[One week after Rose is left stranded in Pete's World]
Rose Tyler stares at the stars as she saunters toward the bus stop, finished with her first day at the shop. (Again.) In her mind, she paints them, memorizing the curving luminescent glow from the constellations, dimmed slightly by the hazy clouds that reach and stretch out like fingers across the sky. She drops her gaze as the sound of the bus struggling on down the road comes, slowing just as she reaches the stop. The doors open with a groan, and she nods to the driver, paying £1.50. She slips into a seat by the back, resting her head against the glass, her golden hair dropping low onto her face.
Other passengers get on, staying by the front for a quick drop-off, ignoring the daydreaming girl of pink and yellow in the back, her closed eyes hidden underneath hair.
"Wait! Wait! Hold on, please!" A soft cry calls out to the bus, the girl slipping in the doors just before they close, and Rose opens her eyes again, straightening up.
A camera hangs loosely from her neck, her wavy blonde hair falling down. She's dressed weirdly, like a detective, but Rose kind of likes it, the trenchcoat reminding her of the Doctor.
Rose smiles, blinking away the tears that come with the memories of the Doctor. Her Doctor. With the really great hair.
As she blinks, the girl moves quickly over by her, sitting in the seat across the aisle from Rose. The girl smiles at Rose, tilting her head slightly as she unwraps her camera from around her neck. They're silent, the only sound being of the wheezing engine of the bus, the lights of the city smearing by like ink dripping on a canvas. After a few moments, the girl reaches her hand across to Rose, leaning over. "My name is Sally Sparrow."
She hesitates a few seconds, contemplating what to say. The Doctor would know... Her thoughts echo in her mind, and tears spring back to her eyes. She pushes them away, shaking Sally's outstretched hand. "Rose Tyler."
Sally beams at her, and Rose can't help but smile as well, Sally's joy being infectious. Rose lays her head back down on the window, staring up at the stars again. Despite herself, she replays memories of the Doctor in her mind.
"Now, first thing's first. Have you got Rose Tyler on board?"" His voice feeds through the On-Comm, and she practically squeals, throwing her hand up in delight as she answers. "I'm here! It's me! Oh, my God. Where are you? "
Rose can hear the Doctor's happiness as he speaks, trying to maintain his calmness. "I'm just towing you home. Gravity schmavity. My people practically invented black holes. Well, in fact, they did. In a couple of minutes, we'll be nice and safe. Oh, and Captain? Can we do a swap? Say, if you give me Rose Tyler, I'll give you Ida Scott? How about that?"
In the pilot seat, Zach straightens up, sighing in relief. "She's alive!" By her, Danny slumps in his seat, breathing thankfully. "Yes. Thank God."
"Yeah! Bit of oxygen starvation, but she should be all right. I couldn't save the Ood. I only had time for one trip. They went down with the planet."
The TARDIS spins in front, towing them away. Zach falls slightly in his form when the Ood are mentioned, but he seems to shake it off as the Doctor speaks. "Ah! Entering clear space. End of the line, mission closed."
The wheezing groan of the TARDIS comes, and Rose unbuckles her seatbelt quickly, rushing down the corridors of the ship. She wanders into a room to see the TARDIS situated there, light pulsing at the top. Rose rushes to it, tentatively caressing the outside to make sure she isn't dreaming. She opens the door, and peeks in.
The Doctor stands in his space suit, facing away. When he turns to look at her, his face lights up with a grin. Rose feels her heart skip a beat and rushes into his arms.
"Are you alright?" Sally's voices chimes, disrupting Rose's thoughts. She jumps slightly, glancing over at her. "Huh?"
Sally stares down at her camera, running her fingertips over the lense repeatedly. "You look kind of..sad..And nostalgic." Rose can't help but smile at her. "Yeah." It's all she says, leaving Sally with a confused look.
"What's wrong?" Sally continues to ask, now looking over at Rose. Rose bites her lip as she contemplates. "Just...problems with a guy." Her mind instantly changes the word 'guy' into 'Time Lord' and her smile falters as another memory pops up.
"Cake?" She holds out a fairy cake with silver sugar ball decorations on. The Doctor's face lights up as he takes it gingerly from her and licking it. "Top banana. Mmm. I can't stress this enough. Ball bearings you can eat, masterpiece! "
She's quiet for a second, then says, "I thought I'd lost you."
He finishes the fairy cake. "Nah. Not on a night like this. This is a night for lost things being found. Come on." The Doctor grabs her hand and they start to stroll along the street.
"What now?" Rose asks as she glances up to his face."I want to go to the Games. It's what we came for."
She smiles, agreeing with him. She gently nudges him with her shoulder. "Go on, give us a clue. Which events do we do well in?"
"Well, I will tell you this. Papua New Guinea surprises everyone in the shot put."
Rose slows down slightly. "Really? You're joking, aren't you? Doctor, are you serious or are you joking?" The Doctor chuckles. "Wait and see."
Above them, the sky bursts to life with fireworks. Both glance up, swinging their tangled hands. "You know what? They keep on trying to split us up, but they never ever will."
"Never say never ever."
Rose looks over at him. "Nah, we'll always be okay, you and me. Don't you reckon, Doctor?"
The Doctor ignores her question. "There's something in the air. Something coming." Rose slows her pace, their hands still. Worry laces her voice. "What?"
"A storm's approaching."
Sally chuckles, once again disrupting Rose's thoughts. "Yeah..Me too."
Rose laughs softly, shaking her head. "What's wrong with your guy?" She asks. Sally looks out the window briefly, opening her mouth to speak before shutting it. She opens it again, this time talking aloud. "He wants to get married, and I love him, I do, but I'm...afraid. Afraid he won't love me after, afraid I'll mess everything up..." She trails off.
Rose pats her hand, leaning across. "Hey, that's okay." She doesn't delve any further into the subject, already understanding. Sally raises her head up to look into Rose's eyes. "Thank you." She says, the sincerity ringing in her voice. Rose smiles, but opens her mouth to speak. "Sometimes, you just need to take a risk and run." Flashbacks of the Doctor pulling her away from danger run through her mind. "Sometimes, when you run across the universe, you just need a hand to hold." Sally looks at her, eyebrow arched. "You're odd. But in a good way."
Rose leans back in her seat. "So are you." Sally nods her head as a thank you, still smiling.
Rose turns her head to look out the window, and is surprised to see familiar surroundings outside. The bus stops a few ways away from the Powell Estates, and as it slows down, Rose gets up, sighing. By her, Sally stands as well, holding her camera carefully. They both walk off the bus, and Rose can't help but wonder if Sally is one of her neighbors in this universe and she never even knew.
Rose immediately throws her head up to see the stars. A bright flash blinds her, and she blinks it away, dizzy. "Ow..What was that?"
Sally lowers her camera with an apologetic smile. "Sorry. I just had to take a photo of you."
Behind them, the bus pulls away, leaving them to be illuminated in the dim streetlamps. "Why?" Rose asks, furrowing her eyebrows. Sally bites her lip, running a fingertip over the lense again. "Well..Do you know the Humans of New York photographer? The guy that takes pictures of people in New York and has quotes of stuff they say underneath it?" Rose nods, remembering stumbling across it once and liking it immediately.
Sally continues to talk, shifting her weight on her feet. "Well...I'm sort of doing that. Except for Britain. And you looked interesting, so I had to get you." Rose can feel heat rush to her cheeks and nods. She turns to her home, and walks two steps before calling over her shoulder to Sally. "Coming?"
Sally laughs. "Actually, no. I only got on the bus to get you. I live a while away, but that's okay. I can find other people to photograph as I go home. But I did have problems with the boy and now..I know what to do."
Rose turns back around, looking at Sally, her trenchcoat flowing behind her in the wind. "Thank you." In response, Sally smiles, doing a pretend salute. "Thank you, Ms. Rose Tyler."
Sally walks away, trenchcoat swishing, and Rose stares after her, wondering what the Doctor would think of Sally Sparrow.
[One week after Rose is reunited with the Doctor, then is left at Bad Wolf Bay again, this time with Ten's duplicate]
They're strolling through a bookstore, fingers laced tightly together. Tentoo (Ten's duplicate clone) had insisted on going in, and Rose had eventually surrendered, laughing at him as he barged in the door, scaring the owner and some of it's customers.
Rose has a book tucked underneath her free arm, a book on the multi-universe theory that had caught her attention immediately. Tentoo has three books in his arm, four other stacks by the front, waiting patiently to be paid for. He lets her hand go as he glides over to another book, fingering the spine gingerly before slipping it out of the shelf and adding it to the pile.
Rose smiles at him, memorizing the gentle swish of his brown trenchcoat that contradicts his blue suit. (He had insisted on wearing it) His bright red Converse sting her eyes, clean of any dirt marks. His hair sticks up, and she has the urge to run her hands through it.
She turns, shaking her head with a smile as she wanders into the section titled, 'New Literature.' The memory of his childlike wonder stays with her as she wanders past a book, then immediately goes back to read the title again.
Humans of Britain
Rose runs her hand over the cover, setting her selected book down on a space on a shelf. She lets her eyes wander down to the name of the author.
Sally Nightingale
She bites her lip, glad to know that Sally did marry her guy, and changed her name. Her fingers hesitate for a moment, but then they open the cover, fluttering along the pages.
Rose reaches the first photo after the authors note and acknowledgements. Blood rushes to her cheeks as she stares at it.
Her blonde hair is in mid-sway behind her, the dim lights above shining her head, making it look like she's glowing. Her eyes stare off in the distance, and the pink hoodie she wears contradicts the blur of night around her.
Below the photo is the quote.
"Sometimes, you just need to take a risk and run. Sometimes when you run across the universe, you just need a hand to hold."
It takes her a moment, but she feels Tentoo's body behind her, wrapping his arms around her body as he reads the quote and looks at her photo. She twists her neck to glance up at his face, and is surprised to see him on the verge of tears. He looks at her, staring deep in her eyes.
Tentoo is silent, but after a while he smiles. "Sometimes you need a hand to hold." He laughs, and Rose nestles deeper into his arms, her speech muffled from his clothes. "Or someone to love forever."
The TARDIS materializes on the windswept Bad Wolf Bay, and the door creaks open.
"Oh, fat lot of good this is. Back of beyond. Bloody Norway? I'm going to have to phone your father. He's on the nursery run. I was pregnant, do you remember? Had a baby boy." Rose's mum says, walking out of the blue box. Tentoo smiles, walking out next. "Oh, brilliant. What did you call him?"
"Doctor."
"Really?"
Jackie rolls her eyes. "No, you plum. He's called Tony."
Rose ignores her mum for now, glancing around worried. "Hold on, this is the parallel universe, right?" The Doctor nods, tucking his hands into his pockets. "You're back home."
"And the walls of the world are closing again, now that the Reality Bomb never happened. It's dimensional retroclosure. See, I really get that stuff now." Donna speaks up, walking out of the TARDIS. Rose shakes her head. "No, but I spent all that time trying to find you. I'm not going back now."
"But you've got to. Because we saved the universe, but at a cost. And the cost is him. He destroyed the Daleks. He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own." The Doctor nods his head to Tentoo, who speaks up."You made me."
"Exactly. You were born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge. Remind you of someone? That's me, when we first met. And you made me better. Now you can do the same for him." Rose shakes her head. "But he's not you."
"He needs you. That's very me." She can feel her breath catch in her throat as he talks.
Donna speaks up again, smiling. "But it's better than that, though. Don't you see what he's trying to give you? Tell her. Go on."
Tentoo talks. "I look like him and I think like him. Same memories, same thoughts, same everything. Except I've only got one heart."
"Which means? "
"I'm part human. Specifically, the aging part. I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life, Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you, if you want."
Rose steps forward, staring at him. "You'll grow old at the same time as me?"
"Together."
Behind them, the TARDIS time motor revves, calling to them. The Doctor flicks his gaze back. "We've got to go. This reality is sealing itself off for ever." Rose shakes her head again, her voice breaking. "But, it's still not right, because the Doctor's still you."
"And I'm him."
Rose bites her lip in anger. "All right. Both of you, answer me this. When I last stood on this beach, on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing you said to me? Go on, say it."
The Doctor stares down at her. "I said, Rose Tyler."
"Yeah, and how was that sentence going to end?"
He stares at her in silence for a moment. "Does it need saying?"
Rose turns to Tentoo. "And you, Doctor? What was the end of that sentence?"
Rose Tyler grabs Tentoo and kisses him, her heart beating rapidly, feeling his own in his chest, after he whispers in her ear the words she's been waiting to hear for a long time.
"I love you."