Fandom: Doctor Who, Series One; missing scene for Rose.

Character: Rose Tyler

I haven't got much time to waste,
it's time to make my way.
I'm not afraid of what I'll face,
but I'm afraid to stay.
I'm going down my road and I can make it alone.
I'll work and I'll fight till I find a place of my own

Are you ready to jump?
Get ready to jump.
Don't ever look back, oh baby.
Yes, I'm ready to jump.
Just take my hand, get ready to jump.

We learned out lesson from the start, my mother and me.
The only thing you can depend on is your family.
Life's gonna drop you down like a limb from a tree;
it sways and it swings and it bends until it makes you see.

There's only so much you can learn in one place.
The more that you wait, the more time that you waste.

Are you ready?

~ Madonna, Jump

This was one of those moments, Rose knew, which defined a life.

In less time than she thought possible, she reviewed her own and found it lacking. So many wrong choices, so many bitter disappointments, and she suspected little would change for the better until she was willing to force her own hand and admit to herself that she both wanted and deserved more.

It was no slight against Jackie, who was not only her mother but her best friend. They had been there for each other when no one else had been, had fought tooth and nail for everything they had which, while though it wasn't much, was theirs outright. They had survived.

But survival was no longer enough; she needed more. She needed to matter.

And while she loved Mickey, she wasn't in love with him, nor did she believe that she herself was his ideal woman. They were together because neither wanted to be alone, because they had history, and because theirs was a companionship which was easy and undemanding. But that's not what she wanted anymore, not for herself or for Mickey; they both deserved better.

She didn't know what she wanted from life, what she wanted that life to be, but she knew she would never find out by staying here. Settling into a life she knew she didn't want, simply because she was too afraid to take a chance, too lazy to demand more from herself? Sod that.

This Doctor, whoever he was, wasn't the answer to her problems, she knew. She didn't expect him to fix her life or make it a better one, but maybe he could show her how to do that for herself. A better way to live, a better way to be.

She wasn't afraid to leave and she wasn't afraid to fail. What terrified her was staying and nothing changing, of never trying, and in that moment, she made her decision. She dismissed Mickey's protestations, kissed him goodbye, and started running, grinning like a fool.

She jumped into the TARDIS, ready to become fantastic.