After hearing about them looking for a new companion for the Doctor, this invaded my brain. I'm 100% certain it will not happen, but the Doctor and Rose shipper in me can dream.
On a side note, I'm looking for a beta for a few other Doctor Who stories I've got going. They're a bit more involved than a one-shot, so I could use the extra input. If anyone wants to lend a hand, I'd be extremely grateful.
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. I am merely borrowing the characters for entertainment purposes.
Together Again
The Doctor backed away from the angry Time Lords, searching for an escape route and trying to think of somewhere he could hide for a while. He knew he would have to answer questions about sealing them in a time lock and then sending them back into the time lock when they had broken through once. He knew they would be furious at being denied relief and an end to the Time War for so long, and he really didn't blame them for that. He did, however, believe he would be allowed to answer questions and defend himself. It never crossed his mind that they would immediately try to arrest him.
He continued to frantically run through various scenarios in his mind, looking for a solution that did not end with him in a Gallifreyan prison. A soft hand sliding into his jolted him from his thoughts. "Run!" whispered a voice that these ears had never heard before and sounded like home all at once.
There was a tug on his hand and then the Doctor was following a head of blond hair through the halls of the Citadel. He had never held this hand in his current body, but the texture and shape of it were burned into his memory. He had never seen her with these eyes, but the back of the head in front of him brought a lump to his throat. So many questions stormed through his mind. Was it really her? How did she get here? How long had it been for her? Why wasn't she with the metacrisis? Relief and hope and love came bubbling up in his chest so hard it knocked the wind out of him. If this wasn't her, the Doctor figured he just might die of heartsbreak.
After twisting and turning through the labyrinth of the Citadel, she pulled him into a room and locked the door behind her. "There we go. Should be safe here for at least a little while. Brings back memories, yeah?" She turned and smiled that brilliant tongue-touched grin at him.
A noise that sounded suspiciously like a whimper and a sob escaped him before he could contain it. "R-Rose?! How?" He was gaping at her in wonder, hands twitching as if he wanted to reach out and touch her but afraid it wouldn't be welcome. And wasn't that odd, seeing as how this body rejected all physical contact?
Rose bit her lip as she looked at him, her own eyes filling with tears. She slowly reached a hand up to touch his cheek and then slid it softly down over his chin. "Doctor," she sighed.
They were suddenly pressed together like two magnets drawn to each other. "Oh, Doctor. I'm so glad you're here. I've missed you."
He buried his face in her neck, feeling like he couldn't get close enough and breathing her in for the first time in more than a millennium. Apparently, Rose Tyler was going to be an exception to his dislike of physical contact. "I missed you too, precious girl." He tightened his embrace and then pulled back to look at her again, afraid if his eyes were off of her for too long she would vanish. "Seriously, Rose. How are you here?"
Rose gestured for him to sit in one of the chairs in the room, which he realized for the first time seemed to be living quarters. At his questioning look she smiled. "My room." This just seemed to baffle the poor Doctor further, so she leaned against the wall and began her story. "I lived an amazing life with my Doctor over in Pete's World. We were married, had children and grandchildren. We were blissfully happy, except that while he was aging normally, I was not." She clasped her hands in front of her and twiddled her thumbs nervously. "Apparently, when I made Jack immortal as Bad Wolf, I changed my own biology as well, hoping to give you your forever."
He could have had her all this time. It made him regret so many things in his life, but there was nothing he could do about those now. All he could do was make the most of any moments she was willing to give him going forward. "How long has it been?" The thought of Rose being alone for decades wounded him in ways he wasn't aware he could be hurt.
Rose shrugged slightly. "Hard to tell in a TARDIS. We did have ours keep track of Earth time for the kids' sake. Ya know, Earth during school terms, vacations crossing the universe."
The Doctor smiled slightly, trying to envision Rose as a mom. He bet she was great at it. But she was also deflecting. "How long, Rose?"
She sighed, not wanting him to feel bad about the answer. "Two thousand years. I took a few companions over the years, mainly women to avoid any emotional confusion. I didn't want any romantic entanglements after my husband died, even though it had been centuries. No one could have ever measured up to him. And now I understand what you meant about your companions leaving."
The Doctor looked guilty as hell and Rose rushed to stem any apologies that may be forming. "Don't blame yourself. Neither one of us knew about my changes and I wouldn't trade one day of my life with my husband. I loved him with every breath I had down to the very core of my being. He was my everything and I was his. Of course, I still worried about you and missed you. But I was deliriously happy there, Doctor."
The Doctor nodded silently and Rose continued. "Eventually, time took him from me. We had 80 incredible years together. Unfortunately after he passed, I couldn't stay on Earth anymore. I wasn't aging and it was getting harder to hide and avoid peoples' questions. I came back frequently to see our kids and grandkids, but mainly traveled that other universe in our TARDIS."
"You learned how to fly the TARDIS?"
Rose looked at him like the answer should have been obvious. "Doctor, you had been teaching me bits and pieces before we were separated. I had 80 years with a Time Lord-human husband and a telepathic marriage bond. We were both bonded to our TARDIS. Of course, I learned how to fly her."
He had been focusing on her answer, but his mind blanked out on 'telepathic marriage bond'. If only she knew how badly he had wanted that with her, but was afraid she wouldn't be able to sustain it. "You bonded with him?" he wheezed out. Jealousy was something he hadn't really felt since his 9th body and Rose's pretty boys, but he stamped the emotion down. He had wanted her to be happy with the metacrisis. His hope had been for the two of them to settle down and be together. He just never expected to have to hear about it.
Rose nodded. "I can still feel almost an echo of it with you. It's not like it was with him, obviously. But it's like an awareness, a familiarity. It's how I knew it was you even though you've regenerated."
He stood and pulled on his coat to straighten it before tucking his hands in his trouser pockets, causing the red lining of his jacket to show. "What, uh…what do you think?" He tried for casual and missed by a mile.
Rose pushed away from the wall and made a show of circling him, studying him intently. "I like the accent." She grinned cheekily and he smiled back at her. "It's different."
The Doctor couldn't stop the beam from splitting his face, something he wasn't really used to in this grumpy body. "Good different or bad different?"
Rose laughed happily. "Just different." She leaned in conspiratorially. "I like it," she whispered.
He couldn't help puffing up a bit at her assessment, but then tried for stern. "Rose, I look like an old man," he scoffed.
Rose just continued to grin at him. "You are an old man!"
The Doctor's face fell into something dangerously resembling a pout and Rose smiled indulgently at him. "Then again, never could be trusted around older blokes, remember?"
The Doctor looked at her like she was something marvelous. "Rose Tyler." He shook himself from his stupor and looked at her in confusion. "Okay, so you could pilot your TARDIS, but how did you end up here?"
Rose frowned slightly. "I was minding my own business, floating along in the other universe's vortex when my TARDIS lurched. I tried to regain control, but we were being pulled somewhere. She landed hard and immediately almost all power was gone. It wasn't quite as bad as when we were pulled into Pete's World, but it was close so I just knew I was back in this universe. I checked a few controls that were still operational and it seemed like she was recalibrating almost all of her systems. Since she was repairing herself, I didn't panic too much but I was concerned."
Rose sighed and ran a hand through part of her hair. "My external scanners were down, but she assured me it was safe, so I just opened the door. As soon as I did, I knew where I was. I had seen it in my Doctor's memories. The swampy nurseries of growing TARDISes and the soft songs they would sing. It was beautiful." Her dreamy expression turned a bit sour. "And then a bunch of pompous, stuffy, know-it-alls came marching up to me and demanded to know why I had been in another universe and complaining about having to pull me home. I was, of course, thoroughly confused. After a lot of demands on their part and 'what are you on about' on my part, they seemed to look at something around me and then stopped suddenly. They started to apologize and addressed me as Bad Wolf. That threw me for a loop, since I hadn't heard that term in over two millennia. When they offered me lodgings here, I couldn't refuse. I wanted to see Gallifrey. I wanted to see the crimson grass and silver leaves that my husband missed so much." She smiled softly at the Doctor. "And it is gorgeous. Although, the local people could use some work," she grumbled and the Doctor let out a laugh, startling himself.
"How long have you been here? They usually don't allow humans on Gallifrey."
She grinned at him. "Apparently, being an all-knowing deity for a few moments grants you some privileges with the Time Lords." Seeing his flinch at the reminder of that situation, she sobered quickly. "I've been here almost two years." She shrugged and began to shyly trace a pattern on the top of the desk next to her. "I didn't have anywhere else to go and knowing I was finally in the right universe, I figured this was my best chance of finding you again." She looked up and then back down again timidly. She wanted more than anything to travel with the Doctor again. But he may not want her anymore.
Sensing her sudden uncertainty, the Doctor gently lifted her chin so he could see her eyes. "Rose Tyler, you magnificent creature." He pressed his lips gently to her forehead.
Rose giggled. "Um, Doctor, would you mind terribly if…" she trailed off. If he rejected her, she wasn't sure she was strong enough to endure it. Not only did she miss him, but life by yourself in a TARDIS was lonely. She toyed with the end of her jumper, twisting the fabric in her hands. "It's just…I was wondering…" she gave a soft groan of frustration.
The Doctor thought he knew what she was trying to ask and hope flared bright and fierce in his hearts. "Rose Tyler, would you like to come with me? Anywhere in time and space? Free of charge?"
Rose smiled softly at the familiar words. They weren't exact, but they were close enough. "Can we use both TARDISes? Park one inside the other when it isn't being used? I can't just leave her behind."
The Doctor nodded with a smile. "Of course. I would never ask you to abandon your TARDIS."
Rose's grin was bright and real, making the Doctor wonder how he ever survived without that warmth shining on him. "Then I would love to travel with you, Doctor. The old team back together. The Stuff of Legends." Her gaze softened slightly as she borrowed his words from long ago, when he was still leather-clad and Northern. "Not a bad life?"
The Doctor laced his fingers with hers as they prepared to sneak out of her room and head for Rose's TARDIS since it was closer. He grinned down at her, the expression somehow simultaneously manic and beautiful and achingly familiar. "Better with two."
Rose smiled with her tongue perched in her teeth. With a quick glance down the hall, they sprinted toward Rose's TARDIS and their new adventures. Maybe they wouldn't pick up where they had left off. Too much had happened to both of them for that. But they were together, and that was what mattered most. The rest would come in time. Now that Rose's forever matched the Doctor's, they would get there. The Doctor in the TARDIS with Rose Tyler. Just as it should be.