Fic with Shireen in! To combat all the angst! Go meeee! D


It's a pretty hot night, even for July, so Shireen (It would be Shireen, wouldn't it) suggests that they go down the pub for a drink. Rose tries to refuse, she knows what Shireen's like after a couple of pints - either on the floor or sobbing her eyes out about some imaginary lover or some rubbish like that - and she has no wish to repeat her last experience with drink, where her and Shireen went to the pub the night before their English Lit. GCSE and almost failed the exam due to the massive hangovers from hell that they'd given themselves.

But Shireen, being Shireen, is persuasive, and despite Rose's flat refusal (and being brought up by Jackie, she knows how to turn down any offer easily) she somehow finds herself sitting in the pub with a beer in front of her, watching Shireen get pissed.

She's on the borderline tipsy-drunk stage now, waving around with several glasses in front of her, giggling.

"See, I told you that this was a good idea, right Rose?"

Rose tries not to giggle. "You're drunk!"

Shireen waves her vodka at her. "Noooo. Not drunk. Just tipsy. I'm not a lightweight!" She sighs contently. "So whaddya gonna do now that you're back here with the rest of us mortals?"

She's referring to Jimmy Stone, and Rose knows it. "I dunno," she looks up and sucks her teeth in, "get a job, meet Mickey for lunch, do what normal people do… stop you getting plastered," she adds pointedly.

Shireen waves her finger. "Get a little ambition in your head girl! You don't wanna be tied down by that Mickey for the rest of your life!"

"Um, yeah, well that's what made me go with Jimmy, and look where he ended up."

Shireen puts down her vodka and fixes Rose with a gaze that doesn't quite look as serious as it's meant to because of the drink. "Nahh. You're meant for better things Rose. You need to get around more!" She takes another generous sip and wobbles around a bit. "I mean…" she frowns a bit, her train of thought lost. "Ah yeah. I mean, ya won't know who the one is 'til ya meet 'im. I mean, sure, that Mickey might tell ya that he loves ya ever'tother day…" She's slurring her words now. "But!" she adds triumphantly, not letting the drink beat her, "I betcha ya don't think that he's the one for you. I mean, Rose, when ya meet the one… ya'll know. Ya not gonna need words, ya know?" she giggles, and starts humming tunelessly. "I mean, ya'll know… yeah…" without any warning, her head drops on the table and her glass on the floor.

Rose looks at her friend and sighs.

"You're nuts, you are. And," she adds, "Such a lightweight." She calls for a cab to take them back to the estate and thinks nothing more of what Shireen said. She always speaks nonsense when she's drunk.

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Years later, and Rose realises that she was right. Silly old drunken Shireen, her mate who she used to bunk off school and look at boys with. You just know.

She knows. She knows as surely as she knows her own name that he had her from "Run."

He's different from Mickey, good old reliable clumsy Mickey, and yet he's also different from that tosser Jimmy Stone. Not as reliable as Mickey, (well if you can change your face instead of dying, she supposes it's pretty hard to be reliable), but somehow she knows that he's not going to just up and dump her back on the Powell Estate like Jimmy either.

She knows. And she knows that he knows that she knows, just like he knows that she knows that he knows. And it's slightly confusing for both their heads as to who knows what and exactly what it is that they both know, but that doesn't matter, because they don't need words, it's all emotion and feeling. Like that warm feeling she gets inside when he smiles in that way that's not quite smiling, when they're on some planet where her hair's blowing in a wind that she can't feel and the sky's purple above their heads, and when he takes her by the hand and they run screaming down some hill just for the sheer pleasure of being the only people there, and reach the bottom breathless and laughing and with their hearts (all three of them) beating fast against their chests because this is what it means to be alive.

And then he trips over some rock which neither of them could see before because he's not looking where he's going like usual, and after seeing if he's alright she finds that her own legs forget to hold her up because she's laughing so much, and he says in a voice that's filled with mock-hurt that it isn't funny and starts muttering under his breath about rocks being where they shouldn't be waiting to trip some unsuspecting Time Lord up with their rocky-ness and hiding-in-the-grass-ness, and did she realise just how much it hurt to trip over one of these in a pair of Converse?

And she's still laughing because this is one of the things that she loves most about him. And after realising that she stopped listening to his rant a long time ago, he slowly lets a grin spread over his face until he starts laughing too, and they're both laughing at the silliness of the whole situation.

Because they know, and they're going to make this last forever. What's forever or impossible when you've got a time machine? It's a much better life with two.

Plenty of time for words later. Because they know, and if they felt this even more strongly, then they'd probably burst from the happiness it's giving them.

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There's a Shireen in this universe too, though she doesn't know how she didn't notice it before. Shireen's pretty hard not to notice. Still cheeky, still fond of a vodka and still just as impossible to handle when drunk.

She finds her through Torchwood, oddly enough. Goes for a drink with Jake and Mickey and finds her sitting in what would be her usual spot at home. So she goes over and strikes up a conversation, and before you know it, they're chatting like they've known each other their whole lives.

Which she supposes they have.

It's something that Shireen points out over a drink one night. "God Rose, I only met you a coupla months ago and it's like I've known ya since we were kids, weird huh?"

Rose forces an uneasy smile. "Yeah. Guess we got lucky!"

Rose has started building her life again in this new universe, so like her own but so different. She's not gonna sit and mope around when there's so much that she could be doing. That's not what the Doctor would want for her, she knows that as surely as she knows that she still loves him even a year on, and that he loved her, and she finds herself hoping, still does.

So she carries on, determined to have a fantastic life. There's never been any point in moping before, and she's not going to let there be any now. So she ignores the pointed looks that her mum gives her in between dealing with her baby sister (who her dad decided to name Violet for some daft reason; she guesses that even in this universe, he has a thing about flower names), and the gentle smiles from Mickey and the reassurances that she can talk if she wants to, and she throws herself into living that fantastic life. They love her at work. Miss Tyler? A brilliant worker, so dedicated, and so knowledgeable, though you wouldn't think it to look at her.

But for those who can see, it's in her eyes. This girl's seen more than the rest of them.

It's another night like the rest when Shireen brings up the subject of love. Well, she was always a hopeless romantic under that thick make-up of hers.

"I broke up with Dave last night," she says over her first vodka, one that Rose knows will once again be the first of many.

"Oh. You don't seem that sad about it, Shir."

She shrugs. "Well, it was time to move on, ya know?" She downs her drink and orders another. "So, what about you Rose? You got anyone?"

Rose tries to sidestep the question casually. "I don't really date anymore, Shireen."

Shireen looks both shocked and sympathetic. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry. What was it? Your last guy didn't hurt you or anything, did he?"

Rose laughs, both with amusement at the idea and a sort of sadness. "No. I just don't feel ready yet."

"Ahhh, so he was special then," her dark-haired friend nods, back on familiar ground. "Wanna talk about him?"

"There's not really much to say," Rose lies, running a hand through her blonde hair - she still dyes it with peroxide every month, because it makes her feel close to him somehow. "I met this guy. He told me to run and we went travelling… everywhere. Seemed like it was gonna last forever." She smiles wistfully. "But he's gone now."

"He didn't leave you or anything?" Shireen says, her attention not 50 per cent on the vodka for once.

"No! No, he wouldn't do that." she says strongly. "There was some trouble, that's all, and now we can't see each other again. I don't even know where he is. But I just knew, Shireen, you know? I just knew."

Shireen's almost in tears now, though whether from the story or some form of last night's residual hangover, Rose can't tell. "Oh… so he was the one, was he?" She stares morosely into her glass for a few moments. "You know Rose, I bet he's still out there searching for ya right now. I bet that one day this mystery man of yours is gonna come find ya again. I mean," she starts waving her glass around, excited at the prospect, "it's a small world, right? You're bound to find him again one day!"

Rose smiles at Shireen's conviction. For a minute, it's like she's never left home. "Wish I could believe you. I hope so." She feels something painful grasp her heart for a minute as she thinks of the Doctor all alone in her old universe with no hand to hold. She hopes he's not alone. Not when she isn't. A smile makes her lips curve up as she muses, "D'ya know, Shireen, I didn't even know his real name."

Shireen rolls her eyes. "Honestly, don't confuse me! Are we talking about a one-night stand or a meaningful passionate love affair here?" She raises her glass and doesn't seem to notice or care when some spills onto her jeans. "Here's a toast then. To Rose's mysterious mystery lover boy, wherever he may be." She downs her third glass with satisfaction and a serious sort of look to her, like she's at some sort of state occasion. (Then again, she can't be, it's a Peoples' Republic in this universe). Rose also drains her beer silently and thinks again of her Doctor. "Yeah," she agrees, having to smile at Shireen's words. "Wherever he may be."

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