THE SCAVENGER HUNT
Chapter Thirty Two Rose sat on the bed watching while the Doctor paced around the room, searching for his clothes. After what just happened to her, she was still reeling from the loss of the Doctor's mind and the realization of how deeply he truly loved her. After saving the Earth from Davros, Rose had forsaken the other universe and her mother and stepfather to come and travel with him and Donna and Martha. She knew he had been pleased that she had done that and they had resumed their relationship but she never knew the depth of his love until now and the loss of him inside her mind plunged her into depression. As the Doctor walked around the room butt naked, she turned her head away, trying to be polite and not look directly at his penis. The Doctor meanwhile was growing angry by the second when he realized that the Rose bot had stashed his clothes somewhere and since the door was deadlocked sealed, there was no way he could go outside to look for them. He looked all around and then his eyes settled on the curtains hanging down from the bed. He walked over to the one on Rose's right and jerked it down. He wrapped it around his midsection and held it closed with his right hand. "Well, it'll have to do until I can find my clothes," the Doctor said, sitting down beside her. "Damn, when I get my hands on that female robot, I'm gonna rewire every circuit in her body and..." "Doctor?" He turned his head when Rose said his name softly. "Yes?" he said, scooting closer to her while he held the curtain around him. Rose's eyes lowered and she stared at the floor while the Doctor stared at her sadly. "What happened between us," Rose said as she kept her eyes on the floor, "feeling you in my head. Is that what you meant about feeling your people in your mind before they were killed?" The Doctor laid his left hand on her back. "Yes," he said softly. "And what happened to me, when she cut off the connection between us. That was what happened to you when Gallifrey was destroyed?" "Yes, only 4,000 times greater than that," the Doctor said. Rose shuddered at that. It was bad enough losing the Doctor's mind but to have 4,000 minds cut out at the same time. She finally understood the Doctor's pain and rage she'd seen when he was in his ninth life. She kept her eyes to the floor, lost in her thoughts, barely feeling the hand that was now rubbing her back. "Rose, please look at me," the Doctor finally said. Rose lifted her eyes and saw the pain in the Doctor's eyes. He scooted closer and then folded one end of the curtain over his lap and tucked it underneath him so he could have both hands free. Embarrassed, Rose tried to look down but the Doctor gently took her chin and lifted it so she would look at him. "Rose, talk to me, tell me what you're feeling," he said softly. "I... I don't know. I'm still in shock," Rose admitted. "I've never felt anything like that before. I've never felt so... loved like I did when you were in my mind." "What she did was a violation of our privacy, but she did point out the obvious which is that ever since I took the vortex out of you, we've been linked and what you just experienced was, as you found out, what I used to experience on a regular basis before Gallifrey was destroyed. You experienced as a human what it's like being a Time Lord and the loss of it has sent you reeling because you've never known anything like that before. That's why you're so depressed now." "And that's the way you were, after Gallifrey was destroyed?" Rose said, choking up as her eyes misted over. The Doctor swallowed hard and nodded. Rose's face crumpled and she embraced him. The Doctor smiled sadly as his arms spread around her and he enfolded her in his embrace. Rose turned her head and laid her left cheek on her shoulder while the Doctor watched her quietly and held her protectively against his body. "I saw it," Rose said in a hushed whisper, "I finally saw how... how much you love me." The Doctor sighed through his nose as he lowered it to her head and closed his eyes. "How does that make you feel?" he murmured into her hair, genuinely curious about what she thought about that. "Happy," Rose whispered. A smile spread over the Doctor's face and he nuzzled her hair as Rose tightened her arms around him. Rose frowned when she heard him say something in an alien language as he held her tightly. "Doctor? What was that? It was beautiful," Rose murmured. "Gallifreyan," he replied. "What did you say just then?" The smile widened and he kissed the back of her head. "I said, mine, you are mine, my beloved, now and forever." Rose's heart nearly burst from joy and tears streaked down her face as the Doctor gently kissed her head. She figured if the Rose bot came back at that very moment and killed them, she would go to her grave happy. "Now are you convinced that I do love you, Rose Tyler?" the Doctor teased. "Apparently you've been trying to get me to say that since that day I said goodbye to you at Bad Wolf Bay." "Yes, I know now," Rose said. "I know it even without you saying those words. I felt it in your mind." "As I felt it in yours, but you'd already said you loved me so it was no big shock-a-roo to me," he said caressing her side. "I don't understand then. Were the robots just a way for you to act out all these pent up feelings of lust for me?" Rose asked, finally turning her head to look at him. He sighed angrily. "Rose, please understand. That... other you is not something I came up with. She's part of a species of cybernetic robots called Cybomatics. They infest planets and duplicate themselves to match the resident populations and they can go into people's minds as they did with us and see their thoughts and their memories. Now I admit, I do have robots on board the TARDIS, that submarine ride with the other me attacking the giant squid, that was a robot the TARDIS came up with per my request. I also have robot shopkeepers who mind different shops I have on board. That... thing that brought you in here that looked like some warped version of Jackie was a Cybomat. The Cybomats snuck in here, went through our memories while we were sleeping and made perverse replications of us, our friends and family for a giggle. I don't know what else you've seen but the squid, the me that battled the squid and the fantasy creatures like Lungwei the dragon, those were a part of the robots I normally have in here which is why I thought nothing of it. My robots don't act out lewd, daft things like they do." "Well, I'm glad you said something because I was about ready to kill ya," Rose replied. "I can imagine after seeing the Cybomat of your mother. Granted I don't like Jackie Tyler that much but I would never make something like that and cause you pain, even for a laugh." He smiled and kissed her nose when she laid her hand on his cheek. "Now, the next problem we have... how do we get out of here if the door is deadlock sealed?" he mused. In the interim between films, Martha had been visited by the usher robot and was given a refill on popcorn and soda pop. She relaxed and waited for the lights to lower so the film could begin. The Jack bot had left and gone out an exit at the front and hadn't come back. Martha wondered if he would return since the next film supposedly had sound. While she was waiting, she heard a click, click, click and looked over to see an elderly woman coming down the aisle, walking with the aid of a Zimmer frame. She was tiny, not much more than four feet tall, chubby with a kind wrinkled face and snow white hair. Martha's idea of the classic grandmother type. She had on a blue duster with flowers all over it and a white shawl covering that. On her feet were battered sea green house slippers. On the front of her Zimmer frame she had a wire basket that had a few items in them and also a large green bag that was tied to the front bar of the walker. The woman stopped beside her row and peered down it at her. She opened her mouth into a wide toothless grin before she turned her walker and began walking towards Martha. "Hello, Sweetie, I'm Esther, may I sit beside you?" she said sweetly. "Sure," Martha said, transferring her food to the other side of her as Esther walked up. "Thank you, Sweetie, I hate sitting alone and you look like a nice girl," she said, "What's your name?" "Martha." "Martha, nice to meet you," she said. She reached into her basket and pulled out a glasses case. She opened it and took out heavy glasses with black frames that looked like they came from the 1960's. She put them on and looked at Martha. Martha noticed the heavy lenses magnified her eyes until they were huge. "Can't see without my second pair of eyes," she quipped. She reached down into her large green bag and Martha was stunned when she pulled out a red booster seat that small children normally sat on to raise them up. She put it on the seat behind her, then reached back into the pouch, getting out a couple of small sacks of candy and a bottled water. Plopping onto the booster seat, she opened the sacks and offered them to Martha. "Licorice or jelly babies?" she said. "No thank you, I have my own food," Martha said. Ester started to pop a jelly baby into her mouth and then chuckled. "I forgot my chompers," she said sliding off the booster seat. She reached into her basket and pulled out another case. She opened it, took out her dentures, put them in, closed the case and sat back down. "There, much better," Esther said as she picked up her sack of candy and began to eat it. While they were eating, the Jack bot came back into the room. "The film will start in a few minutes but first, some entertainment..." "Oh, I like this young man, he's so handsome. A nice boy with a hot ass." Martha was taken aback. Esther chuckled. "I may be old but I'm not dead, Sweetie," she said with a wink. Suddenly, they heard a piano start to play and Old Time Rock and Roll blasted from a speaker overhead. To Martha's great shock, Jack bot ripped off most of his clothes except for a long pink shirt and boxer shorts with smiley faces all over it. He jumped up on the organ bench and began to sing the song while other robots clad in the same attire came out of the exit behind him and began dancing and singing backup for him. "Wow, I'd give anything to see the real Jack do something like this," Martha muttered to herself as Jack leaped down from the bench and began to prance around, imitating Tom Cruise's moves while the backup dancers did likewise. Martha's eyes bulged when Jack grabbed a blonde haired, blue eyed, muscular beefcake and began to grind with him while one man with black hair and grey eyes came up behind him, grabbed his ass and had simulated butt sex while they sang together. "Go!" Esther yelled at them. "Dance for me, you whores!" Martha gave her a shocked look but Esther only chuckled and gave her a wink before she focused her lustful gaze back on the dancers. "Shake that thang, you man whores!" Esther screamed at them. She noticed Martha's shock again and giggled. "I'm sorry, I get carried away sometimes. You have any money on you so I can jam it into their underwear?" "Um... no," Martha said. "Damn, I wanted to see if I could hire their services for a night." Martha, repulsed by the thought of a robot orgy with an elderly robot lady, tried to ignore her and wait out Jack bot and the dancers who were very nearly on the verge of a robot orgy. Finally, after twenty minutes, the dancers stopped and Esther applauded enthusiastically as they took their bows and filed out. Once they were gone, the lights began to dim and Martha settled back in her seat as the coming attractions logo came up on the screen.
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