The Master Calls

Chapter 16

Rose woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking. She sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She glanced over at the bedside table and saw the usual cup of tea there waiting for her. She smiled to herself. He really did enjoy taking care of her, regardless of the grumbling he did.

She sat there in bed sipping on her perfectly made tea. Once she had finished her tea she went and jumped in the shower. She stood in front of her mirror afterwards and looked at her body. All traces and marks from last night were gone, as was the pleasant soreness. She smirked, knowing that the marks she left on him were not fully healed.

She looked down at the bags from yesterday and decided to get changed. She chose black slacks and a beautiful blue blouse. As she stood in the mirror, she realised that she did indeed look striking in these clothes, as opposed to jeans and a tank top. More put together and accomplished. But she did vow to herself to go and get some more jeans. There was no way she was going to wear these clothes to work. Especially not chasing down some formidable alien.

She straightened her hair and applied her make-up and then went downstairs to the kitchen, where she found the Master reading his newspaper and eating his breakfast. She saw her plate of food waiting on the table for her and realised how ravenous she was. They had certainly worked up an appetite last night.

"I thought you were on a diet," he commented as she dug into her bacon and cheese omelette.

"I worked up an appetite," she replied.

He grinned knowingly. "You look lovely. I certainly do have taste."

"Female you does. Not so sure about this you," she teased.

"Same person underneath it all, Rose," he said, taking a sip of his tea. "So the Realtor emailed me a few promising listings. I thought we could go and take a look at some of them today."

"As long as you take off the hypnotism on her. Don't think I didn't forget about that."

He sighed heavily. "If you insist."

"I do. Does it wear off after a while or do you have to take it off yourself?"

"It doesn't wear off, but like any form of hypnotism, it can be broken by anyone."

"So if I snapped my fingers, would that work?"

He gave her a condescending look.

"Not that simple then." she commented.

They finished up breakfast and cleared up. She grabbed her handbag and jacket, stopping when the Master frowned at her.

"What?" she asked.

"You're dressed so elegantly and you want to top that off with a ratty leather jacket?"

She looked down at the jacket, realising he was right. She sighed and draped it over the back of the kitchen chair. "I'll go and see if there's anything in those bags."

She marched back upstairs and promptly dumped all the contents onto the unmade bed. She shuffled through the garments but couldn't find a jacket. She went to her closet and looked inside. Sweaters and hoodies. She found a black blazer. It wouldn't be very warm wearing that, but she didn't have much of a choice. All her clothing had been destroyed when she had blown up their house. She had come across the Doctor's old clothes that had been left in the mansion that had once belonged to her parents and then Tony. She had bought them back, to this house, bringing them out every now and then to remind her of the Doctor. So when she had started to replenish her wardrobe, style hadn't been at the top of her list. But the Master was a stylish man, a man with discernable tastes, and she found that this trait was starting to rub off on her.