| Date: 29 December 2007
Characters: Rowan Tyler, The Tenth Doctor Location: outside Link to IJ: thread #21970 |
 Rowan had a basket of chips and, from somewhere, a small palm pilot that he was one finger typing information into, sprawled out under a tree. He was looking up, occasionally, which, by some circumstance was exactly when he saw the Doctor. His second Doctor, the last one he'd seen. He dropped the palm pilot and nearly spilled the chips, trying to flail to his feet, "Oy. Doctor!" |
 He stopped walking, turned around and said, predictably, "What?" with his face all screwed up in confusion. |
| Rowan stared at him for a minute, waiting for the confusion to erase and the Doctor to jump and flail and dance around him like a sugared up eight year old. When that didn't happen, Rowan threw a chip at him, "You don't recognize me either do you? Just like Jack."
That actually hurt. "I'm Rowan. Rowan Tyler." He sighed, holding his hand out. |
| That response actually hurt. The confusion didn't ease off, but seeing his face fall actually, really, struck a chord. A painful one.
He stepped forward and took the hand, still looking confused. "I'm sorry. Relative of Rose?" He was trying. |
| "No," he shook his head, not letting go of the Doctor's hand, "If your face does that, then you know she was an only child. And. On the other side of a void in time and space."
He was guessing. And pushing. |
| "Only child doesn't mean she can't have relatives!" he protested, but it was reflexive.
It didn't take much for him to know. "You too?" He was. He didn't. Fuck. |
| "Me too. Left behind a bloke looks like a lot like you." He let go of the Doctor's hand then. "I'm sorry." |
| He shook his head. "Please don't be. Wasn't your fault-" He hesitated and grinned, a little crookedly. "Any of it." |
| "No," he grinned, quick and bright, "I know that. I'm sorry I'm not her; just as sorry as I am that you're not him." |
| "Hey. I'm not sorry you're not her." |
| "I'm still sorry you're not him," Rowan said a little sheepishly. |
| "I figured," he said, unsurprised, and sat down on the grass. He found the fry Rowan had thrown at him, and ate it. |
| Rowan made a face, then offered him the basket of (clean) fries. "There was dirt on that, you know." Probably didn't care, so Rowan didn't mention it past that. "When is it for you?" |
| "Dirt's got minerals. Salt's a mineral. People eat salt. Same difference." He poked around the chips basket, found another one he liked and pulled it out to look over. "Bout a year, give or take. You?" |
| "You're not a people," he said vaguely, watching the Doctor, "About the same, give or take a bit. 8 months since Norway." |
| "Probably right about that one."He snorted and bit the chip in half. "So, what've you been doing since? Got your Mum and Dad and Mickey?" |
| "Yeah. Micki and Jake are going to have a baby soon- so are mum and dad." |
| He looked vaguely interested. "Really? Which one of 'em got the uterus?" |
| "Mum." He said blankly. |
| "No, no. Other set." |
| "Micki? My ex-girlfriend Micki?" |
| "Mm. Mickey wasn't anyone's girlfriend where I come from." Brief pause. "Well, maybe Jake's, but still no uterus." |
| "Micky was a guy?" he looked genuinely bemused. |
| "He was a something," the Doctor mumbled, darkly. |
| "Didn't like him?" Rowan asked curiously. |
| "Oh, he's not bad. I like ribbing him more than I like him though." He stopped and corrected. "Liked." |
| "Liked?" Rowan asked. |
| "Well, bit on the other side of the void at the moment." |
| "Not like she's dead." |
| "He," he corrected, automatically. Then he smiled, warmly. "And no, no it's not. " |
| Rowan settled out, watching, "Tell me about your last year." |
| "Tell me about yours, first." He looked over at Rowan, and passed him his chips. |
| Rowan ate one, "I work for Torchwood." |
| "Like Jack, then?" |
| "Bit like." He shrugged, "Torchwood on the otherside of the rift is a bit different. I figure because we didn't rightly anger Vicky." |
| "One degree," he murmured. |
| "What?" |
| "One degree difference can make the difference between changing, or destroying a world." |
| "Or make no difference at all," he gestured slightly to himself. |
| "Or missing altogether," he corrected in a vague way, because he was blinking. "What are you talking about?" |
| He grinned, shaking his head, "No, keep going. You're speculating." |
| "Too late, you've piqued my curiosity." |
| "About?" |
| "What you were talking about." He'd gone and confused himself. |
| "...Dimensional changes?" |
| "Probably!" he said, brightly. He had no clue what they'd just been talking about. |
| Rowan handed him another chip, "Morning, Doctor." |
| "Morning, Rowan. Tell me about your life." |
| "What do you want to know?" |
| "Everything."
Mostly the stuff he was suddenly afraid to ask. What the hell? "What's Torchwood like in your universe,what was your Doctor like, when's your mum due, are you happy?" |
| "Which universe? The one with the Zepplins or the other? Which Doctor? Two weeks. I am." |
| "The one you just came out of. Either of them. " And the last was what he wanted to know and he didn't sigh, but his grin got a little steadier and his shoulders dropped. "Good." |
| "In one they thought if it was alien it was theirs. They let the cybermen in from the other. The other had zepplins and Torchwood was more an organizing body. My dad started it." He watched the Doctor for a moment, noting the relaxing, before saying ridiculously casual, eyes wide, "You're not gay in this universe are you?" |
| He was merrily listening to Rowan talking about cybermen and zepplins and his dad. He realized that Rowan wasn't Rose, but it was still good to hear. It gave him - well more fodder for self-delusion than hope, but hearing it was good, anyway.
Then, there at the end was that question. He blinked at Rowan, forehead wrinkling, eyebrows coming down until they nearly met at his scrunched up nose. "What?!" |
| Rowan fell over he was laughing so hard. |
| He peered down at Rowan. "No, really, what?" |
| He held up his hand, trying to get some control over his giggles. "Sorry. Sorry had to ask." |
| He took Rowan's hand and pulled him back up. "Why?" he asked, not one iota less baffled. |
| "Mostly to see your face," he admitted. |
| "I'm not gay. Not straight, either." The bewildered was so there. |
| "Mostly alien?" |
| "Yeah," he agreed. "What about your Doctor?" |
| He shrugged, "Complicated." |
| 'Complicated how?" |
| "Last of his race, yeah?" |
| "Yeah," he agreed after a long, quiet, moment. |
| "Makes things complicated," he said, watching the Doctor. |
| "How?" He said, leaning back and watching Rowan watch him. He was very intent on watching Rowan. Because Rowan was watching him. |
| "Lots of ways," he shifted a bit. "You look just like him." |
| "You know how hard I'm avoiding, right?" He quirked a grin. |
| "Almost as much as I'm letting you?" |
| "Why are you letting me? No one does that." |
| He shrugged, "You need it." |
| He looked at Rowan for several long moments, ate another chip and then offered them to Rowan. |
| Rowan took it, "Thank you, Doctor." |
| "Thank you." |