Work Text:
“Where are we?”
“No idea!” The Doctor beamed down at Rose, something he seemed to be doing a lot more of now that he was so tall. “Isn’t that brilliant?”
“Even you get tired of knowing everything all the time, I see,” Rose teased.
“Well, it’s always a good time for a change of pace, don’t you think? Learn something new-“ he raised an eyebrow- “see the universe more from your perspective for a change?”
“Oi watch it, you!” Rose gave his arm a shove.
“Well look at that, this place is ancient!” The Doctor bounded safely out of Rose’s reach to examine a control panel, sniffed one of the levers, and sneezed. “Centuries worth of dust, probably. Wonder how many new allergens I just inhaled.”
“Look, that says Docking Bay 3, are we on a ship?”
“An abandoned one, by the looks of it.” The Doctor poked at a button, which creaked with years of dust and disuse. “Imagine that, hundreds of years, drifting through space, long after her crew had gone.” It was a lonely picture, really much lonelier than it should have been. This version of him was emotional like that
“Where do you suppose they’ve gone?” said Rose.
“That’s anyone’s guess.” The Doctor tried hard to push the image of the lonely ship from his mind. It was irritatingly persistent.
“Well there’s got to be a ship’s log or something, and we can find out.”
“Right you are!” That was better, no more lonely ship, not with Rose there. “Not in docking bay three, I’d imagine; we’ll want the main control room or the bridge for that, unless...” The Doctor stopped, holding absolutely still.
“Unless what?”
“Do you feel that?”
“Feel what?” Rose had stopped too, holding just as still as he was.
“That vibration.”
“The engines?”
“Must be!”
“But if this place has been abandoned for hundreds of years, how could the engines still be working?”
“Well, plenty of reasons. Some stupid design from the eighteen-millions that keeps the engines running no matter what- terrible idea, that was- highly advanced self-regulating computer system, or...” he allowed himself a second to consider the possibilities, “maybe it’s not so abandoned after all.”
Rose frowned. “Why does it look so abandoned, then?”
“Maybe they only want us to think it’s abandoned. Or they just never answer the door anymore, either one.”
“Well what’re we waiting for?” Rose took him by the hand and tugged him toward the ship’s corridor, practically skipping. “Come on!”
A million fond words sat on the tip of his tongue, but he settled for simply beaming at her instead, and let her lead him farther into the ship.
“Welcome, travelers,” said a computerized voice as the door to the lift creaked open, making them both jump. “Please proceed to level two.”
“God that scared me,” Rose laughed, and the Doctor’s hearts warmed a bit at the way she kept holding his arm as they stepped into the lift, almost like she had forgotten to let go.
“I suppose we might as well see where they want us to go, what do you say?”
“Okay by me.” Rose let go of his arm then, but she smiled at him so endearingly that he couldn’t find it in him to miss it. “It couldn’t possibly be trouble, could it?”
“Absolutely not. When has it ever been trouble?” The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket and grinned. “Ready to go?”
“See, I told you!” Rose exclaimed, like she had been waiting. “Every time, you act like you’re about to scan something to death!”
“I do not!”
“Do too-oo!”
“Humans! You are impossible.”
The lift creaked and shuddered downwards at a snail’s pace, and Rose’s grin faltered slightly. The Doctor opened his mouth, fully prepared to offer to override the controls and take them back to the TARDIS if that was what she wanted, but she spoke before he did.
“You know, I used to be afraid of lifts when I was little.”
“Really?”
“I always thought they’d fall, or I’d get trapped inside or crushed or something.”
She laughed, and The Doctor couldn’t be sure if it was a nervous laugh or not, and that just wouldn’t do. He stepped closer to her, just in case “used to be” wasn’t quite as far away as she wanted it to be.
“I got stuck in a lift once,” he offered, hoping to sound sympathetic. “Well, more than once, but that time was the worst. Well, not the worst, but the longest, and I am not helping, am I?”
“That’s all right.” Rose leaned in to give him a nudge with her shoulder. “I did say when I was little.”
The Doctor smiled down at her and raised his eyebrows.
“Oh shut up.”
He chuckled and wrapped his arm briefly around her shoulders, just in case she really was worried about the lift (or maybe he just wanted to; was that so wrong?) and watched the numbers of the decks finally count down to two. They looked at one another. Ready .
The doors opened to an empty corridor
“Oh,” said the Doctor, lowering his sonic a bit. It was always a pleasant surprise not to be attacked for a change, although perhaps a bit anticlimactic. “Here we are then.”
“Maybe it’s just automated, from years and years ago, before they all left,” said Rose.
“Could be.” Personally, the Doctor doubted it, and he kept his sonic in hand and himself in front of Rose as they crept down the new corridor. About to round a corner, he signaled her to stop and drew her against the wall with him to run one last scan ahead.
“What is it?” Rose whispered.
“Life signs.”
“What kind?”
“Can’t tell that. Last chance to go back?”
“You know me.” Rose was never one to back out of anything.
“That I do.” They shared a look, which could only be described as the look of two children about to cause massive amounts of trouble together and have a grand time doing it. “Allons-y, Rose Tyler!”
Rose giggled and let him lead her out of hiding and into the next room, ready for anything as long as they were together. Long ago they had gotten used to walking right into anywhere and anywhen like they owned the place, and this time was no exception. They strode into the room like they belonged there, and finally got a look at who had summoned them.
As surprises went, it wasn’t so bad. Well, not horrible, anyway. Well, not Daleks.
A single Yil sat like he had been expecting them, human-shaped, with longer claws and a rounder head, blue as a robin’s egg, and speckled like the back of an Ood’s neck. That in itself was nothing to worry about; Yil in general were not known to be particularly unfriendly toward humans, and The Doctor couldn’t think of a time they had had significant dealings with the Time Lords at all. What concerned him was the patch on the left shoulder of the alien’s jacket; that might mean trouble if they weren’t careful.
“Oh! Hello!” Friendly was generally a good place to start, he had learned. “Sorry to come creeping round like this, but you know how it is. Big ship in the middle of nowhere, can’t be too careful.”
“Of course not,” said the Yil, his voice rough yet polite. “I trust you found your way with no trouble?”
“Oh yes, no trouble at all! Very helpful, that voice in the lift, although you might want to clean up a bit upstairs, or anyone might think this place is abandoned. I’m the Doctor, by the way, and this is Rose.”
“Hello,” said Rose, quite calmly, as if she was only saying hello to the postman. She really was good about things like this now, and it made the Doctor’s hearts glow with pride. “What’s your name then?”
“That’s no concern of yours until you’ve told me what you’re doing on my ship,” said the Yil.
“Well, I wouldn’t say your ship.” The Doctor decided to test the waters and nodded at the patch on the jacket. “Marauders?
“Hundred and seventh fleet.” The alien drew himself up in his chair.
“Hundred and seventh!” So far so good , the Doctor thought. “How long have you been floating around out here?”
“Too long.” The Yil waved a blue clawed hand, and several others stepped into the room. Perhaps this situation was deteriorating after all. “Take them for processing.”
“Well! Now, wait a minute.” The Doctor stretched out his hands, not liking the look of the weapons some of the others held and trying to crowd Rose back toward the door. “If you’re stranded here, I could always help. I could take a look at your ship, give you a jump toward the nearest inhabited planet-“
“Doctor they’re never going to listen to that, run!” Rose snatched him by the hand, but the guards were quicker, dragging them away from each other and off down the corridor.
“You were right,” the Doctor groused as they were hurried none-too-gently away. “Nobody ever listens. Can’t you see I’m trying to help you?” he asked the aliens.
“All in good time,” said the one to his right, patting his arm almost kindly.
“Yeah, I’m a little more concerned about the ‘processing’ at the moment,” Rose called over her shoulder. “What did he mean, what are you going to do to us?”
“We aren’t authorized to tell you, miss.”
“Very polite, you lot, for space pirates,” said the Doctor. “It would be a bit rude not to give us some sort of warning, don’t you think?”
Evidently they did not think so, as they had stopped outside a small chamber, just big enough for a person to stand inside, with a sliding door. Rose was still ahead of him, and that wasn’t good, not at all. One of the guards opened the door and started to push her inside, and she dug in her heels with surprising strength, like a cat determined to stay under a bed.
“Now hold on, hold on, wait a minute!” This was really getting out of hand now, and the Doctor struggled, but he couldn’t get free. This particular body wasn’t too big on brute strength, he had found out. “I think it’s only fair that you tell us what you’re going to do to us before you, well, do it- wouldn’t you agree, Rose?”
“Get your hands off me!” Rose snapped, halfway in the door and losing the fight to stay outside.
“If you won’t tell us, then let me go first; I’m ever so eager to find out,” said the Doctor, trying a bit more desperately to squirm free now. “Never did like to wait in line, me! Too curious for my own good, or that’s what everyone tells me.”
“Doctor!”
The door slammed shut with Rose on the other side, and the Doctor lunged forward, only just failing to get a hit in at the Yil who had begun pressing buttons on the panel beside it.
“Stop this! Let her out!”
The chamber around Rose hummed, and a sickly blue light shone around her. The Doctor could only watch, still held tightly in place, as she began to glow as well, and then she shrank. Right before his eyes, she grew smaller and smaller, until she was tiny enough to hold in the palm of his hand. He would have liked to do just that.
“Oh, a miniaturization ray, haven’t seen one of those in ages!” he exclaimed, half in pure relief that nothing truly horrible had happened, half just trying to buy time. “What for?”
He really should have been used to not getting answers by now, he realized, as the floor opened up into a sort of chute beneath Rose and she disappeared. His hearts dropped just as fast.
Before he could ask where it had taken her or demand that she be brought back, the Yil were opening the door and shoving him through as well, and he realized he had only seconds to act.
As soon as his arms were free, he found his sonic and aimed it at the device, pausing it, at least for the moment. A temporary solution was certainly better than nothing.
“Miniaturizing people and throwing them down a chute?” The Doctor leveled his best disapproving glare through the glass.“You could at least give them a bit of a warning first. Now where have you sent her?”
“What did you do?” the Yil at the control panel grumbled, jabbing at a button.
“I asked first,” said the Doctor. “Where is my friend?”
“Just sent below; we don’t kill them, you know.” Sounding a bit defensive now.
“Well how was I supposed to?” The Doctor crouched down to sonic the floor, opening the small chute once again. It was shaped like a very steep slide, not the free fall it had appeared to be. “Rose?” he called down it.
It was a long shot, and he wasn’t terribly surprised when he didn’t hear a reply, but it set his hearts pounding again all the same.
“If you don’t kill them, what do you do with them?” he inquired, straightening up and attempting to sound casual. “Surely you don’t just have a bunch of tiny humans running around below decks, do you?”
“We’re not authorized to tell you that.”
“Naturally.” The Doctor frowned, making up his mind. “Sorry about the hold-up then.” He put his sonic away and offered his most charming smile. “Carry on.”
The Yil blinked at him.
“Go on, you obviously need us small for something.” The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets and watched them expectantly. “Can’t wait to find out!”
It took them another moment or two, in which they undoubtedly concluded he was completely mad (not unlikely) but soon the correct buttons were pushed, and the machine hummed around him. The experience wasn’t pleasant by any means, but it wasn’t painful, just a strange pressure all around his body, and then there he was, just as small as Rose had been. Well, perhaps still taller, if the thing worked proportionally, but very close to her size.
Then the floor dropped out from under him, and he slid, hopefully towards Rose, but where actually, he had no idea. He got his answer a moment later, tumbling onto something soft, a mat of some sort. That was kind of them, it really was. Very considerate, after shrinking someone and throwing them down a hole.
“Doctor!”
Rose practically pounced on him, and he couldn’t help grinning as she pulled him to his feet and grabbed him in a hug. He’d been right: she was still shorter.
“There we are!” He squeezed her tightly. “You all right?”
“Yeah, I think.”
“Me too- I love a good slide.” He released her and looked around. “Now where are we?”
“Doctor, we’re small.”
“I know! Isn’t that brilliant? It’s different being small.”
Rose scowled at him.
“What?”
“You’re not worried?”
“Why should I be worried?” They were inside a metal box, it seemed, with a large door in the front, judging by the hinges.
“They’ve just made us tiny and thrown us in here and you’re not worried?”
“Not the first time for me.” The Doctor shrugged. Truthfully, he was a bit concerned- being so small did have its disadvantages- and he could only imagine how unnerving it must be for a human who’d never experienced it before.“Although I wouldn’t say no to a hug, just because.”
Rose stepped close to him, and he wrapped his arms around her again. She was nice to hug, his Rose.
“Who are they?”
“Space pirates. This is an old human ship they must have taken over.”
“What do they want us like this for?”
“Well we’d better find out, hadn’t we?”
The Doctor hated to let go of Rose again-she was so small now, and that seemed to worry him far more than his own smallness- but they did need to move if they were ever going to escape.
He sonicked the large door in front of them, the device thankfully still working despite its drastically reduced size, and they strained to push it open together. It gave way, and they tumbled out onto a sort of counter top, in what the Doctor could only guess must be the engine room. The ship hummed away around them, and the heat was noticeable even where they were.
“Hold on,” said Rose. “If their engine’s still working so well, why can’t they just fly away?”
“Very low power,” said the Doctor. “Enough to live, but not to go anywhere.”
“Wouldn’t want to be in here when it’s running full blast then! It’s boiling!”
“Definitely not. Although.” He grabbed her hand and licked it, for curiosity’s sake, ignoring her indignant squawk. “No, definitely wouldn’t want to be here.”
“What was that about?” Rose grumbled, wiping the back of her hand on the Doctor’s sleeve.
“At this size, your molecules are condensed, but not indestructible. Theoretically, if exposed to enough heat, they would begin to disintegrate, giving off huge amounts of energy as they did, and I doubt that would be very pleasant.”
“So we’d just, burn up?”
“Basically. Well, it could take a tremendously long time, depending on the amount of heat, but basically.”
“Nothing to worry about here, though,” he went on, in response to Rose’s less-than-at-ease expression. “Not unless we go jumping right into the engine, which I don’t think- Oh.”
Rose must have caught on to his train of thought as well. “You don’t think they’d…”
The Doctor’s grim expression was enough.
“But if the engine’s running now, do you think…”
“Could be.”
Footsteps sounded at the far end of the room, and they took off running as one.
“Where are they?” said Rose, keeping pace just behind the Doctor as their feet pounded on the metal ledge, hopefully too small to be heard from across the room.
“Behind us, come on!”
“No, the people! Whoever they’ve got burning, we can’t just leave them!”
“They’d be on that side.” The Doctor waved across the vast chasm of floor between their ledge and the one closer to the engine. “But I don’t know if there’s anything we can do; might already be too late, if we can even get over there.”
He glanced over his shoulder, where the giant Yil was about to open the box they had slid into.
“Well we have to try, don’t we?” said Rose. “Right here, we can climb down!”
They didn’t have much time to make an escape themselves, much less attempt a rescue, but that was how Rose was, thinking of the little person. Quite literally, in this case. The Doctor imagined it was probably good for him. They climbed down the outside of a narrow pipe, sliding most of the way, and darted across the floor to the other side.
“Back up then?”
“Only thing to do.”
There was a sort of grate on this side, and they started up it. The Doctor heard more Yil enter the room and knew the search for him and Rose had begun.
“Hurry,” he urged, quite unnecessarily.
They clambered onto the ledge, and the Doctor scanned for life signs, now that they were close enough that the miniature sonic could hope to reach.
“I’ve got something!”
A door, huge for them, but just large enough for a full-sized human or Yil to reach inside, stood in the way, and they began to pull it open with some difficulty. Heat and light rushed out, and they hung back behind the metal door, using it as a sort of shield. Cautiously, the Doctor poked his head around, unsure of what he’d find.
The heat was intense. At first he was barely able to open his eyes against it, only able to see the glow like that of a furnace, but then he caught sight of the dark shape suspended in front of it. It was a human, just as small as the Doctor and Rose, shackled in a standing position by his wrists and ankles in front of the blazing heat. His clothing was tattered and singed, and his head hung low, but the Doctor could tell he was alive by the rapid heaving of his chest. His skin held a faint golden glow, almost like a Time Lord in the early stages of regeneration, and the wisps of energy were being funneled from his hands into the machine where they were held.
“Stay here,” said the Doctor to Rose, who had already squeezed under his arm to peek out as well and was gazing in horror at what she saw.
“What-“
“You’re human; you’ll burn just like him.”
“And he’s still alive, come on.” She dragged the Doctor around the door, stumbled as the full intensity hit her, but continued onward against the heat.
“What are you doing here?” the other man rasped as they approached. His eyes were sunken and bloodshot, and the Doctor couldn’t help but wonder if he still had any idea where he was.
“I’m Rose, and this is the Doctor,” said Rose, thankfully not glowing yet, but shielding her face from the blistering heat like a stinging wind. “We’re here to help.”
“Are there others?” the Doctor asked, forcing himself closer despite every cell in his body screaming in protest. The sonic proved ineffective in releasing the prisoner, at least from this distance, and he moved closer still.
“I’m the only one left...don’t know how long...they’ve burned them all.”
The restraints on either side of him were empty. More people the Doctor couldn’t save. “Not to worry!” He forced a cheerful tone, changing his tactic and fishing around in his pockets for something to manually break the locks. “You can come with us if you like, as soon a we have this sorted.”
The man shook his head. “Get out, before they burn you, too.”
“Doctor!” cried Rose, and he whipped around, just in time to see a flash of blue outside the door; the Yil had found them.
He did the only thing he could think of in the moment. “Close the door!”
Rose pulled it to, and he sonicked it shut just in time.
The heat seemed to double in a second, and a reedy wail went up from the trapped man as glowing energy blazed from him. Rose cried out as well, dropping into a crouch and shielding her head as her skin began to glow, even all the way at the door.
“Come on, open!” the Doctor growled at the restraints, knowing the door couldn’t stay sealed for long.
There was a screech of metal, and Rose, wielding a rod pulled from the wall and shrieking a war cry, charged and began hacking at the machine beside them. Sparks and bits of metal flew, and oh she was brilliant, Rose Tyler. The Doctor succeeded in freeing the other man, and he collapsed to the floor. Rose wasted no time smashing the machinery where he had been as well, just as the door was yanked open and alarms began to blare.
A giant, gloved hand reached for them, and the Doctor threw himself in front of the two humans. The huge fingers closed around his waist, Rose shouted something, and he was snatched away through the door and into cooler air again. He had to give credit where credit was due: the Yil, although scowling, held him quite gently, even while holding him up threateningly close.
“I hope you can fix this, Doctor,” the captain growled.
“What, so you can burn me alive just like you did those others?” Perhaps he wasn’t in the best position to be sassing anyone, but it slipped out before he could think better of it.
“We only have ten minutes of charge saved; once that runs out, this ship goes, and you and your friend go with it,” said the Captain, ignoring his remark.
“Of course it would,” the Doctor groaned, but the seeds of a plan were already forming in his mind. “You’ll have to put me back to normal then. Can’t do much fixing like this, you see.”
For a terrifying moment, he thought he was going to be denied, and then he didn’t know what he’d do. The Yil holding him looked to the captain, who had his hands full with a furiously thrashing Rose trying to swing at him with the metal rod.
“Reverse the beam, and bring him back here. Quickly.”
The Doctor’s hearts leaped. He held on tightly to the hand around him as he was carried at breakneck speed up the stairs and down a corridor, back to the chamber where they had been before. The Yil set him inside and slammed the door, the area hummed around him, and a few seconds later he was normal sized again, a bit cramped in the now small space.
“That’s better!” He patted his captor on the shoulder (best to be as friendly as possible despite the obvious, considering the circumstances.) “Could’ve saved yourself the trouble with all the shrinking business, I told you I could help!” He took off down the corridor they way they had come, with the Yil hot on his heels.
They arrived back in the engine room, and the Doctor got to work, making a great show of examining the damaged engine port. Rose had really done a fine job, he noted.
“Can you fix it?” said the captain, hovering just behind him, and breathing down his neck in the most distracting way.
“Course I can,” the Doctor sniffed. “But I’m going to need an extra pair of hands.”
He went to where Rose and the other human sat huddled in a container. Rose had her arms around him, and he looked about spent, leaning heavily on her shoulder. They were so small, Rose especially, and once again the Doctor would have liked nothing more than to hold her, just to be sure she was safe.
It was then that a new plan occurred to him. A wild plan, a bit ridiculous, even, but it would work. He could make it work. He could only hope Rose would let him.
“Hello again, I’m the Doctor,” he said brightly. “Sorry we didn’t have a chance for introductions before; what was your name?”
“Jeff,” said the man, a bit stronger than before, the Doctor noted. That was a good sign, at least.
“Pleasure to meet you, Jeff.” The Doctor turned back to the Yil surrounding them. “He’s almost used up; you wouldn’t get but a few more minutes of power out of him like this. One of you take him, put him back to normal, and find my ship. Docking bay three, blue box, you can’t miss it. If you set him against the side, the energy field should put a little life back in him.”
That was a lie, but the Doctor knew it was a tempting one, if they bought it. The Yil around him looked at each other, considering what he’d said.
“Go on then; you need all the energy you can get, don’t you?”
“Do as he says,” said the captain.
“There’s a good fellow! Well, maybe not good, recharging a human just to burn him again, but sensible. Very sensible.”
The Doctor bounced impatiently on his feet, waiting for them to take Jeff from the container. The further away from the engine room, the safer he’d be, and hopefully in position for a quick getaway if need be.
“And you, Rose Tyler!” The Doctor plucked her up gently, and she moved instantly to hang on to his finger. Finally, he had her, so small in his hand, and he could protect her now. “I need your help.”
That wasn’t technically a lie- he did need her to agree to what he was about to propose, at any rate. He set her lightly on the countertop.
“We haven’t got much time.” Now that the moment had come, the Doctor found himself hesitating. Rose showed no fear of him, despite how huge he was in comparison to her, and he hoped that wasn’t about to change. “You trust me, don’t you?”
“Course I do.” No hesitation.
“I’m about to share something with you telepathically. Close your eyes.”
She shut her eyes, and the Doctor moved to ever so lightly touch her temples with his fingertips. Rose jumped a bit when he made the connection. It was always a bit jarring for humans, so used to being alone in their own heads, and it had to be even stranger for someone so small.
“It’s only me,” he murmured. Quickly, he shared everything she needed to know, what he was going to do, and withdrew again.
Rose’s eyes flew open, and she stumbled back from him.
“Sorry, sorry, I know,” said the Doctor hurriedly. “You’re not used to that, but here we are! All set?” She knew she’d be safe- maybe if he acted natural enough she’d just accept it.
No such luck. Rose was staring at him, and as he looked at her, she took another step back.
“Sorry.” He crouched down and rested his chin on the countertop so he was roughly level with her. “What’s wrong?”
“Doctor, my ship?” the captain pressed, still hovering like the nuisance he was.
“Wait your turn. I need my assistant, or I can’t do anything.” He turned back to Rose. “You’re staring at me.”
She was, with an emotion very uncomfortably close to betrayal. The Doctor didn’t like that. Didn’t like that at all.
“Rose, please, we don’t have much time.” He tried to be gentle, but he was afraid it cane out more impatient than he intended.
Rose folded her arms, her expression turning more guarded. “You’ll kill me.”
The Doctor’s hearts ached. “No I won’t. You know that, I just showed you.”
“But...” She looked less than reassured. He couldn’t truly blame her, a human without prior experience of anything like this.
“I wouldn’t.” He longed to reach out to her, but at the moment that would probably be more frightening than comforting. “Rose, you know I wouldn’t.”
Rose opened her mouth to speak and seemed to think better of it.
Much as the Doctor would have liked to keep talking to her until she was completely comfortable with the idea, time was running out.
“I’m so sorry, but we have to hurry.”
“All right then.” Rose straightened, tugging stiffly at the hem of her shirt. Her eyes were frightened, but she seemed to steel herself. “Better not waste time, yeah?”
She was so brave, his Rose. The Doctor beamed.
“What’re you grinning at?” Rose asked, a hint of teasing finding its way back into her tone.
He could have said any number of things. That she was the bravest human he’d ever met. That he was about to melt thinking about the amount of faith she put in him. That he... well, that was a bit scary to admit even to himself, but it was terrifyingly, undeniably true.
“I’ll tell you later,” was what he said instead.
“That a promise, Doctor?”
Oh, she was good. The Doctor smiled all the more. “Count on it.”
Rose gave him a thin smile in return. The Doctor picked her up, slowly, as gently as he could, trying to communicate in every way possible that his intentions were not to harm her. He could feel her little human heart racing.
“It’s all right,” he said quietly. “Close your eyes.”
Rose squeezed her eyes shut. “You owe me for this, you know.”
“I’ll make it up to you.”
No more time to wait. The Doctor’s hearts sped up along with Rose’s, but he couldn’t lose his nerve now. He’d worked through all the possibilities, and it was safe. He just had to do it.
He slid Rose into his mouth, shivering a little at the taste of her. Very human: salty, a little earthy, and most of all very alive. Not unpleasant, on the whole.
He could ponder that later; at the moment he had a ship about to lose power, several Yil staring at him in fascinated horror, and Rose tense with apprehension in his mouth. That was wrong, certainly, but he was only hiding her, he reasoned to the part of him that balked at what he was about to do. It was just like putting her in his pocket, only safer.
The Doctor took a deep breath. He could do this. He tossed his head back and gulped.
It was wrong, a million times wrong. Rose squirmed, and the Doctor nearly choked on the feeling, but it was too late to turn back. He could feel her in his throat, and squeezing between his hearts, and somehow he kept swallowing until at last she slid heavily into his stomach. A shudder ran through him at the thought, and he had to fight the urge to curl up around her and never move again.
“Rose?”
She hit him lightly from inside, and oh that felt weird . But she was safe, and that was all that mattered at the moment.
“Right then!” The Doctor clapped his hands, turning back toward the Yil. “Sorry about that, very important.” Rose moved, and he forced himself to ignore her.
“You-“ the captain began still staring, seeming at a loss for words.
“Oh don’t worry, she’s fine,” said the Doctor. “Not that you would worry, I imagine, burning people alive and all that, but I wouldn’t want you to think I’d- well, nevermind. Hard to explain.”
He folded his arms across his middle, a bit self-conscious under the stares. Or was that Rose-conscious? Already distracted again, he was!
“Now, I couldn’t help noticing, when I found the human you were using for fuel,” he took a second to glare around the room, “that you were collecting particle compression energy. You know what that is, of course: all those molecules, packed so unnaturally close together, that generates a tremendous amount of energy as they try to move away but can’t. Brilliant way to run a ship, really! Terribly inhumane, not to mention illegal in every known galaxy, but brilliant.”
He edged closer to the control panel, eyeing the buttons and planning his next move.
“But all that energy, it doesn’t just go away. Basic laws of the universe! Energy can’t be created or destroyed.” He took out his sonic screwdriver and turned it over in his hand. It was a lovely sonic, especially now that it was full sized again. He could kiss that sonic.
“Which means,” he continued, “when you de-miniaturized me and Jeff, all that particle compression energy had to go somewhere, and it went straight into this ship’s system. Without you ever knowing it! We don’t have ten minutes- we could fly for ages!”
The Yil exchanged looks.
“Captain, you asked me to fix your engine,” said the Doctor. “Consider her repaired!” He aimed his sonic at the control panel, which sparked viciously, and the engines roared to life.
“Seize him!”
“Hold on! Hold on, I wouldn’t do that just yet.” The Doctor took a rather large step back anyway, just in case. He did have a passenger now, after all. “This engine isn’t just running, it’s overheating. All that power and nothing to do with it. We’d better plot a course and get moving before it blows itself up, don’t you think?”
“Don’t let him escape!” The captain made for the stairway.
“Blimey you’re eager!” The Doctor leveled a glare at him once again. “I’ll divert power to fry every circuit in this vessel before you can lay a hand on me.”
That gave them pause, just as he had hoped.
“There we are then, that’s better!” said the Doctor cheerfully. “And I wouldn’t advise staying here next to an overheating engine, unless you fancy being cooked.” He inclined his head. “Coming?”
He’d almost forgotten about poor Rose in all the excitement, but running certainly made her presence known again. It hurt, and he could only imagine all the motion wasn’t pleasant for her either. Still, as ways to carry someone went, it was certainly efficient. The Doctor broke into a sprint and reached the bridge first, shutting and locking the doors behind himself. He turned out of habit to check that Rose was with him, had a moment of sheer panic, and pressed his hand to his stomach in relief. That part certainly was nice, he had to admit.
The first order of business now was to trap the others in the corridor with the fire doors. Once that was done, coordinates were a must, because the engine really was becoming a problem, and the ancient ship groaned into motion. The intercom was next because, well, why not?
“I did say I could take you to the nearest inhabited planet, Captain!” The system crackled with disuse, but the Doctor hoped it was still functioning well enough. “I’m sure everyone will want to know how you managed to keep yourselves going all this time; but don’t worry! I’ll have Jeff call ahead.”
He set down the receiver with a flourish and bounded toward the lift.
It was as slow as ever, and now that it was quiet, the Doctor was able turn his attention to Rose again. She was a surprisingly noticeable weight, quite warm, and still so very small. He rested a hand over her again, almost without thinking.
“Doctor?” It was incredibly quiet, but there was no doubt he’d heard her.
“Hello,” he said, patting her lightly and unable to keep from smiling. “You all right?”
“Finally you ask!” She shoved him lightly, and he didn’t know whether to ask her to stop because it felt so strange, or to ask her to do it again because it felt...well, it was her, inside him, and he hadn’t quite managed to work out what he thought of that yet. “Where are we?”
“Going back to docking bay three, in the lift. And you’re very little, Rose,” he said in mock seriousness. “You’re not afraid, are you?”
“Oi are you still on about that?” He was sure she was laughing. “Why should I be?”
The Doctor’s laugh could very nearly have been called a giggle then. He wrapped his arms around himself, and Rose too by extension, and might have simply melted if the lift hadn’t opened just then.
Jeff still certainly looked worse for wear, but he was going to pull through. He was standing, leaning against the wall, when the Doctor entered the room.
“I hope you’ve got a way to call from here. I didn’t actually check before I told them all what you’d be up to.”
“I do,” said Jeff. “I’ve been.”
“Brilliant.”
Jeff frowned. “Is Rose…”
“Safe,” said the Doctor, probably a bit too quickly. “Hard to explain.” He wasn’t about to try explaining to another human any time soon if he could help it.
Jeff regarded him quite oddly. “Who are you?”
“Just a traveler. I’ll be going now, actually.”
“Safe travels then,” said Jeff. “And thank you, Doctor.”
The Doctor had never been good at goodbyes. He gave Jeff a nod and ducked inside the TARDIS, and they dematerialized.
“Do you think he’ll be all right?” said Rose.
“Should be,” said the Doctor, quite distracted again. “He was standing, and the evidence is all there once they land.”
Rose shifted positions, and he sighed.
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“It’s new!” he defended. “And it’s weird, you’re all elbowy and squirmy in there.”
“Well you sure know how to flatter a girl.”
“It’s a nice squirmy,” the Doctor conceded.
“So you are enjoying this.”
He folded his arms as if Rose could see him. “That’s not fair.”
“Well you’re the one who ate me.”
“I did not eat you.”
“Are you sure about that?” Rose pushed at him, and he hunched over involuntarily.
She was so tiny, and she was right there , inside him , and he still couldn’t think about that at all without the strange sense of power, the delight, as well as the slight nausea rushing over him again.
“You can fix this, can’t you?” said Rose, no longer teasing. “ This , and the being small, and everything?”
“Easy.” The Doctor hated for her to sound worried like that; hiding her like this was only enjoyable at all as long as she knew for certain that it was all right.
“Then you can tell me what you were going to say before.”
“Oh.” He’d forgotten he’d promised that. “Yes, I suppose I can.”
Rose giggled.
“What?” (At least she couldn’t point at him now like with Sarah Jane at that school. Small blessings.)
“All those aliens that’ve wanted to eat us before, I was always so worried about them, and then it’s you !”
“Of course it’s me ,” said the Doctor, straightening his tie. “You think I’d have let anything else?”
“Well I’m glad it’s you.”
“Ha! I knew you were!”
“I didn’t say I like it! I’m just glad you’re not some big slime monster or something.”
“Slime monster?”
”Like that slug thing.”
”You wound me.” The Doctor put his hand to his chest, forgetting again that Rose couldn’t see him.
”Well I said you’re not like the slug thing.”
”And I said I didn’t eat you, but here we are.”
“What do you call this, then?” Rose poked him.
The Doctor floundered for a moment; he’d been so against thinking of it as eating that he hadn’t come up with anything else to call it. “Protecting,” he decided.
Rose just burst out laughing all over again at that.
The Doctor would have scowled comically at her, but she was unfortunately protected from that as well.