For Sam. I hope you enjoy this.
Notes: this follows along with the idea that the Doctor and Donna gave Rose and Meta-Crisis Doctor a Tardis coral to grow a Tardis for themselves. this idea was orginally supposed to be in that episode but it was cut.
The Meta-Crisis Doctor dies before Tardis coral could finish growing. It's almost done; just a few more months or a year or two and they could run like Rose always wanted. But the Meta-Crisis Doctor dies and everything that the Doctor and Donna had given Rose is gone.
Rose doesn't continue to try to make it grow faster. She lets it sit in the backyard as she moves on with her life. Because what does it matter if she has a TARDIS if she doesn't have the Doctor to run away with?
A loud humming wakes Rose up. She rubs at her eyes as she glances at the clock. It's just after three in the morning. She tries to sleep but the moment she closes her eyes, the humming gets louder.
She puts on her slippers and pulls on a robe, before she starts to investigate. She feels adrenaline pump through her veins. She hasn't felt this way since she was traveling with the Doctor.
Her mood sours quickly at that thought. The humming gets softer the closer she gets to it. It's much like a game of hot/cold, she muses. The humming leads her to the backyard. Where the unfinished Tardis sat is a glistening blue box. Rose freezes. It's only been two months since the Meta-Crisis Doctor died. The longer she stands there, the more insistent the humming gets .
Hesitantly, Rose crosses the backyard and pushes open the door.
The humming is the softest it has been since Rose woke. She stands around in control room, her heart jumps in her throat. She can't hold back the tears.
The Tardis looks exactly like the Tardis did when she was traveling in it. The copper panels and the lights and the console. She can't stop herself from running her fingers across the console. The Tardis hums appreciatively at the motion.
She jumps back. The Tardis hums softer, in disappointment. When she touches the console again, the Tardis' hums happily again.
"I'm sorry, girl," Rose says, wiping away the tears. "The Doctor died. And I'm not a Time Lady. I could never fly you."
Rose ignores the hums of the Tardis as she leaves.
She lasts a week before she's back in the Tardis. The Tardis' hums are too loud for her to take. She's hoping that by being in the Tardis that it will ease the headache that forms because of it.
It does.
The Tardis purrs so softly, happily, when Rose steps across the threshold. It's an improvement to the loud, angry hums that she hears whenever she's not in the Tardis.
Being in the Tardis isn't easy. Without the Doctor by her side, there's nowhere to go, no people to save, no worlds to discover, and definitely no running necessary. Her body trembles with the need to run.
To combat that, she mostly swims in the pool. When she's not swimming, she's reading the books in the library. Or she's wandering the halls. She's anywhere but the control room.
The Tardis hums at her, getting louder each time she moves further away from the control room. She decides not to examine why that is.
"I'm surprised you haven't left," Jackie says.
It's one of the rare mornings that Rose is out of the Tardis. She hears the disapproving hum of the Tardis loudly in her head. She's been pretty much living in the Tardis for weeks now.
Rose watches as her mother places food in front of her little brother. She can't remember the last time that she's spent time with Tony. Or her parents.
"I'll never be able to fly her," she answers. She doesn't say that she wants to, that she's aching to just leave and explore. She doesn't say it because Jackie already knows.
Jackie knows that once Rose got a taste of the whole wide universe, all of time and space, an ordinary life would never be enough.
Rose wakes up to the Tardis humming impatiently. She groans and puts on her robe and slippers. She's navigating her way through the halls, following the sounds of the humming, until she comes into the control room.
The Tardis' hum turns into a purr as she approaches the console. She touches it softly. "I already told you, girl. I'm not a Time Lady. I can never fly you. Only the Doctor could."
The purring stops. Rose sighs in relief and takes a step away. It comes back full force. The hum is soft and gentle, but insistent. She moves back. She reaches up and puts her hand on one of the levers. The humming stops completely.
"You want me to pull this lever?" she asks.
The Tardis purrs.
Realization hits Rose hard. "You're going to teach me to fly you?"
The purring gets louder and happier.
"That's what you've been trying to tell me the entire time," Rose whispers to herself. "Alright, girl, show me how."
Rose follows the humming and the purrs of the Tardis as she flips this lever and pulls that one and presses that button. She doesn't know where she's going, but she hears the engines of the Tardis and the pull of the movements as she goes through time and space.
She never thought she'd have this again. The Tardis lands. Rose changes as quickly as possible, excitement rushing through her body. She pulls on her purple jacket as she heads to the door.
The Tardis groans. It's a noise that Rose has never heard. She turns back to the console, running a hand over it soothingly. "What is it, girl?"
She hears the Tardis do something. She circles the console until she sees a sonic screwdriver, psychic paper, and a key. She grins at the Tardis' thoughtfulness.
"Thanks!" she murmurs as she grabs at the objects.
The sonic screwdriver is very slim and has a purple light at the end. She tests it before she goes to put it away. She scans the seat. Seat, leather, good condition, she instinctively knows.
"I always thought he just pretended he knew what he was doing with this," she chuckles. The Tardis purrs at her. She goes to put the psychic paper and the sonic screwdriver away when she realizes that neither of them will fit in her jacket pocket. "They really need to fix these pocket issues!"
She slides the screwdriver into her boot and puts the paper in her back pocket. Satisfied with that, she picks up the key. It's already on a necklace. She's pleased with the Tardis' foresight as she slips the necklace on.
Finally, she goes to explore.
The Tardis takes Rose from place to place. She always manages to land just in time to save the day. Well, almost always. Eh, occasionally. She loses more than and she wins. She doesn't know how the Doctor did this; watching as other people died for him or as he couldn't change events, no matter how hard he tried.
Maybe that's why the Doctor had companions. And lovers, she thinks to herself. To make the days he didn't win easier. She flips the right levers and presses the right buttons as she prepares the Tardis to leave.
The Tardis engines sound off, but she can barely hear them over the sympathetic hum of the Tardis.
The Tardis takes her to a Game Station. She's curious why. The Tardis always seems to take her to places that she needs to go, so she assumes that it's important.
And it is. It's the Daleks and the games. Rose has almost forgot about this one. One of the earlier adventures her and the Doctor and Jack went on.
Jack.
At that thought, everything falls away. She's looking through the survivors when she seems him. He's fixing the strap of his vortex manipulator. But he's alive. She thinks about her Jack, in the other universe and she doesn't hesitate in approaching him.
There's confusion in his eyes when she calls his name. "Do you mean me?" he asks.
Rose raises an eyebrow. "You don't see anyone else around here, do you?" she retorts.
He shakes his head. "My name isn't Jack."
With a sudden pang, Rose remembers that the Doctor in this universe died long before they met, long before her or Jack. Of course he doesn't recognize her. He doesn't even know her.
"I'm sorry," she says. "You remind me of someone I used to know."
He flashes her a bright smile and her heart breaks all over. "I get told that all the time," he says, winking.
She laughs. She can't remember the last time she had. Maybe it was with the Meta-Crisis Doctor, maybe it wasn't. "I should probably go," she says, gesturing behind her.
"Let me walk you wherever you need to go," he replies. "To be sure there's no more enemies."
"Daleks," Rose corrects. "The games were run by Daleks looking for humans to convert. Suspiciously like the Cybermen, if you ask me. But they're all gone." This time, she didn't have to take the Tardis' matrix inside of herself; it was already there. Undoing their existence was easy.
Jack, who isn't really Jack, narrows his eyes. "You're a traveller?"
She smiles. "In my Tardis," she answers brightly. He may not be exactly like her Jack, but it's finally nice to meet someone who might understand being a traveller.
He looks at her. "Impossible. Gallifrey fell. There were no more Time Lords," he says. He looks her up and down. "Or Time Ladies. All the Tardises are gone. And if there weren't, the Time Agency would've known about them."
"I'm not a Time Lady, but I can assure you that I have a Tardis," Rose says heatedly.
"How'd you get your hands on one?"
She recognizes the suspicious tone in his voice. "I forgot," she whispers sadly, "that you're not Jack."
Not-Jack frowns. It doesn't look like it belongs on his face. "What does that have to do with anything?" he demands.
"It's a long story. But I didn't steal my Tardis," she assures him. She turns to leave, disappointment filling her gut. She had hoped when she first saw him, that he would be the same Jack that she remembers, but he's not.
She feels a hand on her wrist. "You either tell me exactly how you got a Tardis - one of Gallifrey's most guarded treasure - or I arrest you for stealing."
Rose laughs until tears pour down her cheeks and her stomach hurts. Not-Jack has been trying to get her to tell him what's funny, but she can't breathe. It takes several long moments before she can talk.
"I didn't realize that Tardises were highly guarded. The Doctor never told me that," she answers.
He raises his eyebrow at her. "Doctor Who?"
She laughs again. "That's why he named himself that!" she exclaims. "So that he could hear 'Doctor Who' when someone talks about him. And everyone else would think it's something philosophical." She glances at him and takes pity on Not-Jack. "Come on," she says. "I'll explain everything. It may take a while."
"You grew it?"
"Her. The Tardis is a girl, thank you," Rose huffs. The Tardis purrs in contentment at that.
Not-Jack just gives her a questioning look. "How do you know that?"
Rose shrugs. "I just do. Just like I just know what all her hums, purrs, and groans mean. I think it has to do with growing her. It's probably also why she lets me fly her."
"You said that you traveled with a Time Lord. Where is he?"
The Tardis hums sadly. Rose touches the console to comfort her. This Tardis may not truly know about the man that stole her to travel the stars, but it doesn't stop her from feeling the Time Lord's loss.
"He's in a different universe. It's all very complicated, but when we saved the day, it came a price. I ended up here, in this universe, a universe that the Doctor never truly lived in and he's still in my old universe," she explains. She blinks against the tears that threaten to fall. She hasn't talked about the Doctor since Meta-Crisis Doctor died.
"So there is such a thing as a multiverse," Not-Jack mumbles.
"Of course. In my universe, you traveled with us briefly. I'm going to assume that it was after you left the Time Agency because you had introduced yourself as Jack Harkness. I suppose since that's not your name that you used it as a cover for whatever you doing when we first met."
The Tardis groans at her. Too much information, Rose thinks she's trying to say.
Not-Jack frowns again. "What was I doing?"
"Honestly?" she says. "I don't know. I think you were selling something to some people. In the end, you sacrificed whatever money you were going to make to save everyone. So the Doctor saved you."
The Tardis is humming softly, gently, for her. "You can quit the Time Agency and travel with me," she offers.
Not-Jack is quiet for a long time. "You make this sound complicated," he tells her.
"Complicated is what I do best," she replies brightly. "The Tardis brought me here for a reason. It may have been to erase the Dalek. It may have been to meet you. It could've been both. But I'm here now and so are you. And I have all of time and space without restrictions."
Not-Jack holds up his arm. "I don't want to part with this."
Rose lifts her leg so she can retrieve the sonic screwdriver from her boot. "I think I might be able to do something about that."
"Sonic screwdriver?" he asks. "What is that supposed to do?"
Rose scans the vortex manipulator, instinctively pressing buttons. She pulls her screwdriver away when she knows that the tracking has been disabled. "I've disabled the tracking but I've left everything else. It's going to break soon. One or two more jumps, so be careful."
"How do you know that?" Not-Jack demands.
She flips her screwdriver with a grin. "I just do. Where do you want to go?"
Traveling with someone is definitely better. It's weird being this close to him all the time and it not be the Jack she remembers. Sometimes, he'll do something, like flirt with her, that reminds her of her Jack. And others, she's just left standing there, wondering if he'll ever be the person she knew.
She wonders if it's fair that she hold out hope that he will be. Probably not, but she does anyways.
The Tardis is acting weird when Rose lands her. Almost as if she didn't want to land. But Rose has always wanted to see if Mars was actually livable so she ignores the Tardis' warning hums.
The readings of Mars suggest that it isn't habitable, but Rose doubt that humans hadn't tried, at least once, to live on Mars. Her companion points out that there might be a city under the surface and that's enough to leave Rose excited.
They are standing in front of the exploration group who are looking at them suspiciously. She holds out her hand. "I'm Rose Tyler and -"
"I'm Jack Harkness," he says, winking at Rose.
"I don't want to know how you go here," the person at the front says. "Especially since we didn't get any readings of an approaching spacecraft, but I want you to leave."
Rose's hand drops to her side. "We were only checking it out," she argues.
Through the helmet of the woman's spacesuit, Rose can see her frowning. "That wasn't a suggestion. I'm commander of this outpost. I'm ordering you to leave."
Rose wants to argue when Jack puts his hand on her upper arm. "Come on. There are other places to visit."
Once they are back in the Tardis and standing in the control room without their spacesuits, Rose looks at Jack. "You introduced yourself as Jack Harkness. Why?"
Jack pulls the television to himself. "If I use my real name, disabling the tracking on my vortex manipulator is pointless. The Time Agency could still find me and they will erase my memories. You gave me a perfect alias. Does it bother you?"
"No," she says. She starts to get ready the Tardis to leave. "Kinda relieved, actually. You didn't give me your name and I'm kinda of tired of thinking of you as 'Not-Jack.'"
They don't talk about it anymore. The Tardis takes them away.
"Why'd you join the Time Agency?" Rose asks one day. She leans up to look at Jack.
They are in the beach in Space Florida. The suns are warm and the beach sand move automatically. She has sunglass on and her floppy hat is on the chair beside her. There's a drink on the table that tastes good, not that she knows what's in it.
Jack squints at her. "It's personal," he says.
He turns away from her and Rose doesn't push. She takes a sip of her drink and closes her eyes again. She's glad for a quiet afternoon relaxing after all the saving they've done recently.
"I grew up on the Boeshane Peninsula during wartime," Jack whispers, bringing Rose out of her thoughts. "One day, there was an attack. My father died and I never saw my brother again. I was hoping that I could find him if I joined the Agency."
Rose turns her head to look at him. "Did you?"
"No."
And that was the end of the conversation. She doesn't ask again. A little while later, Jack gets up to flirt with someone and Rose finishes her drink. There's a part of her that wants to go interrupt him, but she doesn't because he deserves not to think his past anymore.
After all, she's the one that brought it up, even if he did eventually tell her on his own. She just doesn't understand why she's annoyed that his attention is somewhere besides her.
They barely make it out alive from the Cybermen. Jack manages to shut the door of the Tardis and Rose sends the Tardis to a new location just in time. They haven't had a close call like this since they've started to travel together and it's been even longer for Rose.
She has nearly forgotten the way it feels to have adrenaline rushing through her veins. It's an exhilarating feeling. Before she can stop herself, she presses herself up against a smiling Jack and kisses him. It takes him less than a three beats to kiss her back.
When they part, Rose's cheeks are flushed and Jack is grinning.
Maybe when the Tardis landed on the Game Station, it was for the best.