A/N: Oh, I do love having Rose back, if only for three episodes. They bring out such an interesting side of my muse. Can't stop thinking about her, so I can't stop writing about her. Brilliant! :D Here's number five in as many weeks. Just a little bit this story, a stray thought that wanted to see paper, so here it is. Please let me know what you think, my muse thrives on it.
Disclaimer: I quite obviously don't own Doctor Who, I just like to borrow the characters and mutate their inner voices. Please don't sue; my house is small, my car is useless and my dogs are pains in the arse, but they're all I have.
Five Steps Forward, Six Steps Back.
By Danae Bowen
V***********V
She promised him forever.
"How long you gonna stay with me?"
He promised her entire life.
Now, as silence descends over Canary Warf, as the shadows of the Cybermen and Daleks fade from the echoes of the universe, one voice breaks through the barriers and into his mind.
"Bring me back! Bring me back!"
He tries to block out her cries but they live in the fabric between worlds, breathe in the neuro pathways of his brain; they are vicious tiny daggers threatening to shred his hearts.
She promised him forever, but stands on the other side of the wall, beating on it, tears forming pools of agony at her feet, too far gone to reach. Three inches of drywall becomes the epitome of separation.
Should he walk away? Turn his back as her screams fade, as the sobs lessen, as her heart beat slows when she finally understands that this is her forever? Take his hand from the wall and severe the last connection holding her to this world when her family stands just beyond, waiting for her to turn to them?
"You just leave us behind… is that what you're gonna do to me?"
"No, not to you."
He turns away, hearts heavy with sorrow, tears burning his eyes. It's the right thing to do.
One step forward. She's with her mum.
Two steps forward. She can have a normal life.
Three steps forward. She'll have the Dad she never had a chance to know.
Four steps forward. She'll be safe.
Five steps forward. She's got Mickey.
He stops.
Images fill his mind - her laughing, those beautiful dark eyes turned not on his face but on Mickey's. Her hand brushes his cheek, her lips expecting his kiss. A church and aisle, filled with her family and his friends. Beautiful dark haired babies, skin a blended mocha, eyes shining like their mum's. There is age, and withering; grey hairs, high school graduations, more weddings and grandchildren. There is grief as Mickey slips away from her, chin high and determined as she comforts those around her rather than herself. More years pass and it's her turn; breathing becomes difficult, each heart beat bringing pain, each thought torture. Her eyes still shine brightly, but something is missing, something he'd never seen her without. He leans into the image, reaching out as if to hold her hand as dying eyes turn towards the stars. Three quarters of a century passed and she was still waiting, only now death was coming to claim both her body and her hope.
He promised her she could stay with him her entire life, but she was human. Her existence was a fleeting moment in the cosmos and was drawing to an end. Her gaze harboured no anger and no resentment, only disappointment. She had a fantastic life, but even she knew it had been meant for someone else. She was meant to travel the universe, meant to hold his hand, meant to be whatever it was he needed her to be - companion, friend, lover, wife. She'd been his mate in every sense of the word and he walked away. A part of her had never moved on, and even as her final breath passed her lips, she still waited.
His throat closed over as the images faded, emotion choking off his own breath. Hearts thudded dully in his chest, his limbs shaking.
One step backwards. Rip apart the fabric of the universe.
Two steps backwards. Destroy all reality.
Three steps backwards. Potentially end life as it currently stands.
Four steps backwards. Shadow Proclamation retaliation.
Five steps backwards. Death by Judoon.
Six steps backwards. She will have no one but him.
He turned and placed his hand back on the wall, his eyes closed. Mortgages, doors and carpets. He would break any rule for her. Obliterate it even.
"Rose."
Every cell in his body focussed on that single word, forcing her name across boundaries he himself had created.
"Rose."
He could still feel her, grief overwhelming, transcending space and time as her heart and mind screamed out for him blindly, unaware of the force building between them.
"Rose."
The world around him grew dim, faded, solid became translucent, walls became doors. His hand stretched forward, guided by his hearts, reaching out and wrapping long fingers around warm flesh and unbreakable bone.
"Rose!"
He felt the gasp more than heard it, the speed of the pulse beneath his fingertips belying her single heart, the sudden tension and instant elation that forced his own hearts to match time. He pulled, with all the force of the universe and all the power of Gods, he pulled. Across universes, through walls, from the arms of her family into his own.
She promised him forever, and he was going to hold her to every minute of it.
"Just where do you think you're going, then?"
~~~ Fin.