"Thank you, thank you, thank you," he whispers repeatedly against her skin. He's not sure if he's thanking her or the Tardis, but he's the grateful someone allowed him in. Rose just hushes him, running a hand through his hair as his hands run along her body. Scanning her for injuries of course. Checking she's okay.
"I will not be leaving you Doctor." She said calmly and clearly as he slowed, "Not ever." He stilled, his face in the crook of Roses neck. He reached the conclusion in seconds, but it seemed as though he was frozen. His hands slowly form fists, holding onto Rose so tightly she knew she would have bruises.
"I'll stop it. Whatever it is. I won't let it happen." He says harshly, his jaw tense, "I can't let it- time can be rewritten."
"I know better than most that isn't true." She said quietly, thinking back to Pete. Her selfishness had almost ripped a hole in time.
The Doctor leant back to look at Rose. Brave, strong, beautiful Rose.
She had brought him back to life, showed him the joy of happiness again. She had stared into the heart of the vortex, just as he had done when he was a boy, almost killed herself to find him and help him. She defeated the emperor Dalek, rescued planets, spieces, even rescued him numerous times- and yet she was still humble, kind and caring. She reminded him to show compassion when he was feeling particularly furious and upset. He dreaded to think what would happen without her. Nothing would stop him from destroying whoever he thought deserved it. Right now, noone seemed more deserving than the enemy that would take Rose.
Because they would take her. The Doctor knew Rose was right. If he were to rescue her, stop her from.. 'Leaving', Clara would never have appeared and stopped the radia- Clara. Clara was still here.
"Clara." He mumbled, jumping up and running out of the room.
The Doctor was leaning forward and looking deeply into Rose's face. She couldn't breathe. He was going to kiss her and her heart leaped; finally. She was falling into his eyes, muscles turning to jelly as she leant forward, cheeks pink.
"Clara." He mumbled, jumping to his feet suddenly and sprinting away from her.
Clara?
She deflated, shoulders dropping, air escaping from her lungs, eyes staring after him wide and disbelieving. It felt like Rose was a delicate piece of China the Doctor had lifted high and dropped, smashing to tiny sharp fragments.
Rose quickly build walls around herself, pushing all her upset into anger and self Doctor, of course, go out and run to the shiny new companion. The pretty, intelligent future companion.
Rose knew she was a little rough around the edges, she didn't have the cash for the best eyeliner unlike the perfect miss Clara and she was a little too self-conscious for dresses like that (how did she ever manage to run around in that thing?) and achieved the worst public school education London had to offer, never mind all those times she'd bunked with Shareen, but Rose didn't mind because she had the universe in her hands. Thoughts like this hadn't occurred to her in such a long time. She hadn't had to compete with anyone since... Renée Du Poisson. Rose rolled her eyes at the thought of that certain adventure and how sullen the Doctor was after they'd rescued him.
At least she never travelled with him.
Rose was curled in a ball on the floor next to her desk, pitying herself and swearing a little at thin air when the fairy cake hit her on the head. She looked up to her desk and frowned, Rose could've sworn the cake was on the other side of the worktop. So the Tardis was throwing stuff at her now? Lovely. Just what she needed.
She looked at the slightly squished fairy cake, it was fairly dry, the icing was the too-sugary-sweet kind that only Mickey liked and the paper had torn a little but it still looked good. It was from the street party in 2012, a few days ago. The small metal balls pushed carefully into the cake made Rose smile, he had been so obsessed with those silver ball bearings. It was the reason she'd kept it, to remind herself to grab a pot of them whenever she was home and surprise him with a cake. Not that Rose could bake, she'd hoped the Tardis would take care of most of it. She laughed to herself at the idea. Maybe she should just ask her mum to help, it'd be... Interesting.
The Doctor was right, maybe she did need a trip home, but not right now. Roses hand gripped the little fairy cake little too tight and climbed to her feet. The Doctor had almost kissed her and chickened out, run away. He had a tendency to do that with emotions when she first met him and she had helped him over come it and feel again. She thought he was fixed, apparently not. It was time Rose took things into her own hands. She placed the cake on her desk gently and left, heading for the console room.
Clara was sat in the jumpseat looking incredibly bored when the Doctor strode purposefully into the room, "I'm taking you home." He said quickly, spinning cogs and flicking switches.
Jumping to her feet Clara's eyes widened "You- you can't I'm just an echo- a fragment!" The Doctor glanced at her and back to his hands, smacking a button. He didn't want a new companion. Clara had to go home. She had made Rose upset and made her question how much the Doctor loved her. Of course the Doctor knew his future was uncertain and that Rose would eventually be gone, but Clara, she was walking talking evidence.
"You are leaving." He said stubbornly.
It seemed Clara had difficulty arguing back as out of the corner of the Doctors eye her mouth opened and closed repeatedly. "... Fine, okay, stop doing that, I'll go. I'll 'disappear' or whatever it is I do. I guess I've just got to finish what I came for."
The doctors hands stopped moving and his eyebrow rose as he looked at her, "You don't sound particularly confident."
Clara folded her arms and gave the Doctor her best bitch-face. "The Great In- the bad guy- caused the radiation overload, which would have caused you to regenerate.. and killed Rose." The Doctors jaw tensed, but Clara took no notice, "Maybe that's his game this time.. He wanted to get Rose out of the way? She's an important part of your timeline it would make sense.." The Doctor abandoned the console and leant back against the railings, watching Clara as she paced.
"With you around she already feels out of the way," the Doctor muttered, scuffing his dirty old converse on the grating. "Damn companions. I haven't had this issue in centuries."
Looking over at the Doctor, Clara stops. "That's why she's upset? Because.. She thinks I'm replacing her. Doctor that's it! You've got to show her that no one can replace her. No one ever will. I see it in your eyes all the time- well, they're different eyes, but they still think of her. I've met your wife and even she doesn't hold a place in your heart like Rose does," his wife? "Rose gave you life again after the Timewar and saved your butt a thousand times. But not just that, her laugh, her smile, her eyes.. You've got two little alien hearts; use them. Show her how much she means to you."
"You're very bossy aren't you." The Doctor half smiled after a short quiet. Clara just shrugged, looking over the Doctors shoulder.
She supposed the Tardis was the one that pushed her into the console room just in time to hear Clara practically shouting at the Doctor. "...no one can replace her. No one ever will. I see it in your eyes all..." Rose's heart was racing, but this time, she wasn't scared. Everything Clara was saying was right. It was what she needed to hear, granted, she would rather have heard it from the Doctor but Rose knew his emotional range didn't allow so much romance.
"...not just that, her laugh, her smile, her eyes.. You've got two little alien hearts; use them. Show her how much she means to you." Clara finished and for the second time that day, the Doctor was quiet.
Rose felt her feet moving without her permission. The Doctor was saying something to Clara but Rose didn't hear. This is why she wouldnt leave him, why she would die for him. She crashed into the Doctors chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled his face down towards her and hands in his hair, on the very tips of her toes, she kissed him.
The Tardis glowed. The Doctor was surprised, but pushed a hand into hair and one around her waist, pulling her close and kissed back, hard. When Rose moved away, the Doctor was rosy pink and his hair was messy. It was cute as hell. She beamed, her tongue poking out between her teeth and kissed him softly again.
He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment and Rose leant her head against his chest "She's gone." He said quietly.
Rose winced and rubbed her temple, where had that headache suddenly come from? "Who?" She asked, confused.
He frowned and touched his temple, "That girl.. The one who saved us? At least I think she did." Roses head was really pounding, she made a mental note to ask the Tardis for some paracetamol. And the Timelord equivalent, since the Doctor was holding his head too.
"Have you got a headache too?" Rose asked concerned, running a hand across his forehead.
The Doctor smiled and his features relaxed. "I'm alright," he said, "I just felt like we're forgetting something. I'll figure it out later, it can wait." He shrugged, leaning forward to kiss Rose gently.
Rose laughed a little and the Doctor looked at her questioningly, "I can't believe you just kissed me for the first time," she explained, "I mean even that incident with Cassandra was me/her kissing you."
The Doctor smiled cheekily and guffawed, "Well, maybe that's not exactly true." He winked, before wandering off out of the console room.
"What!" Rose shouted, running after him, utterly confused.
The Doctor chortled and grabbed her hand as they ran down the corridor, "Well you know that time on Satellite 5? Maybe I didn't do a little dance and the Daleks ran away..."