A/N: This is my very first fan-fiction, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes. This story follows the episode The Girl in the Fireplace. I appreciate feedback, so feel free to leave any criticisms or comments.
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of its characters.
The Doctor busied himself trying to fix the TARDIS. Weeellllll, fixing the TARDIS might not be right, more like occupying his time with something that really did not need to be fixed. Which he did often; not that he would ever admit that to anyone else. Really, he was just trying to avoid a particular topic by tinkering away under the console. Lately the Doctor had found himself getting easily distracted by a certain young companion of his; a Miss Rose Tyler. On several occasions he found himself letting his gaze linger a bit too long or smiling at even the slightest thing she did. On New Earth he was practically leering at her! It was quite unusual for him, he never liked to become too close to any one of his companions, but with Rose it was getting more difficult each day.
It had become especially difficult since he regenerated, as this new body of his was prone to random hugs and the desperate need to touch Rose.
The Doctor blushed at that thought.
N…Not in any filthy way.
Silly old Time Lord.
But he felt that he simply needed to be in contact with her. This body was very 'touchy' and he caught himself wanting to be as close as possible to Rose. When they first met, the Doctor had been drawn in by Rose's cleverness and tenacity. As they traveled together he discovered her compassionate side and her warmth. She made him smile like he hadn't since before the Time War. Rose Tyler had saved him, the Doctor. She not only saved him from the Autons the first time they met, as well as a multitude of other malicious creatures; Rose had also saved him from himself. He'd been severely damaged by the Time War and he already lost faith in himself by the time he met his pink and yellow girl.
And she was his.
As much as he tried to deny it for as long as he could, he knew that she was his Rose.
And he was hers, just as she claimed on Satellite 5.
He was her Doctor.
He knew could have taken the Time Vortex out of Rose without kissing her, but he felt that if he was going to regenerate he may as well have the taste of her on his lips before his ninth incarnation died. After all, it was in that body that he fell in love with Rose Tyler, so he felt that his last act should show her just how much she'd meant to him. This basically meant that his tenth incarnation was born from his love for Rose Tyler.
Oh Rassilon, the Doctor groaned, if that's not just the cheesiest thought.
However, it was true. The moment this incarnation first laid eyes on her, he knew he was gone and it terrified him.
That's also when he decided to make the worst decision since he met Rose.
Distance, he'd decided rather rashly, he needed to put some distance between them!
He was getting far too attached to her. He couldn't allow himself to get too invested in his companions because eventually, they all left him. And someday, so would Rose.
The Doctor stopped what he was tinkering with as he felt an acute agony tear through his chest. The thought of losing Rose tore at him so much he could barely breathe. Rose was his savior after the war; she made him better. She made him WANT to be better and not only for her, but for himself as well. Dismally, he thought that if he hadn't met her in that basement at Henrik's, he most likely would have sacrificed his own life to save everyone from the Autons. In fact, that was exactly what he had planned on doing. Just end it, he'd thought at the time, you destroyed your own kind, something not even the Dalek's could achieve. He was quite literally 'The Great Destroyer,' so why should he be allowed to live on when his people were gone? If not for Rose being there right when he needed someone, he would have gone through with it. But it wasn't just that Rose was there at the right time and place; she was exactly what he needed, and she treated him with love and kindness.
And that was precisely what made the past few of weeks so difficult. By trying to put some distance between Rose and him, he'd discovered one very important factor he forgot to add into his plan.
Not being able to be openly close Rose almost caused him physical pain. His mind and body desired her in every way, this caused the Doctor's blush to increase; the thought of having to withhold his natural tendencies towards Rose was agonizing. He even knew that what he was doing was putting strain on their current relationship. By keeping Rose at arm's length, the Doctor also managed to put her into harm's way more than a couple of times. On New Earth with that irritating Cassandra woman/skin/thing; why had he decided it best to go ahead of Rose when he should have waited? With the strain that her brain had already been through because of the Bad Wolf, Cassandra could have permanently damaged Rose's mind. Even when they met Queen Victoria and the Werewolf he had not been careful enough and she was almost attacked.
He'd told her before that his life was not safe, but he hadn't meant that it would be because of his lack of attention that would put her in a dangerous position. Apparently this incarnation was rather flighty.
The Doctor felt the TARDIS nudge him with what could only be interpreted as an affirmative to his assumption.
"Hey," the Doctor said sulkily, "you're supposed to disagree."
A rumble from the TARDIS indicated a mocking laugh.
Great, thought the Doctor, now I've got two moody females to deal with.
At that exact moment, sparks shot out from some of the wiring. The Doctor yelped and shoved out from underneath the console.
"Oi! No need to get testy!" He growled.
Aggravated that the TARDIS wouldn't even let him pretend to tinker anymore, the Doctor started pacing around the console. His thoughts drifted back towards the past few weeks.
After the Werewolf incident was a rather nice surprise in the form of his Sarah Jane; although he found out some rather unsettling details surrounding the last time he'd seen her and just what his absence caused. Sarah Jane waited for him and he didn't know what to say. When Rose cornered him outside that chip shop he'd panicked and, although he said what he felt was necessary, it still pained him to have Rose accuse him of using her. He'd meant that promise that he'd given her, not to leave her behind, but even he wondered if how he could possibly keep it. He had to leave his companions behind because he wanted them to move on with their lives and understand that life with the Doctor really was just an exciting adventure that allowed them witness the tragic beauty of the universe, but it was not forever and someday they would have to travel the slow path.
Oh, the Doctor thought, again with the slow path.
Reinette.
He did not regret meeting such a remarkable woman. He did, however, regret his reaction to her though. A reaction that almost left him stranded in 18th century France. The moment he turned round to look at the broken time window, the implications of what he'd just done hit him full force.
Rose.
Oh Rassilon, what had he done?
Flighty indeed.
He intended to put distance between his self and Rose, but not 3000 years and light years away.
Reinette proved just as clever as he'd believed; she'd moved that fireplace from her childhood home to the palace, effectively saving him from the slow path and allowing him a way back to his beloved Rose. He had promised to take Reinette to the stars for a trip; such a brilliant woman deserved the stars. However, he did not return in time and she had passed before she had the chance to see them. He was deeply saddened by her loss; she had given him back his stars, but he could not give Reinette hers.
Rose was kind enough to give him space after he'd returned from Versailles. He needed to mourn the Uncrowned Queen.
He would have expected a Tyler-slap after he'd returned, but she simply left him to his thoughts. Mickey had stepped in and lead Rose away, which at first the Doctor was thankful for.
It wasn't until later that he'd realized that it wasn't such a good thing.
After 18th century France, Rose started avoiding the Doctor. It was as if she couldn't stand being in the same room as him. The Doctor was losing his Rose and he didn't know how to stop it. Not only that, since Mickey and Rose left him to his thoughts after the spaceship, the two had been thick as thieves. The Doctor had already discovered right after bringing Mickey aboard the TARDIS that it was a bad idea.
A terrible, awful, never should have done it, regretted ever allowing him to set foot on his TARDIS, bad idea.
Despite her misgivings at first, Rose bounced right back into her easy not-quite-romantic-relationship with Mickey-the-Tin-Dog.
The Doctor scowled bitterly.
After Reinette, Mickey had replaced the Doctor as Rose's confidant and well, that was not what the Doctor wanted at all. Frankly, the Doctor didn't want anything to come in between his relationship with Rose, but now he could see that their carefully buoyant friendship was starting to crack. Little fissures in Rose's faith in the Doctor had begun to form. If he didn't fix it soon, he was going to lose Rose for good.
Weelll, he certainly wasn't going to allow that.
The Doctor knew he was going to have to earn Rose's trust again if he had any hope of her staying with him.
His mind finally made up, the Doctor set off down a corridor leading away from the console room and he prayed to whatever deity he didn't believe in that he could get Rose to talk to him and, hopefully, he could save their relationship.
He would get his Rose back if it was the last thing he did; though hopefully not the last thing because he had plans for the two of them, but those would come later.
Good thing was he knew just where to find her.