FIC: Timepiece (Rose, Romana I, PG-13, 4/5)

[lizbee]

Summary: Unscrupulous temporal engineers and a major breach in the laws of time lead Rose Tyler and the first Romana to join forces to rescue the Doctor. Both of him.
Rated: PG-13
Notes: So, I posted the first three chapters a few months back.  But it's been a while, and I changed a couple of minor details in the early chapters, so I decided to repost. This chapter contains a dash of shipping in all directions.


Timepiece
by LizBee

Four


It was Rose's Doctor -- skinny, bespectacled and slightly surprised to find Romana clinging to him.  He gave her a reassuring squeeze and said, "Didn't like that cell much.  Nothing to do.  Didn't I tell you to take Rose and not come back?"

Romana let him go and said, "As if I would listen."

"Yeah, well."  The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand.  "Not that I'm not happy to see you, really, really happy, but this isn't the place."

In the silence, Rose could hear footsteps approaching.  The Doctor shepherded them back into his cell and closed the door.  With a flourish, he pulled aside a loose panel.

"Very slack maintenance around here," he said.  "Take a left at the first junction, a right, another left, and exit out of the third access-way.  You'll end up the processing room.  That's where he'll be.  And don't get caught."

He was fitting the panel back into place when he paused and added, to Romana, "you know, I don't remember any of this.  It's very disconcerting.  I'm going to have to make a complaint."

Then the panel was closed, and Rose was alone with Romana again.

"Well?" Rose said.  "First left, right?"

Romana looked thoughtful, but she nodded, and they set off in silence.

Rose heard voices as they approached the processing room.  Distorted by distance and echoes, but the tones were definitely conversational.  Not, Rose thought, an interrogation or -- anything.

In fact, she decided, it sounded more like a lecture than anything else, and she suddenly had a good idea of which party possessed a low, booming voice and enjoyed having an audience.  The exasperated sigh that escaped Romana's lips confirmed Rose's suspicions.

"This," she whispered to Romana, "is the most pointless rescue I've ever seen."

"Sssh," said Romana.  But a moment later she added, "you'd think they were just waiting for us to turn up.  And will we get any thanks?"

"You can wait for it.  I've only got one lifetime."

"It will be, 'Oh, Romana, so glad you got here, we were just discussing the latest in--' oh, in shackles or something.  And then he'll offer us a jelly baby."

"Why?"

"To annoy me, I expect."

They fell into silence and approached the processing room slowly.

"...Other career options?  They have an opening for a president on the fourth planet in..."

"What happened to the last one?"

"Aaaah.  Bit of a funny story there."

Romana eased the access panel open a fraction.  Through the slim gap, Rose caught a glimpse of a lanky figure hooked up to an elaborate device.  He was still talking, but for a brief moment, his eyes met Rose's.

He looked -- dismayed.

But Rose had no time to ask if Romana agreed, because the access panel was roughly torn away, and they found themselves looking up at two heavily armed men.

"Blast," said Romana.

"Um," said Rose.  "We surrender -- ow!"

A guard had taken her arm in a tight grip; something touched her arm, there was a moment of pressure -- and then she lost consciousness.

*

Someone, somewhere, was having an argument.  Two someones. 

"--Your future self sent us straight into a trap."

"Well I'm sure I'll have a very good reason for it--"

"I've no doubt you'll come up with something."

Rose opened her eyes.  "Oh," she said, although it came out as more of a groan.  "My head..."

"That would be the temporal phase device," said Romana's Doctor.

"It's drawing temporal radiation from your body," added Romana.

"Starting with your brain."

"It's worse because you're human," said Romana.

"A Time Lord could stand this for years--"

"But I'm afraid you'll die quite quickly."

"Great," said Rose.  "At least when I'm dead, I won't have to listen to you two."

That shut them up nicely.

"And he didn't send us into a trap," she added.  "I know the Doctor.  My Doctor, I mean.  He makes mistakes, and he's a bit mad, but he wouldn't send me into danger if he didn't think I could handle myself.  Not me."  She paused.  "Anyway, I trust him."

"Thank you, Rose," said Romana's Doctor.  She couldn't see, but she thought he was smiling.  "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said about me."

Romana made an exasperated noise. 

"That's all very nice―"

"No, really," the Doctor added, "you could stand to take a leaf from Rose's book."

"―But are we going to get out of this?  Doctor," Romana lowered her voice, "the field generators are overloaded.  They're pouring too much power into the system, and the temporal bubble is weakening."

"Well that's no good," said the Doctor.  "Why, if the temporal bubble collapses―"

"Yes, everyone on Temnein will die―"

"Everyone on this planet will die!  And worse – Romana," he dropped his voice to a dramatic whisper, "Romana, they'll be wiped out of time."

"Oh hell," said Rose.  She twisted around in a vain attempt to see the Doctor's face.  "Doctor, you need to be alive and exist to turn into my Doctor."

"I can't say I care for the hair."

"Doctor!" said Rose, simultaneously with Romana.

"Quiet," he said.  "I'm thinking..."

"Think fast," said Rose. 

"Shh!" hissed Romana, "I hear footsteps."

"I hear―"

Rose finished the Doctor's sentence: "K9!"

And the door was exploding inwards, and there was that crazy tin dog. 

"Greetings, Master," it said.  "Now effecting your escape.  Please do not move."

"K9!" cried Romana, sounding like she was on the verge of tears, "K9, hurry―"

"I am working at maximum efficiency, Mistress!"

There was a low hum, and a small explosion, and Rose heard the Doctor swing himself upright. 

"And about time too!" he was booming as he released Rose, "and where am I?  Hitting buttons and talking a lot, I expect―"

"Sounds about right," Rose said.

"Rose!  Talking about me behind my back!"

She swung around.

"Doctor!"

He caught her in an enveloping hug, picking her up and swinging her around.

"You!"  Rose punched his shoulder.  "What have I told you about wandering off?"

He let her go.  "Speaking of which, we shouldn't stick around.  The temporal bubble―"

"Is collapsing, I know."  Romana and the other Doctor were pulling the temporal phase device apart.  "I don't suppose you could―?"  Rose's Doctor took the weight of the piece she was maneuvering, letting her get past it to reach the equipment within.  "Kev is organising an evacuation."

"Oh, good," said Rose's Doctor.

"Who's Kev?" asked Romana's Doctor.

"That's not important," snapped Rose.  "Why aren't we evacuating with everyone else?"

"In a minute," said the Doctor (Romana's Doctor).  "This," he slapped the device they were constructing, "is a portable temporal phase machine.  Or rather it, will be."

"It'll hold the bubble together long enough for everyone to evacuate," Rose's Doctor added.  "Where's my sonic screwdriver?"

"Confiscated," Romana murmured.  "Use mine."

"I've always liked your sonic―"

"And I'll be wanting it back when you're finished," she added.

Rose moved to the door, to stand guard with K9.

"It's just you and me, kid," she said.

"Query―"

"Never mind."

The portable version of the temporal phase machine was quickly taking shape.  It worried Rose that the Doctor – her Doctor – wasn't speaking.  Nor was he concentrating on building the device.  When the other two were distracted, he was stealing little glances at Romana, like he was trying to memorise her.  Rose swallowed, her throat suddenly tight.  When this was all over, Romana would take the younger Doctor and leave, and she would be dead and gone before he met Rose.  Like his granddaughter.  Like the children he didn't want to talk about.

Like Rose herself, one day.

She bit her lip.  Not while she had a say in the matter, she promised herself.  Long as she was alive, she would be with the Doctor.  And one day she'd die, and he'd be alone, but maybe some future friend would get caught in a twist of time, and meet her, and realise.  And the cycle would continue.

Footsteps approached. 

"Danger!" squawked K9. 

"Guards," Rose hissed.  "Big and armed."

"Hold them back!" cried the Doctor.

"Initiating defense," said K9.  "Please stand back," he said to the guards.  "My defense systems are fully powered―"

A guard stepped forward, laughing, aiming a kick at the tin dog.  K9 shot him, and he collapsed, and then all hell broke loose.  Rose dropped to her knees and grabbed the fallen guard's weapon.

"Hope the green button's stun!" she said, squeezing the trigger.  Another guard collapsed.

"Life signs present," K9 said.

Three guards down.  Two remaining.  What kind of guards went around in squads of five, Rose wondered.  They usually came in sixes.

Then something struck her from behind, and she went flying.

"Rose!" cried the Doctor.  She didn't know which one.  But it was Romana's hand that snatched the weapon from her's and shot the sixth guard. 

"Get her to the TARDIS," she heard her Doctor order, "I'll get everyone out."

Then she was lifted up, her head cradled against a mass of wool and a soft, worn coat, and everything went black.

chapter five

Comments

[fyrdrakken]

Finally getting around to reading this today, and wondering about this line:

"He makes mistakes, and he's a bit mad, but he wouldn't send me into danger if he didn't think I could handle himself. Not me."

"...if he didn't think I could handle myself. Not him," would perhaps fit the situation a bit better, unless you're meaning to indicate that Rose's brain is getting scrambled a bit by the device she's hooked up to.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

*sigh* That, my friend, is what we call a typo. Should be "myself". Thank you. *facepalms*

[fyrdrakken]

I suspected as much. But is it meant to be "Not me," or, "Not him"? Because either would fit, but one isn't quite as nice in character terms (although sadly accurate with regards to s1 and s2 canon)...

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

It's meant to be "Not me", I'm afraid.