Title: "Who Else?"
Author: Veritas Found
Rating: K Plus / PG / All Ages
Characters/Pairings: the Doctor (Eleven); Doctor x Rose Tyler
Summary: You don't know what's going to be in your room until you see it. Then you realize it could never have been anything else.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Notes/Warnings: Set during 06x11 "The God Complex". Might be finally catching up on Who, and the DRose shipper in me won't be silenced. Y'know how it is~
"Who Else?"
He's travelled for so long sometimes he thinks he forgets what fear is. It seems so human that in his arrogance he can imagine he's past it. He is the almighty Doctor, the one the monsters have nightmares of, and so what does he have to fear?
He should have known better.
He should have known the instant they found Lucy's notepad. You don't know what's going to be in your room until you see it. But he was still arrogant, still thinking he would not have a room. He should have known it was there waiting for him. He should have heeded the warning hiding in plain sight.
Because it had been on loop in his mind, hadn't it? When he'd told the others to latch onto that one thing they believed in more than anything else, that one bit of faith that would see them through the fear. And he's travelled the whole of time and space and seen fake gods and bad gods and demi-gods and would-be gods, and in all of it he's had one thing he's truly believed in. And she's always there, the ghost in the back of his mind no matter who is by his side and…
Then you realize it could never have been anything else.
His bluster and gusto are enough to play the charade and make the others believe he is impervious to the hotel's tricks. It works just long enough for him to get alone, for the creature in the dark to whisper its lies. Just long enough for him to see his door – Room 11, naturally – and just long enough for him to reach out and twist the knob.
And he realizes as the door creaks open, as she looks up from drying her hair with that smile that often felt like it stopped the turn of the universe, that it could never have been anything else.
"Of course," he says as she tosses the towel on the bed and takes a step to him. His head tilts to the side, and a breathless chuckle escapes as the absurdity of it all crashes into him with all the force of the oncoming storm he's sometimes called. He should have known. Wasn't it just the same not so long ago, when he was dying and needed to see one last bit of solace? Wasn't she the first face the TARDIS showed him, knowing no other face would bring more comfort?
Or more guilt?
"Who else?"
He closes the door before she can reach him, shutting it on the image of her inviting smile and outreached hand. He knows it's not real – big Time Lord brain of his – knows that she's still safely tucked away in Pete's Wor…in her universe, where she should be, living the slow path with the Doctor who only had one life to give her. He knows it was best. Better that way. He knows…
He hooks the Do Not Disturb sign on the handle and turns away, determined to find Amy and Rory and get the hell out of there.