Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who
Letters from the TARDIS Part Two
Letters to the Lost Thief
The TARDIS watched happily as her Thief showed all the letters to River, telling her the story behind each one. They were bonding, and there was no need to worry about spoilers getting in the way.
Her work was done…or was it? The TARDIS couldn't help but feel like there was someone else out there, so far away, who needed her, but whom…and then she remembered.
/
The Meta Crisis Doctor stood on the small balcony outside his hotel room, idly playing with the piece of TARDIS coral. He'd only been alive for a day, and already his whole world had been turned upside down. He'd been exiled, effectively, to a parallel universe. He'd lost his connection with his oldest and dearest companion. To top it all off, Rose had gone into emotional shutdown, and barely spoken to him since that really rather quite brilliant kiss on the damned beach.
Suddenly, a blue envelope dropped out of the sky and landed at his feet. Bewildered, he picked it up and opened it. The envelope, he noticed, was TARDIS blue. Just like all those letters he'd found before.
To my lost Thief,
Did you really think I'd leave you behind? I promised the Doctor, ten times, that I will never leave him. You are the Doctor. Rose will come to see this, eventually. Just give her time and be yourself.
Of course, the human authorities are unlikely to accept 'Doctor' as a valid name, even though it is a noun. If you do need a human name, I have one suggestion. Jason David Tyler.
Live well, love Rose.
Love, your faithful TARDIS.
The Meta Crisis…no, Jason, grinned widely. He should have known it was the TARDIS; she'd always been looking out for him, even when he wasn't with her.
/
Rose and Jason were eating chips on a bench on the promenade, watching the waves lapping over the sand. They were in France; Jason had procured two plane tickets and invited Rose to come with him for a week's holiday. She had accepted eagerly, happy to get away from work. Torchwood wasn't nearly as constantly exciting when she wasn't working non-stop on the Dimension Cannon.
It had taken a while, a lot of arguments and heartfelt talks and hesitant dates, but Rose had come to accept Jason as the Doctor, with one less heart, and was slowly but surely falling in love with him. He looked especially gorgeous at that moment, with his hair mussed up by the brisk wind, in black jeans which suited him surprisingly well, and the first few buttons of his shirt open, and the way he was staring at her…
She leaned in for a kiss, but then something caught her eye, and she pulled away. Jason's face fell. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Sorry, thought I saw…was that envelope there before?" she asked, pointing. Jason followed her finger and spotted the TARDIS blue envelope lying on the ground. He lunged for it and scooped it up. "Someone must've dropped it. We oughta mail it, Jas-Doctor" said Rose.
Of course he had to tell her about the TARDIS's letters, and that it wasn't a way for them to communicate with the Doctor in the other universe. They read the letter together.
To the Doctor and Rose Tyler,
By this time in your universe, the Doctor will have regenerated, from radiation poisoning. He's younger than ever now, utterly mad, and he's become convinced bowties are cool. He also has a new companion, Amelia Pond. Another ginger….the new Doctor's hair is blackish brown, and his eyes are green, in case you were wondering.
I do hope you are both okay. The Doctor still misses Rose, and thinks of her, and I still think of you, my little lost Time Lord.
Love, your faithful TARDIS.
/
The Meta Crisis Doctor, aka Jason Tyler, woke to the really quite brilliant sight of his wife. He grinned at the thought. The very first day of their honeymoon, two glorious weeks of nothing but him, Rose and the Spanish sunshine. He was so busy gazing contentedly at Rose that he didn't notice the envelope lying on the bed, until she stirred and shifted the covers. He opened the envelope and pulled out the letter within.
Jason and Rose,
I believe congratulations are in order! And it seems like just yesterday we were on Bad Wolf Bay. My goodness; I'm starting to sound like your mother.
Speaking of marriages, Amelia Pond is engaged to a young man called Rory. He's brave, compassionate and very loyal. To be honest, he reminds me of both you and the Doctor in a lot of ways.
Love, your faithful TARDIS.
Rose stirred again and yawned. "Doctor?" she murmured. He loved how she hardly ever used his alias nowadays. "The TARDIS says congratulations" he told her, giving her a kiss.
/
It had been one of the strangest and most frightening dreams since he'd arrived in Pete's World. Jason had awoken to find Rose missing, with no sign she had ever been there at all. To make matters worse, no one seemed able to see him, feel him, or even hear him. Confused and panicking, Jason's relief when he awoke for a second time, with Rose lying beside him, was manifold.
He and Rose were sitting on the porch, talking about his nightmare. "That is weird. D'you think it means something?" she asked. Before Jason could reply, they were interrupted by a TARDIS blue envelope dropping out of the sky. "Heh, air mail" joked Jason, as he opened it.
To my lost Thief,
You will have been even more lost than usual, I fear. If you have felt recently, as if you didn't exist, that's because for a while you didn't. The Doctor, the other Doctor, erased himself from time. It was the only way to ensure the universe would be restored, but of course he didn't consider the consequences. Please don't worry; everything is more or less back to normal.
Love, your faithful TARDIS.
"Hang on…so it wasn't a dream? I really was gone?" asked Rose. Jason nodded. "I guess in a universe where the Doctor never existed, you would never have come to Pete's World" he explained. Rose kissed him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I don't ever want to live in a world where I don't meet you" she told him.
/
The peace and quiet of the Tyler household was broken by the wails of the newest addition to the family. Jason got up out of his seat and scooped up his son from the crib, rocking him back and forth. Jack Ian Tyler squirmed and kicked, refusing to settle down. "I think he might be hungry" he informed Rose as he handed their child to her. "I forgot to tell you, cos I've been so tired, what with his highness here demanding all our attention" she kissed the baby's forehead and continued, "but we got another letter, from the TARDIS. It's over on the dresser".
Jason beamed and hurried over. Sure enough, the letter was unopened. He returned to his seat besides Rose, ruffled his son's wispy brown hair, and opened it. "I bet it's about our Jacky-boy" he suggested, before reading the letter aloud.
"To Rose and her Doctor,
First comes marriage, and then comes the baby. I'm surprised, Thief, I would never have thought you'd do it in the right order. Hmph, she could give me a little more credit. Congratulations to both of you. I wish I could bring the other Doctor to see you and the little one; this incarnation is very fond of young children. He'll tell his strays he can speak baby, which isn't entirely true; he simply picks up on their basic thoughts and feelings and makes the rest up. Yeah, that's kind of true.
Still, I know he would be glad to know you are both happy, as I hope you are.
Love, your faithful TARDIS".
Rose smiled at him. "I wish the Doctor could meet Jack too. D'you think one day he'll come back when Jack's older and meet him then?" she asked. Jason shrugged. "Maybe, anything's possible. As long as he doesn't turn up with our little boy's namesake in tow, we'll be fine. Rose, you know I love you both, but you do realise naming our son after Harkness is just asking for trouble…"
/
Jason didn't even blink when a TARDIS blue envelope landed on his desk at work. He swiftly slit it open and skimmed through the letter inside. What he read made him grin widely, and rush to find Rose, leaving the letter face up on his desk.
To my lost Thief,
I wrote before to congratulate you on the birth of your son. My other Thief's strays, Amelia and Rory, have also had a daughter. They have named her Melody. In a strange way, she is also my daughter, because she was conceived whilst I was in flight in the Vortex.
The circumstances surrounding Melody's birth are complicated, but that isn't why I'm contacting you. I've considered the matter carefully, and decided that since you are separated from your original's timeline, it would be fine for me to reveal the truth. I believe you deserve to know. A brave young human wrote Melody Pond in her own tongue, the language of the Gamma Forests. But as you know, the only water in the forest is the river, and they do not have a word for pond. The nearest word for melody they have is song.
Melody Pond is River Song. So now, both of my Thieves know the truth.
Love, your faithful TARDIS
/
Rose and her husband sat cuddled together on the couch in their little flat. In Rose's arms lay a bundle of blankets, inside which lay Michael John Tyler, otherwise known as Mike Tyler (Jason had refused to shorten his name to Mickey). Their three year old son Jack sat playing with his Transformers on the floor.
The toddler didn't notice the letter falling onto the seat besides the Doctor, but he did. He and Rose read it together in bed later on.
To Jason and Rose,
I'm writing to offer both congratulations and condolences. Congratulations, on your second child. I only sense vague remnants of your timeline, my Thief, but I trust you and Rose are happy and well.
And I regret to say this, but I believe you deserve to know. Your friend, Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, recently died in his sleep. Rose won't have known him as Jason will, but I'm sure your husband will tell you about this very good man.
Love, your faithful TARDIS.
Rose looked at the Doctor sympathetically, but curiously, and he sighed. "I wish you could have met him, Rose. He really was a very good man…"
/
Rose felt her eyes drooping as she gave the demanding Donna Christie Tyler a bottle of milk. She ran through the checklist in her head; Jack, at football practice. Mike was over at a friend's house, and Jason, still at Torchwood. The TARDIS blue envelope dropping out of thin air was a welcome distraction.
To Jason and Rose,
I don't imagine it to be easy, to have two adolescent or pre-adolescent children and a third recently born. A daughter, this time, I believe. Congratulations. My Doctor has a new companion, Clara something or other. There is something strange about her, and to be honest, we've had our disagreements. She even had the nerve to call me a cow.
Love, your faithful TARDIS.
Rose placed the letter on Jason's pillow, for him to read when he returned.
/
Sixty four years, that was all they had together. Tears tracked their way down Jason's wrinkled cheeks as he stood by the grave of his wife. A bouquet of pink and yellow roses had been placed reverently on the site. "I'm sorry, dad" murmured his son, Jack. Then the eldest child led his younger brother and sister, Mike and Donna, away so their father could grieve in peace.
That's when Jason saw the glimmer of blue out of the corner of his eyes. It was only three days later that he bothered to actually read the letter inside the envelope.
To my Thief,
I am so sorry, and I wish I could be there for you. I wish I could tell you that Rose is in heaven, watching over you, but I don't believe in heaven and it wouldn't make you feel any better. Just remember, please, that Rose led a full, happy life with you by her side. That is all you and your original ever wanted for her.
Don't spend the rest of your life mourning for her, because in a way she is not gone; merely waiting for you. Be strong for your children. Be strong for me. Be strong for Rose.
Love, your faithful TARDIS.
/
A bout of coughing overcame Jason, and he reached for the glass of water by his bed to ease his parched throat. As he set the glass down unsteadily, he realised there was something blue underneath it. He tugged the envelope out from under the glass and fumbled with his reading glasses.
Before he opened the envelope, he paused to contemplate his wrinkled hands. From nine hundred year old Time Lord to ninety one year old human; Jason had known for a long time that he was going to die soon. Decades ago, he would have been terrified of the thought. Now he found himself welcoming it. Dying meant seeing Rose again…
He pulled himself out of bittersweet memories and opened the envelope, unfolding the letter inside.
To my beloved Doctor,
I love you. I have always loved you and I always will. I am proud that, despite having a limited lifespan, you still lived to the fullest. Your song may be ending, but your story will live on through your children, and their children, and so on.
Goodbye, my Thief.
Jason smiled and raised the letter to his lips, pressing a kiss to the paper. Then his hands fell back to the bed as he closed his eyes, for the last time.