Chapter Text
Following Rose out of the TARDIS, The Doctor shut her doors and then stepped closer to Rose to explain.
“It’s the year five billion and twenty three. We’re in the galaxy M87. And this! This is New Earth.”
The Doctor watches as Rose takes in her surroundings, her face transforming with joy. Despite all their trips, Rose had never lost that joy and he hoped she never would. Her shocked grin as she glanced over at him was infectious and he couldn’t help but respond in turn.
“That’s just…” Rose begins her wonder evident, “It’s…”
“Not bad. Not bad at all.” The Doctor finishes for her. She looks at him then, her face lit up in that tongue touched smile that he loves so much. (Not that he could would ever admit it aloud)
“That’s amazing! I’ll never get used to this, never!” Though she’s not looking at him anymore (and perhaps because he’s not looking at her anymore), The Doctor smiles at her, struggling to keep the full depth of his feelings from showing.
“Different ground beneath my feet!” She says turning to him as she bounces up and down, “Different sky!” Her delight shifts then to curiosity as something catches her attention, “What’s that smell?”
The Doctor bends down to pluck a piece of grass from the ground, before standing and presenting it to her.
“Apple grass.”
“Apple grass.” Her smile widening all the more as she laughs.
“Yeah” The Doctor laughs along with her, and this time he knows he’s failing to keep all he feels from his face. This becomes all the harder as Rose steps forwards and takes his arm.
“It’s beautiful. Oh, I love this!” The Doctor looks down at her, and the love shining in his grave makes his hearts skip. He’d been so afraid that he had lost her after he regenerated, but with her looking at him like that? The struggle to maintain his mask becomes all the harder.
“Can I just say? Travelling with you, I love it!”
“Me too!” The Doctor knows then that he has lost his battle, he can’t stop his feelings from showing no matter how he tries. So he takes her hand — tries (and fails) not to notice how well it fits in his — and pulls her along.
They eventually collapse onto the apple grass, The Doctor spreading out his coat for them to lie on. Rose watches the cars flying overhead and The Doctor pretends to do the same, sneaking glances at Rose. It only lasts a few minutes before The Doctor’s gob starts running in a desperate attempt to overcome the closeness, he had to keep his distance. Because if he didn’t and he…is definitely not going there. Nope.
“So, the year five billion, the sun expands, the earth gets roasted…”
“That was our first date.”
He knew he would regret it later, but he couldn’t help his reply, “We had chips”
Her laughter made it worth it. He loves her laugh, its such a happy and carefree sound that it is infectious and he can’t help but laugh along with her. Rassilion he was so far gone. He needed a distraction. He schools his face so that it approaches neutral and props himself up.
“So anyway, planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. As soon as the Earth burns up, oh, they get all nostalgic, big revival movement. They find this place, same size as the Earth, same air, same orbit, lovely. The call goes out, the humans move in.”
“What’s the city called?”
“New, New York!”
“Oh, come on.” Rose looks at him in disbelief.
“It is! The city of New New York.” Then he’s rambling because he really does have a gob in this body. “Strictly speaking, it’s the fifteenth New York since the original, so that makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York”
Rose giggles at his antics, but the look she gives him as her giggles quiet has him worried. The worries aren’t new, they’ve been bouncing round his head since he regenerated. He just can’t escape them. What if she doesn’t like the new him? What if she regrets staying? And most significantly: What if she remembers everything from bad wolf? What if he looses her?
“What?” He questions trying to quiet his racing thoughts.
“You're so different.” His hearts stutter in fear and the worries in his head grow increasingly louder. One person has never had this effect on him before. Heck even in the time war he’s never felt like this. He shouldn’t be surprised since he’s never met anyone like his Rose Tyler.
He keeps careful hold of his mask as he replies, watching closely to see her reaction. “New New Doctor.”
Her grin puts his worries at ease slightly. They’re both so focused on each other that neither notices the presence of the small robot watching them. Unfortunately, the robot (or those in control of the robot at least) are not so unobservant.
As the robot creeps closer Rose turns to The Doctor, excitement evident in her expression. “Can we go and visit New New York — so good they named it twice?”
The Doctor helps Rose up and tugs on his coat, rocking back on his feet The Doctor reluctantly points out the reason he brought them here, feeling a little disappointed at having to burst Rose’s bubble.
“Well…” he draws the word out, his reluctance palliable, “I thought we might go there first”
Differing emotions play across her face; disappointment mixed with curiosity. The Doctor watches her closely.
“Why, what is it?” She questions as curiosity eventually wins out.
“Some sort of hospital. The green moon on the side, that’s the universal symbol for hospitals. I got this…” With that he pulls his psychic paper from his pocket, and holds it out for Rose. “A message on the psychic paper. Someone wants to see me.”
Rose looks even more curious now, all traces of disappointment gone from her face. She’s not the only one, since The Doctor is sure she can sense his own curiosity.
“Oh? And I thought we were just sightseeing.” Comes her snarky reply. Then she’s grabbing his hand and dragging him along as she says. “Come on, then. Let’s go and buy some grapes.”
As they set off for the hospital, hands clasped and shoulders brushing, someone lurking forgotten in a dark and gloomy space comes to a realisation.
“Bit rich, coming from you.” Rose smiles up at The Doctor as they enter the hospital, joking and bantering just like always.
“I can’t help it, I don’t like hospitals. They give me the creeps.” She studies The Doctor as he speaks, sure he’s different (his earlier antics certainly evidence of that) but the more time she spends with him the more certain she is that he’s the same underneath. The way he takes her hand as they run is so achingly familiar, so is the way he tinkers with the TARDIS. Outwardly he appears to be so different, and she finds that she wouldn’t care if he was. She falling in love with him all over again and she’s falling hard.
Shaking herself out of her thoughts she took in the hospital vaguely noting there was an announcement, something about gardens and cuttings she thought. The Doctor had since dropped her hand and was studying the hospital himself, something was bothering him. What’s that about? Lucky she had a failsafe method of getting answers: Make a remark and let his incessant gob do the rest.
“Very smart. Not exactly NHS”
“No shop. I like the little shop” Welp, that was probably not the problem. She couldn’t be certain sometimes he was so alien. Speaking of alien, it was the perfect way to describe the futuristic hospital. Though on that train of thought…
“I thought this far in the future they’d have cured everything.”
“The human race moves on — so do viruses” Right, she thinks with a sigh. Very insightful. He’s still yapping on but Rose is not paying attention, no what she’s paying attention to are the cats. Or cat-people? Cat-nuns? Yeah, alien is definitely the best descriptor for the hospital.
Rose turns to the doctor in her shock, pointing at the cat-whatever’s as she speaks. “They’re cats!”
He moves over to her, laughter in his eyes. “Now, don’t stare. Think of what you look like to them… all pink and yellow.” She stares at him instead, gobsmacked. What did he mean, all pink and yellow? Is that how he sees her? She’s gonna smack him. And he’s still going on about that little shop. Definitely deserves a smack.
She can’t act on her mental threat, however, as he’s wandered off towards a set of lifts. Without her! Again!
“Hold on! Hold on!”
She hears his reply, coming from who knows where. “Can’t it’s too late. I’m going up.”
“It’s okay, there’s another lift.” She calls out in response, though she hasn’t the foggiest if he can hear her.
“Ward twenty-six,” comes his disembodied voice again. “And watch out for the…” His voice breaks up before he can finish his warning.
“Watch out for what?”
He tries again. And…Nope. That’s no better.
“The what?”
Rose hears him once more but it’s still all garbled and the lifts doors have opened so she just gives up.
“Um…Ward twenny-six,” she stumbles out, unsure how they are meant to work.
As an afterthought she calls out: “Thanks”
The doors shut and the lift descends. Wait what? Before she can focus on the fact she’s certain the lift is moving the wrong way an automated voice calls out over an intercom: Commence stage one disinfection. Then her focus is diverted to the sudden downpour coming from the ceiling. Great. There must be a button here somewhere!
The water shuts off and she receives a blast of something to the face. Could The Doctor not have warned her? To top it all off she is then blown with hot air, as the lift decides it would quite like to be a giant hairdryer. Though… it’s not actually too bad. She grins as she lets it blow on her, drying her sopping wet hair and clothes from the unexpected (and unappreciated) shower.
The doors open and almost immediately Rose’s earlier suspicion was proven correct. The lift had definitely gone rouge. The corridor creeped her out. It looked suspiciously abandoned, nothing ever good came of things like this. Especially when travelling with The Doctor.
Her creep-o-meter spiked when a tattooed man stepped out of nowhere and delayed her ‘clean’ whatever that meant.
“Um, I’m looking for ward twenny-six?” Which is definitely not here, she added mentally.
“This way, Rose Tyler.” Was creep-o’s only answer. Yep, this was definitely not right. And it definitely would not be a good idea to follow Mr Creep-o. But… something was going on and damn it she was too curious for her own good. Yet… It never hurt to be prepared. Rose grabbed the chunkiest bar from the collection that littered her feet, before following after Mr Creep-o.
The Doctor wondered what had happened to Rose. She should be here. He paced up and down before the lifts as he waited, full of nervous energy. Something had most certainly gone wrong, afterall Rose redefines the phrase jeopardy friendly on most of their adventures. To an observer he undoubtedly seemed distracted (and he could admit he was a little), but his pacing allowed him to unobtrusively scan his surroundings.
He was unsurprised to find that he indeed had an observer. One of the cat-nuns stood, hands folded at the entranceway to ward twenty-six or so he presumed it to be ward twenty six. It was only logical. Presumptions were a dangerous thing, afterall…
His internal ramblings were cut short as the cat-nun beckoned to him. As he approached they turned and entered the ward — clearly expecting him to follow. And follow he did. He knew if he had any chance of rescuing Rose from whatever she’d managed to be swept into he had to remain unnoticed. His gob had other ideas.
“Nice place. No shop downstairs — I’d have a shop. Not a big one, just a shop. So people can shop.”
“The hospital is a place of healing.” Cat-nuns clearly disapproved of shops. Even the little ones! Who doesn’t love a little shop? Other than cats. Clearly.
“A shop does some people the world of good. Not me. Other people.”
“The Sisters of Plentitude take a lifelong vow to help and to mend.”
The Doctor rolls his eyes at the blatant disregard of little shops and holds back, taking the chance to scan around the ward. Something was off. Very, very off. He happened to catch the eye of a tall woman who carried herself with a pompous air of overconfidence. Just what he needed. He had no patience to deal with her and her ramblings about the Duke of Manhattan.
“That’s petrifold regression, right?” The Doctor interrupted and a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Rose called out: Rude! He was not really listening to what the two were saying, distracted by thoughts of Rose and the strange treatments that the nuns appeared to be giving.
With the tall woman’s demand for privacy The Doctor was once again rudely drawn from his thoughts. Though he couldn’t be too annoyed as the following conversation with Jatt the cat was rather insightful. The Doctor was beginning to piece together what was so wrong about the hospital and he didn’t like it one bit.
“Is there no one here you recognise? It’s rather unusual to visit without knowing the patient.” The Doctor scanned the ward, desperate for an excuse as to why he’s here when a tank at the end of the ward caught his eye.
“No, I think I’ve found him.”
Jatt leads him over to the tank, and The Doctor finds himself face-to-face with The Face of Boe.
“Novice Hame, if I can leave this gentleman in your care?” Hame nods and Jatt turns to leave. That just won’t do. He knows something has gone wrong with Rose, and he needs to find her now. But…he also needs to know why he was called here. Sighing, he turns to Jatt.
“Oh, I think my… friend got lost. Rose Tyler. Can you ask at reception?” Jatt nods in assent and leaves.
The Doctor crouches down, filled with sadness at the image presented before him.
“I’m afraid The Face of Boe’s asleep. That’s all he tends to do these days. Are you a friend, or…?”
“We met just the once on platform one. What’s wrong with him?”
“I’m so sorry. I thought you knew. The Face of Boe is dying.”
“Of what?”
“Old age. The one thing we can’t cure. He’s thousands of years old. Some people say millions, although that’s impossible.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I like impossible.” With that he turns away from Hame, to reach out to The Face of Boe’s tank. “I’m here. I look a bit different, but it’s me, it’s The Doctor.”
Rose clutched the rod like a lifeline as she made her way down the cluttered corridor. There is no sign of Mr Creep-o as Rose entered the room which he had disappeared into earlier. The room is dark and abandoned, yet a video plays. Projected on the far wall by an ancient projector seemingly abandoned to run forever. Shivers ran down her spine. She had the unmistakable sense she was being watched. Rose began to turn from the video when a familiar voice began to play out. It can’t be… Why would she be here? In this video? Years after her death? Rose saw her die… But, her voice was now unmistakable.
“Wait a minute, that’s—”
The same voice called out with false cheer. “Peekaboo”
Rose spun around, brandishing her rod. “Don't you come anywhere near me, Cassandra.”
“Why? What do you think I'm going to do? Flap you to death?”
She might not be able to do much but Mr Creep-o was still hanging around. “Yeah, but what about Gollum?”
“Oh that’s just chip. He’s my pet.”
“I worship the mistress.” Rose was thoroughly weirded out. She did not want to be anywhere near Cassandra or her creepily devoted minion. Nope.
“Moisturise me! Moisturise me!” Some things never changed. Here was Cassandra somehow still a bitchy trampoline with a devoted slave to moisturise her.
“He's not even a proper life form. He's a force grown clone. I modelled him on my favourite pattern. But he's so faithful. Chip sees to my physical needs.” Rose did not like the image that presented. Do not go there. No. Ew. Moving swiftly on.
“I hope that means food. How comes you're still alive?”
“After you murdered me?” After we murdered her! Is she serious right now? What about all the people she murdered for money?
“That was your own fault.”
“The brain of my mistress survived. And her pretty blue eyes were salvaged from the bin.” Chip interjected.
“What about the skin? I saw it. You, you got ripped apart.”
“That piece of skin was taken from the front of my body. This piece is the back.” Ha! Rose couldn’t believe it. This was too perfect.
“Right! So you’re talking out of your a—”
“Ask not!”
“The mistress was lucky to survive. Chip secreted m'lady into the hospital.”
“So they don’t know you're here?” That explained a lot. The abandoned, run down location for starters. Cassandra must have suffered all these years without wealth or luxury. And what a shame that was.
“Chip steals medicine. Helps m'lady. Soothes her, strokes her.” Nope. Not going there. Moving swiftly on once more. Ugh, gross!
“You can stop right there, Chip”
“But I'm so alone, hidden down here. The last Human in existence.” Rose rolled her eyes at her drivel.
“Don't start that again. They've called this planet New Earth.”
“A vegetable patch.”
“And there's millions of Humans out there. Millions of them.”
“Mutant stock.” She was no better than the racists of old earth. She sickened Rose.
“They evolved, Cassandra. They just evolved, like they should. You stayed still. You got yourself all pickled and preserved, and what good did it do you?”
“Oh, I remember that night. Drinks for the Ambassador of Thrace. That was the last time anyone told me I was beautiful. After that it all became such hard work.” Does she think I’ll pity her? How wrong she was, Rose had no pity on her. So bigoted was she that she removed all that made her human just to stay still.
“Well, you've got a knack for survival, I'll give you that.”
“But I've not been idle, Rose, tucked away underneath this hospital. I've been listening. The Sisters are hiding something.” Was she telling the truth? Or was it just a trick? Rose didn’t know.
“What do you mean?”
“Oh these cats have secrets. Hush, let me whisper. Come close.” Oh, definitely a trick. Did she think she’d fall for that? Be so blinded by her curiosity?
“You must be joking if you think I'm coming anywhere near you.” Rose backed away from Cassandra and her creepy minion. It was high time that she got out of here. Energy grabbed her hands. Immobilising her. Rose’s heart sped up in fear as she struggled.
“Chip, activate the psychograft.”
“I can't move. Cassandra, let me go! What're you doing?” Rose’s desperation increased as light streamed down from above.
“The lady's moving on. It's goodbye trampoline, and hello blondie..” A sharp blinding pain filled Rose’s head as her vision faded away. A wolf’s howl mixed with an ethereal song, but both sounded trapped and beyond reach. Unable to help. Another wave of pain spiked and Rose knew no more.