PHOTOBOMBING WITH THE DOCTOR
Chapter One "Doctor, you're gonna get us in trouble," Rose hissed as she and the Tenth Doctor slowly made their way to the front of the room. "I am not. Just trust me, this will be fun. It's photobombing on a grand scale." "You're serious. You really think that we'll be able to sneak onto the cover of the Sergeant Pepper record album," Rose said softly to him while she looked around. "We can if you hold really still and pretend to be a cutout in the background," the Doctor hissed back to her. "Now just follow my lead." Rose sighed but kept following him. They paused in the shadows near the collage of famous faces. All of them were in place now, including the statues and paraphernalia in front. Rose looked at it and found it very surreal that she was staring at what she'd only previously seen on the cover of a CD. The Beatles were nowhere in sight but there were a few technicians walking around, making last minute adjustments and making sure everything ran smoothly. The Doctor glanced at Rose and crooked his finger at her the moment the technicians' backs were turned. They sped towards the back row of cutouts and got into between them and the next row. All of the cutouts were stood on risers so their heads could be seen over the cutouts in front of them. They were crouching down but to their surprise, they saw two other people crouching down several feet away from them. It was an older man, dressed smartly in a blue suit with a crisp white shirt and black boots. Beside him was a young woman with long brown hair and brown eyes. She was dressed in a red dress with a wide black belt around it. The two men stared at one another for a moment and then Ten felt a nudging at his mind and suddenly realized the older man was telling him his identity telepathically. Ten sighed and indicated that Rose should wait while he did a duck walk over to the man. "What the hell are you doing here?" he hissed at the older man. "I'm photobombing the photo shoot with my friend, Clara," the man hissed back. "That's what I'm doing, it was my idea," Ten growled at him. "I know. I was there," Twelve said snidely. "I enjoyed it so much, I thought I'd do it again and bring my friend along. Now you stay on your side and we'll stay on ours and we'll all photobomb together." Ten rolled his eyes and Twelve snorted softly as he duck walked back to Rose. "What's going on, who are those people?" Rose hissed to the Doctor when he reached her side. "It's me and someone who's traveling with me. Apparently, they have the same idea," Ten hissed back. Rose frowned and leaned forward to look at Twelve. Twelve smiled and waved at her while Clara watched. "You got old," Rose hissed to Ten. Ten snorted. "Don't remind me," he said softly. He stood up and walked to the end of the risers. He peeked around the last cutout and noticed the technicians had finished their last minute adjustments and were off somewhere else. He nodded to Rose and they studied the cutouts. The Doctor chose the cutout of Bob Dylan and carefully laid it down behind the riser. Then he got up on the riser and inched towards the other cutouts. When he was ready, he stood ramrod straight with a blank look on his face. When Rose didn't do anything, he crooked his finger at her and pointed to the cutouts in front of him. While Rose was choosing which cutout to replace, she noticed Twelve was taking down Alistair Crowley and Clara was taking down Edgar Allan Poe. She chose one and carefully eased it down to the floor. She turned it so she could see who she was replacing and noticed it was an old man with a long Santa Clause beard. "Who's this?" Rose whispered to the Doctor. "It's Karl Marx, you stupid pudding brain!" Ten bit his lip and Rose turned to look at Twelve when she heard him say that. Twelve shrugged. "You asked," he said to her. "Thanks for the answer, Ninth Doctor, nice to know the insults are back in future," Rose growled at him before passing Karl Marx up to Ten. Ten took it and put it behind the riser as Rose stepped up to take its place. She heard voices and froze with a blank look on her face. Her eyes widened and her breath hitched in her throat as The Beatles walked into view. All of them were dressed in their Sergeant Pepper outfits and they were smoking cigarettes while they chatted softly. It was all Rose could do not to get down off the riser and run to get their autographs. "I can't see, Doctor." Rose heard Clara's soft voice and looked over her shoulder at her. She was so short that her head was below the cutouts in front of her. Twelve sighed softly but kept on standing still while Clara tried to stand on her tiptoes in order to be seen. Then Clara stepped down off the riser. "What are you doing?" Twelve said through gritted teeth as he kept still. "Going to where I can be photographed better," Clara said softly. "Clara, get back…blast!" Twelve muttered softly as Clara inched her way slowly through the narrow gap between the cutouts. Clara looked at Rose and Rose looked at her. To Twelve's horror, Clara began slowly taking down the cutout next to Rose. Twelve resisted the urge to go over and thump her while Clara stared at the person she was replacing. "Who's this?" she said softly to Ten as she pointed to the cutout. "Fatty Arbuckle, now get up there and stand still," Ten said through clenched teeth. Clara sat him up by the riser and climbed up beside Rose. For a moment, Rose was terrified that someone would see her since the photographer and his assistants were now walking into view but thankfully, they went unnoticed. Rose noticed that Clara's head was a bit more visible this time, although not by much but this time she stood still and stayed silent. They watched while someone directed The Beatles as they tried different poses in front of the drum. So far, no one was taking notice of them and Rose and Clara inched together, trying to appear like the other cutouts and praying no one caught on. Finally, The Beatles were moved into place in the iconic pose and the assistants got out of range of the camera while the photographer readied himself to take a photo. "Okay, lads, hold still," the photographer said as he aimed his lens at them. Clara and Rose stiffened up as the photographer snapped a photo. Then he leaned up and asked them to stand still again for a second one. After that, The Beatles tried different poses while the photographer took photo after photo. Under the hot lights, Rose and Clara were beginning to sweat but they dared not move while the lens was pointing at them. "Finally, after an hour, everyone took a break and Rose breathed a sigh of relief when everyone walked out of the room to get something to eat or go to the toilet. "Okay, we can go now, Rose," Ten said softly to her the moment they were gone. Rose sighed and both she and Clara stepped down off the riser. "Nice meeting you," Clara said softly to Rose while the Doctor reached behind the risers for the real cutouts. "And you, take care," Rose said softly. Clara inched back to her Doctor and everyone helped to put the cutouts back into place. Rose glanced over her shoulder at Twelve and Twelve nodded and gave her an affectionate grin before Ten told her the coast was clear and Rose sprinted with him out of the risers and back to the safety of the TARDIS.
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