Title: Love's Defense
Gift For: lj user"svanderslice"
Pairing: Ten/Rose
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: The Satan Pit, 2nd series
A/N: Prompt quote begins the fic in italics below. Dialog is copyright Doctor Who and the BBC. All other words are mine.
"Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense." - Mark Overby
--------------------------
"Get me out of this thing. Get me out!" Rose screamed at the pilot, feeling her panic grow with each additional second. The thrust of the rocket's engines shoved her back into her seat. Everyone else cheered, drowning out her cries. They were leaving. They'd knocked her out, brought her to this rocket, and now they were leaving.
Leaving. The Doctor – he was still on the planet below. They were taking her away from him and the TARDIS and any other remnant of the new life that she'd lovingly adopted as her own. She leaned forward, her grasp fumbling on a brutish energy gun resting just to the right of the captain's chair.
"Take me back to the planet. Take me back!" Her voice broke with the strain. She pointed the gun at Zach, desperately trying to keep both her emotions and the gun steady.
"Or you'll what?"
"Or I'll shoot," her voice was unsteady, unsure. What did he think she'd do with the gun? How much clearer could she make her intention? She'd fight anything to get back to him, to know he was safe.
"Would you, though?" Zach asked quietly. Would you really? Is that what your Doctor would want?"
No, no he wouldn't. He'd want her safe. He'd want her to survive. She knew that. The frustration, the anger, the helplessness – they all overwhelmed her and she collapsed back into her seat. Zachary Cross Flame continued talking to her as she looked out the window, watching the planet below grow smaller and smaller behind them.
All she could think about was him, stranded on that planet below. She saw his face, staring up at the rocket, betrayed. And she knew, she knew it was her fault. She knew he was staring directly at her, demanding why she'd left him behind. She fought back the tears, refusing to cry in front of these strangers. Strangers who now were her only lifeline – a lifeline twenty odd centuries in the future.
"It doesn't make sense. I mean, we escaped. But there were a thousand ways it could have killed us. It could have ripped out the air or burned us. But it let us go. Why?"
They weren't even paying attention to her now. The three surviving crewmembers busily monitored the condition reports on several screens around the capsule, pressing buttons and flipping switches where needed to continue their work.
"Unless it wanted us to escape," she said, completing her train of thought.
Next to her, Toby Zed tensed, throwing her a sharp glare. "Hey Rose, do us a favor, eh?" He leaned closer. "Shut up!" he hissed, then quickly switched back to his normal quasi-professional demeanor. "Almost there. We'll be beyond the reach of the black hole in forty, thirty-nine…"
Her mind raced. No, this was definitely not right – their escaping was not luck or chance. It didn't make sense. Not at all. She turned back toward the window, staring once again at the bright swirling mass of matter that illuminated the deadly hole in space threatening them.
A jolt and stomach-churning turn swung the rocket.
"What happened? What was that?" Danny shouted from her left.
"We lost the funnel. Gravity collapsed," Zach yelled back.
"What does that mean?" Rose asked, knowing the answer already deep down.
Zach turned, his eyes finding hers for just a moment before instinct kicked in and he turned toward his steering controls. "We can't escape," he said. "We're heading straight for the black hole."
"It's the planet. And it's moving. It's falling," she groaned.
And then pandemonium struck. Rage, pure unadulterated rage spewed from Toby Zed's mouth, his skin covered with the strange symbols from the planet they'd left behind. His eyes glowed red. He breathed fire. A litany of hate, of immortality – Rose could not hear it all, but she knew – it was the evil from the planet below, the evil that had possessed all of the Ood, who had stranded the Doctor. And now the evil had escaped, hidden among them in the rocket.
Her eyes skimmed around the cockpit, desperate to find anything that would help her. She could end this. The Doctor would want her to fight, to not give up, to stop the evil that threatened to spread. She had to end this. Yes! Zach's gun was tucked just below the console in front of her. With just the slightest reach, she'd have it.
Adrenaline coursed through her, pressing her into action. She could do this. She would do this. She grabbed the gun, instinctively trying to direct it at Toby, but realizing immediately that her shot would hit Danny as well.
With a deep breath, she pointed it at the front screen. "Go to hell," she muttered.
And she fired.
&&&
It's what the Doctor would have done…
Rose kept repeating the mantra in her head, reassuring herself that she'd made the right choice. The front view screen, now an opaque black thanks to her shooting skills, created an ominous sensation of being led blind to death. The planet disappeared, and Rose went numb. The Doctor was gone. Dead. Sucked into the black hole. And soon she'd be joining him
She curled deeper into her seat, only dimly aware that Zach was prattling on about the black hole. Rose didn't have time to listen to him, though. She knew she needed to prepare herself to die, but for the life of her, could not understand why. Her thoughts drifted from the Doctor to her mum to friends back home – how she'd never be able to say goodbye, how they'd never understand that she died doing what was right, for something she believed in. She said her quiet goodbyes to each of them, hoping somehow they'd get the message. The Doctor said there were so many things about the universe that she couldn't possibly understand. Maybe one of those would be a miracle like this. She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and braced herself against the shuddering capsule.
And then, inexplicably, the ride smoothed. For a fleeting moment, Rose entertained the idea that they'd hit the black hole and that this was what lay on the other side. But then the rocket turned a full 180 degrees,
"We're turning around," Zach said, bewildered.
The communication speaker crackled to life, sputtering for just a moment before a voice broadcast clearly. "Sorry about the hijack Captain, this is the good ship TARDIS."
Oh God...
"First things first, do you have a Rose Tyler on board?"
"That's me!" she exclaimed, then curled up in her chair, unable to control her sobs of relief. Shock, disbelief, joy – she wasn't sure what she was feeling. All she could hear was his voice, ringing clearly through the communication speaker as he spoke to Zach.
Alive. The Doctor's alive! I'm going home!
&&&
He beamed at her from the top of the entrance ramp, still dressed in the orange spacesuit as he leaned against the console. He said nothing, but beamed in pride at the young woman he'd come to trust, to admire…
To love.
On her way down to the TARDIS, Zach had recapped her bravery on the sanctuary base, and later on the rocket. How she was devoted to defending and protecting him, to the cause they believed in, and to what she believed was right.
Now he watched her as she stared at him. He could see the lines of mascara on her cheeks from her tears. The TARDIS quietly warned him that she was emotionally and physically exhausted – that he should encourage her to go get some sleep.
He felt otherwise.
Rose paused for only a moment as she closed the door behind her, still not quite believing it was actually him. But then she was moving up the ramp as fast as her legs would carry her, finding the Doctor at the top of the ramp, scooping her up into a tremendous hug, laughing. Home. She was home. She felt the ghost of a kiss touch the top of her head, and then the Doctor gently put her down.
"Let's say goodbye, and then we'll be off, hmm?" he asked, his eyes shining. There was a twinkle in them Rose hadn't noticed before.
&&&&
"So remind me again why it's practical to have a fireplace on the TARDIS?"
The Doctor smiled gently, combing Rose's blond hair smoothly back against her head as he gazed down at her. She lay with her head on a pillow that leaned against his thigh, her body stretched out across the sofa. After their ordeal on the planet, neither of them had wanted to let the other out of eyesight for very long. Mutual agreement had led them to the study of his seventh incarnation – a gorgeous dark wood library with a few gently ticking brass clocks, stacks of leather-bound Earth literature tomes, and a full-sized stone fireplace. Her question was completely honest, as most of her questions tended to be – full of curiosity, delight, and the amusement that came with appreciating his mad little portion of the universe.
"It's not. But when did practicality become a factor for having something?" he said finally.
"Have you seen your ad-hoc console lately?" she turned to him, eyes twinkling. He recognized that look – Rose Tyler's 'no really, I'm quite curious about this but don't want to appear to be' look.
"Yes, I have. Just before we went down to the planet," he replied dryly. "I imagine I'll be spending quite a bit more time down there after her ten-mile tumble."
Rose sat up quickly, concern flooding her eyes. "Is she alright?"
"Yes, she's fine," he replied. "Well, she will be. A bit bruised, perhaps. She'll need a bit of TLC for a few days. We'll find a quiet place to land and relax, let her do the same."
"Good. She's definitely gone through as much as we have."
That's what amazed her about Rose Tyler. Although she couldn't always understand the technicalities of different species they encountered, she always was able to relate somehow to them – accept that despite their alienness, they were living creatures, with feelings and hopes and dreams and all of the things that she had. Including the TARDIS. Especially the TARDIS.
He pulled Rose to him, sighing as she relaxed against him, allowing him to wrap his arms tightly around her and stretch his legs out on the couch, intermingled with hers. He breathed in the clean, slightly metallic scent of her shampoo, leaning his chin on top of her head as they sat peacefully in silence. The crackle of the fire filled the room with sound, echoing far louder than it should.
"I thought I'd lost you," she whispered. "When Ida said you'd fallen into the pit…"
He shushed her, kissing the crown of her head. "It's all over. Gone now. I'm here."
Leaning her head back to look up at him, she considered him for a moment. As she did, he lightly traced the line of her chin, smiling encouragingly. She began to speak a few times, stopping herself before any actual words emerge.
"So Doctor, what did you find down there?"
His smile faded, and Rose was shocked by how serious his expression became. "Faith, Rose. I rediscovered my faith."
She looked surprised at the answer - until he leaned down and kissed her gently.