Rating: G
Pairings: Ten/Rose
Disclaimer: Not mine, merely borrowing
Summary: What if Mickey had not travelled with The Doctor and Rose after School Reunion? Would The Doctor finally let himself admit to Rose what she is to him?
Would you speak of me again,
Or commit my face to memory
And never think my name?
"Would you talk to others about me, Doctor? If I were to leave – to go back to Mum an' Mickey, the Powell Estate an' all the things I left behind me when you asked me to come with you – would you tell the people that come after me about me?"
Rassilon, she wants to go home. What did I do? What did I do?
The Doctor, she noticed, looked somewhat alarmed when he heard that; and although his answer, when it came, was in his usual composed voice she was fairly sure that she could hear more than a hint of panic in his tone.
"Is this a hypothetical question, Rose, or are you trying to tell me something?" Please tell me you're not serious. Please?
Rose frowned.
"What does hyp- hypo- ... what does that word mean, exactly?"
"Means that you're asking a question that by rights you already know the answer to, but that's not important right now; Rose, do you want to go home? Is that why you've just asked me those questions?"
"You know," Rose said, adroitly avoiding the question The Doctor had asked her, "before we met Sarah Jane, you never spoke about any of your companions before me – yes, I know, you said how we wither and we die, and how horrible and painful it is to watch that happen to someone who you love. But if they leave you when they're still alive – do you ever go back to see them, by the way, or do you just leave them? - what's to stop you from talking about them later?" Rose, however, was not the only person capable of ignoring a question they didn't want to answer.
Maybe if I ignore the question, and go back to asking her what I did before, she'll drop it. I don't want to have this conversation yet. I'm not ready – what if I end up telling her the truth and she doesn't want to know, asks to go home for real this time?
"You never did answer my question, did you, Rose? Whether you wanted to go home; I mean, if you've had enough you could just tell me; I'm not some kind of ogre, I'll not eat you ... OW!" Rose had suddenly lost her patience and with it her temper, and like her mother before him had slapped The Doctor in the face. "What was that for?" He looked at her, and saw that she was almost spitting with fury. Her voice, though, when she answered his question – for once, a straight answer to a straight question – was shot through with pain as well as anger, which piqued his interest. Why would Rose be hurting? Rassilon, what have I done?
"Right after we met Sarah Jane, you told me I was different, that you would never leave me behind – and I assumed you meant that, if I left you, you'd mention me once in a while ... but obviously I've that wrong. I've been to the ends of the world with you, and loved every second of it; I wouldn't have changed it for anything - but this... now this is really seeing things as they are. You just leave us behind. You just leave us behind, and then ... you never even mention us. Why not?"
"Rose ..."
"Why not, Doctor?"
Rassilon, looks like I'm in more trouble than I thought; looks like I'll have to tell her after all.
The Doctor sighed and rubbed his hands over his face before facing her.
"All right, Rose. You want to know why not? I'll tell you." And he started to speak.