It was a trap! Rose should've known it was trap. Why hadn't seen it? Because she was naive. Because she wanted to believe in the peace treaty they offered. Now, at least half of her team was dead and she was running. Running through a forest with no idea if anyone got her message, if anyone was coming.
She heard it, the blast of a laser. Then she felt the burning pain sear her back and she was falling. Falling to the ground. Her last thought was of James, her best friend, and the fact that he would be alone.
"I'm sorry," she whispered and then the darkness claimed her.
She opened her eyes, sitting up quickly. She heard someone jump and glanced toward the noise. A man with a startled expression stood near her. He was wearing a lab coat and glasses.
"Hello," she said, then gazed around. "Torchwood. Lab Four. Why am I in Lab Four?"
"I…um…" he stammered.
She swung her legs off the…exam table and then stood up. That's when she realized she was naked. Her sudden movements must have frightened him because he ran out the door in the next moment.
She shrugged.
"He's weird. All right," she glanced around. "Probably ought to find something to-"
At that moment the door opened and James rushed into the room and then stopped.
"James!" she exclaimed, crossing the room toward him, grinning.
"He said…when he said…he said you were alive," he stammered, pointing in different directions. "I just couldn't…and you are…and…"
She pulled him into a hug.
"Of course I'm alive, you lump, what else would I be?"
"Rose. Rose! Stop! Rose!" he yelled, trying to wriggle out of her embrace.
She pulled back and realized his face was bright red.
She laughed.
"You all right?"
"You're um…there's um…I can see your…" he stammered.
She looked down.
"Right. Naked. I think someone took off with my clothes," she teased and then giggled.
"Yes. Right. Here."
He hastily removed his long coat and handed it to her. Then quickly turned around.
"You don't like me naked?" she teased.
"What?" he exclaimed, turning back, blushing and then averting his gaze again because she wasn't quite in the coat. "Are you finished?"
"Yes."
He turned around and she was wearing the coat, but the front was open and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Rose!" he yelled.
"What?" she asked, but she was grinning.
He averted his gaze and walked toward her then buttoned up the coat.
"There."
She rolled her eyes.
"You're no fun," she pouted.
That was the first time she regenerated and a week later they began working on a dimension cannon.
"You realize this is dangerous," Rose said as they worked on the dimension cannon.
They were a year into building it. Not like the other one, more complicated, more technical, and far more powerful.
"That's what the stabilizer is for," James replied.
"I know, but there's still a chance-"
"There's always a chance," he cut her off and then paused, gazing into her eyes. "I would've, well, the other me would've never left you here if he'd, we'd, known."
She smiled, reassuringly. He felt guilty, had since the first time she regenerated. It happened again a few months ago when she ran into a nasty batch of aliens. They intended to kill James, but she stepped between them.
"I know, yeah? It's not your fault or his. I don't blame either of you and 's fine, more than fine. I feel brilliant!"
"But you're changing. Each time you regenerate it changes your DNA. That's why you need him. He can help you. I can't."
She took his hand and gave it a squeeze.
"You're helping me now, yeah? And you're both the same. I know that now. I understand."
Then she did something she hadn't done since that day on the beach. She kissed him because she knew who he was. He was the Doctor. He might be human, but they were the same man and she loved him, both of them.
The Doctor, because that's who he was to her now, tightened the last bolt and stepped back, grinning. Two years later they were nearly finished building the device.
"It's done," he exclaimed, glancing at her and she watched his grin almost slip.
"Brilliant!" she beamed.
"I knew we could do it."
She smiled at him.
"Together. We always could do anything together."
"No matter what the universe threw at us." He replaced the tool and then rubbed his neck before turning back around. "You should probably wait till this weekend. Jackie'll kill me if you don't say goodbye."
She crossed the room then and pulled him into a hug. He buried his face in her shoulder and a moment later she could feel his tears.
"I'm not going anywhere, Doctor," she said.
He pulled back and that was the first time she saw him cry.
"You have to. You need-"
She made her decision a year ago, when she realized they were the same man. She made him a promise and she intended to fulfill it.
"I have everything I need right here," she interrupted, wiping the tears from his cheeks.
"But the Doctor-"
She caught his gaze.
"You are the Doctor."
"No, but I mean-" he stammered and she caught the bit of hope in his dark brown eyes.
"I know what you mean, yeah? He'll still be there later, but you won't."
For a moment all he did was gaze into her eyes and in his she could see so much love, all the love he had for her. She smiled.
"Rose…" his voice broke.
"I told you I was never going to leave you," she said.
"But…but I age. I'll grow old. I'll die."
"And I'll be there, yeah?"
She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close.
"Rose Tyler, you are the most beautiful, wonderful, strongest woman I have ever known," he whispered into her neck.
"And don't you ever forget it," she teased.
She knelt down in the grass. It was almost unnaturally green. She held three pots of flowers. Lilies for her mum, she sat them on the grave. Tulips for her father. And Roses for the Doctor.
Her dad passed first. Car accident, seventeen years after Tony was born. She couldn't help feeling the irony. Losing her dad to a car twice in one lifetime. Her mum lived to the age of eighty-eight, passing in her sleep. The Doctor was last. Dying peacefully in their home. She held his hand and whispered words of love. She knew he was happy and that was all she wanted.
They had a life, not an ordinary life, but nothing was ever ordinary when it came to Rose Tyler and the Doctor, human or not. They married and worked for Torchwood and they ran. When he slowed down so did she, sticking around the flat more, ignoring his protests and eventually he stopped, muttering about stubborn Tyler women.
Now he was gone. Tony was still there, but it had never been her family holding her there. It'd always been him. She smiled, telling him one last time how much she loved him then she stood up.
This life was over, she would always remember it, always love all of them, but her next life was waiting in another universe. She turned from the graves and walked away.
Standard Disclaimer.
Thank you to all my brilliant readers!
Reviews are always welcome. :)