Shadow Sister
AN: Because, as much as I wish that there was baby timelords in the parallel universe waiting for daddy to come back, realistically, I don't think it's not going to happen. So this is a semi-compromise. An angsty one, but a compromise of sorts.
If you asked Elizabeth Tyler what she thought of having a sister that was twenty-one years older than her, she'd say that Rose was one of her best friends. And God help you if you even hinted to her that they disapproved of something regarding Rose or the rest of her family.
You'd be quickly be facing an infamous Tyler slap if you did.
Lizzie knew that her family was different, in a big way. Her father fought against the Cybermen invasion, so did Rose—who still worked at Torchwood, and that her mother wasn't quite the Jackie Tyler that people expected at times.
But like all children, she had simply accepted it growing up. She assumed that she and her family weren't that different. Fine, her now thirty-seven-year-old sister was something of a work-a-holic and never really dated much in Lizzie's memory, but that was just Rose. As far back as she could remember, Rose had always thrown herself into her work. Rose would tell her fantastical tales of aliens, of different worlds, of wonders beyond any ordinary imagination.
And often, her stories would include a time-travelling alien, who she just named 'The Doctor', with a ship called the 'TARDIS'. Those tales were the most amazing, the most out-there stories that Rose came out with. In her younger years she had thought them mere stories to amuse her; the products of Rose's active imagination fused with the exposure she had to various alien artefacts and cultural remnants.
But over the years, the stories still kept going on strong. She'd ask Rose to tell certain adventures again, and with each retelling, Lizzie noticed extra details: how Rose detailed the Doctor's description, but only skimmed over the what his travelling companion looked like. But what she found the interesting, was that the emotional affect the stories had on Rose herself...
It was more like she was reliving a memory, not telling a made-up story.
It was in her face. The determination as the Doctor and his companion faced down monsters and saved the universe, the grin as she talked about Captain Jack Harkness—fifty-first century flirt extraordinaire, the wistful smile as she talked of the love that the Doctor and his companion had, the heartbreak in her face when she talked of those two being separated.
By the time Elizabeth turned fifteen, she had a fair idea of who the Doctor's travelling companion had been.
She was sixteen now. But she hadn't asked Rose out right about it all. And she wasn't sure she could right now.
Rose was in one of her down times. It happened once in a while: for about a week, she'd just withdraw in herself completely.
She became a shadow.
Elizabeth shifted her weight uncomfortably outside of Rose's room. She was going through another bout, but Lizzie wanted her help—she didn't want to talk to her mum about this.
Maybe she'd be able to take her mind off whatever it was that made her so miserable.
She timidly knocked on the door and waited for Rose's watery "Come in," before opening the door.
She looked a mess, to put it bluntly. Her eyes were red, and her hair was a tangled ruin.
Rose smiled weakly. "Yeah, I know I'm not exactly crash hot right now," she said wryly, swiping a load of paraphernalia off the bedspread, indicating Lizzie to sit down.
"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about that you don't want mum to know, eh?"
Seeing Lizzie's expression, Rose chuckled. "Don't you believe me when I say there were things that I never let mum know about when I was growing up?"
Lizzie shrugged.
"So out with it. Don't worry, mum won't hear a word." Rose told her.
"Have you ever been in love?"
Rose froze. She blinked a couple of times and swallowed before asking, in a some what strangled voice, "What brought this on, then?"
She shrugged. Rose sat down heavily next to her baby sister.
"It's a funny thing, love," she told her softly. "You can think you've been in love before hand, but until you meet that one person..." she trailed off, a pensive look on her face.
"I guess that's a 'yes' to that question then," Lizzie said.
Rose nodded, a small smile on her face. "Oh, yes, I've been in love."
"What was he like?" Lizzie asked, prompting a short laugh out of Rose.
"Oh, where to begin... He was... energetic, funny, stubborn, brave and," her lips quirked sideways in a brief display of amusement, "quite foxy."
There was a few moments of comfortable silence before Lizzie broke the silence again. "It's the guy from your stories isn't it? You were the Doctor's companion, weren't you?" she asked quietly.
Rose sighed. "When'd you figure it out?"
Lizzie shrugged.
"Yes, I was the companion from my stories, I've been to all those places, seen all those creatures... and fell head over heels in love with the Doctor." Rose smiled bitterly.
"But what about the last story... when the comp-you get stuck in a parallel world..."
Rose raises her eyebrows. "I'm still in it," she answers evenly.
Seeing the sad, shocked look on her sister's face, she wraps her arms around her. "Oh, Lizzie, really, it's not so bad. In the universe I was born in, I died saving the world. Not such a bad way to go. And if I had managed to hold on that bit longer, I wouldn't have been able to know you!"
"But you loved him."
Rose closed her eyes. "Yes. Yes I did. I loved him with all my heart," she looked back down at her sister. "I didn't think my heart would ever recover, 'specially since the last time I talked to him, on the beach, I lied."
Lizzie looked at Rose funny. "Why? What did you say?"
Rose's face had taken on a faraway look now, "I told him that there was five of us now, Me, Mum, Dad, Mickey, and the baby. I told him that it was mum who was pregnant, not me."
"You..." Lizzie spluttered.
Rose rubbed her eyes. "Yes, I was pregnant at the time, I found out a couple of weeks after arriving here."
"Why didn't you tell him?"
"Because he would have done something stupid, dangerous or both to find a way back here. I couldn't let him do that," Rose shook her head. "Not that it mattered in the end anyway," she added bitterly.
"Did you...?"
"I miscarried, Lizzie. I fell and I lost it. It would have been a boy, they said. Although they thought that he wouldn't survived anyway because of what they thought was a 'heart defect'. So you nearly had a nephew who would've been four months older than you," Rose was crying by this point, hugging Lizzie to her.
"I couldn't look at you for days after you were born, Lizzie. It hurt so much..." she sobbed, "I was jealous that mum and dad had you, and I hated myself for that. I'm sorry, Lizzie..."
"Don't be, Rose," Lizzie told her, voice muffled. "I'm glad you trusted me with all that."
"'Course I trust you, you're my sister!" Rose sniffed.
"Rose?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you still love him?" Lizzie asked quietly.
Rose was silent for a moment. "Yeah, I guess I still do."
"Do you even have a picture of him, then?"
Rose disentangled herself from Lizzie's embrace. "Yep," she said, rummaging through the stuff that fell on the floor earlier. Eventually she pulled a small photo from the pile and handed it to Lizzie.
She recognized Rose easily, less care-worn than she was now, with a smile plastered on her face while the tall man next to her had his arms wrapped around her waist. He was certainly handsome, with hair that had the look of being perpetually ruffled, a maniac smile and a brown pinstriped suit. The background seemed to be a block of flats, and a blue police box.
"You two look so happy," Lizzie said.
Rose smiled wistfully. "We were, mum took that photo about a month after Mickey left, and yeah, that's the TARDIS in the background.
"You were looking at this stuff before, were you?" Lizzie asked, looking at the rest of the small pile on the floor.
"Yeah," Rose replied, "The few things I have left from my life on the TARDIS. Sometimes I worry that I'll just... forget things..." Rose looked away. "I don't want to forget it all."
"Can I see?" Lizzie asked timidly.
Rose smiled at her. "Yeah, you can."
They both slid down onto the floor next to the pile, and Lizzie picked up a small flower pendant that was made of a pink stone that seemed shimmer as the different shades of pink flowed through it.
"Where did you get this?"
Rose grinned at the memory. "From a market on the planet of Telen, and when I say a market, I mean one massive market, it would have easily covered half of London. I never could pronounce the name of the actual stone, but it's original form is similar to rose quartz here, the shimmering effect is from the working of it. The Doctor bought it for me after our visit to Laylora."
"It's beautiful," Lizzie said in awe.
"'Course, I can't wear it much anymore, too many questions."
Lizzie picked up another photo, this time showing Rose, the Doctor and her mum sitting at a table decked out with a Christmas dinner. She was amused to see that they were all wearing paper hats and the Doctor had a pair of heavy framed glasses on. She had to snicker at that, causing Rose to check which one she was looking at, which prompted another smile from Rose too.
"Who took that one?"
"Mickey. That was the evening after the Sycorax tried to invade before he," Rose pointed to the Doctor, "sent 'em packing."
There were a few coins from various places and times within the galaxy, some exotic smelling lip balm, and one more photo. This time, the only person she recognised was Rose, the two men she couldn't place.
"Who are they?" she showed Rose the photo.
"Well, the one standing next to me with the big ears is the Doctor before he regenerated, and the other one," she smirked, "is Jack Harkness."
"The flirt?"
"Yep, that's the one."
"Hmm..." Lizzie appraised the photo. "I have to admit, he certainly looks the part..."
"He fitted the part. God, he was so bad sometimes!" Rose laughed.
Lizzie looked at the pile, "Really not much, is it?" Rose sighed.
"No. All I've got is what I had on me when I came through. But there is one more thing," Rose fumbled around her neck for some thing before fishing out a chain with a small key attached to it. "This is my TARDIS key. If the TARDIS was nearby, it'd glow, and grow warm... but here, of course, it's nearly as cold as ice."
"Then why do you still wear it?" Lizzie asked.
"I guess it's because I still don't want to give up hope," Rose said softly. "If there's two things in life that you shouldn't let go of, Lizzie, it's love and hope."
All Lizzie could do was hug Rose. And thank whoever was in charge of things that she had such an amazing and strong sister.
AN: Hmm. The ending didn't end up like I thought it would...
Reviews are always good. CC is welcomed with open arms, and if you want to flame me, go ahead (but please tell me what your gripe with it was so that I can improve it).