Rating: PG
Fandom:: Doctor Who, 9th Doctor Era
Pairings: 9/Rose
Spoilers: None
Keywords: Ficlet aka Vignette
Feedback: Do I really have to beg?
Summary: Sometimes even the most dedicated traveller needs to be reminded why.
Disclaimer: I don't work for the BBC. I am not RTD.
Author's Note: This is part of no series or no wider story. I wrote it with the 9th Doctor in mind (since I am and always will be a devoted 9/Rose shipper), but this could just as easily be 10.
She was four months pregnant and wasn't even sure what species she was any more, never mind the kid. She was standing on a planet she didn't know the name of, inhabited by two foot tall green octopus-like creatures some two million years before she was born. But hey, it was just around the corner from her own planet, standing here looking at a wide assortment of things she didn't know the uses for, but were very pretty and glittered in a pleasing manner... And she was actually a little bored.
"Time to go home," Rose murmured to herself.
"What's that?" the Doctor asked from right behind her, where she knew he hadn't been about two seconds before. She didn't even jump.
"Time to go home," Rose said louder. "Been a while since I've visited. Take a good look around the Powell Estate to remind myself what normal is. Maybe take one of these back for my mum." She held up one of the sparkly things, which looked kind of like a cross between an iridescent koosh ball and a fist sized diamond. It was just the kind of glittery kitsch her mum loved to put on the mantle.
"Rose, you don't even know what that does," the Doctor sighed.
"So? She won't care, she'll just think it's pretty. What's the worst that could happen?"
The Doctor reached around her, plucked the thing out of her hand and put it back down on the table. "Someone could break into your mum's flat - not completely unheard of in your neighbourhood - steal it, sell, or give it to someone with some kind of technical knowledge who takes it apart, realises one or two critical things about it, thereby jumping human technology light years ahead of what it should be causing a serious dent in the history of your planet. Reapers aren't out of the question if this happens." He paused for a second. "Or it could just explode and take out London," he added as if this possibility was an inconsequential detail.
Rose was grinning from ear to ear by the time he'd finished. Never mind going home for a visit. The Doctor had just reminded her why she loved all this without having to deal with a lecture from her mum about unmarried pregnancy and if she really had to get pregnant why couldn't the father at least be human.
The Doctor grinned back as she took his hand.
