New Earth
Rose ducked down as she ran, narrowly avoiding the arm that reached out for her. She couldn't see the Doctor or Ross anywhere and just had to hope that they'd already gotten back to the TARDIS somehow.
It had been a complete accident, honestly. The Doctor had gathered a list of planets he wanted to show Rose to help her learn various cultures, as well as their languages, so that she wouldn't have to rely on the TARDIS if it came down to it. They'd landed on Silverstein and had been taken by the King's guards almost immediately. Apparently, only the royal family were high level telepaths, and they believed themselves to be the only ones in the universe.
Escaping had been a chore, but once they did, it was a straight shot from the castle, down through the market, and to the TARDIS on the edge of the forest. Rose looked over her shoulder and let out a small shriek at the sight of a gun, speeding up and running in zig zags to avoid being shot.
"Doctor!"
"Hiding near the TARDIS. They have guns. Careful."
"Yeah, thanks, I'd figured that out."
She could see the TARDIS sitting next to a bush and sped up, guards still screaming as they chased her. A bullet shot past her and hit a tree ahead and she winced. The Doctor and Ross were nearby and she only hoped they were okay. Sprinting the rest of the way there, she fumbled with her TARDIS key to get the doors open and raced inside, shutting the doors only after the Doctor and Ross also made their way inside. She heard a bullet hit the closed door and scowled.
"They shot the TARDIS!" She exclaimed, racing around with the Doctor and Ross to send them away from the planet.
"In all fairness, it looks like wood," Ross spoke up, leaning against the railing once they were in the time vortex. "They probably thought it would go through and hit us."
"That's not helpful," she shot him a glare, tugging her blonde curls out of the ponytail it was in. She was dirty and tired and just wanted a warm shower and a change of clothes.
"Go do that," the Doctor told her. Apparently, she wanted it so badly that she was thinking it rather loudly. "Then we've got somewhere to go."
"I'll be back in thirty minutes," she sighed, wandering down the hall to her bedroom. It was a mess, and as she let the water heat up for her shower, she picked up a bit. Clothes were strewn across the floor and her vanity was a mess of makeup and some jewelry discarded there without thought. After tossing the clothes in her hamper, she moved to the vanity to put the makeup away in the right drawers, pausing when she noticed something was missing.
Forgetting her shower, she rushed about her room, looking all over for it. After looking everywhere she could possibly think of - including the library and the kitchen - the Doctor found her back in her room, tossing clothes out of her dresser drawers.
"Woah," he put his hands up to grab the pair of jeans flying at him. "What's wrong?"
"Doctor, have you been in here?" she asked him desperately, her eyes wild as she looked all over her destroyed room. "Did you take anything from my room?"
"What?" he blinked at her. She was shaking and he'd felt her panic, but she hadn't said anything so he'd left it until the panic dissolved into fear, and he'd come searching. "No, of course not. Slow down, okay? What's wrong? What's missing?"
"It's my notebook, my journal," she shook her head, relaxing slightly when he put his hands on her shoulders to ground her. "It was in my vanity but it's gone. I haven't looked at it since before I regenerated, before I got back to you, but it's not here."
"Did you leave it somewhere maybe?"
"No," she told him. "I've only ever had it in here. I thought maybe I'd forgotten and taken it to the library, but it isn't possible. It never leaves this room."
"It's okay," he promised softly. He wasn't sure why she was so worked up, but whatever was in that journal, she obviously didn't want it getting out. "We can get you a new journal and we'll keep looking for it, okay?"
"Doctor, it-," she cut herself off, deflating. "Yeah, okay."
"Why don't you get your shower and some new clothes, preferably ones that you didn't toss on the floor, and we'll pop over real quick to take a look at something. After that, we can focus on this. Sound good?"
"Yeah," she sighed. "Thank you, Doctor."
"I'll ask Ross," he told her as he turned to leave the room. "Maybe he's seen it."
Grateful, Rose jumped into the shower and cleaned off all the dirt and grime she'd gathered over the days in a dirty cell. The body wash that the TARDIS had offered her was from a planet she couldn't remember the name of. It relaxed muscles and calmed the mind significantly. Rose didn't use it much, mostly because it was hard to get ahold of, but she always felt ten times better once she did.
After her shower, she looked through the remaining clothes in her dresser and picked a blue bell bottomed corduroy jumpsuit and put a rainbow striped shirt on under it, finishing it off with her pink converse. Layering her leather over it, she felt ready to confront whatever the Doctor had prepared for them that day and she made her way out to the console room, where he was just finishing landing the TARDIS.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Rose stepped out of the TARDIS first, stopping short at the sight before her. She pushed her wet, braided hair off her shoulder, staring ahead of her as the Doctor and then Ross followed her out.
"It's the year five billion and twenty-three," the Doctor told her, hands in pockets as he stood at her side. "We're in the galaxy M87 and this… this is New Earth."
"It's amazing," she breathed. And it was. She'd loved this trip. The picnic she had with her Doctor and the way they'd saved all of those new lives, healing them and letting them live.
"It's not bad," the Doctor agreed.
"I'll never get used to this," she told him honestly. She still wasn't used to it. New people, planets, cultures, it all amazed her. She just loved it, and she made sure he felt that over their bond. His hand slipped into hers and she squeezed it happily.
"I've always been amazed by how persistent humans are," Ross spoke up. "They never really give up, do they?"
"No, they don't," the Doctor agreed proudly.
"What's that smell?" Ross asked. Rose bent down and plucked some grass, grinning as she did.
"Apple grass!"
They settled on a hill to stare at the cars flying by, and Rose leaned against the Doctor, throwing her legs on Ross's lap casually, surprising him.
"So, the year five billion, the sun expands and the earth gets roasted," the Doctor begins and Rose nudged his shoulder.
"That was our first date."
"We had chips," he grinned back happily. He looked back at Ross and continued explaining. "So anyway, planet gone, all rocks and dust. But the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. As soon as the earth burns up, oh, they get nostalgic. Big revival movement. They find this place. Same size as the earth, same air, same orbit. Lovely. They call out and the humans move in."
"And this city is?" Rose asked him, staring at the hospital across the water.
"New New York," he answered, brushing some dirt off his pants. She gave him a disbelieving look, still amazed that humans thought that was a good name, and he laughed. "It is! It's the city of New New York. Strictly speaking, it's the fifteenth New York since the original. So that makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York."
"But that's a bit excessive, yeah?" Ross rolled his eyes, making Rose laugh.
"You're so different," she told the Doctor with a smile.
"Yeah?" he stared at her. "New New Doctor."
"Technically, this is your… tenth? Eleventh? Incarnation," she corrected him. "You're an old man, Doctor."
"Yeah," he waved her off. "We don't need to get caught up in the specifics."
"New New Doctor," Rose nodded firmly.
"So, what are we doing here?" Ross asked, staring out at the city before them.
"Well, I thought we might go there," the Doctor answered, standing and nodding at the hospital.
"Green moon," Rose hummed. "A hospital? You know someone there?"
"No," he raised an eyebrow with a smile. "Let's go!"
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Rose stepped into the lift with the Doctor and Ross, flinching only slightly at the disinfectant. She tapped her foot nervously. She wasn't sure how she could tip off the Doctor about the people being grown for the purpose of making new medicine.
The lift dinged and she stepped out first, looking around the large white room as the Doctor grabbed a nurse to help them out. She stepped over to glance at a woman with skin hanging off of the bed and no eyes. Looking down at the clipboard on her bed, she winced. Whatever was wrong with her caused rapid organ expansion, explaining her missing eyes. They must've gotten too big and had to be removed.
She walked back over to the Doctor, who was gently arguing with the nurse. "There won't be a cure for… a thousand years. He might be up and about, but only as a statue."
"Have faith in the sisterhood," the nurse requested gently. "But is there no one here you recognize?"
"Rosie."
Rose gasped. "Doctor," she touched his arm. "It's the Face of Boe."
Understanding swept through the Doctor. "Of course. He wasn't looking for me, he was looking for you."
"Novice Hame," the nurse led them over to the Face of Boe and his nurse. "If I can leave these kind people in your care. This young lady seems to know your patient."
"Of course."
Rose got to her knees in front of the giant floating head and pressed her head against the glass as the Doctor spoke with the nurse softly.
"Jack."
"I'm a selfish old man," he told her. "I have missed you."
"I don't visit?"
"I'm old, Rosie," he chuckled. "So are you. You come when you can, but I go through time much more linear than before. It's not unexpected, spending many years without a visit."
"I don't want to leave you alone," she told him, softly, sadly. She knew this was her fault. He'd only lived for so long because she couldn't stand the thought of never seeing him again. "I love you, Jack."
"I love you," he assured her softly. "If I can make a request."
"Anything."
"The next time you see me like this, it will be the last. I'm fading, Rosie. Time can't keep me alive much longer. Next time you see me, take it away. Take it back."
Rose stared at him, her hearts hurting. Tears fell down her cheeks and it was all she could do not to cry. She knew she was shaking with the effort, but her best friend was asking her to kill him. "Of course. I'm… so sorry I ever did this to you."
"You loved me so much that you never wanted to live without me," he reminded her. "I'm lucky to have earned such love from you."
"You're worth more than anything I could ever give you."
"Can I tell you a secret?"
She swiped tears away and sniffled quietly. "Anything."
"I've been with many people over my many, many years. But I've never loved anyone as much as I love you, Rose."
That was more than she could handle. She buried her face in her hands and cried quietly, shaking still as she felt his mental stroke, trying to comfort her as best as he could. Arms wrapped around her shoulders, and she leaned back into the Doctor's hold, turning to cry into his chest instead.
"I don't deserve you."
"You deserve better than me," he countered. "And I'm so happy you have it."
"I'm sorry," Novice Hame whispered. "But he has smoke therapy."
Rose didn't reply and she thought she vaguely heard Ross reply to her. She didn't move and neither did the Doctor as Jack was wheeled out of the room.
They sat like that for nearly twenty minutes before she pulled back, taking in slow, deep breaths. "Can we go?"
"Of course," the Doctor agreed easily, grabbing her hand and standing. "We can come back another time if you want."
She only nodded absently. She knew there was more that needed to be done, but she couldn't, not then. The Doctor led her out of the hospital, and she held his hand as they walked back to the TARDIS. Ross muttered a goodnight and walked back to his bedroom, and the Doctor and Rose followed, though they took a left into the library and settled onto the couch, cuddling up together. She couldn't help but notice how well she still fit against him.
"Rose," the Doctor whispered softly. She tilted her head up to look at him and waited for the question she knew was coming. She could feel him arguing with himself the entire walk back, and she truly didn't know what she'd tell him. "What happened?"
"He's dying," she muttered.
"Novice Hame told us," the Doctor nodded. "What did he say to you? It's more than that."
Rose settled her head onto his shoulder, considering her options. The Doctor gave her time, tracing words in Old High Gallifreyan on her arm as she thought. "He told me he loves me."
The Doctor blinked. He'd known there was some deep love between the pair since the end of the earth, but surely it wasn't news to her? "You didn't know?"
"No, I did," she shook her head. "It's just… he told me that… we've never said it. We both knew it, but he told me this time, just how much he loves me. I can't… what do I do with that? Why would he say it now? We have it figured out, Doctor, perfectly. I love him, so much, so deeply, but not… not in that exact way. It's like… almost, but not quite. And he knows it. He's always been okay with it. Why did he have to…?"
The Doctor took a second to process her words, which all came out in a confused rush. There was a certain jealousy that definitely didn't belong in the conversation about her dying friend. "He's dying, Rose. Maybe he needed to make sure you know."
"He shouldn't have told me," she whispered, wiping at her eyes. The Doctor rubbed her back gently, listening to her soft words. That old frustrated curiosity sparked in the Doctor again. How did she know him? She'd known him before she ever traveled with him, that was obvious. And at the end of earth, Boe had told him that he used to be human. His mind drifted back to their first conversation.
"Before I go, tell me - have you always been a head in a jar?"
"I suppose I can afford to tell you. No, I used to be just as human as Rosie."
Rose sighed softly and leaned closer, resting her head on the Doctor's chest. He could feel that she was still upset, and some emotion that confused him like heartbreak, but she'd calmed down some. "I'm sorry for making us leave. I want to explore."
"Shush," he shook his head, wrapping his arm around her. "We can stay here and go back once you're feeling better if you'd like."
Rose fell silent for a long moment. "Doctor, don't you think it's odd that they claim they can cure things that they shouldn't be able to cure for years?"
"I did," he agreed, feeling a spark of excitement at the potential adventure. "Are you suggesting we investigate?"
"I think I am," she laughed softly. It was a subdued laugh, but the Doctor's hearts squeezed at the sound anyway. He wasn't good at death, and he wasn't sure how to support her when her friend died, but he could distract her now and help keep her as happy as possible.
"You wanna go now?"
"I'd love to."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
"It's that man again! And his friend," the Duke of Manhattan cried in excitement. "My good luck charm, he is. Come in, both of you. Don't be shy!"
Rose shared a look with the Doctor and stepped closer. She could feel the Doctor's suspicion and nerves and felt it was warranted, considering what was really going on.
"Any friendship expressed by the Duke of Manhattan does not constitute a form of legal contact," the woman standing by the large man told the Doctor and Rose.
"Push me up," the Duke requested, grinning as the woman did just that. "Look at me! No sign of infection!"
"You had petrifold regression, didn't you?" the Doctor asked slowly, slipping his hand into Rose's.
"Had being the operative word," the Duke reminded him with a bright grin. "Past tense! Completely cured."
"That's impossible," the Doctor breathed.
"Primitive species would accuse us of magic," a nurse told him. Rose chuckled at the offense she felt coming from the Doctor. "But it is merely the tender application of science."
"How could you have cured him?" Rose asked. "What's in that solution?"
"A simple remedy," the nurse deflected.
"Then tell us what it is," the Doctor responded tensely.
"I'm sorry," the nurse said, not sounding sorry at all. "Patient confidentiality… I don't believe we've met. My name is Matron Casp."
"I'm the Doctor and this is Rose," the Doctor told her. Matron Casp looked between them.
"Bond mates? How rare."
The pair shifted uncomfortably. It wasn't information they wanted to share widely. It was dangerous, and Rose remembered that well from the way the Mara had ripped their bond apart. She still felt the pain occasionally, deep and sharp pain shooting through her mind at the memory.
"Matron Casp, you're needed in intensive care," another nurse touched Matron Casp's arm. The cat nun looked back between Rose and the Doctor.
"If you'll excuse me."
The pair walked away, but with their good hearing, they heard the sort conversation as they walked.
"It's happened again, one of the patients is conscious."
"Well, we can't have that…"
OoOoOoOoOoOo
"We need to find a terminal, I have to see how they do this," the Doctor muttered after the pair had raced around, looking at the patients that were willing to talk to them. "Cause if they've got the best medicine in the world, why is it such a secret?"
"I think the terminal is this way," Rose told him, a flash of a memory from the previous timeline rushing through her mind of Cassandra… kissing the Doctor? A blush crossed her cheeks as she led the Doctor over to the terminal.
"No, nothing odd," the Doctor muttered after sonicking the terminal. "Surgery… post op, dentistry. No sign of a shop, they should have a shop."
"What about the ICU?" Rose wondered. "I don't see it on here, do you?"
The Doctor looked around for a moment and she could feel pleased surprise over the bond. "You're right. What was it they said?"
"Someone was awake," Rose told him.
"That should be a good thing," the Doctor hummed.
"So why would they hide a whole department?" she asked him, plucking the sonic from his hands. "Especially one so important…" she sonicked the computer and frowned when the subframe was locked, handing it back over to him.
"Instillation protocol," he told her gently. They had gone over it before, and it was one of the few things she struggled with, the intricacies of hacking. It didn't bother him, but it certainly bothered her. She'd pointed out that someday he might be busy and she might need to hack something and be unable to, and he certainly understood the potential danger it could put her in.
The pair jumped back at a loud noise as the wall lowered into the floor, showing them a dark hall that led to ICU.
"Intensive care," the Doctor shook his head. Rose took his hand and walked quickly inside. "Certainly looks intensive."
"Holy shit," she breathed as they entered the large room with stairs going down as far as they could see. They rushed down two flights of stairs and made their way to the green pods filled with people. "Doctor, they're people. How many do you think there are? Thousands?"
"Probably," he agreed softly. She felt his horror and matched it. She'd been told about what happened, and she'd even watched as it happened, but it had felt like dreaming and much of it had disappeared over time, including the sight of the pods. The Doctor turned around and sonicked a pod open, and she winced at the sight.
"He's sick with… what is that?"
"I'm sorry," the Doctor told the man, shaking his head. "I'm so sorry."
Rose grabbed the sonic while he closed the pod and opened another one, this time a woman. The Doctor came to stand next to her and as much as she wanted to look away, she couldn't bring herself to. "It's not possible, Doctor."
"They've injected these people with every disease," he disagreed. "All of them. Every single disease in the galaxy, they've been infected with. Everything."
Rose turned around and grabbed the railing as the Doctor closed the pod. She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. "This is… horrifying, Doctor. What do we do?"
The Doctor stood at her side silently, not answering. His mind was racing, and hers was, too. She knew how it had happened - he'd gathered them all up in the lifts and sprayed them with the cures through the disinfectant. But they couldn't do that without hurting others at the same time.
"Can we… can we get all the cures and push them into the pods?" she asked gently. She truly wasn't sure it was possible. Would there be enough for all of them? Was it even possible to push the cures into the pods? How would they do it without being caught?
"Maybe."
"Why aren't they dying?" she whispered, feeling lightheaded at the sight of them as they walked through an aisle.
"Plague carriers," the Doctor responded. "The last to go."
"It's for the Greater Good," Novice Hame told them, turning the corner. Rose scowled.
"You sound like Dumbledore."
"She hates Dumbledore," the Doctor added, because it almost sounded like a compliment otherwise.
"He deserves someone better," Rose glared, referring to Novice Hame's patient. "Does he know what you're doing here? Do you tell him that when you're not looking after him, you're watching thousands of people suffer, day after day?"
"To cure others!" Novice Hame defended. "He is a patient, he has no right to know of other patients."
"They're not patients!" she yelled. The Doctor put a hand on her arm and she sucked in a deep breath, letting him take over while she calmed herself.
"When you took your vows, did you agree to this?" the Doctor asked her.
"The Sisterhood has sworn to help," Novice Hame told him, trying to make him understand.
"What, by killing?" the Doctor shouted, just as worked up as Rose now.
"But they're not real people," Hame defended.
"And Jack is just a head in a bowl," Rose took a threatening step forward, completely missing her slip up. "He's more real than the people suffering down here? They've got arms and legs and still treated as less than him! He would be appalled if he knew."
The Doctor stared at the back of her head for a long moment before he moved on. Now wasn't the time, he knew.
"But they're specially grown," Novice Hame told her. "They have no proper existence, not like the Face of Boe. They will not be mourned the way you mourn him."
"Don't," Rose said, her voice curiously calm. "They can't be mourned because they haven't been given a chance to love or be loved. You grew them and then denied them any chance at a life, just to kill them in the end."
"Mankind needed us," Novice Hame insisted. "They came to this planet with so many illnesses. We couldn't cope. We did try. We tried everything. We tried using flo-meat, and bio cattle, but the results were too slow. So, the Sisterhood grew its own flesh. That's all they are - flesh."
"These people are alive," the Doctor snapped.
"But think of those people out there, healthy and happy, because of us. Because of this."
"If they live because of this, then life is worthless," the Doctor told her darkly. Rose was standing at his side, just as furious.
"But who are you to decide that?" Novice Hame asked, glancing between them. "Who are you to use him, to know him so intimately, but never visit? You do not know him."
Rose took a step forward. "I am his best friend. I control my future no more than you control yours. So it kills me that at some point, I will stop visiting him. But for now, for the time I have him, I love him and I know him better than anyone else. So don't you ever use him against me again."
The Doctor put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her back a little, uncomfortable with how angry she was because of Boe - or Jack, apparently. "As for me, I am the Doctor. And if you don't like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority, there isn't one. It stops with us."
"I'm sorry, Doctor," Novice Hame shook her head. "But the humans need this, they need us."
"Your medical science is way too far ahead," he told her.
"Go lock all the doors."
"What are you going to do?"
"Redirect every medicine being produced into these pods. Brilliant idea, Rose. We just can't let her get out."
Rose slipped away while the Doctor kept Novice Hame busy doing what he does best - talking. It was relatively easy to deadbolt the ICU, and she'd done it just in time if the sight of the Matron was anything to go by. She got back just in time and tossed the sonic back to the Doctor, who caught it and flashed her a smile.
"Now, let's get working," he looked to Rose. "Pass a computer?"
"Just around the corner," she confirmed, leading the way. A confused and panicked Novice Hame followed them.
"What are you doing? You can't!" she yelled as they broke into the computer. "I'll have to sound the alarm."
"Go ahead and try," Rose glanced up. "I disconnected that, too."
"But you can't! We need them to help heal the humans!"
"You've got plenty of medicine to heal the humans for another hundred years," the Doctor snapped as he typed. "Find another way to advance your medicine or we'll come back and do this again."
Rose turned off the next injection of the illness just in time and helped the Doctor reroute every cure in the hospital. Once that was done, she nodded. "Done."
"Ah, me too," he grinned, pressing the enter key hard at the same time as her. They watched as the medicines slowly emptied into the pods and a minute later, every single person in the pods was cured. With a grin, the Doctor handed the sonic to Rose. "Would you like to do the honors?"
"It would be my pleasure," she nodded, sonicking the panel on the wall and releasing the newly cured people from the pods.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Rose shed her clothes, sighing out in relief at the feeling. They'd had to run out of the hospital to avoid security, and they'd kept running in the hot weather back to the TARDIS, where they'd collapsed in laughter. Still, she was sweaty and felt disgusting. A bath was already running and she took a moment to pick up her clothes and toss them in the hamper. A pair of pants from a few days prior felt heavier than she'd remembered and she frowned, picking them up and digging in the pockets. Her hand wrapped around something familiar, and she gasped in surprise when she found her missing notebook in her hands.
Suspicion ran through her. She knew she'd never put it in her pocket. In fact, she'd written in it since the day she'd worn the pants. So, she wondered, how did they get there?
She brought the notebook to her bath and flipped through it. She'd begun writing it the night of the Gelth. It was too much for her, not having anyone to tell about what was going on. She'd known Jack wouldn't show up for awhile, and writing letters to her dad had turned out to be relaxing. When she was with him, she'd told him everything. She hadn't meant to, but her mum had one day told him about Jimmy, and she was forced to correct some of the facts he'd been given, and she'd found that he was a great listener and that he never judged her.
Flipping through the notebook, she didn't notice anything wrong with it. There were no new marks, no bent pages, nothing. Breathing out in frustration, she set it aside to get out of the bath, feeling more tense than when she'd gotten in. She dressed in a soft pair of pajamas and some soft, fuzzy socks to match, braiding her hair to the side while she was at it. She made her way to find the Doctor and stopped at the kitchen where she saw Ross making tea.
"Rose," he greeted, catching her staring. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it back with you and the Doctor. I wanted to get better acquainted with what happens to Gallifrey."
"I understand," she sighed. "It's okay. We were fine."
Ross handed her a cup of tea and she set to work putting two sugars and a splash of milk in while he sat down. She joined him, raising an eyebrow at his frown. "What does the Doctor know about Gallifrey? I mean… what happened?"
Rose looked down at her cup, unsure what to say. She knew a lot about what happened at the end of the Time War, about what the Doctor had done. She knew there was a part of her out there that was both waiting for it to come and that had already experienced the day he took the Moment and used it… or attempted to.
"You have to understand… a lot of this hasn't happened for him yet. I have an idea of when it will. I got a glimpse of it when I was Bad Wolf. He'll go through it in every incarnation. But… the end, the one that he remembers, it was after his eighth incarnation. He doesn't call that one the Doctor. The Time War, it was… there's not a word for it, Ross. At that point, the Time Lords were more despicable than even the Daleks. So he took the weapon I gave the Time Lords and used it to destroy Gallifrey and Skaro alike, but not just them. Every planet and galaxy around them that had become involved in the war. He committed genocide multiple times over to save the greater universe. It destroyed him."
"How did he survive?" Ross wondered softly.
"It was his punishment," she whispered, her eyes glowing a soft gold as she remembered and saw the future. "I need… needed him to see the importance of the decision. He said, he says he doesn't and didn't want to survive, so that is his punishment."
"That's fascinating," Ross whispered, observing her. "Are you watching it?"
"I'm there now, in the past, and in the future," she confirmed, her eyes slowly fading back to the usual brown with a gold ring. "It's sort of like how the TARDIS exists in all of time and space, so does the Bad Wolf, especially the part that became the Moment."
"So," Ross hummed, turning back to the topic at hand. "He thinks he destroyed everything?"
"There is one timeline where he did," Rose shrugged. "Many, actually. Every timeline has the Bad Wolf in the Moment, but that happened before, when we were at the Game Station. But I knew I didn't need to do it then. It could be put off, and with the way I was going through it for the second time, it was more dangerous. I'd have died fully, forever, if I kept pushing myself… anyway," she blinked, surprised at the words that came out of her mouth. She hadn't realized she'd remembered that. "In some timelines, he changes his past because of a future companion. That might still happen, depending on how changing my timeline goes."
"So he doesn't know…"
"No," she confirmed. "And we can't say anything."
"Of course."
Rose sipped her tea slowly, thinking back to her notebook, which she'd hidden in a bathroom cupboard now. "Ross, you haven't been in my room, have you?"
"No, why?"
She couldn't help but wonder if he was lying. She knew it wasn't the Doctor, which only really left Ross. She didn't know much about him, truthfully, but she found herself trusting him still. "No reason."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
The Doctor paced in the library while Rose went for her bath. He knew he probably needed a shower himself, but he had other, more important things to worry about.
Jack.
At the Game Station, Rose had turned him immortal. She'd made him a fixed point in time, his entire timeline was fixed. No one was supposed to be like that. Truly, he wouldn't be immortal. Time would pull tight around him for many, many years, but eventually, it would slack until it released him. Every fixed point ended eventually.
So, the Doctor supposed it made sense that Jack would die one day. But he'd… turned into a big head. The only reason the Doctor could think of was that Jack had been killed over and over, and only parts of him came back until it was just his head, which had mutated into what it was. He spent barely a moment thinking on Jack's telepathy. It wasn't crazy to think he'd develop it after so long.
So really, it all made sense. Complete sense. Until he remembered her confused, rushed mumbling earlier that day. She'd told him that Jack had told her how much he loved her, and it had broken her heart. She'd said that she loved him too, a lot, but not the way he wanted. Almost, but not quite.
As much as he felt guilty for it, he felt a rush of excitement over that fact. Jack had been a shock. She'd asked him to save the con man, and he'd agreed, thinking they'd set him down somewhere, but she'd begged him to take Jack along. He'd agreed, and had seen their friendship bloom. She loved him, he could see it clear as day. He'd once gone to wake her up from a nightmare, only to find Jack in her bed, doing it for him. He'd always been jealous of Jack, of course he had been.
But to find out that she didn't love him the same way he loved her was… a gift and a curse. Because as much as he'd tried to ignore it, he had feelings for her, the depth of which scared him greatly. He'd always relied on Jack as an out, a way to hide from his feelings for her, but if she didn't love him in that way… he had nothing to hide behind.
"Doctor?"
He jumped, dropping the book in his hand on the floor as he turned to look at her. Her hair was wet and braided tightly, and she was laughing softly at him as she picked up the book and set it on the table.
"You're done?" he blinked in surprise. She'd just gone for her bath, hadn't she?
"It's been an hour," she nodded. "I, um… I found my notebook."
"Oh, really?" he asked in surprise. She'd been certain that it was gone forever, and he'd believed her. He'd never seen or heard of the notebook before she'd mentioned it, and he assumed she'd kept it hidden. Still, she didn't seem relieved.
"It was in some pants," she sat down with a frown. "But I've written in it since I wore them, Doctor. Ross says he hasn't been in my room, either."
The Doctor frowned at her. "You're sure it wasn't Ross?"
"I trust him," she assured him. "But I don't understand what happened."
"Maybe you just looked over it," he suggested. Neither of them really believed it, but she nodded absently.
"I'd like to go see mum," she told him. "We haven't and she… doesn't know about-,"
"Yeah," he nodded, suddenly nervous for a very different reason. He wasn't in the mood to get a slap from Jackie Tyler. "Now?"
"I'm not tired, are you?"
"Nope," he agreed regretfully. "Why don't you send us there and I'll go grab a quick shower?"
"Sounds good."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
A/N:
So, I've been thinking. This fic is going to be really long. I don't know that it's necessary to write out every single episode. I'm not going to skip a significant amount of them, but I think I might skip one or two per season, replace them with other chapters that don't come from episodes. They'll be in there no matter what, but this way it won't be as long and tiring. Those adventures will happen for the purpose of the story that follows canon, but there are things that have to happen to follow my story and set those things up. Hopefully that doesn't bother you too much. I just thought I'd let you know so you don't get confused when a couple episodes don't show up.
I'm going to start putting my notes at the end of chapters, because sometimes they're long and I know that can be a bit annoying.
I hope you enjoyed and remember to review!