SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
Chapter Forty One By the time they got outside, the rain had slowed a little, but it was still a steady downpour. “Ugh!” Rose said as she looked at the Holiday Inn that was down the road from them. “I’m not looking forward to this.” “Aw, come on, it’ll be fun. You and me in the rain, what’s not to like?” “Well, just reach into my rucksack and get my umbrella and I’ll do the same with yours. That way we don’t have to take them off our backs.” “Sure thing.” Alan unzipped her rucksack, reached in and found the tiny umbrella nestled along the side. He zipped it back up and turned so Rose could do the same. She rooted around in his, but couldn’t find the umbrella. “Where is it?” “I think it’s on the bottom somewhere.” Rose sighed. “Alan, I need to teach you how to pack a rucksack properly. You’re almost to the point where you can barely close the zipper. Here, squat down.” He squatted down and Rose dug into his rucksack, laying aside items on the pavement until she finally found the umbrella under his plum t-shirt. She quickly put everything back in, zipped it and grabbed the sack of food and one of the Wal-Mart sacks. She put the handles of the Wal-Mart sack around her wrist and opened the umbrella while Alan grabbed the other bag and opened his. She looked at him. “All ready?” “Ready.” They walked across the parking lot. Halfway across, Rose felt Alan tickling her side and then suddenly without warning he began to dance in front of her and twirl his umbrella around in his hand. “I’M SIIIIIIIIIIINGING IN THE RAIN. JUST SIIIIIIIIIINGING IN THE RAIN! WHAT A GLOOOOOOOOOOOORIOUS FEELING. I’M HAAAAAAAAAAAAPY AGAIN!” He laughed when Rose turned beet red and sped up, hurrying past him. “What? What’s wrong?” he said, catching up to her. “I hope to God no one saw you.” “Why? Who cares if people saw me? No one knows me except you.” Rose hazarded a glance back and saw to her relief that no one had seen them. She felt Alan put his hand on her chest and looked at him. “Wait, you really do care if people saw me singing?” he said. “Why?” “It’s just that…people don’t usually burst into song like that.” “Well, I’m not like most people. Perhaps if people sang a little more and griped a little less, there’d be more happiness in the world. Just…relax, dear. I’m not gonna get us arrested; I’m just having some fun. Remember having fun? You know, we’re supposed to be enjoying ourselves now; we can be glum when we get back to London and start working for a living. Just lighten up a bit.” Rose nodded. She and Alan resumed their pace. While they walked, Alan looked at her with a frown on his face. “You never used to be like this,” he said. “Be like what?” “This uptight. I remember when you traveled with the Doctor, you and him were always teasing one another and just running around like a couple of daft idiots and you never gave a damn what people thought. Is it me? I’m not him, so you don’t wanna clown around as much?” “No, it’s not that. It’s just that…” She sighed. “I kinda lost some of the urge to clown around after Canary Wharf.” “Oh, I see, kinda a loss of innocence thing?” “A bit, yeah.” “Are you afraid to have fun then because you’re afraid something like that might happen again…well, actually something like that did happen again, but are you afraid that it might happen with me?” “I guess in a way, but it’s more like I just barely got over the shock of losing the Doctor and then I had to readjust to life here and then I got the job at Torchwood and then the darkness came and…there’s been a lot of unfunny things that have happened to me over the past couple of years, so that old urge to laugh and joke and be outrageous in public kinda left me.” “Oh no, I was afraid of this.” “Afraid of what?” “Life got to you again and you lost your joie de vivre.” “I s’pose so. Don’t get me wrong, I love that you are so lighthearted and goofy…” “But it embarrasses you if I’m lighthearted and goofy in public,” he said. Rose sighed. Alan put his hand under his chin and lifted her face. “Rose, I’m sorry that you got trapped over here, I really am and so is the Doctor. If he could have stopped it, he would have, trust me. If he could have tore open a hole in reality and got you back, he would have. You were his whole world and he was devastated and trust me, he wasn’t exactly a barrel of laughs, but he did try to lighten up…a bit, but he did try. But the point is, you don’t have to let what happened to you affect you for the rest of your life. I’m sorry, your sense of free spirited fun got sucked into the void along with the Daleks and Cybermen, but you can make a choice right here, right now to change all that. So, a few random people see you dancing in the rain in a car park, so what? You don’t know them, so who cares. They tell a few people they saw a daft women dancing around, who cares about that too? Shows that they don’t have anything better to do or more important to talk about. Truth be told, they’re probably envious of you because you’re not weighed down by the world and all its problems. So, come on, sing for me and show me you can be spontaneous.” “I can’t.” “Rose.” “I can’t sing. I’m terrible at it.” “And I’m any better?” Rose smiled. “Good point.” “Come on, Rose Tyler, let that blonde hair down and sing for me. I promise if anyone walks over here, points and laughs at you, I will bash their head directly into their body. So, come on, I wanna hear your pretty voice. You must have a pretty singing voice because your regular voice is heavenly. So, sing.” Rose started to look behind her. “Ah, ah, ah, stop that. Look at me and no one else and sing.” “Sing what?” “I don’t know, sing ‘Happy Birthday’ if you must, just sing.” Rose cleared her throat. “Um…happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Alaaaaaaan, happy birthday to you.” She finished singing. The two of them stared at each other for a moment and then Alan pointed his finger in his face. “You will be singing to me often from now on,” he declared. “Why you think you can’t sing is beyond me. That was wonderful.” “Really? Because I had a few friends who told me I couldn’t sing.” “Then…your friends are idiots, if I may say so. When did you sing for them anyway?” Rose sighed. “When I was fifteen, I was thinking about entering a talent show that would pay you five hundred pounds if you won and my friends thought I was daft for wanting to do it and talked me out of it.” “And you listened?” Alan said in disbelief. “Oh God, Rose, I’m so glad the Doctor met you. I’d hate to think where you’d be right now if he hadn’t.” “Well, I mean, maybe they were right,” Rose protested. “NO!” Alan said, getting in her face. “They weren’t right, Rose. They were jealous; I’m willing to bet the coral on it. They knew you could sing and they were jealous of that, so they talked you out of it and because you had low self esteem from years and years of people telling you all you were good for was a menial job and a meager flat, you believed it. Like I said, it’s a good thing the Doctor came along and found you because you were far better off with him than you were with them. You have talent, Rose. I know I’m a bit biased because I love you, but I would also be honest and tell you if you couldn’t sing. Oh Rose, Rose, Rose and now you’re nearly back to square one, which is why you can’t let loose and be happy like you used to be. I am so glad we did this because this is what you needed. You needed to get out of that soul destroying rut you were in and live life again. I realize the last couple of years have been hell on you, I get that. But, I’m here now and we don’t have to live life like that anymore, right?” Rose swallowed hard and nodded. “I’m not going anywhere. Unlike the Doctor, I’m not gonna up and leave you, so there’s no need to live life thinking that if you let yourself go and laugh, then something disastrous will happen to take it all away and kill the joy again. So, come on, let’s see that smile the Doctor knew and loved.” She gave him a big grin. “There ya go, that’s right. That’s my Rose Tyler, right there. Now…take off your clothes and roll around in the puddle for me.” He giggled when Rose shot him a look. “You first,” she said. She gasped when Alan dropped the bag and began to pull his shirt up. They both laughed when she grabbed it and pulled it back down. He winked at her and nuzzled her hair. “Ah, your laughter is music to my ears,” he said, picking up the bag. “If we bottled it and sold it to the public, I bet we could make a fortune. People would open the bottle, hear you laugh and get cheered up just like me.” Rose smiled as they went back to walking. They walked a few feet before Alan suddenly bolted away from her. “Puddle!” he shouted as he jumped into a big watery puddle near the edge of the parking lot. He jumped back out and walked over to Rose. “Feel better now that your shoes are all wet?” she asked. “Nah, they’ll dry out soon enough. Now you!” He went around her and began to push her towards the puddle as Rose half screamed and half laughed. He pushed her in and she laughed as she quickly ran out. “Hey! Get back in there and splash around!” he said. He laughed and kissed her cheek. “If I get pneumonia, you’re gonna get it!” “Oh, right, you’re gonna get pneumonia from stepping in a puddle of water for all of two seconds. If you get sick from that, then maybe you need to think about getting a better immune system,” he said. He grinned when she slapped his back. “See, there’s nothing wrong with having fun and being outrageous,” he said. “I mean, come on, I can’t be the only loon around here, you have to help. And…you didn’t even look around to see if someone was watching, I’m impressed. Sod the rest of the world, we’ll do what Donna did and create our own. Our own little world where we’ll do nothing but sing and jump in puddles and fritter away our time.” He paused. “That’s such a neat word. Fritter. It’s fun to say. Fritter, friiiiiiitter. Know what else is fun to say? Babble. Babbling brook. Babble.” “How about Bauble?” Rose offered. Alan beamed. “Yes, Bauble! Brilliant. Bauble, babble, fritter. I love it!” He kissed her. “See, now you’re getting it. Just loosen up and be spontaneous like you used to be. And…don’t let anyone talk you out of following your dreams. You wanna enter a talent show and sing, go for it. I’ll be right there in the front row supporting you.” He gave her an evil grin. “Supporting you, as in throwing tomatoes and screaming, “Boo! Get off the stage!” but supporting you, none the less.” He winked at her. “I’m kidding of course, I’ll be the first one to clap and I’ll clap the longest and loudest and I’ll beat up anyone who doesn’t.” “Then you’ll go to jail for assault.” “Ah, it’ll be worth it if it makes you feel like a million pounds and proves all those naysayer friends of yours wrong.” He sighed sadly. “You know, up until this moment I never understood why Donna kept thinking she was a worthless lowly temp even after all the wonderful things she had done, but now I see it, she had the same brainwashing as you did from people who probably thought they meant well, but ended up doing more harm than good. It just boggled both the Doctor and my mind that here she was saving the universe and all along she kept on uttering I’m a lowly temp. I saved the Doctor from the Racnoss before he drowned, but I’m a lowly temp. I helped him save Earth from the Adipose, but I’m a lowly temp. I helped free the Ood, but I’m a lowly temp. I helped defeat the Sontarans, but I’m lowly temp. I was the one who figured out what the numbers meant above the doors on Messaline, but I’m a lowly temp. I saved Agatha Christie’s life, but I’m a lowly temp. I managed to extract myself from an entire parallel universe built up around me and defeat the Trickster’s Brigade, but I’m a lowly temp. I became part Doctor and defeated Davros and the Daleks because all the time lines converged on me, which meant I was the most important person in all creation but never mind that, I’m still a lowly temp! She said that over and over like a Buddhist mantra and the Doctor could never figure out why she couldn’t see that she was brilliant when everyone else could. But it’s because of people like her mother who thought she was only good enough to be a temp or an office worker or something like that when all along she was one of the most important people who ever lived. If the Doctor is remembered for only one thing, it should be for the fact that he took ordinary people and made them see how extraordinary they really were. Both you and she and Martha and everyone else he took with him were worthy enough to be his companion, if you weren’t, he wouldn’t have offered the ride. And perhaps this was always part of his destiny, to show people like you that you were more than what society said you were. And you are, I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t so.” He rubbed the tear off of Rose’s cheek. “And quit that crying. God, now you are making a scene, you want people to stare at us and talk all day? The very nerve!” He giggled when Rose slapped him on the back. They reached the highway and stood at the edge watching as the cars zoomed by them. “Starlight, run out there in the middle of all that, wave your arms and yell, STOP so we can pass.” “And what if I get hit?” “Eh, it’s an acceptable risk to get across the street and into the hotel.” “No, I think you should do it. You’re the super smart half alien.” “Exactly, I’m important. Now get out there and stop traffic.” “How about this? How about if I strip naked and stop traffic that way?” “Love, I told you to stop traffic, not give all the men hard-ons and the women heart attacks, there is a difference. Oops, I guess the traffic’s cleared up on its own. Ah well, we’ll try the whole throwing you out in the street another time. Come on!” They ran across the highway and into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn. “Last one in pays for everything!” he said, running in the door first. He stopped and grinned when Rose got inside. “Well, imagine that, you get to pay for everything,” he said. “Gee, I’m completely devastated, how will I pay for everything when I’ve been doing it all along,” she said as Alan sniggered. The woman behind the front desk smiled at them as they approached. “May I help you?” Rose started to speak, but Alan held up his hand. “Let me try,” he said. Rose nodded and Alan smiled at the lady. “Hello there, we’d like a double room for the night.” “Certainly, sir, smoking or non-smoking?” “Non-smoking, please.” The lady checked her computer. Rose giggled as Alan pumped his fist in the air. “I did it, I’m checking us in,” he said. “I’m so proud of you,” Rose said. “Here take the credit card and give it to her.” “Righty-o!” “Okay, we have a room available for you for tonight. Are you paying by cash or charge?” “Charge.” He handed her the credit card and pumped his fist in the air again as Rose covered her mouth with her hand trying not to laugh out loud. He quickly sobered up and thanked the woman when she handed him the credit card and card keys. “You’re in room 206,” she said. “Do you need assistance with your bags?” “No, we’re fine.” “Then have a pleasant stay.” “Thank you.” They turned away and Rose laughed when Alan threw his hands up in the air and pranced all the way to the lift. “Yippee, I checked us into a hotel. I’m so proud of myself!” he said when Rose caught up to him. “I am very, very proud of you,” she said, patting his shoulder. They stepped into the lift and Alan pressed the two button. She smiled at the proud look on his face while they went up. He sighed happily. “Another human lesson learned, I’m so pleased with myself. Now we need to go rent a car or something, so I can learn that. Or…get on a bus or a plane, so I can pay for a ticket.” Rose smiled. As the lift door opened and they stepped out, she suddenly had a thought. “Alan,” she said as they walked to their room. “When we get inside, I wanna give you something.” His eyes widened. “A present for me?” “Um…yeah.” “Brilliant!” They found their room and Rose let Alan open the door with the card key. He beamed when the door opened on the first try. “Yay!” he said as he stepped inside. He immediately dropped the bags and rucksack on the floor and before Rose could get all the way inside, spun around and jerked his arm out towards her. “Gimme!” he said, waggling his eyebrows and opening his palm. He snickered when Rose shot him a look. “Can I put the bags down first and get in my rucksack to get it or are you just gonna mug me now?” She winced when she saw the pained look on his face. “I’m sorry,” she said, quickly. “Bad choice of words. I’m really sorry; I didn’t mean it like that, it just came out without me thinking.” She quickly put her bag on the bed and took off her rucksack, mentally kicking herself for having said that. But when she turned around, she noticed that Alan didn’t look upset anymore and breathed a sigh of relief. She opened her rucksack and got out her purse. She reached inside, pulled out two twenty dollar bills and pressed them into his palm. “What’s this for?” Alan asked. “You’re learning how to be a human, so you should learn how to manage money and pay for things. And…I really hate that you have to keep asking me to buy you stuff, you’re an adult and if you want to get something, you shouldn’t have to come to me like I’m your mummy.” “Rose, you don’t have to do this, honestly.” “No, I want to do it. I want you to be a little self-sufficient. I know how it feels to have to rely on someone to pay for everything and you’re not a kid.” “I’m not? I’m almost a month old, remember?” Rose smiled. “Okay, maybe technically you’re a newborn, but you have the intelligence of an adult and you need to have some adult freedoms and that includes being able to buy something without relying on me all the time. This is for whatever you feel like buying and if you need more, I’ll give it to you, so don’t be afraid if you run out.” She held up her hand when she saw him opening his mouth. “And before you say it, I don’t mind giving you money, I’m paying for everything anyway, so it’s not a big deal, just think of it as another lesson on how to be a human, alright?” He smiled. “Alright and thank you.” “You’re welcome.” “And now that I have this money, I have a question,” he said. “Yeah?” He gave her an evil grin. “Do they have forty dollar prostitutes in the US?” He laughed when Rose swatted his head. “What? You said I could spend it on anything I want!” “Okay, you can spend it on anything except forty dollar tarts!” She swatted his head and back and laughed when he grabbed her and flopped down on his back on the bed. He leaned his head up and kissed her on the cheek. “Are you happy being here with me?” he asked. She smiled at him. “Completely happy and I promise I will be more happy in future. You’re right, I can’t let what happened in the past run my future and take away my…zest for life.” “And…if something awful does happen, we’ll go through it together and we’ll have a huge laugh at the end.” “Yes, we will.” “What do you wanna do now?” “I want a shower and then just relax and enjoy being out of the rain for tonight. Maybe plan our next move and what we wanna do.” He kissed her. “Then go have a shower and I’ll get everything situated and check the atlas, okay?” “Sounds like a plan…and no porn.” She laughed when his face fell for a moment. He grinned at her. “Trust me; I learned my lesson about that. No pay per view without asking.” “Good, because I don’t wanna come out of the bathroom and see you watching ‘Sluts on Parade’ or something like that.” “Necessary room.” “Huh?” “It’s called the necessary room.” Rose rolled her eyes as he sniggered. “Fine, I don’t wanna catch ya watchin’ porn when I come out of the necessary room, got that?” “Yup!” “Good, let me up then so I can use my cucumber melon shampoo.” He gave her one more kiss and rubbed her ribs before letting her get up, get her stuff and take a shower.
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