Title: It starts with Barcelona
Pairing: Ten/Rose
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rate: T
Story: AU version of "Doomsday": Rose stayed with the Doctor and they set up their new beginning. There's something different in Rose, something that she still doesn't understand. The Doctor does though and he'll try to help her. This time, he'll allow himself to be selfish. Only this time, because she's the reason. She's the main reason that keeps him going.
A/N: Hello, guys. I've decided it's time to try something new and that's the reason I've started watching "Doctor Who". Then, I found myself falling in love with Ten... and then in Ten/Rose relationship. Because they are unique and special. So, I've decided to write my own post-version of "Doomsday". Enjoy and I hope you like it. :)
Chapter Twenty One: Smiths are just a story
"She's the Bad Wolf!" Baines smirked. "Maybe she could be useful."
"She's not fully Time Lord just yet." Jenny was trying to free herself from Rose's grip. "We need him!"
"What's going on here?" The Doctor looked completely oblivious.
"I'm sorry, Doctor." Rose didn't even turn around to look at him. "I'll have to kill them."
"I'm not the Doctor!" He shook his head. "I'm John Smith!"
Rose didn't look at him again. "Get everybody out! Now!" She felt he hesitated for a moment and shouted. "Now!"
That made him move. He walked towards her. "I'm not gonna leave you!"
"I'll be fine!" Rose took a deep breath. "I'll follow you! Now go!"
After what it looked a long minute, the Doctor finally listened to her. He escorted everybody out the room. Only Rose and the family left there. She was still holding Jenny. She then pushed Jenny away and held the gun with both hands.
"Don't try anything! I'm warning you, or sonny boy gets it!" She hissed.
"She's almost there." Baines tilted his head. "Brave as a Time Lord and vengeful as a human. Perfect mix I should say. The Doctor finally found his mach." He chuckled. "Too bad he won't live long enough to enjoy it."
The family slowly approached to Rose. She hesitated should she use her power on them. However, the Doctor had warned her not to play with the time too much. They had a bitter experience the last time she had done that. Maybe using the gun now would be just enough.
"I should have taken her form." Jenny was saying. "Just imagine the possibilities."
Rose backed away. "What happened to Jenny? Is she gone?"
Jenny laughed. "She's consumed. Her body is mine."
Rose licked her lips. "She's dead."
"Yes. And she went with precious dignity. All that—aah—screaming." Jenny laughed again.
Then a scarecrow grabbed Rose from behind. She dropped the gun, ducking under the scarecrow's arm and ran outside. The first person she saw was the Doctor. "Don't just stand there! Move!" She took his hand and started running. He had no other choice, but to follow her.
They arrived at school soon after. The Doctor closed the heavy wooden main door behind them. Once he had done that, he looked at her. Rose had never seen him so scared. However, she had to remind to herself that wasn't the Doctor. That was still John Smith. She took his hand again, but his look was still confused.
"What's going on? Please, tell me! I'm begging you!" His eyes searched for hers. It was like he was trying to find his answer there.
Rose sighed and placed her both hands on his face. "I'm sorry my love, I'm really sorry. But our life here is a lie. It was good while it lasted." She watched him intently. "You are the Doctor, not John Smith. And I'm not your wife."
He shook his head. "That's impossible! I love you!"
"I know you do." Rose said softly. "I know you do, but you can't say it." She lifted up on her tiptoes to kiss him. "I'm gonna miss John Smith. I really do."
He still looked confused when the Headmaster rushed into the room, ringing a bell. They looked at his face.
"I've heard what happened in the village! They're coming here! We have to arm the boys now!"
"You can't do that!" Rose shook her head with anger. "They're gonna kill them all!"
"We have to try." Headmaster said, while the boys were already filling the room.
Few minutes later they were already loading machine guns and other weapons. The Doctor was yelling at them to maintain positions and Rose couldn't do anything more, but to watch. She knew all this was pointless.
"Is it true they threatened Mr. Smith?" Headmaster asked her.
Rose nodded. "Yes, they did. But-"
"One of ours! That's enough reason to fight!" Headmaster scoffed. "Very well, boys! Remain on guard! Mr. Snell, telephone the police. Mr. Philips, with me. We shall investigate!"
Rose just shook her head. Nobody was going to listen to her. She pulled out the watch again, opening it slightly. She could hear the Doctor's voice again.
"Hold me. Keep me safe. Keep me dark. Keep me closed. The time is not right."
She sighed and closed the watch again, looking at the Doctor. Not now, but soon. Rose was sure of that. Soon he'd become the Doctor again. He had to. Right now, she was stuck in here, just watching the beginning of the battle. The Headmaster and Mr. Philips strode outside to confront Baines and Jenny. The other two of the family were nowhere to be seen. She couldn't hear what they were talking, but she was sure that thy both would get hurt. She wasn't mistaken. Soon she saw Baines pointing a gun at Mr. Philips and disintegrating him. Jenny laughed as the Headmaster ran back inside. The Doctor left the window he's standing and looked at her. Rose just shook her head. There was nothing she could do. Well, she could but she knew that he wouldn't want that. So, she simply remained silent.
"Mr. Philips has been murdered, Mr. Smith! Can you tell me why?" The Headmaster walked to the Doctor.
"I don't know." The Doctor said with shaking voice. "And the telephone line has been disconnected, sir. We're on our own."
'If we have to make a fight of it, then make a fight we shall. Hutchinson, we'll build a barricade within the courtyards, fortify the entrances, build our defenses. Gentlemen, in the name of the King, we shall stand against them." The Headmaster ordered.
"Yes, sir!" The boys answered.
The Headmaster then walked out of the room and the boys fled out to help him with the defenses. Three boys lower a wooden bar across the heavy main doors. They were talking during the whole preparation and acting as a team. The teachers were directing the boys as they prepared for the attack. Rose walked outside with the Doctor. He was giving orders to the boys, along with the Headmaster. Just then the scarecrows arrived en masse and stood behind Baines and Jenny.
Baines laughed. "War comes to England – a year in advance."
The Family then closed their eyes for a moment and their faces glowed in green light. Rose looked around nervously. If only she could have telepathy. It would be so much better. She was sure that they just shared thoughts with the two missing members of the Family. The teachers and the boys were in the courtyard making final preparations.
Baines stared at the Doctor. Apparently he just had received available information. "Time Lord."
Jenny stared at the Doctor as well. "Inside the device."
"What?" The Doctor and Rose said in one voice. They both looked shocked. How the family had found out about that? Rose looked around. Now she was completely sure that at least one of their members was inside of the school.
"Everything he is concealed away in the hands of a schoolboy. Now we know that's all we need to find-the boy and the watch. What are we waiting for? Attack!" Baines yelled.
The scarecrows began to move forward. Inside the courtyard, the boys were at their guns, firing against the scarecrows. The Doctor started shooting as well. Some of the scarecrows fell but other kept coming. The boys kept shooting until there was no one left standing.
"Cease fire!" The Headmaster yelled and went to the bodies. "They're straw. Like he said. Straw!"
"No one's dead, sir? We killed no one?" One of the boys looked at the Doctor, but he didn't have the answer.
They heard footsteps and the Headmaster went back to the boys. Rose's eye widened when she saw Lucy, the little girl, approaching to them. So, it was her. Headmaster went to her.
"You child, come out of the way. Come into the school. You don't know who's out there. It's the Cartwright girl, isn't it? Come here. Come to me." The Headmaster reached out his hand to her.
"No!" Rose yelled. "Don't go near her!"
"Quiet!" The Headmaster scoffed.
"Listen to me! She's part of it!" Rose tried again. She looked at the Doctor. "Tell him!"
"She was-she was with-with Baines in the village." The Doctor said.
"Mr Smith, I've seen many strange sights this night but there is no cause on God's earth that would allow me to see this child in the field of battle, sir." He frowned and then turned back to Lucy. "Come with me."
Lucy reached into her coat, pulling out a gun and shot the Headmaster. "You were so funny." She laughed. "Now who's going to shoot me – any of you, really?"
The Doctor looked at the boys. "Put down your guns." He lowered his own rifle. "I'll not see this happen. Not anymore. You will retreat...in an orderly fashion back through the school. Hutchinson, lead the way." He said to one of the boys.
"But sir-" He tried to protest.
The Doctor shouted. "I said, lead the way."
Baines walked closer to the walked closer to the battlefield, firing his gun into the air. "Go on then, run!" He laughed. "Reanimate!" He ordered to the scarecrows.
Rose used that moment to take the Doctor's hand. "Come on!"
The boys ran back into the school chased by the scarecrows. The Doctor and Rose took the boys out via the passage through the stables. However, some of the boys got caught by the Family. They sniffed them one by the other, trying to find any lead to the Doctor and his watch. Meanwhile, Rose felt the watch in her pocket getting warmer. She knew that soon the time would come. She could hear it whispering in her head.
"Lord of Time…"
From the place where they were hiding, they could hear Jenny screaming. "Outside! They are outside!" Apparently, they had heard the watch as well.
"I think we should better run now." The Doctor said, opening the door to the passage. He saw scarecrows standing there. Then he slammed the door and locked it. "Maybe there's another way."
Rose nodded to the other door and the Doctor nodded. They ran outside just in time and kept running until they reached the woods. Rose stopped when she felt she couldn't run anymore. She knelt on the ground, he head hanging between her shoulders and she breathed heavily. That was weird, because she was better at running before. She was supposed to be even stronger now.
"Are you okay, Rose?" She felt the Doctor's hands on her shoulders.
However, she didn't have time to answer. They've heard the voice of Clark, the last member of the Family. He was standing right in front of the TARDIS.
"Doctor! Doctor!" He sing-songed from across the field. Rose looked there and her eyes widened. "Come back, Doctor. Come home. Come and claim your prize."
Baines was there as well. "Out you come, Doctor! There's a good boy. Come to the Family."
Jenny chuckled. "Time to end it now! Come out, Doctor! Come to us!"
"Do you recognize it?" Rose looked at the Doctor. "Do you remember its name?"
"I've never seen it in my life." He said stubbornly.
"You wrote about it, Doctor. The blue box. You dreamt of a blue box." Rose insisted.
The Doctor shook his head. His voice broke. "I'm not-I'm John Smith. That's all I want to be. John Smith, with his life...and his job...and his love. Why can't I be John Smith? Isn't he a good man?"
"Yes, he is." Rose rubbed his back.
"Then why can't I stay? Why can't we stay like this?"
"Because we need the Doctor now." Rose said as calmly as she could. "If I could lead that battle on my own, I would have. But… you wouldn't like it."
"So what am I then, huh? What are we? We're just a story." The Doctor ran off and Rose followed him. Her face was pensive.
"This way." Rose took his hand. "We can go back to the Smiths house for now."
"You mean our house?" He said without even looking at her.
"I—yes." Rose nodded.
The house was dark and somehow colder than they had left it earlier. Rose watched him sit on the table. He leaned his head in his hands. His face was hidden. However, he looked like he was carrying the weight of the world.
"I must go then before anyone else dies." The Doctor said finally. He looked up at her and Rose saw his suffering. Her heart ached for him. "Is there another way out?"
She shook her head and sat beside of him. "No." Then she pulled out the watch and put it on the table. "Everything you have to do is to hold it."
The Doctor looked at the watch as if it was some kind of evil. "No."
"Please, just hold it." Rose placed her hand on his arm, rubbing it lightly. "Believe me there's nothing else we could do no."
A sudden explosion outside made them jump on their seats. They both rushed to the window. It looked like meteorites were falling to the ground. However, they both knew there weren't meteorites.
"They are destroying the village." Rose said quietly.
The Doctor took a deep breath and said softly. "The watch." Then he picked it up from the table.
"Come closer." The watch whispered.
"Can you hear it?" Rose walked to him.
"I think he's asleep." The Doctor muttered. "He's waiting to be awaken."
"He spoke to me." Rose said carefully.
Then something in the Doctor snapped. He spoke with his normal voice. "Oh, low-level telepathic field. You were born with it. Just an extra synaptic engram causing—" Then he stopped all of a sudden and looked at Rose. "Is that how he talks?"
Rose was smiling softly. "All you have to do is to open the watch and he'll be back."
"Do you want me to?" He looked at her intensely. "To lose everything we have here?"
Rose gulped down the tears and placed her hand on his arm again. "It was always going to end, though! The Doctor said the Family's got a limited lifespan. That's why they need to consume a Time Lord. Otherwise, three months and they die. Like mayflies, he said."
"That means yes then." The Doctor looked at the watch again.
"No!" Rose almost shouted. "If it's up to me, I'd live like this forever with you! But this is not you, not the real you! Don't you get it? It would be like living in a lie and we both don't want that." She tried to calm her voice. "People are dying out there! They need him as much as I need him. You have no idea what he is, okay? He's everything to me from the moment I met him! I love him! HIM! Because he is you. He is hidden in you!"
The house rocked from the explosions. The Doctor stared at her. "I should have thought of it before-I can give them this. Just the watch. Then they can leave and I can stay as I am!"
Rose shook her head. "You can't do that!"
"If they want that Doctor, they can have him!"
"He'll never let you do it. Screw that!" Rose grabbed his hand that held the watch. "I won't let you do it!"
"If they get what they want, then-then-" The Doctor was on the verge of tears.
"Then they'll destroy everything! They'll live forever to breed and conquer. War across the stars… for every child."
"No-no!" The Doctor broke down and Rose wrapped her arms around him. He hated to see him that weak. Few minutes later he finally contained his emotions.
"If I could do that instead of you, I would." Rose rubbed his back when he pulled back. "If I could have one last game with the Time, I would use it. But I can't. We don't know what's gonna happen now. You won't want me to risk it."
"I really thought…" The Doctor reached out for Rose's hand. "He loves you. I can feel it. He loves you too. Although he hadn't said it."
"I know." Rose said softly.
"But still… we could have so much more here." The Doctor looked back at the watch. Visions of him and Rose flashed before his eyes: the birth of their first child, walking in the park with her and their three children, them growing old together. He gasped and looked at Rose. "Did you see it?"
Rose nodded. "Yes, I did." Her eyes went wet and she blinked furiously to hide the tears. "But you are a Time Lord. So… what are you going to do now?"
The Doctor didn't answer her. He leaned to kiss her and then with one final look, he left the house. Rose just stood there, looking by the window. She could see his figure getting smaller as he walked down the road. Rose knew that by this time, John Smith was already a history. She leaned her head to the window and took a deep breath. It was good while it lasted. Now she was Rose Tyler again.
The Doctor entered the ship of the Family and they all turned around to see him. He looked dizzy.
"Just-" He gave a clumsy lurch and leaned against the side of the ship, hitting few buttons. "Just stop the bombardment. That's all I'm asking. I'll do anything you want, just stop."
Baines smirked. "Say please."
"Please." The Doctor repeated.
After a slight pause, JENNY turned a switch and there was a hiss as the ship responded. "Wait a minute!" She inhaled deeply. "He's still a human and… an idiot."
"Now I can't-I can't pretend to understand, not for a second, but I want you to know that I'm innocent in all this. He made me John Smith. It's not like I had any control over it." The Doctor fumbled with more buttons. "I don't care about this Doctor and your family, I just want you to go. So, I've made my choice. Just leave me and Rose alone." He held out the watch. "You can have him. Just take it, please! Take him away."
"At last." Baines took the watch. As he gazed at it, he reached out with his other hand and grabbed the Doctor by the lapels. "Don't think that saved your life." Baines pushed the Doctor away and as he was falling, the Doctor hit more buttons. "Family of mine, now we shall have the lives of a Time Lord." He opened the watch and the Family breathed deep. "It is empty!" He turned to the Doctor.
"Well, where's it gone?" The Doctor looked at them.
"You tell me." Baines threw the watch and the Doctor caught it one-handed.
Then the Doctor got up, using his normal voice. "Oh, I think the explanation might be you've been fooled by a simple olfactory misdirection-little bit like ventriloquism of the nose. It's an elementary trick in certain parts of the galaxy. But it has got to be said-" He put on his glasses. "I don't like the looks of that hydroconometre. It seems to be indicating you've got energy feedback all the way through the retrostabilisers feeding back into the primary heat converter—ah." He hissed through his teeth. "'Cause if there's one thing you shouldn't have done, you shouldn't have let me press all those buttons. But, in fairness, I will give you one word of advice-Run." He grinned and ran out of the ship.
Baines shouted. "Get out! Get out!"
The Family ran out of the ship and across the field behind the Doctor before the ship could explode, throwing them to the ground. The Family looked up to see the Doctor standing over them. Then he sighed and did what it had to be done. He wrapped the father in unbreakable metal chains, forged in the heart of a dwarf star. Jenny, the mother, he tricked into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy to be imprisoned there forever. The little sister, he trapped inside the mirror, every mirror. He would probably forgive her someday. The son of the Family, the Doctor turned into a scarecrow. Then he walked away. His face was serious when he entered the Smiths house. Rose was waiting for him in her usual clothes.
"Is it over?" She asked quietly.
The Doctor nodded. "Yes, it is. I took care of everything." He made a short pause. "I didn't want to anyone to get hurt." His face was like made of stone right now. "They should've walked away."
"The fury of the Time Lord." Rose said quietly. "I've never seen you like this."
"Are you scared?" His voice was quiet.
Rose shook her head. "No."
"Good." He reached out his hand for her. "We have to go."
Rose took a moment to look around the house. "I'm gonna miss it."
"You know I wish I could give you all this." His eyes darkened. "But I can't. I can't have normal life. John Smith was… everything I want to be."
"I know." Rose took his hand. "But as long as I have you, I don't want a normal life."
The Doctor looked at her face. A small smile touched his lips. Then they walked out the house and headed towards TARDIS. John and Rose Smith turned into a story.