Bad Wolf and the Oncoming Storm [Book One: Back in Time]

.:Chapter Twelve:. Getting the Grasp

     The Doctor was underneath the TARDIS, tinkering away. Rose sat in the jumpseat. They weren’t talking, but just enjoying each others presence.

     “Doctor? I’m going to the library to practice gaining control since absorbing the rest of the Time Vortex isn’t going to work, yeah?” Rose jumped off the jumpseat and walked to the library, not waiting for the Doctor’s reply.

     She found an empty space throughout the hundreds of bookcases and mentally prepared herself. In the library was where she felt the most calm; it was a place of peacefulness. She was going to try and communicate with the TARDIS, but what was she supposed to do?

     Er, hello, TARDIS. I don’t know if you can hear this, this is just an attempt. She thought. She imagined all her thoughts flowing into the TARDIS. She didn’t know if it would work, and she felt a little silly trying to talk to a space ship.

     The TARDIS hummed in response. Rose thought that it sounded cheerful. She smiled in awe and wonder, and tried again. How can I control my jumping?

     She heard no response. Fine, she thought. I’ll just have a go at it myself. She focused on the pool in the TARDIS. She took a step, feeling the now familiar shift. She reappeared at the pool; she smiled triumphantly. The TARDIS hummed cheerfully, seeming to cheer Rose on.

This time, Rose focused on appearing in the console room. She took a step, but instead of appearing in the console room, she appeared on Earth in the middle of a busy crowd. A few people turned to look at her.

     She gave them an awkward smile, and focused once more on the TARDIS console room. She imagined the Doctor running wildly about the TARDIS, hitting this and pulling that; she pictured each coral column and the metal, cage-like floor. She took a step forward, and disappeared, reappearing exactly where she meant to. She smiled to herself. She was getting the grasp.

     The Doctor looked up. He was wearing his glasses that Rose has suspected for a long time to be fake glasses. “Where’ve you been?” he inquired.

     “First, I jumped to the pool. Then, when I tried to come back here, I appeared in a crowd of people. Gotta say, they looked a bit surprised, but then I focused on the console room again, and here I am.” She explained a little proudly.

     The Doctor smiled. “Brilliant!”

     “Yeah,” said Rose. She sat down on the jump seat. “Whatcha doin’?” She asked him.

     “Fixing the stabilizers,” he answered. “They’ve been acting up lately.”

     Rose didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but she nodded her head as if she did.

      “So, where would you like to go?” asked The Doctor.

“Hmm, I don’t know. You choose.” Rose said.

     “Well, I don’t know either. I’ll set the TARDIS controls on random, and let her choose!” he decided.

     “Sounds good!” Rose agreed, and smiled. The Doctor grinned and danced around the console, pressing this and that and pulling various levers, finally stopping at the lever that sets the TARDIS into flight, placing a hand on it, ready to pull it down. He looked at Rose, his eyes twinkling.

     “Want to help?” He asked. Rose grinned and went over to him, putting her hand on top of his. “On the count of three, yeah?” She said. “One..” She began.

     “Two..Three!” The Doctor pulled down the lever with her. “Hold on tight!” he yelled, grinning like the madman that he was. He held onto one of the coral pillars. Rose held onto a railing, laughing hard.

     The turbulence was so intense that when it was over, Rose and The Doctor both fell back on the floor, both laughing hard. Rose rolled around a little, trying to get up, but she just fell back down.

     The Doctor eventually gathered himself, and got up with trouble. He grabbed Rose’s hand, helping her up. Rose pulled on his hand, tugging him towards the door.

     “Allons-y!” said The Doctor, and they both stepped out of the doors together, just like they used to.