An idea I had last year, a fic with stories filling in the gaps in random places. Not sure if I'll ever continue this after this chapter, but we'll see what happens. I just happen to like this chapter, so I decided to share it with you ^^ Nine is love! :D
After the Running
aka: Missing Scenes
by Kathryn Hart
Missing Scene #1:
Title: It'll Never Be the Same
A Nine Tribute
Episode: The Christmas Invasion
Characters: Rose Tyler, Ninth Doctor(mentioned), Tenth Doctor(mentioned)
Summary: What happens when Rose finds the Doctor's leather jacket after he regenerates?
Rose stopped cold in her tracks. There it was, sitting on the arm of the chair.
The Leather Jacket.
She walked slowly, as if in a trance. Reaching out, she was afraid to touch it, as if it would disappear, just as The Doctor, her Doctor did just a short while ago.
When fingers finally connected with the cool texture, Rose's breath strangled in a sob. She rushed over and grabbed it, holding it close to her body. She collapsed to the floor, the jacket in a bundle in her arms. Memories flashed in her mind as tears slid down her face.
"Run!"
"There's me."
"I could save the world but lose you."
"What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?"
"Just another stupid ape."
"I'm sorry."
"Everybody lives, just this once, everybody lives!"
"Rose, I'm coming to get you!"
"It was a better life."
"You were fantastic, absolutely fantastic! And you know what...? So was I!"
Rose shook as the tears blurred her vision. Her wonderful Doctor, the man who had changed her life, had disappeared in a flash of light, replaced by a stranger.
She grabbed the jacket and held it up to her face, inhaling deeply. It still smelled like her Doctor: Leather and adrenaline. What she wouldn't give to feel this jacket on broad shoulders and a strong back, and to feel the well-toned muscles within.
She remembered the embrace they shared in that church in 1987. They had held each other so close, Rose could still feel herself in his arms. Those arms that held the weight of the world.
Obviously Mickey had taken the beloved jacket off when changing that...other man into the pajamas that he wore now. She still couldn't believe her Doctor was gone. It was as if he was dead. Everything that made her feel at ease and at home, was gone.
The other man, the new Doc-
No, she couldn't accept that. But she did allow her mind to drift on what that man had said to her, before his...regeneration went wrong.
"It's still me."
". . .But you can't be."
"Then how could I remember this?" He stepped closer to her. She stepped away hesitantly.
"The very first word I ever said to you, trapped in that cellar, surrounded by shop window dummies. Oh, such a long time ago. I took your hand. . ." He grabbed her hand to demonstrate. This new hand felt colder, but strangely, it still fit the same. Rose glanced down and gulped. "I said one word. Just one word, I said: 'Run!'" He whispered the last word as if it was sacred.
But to Rose it was. That was their word, the one word that defined their entire relationship.
She felt like she was in a trance. It sounded so familiar. . .but is it possible?
"Doctor?" She whispered as their faces inched closer together. Their eyes were locked. And then he smiled. So different a smile, yet still the same.
"Hello!" He said happily. Rose turned away, the spell broken. This man was different. He had ruined the moment, her Doctor never spoke like that.
He wasn't the same.
Rose still wouldn't let go of the jacket. It was the last thing she had of her Doctor that was left, that hadn't been taken away by this new person.
Fingering the soft material in her fingers, she remembering reading somewhere, in the back of her mind, that leather was the sign of a warrior. And that's just what the Doctor was: A warrior, the Oncoming Storm, the last survivor of the Time War.
Nothing that reminded her of the man who was hopping on one foot in the TARDIS just a short while back. She was disgusted, remembering seeing the man in this marvelous jacket. It obviously was too big for him, the leather hung around him like a cloak and it was too baggy in certain areas. He obviously wasn't built like the Doctor, her Doctor with the strong muscles and broad chest.
She stood up and took the jacket to her room and hung it up in the closet. She planned on taking it back to the TARDIS' wardrobe where it belonged as soon as this alien crisis was over.
Looking one last time at the jacket, she ran her fingers down the sleeve, remembering doing that when the Doctor was wearing it.
She stepped back and wiped her eyes. No, things could never be the same again.
She walked out of her room and away from the closet, where the leather jacket hung in remembrance of all that had been lost.
-End-
Please review! And no, this is not a hate letter about Ten/Rose, I simply adore them! I just believe Nine/Rose fit better, especially their personalities.
