Waiting for Pete
In many ways this seemed very anticlimactic. They were just waiting. Jackie, who for the first twenty minutes wouldn't shut up, finally realized that neither of her companions were going to contribute to her rehashing of the last forty-eight hours and took to pacing in the sand and checking her mobile every few minutes for messages from her husband. The Doctor-point-two, as he had begun to think of himself, had found a rock to sit on. Sitting wasn't an attitude The Doctor was used to doing, generally. He was used to standing and pacing and jumping and squeezing and leaping and he'd done an awful lot of running. He'd lain and leaned and ducked and danced and even done a fair bit of skipping, you'd be surprised how often saving the universe called for skipping! But sitting was something he didn't do a whole lot of. And here he was, sitting and waiting. Sitting and waiting, and watching. He was watching Rose. Rose was still standing in the sand almost exactly in the same place since the TARDIS had disappeared.
The TARDIS... that was something he wasn't ready to think about yet. He already missed her. She was his oldest friend, and he hadn't even gotten a chance to say goodbye...
Instead, he drew his attention from the spot where Rose was staring and focused on his sneaker. Sitting brought one's footwear so much closer for inspection, he noticed. 'I wonder where that scuff mark came from?' he pondered.
Of course these were only the surface questions. The real pondering was happening deep inside. Questions he hadn't allowed himself to mull over were finally wheedling their way into the light. Questions that for years he pushed as far into oblivion as he could.
He'd lost a lot today. He'd lost his TARDIS. Almost all of his companions would never been seen by him again. He knew what was in store for Donna. He'd lost a heart... But he also knew he'd been given a great gift. The other Doctor, Doctor-point-one, he made it sound like he was giving Rose a gift. Even Donna helped to sell the idea. But this Doctor knew better. He'd said that to soften the blow of leaving her here, of not being able to take her with him. It certainly had occurred to him. It would have been so easy for him, to drop Doctor.2 here on the parallel world with never-shuts-up Jackie and swept Rose back into the stars. It's what he wanted to do. To have Rose with him, to bounce around the galaxy with her like they'd done before. But he knew it wouldn't last forever. He knew that someday a whole lot sooner than either of them expected they would have to say goodbye. Rose was human. Nothing in the universe could do anything about that. She would age and fade away and he would have to soldier on. Not only would he be lost and in pain without her but he would also have deprived the Earth of her. Rose would never have children, would never leave her traditions behind for another generation. And he would be depriving her of the life, the normal life, he could never have. But now, in the form of this crazy meta-crisis miracle, at least in one way, he could. And on days when he had a rare moment to sulk and think of her and he would feel that grief taking over his hearts - he would find comfort knowing that, at least in this way, he was growing old with Rose.
That Doctor got to go on for eternity assuming Rose and Doctor.2 lived long and happy lives together. Doctor.2, on the other hand, had to make sure that happened. Nothing would make him happier. He'd been dreaming of loving Rose since almost the moment he'd met her. Since that first run. Well, not the first run but soon after that. Until now he just hadn't been allowed to think about it. It made him too sad. Now the possibilities flew at him from that deep hole where he'd buried them. Kissing her, loving her, quiet days without running and saving and losing. He could learn how she took her tea when it was brewed properly and not made from some alien leaf - he could learn how HE took his tea for that matter! They'd see movies together and have proper Christmases. Oh and think of all the chips they'd eat! Then... maybe marriage? Kids?
Doctor.2 shook his head of the dizzying thoughts - he was getting ahead of himself. He still didn't know how Rose felt. He was worried that she wasn't yet convinced. There she was on the sand still staring out into nothing. Was she waiting to see if the TARDIS would reappear? Was she hoping it would?
Was she willing to give up that other Doctor for him? Would his dreams of those quiet adventures be enough for her? Would she always be looking for him?
Doctor.2 was still thumbing the scuff on his sneaker when Rose's sneakers appeared on the sand in front of him. Slowly his eyes traveled up her pant-legs and past her leather jacket, finally settling on her bright eyes glassy from crying. All those questions ringing in his head and all he could think to say was "Hey."
She huffed out a sigh that brought her shoulders into her earlobes and then blew it out in a long gust. Then she sat down on the rock next to him with a painful plop.
"Hey." She said back.
They listened to the surf pounding the sand for a long moment. Then Rose said something Doctor.2 was not expecting,
"We should probably give you a proper name."
"I could always use the old fallback, John Smith..." Doctor.2 answered without missing a beat.
"I always found that name so ironic for you."
"How's that?"
"The most unique man in the universe going by the most generic name possible."
"Do you have any other suggestions?" He'd go by any name she wanted to call him, as long as she called him hers.
"No. Ironically it's the only name that could even come close to suiting you. Don't you have a name? I mean your parent's didn't name you The Doctor, did they?"
"No, they gave me a name. But it's not really mine, is it?"
"What do you mean?"
"Now that you ask it feels like that's the only thing that belongs only to him now." It saddened Doctor.2 even more, one more thing that he lost today.
Rose saw his face fall farther into the sand. She wasn't the only one hurting.
"So," she blurted clearing her throat, "What next Mr. Smith?"