Disclaimer- I do not own any of the characters from Doctor Who, nor anything from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
"Oh, I am SO excited to show you this! I mean, the end of the Earth is one thing, but the end of the universe? It's incredible! I really can't believe I haven't thought to take you here before. It's very advanced technology, they use this sort of time lock, not a true time lock, of course, since the timelords invented those..."
Rose listened fondly as her Doctor ran on and on about the new place he was taking her. She loved when he got excited about something, the look on his face as he discovered something or met a new sort of species for the first time, and today he had been particularly enthusiastic about this.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, he'd said. One of the most awe-inspiring sights you could see. Rose, for one, had been slightly hesitant at first, remembering both the awe and the pressing reality and sadness of the seeing the earth destroyed, let alone the whole universe. But in the end the Doctor's energy and enthusiam turned out to be stronger than her reluctance. Not to mention, she knew that the Doctor wouldn't take her if he didn't think she could handle it.
They stood in the console room, the Doctor running around sporatically, pushing buttons and pulling levers as Rose stood off to the side, holding on to a railing as the time machine flew through the vortex in a whirl.
As the machine took shakily off into time and space, on the long way to its destination, the Doctor smiled at Rose,
"Oh, and did I mention? It's a rather fancy restaurant. We should dress up! It is a very special occasion, after all."
"Oh, do you think? Alright, then," Rose offered him her elbow, "Shall we, Sir Doctor?"
The Doctor smiled even wider and took hold of her elbow, pulling her closer.
"Indeed we shall, Dame Rose. May I do you the honor of escorting you to the wardrobe?"
"Yes, of course, thank you good sir," Rose said through her laughs.
They walked down the TARDIS's twisting corridors until they reached the wardrobe, where the Doctor left Rose to find an outfit for this very special date, then he went down to his room, much further into the TARDIS, and very difficult for anyone but himself to find, and went to find his black tie suit.
Meanwhile, Rose had found a corner of the wardrobe that had an abundance of formal gowns, in all different sizes, shapes, colors, and lengths. She froze for a moment at the sheer amount of dresses, then took a deep breath and started digging through them, fingers pulling at all kinds of fabric.
After about ten minutes of searching fruitlessly among the gowns, Rose was about to give up and go to the Restaurant in one of her own dresses, which were not quite as dressy, nor the nicest quality, when the TARDIS seemed to sense her frustration. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of red and silver. Quickly turning around, she spotted what the TARDIS had laid out for her.
"Oh!" she gasped lightly, "Yes, I think that will do quite well."
The Doctor was pacing energetically around the TARDIS console, humming an interesting tune, a mix of two different Beatles songs and Fur Elise. He practically danced around the console, taking small hops and moving his feet in intricate patterns. He'd found his black suit, and had paired it with one of his more formal ties, a dark purple one, which was riddled lightly with the swooping circles of Gallifreyan.
He was only just starting to wonder where Rose was, when he heard her lightly clear her throat.
"What do you think?"
The Doctor spun around at the sound of her voice, "There you are, Rose, I was just starting to wonder-"
His voice faltered as he took in the sight before him.
Rose stood on the steps of the console room, coming from one of the many corridors leading into it. She wore a stunning red gown, made of delicate silk from the wild rainforests of Ofleddia Two. With off the shoulder sleeves and a softly flaring skirt, it fit her perfectly, draping to the floor in soft folds. The TARDIS had not only presented her with the dress, however, but had decided that the outfit would not be complete without jewelery. At her neck, Rose wore a delicate silver necklace, from which hung a delicate ruby pendant, with a matching ring on her index finger. Along with these, the TARDIS had lent her a pair of priceless earrings of light pink pearl. With a pair of short silver heels to complete the look, Rose looked stunning enough to make any man lost the ability to speak.
The Doctor was not immune to this, and it was a moment before he recovered his voice.
"Dame Rose," he spoke gently, adoration lacing his words, "You are absolutely stunning."
Rose blushed at his words and bit her lip, looking at her feet.
"I hope I'm not overdressed..."
"Not at all, Rose! You'll fit right in."
"Well then," Rose, back to her normal self, smiled widely, her tongue poking through her teeth, "let's go see the end of the universe, shall we?"
The Doctor grinned, "Oh, indeed we shall! In fact, we have just arrived at the door, I believe."
The TARDIS landed smoothely for a change, whooshing with the sound that the Doctor loved so much. The timelord and the human walked to the door, both instinctively reaching for the other's hand, entangling their fingers.
The floor steadied for a moment as it landed, then the machine was still. Not completely silent, it had a quiet hum to it, as though it was sending the Doctor and his companion out the door with a song to accompany them.
Looking over at the Doctor, Rose pushed open the door excitedly and they stepped out. A gasp escaped her as she took in her surroundings, the Doctor never once failed to amaze her with the places they went to.
They stood in a huge room, full of tables and chairs laid out in a way so that no matter where you sat, you were assured a wide view of the restaurant, including the enormous windows that made up most of the walls and ceiling. Everything in the room glittered, the soft golden lighting hitting the reflective surfaces of the golden tables and throwing light into all the corners of the large room. The walls were a pattern of gold and silver, the chairs upholstered in a deep red. There were crystal chandeliers on the ceiling, glittering just as much, and maybe more than the tables.
Everything about the restaurant looked as though it had been designed and created by a millionaire, with precious gems creating patterns in the walls, rare and precious flowers adorning the tables, and silverware inlaid with rubies.
Rose took all this in with a bit of shock. She'd seen many things with the Doctor, but this... this was one hell of a place. She felt like a smudge on the beauty of the restaurant, even dressed up as she was, when she looked around and saw, to her surprise, that she actually did fit in.
There were all sorts of aliens at the restaurant, all of them so many and so different that it was even the Doctor's first time seeing a few of them. But one thing they all had in common, along with the Doctor and Rose, was that they were all dressed to the nines in evening gowns and tuxedos, and once Rose saw this she relaxed considerably.
A waiter showed them to their table, on the far side of the room near the corner, one of the slightly more private sections of the restaurant, with a magnificent view of the stars and galaxies floating outside of the thick glass windows.
After being considerably startled by the appearance of their dinner in the form of a cow not yet slaughtered, that talked to them about how delicious it was and how he'd been bred to be eaten, the bewildered Doctor and horrified Rose ended up just ordering two glasses of wine, deciding they weren't really that hungry after all. They chatted as they sipped their wine, a vintage zinfandel from the planet of Romaloon, sometimes called the Drunken Planet, which was known throughout the universe for their wine.
They were laughing about one of their many adventures-gone-awry when an announcer stepped up to a podium, a spotlight shining on his alien features, and he began a drawn out monologue about the end of the universe. Rose and the Doctor listened for a minute or two but quickly lost interest, as the Doctor had already informed Rose about the details of the End.
They continued chatting in hushed voices, barely heard by the other diners, since they were in their own, less occupied corner. It also helped that the announcer's microphone was loud enough to be heard over anyone's voices. The Doctor was in the middle of a quiet rant about how music had changed for the worse since the 25th century when Rose hushed him.
"I think it's about to start."
The ceiling opened to reveal more thick glass like the windows were made of, to allow the diners a near-360 degree view of the end of the universe.
The Doctor looked over at Rose, and saw that she had a slightly nervous look on her face as she looked out the window, and got up and moved his chair next to hers and grabbed her hand. She looked over at him and smiled, feeling her anxiety melt away, because after all, who can be afraid when they have a hand to hold? She squeezed his hand, now excited for the display she was about to see.
Far off, into the deep blue-black of space, a bright white line appeared, slowly, and out of nothing that anyone could see. Reluctantly at first, it seemed, a swirl of color started to flow into the seam of light, and everyone in the restaurant was speechless. For what flowed like a river of lights and colors, was the very universe itself, planets, stars, galaxies, everything everyone had ever known. Time was not forgotten, it too was bent and pulled into the seam, though not visible, of course.
The light of the seam got wider, and, though it didn't seem possible, even brighter, causing everyone in the restaurant to sheild their eyes, some even closing their's from the near-unbearable light.
Then came then end of the river of stars, the last of the universe and all that is was, and it was pulled into the seam of light in a burst of color and light, sparkling with near cruelty, as though laughing that something so beautiful could come of something so unimaginable.
There was a huge blast of bright, vibrantly colored light, and everyone in the room closed their eyes, gasping and turning away from the End. They looked up a little later to see that the curtains had been shut, and it was over. They had all just seen the End of the Universe.
Rose sat in shock, unsure of exactly what she had seen and having a difficult time processing the fact that after that there was nothing left... maybe there wasn't even nothing. But how could you not have nothing if there was nothing? She stopped trying to think about it, figuring it was better to not try and wrap her head around it. She looked to the Doctor and realized they were still holding hands very tightly, and was thankful for the fact. Even the Doctor, though he'd watched it before, could not see the end of the universe and be completely fine. He was uncharacteristically quiet, a melancholy look on his face, and he still stared at the curtained windows, his mind wandering far away. He looked over when Rose squeezed his hand, she was looking at him with warm eyes.
The Doctor brought his mind back to earth- er, well... wherever they were, and smiled at Rose, his eyes lighting up at the sight of her. He seemed to be back to his normal self then, and his smile made Rose grin widely, tongue poking through her teeth.
"That... was quite the adventure, Doctor."
"Indeed it was, wasn't it, Rose? Even I'm always at a loss for words after that..."
He glanced one last time at the deep red curtains, keeping them from the view behind the windows until the universe ended for the next wave of diners, then swung Rose up off of the chair with a flourish, twirling her under his arm as though this was a dance competition, and Rose laughed, blushing madly.
"Well, Rose, that was a taaad bit of a serious display, wasn't it? I dunno, maybe we should go do something a little less... extreme. Whaddya say, eh Rose? There's always the Carnival planet, or, oh have we gone to the planet where the trees actually grow different sorts of chewing gum? It's incredible! Or there's always the purple beaches of..."
Their hands clasped tightly together, they half ran, half walked across the large room, trying to keep up a facade of class and elegance in front of all the classy and elegant people, but failed spectacularly. They ran out the door of the restaurant, earning more than a few exasperated shakes of the head from many of the other diners, though some smiled as they passed. They reached the TARDIS and leaned up against the blue wood of the box, the bigger-on-the-inside box, that held memories and adventures.
The Doctor and Rose calmed down a bit as they both looked fondly at the blue box. A wide grin lighting up his whole face, the Doctor looked Rose in the eye, and adoration practically shone from the both of them.
"Well, Doctor..." Rose grinned.
"Allon-sy!"