Over the past few years, Rose had always kept fit no matter how much studying she had to do or how insistent Kimmy was that they go to this week's pub crawl. Most days she told herself it was so she would be able to slip right back into working at Torchwood after graduation, but deep down, she knew it was so that if she found Him again, they could run, hand in hand through new adventures. Together. The fact that Rose was completely exhausted by the time the company escorting her stopped in front of a large metal door made her wonder at exactly how long she had been unconscious and what they'd had running through the IV she'd found in her arm.
Rose remained uncharacteristically quiet as she prepared herself for whatever horrors laid ahead of her. She thought about her mum, of Pete, Mickey, Jake, Kimmy and little Tony, but quickly pushed such thoughts aside before they could stray to him. Thoughts of her loved ones had no place in these dreary halls. Not unless that was all she had left, and she refused to believe she had arrived at that point. Not yet, anyway. Madame Kovarian set about activating what looked like a complex keypad to the left of the door while Rose was patted down and relieved of the few things she had shoved in her pockets during her raid of the infirmary. The guard to her right was getting far too familiar with her in the process and she started to turn and tell him just where he could shove that stethoscope. Before she let out more than an indigent sound, the door in front of her slid open with a hiss and rough hands unceremoniously flung her over the threshold. Her cuffs deactivated and she whirled around just in time to slam into the door as it slid closed.
"Oi!" She yelled, miffed at the lack of explanation and rough treatment, not to mention the guard's wandering hands, "You open this bloody door right this second and you tell me what the bloody hell is going on! You have no idea who you are messing with, lady! And you, Mr. Handsy on the right! You just look out because I'm coming straight for you once I break out of this box. I swear it! You hear me?" with a final futile pound of her hand Rose sagged against the door. They probably couldn't even hear her through the thick metal that separated them. Still, it felt good to let a little frustration out. She rested her forehead, slick with perspiration, on the cool metal and took a deep breath. Time to face whatever it was they had planned for her. Nothing had attacked her from behind yet. She was willing to take that as a good sign. Steeling herself, she turned…
Of all the things Rose expected to see when she moved to face the rest of the room, it was certainly not a shabby looking Time Lord staring at her open-mouthed and speechless. Speechless, hmm? Another duplicate then, she mused. What was this Madame woman on about? Trying to drive her mad?! Rose's frustration flared to life and she aimed it at whatever sorry alien they'd gotten to impersonate the Doctor this time.
"Listen mate, I don't know what game you and Madame Eyepatch are trying to play here, but I'm not exactly the type of girl you can fool twice with this jig. So please, just bugger off because I can definitely take you, but I think it would be in both our best interests if you just -"
"Rose?" she stopped the tirade abruptly, chilled in an instant at the raspy sound. It was just one syllable, choked out and hardly above a whisper, but it stopped her rant as if he had screamed. She studied him more closely. He was in the wrong clothes again, this time it was shapeless off-white attire that hung off his skinny frame. He was thinner than she remembered - his pale, stubbled cheeks seeming to collapse into his face. His eyes were ringed with dark circles and open almost cartoonishly wide as they stared at her. In all the obvious ways, he seemed to be an even worse impersonation than the one she had encountered before. But his eyes…his eyes had been the thing to finally convince her that the Doctor was still her Doctor after he had regenerated all those years ago. Nearly everything about him had changed in that explosion of golden light, but when their eyes had met she had seen the same man she had fallen in love with looking out at her from a new face. And now those same eyes were focused on her as the Doctor gaped at her like she was a ghost. The Doctor had talked and talked his way through the universe, but in that one syllable, her name, she heard more, so much more than all of that blabbering put together. All this she took in over the course of just a moment. But that was all she needed.
"Doctor?" she gasped. Afraid to hope, but at the same time already knowing. "It's really you this time, isn't it?" She still had to ask. If for no other reason than to hear his voice again when he answered.
He just shook his head, but Rose knew it wasn't at her question. He seemed to have barely heard her. "But…but that's impossible," he muttered quietly, then slightly louder addressing her with accusing eyes, "You're not real. You can't be." Rose's stomach dropped as he screwed up his face and turned from her shaking his head almost manically. "No, no no. Please. Please…just don't. I don't know what you are trying to do, what this could possibly accomplish, but just please…not, not with her. Not using her face." He seemed to be addressing the walls and Rose's concern grew.
Rose stepped forward warily, lifting an arm out towards him even though he was still several paces away, "Doctor. It's me. It's Rose, your Rose. Please, just turn around. Just turn around and look at me."
The Doctor remained staring at the opposite wall, shaking his head, "No. You're not her. She's gone."
"Not gone Doctor, just a dimension away. And that's just peanuts really, when it's us we're talking about. The Stuff of Legends, yeah? What's one little universe? But it's not even that anymore. I'm here. I'm right here. Please just - just look at me." She was amazed that she still had any ability to speak over the tightness in her throat and the hope pounding away in hear heart.
He did turn around then, but it was in a violent whirl and he glared at her with accusation back in his eyes. If she already didn't trust him completely, she might have been scared. "You are not Rose Tyler!" he thundered, "She's dead. I held her as she died and watched the life fade from her eyes. Even the bastards who are running this place couldn't get her blood off my suit. It's there, hanging in the closet. I can see it. Even when the door's closed. Even when my eyes are closed. I can see it. I don't know what you're playing at, but you. Are. Not. Rose. Tyler. And you can tell Madame to bugger off."
He went to turn back around but Rose lunged at him, finally tackling the last bit of distance between them. She placed her shaking hand on his arm and to her surprise it was enough to bring him back facing her. The full weight of his tormented gaze started down at her. "Doctor, oh god, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry you had to - that you thought - but if someone died…that wasn't me," her voice was thick with tears and her mind whirled at what she could say to convince him, to forever wipe that look of hopelessness off his face. "Listen to me please!" she begged gripping him harder as his eyes dulled, a look she remembered meant he was retreating into himself. If she didn't get through to him soon, he'd disengage completely. "They've been using copies of us against each other. In the other universe, Pete's World, you came and kidnaped me, but of course it wasn't really you, was it? Just a good enough imitation to fool me for a bit. And let me guess, the other me, the one who - who died, she was wearing a necklace wasn't she? With a strange sort of colorful metallic -"
"Diamond shaped pendant," he finished for her. She thought she caught a glimmer of hope cross his features before the hard mask fell back into place. She nodded focusing on the glimmer, trying to encourage him to accept it, to accept her.
"Doesn't mean anything," he shrugged. "Anyone could know that. Well, anyone mixed up in this anyway."
She was losing what little ground she had gained. Fighting back a wave of fear and desperation she plowed on, "Alright. That may be true, but Doctor," she slid the hand on his arm up to cup his face, "Look at me. You know me. Better than anyone ever has or ever will. Look at me. Because that other girl who looked like me, I bet there were things that didn't quite add up, yeah? Like she had my voice but didn't use it the same way. Maybe dressed funny or had different mannerisms? Look at me. Please Doctor, just look at me. It's me. It's Rose. Your Rose. And I've missed you so, so much." She was crying in ernest now, afraid that any other attempts at speech would be no more than sobs. The hand palming his face drifted away as she looked down in defeat.
A few moments later, she felt his hand slip under her chin and the contact sent waves of warmth through her. He lifted her face slowly until they were staring into each other's eyes. He was shaking his head again, but this time Rose saw it was with wonder.
"Rose," he breathed, not a question this time, and then all there was in the multiverse was him. His arms around her waist, crushing her to him with desperation, the smell of him as she buried her face in the crook of his neck, the vibration of his body as he took shallow, shaky breaths, "Oh Rose. I'd lost you. I'd lost you," he began to sway back and forth with her as he murmured those words over and over again.
She joined in with her own chorus of, "It's ok. We found each other. I'm here. I'm here. I've got you." Her hand drifted up to rub comforting circles on the back of his neck while the other remained wrapped around his torso, pulling him as close as possible.
She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, her soaking his shirt with tears and, to her surprise, feeling a few warm drops coming from him on the back of her neck. Finally, needing to look into his eyes again, she carefully drew back. He was still looking at her like she was a miracle. She couldn't help the tongue touched smile she beamed at him before asking, "So you missed me too then?"
He reached up, cupping her face with his palm and wiping gingerly at her tear-stained cheek with his thumb. To Rose's relief, his lips quirked up into his own soft smile as he replied, "So much."
They came together then, lips meeting harshly at first in their haste and then slower as they both tried to savor the moment. Finally. Rose thought hazily and then stopped thinking altogether. She let him became her world. His lips were chapped, but soft underneath as they brushed across her own in a caress that was colored with reverence. For a few moments, that was all it was, soft caresses, light touches, but then the kisses became harder and Rose moved the hand at the back of his neck up to tangle at his hair. Needing to feel the realness of him, wanting more, Rose brushed her tongue lightly over his bottom lip. He readily opened to her and she grazed the tip of his tongue with her own. One of them, Rose really wasn't sure who, moaned at the contact. She opened her mouth and he took the opportunity to explore her more deeply. It was bliss and better than any dream or fantasy. Kissing him felt like coming home.
They finally broke apart, Rose gasping for air and noting that the Doctor wasn't exactly breathing evenly himself. He leaned down resting his forehead on hers so their noses touched.
"Hello," she whispered through a watery smile.
"Hello," he breathed matching her hushed tone.
She drew back slightly, once again looking into the chocolate brown of his eyes. They were still bloodshot and sunken, but now Rose saw they were once again infused with life, just as she had remembered them. She knew then that everything was going to be ok. It didn't matter that they were in some kind of prison (again) or even what Madame Kovarian had in store. Because now they were together. And any being in any universe who rose up against them had better watch out.
