Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. I just bring the characters out to play for a bit in my own storylines!
A/N Well, what can I say except a HUGE thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far – you guys are the reason I keep writing! I really appreciate your comments! Please keep reviewing! I'll give you choccie biccies! ; ) (And I update more quickly if I get loadsa reviews!)
Okay…so here is there Chapter you've all been waiting for! I hope it lives up to your expectations! There's a lot of plot stuff to deal with the next few chapters so fluff lovers bear with me – there's a fluff fest at the end of the story as a reward! Yey!
9 – Living the dream
"Impossible…" The Doctor let out a breathy gasp, but then he turned to his right, and there she was, His Rose, in all her beauty.
"Nothing is impossible…" Rose whispered, squeezing his hand again. "I'm here…I did it." Tears streamed down her face as she looked up and met his kind brown eyes, which were studying her in wonderment.
The Doctor looked at Rose as if she was his very salvation, his eyes wide and brimming with emotion.
"Rose…." He uttered her name like a prayer.
"Doctor…"
Then he threw his arms around her, lifting her clean off her feet. Rose clung to him, burying her head in the crook of his neck and closing her eyes as she held him tightly, never wanting to let him go. And they stood there, just holding each other in absolution, no words being able to describe what they felt.
The Doctor pulled back after a few moments just to look at her, to drink in her appearance, to look into her eyes. She still looked the same…just the way she looked last time he saw her. Then reality hit him like a kick in the guts.
"Rose – how?", he asked, surprised at how breathless he sounded.
"Huh?" Rose was startled back to reality by the Doctors words. She had dreamed of seeing him again for so long, but the dreams were not half as good as the reality…she shook herself. "Yes…right. I'd better explain, and quickly. There might not be lot of time."
For once the Doctor was silent and his face became serious. He sat down on the floor, his feet unable to support him any longer. Rose slid down next to him and started to explain. He listened intently, refusing to let go of her hand, lest she was pulled away from him by some mystical force. He couldn't believe what he was hearing – a Dimension Divider in the Daleks possession…that could be a deadly weapon if they found the right person to operate it. His brow furrowed, and Rose smiled in spite of herself. He grinned back.
"What are you smiling at?" He asked, eyes twinkling.
"You…" Rose's smile widened. "You were furrowing your brow…I love it when you do that. Anyway…so, this Dalek said…"
Rose finished the story by explaining how the Dalek had been destroyed and how she had decided to come back before Pete patched up the breach.
"That was very dangerous Rose…" the Doctor frowned at her.
"I know…I'm sorry. But it was my one chance…my only chance to get back here…to you." She met his eyes, and the love between them burned.
"How long has it been for you?" He asked, forgetting all about the Dalek threat the moment he looked into her eyes.
"Two years, three months and this morning." She said, without hesitating. "You?"
"Ten…well, it would have been ten years in…about three and a half hours." The Doctor bowed his head, then shook himself again. "I'm sorry Rose – this is all going to have to wait, isn't it?" He smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. 'It's typical…I just get back the love of my life and we have to go chasing bloody Daleks…'
She nodded "Yep." She reached into her coat pocket. "Thought you might want this…" She held out the container with the Time Lord device in it and the Doctor stared, unable to believe his eyes.
"I don't believe it…the last Dimension Divider… "
Rose grinned, "So original…" She rolled her eyes. "I've been wondering what it was called…and now I'm just disappointed! You'd think your lot would have had more inventive names for things – Dimension Divider? Honestly…"
"It's a bit rubbish really, isn't it?" The Doctor agreed, grinning back at her. "But I don't make these things up…" He shrugged. "If I did they'd all have fantastic names…"
"Anyway – it's yours. Last Time Lord and all…" she smiled, squeezing his hand before releasing it so he could take the container from her.
"What exactly was it used for?" She asked after a moment, as she watched the Doctor study the device and scan it over with his sonic screwdriver.
"Well…when my people were still alive it was quite easy to travel between most parallel worlds – we tried to keep the walls between dimensions quite open to us, but every so often a new dimension would be formed or an old one would start to seal itself off and so this little beauty…" he spun the container holding the device around with his nimble fingers "…would be used to help break down the walls if a Time Lord ever needed to get through to try and keep the links stable, or it could be used to close up a breach or a path between worlds if necessary…It had other uses too but that was the main purpose." He sighed, his expression becoming solemn. "It'll have to be destroyed…it's far too dangerous to keep it."
"I knew you'd say that, but I thought I'd bring it to you – just in case it would be of any use against the Daleks…"
"The Daleks…" the Doctor jumped up, quickly tucking the device inside his coat and staring at the wall, as if waiting for one to appear right in front of them. "I need to check for the tear here. I need…" but Rose was already holding up the 3D specs that she still had in her pocket. He smiled. "You always know don't you?"
He slipped the glasses on and frowned before handing them to Rose. She put them on and sighed in frustration – she could see the tear and the void stuff was seeping through.
"Doctor?" Rose asked suddenly.
"Hmm?"
"The Dalek that came through in Pete's world…it didn't have any power. It could even perform an emergency temporal shift, so maybe any that will try and come through here will be the same?"
"Maybe…" he had started pacing, "but I don't think so. The commander probably sent through the weakest of its soldiers as reconnaissance, just in case anything happened. They would be cautious attempting to get out of the void again. I need to close it…now."
"How?" Rose asked, pacing around with him, just to stay close.
"With this!" He held up the container Rose had given him and grinned at her. "We need to get back to the TARDIS, quickly. We haven't got much time." He tucked the device back in his pocket, then held out his hand, and wiggled his fingers. Rose looked and laughed before taking hold of it tightly.
"The old team again?" she asked.
"Mutt and Jeff…" he grinned.
"Shiver and Shake." She grinned back.
"Me and you…" and then they ran. "Oh…and Martha!" said the Doctor suddenly, grinning madly as they got to the lift and hopped in.
"Who's Martha?" Rose frowned, feeling like someone had dropped a brick in her chest.
'Oops...' "Umm…well it's a long story – kinda..." the Doctor said, sheepishly, as the lift doors closed.
"Well, you've got forty-five floors to tell me about it." Rose frowned, tapping her foot. "Alone…yeah, great…there was me all worried that you were running around the universe alone, and you've gone and forgotten me like Sarah-Jane. Was I just another 'assistant' that you decided you would have to give up at some point and then exchange me for a new model?" she was on the point of tears, feeling a little foolish, but rather fragile.
The Doctor dropped her hand and took her by the shoulders, looking deep into her eyes. "I would NEVER do that to you. Not to you. Never…Rose, it's been ten years for me. I've travelled almost all of them alone. Martha…well she joined me by accident a week or two ago, and she would never have replaced you. I need you to understand that Rose – never." He gave Rose such an intense look that her legs almost gave out, and she knew that he was being sincere.
She nodded, and felt slightly ashamed that she thought the Doctor would forget her, after all the promises he had made her…after he burned up a sun to say goodbye to her.
"I'm sorry…" she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and relaxed as she felt his strong arms close around her, drawing her closer to him. "I didn't want you to be alone, really. I hoped you'd find someone to travel with…It's just I was so worried that you'd forget about me, that I'd just be another Sarah-Jane, wasting her life loving someone who didn't love her back in the same way; just another friend or lost love…after all, I'm just a tiny part of more than nine hundred years…"
"Never think that Rose – you saved me in every way a person can be saved…." He whispered in her ear softly and gulped as he felt her begin to play idly with the hair at the nape of his neck, feeling his concentration slipping as he lost himself in her scent...
He cleared his throat and pulled away abruptly. "Sorry getting a bit deep there." He grinned half-heartedly but Rose looked disappointed. "This isn't the time." He said, looking at her seriously again.
"We've got the world to save and I've got a story to tell you…"
The lift pinged open.
"But now I'm gonna have to tell you as we run!" He flashed his trademark grin at her, "Come on Rose Tyler!"
"I know…run for your life." Rose grinned and grabbed his hand as they ran through the bottom floor of Torchwood, attracting strange stares as they went.
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By the time they arrived back at the door to the TARDIS the Doctor had managed to quickly tell Rose about the hospital on the moon and all that had happened since. She felt much better having heard about Martha, though she was quite jealous at some of the adventures she had shared with the Doctor that she hadn't.
"You OK?." He asked, squeezing her hand tightly for a moment, giving her a warm smile, before opening the door.
"Yeah." Rose smiled nervously, letting him go in first, not entirely sure she was ready to face the 'new girl'.
"Where the hell have you been? I thought you weren't coming back! You could have been dead!" Rose heard a woman, presumably Martha, yell angrily as the Doctor sauntered in through the door. "Wait – are you OK?"
"Never better Martha Jones!" he said, beaming. "Why?"
"It's just…you look…happy…really happy." Martha sounded shocked and Rose smiled slightly. The Doctor wiggled his hand at her through the TARDIS door and she took it, letting him pull her inside. The Doctor heard Rose breath in sharply as she looked around the ship, reacquainting herself. He looked at her, a kind smile spreading over his face as he watched her.
"Welcome back Rose." He said quietly, gently rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb as the TARDIS hummed louder than usual. "Listen – she's happy to see you."
"I'm happy to see her too." Rose smiled back at him. "Hello old girl – I missed you."
The TARDIS hummed happily.
"Wait…did you say Rose?" Martha looked carefully at the girl that the Doctor had just dragged aboard. It was Rose…the Rose that she had been watching on the hologram.
"I did indeed Martha. Rose Tyler meet Martha Jones. Trainee doctor, thinks she's smarter than me, fancies Shakespeare." The Doctor grinned at Rose – he couldn't stop grinning. Martha was amazed. It was the first time that she had seen a smile truly reach his eyes.
"Hi." Rose waved nervously at Martha.
"Rose…the Rose?! I don't believe it!" Martha looked astounded as she walked around the console to get closer to them.
"He talks about me?" Rose looked truly touched.
Martha nodded: "Yeah, sometimes. Rose would know what to do, Rose would say just the right thing…you're not replacing her you know!" Martha rolled her eyes and smiled a little as Rose's face split into a grin. She looked at the Doctor.
"You talk about me?"
He nodded "Maybe…" he smiled and then laughed as Rose threw her arms around him again, knowing how much that meant to her after the incident with Sarah-Jane all those years ago. "Right…sorry ladies, you're going to have to get to know each other later." He reluctantly let go of Rose. "Rose I need you to fill Martha in on the story, yeah – she doesn't know about the parallel universe or anything."
Martha looked at the floor. Although it was the TARDIS that had shown her the hologram she still felt a little guilty for watching – it was supposed to be private, after all.
"Right oh sarge." Rose saluted. "What are you gonna do?"
"I am going to work my magic on this little beauty – get her set up to close the breach. For good…" He carefully took the Dimension Divider out of the box and placed it on the TARDIS console, then looked at Rose, an apology in his eyes. "You're not going to be able to go back…"
"I knew that before I came…I told you once a long time ago – I made my decision. My life is with you." Rose put her hand on the Doctors arm and looked at him. He put his free hand on top of hers for a moment, holding her gaze, before turning back to the matter at hand, leaving Rose to explain the situation to Martha.
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In Torchwood, business was carrying on as normal. The employees went about their daily routine unaware that on the top floor there were three dark shapes appearing on the white wall, covered with photographs and brass plaques. The Daleks had arrived…
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PLEASE review! Let me know what you think! Next chapter will be up soon….
A/N I just want to take this opportunity to plug my other ongoing story 'Trapped' (see my profile) – it's an adventure story with Captain Jack's return to the TARDIS. It's had quite a poor response so far, possibly because of minor spoilers for the start of 'Utopia' in the Prologue. If you don't want to be spoiled even a tiny bit please keep it in mind for a read once the ep has aired, or skip the prologue and have a look at the first chapter – it's where the story actually starts with Jack setting foot in the TARDIS!
There's gonna be some lovely Rose10 fluff in there, though it'll probably be in the form of a dream seeing as Rose isn't in the story. I've written a lovely bit already which only works in the context of the 'Trapped' story and I don't really want to have to lock it away in a drawer!!
OK…I'll shut up now! Thank you if you bothered to read that!
Next Chapter of 'Time to Heal' will be up in a day or two…possibly tomorrow if you guys nag enough!