Waiting
How long had it been, she wondered, since the Doctor had broken through the glass? It seemed like days, at the least many hours, but she couldn't be sure.
Behind her stood Mickey; angrier than ever. She didn't doubt it was at the Doctor; after all, he had left the both of them behind while he went on his mission to save that Madame de Pompadour, whoever she was. He must've known neither she nor Mickey knew how to drive the TARDIS at all.
He had to break the glass – and the connection – and get himself stuck in 1758, didn't he? She crossed her arms as she relaxed her stiff position on the chair. Somehow, she knew she'd have to wait a while longer.
She ignored Mickey, who'd gone inside the TARDIS, and stared at the broken glass where a time window once was.
It had been a long time, and he was getting angrier. How dare the Doctor just abandon them – abandon Rose – like that? All for some girl he'd just met!
According to the TARDIS screen, they'd been waiting for a couple of days. Where was that man?
Mickey just rolled his eyes and went to check up on Rose, who was still sitting on the same chair. "Hey Rose," he called her, "have you slept at all?" Her expression told him he didn't, but he knew better than to try and convince her to do so.
Instead, he went to look for the kitchens, feeling slightly hungry. Twenty minutes later, he walked across the console room; sandwich in hand, to offer Rose something to eat – anything. He didn't notice the slight tremor pass through the TARDIS upon landing.
"Rose-"He looked out of the door and dropped the sandwich, as he realised he wasn't in that 51st century spaceship any longer. He registered the scenery of 21st century London and swore loudly, before making a split second decision of running out in search of Jackie.
"Mickey! Mickey!" She shouted when she saw the TARDIS disappearing, "MICKEY!"
The chair fell as she stood suddenly, unable to react to the situation in any other way. The TARDIS had just gone with Mickey in it, but she knew he didn't know the slightest thing about its controls. So why, how, did it happen?
Her mind went blank, she couldn't think of a plausible explanation for this other than the TARDIS herself deciding to suddenly go with Mickey.
She was alone now. The Doctor had left her and Mickey was gone, too. All she had left was herself – she didn't have any means of escape either. She slowly approached where the time window had been, but, after touching the now solid wall and examining the glass, she was sure the connection was entirely shattered.
She had no way to get to the Doctor, and he had no way to get back to her. With that thought, she walked to the window of the spaceship and sat on the floor before it, staring at the stars she swore she'd travel forever.
"That's brilliant!" He exclaimed as Reinette showed him her fireplace. It was the only connection left to the spaceship and his way back to the TARDIS, Mickey and Rose. "I'll be back in a minute; for now, pick a constellation, any constellation! We're going to travel the stars." And with a last grin at the French woman, he turned in the fireplace.
The change from 18th century France to a 51st century ship was sudden, but he ignored the differences in decoration and colour and everything as he went to find the spot where he'd left Mickey and Rose before.
He felt a freezing sensation in his pocket, and found the TARDIS key was the source of it. By the second, it was growing colder and colder, until it seemed to have ice on it. "What?"
He looked up from the key as he turned the last corner, approaching the spot he distinctly remembered as where he'd parked the TARDIS and left his two companions. He dropped the key when its temperature proved much too cold, and his eyes swept over the pieces of broken glass with a calculating look. They were oddly tidied to the side, and his eyes darted up to the blank wall over it.
Scratched on it – with a shard of glass, he assumed – were the words: 'I'm waiting' in a nearly neat script – considering what the writing tool was. However, underneath it, written in a more haphazard way: 'Where are you, Doctor?' And, in some way, he felt a strong sadness in those words.
He walked up to it and laid his hand on the last word, feeling the indentation on the wall. Either the wall was of a weak material, or the name had been retraced countless times. He hoped and wished it was the former option.
A glint of light caught his eye, and he saw the large window to the side. A chair was on its side, apparently thrown carelessly, and it looked aged.
"Rose..." His eyes saw but his mind didn't want to believe. "No, Rose! No, no, no, no." He knelt by her in a panic. "How long, how long has it been?"
But she didn't answer, of course. It was just a half decomposed skeleton. All he could recognise her with were the clothes she wore and the minimum amount of hair left on the scalp. Everything else looked dead. A long time dead, in fact.
"My Rose, my Rose..." He repeated numbly, "Why?"
He didn't notice the lack of the TARDIS nor Mickey's absence. He only noticed his mistake, and it would be a while until he remembered his promise to Reinette. But that was just another promise broken.
REVIEW, S'IL VOUS PLAIT.
This is, obviously, an AU of the S2 episode 'The Girl in the Fireplace'. I admit, I disliked that episode because of the whole Reinette/Doctor love story that was made up, or whatever.
Since the time windows broke, in this AU, it switched around. Instead of a few minutes in the spaceship being months in 18th century France, it was the other way round. And the whole TARDIS taking Mickey was just an excuse for Rose to be on her own when the Doctor found her dead body.
I'm not sure I did them justice, but it is pretty late [or early, as it's way past midnight] and I haven't seen the episode itself in a while – I've had to rely on the Wikipedia article of this episode for some things.
Words: 959
Posted: 7th April 2013