Chapter Fourteen: Bad Pennies

It was the sudden silence that was the first indication that something almost fundamental had changed within the Doctor's mind. The evil presence of the Intellivore was gone. "That," one of the Doctors said in a rather aggrieved tone, "Was almost anticlimactic."

"Have any other complaints? Perhaps you'd like to invite it back? Fourteenth time's the charm?" Another Doctor suggested, shooting the first speaker a glare.

"Oh shut up, both of you," Rose's Doctor snapped, "Rose?" he asked in a much gentler tone, "Are you alright?"

"Oh, fantastic," she replied and was rather shocked to notice that all thirteen of the Doctors were staring at her with rather bemused expressions upon their collective faces. "What?"

The Doctor grinned, "I believe it's time we get out of here, Rose, and back to the real world."

The real world. Her expression fell as she suddenly recognized what that would mean. They would return to the way things were – before she knew that he loved her. Admittedly, her Doctor had never said those words but she felt them all the same. She wasn't certain if she truly wanted to return to a world of love that would remain unrequited because of fear. She tugged on a strand of blonde hair and sighed.

He did not miss a single nuance of the feelings that crossed her rather expressive face. There were plenty of times that he had despaired of ever understanding her, though at this moment in time he suspected that he knew precisely what she was thinking. A hand rested on his shoulder and he turned to face his seventh self.

"Tell her," the Seventh Doctor insisted, his blue eyes surprisingly fierce despite his otherwise almost comical appearance.

"Tell her what?"

"Oh don't be dense," he snapped, "You know precisely what I'm talking about. Or do I have to paint you a picture?"

"Oh. Thank you, Rose...Oi!" The Doctor's words were cut short as he was suddenly rapped with the side of the Seventh Doctor's umbrella.

"Tell her how you feel," Seven emphasized each word with his rolling Scottish accent.

"You're not supposed to hit me, that hurt!" He rubbed his shoulder and winced. Seeking, and not finding, sympathy in his previous self's eyes the Doctor sighed. "Right then," he said, suddenly feeling as if he were about to fight a nightmarish combination of the Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, and Jackie Tyler at the same time. He shifted his feet in an unconscious reflection of his nervousness even as his eyes looked everywhere but at Rose.

"Doctor, you...you don't have to say anything," Rose said hesitantly, "The Professor means well, but you don't have to listen to him. We should get back to the real world." If she placed a rather bitter emphasis on the last two words she did not notice.

"Rod and sash," he cursed quietly, somehow finding the courage to continue, "Rose, I lo..."

She could feel herself leaning forward in anticipation of his words. While the Seventh Doctor had already told them to her, this was what she had been dreaming about all along. However, before he finished she felt a sudden tug at her mind – as if someone had grabbed her sleeve and yanked it. "Wha'?" she asked, but before she complete her own question she felt herself being ripped away from the Doctor's mind. "Doctor!" she shouted as she began to fade.

The Doctor's voice was thunderous as he, and all of his incarnations, shouted, "ROSE!"

-----

A thought tickled the edge of her mind as she slowly regained consciousness. She had been doing something important or was being told something that would change her life. However, she was having a hard time concentrating. She felt as if her thoughts were wrapped in heavy cotton – each one was fuzzy and indistinct. "Ow," she stated ingeniously, even as she opened her eyes to a dazzling white world.

"What?" Rose asked, sitting up quickly. Her stomach rebelled at the movement and she squeezed her eyes shut until the nausea passed.

A low laugh answered her question. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It was a laugh that reminded her of the scrapping of wind tossed autumn leaves across pavement and suddenly she remembered.

"Doctor!" she shouted, opening her eyes again to find herself apparently alone upon the white landscape.

"He can't hear you, Rose," the Soul Eater said, the laughter still in its voice, "You are mine."

"No," Rose stated firmly, "I am not yours. I will never be yours. You can't have me."

"You," it said, "have no choice in the matter."

"Of course I do," she replied, forcing herself to her feet, "There's always a choice. And my choice is 'no.'"

"No?"

"No," she repeated, "No, you can't have me. No, you can't have the Doctor. No, you can't have Jack. No, you can't have this universe. You," she said, with a cheeky grin that was reminiscent of the Doctor's, "Can just go back to the Pit you came from. You are defeated. So, go away."

The entity growled, "Who are you to defy me!"

"Rose Tyler," Rose introduced herself with a sudden grin, "Hello!" Despite the three years they had been apart, the changes wrought within her from her time at the Doctor's side were never more evident than when she was confronted with danger.

Intellivore roared.