For the Better
McRaider
Summary: He doesn't do second chances; yet he came back for her. He used to be far more merciful, yet he always forgives her. He's a lonely angel, yet she's always there waiting for him. Rose changed everything for him, everything about him.
Author's Note: This absolutely beautiful song is actually from the play Wicked (which obviously I don't own). It's a beautiful song and well worth the time if you'd like to look it up, you'll find it's worth the time.
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you
He saw the universe through rose colored glasses: never had an ape cliché been quite so dead on. The Doctor sat contemplatively in the consol chair; kept together by duct tape in the large control room of his TARDIS. Rose had long since gone to sleep, leaving him to his thoughts.
In nine hundred years he'd changed a little with each regeneration, a little more with each companion. He'd cared about all of them, some perhaps more than others, but he'd always cared about them all. However there were big difference between Rose and all his other companions.
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
Ihave been changed for good
The biggest difference was she'd had a life, a family which she gave up for him in a heartbeat. Normally his companions had little or no ties; they were someone's with no one. Rose had a mother, a boyfriend. All of which she gave up to live one adventure after another with a complete strange.
Which led to another variation—never in nine hundred years had he ever given any companion or anyone for that matter, a second chance. He didn't give more than one chance. It just wasn't a part of what defined him. Yet here he'd met this sweet innocent nineteen year old girl, so full of life, exuberance and excitement.
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...
The raw, jagged pain had been all too familiar when he'd met Rose: A stupid ape in the wrong places at the wrong time, or perhaps the right time truly. That was quite possibly the biggest distinction; until Rose he'd never needed or been needed quite so desperately. He'd just watched all his people die—yet this beautiful child had wiped his pain under the proverbial door mat in seconds. She'd healed him in a way he could just barely comprehend. He needed to be with her, to hold to comfort and enjoy the time he had with her.
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a sky bird
In a distant wood
She showed him a complete differently side of the universe—the gentle, kind loving and forgiving side. She'd brought back compassion and mercy where it had once been. She'd changed him for good.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
Because I knew you
I have been changed for good
And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done you blame me for
But then, I guess we know
There's blame to share
And none of it seems to matter anymore
Rose, however needed him just as desperately. Mickey, had been safe, a friend who would always be trusted and there. The Doctor, however, gave her a reason to feel, a reason to finally challenge all the things she'd wanted to question. She needed someone to be there to always protect her, to always be ready to defend her no matter what. She needed her knight and he needed his princess. There relationship was an addicting drug, one he knew would end with death, pain and suffering, but he'd rapidly learned that Rose was worth any pain, fear and suffering.
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood
Still you and naive she had love for everything, no matter how cruel or weird it was. She gave of herself willingly until there was nothing left to give, without the person needing to give in return.
Who can say if I've been
Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been
Changed for the better
He smiled, standing he slowly wanted into the hallway, finding her bedroom he pushed the door open and smiled softly as she slept peacefully below a mountain of blankets and sheets. Rose Tyler had changed the cynical old Doctor, made him believe again, made him live again. Rose Tyler had changed him for the better and she'd changed him for good.
And because I knew you...
Because I knew you...
Because I knew you...
I have been changed for good.
The End