starsthatshine: (life on mars - real)
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Title: The Doctor Will See You Now (4/6)
Fandom: Life on Mars/Doctor Who crossover
Rating: PG
Summary: Doctor and Rose travel to the 70's to see the sights but end up seeing something entirely different from what they'd planned.
Spoilers: Entire Life on Mars (but set sometime post-s1) and early season two Doctor Who
Pairings: Sam/Annie, implied Gene/Sam, Doctor/Rose if you want but nothing really shippy.
Notes: Probably my first non-ship fic. I just got this story that I wanted to tell in my head and well... I told it. One could argue perhaps that I made Sam/Annie shippy but I don't really think so since I, at least in my own opinion, made them very close to canon. I tried to be as faithful as I could to both "realities" when I brought them together
Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six


Chapter Four: Leaving Things Unsaid

Sam suddenly felt like he was betraying them all, walking back through the gates that he had been determined never to enter again. It was as though suddenly every detail from the tattered wallpaper to the people inside the building would be something he’d miss. Somehow. It didn’t make much sense. Somehow he’d grown used to the heaps of paperwork, the dodgy smell in the corridor and the uncomfortable chairs.

He turned right and walked into the office and the second he went through the door, he could see Gene coming at him with the same grace as a bulldozer. The large, grumpy man looked practically livid and as the distance between them lessened, Sam was certain that Gene was about to push him. The delusion even went as far as Sam prepared to duck but instead, Gene made an instant halt, an inch away from Sam’s face and started yelling at him.

“They escaped custody!” He roared and Sam got his fair share of the Gov’s spit in his face, “Thanks to you, you twat! They were ARRESTED! You can’t bloody just go and release them! Oh… You sodding… I could give you a good beating right here and now.”

Sam stood there, calm and collected, watching Gene spit out his anger over him and somehow it was almost… enjoyable. Without any muscle moving in his face, Sam began to speak.

“Then why don’t you?” He leaned a bit closer, now half an inch away from his face, “You can’t hold people without a reasonable suspicion of crime. They were innocent; the evidence didn’t add up.”

“You said yourself I could throw them right back in.”

“If I’d said no, would you have listened to me?”

Gene tilted his head, saying the last sentence almost as low as a whisper. “Listenin’ doesn’t mean I’ll do what you say, you know.”

“You can’t wish them to be criminals only because they rub you the wrong way… Gov.”

The only sound that was heard was Chris, chewing his sandwich.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Annie standing a few metres away, a serious expression on her face as she watched him and the Gov argue.

“What did she do? That bird of yours,” Gene asked with a sarcastic tone and forced Sam’s attention back to him, “Flashed her tits until you believed she was innocent?”

“She didn’t need to flash her tits, she was innocent anyway.”

“I swear to God, Tyler, sometimes I don’t know what to do with you.”

“I need a word, Gov.” Sam couldn’t blurt it out in front of the entire department like this, it wasn’t fair. They deserved to know, at least some of them, in private. They needed… He needed time.

The Gov leaned back. “So you need things now? Well, I want two suspects but you chased them away from me.”

“Now.”

Without waiting for a reply, Sam grabbed Gene’s collar and despite Gene’s very loud protests, the younger officer dragged him into his office, and by the doorway, once the door was closed, Gene struggled out of his grip and something was burning inside his eyes as he was looking at Sam. Sam went to the other side of the room, folding his arms and looked directly at Gene.

There wouldn’t be any tears. There wouldn’t be anything personal. This was how it was going to be, impersonal, without emotion and letting the news seem nothing more than a technicality. People worked in different ways and for the first time, Sam would play Gene’s game. He owed him that much.

“I’m gonna leave,” Sam said, feeling itchy as he forced the emotion away from his voice. Nothing more than a technicality. “And I’m not coming back.”

Gene said nothing for a moment. He simply stared at Sam as though he was expecting him to yell ‘Just kidding’ any moment now. Then, as the reality of Sam’s words gradually sunk in, Gene seemed to regain the control he momentarily lost.

“What do you mean?” He asked harshly.

“I’m going home,” Sam replied truthfully, somehow feeling guilty creep over him and it was making him both surprised and uncomfortable, “I can’t stay here any more.”

“You can’t just leave Tyler. There’s procedures, rules, which you love so sodding much.-“

Knowing that Gene probably had an entire speech laid out for him, Sam interrupted, sighing, aggravated both at himself and at Gene. Why was he making this so fucking difficult?

“Who here cares about procedures anyway?” He asked, almost yelling the words out, pointing at the door. “You just use them as an excuse to call yourself a police and run your own little kingdom!” Why couldn’t Gene just let him go?

Suddenly, he found Gene’s hand gripping his collar tightly, pushing him up against a wall roughly. “Take that back,” he hissed.

“No.” Sam said defiantly.

Sam waited for the punch that never came.

Gene let go of him, backing away a few steps and suddenly seemed years older. “Get out of my sight, Tyler.” He said weakly.

Sam took a few uncertain steps towards the door, stopping glancing behind him, waiting for the Gov to say something, but then as Gene did not say another word, Sam walked out of the door, set to never come back with his blood throbbing in his veins. He was in such a hurry to leave that he almost walked into Annie on his way out.

“What was that about?” Annie asked both a curiosity and concern lingering in her voice as she was eight inches away from his face.

“Annie, I need to talk to you.” He said, his eyes avoiding hers as he put his hands on her shoulders to herd her away from the others. He needed to say this to her privately.

But the action caused a million emotions to explode in Annie’s face. Within a second, she seemed to know, the fear glittering in her eyes. He knew that she’d know, but he needed to say this to her. Like the Doctor said, if he didn’t, he’d regret it forever.

“Annie, please…” he had never been one to plead, to beg, but here he was, asking her to hear him out.

“No,” Annie said with a voice as cold as stone but her eyes still with the same lively fear and partial surprise, “You’re leaving us, aren’t you?”

Sam tried to ignore how silent the room suddenly got. Even Chris had stopped eating his sandwich and was looking at him in a very surprised expression. He leaned up from his hiding and for the first time, he exposed himself to Annie’s gaze. It was difficult, even more than it’d been with Gene, because Annie showed her emotions. She showed them all, for better and worse.

He finally understood why Gene did things he way he did.

Emotions clogged up his throat and he felt weak, pathetic, like a coward. Suddenly it felt as though he was running, but he wasn’t sure from what. If it was Annie and the 70’s, or himself or the future, he didn’t know. It felt as if he was running and he had no idea how to stop.

”Annie, I really need to talk to you.”

Annie stared at him even more, backing away as she shook her head. Sam slowly followed, pleading, offering her every emotion left in him, but she rejected him. There were tears in her eyes, tears that were only ghosts in her eyes but Sam could see them, or at least sense them.

“No. Sam, I can’t… talk to you, right now.” Without a word, she turned around and walked out of door. She was gone.

”Here I go. Ready, steady."


Rose and the Doctor stood, waiting around the corner, having happy grins on their faces. They shared a look and then broke out in laughter. They had seen a bit of the 70’s after all, but it wasn’t something that they’d recommend. Also, Rose felt extremely pleased over the fact that they could help someone.

“So,” The Doctor said, “Where do you want to go after this, Rose? Fancy meeting Jane Austen?”

“Never read any of her books.”

“Oh, I see.”

“I did see a movie though,” she said, as she turned her gaze back to the street, waiting for Sam, with a large smile on her face.

“Think about it.” The Doctor grinned, following her gaze.

But both of their faces fell instantly as they saw Sam walk towards them. At first neither of them saw his face, since his head was bent down but both of them sensed that something was wrong. He had been pleased, so relieved before. Now he looked like a train wreck. As he was only a metre away, he looked up into the Doctor’s eyes, trying to force the devastation of his face but it still showed as clear as day.

The sight startled Rose.

He looked as though he’d just lost everything.

“Shall we go?” Sam asked, his voice sounding mechanical.

The Doctor blinked, pausing in motion as his eyes were still frozen on Sam’s, but soon the spell broke. “Uhm, yeah. Sure. Whatever you want.”

Sam didn’t look at her as he walked up into the TARDIS, his face exactly the same as before. He looked like a zombie. Completely dead inside. The Doctor glanced at Rose behind his back, sharing her worry over their newfound friend’s state and doubt entered them both whether this was the right thing to do.


Thoughts? Theories? :D

Date: 2007-07-22 02:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pnr.livejournal.com
I haven't re-read them in a long time and I noticed while discussing the end with my friend that I have forgotten like 99% XD


heehee, yes! XD
and we can have fancy clothes and crowns! *laugh*


(we have so drifted away from praising the fic XD)

Date: 2007-07-23 04:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aliasagent.livejournal.com
lol. We so have but that's what being queens of babble means :D The very essence of our power ;)

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