A short oneshot that I've had in my head lately.
The Doctor's Flower
The Doctor's hands held onto the blonde's waist as he began to slowly kiss her. He started at her neck with short passionate kisses, slowly making his way to her soft lips. As the kisses began to deepen, he felt the body beside him tense up and slowly start to freeze in place. He knew what was happening here.
"I'm sorry." She would say, as she fought a tear from escaping her eyelids.
He would look at her with a sad expression and reply with, "It's alright. Just one day at a time."
Then he would hug her, and she would try to remain as composed as she could. Within a few short moments, she would make an excuse to be alone and he would contemplate the situation that's unfolded before them.
It's become a routine of theirs. They were traveling companions, defenders of the Earth, best friends, occasional flirts, but as the words to describe them became more passionate terms, she would slowly start to shirk away.
They were taking things slow, much too slow for the Doctor's liking. Could he even be called the doctor? Oh sure, to the Doctor he was the Doctor, but to Rose Tyler all he could ever be was the other doctor, the duplicate sometimes even the meta-crisis doctor, but he could never be The Doctor to her. He was only a copy.
Would he ever be able to fill the shoes of the man she loves? Theoretically, they had the same shoes, she just couldn't see it. She thought of the two Doctors as siblings, and not as the same man in just two forms. That day on the beach made this seem like a good idea, but lately it hasn't seemed as that.
The Doctor knew what he needed to do this time around. It's possible that he could lose her, but he knew that if he didn't risk it their relationship would never move forward, and that's what the Doctor does. He moves forward, but this time he needs to move forward with the woman that he loves.
"Rose."
She looked up from her paperwork and saw the meta-crisis Doctor in front of her. "Bloody hell! I swear, sometimes it's like everyone dumps all their paperwork on me!"
"Rose."
"Mum and Pete have been too busy with the baby lately too so that just leaves more work for me."
"OY! ROSE TYLER!" The Doctor snapped.
"Oh, sorry there mate," Rose said. "Makes me miss, Donna, I only knew her for a short while but she sure does leave an impression."
The Doctor walked over to her and got her attention, "Rose Tyler…."
"Yes?" she said with a smile that made his heart melt.
He held her hand and looked into her eyes. "We need to move forward."
"What do you mean, Doctor?"
"I mean exactly that, Rose," He said sympathetically.
"What—"
"You still don't believe that I'm him, was him, and to be honest I don't either," he started calmly. "I have his memories, and I'm physically the same as him aside from having two hearts, and with basically the same personality aside from a touch of Donna, but you still can't accept me."
Rose laughed, clearly showing denial, "What is this! I accept you just fine!"
"You can't accept me, Rose, at least not while you're still wishing for him. The real him."
"You're real too, though." Rose's big brown eyes were pleading for him to just leave things alone.
"Maybe we both need to be reminded of that." He smiled at her.
She smiled back, "Time for another adventure, huh?"
"It's gonna be brilliant."
"Allons-y." Rose said trying to imitate her Doctor.
"Hey! I was going to say that!" He whined as Rose laughed.
The two travelers arrived at a familiar beach known as Bad Wolf Bay. Neither of them really knew how well their plan of attack would work out, but they knew that they needed this.
"How are we going to meet with him?" Rose asked whilst thinking about all the complications crossing parallel universes could be, even for someone like the Doctor.
"You see, Rose," he said with that same tone of voice and facial expression as the real Doctor. "Back on our days of traveling in that magnificent blue box, she had a way of taking us exactly where we needed to be. I have no doubt in my mind that she will take my other self to where he – I, they – need to go!"
"I'm sure she will do just that."
"Oh, what's this?" he teased. "Is Rose Tyler jealous?"
Rose playfully shoved him, and they continued to wait, and wait, and wait. They waited for what seemed like hours, until they heard the familiar noise that came with the TARDIS. Both figures on the beach thought back to a time before. A time when they were running for their life, leaping into adventure and living a life away from paperwork, a time when nothing could stop them.
And then she appeared.
The very same blue box that the two had traveled on previously. To most people, it just seemed like a blue police box randomly placed in an awkward area, but to them it meant so much more. Rose had no idea what to do, she was scared of what she would find beyond the door. The duplicate Doctor stepped next to Rose, and held onto her hand.
He whispered, "It'll be okay."
The door opened, and a man wearing a roman costume walked out. Both the Doctor and Rose were a little confused, could he be the Doctor?
The roman looked at the two figures on the beach and was about to call out to them when a ginger haired woman walked up next to him and said, "Hey, stupid face. Get back inside before you get lost!"
"Why do you always call me stupid face? It's very rude you know." He bickered.
The two continued to argue with a touch of flirtatious moments. Rose looked at the duplicated Doctor hesitantly and then walked forward and said, "Excuse me, Doctor?"
The two looked at each other and laughed. The ginger haired woman said, "Did you just think that he is the Doctor?"
"Well, he did walk out of the TARDIS…" she defended herself.
"PONDS!" a voice from inside the TARDIS called out. "Don't wander off, now. I'm still not sure where we are yet." The man walked outside only to be greeted by Rose and the duplicate Doctor.
"I'm guessing you know exactly where you are now, don't you?" Rose stated.
The Doctor looked at her in absolute shock. He didn't know how to react to seeing her face, he'd never imagined that he'd be able to see her again, but why did his TARDIS land him there? Bad Wolf Bay. How is this possible? Weren't the walls between the two universes permanently closed off?
"Doctor, these people wanted to talk to you," the ginger said. "They were standing there like they knew you'd come. They act like they know all about you!"
"That's because they do, especially him." The Doctor answered.
"Allo!" The duplicate said with his usual cheer. "Boy, what happened to you?"
"Radiation poisoning," he said trying to match his attitude. "Quite an interesting experience actually. Happened right after the Master disappeared."
"Oh, is he back again?" The duplicate questioned.
"Well he was, but now he's gone again, at least I hope he is," The Doctor contemplated the events from the past. "So what brings the two of you here? Or actually, what brought sexy and me here?"
"She is quite sexy isn't she?" the duplicate said eyeing the blue box that he hasn't seen in so long.
"Tell me. What brought us here?" The Doctor said seriously.
"Rose did." The duplicate looked at him in a way that let him know that the Ponds shouldn't be present during the conversation.
"Ponds, go inside." The two were about to argue back at him, but realized that his voice seemed too serious.
"So tell me, Rose, why am I here?" The Doctor asked.
Rose looked back at the duplicate Doctor and he nodded his head, encouraging her to go forward. "I needed closure."
"Rose Tyler," the way he said her name stilled sounded the same. "You risked the whole of reality just so you could get closure. You always did do crazy things."
"I guess I got that from you." She replied.
She looked up at the face of the man that she once knew. She saw the new face, the new body, the new everything and she realized that he is not the man that she fell in love with. In some ways, he is that same man, but she knows that he is no longer hers. His appearance, his thoughts, maybe even his personality is completely different.
She felt a tear slide down her face, "Why do you feel so different?"
He looked at her with eyes that she had never seen before. He felt odd thinking that she was once the person that he had loved the most, and so he said, "Because I didn't have to stay the same for anyone this time."
"It's funny though." She said with a slight laugh, "You're the same man, but at the same time you're completely different."
"Still got legs, though." The witty Doctor said with a devilish grin.
"I would hope so, mate," Rose laughed. "….He'll never come back, will he?"
"Not likely, no. But why would he when you've got that handsome devil right over there?" He pointed towards the meta-crisis Doctor waiting for Rose to come back to him. "Hmm…was I really that skinny back then?"
"Oy! I can hear you over there!" The meta-crisis Doctor yelled in a way that reminded Rose Tyler and the Doctor of Donna Nobel.
"I believe that was the Donna Nobel side kicking in." The Doctor said.
"He's got better fashion sense, though." She pointed towards his crooked bowtie.
"I wear bowties, now," he said proudly as he fixed it. "Bowties are cool!"
The duplicate Doctor hesitantly walked up to pair and said, "Rose, this conversation can't last much longer. It could create problems within our universe."
"Right, besides there's plenty of work left in Torchwood." She said giving him a smile.
The new Doctor looked at her, "So, Rose Tyler, did you get what you wanted?"
"Yes, I believe I did," She smiled.
"AND YOU! YOU BETTER TAKE CARE OF HER!" The Doctor yelled at the duplicate. "I can't just come back whenever you need me to bail you out of trouble, or if you need help with your relationship again!"
"Don't worry I'll take care of her," The duplicate smiled at Rose.
"You better take care of yourself, Mister," Rose said to him. "Unlike this bloke you don't have a Rose Tyler to make sure you don't do anything too crazy."
"Alrighty then," The Doctor said trying to leave before things started getting awkward again. "Time to move along again." And with that he stepped into the TARDIS once again. "Ponds! Time to get moving."
"Where to, Doctor?" Rory asked.
"Anywhere you like, Roranicus Pondicus!" He said with a youthful jubilance. "ALLONS-Y!"
And the doors to the TARDIS closed, that familiar sound played on and the blue police box began to fade away into the wind.
"Goodbye, Doctor." Rose said one last time.
"So, Rose Tyler, what do we do now?" The Doctor asked.
"What you always do," she smiled at him. "We move forward."
She held onto his hand, and leaned upwards to kiss him on the lips. The Doctor's flower was finally able to close that chapter of her life and start fresh.
"Race you back to the car!" The duplicate said as he started running.
Rose chased after him, "Hey, no fair!"
And the pair ran, like they've always done. Since she first met him, all they did was run.
So, tell me what you think, please?