Epliogue
Authors note is at the bottom, as it contains spoilers for this chapter.
The wonder of it all
The wonder that I made
I am here to stay
I am here to stay
Stay.
- Little House, Amanda Seyfried
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Two Hundred and Twelve Years Later
14,243 years in the future. Planet Designation 2577-apple-23, Market Of Dreams
Rose stands in a market place and she is not Rose Tyler. Years back they assisted Unit with a mission and false records were created for the Doctor and Rose. They asked that their names be listed as Rose and James Legend. That is what she goes by now. Rose Legend.
In that same mission, Rose died and regenerated for the second time.
The woman standing in the middle of an alien planet, completely at ease, is short. Clocking in at an unspectacular five feet, she has red, wavy hair cut in a posh pixie cut; her skin is tan -if you look closely you might think it is embedded with gold flecks- and her muscles are lean and built for running, climbing, fleeing. She wears a black tank top and cargo pants. A silver key on a chain that hangs low between her breasts. Jackie wouldn't recognize her.
Miss you, Mum. She thinks with a sigh. Rose inhales her surroundings into her and it is a salve that runs over her in waves. Healing her.
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The sights (vendors waving hands and gesturing at overpriced bobbles), sounds (steam erupting from grates in giant wheezing puffs, the clomp blomp bomp bomp of an alien horse-type-creature on the metallic ground, the yelling of a mother to her child) and smells (saffron, armadillo bile soaking air that is thick with humidity) of the market place draw her in, she slips into the mess of haggling, bustling people. She grins at a scaly green man three times her hight and half her head size, he grins back and shows hooked yellow teeth. Rose merely waves a bit a moves on.
A familiar hand catches hers, gold sparks ignite and spill from their skin where they touch, and she can't help but smile up at the tall, floppy haired man beside her. She is whole.
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When Rose was thirty-five years old they had walked back to the TARDIS after visiting a planet that was strangely lacking in mishaps.
Rose had been distracted, waiting for an angry mob to appear from somewhere or huge alien bugs to descend upon them. She had started walking backwards to examin the skyline for angry puppet creatures and ended up falling into a lake. She would later insist on it was a very tricky puddle.
She emerged sputtering, soaked and irritated. The Doctor made the mistake of saying she looked like a wet dog. She marched back to the TARDIS in a sulk. He backtracked by saying she looked like a drowned kitten. Because kittens are brilliant! And cute. And they look so grumpy when they trip and fall into a lake.
She stalked away. He rolled his eyes and followed her towards the TARDIS. His long legs matched her stride easily which only frustrated her more. She went from stalking to stomping and the knowing that she was being immature just made her sulk harder.
"Rose." She ignored him. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. Her wet trainers squeaked. TARDIS getting closer. Left foot. Stalk, stalk, stalk. She muttered under her breath and picked a leaf from her stringy wet hair.
The Doctor stops her when they make it inside the TARDIS.
"Rose Tyler, you are being silly." She opens her mouth and her eyes start to squint. His own on coming storm. He takes her hand and holds it.
He stutters a bit. "And you are a silly girl. In the best way. I love that you look like a drowned kitten, don't I? You look cute."
She's grumpy enough to not let his words melt her. And then he pulls her hand to his mouth and kisses the inside of her wrist, his lips moving up her arm. Tickling. Her face cracks into a smile and his eyes twinkle back at her. But it's not until he stops kissing her arm to swirl his tongue over his lips and comment on the algae content of the lake water that she breaks down completely. Laughter rocks her body, and he looks at her in delighted wonder.
"I love you, Rose Tyler."
A smile grows wide on her face and her tongue presses against her teeth as she hiccups out a few more giggles. Her eyes glow, and if they water a bit she blames it on the laughter.
She touches his face. "I know."
That is the second time the Doctor told Rose that he loved her.
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Standing in the Market of Dreams Rose's smile is the same as it was the first time the Doctor saw it grace her face. Wide, innocent and joyful. He thinks that is very cool. It's also quite sexy, and he twirls his tie a bit with his right hand in a repressed sort of way. The familiar gesture makes Rose's eyes sparkle with both passion and acknowledgement.
The TARDIS is sitting in the distance but they aren't heading in that direction, they head instead in the direction of whatever wild adventure was to be found on this planet. Later, they will run back to the TARDIS breathing too fast, and laughing too hard - the Doctor will still take Rose's hand in his and kiss up from her wrist to her elbow just to make her laugh harder. That hasn't changed.
But something else has. He isn't alone anymore, and he isn't waiting to lose Rose. He decides to keep her, and time and fate have conspired together to let him.
The Doctor tells his Rose he loves her, and neither of them have any idea how many times he has said it before. It is too many times to count.
The words on Rose's skin tell a story.
They say that they will run together. They are the stuff of legend.
They are unbreakable.
A/N: This is it folks. Completing this story has been a goal of mine. originally this story was going to be two chapters long and have a strict "Rose bites the Dust" policy. That's not quite how it turned out. I'm glad it didn't, I really enjoyed writing this and love how the plot bunny took over. Not to mention the appearance of the 11th Doctor. That surprised me even while I was writing it.
I have mentioned before that I have thought of giving this story an alternate ending, I'm still planning on doing so. I just need to come up with a concept. Or rather, I have too many concepts and need to decide which one I'm going to use. I am also debating whether to pursue writing a sequel to this story. If the plot bunny bites I might just have too!
I would like to give a shout out to all of you reviewers! You are amazing, without you guys cheering me on I would not have finished this story nearly as quickly as I have. Thank you.
Booksaremyvideogames, I think you will appreciate this chapter. It was written before your review so I got a kick out of knowing this was coming.
A special nod to Valerie for her words of encouragement and willingness to talk out plot ideas.