Here's the second part. Thanks for all the love from the previous part, and please review. Enjoy!
Run you clever boy, and remember me.
[But tell me now, where was my fault in loving you with my whole heart? -Mumford and Sons]
River lies in bed, her fingers ghosting lightly across her husband's arm. He is breathing deeply with his eyes closed, and River knows he is angry with her, with the universe, with himself. She feels him in her mind, their connection fading ever so slightly as time passes. They are in her room in the TARDIS, because even after all they've been through, he refuses to allow her into his own room. It hurts, but she knows that she is not the first he's loved, and certainly not the last. Maybe that's part of what she loves about him.
He's had a past longer than she can even imagine, has had children and grandchildren that she can never give him. He has loved and been loved, danced with so many others, overwhelms her in everything that he does.
The Doctor finally opens his eyes and meets hers. He uses his arm resting over her to pull her closer to his own bare body. She kisses him chastely and wishes he would be truthful with her. He is too kind to her and she doesn't deserve it. She lies and she deceives and she breaks his heart so often.
This relationship is so hard, but she loves him so much that it's worth it. But if she wants him to be honest and truthful, she too must be honest and truthful. It hurts, but she finds the strength to ask, "Tell me about her."
There is a slight pause before he inhales, "Which one?"
"Any of them," River says, feeling her heart break because there's more than one that he cares for.
He launches into a tale about his first wife, the woman who stole his hearts back when he had a home planet and a family and friends who understood everything he could ever go through. He might have said her name at some point, but River doubts it and she probably would not have been able to pronounce it anyway. It's hard enough saying his name. But his wife sounds sweet and wonderful, and her death ultimately broke him (she died mid-regeneration, like he was supposed to). He took a special interest in their only son's daughter, Susan, and she was with him when he first stole the TARDIS and ran from Gallifrey.
The second woman he speaks of is human, and still alive, as far as he knows. Sarah Jane Smith traveled with him for a long time, and while he never says he loved her, River knows the truth hiding behind the words not spoken.
Like Sarah Jane, the next woman remains 'just a friend', but River knows better. Sometimes a picture can be illustrated from the holes the Doctor leaves in a story. Romana was his own species, a woman of his own ranking, and she was with him when she regenerated for the first time. The Doctor admits that he never found out what happened to her during the Time War. (River wonders if he hopes she is alive somewhere, but thinks he would know in his mind.)
There is some silence before he proceeds; he is choosing his words carefully. "Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth," he says softly, as if his mind is far, far away. "She saved my life more than once. Destroyed the Daleks, took in the entirety of the Time Vortex, sacrificed herself more than I could have asked, nearly tore apart the universe twice so that I could live. She's alive, in another universe, with her family and a version of my previous self. It was the best I could give her."
And it hurts even more than before, but River has to know. She closes her eyes and brushes her hand across his cheek to rest her fingers in his hair, draping a leg over one of his. Being closer with him physically might alleviate the pain, but she is lying to herself. Loving the Doctor is heartache and difficulty, but worth every second.
"Did you love her?"
The Doctor rolls to his back, untangling her from him. He breathes in and out, and River thinks he won't give her an answer. But his silence is the only answer she needs. Its the shortest description of all women, and his words are so alive and longing that she knows. Does it need saying?
Just as she thinks he will leave her forever for asking, he whispers, "How could I not?"
River turns to her back and stares up at the blank ceiling, taking his hand in hers. The end is coming, but it doesn't have to, not yet. He could love whomever he wanted, and River knows it is not her place to judge. He doesn't have to say that bad wolf is synonymous with rose tyler and that he will always run from those words. He doesn't have to say that the beach frightened him more than anything he'd ever faced, because she knows.
She knows him better than anyone, and knows more than he would tell her because she is a child of the TARDIS, and a child of the TARDIS can find her way through any deadlock seal her husband may put in place in order to find information. She just wanted him to tell her himself, to be honest, and this is the best she will ever get.
She knows bad wolf and knows that an end is coming, but for what she does not know. River can beg with Time, but Time is relentless and will not submit to the mere will of a single woman, no matter what her reasons are. And so she will never measure up to the memory of Rose Tyler, but River Song will protect her husband for as long as she lives, because, even if he does not love her as he loved Rose, she loves him more than life itself and would die for him a thousand times over.
Something tells her she will.
[A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes. I screamed aloud, as it tore through them, and now it's left me blind. -Florence + the Machine]
The Doctor smiles at Emma and Dr. Palmer, grinning even more enthusiastically when he looks between Emma and Hila. He quickly diffuses their confusion over having met before by saying, "No, you can't have met, but she can be your great, great, great, great, great granddaughter. Yours too, of course," he adds to Dr. Palmer (quite possibly throwing the shy couple for a loop), "but you guessed that already, didn't you? Oh. Apparently not."
Palmer is still unaware of what the Doctor was really saying, determined to focus on the scientific physics instead of the emotional side of the situation-an area which, to be honest, is more of Emma's expertise than his own. "The paradoxes-"
"Resolve themselves," the Doctor interrupts, "by and large. That's why the psychic link was so powerful. Blood calling to blood, out of time. Not everything ends. Not love. Not always."
"Doctor," Palmer treads carefully. "What about...what about us? Emma and me."
"What about you?"
Palmer stammers, "Well, what's supposed to happen? What do we do now?"
The answer is so simple really. It's the Doctor's only advice that he actually follows, most of the time. With a smile, he answers, "Hold hands. That's what you're meant to do. Keep doing that and don't let go. That's the secret."
An unwelcome thought flips through his mind briefly; a thought of a time when holding hands wasn't enough, when simply a grip on a lever meant the difference between life and death... But then the thought is gone, and the Doctor returns to the present, but not before thinking of other things Clara had said, piecing the puzzle together.
Doctor! I'm not happy.
Yeah, you need me to piggyback you across.
I'm not holding your hand.
And realization hits. He should have seen it sooner. "Oh, I'm so slow," he says, tapping his head with impatient fingertips. The explanation is practically exploding in his mind, bursting to be flung out into the conversation. "I am slow. I'm notorious for it. That's always been my problem. But-but I get there in the end. Oh yes."
"Doctor?" Clara seeks clarification (he files that away because he particularly enjoys name puns).
"How do sharks make babies?" asks the Doctor, his rhetoric seeming to be out of the blue when, really, he does have a coherent train of thought moving along the tracks of his mind. Perhaps he should take Clara to South Africa so that they can go shark diving in a cage. Though, of course, the Megalodon species on Antiqua is much more spectacular. And humans on Earth thought the Megalodon wasn't real-
"Carefully?"
"No, no, no," the Doctor shakes his head, returning to his actual conversation. "Happily!"
None of them really wants to have this conversation, especially with a God-knows-how-old alien who had probably only ever read the textbook about making babies. (Of course, none of them know the truth of his past. Then again, that was on Gallifrey, and everyone present right now was human, so they wouldn't need the looms.)
Clara looks at him strangely. "Sharks don't actually smile. They're just, well, they've got lots and lots of teeth. They're quite eat-y." The Doctor can't help but think that that was the sort of explanation his previous self would have given.
"Exactly! But birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it. Every lonely monster needs a companion." And isn't that the truth?
Clara is smart and her mind puts the pieces together fast. She looks up to the window, where the curtains shift. "There's two of them?"
The Doctor wraps his arm around her shoulders, turning her to face the house. "It's the oldest story in the universe, this one or any other." (Pete's World) "Boy and girl fall in love," (Leather and a pink jumper) "get separated by events. War, politics, accidents in time," (A blank, white wall, the ghosts of her screams) "She's thrown out of the hex, or he's thrown into it. Since then, they've been yearning for each other across time and space, across dimensions." (Planets fill the sky, a different woman with the same face, but it is still her) "This isn't a ghost story, it's a love story!"
A blonde crosses the forefront of his mind, but he pushes her aside. The Doctor realizes that he has his arm around Clara and apologizes, pushing her away slightly, thinking of another woman he wouldn't-shouldn't-have pushed away.
He runs back to Hila. They've got a couple to reunite. No one should be separated in two different universes. Besides, not everything ends. Not love. Not always.
[Time stands still, beauty in all she is, I will be brave, I will not let anything take away what's standing in front of me. Every breath, every hour has come to this. -Christina Perri]
She watches as Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax brush themselves off after the white light fades. As expected, Strax makes a war-related comment, "It was an unprovoked and violent attack, but that's no excuse."
Madame Vastra rolls her eyes and looks to Strax after checking on her wife. "We're all restored. That's all that matters now."
The Doctor is angered, and River knows what he will and must not do. "We are not all restored."
She speaks out, but knows that he will not hear her. "You can't go in there. It's your own time stream, for God's sake."
"I have to get her back," he says to the others, as determined as ever. As determined as she hopes he was to save her like CAL. Her heart hurts because she will never be able to hold him or speak with him or dance with him again. He is her husband, but she is dead to him.
"Of course," she exclaims, "but not like this."
"But how?" Jenny asks, thinking along the same lines, but not arguing like River hopes she would.
"Is she still alive?" Vastra notes incredulously. River knows better, but the others couldn't possibly. "It killed Dr. Simeon."
He grins, but it seems vicious and set in stone. "Clara's got one advantage over the Great Intelligence."
"Which is?"
His grin widens and he looks pleased, prideful even. "Me."
River is reminded of his arrogance and hubris at the Byzantium. Even his words seem reminiscent of the Time of the Angels. Oh, what the Angels mean to her now. She tries not to think of her parents, because there are more important things at stake. "Doctor," she pleads, "please listen to me. At least hear me."
"Now, if I don't come back, and I might not-"
She shouts, "Doctor!"
"-go to the TARDIS. The fast return protocols should be on. She'll take you home, then shut herself down." It's a horrid plan, and River knows that he knows it too.
"There has to be another way," River forces. "Use the TARDIS, use something. Save her, yes, but for God's sake, be sensible!" She raises her arm to smack him, though she isn't sure what effect she'll have, but she is surprised when the Doctor grabs her wrist to stop him. His grip is forceful, like the Weeping Angel's in Manhattan. She looks into his eyes, and knows that he is seeing her. "How are you even doing that? I'm not really here."
He is still upset, but he could hear her the whole time. "You are always here to me," he says, "and I always listen. And I can always see you."
She is hurt by his words, but glad to know the truth. "Then why didn't you speak to me?"
"Because I thought it would hurt too much."
River sighs, "I believe I could have coped." He never did trust her with her own feelings. Damn him.
"No," the Doctor argues, "I thought it would hurt me. And I was right." And then his lips are on hers and it is simple and perfect, but full of love and passion and wants and dreams and so much more. But it is over too fast, and River feels his pain in her own stomach. He looks at her nervously, "Since nobody else in the room can see you, God knows how that looked." But then he is serious again, holding her close. "There is a time to live, and a time to sleep. You are an echo, River. Like Clara. Like all of us, in the end. My fault, I know, but you should have faded by now."
And it is then that she knows he truly loves her. It hurts, but she will not lie to the man she loves. "It's hard to leave when you haven't said goodbye."
"Then tell me, because I don't know. How do you say it?"
She smile coyly, trying to tell herself that it isn't over. "There's only one way I'd accept. If you ever loved me, say it like you're going to come back."
He screws up his face as he steps back, before smiling widely and clapping his hands together. "Well, then. See you around, Professor River Song."
"Till the next time, Doctor."
"Don't wait up."
"Oh, there's one more thing."
His grin grows. "Isn't there always?"
She smiles at her husband, knowing her time is almost up. "I was mentally linked with Clara. If she's really dead, then how can I still be here?"
The mystery has perplexed him, and he is wrapped around her finger (but when hasn't he been?). "Okay, how?" he asks.
"Spoilers," she laughs. There is a pause, and then the last words she says: "Goodbye...sweetie."
The Doctor watches as his wife fades away for the last time, then steps into his own time stream as the world goes white.
[God knows what is hiding in this world of little consequence, behind the tears, inside the lies, a thousand slowly dying sunsets. -Birdy]
Clara is gone. She left of her own accord, to have her own adventures. After all, there were still one hundred and one places to see that the Doctor never took her. They never did much traveling on Earth, and she needed her own closure to her mother's death. They parted amicably, with the promise of a return on a Wednesday-the Doctor wasn't sure which Wednesday.
He isn't sure he ever will return for her. The impossible feelings he'd began to have for his impossible girl were entirely inappropriate. He was grateful for the year they spent together, but it is time to move on.
Once again, the Doctor is lonely, and he doesn't know what to do. He bumps around the universe for a year or so but even the TARDIS is growing lonely, and he gets rather tired of seeing alien landscapes. He longs for Gallifrey, and longs for Earth.
He always tries to avoid the late eighteenth, late nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries so he doesn't cross his own timeline more than necessary. He lands in forty-third century London, and tries to forget his abhorrence for alcohol as he enters a pub. He sits at the bar next to a young blonde thing wearing far too little clothing. Kindly, he offers her his jacket, but she takes it the wrong way, and he has to push her off him when she climbs onto his lap and begins to, well, wiggle.
He stands and leaves, suddenly remembering why he rarely comes to this era. Sexual promiscuity is more commonplace than ever, and it bothers him more than it probably should. Jack Harkness would love it here.
The Doctor sits on a park bench and stares up at the moon through the haze of smog and pollution. The rock is dim, and no stars are visible. It saddens him, but he enjoys the pain. He deserves it.
"Are you alright?" a young voice asks, and it is a girl no more than twenty-two with light brown hair and a plain face. Her clothes suggest a high place in society with strict rules of modesty and decency, but her posture reveals unhappiness with her life. She gives him a weird look after a few seconds, and the Doctor shakes his head once he realizes he was staring at her.
He nods enthusiastically, seeing the promise of adventure standing in front of him, and leaps to his feet in a stunning move that won him the silver at the 3118 Olympic Games. She flinches in shock and he is close to her. The girl stands her ground and looks up at him as he says, "I'm the Doctor. Would you like to travel with me?"
She narrows her eyes. "You don't even know my name. And what makes you think I would run away with a complete stranger?"
Looking her over once more, the Doctor smiles again. "Spoiled girl wanting more out of life, I know you'll come with me. So what is your name?"
The girl opens her mouth to speak, but the Doctor doesn't hear her. His ears are ringing of promises past and friends lost as his gaze catches a poster in the background. It looks like a poster for a performance in the park later in the week, but that is not what the text says.
It is impossible, and he doesn't know how it could happen, but the paper reads bad wolf and his hearts are pounding. The Doctor's mind is racing and he knows that this is no message lost, no coincidence. This is really happening, but nothing seems amiss like it might have nearly half a millennium ago when he was still traveling with Donna Noble.
He says not another word to the girl but sprints off to the TARDIS, closing the doors behind him with a snap of his fingers, and the old girl knows adventure when she sees it. He hardly has to do anything to get them into the Vortex, though where they are headed, he has no idea. The TARDIS doesn't either, but it seems the right thing to do.
His hearts are soaring and his stomach is jumping with anticipation and anxiety. How is this possible? How could she have torn through the walls of the universe again?
But none of it matters, because Rose Tyler has come back, and he will do anything and everything to find her and give her the forever she promised him. He had seen the words before, but ignored them, yet this was so much different, so much stronger, so much better.
He spins around the console giddily, feeling uplifted and happier than he has been in so very long. The Doctor feels young and reckless and cannot wait to see his pink and yellow human. He hasn't realized how upset he still was from the loss of her after however many centuries, but it has taken a toll on him. She was the first and last face his tenth face saw. She would forever be seared onto his hearts, even if trapped in another universe.
Ringing, singing, flinging himself around the console, the Doctor is elated. This must be how Thoreau and Emerson felt upon discovering enlightenment. He makes a mental note to go back and ask them about it. But it could wait. Rose was, is, and always will be more important.
[Don't look so sharp, don't judge so harsh, you don't know you're only spying. -Regina Spektor]
Rose wanders the universe, discovering its beauty on her own, learning about herself. She doesn't know where she's going, doesn't know what she's doing, but she keeps on.
Gunshots hardly faze her, even less often hit her. It's not like she doesn't just get right back up with a recovery rate that Jack Harkness himself would be jealous of. One shot leaves her gasping on the ground for a few seconds before a faint golden light tingles at her side. She is perfectly fine.
A decade passes before Rose is brave enough to try and save people. It always ends up being a situation where she thinks what would the Doctor do? Now she understands why he was always so sad.
It's a hard knock life, she muses.
There are days when not everyone lives. No nanogenes in a Chula warship come to save the day, no brilliant Doctor around to figure it out, no mother's love to protect the poor boy.
Rose kneels on the ground, struggling to remember the first aid Torchwood required her to learn. All she can think of is what the five stages of grief are. That's rubbish. But she tries anyway. Well, tries to calm the young man down. There's not much she can do for a gunshot to the chest. She could try to staunch the bleeding, but it would just make him more uncomfortable and send him into a panic.
"Hey, hey," she says, flipping little chunks of hair away from his forehead. He winces, but she doesn't get any gentler. She's a hardened soul now. "'s okay. 'S all gonna be okay."
"I'm...dying," he chokes, then coughs, gritting his teeth at the pain in his abdomen.
Rose furrows her brow, unable to think of a clever lie that will give him the peace of mind he needs to pass. She settles for, "Yeah. But it's gonna be okay. I'm here, an' I'm not gonna leave ya, okay? I'll be right 'ere."
"I'm Danny," the young man introduces, trying to make himself as normal as the situation will permit.
"Rose," she says in turn, taking his hand and chewing on her lip. What would the Doctor do?
He takes a shallow breath. "You're...really pretty."
She gives the best smile she can, tries not to think of the inevitable. He is clearly in pain, and Rose does what she has been told helps. She starts to hum an old Earth song, just like her mum would. It has been years since Rose has sung at all, but she tries her best.
It's over soon, and Rose leaves the pieces for someone else to pick up. She walks away without looking back, searching for a cheap way to get off-world until she can get her hands on a Vortex Manipulator.
When she does, time goes by much faster. No wonder Jack always claimed to be addicted to his. With the Time Vortex running through her mind, Rose tries to go places where she thinks the Doctor might be. So far it hasn't worked.
Whenever and wherever she lands, Rose feels like the Doctor has just turned a corner, is just out of sight. She hasn't found him yet, but it's just a matter of time. Occasionally, she comes across one of her 'Bad Wolf' messages from the past, but she doesn't know if it's a message long lost, or if she's started distributing the words again. Either way, maybe it'll help the Doctor find her.
He doesn't even know she's back in this universe. But he will.
[Touch me and then turn away and put your hands into the flame. Tell me if you feel this pain cause I don't want to be a ball and chain, no. -Ellie Goulding]
It's a nightmare, but one she can't help having.
Rose laughs loudly, knowing that the noise sounds like a lie. Her boyfriend tightens his grip on her wrist and she tries not to wince. The rest of the gang (not literally-she hopes, but these days she isn't too sure) doesn't seem to notice her falsity but rather thinks she is the devoted girlfriend of their fearless leader. She raises her cigarette to her lips and alternately sets down her pint.
Jimmy Stone seems to notice her aggravation and boredom, and he grows more possessive. She is able to read him easily because she loves him. He lets go of her wrist and brings the hand up to his guitar, strumming out some chords and singing along. Rose smiles-she loves the music he plays; it was the first thing she loved about him.
After the song is over, the entire group is more relaxed, and Jimmy takes Rose's hand again. With a smile on his face, Jimmy kisses Rose and then says, "Come on, babes, let's go back to my place."
"Our place," Rose corrects happily, her dismal mood from earlier vanishing. Jimmy wasn't quite used to verbally expressing the fact that they'd moved in together, even though they've been living together for a few weeks now. It caused a huge row between Rose and her mother, but she didn't care, all but cutting Jackie Tyler out of her life completely.
"Right," Jimmy says, standing and pulling Rose up with him. "See you la'er, then, mates."
The others say their goodbyes and soon Rose and Jimmy are by themselves, walking towards their flat. The sun has just set, leaving a tiring world winding down in sighing silence. Rose is exhausted, having been a work at the shop all day. She has to help pay for rent somehow, especially when Jimmy and his band are between gig cycles. They are the epitome of starving musicians (but not really because Rose provides with her minimum wage job).
They turn a corner and nearly run into someone. Rose mumbles out an apology before seeing the young man-her childhood friend, Mickey Smith. He's on his way home from work at the garage. Jimmy sneers at him, and Mickey tries to act tough but doesn't really succeed without just looking awkward. Rose tries to avert her gaze and pull Jimmy along.
She looks back at Mickey when she thinks Jimmy isn't paying attention. He's stopped on the corner, watching Rose and her boyfriend walk off. Rose gives him a look she can't really describe, and Mickey frowns.
When they get to their flat, Rose and Jimmy are quick to kick off their shoes and turn to each other. It's amazing they've been able to make it this far. They are soon wrapped up in each other and Rose is pushed against the wall. Jimmy's kisses are exciting and she immediately wraps her legs around his waist. Supporting her bum, Jimmy carries Rose to the bedroom and sets her down as she pulls off his shirt.
Later, Rose is listening to Jimmy's snores and trying to fall asleep when she reflects on her life. This flat is really messy. She needs to clean after work tomorrow. Of course, Jimmy could do it during the day, but he'd be too busy at band practice if they were going to be recording soon. Rose loves loving Jimmy Stone, even if she gets a little bruised and sore, and doesn't always know where the next meal is coming from.
In the morning, Rose is walking around in a robe while Jimmy lays in bed. She pulls some jeans out of the basket and reminds herself to do laundry (because Mum always did it back home). She feels Jimmy's eyes on her and grins when her back is turned. He thinks she's beautiful.
"Might wanna lose some weight there, babes," Jimmy says and Rose's smile slips. "The chips might be gettin' to ya."
He thinks she's a little large, but beautiful.
Rose bites her lip and picks up his pants from the floor, tossing them in the basket she'll take to the laundromat later. Getting dressed quickly so as not to miss the bus to work, Rose wonders what she'll get for dinner. She tries to cook sometimes, but she's lousy at it and Jimmy tells her so.
"I'll see you tonight," Rose says, leaning down to kiss him on the cheek. Jimmy turns and raises his arm to hold Rose in place as he kisses her. She grins against his lips and pulls away as he tries to deepen the kiss. "I've got work. See ya."
She nearly trips over his shoes on the way out, but Rose leaves.
Work is boring, especially since Shareen's on maternity leave, but Rose survives. She can't wait to get home to Jimmy. When she arrives at their flat, she finds it empty. One of the blankets is taken off the couch and the bedroom door is closed. There's an envelope taped to the telly. Growing unsettled, Rose tears the thing open and reads:
Sorry babes, but I don't think we're gonna work out. You're just one song, not a whole album.
Rose listens for her song on the radio, but Jimmy isn't good enough for fame. Neither is she, apparently.
When she wakes up, Rose almost wishes she could return to that part of her life, instead of this hell of a world where she has no friends, no family, no future except that of loneliness and chasing a goal which is probably impossible.
She cries for her mum and for the Doctor, and hates herself. Wishing she was dead, Rose hates that she can't even die properly.
She has no choice but to keep going.
[Time stands still, beauty in all she is, I will be brave, I will not let anything take away what's standing in front of me. Every breath, every hour has come to this. -Christina Perri]
It was only a matter of time before she ran into a friend of the Doctor's. Rose stands facing the large monitor with her head tilted to the side. She's not looking for anywhere in particular, just looking to go, to find him.
"Can I help you?" asks a voice from behind her.
Rose turns and looks the woman over. She's tall, physically older than Rose (but not really), with loads of blonde hair. Dressed in a white spacesuit, she looks about ready to leap into a shuttle and take off. "Oh, I'm-" Rose tries to piece together her words. This woman has thrown her for a loop; the threads of time are weaving together. This woman has met the Doctor.
Rose blinks a few times before shaking her head minutely. "'M not really sure."
The woman stares at her, her eyes studious. Realization crossed her face, her eyes widening as she immediately reached out for Rose's hands. Rose flinched-it had been so long since anyone wanted to touch her, longer since she wanted anyone to. "Oh my God." She is clearly in awe, and Rose doesn't know why. Her frantic, unfocused searching of the timelines is giving her no answers whatsoever. "It's you. You're Rose Tyler."
Rose closes off, winces and steps back, pulling her hands out of the woman's grip. "How do you know that? Who are you?"
"My name is River Song. I'm...well, I know the Doctor."
That name rang bells in Rose's head. The metacrisis Doctor had told her stories about adventures he'd had. One story in particular stuck out right now, about Professor River Song, the Library, and her death. Before she could stop herself, Rose was whispering, "Count the shadows."
"Hmm?" asks River. Rose shakes it off, and the other woman says, "I'm an archaeologist. Right now I work with the Felman Lux Corporation on their expedition to the Library."
"Yes," Rose says, and that easily catches River's attention.
Having a time traveler as a husband makes for an interesting lifestyle, but River is not used to having outsiders know her from the future. "Did we meet in the future?" she asks with a coy smile.
Rose shakes her head, her mind jumping to a part of the story that she had forgotten about until now. With the entirety of time and space running through her head, she was bound to forget a few details here and there. Sadly, this was one of the more important ones. "Someone who was very close to me told me."
"Ah," River says. She looks Rose over again. "You're so young. He's going to love that. Have you met him yet? I suppose not, or you wouldn't look so sad."
"But...he has told you about me?"
River smiles, but it seems forced, like she knows something she wishes she didn't. "He tells me everything," she shrugs, hating the only man she could ever love for loving someone else. "Do you understand the nature of my relationship with the Doctor." She doesn't mean for it to seem catty and 'my horse is bigger than your horse', but it does, and the hurt is written on Rose's face.
She sounds defeated when she says, "You're his wife."
"He may have married me," River says, her heart breaking as she says it (she'll have to go visit her mother after this expedition so they can talk-but then she remembers that she can't see her mother), "but he loved you."
It's the first time that the L-word has come up in conversation regarding Rose and the Doctor, excluding the metacrisis, who was much more open about that word. That takes a stab at Rose's heart, and she pushes away her memories of her human Doctor.
A pretty woman with her hair in a high ponytail on the side of her head daintily runs over. "Professor, Mr. Lux wishes me to remind you that...that we're-uh-"
"I'll be right over, Miss Evangelista," River says. "I just need to say goodbye to my friend here." The brunette jogs away, and Rose looks after fondly. Miss Evangelista reminds Rose of herself before she started traveling with the Doctor-not entirely intelligent, more of just a pretty face than anything else.
Rose tries to smile at River. "I don't want you to be late."
River smiles back. "I won't be. Mr. Lux won't leave me, he just likes to think he's in charge." The two women giggle, and smile genuinely. It's too bad that River will die, Rose thinks, because the two would probably get along famously, if not for the whole 'jealousy over the Doctor' thing. "It was nice meeting you, Rose."
"And you, River."
The woman with curly hair starts to walk away, but pauses and turns back. "Give him my love. And for God's sake, make him finish that sentence."
[But do not ask the price I pay, I must live with my quiet rage, tame the ghosts in my head that run wild and wish me dead. -Mumford and Sons]
Three years of constant searching yield no immediate results except for madness and unhappiness. He stumbles across a helpful young woman from late twenty-first century Canada. Not having to worry about London for a while is nice, and traveling with Michelle is even nicer.
She's tan, with long dark hair, blue eyes, and has a propensity for accidents. Seriously. He spends most of his time rescuing her, which would be incredibly frustrating and get old really fast if he didn't feel like a superhero every time he did so.
They run through the dark streets of Toronto, hand in hand, ducking around corners and into alleyways. Screams litter the city, smoke fills the air, sirens blare but the emergency vehicles are unable to move. Finally, they arrive at Michelle's family's home, but the worst has already happened.
Bodies litter the blood-stained carpet. Man lying on woman in a last move of failed protection, two teenage girls and a small boy are disfigured almost beyond recognition, a few missing limbs scattered around. The Doctor's ears are ringing, he's only vaguely registering Michelle's screams.
When he returns to reality, the Doctor is forced to literally drag Michelle out of the home. She collapses against him, incapable of holding herself up. He lets her sink to the wet grass as he fumbles for the sonic, going through the settings until he finds the correct one.
Michelle begins to hyperventilate when she sees her childhood home go up in flames.
He is nearly out of mercy for any species from any time who threatens this planet which he has come to love. If only the Time Lords could see him now. Surely they would respect him. Perhaps they would fear him. Now it makes sense to him why the Daleks call him the Predator, the Oncoming Storm.
The Doctor keeps Michelle moving through the burning city, keeping out of the light and out of the way of any of the creatures which plague the city. It won't take long before the entire planet is in danger, if it isn't already.
Toronto is burning, like Gallifrey. He hopes that the TARDIS has moved herself out of harm's way. This city might perish, but the Doctor won't be able to function without his beloved ship.
When dawn breaks, the Doctor and Michelle are hiding in an abandoned home. Michelle sleeps on a sofa with broken springs while the Doctor uses his screwdriver to locate the TARDIS. Hopefully she'll come soon. He can't figure out what this monster is without her.
Rose would know.
He curses himself for even thinking that. If she really was in this universe, he would have found her by now. She is gone, and he is a fool for thinking otherwise. As if the universe were taunting him, the Doctor flicks open the curtains to see BAD WOLF spray painted on a car on the street.
The Doctor is in such a terrible place, the only thing he can think of to describe that is bitch. He never in his entire life would have thought he hated Rose Tyler. He loathed her, abhorred her, wished he had never met her.
He senses Michelle's eyes on his back. "What are you thinking about?"
It takes him a while before he can think of a proper, coherent response that won't come out as harsh and hateful. The best he can do is, "Someone I once knew."
Michelle moves to stand next to him. Her hand slips in his, the fingers of her free hand scratching at the stitches on the drapes. He wishes she wouldn't speak, but Michelle is full of spunk and rebellion and a bit of a smart ass (her terms). "What happened to her?"
Oh, she's good.
Why does he always pick the ones who are marvelous at reading him to be his friends? "I don't know," he says, and it's the truth.
Michelle nods slowly. "Tell me about her."
In all honesty, it's the last thing the Doctor wants to do. He wants to find the TARDIS, wants to leave this godforsaken planet, wants to suffer so that he can actually feel something, possibly regenerate ten times so that he doesn't know who he is anymore. This bow tie, while still cool, is growing a bit full of memories. It signifies a place in his mind where a pond is more than a single body of water, the only water in the forest is a river, and a soufflé was just a soufflé.
"Please," Michelle begs, her voice breaking slightly. "I don't want to think about them."
She means her family, and despite all the pain it will cause him, the Doctor doesn't want to fight her. His hearts are always breaking, always broken, and wallowing in his sadness won't hurt any more than it already does. So for her, he will be brave and will face his past.
In a paradoxical way, looking out the window and seeing BAD WOLF gives him the strength he needs. Maybe he doesn't hate Rose Tyler. Maybe he just hates what she's become to him, how much he needs her. A light smile lights up his face. "She was magnificent."
And it's true. Come hell or high water (which, in all honesty, is not entirely unlikely eventually), he will find Rose Tyler and finish that sentence.
A cog turns in his mind, and things start to come together. The smile grows bigger, and he presses the button of his sonic screwdriver. That wonderful vworp-ingsound is heard behind them, and he turns. His sexy blue box is materializing right in the room, as if she knew what he was going through, knew what he needed to figure out on his own.
The Doctor offers his hand to Michelle, his eyes twinkling once more. "I know what's wrong. We can stop it, but we're going to need help. How do you feel about meeting some of my friends?"
She smiles and takes his hand, swinging their arms. "What are they like?"
"Well," he stalls while he tries to decide if he should tell her the truth about them, "they're the dream team. We go way back. I hope you aren't afraid of lizards, potatoes, and maids."
They run into the TARDIS, and the Doctor flings them into the Vortex. He knows what's wrong, and he has to stop it. Rose can wait for one more adventure. Especially since he's never faced this before. Not really.
Zombies.