"Rose." He whispered, his hand inching toward her before falling back to his side.
Hot tears slid down her cheeks, but Rose was too shocked to notice. She would never get back to the Doctor, that much was obvious. She would be stuck reliving these Time Lines and running into shadows of him until she simply stopped existing.
A soft hand on her cheek pulled her thoughts back to the present and Rose looked up to see this new Doctor brushing away her tears. "What wrong?" He asked, his eyes betraying a hint of panic.
She took a deep breath. Now was not the time to break down, this was just like any other Torchwood mission and she would finish it to completion.
"I'm fine." She said lightly, brushing the last of the tears away as well as his hand. "Just get emotional sometime's, no real reason."
The Doctor frowned. "No you don't."
Rose raised an eyebrow questioningly. Shouldn't he be pretending he had no idea who she was?
Rory continued seemingly oblivious to the tension between the pair. "Rose, this is my fiancée Amy and the Doc-" A hand was suddenly over Rory's mouth blocking any further speech.
"John Smith." The tweed Doctor said nodding at Rose.
"Nice to meet you."
His eyes ran over her body as if drinking in her presence and Rose shivered under his intense, clenching her hands to keep from running to him.
You can't. He thinks your sixteen year old you, telling him anything about the future would ruin the timelines and cause paradoxes and….wait. Realization dawned over Rose as a small grin worked its way onto her face. She was in a shadow time line. Time laws didn't work the same here. Rose couldn't risk divulging everything to the Doctor, but she could definitely toe the line.
With thoughtless courage Rose rushed forward and threw her arms around this new Doctor, burrowing her face into his neck. She felt his arms immediately tighten around her and his face press into her hair. "I missed you." She whispered into his tweed jacket.
She felt the Doctor's body tense and his grip move up towards her shoulders before pulling her back so she could see his troubled gaze. "What?"
"Doctor what's going on?" Amy asked, eyeing Rose suspiciously. "Do you know her?"
"No, course not Pond, she seems to just be in a state of shock which could result in the hugging and saying things she doesn't mean." He glanced pointedly down at Rose who rolled her eyes.
"And I'm sorry but we can't have you running off after seeing the Ringoir." He raised two fingers and placed them gently on Rose's temple stroking the skin softly.
"What are you doing to her?" Rory questioned, looking between the two.
"He's taking my memory of the alien." Rose said quietly glaring at the Doctor. "And I can't let you do that."
"You're going to have a very large effect on the future, and you can't know that alien exist just yet." He explained his eyes sad. Rose panicked as he fingers rearranged their grip on her head. If he looked into her head he would see everything, and she couldn't let that happen.
With an apologetic smile Rose bent her elbow and jabbed it forward into his stomach, not hard enough to damage but enough to effectively wind him. The Doctor fell backward gasping for breath looking shocked. She noticed Amy's fiery approach and quickly bent down and kissed his cheek.
"Allons-y" she said, grinning at his wide eyes as he fought to form words between pants.
With a final wave to a confused Rory, Rose Tyler ran away.
…
"I want to see her." The Doctors whispered plea broke the heavy silence that filled the room.
"But –" Pete began, noticing the darkness outside the parlor window.
"Please ..." The sorrow that filled his voice broke Pete's reasoning.
"Come with me."
The Doctor walked silently beside Pete as the small group made their way down the path toward the Tyler family plot. The car ride had been a tense affair with the Doctor staring blankly out the window, while Martha and Pete attempted polite conversation. All pretenses of normalcy was dropped when the sleek black car arrived at the cemetery and the three occupants began the short trek with flashlights in hand. A shiver crept up Martha's back as she scanned the dark cemetery; in any universe they were creepy at night.
"This is it."
Pete's voice seemed unnaturally loud in the harsh silence causing Martha to flinch. She followed his outstretched finger to the stone slab peeking out of the ground.
Rose Marion Tyler
The name sat simply on beautiful gray granite with an embellishment of stars highlighting the stone. Martha was surprised at the simplicity; she had assumed that there would be some sort of statement, something like Loving Daughter, or forever in our hearts. There wasn't even a birth and death date.
She watched as the Doctor knelt in front of the stone; his face so overflowing with grief Martha didn't even know how to comfort him. The distressed alien raised a shaking hand to trace the outline of the woman's name.
"Rose" He whispered, tears falling freely down his face.
"Why did she do it?" Martha quietly asked after a moment, turning towards Pete.
The man swallowed, considering the question. "She was unhappy here, everybody could see it. She threw herself into field work a week after she got here and it became her life. She would work 18 hour shifts and sleep on the med lab beds. It wasn't until the beginning of this year that she started to become adjusted. Bought herself a flat, came over to the mansion at least twice a week, started to actually manage a life. We thought she was doing so much better, and then we got the email from her about a Norway vacation and the next time we see her, she's dead." He focused on the ground, blinking rapidly.
The Doctor stood abruptly drawing the attention of his companions. He reached into his trench coat pocket and carefully withdrew a golden flower. Martha gasped as she noticed the plant seemed to radiate a soft glow that cast shadows across the Doctor's broken face. He bent down to move the assortment of bouquets and wreaths to make room for his single offering. He set the stem of the flower into the dirt and Martha watched amazed as roots sprung from the stem and laced itself into the ground.
"What is it?" she asked in wonder.
"It's from my planet. We didn't have roses, but this is the closet translation." He stroked the head stone softly before bending down and pressing his lips to the engraved name. Martha watched concerned as the Doctor's body went rigid.
"Doctor?" she asked, taking in his odd posture.
He suddenly jumped to his feet, causing Martha to tumble backward into Pete. The Doctor ran his tongue over his lips his eyes full of hope.
"Peter Tyler!" He announced suddenly, "I'm going to need a shovel!"
…
The tears were expected.
They stung her eyes and mixed with the sweat that coated her face. She ran the four miles from the grocery store without stopping and the emotional distress was now hitting her.
Rose looked out over the bridge she had stopped at. It was effectively in the middle of nowhere and seemed to fit in with the stormy skies and ragging water that ran below.
She didn't find the Doctor.
It was a difficult concept to accept. After all her work on the dimension cannon and Torchwood and all this stupid time line crap, she never got back to him.
It hurt. It hurt so damn much.
She closed her eyes and felt the light breeze as it dried her wet face. She knew from experience that wallowing wasn't going to do anything. There were still aliens to fight, people to save, species to meet. Life would go on.
With a sigh Rose leaned heavily on the stone railing. As much as she knew it wasn't the end of the world, she still didn't particularly want to keep living this time line.
Do I have to die every time? Rose grimaced, thinking back to lab. It was her only lead at the moment, so with a brave face, she climbed onto the stone railing.
The sound of the rushing water seemed to intensify as she attempted to squelch her nerves. The fall was about hundred feet and the rush of vertigo that hit almost made her fall backward.
Quieting her natural instinct of self-preservation, Rose lifted her arms and let herself fall forward.
She expected the rush of air past her ears before the painful connection of her body to the water. She did not expect the large force that hit her from the side causing her body to slam back onto the bridge. She gasped at the sharp pain radiating from her side before turning to see what had hit her.
"Jack?"
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