In the Arms of an Angel
The Doctor left Rose one day, now she is an old lonely lady, will he ever return to her? Please enjoy!
The elderly lady sat on her rocking chair beside the fire; she had sat here for years and years just waiting. The neighbours called her the crazy lady down the street, the children of the neighbourhood would run to her house, ring the door bell and run away for they were scared of her. Every now and then she would catch one of the children at her door step; they would stand there with their eyes panicked whilst the old lady with the friendly hazel eyes, the welcoming smile, the locks of now grey hair tucked behind her ears would invite them in for lemonade. Only the bravest children would accept then they would sit in her house staring at the photographs of the young blonde with a careless expression, far less wrinkles and a curiosity for life. She looked so different to the lady who sat before them now for her face was wrinkled with time, her eyes had lost their sparkled and her hair had greyed. The lady sat back down on her chair and stared at the children who were so curious, she could remember being like this once.
'Hello children' she began, her voice no longer tender and soft but carrying an edge of bitterness 'My name is Rose and I'm going to tell you a story'
'I'm going to tell you of space and galaxies, monsters and aliens that you would never believe, space and time, I'm going to tell you of a man who could make all of this possible' the children would grin excitedly but nervously at one another listening intensely to her stories. They knew that they could never be true but they longed for them to be, they would become so involved in the stories they would imagine themselves there, dream of themselves battling all of these monsters. They all believe the old lady was delirious, she had to be for they could tell she believed these stories to be true, she closed her eyes as though she was looking upon old forgotten faces, but the way she told the stories, they way her eyes filled with emotion the children started to wonder if her stories could be true.
'Who is this man?' they would beg her to reveal and every time she spoke of him her eyes would fill with a long forgotten emotion, they would fill with love.
'The Doctor' is all she would call him. How ever much the children begged and pleaded they didn't want to know his real name, they love the mystery that surrounded 'the doctor' that she spoke of so often. Soon it became a regular occurrence for the children to gather at her house in the warm summer afternoons sipping lemonade or gathered around the fire in the cold winter months with mugs of hot chocolate, what ever story Rose had to tell it was defiantly worth listening to. The entire neighbourhood was enthralled in her stories, children would beg their parents to go to her house, and parents would ask children of the latest adventures secretly wishing they could be there when she told the stories so they could become lost in her magic. Children would go to school and draw pictures of Daleks and Slitheen each drawing different for none of them had ever seen these monsters, they only knew how they existed through the Rose's memories. The street would be littered with children pretending to be the Doctor or Rose or both or even the monsters. Rose would sit on her porch and watch as small children gave great speeches on saving the world, always followed by the yell of
'Fantastic!'
Watching these scenes play out always saddened Rose, however happy she was that people would remember him, remember what he stood for she was haunted by her memories.
It was a May afternoon and a chill was in the air, Rose sat on her rocking chair beside the fire place and lost herself in its flames, each colour revealing another emotion, each emotion revealing a memory. Only this day was different, Rose could feel it in her bones, each breath she took became harder and each smile she showed weakened her – this is when she knew it was time, time to finish her story. The children all ran to her house once they had come home from school, ten children ages ranging from sixteen to five, all of them claiming not to believe to one another, but when they were alone and in secret they would think of the Doctor and Rose.
The knock at the door awakened her from her nap – a nap she thought she would never awaken from.
'Come in' she weakly called out in her London accent. The children all bundled into the room and stood in front of her expectantly. The children watched her waiting for her to rise out of her chair, make them drinks and offer them cookies, but this time everything was different. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, her hands clutching the arm rests of her chair.
'Miss Rose?' one child timidly called out 'Are you alright?' she slowly opened her eyes to meet the child's frightened gaze
'Never been better' she croaked. 'Come children, gather round. Today is the day you have been waiting for' . They all ran towards her then sat around her feet on the floor, the smaller one sat perched on her lap.
'Today I am going to tell you the end of my story' she began. All the children gasped and exchanged glances with one another. A chill ran through Roses' body and she pulled the blanket closer to her chin.
'Shall I get my mother?' one worried child asked. Rose thought on this for a moment then slowly nodded
'Bring her, bring them all' she told the girl. Soon enough all the parents had entered Roses' house and had gathered around her sitting on the floor as one large group of children. The room fell silent and the atmosphere set the room. Rose took a deep breath in and closed her eyes remembering these moments
'Every story I've told you, every memory I have entrusted upon you has lead you up to this moment. For this story must end and I fear, my dears, that it shall end today'. The children didn't understand what she meant but the adults did, they all looked around one another unsure of what to do. Rose addressed the adults
'I don't fear it, I long for it. My time has come, my time to join him' she told them.
'A million years into your future' she began as the children leaned forward straining to hear her fading voice, 'there is a planet called Crosanvice, this is a planet of truth and beauty. A planet where humans live in harmony with other creatures from the universe. This is a planet where you can feel lost and be lost, but be more at home than ever. Everything had been evolving and growing, as things should do, until the Trepase reached Crosanvice. The Trepase were a violent race, a race that fought and declared war destroying planets, not because they needed some where to live not even because they had an enemy in that planet, merely for pleasure. Their pleasure was in other people's pain.' the bitterness returned to her voice and she sounded like the Doctor – but none of them knew that for they had never heard his voice.
'But that's wrong' an innocent voice called out from Rose's lap. She looked down at the small girl, she must have been barley five years old and a ring of gold curls crowned her head, her blue eyes looked innocently up at her. Rose smiled back down at the girl
'I know, that's where the story is going' she whispered in the child's ear.
'We were in the Tardis – the Doctor and I, dancing around the consol room singing songs of long forgotten planets. That's when I fell and landed on the controls, the Doctor hit some buttons and the familiar squeal of the Tardis filled the air as we laughed, hand in hand.' she stopped losing herself in her memories. She squeezed her eyes shut against the memories and against the pain, but she continued with her story.
'We landed – then everything changed. We stepped outside onto blue mud; we sunk into it laughing as we tried to walk forwards, and then the Trepase spotted us. They didn't like trespassers; they had declared the planet as closed weeks before as they began the transformation – the slaughter. They took the Doctor, tied his hands behind his back, pulled a black bag over his head – that was the second from last time I would ever see him again. His shouts filled the air as they dragged him by his feet through the mud, the blue staining his suit.' her voice quietened as the memories became more vivid and the pain more real.
She looked up into the eyes of the children, their eyes wide and hopeful waiting for their hero to save the day
'I can't remember what happened next. I don't think I'll ever know' she whispered. She coughed deeply and removed the emotion from her voice
'They hit me over the head from behind with a pole, the last thing I saw was the Doctor being dragged away. There was nothing I could do, I was helpless' Rose drifted back into her memories
Rose sat in her cell, chills running through her body, she didn't know what was going on for she had a bag over her head. All she knew was it had rained – she could feel her wet clothes sticking to her body. Her hair was matted to her head from the rain; they didn't bother putting the bag on her head until she regained consciousness. All she could think of was the Doctor, seeing his body being dragged away whilst she was restrained. She didn't know if she was alone or if she was surrounded by other people in similar circumstances – she feared to speak incase someone heard her and hurt her. So she sat there in the darkness listening to the sound of her sobs, feeling her tears mix with the droplets of rain that had gathered in the bag. Rose could have sat there for minutes, hours, days or months, it was just her and her mind and she had no recollection of time. But she didn't want to know, counting the seconds that soon turned into minutes that soon turned into hours was just another form of torture. All she could do was sit and wait – wait for the Doctor to come and save her.
The children nervously bit their lips as did the adults, each of them waiting for her next words, the next sentence that would calm them or distress them, waiting for the next line of her life.
'Rose? Rose?' the angry yell reverberated throughout the cell. Rose straightened where she stood, unknowing if she was hallucinating or if the Doctor was really there.
'Rose?' the call echoed throughout her mind. She quietly replied
'Doctor?' soon she felt hands upon her shoulders and then the light hit her. Brighter than any thing she'd seen before, she whimpered and the Doctor quickly place his hand over her eyes.
'Don't open them, not yet' he whispered to her, his voice cracking, 'you need to let your eyes adjust' She relished the feeling of his cool hands against her eyes. She slowly opened them a crack and allowed them to rest on his face, he had a black eye and dried blood stained his lip, but he smiled at her. The mind blowing smile that he reserved only for her, the smile that made her believe everything was going to be alright.
'Hey' he whispered as she began to cry. Her whole body shook with emotion and she threw her arms around his waist allowing her head to come to a rest under his chin. He held her close to his heart, trying to warm her with the heat from his own body. With every sob that tore through her body his blood burned with anger. Rose stepped back from the Doctors chest and gently placed her hands on his face
'What happened?' she asked, tracing the blood stains on his cheeks.
'Nothing that I can't tell you about later' he hurried her knowing he needed to get them out of this place – fast.
'How long have I been here?' she whispered, her voice hoarse from crying.
'Too long' he muttered as he took her hand, with his other hand he gently wiped away the blue stains on her face.
'We have to go – now' he told her as he tried to pull her along. Rose took one step forward but her legs turned to jelly, she wobbled for a second then fell forward towards the ground. The Doctor caught her and bundled her against his chest.
'It's alright, I've got you' he soothed as he carried her out of this hell.
Smiles began to take hold of Rose's audience as their hero saved the day yet again.
'So he saved the day? He saved you?' the girl on Rose's lap asked excitedly. Rose bit her lip trying to hold back fifty years of emotion.
'Not every story has a happy ending sweetheart' she told her. She closed her eyes and let the memory continue to unfold.
The Doctor carried Rose to the Tardis, she didn't know what happened between the cell and reaching the Tardis, she'd been so tired she had just slept in the Doctors' arms, his heartbeats pressed against her ear soothing her. She had awakened when they were outside the Tardis, he was trying to hold her whilst digging into his pocket for the Tardis key, they were sinking into the blue mud again.
'Doctor?' she quietly asked. He had fresh brusises, fresh wounds. She could feel his blood trickling into her clothes and she pressed her hand against his wound trying to stop the bleeding. He pulled back, away from her hand
'It's no good' he muttered. Rose looked up into his troubled eyes
'What is?' she asked. He looked at her, making a momentous decision in his mind.
'Its' he began then he paused, having made his choice, 'It's nothing' he assured her as he finally opened the Tardis doors. He took them inside and carefully placed her down onto the sofa that was in the consol room.
'Danger' the Tardis consoles screeched. Every screen had the words 'missile approaching' written on them in big, red, flashing letters. Rose tried to jump up but instantly fell back down.
'Stay where you are' he warned
'Doctor, what's going on?' she asked confused. He looked at her then sighed
'The Trepase have launched a missile towards this planet – everyone and everything is going to die…unless…'
'Unless? Unless what?' Rose asked, her voice wavering. He looked up sharply, his eyes meeting hers for a brief moment of truth
'Unless I stop it' he stated.
'But – how?' Rose asked, still dazed from her ordeal.
'If only I could alter the missile path…' he began as he started hitting buttons on the consol, but each time the word 'Error' flashed up.
'It needs a bigger target' the Doctor thought allowed. Then it hit him – the only thing he could do, the only target big enough to deter the missile. He couldn't stop the missile for it had to land somewhere, he could only divert it, and being the man he was he couldn't divert it into a planet of innocent people, the only place big enough for the missile to hit without causing harm was the Tardis. So the Doctor did what he had to do, he changed the path of the missile and he set the Tardis for the planet Earth, year 2006. The Tardis finally stopped screeching and they landed heavily on planet Earth, the consol was still flashing 'warning, missile approaching' and the Doctor knew he didn't have enough time to say everything he needed to say.
'Doctor? Where are we?' a panicked Rose asked. The Doctor closed his eyes fighting back the tears, he walked over to Rose and took her hand.
'I'll show you' he said with a false smile. Rose allowed herself to be shown outside the Tardis, then she stopped.
'We're on earth? Why have you taken me here Doctor?' she asked her voice starting to rise.
'I've taken you home' he slowly said. Rose frowned, she was confused and entirely unaware of what was about to happen.
'But… why?' she asked, her voice trembling.
'I'm sorry' the Doctor whispered as he kissed her precious lips once last time.
'I'm so sorry' he let go of her hand and ran into the Tardis. Rose screamed as he left, as the Tadis faded out into the sky
'What are you doing? You can't leave me!' she looked into the sky and saw the missile heading for her, for her home. Her draw dropped then she knew what he had done, what her brave, despairing Doctor had sacrificed.
'No!' she screamed as she watched the Tardis impact with the missile, flames dancing through the air. She fell to her knees in the street, tears pouring down her face, her soul throbbing with sobs
'No! My Doctor' she whispered
'My Doctor' Rose whispered. Tears now stained her face and she felt exactly how she did fifty years ago. She managed to open her eyes and looked around at the crowd of people, all of them were crying, huddling against loved ones unprepared for the blunt end of her story.
'And that was the last time I ever saw him' she whispered 'I don't even know if he is alive or dead, but now he can be remembered by everyone – forever' Rose fell into a fit of coughing, blood becoming present in her handkerchief. She knew it was time.
'That was…' a voice began but was cut off by a man blocking the doorway.
'Fantastic. That was fantastic' he exclaimed in an Irish accent. Rose lifted her head and stared at him, the look in her eyes told him everything she needed to know. She opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off
'Oh, Rose' he whispered as he walked towards her. The parents understood exactly what was happening, they wiped away their tears and huddled their children towards the door. Soon the two of them just remained by the fire place.
'Doctor?' Rose weakly asked
'How could you tell?' he joked
'You're alive! You've regenerated!' she exclaimed, her voice dangerously weak.
'My twelfth body now' he told her. He looked down at his Rose, she remained as beautiful as ever to him 'you're dying' he sadly stated.
'I know' she told him, 'I'm ready'
'You waited all this time?' he asked her, amazed
'How could I forget you? My Doctor' she whispered. He squeezed her hand one last time
'I'm sorry I never…' the Doctor began but Rose cut him off. He gazed into her eyes once last time and she gave him her smile, the smile that she hadn't smiled since the day he left her.
'Don't' she said and shook her head. 'I want you to know, I wouldn't have changed it, not a day of it. Every moment I spent with you was like a dream come true' she whispered before she let out one final, heavy sigh. The last breath left her body as did every fear and regret. That was how she died, the crazy lady from down the street, the hero of a child's dreams, the last companion of the last Time Lord, in the arms of her Doctor, in the arms of her angel.
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