Dreaming of a Blue Box ✧ Doctor Who ¹ ✓

59 - Boom Town (Part IV)

Continuing from 'Boom Town - Part III'

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THEY WERE STILL AT THE TABLE, having just ordered their food and their menus being taken right after. The flame of the candle between them flickered as Margaret trudged on, informing the two of them. "Public execution's a slow death," The Doctor and Lily stared at her, trying to look unbothered. But that was hard as Margaret was very good at details. "They prepare a thin acetic acid, lower me into the cauldron and boil me. The acidity is perfectly gauged to strip away the skin. Internal organs fall out into the liquid, and I become soup. And still alive, still screaming."

The Doctor's face twitched but his voice stayed hard. "I don't make the law."

"But you deliver it." She reminded him. "Will you both stay to watch?"

Lily sighed, twisting at her locket. "What else could we do?"

"The Slitheen family's huge. There's a lot more of us, all scattered off-world. Take me to them." Margaret begged and pleaded with them both. Lily started to feel sympathy for her. "Take me somewhere safe."

"But then you'll just start again." The Doctor frowned.

"I promise I won't."

"You've completely forgotten, have you?" Lily shook her head in disbelief, softening her tone. "There used to be a real Margaret Blaine who had her own life on Earth. You killed her just for the use of her skin."

The Doctor nodded at what Lily said and added. "You're pleading for mercy out of a dead woman's lips."

"Perhaps I have got used to it," Margaret admitted with a sad chuckle. "A human life, an ordinary life. That's all I'm asking." Her eyes stayed on the Doctor's, understanding his leadership. "Give me a chance, Doctor. I can change.."

He shook his head. "I don't believe you."

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Rose leaned her elbows on the railing and kept her eyes out onto the water. It was much colder there with the night air sending cold air towards her from the river, but it was better than being where Mickey sat. "So, what do you want to do now?" He asked from the bench behind Rose.

"Don't mind." Rose shrugged.

"We could ask about hotels." She heard him suggest.

Rose scoffed and said the thought that came to mind. "What would Trisha Delaney say?"

"Suppose." He ignored her. "There's a bar down there with a Spanish name or something-"

Rose turned towards him and let her frustration out. "You don't even like Trisha Delaney!"

"Oh, is that right?" Mickey stood, turning on her- his voice raising. "What the hell do you know?"

"I know you, And I know her." She said, matching his loud tone, "And I know that's never going to happen." Rose exclaimed. "So who do you think you're kidding?"

"At least I know where she is!" He yelled and Rose flinched back at the intensity of his words.

Rose started to understand where this resentment was coming from. "There we are, then. It's got nothing to do with Trisha. This is all about me, isn't it?"

"You left me!" He snapped. Rose forced a swallow when she saw tears forming in his eyes. "We were nice, we were happy. Then Lily disappeared and things went wrong. And then what?" Rose looked to the side as his words started to physically hurt. "You give me a kiss and you run off with them, and you make me feel like nothing, Rose! I was nothing!" He cried. "I can't even go out with a stupid girl from a shop because you pick up the phone and I come running. I mean, is that what I am, Rose? Standby?" Mickey accused her. "Am I just supposed to sit here for the rest of my life, waiting for you? Because I will!"