Hello! Here is Chapter 3, the final instalment of Melting. This story was actually supposed to be a oneshot! It just carried itself away... I don't write, my characters do it for me.
Right, REVIEWERS! You know I would've stopped writing ages ago if it wasn't for you people. pinktardis (my loyal reader and brilliant friend), Scout Girl (chainsaw's best buddy), HunterGiomanch (you are a litereary genius! and your reviews are lovely), oneoftheriddles (who sticks by my work no matter what), Whisper Luna (hello and thank you so very much), RagamuffinSundrop (I am in your debt for reviewing), daffodilTARDIS (author of fantastic work and an excellent reviewer), blackhairdye (thank you for reviewing my work and reading even on Teaspoon), doctorhoovian (my reader on Teaspoon who very kindly reviewed here too), floorpie (thank you for finding my stories and staying on to read the rest), LJQ, della, eb, izzfrogger and last but not least Light bulb in a cookie jar, who absoloutely outdid herself and reviewed every single one of my story chapters in one day! Thank you!
Phew! Alright, on with the story chapter. Hope you like...
The Doctor stopped right there. He stood there on Jackie's doorstep and just stared at her.
"You what?"
Rose, who had been turning steadily redder the whole time, was now a rather violent shade of crimson and was looking at the ground, all traces of anger gone as she became incredibly embarassed by what had just slipped out. But the Doctor was so shocked he didn't even notice.
Rose just said the words he'd been secretly wanting to hear for... ages. Oh, he knew there couldn't be anything between them. His pride was too strong, for one thing. So he fought against it. But Rose had suprised him by how easily she'd stepped into his life. Travelling around the universe in a blue box just didn't seem to bother her. He had NEVER met anyone quite like her before. That, he supposed, was why he was so attracted to her. Why he'd made Emergency Programme One only a few days before. He didn't want anything to happen to her. But this! this was beyond all belief.
This was something he'd never imagined.
"You WHAT?"
"I... nothing." Rose muttered softly.
She hadn't expected this. She'd expected him to brush it off, like he did everything else. Time Lords, she had often remarked to him, were so insensitive. Well, apparantly not.
The Doctor frowned. "No, say it again."
He said it so forcefully, and the gleam in his eyes as he stared at her was so strong that Rose became convinced he was angry at her. In tears, she turned away, but he took her by the hand, so gently she was startled, and led her down the steps.
He walked away from Jackie's flat, not looking back, and didn't stop until they were in a green open space just outside the blocks of council flats.
He looked at Rose intently. "Rose, say it again. What you said before."
"I said... I said..." Blushing violently.
"YOU said you loved me, didn't you?" said the Doctor, dangerously quietly. And Rose nodded mutely, still staring up at him and still afraid.
"Hah! I knew it!" the Doctor yelled.
And Rose stared. She had never seen him so happy. He grabbed both her hands, smiling his head off, and spun her around before hugging her tighter than he ever had before.
Seeing the tears still drying on her face, he brushed one away with his thumb. He knew he had done that to her.
"Rose?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't you ever cry again." And as he said that, he lowered his head... and kissed her.
It wasn't a desperate kiss. It wasn't rushed but slow and unhurried, as though the entire universe had stopped in that second. Which for the Doctor at least, it probably had. It was probably as unromantic as a kiss can possibly be - Nine never was a pretty boy. He didn't kiss like one either. His kiss started off lazy, then built up by degrees in a wonderful, spiralling crescendo. It was flawless yet completely without technique.
And during that kiss everything else was forgotten. Down with restrictions, with formalities! Down went the barriers of race, of class, of creed. Their kiss had narrowed all that down to just raw emotion - the final frontier had been opened, and out rushed an outpouring of the Doctor's real love and devotion, emotions buried within the depths of his soul that now surged to the surface, almost drowning Rose in the extent of their power and splendour. The Doctor could care. The Doctor could love. It was that simple - he just had to remember how. And their kiss was the first step along the way. It was a milestone.
Down went the hypocratic world that dictated that they must be apart.
In their eyes, the world existed just so they could love each other.
The Doctor picked her up and headed straight for the Tardis by unspoken agreement.
And from the window of her flat, Jackie had been watching, unseen to both of them. She had seen Rose and the Doctor from the minute they approached her flat. And what she saw after that gave her a unique insight into just how her daughter made the Doctor feel. She had seen him now as a broken man who was only in the process of being healed. Whatever he had gone through, the scars would still be there. But Rose was the only person who could pick up the pieces and glue him together.
He loved her. Of that she was certain.
So when he made her cry and then kissed her daughter, she didn't burst out of her flat carrying a baseball bat and demand that he release Rose. In fact, she doubted he'd have listened even then. Jackie saw the Doctor change from the moment he knew Rose loved him. The ice around him, his shields from emotion, were almost completely gone.
As the Doctor and Rose walked off into the sunset towards the Tardis, Jackie stared and she swore she had actually seen the ice dissolving in puddles around his feet. Rose and the Doctor both radiated a warming, intense happiness. And the ice - his last memento of what he used to be - was thawing. Changing.
Melting.
And that's the end - before I go I just gotta mention that the beginning of Series 3 of my main stories Leave You Behind and Take You With Me will probably be up soon, when I get the entire series plot straight. Look out for it!
And please review. Chainsaw is going through an "I-love-people-grrrrrr" phase, so he doesn't bite now.
Sorry, a little insanity slipped in there. Please review. Thank you.