Title: The Raging Blaze (1/4)
Author: Snow'sLuckyCat (aka Sharma aka jsl aka me)
Fandom: Doctor Who
Categories: Angst, Hurt/Comfort (Whump City, folks!), Romance
Rated: T (for whump & a few British "curse" words)
Characters: 10.5 (Johnny Noble), Rose Tyler-Noble, Pete Tyler, Jackie Tyler, Tony Tyler, some OC's.
Pairing: 10.5/Rose
P.O.V.: Third Person (he, she, it, etc).
Timeline: One year on from "Journey's End" (4x13) & on Pete's World.
Word Count: ~1,333 (for this part only)
Summary: Once back on Pete's World (aka Alt-Earth), tragedy soon befalls Rose and the Tenth Doctor duplicate. But, who will actually pay the price?
Notes: I was inspired to write this, because of "The Fire," an awesome fellow Ten II/Rose fic, that was written by the excellently and totally super-duper wishiknewwho! :) I suggest YOU go and read it too... :D
Disclaimer: I only WISH I owned the Tenth Doctor or anyone else in the Doctor Who/Torchwood clan of characters. In truth though, Russell T. Davies (the creator and first Head Writer of New Who) and BBC1 and BBCA (the stations that both shows currently air on) are their owners. So, please don't sue at any rate, for I make absolutely NO money off of this, and am instead just writing and experimenting with these characters of yours for FUN... :)
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PART ONE: OF FIRE & DEATH
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The Present...
The bright orange flames licked the sky.
The fire was out of control.
Fire engines were everywhere by the time she got to the building. The water hoses were not taming anything though. The building was coming down; she was sure of it. The real problem though was that she couldn't find John. And that worried her more than anything.
He'd been working on the newly renovated third floor, because he'd hated his first lab, housed in the basement. The change, initiated a month before, had made him way more happy at work, which in turn made him even more happy at home, in their flat and with her. And it made her happy to see him happy. He was quite fond of the vast amount of sunlight that now streamed into his new area...
Or the sunlight that had streamed into it.
Now, as Rose Tyler-Noble looked up to the row of third story windows through the thick, billowing smoke, she realized the explosion hadn't occurred below or above them. The explosion had come from them.
And before she knows what's happening, she's off and running towards the building.
"Where do you think you're going, miss?" a hand shoots out from nowhere, grabbing her by the arm to hold her back from the fiery inferno. The hand's attached to a yellow-suited arm. A fireman. He was sooty and dirty.
"Ha-Have you been inside?"
"Yes."
"My husband?"
"Sorry, miss, I didn't see anyone when I went in."
"I-I-I have to go. I have to find him! Let me go!"
The fireman didn't listen.
Didn't let go of her.
She was wasting time.
He was wasting her time.
She needed to get in there.
She barely heard the man's empty words of comfort. The "I'm so sorry for your loss, miss. The blaze is just too hot and has gotten out of control too fast..." was almost impossible to deal with, or to even hear. Mainly because she thought she'd never hear them.
She'd thought they'd always be together, fulfilling the promise that he'd made to her all those many months ago, when they were still standing upon the beaches of Bad Wolf Bay, right after The Doctor had left them.
Almost a year later to the day, now what did she have?
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Twelve Hours Earlier...
Rose Tyler-Noble wakes up, excited...
For tomorrow is their one-year anniversary.
To celebrate, they've made plans to go on a trip to the countryside and take it easy. They planned to hole up in a bed-and-breakfast somewhere along the way and exist away from Torchwood, UNIT, the lab, and work in general. Away from everyone and everything, for the next two weeks.
No phones. No pagers.
No dangers. No perils.
Just fun in the sun, spent near the scenic cliffs and sandy-white beaches of Dover.
But, John, also lying in bed, and snuggled up next to her, sleeps on, oblivious. He subconsciously murmurs something about five more minutes into the crook of her neck when she pointedly nudges him with her elbow. Even though she knows he feels weird when she watches him sleep (an equally weird thing since he never used to sleep while in his other life), she can't resist doing so.
At least, on a few occasions...
Like now...
Carefully, she picks up his right hand from its perch alongside her hip. The fingers of his left are tangled up in her long blonde hair. He loves her hair. He says it's so soft and smells of strawberries and bananas when he touches it. So, he touches it a lot. But, she doesn't mind. She still wonders though, if that unique desire is one of the odd tics that he picked up from the metacrisis and his life-force's temporary merge with Donna.
Expertly untangling his remaining hand from the top of her head, she turns over to face him.
His eyes are still closed. His lips are slightly parted, and even though she just roused him, a snore works its way into the air around them. And she can't help but giggle. And the giggle ruins her moment of previously silent observation.
His rich brown eyes pop open immediately and sharpen on her grinning face.
His final snore cuts off abruptly.
"Oyaaah! What's so funny?" he asks, a befuddled look upon his face.
"Nothing," Rose answers quickly.
She finds herself covering up a secondary giggle that escapes, with the piece of coverlet that now fortunately separates them.
"But, you NEVER giggle, Rose. Weeeeellll, not unless you're watching me work or you happen to see one of the soap operas I watch. And last time I checked the TV was off and I wasn't working...You were watching ME, weren't you?"
She's quick to change the subject. "You know what today is?"
"9 o'clock on the morning of July 4, 2009. Independence Day for the Americans. And in the middle of a bloody summer heatwave for us. And the day before our one year anniversary."
"So, you did remember then? I didn't think we'd actually discussed why we were going."
"Of course I remember, love. I don't need a reminder or a discussion. We made plans to travel into the country. Get away from it all. So, I kinda figured...what with the date and all..." he tapers off, smiling at her gently, right before turning his face away from hers and yawning.
"...You know we don't have to go if you don't want. We can stay here. I know you're tired.
All those late shifts are bound to be catching up to you..."
"Nah. Nonsense. I'm fine." Another mouth-splitting yawn betrays him then.
"And you were saying?" Rose counters pointedly.
"A momentary lapse?" he squelches.
Rose grins in response and kisses him on the nose, before getting up and properly greeting the day. John follows close behind her, forever like her shadow...
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The Present...
All of that earlier joy is long-gone now however.
It's just after nine o'clock in the evening of the same day. And she's left with just fleeting, fading, happy memories. She wonders if she'll ever see him again. If she'll ever even be able to recover his body for burial...
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TO BE CONTINUED...
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