Last Chance, Doctor
I never really thought I would see the Doctor again. I mean, it has crossed my mind that maybe someday, I would be able to look at him one more time before he disappeared off into some abyss that I would never ever have access to again.
Ever morning, with my coffee, I would walk outside and just stare at the sky. The Tardis didn't fly like that, but you see, I still believed that he would rip up time and space just to see me one more time.
It was all just hope.
And hope fades.
Memories don't.
The Doctor was having a spectacularly horrible day. It turned out that the nasty Slitheen had retained some memories and was coming back to haunt him like a ghost. Granted, spirits had grace and actually could frighten someone. This one was big, smelly and clumsy. It had no bodysuit. With no bodysuit, there was no way that the creature could talk. Also a tongue would be
But it managed. For some reason, the Slitheen had her tongue cut out which was a standard ritual for petty criminals. So much for giving her second chances.
Raxacoricofallapatorius was a hot damp planet.
Sweat never helped him thing.
Some garbled words came through, but he was generous to even think of them as words.
Ah, yes.
He was being chased.
By a slitheen.
Who wanted to kill him.
And to put it bluntly, he didn't know where the hell he was. Maybe it was hell.
How would he ever recover from this?
Would he recover?
Because that damn Slitheen wasn't alone. She brought along ten buddies from her clan, who all had their tongues cut out. He was beginning to speculate that maybe they were some sort of club.
He made a sharp turn to the right, and grabbed for his screwdriver. It was miracle that he hadn't been hit by one of the darts.
Yet.
But the thing wasn't there. He cursed. Out of all of the things to be killed by in the universe he had to be killed by a Slitheen? Now that was injustice.
He heard a laugh, and something shot. Not once, but ten times.
That laugh.
It was familiar, but vague.
There was only one person who could laugh like that, but she wasn't- impossible.
Rose.
Only Rose.
"Rose."
He turned around dumbfounded and speechless. Because when you go through all this effort to forget someone, yet remember them at the same time, it was a pain to go though thre process again.
Beautifully painful.
"Doctor." She breathed, with a half smile on her face. There was a tiny handgun in her hand, and out of it stuck his sonic screwdriver. As infinitely curious he was about that, there were bigger things than that.
He ran to her, so fast that he had to keep her standing with his embrace.
"Rose."
"Yes?"
"Rose."
"Mmm-hmm?"
The darkness around them seemed to dissipate with the light that she was shedding.
She was crying, but she was smiling.
"Rose."
He still hadn't let her go.
"I couldn't let you die like that, think of the injustice the universe would cause." She laughed, a salty laugh.
The Doctor pulled back and noticed a watch on her wrist . It was a small glowing thing, and it was counting down. He held it up to his face, the number like tiny villain proclaiming the inevitable end to her.
"Last chance, Doctor." She whispered, the salty tears smudging her mascara just enough to make her look beautiful.
He took it.
The kiss was short. Yet, all the time in the universe wouldn't make it long enough.
He put his forehead to hers.
"I love you, Rose Tyler."
"I love you so much, Doctor."
An intake of breath.
He was left with nothing but the taste of cherries in his mouth, and a sonic screwdriver tucked into his coat pocket.
Just where it should be.
TheWhovianBeforeWho