Chapter 1 - Back Again
The woman returning from a late shift at work whirled around in the small parking lot at the base of her apartment building looking for the source of the sound that had been haunting her dreams, the best and the worst, ever since the day she first heard it. Rose pulled her coat tighter around her, the cold winter air whipping through her long blonde hair. Still looking around, straining her ears to pinpoint the origin of the keys being dragged along piano strings.
What she heard was familiar, and instantly her mind cycled through every memory she had of that marvelous box, and the man that came with it. She longed to run towards that gorgeous blue color, but had no destination. The next 5 seconds seemed to be the longest of her life as she waited, prayed, that she would see what she hoped for; what she'd been waiting for for over five years with no way of knowing if the day would ever come.
There it was, finally. The place that she would always call home no matter where, or when, she ended up. It just stood there, unmoving.
The grin could not be kept off his face as he ran, half stumbling, around the central console of the TARDIS, pressing buttons and pulling levers. He listened to the beautiful whizzing sound that always rung in his ears; the sound that was so familiar to him.
The Gallifrayan thought about all the time that had passed for him. He thought of the countless adventures he'd had since last seeing his favorite companion. From there he thought about the many people he'd met, and gotten to know, during that time. Listing them in his mind he thought: Martha, Donna, Jack, Amy, Rory, River, Clara, and many more. Their time with him had all ended different ways, but Rose leaving had been the hardest. Neither of them had had any choice in the matter, and many words had gone unsaid. The Time Lord had finally figured out how to manage getting into Rose's parallel universe, without causing both universes to collapse, after thinking about the problem constantly over the past years.
The Doctor raced to the doors that would lead him outside before stopping abruptly. He stood there for a moment, just staring. He was, for the first time in a long while, scared. Had she changed? Would she even be there to greet him, or would she want him gone? Was she even alive? He couldn't let his thoughts get to him. He straightened his tie, smoothed his brown suit, and stepped outside.
The Doctor stood there with a blank expression on his face. Rose looked back. A couple seconds past like this before they both grinned in unison and ran the short distance between them into a long awaited embrace.
The tall man pulled back first but kept his hands on Rose's shoulders. He examined her up and down with approval. "You haven't changed one bit, Miss Tyler."
Rose grinned. "Neither have you I'm happy to see. No regeneration."
The Doctor's expression deepened into more of a conversation mode, but he kept his smile. He didn't expect that to go away anytime soon. "Well actually there has been some change. Not too long after you left I regenerated into a form I was quite fond of; still not ginger however. That lasted, oh... 5-6 years? Then after the Battle of Chanley I had to regenerate again. I quite liked my 10th form so I figured why give it up? I then..."
"Doctor!" Rose cut in. "Slow."
The Doctor trailed off a bit. "I'm stopping! Basically, I'm clever and I degenerated."
"Well you're still you. That's what matters."
"I'm still me." The Time Lord smiled at his, no longer, lost friend.
She seized his hand suddenly and ran, dragging him towards the stairs that led to her apartment. He didn't question a thing. He assumed she lived alone now, given her mother had Rose's father and a son, while Mickey was back in his original universe. He wondered if Rose had a boyfriend currently.
Their feet rapidly clunked up the steps. The reached the 3rd floor and walked past 3 doors on their right before stopping at the same, familiar, apartment that Rose had lived in in their own universe. Of course, it wasn't the same one, but it was clear that she was trying to make it as much like as home as possible. That gave him hope that she would want to leave with him. That however led to another thought. Maybe this was home now. What if Rose didn't want to go back to her first universe with him?She had money here, her family, a job at UNIT, friends, a life. Could he take that from her? He pushed his fears aside and followed Rose into the living room that looked astonishingly similar to her original, with lots of bright colors. They settled on the couch.
"So, Miss Tyler, tell me everything! How are your mother and father? You have a brother! Your life is good, yeah?" The Doctor guessed her reply before it came. Her life was probably great by anyone else's standards, but she had spent time in the TARDIS. There's know way of going back to a normal life after that.
"I'm doing great Doctor! Everyone is doing well and things at UNIT couldn't be better. I've whipped them into shape. They're a much better crowd now."
He was glad to hear she was happy, but somehow, the fact that she was so happy with her life stung more that what he'd been expecting. That meant she might not want to leave.
She sensed his disappointment and quickly added, "of course it's nothing compared to a life traveling the universe and beyond with you, my dear Doctor."
"Well... that leads to my inevitable question. I would be honored if you came with me, like old times. I understand that you have a life here, but I can now bring you back at anytime and nobody would ever need to know you left." He looked at her beautiful face, hopefully, getting lost in her eyes.
"Oh no, Doctor!" His expression sunk. She quickly redeemed herself. "I mean, there's no way we're going anywhere without saying goodbye to my mother. You know what happens when we do that and don't get back in time for dinner."
The Gallifrayan grinned again, ecstatic that Rose would be coming with him, but then he froze, thinking about having to face Rose's mother. He liked her father well enough, but her mother was always handful. She was also not bound to be happy after she's seen the kind of goodbye he and Rose had had last time. There were three word that desperately needed to be said, and Jackie Tyler knew it.
