Bigger on the inside: Space, Time Travel, Alien Criminals (A Space Time Travel Mystery Book 1)

by Alianna Smith

  Rose wasn’t happy at the idea of being poked and prodded, nor would the boys be, but she knew that Dominic’s request was reasonable and wise. “I think that can be arranged.”

  “What about the equipment for the infirmary? You said I’d get to have a say in it.”

  “You will. There will also be some equipment you’re unfamiliar with, but we’ll have someone from London come up here to instruct and train all our medical staff,” Rose said.

  If Dominic seemed surprised by her readiness to oblige, he only showed it briefly. He leaned back in his seat and popped a piece of bread into his mouth. The warm bread in combination with the olive oil really was something else. It was another reason why Tony’s had become their favourite haunt. “Yes. I’d like to work for you. Miss Tyler,” he said eventually.

  “Welcome to Torchwood then, Doctor Henley,” she said, smiling.

  After lunch they went to the Priory. The deeds had come through in record time (they chalked it up to the church being glad to be rid of the property) so when Rose and Dominic went on the grand tour they could already make plans for the infirmary. Rose was impressed by how much thought Dominic had put into the project. Starting off the blueprints in her office, they had a look at the premises and made a list of things he required and several quick sketches of changes that needed to be made to the floor plan to accommodate the infirmary. By the time they were finished, Dominic was a bit nervous by the volume of notes Rose had taken on her clipboard.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’ll get what you need,” she said. She really liked his ideas. The infirmary was to overlook the river and had access to the gardens. The lab and morgue would be housed in the vaulted basement, and the operating theatre as well as radiology were to be in windowless rooms at the heart of the Priory. The whole hospital wing, as they’d come to call it, would seal itself off in case of an emergency, with independent power, water and air supply.

  “You’re very well-prepared,” Rose said as they were sitting in her office, nursing a cup of tea.

  “Take it as a compliment. I knew as soon as you asked me that I’d say yes,” he admitted.

  “I did too,” Rose said, grinning at him.

  He looked a bit surprised at that, but quickly covered it up. “What about the nurse and the lab rat?”

  “Just jot down their names, we’ll get in touch with them,” Rose said.

  Dominic wrote down two names and passed the notepad to Rose. “I suppose signing the contract will put a stop to me asking you out, won’t it? Today was strictly business,” he said.

  “I’m afraid so,” Rose said, glad that he was such a professional. “Which doesn’t mean that we can’t be friends. Mickey, Jake and I are very close. The better we know each other, the better we’ll work together.”

  Dominic nodded. “You’re very honest.”

  “No one deserves to be lied to, least of all in matters of the heart,” Rose said.

  “I appreciate that.”

  -:-

  In the next couple of days Rose tried to distract herself from wondering about Dave by concentrating on the plans for the Priory and her home. She dragged the mattress and her bedding from her bedroom to one of the empty rooms and pushed the heavy four-poster bed into the centre of the room. After she’d covered the floor and part of the bed with plastic sheeting she started to paint the wall behind the headboard in the warm shade of grey she had put together at the DIY shop. For a moment she’d been tempted to buy a deep blue, but she’d decided against it. If need be she’d buy lots of blue accessories, like a duvet and pillowcases.

  She got the knack of painting the wall very quickly, and when she was halfway done, her phone chirped. Sighing at the interruption, she climbed down the ladder to check the caller ID. It was the ring tone she had assigned to the number on her business card, so hopefully, that was a good sign. The last thing she needed now was a major interruption.

  It was Dave’s number.

  Her heart sped up as she tapped the mobile to accept the call. “Hi.”

  “Hello, Rose,” he said, surprised that she’d picked up. “I have some sketches for the Emptiness Folder. And I was wondering about the shoot for the brochure.”

  “You still want to do that? The empty rooms shoot, I mean?” Rose asked. Each day that passed with no word from Dave fortified her to accept that he’d call the entire project off.

  “If you’re still up to it, yes,” he said.

  “I’d love to.”

  “I have a cancellation this afternoon, and I was wondering if you were free?”

  “Would you mind coming to my place? I could show you some of my empty rooms,” Rose said, biting her lip after she was finished. She was afraid she’d sounded a bit too eager.

  “Sure,” he replied. Rose waited, her heart still pounding, for him to find a pen and paper and to scribble down her address.

  She sat on the edge of the bed for a few moments after he had rung off. He hadn’t mentioned her confession at all, which was good. It wasn’t something you discussed over the phone. She had been worried that he’d be scared by the fact that she was a telepath, particularly after what she had done to him by accident. Slipping into someone else’s mind unbidden was the worst thing she could do, even if she hadn’t meant to. When the Doctor had done it to her the first time to teach her how to deal with her ability, she had been terrified. She really needed to practise the techniques the Doctor had showed her so she could control the ability. Until then it would be more of a curse than a gift..

  She’d have to find a way to make it clear to Dave that she hadn’t meant to slip inside his mind like that, and that she certainly hadn’t done it so he’d believe her story. When she’d been to the cinema with Tony she hadn’t returned her 3D goggles. If she could find them, he’d be able to see the Void Stuff that still surrounded her. Hopefully that would help him understand what had happened.

  She stared at the white and grey wall. The colour was great, no matter what her mum had said. With the right light fixtures and some framed pictures the wall would look spectacular. She needed to close the door on the Lever Room once and for all. It wasn’t so much because she wanted to forget; it was so she could move on. The Doctor had left his mark on her and on her life; she’d never be able to forget him, nor did she want to. But if she wanted to be happy she needed to move on, and that was exactly what he would have wanted for her. After all these years it was time to run again.

  After a while Rose remembered the time and that she needed to finish painting the wall before Dave arrived. It wouldn’t do to create ugly edges by interrupting her work. The colour had started to dry already, and she was lucky that it wasn’t too late yet. She climbed the ladder and started to paint the wall.

  She was nearly finished when a sharp knock on her front door roused her from her thoughts. The regularity of the movement had helped empty her mind so well that she’d completely forgotten about time and Dave.

  “Shit!” she muttered, putting the brush aside with great care. She hastily wiped her hands on an old towel before she hurried downstairs. She’d wanted to take a shower and change before he arrived, but that was out of the question now.

  Rose opened the door for him in her baggy T-shirt and a pair of paint-stained leggings. “Hello, Dave. Come in.”

  He hesitated briefly. “Am I interrupting something?”

  “Ah, no. I... lost track of time. I thought I’d be finished by now,” she said. “It’s my bad.”

  “Are you painting?” he asked.

  “Yes, the bedroom needed a bit of colour,” she said, stepping aside to let him enter.

  “Grey?” he asked, furrowing his brow.

  “What?”

  He pointed at her forehead. She’d brushed her fingers over it earlier to get rid of a few hairs and they must have left a lovely smear. “Grey. You’re painting your bedroom grey?”

  “It looks lovely!” she protested. Why did everyone seem to be so horrified at the idea? “Come an
d see for yourself.”

  Dave toed off his boots and dropped his bag next to them. Then he followed her up the stairs to her bedroom. The floorboards creaked beneath their combined weight as they stepped into her bright room. The grey looked even warmer with the afternoon sun on it. Dave, however, didn’t seem convinced. Why did his opinion mean so much to her? “It’ll look lovely once it’s finished,” she added feebly, brushing past him to pick up the brush and finish the job.

  “Do you have another?” he asked.

  “What?” she asked, surprised. When she turned around to look at him, he was pulling his jumper over his head, offering her a peek at a sliver of his pale skin as he accidentally untucked his vest. She couldn’t help staring at his exposed stomach, and quickly averted her eyes as he draped his jumper over the foot board of her bed and brushed his hair back. This brief glimpse of his skin had done things to her.

  “A brush. I’d like to help you. If that’s okay,” he said, rousing her from her thoughts. Rose couldn’t help blushing a little.

  “Um, yeah. There must be one next door,” she squeaked in surprise. Stunned, she watched him disappear, He couldn’t seriously be offering to help paint her bedroom.

  “You don’t need to do this,” she protested as he returned with a new brush.

  “I’ve been meaning to redo the kitchen for ages. Maybe helping you will help me work up an appetite,” he said, shrugging.

  “Then I won’t keep you,” she said.

  Together, they made quick progress until they had to work so closely side by side that the inevitable happened and Dave tripped over her, bracing himself with his left hand on the wet paint only to push himself away and hit the white wall in the corner. A perfect print of his left hand adorned the wall.

  “Keech!” He stared at his hand print in horror. “I’m so sorry, Rose. I should have told you I’m useless.”

  “Why?” Rose asked, dragging her right palm over her own brush. She then pressed her hand next to his on the wall, her thumb facing his. “I quite like the idea.” She knelt next to him on the plastic sheet, smiling at his expression of surprise and horror. Eventually, however, he began to smile.

  “You can always repaint the wall,” he offered, looking at their hands, his left one and her right, on the wall beside each other.

  “No, I’m serious. I don’t want them removed,” she said, her smile fading so he’d believe her.

  He looked at her in disbelief. “It’s your bedroom.”

  “Yes. Doesn’t happen often that I invite a gent round here the first time he comes to see me, so consider yourself honoured,” she offered, half-serious.

  “I do,” he said.

  “I enjoyed working with you,” she said. “I usually don’t ask my visitors to help me with my home improvement chores.”

  “I offered,” he pointed out.

  “That you did.”

  When had she gotten so close to him? Their faces were only inches apart. His eyes flitted nervously from side to side as he looked at her, trying to understand her. Dave was waiting for her to make the next move. He had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen; they lacked the gravitas of a Time Lord’s eyes. Rose cupped his cheek with her right hand and after a moment she leaned in to kiss him. It was just a quick brush of her lips against his. His bottom lip was just irresistible. She kissed him again, and as her lips lingered on his he returned the gesture tentatively for a moment.

  His damp hand covered hers on his cheek and his gaze darkened, ready to pluck her paint-covered hand from his face.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t have done that, I’m sorry.”

  “I liked it,” he said softly, pressing her hand to his cheek.

  Rose lowered her gaze. Her heart was hammering in her chest. This had happened far too soon. Why on Earth did she keep catching both of them unawares like this? “Let’s finish this, yeah?”

  She pulled her hand out from beneath his and took a deep breath as she turned away from him to concentrate on the painting again. This time, they were extra careful, the easy companionship of their earlier work gone now that awkwardness ensued over the kiss. What had gotten into her? The man was in mourning, he had offered her his help, and she repaid him by taking advantage of him.

  “There’s a bit of paint,” she said when they had finished, pointing at the side of his face. A nearly perfect print of her hand was on his cheek.

  He brushed his fingertips over it, bringing away only little colour. “It’ll wash off,” he said, his gaze still intense from the intimate moment earlier. “Rose, look at me.”

  She braved herself for his words, smiling.

  “I’d been hoping you’d want to kiss me,” he said, forcing the words out on the back of one single breath. “I was just a bit surprised.” He laughed. “There, I said it.”

  “It’s jus’... so early, right?” Rose answered in surprise. “’s a bit fast.”

  “Aye, it probably is,” he said. His eyes became hopeful. “Does that mean that...”

  “I’ve told you I’d like to be with you,” Rose said, drawing confidence from his openness. “Let’s just not rush into it, yeah?”

  He nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right.” He smiled at her, and for a moment Rose forgot to breathe. He was smiling just for her, she realised, a sweet, gentle smile that reflected the sparkle in his eyes.

  “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up. I’ll show you where the bathroom is,” Rose said.

  -:-

  Dave joined her twenty minutes later, fresh from the shower. When she’d kissed him, he’d leaned back against the wall, daubing his hair and the shoulders of his vest. His hair was still wet, and he had pulled on his jumper without a vest; he had rolled it up and Rose took it from him when she spotted it.

  “I’ll pop that into the laundry,” she said. The scent of her shower gel on him was distracting, and she lingered a moment before withdrawing from him. The temptation to kiss him again was almost overpowering. She gestured at one of the mugs of tea she had prepared. “Have some tea.”

  “You don’t need to do that,” he protested feebly.

  “Dave, if we’re to work together, we’ll have to stop this. It’s just the way I am. You give, I take, I give something in return, that’s what makes me tick,” she said. It occurred to her that she shouldn’t need to explain it to him. Had no one ever done something for him in gratitude? When they had talked, she realised, he had listened to her intently, but he hadn’t offered much about himself. His wide-eyed amazement confirmed her suspicion. The women in his life had done nothing but take advantage of him.

  “That’s one thing,” Dave said. “I know this is personal, but... I’m not sure I can still work for the Heritage Trust Fund,” he said.

  “I don’t see why we couldn’t,” Rose said. It wasn’t as if she’d interfere a lot with his work; she didn’t know much about the art of photography. Her skills were sufficient enough to produce some decent holiday shots and usable footage for cases, but that was about it. “You’ll have to travel and you can decide what part of the site you want to see in the brochure. It’s as simple as that.” When he took the job she wouldn’t see him for a while as he’d be travelling.

  “You were thinking of the Emptiness Folder,” Rose pointed out.

  “Aye.”

  “Show me your ideas,” Rose said.

  He slid off the bar stool he had occupied to get his bag. “I’d love to explain them in more detail to you,” he said. He produced a sketchbook from his bag, along with a couple of small-size prints of the rooms he’d already shown her. Rose took his hand.

  “Come on, I need you to see something.”

  She dragged him up the stairs to her temporary bedroom. The room was just as bright as her bedroom, facing the garden as well, but it didn’t have anything but her mattress and bedding. There was a reading lamp on the floor, along with a couple of books and her alarm clock. “This is where I sleep these days.”

  When he did
n’t respond she looked at him and saw a myriad of ideas flit across his face. In that regard he was very much like the Doctor. Rose decided not to say anything so as not to interrupt the flow of his ideas.

  “Do you mind if I take a quick snap of it? Just for this project, I promise,” he said, reaching for his phone in the pocket of his jeans.

  “Feel free,” Rose said. “You know what, explore the house to your heart’s content.”

  He looked at her as if he couldn’t believe his luck. “You really mean that.”

  “Yes. I trust you.”

  “Oh.”

  “Lots of empty rooms, but they are nothing like the ones in your photos:” Those were all of abandoned buildings, not of homes that were just waiting for a new family to move in as was the case with her house. Some of them were in bad need of renovation, and some, she assumed were even beyond any form of repair.