A/N: Okay, so I have decided to continue on with this story, just because it won't stop bugging me. However, I do believe that it does stand nicely on its own if you only read chapter one. That being said, here is chapter two.
One month. 30 days, 730 hours, 43,829 minutes, 2.6 million seconds. That's how much time had passed, and the days still hadn't gotten any easier. The Time Lord often worked himself into a quiet rage before Rose would finally make an appearance and soothe him.
At first, they had thought to divide the 24 hours evenly throughout the year, yielding an allotment of approximately four minutes per day. It had quickly become apparent that this strategy was highly unlikely to succeed. The Time Lord had quickly grown angry at the short timing of the "rationed" moments and had even, on occasion, lashed out at Rose and Jack. After two weeks, at which point Jack had been nearly hit in the head by blunt metal objects more times than he could count, Rose insisted that he leave the TARDIS. The captain was quick to argue, making the point that, being immortal, he was probably the best person in the Universe to bear witness to the Time Lord's violent mood swings. However, after a stern look from Rose and a kiss on his cheek and a whispered "I don't want to risk him losing you too," he finally caved and agreed to be dropped off in London along with a promise that he would be checking up on them both.
Currently, the couple was standing at the base of the time rotor, simply looking into each other's eyes while the Doctor struggled to regain control of the fire that simmered in his soul at losing her near constant presence by his side. The boy in pinstripes ran his hand violently through his hair and heaved a sigh, "I thought we could get this to work, but it's just- it's just too hard," he murmured. Biting his lip in frustration he covered his eyes and then quickly brought his hands back down, remembering that every moment with Rose in his sight was precious. The blonde, for her part, could think of little else to do but give a small comforting smile. It pained her to see the man she loved so deeply in so much pain.
"You need someone, Doctor. You told me once tha' most of all you need a hand t' hold. I can' be that hand anymore. I may still be here in spirit, bu' you need someone who'll be there, t' help you heal; someone whose time isn't on a budget," Rose's voice cracked as she said these words. She wanted, desperately, to be what he needed, but she knew that simply wasn't possible, not right now.
The broken man looked into the eyes of his golden angel. "How?" The single word broke her heart as it fell from his lips. "How do I find someone to share the universe with after you? How do I subject someone to this life, knowing the risks?"
The blonde forced her lips to quirk into a smile. "You do wha' you always do," she said, slipping her hand down his arm, "You grab them by the hand," her fingers found his and locked them together, she brought his hand up and brushed her lips softly against his knuckles, "you look them in the eye," she met his gaze steadily, "and you say, 'run!'" And then she was gone, scattered into millions of gold particles already dissipating into the TARDIS.
The Doctor shut his eyes tightly as he closed his hand around the empty air where her warm hand had been clasped in his just moments before.
Another brilliant gold flash startled him, and he opened his eyes. Standing in front of the Doctor was, not a blonde Rose Tyler as he had been expecting, but a severe looking red-head in what looked to be a wedding dress.
"What?"
"Who are you?"
"What?"
"Where am I?"
"What?!"
"What the hell is this place?!"
"What?!"
The Doctor frantically ran his hands through his hair and looked at the time rotor incredulously. "But… that's not possible, we're…. We're in deep space. How did—What?!" He looked from the time rotor to the woman and back again and then let his eyes wander up to look at the body of the TARDIS in general. Under his breath he muttered, "Oh, what did you do, love?"
"Well, if you're done talking to yourself, I'd like some answers if you don't mind!" The Doctor turned his attention back to the woman, still partially reluctant to believe that she was really there. "I demand you tell me where I am, right now!"
"You're inside the TARDIS," he answered dumbly.
"What the bloody hell is a TARDIS!?" the woman squawked stepping closer to the Time Lord. The Doctor moved around the rotor slightly to put more distance between him and the strange woman. "That's not even a proper word!"
Ignoring her statement, the Doctor leaned closer, "How did you get in here?"
The woman looked slightly offended as she nearly shouted, "Well, obviously you kidnapped me!" She proceeded to rant about some woman named Nerys. The Doctor quickly tuned out her monologue in favor of looking quizzically at the woman and attempting to kick-start his bigger-on-the-inside Time Lord brain.
"Wait! Hold on… what are you dressed like that for?" he said, finally seeming to realize that the woman who had mysteriously appeared in his TARDIS was dressed for a wedding.
"Well, clearly, I'm on my way to a tea-party. What do you think I'm dressed like this for, Dumbo!? I'm about to be married!" The Doctor reeled backward as he quickly recognized the signs that he was about to get slapped (thank you Jackie Tyler). He resumed his fascination with the TARDIS controls, desperately trying to come up with an explanation as to how this woman was inside his TARDIS, in the middle of deep space, without the door having been opened, and apparently, from what he could gather in her rant, transported about halfway across the Universe from an Earth wedding.
While he was busy frantically turning controls he didn't notice as she slipped around the console and made her way to the TARDIS doors. The TARDIS gave him a mental nudge and he looked up just in time to see her lay her hands on the door handles. "No, don't! Wait!" He sighed resignedly as she threw the doors open and took in the sight of the clear vast ocean of stars that was open space. He slowly walked up to her. "You're in space… Outer space. This is my, erm, space ship. It's called the TARDIS."
It seemed that the shock of being in space had taken the fight out of the fiery red-head, at least for the time being. She looked up at him and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm the Doctor. And you?"
"Donna. Donna Noble." She still seemed a bit shaken at her discovery.
After an appraising look the Doctor simply said, "Human?"
Giving him a startled glance Donna turned to him slightly, "Yeah… Is that optional?"
The Doctor, relaxing slightly as he began to see that the situation wasn't dangerous, at least not immediately so, said in a teasing tone, "Weeellllll, it is for me."
Her eyes widened a tiny bit as she spoke, "You're an alien."
"Yep," he said, popping the p and looking at her with a twinkle in his eye. Quickly he closed the TARDIS doors and ran back up the ramp, grabbing various tools and using them to examine Donna, all the while babbling at his insanely high-speeds. If he had been more aware of Rose's ever constant aura he would have felt a wave of amusement coming from both her and the TARDIS. He also would have felt the amusement grow ten-fold when Donna Noble slapped him across the face and demand that he take her back to the church this instant.
He recovered from the slap almost instantly and began setting the TARDIS to take them back down to Earth.
While the babbling alien worked at his controls Donna let her gaze wander around the ship that he had called the TARDIS. Her eyes fell on a slip of purple fabric that hung on a railing across the room. Upon further examination she realized it to be a shirt, a woman's shirt. "I knew it!" she said; brandishing article of clothing. "I'm not the first, am I? How many women have you abducted?"
The Doctor's face fell as he recognized the shirt. Donna had been providing such a brilliant distraction that the pain of missing Rose had receded to a dull ache, but now, seeing that shirt, the stabbing pain came back all to clearly. "That… That belongs to a friend."
Donna, clearly oblivious of his sudden change in demeanor, pressed on, "Well, where is she then? Popped out for a space-walk?"
"She's gone," he said simply, longing to call his Rose out for just a few moments, but knowing that they didn't have the time to spare, especially not with Donna present. He cringed slightly at the long-winded explanation that would surely warrant.
"What do you mean, gone? Gone where?"
"I lost her," he nearly choked on the words and his throat made a small constricted sound at the end.
But Donna drowned it out with her proclamation of "Well you can hurry up and lose me!" The Time Lord simply continued to pilot the TARDIS. After a moment of studying his face Donna rethought her words and asked, "How d'ya mean 'lost'?" Instead of answering, the Doctor just gave the red head a long hard look.
A moment later Rose gave him a good-natured but stiff mental jab and he shook the dark thoughts away. He grabbed the shirt from Donna's hand while she stood there stunned and dropped it on Rose's place at the jump seat before energetically setting coordinates. "All right then! St. Mary's, Chiswick, London, England, Earth, in the Solar System! Allons-y!"
Hours later, Donna and the Doctor stood with the TARDIS in front of the Noble household. The Doctor was musing quietly while Donna rattled on about the day's events. 'Well, I did it. I managed to get through a day saving the world… without Rose.' As he looked at Donna he contemplated Rose's earlier urging at finding another "hand to hold." He looked at Donna appraisingly, she was strong-willed, she spoke her mind, and she had already saved his life once. He was sure that if she hadn't been there to stop him and pull him back he might've drowned with the Racnoss. "So, what're you gonna do now?" he asked, trying to figure out how he might ask this fiery, severe, no-nonsense red-head if she would like to travel with him.
He almost lit up when she said the words "travel a bit" and had to clamp down the urge to interrupt her. When she had finished answering he said hesitantly, "Well, you could always… travel with me?"
"No," she said softly.
He tried to quickly veil his disappointment. "Okay." He considered asking again, after all, Rose had said no the first time too. This option was quickly dashed as she continued speaking.
"No, but really... everything we did today... do you live your life like that?" she said, sounding a bit overwhelmed.
"… Not all the time," he said. He didn't want to lie to her, but he also really wanted to convince her to join him.
She looked at him skeptically, "I think you do. And, I couldn't."
He looked at her, knowing that he wouldn't be able to convince her but willing to give one last try, "But you've seen it out there. It's beautiful."
Quickly she responded, "And it's terrible. That place was flooding and burning, and they were dying, and you were stood there like... I don't know... a stranger. And then you made it snow - I mean, you scare me to death!"
"Well, then, I guess I can understand that," he said, rubbing his neck. "I guess, I'd best be off. Happy Christmas, Donna." He bowed his head slightly and began to duck into the TARDIS.
"Doctor!" she said, reaching out to grab his retreating sleeve.
He poked his head back out and grinned at her, hoping she had changed her mind.
"Just… promise me one thing; Find someone," she said softly. She had seen the hurt in his eyes when he spoke of his friend.
His face fell at her words and he said quietly, "I don't need anyone."
She shook her head as if she were chastising a small child, "Yes, you do. Because sometimes, I think you need someone to stop you."
He looked at her with a mix of awe and respect, "Yeah. Thanks then, Donna - good luck - and just... be magnificent."
"I will," she said with a smile.
The Doctor smiled and began to pull his head back into the TARDIS once more.
"Doctor?" she said gently.
He heaved an exasperated sigh and leaned on the doorframe. "What now?" Even as he tried to sound irritated there was still a slight quirk to his lips.
"That friend of yours… what was her name?"
Shocked at the question, the Doctor just looked at her for a moment before he said quietly, "Her name was Rose." He felt a wave of comfort coming from the interior of the TARDIS as his blonde girl sought to fill the hole that was threatening to pull him under. With a sigh, he closed the door and returned to the controls. He hesitated only a moment before he set the controls to take them back into the vortex. With a small smile on his lips he caressed the time rotor softly, "My Rose, I think we're going to be okay. It's just a bit of a learning curve, I suppose." He smiled wider as he felt and heard both Rose and the TARDIS humming in agreement.
