Doctor Who_ Winner Takes All - Jacqueline Rayner [3]
‘Yeah, well, it could happen,’ said the Doctor. He got up and wandered out of the room.
‘Don’t mind us!’ Jackie called after him. ‘Make yourself at home!’
‘I will, ta,’ the Doctor’s voice came back.
Rose turned back to Jackie. ‘Glad you’re not moving to a country mansion, though.’
‘What?’
‘I thought you’d won the lottery, remember.’
Jackie sighed. ‘Wish I had. Wish I was getting out of this place.’ She looked genuinely down for a moment.
Rose stared. ‘But you love this place! All your friends are here and everything!’
Jackie shrugged. ‘It’s gone downhill since you left, sweetheart. Do you remember that Darren Pye? Went to your school.’
Rose thought for a second, and then shuddered. ‘Two years above me. Looked like a shaved gorilla only not as handsome. Hardly ever turned up, and when he did the police were usually not far behind him. Thumped kids for their lunch money, only he didn’t stop with lunch money, and he didn’t stop with thumping, either.’
‘He’s moved in two down three across,’ said Jackie.
Rose tried to picture which flat she meant. ‘What happened to Mrs McGregor?’
‘Started wandering about the streets in her nightie, thought it was still the war. That Tony of hers put her in a home down Sydenham way.’
‘And the council put in Darren Pye?’
‘They put in Mrs Pye, which means you get Darren.’ Jackie shuddered. ‘It was when you phoned, he’d been having a go at that Jade, took her purse and her mobile – and she won’t call the police, he said he’d have her if she did – wouldn’t let her down the stairs, and she thought he was going to push her down them, and she’s due any day – I had to go to her, she was crying so much I thought she’d have the baby then and there, and you read in the papers how long it takes ambulances to get here these days.’ She paused, half worried, half indignant. ‘She was that scared, I gave her my phone so she can call for help if she needs it, and I don’t begrudge her although I’ll miss it till I get it back and I hope she’s not answering calls meant for me… I know it’s not like aliens and that, and he’s not even really hurt anyone yet, and it’s not like he’s trying to take over the world, but…’
The Doctor wandered back in then, hands behind his back, and leapt on this.
‘Yeah, aliens trying to take over the world usually have a better motive than just wanting to make people’s lives a misery.’
Rose looked at the Doctor. ‘So, are we gonna sort him out then?’
The Doctor looked at her in mock surprise. ‘I never save anything smaller than a planet.’ He grinned, and pulled his hands out from behind his back. He was holding something blue and furry. ‘Oh, and sometimes a teddy bear.’
She grabbed the furry object. ‘Mr Tedopoulos!’ Then she thought for a second, and used the bear to whack him across the chest. ‘You went in my bedroom?’
* * *
TWO
Rose thought they’d better go and see Mickey while they were there, because he’d never forgive her if they didn’t, or so Jackie said, and Rose thought she was probably right. After all, it wasn’t as if they’d ever even formally split up. But long‐distance relationships were bad enough when one person went off to college, or got a job further than the end of a tube line; when someone was commuting from London to the end of the world, or to Victorian times or something, they didn’t really stand much chance at all.
Mickey didn’t seem particularly surprised to see them, and Rose guessed – which Mickey confirmed – that her mum had been on the phone the instant they left the flat. She looked at him, and felt an unexpected wave of affection surge through her. With his gorgeous dark skin and twinkling eyes, he really had been a bit of a catch. Didn’t have a time machine, of course, but even so…
But that was her old life, and she wasn’t that person any more.
‘Hope we’re not interrupting anything,’ she said.
‘Just playing a game, babe,’ he said.
‘And you’re how old? Six?’ said the Doctor. ‘Nice bit of Snakes and Ladders, is it, or something a bit more sophisticated