The Doctor wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that. What did she mean she didn't want to forget? How could she possibly not want to forget the Time War? He knows he had wanted to forget it. But now wasn't the time for this, he had to get Rose to safety before his mind started... Well... He wasn't sure exactly.
"Alright, Rose, you need to find the door."
"The 'Happy Place' door?" Rose replied, grinning wildly. How was that even possible, that grin? She was genuinely happy, and based on what she had just seen, she should be crying with fear and sadness.
Rose Tyler would never cease to surprise him.
"Yeah, sure, the 'Happy Place' door. I'm not sure where it is exactly, just-" The Doctor got cut off by loud footsteps from behind Rose. He could see a bird's eye view picture of her, however it was very faint and blurry.
"What's that? Doctor?" Rose's expression turned to worry and she backed against the wall, hiding in the shadow.
"Stay still," He whispered to her, trying to calm her with his thoughts, although it wouldn't work. Instead she was wracked by the awful thoughts and images he had of her being murdered by the monster in his mind. The problem with her staying in his mind was that it was the one spot he truly couldn't hide his feelings from her. Sure, he could shut doors, hide old thoughts, but the current thoughts racing through his mind were public and freelancing.
Rose held her breath as something walked by her in the hallway, slowly and agonizingly. She could just barely make out its shape in the eerie darkness, and it seemed it was humanoid. The second it was gone, she released a deep breath and sprinted down the hallway in the other direction. The Doctor's thoughts raced around her, tangible, and she was surprised at how worried he actually was. Were his thoughts always like this? All she wanted at this moment was to feel his hand in hers, to be able to comfort him. Some of the thoughts were surprising as well.
"What's that mean?" She whispered to the walls of his mind, quickly walking down the hall.
"What does what mean?" His voice echoed.
"I can, well, hear your thoughts," Rose awkwardly gave a half-shrug and stopped walking.
"I know, and I'm sorry," The Doctor cringed, trying to control his thoughts to calm Rose down.
The idea that kept running through his head over and over was disgusting him. The idea that having her in his mind felt so incredibly nice, it felt so nice to not be alone anymore. He was sure that was what Rose was confused about, to a human, how could having someone else in your mind sound appealing? But to a Time-Lord, the comfort of another soul in your mind, being completely connected was important and meaningful.
"I kind of like it," Rose smiled, resting her hand on the wall and stroking it soothingly. This was probably one of the weirdest things she had ever done, but she definitely wasn't lying. Being in his mind, even though his thoughts were somewhat disturbing, gave her a strange sense of comfort.
"You what?" He said with disbelief in his voice, thinking she was joking or he had misheard her.
"I like it," She repeated, "Being here with you."
There was a long silence as Rose continued walking down the hallway, turning around often to check for monsters. Although she had been curious for what the monsters were, exactly, she didn't question it. His thoughts indirectly told her not to, if she did it would worry him further. She came upon the end of the hallway, where it split into two.
"Left," He said simply.
Rose obeyed and continued walking. The hallway seemed endless, and the idea that there could actually be a 'happy place' in this dreary world seemed insane. However, she kept walking. Even though at first she had tried to resist peering at his old thoughts because she thought he'd be more comfortable, Rose ended up easily searching through the Doctor's recent thoughts. Just the ones within the last day or so.
"Do you mind?" Rose asked him after another few minutes, nervously.
"You looking through my thoughts? Not really, but I wouldn't think you'd want to," He replied, leaning back into the bed, afraid if he opened his eyes he wouldn't be able to find Rose again.
River walked back into the room with the Glisereen, Pondew, and Roses, surprised to see the Doctor calmly laying on the bed and speaking to himself. She wasn't sure what she had expected to come back to, but knowing him, she probably expected him to be in danger again. Not that he wasn't already in danger, she reminded herself. "Doctor?" She asked lightly, not wanting to snap him out of the mental trance. It was obvious he was talking to Rose. He had a small, content smile on his face and his body was completely relaxed.
"You're at the door, Rose. Just open it up..." He whispered, his hand twitching a little bit, as if trying to touch her somehow.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and he leaned up on the bed, smiling madly at River. "Doctor, are you alright?"
"Perfect! I mean, fine. Rose is in my head, but we're fine. I'm fine. She's... Also, fine. So yes, we're fine. Great! You got the herbs!" He said happily, barely noticing his stammer and grabbing the herbs from Rose. "To the medical bay!"
River and the Doctor raced to the medical bay and they immediately started preparing their potion. They smashed together the plants and grinded them into dust. Adding a few various alien liquids, the potion was eventually done. The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck nervously, the potion in front of him, and he realized something.
He really, truly didn't want to drink it. Although, he knew he had to. Of course he had to, he couldn't keep Rose in there forever.
So he closed his eyes, gave her one last reassuring thought, brought the drink to his lips, and swallowed.
The Doctor's 'Happy Place' was very strange.
It was a house. Just a simple, little white house. No cars in the driveway, no lights on. Just a white house with one bedroom, one bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room. It was one story plus the tiny attic filled with memories, and looking around, Rose couldn't see any other houses anywhere. In fact, there wasn't even a street. The only sky was above the house, the sun was there too, with no clouds and no movement. All around the house was white nothingness.
Rose knocked on the door and instantly the lights flickered on, and the door swung open to reveal the Doctor, grinning wildly. This was an expression she had seen very, very few times before. Perhaps never.
It was an expression of pure ecstasy, as if he was the happiest person to have ever possibly lived. She had seen it once or twice, maybe when they were laying on the fields of New Earth (or New New New New New... You get the idea.) or when he realized they had arrived in Scotland. Or maybe just whenever he looked at her. But, this look was multiplied, because there wasn't a single hint of the sadness his eyes usually hid, the hint of the curse of the Time-Lords.
He opened the door and hugged her immediately, "Rose! How are you?"
"I'm great, Doctor," She replied, a bit dumbstruck. Like the last Doctor she had seen in his mind, this one probably had no idea what was truly going on outside of his brain. She followed him inside the house a bit absent-mindedly, surprised at what she saw.
Carpets, windows, tables, all that domesticated stuff he usually hated. It was absolutely everywhere. He walked about the house casually, as if he did this every single day of his life. "Would you like a drink?" He offered, preparing to make tea.
The Doctor, making tea. In a regular house. This was his happy place?
But, when someone else entered the house, everything clicked into place. Because it was Rose. Another Rose. She walked into the house and smiled at the real Rose, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to see another version of herself. Fake Rose walked over to the Doctor and put her arms around his waist, and he giggled and turned around to kiss her. The real Rose stood there in shock, amazed at what she was seeing.
"Wait," The real Rose said, and with her words the fake Rose and the Doctor broke their kiss and smiled at her brightly. "Are you two married?"
The Doctor flashed his ring to her and said, "It's a Teriminian Diamond."
"From the Turunian Galaxy?" The fake Rose stuck her tongue out of the teeth and kissed the Doctor on the cheek again.
"Look at you so smart," The Doctor teased and poked her into the side.
"Oi!" The fake Rose jumped and backed away teasingly as he tried to kiss her again. He made a pouting face, and she allowed him to kiss her again. "I love you."
"I love you too," He said easily, and hearing him say the words, even if it wasn't to the real Rose, shocked her beyond belief.
"Wait..." The real Rose said again, and walked up to the Doctor, who was completely fixated on his Rose.
The true Rose put her hand on his chest and realized why this place was really his 'Happy Place.' Why having her here, married to him, was his dream. Why living in a little white domestic house was what he wanted. Maybe even why he had brought her here to the first place. Probably why this place was safe.
He only had one heart.
Rose woke up, the last thing she remembered was having her hand on the Doctor's heart, and being completely content. She searched around the room and identified it as the Doctor's bedroom, with River and the real Doctor peering at her curiously. "Hello," She said weakly and began coughing.
"Sorry, the transition from a mind into reality isn't fun," He said, helping her off of the ground and smiling.
"Doctor..." Rose mumbled and sat down on the bed, trying to comprehend what exactly she had just seen. And if he had wanted her to see it. "What was the monster?"
"It's confusing," He said solemnly, with a strange pity in his voice. "He's..."
"The one who broke the promise," River finished, her eyes telling Rose not to question it any further. Rose nodded with understanding.
"Of course you'd know," The Doctor murmured and River gave him a mischievous smile.
"I'd better get going, I've got future-yous to see," River said, kissing his cheek.
"Alright, see you in the future... River Song," The Doctor grinned as she left the room and exited the TARDIS. Then he turned his full attention to Rose, who was still weakly sitting on the edge of his bed. "You okay?"
"Your head was confusing," She muttered, poking his head. "How can you put up with that?"
"Superior Time-Lo-"
"Superior Time-Lord physiology or biology or something-ology. Got it. But listen, Doctor, your... Um... Happy place," She began, having a feeling that this was definitely going to be a delicate topic for him.
"It'll never happen," He said softly, brushing her hair behind her ear, "As much as I'd love it to." His voice broke a little on 'love,' but he fixed it immediately after, hoping Rose hadn't caught that.
"But what if it could?" Rose replied quietly, meaning every word. If that was what he really wanted, she'd make it happen, because she most definitely wanted it too. And nothing would stop her, the Bad Wolf.
"It can't."
Rose and The Human Doctor's First Night Together (After Journey's End):
"Remember so long ago, my dream about this?" The human Doctor whispered to her as she lay in bed next to him, soothingly brushing her thumb over his cheek.
"Yeah. My dream too. We went through so much to get here... Was it worth it, for you?" She asked quietly in response.
"I'm surprised you'd even ask. Of course it was worth it for me. For you?" He replied, a light smile on his face. This was how life should be. A domestic little life with his perfect Rose Tyler.
"Of course."
Author's Notes: Wow! AwesomePossum completed a story! It's a miracle! Anyways... I really really hope you enjoyed this ending! (And I hope it wasn't too confusing, I spent like an hour editing this.) This nice long finale should hopefully satisfy you guys. :3 Another thing, if you enjoyed 'Body Switching' I'd really recommend trying out my story 'A Rose By The River.' Thanks and please tell me what you thought of this chapter!
