That night Rose lay awake in bed, even more restless then usual, her mind tangled between thoughts of her old life and her new one. She stared at the ceiling as she turned memories in her head, until she settled on the one memory which truly got to her, that of her first encounter with Doctor Two.
It had been only weeks since that dreadful day in Norway where she'd encountered the Doctor for what she thought would be the very last time. She'd been working hard at Torchwood in Canary Warf, the eradication of the Cybermen had been an arduous job, and the result left a lot of devastation across the world. Their work at Torchwood had become inextricably linked to aiding the recovery process, but only recently Rose had been concentrating her efforts on the town's sudden bee infestation. She was exhausted, and had decided to take her first real day off in a year.
She walked through the streets of Cardiff, hot chips in one hand, stuffing her mouth with the other. She hadn't had good chips in a while, and these were divine. She looked into all the shops, contemplating extravagant purchases which had nothing at all to do with necessity. Stopping at a shop window, she gazed upon something magnificent; a little black dress- intricately made with details of silk and lace, scooped low at the bust and nipped in at the waist. Rose couldn't remember the last time she wore a dress, let alone bought one. Her eyes traced the perfectly stitched seam as she felt a tantalizing longing sensation creep into her. Ah, might as well go in, try it on, she thought, couldn't hurt.
With that, she entered the shop maneuvering her way cunningly through the racks to her desire. As she picked it up, contemplating it in its full glory, she felt eyes upon her. Her first thought was the sales-person was watching her, ready to pounce, but as she looked up she saw the lady on the phone, her fingers weaving in and out of the cord, completely distracted. She looked back at the dress, no longer really looking at it, feeling the eyes burrow into her hard. She just knew some creep in the store was staring at her. She took a deep breath, sucking up the courage to turn around and tell him to sod off. As she spun on her heel however, all she saw was the tail of a brown coat out of the corner of her eye, leaving the store.
Without really thinking, she dropped the dress and ran out of the store. She looked left, and then right, then left again, and spotted a figure in a long brown coat striding away towards the direction of Canary Warf. She hot footed after him in direct pursuit, dodging the odd person, keeping her eyes fixed on the figure. Her pace quickened as she saw him turn a corner, of which she knew lead into a blind alley way. All she saw when she reached it was a bright red phone booth, and the mans coat tails as he slipped inside.
She ran to the booth and pulled on the door. It wouldn't open. She tugged and tugged but it wouldn't budge. She then noticed something incredibly peculiar. Phone booths had glass windows all through them, and this one was no exception. You could see inside quite clearly, a pay phone and a dirty old phone-book under a flickering fluorescent light, yet there was no man inside. Her heart raced, she knew, it had to be, it couldn't not be, a Time Lord.
"Time Lord! I know who you are! Open up!" She yelled as she banged hard on the front glass panels. There was no response. She took a deep breath and yelled again. "You're a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey and this is your TARDIS! No open UP!" She faltered in exhaustion, "…please." She leaned against the door, scared if she wasn't touching it, it would leave. She felt the door jiggle against her back, and heard a very familiar voice.
"Well, I can't exactly come out if you're leaning against the door." She felt a big shove, and stumbled to the ground as her heart suddenly stopped. She spun around and looked up in quiet awe. There he was, all six foot one of him, looking down his nose at her.
"Doctor…?"
"Yeah, that's me, well, I think, I mean, I'm not an actual doctor, though I do have that honorary degree, anyway, that's not the pressing question, the question that needs to be asked here is…" He stretched his hand out to Rose. She dismissed it silently, steadied herself with her hands as she stood up and dusted the dirt off her jeans. He inspected her with his eyebrows raised. "Who are you?"
That's when Rose saw them; the little differences that made him not hers, the shoes, the suit, the hair, but mostly his eyes. Those deep, dark, alarming eyes that seemed sadder and even more lost then her Doctors ever were. Her heart beat again as she took a deep breath, and looked momentarily away, collecting herself.
"Well, not going to tell me then? I suppose you don't have to, I do love a good mystery." The Doctor stepped towards her, looking her up and down, resting his elbow in his hand as he pointed at her attributes. "So, you're blonde, pretty, a bit of a chav."
"Excuse me!?" Rose shifted away from him, slightly offended.
"You could be clever, possibly brave, well clever enough to know who I am, brave enough, or stupid enough to approach me even so. Ah but most of all, and this is the best bit, the most interesting bit, you're somehow wrong." He bent down slightly, taking out his black rimmed glasses and inspecting her closely.
"Wrong!? How do you mean, wrong!?" Rose felt quite bizarre, standing there on show, inspected by a man who she knew better then most and yet not at all.
"You don't belong, somehow…"
"Huh." Rose scoffed. She was slightly relieved and then again slightly disappointed that in fact, for once, she knew more then the Doctor.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, came a huge BANG! A bang so loud it set all the car alarms off on the street. Rose turned to see people crouched on the pavement, and cars stopped in the middle of the street. "That came from Canary Warf! Oh no!" She said as she ran towards the noise. Halting for a moment, she turned to see the Doctor simply standing there by his TARDIS. Not moving. "Well come ON!" She called out to him, gesturing with her arms that he should follow her.
She ran through the dissipating crowds, watching them scuttle off home. People in Cardiff had learned that with loud noises comes death and destruction, and thus headed home at the very first sign of danger. The Doctor followed close behind, keeping his eyes on her the entire way.
When she reached Canary Warf, Rose stopped, momentarily scanning the building for any sign of difference. At first she couldn't see anything, although the building had been evidently evacuated, but as she felt the Doctor at her back, she saw it.
"Look at that" he said, pointing towards the top level of the sky-scraper. Rose could already see: the room was glowing.
"Oh bloody hell!" Rose snatched her clearance card out of her pocket and sprinted to the front entrance, the Doctor hot on her heels. She scanned her card, stepping inside the vast, empty reception hall. "Right, the lifts will be down because of the evacuation, we'll have to climb the stairs." Running towards the fire safety doors, she suddenly remembered how many stairs there really were to climb.
She looked to the Doctor, and as if he had read her thoughts he said, "You know, I can rig the lifts to work again." Rose's heart leapt with excitement as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and headed towards the electric panel which controlled the lifts. They both climbed into the first lift that lit up, but the excitement was somewhat dimmed under the lifts fluorescent lighting, as they stood side by side with a strange awkward silence hanging in the air.
After what felt like decades, Rose stated quickly. "I'm Rose, by the way. Rose Tyler."
"Ah, nice to meet you Rose Tyler." The Doctor gave her a grin, and then resumed looking at the rising numbers at the top of the lift.
The lift doors opened to a room that glowed silver. So strong was the glow, it was impossible to see anything else. Both Rose and the Doctor stepped out cautiously, scanning the room as well as they could. "This way!" Rose said gesturing toward the place she was certain the glow was coming from. The place she had hoped would glow once again.
The doctor followed her obediently, but as they stepped into the room, pushed ahead of her and told her to stand back. The wall was rippling, like a pebble dropped into a pool of water. The Doctor approached it with trepidation, Rose following close behind, looking over his shoulder, shielding her eyes from the strong glow. "Incredible," he said, "absolutely incredible."
"It used to be a rift," chimed Rose, eager to help. "It was closed not so long ago. I was told if it opened again, the universe, everything would collapse."
The Doctor turned to look at Rose with concern. "No, no, no, no, no, yes! This isn't a rift, Rose Tyler, well it is, but it's something different. Something very different indeed."
"What do you mean?"
The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the rippling wall. He then removed his black rimmed glasses and replaced them with the 3D looking glasses Rose had been so familiar with on her final day in her old universe. "Ah, yes, yes, yes, yes, no….yes!" The Doctor said as he turned to face Rose. He then stumbled back slightly, as if startled, and then removed his glasses, looking closer at Rose. "Oh Rose…"
"What!?" Rose said, backing away slightly.
"You're glowing gold." In that moment Rose looked at her hand. She was indeed glowing gold, but she had little time to contemplate the fact as another big BANG prevented any further thought. The building shook and both Rose and the Doctor fell to the floor.
The Doctor looked up at Rose, clambering to his feet he reached out to Rose to help her up. Again, she refused his hand and stood up herself. They both looked back at the wall in unison to see a giant crack form. The Doctor looked at Rose and she looked back at the Doctor. "Something's trying to get through." He said. "RUN!"
They both dashed to the lift, the Doctor using his sonic screwdriver to open it. The deafening roar of the building cracking and crumbling around them surrounded them as the lift went down. They heard a sudden screeching sound as the lift came to a jolting stop. They both looked up as Rose whispered "Oh no," under her breath. The lift began to free-fall, banging them about inside. In the last moment the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to catch the cord and the lift stopped with a bang. The Doctor opened the door and both him and Rose climbed out, Rose still dizzy, hurried towards the exit which was opened at a distance by the Doctor. Rose stopped at once when she was outside, bending over to catch her breath.
"Don't stop!" The Doctor called out to her, as he ran steadfast toward the alley they had come from originally. Rose turned back to see the building she had worked at for over a year crumble from the top, all the way to the ground floor. Rubble was flung left and right and Rose tore through dust clouds towards the alley way the Doctor had just disappeared into.
As Rose turned the corner, she heard the sound; that beautiful and terrible sound, the sound of the universe she knew and loved so well, and watched as the red phone booth faded away.
"Well…" Rose said, "that's just plain rude."