Doctor Who: When the Ice Melts
A one-shot Doctor Who fan fiction by The Punk Rock Princess
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who
A/n: This story was inspired by a few of my favorite rock love songs and my love for the Doctor Who series.
"How many times have you saved the world now?" Rose asked aloud after she and The Doctor had just finished saving a star system 20,000,000 years in the future.
"I've lost count." The Doctor said, uninterested. He was working on the TARDIS which was slightly damaged from the last battle.
"It's been so many years since I saved London from the mannequins." Rose mused.
"You couldn't have if I hadn't had the anti-plastic." He smirked from under the console.
"Yeah, but you got caught." Rose got defensive, they enjoyed fighting.
"If I hadn't saved you, then you never could have saved the world." He teased with a triumphant tone in his voice.
"Well, if you hadn't come here, then trouble wouldn't have followed you." Rose said, cuttingly.
'Ouch,' He thought. He sighed and came out from under the console. He smiled at her with his big goofy smile.
"And if I had never come, then you'd still be with that idiot Ricky." He knew he'd won.
"He's not an idiot, be fair, he saved the world from the Slovene… And his name is Mickey" She looked down at him angrily.
"With my help!" He laughed and stood. "We're all set to go, where to next?"
"I dunno. Wherever the TARDIS takes us." Rose smiled.
The doctor wore the same thing he always did, his brown and blue pinstriped suit with his white Converse high-tops. The tan trench coat was draped over the little couch, where he had left it upon entering the TARDIS. His hair was perfect, as usual, and his black framed glasses had slid down to the end of his nose. He pushed them back up in place and let a slow smile cross his face.
"Alright then…" The Doctor said with exuberant enthusiasm, "The star system of Entaria it is then." He smiled, and with some turning of the dials, pushing of buttons, a bunch of noise, and a bop on the spacial meter with his rubber mallet, they were on the planet of Crystalia in the late 91st century.
"So, what exactly is on the planet of Crystalia?"
"Take a step outside and find out." He grinned, gesturing toward the door. Rose looked at him curiously.
"Don't you know?"
"Weeelllll there's… weeeell… Why don't we go find out?"
"You can't just tell me?" Rose sighed. She opened up the door of the TARDIS to find a landscape of completely frozen water and sand.
A cold breeze blew through the door of the TARDIS and Rose grabbed her coat. They stepped out onto the ice and walked in silence for a minute until they came to the shoreline.
"This is the beach of Crystalia, frozen 1000 years ago in a matter of seconds, during a storm. The waves, are said to be a hundred feet tall and they're still in the middle of that storm, frozen solid." The Doctor said dramatically. Rose pulled him close, the scene was somehow tragic and brought her to tears. The howling of the wind was the only noise for what seemed ages; they just stood there, staring into the frozen ocean, stretching into the horizon. The beach went in all directions for miles and miles. She was shivering pretty violently and The Doctor put his arms around her. "You're freezing." He sighed. "Let's go, we'll never be able to walk to the cities of Crystalia from here. This beach goes on and on; it was kind've of a desert."
"Alright," Rose looked up into The Doctor's eyes. He smiled brightly, not his usual cheesy smile, but an almost shy smile.
"This isn't the only amazing thing on Crystalia." He put his arm around her when they turned to walk back to the TARDIS. Rose looked at him curiously, and he continued.
"This time, we're going to go observe the great meltdown." He smiled; he was pleased with astonishing her with immense beauty that the universe would have never shown her on its own.
"You mean it melts?" Rose looked alarmed.
"Yeah," The Doctor went to work seriously. "And we're going to have the best seats in the house."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the whole coastal town of Bayside has been shadowed by a huge surge wave that froze right before it took down the city. And now, all the ice is about to melt and everyone evacuated. You and I are going to watch the melt waters rise from the top of the tallest structure on Crystalia, the Interplanetary Contacts building, its 1000 stories high. We'll be safe from the waters and it'll be a great sight to see. A city crushed by a wave centuries old." He pushed the final button and they went. Rose stepped outside the TARDIS to see a huge city lay out in front of her. Thousands of feet below, there was only about ten feet of water on the ground.
"It's breathtaking."
"Look to the left." The Doctor took Rose's shoulders gently and directed her toward the ocean. She looked to where he was pointing, and she saw the beach they were just on, hundreds of years ago. Right next to it was a gigantic tsunami wave, frozen in time, frozen in ice crystals, sparkling in the heat of the suns and melting steadily. Rose gasped and The Doctor let his hand fall. She turned to look at him.
"I know I like to argue with you, and I always blame you for stupid stuff, and I know my mother didn't want me to come with you, but I wouldn't have missed this for the world."
"You told me once already…" The Doctor looked seriously into her perfect eyes; they were all he could see. "The time you stopped me from killing the Dalek, do you remember? You told me that it wasn't my fault that you were about to die…"
"And I told you I wouldn't have missed this for the world." Rose finished her own statement.
"Yes, Rose, I was so scared, I was scared you were going to die." He sighed wearily. "I can't go back now. I… I never thought I'd say this, but Rose Tyler, I need you." His eyes broke their gaze and looked to the roof of the building they were on.
"Doctor… I…" Rose couldn't say anything for The Doctor had put a single finger upon her lips ever so softly.
"Shhh… It's about to melt." He smiled a little and Rose turned to watch. She took his hand as the tsunami wave cracked with an alarming boom and broke, smashing a bunch of little nearby buildings. They watched as the giant wave shrunk slowly, raising the water level. They kept watching and watching until it was all gone, and the water was quite near to the roof of the building they were on.
"Doctor," Rose turned to look at him. "That was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, and it was coupled with the sweetest thing I've ever been told." She smiled and stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek lovingly. She then pulled him into a hug, leaving him blushing.
"Rose, I can't help it, I… I love you." He whispered ever so softly into her ear. She looked up at him questioningly. "And I want you to know that that's the first time I've ever said those three words, to a human, in 900 years Rose. I want to tell you everything, about my life, and my home… I need to tell you." He sighed, holding her close. Then he felt some dampness on his shirt, he looked down to see she was crying. "What are you crying for?" He asked concern evident in his voice.
"To be alone… all that time." She said through sobs. "Doctor, I love you too. I care for you; I want you to feel loved." The Doctor didn't know how to reply. He was slightly stunned.
"Thank you." He let a single tear slip down his face. It landed on her nose. She looked up at him and another tear escaped from his eye.
"Doctor, you're crying." She reached up to wipe them from his face.
"For the first time since my family died." His voice broke. "Lots of ice melted today." He sniffed a little, determined not to cry any more.
"The ice that locked up your heart for so long."
"Hearts." He laughed. Rose laughed a little too. They hugged again.
"Come on, let's go, when the people return, they're going to wonder what we're doing up here." Rose smiled, taking The Doctor's hand; they walked calmly into the TARDIS, to begin a whole new adventure, to save the world once again, hand in hand.