Snapshots
Summary: Snippets of the lives of the Doctor and Rose Tyler, throughout Time and Space. Together; as it should be.
Disclaimer: Doctor Who isn't mine.
Pairing: 10.5/Rose
Rating: G
She walks the long stretch of beach in a daze.
The churning, grinding song of the universe still echoes in her head, drowning out the deep patter of her pulse and the roiling ocean waves crashing against the shoreline. She knows that sound will haunt her forever, plaguing her nightmares.
The fingers laced with her own are hotter than she remembers, but still cooler than her own skin, and she both marvels and despairs at the difference. They give her hand a quick squeeze, one that draws her reluctant gaze to his face. His expression is somber and uncertain, insecurities darkening the rich chocolate of his eyes; her heart trembles with grief and something a bit like regret.
She offers him a feeble smile as comfort – it's the most she can manage at the moment - giving him a small squeeze back, thumb caressing the back of his knuckles. Tension bleeds from his shoulders and guilt joins her heartache; he'd always been so ridiculously easy to please. Such a complex creature, but it was the simple things that made him happy.
This beautiful, beautiful man; big Time Lord brain in a half-human body, gave up his TARDIS and his life on the run, gave up touring the vastness of Space and Time in favor of living the domestic life with her. The only life he had left; mortal and fragile, where he'd grow old and die – with her.
He had told her he loved her.
She had been overwhelmed by the promise in those words when he'd whispered them against her ear only a scant half hour ago. She'd clung to him as if she'd been drowning; mouths sliding together, hungry and desperate and hard. So swept away, she'd barely noticed her proper Doctor escaping to the TARDIS with Donna, wrenching herself away from the Metacrisis only when the whining grate of the TARDIS dematerializing reached her.
The Doctor had gone, leaving her once again stranded in a universe not her own. Had left her his half-human clone to give her what he couldn't and she loved him even more for that.
Except she never had the chance to tell him that her Forever was a lot closer to his now.
This new man was the Doctor (except for the part that was Donna Noble, who was absolutely brilliant, in Rose's opinion) and she could accept that easily enough. She'd learned from her mistakes long ago: whether he was leather-clad with a daft face, wearing pinstripes with big hair (really great hair), or half-human, he'd always be her Doctor.
But it hurt all the same, because she'd have to watch this one die. Suddenly, she understood why the Doctor had so many companions, why he'd had to leave Sarah Jane behind. Watching the people you love die hurt.
She glances down at their joined hands and smiles sadly as they wait for transport – courtesy of Pete – to pick them up from Norway. She's quiet throughout the entire ride, sitting pressed up against the Doctor's side, their hands still tangled tightly, resting in her lap.
She feels him watching her and lifts her eyes to his once again, sees him searching for something in her face and, in that moment, she makes a decision.
It'll hurt terribly and she knows this, but Rose Tyler has never been a coward and she's never been the type to run from her problems, so she decides she's going to love this man with everything she has and she's going to enjoy every second they have together.
Because she promised him Forever and that's what she'd give him. Both of him.
This time her smile was genuine and the way his eyes lit up in answer let her know it would all be okay in the end. She'd made the right choice.
And it was going to be Fantastic.