Reign of the World

Chapter 1

WELCOME BACK ENJOY THE STORY I LOVE YOU ALL

Rose Tyler decided that maybe she really did like doing undercover work. After all, she was no dinner lady this time around, and maybe being the Doctor's "assistant" was better than that.

But what was even better than her position in relation to the Doctor was where they were. A luxurious 50th Century New Earth cruise. Everything was posh and there were aliens and humanoids and no one had tried to kill them yet.

And as usual, everyone loved the Doctor. That man was excellent at playing any role, and as usual, it was the witty Doctor John Smith who brought his cheeky blonde assistant on a cruise with him so he wouldn't be so lonely. Very odd, how similar it was to their actual relationship.

Not that anyone on the cruise knew anything about Doctor Smith and Miss Tyler's relationship. As it stood, they shared a cabin, chocking it up to poor planning, but everyone else on the cruise saw it as the two being involved.

Which wasn't too far of a stretch, when Rose really thought about it. They ate all their meals together, he treated her like and equal, they held hands, and they shared that room. Rose couldn't say any of it upset her. She liked that people thought they were together. She could pretend that way, and everything would be just fine up in her brain.

She stood on the deck, overlooking the waves that were so familiar but pulled differently because of the moons here. The Doctor had been pulled into a meeting that a bunch of the men were having that Rose was sure would bore him to death, and she had decided to stay outside. The weather had been lovely every day of the cruise, and she was loath to miss a second of it.

The deck was wide, and looked wooden but was obviously something more futuristic and inventive. Her feet didn't hurt when she stood on It for too long and she made a mental note to ask the Doctor about it later. She leaned on the railing, her back turned to two women whose gossiping she could very clearly hear. It didn't seem that things were that different in the future after all. She bit her lip to keep from grinning when she realized that they were talking about her.

"That girl. Right there, do you see her?" The first woman asked in a loud whisper. "She's the one Doctor Smith calls his assistant. I think she's his lady. What do you reckon?"

"I think so too," the second woman agreed. "I've seen the way he ogles her when her back's turned, and he does love to hold her hand."

That was usually where Rose stopped listening. She couldn't bear the false gossip of the Doctor possibly having any feelings for her that weren't platonic. It was almost too much to handle, on any level, in any way, shape, or form, even if he never heard what they were saying.

That was the point when Rose would usually walk away and pretend she was alright while she stayed away from the Doctor for awhile. But no, they only had a week of the cruise left, and she would manage. Besides, it might be fun to know what they were all saying about the Doctor.

"But he's a Doctor," the first woman protested. "Surely he doesn't want his assistant. Gorgeous as she may be by Earth standards."

"He is not human," thee second woman mused in response. "I can tell that much, though he won't say. What do you think he is?"

Silence followed that question, and Rose had to grin to herself. Of course, neither woman would be able to guess who the Doctor was or where he was from, but the guessing would certainly keep them occupied.

She walked away from the women, moving farther down the deck of the boat. She found that she loved people watching, or sentient-being watching, as it often turned out to be, since no one was really human on the boat besides her.