ROSE'S BLOG
Chapter Ten Rose’s Blog Entry No. 59… Still working on my story, but I just had to pause and get this down because not only was it another example of how the Doctor thinks, but it’s also a very interesting comment on how the Doctor views his other lives. It’s amazing to me how he can think of his other lives as completely different people and not just himself in other bodies. I guess I can understand why he thinks that way, but still it’s odd when he does that. Anyway, it was another quiet day and… Rose settled back onto the couch to watch TV. The Doctor was taking a day off to do some much-needed repairs to the TARDIS and Rose had nothing better to do. She sipped her soda while she watched a chat show. A couple of hours had passed and boredom made Rose sleepy. Her eyelids drooped and she started to nod off. She was almost asleep when she suddenly heard the Doctor calling out her name. She jerked awake and turned her bleary eyes towards the door as the Doctor stuck his head in. “Oh, there you are,” he said smiling. “Are the repairs done?” Rose asked. “Nah, not yet,” the Doctor said walking up to her. “It’s just that while I was working, I suddenly had a thought.” “Only one?” Rose teased. The Doctor grinned. “Well, maybe six or seven thoughts,” he admitted. “Yeah? What were you thinking about?” “Catchphrases.” “Catchphrases?” “Yes,” the Doctor said sitting down beside her. “I was tinkering with the TARDIS and thinking to myself, I really have only one catchphrase I use and that’s allons-y.” “What’s wrong with that? I thought you liked allons-y.” “I do, but man cannot live on catchphrase alone. I need more so I have a variety of witty witticisms I can use for every occasion.” “Okay and I suppose I have a part to play in all this?” “You do and that’s to be my sounding board. I want to try out some possible catchphrases on you and get your opinion on them.” Rose sighed. “Doctor, I’m really tired, I was nearly asleep before you came in and I’d really like to go take a nap now.” “But Rose, I need you.” He moved in close to her. Rose stared at his face. His incredibly handsome, boyish, freckly face with the huge, deep brown, puppy dog eyes that silently pleaded with her to go along with this idea. She glanced down when the Doctor began to finger the hem of her dungaree skirt. “Please, Rose, do this for me,” he said to her. Rose stared at his incredibly handsome, boyish, freckly face with the huge, deep brown, puppy dog eyes that silently pleaded with her to go along with this idea and she felt her heart melt into a pile of red goo that slid down and landed in the bottom of her body. “Please?” the Doctor said sticking his lower lip out. Rose glanced down at his fingers playing with the hem of her dungarees. “I really need your help on this,” the Doctor whispered in her ear. Rose’s breath caught in her throat. Her lungs joined her heart and she found herself nodding dumbly. “You will?” Rose nodded. “Oh! Thank you, Rose, you are one in a million!” he said to her. He paused and looked down at her knee. A devilish grin spread over his face as he ran his finger down her leg. “You know what I heard, Rose,” he murmured in her ear. Rose swallowed hard. “What,” she said trying to keep her composure. “I heard an interesting little thing about the knee,” he said as his finger ran down her kneecap. He paused just under it and put his fingers on the side of her knee. “I heard if you squeeze just under the knee,” he murmured. He squeezed and Rose yelped as she jerked her leg away. The Doctor giggled. “Well, whadda you know, you’re boy crazy, Rose Tyler.” He winked at her and put his arm around her. “Now, I thought up a few while I was working and I just want to know what you think. So be honest,” he said. “Alright, fire away,” Rose said. “Okay, here goes,” the Doctor said. He cleared his throat and pointed towards the door. “BANANA’S PAJAMAS, ROSE, IT’S A DALEK!” he screamed with mock terror. Rose frowned. “Banana’s pajamas?” she said. The Doctor grinned. “Yeah, I thought it was cute. Plus, I love that show Bananas in Pajamas. You ever see that show, Rose. Big bananas wearing pajamas, brilliant!” “I don’t like it,” Rose said. The Doctor gave her a shocked look. “Why not?” “Because it’s strange and goofy, Doctor. I don’t want to be in the middle of some battle and hear you screaming Banana’s Pajamas. It’ll distract me.” The Doctor snorted. “Well, Rose, if that can distract you then you need to learn how to focus more,” he said. “Just…go on to the next catchphrase,” Rose said. “Okay…how about…BY THE CONSTELLATION OF KASTERBOROUS!” Rose frowned. “Constellation of Kasterborous. Where’s that?” “That was where Gallifrey was located.” “I’ve never heard of it.” The Doctor rolled his eyes. “That figures,” he muttered. “Oi!” He cleared his throat when he saw the murderous look on her face. “Okay, how about…I am the Oncoming Storm, fear me!” “Nah, that’s stupid. It makes you sound like an idiot.” The Doctor shot her a look. “You wanted my honest opinion!” The Doctor sighed. “Okay, then, how about…Time’s gone all wibbly wobbly, Rose, we must put it right!” Rose frowned. “Wibbly wobbly?” she said. “Yeah, it’s how I view time. It’s just a big ol’ wibbly wobbly mess.” “Only you would think of it that way,” Rose muttered. The Doctor sighed. “Fine, how about this for times when my monitor readout goes all wonky…SOMEONE’S THROWN A SPANNER IN THE SCANNER, ROSE!” Rose thought for a moment. “I do like that one, it’s kinda cute. Although, how many times are you gonna be able to use it?” “Well, that’s why I’m building up an assortment of phrases so I can use them on different occasions.” “Oh okay, well, keep that one then. I like it.” The Doctor grinned. “Keep spanner in the scanner,” he said. “Good, moving on then, how about…This spot we’re in is tighter than Cassandra’s face.” Rose giggled. “I like that one too,” she said. The Doctor beamed. “Two in a row, fantastic!” “Wait, why don’t you use that again? You used to say fantastic all the time,” Rose said. “Yes, well that was the catchphrase of my ninth life,” the Doctor said sniffing. “So?” “So, I’m not my ninth incarnation anymore.” “So?” “So, I don’t use the catchphrases that my other lives used,” the Doctor said indignantly. “I no longer use I must reverse the polarity of the neutron flow or would you like a jelly baby or UNSTABLE or I swear to Rassilon, Ace, if you call me Professor one more time I will beat you to death with my umbrella or shut your gob, Tegan or Do you have to sit with your legs sprawled out like that, Jamie or For Rassilon’s sake, Ian and Barbara, get a room, will ya or Hey, baby, ever been shagged by a half human? Those are the catchphrases of completely different men and I won’t use anything they used. I am me and they are we and that’s all there is to it.” “You really don’t like your other lives, do ya?” “I liked my fifth life and in fact I modeled a lot of myself on him. But the others were absolute rubbish!” the Doctor said waving his hand dismissively. “Good riddance to the lot of them.” “Not even your ninth life?” “Nah, man was far too moody and sullen for my taste. A killjoy if ever I saw one.” He looked at her when he noticed her getting upset at that. “Why? Did you really like him that much?” he asked her. “Well, yeah, I mean he was you,” Rose said. “Yes, but don’t you like me better?” the Doctor asked. “Aren’t I a lot more fun to be around than he was? I mean, I understand he was the one you traveled with first and I know you grew fond of him, but come on, the man could make a hyena depressed. He was just so…dull.” Rose shook her head. “What? He was, I’m sorry, Rose if it upsets you to hear that, but I’m just stating a fact. Surely you weren’t that blind that you didn’t see how moody he was.” “Yes, I get what you’re saying, but the fact is, he is you. I mean you pointed that out when you first regenerated in front of me. It’s just weird hearing you talk about your other life like it’s a completely separate person.” “He is a completely separate person,” the Doctor said. “He had a completely different body, a different personality, accent, way of dressing, height, weight, everything. You think it’s weird that I think of him as a different person, I think it’s weird that you think of him as me, because he’s nothing like me. I told you I got more in common with my fifth life than I do with him. And frankly, I get upset thinking about how my ninth life acted with you. Calling you a stupid ape and all, you are hardly stupid and you are more than an ape. I hope to Rassilon that I never meet him because I will ring his neck for that. Stupid ape, indeed.” Rose stared at him. “That really upsets you, doesn’t it. That you…he…said that.” “Yes, it does. It’s extremely disrespectful and callous especially considering you saved him from the Nestene Consciousness. If it wasn’t for you, he would have been dead and there wouldn’t have been a me. That’s why when I came along, I made a conscious decision not to call you that. You are not a stupid ape, Rose, and I’m sorry my predecessor thought so.” Rose smiled. “Well, thank you for not doing that,” she said. “I hated when he did it especially since I was trying my best to make you proud of you.” The Doctor smiled. “Well, tell you the truth, he was proud of you, Rose, but he had trouble expressing it. I, on the other hand, have no trouble. You make me proud every moment of every day and I want you to remember that.” Rose smiled and leaned her head against his. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Now see, I am the better man, aren’t I?” “Yeah, you are. At least you’re more zany. I doubt if the other Doctor would be coming in here wanting me to help him pick out catchphrases to use.” “See, I’m much more fun to be around,” the Doctor replied. “Not to mention younger, handsomer, stronger, more dashing, smarter, wittier, sillier, happier---“ “Okay, okay, I get the picture! You’re the best incarnation of the Doctor that there ever was!” Rose said laughing. “Too right I am!” “And when you regenerate, the next Doctor will say the same thing about himself and the one after that and the one after that!” “Yeah, but they’ll all be a bunch of daft liars who won’t know what they’re talking about! There’s only one perfect ten and that’s me!” “You’ll also will be known as the Doctor with the biggest ego too.” “Hey, I can’t help it if I’m completely, absolutely, fabulously, awesomely, brilliant,” the Doctor said shrugging. Rose laughed and leaned up against him. After a moment, she leaned her head back up. “Wait, you had a companion who called you Professor?” she asked. The Doctor rolled her eyes. “Yes, her name was Ace. Well, her real name was Dorothy, but she would beat the living daylights out of you if you called her that, so she insisted on being called Ace,” he said. “Why did she call you that?” “Some nickname she came up with. I guess she thought of me more as a teacher than a traveling companion and I did try to teach her about the universe the same way I taught you so I guess I can see why she thought it up. All in all, I wish she hadn’t thought of it because it drove me crazy sometimes when she would use it instead of my real name. She and I fought a lot over little things like that. She was very headstrong, thought she had to protect me every minute as if I was a helpless little kid and she always took that damned Nitro 9 with her wherever she went even when I asked her not to. She had a lot of issues she had to work out. I cared for her like I care for all my companions, but it was pretty rough having her with me in the TARDIS sometimes.” Rose listened quietly. The Doctor rarely mentioned his other companions, so she was afraid to speak for fear he would stop talking about this Ace. She had liked Sarah Jane and once she had found out there had been others, she had wanted to know about them, but the Doctor seemed as hesitant to talk about them as he was to talk about himself. Rose had to admit that was another difference between him and her other Doctor, her other Doctor would never have answered her question. He would have told her that it was none of her business and switch to something else. She had to admit that this Doctor was easier to get along with and talk to and although she still missed her other Doctor sometimes, she wouldn’t trade this one for the world. The Doctor patted her knee. “Well, you know what, I’m a little hungry and you mentioned you were sleepy so why don’t we talk about catchphrases later.” “You sure? I mean, I can sit here and go through some more catchphrases if you want.” “Nah, that was all I came up with anyway, I have to think up some more. I’ll let you have a nice, quiet afternoon and I’ll go back to repairing the TARDIS.” “Well, call me if there’s a spanner in the scanner then,” Rose said. Her heart did a flip-flop when she saw the delighted look on his face. “Indeed I will, Rose Tyler, and you can help me fix it so we don’t get in a spot that’s as tight as Cassandra’s face.” Rose giggled. The Doctor gave her an affectionate peck on the cheek and with a sigh, rose from the couch. Rose stared at him with love in her eyes as he sauntered out of the room. The longer I travel with the Doctor, the more and more I’m learning about him and how he views himself and his other lives. It’s interesting to me to hear what he thinks about his past selves and how critical he can be of them even though all of these lives are part of the same man. It makes me even more thankful that he found me and asked me to go along with him. He can be infuriating at times, but he’s also such a fascinating person. Not only with the way he views himself, but just the fact that he’s seen and done so much in his 901 years. The comment about this Ace wanting to protect him all the time struck home since I’ve started to do that as well. I can see how the Doctor would be irritated by it, but there’s just something about him…this vulnerability and this childlike innocence that is just below the surface and it just makes you want to protect him. I don’t know about his other companions, but as for me, I would die for the Doctor in a heartbeat and I never felt that way about anybody before I met him. I remember that quote from the first Shrek movie about ogres being like onions and the Doctor is the same way. There are many layers to him and I’m sure as long as I live I’ll never peel back them all. He can be a pest but he is also a joy to be around and I know that I will never leave him voluntarily and if, God forbid, I am parted from him, I will fight tooth and nail to get back to him because the man is worth it. Well, I guess I better go work on that story of mine since the Doctor has started asking about it. I guess the man is wanting a giggle, but I’ll try my best to write something passable. Anyway, I’ll talk to you later when I have something else to say.
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