SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
Chapter Sixty Five “Aha! We’ve finally reached Norway!” Alan said. He gave Rose a terrified look. “Oh no, we’ve tried to outrun Norway and it caught up to us again, whatever shall we do?” “I don’t know,” Rose said, playing along. “Maybe go buy a comb?” She laughed when Alan’s face lit up. “Oh, I’m all for buying a comb. Let’s go buy a comb right here and now!” he said, leering at her. He giggled at Awinita’s confused look. “Private, naughty joke,” he said. “Has to do with something we did after we brought a comb to share.” Awinita’s mouth formed an O. “Yeah, I think I can figure the rest out then,” she said. “I don’t need the details.” They strolled through the simulated village. Rose snickered when Alan kept singing the fjord song under his breath. She looked at him when he burst out laughing. “Hey, looks just like the crappy inn we stayed at, doesn’t it?” he said, pointing to a building several feet away. Rose giggled. “Yeah, it does. Should we go inside for old time’s sake?” “You read my mind, Starlight. Come on, Awinita. If we’re lucky, the Vashta Nerada is in the same place it was in the real Norway.” They entered the door and stopped when they realized it was a restaurant. “Bollocks, I was hoping to show Awinita our old prison cell,” he said. He smiled at Rose. “Wanna see if they have polsa though?” “Sure.” They sat down and a woman dressed in a traditional Norwegian outfit came over to the table. “Welcome to the Valkyrie,” she said. “Would you like something to drink?” Alan looked at Rose. “Cokes?” he said. “Yeah, I think we better let one beer be our limit for today,” she said. “Three Cokes and…do you have polsa, by chance?” “Yes, we do.” “Brilliant.” He looked at Awinita. “Wanna try it?” “Sure.” “Can we just get three plates of polsa please?” Alan said. She nodded. “Anything else?” Alan looked at the two women. They both shook their heads. “No, that’s it.” “I’ll be right back then with your orders.” She left and went back to the kitchen. “I hope this polsa is worth it,” Rose said. “I have a feeling it’s gonna cost a lot more than it did in Norway.” The fish and chips weren’t too bad, I don’t see why the polsa won’t be either,” Alan said. “And after we eat then you go buy a comb?” Awinita asked. Rose reddened as Alan chortled. “Yes, gotta go buy a comb afterwards.” “So…that would make a good wedding gift then?” “A comb?” Alan said. “Yeah, should I go buy you a comb for a wedding gift?” Alan ruffled Rose’s hair when she reddened even more. “No, I think a comb won’t be necessary anymore,” he said. “I can’t believe I said that. What was I thinking? Now it’s gonna become a running joke between you two. I can just see getting combs every five minutes from the both of ya.” “Eh, it’ll be a private joke just between the three of us,” Alan said. “Right, Awinita?” “Right.” They looked over when the waitress came back with a tray filled with their drinks and polsa. She sat them down in front of them and walked away. “Moment of truth,” Alan said, picking up his fork. He tore off a bit of his polsa and fed it to Rose. “And the verdict is?” he said. “It’s not bad. It’s just as good as the real stuff,” she said. He looked at Awinita who was putting a bit of it in her mouth. She chewed, swallowed and nodded. “This is really good, I like it.” “Thought you might. Rose and I were stuck in that village for days and we practically lived off this. It’s our favorite food, actually.” “It’s good. Better than regular hot dogs.” “It was something we consciously did when we were first stuck together. We figured that in order to become a separate couple from Rose and the Doctor then we had to get our own favorites. With her and the Doctor, it was chips, French fries, you know. Almost from the first, I tried to distinguish myself from the Doctor so she wouldn’t feel like she was dating a clone. So, I chose a new name for myself and we made up our own private jokes and gave each other pet names so we could be our own separate couple. We decided after eating polsa that it would be our favorite food.” “So, what’s your song then?” Awinita asked. Alan frowned and looked at Rose. “Blimey, we didn’t think of that, did we?” “I just figured it was the fjord song.” “Do you want it to be the fjord song?” “No!” she said as he laughed. “How about the Tiki Room song?” Awinita said. “No!” Alan said while Rose bent over laughing. “No, anything but that!” “Aw, come on, Alan. It’s a pretty song,” Rose said. “And we heard it on the day you proposed to me.” “I extend the whole drawn and quartered fate to that song as well,” he said. “I will accept any song as our song except that monstrosity or It’s a Small World, come to think of it. Neither of those will be acceptable.” Awinita giggled. “How about the I’m Gonna Hire a Wino song?” she said as Rose laughed. “Well, given that the Doctor doesn’t have any domestic skills, I’m sure our flat will look like it’s been decorated by a wino once he gets through with it.” “I can decorate a flat,” Alan protested. Rose snorted. “I’ve seen the Doctor’s bedroom before. If you are anything like em, then I better be the one doing the decorating.” “What does that mean?” ”It means that he had papers all over the place and books and clothes in the corners. If that’s his idea of decorating then I don’t want any part of it.” “He had everything where he could find it,” Alan said. “It may have looked messy to you but it was orderly to him.” “Ought oh, I can see you two are headed for a lover’s tiff,” Awinita teased. Alan paused a moment. “Are we?” He looked at Rose. “Does that mean we can have make-up sex now?” he said as Awinita choked on her Coke. “Will you wait till my mouth is clear before you say stuff like that?” she said to Alan. “You’re gonna make me choke to death one of these days and then I won’t be able to travel in the TARDIS with you.” “Sorry, I’ll be more aware of what’s in your mouth in future,” Alan said to her. He looked at Rose with a hopeful look. “So…make-up sex?” “You just love sex, don’t ya?” “Abso-bloody-lutely. As I was telling Awinita, there wasn’t such a thing back on old Gallifrey. You very graciously introduced me to the wonder of it.” “Yeah and you said you gonna explain the looms when you were sitting down somewhere,” Awinita said. “So, what are these looms?” He gave her a brief description. “Wow, making people by machine. Sign me up for that. I’d rather have a baby that way then give birth.” “Yeah, me too,” Rose said. “Which reminds me. If we do have kids like my mum fears we will, are they going to be loomed?” “Hardly.” “Why not? Don’tcha wanna have a traditional Gallifreyan birth?” she teased. “Well, I would love to, but unfortunately neither the Doctor nor I know how to build one.” “You don’t know how these looms work?” Rose said. “No, why would I know how they work or the Doctor, for that matter. The only time he had anything to do with them was when he was being grown in one. Sorry, Rose, but if you have a child it’ll have to be through good old sweatin’ and pushin’. I can’t spare you from the pain of childbirth.” “Damn. I was hoping if you made one we could sell them to pregnant women and make a fortune,” Rose said. “Ah well, the Doctor didn’t know about that Genesis Ark either so I guess I can forgive him if he doesn’t know other things about his planet.” They finished eating, paid for their meals and headed back out the door. “Get a good gander at this one, girls, because this is where we’ll be heading once we leave the US,” he said as they walked into the Japanese pavilion. “I can’t wait. I loved seeing Kyoto. It’ll be neat to see modern Japan,” Rose said. Alan held up his hand when he saw a Japanese woman wearing a kimono walking towards them. “Sumimasen, o’terai wa doku desu ka?” he said to her. Rose and Awinita glanced at each other and watched while the woman looked around her. “Shirimasen,” she finally said, shrugging. “Ah,” Alan said. He bowed to her. “Domo arigato,” he said. The woman bowed back and went on her way. “What did you guys say?” Awinita said. “I asked her where the toilet was, she said she didn’t know and I thanked her. Just trying out my limited Japanese on the Disney staff. Apparently kimono girl was new to this simulation.” “Do you know a lot of languages?” Awinita asked. “I know some. If I had my Time Lord mind, I’d know over five billion of them.” “Oh, kinda like C3PO,” she said. Rose laughed when he gave her a dirty look. “I am nothing like that effeminate droid thing, thanks,” he said as they snickered. “So, just how well do you know Japanese then?” Awinita asked. “Enough to function.” “Like if we need to use the loo?” Rose asked. “Is he gonna know the answer when they tell him?” Rose grinned and shrugged. “I don’t know if we should trust him if he doesn’t know every single word in the Japanese language,” she said to Rose. “He might ask where the toilet is and we would all end up at The Grudge house instead.” “That was a freaky movie,” Rose said. “I know. The ghost lady was creepy.” “So was the kid.” “Yeah, but not as much as the woman,” Rose said as they followed Alan. “You seen The Ring?” “Yeah, I’ve actually seen both the US and Japanese versions. I liked the US one better. I like Naomi Watts.” “Me too, did you see King Kong?” “Yeah, that was great! Except for the slug scene. I was eating during that and about puked,” Awinita said. Rose laughed. “But I loved how they did King Kong, he was so realistic looking and--“ “Um, Rose, did we lose someone?” Rose frowned and looked straight ahead. Her eyes widened when she didn’t see Alan in front of them. She stopped and looked around and noticed he was several feet back leaning against the side of a building while he stared at the two of them intently. They walked back. “What’d ya stop for?” Rose asked. “I was just listening to you going on and on about Japanese horror films and King Kong and decided to see how long it would take before you noticed I wasn’t in front of you anymore. So where are you in the conversation? Discussing the finer points of the Matthew Broderick Godzilla movie?” “Are we allowed to talk to each other?” Rose said. Alan shrugged. “Nothing wrong with it. I just found it amusing where your train of thoughts were taking you. You were teasing me about my Japanese and the next thing I know you’re on about King Kong and Naomi Watts. And you accuse me of pointless rambling. Besides, you’re missing all the great scenery while you’re drooling over men.” “We weren’t drooling over anyone,” Rose said. “We were just talking. Are you jealous of me talking to Awinita now?” “No, I just think it was funny that you got off on this odd tangent. It’s so human, you know, discussing all this pointless trivia and comparing notes on movies you’ve seen. That, Awinita, is another reason why the Doctor loves Earth. When Gallifreyans got off on tangents, it was of a scientific nature. They didn’t spend precious time drooling over Johnny Depp’s buttocks and raving about the shape and size of them. But anyway, just trying a little test since you guys were only paying attention to each other and not to the pavement in front of you. I did consider stopping suddenly but then I figured you two would just plow into me, step on my head and go right on with King Kong chat time while I lay there bleeding, so I just decided to duck away and take a short rest. I found this little shop too selling Japanese things. If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a look. I love Asian artwork.” “No, go ahead,” Rose said. “Are you coming with or are you going to go on talking about King Kong?” “No, we’re finished with our King Kong discussion.” “Brilliant.” He paused a moment. “And just throwing my two pence in, Fay Wray was better than Naomi Watts, just adding to your discussion before it ends completely.” He put his hand on Rose’s back and they went inside the shop. “Ah, blimey, I’m glad we’re in shape,” Alan said, walking into their hotel room. “These parks certainly require a lot of walking.” He went to his rucksack and put the tiny bag containing his tiny Maneki Neko cat sculpture next to it. He had explained to both of them that the beckoning cat was a traditional symbol of good luck. “I think on this trip we’re gonna need all the good luck we can get,” he said to them. He leaned back up and rubbed his back. “So, Awinita, you want the shower first?” he asked. “Yeah, I’ll hurry so you guys don’t have to stay up very long, I know how tired you are,” she said. “Take your time, we’ll be alright,” he said, waving his hand. Awinita grabbed her rucksack and went in the bathroom. Once the door was closed, Alan went over to Rose and sat down beside her on the bed. “Another fun day,” he said to her. “I just hope that bloody hurricane stays back or dies out or something.” “Well if not, we’ll go somewhere else fun. We have the rest of the US, you know.” “Yeah, I know, but I wanna make as many memories as we can before we have to go back to London and the drudgery of nine to five human existence.” Rose leaned her head onto his. “I know, Alan, I don’t fancy going back either. But it has to be done until the ten years have passed.” He nuzzled her hair with his nose and Rose sighed and closed her eyes when he began to kiss her head tenderly. “At least we have the wedding to look forward to,” he whispered.” That’ll be one bright spot for us.” “Mmm, I know, I can’t wait.” “Really?” Rose glanced at him. “Because if you just want to remain friends, I’ll be happy with that too.” “No, I want to marry you. Is there any chance you’re ever gonna get over this insecurity of yours?” “Truthfully?” “Yes, truthfully, like you’ve always been.” “I just…I mean I know you tell me you love me but there will probably always be a spark of fear and doubt within me. If I didn’t have the Doctor’s memories and thoughts and know what he meant to you, I wouldn’t have this problem.” “But I keep telling you that he’s not around anymore and I can’t go on pining for him and waiting for another one in a million chance that he might return, not when I have someone just as wonderful in front of me. You’re every bit as good as he is and I would be honored to be your wife. You are cute and funny and sweet and you’re never boring and damn, can you kiss.” Alan brightened at that. “Really?” “Oooooh yeah, I have to admit I was kissing you that day on the beach to see if you were just as good as the Doctor and you were.” “Hmm, glad I passed muster then.” “You do in all areas, trust me.” She leaned her head against his. “So, no more worries?” she said. “I’ll try, but I can’t guarantee anything. It’s just like the Dalek dream. I can’t predict that I won’t have more insecure feelings but I will try my very, very best not to in future.” “Good, that’s all I ask of you.” She kissed him and looked over at the bathroom when she heard the shower turn off. “Now, put all those worries aside and come with me into the shower so we can have a quick snog before bed. I think that’ll cap off the evening, don’t you?”
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