Keep in Touch
Chapter 3
Doctor's P.O.V.
The Doctor raised the phone to his ear and spoke with a shaky breath, feeling like he'd just run ten miles.
"Rose Tyler, I've been impatiently waiting your call." he managed.
He listened closely for her reply, but all he could hear was a shallow gasping, and a crowd of voices in the background.
"Rose?" he asked anxiously, once he had his breathing under control. "Are you alright?"
Her silence went on for a few more moments before she finally replied.
"Doctor...?" Her voice was a questioning whisper. It had a touch of pain and disbelief that wrenched at his hearts, as the Timelord took it as a bad sign. Surely she wouldn't sound like this if she had his former self's duplicate?
"Yes..." he replied cautiously, thinking desperately of what could have gone wrong.
"Doc... Doctor..." Her voice had gone dead. Absolutely monotone. He was now getting very worried indeed. Something horrible happened, he was sure of it.
"Rose, what is it? What's happened?" He spoke to her in an urgent, worried voice.
"Could you believe if I told you that I've just attended your wedding?" She mused, speaking casually, though without emotion. She let out a short burst of air, and the Doctor realized that she actually chuckled. But it was empty, it sounded wrong. "Funny how I thought that if I were to be at your wedding, I would have been at the altar with you..."
The Doctor froze, horrified. He cleared his throat and tried to sound normal. "So my counterpart has forgotten everything, has he?"
"Yep, and he also hates me. Absolutely loathes me... Thinks I should be in a loony bin."
At this, the Doctor felt anger starting to boil deep inside him. No body, no even the Doctor himself, could say that about Rose and get away with it. "Rose, listen to me, I'm locking onto your coordinates." he growled, jumping up from his bed and racing to the console room. "I'm coming to get you."
That seemed to stir something in Rose. "Doctor, you told me that was impossible."
The Doctor smiled, pushing a couple buttons and plugging the cellphone into the console. He transferred the call to the telephone in the console and putting it on speakerphone. "Yes, I did tell you that, didn't I?"
"Wh- Are you saying that it is possible, and that you just kept away for some other reason...?" The hurt in his pink and yellow human's voice speared him straight through both hearts.
"No! Well, yes... But it's for a very good reason!" he stammered, trying to get the right words out, fumbling with the controls slightly. "It isn't that I didn't want to see you. Quite the contrary, I wanted nothing more than to go through the void and grab you. But I would have risked the destruction of the universes, and I couldn't bring myself to rip you away from your family. I couldn't bring myself covet you any longer, what with all the pain I've caused you already. How could I go on hurting you just because of my own selfish needs? Of course I will do this properly when I get to you, but I need to ask you now. Could you forgive me? Could you find it in yourself to forgive this foolish old man?" He realized that he had been rambling, so he stopped to slow his breathing and clear his throat, attempting to return his voice to it's normal pitch.
Once he was once more in control somewhat of his emotions, he attempted to finish what he wanted to say. "I will come to your universe, Rose. I'll burn up a hundred suns for power if that's what it takes. But I want you to know something before. I will not force you to come with me. I'll try to park the TARDIS somewhere around where I did last. Bad Wolf Bay... I'll stay there for as long as possible, all you would have to do is to come see me. If by the end of the day you aren't there, I'll assume you.. that you won't... And so I won't bother you anymore. I won't hold it against you, I won't even blame you. Just know that everything I did, it was to keep you safe. I'll understand if you don't want to see me after what... what my counterpart did, or what I did, for that matter."
There was a short silence which the Doctor thought would never end. "Yes." The line went dead after that one word, but it filled the Timelord with hope. Yes, that was one of his favorite emotions. Hope.
The TARDIS landed with an almighty groan, shaking so much that the Doctor was thrown into a wall. He bounced up and crossed the distance between him and the doors in a few long lopes. Touching the smooth wood, he suddenly felt nervous. And very self-conscious. Would she come? Would she even like him in this regeneration? He remembered painfully the last time he regenerated, she was absolutely devastated, fearing that her Doctor was gone forever. Well, that was both times he regenerated with her... The thought didn't help his nerves. Turning to the reflective surface of one of the handle bars, he quickly ran a hand through his hair and straightened his bow tie. He then took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Yes, it was definitively Bad Wolf Bay. Satisfied he was in the right spot, he went back in, slightly glad Rose wasn't there yet. Not that he was nervous of seeing her. No, the Doctor was never shy because of girls. Certainly not pretty human women, with blond hair and soft skin. No, not even those that understood him completely, reading his face like a book. Not needing to be saved every time they went on an adventure, and even succeeding in save him. No, certainly not those girls. He just needed to... let the TARDIS cool down from that complicated voyage. Yes, the poor, sexy thing needed a good rest. This universe was perfect for it.
The loud groan behind him put that argument up for debate.
Sighing, he settled into the chair near the console, murmuring words of comfort to his beloved. And a couple hours later, the TARDIS got what she wanted. The Doctor heard a key being inserted into the key hole, and the blue box sighed in response, recognizing her wolf. And in she came, round eyed, looking like she was seeing ghosts.
So? Not bad, right? Does this compensate for the lack of updates? Hopefully... Anyways, computer is back up and running better than ever. So here you go guys, as promised. Now, I know they're short, but my muse has been running low and I wanted to give guys something asap. So you know what stimulates muse? Reviews... Just saying. Tell me what you guys think! I wanna know. Is it good, bad? Should I continue? Please tell me!
Until next time,
~Kudos
