THE LEADER OF THE PACK
Chapter Three "Venusian cocktail, no ice." The Doctor finished giving his order to the barkeep as he sat at the bar in a crowded, smoky watering hole deep inside Venus. He hadn't been to this pub in years because he very rarely drank alcohol and very, very rarely got drunk. But after Rose left, he suddenly had the urge to do both. The barkeep gave him his cocktail and the Doctor stared at the purple liquid inside the fluted glass. Then he raised it to his lips and sipped, letting the sweet liquid fill his mouth before he swallowed it. As he took a second sip, he mentally chided himself for this behavior. Companions had left him before and they would leave him in future so why was he so bent out of shape over one silly human leaving him. Because she was more than just a silly human, he thought to himself as he took another sip. Rose was unique. It wasn't just that though. He was upset with himself for not telling Rose about his ability to regenerate. He had always meant to bring it up but they were always busy and he never found the right time. It wasn't easy to work regeneration into a day to day conversation. But at the same time, he thought she had adjusted to him. She seemed fine when they were in Scotland, laughing and joking with him. She never seemed ill at ease with him which was why he was thrown for a loop when she suddenly told him she was leaving without any warning. She didn't even give him a chance to explain. Why didn't she just calm down and listen to him? Why was she in such a hurry to leave. And for that matter, he thought. What's so great about the Powell Estates that she'd want to go rushing back to it? I showed her time and space and she wants a council flat? Humans. He took a long swig of his cocktail and finished it off. He looked down at the empty glass and signaled for the barkeep to come over to him. "Yes, mate?" the barkeep said. "Another one of these," the Doctor said, pointing to the glass. "Shouldn't you slow down? The night's still young." The Doctor turned his head and saw a woman sitting on his right side. She had pale green skin and feline features with long dark green hair. She was smoking a hookah and lowered the stem of the pipe after inhaling a lungful of the powerful narcotic that came with the water pipe. The Doctor never considered trying one of the hookahs since he knew the narcotic was so powerful it could knock you on your ass. But for a few seconds, he thought about ordering one so he could get so stoned, he would forget about Rose for a few hours. He quickly shook the thought from her mind and turned his attention to the woman who was studying him while she smoked her hookah. "I lost someone," he said to her. The woman lowered the pipe stem. "Lover?" she said. The Doctor thought about that. They had gotten close in his Ninth life and he did have to admit that he loved her very much but what they had together was more of a tentative relationship. Perhaps if Rose had stayed it would have blossomed into a full blown romance so he really didn't know how to answer that question. In the end, he decided not to and just shrugged while he took a sip of the new drink in front of him. "I don't mean to be rude, I just see a lot of men in here who drown their sorrows in alcohol," she said. "I'm just upset and felt like having a drink," the Doctor said. "Nothing wrong with that, is there? I mean, you're not exactly abstaining from mind altering substances either." "I don't do this often, just when I need to relax. I'm Te'lana," she said, extending her hand. "The Doctor," he said, shaking her hand. "So, instead of going after your friend or significant other, you'd rather get pissed out of your mind in a smoky bar on Venus," she said. "She doesn't want to be with me anymore," the Doctor said. "Why? Were you a bastard and treated her like shite?" "No. On the contrary, I treated her like gold." "Then why'd she leave?" She held up her hand when the Doctor sighed. "I don't mean to pry, it's just that you seem like a nice bloke and not the type of person to beat on a woman or rape her or do something like that." "I never did anything of the sort," the Doctor said indignantly. "I…my kind can change their bodies if we're fatally injured and I changed my body and she didn't like it." "Must have been one hell of a studly body the last time since I couldn't imagine leaving you over this one." The Doctor blushed slightly when she took a long drag on her pipe while she admired his body. "Well, she's gone now and there's nothing I can do about it," the Doctor said before taking another swig of his cocktail. "Do you love her?" Te'lana asked him. The Doctor held the liquid in his mouth before swallowing it. He stared at the liquid as he swirled it around in his glass. "I do," he finally said. "Well, go get her, ya git," Te'lana said. "It's not as simple as that. I respect her enough to let her make her own decision about being with me." "Okay, good, but you can still at least plead your case, right?" The Doctor swirled the liquid around in his glass while he thought that over. "She wouldn't let me. I tried to explain but she just left before I could give her a proper explanation," he finally said. "So…maybe she's calmed down now and ready to listen. The least you could do is try it, right? She's turned you down already so it won't make any difference if she turns you down again. But, what if you can convince her to come back? See, that's why you should risk going back for her." A smile slowly spread over the Doctor's face and he nodded. "Yeah, I could do that, couldn't I?" he said. "Be better than sitting here getting drunk off your arse, right?" Te'lana said. "Yeah, I got better things to do," he said. "Thank you for this chat and making me see sense again." "Hey, anything I can do to help. You're a nice guy, this woman doesn't know what she's got, she needs to be reminded." The Doctor nodded. Te'lana wished him good luck when he stood up from the bar stool and gave him a friendly peck on the cheek. The Doctor said goodbye to her and headed out of the pub, determined to convince Rose to come back to him. He opened the door of the TARDIS and froze when he heard his phone ringing on the console. His hearts raced as he slammed the door and zoomed towards it. All he could think about as he ran to it was that Rose had changed her mind and was coming back to him. He rounded the console and seized the phone. "Rose!" he said into the receiver. He heard sobbing and his hearts lurched. "Rose, please listen to me, I need to explain," he said tenderly. "I'm not Rose." The Doctor did a double take. "Jackie? What's the matter? Is Rose alright?" "I don't know but she's gone and she left behind her phone. I think something's wrong, Doctor. She came back home and immediately wanted to leave for the countryside to be alone. What did you do to her?" "I didn't do anything. She suddenly told me she no longer wanted to be with me." "Well," Jackie sniffed. "She told me she was going on holiday but she left this morning before I woke up and she left her mobile here so I have no way to contact her. I'm afraid there's something more to this than she's letting on." "Hold on, Jackie, I'm coming," the Doctor said. "Whatever got into Rose, we'll sort it out. I'll be there in a few tics. Wait for me." Jackie told him she would and the Doctor sighed as he hung up the phone. "What's going on, Rose?" he said while he set the coordinates. "There's something wrong, something you couldn't tell me and I intend to find out what it is."
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