REC: One Track Mind

[biichan.livejournal.com]

These are the recommendations of the Calufrax reccer Biichan. My week-long mission is to explore strange new genres, to seek out new authors and new pairings, and to boldly rec where I have not recced before.

Story: One Track Mind
Author: Doctor Tam
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 1698
Author's summary: The Doctor tells Rose his life story. Or something. “Twenty-nine!? Jeez, Mickey was right, you’re some sort of womanizer or something!”
Characters/Pairings: Tenth Doctor, Rose
Warnings: Don't read while drinking fluids

Recced because: There exists a certain subgenre of New Who fanfiction in which the Ninth or Tenth Doctor explains his past unprompted to Rose (or Martha or Donna, but usually Rose for some reason), despite the fact that canonically he never seems to explain anything about himself without being bullied into it. (See: Martha Jones in Gridlock.) This is generally used as a way to create a greater emotional intimacy between the Doctor and his companion.

This fic takes that very subgenre and skewers it brilliantly. Oh yes, the Doctor confesses. He confesses it all and Rose isn't particularly reassured by anything she hears. But it's done with so much love and affection along with the snark that one can't help but grin.

“So, how many have there been?”

The Doctor sighs, devoutly glad that Mickey has gone off to find a room. His tendency to misinterpret Sarah Jane as an old girlfriend would be increasingly irritating in a conversation about all his friends. At least Rose understands that you can love someone without being in love with them. Hopefully. Actually, it’s possible that she’s fuzzy on the concept, and that’s what’s causing this trouble.

“Well? If you don’t want to answer–“

Oh, yeah, the question. The Doctor calculates in his head, running up against some problems: does he include the Brigadier? Do Katarina and Sara Kingdom count? What about K9 and Kamelion? Eventually he sorts it out: “29. I think. Roughly.”

Comments

[nonelvis]

That was fantastic. I started snickering when the Doctor wondered whether the Brig counted as a canonical companion, and I kept laughing all the way through the end.