AN:/ Set after Girl in the Fireplace. Slight AU-divergence.
Exactly five hours and thirty five minutes after the Doctor left them stranded on a spaceship, three thousand years in their personal future, the power went out.
Mickey and Rose were seated at the console in front of the shattered mirror when it happened. The easily startled man let out a very unmanly shriek when the lights flickered and died leaving the two time travelers in near complete darkness. The only light was the gentle blue glow of the Tardis behind them.
"Rose…?" Mickey questions hesitantly, uncertain of his mate's stability, the last time he had tried to reason with her she had snapped at him and nearly smacked him across the back of his head like his gran used to do when he was being stupid.
"Yes Mickey?" she replies, seemingly completely calm, but Mickey's known Rose most of their lives, he knows that detached, emotionless tone better than he'd like to.
"…It's been almost six hours, d'ya think-"
"He'll come. He promised. Time works differently on the other side, I'm sure he'll be along in just a bit."
They were silent after that.
As the hours pass without the spaceship's life support, the room begins to chill. Mickey was shivering when his watch finally said it's been twenty four hours since that alien git left them alone, stranded.
"Rose." He croaks, voice harsh from disuse, his breath is visible in the air and he knows that this is his breaking point. For her own good they need to weigh their options. "Rose, it's been twenty-four hours. I was willing to wait, but this is where I draw the line." He says, voice becoming stronger with his conviction. "Maybe he can't get back to us, maybe," he swallows thickly, "Maybe he needs us to pick him up." Rose stares at him for a moment, face impassive. "Rose, please. I don't want to die on this ship waiting for an alien to come and save us, when we may have other options."
"What other option is there?" She asks, voice hollow and harsh in the face of his fear. "There isn't another Emergency Program One, I made him get rid of it after the last time. You can't fly the Tardis. I can't fly the Tardis. We're in the middle of nowhere in space, and misplaced in time. The Doctor will get back to us. He's practically immortal, he could hitch a ride with a previous self, or just live until he catches up with us."
"Don't you think he'd be here already if that were the case?"
"He's a crappy driver, maybe the other Doctor just missed the time. Besides, what if we leave before he gets back and then he's without the Tardis."
"What's the smallest amount of time he's been off when you've traveled with him?"
"I don't know Mickey, we don't usually go for specifics!" He can tell by the look on her face that she knows the answer.
"When you were trying to be specific?" She mutters something, low and grumbled enough that he's sure even she couldn't make it out. "What was that?"
"Nine years, or so…"
"Do you really want to risk being stuck on this space ship with me for nine years, waiting on the Doctor?"
"There isn't anything else we can do!" She cries.
"You've flown the Tardis before-"
"I don't remember how!"
"You say the Tardis is sentient, maybe if we just ask it'll take us home."
"She doesn't work like that!"
"Then we can pry it open again, look into the heart or whatever and you'll remember how to fly her."
"We don't have a truck." All of her responses are snapped immediately. She's clearly thought of all these options on her own.
"I don't want to just give up, why don't we give it a try and cross the other bridges when we get there."
"Mickey…" she says, and suddenly she's in tears. "I can't-I just-I can't."
"You did it before Rose, it's not impossible." He's moved closer to her and gripped her shoulders, almost trying to shake some sense into her.
"But it is!" Tears begin slipping down her face. "The last time, it almost killed me." He gasps in shock, before pulling her into a hug. "And it did kill him, the first him, he's dead because of what I did then, he died saving me!" She sobs.
"Oh, sweetheart…then we'll think of something else."
Time passes in silence until the cold becomes too much to bear. Rose takes a deep breath, pulling out of Mickey's embrace before tugging him along to the Tardis. She fumbles with the Yale key, muscles aching in protest; she takes a small comfort and feeling of victory when the doors slide open for her. The warmth hits them like a ton of bricks and in the brighter light of the Tardis's console room they realize just how close to frostbite they are.
She stops at the top of the ramp, eyes locked on the Time Rotor. "What do you think, girl?" She asks as Mickey makes his way past her towards the hallway. "Will he come for us, or do we need to save him?"
There's a gentle pressure in her mind and suddenly she's the Doctor stranded in Eighteenth Century France.
She sits slumped in front of the fireplace in Versailles, wine glass tipped over spilling all over the tile floor. Rinnette sits beside her, arm wrapped around her shoulders in silent comfort. She's fixed the loose connection on this side, but it seems as though the ship on the other side has lost power. Timelines stretch out before her, it will take her years to create something that will power it enough from this side to get her home, to get her back to Rose…years on the slow path in a boring day-to-day life in the palace with Rinnette and her king. Years before she can get back to the Tardis and who knew how long it would be for her companions, for Rose. She'd been back on the other side for minutes and Rinnette had aged years, so maybe it's only be a few hours for them, but the portals weren't stable to begin with so who knew if it's been minutes for her and hours or days or years for them. In several timelines, she gets back and they are dead of old age, in others they live in the Tardis for years and years and have children before she makes it back to them.
"Doctor-
"Rose, Rose, are you okay?" Mickey asks, hovering in front of her. "You blanked out for a while there, are you okay Rose?"
"I'm fine Mickey." She says flashing him a wide grin, quite a contrast to her previous mood. "Why don't you go take a warm bath and I'll see if I can't get the Tardis up and running. We'll go to France after Rinnette's party so we're past the point of being a part of events. Then we can pick up the Doctor and continue on our way."
"Actually, Rose, I'd rather just go home if it's all the same to you?"
She swallows thickly, annoyed that her faith's been tarnished for good reason. Mickey must think she's absolutely mental to still believe in that daft alien that abandoned her thousands of years in the future with a ship she has no idea how to fly. "I-yeah. I'll drop you off at home, then."
"You won't stay with me?" He asks, slightly shocked that even after all this she'd still continue travelling.
"The Doctor-" She chokes, "The Tardis needs him, I can't abandon her when she's depending on me to find him."
"Let him live the three-thousand years to us, it'd serve him right…" Mickey mutters half-heartedly.
"And in the meantime he'd find a way back here and find us gone. I can't do that to them."
"Whatever, Rose. Do what you have to, just get me home."
"Alright." She nods confidently. "You go enjoy your bath." She says, turning back to the Time Rotor. She lets out a breath as Mickey's footsteps fade down the hall. She walks over to the part of the console she knows will open for her, eyes locked on the flowing blue column. "I'll be alright, won't I?" A reassuring hum eases her worries so she slides down to rest her head on the smooth metal. "Okay then, whenever you're ready…"
The metal warms against her forehead as it slowly creaks open, and her eyes automatically clench shut, her first Doctor's warning ringing in her ears. As the light hits her face her eyes open in shock. Restricting ropes loosen their hold on her mind and memories of gold and dust and eternity stretch out in her mind. A piece of herself she hadn't known was missing slots back into place. "Oh Dearheart…" She breathes hands rubbing the console gently. "My Half…" Heart-Half replies as they both bask in the feeling of being whole again. Seconds that literally last eternities pass and Rose-Half knows what needs to be done. She pilots Heart-Half into the Vortex and waits for Mickey to reemerge. The real-Heart is shielded once more and the glow has faded from her eyes when he plops himself in the chair.
"Did'ja figure out how to work it?" He asks, almost jokingly, trying to keep his mood light.
"Yeah…" she says flipping a few switches and pressing a button. "Here ya go. Two hours since we left and I'm not the Doctor, so I know I'm right." She replies grinning at him.
"Really?" He asks in honest surprise. "I thought it'd be harder than that, what kind of miracle did you work while I was gone?"
"Dearheart showed me how, she knows the Doctor needs to be collected." Rose says, hands rubbing small circles between buttons.
"Dearheart?" Mickey questions, eyeing her strangely.
"The Tardis."
"Why do you call it that?" Rose looks at him for a moment before making a decision.
"I'm going to leave now. I'll have the Doctor stop by in a few weeks to see if you've changed your mind and want to travel with us again." He observes her for another moment, taking in her dry eyes and almost glowing skin, she looks radiant, like a goddess in human form. She looks content, despite the turmoil of the last two days. She's stronger than he gave her credit for, she can take care of herself, and the Doctor. She'll be alright without him…or so her appearance convinces him. He's curious as to how she managed it, when she said before it would be impossible. How has her mood swung a complete 180 in less than an hour? His thoughts shift abruptly, nudged in a different direction. He's home in London, safe from insane, irresponsible aliens. Rose is strong enough to take care of herself. He's never given her enough credit.
"I doubt I will, but it'll be nice to see you again, Rose. Are you sure you don't want to just let him stew?"
"He doesn't deserve that." She replies sharply. "He's been through enough in his life."
"Alright, alright, I was just joking anyway. I'll see you in a few weeks then?" He asks, stepping out of the Tardis and onto the street just behind his apartment.
"Of course you will, Mickey." Rose reassures before she closes the door and makes her way back to the controls. "But first there are a few things we need to do, aren't there, Dearheart? There's a legend that needs to be started…the Big Bad Wolf…" She says sending the Tardis into the Vortex without a sound.
~B~A~D~~W~O~L~F~
The Doctor sits slumped in front of the fireplace in Versailles, wine glass tipped over spilling all over the tile floor. Rinnette sits beside him, arm wrapped around his shoulders in silent comfort. He's fixed the loose connection on this side, but it seems as though the ship on the other side has lost power. It will take him years to create something that will power it enough from this side to get home, to get back to Rose…years on the slow path in a boring day-to-day life in the palace with Rinnette and her king. Years before he can get back to the Tardis and who knew how long it would be for his companions, for Rose. He'd been back on the other side for minutes and Rinnette had aged years so maybe it's only be a few hours for them, but the portals weren't stable to begin with so who knew if it's been minutes for him and hours or days or years for them. What if he gets back and they are dead of old age? What if-
The wheezing groaning sound of hope interrupts the downward spiral of his thoughts as the wonderful shape of his magnificent time-and-space ship begins to appear in front of him. He jumps to his feet in shock.
"Impossible!" He cries joyously as the Tardis enters her final materialization sequence. "Impossible!" He repeats moving forward to touch what absolutely must be a figment of his shattered mind. Just centimeters before his hand makes contact, the doors burst open from within. A long string of giggles reach his ears and he's sure his face must be priceless right about now. "Impossible!" He cries again, rushing into the Tardis, marveling at its presence and pilot.
"I think we broke him, Dearheart." Rose says between her laughter. The Tardis hums in agreed amusement.
"Rose." He gasps. "But how?! We're a part of events! And you don't know how to fly her! And this is absolutely. One. Hundred. Million. Percent. Impossible!"
"We can leave if you'd like…" Rose replies nonchalantly, hands moving to the familiar buttons and nobs to dematerialize. "We can come back in a few weeks if you'd prefer, maybe a few months? Or years?"
"No!" He says, desperately moving her hands from the console. Her tongue touched grin makes an appearance, and it's then that he realizes she was joking. "You're different, what happened? And how?"
"Dearheart loves me. Don't you, Dearheart?" Rose says leaning forward to caress the Time Rotor, which lights up happily under her touch.
"But how?"
"Well, about five and a half hours after you swanned off the power on the ship cut out. I waited, thinking you wouldn't have abandoned us without at least some idea of how to get back. It was just taking you a while to figure it out, yeah? But when twenty-four hours passed-"
"A day," he breathes in relief.
"-and there was still no sign of you, Mickey talked some sense into me. I spoke with Dearheart-the Tardis-and she told me that you wouldn't be finding an easy way back to us. So we made another agreement."
"But how can you fly the Tardis? The last time you did that you…"
"The last time I did that I what?" She asks defiantly, maintaining eye-contact with him ask he searched her face for a long moment, scanning for any sign of the Time Vortex or Bad Wolf.
"Nothing…" He mutters more to himself than the girl whose question he was answering.
"So, Mister Time Lord, where to next?"
"Well…"
"It's…bigger on the inside…" Rinnette exclaims in shock. "Is this where you live, my Lonely Angel?" She asks looking to the couple who are still standing quite close.
"Ah yes! Rinnette, this is Rose. Rose, Rinnette."
"Yes, Doctor," Rose says with a put-upon sigh. "We've met."
"Right, yes, well then," He spins to face Rinnette. "How would you like to go for a trip? Just one and I'll put you back where you belong. Anywhere, anywhen you'd like."
"Can we visit your home, Doctor?" She asks, like a child, ignorant of the hurt it'd cause her 'lonely angel'.
"Naw, pssh, who wants to go home? I know, let's go to Barcelona. The planet not the city, I've been meaning to take Rose there for some time. They've got dogs with no noses!" He exclaims like that settles the discussion.
"That sounds wonderful." Rinnette says as Rose snorts in amusement.
"What's so funny?" He asks, whipping around to face the blonde.
"Nothing, Doctor." She says as the doors shut on their own. "Barcelona, you say?" Rose asks inputting the coordinates and flipping switches on auto-pilot. The Doctor watches her in stunned amazement.
"How can you do that?" He asks, pulling her concentration from the controls in front of her.
"Hmm?" She mutters distractedly glancing up at him. "Dearheart showed me, of course."
"You can hear the Tardis?"
"Of course I can. Barcelona you said, right? The planet, not the city, when they still have the dogs with no noses, a peaceful time for Rinnette's trip, no disasters, aliens, or government uprisings…50th century then…in the city of Espana, yours to enjoy, Rinnette." She says putting a hand on the Doctors shoulder and pushing him to the door, grabbing Rinnette's arm along the way. "Off you pop." She says, shoving them out the suddenly open doors.
"Aren't you coming?" The Doctor asks, head spinning.
"Naw, I think I'll sit this one out, don't want to be the third wheel and all." She says, waving him off and heading back into the console room.
"But Rose-" The doors shut in his face.
Rose swallows heavily, leaning heavily back against the doors. "I thought this'd be easier…" She murmurs to the Tardis. "I want to just tell him, but not with her hanging around…or if he'd just forget that'd be great too…you're right Dearheart. Of course I want to forgive him for this, but I don't know if I can yet. He doesn't even know what's happened…" Rose sighs, pushing herself off the doors and down the corridor. "I thought I'd prepared for this, but I'm still so astonished at his absolute bloody single-minded recklessness even after all these years…Nine never would have left me stranded away from home without so much as a rock-solid plan to get back." She absent mindedly trails her hand along the wall as she makes her way further into the maze of rooms.
~B~A~D~~W~O~L~F~
The Doctor blinks at the closed blue doors in shock. "What?" He asks, replaying the last few minutes in his head again. He looks over to Madame de Pompadour, blinking a few more times. "What?" He asks her softly, wondering if it was all just a dream and he's actually losing his mind in the palace of Versailles. He glances around taking a deep breath to verify that they are, in fact, on Barcelona somewhere in the mid-50th century in an alleyway in the city of Espana. "What?!"
"Your companion, Rose Tyler, she seems…upset." The uncrowned queen of France comments, eyes slightly amused, hardly glancing away from the Lonely Angel, not even the slightest bit curious about the new planet around her, her life after all is gossip and relationships and not adventure and curiosity and travel.
"I-yes, she does seem upset…best give her some space to cool down…" He rambles more to himself than the blond who is turning away from the box, offering her arm out to be escorted around the city. With another deep breath and one more glance at the Tardis he turns and begins babbling about the planet, the city, the people, the dogs without noses, and anything else that comes to the front of his mind to the uninterested lady at his side. In the back of his mind he's puzzling over everything that's happened. And somewhere in the middle he's thinking about how different this trip is turning out to be. He'd pictured this outing a few different ways and with a few different hims, but never with another companion, and certainly never without Rose.
~B~A~D~~W~O~L~F~
It's only a few hours before Rose is woken by the Tardis moving to another location. When she makes her way to the console room the Doctor's under the Time Rotor tinkering away with his sonic.
"Where's Madame?" She asks settling into the captain's chair.
"Took her back home."
"That was a short trip."
"It was just a sorry-for-your-troubles trip."
"Was that great Madame de Pompadour not companion material then?" She teases.
"No." He replies. "She complained the whole time about the smell and the sunlight and her feet." He says before they both bust out laughing. As they catch their breath the Doctor begins cataloguing all the differences.
"So, where would you and Mister Mickity-Mick like to go next?"
"Oh, Mickey's not here, he asked to be taken home before Dearheart picked you up. I told him we'd check in on him in a few weeks."
"I…what?" He asks sliding out from under the console, from his new vantage point he can see Rose's eyes flash in anger.
"You fucked up." She snaps voice even.
"I-Rose…you know I didn't-"
"Three thousand years in the future, no Emergency Program for abandoned companions, no thoughts towards thinking of a plan to get back, nothing. Just a girl, a boy and a multi-dimensional sentient spaceship." She crosses her arms, face set in a cold expression born of years of letting this particular wound fester as she ran away from it. "You left me, Doctor. Not even a day after telling me I was different from Sarah Jane. If it hadn't been for Dearheart-the Tardis, Mickey and I would have died on that ship while you suffered day-to-day in eighteenth century France until you finally cobbled together a power source to get you back here, but It'd have been too late-years too late-"
"Rose I-"
"No Doctor. I've finally realized that I'm no different to you than Sarah Jane and that's okay. I've made my peace with it." And it's not until she says the words that she realizes that they're true. She'd been more anxious about him finding out about Bad Wolf, but he's still hasn't the slightest clue. He doesn't even know it'd played a part in getting Mickey home, and he was too hopeful that everything would keep moving forward to see it.
"But Rose-"
"I just needed you to know that." She says quietly but firmly talking over his still stuttering babble. "It's fine. We're fine." She reassures with a shrug. "I'll be your Sarah Jane until you tire of me and decide to leave be behind on some planet a universe away." And because his eyes are closed to the truth-that he would leave her-he misses the flash of gold that precedes her prophetic statement. "Now, let's get Mickey and continue on our way…" She says moving to set the coordinates a few months after she dropped Mickey back off at home.
"Rose!" Mickey cries crashing into her as she makes her way out of the Police Box.
"Mickey! How are you?"
"You said you'd be back a few weeks! It's been months!"
"Sorry Micks, I'd forgotten we met mum a few times between then and now. I do my best to keep time with her linear."
"That explains why you didn't know about France…how long's it been for you?"
"Hours." She lies keeping with her story to the Doctor.
"Really? You look different…"
"That's because it's been so long for you, you just haven't seen me in a while is all."
"I thought you were different then too." He says eying her. "I know it now. Younger-you left just a few minutes ago, Rose, what happened to you-"
"Rickey!" The Doctor calls, stepping out of his ship. "I'm glad to see the Tardis got you home safe and sound. I'm sorry about your first trip. Let me make it up to you. We'll go see the golden falls of Valspoothen-it's breath-taking, literally!" Mickey shoots Rose a confused look but her eyes plead with him for silence. His expression changes to one of acceptance, but with an undercurrent that will demand answers later.
"Uh, sure Doctor. I forgive you. I know all of Earth history must be more important than our lives." The Doctor flinches at the reminder that he let his companions down, abandoned them really, that the fact is thrown so nonchalantly in his face makes it worse, but Mickey doesn't take pleasure in his expression-he truly believes that his life isn't important in the grand scheme of things. Rose knows better which is why she has to convince the man to travel with them. "I think I'll pa-"
"Come on Mickey. One more trip couldn't hurt anything."
"What happened to miss I can take care of myself?" He stabs watching her non-reaction.
"Of course I can, Micks, but that doesn't mean I want to be alone all the time." They both ignore the Doctors flinch at that statement.
Doctor-like, he thinks to himself, somehow she's become more like him, more…alien. And that thought frightens him so he agrees. "Alright. Ill prove to you that I'm not just some…Tin-dog!" He says in a joking manner, bur Rose can see the truth in his eyes and future actions. She lets out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding as something shifts within her, something she'd come to recognize as Bad Wolf related. Reality seemed more…stable after his decision. She grins before going back into the Tardis unaware, or seemingly so, of two sets of eyes watching her every move.
The Universe was resilient. It would work itself out in the end.
AN:/ I am not ashamed to say I am obsessed with BW!Rose, expect (maybe) more stories like this one. R&R to let me know what you think!