longwayaround

[longwayaround]

'you were asleep/unconscious/comatose' prompts

"So, you're finally awake."

"Good of you to join us."

"They don't know you're awake yet. Stay down."

"Oh my god. [Name]? Hi, [name]?"

"Get up. Now."

"I'm not leaving you here. GET UP."

"Hi. How are you feeling?"

"Sleep okay?"

"You know there are, like, actual beds here. You didn't have to take the floor."

"Relax. Nothing happened."

"Thirsty?"

"Can you hear me?"

"How'd you sleep?"

"You absolute fucking idiot."

"How could you be so stupid?"

"You were pretty out of it."

"Relax. We're safe here."

"We're not there yet. Go back to sleep."

"We're about halfway."

"You're on next watch."

"Up and at 'em. We have activity."

"You wanted me to wake you if [x], right? Well, [x]."

[longwayaround]

"I could never," he assured her. Just archiving it had been difficult enough, to actually delete it... It'd have broken his hearts even further than they'd already been broken. He still had all of his companion's rooms, really, all the way to his very first life, all stored away in the TARDIS' archives. If he couldn't delete those, even after all this time, he didn't think he would ever have the heart to delete Rose's room.

He followed her as she made her way over to her room, his own bag in hand, but paused outside the doorway. Better not intrude. "I'll just... leave you to get settled in. Should put these away, anyway," he said, holding up the bag with his shoes.

Rose watched him at the TARDIS console as he reactivated her room. "I am glad that you didn't just...get rid of my room on here." She said. She knew he wouldn't have, but she was happy to hear for certain that he hadn't. Rose hadn't really thought about it being archived though.

Seeing him take a few steps over to her, she smiled back at him. "Thank you." She said. "It is taking some getting used to. Hearing you say that." Rose had placed her bags down when they got in the TARDIS, but now she picked the up again, and headed in the direction of where her room was. Getting there, she stepped inside. It did look exactly how she left it.

[longwayaround]

The Doctor nodded, but he set the bag down on the floor rather than go deeper into the TARDIS towards his room to put them away.

"Right, but first things first — better get your room back for you," he said, walking over to the console and beginning to fiddle with the controls. "It'll be in storage right now, archived. Just need to reactivate it. Should just be a moment... ah, there! All back now. Should be just how you left it."

He lingered by the screen for another moment, taking in the fact that he'd just brought her room out of storage, that she was back, and she was staying in the TARDIS. It was... wonderful. Unbelievable.

Finally, he turned around and took a few steps towards her, smiling. "Welcome back, Rose Tyler."

Hearing him say that he told her this was the right way, Rose couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Of course he would say that. But he had even doubted himself at one point. She was going to say something but she didn't. Rose would leave that to a later time when she know that he would think she had forgotten about it.

Rose nodded. "Yes. Lets do that." She said and walked alongside him back to the TARDIS. "I can put these away and..." She looked at the bag he had with his shoes in. "You can put yours with your other Converse. Complete the set, in a way." She smiled.

[longwayaround]

"There we are, then!" He smiled widely, his eyes also falling on the TARDIS. "Not lost after all. Told you this was the right way!"

And if he hadn't really known that for sure until they got there, and could certainly have been wrong... well, there was no need to mention that, now, was there?

"Let's go get and get you all settled into the TARDIS, hm?" he said with another smile, starting to steer them towards the escalator. It'd be a quick walk from there, and very difficult for them to get lost at all.

Rose had no idea how long it would take for them to get back to the TARDIS. Were they going to find it soon? Or was this going to be a quick trip that would send up lasting longer than expected. She watched as he started to rush off and then stopped. She could tell he had realized what he was doing.

Standing beside him, she looked toward where he was looking and noticed the escalator. Hearing The Doctor, she looked at him and then looked down at where he was asking her about. There was quite a bit that could be seen but she spotted it. "Yes. There she is." She said, pointing.

[longwayaround]

[longwayaround]

There was, in fact, a lift.

It was out of order, and fixing it would take more time than climbing the dozens of flights of stairs to the top of the tower, so the choice was obvious.

Maybe he should get a Vortex Manipulator. He'd never hear the end of it from Jack, but it might just be worth it if it could get him all the way to the top of the tower.

But as it stood, he didn't have a Vortex Manipulator, and the lift was broken, no amount of hammering the button for the highest floor or creative Gallifreyan insults was going to change that, so... onwards and upwards, he supposed.

By the time he reached the top of the tower, no binary vascular system or physical preparation could stop him from being out of breath. He leaned against the wall, taking a moment to try and stop his head from swimming and give his muscles just a second to recover, before he reached into his pocket, pulled out his sonic, and started off again.

There was something up there that Missy wanted him to see, and he'd be ready for it when he found it.

Actually, if she wanted him there... well, there was no point in even pretending he could have the element of surprise. She'd know he was there, she'd have known from the moment he walked through the door.

Might as well cut to the chase. Maybe he could turn it to his advantage, somehow.

"Missy?" he called. "You wanted me here? Well, here I am! Want to tell me all about your clever plan?"

Missy smiled a catty smile and waved at him just before she teleported away back to the tower.

A masculine-looking specimen of the species approached her, obviously under some form of hypnosis that made them immune to the spell everyone else was under. They followed after her, hardly able to keep up with her with their short legs. "Is it them? Is the Doctor here?"

"He is here. Don't shoot him when he arrives, or I'll disintegrate you."

"But they are our enemy!"

She stopped walking and turned to face the creature. "I'm sorry, but are you disobeying?" She said through gritted teeth. She was being very patient.

"No Mistress! No!" They recoiled into the wall, hiding their face. "Enemy will not be harmed!"

"Good, because challenge me again and next time I'll rip your liver - assuming you have a liver - out." She warned. "Tell the others to get this place cleaned up." She ordered.

"Yes, Mistress."

Missy sighed. Subordinates, always developing minds of their own. She continued her walk into the main room.

[longwayaround]

A temporal accident.

That raised about as many questions as it answered, but it was progress — definitely relevant. Was it a natural temporal accident? Some kind of phenomenon, maybe an unfortunate conjunction of factors, a ripple in time reacting to some kind of stellar event? Or was it the result of some kind of experiment, an attempt to mess with the fabric of time? If so, were they just unlucky, or did this all start right there at the station?

If it started at the station, then odds were that someone had come back to continue the work. Otherwise... maybe this wasn't the source of the tears after all. Just somewhere else that was being affected by them.

Which all raised the question once again — what kind of space station was this? A research station? A waystation? Some kind of outpost?

"Temporal accident," echoed the Doctor. "That can't be a coincidence. Doesn't look like they were expecting it. But no one expects an accident, do they? Can't be an accident if you're expecting it. But we need to know how it happened, where it came from. Ugh, why don't people ever leave better logs when they're running for their lives? Really, it'd save everyone a lot of trouble later on."

They could keep digging through the records, see if was any other mention of anything that could explain the temporal accident, but they were short of time. Might as well go straight to the source.

"Better find the signal your scanner is tracing. Might have some answers no one here ever got."

The Visionary watched the Doctor get to work on the computer, hoping that her battery was compatible. She studied her as she repaired the machine, curious of her methods.

Every so often, she anxiously checked the stability of the tear. She watched the percentage points tick down. They'd lost five percent in the time it took to get the computer working again. They were down to ninety-three percent.

"Right," She said when the Doctor moved aside. She immediately took her place, scanner in hand, set to, well, scan. The fix was a bit flimsy, but it would have to do. She wouldn't have been able to do much better herself, if she were honest.

"I agree, it could be related. I'll try to pull as much as I can as fast as I can." She was already downloading all the data she could into her scanner as it downloaded, she read.

"Look!" She stopped the scrolling on the screen. Through the dust and the dirt, she'd caught something. "Starbase Commander's last log. Give me a moment, and I'll see if I can decrypt it."

The Visionary turned her focus to her scanner, holding it between both her hands and close to the computer. Gears whirled on the scanners interface. After a few seconds, they stopped and turned green. "Gotcha!" She looked at the Doctor and smiled. After a moment she turned back to read the log, moving aside some, so the Doctor could see too.

She touched the screen. "It looks like there was a temporal accident here and that's why everyone was evacuated in such a hurry." She told her reading off of it.

[longwayaround]

It was so, so much easier to pretend like he was fine so Rose wouldn't worry. To shrug it off, let them make their way to the TARDIS, and worry about it then.

But they were far past the point where that was possible, weren't they? And Rose was already worried.

He hated putting her in that position, he really did, but what choice did he have? That she was even thinking the word regeneration was already enough to underline how serious the situation was, and he... oh, it wasn't even that he wasn't ready for it, not yet — and he wasn't — but he couldn't put Rose through this again. He knew how hard it'd been for her, and it hadn't been easy for him, either.

It never was, when someone looked at you and couldn't see you.

So slowly, carefully, he unwrapped an arm from around his middle and tried to sit up a little —

Bad idea, bad idea —

He relaxed back, biting down on his lip to stifle a small cry of pain.

"Rose," he managed after a moment, tone serious, eyes searching for hers. "I'll be fine. It looks worse than it is; I heal fast. Nothing I can't handle."

It wasn't to discourage her from trying to help this time, she had his silent permission to go ahead. It was just reassurance, carefully worded in case he was wrong because if he did regenerate, then... oh, he could hardly imagine how betrayed Rose would feel if he'd promised her that he wouldn't. But it wouldn't come to that, it was just... a bad injury. He'd be just fine if he could get to the TARDIS and see to it.

@longwayaround: cont.

Rose knew that the Doctor was not doing so well. Between his facial expressions and his behavior, it was clear that he was in a lot of pain. And after that stunt he had just pulled, well … it was lucky that he wasn’t regenerating.

“You need to stop being so bloody stubborn and let me help you,” Rose replied, sounding a little more like Jackie than she would like to admit. However, she knew her mum would be proud of her determination to help, at least she liked to think so. “Come on, at least let me get it wrapped up so you’re not bleedin’ out before you get there. We don’t need you regenerating here, alright?”

Despite her rambling, Rose was worried. It wasn’t like him to be in this much pain. Sure, he could withstand more than humans, but that didn’t make him invincible. Tearing a good deal bit of fabric off of her shirt, her jacket could cover the rest of that, she reached out for him so that she could wrap a tourniquet around the injury.

“Let me, or we’ll have no more adventurin’ for awhile. You hear? You’re putting yourself through too much.”

[longwayaround]

The Doctor smiled, and it was a smile that meant adventure, a smile that meant let's see where this takes us, and —

Well, they weren't supposed to be having adventures, but this hardly counted, right? They couldn't be too far from the TARDIS, and even if they were, even if took them a while, days to find it, they'd be fine. It was just a shopping planet, there wasn't anything dangerous there, just shop after shop and a labyrinth of corridors that may or may not be hiding the TARDIS from them.

He started to rush off towards the end of the corridor, then caught himself. Right, no running, and he had to slow down for Rose. He could do that, he'd be brilliant at it by the time this was done.

At the end of the corridor, he turned to the left, and — yes, an escalator. Maybe this was the right way after all.

"Can you see the TARDIS down there?" he asked Rose.

Rose looked back towards The Doctor. Trust The Doctor to get them lost. He had a point though. If there was some kind of tree or something that would help them work out where they were then it would be good. There wasn't though.

She could see him looking back towards the corridor that he had mentioned before. He was kind of sure about it and that was better than nothing. Rose watched him hold out his hand for her. Moving one of the bags into her other hand so that she was carrying both in one hand, she then took hold of his hand. "Lets see if that is the right way."

[longwayaround]

"Well... I dunno. With all these shops, it's hard to really get your bearings here, isn't it? They could do with a tree, or... a funny-shaped rock. Some mountains?" He rubbed at the back of his head, frowning as he took another look around.

There was no point in standing there, though, was it? He was pretty sure that they had to go down that corridor and turn left. Fairly sure. There was a definite chance that was the right way.

He held out a hand to Rose, fingers wriggling in invitation. "Wanna find out?" he asked.

Rose noticed the frown on his face and the smile that she did have on her face soon disappeared and turned into a frown. She sighed. "Doctor? Have you got us lost?" She asked him.

She had no idea now how long it was going to take to get back to the TARDIS. She had thought that it wouldn't take long. Especially as it didn't seem to take them that long to get from the TARDIS to the shops in the first place. Rose glanced around. She hadn't really been taking notice on the way so she wasn't even sure what was the right way.

[longwayaround]

Age had done a number on the computer, there was no denying that, but it was nothing she couldn't fix with a bit of fiddling, a bit of sonic-ing, and a good dash of duct tape.

Adapting the batteries to work with the computer, then, turned out to be easiest part — it just took a little bit of rewiring with the help of the sonic on both ends, and then she could stick it to the back of the computer and hope that it worked, hope that the components weren't too old to take the charge from the battery.

A moment passed, and there was some fizzing, a little spark —

And then the computer hummed to life.

The Doctor smiled widely, patting it carefully — it was still held together by duct tape and wishful thinking, after all. "I never doubted you," she said to the computer, then stepped aside for Kassandra to take over with the scanner.

"Might be able to access some local records, too, if we've got the time," suggested the Doctor. "Doubt we can get much, though, not with the whole station still powered down."

The Visionary raised an eyebrow at her comment about The Wizard of Oz, clueless as to what she meant for a moment, but then she remembered and shrugged indifferent. She hadn't seen the movie since she was the human. Her memories made while human were slower for her to access.

She searched the Cargo Office for a computer. The first one she found was too broken to use and would take far too much time to repair, she decided, and tossed it aside. She also noticed the hurried way the office had been abandoned. There were no bodied, so it seemed that the former residents got away okay. However, it only added to her concern.

The Visionary turned, by her question, she guessed the Doctor had found an useable computer. She joined her. She pulled the spare battery from the upper pocket of her lab coat. "Here it is," she handed it over. She let the Doctor get to work.

Of course, the Visionary could fix it herself with her hands, but it would take far too long. The Doctor's sonic probe would speed things up greatly, verses what she could do with her tools.

While the Doctor worked, she checked the status of the tear. It was holding.

[longwayaround]

The Doctor held her a little more tightly at that, both hearts clenching painfully in his chest.

He'd been so sure that sending her back to Pete's World with his other self had been the right choice. She could be with him as she wanted, he wouldn't run from her, because he had so much less to fear. They could grow old together. He could, in fact, spend his whole life with her.

And he couldn't offer her that himself, could he?

But she still missed him. Whatever difference that tiny bit of Donna the other Doctor still had in him made, that dash of humanity... Rose must have been able to tell, because he was right, wasn't he? She still missed him. And he wanted to believe that it was the adventure, that it was the TARDIS, the traveling through time and space, but it wasn't when she realized that she was in the TARDIS that she said it felt like coming home, was it? It was when he hugged her. And the conflict in her voice only served to underline his point.

He wondered if his other self could tell. He probably could; he knew Rose even better than the original him, didn't he?

Had he really made the right choice, then?

"I never thought I'd see you again," he admitted, and that admission hurt, but it was still easier than everything else going through his mind. The I'm sorry I left you there, the I hope you're happy, the please tell me I made the right choice.

Rose hugged him tight, sinking into the once familiar hug. John had the same hug, but not quite the same as the Doctor's. Something, perhaps that tiny bit of Donna, made it a little bit off from the Doctor's.

She breathed in his scent as she buried her face into his shoulder. It had been so long for her. A few years for her since she'd last seen him because time in Pete's World moved a slightly faster rate than the Doctor's Universe. It was like coming home. He felt so real. Was this really a dream?

"It feels like coming 'ome," Rose admitted, her voice sounding conflicted as her cheek pressed into his shoulder deeper. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She really hated to admit it, as she had a life with John that they worked so hard to build together -- especially him.

[longwayaround]

"I think so," said the Doctor, turning a corner and frowning into the distance. He was pretty sure he recognized this corridor, but really, without any particularly memorable stores, it was entirely possible that it wasn't.

"It's..." He tugged on his ear as he thought. "Down this corridor, turn left, and then there should be a set of escalators. Should be able to see the TARDIS from up there, too." But his sense of direction did leave something to be desired at times, so... hopefully that was the right way to go.

"It is." Rose said. "If I was here by myself without some kind of map, I think I might end up staying here forever. Only because I wouldn't be able to find my way out." She told him. Rose did wonder if that had actually happened to anyone here.

Rose was walking alongside him. "We are going the right way aren't we?" She asked The Doctor. She hadn't really looked out for places when they had left the TARDIS so she wasn't even sure what to look out for on the way back.

[longwayaround]

Probably really not the TARDIS, then. And not the Rift, either.

What could possibly be drawing all those tears to a specific hospital in Kansas? Maybe it was random, and whatever was causing the tears just happened to be pointed that way. It was as good a theory as any at that point.

"Kansas, really?" she asked. "Aw, I wish I'd known that when we went through the tear. I've always wanted to say that quote from Wizard of Oz. Guess I'll save it for next time."

The Cargo Office was a decently small, cluttered space, with boxes and files covering desks and tables alike. The Doctor glanced over a few papers, trying to get a better idea of what the purpose of this station used to be, but nothing immediately seemed relevant, and she moved on.

The computer was located at the very back of the office, crammed between a file cabinet and what seemed like a box of office supplies. Maybe, the Doctor thought to herself, they never finished packing up and moving out of the station? It did raise the question of why this place had ended up being abandoned. Did everyone leave in a hurry?

"Can I see that battery pack?" asked the Doctor as she started fiddling with the computer, looking for its power supply.

The Visionary raised her eyebrow at the Doctor's comment about her TARDIS recharging for a whole month. That wasn't quite the truth, but she would explain later if she had the chance to.

"My TARDIS has been stationary this whole time. I've had no intention of leaving as long as my identity remains intact." That was her usual routine. She found a time and place, stopped for a bit, worked in a hospital by day and by night worked on her TARDIS, until she was found out. By then, she would power on the TARDIS and take off to the next place, like she was never there.

What does she do now? She was found out by another Time Lord, not the local populace. Would the Doctor give her away? She wondered with a pang of apprehension.

"We are - I mean were - in Kansas, United States of America," The Visionary told her. She understood the theory she was going with, but unfortunate, that wasn't the case. "As insignificant and obscure as they come. I even scanned the timeline - careful to not aggravate the tears - and there's no significant historical events nor people in the area for at least another 5 years."

The Visionary started searching the corridor for a computer, scanning the other side. When the Doctor pointed out the Cargo office and unlocked the door, the Visionary followed her inside. She immediately, rushed around boxes, rushing past isles of them, searching for the desk that held the computer.

[longwayaround]

The Doctor glanced over at where she was pointing, gauging the distance and the likelihood of misdirection.

It was a bit of a long way, and it might very well be a trap, but... well, it was as good a place as any to start, wasn't it? And Missy could be trying to lead him off-track, but really — that wasn't the usual game, was it? No, odds were that she was leading him where she wanted him to be, which was where he needed to be, and... well, she'd have her own plan once he got there, and he'd just have to come up with one for himself.

He had questions. Oh, he had questions. But he'd see her there, he was sure, and he better get going. Time was always of the essence in situations like this, and he'd already wasted enough of it.

"Don't suppose there's a lift?" he muttered mostly to himself, letting out a sigh before he took off running. It was going to be a long way to the top if there wasn't.

Missy rolled her eyes in annoyance when he brought that the Doctor was right all along. Each and every version of her past selves and even her current self all had a strong need to hold onto life -- that she couldn’t deny. It was safe to assume that her future selves – whoever they may be - will probably be the same. If not, they ought to be ashamed to call themselves the Master.

She shrugged her shoulders and turned away. "If you want to save them, you're going to have to get all the way up there," She indicated to the tallest tower in the middle of the city with her umbrella.

"Looks like a long walk for you, Doctor. I'll be talking a shortcut, if you'll excuse me. Ta for now." Missy began to walk off. She hung her umbrella on her arm, and fiddled with something on her wrist.

[longwayaround]

"Bit of a maze around here, isn't it? Don't think anyone can really do without some kind of map in this place." He glanced around, eyes pausing over a few familiar shops. That was the problem with planets like that, really — it was too much information. If you didn't already know what you wanted or where you were going... you were never going to get anything done.

It was probably lucky, really, that they hadn't gone all that far from the TARDIS, because he hadn't thought to pay that much attention to where they parked. Usually, a quick look around was enough for him to get a few landmarks to use to find his way back, but in a place like that? It got a lot more complicated.

Rose looked toward where he was nodding. "I am glad you can remember what way the TARDIS is, because I couldn't remember. Especially here with all these shops around." Rose laughed. She started to follow him towards where he was going.

As they walked, Rose was thinking about her room on the TARDIS. If he had kept it on there, it would most probably look like it did the last time she was in it which was quite some time ago. Rose couldn't even think about how she had left it. Had she left stuff on the bed or on the floor for some reason. She was quiet as she thought about this.

[longwayaround]

So this was it, Rose... officially on her way to being settled back into the TARDIS. That felt — well, surreal, he supposed. She was back, she was really back.

He smiled. "Let's go, then. I think I remember the way back. We parked... on the ground floor, definitely the ground floor. Alright, this way!" He nodded down the corridor and started off towards the TARDIS.

He'd need to get Rose's room unarchived, which was really not something he ever thought he would get to do. Not unless it was to retrieve something. But she'd need it now, her old room, everything that was left behind when she ended up in the wrong world when the walls of the Universe closed. The TARDIS would be thrilled to get it out of storage, he was sure.

Rose had thought that they would be here a lot longer than they were. But she wasn't really wanting to walking around loads of shops. She was like The Doctor when it came to that. She was fine with what she had now.

"I got what I need." Rose told him. "I think I should get settled back on the TARDIS." She said. She hadn't even been back to her room in the TARDIS since she got back. That was even if her room was still on there. "We can head back now if you want to." She smiled at him. She would have reached for his hand if it wasn't for the bags she was carrying.