Disclaimers, etc: see chapter one.
A Body for Rose
By Eugena
Chapter Two: The Blank Rose
For a moment, he looked at her, a simple look, yet all of it betrayed his lack of faith in her. She was somewhere else—on a different plane of existence, but Jack could not let her go. He looked past this blank-Rose in front of him into his own memory of the woman he loved.
"Rose."
"The sun, the moon, the day, the night."
The blank-Rose looked up at him, child like. Unsure of speech, unsure of everything. "Rose," she repeated after him.
He walked slowly to her, every step wishing to stop and tell himself it wasn't true. But here she was, memories the only thing missing.
"My Rose."
Finally he came to her, careful in touching her, afraid she might break. Then he gave into his own grief and memories and kissed her. For a moment, it was just as it once had been. Then the moment passed, and Rose had begun to cry.
"My Rose. I never meant to hurt you." He removed his jacked and placed it around her naked body.
Rose cried on his shoulder, a strange release for a new being. She cried because she did not know what she was experiencing. She had no words to describe it to herself or to Jack. She was a blank slate, genetically Rose Tyler, but actually something different. Somewhere inside, she loved Jack who brought her to life. She just didn't have the words to tell him.
Outside the room, Tosh cried. She thought of all the people she had lost—from those who died from normal things—car accidents—to those who died of Torchwood—alien attacks. Could the dead really be brought back so easily?
Ianto wasn't sure how he felt. In a way, this Rose before him was a lot like Lisa. The old, recognizable part of them was dead; the new birth of them was something unknown, something yet to be explored.
Inside the new Rose's head, she heard the Bad Wolf and it spoke of the Ninth Doctor. It spoke of its happiness, the joy of being united with one you loved. But for this Rose, she let the past go. It was not The Doctor whose shoulder she cried on. No, it was Jack's.