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Fandom: DOCTOR WHO
Title: Not The Slow Path
Series: A Good Old Normal, Human Life (Part Seven)
Word Count: (so far) 9278
Rating: PG-13
Summary: What happens after the Doctor leaves Rose and his human counterpart behind on Pete's world?
Pairings: TenII/(Alt)Master (bit of TenII/Rose)
Character/s: The (Human) Doctor, Harold Saxon/Master, Rose, Tish Jones, Ianto Jones, John Hart
A/N: Most screen caps from the sonic biro site and the power of google-fu
Catch Up: Prologue, Welcome to Number Ten Mr Smith, Saxon and Smith, Enter the Judoon, A Good Expositional Explanation, Extreme Pictionary and a bit of Snogging
NOT THE SLOW PATH
“What?!” The Master asked as Captain Hart kicked the doors shut behind him.
“Yeah, apparently the Judoon didn’t like it when this idiot,” he pointed at the Doctor with his gun, “Stole their prize from underneath their noses. So they went and told on him didn’t they?”
The Master swore and ran his hand through his hair. The Doctor watched, distracted for a moment by the movement.
“I didn’t think the Time Lords were hostile?” Ianto asked.
“They’re just selective with their hostilities,” the Master said with a grimace that betrayed his experience of that selectivity.
“What’s the problem?” The Doctor asked. “They exiled you here; they know that you’re on Earth.”
The Master turned round to face him and the Doctor ignored the sharp burst of excitement he felt when their eyes met. Rose was two feet away for crying out loud. She was two feet away and had very recently witnessed him and the Master-
“They don’t know I’m bloody Prime Minister of Great Britain,” the Master interrupted the Doctor’s flow of thoughts. “I doubt they’d approve.”
“I think they’ll probably be more interested in him,” Hart interrupted and gestured with his gun.
“What would they want with the Doctor?” Rose asked. The Doctor winced.
“The who now?” Hart asked slowly.
“You were scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one weren’t you?” the Master hissed at the Doctor.
“Oh this just gets better and better. I thought he was supposed to be dead!”
“He is,” the Master told him. “Alternate, very human, version.”
“Interesting,” Hart nodded and looked over him with eyes that felt like they were calculating the Doctor’s price on the intergalactic black market.
“Why are you telling us this?” Ianto asked, the suspicion in his tone sounded like it was born of previously dealings with Captain Hart.
“At the moment I appear to be stranded on this planet,” he threw a glare at Ianto, and the Doctor recalled the wrist strap Ianto had used the yesterday. “And if the stories are true, a man like the Master wouldn’t be without a back-up plan for situations such as these.”
“You’re right, and the plan just got a lot better,” he said whilst he tossed the coral from one hand to the other. “But we need to do something before we make our retreat.”
“If it guarantees my passage out of here, I’m in.”
“I’ll give you your transportation device, I’ll even give you a lift if you want,” the Master smiled. “We need to locate my prison guard, the man they sent to keep an eye on me, lax job though he appears to have done.”
“And then what?” the Doctor asked, worried that he wouldn’t like the answer.
“Don’t worry I’m not going to kill him. He’s got something that belongs to me; we need to steal it back.”
“What is it?” Hart asked.
“A watch, a silver fob watch.”
***
“What’s this watch thing really then?” Rose asked him in the car on the way to Torchwood’s London headquarters. Ianto and the Master were riding in the Prime Ministers car, John Hart with them.
“There’s a device, called a chameleon arch which the Time Lords developed. Basically it can make a Time Lord human. It usually makes you forget who you are though," the Doctor frowned.
“So how come he can remember?” She asked, her fingers tapped on the steering wheel as they stopped at a red traffic light.
“I’m not sure. I suppose it wouldn’t be much of a punishment to strand him on Earth and make him human if he couldn’t remember ever being anything else.”
There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.
“Look, Rose I-”
“Don’t,” she cut him off. “This probably isn’t the best time to talk about, things.”
“But-”
“Why was he so excited about that bit of coral stuff?” she spoke over him.
“I don’t know,” he said and slumped into his seat a bit. “I suppose he might have a Tardis hidden away somewhere, or some parts or one anyway. The coral would be helpful in repairing any ship really.”
“If he did have a ship, would you-,” she paused and turned away to look out of the car door window. “Would you go with him?”
Of course he would, there was no question. But he couldn’t tell her that, “Rose...”
“It’s okay, I’d understand,” she said and glanced back at him with glistening but hard eyes.
“The Doctor left me here so you could get your happily ever after,” he began. “He wanted me to stay with you, make you happy.”
“He wanted you to be happy too,” she argued.
He snorted, “He couldn’t stand the sight of me Rose. But that’s not the point. He didn’t understand what he was doing, he couldn’t possible have understood what it’d be like to take the slow path.” He caught her wince at the phrase and wished he’d chosen another.
“You’ll get used to it. I managed to adjust,” she said seriously.
“Rose you only travelled with the Doctor for a few years, before that all you’d known was this kind of life. It’s been centuries for me, since I was a child. We hated it even then, the Master and I. Couldn’t wait to get out there and see it all.”
He almost smiled at the memory. Except it wasn’t really his experience he was remembering, the Master was right he was some kind of hideous half breed; but even worse than that all he had was another man’s memories. Another man’s memories which attached him inextricably to the woman beside him but at the same time made him want to run as far and as fast as he could.
“You’ve know him since you were kids?” Rose asked quietly.
“Yeah,” he answered. “I love you Rose, I do,” he said earnestly, watching as a tear escaped and trailed its way down her cheek. “But the longer I’m here with you, the longer I live like this, the worse it’s going to get. If he can take me away I should go, you wouldn’t be happy with me the way I am, the man I’d be.”
She was quiet for a few minutes as she drove the car down a side turning toward a parking garage.
“I’m sorry,” he said into the stillness.
“I know,” she said and gave him a shaky smile. They waited as a metal shutter rose to give them admittance. “You’ll come and visit though?” she asked eventually.
He looked at her in surprise as they followed the other car into the large building. “You’d want me to?”
“Promise,” she told him as they parked the car.
“I promise.” The shutters closed behind them with a clatter.
“Good, come on,” she said and got out of the car and headed toward the others. He followed her towards a lift that the rest of their party were congregated in. Ianto had held the door open for them.
She grabbed his hand and squeezed it for a moment; he managed to squeeze it back before she dropped it and stepped into the lift.
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(Here from slash_lords.)
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Thank you for commenting!!!
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Thank you for taking the time to comment!!!
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I'm really intrigued to see what happens next, when the Master recovers his Silver fob watch from that prison guard. And, having Captain John Hart with them can't hurt, can it? He's good in tough situations. :D And, he's just so very sexy. :D
This story just keeps getting better and better as it goes along. I loved this, and I can't wait to read more. :D
Thanks so much for another exciting update. I'm looking forward to reading the next update. :D
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How could he not want to go with the master?? :) That's my favourite part about the episode with the master in, the way the doctor acts when he's around, so i'm glad thats translated to my fic!
Thank you again for commenting!
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Oh! Yes, I know, I was thinking the same thing. Of course he'd want to go with his...erm...the Master. ;D He he.
That's my favorite part too, the way the Doctor acts when he's around. :D And that was definitely translated into the fic, it was practically screaming with it. :D It was quite lovely indeed. :D
Again, looking forward to more. :D