A/N: This is my first Doctor Who fic. A little nervous putting it out there, as I want to do the amazing characters justice. Anyway, hopefully someone enjoys it. I love writing about my OTP! If you don't mind, let me know what you think! Thanks for taking the time to read.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Doctor Who
It Always Comes Back to Chips
The psychic paper had led him to exactly here and there wasn't a soul in sight. He followed the coordinates and found himself in the middle of London 2014, standing in front of the exact chippy he had visited with her all those years ago. Their first date. They had chips, her treat. His hearts clenched as he remembered, his face contorting into an awful grimace, like a bad taste in his mouth. And something certainly had left a bad to a bad taste.
He walked away from the chippy, absently kicking at a rock, scuffing his trainer on the pavement. He slumped onto a nearby bench, too distracted to notice anyone there. He sighed heavily as he ran his fingers through his hair. Five years. It had been five years since he left her on that beach with his double, the metacrisis Doctor. He thought he was being the bigger man, giving Rose the life she wanted. Him and the slow path all in one. But he had been a coward, too afraid to face his feelings. Too afraid to hold on to her tight,only lose her to time and age one day. Humans wither and die,he had told her. She had promised him forever, but he rejected it. He really had just wanted her to be happy, and that resulted in his misery.
Maybe it was a false alarm. A wrong number of sorts? Or maybe he was just subconsciously torturing himself by visiting their old haunts. Either way, he wasn't happy about it. He sighed again audibly.
"Chip for your thoughts?" A female voice came out of nowhere, startling him a little. Not much feeling up to talking, he shook his head and gave her a sideways glance.
"Nah, thanks anyway. Bit too complicated to just-" he began, but found himself stopped mid-sentence. As he turned to gaze upon her properly, her features began to register. He knew that face, that smile.
"But...what?! How...what?" he cried, clearly in shock.
She reached out tentatively, her hand shaking as she touched his cheek, gently caressing her thumb over it. His eyes drank her in like a dying man reaching water. She still looked the same. Her hair was a bit darker, but still blonde. More natural. It fell in long waves, the way it was when she didn't blow dry it. And she wore less makeup. But her smile could still outshine a million suns, and those eyes. Those warm brown pools that were flecked by tiny bits of gold. He fell into them, drowning in their familiar beauty.
"Rose," he whispered, nuzzling his scruffy cheek against her impossibly soft touch. "How?"
She looked around a bit, withdrawing from him, and shook her head. Standing up suddenly and looking down at him.
"Not here. Can we go to her?" She held her hand out to him and immediately he took it, lacing his fingers with hers, nodding dumbly.
They hurried to the TARDIS, hand in hand just started as they always had. It felt so natural, so right. Oh how he had missed this! When they arrived at the familiar blue box, Rose turned to him excitedly.
"Could I…?" she asked, tilting her head toward the ship's door.
For the first time he beamed at her, nodding. She gave a little giggle, her excitement contagious. She pulled her TARDIS key from beneath her shirt, just as she had always kept her. Close to her heart, as she had once told him. Rose turned her key slowly and slowly pushed open the door. Taking a deep breath, she stepped inside and was greeting with glowing lights and a distinctly happy hum coming from the ship. Rose rushed up the ramp and hugged one of the coral struts. She then rushed to the center of the ship's control room.
"Oh hello you darling, gorgeous girl! I've missed you so" Rose cooed as she circled the console, stroking its surface lovingly. The ship responded in kind, clearly just as happy to see Rose. She turned sharply and looked at the Doctor beaming.
"She's as wonderful as ever!"
The Doctor watched Rose got reacquainted with the ship, grinning brightly, hands in pockets. It really was a glorious sight to see- Rose Tyler back in the TARDIS.
"Well, very clearly, she is very happy to see you...speaking of which, so am I. But I still can't help but wonder how and why you're here."
His expression had sobered and he was starting at her intently. Taking another deep breath, Rose walked toward the Doctor. Slowly she brought up her gaze to meet his.
"I guess I have a bit of explaining to do, yeah?" Her tone was soft, and the Doctor could sense she was holding back a great deal of emotion.
He smiled gently, then tugging on his ear. "Wellllllll, maybe just a bit, yeah. Might be nice. Mind if I launch us Vortex for a bit of privacy?" He raised his eyebrows in question, approaching the console.
Rose's widened as she nodded with great enthusiasm. "Oh yes, please do…"
He grinned at her again, doing his twists and turns off all the proper knobs and levers, and then looked up at her, eyeing the final switch and nodded. She giggled gleefully, sporting that tongue in teeth grin as she threw the dematerialization switch, sending them spinning into the Vortex. Rise laughed loudly as it made that familiar old wheezing sound that was distinct to only the TARDIS.
Once they were safe and sound in the Vortex, they each took a seat in the galley and settled down for a much needed talk. The Doctor had brewed some tea and handed Rose a cup.
"First of all, I suppose I should tell you it's been a long time since for me. Things changed in Pete's world," she said.
Rose began to explain how a major asteroid collision has caused time in the other universe had tilted Earth's axis and caused time to move at a different rate. After several natural disasters, and a lot of recovery and aid work for damaged areas, they began to notice the passage of time had changed. She talked about years of working for Torchwood and then as an independent intergalactic negotiator. The Doctor was puzzled by all of this.
"How long has it been, Rose?" he asked, eyebrows knitted together. She looked at him, her eyes filled with sadness.
"It's been nearly 40 years for me, Doctor."
He gaped at her, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to find the right words. He was trying to show some measure of tact, but that was difficult where he was concerned.
"What about...him?" he blurted out. She stared at him for a moment then smiled sadly.
"Jon. Jonathan Noble, proper. Though everyone still called him Doctor. Died in the line of duty. Fifteen years ago. There were hostile Baldatheons and he took a shot to the heart. He died protecting me."
His face fell and he reached out to her, taking her hands in his. "Oh Rose, I'm so so sorry."
"Thank you, really. It was difficult, but time heals, as they say. I'll always have him in my heart, and I will always Miss him," she said fondly. And then she stopped to look up at the Doctor again. " He made me promise to come and find you if anything ever happened to him."
"And I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. I can't imagine the pain," he said gently, his thumb stroking the back of her hand.
Her eyes were glassy with tears as she squeezed his hands in return, letting loose a deep sigh. His words were real and sincere. He hated to think of her having to go through losing him...losing Jon. The very thought of her dying was enough to stop his hearts. To have gone through that, to see someone you love die before your eyes, that was a pain no one should have to bear.
Rose went on and talked about her parents and how she had lost them over time. Pete had a heart attack at 75 and her mother succumbed to cancer when she was 82. That left her little brother, who was a grown man by this time, with a family of his own. Something else struck the Doctor suddenly and he stared at her in silence for a moment, surveying her features. She hadn't aged a day. Rose scowled and sighed.
"So you noticed, then," she said quietly, avoiding his eyes.
"That you haven't aged since the last time I saw you. Yu-p," he said, popping his "p" distinctly.
Rose nodded and swallowed hard. "Jon did extensive tests, found out that I seemed to have developed superhuman status of sorts. Human plus, he called it. I have a superior immune system, heal almost instantly, and don't age like a normal human. Don't have laser eyes or anything, though," she said with a half laugh, trying to lighten the mood. The Doctor didn't laugh.
"But how…?" he stammered. And then it hit him. "Bad Wolf."
Rose nodded solemnly. "Seems she did everything she could to make sure I ended up right back here in the end."
She explained how she had eventually acquired a dimension cannon and decided to take a chance to see if it would work for her at least one last time. After some research and months of trying, she finally managed to get through the void and to their home universe.
"Did it come out in Norway again?" he asked, remembering Dårlig Ulv-Stranden and that last day he saw her.
She laughed a little. "Nope," she said popping her "p" in return. "The rift in Cardiff. There's an even bigger on in the Cardiff there! Didn't think of that until I attempted the jump about thirty times. And just so happens my hunch was right!"
The Doctor grinned and laughed. "Rose Tyler, you're brilliant you are."
She smiled back at him. They held their gaze for a long time before breaking eye contact, each blushing a little. It hadn't quite sunk in that they were in the same room, let alone the same universe. He was still in utter disbelief. Rose Tyler was right here, with him. His precious pink and yellow human. They talked for awhile more, catching up on miscellaneous areas of their respective lives. The conversation was friendly, casual, but far too detatched for the Doctor's liking.
Rose was holding back. Then he realized. She didn't intend on staying. This was just a one off thing, and then she would be gone again. No...no! He couldn't stand the thought of that. It wasn't fair… he had waited. It was their turn, dammit! For once he wanted to be the selfish one. He wanted to be with Rose!
His hearts began to raise and his blood pressure rose. He became visibly flustered, pushing his hand through his hand and rubbing the back of his neck. Rose watched him fidgeting, her brow furrowed and eyes filled with question.
" Doctor, 's something wrong?" she asked, her voice filled with concern as she reached out to touch his hand. And then her expression shifted, as if she suddenly understood something.
"Is it your companion? Or friend, rather? Is someone waiting on you? Though, I know time machine and all, but if I took you away from something important, I'm so so sorry!" she said, standing, and now looking a little flustered herself.
He blinked at her dumbly, not saying a word, completely confused by what she was saying. Rose mistook his silence to mean something else all together.
"Or...oh God...you're with someone, aren't you? And here I just show up out of nowhere after years, just expecting…" she stammered, now losing some of the firm grip she had had on her emotions. Her words made the Doctor's ears perk.
"Just expecting what?" he asked eagerly, standing now,..
She slowly raised her eyes and met his stare. "To come back."
"Do you want to come back?" he asked, his hearts pounding in his ears.
She held his gaze. "Yes. But do you want me back?"
His expression softened. "Oh yes!"
She broke into the biggest smile he had ever seen. Then in that instant he closed the distance between them and pulled her into a tight embrace, lifting her off her feet and holding her to him. Rose returned his embraced with equal gusto, clinging to him as tears slid down her cheeks. When he finally put her down, they stood face to face, arms still around each other. He rest his forehead against hers and looked deep into her eyes.
"And Rose...so you know.. There was never anyone else. You know about everyone I traveled with. But there was never anyone that could replace you," he said softly, bringing a hand to her cheek.
"Doctor... no matter what has happened, no matter where I've been, what I've been doing, I never stopped loving you. And I don't regret my time with Jon. He was an amazing man and I loved him. But I never stopped loving you," she admitted, teary eyed. Then she gave a watery laugh. "Though ya did right piss me off. No leaving me behind this time, yeah?"
He pulled her in closer to him, so close he could feel her breath on his cheek. "Never again, Rose Tyler. Never again."
She went to say something but before she could get a word out, his lips were on hers. His kiss was gentle, but urgent, his lips caressing hers as he tried to express all the love and adoration he felt. She stiffened at first, but then reciprocated in full, meeting his kiss with equal abandon. He deepened the kiss, his hands braced on her back. She clung to him, her body molded to his. They continued that way for some time before they both came up for air.
That night when they retired, it was together in his bed. They laid together quietly, exchanging soft kisses mixed with gentle caresses. Finally, after all this time, they were together. The Doctor and Rose Tyler, on the TARDIS. Stuff of legend. Just as it should be.