Not This Time

Chapter 9

Everyone gets into the TARDIS without a word, Yaz glaring at The Doctor. She can't believe The Doctor would let Dan go like that, he was one of her closest friends, he looked after her when The Doctor was nowhere to be found.

"Where to now?" The Doctor asks playfully, eager to lighten the mood. It feels like the air inside the TARDIS is suffocating her, leaving her no room to breath under all the tension.

"It doesn't matter" says Yaz.

The doctor continues smiling uneasily. Rose closes the door behind her and stares around the TARDIS with a look of wonder in her eyes. It's been so long since she's been here and it brings back memories of her time with The Doctor.

It's changed a lot since she was last here, the interior is differently structured but the orange center of the TARDIS remains, Rose runs her fingers along the various buttons and levers that occupy the main control panel.

She remembers all the adventures she had in this blue telephone box that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, and all the disasters and near death situations her and the doctor always seemed to find their way into.

The doctor notices her girlfriend's fascination with the TARDIS and strides over to her. Placing her hand on Rose's she whispers "Where would you like to go?"

"Anywhere?" asks Rose

"Anywhere" answers the doctor proudly. She can't help but wonder if Dylan ever got to see Rose look at him like she's looking at her now, like she has the answers to the universe.

Yaz walks down the main corridor with a sense of worthlessness heavy in her chest. She thought The Doctor cared about her, she thought The Doctor saw something in her but it must have been wishful thinking.

Yaz thinks that Rose is so perfect, too perfect, maybe she's some kind of super advanced AI, Yaz wonders. That would make sense.

She walks to her room and lands and the grey bed sheets with a thud. Did Rose and The Doctor ever hook up in this bed? She shakes the thought out of her head and buries her face in the purple pillow that sits on her bed.

Purple is her favourite colour, it was nice of The Doctor to let her pick the colour of her pillows when she first started travelling with her.

Yaz reminds herself that she has to stay focused and keep an eye on this Rose girl in case she tries to hurt The Doctor in some way. She doesn't seem entirely trustworthy to Yaz, but Yaz has a hard time trusting anyone who isn't The Doctor.

Meanwhile in the control room Rose and The Doctor are talking.

"Are you and Yaz..." Rose asks, the implication sliding off her tongue.

The Doctor hates being put on the spot about these things. The truth is she doesn't know how she feels about Yaz.

The Doctor knows she's beautiful and smart but she also knows that she likes Rose more.

"No, not really" says The Doctor.

"Not really?" asks Rose, slightly annoyed that The Doctor would have any feelings for Yaz.

Rose sees Yaz as a threath to her relationship with The Doctor, but she doesn't want to be the kind of girlfriend that's controlling and doesn't let her partner like other people so she swallows down this uneasy feeling into the depths of herself and smiles.

"Nevermind actually"

The Doctor feels uncomfortable for about the millionth time today, she hates having to chose between two beautiful girls, it's her worst nightmare.

"Are you sure?" she asks Rose nervously, afraid of the answer.

"Yep" says Rose. She imagines putting all her feelings about Yaz in a box in her mind, she doesn't have time for them right now.

Rose fingers the buttons on the control panel.

The Doctor looks at her beautiful, adventurous girlfriend and smiles. Maybe another adventure is what they all need.

An image of Yaz's bleeding face flashes into The Doctor's mind. She won't let anyone get hurt this time.

"Are you okay?" asks Rose, noticing the look on The Doctor's face and recognizing it from when she travelled with her.

"I'm fine" says The Doctor. They both know she's lying but go along with it anyway.

"Let's go" says The Doctor. She grabs a lever at the side of the main control panel and pulls it down.

The TARDIS grunts in apprehension. "It's okay old girl" The Doctor pats the control panel lovingly "we can't stay here forever"

Slowly but surely the TARDIS begins to dematerialize and the familiar sound of the TARDIS beginning to travel fills Rose's ears.

She feels the thrill of adventure that she felt with The Doctor all those years ago.

In her room Yaz feels the ground beneath her feet shaking and she instantly knows what's going on.

The hurt slices through her like a well-sharpened blade. The Doctor didn't even bother to tell her that she was starting the TARDIS. She doesn't even know where this thing is going.

She could run down the corridor and yell at the doctor, really make her see all the pain she's put her through.

She could even force The Doctor to look at her injuries to really pile on the guilt. But instead she just hides under her duvet and waits for it all to be over.

Sometimes it's easier to hide.

The Doctor runs around the control panel, pressing random buttons that Rose can't make sense of.

A worrying sound erupts from the bowels of the TARDIS.

"What was that?" asks Rose.

"Just a bit of hardrive trouble" says The Doctor offhandedly.

"Are you sure this ship is in any condition to travel? Let alone through dimensions."

"Only one way to find out"

The Doctor pulls down a second lever with such force that it shakes the whole TARDIS. In her room, Yaz grips the sheets tighter and watches the ceiling for any bits of falling netal.

The TARDIS flies through universes and galaxies and black holes and nebulae.

It strains against time itself but doesn't give up, it pushes through and manages to bring it's occupants safely into the right universe.

Smoke erupts in plumes from the control panel.

"Did we make it?" asks Rose. She has been pushed against the wall from the force of gravity.

"I think so" says The Doctor, wafting smoke away.

Yaz runs down the corridor and bursts into the room. She hugs The Doctor passionately.

"I can't believe it worked"

"Me too"

"I thought we were dead"

"Me too"

"I love you"

"Me too"

Rose quickly barges her way in between Yaz and The Doctor. Tears are streaming down her face.

"You love her?"

"Babe, I didn't mean-"

But Rose is already opening the TARDIS door. "I think you did"

"No" The Doctor cries out like a wounded animal "I didn't mean it, I can't loose you again, just close the door and talk to me"

Rose pauses as if considering and then closes the TARDIS door and walks up to The Doctor and Yaz.

"Have you replaced me already, Doctor?"