Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of its characters. No copyright infringement intended. (I think it's pretty obvious that I don't own Doctor Who because if I did, Rose would never have left.)
A/N Hello! This is my first fic. It's more of a drabble, I suppose. I know it's short, but longer ones will be coming soon! I hope you enjoy it, happy reading!
They watch in silence as the TARDIS dematerializes – leaving them in Pete's World forever. She looks down at their intertwined fingers and then up at him. He watches her intently – his gaze never leaving her eyes. He is trying to read her expression.
She doesn't know what to say. She would like to say that she had thought through this thousands of times previously and never expected it to end this way – but it would be a lie. Somehow, she had always known that the Doctor would not let her stay with him. She hadn't imagined it quite this way, but she knew that even if she could get back to the Doctor's universe, he would push her away from him. He always did. Even when he knew that she loved him more than anything else, he hadn't returned the sentiment.
Then she had gone and kissed the Other Doctor while Her Doctor was standing right there. She tries to rationalize it by saying that he looked just like Her Doctor and she had briefly lost focus and kissed the Other Doctor by mistake. But she knows that's a lie. It's not even a convincing one. "Briefly lost focus and kissed him by mistake"? Really? That's the best that she can come up with for why she kissed the Other Doctor?
She knows the truth, though. She kissed the Other Doctor because, at least in that moment, he was Her Doctor. The Other Doctor was Her Doctor, and Her Doctor was the Other Doctor. In that moment the roles were reversed because, even though technically the Doctor wearing the blue suit was the Other Doctor, he became Her Doctor because he had said the one thing that she knows the Doctor in brown would never say.
But the simplest explanation was she kissed him because she loved him. Still loves him. And loves the Other Doctor – whichever one that may be.
He looks at her and says the only thing that he can think of – the thing that he said to her that made her fall in love with him in the first place, though he was too blind to see it before it was too late. But this time, it is not a shouted command meant to save her life. This time it is almost inaudible. It is a whispered request. No, a prayer – pleading her to let him have a chance and do what the Other Doctor would never do.
He looks at her intently, wishing with all of his now solitary human heart, and unsurely asks the only thing that he can think of to make things even sort of alright:
"Will you still run with me?"
He doesn't have to ask her twice. She tightens her already almost death-like grip on his hand and they run. They run away from Jackie who is phoning Pete. They run away from the square shaped indentation in the sand left by the TARDIS. They run to escape the tension and sadness. They run as far and as fast as they can for no other reason than because they can. They are not running to escape an approaching alien, and they are not running for their life.
For the first time they finally know the difference between running for their life and running for their lives. They run for their life because they don't want to die. But they run for their lives because they don't want this moment to die. Their lives – the lives that they now can share together forever.
And when they cannot possibly run any longer, they stop and look at one another again.
This time she does know what to say, "I told him, but I never told you. He never told me, but you did. And, seeing as how he won't be telling me, I should tell you. I love you, Doctor. Forever."
A/N Did you like it? I hope the whole "Her Doctor" "Other Doctor" thing wasn't confusing. Please R&R! I'll be posting more soon,
~Naomi