reel me in 3/?

[damalurbackup]

Reel Me In (3/?). Ten/Rose, Donna, AU after 4x07. Previous parts here.
"Your dog is taking a nap on my feet," John Noble said.

III.

Rose often walked to and from work when the weather was nice; she liked the vantage point from her own two feet, and it wasn’t too far out of her way to cut through Marylebone Park and let Hero have a good romp.

Today she closed up the shop and set off for home early. Her mum had called in the afternoon and demanded Rose’s attendance at dinner, citing the arrival of an old friend. Rose had sighed and agreed; her mum rarely asked for her presence at the dinners and banquets that went hand-in-hand with the Tyler name, so when she did ask Rose usually complied.

The park was largely deserted. Rose trooped to the northernmost end, found a deserted patch, and unhooked Hero’s lead. She kept a rubber ball in her jacket pocket for this purpose; with one hand she dug it out, the other stroking the fine, creamy hairs on Hero’s head. Hero perked up as soon as the ball came into view, and when Rose drew back her arm and threw it as hard as she could, the dog was off like a shot.

Rose loved seeing Hero run. She didn't know what breed her dog was, but she seemed built for speed, with long, delicate legs and a narrow body. After Hero had hit her first growth, Mickey'd run a web search on dog breeds for Rose. The closest they’d been able to come was the sighthound family; greyhounds had a similar build, but they lacked Hero’s long, wavy coat. "Could be a Soviet breed," Mickey’d pointed out, and Rose contented herself with not knowing.

After twenty minutes her arm grew tired, and she tucked the admittedly wet ball back into her pocket and corralled Hero. "C'mon, you," she said. "Time to go. Mum’s waiting on us, and she’d probably appreciate it if I didn’t show up with dog slobber all over my shirt."

Hero panted happily beside her the rest of the way home – home being, for the moment, a second-floor flat tucked between a green grocer and a larger block of rentals. Rose could have afforded something larger, but the building felt comfortable: A bit patched-together, maybe, but cozy all the same.

Her hair was still damp when she and Hero piled into her car. Hero spent more of the ride curled up asleep; Rose fiddled with the radio and finally landed on an oldies station playing The Quarrymen. The drive leading to her parents' house took her through three checkpoints, but the guards knew her and waved her through without any fuss. Tony was playing on the lawn when she pulled in, kicking a football against the side of a large, blue...telephone booth?

"Hey, Tony!" she called. He swiveled around and then took off toward her, tripped over his own shoelaces, and caught himself against her knees. Rose laughed and picked him up, balancing him against her hip with the ease of long practice.

"'Lo, Rose," he said, and pressed a sloppy kiss to her cheek. "Did you bring Hero?"

"'Course I did," she said, and went around the car to let her dog out. Their entourage of woman, boy, and animal tramped inside, where Rose set her little brother down. He immediately bolted in the direction of the kitchen and Paul; he never seemed to walk anywhere these days when he could run instead.

"Mum! Dad!" Rose called. "'M here!" She stripped her jacket off and tossed it over the banister, then wound her way back to the breakfast room; Jackie didn’t like the formal dining room unless they were entertaining someone terribly important. The breakfast room was through a parlor and a long hallway and another parlor. She rounded the corner and stopped short. Standing with his back to her was the tall man from this afternoon, his arms crossed over his chest, his head tilted back as he looked out the window.

"Hello," she said. "Doctor, right?"

He whirled around at the sound of her voice, and his face lit up like Tony’s did at the sight of aqueducts. She smiled back at him, a bit awkwardly, and waited. After a moment he seemed to realize she was waiting for a response.

"Right. Doctor," he said.

"That all?"

"Wha – oh. No. Doctor John Noble."

"I’m Rose," she said. "But I s’pose you know that."

"Yes. No. Well, yes," he admitted, and tugged at his ear. He didn’t seem capable of dragging his eyes away from her face.

"So..."

"So," he echoed, and kept staring.

"Any particular reason why you – Hero?" Rose broke off. Her dog had, unnoticed, slunk over to John Noble and settled herself on his feet; as they watched, she curled up, tucked her nose under a paw, and went to sleep.

"Your dog is taking a nap on my feet," John Noble said.

"Sorry about that. Hero! Hero, come here!"

"I don’t mind," John Noble added.

"Oh," Rose said.

"And she’s Hero? Like Hero of Alexandria, or Hero and Claudio, or hero the sandwich, or Hero and Leander, or Hero the Bollywood film – "

"Like Hero and Leander," Rose interrupted, since he seemed capable of continuing in this vein until dinner was served.

"Rather depressing, don’t you think?"

"Guess so. Never really thought about it," Rose said, wishing her dog hadn’t gone to sleep on John Noble’s feet and wishing John Noble would stop looking at her and, oddly, wishing he wouldn’t.

"Do you often not think about things before naming them?"

"I’m – I’m sorry?"

"Do you – " John Noble started, but at that moment her mother bustled in, putting an end to what felt like the most uncomfortable conversation of Rose's life.


next.

Comments

[sunnytyler001.livejournal.com]

OOohhh, I LIKE this story! I wonder what happened to Rose...
More, please!

[damalur]

Thank you! I've been posting a new part every day, because I have so much of the story already written and sitting on my computer.