Black Hope.
Summary: While waiting for The Doctor to return from taking the Olympic torch, Rose decides to pop home and surprise her mum. What she finds scares her, but unknowingly, saves her.
Disclaimer: Doctor Who and all associated property is not mine. Otherwise, Rose would never have left...even if I had to chain her to the TARDIS! Insert Patented Evil Laugh 5347682583-B (iv)
She was bored. Undeniable, and completely bored out of her mind. Whenever the Doctor was around, it was all either fun and laughs, or running for their lives. Which never really left much time for being bored.
Sighing, she decided to do something about it, and, after apologizing to Chloe and Mrs. Webber for the Doctors earlier rudeness (Just sticking his fingers in someone's jam indeed...honestly, where does he get his ideas from?) she decided to pop home and see her mum for a bit.
Assuming she still lived on the Powell estate of course, but Rose couldn't see any harm in checking anyway...what's the worst that could happen? She finds out her mum's moved since last week...well...2007...well...
Shaking her head about the complexity of Time Travel sometimes, or rather the way it can mess with your head, she set off, looking for the closest Taxi.
After about 15 minutes of aimless wandering, she finally spotted one, and quickly climbed in before it took off.
A quick 20 minute drive, which she spent thinking about the Doctor, soon brought her to her old home.
Climbing out and paying the Cab Driver his fare (With money won off the doctor from one of their little bets) she headed towards the staircase that would lead her up to her floor.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her key and tried it in the lock. To her surprise however, it didn't even budge. Simply figuring her mum had changed the locks at some point in the last 5 years, she decided to ring the bell and hope her mother was in.
She wasn't. Instead, a 30-odd year old woman opened the door and stood staring at Rose.
"Erm...Hi. Is Jackie in?" inquired Rose.
"Jackie who?" came the (slightly rude) response.
Choking back a small giggle at hearing a familiar response as whenever the Doctor was introduced, Rose tried again.
"Jackie Tyler...she lives here. Right?"
"Not anymore, hasn't in years"
Biting back a growing sense of panic, Rose persisted in trying to find out where she was.
"Where did she go? Do you know?"
"She died, along with her daughter, years back"
Rose made a small choking sound, both at hearing her mum was supposed to be dead in 5 years time, and also at hearing she would be too apparently.
"What? How?"
"They died during the invasion at Canary Wharf. So did the boyfriend of Rose...Jackie's daughter"
"Mickey?"
"Yeah, that was the name. Did you know him?"
"You could say that"
"Oh, well...sorry I can't be more help. Goodbye"
And before Rose could say or do anything more, the door was slammed shut in front of her. Silently she stood in front of the flat for a while, before walking back down the stairs and to a nearby Taxi office.
"How did my mum die? How do I die? Or am I just travelling with the Doctor still and we just let people assume I died too? And what about Mickey? How did he get back? How did he die?"
These thoughts chased her all the way back to Dame Kelly Holmes Close and continued to haunt her even as she and the Doctor made their way back to the TARDIS.
Over the next few weeks, Rose started to become more and more withdrawn, confusing the Doctor to no end. He had noticed there was something different about her after the adventure with Chloe Webber and had at first assumed it was something to do with that, however, after closely watching her for several days, he surmised it wasn't, and left her to her own devices, watching from afar and ready to step in if she showed signs of anything bad happening.
Unbeknownst to the Doctor, Rose was withdrawn because she was doing something she had rarely done before...sat down and voluntarily researched something.
The thoughts that had been floating around her head had clamped onto only one thing...if her Mum, herself and Mickey were all thought dead in the supposed 'invasion' (She still had no idea WHAT invasion, but supposed she'd find out in time) then that must mean someone had found their bodies...which meant Mickey had to have come back, therefore, if he couldn't come back, it couldn't be true.
Biting down on this theory, she'd sat down and begun trawling through the TARDIS's immense physical and electronical libraries, searching for any and ALL information and data about travel between parallel worlds.
After 3 months of constant searching, she'd finally found it, travel between worlds was still possible without the Time Lords, it was just impossible for anyone except a Gallifreyan since it meant piloting your ship into a black hole, and no other type of ship in the universe could stand up to such pressures, only Gallifreyan ships could. And there was only 1 of those left in the universe.
Smiling happily, she skipped to the control room, surprising the Doctor with a quick peck.
"What was that for?"
"I'm happy"
"Oh ok. Why?"
"'Cause now, my mum can't die, 'cause Mickey can't come back"
Giving her a weird look, he just decided to ignore it and carry on.
"Anyway, I thought I'd pop you back home for a while, let you get some washing done"
"Ok"
Surprising him again with another quick peck, she skipped out of the room and headed for her bedroom to start gathering the clothes she needed to clean, idly wondering why the Doctor didn't just install a washing machine on board.
She walked down the beach, hoping she'd see him again, so she could tell him. Tell him so many important things.
She knew now, why she'd had that urge to go see her mum so many months ago, and now, it was time to use what she'd found to help. Help save them both.
It was 6 months since she saw him last. 6 months of pain, loneliness and being stuck in a car with her parents and Mickey. And today, she could feel it, today was the day she'd finally blind the Doctor with the science, and she'd save them both. She hoped.
"Rose"
"Hello Doctor"
"You look happier than I expected. Enjoying it in Pete's world?"
"No. I miss you"
"Oh. I erm...I miss you too. So...what you doing?"
"Oh, not much, waiting for you to come get me"
"I can't Rose. I'll never be able to get you, not without destroying the universes. I'm already killing a sun just to say goodbye"
"Then don't say goodbye. Say hello. Come and get me. You told me 'Never say Never Ever' remember?"
"But I can't Rose. The Universes are sealed"
"How long left?"
"About a minute"
"Then hit record, I gonna talk fast and you need to listen carefully"
"Ok"
"Black Holes are holes in the universe right? So...like a hole in a pair of trousers, or a top, poke your finger through the hole, and it comes out the other side. It's the same with these Doctor. I made a file on the TARDIS's computer bank. It's called Rose-Mickey-Mum-Save. Read it, you're smart enough to figure it out and change it to this situ-"
The Doctor faded out of sight. She only hoped he could figure it out in time.
"-fore, if Mickey ever does come through a Black Hole, which should be impossible mind, we know how to take him straight back, and this way, my mum, me, and Mickey will never 'die' in whatever 'invasion' it is."
The Doctor stared at the screen gobsmacked. He had never been so proud of Rose as he was now, she'd take what she'd found out, mixed in a liberal dose of science (Which finally proved she was listening to the Doctor, despite her claiming otherwise) and come up with a good theory that could easily be adapted to any situation involving parallel worlds. Including this situation.
Bouncing excitedly around the console, he started typing in search queries and data to try and find a Black Hole that would take him to the right Universe.
After 3 hours, it finally arrived. The TARDIS made a beeping sound to inform the Doctor it had finally found a Black Hole suitable. The information displayed however, made him visibly cringe and grab his cheek reflexively.
"Oh, Jackie is not gonna like this"
"Rose...Rose...can you hear me?"
"Doctor?"
"Yup"
"Where are you?"
"Turn your TV on"
She did so.
"How the Hell did you get on my TV?"
"Oh, quite simple really, send a signal through the Black Hole I found, and specifically tune it to your TV"
"So you found one then?"
For some reason, he started to look rather uncomfortable
"Well...yes...but...you see, there's a small hitch"
"Being?"
"Well...once I come through for you, we've got about 1 minute before the black hole sucks me back here"
"And?"
"I can never come back"
"What about me? Can you take me back with you?"
"Well yes but..."
"But nothing...I'm coming. How long before you need to come through for me?"
"Rose..."
"NO! I'm coming. I made my choice. How. Long?"
"I need to come within the next 2 days"
"Fine, gimme an hour to get my stuff and another half hour to say goodbye to my family."
"I'm so-"
"Don't be...it's not your fault. See you in an hour and a half"
Turning the TV off, she walked downstairs and prepared for a loud, and shrill, conversation with her family.
"Welcome back"
"Thanks"
They stood awkwardly in the control room. The Doctor with a big red handprint on his face.
"That hurt?"
"A bit"
Still they stood, staring at each other.
"How long we gonna do this for?" she asked suddenly
"Do what?"
"Dance around it"
"Around what?"
Shooting at him, she landed safely in his arms, as he wrapped her in a warm hug. Smiling softly, she tilted her head upwards and started leaning closer.
"I love you" he whispered, so softly she couldn't be sure she heard it
"I love you too Doctor" she said back.
Softly, their lips touched for a brief moment, before they pulled back and looked at each other, but in that brief moment, they knew.
Nothing could ever tear them apart.
The End.
AN: Well...that ended a LOT different to how I expected. The original plot was about 2 pages long (This is about 6) and went something like: Rose visits home, finds out she's dead, and decides to tell the Doc she loves him before it's too late. The end. Seriously. But then, at a certain point, I decided to change it slightly, which meant I had to change some more until eventually, this was the result. Hell, even the title was changed (original 'You'll Understand'...because one of the lines after 'I love you Doctor', was supposed to go, 'I'm telling you now, because sometime...well...you'll understand').
Enough rambling from a madman anyway. Thanks for reading. Please remember to review, I read ALL reviews.
PS This is the FIRST story in a planned series of them entitled the Colours Arc (Each title will have a colour in it). Look out for upcoming sequels.
See You Around
(Not The) Tin Dog
