Bad Wolf (Entry One of The Diaries of a Teenage Time Lady)

Aliens of London

This was fun to write. I felt like Rose matured a bit more in this one. Comment and let me know what you like!

Let's put it this way: Jackie isn't the only one who slaps the Doctor, and the Doctor isn't the only one who gets slapped. :P Also, Anna gets not one, not two, but three more lessons from Rose!

Here's "Aliens of London!"

***

Just like the Doctor promised, when both girls woke up, he took them right to the Powell Estate. Rose looked around, making sure they were in the right place, then turned to the Doctor. "How long have I been gone?"

"About twelve hours," he answered.

"Oh," Rose blinked. "Right. I won't be long. I just want to see my mum."

"What're you going to tell her?"

"I don't know," Rose shrugged. "I've been to the year 5 billion and only been gone . . . what, twelve hours?"

"What about Charles Dickens?" Anna asked.

"No," Rose giggled. "None of that. I'll just tell her I spent the night at Shareen's. See you later." She turned to go, then pointed at the Doctor. "Oh. Don't you disappear."

The Doctor gave her an incredulous look, but Rose just grinned and ran up the stairs to get to her flat. The Doctor leaned against the TARDIS, looking up at the sky, when Anna looked at a nearby poster on a concrete pillar and frowned. "Daddy?" she said. "Why does this say Rose has been missing since 2005?"

"What?!" he ran over to check.

***

"I'm back!" Rose called as she unlocked the door. "I was with Shareen. She was all upset again. Are you in? So, what's been going on? How've you been?" She stared at Jackie, her mother's face frozen in shock. "What? What's that face for? It's not the first time I've stayed out all night!"

Jackie dropped her mug, and it shattered, tea spilling on the floor. "It's you," she whispered.

"Of course it's me," Rose blinked.

"Oh, my God," Jackie whimpered, tears in her eyes. "It's you. Oh, my God!"

Rose blinked as Jackie hugged her tightly, but then she saw the table nearby, covered with various missing posters of her. The door opened again, and the Doctor skidded to a stop. "It's not twelve hours," he said in a rush. "It's twelve months. You've been gone a whole year. Sorry," he winced at the end.

***

"The hours I've sat here!" Jackie ranted as a policeman took notes, Rose biting her lip as she sat on the chair, the Doctor leaning against the wall. Anna had been left at the TARDIS, much to her annoyance, but the Doctor had insisted. He had figured Jackie wouldn't take this lightly. He figured correctly. "Days and weeks and months, all on my own. I thought you were dead! And where were you? Traveling. What the hell does that mean, traveling?! That's no sort of answer! You ask her," she told the policeman. "She won't tell me. That's all she says, traveling."

"That's what I was doing," Rose told her mother.

"When your passport's still in the drawer?" Jackie countered. "It's just one lie after another!"

"I meant to phone, I really did!" Rose insisted. "I just . . . " She trailed off. "Forgot."

"What, for a year?" Jackie shrieked. "You forgot for a year?! And I am left sitting here! I just don't believe you. Why won't you tell me where you've been?"

"Actually," the Doctor cleared his throat, "it's my fault. I sort of, er . . . employed Rose as my companion."

"When you say companion," the policeman began, "is this a sexual relationship?"