Title: Labels
Authors: Gillian Taylor
Rating: PG
Characters: Ninth Doctor, Rose
Summary: "You want labels, Rose Tyler? You want to know who I am? Then learn."
Spoilers: N/A
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 absolutely fabulous BRs WMR and NNWest. Special, additional thanks, must also go to SCAngel who assured me that I wasn't insane with this argument ;) This was written for the LJ Community "heartsintime" argument challenge.

"Labels"
By Gillian Taylor

He could spend hours watching humans run about their lives, oblivious to the harsh realities of the universe. It was almost refreshing to realise that here it was rare for anything to change. There was some comfort in sameness. Some comfort in their blinkered lives. And, for the briefest of moments, he could lose himself in that. Become one of them for a second and ignore the turn of the world beneath his feet and the thousands of possible timelines that spanned out before him.

He could just be himself. The Doctor. The last Time Lord, yes. But masked, hidden behind a dark leather coat and a stern expression. He could watch children play at ease, not knowing that he and Rose had just stopped a Trellaxian invasion not two streets away. All that anyone would know was that there had been a gas leak in the decrepit old building.

Rose had asked him once what he did while she was visiting her mother. He'd hesitated before answering, telling her that there was always something to do on the TARDIS – which there was. He preferred to watch life pass by, see a world that he could never become a part of. This was what reminded him of why he'd done all that he'd done in the past.

For them. For the tiny human apes running about on this tiny planet. He'd destroyed worlds, fractured time, fractured himself. All to save them.

And they had no idea. No clue what it was like. No one, except for Rose and the few others like her who had had the chance to see the universe first hand. It was enough. Barely, but enough.

"Doctor!" Rose's voice interrupted his thoughts and he turned toward her, his expression brightening as she approached him. However, his smile faltered slightly when he saw that she'd brought someone else with her. A stranger. Friend, most likely.

"Rose," he said. "Ready to go?" He told himself that there wasn't a measure of pleading in his voice.

"Oh, no, not yet. Shareen has this thing tonight an' I wanted to go. 'S been a long…" Her voice trailed off as she seemed to realise that both he and the girl with her were staring politely at each other. "Oh, sorry! Doctor, this is Shareen. Shareen, this is Doctor..." Rose waited for him to complete the sentence, and he fought the urge to sigh.

He thought that they'd been through this. "Jus' the Doctor. Hello, Shareen."

"See what you mean, Rose," Shareen told her before turning toward him. "Nice to finally meet you, Doctor."

He wasn't sure what that sentence meant, but he smiled faintly in reply. "Same."

An awkward silence began to stretch between them, and he was about to announce his intention to return to the TARDIS when Shareen spoke. "So, Doctor. Doctor of what, exactly?"

"Everything," he replied. "With bits of everything else."

Rose's face turned an interesting shade of red. "Right. Well, Doctor, I'll see you later, yeah? C'mon, Shareen. Thought you'd wanted to do some shopping?"

"Oh, yeah. Shopping." Something told him that that hadn't been part of their plans, but he wasn't about to say anything. There was that pesky dimensional stabiliser that he should take a look at.

"Nice to meet you, Doctor," Shareen said as Rose began to drag her off.

"First thing tomorrow, Rose," he called after her, and shrugged. Humans. He certainly couldn't claim to understand them, despite all his years of experience. Or, perhaps, it was only the female of the species that tended to give him that particular trouble.

He tapped his fingers on the console. The rotor was starting to act up again. If he tried to reverse the polarity of the flow, he could theoretically clear the dimensional obstruction in the time rotor's matrix. Theoretically. It'd just be delicate work. It'd just take him far longer than he'd want to be stuck in London to fix.

Could always tell Rose that they were due for a holiday in the Vortex. Let her explore the TARDIS while he worked on the rotor. Admittedly, they'd be drifting while he worked, but it should be perfectly safe. Last time he'd had an incident in the Vortex was at the end of his seventh life.

Wasn't likely to happen again.

He heard the door open to the console room open, but he didn't turn, trusting Rose to come to him when she was ready. He'd suggest the holiday to her when she reached the console. Maybe tell her a bit about some of the rooms. She'd probably like the butterfly room. Or the Cloisters.

That was when the door was slammed shut, the violence of the gesture echoing in the cavernous room. He winced as he spun toward the entrance, protesting, "Oi! She's delicate, y'know."

Rose was, apparently, furious. He'd seen that particular expression once or twice before. Last time was when he'd neglected to tell her that he was going into the building to face the Trellaxians alone. This, however, seemed worse. "What the 'ell were you doin' back there, Doctor?"

He blinked. "What?"

"With Shareen! I was tryin' to introduce you, an' all you said was 'jus' the Doctor'!" Rose stalked toward him, every fibre of her being radiating anger.

"That's who I am," he replied, confused. "Just the Doctor."

"What's your name?" she asked, coming to a stop before him. She poked an accusing finger at his chest and he stared, bemused, at the digit.

"We've been through this," he said, trying to be reasonable. "It's the Doctor. Just the Doctor."

"That's a title!" she objected.

"It's a name," he replied. "That's who I am."

"No, it's not. That's jus' a label!"

Anger, sudden and furious, burned through him. He was proud of her when she didn't flinch. Though, Rassilon knew, she should. "You want labels, Rose Tyler? You want to know who I am? Then learn."

"I am the Oncoming Storm."

He let her see the fury in his eyes. He let her see the barest glimpse of who he really was.

"I am the Ka Faraq Gatri. The Bringer of Darkness."

Her breath caught in her throat as she looked at him, her face paler than normal in the harsh green light of the console room. She was frightened. So she should be. This was who he was, who he'd tried to shield her from. She shouldn't know, wasn't supposed to know. But he'd gone too far to stop now.

"I am the Destroyer of Worlds." This was the label that hurt the most, the one that was the truest of all. He'd killed his people. Killed everything, destroyed everything, that he'd known. For her. For humans. For all the tiny species running amok through the universe, blinded to the dangers all around them.

He wasn't unaffected by his words, much as he'd tried to be. He was revealing almost everything to her. Who he was. What he was. The rapid beat of his hearts echoed loudly in his ears and his hands fisted at his sides. She'd know him now. More than the alien that travelled with her through space and time. More than the alien that held her hand as he led her from and into danger.

She'd know exactly what he was. She should run. She should be scared. She should flee and return to her life of beans on toast. This was who he was. Dangerous. Deadly. Evil. Killer of all things. He shouldn't try to keep her. He didn't deserve her.

He didn't deserve life. But that didn't matter. He lived. That had to be enough for him.

"I am Time's Champion. I've preserved timelines at the cost of the innocent. I've destroyed lives in the cause of time. I have seen things and done things that I am not proud of. I've seen the evil return to fight again." His expression was grim as he told her this title. It meant nothing now. He'd had a safety net once. If he'd failed, the Time Lords would've stepped in. They would've sorted it. Not any more.

"I am the Doctor. The last of my kind. I am all those labels and none of them. I am death. I am danger. And I'm not safe. That's who I am, Rose Tyler." He turned from her, bracing himself against the console, breathing heavily. The gentle hum and concern of his ship flooded him and he closed his eyes against it.

He was undeserving of sympathy or concern. He'd let Rose drive him too far. Now she'd leave. And she was right to.

"Still think I need a name? I'm the Doctor," he told her and silently damned himself.

"I'm sorry," Rose said softly, resting a gentle hand against his shoulder. She was still here. She hadn't run. But why? She should've gone. However, he couldn't reject the relief that flooded him at the realisation. He hadn't lost her after all, much as he deserved to. Yet he shrugged it off, denying himself that comfort.

"You're the Doctor, yeah. But that's not who you are."

"No?" he asked, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

"'S a label, yeah. But that's not you. You're the man who's saved the Earth – an' the universe - more times than I can count. You're the man who has protected innocents an' has done his best to save 'em even against impossible odds. You're the man who's saved me, time and again, even though I don't deserve it. You're my best friend. An' I shouldn't've questioned you. 'Cause I know who you are. I know what your name is."

He couldn't help himself. He turned to face her, staring at her with what he hoped was an unfathomable expression. "Oh?"

"Yeah," she said with a smile. "Your name's the Doctor. An' that's good enough for me."

He searched her eyes, almost as if he were trying to find the secrets of the universe in her expression. Humans had the greatest capacity to astonish him. Time and again, he'd thought he'd known them and knew their measure. And each time they'd proven him wrong.

She had proven him wrong. Despite the argument, despite knowing enough to realise that she should leave him, she stayed. She trusted him. It was evident in the way she looked at him, the way she held his hand. He felt humbled by that realisation.

No matter what label he was given, what mattered was that she was here. She stayed because he was the Doctor. And that was enough for her.

A grin, sudden and brilliant, crossed his face. "Good." Because he couldn't help himself, he pulled her into his embrace, gently enfolding her in his arms. "Thank you," he whispered into her hair and he felt her nod against him.

"Shouldn't've asked what I already knew the answer too. 'M sorry 'bout that," she replied.

"'S all right. You're only human."

"Oi!"

THE END