I just... need a moment to cry. Hold on... Sorry... I got so much of this chapter done earlier, and then forgot to save it... And I sobbed like a baby...
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. I just dream every night of the TARDIS crashing into the backyard and taking me away forever.
Rose stopped in her tracks suddenly as she felt a pressure tug at her mind. Something urged her to change direction, something that she couldn't quite identify, but trusted more than anything. She had an awful feeling about continuing forward. So with a last glance in the direction she'd been going, she turned left and ran. She ran and ran through the sparse trees until she reached a small shed. She stopped outside, panting heavily, and stared at it with wide eyes.
Never one to deny her curiosity, Rose quietly opened the door and slipped inside. What she found in there had her leaning against the door for support as she cried and laughed at the same time. Standing tall and proud was the TARDIS. She hardly hesitated a moment to pull out her key before unlocking the door and running inside. The console room was how she always remembered, and the walls seemed to hum happily a her presence.
She grinned as she saw the familiar discarded coat the Doctor always wore, hung carelessly over one of the coral structures, and picked it up, bringing it to her nose. Rose inhaled deeply, soaking in the scent that could only be described as the Doctor. More tears sprang into her eyes.
"Hello, girl," she choked, clutching the jacket tight to her chest like a lifeline. "I'm home."
"Is this thing working?" She nearly cried out at the voice, and ran to the other side of the console where the monitor was. On the screen was the Doctor, looking very apprehensive. "Martha, before I change, here's a list of instructions for when I'm human. One: Don't let me hurt anyone. We can't have that, but you know what humans are like." Rose scoffed. Still insulting humans, then. "Two: don't worry about the TARDIS. I'll put it on emergency power so that they can't detect it. Just let it hide away. Four- No, three: no getting involved in big historical events.
"Four: You. Don't let me abandon you." For half of a second, he seemed to grow very somber, but then blinked and returned to life. "And five! Very important. Five: don't let me eat pears. I hate pears. John Smith is a character I made up but I won't know that. I'll think I am him and he might do something stupid like eat a pear. In three months, I don't want to wake up from being human and taste that." Rose laughed and watched the rest of the clip, a few tears escaping now and then. It was him, really him. She could see him, hear his voice, smell him on his jacket. It was more than she thought possible just a few days ago.
Still, it wasn't nearly enough. She wanted to hold him, to feel his arms wrap around her, to hear his wonderful laugh that had been oddly missing from the video, to see his familiar excited grin that he reserved just for her. She needed to hear him say her name in that voice, like he always said it. Like he cherished every chance to say it and loved the feeling of it rolling off of his tongue.
With a sigh, Rose pulled away from the console, setting the coat down, and began walking down the hall towards where she hoped her room still was. She honestly had no clue how long it had been for him. Not long enough for him to forget her, evidently. Not long enough for him to regenerate. How many companions has he had since she was trapped? Did he still have feelings for her? Even though he'd never said the words, she'd always known how he felt. They always knew, but had never dared cross their carefully placed boundaries to say it. But were they strong enough on his part to still be there, even now? She wasn't sure.
When she found the familiar white door with the red rose painted on its front, she grinned and pushed it open. Everything was exactly as she left it, from what she could see. Her pajamas from the night before were strewn carelessly on the floor, her make up was laid out strategically along her vanity, and her bed was rumpled and unmade as if it had been that very night that she'd slept in it. Rose threw herself onto her bed and laughed, loving the feel of the comforting sheets beneath her, and the sound of the TARDIS humming lovingly around her.
"I'm home," she repeated. She buried her face into her pillow, rolling over. She frowned, then, when she felt something hard and lumpy pressing through the pillow and into her face. Rose sat up and lifted the pillow to reveal a discarded tie beneath it. She lifted it tenderly, examining it as if it might fall to dust if she held it the wrong way. And then she jumped to her feet, pulling away the rest of the covers. A single red trainer fell to the ground as she moved it.
"What an idiot," she muttered with a laugh. "Sleepin' in here like some sorta lovesick teenager. When was this?" She picked up the shoe and found its twin under her bed. She set them on her desk and walked out, back towards the console room. She found the coat where she'd left it and shrugged it over her shoulders. It was cold out, and she'd been able to ignore it before while running, but now she wanted to just walk back to the school and sit in her thoughts for a while.
Giving one last stroke to the TARDIS console, she stepped away and walked outside. The jacket was very welcome around her, protecting her from the chill night air. For a moment, she considered continuing to investigate the strange lights, but again she had that feeling that she should put as much distance between her and the lights as possible. She glanced only once in that direction before continuing back towards the school.
John walked towards the school with the Matron, making idle conversation. He really couldn't recall exactly what they were talking about, and every few seconds found himself spacing out as a random thought would cross his mind. He was having one of these moments when he heard the Matron cry out.
"Miss Tyler! What on earth are you doing out here at this time of night?" John followed her gaze to see Jackie stop dead in her tracks on her own path towards the school entrance, wrapped tight in a long familiar brown coat. Where had he seen that coat before? Why did it matter?
He watched as Jackie regarded their close proximity with a distasteful expression and instinctively stepped away a bit. He certainly didn't want any misunderstandings. Something about the way she looked at him though, with a hint of sadness, and almost anger, bothered him. What reason would she have to feel that way? She hardly knew him, and had lost all of her memories.
"Sorry," she said, tearing her eyes away from him to look at the Matron. "I just really needed some air. It was gettin' awfully stuffy in that room, and I couldn't take bein' cooped up all day. I didn't wander far. I just stayed right in this area," she explained, adding the last part in attempt to console the Matron's obvious concern.
"It's freezing out here, child!" the Matron uttered, hurrying over to her. "Come, come, get inside." She looked back at John. "John, perhaps we can continue this conversation later. And maybe I can even take a look at some more of that lovely journal of yours," she called. John didn't miss the way that Jackie flinched both at the usage of the word 'child', and the Matron's farewell. But they were both gone before he could say anything.
With a sigh, John trudged back to his own room, prepared to take a long and needed rest.
The Doctor pulled the coat over his shoulders, sliding his arms carefully through the sleeves. He always loved the coat. Janis Joplin gave it to him, after all. He leaned in front of the mirror in order to get a better look at his face. Not bad. He was younger, thin but toned, a very sexy smile, nice teeth... Oh, he loved the hair. He couldn't wait to experiment with that. It was definitely a step up form last time, when he was all ears and nose and leather.
He had a lot of freckles, he noticed. He wasn't ginger, though. No, of course not. But he had to say, he was pretty handsome. And a look down below showed him that he was rather well endowed. He was a pretty boy, and everything Rose liked. He was made for her.
With a grin, he strode out of the TARDIS and up the steps towards the flat. When he walked in, Rose was sitting at the kitchen table. She looked up at him, taking in every aspect of appearance now, appreciating it. She gave him a grin which he eagerly returned. He was an idiot for not telling her before about regeneration and probably scared a few good years off of her life, but she still accepted him, and for that he was ecstatic. He could probably sing.
Well, on second thought, he should probably save that for when he knows how musically talented he is in this body...
And then they were sitting on a field of applegrass, the coat laid out underneath them like a blanket. She was laughing at him, and her smile made his hearts swell. Oh yes, he could definitely get used to this. How could one human girl affect him so strongly? It was remarkable, really.
He looked up at her, noting that she was staring. "What?"
"So different," she murmured, still smiling.
"New new Doctor," he replied cheekily, giving a childlike grin. She giggled, and he felt a surge of pride. Even with this new body, he could still make her laugh.
Suddenly, she was kissing him, and they were in an unfamiliar, white corridor. Her hands were gripping his head tightly as she pressed her lips to his eagerly. He might have kissed back if it was really Rose, but no... There was something strange about her. Certainly, kissing him out of the blue was a bit out of character, but he was rather attractive... But her voice was very strange, and there were a lot of things that weren't adding up.
Still, it was Rose's lips pressed against his, and then there was her tongue, stroking against his, and he found himself
really wanting to kiss back. But it was over nearly as fast as it started. She pulled away, stammering something that completely escaped him, and his eyes followed her in a daze. Even if it wasn't completely Rose, it was still her body that was holding himself against his just a moment ago. And clearly, something had influenced her to initiate that kiss, and he was more than certain his good looks were a large factor.
Smoothing back his hair, his voice higher pitched than he expected, he gave a few words of triumph and followed after her.
"Yep. Still got it."
But he blinked and they were in a white room again, but this one was more than familiar. Across the room, he could see her clinging to a lever, about to fall into the darkness that was the void.
"Rose! Hold on!" he cried out desperately, watching in horror, wishing there was some way that he could help her. And then she was falling, screaming in terror as she fell to her death. There was a flash, and suddenly she was safe, and then she was gone. The strong winds died down, and he was left alone.
John jerked into a sitting position, panting and sweating, his lips forming her name in a silent cry. He remained there, pressing his face to his knees as he tried to calm himself. He was fine. It was just a dream. None of it was real.
When his breathing finally slowed, he made himself look around him. It was dawn, nearing the time when Martha would arrive to bring him his meal and paper. John sighed, pulling himself out of bed, and wrapped his dressing gown around him. The dreams were becoming harder to ignore, and Rose's presence in them seemed to have tripled in the last few days. Why couldn't he stop thinking about her?
When the expected knock came at the door, John sighed and forced the thoughts from his mind.
Rose managed to convince the Matron after several apologies and insistence that she was more than fine, and even got her to agree to letting her talk a walk every day around the grounds, so long as it was during daylight hours. And so it was with great relief that Rose found herself walking freely around the school, enjoying the cool, crisp air. Once again, she had the Doctor's coat wrapped tightly around her.
She was passing a field where students were practicing their shooting when she noticed John Smith was the main teacher of the class. A sick feeling settled in her gut. This man was definitely not the Doctor. He fit in to this time far too much for her liking. And when she heard him approve of the beating of one of the students, she thought she might go up to him and slap him right then and there. It wasn't fair that this man looked so much like the Doctor, and yet was so different. Swallowing her anger, Rose stuffed her hands into the Doctor's coat pockets and sauntered away. She couldn't let herself react.
And then she noticed a student following her. He was tall and lanky, with a rather odd expression, like he was smelling something absolutely delicious. He was moving behind her without even the slightest attempt at discretion. She gave no indication of noticing him, but chose to wander somewhere away from prying eyes and ear in hopes of confronting him.
She had managed to reach the woods and was a good half mile in when two other very unexpected people appeared before her, stopping her in her tracks. One was a rather large man with a bushy mustache, and the other was a young girl, about seven, dressed in pink and holding a red balloon. They both wore expressions similar to the boy behind her. Something about them had the adrenaline pumping through Rose's veins, and she tensed, prepared to run.
"Who are you?" she demanded. "What do you want?" The boy behind her grabbed onto her suddenly, holding her body in a vice-like grip. She struggled, trying to get free, but stopped when she saw the little girl pull an unusual gun from her pocket. Rose's fear sky-rocketed. "Let me go!" she cried.
"You smell of time," the boy growled, burying his nose into her neck and inhaling deeply. There was nothing sexual about it, but rather it reminded Rose of an animal sniffing their prey as they prepared to devour it. "You smell far better than that Doctor..."
Rose gasped, increasing her efforts to escape. "No! Let me go!" She managed to free an arm, elbowing the boy hard in the gut. He released her, staggering back, but appeared to be in no pain.
"Oh, this one is feisty," the man said, amused. "But I can smell her fear. She knows the Doctor. We can use her."
The little girl grinned. "Mother of mine is in need of a body. She will be perfect," she said, and the man grabbed onto Rose this time, holding her far too tightly for her to escape. She tried to scream, but he slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Now, now, none of that. You can save that for later," he whispered, and dragged her into the woods. The student and young girl followed. Rose could only follow in silence, eyes wide with fear. It only took her a few moments to realize that they were heading in the very same direction as the lights from the night before.
Praying desperately that Martha would take note of her absence, and soon, Rose succumbed to their will. Fighting back would do her no good at the moment, especially when the little girl had that gun trained right on her.
The Matron walked into Jackie's room, her medical bag in hand, ready to check her progress, and was surprised to find the room empty. With a sigh, she turned back and returned to her room setting the bag down.
"I told the child to return by the hour," she muttered to herself. "I suppose I should go search for her."
She made her way downstairs and out to the grounds, wondering where to start searching. She then spotted John, on his way back inside after one of his classes, and began walking towards him. He saw her and smiled, meeting her halfway.
"Good day, Matron. And how are you feeling?" he asked her politely.
"Rather vexed, I must be honest. Miss Tyler has wandered off again. I've set out to find her, though I can't even begin to fathom where to look. She could be anywhere by now," the Matron replied, a bit bothered that he still refused to call her by her name.
"Would you like some assistance in searching for her? I have some free time, and by working together we're sure to find her faster," John offered. The Matron smiled. This would certainly give her a great opportunity to speak with him more, get to know him better.
"I would very much appreciate it. Thank you."
"Good. Splitting up will let us cover more ground. I'll search the woods. If she is willing to wander alone at night, I have no doubt she'd be keen on wandering the woods as well, despite their danger," he said, amused. The Matron's smile faltered a bit, but she nodded in agreement.
"Well, that sounds like a brilliant idea to me. If you don't find her within the hour, then we should inform the headmaster. I'm sure he'll be wanting to find her safe and sound as well." John agreed and they parted. He spotted Martha on his path and called to her.
"Is something the matter, Mr. Smith?" she asked when she reached him.
"Yes. I was wondering if you've happened to see Miss Tyler this morning? It seems she's gone missing while taking a stroll," John explained, somewhat apprehensive.
Martha frowned. "No, I haven't seen her. Do you need help looking for her?" she asked.
"The Matron is searching the grounds, but some assistance searching the woods would be most appreciated," he said somewhat distractedly, looking in the direction of the trees. "We should hurry." He didn't wait for her to respond before continuing his fast stride towards the woods. Martha followed obediently, trying to match his pace. She had to run a bit to keep up with his annoyingly long stride, but was used to it by now.
"This is the same direction that those lights fell last night," Martha noted. John frowned.
"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked.
"Nothing, most likely. But maybe she saw them last night, too, and went in this direction to investigate..." she said nonchalantly.
"Perhaps. But she seems like an educated girl. It's likely she knew when she saw them that they were only meteorites. Nothing to search for." Martha glared at the back of his head but said nothing, letting them fall into an odd silence. A silence that was broken by a distant, but very distinct shout. Instinctively, they both broke into a run towards the voice.
They stopped after nearly three full minutes of running to catch their breath, looking around.
"I don't see anything," Martha panted. She placed a hand over her chest, hoping to calm her racing heart.
"But that was- That scream-" John gasped out, eyes frantically scanning the area. He knew that voice. That scream. It was as familiar to him as his- well, as anything, he supposed. And again images of Rose kept flashing in his mind, images that looked so similar to Jackie, if not for the clothes and the fact that Jackie looked far too sad, far too lost to be his- the Doctor's Rose.
"I know, I heard it too..." Martha said, snapping him from his thoughts. She straightened and looked around. "C'mon, I think I know where she is!" She continued running, and John was hardly given a moment to even register her words before he was following after her.
Sorry this took so long. I've been really sick lately, fuggin allergies and all, so it's been hard getting myself to really do anything more outside of school and my new job. Especially since now I've lost my voice. Everyone's thrilled about that, though.
