Feelings sometimes need a TARDIS
Synopsis: When 9 regenerates into 10, Rose knows he has changed and remembers her relationship with 9
It had been so hard seeing the doctor change. Even now, she could hardly feel it was him… When she turned to talk to him, she was still gazing at his new regenerated face with amazement: how could it be the same man, the same Doctor, HER Doctor… She had this movement backwards whenever she turned to him starting : « Doctor… », this feeling of facing a stranger… Yet she had decided to continue travelling with him, through time and space, as before while she knew nothing would be as before… And now it was bedtime and she was beginning to wonder … She hadn't thought of that before, but obviously, as he had warned her that his personality would also have changed, it would also change that… And she didn't want to replace HER Doctor with this new Doctor in a sudden, as if nothing had happened… It reminded her of the first day this organization of the TARDIS had started.
It was right after the story of the child with a gasmask, that scary little boy asking for his mummy… She shuddered when she thought of it, but soon more agreeable feelings came back to her. It was the day she had asked the Doctor if he knew how to dance, as it seemed so improbable that he never had danced with anybody. And when he had seemed to remember suddenly, she had felt a strange excitement rising in her. And on that night in the TARDIS, while Jack was with them, when he told them he remembered how to dance, he made her his famous and adorable grin, his blue eyes warming her cheeks, and he kissed her. She couldn't have felt more surprised or more at ease at the same time. She had yearned for it but never thought of it becoming real. Then he blushed and suddenly seemed to realize what he was doing, under the mocking eye of Jack, who said : « Well, dancing wasn't THAT hot when I was at the dancing school… »
And so, the Doctor decided it was better not talk about it and announced bedtime with an unusual haste. And everyone got to its respective bedroom. But the TARDIS had decided otherwise: for once, she would force the Doctor into expressing his feelings. So she locked his bedroom door. Deadlocked it. Even his screwdriver, dear as it was to him, was of no use. « At THE moment you need a spaceship crashing, everything is quiet ! » exclaimed the Doctor. The TARDIS thought it useful to remind him that HE had asked her to add a door between Rose's room and his, « in case a problem might happen »…
The Doctor finally resolved on asking Rose if he could use this door… But then he would have to tell her there was a door between her room and his…
He knocked a the door, unsure of the way he was supposed to act after what had happened, and Rose told him to enter, thinking it was Jack asking for some precisions about the TARDIS and where the rooms were located. He entered carefully :
« Hi…
-Hi, Doctor… I wasn't expecting you…
-Well, neither was I… I mean, expecting to come… Well, I would just like to take the door between your room and mine, because the TARDIS has locked mine, and…"
He tried to open the said door to escape, but it was locked. Deadlocked. Again.
« So, there is a door in my room that I didn't know… Maybe an explanation, Doctor ?
-It was just to ensure you were safe, I mean, in case, you know, with all those aliens hanging around… » He tried to return to his usual role of guardian and friend with a pirouette but, if it had to be judged upon Rose's expression, it didn't really work…
« Doctor, if you want to forget about what happened earlier, just tell me… It's Okay, you know… And if you prefer me to leave, I wouldn't want to stay if you didn't want me to…
-Rose, I would not lose you for the entire universe, he interrupted her without thinking (why could he never THINK before speaking?! This incarnation was really too sentimental…)
-Yes, I'm pretty good at saving the world, am I not? » She laughed nervously, also getting back to their habit of laughing never to tell their feelings.
« You are more than that. You're fantastic » He grinned again (why couldn't she resist his smile?) and kissed her. And they danced.
From that moment the door between his room and hers had been quite useful… But can it be called a door if it's always open?
And now, she was back to the TARDIS, and she stepped into the corridor leading to her room, when the Doctor, the New Doctor, appeared. He seemed a little awkward, but she found in his shy yet open expression the reflection of what he had been. Maybe he was more the Doctor than she had thought he was.
« Rose, I… I just wanted to tell you that I have asked the TARDIS to delete the door between our rooms, so you don't have to feel awkward or anything » Look at who was saying that…
« Well, thank you, Doctor » She looked at him with an earnest expression… « I… I need some time, you know »
« Rose Tyler, we have the whole of time before us » And he smiled. And that smile was like a warming shock blanket after the shock of the regeneration. He hadn't smiled to her like that yet. And, well, it was still HIS smile…
"Well, maybe not THAT long to wait", she thought.
He entered into his own room, stepped back and added:
« You know, Rose, one day, you asked me what I was changing into… I was changing into a better man, thanks to you. Good night, Rose.»
Rose's heart melted as she recognized the words of HER Doctor in his new voice. He eventually entered his room.
Days, months later, right after The Girl in the fireplace, Rose wondered about the New Doctor's feelings towards her… After what he had obviously been doing with Reinette… But anyway, if he was happy, it was all she was asking for… Already in his room, the Doctor was thinking that his fear before his increasing feelings for Rose made him commit really weird things…
When Rose tried to enter her room, it was locked. And the TARDIS whispered : « I have put the door back… »