This is my first Doctor Who fic so critique nicely. This is a reunion fic so hence a 10Rose.
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, sadly.
Rose walked down the brightly lit hallway of Torchwood; she had walked this hallway towards her intended destination every Thursday for the past year and a half, ever since she had been told. She thought back on that day when her father, Pete Tyler, had causally mentioned that Mickey's girlfriend, Charlotte, was the one who was the creator of the multidimensional transporters. The comment had come months after Charlotte's momentous return, with nothing being said to Rose who in the two years preceding had allocated a good portion of her research team to finding either a way or a person who had a way to get back to the Doctor. And there was Charlotte right under her nose for months, no one saying anything. Mickey swore he had mentioned it, but even he seemed unconvinced at his lie. Rose approached the door that she had become so accustomed to seeing, today it was closed. Never in all the years had Charlotte's door been closed. Rose stood there racking her brain for what to do, should she stand and wait till Charlotte popped her head out to see if Rose was coming, should she just open it, should she walk down the hall to see if Charlotte was in her lab or in the bathroom. Rose stood there, unmoving; was this a sign that she had found something, had Charlotte figured it out, did she find that it couldn't be done, did she find that she could get him back and he'd be here on the noon train from Liverpool. Rose knocked on the door. A voice from within called out much louder than it needed to.
"Who is it?" Rose stood there too afraid to answer; if she did she might have to give up hope.
"It's Rose."
"Come in." The voice didn't sound either hopeful nor as though it was about to crush all Rose's dreams. Rose opened the door; the comforting space that was Charlotte's office greeted her. Charlotte's office was smaller, than Rose's and on a lower floor making it somehow less desirable, but Rose had always felt that it was the superior of the two. The large floor to ceiling windows allowed the sun to pour in to the office, Rose had always wondered why Charlotte's office always seemed to be uncommonly sunny when compared to all the other offices in the building but had never come up with a
definitive answer. The white walls were somehow less harsh in this office compare to all the others, Rose doubted that they were a different color, and chalked it up to just an anomaly of the room. Charlotte was on the phone, and from the looks of it she had been there for quite awhile, Rose moved farther into the room looking at its inviting interior. Most of the Torchwood employees decorated their office spaces, since they spent such a large amount of time in them; Rose's own office was a rather comforting place despite the fact that she still felt it was institutional. Rose occupied her time by looking at the various knick knacks that Charlotte had on the shelves by the door. Rose had seen them in passing noting a few pictures, odd looking objects, the stray file or folder but she had never gotten a good view of them. She saw the picture of Mickey and their dog both sitting like bums after a long run, Mickey hated this picture but Rose knew that it was one of Charlotte's favorites claiming that it was his true nature coming out. Another of Charlotte and Mickey on a vacation of the most recent holiday, another of Charlotte and her nephew, Oliver, next to it was a picture that he had drawn for her. Rose noted that Oliver's drawing ability was greater than that of Lily's, Rose's little sister, but then again there was an age difference of two years. She continued down the shelf till she saw it, she hadn't seen one in years, not since she had traveled with him. It was different but still the same basic design. The instrument looked so insignificant just lying there on the shelf as though it was so common place to find them, and that anyone could have picked one up at the market on their way home. The surface was vastly different than that of the one Rose had seen all those years ago, it looked like it was glass not metal, the tracks where one would run their fingers seem less transparent than the rest of it. Before Rose knew what she was doing she had picked it up, almost immediately she noticed that something was wrong the instrument had changed from its earthy green color to the most beautiful red, the finger tracks had also begun to change color, the weight of it changed to something closer to air, and the cool glass began to heat Rose's hand, she was about to play a note when Charlotte's voice broke the silence in her head.
"You come every week Rose, and every week it's always the same thing. What keeps you coming back?" There was a pause in which Rose tried to explain her reasoning to herself trying not to sound foolish in front of Charlotte, but Charlotte continued on. "If I were you, I think I would have moved on with life long ago, so long ago that he would have been the most distant thought from my mind." Charlotte's eyes were fixed upon Rose and she could feel them burning into her skin. Rose put down the little instrument and turn to face Charlotte. Her brown eyes still fixed on Rose as though if she took them off Rose would disappear into another world. Rose could see what had first attracted Mickey to Charlotte, she was pretty though not enough that would launch a thousand ships. Her hair fell right to her shoulders, a light brown specked with cooper and gold high lights that looked to Rose, either extremely expensive to maintain or completely natural. Her eyes, her most defining feature of her face, were large and bright they shown in the sun and Rose had noticed that over the years they changed from day to day depending on the weather or how Charlotte what feeling; her face was soft the dusting of pink on her cheeks made her look younger than she actually was and Rose wonder if she was mistaken for some one much younger than what she was. She was soft in personality, Rose had never heard her raise her voice in anger to anyone not even the dog, she often kept her emotions off her face, though today it looked, to Rose, as if she had been hardened by something that she never spoke to anyone about, something that ate away at her, Rose had seen that look before it was a look that she knew all to well; but yet she couldn't pin point who the look had come from.
"I can't do that to him. I have to hope that there is still someway we can see each other one last time before I give up." The tone of Rose's voice surprised even her; it wasn't strong as she had intended it to be but weak and frail as though even she didn't believe her own words.
"Sometimes it's better to just move on. There's no use living in the past. Why don't you do something that he couldn't do, like live a life." Rose had heard this before, never from Charlotte but
every time it was said she became so angered that she would blow up in anyone's face. But today Rose almost felt that Charlotte was right. She had lived in this world for the past four years, and what other than her job did she have to show for it; she had had not had any serious boyfriends, she hardly had a life out side of Torchwood, she still lived at home with her mother, the most excitement she had had in the past month was when she skipped work to take Lily to the zoo. Charlotte continued to watch Rose, Rose not daring to make eye contact. She left the room without a word, just left; she walked back down the hallway toward the elevators, towards her office, towards some semblance of a life. Charlotte's words though few and heard so often, cut her to the core. Who was she without the Doctor, was she anything anymore, or had what Rose considered her self to be died that day at Bad Wolf Bay.
I know that Rose it a little sad and pathetic in this but she'll perk up if you understand what I'm hinting at (if not go and read the second sentence of my note). Hope you enjoyed next chapter up soon.