A/N: Doctor Who isn't mine…this would be canon if it was. I was going to write my other Doctor who fic, and then I started watching Doctor/Rose videos. Then I decided I was going to write oneshots that I've been planning for a while. However, I heard a quote that gave me idea, and I wrote this. So I hope you enjoy!
As he entered the crack in Amelia's bedroom wall, he could only think how similar this situation was to one he had lived through only a few years back—only this time, instead of the love of his life being torn away from him, pulled towards a wall that would ensure a life of torture, he was willingly being erased from the universe, away from his best friends, to save the world. Walls. Why aliens hadn't learned how terrible they could be, and taken advantage of it, he didn't know. But maybe it was for the better.
He stepped through the wall.
And no longer felt anything.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
She was on a field mission for Torchwood, two years after her Doctor had come to the parallel world, one year since he had come into contact with an alien he had known how to overcome in his universe, but had different strengths in this world.
She hadn't known he was gone until a few days later.
They had tried to find him, save him, anything, but he had left her alone.
Again.
And now it was going to happen to her.
She only hoped her mother and father would be okay. They had been so worried for her after the news about the Doctor. And rightly so—it was as if Canary Wharf and Dalig Ulv Stranden had happened all over again. For days, all she wanted to do was lie in her bed and cry. And she had, for two days, before she finally convinced herself that the Doctor would have wanted her to go on, despite the fact that she had now lost him three times.
But now she had no choice. Because, try as she might, there was no way she was able to escape.
Why did they always have to come back? They had taken so much away from her. The Doctor. Her home. And here they were again. But this time someone else would have to help—she couldn't, anymore.
She heard the word exterminate, and everything was gone.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"If something can be remembered, it can come back."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Amelia Pond had always dreamt about her Raggedy Doctor, ever since she was little, since he left her that night.
However, twelve years later, after traveling with him, risking her life, becoming his best friend, she still never mentioned the fact that every once and a while, just once every few months, she used to get a glimpse of someone else with him. This woman would fade into her dreams with another man her mind told her was the Doctor, leaving just as quickly, but eventually she had been able to remember her face after she woke up, wondering endlessly who she was.
Many times, Amelia had thought to speak to the Doctor about this, but every time she thought about bringing up the subject, she had a strong sense to refrain from telling him, as if she knew that it would only bring up terrible memories. Maybe it was the TARDIS, telling her that the woman was not a subject the Doctor wished to visit—after all, the TARDIS often worked in mysterious ways, showing its inhabitants rooms that they needed, when they needed it.
No matter the reason, she always kept quiet.
So she still had no idea who that woman was, why she was so important to the Doctor.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
She was finally married.
Laughing at something her mother said, she glanced out the window, noticing a woman with extremely curly blonde hair. And she stood up, tears springing to her eyes.
She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt that something was terribly wrong. That woman should be here, celebrating with them—it seemed she was a friend, though Amy swore she had never seen her before in her life. But just by noticing the woman, a terrible wave of sadness swept over her. Something was missing.
She sat down, trying to think through what it was, who that had been, why she was crying. She was sure it wasn't happiness, as Rory suggested. The feeling from this morning came back, the feeling that told her she was forgetting something incredible, the best days of her life, and she couldn't recall any of them.
It was as if it had all been erased.
She looked down, noticing a journal that looked oddly familiar. But the connection slipped away from her as she opened it, paging through the blank pages.
"It's blank."
"It's a present."
"But why?" Now she had to know why this book and that woman seemed so familiar. Her mind told her that they were such, such large parts of her life, but it refused to explain why.
"Well, you know the old saying," Rory was telling her, "th-the old…wedding thing."
A few seconds passed as she looked at the table in confusion, willing herself to remember. But her mind wouldn't comply with her demands—why wouldn't it tell her? It was so important. So important that she remember.
Her father stood up. "Hey now, sorry about that. Last minute adjustments…" and he went on. Whatever he was saying wasn't nearly as important as what her mind was remembering as she looked around the room, noticing a red bow tie. Why it was important, she didn't know, but it had to be. Someone else was wearing suspenders. An image flashed through her mind of a young man wearing a similar getup, but he was gone too quickly to remake a face.
And suddenly she remembered; her mind flashed her several pictures of a man in suspenders and a bow tie, old and young at the same time. The journal she was holding in her hands was a reality, a blue box traveling through time and space, something borrowed, something blue. And the story he told her as he was about to die ran through her head in his voice; she saw words flashing by in a millisecond. The Doctor. She jumped up from her chair. "Shut up dad."
"Amelia?"
"Sorry but shut up. Please. There's someone missing. Someone important. Someone so, so important."
"Amy what's wrong?" But nothing was wrong. She was going to bring him back. They were going to travel. And they were going to have the best days of their lives. But first she had to tell them all about him, even the man she loved, the man who wouldn't believe a single word of what he had lived for the past year.
"Sorry everyone. But when I was a kid, I had an imaginary friend. The raggedy Doctor." She ignored the reactions of her family, knowing that he was real. She wouldn't make the mistake she made last time, of growing up for twelve years and eventually convincing herself he was fake. No, he was real, and she was about to bring him back. "My raggedy Doctor. But he wasn't imaginary. He was real…" Whispers started breaking out, but she was only focused on one thing. "I remember you. I remember! I brought the others back, I can bring you home too. Raggedy man, I remember you, and you are late for my wedding!"
A few seconds passed.
Maybe he wouldn't be able to come.
Maybe he truly was gone.
But then the glasses started shaking. "I found you. I found you in words, like you knew I would, that's why you told me the story. The brand new, ancient, blue box. Oh clever…very clever."
"Amy? What is it?" Of course people were beginning to worry. The room was shaking. But the only thing she cared about was that it was working.
"Something old. Something new. Something borrowed. Something blue."
And the blue box materialized.
"It's the Doctor…How did we forget the Doctor?" Rory questioned.
She ignored him, climbing over the table, her heart soaring. Approaching the blue box and knocking, she realized just how worried she was that it hadn't worked. He had to be here. It couldn't just be the TARDIS. "Okay Doctor. Did I surprise you this time?"
And there he was, sticking his head out of the box. "Uh, yeah. Completely astonished. Never expected that." He stepped out of the box.
And before he could begin speaking again, she spoke up, grinning. "Yeah you did. But you never knew that you weren't the only one in my dreams for twelve years. You had a companion, a woman. And if this works, you will be so happy, so, so happy. Because I remember her too, and you said it yourself—if something can be remembered, it can come back. And I remember you! I remember you Rose Tyler!"
A few seconds passed before the Doctor felt the need to say something. "She's gone, Amelia. Locked in a parallel world." The hurt—and small hint of hope—in his voice was terrible to hear. But then, just as the TARDIS had faded into the room, so did Rose Tyler, a huge grin spanning her face. She looked around the room for a moment before her eyes locked on him, and she took a step forward, knowing that only the Doctor would have a costume like that, even at a wedding. Her voice was quiet as she stepped within a foot of him. "You changed your face again." But she couldn't hide the joy in her voice.
His hearts were leaping inside him; he could hardly breathe. She was back. "And you haven't changed at all." He began spluttering. "How are you—why aren't you—where is he—when…" He couldn't get his questions out fast enough. A ridiculously large grin was making its way onto his face as he realized he didn't care about the answers to any of them. She could tell him later.
And as she had done on that beach two years before to his clone, she grabbed the edges of his collar, and pulled him in.
And they were kissing. Not because of some alien, not because it was their last chance, but because he wanted her to finally know just how much he loved her, how much he had missed her. He could deal with River later. Nothing mattered but Rose in his arms. His Rose.
The one who could now travel with him forever.
