tampered | Log; Complete

Log; Complete

When; Wednesday morning to avoid curse shenanigans.
Rating; PG-13 to Adult depending on conversation
Characters; Rose Tyler

sheisstilllost and Romana

lady_wandering
Summary; Two former companions to the Doctor sit down to have some coffee and tea and chat.
Log;

Romana had arrived at the cafe early so as to avoid any crowds. It had been a very long month and her nerves were getting a bit frayed at the edges from all the activity. For someone who considered herself to be reserved, the month's curses were showing her sides of herself she didn't know existed, and furthermore, wasn't sure she liked. Releived that the day seemed to be curse-free so far, she hoped it would stay that way so she wouldn't have to worry about embarrassing herself further.

Idly stirring her coffee as she waited, Romana considered the woman she was meeting. The Doctor hadn't told her much about Rose Tyler, but what he had told her was promising. Bright, quick-witted, and a pleasure to be around. Her reputation had certainly held up after their first few encounters, but something had happened between the Doctor and his friend recently. Something that had wounded them both. After some digging, Romana finally got the Doctor to admit to having an argument with the young human. It had sounded serious, and Romana wondered if perhaps her new friend's troubles were more serious than her own.

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"Perhaps I may, he's sending me flowers at any rate, I suppose that's a start."

Romana studied Rose for a few moments, occasionally sipping at her drink. "Do you mind if I'm a bit forward?"

"Oh flowers that's lovely." she said with a bit of a grin before getting back into serious and curious mode.

She could take a guess at what was coming. "Um, sure go ahead."

"He told me you argued, he even told me what it was about. I'm terribly sorry you had to find out like that - it must have been...a shock. Not always the most tactful, is he?"

Romana watched Rose carefully, trying to make sure she didn't overstep any boundaries with the hurt woman.

"Did he?" Her eyebrow shot up. She hadn't really expected for him to talk then again...She didn't really know him now did she? Or at least as well as she thought she did. She glanced down at the table sadly, pushing some of her hair back. "It's fine. Had to find out sooner or later, yeah?" she said trying not to let it bother her though it did heavily on the inside.

She firmly believed he never would've told her otherwise, if she hadn't stumbled upon things like she had.

"Sooner or later, yes, but from him and upfront, not through...not by any other means." Romana considered Rose's downcast expression for a moment. "He certainly owed you that."

Romana took another drink and guessed at Rose's apparent discomfort. "He wasn't gossiping behind your back, Rose. I more or less made him tell me what was bothering you so. I was worried abut you. I don't have too many people I'd call friends here and I dislike seeing the few I have upset."

"I really don't think he would've told me," she retorted though she did agree with Romana's statement that he had owed her that much. If only he had found the time to tell her. She had been there for awhile already. What had been keeping him?

Gripping the mug, the young woman brought again to her lips to sip before lowering it just slightly. "Oh, I wasn't implying that." She gave the woman a nod. "It's hard to get him to admit to things, yeah?" A small sad smile played on her lips and she shook her head.

"I'm not gonna say that it doesn't hurt but we were never really together like that. Suppose, I just got it wrong. Silly daft blonde me. But, um, thank you." She appreciated the Time Lady's concern since she didn't have many mates in the City except for Mickey, really.

"He would have told you, Rose. It would have hurt him, but he would have told you...in his own time. Of course you might have had to push him to it, he doesn't like...giving bad news."

Romana looked down into her cup, remembering how the Doctor had tried to put off telling her about Gallifrey, how she'd had to remind him that there was something he was supposed to tell her. It wasn't the most pleasant of memories, but there were certain parallels.

She mentally shook herself off. "I'd hardly call a woman who stood toe to toe with Daleks silly or daft. You seem quite accomplished to me."

"Maybe." She mimicked the other woman's actions staring down into her own mug. She'd never really know now would she? "Unless it's too late. Really last minute." Her mind drifted briefly to Bad Wolf Bay. So much sadness that day. So much loss. But this was a different sort.

"Yeah, well, that was a bit scary at first." she admitted her gaze still fixed on the remaining tea in her mug which by now wasn't much. "I traveled to different dimensions too you know? Before this place. There's so many different versions of Earth out there."

"I can imagine, the practical physics alone beg the existence of a number of..." Romana stopped herself. She wasn't here to talk physics, that she could to at work with...other people. She was here to hear about his woman the Doctor was so worried about.

"Sorry, I'll go on all day if I start now. What kinds of Earths did you see?"

For some reason Rose found herself laughing for a second or so at the other woman's words. "I'm sure that you can." And she really wouldn't mind it. Rose loved to listen most times. Even if she wouldn't probably understand it all. "And it's fine. Really." She could go on and on about the dimensions as well.

"Well there was this one Earth that had two moons. I mean two moons. It was nutters!" she said with a grin, keeping her mind off the terrible situation. "Didn't really stay long there since there's a limit." The mug went back on the table and her shoulders relaxed. "There's about..." She started to count it off in her head before continuing, "32, so far that we cataloged back home. The last one I visited still had stars for a bit. And then we had to fix that."

Romana was puzzled. "Still had stars? Were they going somewhere? And how, precisely, does one fix that?"

"Yeah, they were going out in lots of worlds. It starts slowly at first and then well--" She paused for a moment a frown edging on her lips and she shook an oncoming thought away. "Darkness. We really don't know what's causin' it." she informed. It was still all a mystery. "In that one world I visited it was tricky. I had to get Donna to turn left." And that had seemed to do the trick there.

"I've met Donna, she's..." Romana wasn't quite sure how to finish that sentence. Donna was a bit of an oddity to her, memory-wipe nonwithstanding.

But there had been something else in Rose's expression, something she couldn't identify. Something that worried her a bit.

"Rose, you are alright, aren't you?"

"Made quite the impression on you, yeah? She's really brilliant." she said and then frowned. It bothered her that the woman couldn't really remember and then the Doctor's warnings about keeping away. Well she wasn't going to do that anymore now was she? "It's just that whole memory wipe thing. But maybe she'll remember someday." She wasn't sure if Romana knew or not.

Rose's gaze fell back on the table sadly. She could lie sure. It was simple enough. But she also knew that keeping things inside for too long had certain results from past experiences. "Not really alright." Maybe in the coming weeks and months. Just maybe. "No." But she didn't really want to just burden the Time Lady like that.

"Hmmm, possibly, but it would be dangerous." Romana knew quite a bit about your average meta-crisis, but she couldn't fathom the affect it must have had on a human, much less one like Donna. As much as she disliked it, keeping the woman in the dark was saving her life.

Not that she was going to burden Rose with that now.

She wasn't quite sure how to reach out in comfort. She certainly wanted to, and she certainly knew that the Doctor was heartsbroken that he couldn't help. Perhaps she should have asked his advice before coming here...

"I'm here. I mean, rather, if you'd like to talk, I'm available. I know you have other friends. Mickey and the like, but if you need someone who knows him..."

"I'll be alright." she said giving the woman a bit of a smile and not really wanting to burden her. She'd lost the Doctor before, right? Right. She could handle this. She was strong and a survivor. She dealt with much worse things before. Like Daleks and Cybermen. And losing the Doctor in the strange other world that Donna had to help correct. She'd get through this on her own.

"It's fine. Really." she said finishing off the rest of her tea. "So, what sort of flowers do you think he's gonna get you?"

And that was going to be that, then. Romana wouldn't pry, at this point it would be rude. She'd said what she had wanted to say, and the rest would be up to Rose.

"With Tony Stark's resources and this City's wild variety of, well, everything...? I'm almost afraid to see."

And she was, truly. Something flashy, something fancy, she really had no idea the lengths he'd go to.

"I'm sure it's going to be brilliant," she said grinning still. Anything was possible here as she had come to find so far. "Might even last longer than the usual." She thought about roses but then those were standard weren't they? It was probably going to be exotic. "You'll have to show it to me, when you get them."

"I certainly will, you'll be one of the first." Because really, how was she going to hide a delivery of flowers when she couldn't even cover up the return of a shirt?

"Good." She held the now empty mug. "I'm sure the Doctor's not gonna let you live that down when he sees'em." Because she knew that nothing could really escape him for too long.

Romana could feel her smile fade a bit, remembering her conversation with the Doctor.

"No, not after he was the one who took delivery of my shirt when it was returned. He thought it was terribly 'interesting'. Flowers might just send him over the edge."

At hearing the other woman's revelation Rose's eyes widened for a moment. "Was he?" And then she gave a small laugh just imagining the Doctor. "I bet he did. He'll probably go on and on about it. Maybe you'll be able to hide it from him for a bit."

"Only if I'm lucky, and only if he's not there when they're delivered." Romana cringes a bit at the thought of another delivery and possibly another note to read.

"The more I think about it, the more I wonder if I should have told him to have them sent to my lab at City Solutions. The Doctor doesn't go there, it's reasonably private, oh, dear..."

"Maybe you will be and he'll be out for the day," she said not really imagining the Doctor to sit still in his TARDIS all day.

"You're sure he doesn't?"

"Doesn't what? Go into my lab at work? I should hope not with the security system in place. Although if anyone could I suppose it would be the Doctor. You don't think he really would, would he?"

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