Title: The Only Answer
Author: Me, duh
Rating: PG13 to be safe
Summary: Post-Doomsdy. Rose10
Spoilers: Mainly just Doomsday
ROSE
I could swear I felt him. Walking by my side. But every time I looked, there was nothing. I was alone.
And I heard a sound, as I walked to Torchwood one morning. The sound made only by the TARDIS. But it turns out one of the experiments Torchwood is running has a similar sound.
Mum says I'm imagining things. But thats not what it feels like. This feels real.
----
DOCTOR
I tell the TARDIS just to start moving. In any direction, any time, just anywhere but Earth. Anywhere that wouldn't remind me of Rose.
But my mind does it on its own. Like my head has its own twisted sence of humor that I just don't understand.
Like, a few days ago, I was on this little planet in the Aquelda system. The cats had no noses. What did that remind me of? Barcelona, the planet that had dogs with no noses. And where did my mind take me? To the conversation Rose and I had before I regenerated.
I tell the TARDIS not to stop. Not until I tell her to.
But flying through empty space, alone, makes me miss her more. It gives me to much tie to think. I need to find somewhere where there's a crisis. Something to keep my mind off everything.
I'm thinking about this when I woke up one morning. But before I have a chance to even climb out of bed, I feel the TARDIS shutter, then stop.
I jump out of bed and out of the room. I trip.
Standing up, I notice a pink pump. Things like that seem to be happening more now that Rose is gone. Trip over a pump, find an jacket of hers hanging on the TARDIS control systems. It seems she has more stuff here than when she was actually her.
"What are you stopping for?" I ask the TARDIS. She hums in response. "Well thats no sort of an answer. Where are we?" She hums again. "I thought we agreed, as far from eath as possible. Why are we here." She tells me to walk outside.
I don't particularly want to, but my mind forces me to. The same part of my mind that reminds me of things I'm trying to forget.
At first it just looks like normal old Earth, 2006. But something is different. I can't quite place what.
So I decide to wander a bit. More of that part of my mind that I would be better off without.
----
ROSE
Lately I've been thinking about the old Doctor. The Ninth. and then comparing him to the Tenth. And for some reason, this one crazy though pops into my head.
What if they were to meet?
I mean, they are the same person, really, but so different in so many ways.
Like the pretty boy factor.
The Ninth hated pretty boys. He hated Jack, and Mickey, and the other guys I dragged along. And then look at his regeneration. Pretty boy.
And then there was a little thing the Ninth like to call Verbal Diarrhoea. This is why she had laughed so much when the Tenth had come out of the TARDIS when they were on the Sycorax ship. He just wouldn't shut up.
God, they would hate each other.
And for some odd reason, this made her laugh.
----
DOCTOR
I swear I saw her. Walking through down the street towards the Torchwood building. Thats when I realizied what it was that seemed to different.
Zepplins!
This wasn't Earth. Well, it was, but not the Earth I knew. It was Pete's world.
I don't know how she did it. But the TARDIS was amazing like that. She could do almost anything.
And then I started to run. Running towards Torchwood. Because thats were Rose is. And thats where I need to be.
I'm catching up to her. Ten feet away.
"ROSE!" I shout. She whips her head around, hope shining on her face.
But its gone a second later. She sighs sadly and continues walking.
I quickly catch up to her.
"Rose?" I say, putting my hand on her shoulder. She turns to look at who the hand belongs to. But her eyes look straight through me. Like I'm not there.
But I am, aren't I? I'm here. My hand is on her shoulder, and she can feel it. Why can't she see me.
----
ROSE
He was there. I know he was. I could feel it. I heard him shout my name. And I turned, I was so hopeful.
But there was no one. Just an empty alley.
Then I felt his hand. I turned to the presence. I wouldn't let myself hope. But when there was no one there, I could fell my heart break again.
DOCTOR
I followed her home that night. And I know what you're thinking. It was not creepy and stalker-ish. I just needed to see her one last time. One last time before I left for good.
ROSE
Mum might be right. Maybe I am loosing it. When I got home, there was a man waiting for me. Mum had set me up on a blind date!
Pretty boy. Thats was the first thing that came to mind. Only, it wasn't my voice that thought it. Once again I could hear the doctor talking to me.
DOCTOR
Rose walks into her room, leaving the door ajar. I glance into a mirror as I follow her.
Double take.
Mirrors. Mirrors!
ROSE
As I took off my sweater, as strange thought hit me. Mirrors. I had no idea what it ment, or why I thought of it, but it compelled me to look into the mirror.
This stange and unusual thought took me nowhere, though i'm not sure what I had been expecting.
DOCTOR
It didn't work. I could see myself in a mirror, but she couldn't.
Every second I spend here makes it harder to leave. And harder to forget.
I watch her as she falls asleep. She closes her eyes as a single tear escapes.
"Don't cry love," I whisper, brushing the tear away, allowing tears of my own to fall.
It breaks my heart to see her sad.
And for a moment, for just a moment, I wish I had never met her. I wish for a second, that I hadn't come back for her. It would have been so much easier, not knowing what it felt like to love.
ROSE
I close my eyes. I can't help but cry. Its been months since Bad Wolf Bay. And it hasn't hurt this much since. But today, today things were different. More difficult to deal with.
Suddenly the tear is gone. I try to open my eyes, but they're glued shut.
And I feel his lips on my forehead. Only for a second, then they're gone.
"I love you," I hear him whisper. I can feel him leaving. Walking away from the bed.
And I reach out. My hand touches his and I open my eyes.
"Doctor," I breath, terrified that its just a dream.
"Rose," He says turning back to me.
I jusmp out of the bed and throw my arms around him.
DOCTOR
Nothing has ever felt so perfect. She's right here, hugging me as though she will never let go. And I never want her to.
"You can see me?" I ask, knowing the answer, but not knowing how.
She pulls back and kisses me. And thats the only answer I need.
Reviews are purdy.
♥Morgan