Hey guys, this is just a quick one-shot piece. I have a bit of a fascination with Eleven and Rose, and how he regards her, and this piece is one product of that. Anyways, I own none of the characters and all of that disclaimer-y stuff, and I hope you enjoy the piece!
River slipped out a small box from one of the compartments in the TARDIS. She smiled to herself as she lifted the top off, then glanced over at the Doctor. He was still busy tinkering with the TARDIS console, which seemed like a never ending project of his. She was fairly certain most of the TARDIS's problems originated from him playing mechanic.
Inside the box, were a variety of snapshots and letters from his travels over the years. She had seen him looking through them once, and her curiosity had been stirred. Curiosity killed the cat—it was a good thing she wasn't a cat. She set the lid aside and sat down, then began making her way through the box's contents. She skimmed through the letters, most of them were predictable, thanks-for-your-help sort of things.
She paused at one of the pictures. It was of a blonde girl and the Doctor's tenth regeneration, grinning into the camera together. His arms were wrapped around her, and she was laughing, no doubt at something he'd said.
"River, what're you doing over there?" The Doctor's head popped out from beneath the console. "You're never that quite." She looked over at him and held up the picture.
"Well, Doctor, I must say, you do like the blonde ones, don't you?" She smirked at him, brushing a piece of her own curls back out of her face. "Were you wooing Earth girls again?" She shook her head and tsked. "Shame on you."
The Doctor was on his feet and over at her side in an instant. He took the picture from her.
"That's not your business." He said shortly. "And I don't woo anyone."
River rolled her eyes. "You're always wooing people. You're a huge flirt, you just don't notice it." She set the box on the console next to its lid. "So then, who is it? I don't remember ever seeing her."
A smile briefly touched down on the Doctor's lips as he looked down at the photograph.
"Rose Tyler."
"Ooh, she's even got a pretty name. You and nature, Doctor. So tell me who Rose Tyler is." She smirked at him.
The Doctor remained quiet. He looked at her and frowned. "It's not important. Spoilers."
River laughed. "Oh, Doctor. Don't even try that, it doesn't work when you say it. Besides, this isn't a spoiler. It's a memory." Her expression softened. "Just tell me."
The Doctor sighed and ran a hand through his hair, a ghost of his past regeneration taking over for just a second. He pressed his hands together and thought.
"Rose was special. She was my companion. I saved her life, and she stuck with me. And we traveled together for a long time. It was supposed to be longer, but we got separated. And she was left in another dimension—trapped there. She created a sort of dimension cannon and made her way back to find me, and helped save the day one last time, and then I brought her back to her dimension and left her there with my meta crisis so she wouldn't be alone." He summed up quickly, not wanting to linger on the topic. It hurt too much to think back on Rose Tyler. He always came back to wishing he hadn't left her that second time, and not even knowing that she was better off, or that she would be happier in the end, would change that.
River's expression sobered further as she looked up at the Doctor and saw the new lines of pain that were surfacing around his mouth and eyes as he frowned. There were moments when he was sad that his age began to show. It was the one time that he didn't look like a twelve-year-old. There were certain times when he would get a faraway look in his eyes, and River felt like she could never, ever be enough for him. He was so old, and so sad, and so lonely, and no one person could fill all of those holes and make everything better.
But here was a person who had deepened those holes when they left. Rose Tyler, whomever she had been, had made the Doctor happy.
"I'm sorry, Sweetie." She said softly, in a rare moment of complete seriousness. When she was with the Doctor, things were usually kept light by humor, and problems were dodged. Married or not, River didn't quite feel like she knew the Doctor. He was wonderful, and she loved him, but he was always moving, always running, and it was so hard to keep up.
The Doctor stared at the photo for a while longer. A slow smile worked its way onto his face. "No. No, it was good. I shouldn't be sad it happened. It was brilliant while it lasted, and Rose still has me, just in human form. Somewhere, she's happy." It was funny, he'd never been able to say those words aloud to anyone.
River was silent for a moment, then she looked up at the Doctor with another smile. "I don't suppose Rose would want to switch for a day? I liked that regeneration. You had great hair, and eyebrows."
The Doctor reached up to touch one of his eyebrows. "Oi! My eyebrows are fine. They're just… delicate." He set the picture back in the box and put it in the lid on, then placed it back underneath the console. "And stop going through my stuff, I can never find it when you put it back." River sighed.
"I put it back where it's supposed to go every time. You just can't find it because you can't remember where you last put it." River sighed. "And I believe I had a prison to get back to, Doctor. They've probably noticed my absence."
"If you weren't breaking out so much, they probably wouldn't." The Doctor replied, already setting the coordinates for the prison.
"If you weren't such a bad influence, I wouldn't be breaking out." River shot back as the TARDIS lit up, and the familiar vworp vworp sound echoed throughout the TARDIS. "Breaks, dear." She reminded him.
"I like that sound. Now go back to your cell."
"Until next Thursday at dinner, Sweetie." River turned and blew a kiss to the Doctor before leaving the TARDIS. He stood there alone for a moment, then looked at the TARDIS screen. The top read Alternate Universe: Bookmarked location 1. The rest of the screen showed two small dots, one labeled Rose Tyler, the other, The Doctor: Meta Crisis. He smiled at the two dots, one right next to the other.
Yes, somewhere Rose Tyler was happy.