The Green Soul

Chapter 20

I thought about not posting today but come on it's the queen's birthday.

Rose felt sick. The Doctor had just up and left, right there. Where would he even have gone? Back to the TARDIS? To do what? Everything they needed was here, he had the sonic. She could only think of one plausible solution: he wanted to get away from her.

He regretted it already.

She felt her knees buckle underneath her and Marie grabbed her around the waist. Somewhere in the distance she heard Matthew shout "Mrs. Smith!" as she was lowered down into a seating position on the couch. She blinked a few times, clearing her vision. "I'm sorry," she whispered, trying to still the shaking of her hands.

Marie clasped her shoulder gently with her hand. "It is alright," she assured her. "You have not been separated from your husband for a long time, have you?"

"No," Rose breathed. "I've not been without him for two years, maybe a bit more. I have to go find him. He doesn't know this city." She got to her feet suddenly, jostling Marie's hand from her shoulder in the process.

"You did say you were travelers," Matthew reminded her, his brow furrowed in worry. "Perhaps he has a better sense of direction than you give him credit for."

Rose resisted the urge to snort. "No, no, I know that man like I know the back of my hand. He'll be lost within the hour, I guarantee it."

Marie stood slowly next to Rose, as if afraid of startling her if she moved too quickly. "Mrs. Smith, you've suffered great trauma today. Perhaps it is better if you get some rest. Would you like some tea? We've biscuits as well, don't we, Matthew?"

Matthew nodded. "I will return with your requests, Mistress," he said, and left the room.

Marie sat back down, tugging Rose down with her. She sat heavily and looked over at Marie. "I'm sorry, I really am, maybe I'm just... You know, overreacting a bit."

"He probably just went out to fetch something," Marie patted Rose's hand, "And didn't want to wake you. I'm certain he'll be back before it's time for supper."

"And where's Ben?" Rose demanded, nearly steamrolling over Marie's reassuring words.

Marie blinked in surprise, not really expecting something like that, Rose thought. "Well, he's upstairs, writing a letter."

"That's my point," Rose stood and started pacing. "You know where he is, because he thinks to tell you things because he loves you, because he wants you to know. Let me guess, he popped in and told you he'd be in his study if you needed anything?"

Marie nodded very slowly, her eyes never leaving Rose's. "Yes, he did, just a few minutes beforehand."

"The Do- Doctor Smith, he never thinks to do that," Rose sat back down heavily again, suddenly feeling exhausted, "He never thinks about what I might feel when he goes swanning off, sometimes leaving me alone."

"He does not mean to hurt you," Marie replied passionately.

"Most likely not," Rose agreed, struggling to keep with the dialect she was supposed to in her anger, "But he does it all the time, and how can someone do that to the person they-" she clamped her mouth shut, not bothering to finish.

"You do not consider leaving him!" Marie asked, her voice shocked.

"No, never," Rose replied, "I could never leave him, if there's one thing I know, I know that."

Marie let out a whoosh of air that sounded suspiciously like relief to Rose. "Well, you are hardly a demure housewife, as well."

Rose could tell she did not mean the words as offensive and nodded in agreement. "Neither of us could ever be demure."

They sat there together until Matthew brought the tea and biscuits and sent a worried gaze between the two women before supposedly remembering that it was not his place to say anything and darting out of the room. Rose added two sugars (one for luck) and picked up the dainty cup to sip gently from it.

"Are you feeling better?" Marie asked, stirring her own tea.

Rose shook her head. "I worry for him. I always do, I suppose. And I hate to think that he might not have even wanted to tell me where he was going."

"I'm sure that is not true," Marie said.

"I'll never know for sure, though," Rose traced her fingertip over the lip of her cup, her eyes cast down at the action instead of directed at Marie. She didn't feel she could make eye contact with a woman who was so happy, so fulfilled in the man she loved. She stared down into the tea. "You are happy, yeah?"

There was a pause as Marie seemed to consider this. "Yes," she said, "I am happy. I live a good life, and that is all I could want or expect from a life. Especially since I am a woman."

Rose nodded. The values of this time were different, she had to remember, all of this, it was different. Were it Shireen sitting next to her on this completely posh couch, she could've simply come out with it. "Hey Shireen, I slept with my best mate, who I love to death, and I've got this really weird feeling that he regrets it."

She closed her eyes and tried to picture what her best friend would say under such a circumstance.

"Babe, you just gotta live your own life. He's just a man. Do what you have to, not really to get back at him, but to do your own thing. You know?"

Rose almost nodded resolutely. She set her cup down on the table. "I've got to see if my husband left his tool here."

"The tool which glows blue?" Marie asked. "Well, it is a possibility, Matthew mentioned he was a bit distracted. Perhaps it is in your bedroom?"

Rose nodded. "Yes, perhaps, let's go look."

Without offering any further explanation, Rose led Marie up the staircase and to hers and the Doctor's bedroom and started rooting through the bedsheets. Panic overtook her as she ruffled the sheets, pushing her hands under them to feel for the cold metal.

"May I ask what you need the tool for?" Marie asked politely as she looked at the desk, gingerly moving inkwells and papers and the like.

Rose didn't hear her for a moment, so caught up in what she was doing the question didn't register. Suddenly, it clicked in her mind and her head snapped up. "Oh, yes, it's a sonic tool. The Entity said we could trap it in it."

She paused, trying to figure out just how she remembered that when so many things were so fuzzy. In the scheme of things, it really didn't matter though. She needed it, the Doctor wasn't here, and that was that.

Finally, as she was bending over, looking beside the bed, she saw it: the glint of textured metal. Letting out a cry of triumph, she snatched it up. "Marie," she announced, "I'm going to teach you how to use this."

Marie blinked. "What? What for?"

"Because, my husband here or not, we're going to summon that Entity right back here and free it."