Final chapter here, already. This is, after all, just a short little filler to smooth things out between TGitF and AoS.
Enjoy!
As yet un-beta'd.
Chapter 2 -To Oz
Rose's brow furrowed as she scanned Peter Tyler's biography. It had all the minutiae of his life, from his "humble" beginnings and marriage to Jackie, to his first major contract and surprise success, to their summer homes across Europe, right down to the number of cars in their garage.
But no Rose. No her.
She tried another search.
Peter Tyler Jacqueline Rose baby.
Peter Tyler child.
Jacqueline Jackie Tyler pregnant.
Vitex child daughter Rose Tyler.
Nothing.
"Un-swappable", Mickey had told her.
Try "unnecessary".
Rose kept a tight grip on her superphone, as she walked. If the Doctor could be wrong about the Void... Silent Realm... stuff, he could be wrong about this. She knew in her gut that he was.
"Rose!" She heard him catching her up, but she didn't slow or turn. "Rose!" he called, reaching her side and matching her pace, hands in his trouser pockets.
Rose zipped her phone away in her jacket, just to be safe.
The Doctor didn't try to take the phone again, but asked, "Why are you doing this, Rose?"
She chewed on her bottom lip, clearly hearing the disapproval in his voice. "I'm not... I'm not changin' anythin' here," she told him, watching the ground ahead of her instead of looking him in the eye. "I learned my lesson with that, I promise. But, we're not in the past; it's not dangerous like that. An'... it's my Dad."
She risked a glance at him, but snapped her eyes away at the look of betrayal she saw there.
"An' I do trust you," she went on. "But I'm not askin' for us to stay so I can make this my life; I jus' need to see 'im. Them." Rose looked up at the zepplin-filled sky as they came to a brief halt at an intersection. "Don't be mad."
"I'm not mad at you, Rose," the Doctor told her, and she turned to find, indeed, a gentler expression on his face. "If I'm mad," he looked around, nodding at their surroundings, "I'm mad at this place, this world." The signal changed, and they continued to walk together. "For pulling us in, for taunting you with these parallel might-have-beens." He huffed out a breath. "Stupid world."
Rose swallowed back the hurt. "Stupid?" she asked. "Jus' 'cause he didn't haveta die, here?"
"What?" The Doctor looked over at her, seeming genuinely surprised. "No, no. Stupid, for not having..." he trailed off, looking around, as they set off with the foot traffic, again. "For making you compare," he finished. Then, he added quietly, "They don't know what they're missing."
Rose felt a small grin make its way to her lips, but it faded as she thought about his words. "But that's it, see. I - I need to know what it's like for them. Are they happy? Do they miss me? Wish they had me? Are they..." she briefly glanced over at the Doctor, "better off without me?"
The Doctor reached for her elbow, pulling her to the side of the walkway. "This is not your world, those are not your parents." He looked her dead in the eye. "You are irreplaceable."
Rose gave his forearm a grateful squeeze where he held her. "Thanks," she told him, quite warmed to hear the same sentiment from both Mickey and the Doctor.
The Doctor let his hand slip away and he gestured for Rose to continue on, before pocketing his hands again and falling in at her side.
"This world," Rose went on, as they turned down the next street, "it just seems so perfect with them together an' successful. An' I don't wanna think it's because I'm missin'."
"Rose -" the Doctor tried to cut in, but she continued.
"You gave me a glimpse of them before, when you took us back, in our universe." She sighed. "I really jus' wanna see what it looks like, to see 'em together, now." She was half hoping to see their happily ever after, and half afraid of what that would mean every time she looked at her own, real Mum (because they would get back, and she would see her again).
Like the Doctor had said, "the might-have-beens".
"Wonder if any of it's the same for Mickey's family," Rose asked aloud, thinking of all the people he missed, that he'd lost.
"What's that like? Who's he got back home?" the Doctor asked.
Rose looked over at him, surprised to hear him, the Doctor, actually asking. "Well, no one, really," she admitted. "Not anymore. It used to be his Gran, his Mum an' Dad, an' his Mum's sister."
"What happened?" the Doctor asked.
"I wasn't old enough to remember," Rose qualified, "but when he was about five, his Mum was drivin' with her sister, an' they wrecked. His Mum was fine, just banged up, but Auntie Becky died in the crash. Mickey's Mum just couldn't cope."
Despite only having heard the story from her Mum, Rose's heart still clenched at the thought of Mickey finding his Mum after the attempted suicide.
"She'd been in hospital ever since. She passed while - durin' the time we missed. Never recognized her visitors. His Dad hung around for a while, but then he just sorta... wandered off," she explained. "He was brought up by his Gran."
The memory of the woman she knew finally brought a smile to Rose's face.
"She was such a great woman," she enthused. "Oh! She used to slap him. But then, s-she died. She tripped and fell down the stairs." Mickey had lost so much, she felt almost guilty missing "just" her Dad. "'S about five years ago, now, I was still in school."
"I never knew," said the Doctor.
"Well, ya never asked," Rose defended. Something of an understatement, she thought. The Doctor was too busy insulting him, getting his name wrong on purpose, calling him "idiot"...
"You never said," he countered.
She really never did.
"That's Mickey," she realized. "I suppose, we jus'..."
He was the one she left for the Doctor. The clingy but faithful boyfriend. The one who'd follow her anywhere - except that he wasn't, anymore.
"Take 'im for granted."
The end.
As I said, this tag was written to show how Rose didn't have to still be angry at the Doctor for leaving her behind, in order to walk away. In fact, you could even say that she expected and/or trusted the Doctor to follow; and Mickey's actions (in this episode and in "Age of Steel" to follow) all demonstrate his reaction to their inseparable-ness. If you don't agree, do me a favor and re-watch the eps. ;)
Tune in next time for "02 06 Age of Bronze".
