knot of anticipation in her stomach at the sight. "You're sure there aren't any Angels 'round here, yet?" she asked the Doctor, keeping her eyes on the house, checking the windows.

The Doctor squeezed her left hand before releasing it to undo his seat belt. Even though he had reassured them all, the Doctor had still brought the Timey-Wimey Detector along, and had been checking the device on his lap as they drove. "When did the disappearances start, Billy?" he asked, looking across Rose to their driver.

"April '05," Billy answered him, distractedly. They had all changed into coveralls after lunch, but now Billy was fiddling with the sleeves of his. He seemed undecided on whether to roll them up or leave them down.

Seeing Billy's nervousness somehow eased Rose's. "Leave 'em up, for now," she counseled. Billy glanced up at her, seeming embarrassed to have been caught out. "Introduce yourself with the relaxed look, then ya impress 'er with the wardrobe change when you're gettin' down to business."

Billy smiled at her, then resolutely rolled both sleeves up above his elbows.

The Doctor leaned close to speak quietly in Rose's ear. "You're giving away all my best-kept secrets," he mock-scolded, before pushing open the passenger door and sliding out of the van.

The Doctor left the Timey-Wimey tucked under his seat in the van as he moved to the back to help unload ladders and whatnot. As predicted, he hadn't detected any sign of the Weeping Angels, whatsoever. That was good, of course. However, he hadn't picked up any sign of the TARDIS, either. He knew they still had more paradoxes to close without the ship, and he had tried his best to program the control disk to let her arrive tomorrow; still, he couldn't help but hope.

Rose came back after him, and hopped up into the back of the van to hand out buckets of paste, rolls of wallpaper, and an inconspicuous can of black paint. Whatever other types of renovations they might end up doing, the wallpapering was at the top of their list.

Billy rang the bell at the house while they worked, and it wasn't long before the door was opened from within. The Doctor helped Rose jump down from the van and took her hand, as (presumably) Sally Wilshire stepped out onto the landing, positively beaming at Billy. "Right on time," Sally congratulated him.

Billy seemed momentarily dumbstruck, displaying the brightest smile the Doctor had seen on the former detective inspector, yet. Of course, knowing his and Ms. Wilshire's near future -

"Love struck?" Rose spoke gently at his side, unknowingly correcting the Doctor's thoughts.

Billy gave himself a small shake. "Hello," he greeted, at last. "Again," he added, just a beat too late. Still, the Doctor was impressed at how Billy was adapting to the mental temporal gymnastics the situation was demanding of him.

Billy followed Sally into the sitting room off of the conservatory. The walls had already been peeled bare, leaving remnants of flaked, greenish paint.

Sally moved to the conservatory doors, opening them to further illuminate the room with sunlight. "Like I told Billy," she explained as Rose and the Doctor entered behind them, "I was tryin' to do it on my own. I got as far as gettin' the old paper off the walls, when I ran into 'im at Brewer 'n Sons."

Billy wasn't surprised in the least. He had a group of fond memories from his youth which all began with his father announcing the need for a trip to Brewers for whichever project he had lined up next around their home.

The Doctor set down a couple of folding ladders near the fireplace. "When was that?" he asked.

"Oh," said Sally, "just a week ago, Saturday," she answered, looking to Billy as if for confirmation.

"That's right," Billy answered, having to take her word for it. The note from himself had been written about a week ago, and he'd said he had "just" run into Sally again, then. "I was picking up some last-minute things for the flat," he invented as he helped tape down the drop cloth around the edges of the room. He assumed the Tiny TARDIS would be reason enough to keep him revisiting the hardware store right up until the time when Rose and the Doctor would circle back around for him... if he was getting this time-travel stuff right. That would be April 12th. Looking to Sally, he expected he'd be quite happy to spend the entire day in the store with the promise of meeting her there at some point. He'd asked himself to ask her out for himself for a reason...

"Course, Billy wasn't available right then, an' I had the whole week ahead booked, already," Sally told them. "But I managed to block today," she added with a smile directed towards Billy which he happily returned.

Sally's generous personality made fishing for information ridiculously easy - a trait the displaced detective in Billy was happy to exploit, but which also stirred a protectiveness in him.

"This house is amazin'," Rose chimed in as she helped Billy set up a work table where they could paste the paper. "Did ya grow up here?" she asked.

"No," Sally shook her head, "it was my late husband's aunt's."

Late husband - but Billy didn't see any indication of a ring mark on her hand. That, and judging by her tone of voice, it had probably already been some time ago, then.

"She'd moved out a while back, like ya prob'ly figured," Sally continued, glancing about the room, "but turns out she willed it to me after he died. Sympathy for another young widow, I guess. We weren't close, but she'd looked in on me, makin' sure I was able to fend for myself an' all. Oh, I'm a photographer; dunno if Billy said," she explained to the others.

And to Billy, as well, although she didn't know it.

Sally stepped towards the table where the Doctor had begun unrolling the leafy-patterned wallpaper they had brought from the van. "I thought the leaves would go well with the greenhouse," she explained. "Held off on picking out the rest 'til Billy could see the place, himself," she added.

"That's why I'm here," Billy affirmed, reluctantly tearing his eyes from Sally's shy grin when the Doctor started brushing the paste onto the wallpaper. "Hang on," he interrupted, rolling down the sleeves of his coveralls, not missing Rose's knowing smile. "Lemme show you how it's done."

Once the Doctor had patiently stood through Billy's pasting tutorial, he suggested, "Rose and I can get this, boss. Why don't you take a look at the rest of the house?" With an understanding nod, and a glance towards the paint, Billy expertly embarked upon Operation: Distract Sally Wilshire.

As Rose and the Doctor carefully set aside the first strip of wallpaper to soak, the Doctor couldn't help but whine just a little. "Y'know, Botticelli never had any complaints about my brush technique," he told Rose.

She just smiled, shaking her head as she heaped more paste on the next strip. "Yeah, I wouldn't be complainin', either, if I had a monster fresco to finish. Tell me you're three centuries late to fix the cathedral's leanin' bell tower, but could you lend a hand with the paintin'? The more, the merrier!"

The Doctor grinned at her, following Billy's directions precisely, despite his protests. They made quick work of the first several strips of wallpaper, pasting enough to cover the entire wall around the fireplace, before turning to their own, current canvas. "All clear?" the Doctor asked, glancing towards the doorway.

"Still off on their own," Rose confirmed, checking quickly for Billy and Sally. "We haven't got the photo..." she reminded him with a glance at the bare wall. Rose returned to his side, handing the Doctor a narrower brush than they had used for the paste, and dipping her own into a cup of the black paint.

"Yup, burned the photo," the Doctor agreed, "but I've got the message," he told her, pulling a small scrap of paper from his pocket and tearing it in half. He gave the right-hand portion to Rose. "You start with the 'SALLY SPARROW' over the fireplace," he instructed, setting up the smaller step ladder for her. "I'll take the left side of the wall," he said, hoisting the larger ladder to reach closer to the ceiling on his side. "Just paint it however it comes naturally. The message and then the signature over on the right," he explained.

"Alright," Rose agreed. "Sally Sparrow..."

Once Rose began, the Doctor started on a bold, diagonal "BEWARE" in the upper corner, mimicking Rose's printing.

"So, Sally 'n Billy," Rose said casually while they worked.

"Sally Wilshire, Sally?" the Doctor clarified, considering their current subject. "Yeah, I'd say Mrs. Phelen isn't the only one with a soft spot for his accent."

"Oh, c'mon," Rose scoffed, sparing him a sideways glance as she painted an exclamation point. "Did ya see how she was lookin' at 'im? Prob'ly the smile. 'S got nice eyes, but the smile... all boyish, like he's caught off guard," she mused, much too wistfully for the Doctor's taste. Before he could think how to amend their conversation's direction, though, she added, "Sure, the accent's nice, fits 'im; not exactly my style." Her eyes darted to the Doctor for just the briefest moment, before she ducked her head, cleared her throat and hopped off of her step ladder to move to the right of the fireplace.

The Doctor climbed off his own ladder, moving it to finish the lower portion of his side of the wall. What was Rose's style, then, he wondered, discreetly studying the light blush on her cheeks. Maybe Northern? He smiled to himself, recalling a certain banishment... perhaps Scottish, even?

"What?" Rose asked as they both worked, continuing to steal poorly-concealed glances at each other. "'Kay, you got a nice smile, too, but right now 's got 'suspicious' written all over it."

"Ah, well, to each 'er own, lassie," he told her, ostensibly focused on painting a dramatically slanted "DUCK!" on the wall before him.

The Doctor did his very best to refrain from an actual victory dance when her blush deepened and she bit her lip.

He moved over to where she was apparently trying to bury herself in the corner of the room, fully intending to pursue his hypothesis further, when he realized what she was painting. "What is that? 'X-O-X-O'?" he squeaked.

"What's wrong with it?" Rose asked as she closed the loop on the last letter.

"That was not in the photograph," he told her emphatically.

"Said we didn't need the photos; we'd write what we needed to, 'cause that's what we already did." She stood and finally turned to face him. "Right?"

"What made you write that? Kisses and hugs? Really?"

"Jus' signin' it, like a letter," she told him. "Look," she sighed, dropping her brush into the paint can he still held as she moved to the stacked wallpaper, "you wanna get this up 'fore they come back, or not?"

"Hugs and kisses," he murmured, shaking his head as he turned to help. "I'll shou you hugs an' kesses..."

To be continued...

The "X-O-X-O" is under the last strip of wallpaper hung in the corner. Or, at least it is in my imagination. That part just wasn't peeled away in the episode ;)

Please, try and forgive the delay in updating. I've been finishing up a little 10Rose AU arc for some other stories: you know, "Utopia", "The Sound of Drums", and "The Last of the Time Lords". Ever heard of them? (Oh, and my muse and I tumbled headlong into a 9Rose writing spree entitled "Better Than That". It was REALLY fun, but didn't exactly further this tale, much.)