Disclaimer: Don't make any money from them, just write their situation for the enjoyment of the crazy fans.
A/N: More! Yay! Thanks to the follows and reviews!
As always, thanks to Ms. Lizzy Lovegood for being awesome.
Please R&R! Enjoy!
—tu es invincible—
Pete and Jackie stand talking quietly together, heads tilted towards each other and Pete's arm around his wife. The Doctor is standing close enough to hear Jackie whisper "Rose needs to talk," and Pete's incredulous reply of "And he's the best for this situation?!" The Doctor can't help but agree with Pete. After all, what does he know about human hormones and...domestics? He's a 900-and-something Time Lord, on the run from love and anything else that strives to pin him down. It takes him a second to realize that he's not the Time Lord anymore, but merely a brain full of wonder stuffed inside this far-from-wonderful human shell.
Rose is heading towards the parked car, seeing that Pete is there with her mother. A slight nod at him, and a brief look of confusion in Jackie's direction are all that show of Rose Tyler. She's building up her walls again, and they aren't going to be pulled down easily. She avoids his eyes, knowing that she will see pain and frustration in them. But most of all, she will see him. The him that she loved the first time. And the second time. At this moment, she can almost imagine that she's the scared young shop-girl wandering around the basement of Henrik's, surrounded by things she can't fight, before he grabbed her hand and pulled her along, the word "Run!" hissed in her ear.
Because now she is surrounded by things she can't fight, too. She is being pulled at from every direction by warring tidal waves of emotion. Happiness and hope, mingled with desperation and bitterness, all wrapped up in fear. She is one raw nerve, rubbed until the ends are frayed and sensitive to anything. The last few hours have been a whirlwind, and she worries that, if she even starts to think about...everything again, she'll puke. Or pass out. Or both, one after the other. It's too much for her.
This beach isn't helping, either. This goddamned beach, that seems to hold the pen that writes her destiny. Since working at Torchwood, she can now monitor the actions of at least five others around her at once, pick up changes in body language in all five, and discern smells from over twenty-five different sources. During her training, she was grateful for so many things to occupy her mind that weren't him. Now, she curses her abilities. They pummel her, the salty air assaulting her nostrils, the MetaDoctor slouching in her peripheral vision, and watching her mother whisper about her to Pete. It's too much.
Deciding that she had better be sitting on something other than a soggy beach if she faints, Rose makes her way to the car. She pulls the passenger-seat door open with a little more force than she means to and settles into the seat. Pete will probably be the one driving and she bets that sitting in front with him will be the safest option for avoiding conversation. If she sat in back, either her mother (most likely) or the MetaDoctor (less likely, but still viable) would want to sit with her, hold her hand, touch her, talk to her. And, as desperate as she is, she can't sort out the difference between wanting to be left alone or wanting someone to sit with her and to hold her hand, to treat her like she's breakable and to just talk to. She feels so breakable, behind the façade of this impregnable wall. The question is, which leap will hurt the most: letting the MetaDoctor go or accepting him?
Sighing quietly to herself, she's lost in her thoughts as she stares at the place where the TARDIS dematerialized for the last time. She knows that its final, that she won't get to hear that horrible, lovely sound ever again, to feel the hope that washes over her when she hears it. It is done. She's so lost in her thoughts that she doesn't notice when the driver's seat door gently opens until the MetaDoctor slides into the seat next to her. He doesn't move, doesn't even pull the door shut. Just sits there, waiting for something. Waiting for her?
A temper rises under her sadness. He's waiting for her? Is he giving her a decision? For once, she gets a choice? Instead of being pulled along for the ride and damn the consequences, she gets to choose? Well what a fine kettle of fish this is. Crossing her arms, she huffs and stares doggedly out the window. Jackie has walked around to her side, one eyebrow raised as if to question "Well, what do you think you're doing?" Rose's face grows darker, glaring at her mother, until she realizes that Jackie isn't directing that look at her. Jackie is asking if the MetaDoctor is going to follow through with his plan. If she hadn't spent three months in the Torchwood psychoanalysis department, she wouldn't have noticed the message between her mum and that man behind her. But she had, and she did.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Just sitting there isn't going to get you anywhere. If you're planning on running away with me, then let's go."
"That, Rose, is the second time today someone has said that to me. And I intend to do something about all this running."
He pulls the door shut and shoves the key harshly into the ignition. A glance at her tells him that she doesn't plan on looking back at him any time soon. Her face is scrunched up in a scowl, feet jammed into the floor, and knuckles white holding onto the seat belt. Thinking to himself that this had better be worth it, he steers the clumsy vehicle towards the road and starts to drive.