Unfurling Chapter 6
She woke in her own bed two hours later, blankets tucked around her, a steaming cup of tea and a note on her bedside table.
"When you feel up to it, join me in the console room. I do believe I owe you a shopping trip."
She smiled halfheartedly, not quite able to conjure her usual enthusiasm for making the Doctor carrying her purchases.
Rose stretched like a cat and got dressed, sipping the cup of tea all the while.
She wasn't smiling. All this, and she wasn't smiling. She was hurting even worse than he'd thought (well, not that he'd thought this would solve everything, but he expected a smile, at least).
As if hearing his thoughts, Rose turned to him from the newest perusal of the racks, lips stretching into what must have been meant as a smile but looked like a pained grimace. He slipped his hand into hers.
"You ready to go back to the TARDIS? Don't know about you, but I think there's a beach calling our names."
Another pained smile-attempt and a squeeze of his hand, and they wandered back to the TARDIS, both with their minds anywhere but the present.
"Rose, you can't beat yourself up over this. Because this wasn't your fault. And if there's one thing I know, it's that Jackie'll come 'round, alright? She loves you, she just doesn't want the little girl she raised to change.
"'S not my fault, I know that. But…she sounded so much like she meant it."
He fumbles with the key in his left hand, laughing softly when she plucks out her own and swiftly unlocks the TARDIS doors.
They barely release each others' hands for the rest of the day.
Jackie gasped, more of a moan, as the TARDIS dematerialized, eyes wide as she realized that her daughter was really leaving, that she had caused her to leave. She let out a near-howl of maternal pain at the realization of what she had done. After all, even if she looked different, Rose was still her Rose. And the Tyler women had to stick together.
