And the past echoed – Pt. 4
"'Proper' Dave, stay still."
"Why, what happened?"
"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, Dave. But you've got two shadows."
∞ DW ∞
As the Doctor took a helmet from the side and put it on 'proper' Dave, everyone stepped aside and had to see how a person in front of them died and started ghosting. It was horrible – just as horrible as Miss Evangelista's death – but it was inevitable.
Doctor grabbed Donna and Rose's hands and ran towards another room, telling them to step in a specific place.
"What are we doing here?" Donna asked, completely oblivious to Doctor's movements. "Are we some kind of shopping, 'cause we don't have time for it!"
"The place you are standing in is a teleport and it will teleport both of you back to the TARDIS," Doctor explained, changing the settings.
"No, don't you dare teleporting me back to TARDIS!" Rose cried out, stepping from the circle and affectionately hugging her Doctor. "I've only just met you after two years and I can't leave you in potential danger!"
"Rose, I understand how you feel, but you and Donna both need to go and I need to help these people," Doctor hurriedly explained, holding Rose's face in his hands. "I will not leave you and don't you think otherwise, Rose Tyler. I will be back – just as always."
Blonde understood the importance of his presence with these people, but she still couldn't find the strength in herself to push aside and step into the circle. She knew that she sounded and looked ridiculous but she was still clinging to Doctor for dear life.
Finally, Donna stepped towards her, hugged her and soothingly walked Rose towards the circle. As soon as they stood there, Doctor pressed the button and they were gone. He looked at the place where his companions were standing only a moment ago, sighed and ran back in the shop.
"Hey, who turned down the lights," 'proper' Dave started repeating again and again while Doctor, feeling heroic, stepped towards him.
"Dave, can you hear me?" he asked frowning.
The reply he got was Dave grabbing his shoulders and the helmet, that wasn't revealing his face only a second ago, was now bright and everyone were able to see a skull.
River helped the Doctor to get away from Dave and, as Doctor screamed 'run!', everybody were out. All of them were running as fast as they could though Dave – at least, what was left of him – was moving rather slow.
As they ran towards a certain point, the Doctor checked his sonic and announced that his companions weren't teleported, sounding incredibly concerned. If they weren't teleported, they were somewhere out there in danger and he didn't have any idea where to look for them – and he was ready to do so no matter what.
Seeing a node near the lamp, Doctor ran towards it, asking about Rose Tyler's position in the library. The answer, however, left him breathless.
The face of the node turned towards the Doctor and revealed Rose's face. His Rose's face.
"Rose Tyler has left the library. Rose Tyler has being saved." The node said with Rose's voice, sounding completely plain.
"Rose." The Doctor whispered, not believing his own eyes or ears. It was the Library playing mind games with him - there was no way in hell that Rose was... he couldn't say it in his head. River saw and heard everything as well, coming closer and looking completely shocked – no, there was no way Rose was ending like this.
"Rose Tyler has left the library. Rose Tyler has being saved." The node started repeating again and again.
"Node, where is Donna Noble?" Song asked with trembling voice because she already suspected the same answer.
Node's face turned and then turned back revealing Donna's face that was repeating similar phrase, "Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has being saved."
"Doctor, I know it's hard to get over with, but we have people here and we need to more," River said, and then, hearing Dave's voice, started to drag the Doctor after her. "Hurry, we can't help anyone if we stay and die, Doctor!"
"I promised her not to leave her anymore... just a couple of minutes ago," Doctor whispered while running, tears of bitterness falling freely from his eyes. He cared about Donna a lot too, but, only for a moment, all he could think of was Rose and how trusting she was.
Finally, he decided that he won't give up and will find a way to find both of them or he's not the Doctor.
∞ DW ∞
Rose abruptly opened her eyes, finding herself in a plain old-fashioned bed. The room she was in was clean and almost empty – just like hotel rooms she was used to stay in on those rare occasions when she and Mickey left London to travel around United Kingdom.
Looking down at herself she realised she was wearing a pink pyjama; her hair was brushed and she didn't have a bit of makeup on her face which felt father odd.
Just as she was looking around, someone knocked in the door and entered the room. The visitor was a man in his middle-forties; he wore glasses and a plain black suit.
"Hello, Rose." The man said, smiling reassuringly.
"Who are you?" Rose asked: she didn't understand what was going on at all.
"I'm Doctor Moon," the man introduced. "I've been treating you since you came here two years ago."
Pause.
"Ah, Doctor Moon," Rose smiled, shaking her head. "Of course, I'm sorry Mr Moon. I just... forgot for a second."
"Yes, and then you remembered." Dr Moon smiled again. "Do you mind going for a walk?"
All Rose knew is that next second she was out in the garden, walking alongside Dr Moon. She frowned and looked around.
"That's weird, 'cause I remember talking to you just a second ago in my room," Rose told Mr Moon.
"No, we were talking, and then I left you so you can get changed and then we went out, meeting Donna at the main entrance."
"Donna? Who is Donna?" The second she pronounced the name Rose felt like her brain started to boil. Was it because she was starting to remember something?
"Donna Noble, your old friend that is here because she has same problem as you." Dr Moon's calming voice helped her to forget the pain and continue walking.
"She has dreams about a madman in a blue box?"
"Not exactly, but pretty similar. Anyhow, would you like to go shopping?"
Just then they appeared in a shopping centre with hundreds of people, all being in hurry.
"Ah, good old 'Marks & Spencer'," Dr Moon commented motioning towards the dark-green sign, "though I expect you to like 'H&M' more."
"J-Just a second ago we-" Rose was suddenly interrupted by a loud 'Oi!' and, turning her head, Rose saw a man in his middle thirties with brown spiky hair, big glasses and in blue suit. "Oh, Lord, does everyone wear suits here – doesn't it feel uncomfortable sometimes?"
The man stopped near her, smiling happily, and hugged surprised Rose, "I missed you while being at work today, Rose." Then, turning to Dr Moon, "Mind if we have a walk without anyone else?"
"Sure, take care of her." Dr Moon said and disappeared in a second.
"So, how was your day, Rose?" The man said, holding her hand and happily walking through the shopping centre.
"Who-who are you?" Tyler was still trying to get her head around her being here, and now there was a man who seemed to know her all too well.
"You should be joking, right?" The stranger gave out a short laugh. "I'm John, John Smith – and you, Rose, are my fiancée for over two months now. We're going to move in my apartment once you go through all tests and doctors will allow you to leave the hospital because you are fully recovered."
"Fiancée..?" The woman repeated, looking in space and then her lips lifted up. "Oh, dear John, I'm sorry – for a minute there I was spacing out. My day was fantastic, what about yours?"
"Oh it was great as well, just did some programming. Want to go home?"
"Sure, love." And they were home, both wearing pyjamas. "The film was good, wasn't it?"
"The film?" Rose echoed, shaking her head. "Oh, yes, the film was... brilliant."
"If we had kids, we wouldn't have time for us, but here we are, in our room..." John whispered, starting to kiss Tyler's neck.
"Why- why don't we have kids?" she asked, feeling absolutely nothing. Her words caused John to stop and look at her as if she was crazy. "What?"
"Rose, what are talking about?" he hoarsely asked, looking terrified. "I-I thought you didn't want kids – you said that yourself."
"Why wouldn't I want kids?" the blonde looked bemused. The second she said it John gripped his hair and looked away, pacing nervously. He was looking around and gaping; then, to Rose's surprise, he suddenly pulled his hair and... it was a wig. His natural hair was black. Now Rose was gaping – what the hell was going on?
"Rose, what's wrong with you?" the man sneered, throwing off his costume; Tyler quickly turned around, blushing, but she then looked back and saw him putting on jeans and a simple T-shirt. "I-you were the one, who didn't want kids!"
"What? Why?"
"Because you wanted to travel and children weren't your prerogative," John said as if it was the most obvious thing ever. "When we started dating you were alright with me but then you started making weird requests, like that I should change my hair colour – and style, for that matter; you bluntly told me to stop wearing these 'hideous' t-shirts and jeans. I agreed and did as you said – because I love you! But no, it wasn't enough – you wanted to travel. You always knew that I wasn't rich but you still wanted to travel around the world and-and I decided to stop you and we agreed that we will only travel once a month, but you're still not happy, are you?"
Rose was so confused about what was going on but, for some reason, her mouth didn't listen to her brain, "Sorry, John, it's just that... I had a long day and... sorry that I was confusing you so much."
The man sighed and, coming near her, gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I know, I'm sorry I blew up like that... I shouldn't forget about your health problems."
"Yeah."
The silence felt rather uncomfortable for Rose, but John didn't seem to mind it.
"So, you remember about our trip to China next week?"
∞ DW ∞
All Rose knew is that she suddenly disappeared and re-appeared in the Library. As she realised where she was, she also became aware that everything that happened only a couple of minutes before wasn't reality – it was some sort of trick, though she didn't intend to find out what caused it on the first place because Doctor would surely...
Speaking of which, where was he?
Rose started to look around only to find sad Doctor and Donna standing next to him. As she approached them, Doctor looked her in the eyes and she realised everything.
River was gone and he was sorry – so, so sorry.
Instead of crying or trying to find out exactly what happened – because he would simply give her some science nonsense she didn't understand – she came near him and whispered 'It will be alright' – the words she hated the most as she never believed them. He, in return, hugged her and after some time Donna mumbled 'Ah, sappers' and hugged them both. It was good – to be hugged by the Doctor and this amazing woman that has now became her friend – and maybe – just maybe – world wasn't that bad.
As they left the room where more and more people started teleporting, Doctor finally asked Rose about River and she honestly told him, "I don't know her. Well, I know how she looks, but I have no idea who she is and why did she come and teleported me to this universe." Okay, last part was a lie, but she promised Song not to tell him anything as it might change the whole universe. "What I do know is that she helped me to find you and she didn't ask anything in return. However, I want to know what happened to her."
"She sacrificed herself to save the system and everyone in it," the Doctor sternly replied, looking at his sonic screwdriver. "She deserves to be called a hero." Then, after a small pause, he looked at his ginger companion. "Donna, would you mind going to the TARDIS and... wait for us there?"
"Sure thing, spaceman, just don't do anything stupid," Donna nodded and then motioned towards Rose. "You know, you are really lucky some pretty blonde would actually care about you, with your mind high in the skies all the time."
"I know," Doctor replied seriously and looked down with frown on his face. Not to upset him anymore, Donna soundly told Rose she was leaving and Rose nodded.
As Donna left, Doctor looked up somewhere above Rose's shoulder and his voice was somewhat hoarse. "Rose, I'm-"
"Don't," she interrupted which didn't happen very often so he looked at her. Really looked at her. Shudder went through woman's body - she felt as if he was able to read her mind. Rose dearly hoped that it wasn't it, otherwise she would be extremely ashamed about some things. "You apologise about anything and everything and it drives me insane because none of it is your fault. You are not responsible for all these aliens out there that are planning attacks on Earth but you make it look like you actually are. Don't you get it? All of us are thankful to you for doing what you are doing all the time and... maybe, you should just accept it?"
Doctor looked like he was thinking over her words and for a moment Rose was scared of his reaction but then his frown was gone and a soft smirk appeared on his face – not a smile, but still better than a frown. "Thank you. Not just for this." Silence. "And... make no mistake, Rose Tyler – from now on you are stuck with me."
"Forever." Rose whispered despite of what happened when she said it to him the last time two years ago. Doctor seemed to remember it as well, but the smirk wasn't gone – he simply took her hand in his and, examining their locked hands, said something that she didn't expect to hear from him.
"Forever is a very long time."
"Not if you are a Time Lord."
Sad smile. "Especially if you are Time Lord."
too many hugs, don't ya think? anyway, hope you enjoyed, AND I'll finish it off in next chapter so I'll be done with the returning part and continue it with ADVENTURES :3
P.S. I took it upon myself to include some BBC (and, maybe, other) TV-series in the future and change their plots so don't freak out and... enjoy :)
P.P.S. River? where are you? *gasp* next chapter ;P
