Disclaimer: I'm too tired to make something up, so I'll just lie and say I own it. And if you've taken logic, you'll deduce that since I lied, and I told you I lied, I cancelled everything out. Ergo…I cannot be sued. Ha.
A/N: Set during "Rose." Just a bit I wrote…because I love when the small things are the most important.
Of All Things
Rose hurried down the sidewalk, still clutching the plastic arm. Her heart was still pounding wildly, an after effect of the unexpected explosion and the encounter with the strange man. As she neared home, she slowed. What in God's name was she doing with a plastic arm? For the life of her, she couldn't say. She'd passed at least three dozen trash bins on her way, and all the while, the thought of tossing the arm had lingered right at the back of her mind. But she couldn't seem to bring herself to let it go. Even though it was nothing but trouble, obviously.
Like him. She stopped in her tracks and glanced down at the offending plastic limb. Rolling her eyes, she stepped towards the nearest garbage can and lifted her arm to drop it. A pair of blue eyes invaded her mind, and her resolve faded. What was she playing at? She didn't know. That was the point. She didn't know him. All she knew was what he called himself: the Doctor. No. That wasn't quite true. She knew one other thing, just one.
When he took her hand in his, she didn't feel safe or scared or loved or even particularly happy. What she felt was like nothing she'd ever felt like before. She felt as if she could run with him forever. She felt like she could run hand in hand with him for all eternity, never stopping. It wasn't something she could have explained out loud with words. It was just something she knew intuitively. The feeling was right. So right.
What all that had to do with a plastic arm, she'd probably never be able to explain. Instead of trying, then, she turned and hurried home. Sitting on the couch, listening to her mum's never ending chatter, she realized how silly she'd been back on that dark street, her heart skittering like a colt. So she told Mickey to toss it on his way out. For one second after the door shut behind him, she felt the tiniest twinge of regret.
By the time her head hit her pillows, she had forgotten the feeling. But as she slept, she dreamt. The strange man starred in her dreams, but she'd forgotten when she woke in the morning. Twelve hours later, Rose had encountered the feeling again. Time machine, he told her. She didn't think twice again. As she joined him for the adventure of her life, she thought back briefly to 24 hours before when she'd made either the best or worst decision of her life. As she went through the blue doorway into another world, she wondered at how random life could be when the most important things in it could come down to a plastic arm of all things.
A/N: I've been confusing people lately, and I wanted to cover all my bases here at least and explain what might need explaining. This is all based on the premise that the only way the Doctor ever met Rose again was because of the plastic arm. I'm also going on the premise that the only way the arm found it's way back to the flat was because it'd been there before. Basically, Rose's entire life following that day came down to a plastic arm. Does that make sense now? Know what else does? A review.