Title: Stupid
Author: Gillian Taylor
Rating: G
Characters: Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler
Summary: It's not only apes that are stupid.
Spoilers: Father's Day
Disclaimer: Don't own them. I just like playing with them...a lot.
Archive: Sure, just let me know.
A/N: Thanks, as always, to my lovely betas NNWest and WMR for both their encouragement and suggestions.
Stupid
by Gillian Taylor
Stupid.
That's what he was. A stupid, silly Time Lord who thought he could share the universe with a silly little ape. How could she comprehend just what he had offered her? How could she understand what it meant? He had offered her the universe - all of time and space on a platter and what does she do?
What does she go and do?
She saves her dad.
He should have known. He should have guessed. Of course she would do it. Of course she would save her dad. It was her dad. In her place, without his knowledge of time and space, would he have done the same?
He would. Of course he would. And that was why he was stupid. A stupid, moronic imbecile who wasn't even worthy of the label 'Time Lord.' He should have known. He should have guessed. And he never, ever, ever should have gone back to that same moment in time. He never, ever should have released her hand before her father had been hit by the car. He never, ever should have done half of the things that he had done that day.
He had watched her save her dad, and in so doing she had changed the world. Oh, it was true. She could've saved him. He could have saved him. However, because of his stupidity he had been there twice. It was a classic paradox in the making and he should've seen it. He should've known.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
And now, now he had to watch her suffer. His fault. Not hers. How could she have known? He hadn't told her. He had left that little tidbit out. No conversations of 'Now, Rose, you're not plannin' on savin' your dad today, are ya?' No explanations of what might happen. Nothing about the consequences that could occur because one man - one tiny little ape - lived when he was supposed to die.
Nothing about how, if her dad were alive, she might never have met him. Nothing about how, if her dad were alive, he might not exist. He hadn't even thought about it. Instead, he had merrily taken her to see her dad because he had wanted to impress her.
I can do anything, me.
I am so impressive.
Stupid. If the Council had still existed, he would have landed himself straight into another trial. And he would've deserved it. Because he was an idiot. He was completely and utterly stupid, because wherever Rose Tyler was concerned he apparently had a massive blind spot.
He never would've done this before. Before the War, before he had to face the destruction of Gallifrey, before he was broken. He never would've given another companion this chance. Not even Ace. Not even Benny. What was happening to him?
When had he lost his sense of reason?
Maybe age had finally caught up to him. Maybe being the last of his kind had done something else to him beyond giving him a penchant for depression and melancholy. Maybe the answer was far simpler than that. Maybe the reason began and ended with one person: Rose Tyler.
And that was why he was stupid.
What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?
Yup. That summed him up well. That's what he was. Stupid - or a Time Lord in love.
FIN