Title: A Promise is a Promise
Rating: All Ages
Spoilers: Up to the first episode of series 4
Characters: Ten/Rose, Donna
A/N: Couldn't get this idea out of my head. Hopefully I'll now be able to get something up for Never Give Up. Enjoy.
He could feel it. The pounding in his hearts getting stronger, building up speed with every second. She was there. Right in front of him. It wasn't his imagination, he wasn't seeing things. He knew he wasn't. Donna was taking to her. He wouldn't imagine Donna talking to her. He took one step forward, then two. Before he knew it, Donna was in front of him.
And she was gone.
He blinked, shaking his head slightly. It must've been his imagination. It had happened before, at Donna's would-be wedding reception. Maybe it was all Donna's fault. Maybe she was already driving him over the hill, making him lose his mind.
Well, more than what he'd already lost.
Everything went by in a blur. He showed Donna around, gave her a semi-proper tour of the places she would need to know, before dropping her off in one of the bedrooms, careful to make sure it was rather far away from his usual haunts. Not that he was unhappy with Donna's presence, just he was almost positive already that when he wanted time to think, Donna would be likely to walk in and do just about whatever to annoy him. He knew Donna would be good for him. She made him see sense, see what was really going on in the universe and pulled him back when he didn't realise that things were going too far. That much he learnt with the Racnoss.
All he needed was a friend. Someone he could rely on to not make things complicated. To not bring emotions he couldn't handle at this moment to him. Especially love, and the idea of the perfect relationship so many humans craved. He had no time for love, no time for getting close to anyone. Not since…
"Rose," he thought out loud with a sigh.
He looked around the console, glad for the moment of silence. Donna had gone to unpack her many things, a way of showing that she wasn't leaving unless he wanted to shove her and her hatbox out the TARDIS doors and into a black hole.
Even at that he wouldn't put it past her to find a way back.
His hands slowly travelled across the controls of his beloved ship as he stood waiting patiently for Donna. He would take her anywhere, glad to have the company, the companionship. The friendship he longed for but seemed to find difficult to keep. They all left in the end, they had their own lives to lead.
"Come on then, don't just stand around, get moving!"
Somehow, he didn't see this one leaving him.
He lay back on the grass, his coat billowed around him. He couldn't draw attention to himself, not when he was doing secret surveillance of not so secret aliens. Donna had disappeared, as usual, but it didn't bother him. It would more be her scaring an alien, not the alien terrifying her. Besides, he could hear her a mile away.
He sat up quickly, his eyes scanning the crowd. Families were enjoying themselves, oblivious to any possible alien threat surrounding them. The aliens he was keeping a look out for were there, he could see them, chatting away, pretending to be tourists which technically they were.
But that wasn't it. His hairs were standing on end, as if he was being watched. No one's gaze was on him, none that he could see, but he could not brush it off.
Something wasn't right.
He stood up, his hands burrowed deep in his pockets as he looked around, his eyes drawn to every figure there was. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary and he sighed, shaking slightly and mentally hitting himself for becoming prey to the paranoia he refused to overcome him.
"Donna! Time we were off!" he yelled, knowing wherever she was, she'd hear him.
She turned up eventually, complaining about this and that, but the Doctor never paid attention. His eyes were scanning the crowds again. He knew he had felt this before. The last time he had, he was sure he saw Rose. Maybe this was a common feeling for Time Lords as they got older, a strong case of paranoia and their imaginations taking over common sense.
He held the door open for Donna, looking over at a slightly wooded area as he waited. He froze. He was sure it wasn't possible, his mind was playing tricks on him again. She was there, just standing there staring at him, a sadder look on her face than the way she looked when he said goodbye.
"Rose," he whispered, stepping forward.
She stepped back.
He frowned in confusion, and without connecting to his brain, his feet carried him closer. She did not move, did not make any notion at all that she was here. Maybe it was a trick. An illusion of some kind. Perhaps something was trying to confuse him, distract him from anything that may happen around him.
He got closer and closer, and she still stayed. She didn't fade.
"Rose?" he said a bit louder, loud enough that she would hear if only she was real.
She smiled.
And his hearts leapt.
His arms engulfed her, pulling her tightly against his chest. He would not, could not let go. If he did, he was sure he'd lose her again. So he held onto her, his anchor. He refused to let go and he refused the thought that this was a dream of some sort. She was here.
She had to be here.
"You're here," he whispered softly against her ear.
And he heard the sound he never thought he'd hear again. The sound which had many times brought him to the heights of unbelievable joy and happiness. Which had saved him from so many dark thoughts during the times when she was not there. For she would always be there, where she belonged, and with that one thing forever going, he would be able to go on, despite how simple the sound was.
She giggled.
"'Course I'm here. Where else did you expect me to be?"
He pulled back, but did not release her. His eyes spoke all his words. His joy to see her again, his confusion at how she had managed the impossible and the pride he felt for her.
The love he felt for her.
"You're meant to be trapped. It was impossible, I would never have been able to get you back."
He did. He had her back. He had her in his arms where he knew he wanted her to stay.
"We've never been the type to let a word like impossible stop us, Doctor."
He smiled down at her, his first true smile for what felt like a millennia. His forehead dropped to hers, his eyes pouring every ounce of affection he felt into her.
"Plus," she added with a whisper. "I wont let something as stupid as being trapped stop me. I promised you forever. And I intend on giving you it."
The Doctor's hearts skipped a beat, and he swallowed heard.
"Forever," he whispered. "I think I can do that."