The Daisy Lady

By: SilverLunarStar

Disclaimer: I wish I did, but I don't own.

Author's Note: I (mostly) wrote this with the mindset that I've only seen Rose and the preview for The End of the World for challenge 84 of then_theres_us.

It all started with the Daisy Lady.

Rose was following the Doctor outside the Powell Estate, trying to convince him to tell her more about the mannequins.

Before the tall man could get too far, a small lady holding a basket full of white flowers intercepted him.

"Now young man-" He snorted. "-I'm sure your young woman has done nothing to offend you, so give her this and ask for forgiveness." She handed him a daisy.

"We're not-"

"Missy, believe me, I know when a man's in need of forgiveness."

"I haven't any money." He smiled tightly; he was in need for forgiveness alright, but for actions that were unforgivable.

"This one's on me." She grabbed his hand and put the delicate flower there. With that, she left.

Embarrassed, he stuffed the flower in his pocket.

Rose simply acted as if they'd gone uninterrupted, demanding to know who he is.

After helping him with the Nestene Consciousness, saving him, and giving in when he came back (let's face it, she'd regretted saying no even before the words had come out of her mouth), the Doctor took her everywhere. Well, when she said everywhere… When he'd come back to remind her "it also travels in time" (really, Time And Relative Dimension In Space was a bit of a mouthful, but not something you'd some forget), she knew the first thing she wanted to do was see another world in a different time. How she got him to do so, while making him believe he'd thought it all on his own was a story for another day.

The point was, ever since they first ran into the Daisy Lady, everyone would mistake them for a couple. As if that wasn't bad enough, it seemed as if those bloody flowers were stalking them.

The first time, it was something of a surprise.

"A daisy for the fair lady?" A street vendor presented her with a purple-pink flower he called a daisy.

Rose stared at it. After a few moments of realising she was close to gawking at something so simple, she slightly stammered, "I-I'm sorry, I haven't any money on me."

The man, who looked like any other man on 21st century Earth even though they were in the 63rd century on a planet two galaxies away, scoffed. "Well, of course you don't, but your man should be able to spare a few coins."

Rose was more than annoyed at his assumption, but before she could correct him, 'her' man approached them. "Ready to keep exploring, Rose?" He looked decidedly smug, making her believe he'd been able to cut quite the deal for some odd parts he'd said he needed for the TARDIS. She'd simply had shrugged; who was she to judge what parts a time machine needed?

"Oi, there man, your lady be wanting a daisy," the vendor said in his gruff voice.

"Oh does she now?" The Doctor raised a brow at her.

"Apparently I'm not to carry any money with me." She quirked an eyebrow right back.

"Of course not; a proper lady should be taken care of," he mocked teasingly. He handed the vendor three coins before choosing a daisy himself, this one its common white colour, and presenting it to Rose in a grand gesture; she accepted with a curtsy.

Not even an hour later (the equivalent of a half-hour on Earth), they're running back to the TARDIS because they forgot themselves and the Doctor had handed Rose some change. Holding hands, they grinned at each other, leaving the mad store clerk behind.

The second time, the TARDIS landed them near a field of multi-coloured daisies. This time, a group of women in the nearby village were making daisy-chains and one of them handed the Doctor a crown on pure-white daisies.

"For the pink and yellow princess in your life."

This time Rose flushed, wearing the colour of her namesake on her face, as if to confirm the 'pink' in 'pink and yellow.'

The Doctor simply grinned and put the crown on her head.

Soon, they were being chased for inappropriate' behavior. By the time they got back to the TARDIS, only one flower clung to Rose's bleached locks.

The next time, she was a little more prepared. Entering the TARDIS, Rose continued to twirl the flower in her hand that she'd received from her 'mate.' "Doctor?"

He grunted, closing the door behind him, before heading to the console.

"Why do we keep running across daisies? It's like, every place we go…"

"Better than running into roses, don't you think? Now that would be a cliché."

She laughed and agreed.

The Doctor grinned right back. Seeing as she was still waiting for an answer, she responded, "Daisies just happen to be one of the most common flowers in the universe. Now roses, roses are a lot harder to come by."

Grinning with teeth-and-tongue, she retorted, "Is there any place in the universe where there aren't any daisies? Everywhere we've been we've encountered daisies and all the 'aliens' have looked humanoid. Or will the end of the universe come about if we don't have at least one daisy after a trip?" she joked.

The Doctor's grin faltered as she mentioned 'the end of the universe,' suddenly realising his life wasn't all fun and games. He'd allowed himself to fall into this sham, Rose's youth and lightness influencing him like a potent drug. 'If you only knew what the end of your world meant,' he thought bitterly. With that, he set their next destination. "Just you wait, Rose Tyler, you haven't seen nothing yet."

The TARDIS whined somewhat; she thought the daisies were lovely. She took the Doctor where he wanted to go, though. There is/was/will be trouble brewing that he has to/had to/will stop. Their new companion also needed to realise what she was truly getting herself into, but she was confident Rose could handle it and bring about a lightness to the Doctor that he hadn't seen in a while.

While they didn't encounter any daisies at the space station in the year five billion, they did make small talk with a tree who also questioned their relationship.

After saving who they could, the Doctor and Rose entered the TARDIS somberly.

She surprised herself by being disappointed there were no daises this time around so she made herself blink repeatedly as a white flower was suddenly presented before her. Taking it, she looked up at the Doctor, back to the flower, and into his blue eyes again. She realised this was a form of apology and she opened her mouth to ask him where he got it from, but closed it as she saw his hands stuffed into the pockets of his leather jacket, recalling the Daisy Lady. Instead of questioning him about it, she simply asked, "Where are we off to next?"

Grinning a grin that was slowly becoming her favorite grin in the universe, she started pushing buttons and lifting levers on the console. "We've got all of time and space before us, Rose Tyler, where would you truly like to go?"

If it was with him? "Everywhere, any when."

This was inspired by one of bloose09's icon (as seen on the episode's discussion post). I actually wrote this in a notebook last night (first time for Doctor Who and it's been a while since I've written something in a notebook!) before typing it up today.

Please let me know what you think!

~*Eli