The night was cool as Rose walked along the sidewalk. A slight breeze swept behind her neck and her hair was still sprinkled with specks of snow. It was a very peaceful night, except for the fact that the snow in her hair was in fact ash from an exploding spaceship, and that she was taking one last trip through the streets of London before she joined an alien in his adventures.
If she joined him.
She swallowed her confused thoughts as best as she could. The Doctor had recently transformed into an entirely different person, and she wasn't quite sure what to do about it. She was going to have to go along, wasn't she? She would never abandon the life of adventure waiting for her because of a minor thing.
Problem was, this wasn't a minor thing.
Rose found herself wandering into a shop without looking at the name. Low-quality music sounded on the speakers. The place seemed to be selling old antiques. She'd never been here before, never caring for ancient things until the Doctor came along. Now, she knew that every little thing in here held a thousand stories that could never be told.
Still, the Doctor could tell her some of those stories. Heck, he could even show them to her. She'd been traveling in the TARDIS for quite awhile now, but she still hadn't gotten used to the possibilities it could show her in this world, and every world.
Rose blinked back into reality as she realized she was just aimlessly standing around. She needed to go now. Maybe she had time to…
Before she could start planning for anything, the music that was playing changed. The music had been a dull, steady sound that her ears hadn't been processing. Now, it was breaking through. Moonlight Serenade thrummed through the speakers.
Rose's heart thudded as the music grabbed her hand and pulled her away into a ballroom of memories. A cool night in the eve of a global war. A little boy wandering around, searching for his mother. An army of them, all trying to turn her into one of them.
But her mind only lingered on that for a second. Instead, she imagined Jack. In such little time, he'd become a close friend. She missed the way he flirted with everyone he found while she laughed to herself. She missed how funny he was. She missed Nancy too. A true friendship could have blossomed there if she just had time…
But none of that compared to the memory that dominated her mind the most. The Doctor.
Not this new one. Not this loud, vibrant stranger. But her Doctor. The one with the leather jacket and the big ears and the goofy smile.
The music purred in her ears. This was the part that was playing when she'd been trying to get the Doctor to dance with her.
"I trust him because he's like you, except with dating and dancing."
It wasn't a very subtle hint, but nevertheless, the Doctor remained oblivious. Or maybe he was purposely ignoring it, which was a thought she didn't want to consider. Then again, she'd never tried to flirt with an alien before.
The Doctor gave an offended scoff. "You just assume I'm-"
"What?"
"You just assume that I don't dance.
"What, are you telling me you do dance?" The thought made Rose nearly burst into laughter. Excluding the occasional cheesy joke, the Doctor tended to be pretty aloof. Him dancing was just… She had a feeling that despite knowing how to dance, he didn't do it often. She had a feeling that very few people got the chance to dance with the Doctor.
And she was determined to be one of them.
So that was how Rose ended up in the most awkward dance of all time. Her hopes that maybe he might have feelings for her too sunk to the ground. Of course, there wasn't time to worry about boy problems when there was an army of diseased patients wandering around.
Rose putting the important things first paid off, because she soon found she got the dance she desired after all.
She'd been elated as they entered the TARDIS. The diseased people had been saved, they'd sent the TARDIS to Jack's ship so they could save him. As much as she loved the adventures, she always felt a heaviness in her chest at all the suffering she had to witness.
"And everybody lives, Rose. Just this once, everybody lives!"
She wished the Doctor truly smiled more often, because it was infectious. Seeing her pained Doctor bouncing around with a childlike wonder he likely hadn't felt in years gave her a grin that nearly split her cheeks.
The second part of that sentence dimmed her mood. Just this once. He had seen so much agony throughout the years. Everyone could tap into that sense of blissful ignorance sometimes, but the Doctor has lost it entirely. But he was happy right now, and that was enough to let her stop focusing on that part.
Then they'd managed to rescue Jack, and suddenly the Doctor was offering her a dance. He practically swept her into his arms and spun her around. A thrill pumped through her heart as they moved along to the music.
Rose could see Jack awkwardly watching them, but there was a slight smile on his face. Even he could see how they felt, and he had just met them.
She pressed herself against the Doctor, and she felt a calm feeling of safety. It wasn't what she'd expected to feel while traveling in a time machine to various places that were more dangerous than the next. But no matter what happened, he would figure out a way to get them out.
The Doctor dipped Rose, and her veins just about electrocuted. She hadn't nearly hoped for something like that. Maybe he did feel the same way after all.
As he pulled her up, she knew one thing. The Doctor could definitely dance.
Rose marched outside, blinking away the hot tears hanging onto her eyelashes. She missed him. She missed him so much, it was painful. This new man was not her Doctor. He would never be her Doctor. And-
"Rose?"
She looked up. The so-called Doctor was looking at her. How long he'd been watching, she didn't know. His newly-turned brown eyes were mournful.
Silence followed. Rose forced in any tears that might have been lingering. Yes, he wasn't her Doctor, but he looked so upset.
More silence. She almost wanted to scream to fill the void, but she couldn't find anything to say.
The Doctor, looking like a heartbroken child, finally spoke up. "You miss him."
Well, that much was obvious. Rose didn't voice this, however. His gaze was filling her with a tiny bit of shame.
"Yeah," she whispered.
The Doctor fiddled with his fingers. He'd been fairly loud and outgoing after he'd woken up. It was strange to see him so nervous. "I am him, Rose. I know I've changed, but I would never lie about that."
Silence.
"I really did hope you would come. We still have Barcelona, remember?" He smiled slightly at that. Rose found herself thinking of the Christmas he'd spent with her family. He would smile all the time, and laughed with her. She'd felt comfortable around him, then. His smile made her think of…
"It's not the first time this has had happened," he confessed. That stung, a bit. Had the Doctor really travelled with other people?
And why did she care?
"So I understand if you want to stay here."
Rose had a feeling he wasn't lying about that first part. It was all in his posture and his eyes. He'd lost companions before, whether this way or other ways. It hurt him, especially with how alone he was after the Time War. It happened so much, and yet it still disappointed him every time.
He'd seen so much, she realized. That was something both Doctors had in common. That ancient understanding of the world. Knowing the good and bad everyone could do. Desperately searching for something new because history had repeated itself so many times, he was getting tired of it.
Rose thought of when he was fighting the Sycorax. One thing she'd always loved about the Doctor was when he'd start talking in all these scientific terms she couldn't even begin to comprehend. It was strange, but she found it adorable how passionate he was about it. And this Doctor tended to do that a lot.
The TARDIS had recognized him. She knew how much the TARDIS cared about the Doctor after looking into her heart. And now, the TARDIS was more than willing to obey this Doctor. That had to mean something.
This Doctor could still take her on adventures. This Doctor could still show her the world. This Doctor could still…
"And it is gonna be…" He looked at her with a grin. "Fantastic."
"Wait!" she cried.
The Doctor looked up at her, confused. He'd still been talking, she realized, and she hadn't been listening. (Ironically, another thing she tended to do a lot with her Doctor.)
"It's alright. I want...I want to stay."
The Doctor's face broke into the most infectious grin she'd ever seen. That same childlike joy. And everybody lives, Rose.
He may look and act different on the outside, but deep down, Rose knew her Doctor was down there somewhere. They could still be together, they could still have the adventure of a lifetime.
And it would be absolutely fantastic.
Is this cheesy? Yes. Very. But hopefully there are some good things about it.