Necessary Evils

Chapter Two: Names

Chapter Two: Names

We drove the short distance from the parking lot to the fast food place in complete silence. When we arrived, I left the vehicle with barely a gesture to Rose for her to follow. She obeyed.

Obeyed.

I grit my teeth, forcing down the dangerous swell of hatred. I thought the safest place for Rose would be beside me—not the timey-wimey-near-death-experiences-every-day me, but the incredibly-boring-and-brilliant-human me.

With all his memories of mine, how could he possibly think like that?

I snapped my fingers and opened the TARDIS door, ushering Rose inside. Quickly scanning the area for my evil twin before shutting the door, I made my way over to the control panel without glancing Rose's way.

"Are..." she said, trailing away after the single word. Slowly, I raised my eyes to look in her direction. She shifted her gaze to the floor and swallowed, standing up from the chair she claimed and moving away from the control panel. "This is new." She nodded, examining the lower levels from her place near the banister.

"She had a bit of an upgrade," I conceded, returning to the control panel and inputting coordinates. Concentrating grew troublesome in my current agitated state.

"So did you," Rose whispered, carefully turning to face me. Her gaze kept skipping off of me, as though afraid to look too long.

Afraid.

I plucked at my bowtie. "New face, same cool style." I forced a brief smile, but inhaled deeply afterward.

She approached me, surprising me when she threw her arms around me. "I like it. Your new face. Even the goofy bowtie." She said it all in my ear, pressing her face against my back, between my shoulder blades. I closed my eyes, concentrating on my breathing, but it was too much. I needed to know.

Spinning around, I enveloped her in my arms. "Rose, what happened to you?"

She shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Forget it."

"It does matter," I growled, pulling back from her to meet her eye. "You matter, Rose," I insisted, squeezing her shoulders gently for emphasis.

She met my eye easily, no fear deadening them for the first time since I found her. "Yeah, I know," she said dismissively, tugging playfully on the lapel of my tweed jacket.

I opened my mouth to reaffirm my words, but then she twirled away and stared up at the vaulted ceiling of the TARDIS. "Ah, I still dream of this. I miss this," she laughed, facing me again. "So, where to this time, Doc—" She stopped, paling, and pressed a hand to her neck as she looked away.

"Rose?" I started, moving toward her.

"Nothing. Just a bit, uh," she kept talking, but backed away from me as I approached. I stopped. "How'd you get to this universe, anyway?"

"TARDIS brought me here on its own," I answered absently, appraising her. "Rose, that mark on your neck..."

"Just a hickey," Rose deadpanned, stone faced.

"It's a bruise," I countered.

"It's a hickey. An angry...hickey," she mumbled, dropping back into her seat. I approached her, but she didn't seem startled this time.

I knelt down beside her. "Rose, please tell me what happened to you."

"Doc—" She sighed heavily. "I don't want to talk about it," she confessed, looking up at me with a smile.