The Queen and the Rose

Chapter 1

Welcome back guys! Hoping to make the chapters a couple hundred words longer for you guys this time around

Rose tapped her fingers anxiously against the console, waiting for the Doctor to return and tell her where the hell they were going.

It was guesswork, at best, when she was able to tell where they were going. He'd make a joke or use a piece of wordplay, and she'd have it. He'd call her clever and she'd laugh and they'd get going.

She wasn't necessarily dressed for the weather, if they were going somewhere cold.  If he told her where they were headed, it might make a difference.  She was wearing a white pair of shorts with a black belt, a grey t-shirt (that had a tendency to ride up, much to her dismay) with a small Union flag on it, and a white bolero. She hoped the Doctor would feel like telling her where they were going.

So she waited. And waited.  Less than patiently, if she was honest.  She crossed her arms over her chest and sat back on the jump seat, tapping her boot against the floor impatiently. She considered shouting for him, but knowing the Doctor, that would only make him putter about for a longer period of time, simply to spite her.

Thinking about the Doctor usually didn't lead to tame thoughts for Rose. It was no secret, at least to her friends and her mother, that there was something else between them, but the Doctor definitely wasn't going to say anything about it. And as a result, neither was she. She had convinced herself that the Doctor's romantic endeavors didn't concern her.

But that didn't mean they hadn't bothered her. Especially after Canary Warf, when she'd been so close to being taken, he'd held her hand a little tighter, looked at her a little longer, but he was worried. She understood. She worried about him quite a bit as well. She knew the Time War affected him more than he'd say, and that was alright, wasn't it? For him to have his secrets, to not tell her things?

However, at times she felt like an open book to him when he was so closed off to her, and that was frustrating.  They were supposed to be best mates, after all.  She blew out her cheeks and shook that train of thought, trying to lead it elsewhere before the Doctor came back.

As if on cue, the Doctor swung out from the hallway and into the console room. "Catch!" He said enthusiastically before Rose could say anything, and threw an object to her.

Rose got to her feet and grabbed the object in one motion, used to having to be on quick reflexes. She gazed down at the piece lying in her open palm. It was obviously from Ancient Egypt, it wasn't hard to tell, and was shaped like a scarab beetle, gold with a smooth, green gem as its back. Rose turned it over and over in her hands. "Is that our next destination?"

The Doctor leaned against the console, regarding her quietly for just a moment. "You can do better than that," he said decidedly. "Come on, you're clever, ask me a question. I know you have several."

"Okay then," Rose's mind drifted back to the whole "open book" situation she had been thinking about. He was really proving that now, wasn't he? She looked back down at the ornamental beetle and hummed in the back of her throat. "What's it for?"

"Much better," the Doctor agreed, pushing off the console and walking over to her. He cupped his hands under her left one, which held the artifact, and traced both of his thumbs over it. "It's a charm. Many of the citizens of Ancient Egypt used them. Charms, funny things, no matter what time period, somehow, somewhen, people are superstitious. Next question."

Rose thought for a moment, feeling as though there was definitely something else that he was trying to get at. Her eyes flicked from their hands to his expectant gaze and back again. "Okay," she said slowly. "It's a charm... Maybe somethin' used in prayer, if they did that. I know they worshipped, but other than that," she shrugged, "no A-levels."