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Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4
Chapter 5. Illusory Normality
As they stepped out of the hotel the next morning it was as if the events of the previous evening had not occurred. Shoppers milled about and all the shops were brightly announcing their readiness for patronage. Of the Judoon there was no sign, at least Rose assumed that there wasn’t; she could spot nobody who looked like a heavy handed intergalactic policeman.
‘Where are the Judoon?’ she asked softly, pitching her voice so that only the Doctor could hear her.
‘No sign of them. They must have gone back to their ship. Looks like they’re sticking to their night-time only promise,’ he turned away from her so that she had to strain to hear his last few words, ‘for the moment.’
Rose frowned, ‘Is that safe? Them just disappearing during the day with five fugitives free to move about the city?’
The Doctor looked down at her, his pensive mood evaporating to be replaced by a wide and confident grin that didn’t quite seem to reach his eyes, ‘Oh, they won’t come out during daylight, too conspicuous. The Judoon might not be physically present, but they’ll be scanning the streets.’
Rose still didn’t understand, ‘Couldn’t they, I don’t know, disguise themselves? It doesn’t make sense, just expecting them to do nothing during the daytime.’
‘They can’t go anywhere, Rose. The shops scan you as you enter; if your ident is invalid or flagged then an energy field incarcerates you until the police arrive. Babel isn’t without defences. When the shops are shut and the streets are deserted, well, then they have some small hope of being able to move about without being apprehended, during the day they have none.’
‘I still don’t get it. I mean, I get that they would get caught by the city’s sensors or whatever but I don’t see why that only applies during the day.’
‘They sensors only scan you as you go inside the shops; if you stay in the street you can avoid detection, at least for a time. But, during the day, there’s nowhere to hide, the suns are bright, there are no dark alleyways, no way of avoiding detection by the Judoon surveillance. In a city devoted to shopping anyone one avoiding the shops would stick out like a sore thumb.’
Rose frowned, ‘Wait a minute, how come the shop security didn’t go all alerty at us yesterday? We don’t have ident thingies.’
‘Yes we do. Took care if it as soon as we arrived. I registered our bio signatures with the central authorities. Honestly, Rose. Time Lord. Brilliant, me, remember? Hardly going to bring you here only to get you arrested in the first shop we enter, am I?’ Rose, sensibly, declined to answer.
As Rose wandered alongside the Doctor, however, her thoughts drifted back to the fugitives. She was still trying to puzzle out what to her seemed to be the entirely illogical behaviour of the criminals the Judoon were after; why would ruthless killers be afraid enough to hide out during the day when there were so many people about. As they entered the circle housing the female apparel shops, Sniff trotting obediently at her heels, she felt compelled to question the Doctor further.
‘Couldn’t they take hostages or something and force the Judoon to let them go?’
The Doctor sighed, for once wearied by Rose’s constant questioning; he was concerned enough about their predicament without Rose’s badgering. As he frowned at her, Rose felt her back stiffen, seeing his seeming bafflement at the inanity of her question. His response, when it came, was in the tone of someone very smart talking to someone very dim. ‘The Judoon are mercenaries, Rose, they’re as likely shoot the hostage to remove the threat. There’s no bargaining with the Judoon; they get their quarry the most straightforward way they can.’
She bit her lip, knowing he was losing patience with her, ‘Even if innocent people get hurt?’
‘Even then, yes.’
Rose swallowed hard, concerned and still confused by the behaviour of the fugitives.
‘I don’t get it,’ she admitted, ‘Why come here at all, if it’s so difficult to move about? Unless they’ve got a way of tricking the sensors, I don’t see why they’d bother.’
The Doctor looked away from her, his thoughts already straying from her question, even as he answered it, ‘I don’t know why they risked coming here, maybe the potential prize was worth the hazards, this place is impossibly rich. They can’t trick the sensors though; they’re based on DNA, no fooling them. I doubt they were expecting the Judoon, though, much easier to stage a robbery if the police aren’t already waiting for you!’
‘I guess,’ Rose muttered, still dissatisfied, something didn’t seem quite right, but the Doctor seemed unperturbed, so she reluctantly dismissed it. ‘We gonna go shopping then?’ she asked buoyantly, grinning at the Doctor’s grumpy scowl. With an immense show of reluctance he permitted himself to be dragged towards the tier devoted to women’s wear, trying not to feel as if he were as emasculated by Rose as Sniff.
After hours of shopping, with absolutely no sign of anyone remotely villainous, Rose was prepared to concede that perhaps the Doctor’s assessment of the absence of threat had been accurate. She was also willing to concede that she was out of practice when it came to shopping; she could run for her life without difficulty, but after less than a day of retail therapy her feet were killing her. Her shoulders and back were also starting to protest, not least because, for the last hour, she had been compelled to carry a weary little Sniff. The Doctor had steadfastly refused to help carry the animal, informing her that he was her bloody pet and if he lacked stamina then well, her pet, her problem. By the time they made it back to the hotel, with lamentably little in the way of purchases to show for her exhaustion, Rose was capable of little more than yearning for a hot bath. As the manager beckoned to the Doctor, Rose simply carried on, stumbling into the lift and leaning against its cool wall as it carried her to their suite. Shifting to juggle the sleeping bundle in her arms one handed as the other edged into her jeans pocket, she fumbled for the key and then let herself inside. With a sigh of relief, she deposited Sniff on a sofa and, toeing off her trainers, staggered to the bathroom, opening the taps to full, eager to immerse her tired body in the hot water.
She was lowering herself into the frothy bubble bath when the distinctive sound of a disgruntled Doctor assaulted her ears; she was fairly sure the entire hotel had heard the door slam. She sighed, gazing down and assessing her level of decency. She determined that absolutely everything important was entirely concealed by scented bubbles, making her next move safe.
‘What’s the matter?’ she hollered, grinning at the sound of muffled cursing and stomping feet; there was nothing reticent about the Doctor when he was displeased. As anticipated, in response to her question, the bathroom door swung open violently and a glowering Doctor strode into the room. He plonked himself down on the toilet seat, his feet planted firmly on the ground, and slumped forward, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.
‘Idiots,’ he pronounced. Rose waited for more, but it seemed that she was expected to follow his line of thought from the one word clue.
‘The Judoon?’ she queried.
‘No! The Raxophilian authorities. Idiotic, arrogant, shortsighted … oh,’ he paused, ‘you’re in the bath.’ Rose grinned, her tongue peeking between her teeth; it hadn’t taken him as long to notice as she’d anticipated. Honestly, he had no concept of personal boundaries when it came to things like bathrooms; if he wanted to speak to her he just barged in and did. The only exception to the rule was her bedroom, but she rather suspected that that had more to do with the TARDIS than the Doctor. It wasn’t that he meant to invade her privacy, he just forgot. She wondered if it was because it had been such a long time since he had anyone else to think about; alone, just him and the TARDIS, she guessed he could be excused for forgetting about some social mores. Assuming he’d ever known or observed them, that was; the more she got to know him the more she was coming to suspect he simply neglected to adhere to those social niceties he found tedious or inconvenient. Which, at the moment, included not storming in on one’s companion while she was taking a bath.
Without a further break in thought, the Doctor continued where he’d left off. The only clue that he was aware he had barged in on a normally private activity was the fact that his eyes were now firmly focused on a tile just above her head.
‘Idiots,’ he continued, ‘they really think that the Judoon will stick to their side of the bargain and keep out of the way during the day.’
Rose frowned, ‘But they did.’
‘Today, yes, but that won’t last. The Judoon aren’t known for their patience.’
Rose smirked, ‘Reminds me of a Time Lord I know,’ she muttered under her breath.
The Doctor chose to ignore her slur and carried on regardless, ‘They barely cleared the outer most ring last night. At this rate it will take at least a week to scour the whole city.’
‘A week?’ Rose sat up in alarm, before squeaking and plunging back beneath the bubbles, relieved that the Doctor seemed oblivious to her temporary exposure. ‘Can we afford it?’
She asked breathlessly.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ The Doctor asked indignantly and Rose frowned.
‘Well, you just flashed your psychic paper last night, but that’s not gonna keep a roof over our heads for long, is it? We’ll need actual money.’
‘We’ve got actual money, Rose,’ he replied condescendingly before adding, with a smug grin, ‘I’m rich, me!’
‘Rich?’
‘Yep, fantastic, I am.’
‘Right,’ Rose responded slowly, her eyes narrowing, ‘So when you said we couldn’t afford that red dress earlier what you really meant was you didn’t want to buy it?’
The Doctor swallowed, becoming suddenly very aware of several things; firstly that he had made yet another error of judgement, secondly that Rose was more than a little displeased and thirdly that Rose was entirely naked beneath the slowly dissipating bubbles. He swallowed again, trying to avoid thinking about the third thing, only to find himself remembering the dress she was referring to, which was nearly as bad. He cleared his throat.
‘Well, it was…’ he tried to think of a way of explaining that didn’t make him sound like a dirty old man. The dress had been amazing, all soft and clinging and tantalising and entirely too delectable. He was meant to be looking after Rose, not… not looking at her, he thought hurriedly, focusing quickly on the white tiles above her head. ‘It was impracticable,’ he pronounced firmly, ‘When would you have worn it, honestly?’
Rose pouted, ‘It was pretty.’ He felt his gut clench at the disappointment in her tone. Any moment now he’d be promising to buy it for her tomorrow, just to make her smile. He stood up abruptly and stomped from the room, muttering about tea. He barely made it to the sofa before collapsing in a disgruntled heap. He scrubbed at his scalp, his blunt fingers against his close-cropped hair a distraction from his errant and entirely un-Time Lord-like thoughts. He frowned, scraping his fingernails over his scalp; they needed to get off this planet, and not just because of the threat of the Judoon. This whole situation was just too domestic and it was slowly driving him crazy. Sooner or later he would do something he could only live to regret. Sooner or later he would act on the feelings that he increasingly seemed unable to keep under control, control he should have but which was slowly fraying, unravelling bit by bit on the face of the reality of Rose. It wasn’t just her presence in this confined space though, it wasn’t just the terribly domestic act of sharing a hotel suite that was fracturing his armour. He needed sleep. He needed sleep badly.
Chapter 6
Chapter 5. Illusory Normality
As they stepped out of the hotel the next morning it was as if the events of the previous evening had not occurred. Shoppers milled about and all the shops were brightly announcing their readiness for patronage. Of the Judoon there was no sign, at least Rose assumed that there wasn’t; she could spot nobody who looked like a heavy handed intergalactic policeman.
‘Where are the Judoon?’ she asked softly, pitching her voice so that only the Doctor could hear her.
‘No sign of them. They must have gone back to their ship. Looks like they’re sticking to their night-time only promise,’ he turned away from her so that she had to strain to hear his last few words, ‘for the moment.’
Rose frowned, ‘Is that safe? Them just disappearing during the day with five fugitives free to move about the city?’
The Doctor looked down at her, his pensive mood evaporating to be replaced by a wide and confident grin that didn’t quite seem to reach his eyes, ‘Oh, they won’t come out during daylight, too conspicuous. The Judoon might not be physically present, but they’ll be scanning the streets.’
Rose still didn’t understand, ‘Couldn’t they, I don’t know, disguise themselves? It doesn’t make sense, just expecting them to do nothing during the daytime.’
‘They can’t go anywhere, Rose. The shops scan you as you enter; if your ident is invalid or flagged then an energy field incarcerates you until the police arrive. Babel isn’t without defences. When the shops are shut and the streets are deserted, well, then they have some small hope of being able to move about without being apprehended, during the day they have none.’
‘I still don’t get it. I mean, I get that they would get caught by the city’s sensors or whatever but I don’t see why that only applies during the day.’
‘They sensors only scan you as you go inside the shops; if you stay in the street you can avoid detection, at least for a time. But, during the day, there’s nowhere to hide, the suns are bright, there are no dark alleyways, no way of avoiding detection by the Judoon surveillance. In a city devoted to shopping anyone one avoiding the shops would stick out like a sore thumb.’
Rose frowned, ‘Wait a minute, how come the shop security didn’t go all alerty at us yesterday? We don’t have ident thingies.’
‘Yes we do. Took care if it as soon as we arrived. I registered our bio signatures with the central authorities. Honestly, Rose. Time Lord. Brilliant, me, remember? Hardly going to bring you here only to get you arrested in the first shop we enter, am I?’ Rose, sensibly, declined to answer.
As Rose wandered alongside the Doctor, however, her thoughts drifted back to the fugitives. She was still trying to puzzle out what to her seemed to be the entirely illogical behaviour of the criminals the Judoon were after; why would ruthless killers be afraid enough to hide out during the day when there were so many people about. As they entered the circle housing the female apparel shops, Sniff trotting obediently at her heels, she felt compelled to question the Doctor further.
‘Couldn’t they take hostages or something and force the Judoon to let them go?’
The Doctor sighed, for once wearied by Rose’s constant questioning; he was concerned enough about their predicament without Rose’s badgering. As he frowned at her, Rose felt her back stiffen, seeing his seeming bafflement at the inanity of her question. His response, when it came, was in the tone of someone very smart talking to someone very dim. ‘The Judoon are mercenaries, Rose, they’re as likely shoot the hostage to remove the threat. There’s no bargaining with the Judoon; they get their quarry the most straightforward way they can.’
She bit her lip, knowing he was losing patience with her, ‘Even if innocent people get hurt?’
‘Even then, yes.’
Rose swallowed hard, concerned and still confused by the behaviour of the fugitives.
‘I don’t get it,’ she admitted, ‘Why come here at all, if it’s so difficult to move about? Unless they’ve got a way of tricking the sensors, I don’t see why they’d bother.’
The Doctor looked away from her, his thoughts already straying from her question, even as he answered it, ‘I don’t know why they risked coming here, maybe the potential prize was worth the hazards, this place is impossibly rich. They can’t trick the sensors though; they’re based on DNA, no fooling them. I doubt they were expecting the Judoon, though, much easier to stage a robbery if the police aren’t already waiting for you!’
‘I guess,’ Rose muttered, still dissatisfied, something didn’t seem quite right, but the Doctor seemed unperturbed, so she reluctantly dismissed it. ‘We gonna go shopping then?’ she asked buoyantly, grinning at the Doctor’s grumpy scowl. With an immense show of reluctance he permitted himself to be dragged towards the tier devoted to women’s wear, trying not to feel as if he were as emasculated by Rose as Sniff.
After hours of shopping, with absolutely no sign of anyone remotely villainous, Rose was prepared to concede that perhaps the Doctor’s assessment of the absence of threat had been accurate. She was also willing to concede that she was out of practice when it came to shopping; she could run for her life without difficulty, but after less than a day of retail therapy her feet were killing her. Her shoulders and back were also starting to protest, not least because, for the last hour, she had been compelled to carry a weary little Sniff. The Doctor had steadfastly refused to help carry the animal, informing her that he was her bloody pet and if he lacked stamina then well, her pet, her problem. By the time they made it back to the hotel, with lamentably little in the way of purchases to show for her exhaustion, Rose was capable of little more than yearning for a hot bath. As the manager beckoned to the Doctor, Rose simply carried on, stumbling into the lift and leaning against its cool wall as it carried her to their suite. Shifting to juggle the sleeping bundle in her arms one handed as the other edged into her jeans pocket, she fumbled for the key and then let herself inside. With a sigh of relief, she deposited Sniff on a sofa and, toeing off her trainers, staggered to the bathroom, opening the taps to full, eager to immerse her tired body in the hot water.
She was lowering herself into the frothy bubble bath when the distinctive sound of a disgruntled Doctor assaulted her ears; she was fairly sure the entire hotel had heard the door slam. She sighed, gazing down and assessing her level of decency. She determined that absolutely everything important was entirely concealed by scented bubbles, making her next move safe.
‘What’s the matter?’ she hollered, grinning at the sound of muffled cursing and stomping feet; there was nothing reticent about the Doctor when he was displeased. As anticipated, in response to her question, the bathroom door swung open violently and a glowering Doctor strode into the room. He plonked himself down on the toilet seat, his feet planted firmly on the ground, and slumped forward, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.
‘Idiots,’ he pronounced. Rose waited for more, but it seemed that she was expected to follow his line of thought from the one word clue.
‘The Judoon?’ she queried.
‘No! The Raxophilian authorities. Idiotic, arrogant, shortsighted … oh,’ he paused, ‘you’re in the bath.’ Rose grinned, her tongue peeking between her teeth; it hadn’t taken him as long to notice as she’d anticipated. Honestly, he had no concept of personal boundaries when it came to things like bathrooms; if he wanted to speak to her he just barged in and did. The only exception to the rule was her bedroom, but she rather suspected that that had more to do with the TARDIS than the Doctor. It wasn’t that he meant to invade her privacy, he just forgot. She wondered if it was because it had been such a long time since he had anyone else to think about; alone, just him and the TARDIS, she guessed he could be excused for forgetting about some social mores. Assuming he’d ever known or observed them, that was; the more she got to know him the more she was coming to suspect he simply neglected to adhere to those social niceties he found tedious or inconvenient. Which, at the moment, included not storming in on one’s companion while she was taking a bath.
Without a further break in thought, the Doctor continued where he’d left off. The only clue that he was aware he had barged in on a normally private activity was the fact that his eyes were now firmly focused on a tile just above her head.
‘Idiots,’ he continued, ‘they really think that the Judoon will stick to their side of the bargain and keep out of the way during the day.’
Rose frowned, ‘But they did.’
‘Today, yes, but that won’t last. The Judoon aren’t known for their patience.’
Rose smirked, ‘Reminds me of a Time Lord I know,’ she muttered under her breath.
The Doctor chose to ignore her slur and carried on regardless, ‘They barely cleared the outer most ring last night. At this rate it will take at least a week to scour the whole city.’
‘A week?’ Rose sat up in alarm, before squeaking and plunging back beneath the bubbles, relieved that the Doctor seemed oblivious to her temporary exposure. ‘Can we afford it?’
She asked breathlessly.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ The Doctor asked indignantly and Rose frowned.
‘Well, you just flashed your psychic paper last night, but that’s not gonna keep a roof over our heads for long, is it? We’ll need actual money.’
‘We’ve got actual money, Rose,’ he replied condescendingly before adding, with a smug grin, ‘I’m rich, me!’
‘Rich?’
‘Yep, fantastic, I am.’
‘Right,’ Rose responded slowly, her eyes narrowing, ‘So when you said we couldn’t afford that red dress earlier what you really meant was you didn’t want to buy it?’
The Doctor swallowed, becoming suddenly very aware of several things; firstly that he had made yet another error of judgement, secondly that Rose was more than a little displeased and thirdly that Rose was entirely naked beneath the slowly dissipating bubbles. He swallowed again, trying to avoid thinking about the third thing, only to find himself remembering the dress she was referring to, which was nearly as bad. He cleared his throat.
‘Well, it was…’ he tried to think of a way of explaining that didn’t make him sound like a dirty old man. The dress had been amazing, all soft and clinging and tantalising and entirely too delectable. He was meant to be looking after Rose, not… not looking at her, he thought hurriedly, focusing quickly on the white tiles above her head. ‘It was impracticable,’ he pronounced firmly, ‘When would you have worn it, honestly?’
Rose pouted, ‘It was pretty.’ He felt his gut clench at the disappointment in her tone. Any moment now he’d be promising to buy it for her tomorrow, just to make her smile. He stood up abruptly and stomped from the room, muttering about tea. He barely made it to the sofa before collapsing in a disgruntled heap. He scrubbed at his scalp, his blunt fingers against his close-cropped hair a distraction from his errant and entirely un-Time Lord-like thoughts. He frowned, scraping his fingernails over his scalp; they needed to get off this planet, and not just because of the threat of the Judoon. This whole situation was just too domestic and it was slowly driving him crazy. Sooner or later he would do something he could only live to regret. Sooner or later he would act on the feelings that he increasingly seemed unable to keep under control, control he should have but which was slowly fraying, unravelling bit by bit on the face of the reality of Rose. It wasn’t just her presence in this confined space though, it wasn’t just the terribly domestic act of sharing a hotel suite that was fracturing his armour. He needed sleep. He needed sleep badly.
Chapter 6
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I find myself wondering constantly what the catch is in all of this--who *are* the thieves, what is Nine missing, how is it going to directly impact Rose and Nine and Sniff? And is Nine going to cave in--because of fear, because of sleep deprivation--and kiss Rose? If so, how on earth is he going to cope with it afterwards, and what effect will it have on Rose?
Your fic, it's making me think. A lot. Which is a good thing: You're doing a a fantastic job of building suspense and tension--not just between our Heroes and the Judoon/Bad guys, but simply between Nine and himself, or Nine and Rose.
Teasing, teasing authoress!
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Anyway, hope it all comes together and you like where I'm going with this :-)
Hugs for the support and lovely reviews, as ever :-)
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It really is. It's fabulous.
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Good heavens, don't apologise. I'm just as needy--ask
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I have issues about people going off me if I'm too demanding, or not the hyper confident sunny person they mistook me for ;-)
Perhaps that's best left as I have issues!!
Anyway, good to know it's not just me ... I guess this is the downside of not having a beta; no one whose job it is to tell the truth and buoy me up when I'm worrying.
Anyway - lots of hugs and love for being so supportive and lovely! Thank you. *sniffles*
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I'd never have posted my story--ever--if not for my lovely beta. She really has made life easier, in a way, because she's like the best kind of counselor. I really do admire you having the faith in yourself to post your story *without* the security blanket that a beta offers (ARGH! That still didn't come out right! You have a courage I lack, is what I'm trying to say.)
*hugs* I'll see if I can't sneak off during our lunch break today to check for an update to the story!
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I love the suspense intermingled with the comic.
More soon please? *hugs*
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Oh, if things weren’t bad enough for the Doctor you just had to go add one more level. The man is going to have to give into sleep soon- nightmares or no. And honestly, he just burst in on Rose in the tub and neither of them seemed too worried. They are comfortable with each other and like it or not the Doctor needs to let Rose in just a tad more.
Nice banner by the way.
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Yep - he's domestic with her - even if he won't acknowledge it while she's conscious!!
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You may regret your wish ....
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*melts at the thought of sprawled out Nine*
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*giggles* Naughty you - read Sonic Envy! No sex in this fic, it's trying to stick to cannon!!
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I can't wait for more:D
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Poor man needs sleep - and to remember to respect personal boundaries!
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The Doctor swallowed, becoming suddenly very aware of several things; firstly that he had made yet another error of judgement, secondly that Rose was more than a little displeased and thirdly that Rose was entirely naked beneath the slowly dissipating bubbles. He swallowed again, trying to avoid thinking about the third thing, only to find himself remembering the dress she was referring to, which was nearly as bad. He cleared his throat.
Awwwwww. Poor Nine. *hugs him* I'm guessing he's not sleeping because of the night terrors?
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