Alright, so this is my first attempt on this story, which I have quite a few ideas for. I might take this down and edit it later, but as for now I'm happy with it. I don't own Doctor Who obviously, but maybe someday ;) Enjoy, and please review!
The "Doctor" surveyed his new office, trying to ignore the irony of him, of all beings, having an office. Offices represented tenures, security, and permanency in one field. In the life he'd lead for centuries he'd never so much as had a permanent dimension to stay tethered to; so the sensation was overwhelming in a way.
But then his eye flicked across a picture frame with a little blue bow stuck to one corner; the picture was of him and Rose Tyler holding hands on some windy morning in Wales not two months ago. You could see the laughter in their eyes and the white knuckles of their grip to each other's hand, like they'd rather die than let go. And he was reminded of the glorious consolation that came with a human existence; Rose. The chance to spend a lifetime with her was more than he'd ever dreamed would happen to him.
He felt a pang of gratitude and regret for his other self, who he was sure was quite lonely at the moment. He thanked him, once again.
He grinned and continued his inspection of the space. The desk was mahogany, with a delightful spinning chair, and was tastefully decorated with black and white photos of Hubble satellite findings. There was a small filing cabinet in the corner and a screen flanked with a gauntlet of controls and buttons for conferences or other uses. It was spacious as far as Torchwood was concerned. He was simply glad they'd had the decency to decline his requirement for four years in the field. He'd argued he'd had more years "in the field" than anyone who would ever come through Torchwood and Rose had smirked at the looks on the faces of their superiors. No one had had the courage to argue.
He soon found himself lost in a pile of paperwork not ten minutes later, after a push-nosed clerk had sauntered in, demanding it be proofed by Monday, whatever that meant. Even if he didn't need to experience field work, he'd have trouble catching up with the vernacular around here without Rose's help.
He picked up a pen, manically clicking it and drumming his fingers as he read through the documents, barely processing the words and more thinking about how he'd rather be doing something else. He sighed, leaning back in his chair and kicking his red Chuck Taylors up onto the table, feeling drowsy all of sudden. Is it drowsiness? Or boredom… no difference I suppose... he pondered as he swiveled from side to side. He had just reclined his head to close his eyes when Rose walked in.
She glanced at the stack of papers and back at his posture. "Procrastinating a new habit of yours?" she teased, sitting on the edge of his desk. He peered up at her through one open eye. "No, but meaningless monotony is definitely not habit forming. You said this was a fun job."
Rose scoffed. "I'd love to see you fold shirts or count change all day." She said, smirking at him.
He raised his eyebrows at her, continuing to remain unconvinced. Rose sighed.
"To be honest… I had a hard time adjusting too. Life in the TARDIS is completely different; but you know that I suppose. I guess after a while, I just had to convince myself that what I was doing was important. Defending the Earth and all… and finding you, well him, who's you…" she admitted.
The Doctor frowned in contemplation. He was simply glad she'd referred to him as if he was the Doctor. He'd grown tired of Rose treating him like a diseased child when they first "met". He was the Doctor; just another version of him, no different than a regeneration. But all in all, what Rose had said was true. All one needed to drive a purpose was the feeling that they were significant. He'd never been without knowing he was important in the scheme of things, but recently he'd found himself lost in the madness of it all, desperate to just jump in the TARDIS and escape all the mundane things in this life; like the mountain of paperwork on his desk.
Rose glanced down at the papers, and a small smile twitched on her lips. Her Doctor, the most fantastic and brilliant man she'd ever known, reduced to paperwork.
"How's about I finish that up for you tonight… on one condition." She offered.
The Doctor sat up in his seat, a prick of smile spreading on his face. "What might that be?" He asked.
Rose rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. "You're cooking; for the rest of the week. Whatever I like." She said.
The Doctor smiled. "Done!" he said, swinging his feet to the floor and reaching across the desk to shake her hand. "But am I to expect a week of nothing but chips for dinner?" he smirked.
"Oh shut up." She said smacking his hand away playfully. He grinned, grabbing her hand anyway.
"In the meantime, is there anything else we could be doing?" he asked walking around the desk, her hand still clasped in his.
"Well, have you met Carla yet?" Rose asked as they walked through the open doorway.
Rose peered down at Cardiff, her face hovering over the steam of the mug in front of her. The glass on the wide window had frosted, tiny tendrils of geometric crystalline ice scattered over the surface.
She'd been called to headquarters to discuss what was to happen to her Doctor. She'd found a place for him at Torchwood as the new Head of the Time Travel agency, which she thought suited him perfectly, just as the position had suited her two years ago. It was only fitting that she be promoted to a different department; and she demanded the Doctor be given her former job.
Life had been turned on its head after that day on Bad Wolf Bay, the first and last time with the Doctor; both of them. Her head still hadn't quite wrapped around it. First it had been accepting this meta-crisis man as the Doctor, and when he'd proven to be identical in every aspect that counted, it had been another feat for her to accept that she'd grown to choose this Doctor over the other one. She stilled loved The Doctor, wherever, whenever, he was; but this Doctor, her Doctor, was the one who had stayed, the one who she could be with forever, the one who had finally said it. That had changed everything. They needed each other in a way that was different from the days that they'd been gallivanting around through time and space. It was an everyday existence that she'd grown, if not to prefer, to at least be fonder of.
She glanced over her shoulder where he slept, his hair tangled and his arms lolling over the edge. He'd never exactly been a graceful sleeper, but something about his posture now reminded her of Donna. It had been strange at first, accepting so much affection and intimacy and subtle familiarity from this Doctor, but it felt so right that she succumbed to it more frequently as the time passed. They'd only just started sharing a bed together two weeks before, and it was definitely something she'd never thought she'd get to experience. He wouldn't dare go so far as to insist to share share a bed with her, but something about the way he held her communicated that he wasn't totally against the idea. And the more Rose thought about it, neither was she.
But to complicate their relationship even further while everything was still not taken care of between the two of them was not something she was particularly fond of doing.
She focused her attention back to the city beneath her. She could see all the way out to the water, and watching the waves calmed her thoughts. The remedy for almost anything it seemed was a warm mug of freshly brewed tea, and a pleasant view.
She took a moment to really ponder her future. Not the specifics, like the rent, or her career; but the unknown, unplanned things. Would she marry this Doctor? Could she marry him? Or would they exist like this forever, as two people stuck in between commitments and boundaries? If they did marry… what then? Would they live life in a day to day manner, or try at every opportunity to break free? Could the Doctor settle down with her? Could they raise a family together; would he want to? What kind of life would that child have, being reared up by a Time-Lord, or, well, half there-of?
At that moment, she heard a rustling noise followed by an intense sigh and moan. "Up before me, Rose?" he murmured. "This is a new development…" He swung his legs over the edge, sitting up to rub his eyes and rumple his hair.
Rose sipped her tea, waiting for him to orient himself before he spoke. He staggered over to her, collapsing onto the sofa facing the scenery beneath them. "Or could it be you never got any sleep to begin with?" he said, running his finger up and down her bare arm. Rose closed her eyes, leaning into him, and letting him embrace her. "Right you are…" she said, setting her mug against the side table.
"What's on your mind 'Agent Bad Wolf'?" her Doctor asked, a lilt of teasing in his tone of voice. He swept a lock of hair from her face, as she glanced at him blushing. Her codename wasn't necessarily original to the two of them, and it had baffled her co-workers; she'd never bothered to explain its significance to anyone, and she wouldn't want to.
"Tell me this, Doctor… what have you always wanted to do? There must be something you haven't done; never got the chance, couldn't, didn't have the opportunity." She began, and looked over to him.
"You aren't changing the subject are you, Rose?" he said admonishingly.
Rose shook her head with a small grin. "No really, this is what I've been thinking about." She reassured.
The Doctor squeezed her shoulder, a smile spreading on his face, and he let out a small laugh, like he'd thought of something ironic. "I've already done everything I wanted to do." He answered, staring wistfully down at her. "Well… almost."
"Almost, what then?" she asked, shifting underneath his arm.
"Well, all I wanted since I met you was to find a way to show you how much you meant to me. Then when I lost you, when I left before I could tell you… I regretted everything. All I wanted was to see you again… and a part of me wished I could somehow give you the life you deserved without taking you from Jackie… and you can guess the rest. I've accomplished all of that. Only a few more things on my check list; but all in due time, Ms. Tyler." He explained. Rose reclined her head against his chest, hearing his single heartbeat, and his lungs pulse as he sighed, "And you?"
Rose surveyed the Welsh landscape, trying to find the words. "Much the same I suppose… Before I met you, well, I-I don't remember. I never had goals or dreams… just my mum and Mickey, every day. You've taken me everywhere I wanted to go and more…" she said. She smiled in his silence.
"And I got Queen Victoria to say 'I am not amused.'" She added with a laugh, that the Doctor echoed grinning.
Rose liked this. This heart-to-heart; maybe they weren't baring their souls to each other, but at least she had accepted him as her Doctor and was intent on growing ever closer to him. She felt the strong desire to kiss him, while they were light-hearted and familiar and not restricted by thoughts of the other Doctor out there somewhere.
She turned to face him, moving her lips toward him and allowing him to meet her halfway. At first it was cautious and uncertain, but as he shifted to run his hands through her hair it became tender and intimate, his hands lightly touching the arch of her back, inviting her closer, not wanting to rush anything. Rose took this gesture to dive into the kiss, and they fell against the sofa, his hands delicately tracing the contours of her back as their lips smacked and played a soft tug-of-war. They stayed locked like this, cautiously but earnestly exploring each other, smiling at each other in the moments when they came up for air.
"Rose…" he began breathless, letting his fingers brush her skin just underneath the hem of her night shirt, "This is what I've always wanted to do…" He grinned into their next kiss and she peppered his jaw line and neck with tiny kisses.
"Me, too." She answered finally, lying down on his chest to catch her breath. She felt his single heart beat once again and closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not accepting you the moment you decided to stay with me. I'm taking you for granted, wanting something I can't have. I didn't think about the fact that you wanted the rest of this life with me just as much as I wanted to be in the TARDIS for the rest of mine. I'm sorry we couldn't have been like this a month ago." She said, letting it all spill out of her. The Doctor rubbed her back, shushing her and whispering reassurances.
"Rose, never, ever be sorry. I love you, no matter when or where we are. I always will. That's why I stayed; it's why I'll never leave you. You… are my reason for living. Nothing in all of time and space could ever replace you, and I wouldn't trade you for anything, ever." He said with conviction, sitting up so she could see his face.
Rose let a tear slip down her cheek, and he tenderly wiped it away. "Oh, Rose…" he said, searching deep in her eyes.
"I love you." She said, the first time she'd ever said it back to him. Funny… she had been the first to say it to the original Doctor, and he'd never actually said it back. This Doctor, her Doctor, however had been the first to say it to her, and she'd yet to exchange the sentiment. She could imagine how it must have felt for him; the same way she had felt, except perhaps worse because he hadn't been given the opportunity to dream that she would've said it, given the moment. Rose had been given plenty of moments, a month of being right down the hall… and she hadn't even told him she loved him.
The looks on his face told her he didn't think a thing of it; and the smile in his eyes, and the tenderness in which he dried her tears spoke volumes of how faultless he thought she was.
"How long are you going to stay with me?" she asked finally, her eyes brimming.
"Forever…" he said, kissing her.
"John Smith, eh?" Carla inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"Codename: Doctor!" he replied, extending a hand for her to shake.
She deftly peeled off her heavy radiation resistant gloves and accepted his hand shaking it heartily.
"Excellent! Carla Mitsy. Codename: Raven, if you're so keen to know." She said hurriedly, placing her glove back on her hand as she did so.
"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Mitsy. I've heard so much about you from Rose." He greeted.
"Charmed, as well, sir. And it seems Rose has told me just as much about you. Am I to understand the two of you are an item?" she asked, her eyebrows wagging in intrigue.
The Doctor rubbed his neck, flushing. "She said that, did she?"
Carla laughed. "Never told me so. But I'm quite clever. Nothing gets past me at this place. And you… you have that look all over you. Even your posture tells the truth." She explained in her rushed voice.
She turned her attention back to the complex system of wires and triggers spread out on the countertop before her. The Doctor bounced on his heels with his hands shoved in his pockets sheepishly.
"Well, if that's the case, then, yeah, Rose and I are quite close." He admitted, surveying the tech displayed in front of them.
"Welcome back, by the way." She said soddering a stripped copper wire to the surface of a platinum plate.
The Doctor bit his lower lip, looking quite befuddled. "Pardon?"
"You've come from that other dimension, parallel universe, what have you; I'm sure of it. No matter what they all told me, you're the real reason they had me work out that Dimension Cannon. Tell me what you like about Donna Noble; Rose just wanted you back." She said, stripping a wire aggressively with her pliers as she spoke.
The Doctor winced had her ferocity; something about this woman gave the impression that she could easily overtake the world if she had the time or the whim. Especially her rather intelligent guess as to where he'd come from. He knew she'd never in a million years work out the meta-crisis, because that hardly made sense to him at times.
"I-I did come from that universe, yeah." He said, feeling flustered.
"Well, I guess you were more important to retrieve than Mickey. He's been here for years, and what does he get for it? Abandoned in a parallel world. Pity… fodder absolute fodder."
The Doctor stifled a laugh. He could tell her Mickey left voluntarily, but something about the way this Carla woman chose to portray Mickey made him think that's the last thing she would accept. He guessed that Rose had filled at least someone in on what had happened to Mickey. But he got that strong vibe that Carla preferred being left in the dark and just carrying out her own theories, which he was sure she was used to being correct.
Thus, the Doctor felt it safe to change the subject.
"So, what is this project?" he asked, leaning forward to get a better look.
"If I told you I'd have to kill you." She said with a smirk, never looking up.
The Doctor scoffed with a smile. "Well, then; but you'll find you aren't the only clever one in the room. That's a plasma ray, well, the makings of one. That piece there will make the trigger, but not before you stabilize that flux; speaking of which, you're gonna need a bigger wire." He said, picking through the various pieces, much to Carla's chagrin.
"Well, aren't you just manna from heaven, Mr. Smith?" she said her voice of icy sarcasm trying to mask the honest astonishment in her eyes.
"That's Doctor Smith to you, Ms. Mitsy. Now where do you store your sonic tools?" he said, sifting through the drawers.
Carla let her mouth hang open. "Well, in all my blasted days… if you must know, the prototypes are classified and unfortunately, not fit for use at the moment." She said, crossing her arms.
"Not fit for use? Ten quid I can fix that…" he murmured, continuing to pry through Carla's stash.
Carla raised her eyebrow surreptitiously, eyeing him with a look of bemusement. "I'll take that on, sir." She said finally.
The Doctor glanced back up at Carla Mitsy, whose face was quivering with a smile she was trying to conceal.
"Welcome to Torchwood, Doctor Smith." She said, tossing him a key.
Rose found herself adjusting the Doctor's scarf yet again. "Doesn't it bother you when that thing drags the ground?" she asked incredulous.
The Doctor gave her a hearty smile. "Not a bit. In fact, I rather like it that way."
"Well, I'll just remember that when you fall on your face." Rose quipped.
The Doctor grinned again, pulling Rose to his side as they strolled. Nothing could compare to this lovely morning in Cardiff, the shining and perfect day on which Rose loved him. They strode to catch up with Pete and Jackie, who'd let them fall behind.
"I can't stand Cardiff… every time we come here its always foggy and dreary. Does no good for my poor sinuses, Pete." Jackie protested, bundled up and hunched against the cold.
Pete chuckled. "Jacks, I told you, you could've waited in the suite!"
"Oh come off it, I wouldn't miss this one's initiation for the world!" Jackie said, looking back at the Doctor. He smiled, amused at Jackie's sudden fondness of him. She was treating his introduction at Torchwood HQ like his first day of primary school.
Pete looked down at his watch. "We're going to miss it if they don't hurry it up."
"Dad, they won't start until you're there!" Rose said as she and the Doctor caught up with them.
Pete sighed, throwing his hands up. He jogged over to a small console on the center of the hill. He peeled off his gloves, letting the panel scan his handprint. He punched in a few more codes, as a staircase emerged from the sinking ground. Just before he began to descend them, Jackie exclaimed.
"Pete Tyler! You come back and take a picture with your daughter and the Doctor!" she shouted to him, pulling her camera out from her coat pocket.
"No, Jacks. Just get the two of them. It's windy, though, so don't you try and wait around for the perfect snapshot." Pete conceded, crossing his arms.
Jackie rolled her eyes, bringing the camera up to her face. "Get closer than that!" she exclaimed. The Doctor laughed, kissing Rose on the forehead and laughing as Jackie snapped the picture a second too late. Rose clasped his hand, laughing as her hair was tossed in the wind. Jackie quickly took another, before Pete ushered them down the stairs.
"That's quite enough. Jackie... you can take more later." Pete said, as she swatted his hand away, viewing the pictures. "You two are mighty lucky neither of you blinked!" she said handing the camera to Rose.
Rose looked at the screen. She saw the genuine smiles on their faces, the way her hair was swept behind her, which in this frame appeared graceful. Their hands were blue from the cold, but the happiness in their eyes was what she loved most.
"You should frame this one, mum." She said, handing her mother the camera with a wink. The Doctor bounced down the steps ahead of her, tripping up a bit on his scarf, flashing a debonair smile at Rose before she chastised him.
Rose shook her head at him, a small smile on her lips. She couldn't help it; she was in love with him.
Okay, so this jumps around a bit, but it goes chronologically back and forth between Torchwood Tower and Cardiff. I always imagined Rose wouldn't immediately melt into the new Doctor's arms, but rather would take time to accept the situation, and he's let her take her time. I'm not extremely happy with the ending… but meh, I introduced Carla and got the story rolling so that's what is most important. Also, I'm terrible at writing intimate kissing scenes, as I'm sure you noticed.
Bear in mind, I've never watched Torchwood, and this is all my own personal interpretation, so if you do keep up with Torchwood, none of this canonical, and I apologize.
But anyway...Hope you enjoyed it! More to come later!