On the run

Chapter 5

Rose was glad to get home that evening but as Pete drove them back, he asked how she was doing.

"You mean considering Steve wants me to go out with him? I was never that keen on him you know?"

"Tell that to your mother when she saw you kissing his cheek under the mistletoe at the party," Pete grinned.

"Crumbs, why did everyone take it so seriously?" Rose moaned.

"Maybe because no-one had ever known you to have had a boyfriend? Well not since Mickey anyway."

"I could get one, if I really wanted one. Just because Steve dresses like the Doctor and messes his hair up doesn't qualify him for the role."

"I know that love, really. Jake seems to think you should take Steve up on his offer, to see what he's really up to."

"I told Jake I'd go along, just to have something to do. You're trying to keep me out of it all."

"Can you blame us? I don't know why Yvonne started all this but I know where it's going. Keeping you safe is our top priority, you know that? If I thought you'd get away with staying at home, I would insist on it but it's just not practical."

"Yeah, mum would drive me crazy. How soon can you come up with an idea to get me sent away somewhere?"

"We're working on it love but it takes time. We have to come up with something believable. Jake thinks we should try the cannon project, like I suggested to you. You could take another class in temporal mechanics or whatever, learn how the thing works."

"If you think it'll do any good? Did anyone figure out how it was supposed to work then?"

"No, the Cybermen forgot to leave the operating manual," Pete tried to lighten the mood before they got home.

"Well if they had, it would be in code anyway," Rose smiled back.

"Well it would have given our code-breakers something to do eh? Right, no mentions of this to your mother, she's been bad enough lately."

"Yeah, if she thought Yvonne was going after me, she'd march to her office and give the game away. She only just gets away with the 'I've had my memory scrambled by the Cybermen' routine."

"Well at least we were able to establish a few more facts about her than we were about you," Pete reminded her as he drove up to the front of the mansion he'd almost given up and sold.

"I'm glad I never moved out now," Rose admitted as they stopped.

"We understand love, really we do and we weren't trying to get rid of you when we suggested you got your own place. We know why you wanted to stay, you thought if he tried to contact you again, you would have a better chance. We know you've not given up entirely."

"Then why did mum want me to go out with Steve?"

"Is that the only reason you won't go out with him? I mean before he turned on us?"

"I can't explain it, some things I can't let go of."

Rose knew they both understood, after they had taken her up to Norway, what now seemed like a very long time ago. After a family dinner, Pete wanted to talk to her again.

"So, are you agreeable to string Steve along, find out what he's up to?"

"What do I tell him? That you'll let him back on our side?"

"Tell him I'm thinking about it and that you'll go out on a date with him."

"If I have to. As long as Mickey doesn't get to know about it."