Better Solutions
"Rose?"
She looked up and met his eyes.
"I've got a solution"
Her eyes lit up a bit,
"You do?"
"Yeah, it's the only thing that will save us, I wont regenerate this time, I'll die too if we don't do this"
"Then do it, Doctor!"
"But... it'll mean we wont remember..." he sighted
"Wont remember what?"
He took a deep breath, "We wont remember anything, you'll be like you was before we met, just Rose Tyler, you'll forget me, and the TARDIS, and everything that's happened... and I'll think I'm an ordinary human, John Smith"
"WHAT!?"
"Yeah"
"You can't do that!" she felt tears of desperation in her eyes,
"I have to, Rose"
"No! You can't!" she shook her head and she was crying now,
"If I don't we'll die."
She didn't answer for a while, he held back his own tears, he had to keep it together, for Rose.
"Will we ever get it all back?" she asked
"I don't know, maybe not"
"Please, there's gotta be something else we can do! You always know what to do!"
"Not this time"
"It's not fair"
"I know it's not, things are rarely fair" he sighted, he was very close to crying now "Are you ready?"
She kept crying but nodded,
"Okay"
He moved his hand towards the right button.
"Rose..." he had to tell her, she needed to know, but he just couldn't, not even now,
"What Doctor?"
He opened his arms and pulled her towards him, he held her tightly against his chest and listened to her sobbing for a moment because he loved holding her.
"You're brilliant, Rose Tyler, and I love you, so much" he whispered and pressed the button before she could answer.
Rose Tyler got woken up by her alarm clock at seven AM a dull, grey Tuesday in October, it was only any other day.
She opened her eyes and sighted. She knew she shouldn't have stayed up so late last night watching telly.
Rose put on her jeans from the day before and a pink sweater that lay under her bed.
She did her makup and fixed her blonde hair in a hurry, made a sandwich to eat on the way, kissed her mum bye and ran out of the building.
It was freezing and she pulled the sweater closer to her body and jumped up and down on the ground while waiting for the stupid bus to arrive. She sighted in relief when it finally did.
The only empty seat was beside a brownhaired man in a suit, his hair was all sticky-uppy in that special way she'd always thought was adorable. She sat and put her bag on the floor in front of her. She was eating the sandwich she'd made, which was delicious and she was close to missing stepping off the bus at the right stop.
She was halfway over the street when someone walked up behind her and patted her shoulder, she turned, it was the man from the bus. Rose frowned, before relising why he'd came to her,
"You forgot your bag" he said and showed it to her, she kinda liked his voice, it sounded a bit familiar but she couldn't place it,
"Oh, thanks" she smiled while he handed it to her, "That's nice of you"
He smiled back and, oh, he had a fantastic smile.
"My pleasure, Rose"
She froze, "How do you know my name?"
He looked very, very confused, "I... I don't know... sorry, I guess... I guess it was just a guess" he frowned, "Anyways, I'm John Smith"
"Rose Tyler" she smiled, through she still wondered how he'd known her name, and she felt a little unconfterble,
"Eh... Rose, sorry for asking, but would you mind having coffee with me?" he asked
Uh... he was fast on it. But he did have great hair, and an amazing smile, she kinda liked the way he talked, and... she had a strange feeling of knowing him, like she'd met him in a dream.
"Not at all" he beamed at her answer, "But I'm working today, maybe later?"
"When do you have lunch?" he asked
"Twelve-thirty to one-thirty"
"Meet me at that cafè twelve-forty?" he pointed at a nice looking cafè across the road which she'd never visited.
"Sure" she smiled
"Bye for now then" he said before walking off, she saw him looking over his shoulder to look at her a few times before he was gone
"Bye"
Rose had a hard time concentrating on work that morning, she couldn't keep her mind off John Smith, how crazy nice looking he was, and she couldn't shake off the feeling of recognising him.
When it finally turned twelve-thirty, she took her things and rushed over to the cafè. He wasn't there yet, so she found an empy table in a corner and seated.
It was, indeed a very nice place, with lots of sofas and pillows and it was cozy lighted.
A man that must be working there came to her table,
"Excuse me, miss, are you by any chance Rose Tyler?" he asked
"Yes" she said, feeling confused
"A man asked me to give you this" he handed her a small note
"Thank you" She said and he he nodded and walked off.
Rose unfolded the note with a mix of confusion and curiosity.
Hello Rose, I'm so sorry 'bout this but I can't meet you here right now, I had to deal with a couple o' things. But I'd be happy to meet you sometime else, maybe this place at seven tonight? I understand if you don't want to but I'll be here if you come. I'll explain then. Again, I'm super sorry about all this. Well yeah, come if you want.
John Smith
Rose stared at the paper, feeling very disappointed, she didn't know why she weren't angry, she should feel fooled but she didn't and she decided right away to come at seven o'clock. She trusted him even though she had no reason to.
As soon as she got home (at ten-to-six) she showered, shaved her legs, put on a nice shirt and a clean pair of jeans. She also choose some nice underwear, just in case. She re-did her makeup but this time she choose a lipgloss matching her shirt and was more careful with the eyeliner.
She was trembling slightly as she left the flat and walked towards the bus stop, and it was not because of the cold weather.
The cafè was almost empy, just a young couple who shared a cupcake, a man who was typing on his computer, and, the handsome man from that morning, John Smith. He smiled when he saw her and put down a coffee cup.
"So, explain" she greeted him as she sat
"Well, hello to you too, Rose Tyler" he took a sip of his coffee
"You promised to explain it all"
"Eh..." he took another sip of coffee "I...I thought I recognised you from somewhere, I kept trying to figure out from where and when I couldn't, I got scared and decided to meet you at the evening instead, enough explimation?"
Rose gaped, so he recognised her too, maybe they'd known each other before, when they were very little or something, but she had a feeling that that wasn't it. She considered telling him that she recognised him too but decided to wait, though she didn't know for what,
"How did you know I'd come?" she asked instead
"I didn't"
"Right"
"So, Rose, tell me about you"
"Emm... I work in the shop across the road", she pointed, "Because I have no idea what to do with my life, I still live with my mum, I have a boring life and I'm a very boring person"
"I don't think you are, I just don't think the world gives you the possiblility to have a more exciting life." he looked into her eyes and she knew he was being completely honest.
His eyes had a beautiful brown colour, oh, she knew them so well... wait, no she didn't! She'd just met this man!
"What about your dad?" he asked,
"He died when I was very little, I can't remember him" Rose felt a sting of pain, like every time she thought of her dad, she'd seen many pictures of him, her mum used to show them to her and tell stories about him when she was drunk.
"Oh, I'm so sorry" he really looked sorry, like people sometimes didn't look at all when they said they were.
Rose couldn't answer because a man came to their table and asked what she wanted. She ordered a coffee and a bun without thinking about it. This man was the only thing her mind wanted to take time to think about. She remembered hugging him and wished she could do it right now... what!? She hadn't ever hugged this man, she did not remember hugging him! She'd only just met him!
"Well..." she said, stopping her own thoughts "what 'bout you?"
"Eh... I'm studying to become a scientist, always been good at that kind of stuff, I live in a flat in Paddington, living my life day by day"
Rose felt stunned,
"Wow! I feel like a failture" she laughed, he didn't
"You're not"
She smiled, and the man who'd asked what she wanted returned with coffee and a cinnamon bun on a small plate. Rose thanked him and he went.
"What's your favourite colour?" he asked with a playful grin
"Uh..." she laughed, but she knew, suddently she knew, she felt like she's always known what her favourite colour in the world was, the thought made her feel safe and at home in a strange way, it was just a colour, it shouldn't make her feel that safe, but it really did, just that special shade of dark blue that had kept colouring her dreams night after night.
"Dark blue" she answered.
When Rose had finished her coffee and half of the bun, John decided that he had to leave, if he didn't now, he wasn't sure he'd be able to not take her home and never ever let her leave. Because she felt so familiar and he felt an odd need to protect her from everything that's bad and also touch and kiss every inch of her beautiful body.
He had to control himself.
"Uh... Rose, it was brilliant talking to you and I'd love to meet you again, but I'll have to leave now" he said with a little smile.
Brilliant, he thought, that was a strange word to use, he had felt a lot of that lately, words that felt right in his mouth even though his brain wouldn't think of using them.
He spotted a disappointed flash in her eyes before she answered,
"Yeah, sure, me too, got to work tomorrow and all" she sighted
"But what about meeting here tomorrow night at the same time?" he asked, he couldn't stop himself, he had to meet this girl again.
She smiled, and that smile felt so familiar, with her tounge poking between her teeth, that he had to take a moment to close his eyes and open them again, like checking if this was reality.
"Yeah, that'd be great"
"Great, okay" He stood, took his coat and left the cafè without saying goodbye.
John couldn't concentrate on anything that night, all he could think about was Rose. He knew that he must have known her, or met her before, even if he couldn't place it.
When he finally fell asleep, he had a dream about her.
She walked out of a blue box.
She was wearing a pink dress and looked so beautiful.
She smiled and she held his hand.
He was someone else, someone strange and very powerful. They were together.
But she faded away and he were in a hospital, she was there too, there were cats, but they were human, human cats.
She was there too, and Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose. Everything faded again and he woke up.
At work that day, Rose decided to tell him that she recognised him too, maybe they could figure something out. It had been eating her all night, she just had to know why he was so familiar. It felt so important, like something really important depended on if they solved it or not.
She hoped they would.
After work she went home and changed, she told her mum she had a date, which was something she regretted very fast.
Jackie asked her out about who it was, and what he did and where they were going and how they'd met. Just like she always did, should have known.
Rose only told her his name was John and that he was fantastic and super handsome. Then she hurried out before her mum could throw out more questions.
John saw her as she walked in. She looked wonderful, just like the day before. (And just like in the dream, she had been so clear, not like people usally are in dreams, so real).
"Hello" he said as she came to the table they'd shared to night before
"Hi" she smiled, he smiled back
"Wanna take a walk? It's a wonderful night"
She looked a little surprised, but not in a bad way.
"Sure, why not?" she smiled again and left her chair, he did too and they walked out of the cafè together.
As they walked, John felt a urge to grab her hand, it felt natural, like that was what he was supposed to do. But he didn't, maybe she wouldn't want him to.
"You know, you said yesterday that you recognised me from something, but you couldn't place it" Rose said
"Yes" said John, very eager to know what she was about to say, maybe she knew from where
"Well, I... I think I recognise you too, but I really can't place it either, it's weird"
"Oh..." was the only thing John could say, he knew he hadn't been imagining things, if she recognised him too, it had to be something. "Well that's ood" he didn't recognise pronouncing odd wrong, it just happened,
"Hey! That's my line!" she laughted, but then she stopped and frowned "Wait, no, sorry, I felt like I had said it like that before but no, sorry" she looked almost scared.
They walked quiet for a while, side by side. He didn't know what to answer and she was still confused over the sentence she'd thought she'd said.
"What do you think it is?" she asked after a while
He sighted, he didn't know, if he'd known her before, he knew he would remember her, she was too fantastic to forget. He'd thought that they'd met somewhere and just maybe said hello, but he had a little voice telling him that couldn't be it.
"I have no idea" he said
"Neither do I"
They were quiet again, looking around. They were walking towards the Thames, it was, like he'd said before, a beautiful night, with full moon and not a cloud on the sky.
"Tell me about your dreams, if the world would let you do whatever you wanted, what would you do?" he asked
"I... I think I'd like to travel a lot, to different places and see new things and just live, have some adventures" she smiled
She was definetely increadable.
"What about you Do... John, sorry, I don't know what that was" she frowned again
"I think... I think I'm pretty happy as I am" Said John after a bit of considering, he would want to tell her that he also wanted to travel and experience and have adventures, but It'd just sound like he was trying to make her like him. And he was happy as he was. At least right now.
"I can imagine, you being a scientist and having your own flat and everything" she laughed
"I'm not a scientist yet"
"I want to show you something" he said, they'd been walking for another while.
"Okay"
"It's in my flat, well, I can show you that too, if you want..."
Rose smiled, she'd hoped for him to invite her home, not just for getting laid (even though that wouldn't be bad at all with him), she was curious to know more about him, and she'd love to see his home.
"Yeah, okay, that'd be nice"
"Brilliant, lets... eh lets head for the tube then"
He unlocked the door, opened it and made a gesture for her to walk in.
Rose walked into a small hall completely filled with stuff. There was a lot of shoes, many pairs of sneakers, the kind that he always used. It was kind of a odd sort of shoe to wear she thought, but she liked it. There was also papers everywhere on the floor, most of it looked like they were filled with meaningless numbers and letters. They looked far too brainy for her to understand. On shelfes covering the wall was lots and lots of stuff she couldn't figure out what it was.
"Well, it's a bit untidy" he said with an excusing tone and started picking up papers from the floor.
Rose smiled and removed her white trainers.
The flat was small but nice, it was all just as filled with strange stuff as the hall. There was a little kitchen, with lots of dishes everywhere, and a bigger room with a large bed (with loads of pillows) and a desk filled with more papers. He had a sofa that looked very comfortable with a small coffee table in front of it. The walls were covered in drawings that he seemed to have made.
"Wow" she half-whispered
"Sorry, I don't have people over that often" he kept excusing himself
"No it's alright, I like it. How long have you been living here?"
"A couple years, since I started studying"
"Right"
"You want anything? Anything to drink?"
"No thanks, I'm fine" Rose studied a drawing of a sky filled with stars and a big red planet "you made these?"
"Yup" he popped the p, she grinned
"They're amazing" they really were, every single drawing was beautiful.
"Thank you"
"You said you wanted to show me something?"
"Right, yeah" he started looking through a cupboard in a corner of the room, he muttered quietly while he did it and she couldn't help giggling, he was just so... cute.
"Aha!" he said when he found what he was looking for. He walked over to Rose and showed her.
It was some kind of a metal... thing with a blue... thing at one side.
"I found it in my pocket one morning a few weeks ago" he explained "It's a sonic screwdriver"
"That's cool, what does it do?" she wondered what a Sonic Screwdriver possibly could be while she tried to shake the feeling of recognising the object in his hand off.
"That's what's so strange, I have know idea, but when I first saw it, I just knew what it was. "
Rose just nodded, she didn't know what to say, she had been surrounded by strange things and feelings since she met this guy and she felt a desperate need to know why.
"Rose?"
She turned her head and suddently she felt his lips against hers.
Automaticlly, she kissed him back, his lips were so soft and... timelordtardistardistimemachinetimelordalientardis, she pulled back, chocked.
There had been a voice in her head.
She felt the panic growing inside her, it was too much, all of it.
"Are you alright?"
Rose turned and ran. She didn't take time to put her shoes on, she just ran.
"Rose! What happened? Rose!?" she heard behind her as she ran down the stairs.
She left the building and just ran and ran, getting loads of strange looks from people who was still out.
She kept running until she couldn't anymore and sat down behind a big tree in a dark, empty park.
While her heart started slowing down to it's normal speed and her breathing got more regular she closed her eyes and leaned her back on the tree.
Maybe she'd overreacted, okay, probably she'd overreacted but it had felt so... awful. The voice had been so real and she'd felt so cold, and that plus all the other strange things that had happened... it was just enough to make her panic right then.
After twenty minutes of sitting like that in the park, she was shivering and decided to go home.
John had been running around looking for Rose for the last half hour and made up his mind to give up, she'd probably just went home. He realised that he didn't even know where she lived.
He let out a loud sight and started walking back towards his flat.
Rose woke up in her bed the next the morning and she knew.
Oh, she knew.
She let out a little laugh of relief.
She remembered.
She remembered everything and that was the most wonderful feeling she'd ever had.
And she had to see the Doctor.
It hit her, like a shovel in her face. Maybe he didn't remember, what if she had to spend the rest of her life without him because he couldn't remember?
She had to know. Had to meet him, talk to him.
The Doctor had to see Rose.
It was his first thought.
He woke up on the floor in John Smith's flat with his sonic in his hand.
He knew it would work. Before he pressed the button that horrible night when they were surrounded by monsters with no way out but erase their memories, he'd had a solution. If the other him, "John Smith" would be smart enough to use the sonic screwdriver against his own head, they'd both remember. And he'd been that smart, he'd figured it all out, because even if he thought he wasn't, he was a Time Lord.
HA! He was just brilliant!
Now, he had to get to Rose, oh, Rose, he missed her, even though she'd been with him the last time he was himself and just the night before as he was John Smith. He'd been kissing her, he realised.
Maybe he could do it again, she seemed to like it (until she broke the kiss and ran away).
He put on his sneakers and ran outside.
Rose ran and ran, just like the night before, but this time she wasn't running away, she was running towards the love of her life, because she had to see him. People on the tube, who was on their way to boring jobs gave her weird looks. She was wearing a hoodie, sweatpants and her hair looked nothing but really messy, panting and looking far too excited for a normal Thursday morning.
She went off at Paddinton Station the second time this twenty-four hours. But this felt so different, this was the real her.
She still remembered not remembering so well, she remembered how eagerly she'd wanted to know why the Doctor looked so familiar, no, John Smith, not the Doctor. The Doctor was the Doctor, John Smith was someone completely different.
And she remembered kissing him.
Would he ever do that if it was the real him? Did he love her just as much as she'd loved him for so long?
And then she remembered his words, just before pressing the button and making everything disappear. "You're brilliant, Rose Tyler, and I love you, so much".
She had to see him.
The Doctor ran towards the tube. Without the TARDIS he'd have to do things the hard way.
Sorrow filled his hearts at the thought, he'd lost his TARDIS.
He tried not to think about that for the moment. He was meeting Rose. His Rose.
And there she was, maybe thirty meters away on the street, wearing a blue hoodie and sweatpants, she was running and hadn't seen him yet.
Rose, oh Rose, his Rose.
When Rose saw the Doctor she slowed down for a moment. He was so different, even though he looked just the same as he'd done the night before, with John's jeans and T-shirt, you could tell, it was him, really him.
Her Doctor.
He did remember too, it felt like someone picked up a stone from her stomach.
He remembered too and he wanted to see her, he had been running towards her, with that amazing smile on his face. Now, he'd stopped too.
"Rose!" He called and she began running towards him again
"Doctor!"
She fell into his arms and he held her, it felt like this was how everything was supposed to be. She never wanted to let go and tears of joy filled her eyes
"Oh, Doctor" she whispered.
Then he pulled back from the hug, Rose looked into his beautiful, brown eyes for a moment until he kissed her, gently, on the lips. She kissed him back and this time she didn't pull away. She tangled her fingers in his thick, soft hair and pulled him closer. She continued kissing him until he pulled back and hugged her again.
"Never leave me again" he whispered
"Never"
They were quiet for a while, just holding each other.
"What do we do? Without the TARDIS?" She asked
"I don't know, but we'll be together"
"Yeah, always"
And there thay stood, holding each other between kisses, until he grabbed her hand and they walked away, together again, like it was supposed to be.