Long time, no publish.
This was written at half-past midnight, and in linear order, before being scrambled. Pay close attention to the days. I apologize if it doesn't make any sense. I did my best.
For Joss: Sure, Santa Fe is far away, but at least we're on the same planet, right?
Disclaimer: Doctor Who and all related properties belong to the BBC. I think. Please don't sue me.
Day Negative Nine Hundred and Fifty Six
It turns out, despite the distance- and really, isn't the barrier between universes distance enough?- Rose Tyler's phone still works.
Her old one, not the new one she picked up- the one he gave her, the one that could call him at any point in time and space.
It's weird, but it's no weirder than anything else she's seen. Sure, a phone that can contact people on other planes of existence is extraordinary, but once you've traveled through all time and space, the little things just don't surprise you anymore.
She finds out by accident, about six months after he leaves her behind on the not-earth with the not-him. She texts the wrong Doctor in her phone by mistake, after going out with some of the gals at Torchwood and getting a little (okay, a lot) sloshed.
Can't really drive; gonna catch a cab home. Unless you want to come pick me up?
The response takes over an hour:
Sorry, what?
By this point, she's already home, sleeping off her inebriated state; the not-him was already sleeping. It doesn't occur to her until morning that this should not be possible.
Day Eighty-Six Thousand and Forty Four
"Marry me, Rose."
She laughs. "We've been getting mistaken for a married couple for two hundred years, and you only just now want to marry me?"
He smiles warmly, and says, "I've always wanted to marry you."
So they get married, and nobody is a giraffe, and it's a lovely ceremony, really.
They've been married for centuries anyway.
Day Negative Six Hundred and Ninety
It becomes routine. She texts him when she's bored, or sad, or hungry, or happy. She tells him what she's up to.
It's nothing short of a miracle that they're able to speak at all. They can't make calls; somehow, the only information that can slip through the cracks in reality are words on a screen.
He doesn't tell her about his adventures. He certainly doesn't tell her about his companions.
She doesn't ask. She doesn't want to know.
He doesn't ask about the not-him. He doesn't want to know.
They make it work. They keep in touch.
Day Twelve Thousand, Seven Hundred, Eighty-four
They visit a lovely planet where it's always raining and it's always sunny, and he takes her to the wedding of the king and queen of a race who've been warring for three thousand years, and he tells her that this marriage is what ended the war, finally, and united their cultures.
She leans in real close. "Okay," she whispers. "Now explain to me why they are all giraffes."
They get thrown out of the wedding in a fit of giggles.
Day Negative Four Hundred and Thirty Three
It's been two years since I saw your face in person. Isn't that crazy? –RT
Response: You see my face in person every day. –D
No response.
Day Sixty
Come get me, valiant knight; I've been locked away in this tower! –RT
Firing up the TARDIS. What would you do without me? –D
"Just how did you get imprisoned there, anyway?" He asks her, once she's firmly inside his box.
"I blasphemed against their alien gods. Tried to tell them that my trickster could defeat their lords with his hands tied," she says, and the smirk that lights up her face makes him fall in love with her again and again and again.
Day Negative Three Hundred and Seven
I'm working on something you might like. I think you'd be proud of me. –RT
I am proud of you, Rose. I always have been. –D
Aww, you big sap. I'm proud of you too! :P –RT
Day Seven Thousand, Two Hundred, Ninety-Three
She doesn't age; he doesn't mind. It's nice to have someone in his life who can keep up with him.
He tells her that before he found her, it almost feels like he was just wandering around, looking for something. And now he's not wandering anymore.
She tells him that of course he still wanders; it's just that he's found what he was looking for.
He laughs and calls her pretentious. She flashes him a smile that makes his hearts skip a beat.
Day Negative Twenty Six
John died today. –RT
I'm sorry. How did it happen? –D
He got hit by a truck. Pushed me out of the way. He was so busy rambling that I didn't see it coming. –RT
No response.
It's almost silly. It's such a mundane way to go. When I picture you… y'know, dying… It's always some cataclysmic battle with the forces of chaos. I watched him- you- a man with your face bleed out in the middle of the street today… and somehow I don't feel sad. –RT
Day One
They don't leave the TARDIS for weeks. They make up for lost time. Lost years. Neither of them have aged a day, really, and in this line of work isn't that cause for celebration?
Day Negative Twenty Four
Maybe you're not sad because you know I- he- we aren't really gone? –D
Day Negative Three
Watch your back, Doctor. I'm coming for you. –RT
Sorry, what?
Day One Hundred and Five
He takes her to a planet where the people are made of glass and the sky is always purple and the food is really quite awful, but the beaches have sand that's blue and water that's orange and he gets them arrested for public indecency, because really, Rose, if you didn't want me to do that, you shouldn't have worn that swimsuit, you know what it does to me.
She laughs, because of course she knows.
Day Zero
It works.
Genius of her to think of linking her phone into the cannon's targeting systems. Brilliant, really. She leaps through the walls holding reality together, bending the laws of time and space to her will.
She finds him. In the middle of the street, right there in front of her and somehow miles away. He can't stop staring at her, can't stop smiling.
His phone buzzes.
Found you. –RT
Day ?
They stop keeping track of the days.
I love you. –D
I love you, too. -RT
Please review.