Rose Red Tears
This is going to be an extremely long chapter, with another chapter in a few days. Set in the time between season 5 and 6 when Amy and Rory had their honeymoon to the entirety of space and time.
Ps- Sorry if the formatting is terrible, but I'm currently writing this on an iPhone because it is way too hot to have a laptop sitting on my legs.
Pss- Just pretend River doesn't exist for this.
Amy and Rory had just went out for a day to a marketplace in late nineteenth century France for a day. The Doctor was reading a book about how Einstein's theory of relativity and how the destruction of matter can create energy proves Lancaster's theory of anti-gravity sonic energy- oh wait, sorry that's centuries from now. Don't want someone inventing natural anti-gravity two hundred years too early.
Anyway, Amy and Rory had come back into the console room carrying dozens of bags and boxes (well, it was Rory doing most of the carrying). Amy was carrying only two bags, one tiny bag from a jewelry seller, and one larger bag from a florist.
"Oi space man, come see what we bought!" Amy shouted. The Doctor closed his book and came out of the library.
"How was France? Sorry I couldn't come, it's just I think I might have been here before. Did you notice anyone who seemed oddly dressed for nineteenth century France?" the Doctor asked.
"When you mention it, loads really. An old man with a porkpie hat and young girl, man with a recorder for some odd reason, a man with a velvet coat and cape, a man with a giant scarf, some bloke with a cricket uniform, a bloke who looked like a rainbow barfed all over him, a man with a question mark cane, some bloke with puffy hair and an outfit that was definitely ahead of this time, a guy with a leather jacket, and then some bloke with spiky hair and a pinstripe suit." Rory said.
"Definitely me. I really need to get a calendar."
"But they looked nothing like you." Amy said.
"Well when I die I sort of...explode really, and become a new person. When you think about it, I've been lucky. Never been a girl, or blue, and have always had a head. But there's always the same memories up in the old thinker!" he said.
"Whatever, don't you want to see what I bought?" Amy said. She went through boxes and bags, pulling out scarves and dresses and books and paintings and things, while the Doctor and Rory tried to hide their lack of enthusiasm behind oohing and aahing noises. Finally Amy got to the last two bags, the ones from the florist and jewelry seller.
"These are my favorite!" Amy said as she pulled out a bouquet of beautiful dark red roses, and a set of earrings, bracelet, and necklace adorned with roses made of rubies.
"I love roses! Don't you think roses are so beautiful Doctor?" Amy asked. The Doctor's face had been drained of color. The mention of that one word, rose, could make him tear up. And here Amy was, talking about how beautiful and wonderful and amazing roses are. The Doctor still loves Rose so much that that single word, no matter when or who said her name, he was reminded of the Bad Wolf. His Bad Wolf.
"Doctor are you okay?" Rory asked, seeing the usually happy alien on the verge of crying.
"Fine. Perfectly fine. I think I'll go read my book now." he answered, trying to hide his face. He walked down the orange-lit corridor and opened the door engraved with circular Gallifreyan words. It isn't his name. It translates to "I will always love Rose Tyler"
The Doctor opened the door, walked inside, and locked it. No one ever sees his room. Mostly because the Doctor has pictures of Rose all over the room, and he couldn't bear it if anyone ever asked who she is.
Amy and Rory followed him and knocked on his door quietly. No answer, just quiet sniffles.
"Raggedy man, you are definitely not fine. Was it something we did? Because you seemed normal until I mentioned roses." Amy said. After waiting ten minutes for an answer, Amy went to change out of her uncomfortable period clothes and pit her bags in her room. When she went to the console room, she saw the sonic screwdriver sitting on the console. She quickly changed and came back to the Doctor's door, then used the sonic to open it.
"Doctor what's wrong?" Amy asked again.
"Mphiphph" the Doctor muffled, with his face in his blue pillow.
"What? I can't understand you with your face in a pillow, Doctor." Rory said.
The Doctor quickly lifted up his face from his pillow, but still keeping his face away from the Ponds, and said "I am perfectly fine, Ponds." Then he put his face back into his pillow to hide the tears.
"Doctor. You are not fine. I know that for a fact, Doctor. So don't try to hide it. Okay?" Amy said.
The Doctor finally stood up and moved to a small, burgundy sofa, and Amy and Rory followed. The Doctor's eyes were red and puffy, and his cheeks were wet from his His bow tie was crooked, and he had removed his boots and had his star covered socks on.
"You want to know what's wrong?" The Doctor said quietly. "Her." He pointed to one of the (many) pictures he had of Rose. He loved Rose more than anyone had ever known. He had tried and failed to stifle his love for her, because he knew the terrible truth. That she would wither and die one day or something worse and leave him with two hearts shattered.
"Who is she?" Rory asked.
"Rose Tyler. The love of my very, very long life."
"Oh Doctor, I'm so sorry. I kept talking about roses! I had no idea." Amy said
"It's fine, Amy. But you know how I said that you were the first face this face saw? She was the first face my last self ever saw, and the last."
"Did she know you love her?" Rory asked.
"Yes. She did. I just couldn't ever say it."
"Is she happy now?" Amy asked
"I hope so. It's a very complicated and long story."
"Well, we're in a time machine." Amy said.
The Doctor sighed.
"I met her after the Time War. You remember how you saw the man with a leather jacket today? That was the ninth me. A lonely veteran. I met her at a shop in London. Took her hand and said 'Run!'. I had a Northern accent and elephant's ears then. We travelled after I saved her from living shop window dummies. She was amazing. But she was always flirting with the boys younger. I was a daft old man. Then there were Daleks. Loads. Our friend Jack died. I sent Rose home. Then she looked into the heart of the TARDIS and became Bad Wolf. She destroyed the Daleks and brought Jack back to life. Even accidentally made him immortal. She scattered the words Bad Wolf all over space and time. I sucked the time vortex energy out of her to save her."
"And by that you mean?" Rory asked.
"Snogged basically. Then I regenerated. I into the man with a pinstripe suit and spiky hair. Saved Christmas that day, lost a hand, grew a hand, the usual. Then we went off again. Once we crashed into another universe, where her dad was alive and there were Cybermen. We had amazing adventures. We found out the royal family are all werewolves, met Queen Victoria, met Satan, I even carried the 2012 torch. She said that she'd stay with me forever. Then it happened. One of the worst days of my life. Cybermen and Daleks at the same time in Torchwood tower. They came in from another dimension, and so did a bunch of people from the universe where Rose's dad was alive. I called it Pete's World. So a bunch of Daleks and Cybermen had come through the void, or space between the universe bubbles. We went back and forth, so we had void residue all over us. I sent Rose's mum and dad and her friend to Pete's World, where the wall was closed, but Rose came back and said she'd stay. So I took magna-clamps, attacked them to the walls, and we sucked the Daleks and Cybermen into the void, but one of the levers turned off, and she went to turn it back on. She held on, but it wasn't enough. Her dad came back at the perfect time and caught her then went back to the other universe. The walls were sealed. But I found a link, and came as a hologram. The link ended up in Norway, a place called Darlig Ulv Straanden. Translates to Bad Wolf Bay, of all things. We said our goodbyes. She said that she loves me. Then, I said 'Rose Tyler,' and wanted to say it, but the link ended. No way back."
"I'm so sorry Doctor." Amy said. Even she was tearing up now. It was such a tragic story.
"There's more. After me and a girl named Martha had saved the universe here and there, there was a woman named Donna. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant." The Doctor smiled, remembering Donna. "She was the most important woman in the universe, literally. The earth was stolen by the Daleks to make a weapon to destroy everything, in all the universes. I got killed. But remember how I lost a hand and grew another? Jack, from when I was Northern, found it, and tried to find me with it. I kept the jar with my hand. So when I regenerated, I used enough energy to heal, and put the rest into Handy, so I didn't change. Rose had came back with a dimension cannon. She had always found her way back to me, even across different universes. But the Daleks stole the TARDIS. And Donna got left inside as they destroyed it. But Donna touched the hand and it grew a part human, part Time Lord Doctor. And Donna became part Time Lord. Then we defeated the Daleks. The other me destroyed what I thought was every last one. So then I sent everyone home, where they belong. Including Rose. I left her with the other me, in Pete's World. He would age and die and could live with her and she'd have a normal life. The one adventure I could never have with her. Donna's brain couldn't handle all the knowledge that she took on from my hand. It would burn her up. So I made her forget everything, me, where we went, what we did, and how she is the most important woman in all of creation. So I left her, where she belongs. When I regenerated, a few weeks later, I went to see everybody, even Rose. I saw her before she even met leather-giant-ears me." The Doctor was crying now. He didn't try to hide it. He just sat silently, staring at the picture of his Tenth self and Rose at the carnival of stars on Lunarius, the planet with the most beautiful night sky in the universe. They were smiling, without a care in the world, not knowing about the day that would come soon and leave them with three shattered hearts.
