Title: Pieces of Him
Genre: Television
Series: Doctor Who
Characters: Doctor (Ten), Rose Tyler
Spoilers: 2.0-The Christmas Special
Rating: G
Summary: There's a room on the Tardis where Rose has never been.
Author's Note: A certain Last!Author!Standing contest doesn't seem to be active anymore, so I'm going to go ahead and post this. The challenge was: "The Doctor shows Rose a room in the TARDIS he's never shown anyone before."
She knew the Tardis. Rose Tyler knew its halls and it's many rooms and every shake, rattle, and roll it's hazardous journeying could cause. She knew which buttons to never touch on the console, which levers to never pull, and when it was the correct time to ignore everything she'd been told and push and pull to her heart's desire.
Rose Tyler knew the Tardis, and she knew that there was a door to a room that she wasn't allowed to enter. A plain door, brown with a 20th century knob and lock, with no indicators of what was inside; she knew the outside of the door very intimately.
She stood staring at it one day, unable to tear her mind from the possibilities of what secrets lurk behind it. She'd only recently learned one of the Doctor's larger secrets, that of the Time Lord's regeneration ability, and was curious as to what other things might be lurking in the unknown.
On the one hand, it was exciting, realizing that as much as she cared for the man and he in return for her, there were still new things and new places and new experiences to be had. Being the Doctor's companion didn't seem like it would ever grow old, not for Rose Tyler.
On the other hand, that door just off from the hall seemed to be taunting her. Sometimes when the action seemed to respite and the Doctor, new and old, was busy fixing something that had gone wrong within the Tardis, it seemed like there was a voice coming from that room, calling to her, asking for company.
Rose smiled to herself and thought with some amusement that just maybe the Tardis really was alive. Might explain a few of the odder things going bump in the night.
It was almost as if the Doctor read her mind when he spoke mere seconds later. "It's just a room, Rose."
"Yeah, but what's in it?" Rose asked with a much broader grin as she tore her eyes from the door to stare over at her new Doctor. "You wouldn't even let me in it before...well, before." She let her eyes roam over his new form in an unspoken gesture to his new physical status. "I think the curiosity is eating me alive."
The Doctor smiled slightly and slid his sonic screwdriver into his pocket. "Can't have that, can we?"
He took her hand and dragged her to the door, reaching for the knob only to pause with his fingers lingering on the cool metal when Rose grasped his wrist. "Really?"
He nodded slowly. "If you want to see, I'll show you."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that."
Rose released his wrist and stood there solemnly, studying his face as he turned from her, opening the door and pushing it inward. He bit his lip for a second before reaching for her hand once again and pulling her inside.
Her eyes scanned the room ardently, seeking out anything to identify what had been so stridently hidden from her until now. Finally, those seeking eyes turned to the Doctor's with question. "What is it?"
"It's...me," he replied slowly. He stepped away from her, further into the room and picked up a long multi-colored scarf. He brought it to his nose and inhaled deeply, his eyes closing as his mind drifted to memories of long ago. He set it aside again and moved deeper into the room, speaking softly as his reverence for this place became clear. "What happened on the satellite wasn't the first time I'd ever regenerated, Rose. It was the ninth. Each time...it gets harder, you know? To let go of who I was for who I've become."
Rose remained silent, standing near the door with the finest of trembling in her limbs.
"I keep things," the Doctor continued simply. "Not to remind myself of what used to be, but to remind myself not to make the same mistakes. I don't want to be who I once was, don't want to look the same or act the same. When I regenerate I move on." His fingers wandered over the various objects that littered every available surface. Cat-shaped lapel pins scattered on tops of ties and scarves from various eras. Hanging by hangers were several jackets of the same diversity, one of which had a single piece of celery pinned to it.
The Doctor paused before one table on the far side of the room, his hands reaching down and pulling the darkest piece of cloth in the entire room off of the table. He turned to Rose, his eyes sad as he studied her quiet expression. "I've learned the hard way that I can't hold on to who I was."
Rose recognized the jacket in his hands as he walked back to her. It was a leather blazer, plain compared to some of the outfits in this room, but very familiar to her.
It was her Doctor's.
"I know this is hard and it will take some getting used to, but can you try, Rose?"
She resisted the urge to touch the smooth leather, now very much within her reach.
Rose Tyler felt a small twinge of shame within her chest as she looked away from that jacket and into the open room behind him. Despite all they'd gone through with the Sycorax and with her uneasy acceptance of this new face, it really was the Doctor standing before her. He'd been the only one ever able to see through her so completely.
She gave into temptation and slid her fingers down the smooth sleeve of the blazer, his scent drifting to her senses as she did so. With a small smile she drew it out of his hands and set it aside, laying it gently on the table just beside them.
"Try, Doctor? I already have."
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