Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ Rose and Ten The Inbetweens and backstories ❯ Chapter Eighteen ( Chapter 18 )

Pull-kick-pull-kick-breath, pull-kick-pull-kick-breath.

The Doctor was swimming lengths of the Olympic sized pool, trying to sort his head out. Long after Rose had fallen asleep, he had just sat there, reluctant to move . . . and he wondered why? It wasn't because he'd been afraid of waking her up; he'd felt the regular, slow rise and fall of her chest against his, her arm, relaxed over his chest. When he'd looked down at her gorgeous face, he'd seen her eyes moving under the lids as she'd dreamed.

Pull-kick-pull-kick-breath, pull-kick-pull-kick-breath.

He'd imagined those gorgeous, hazel eyes, gazing on the sights that her dream was showing her. Why was everything about this girl gorgeous? He was feeling things that he hadn't felt in hundreds of years, feelings that he hadn't felt since he had lived on Gallifrey, feelings he'd had when he'd had . . . a family.

Pull-kick-pull-kick-breath, pull-kick-pull-kick-breath.

Something was stirring inside him; `This is the Beast within, and it has woken. It is the heart that beats in the darkness. It is the blood that will never cease. And now it will rise'. The Beast that was his emotions had woken and the universe had better watch out.

Pull-kick-pull-kick-breath, pull-kick-pull-kick-breath.

Reinette of course, had woken the Beast, when she snuck inside his head, while he was examining her thoughts. She had inadvertently stimulated the emotion centre in the Limbic system of his brain, and now he couldn't switch it off.

Pull-kick-pull-kick-breath, pull-kick-pull-kick-breath, turn.

But the Beast had stirred before, when the TARDIS took him to that department store, and he'd rescued Rose Tyler by taking her hand and telling her to run. He had been broken and vulnerable at that time, and she'd shown him such compassion and understanding.

Pull-kick-pull-kick-breath, pull-kick-pull-kick-breath.

And then he had regenerated, the flames of regeneration burning away some of the guilt and remorse, replacing them with hope and . . . what? An appreciation of life . . .and the appreciation of a pink and yellow girl. But with those, came the memories of a wife, children, grandchildren, all gone now, turned to dust.

He stopped at the edge of the pool and caught his breath, thinking about previous conversations. `I thought you and me were . . . I obviously got it wrong' . . .'You just leave us behind . . . Is that what you're going to do to me?'

`No, not to you' . . .'I don't age. I regenerate . . . But humans decay . . . You wither and you die, imagine watching that happen to someone who you . . . love'. There, he'd finished that sentence, and he gasped at the emotion. He saw the smiling face of his long dead wife, from when they first met, as a young bride, as a mother, a grandmother, and as a . . . That image was still too much for him, but the grey, drawn, wrinkled face started to morph, the wrinkles faded, the skin tightened, the grey hair took on a golden hue; he was looking at the smiling face of Rose.

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Rose entered the console room, wearing black trousers, yellow T-shirt and her denim jacket. She'd put her hair into a loose ponytail on the side.

`Mornin'' she said cheerfully.

The Doctor looked up from the console. `Morning, sleep well?'

`Yeah, always do in the TARDIS. So what are we up to today then?'

Swimming in the Olympic sized pool had given him an idea. `How about your near future, 21st century London?'

`Er, yeah, okay,' she said uncertainly.

`Right, here we go then.' He pulled the lever, and they felt the TARDIS land. He walked down the ramp with Rose behind him and he opened the door, to see a blue shipping container in his way, with only a six inch gap in between.

`Ah,' he said and closed the door, turning and looking sheepishly at Rose. `A slight miscalculation,' he said as he ran back up to the console and started the time rotor again.

`Don't tell me, 19th century Cardiff again, or Red Coat soldiers in Scotland? No, I know, an army of Daleks,' she said with a grin.

`No, no, nothing like that, just ninety degrees out of place.'

`Eh?'

`You'll see,' he said as he re-landed the TARDIS.

`Ah!' he said with satisfaction, looking around.

Rose checked out a Shane Ward Greatest Hits poster on one of the containers. `So, near future, yeah?'

`I had a passing fancy. Only it didn't pass, it stopped.' He started walking across the wasteland towards the street beyond, with Rose by his side.

They walked onto a street that said `Dame Kelly Holmes Close'. `Thirtieth Olympiad,' he said.

Rose linked arms with him. `No way! Why didn't I think of this? That's great.' She hugged his arm.

`Only seems like yesterday a few naked Greek blokes were tossing a discus about,' he said as they walked under a banner for the `London, 2012', with the Olympic rings on it. `Wrestling each other in the sand with crowds stood around baying . . . No, wait a minute . . . that was Club Med.' He bumped her shoulder and laughed, Rose rolled her eyes at the joke.

`Just in time for the opening doo dah . . . ceremony, tonight, I thought you'd like that. Last one they had in London was dynamite. Wembley, 1948. I loved it so much, I went back and watched it all over again,' he rambled on, not noticing that Rose had stopped walking and was looking at a lamppost. `Fella carrying the torch, lovely chap, what was his . . . ? Mark . . . ? John . . . ? Mark . . . ? Legs like pipe cleaners, but strong as a whippet.'

`Doctor,' Rose called, the lamppost had posters on it.

`And in those days, everybody had a tea party to go to.'

`Doctor!' she called more urgently, this struck a chord with her.

`Did you ever have one of those little cakes with the crunchy ball bearings on top?'

`You should really look at this,' she shouted. She remembered the posters with her face on them, after she'd been away for twelve months.

He turned to look at Rose as he carried on talking. `Do you know those, those, things . . . ?' He started to walk back to her. `Nobody else in this entire galaxy's ever even bothered to make edible ball bearings. Genius.'

He stopped talking, and started reading. Two children were missing, Dale Hicks and Jane McCullen. `What's taking them, do you think?' He started looking around in a circle. `Snatching children from a thoroughly ordinary street like this . . . Why's it so cold . . . ? Is someone reducing the temperature?'

`It says they all went missing this week,' she said quietly, she was imagining what the parents were going through, just like her mum went through. `Why would a person do something like this?'

`What makes you think it's a person?' he asked, when they heard a door open, and a woman put out a rubbish bag, before hurrying back inside.

`Whatever it is, it's got the whole street scared to death. Doctor, what . . .?' she turned, and saw him running up the street.

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The Doctor was walking back into Dame Kelly Holmes Close, after making his way back from the Olympic stadium. There were a lot of people about, as the children had returned home.

`Cake?' a familiar voice called from behind him.

He turned to look, and saw Rose, holding out a fairy cake with silver sugar ball decorations on it, and laughed out loud. `Top banana.' He took a bite. `Mmm. I can't stress this enough. Ball bearings you can eat, masterpiece!'

They stood and looked at each other for a moment, and then fell into an embrace, not a hug, a proper, passionate embrace.

`Ooh, I thought I'd lost you.'

`Nah, not on a night like this. This is a night for lost things being found.' He grabbed her hand. `Come on.'

`What now?' she asked uncertainly.

`I want to go to the Games,' he said in a high voice. `It's what we came for.'

She nudged his shoulder. `Go on, give us a clue. Which events do we do well in?'

`Well, I will tell you this . . . Papua New Guinea surprises everyone in the shot put.'

`Really . . . ? You're joking, aren't you?' she asked. `Doctor, are you serious or are you joking?'

`Wait and see,' he said, taking her hand and walking down the street.

Fireworks started flashing in the sky. `You know what? They keep on trying to split us up, but they never ever will,' she said light-heartedly, she was so relieved to get him back, but his reaction surprised her.

`Never say never ever,' he said seriously, he knew how things could change in an instant.

`Nah, we'll always be okay, you and me.' The Doctor didn't react, he seemed distracted. `Don't you reckon, Doctor?' She was looking for reassurance from him.

`There's something in the air,' he said quietly, looking to the sky. `Something coming.'

`What?' He was worrying her now.

He could feel it in the time lines. `A storm's approaching.'

He shrugged off the feeling and smiled, changing his mood in an instant, in that way that left Rose struggling to keep up. `We missed the opening ceremony, sorry.'

`You didn't though,' she laughed. `You were the main event from what I saw.'

`Hah! I don't think it went quite as the organisers planned it, that's for sure.'

`C'mon,' she said pulling his hand. `Let's go home, we can come back tomorrow and watch some of the events.'

`Ah, Rose, you can't see your mum outside of linear time, remember what happened when we saw your dad?'

`No,' Rose said smiling. `I meant our home . . . the TARDIS.'

The Doctor stopped and looked at her, amazed. `Really . . . the TARDIS? Well yes, of course, let's go.'

They walked down the street, arm in arm, completely unaware that 48 Bucknall House was now occupied by a young couple with two children. Jackie Tyler and her daughter Rose were on the list of the missing, presumed dead, from the Battle of Canary Wharf, five years previously.

`So what do you want to see first then?' Rose asked him as they ambled across the wasteland.

`Fencing, definitely fencing, sabre, I've got a thing about fencing since that little altercation with the Sycorax.'

`Little altercation,' Rose laughed. `You were fighting for the survival of the human race.'

`So,' he grinned. `Nothing new there then. And what about you, what do you want to see?'

`Gymnastics. D'yer know, I think I could've been in the team if Mum could `ave afforded the after school club.'

He put the key in the lock and opened the door. `I have no doubt at all.' He'd seen her as a six year old, and she'd shown promise even at that young age.

In keeping with the spirit of the stadium event, they had hot dogs for supper, as they watched the unusual opening ceremony via TARDIS video streaming.

[`Just look at this! Utterly incredibly scenes at the Olympic stadium. Eighty thousand athletes and spectators. They disappeared, they've come back! They've returned. They've reappeared. It's quite incredible. Bob, this will certainly . . .'] the announcer was saying.

`I was really worried at this point, when you hadn't reappeared out of the drawing, I thought I'd lost you,' Rose told him.

He reached over and squeezed her hand. `Nah, you don't get rid of me that easily.'

[`But hang on; the Torch Bearer seems to be in a bit of trouble. We did see a flash of lightning earlier that seemed to strike him. Maybe he's injured. He's definitely in trouble.

Does this mean that the Olympic dream is dead?']

Rose watched again as the Doctor picked up the Olympic torch. `I saw this on Trish's Telly, an' I nearly cried with relief when I saw you.' The Doctor grinned at her and waggled his eyebrows.

[`There's a mystery man. He's picked up the flame. We've no idea who he is. He's carrying the flame. Yes, he's carrying the flame and no one wants to stop him. It's more than a flame now, Bob. It's more than heat and light. It's hope, and it's courage, and it's love.']

`He got that right,' Rose said, and talking of love, there was a question that had been niggling at her for ages, and she felt now might be the time to ask.

`Doctor, do you like me?' she asked hesitantly.

The Doctor took his eyes off the TV and looked at her. `Eh, what kind of question is that? Of course I like you.'

`No, I mean, do you REALLY like me?'

Oh, hang on; this was one of those human female questions. She wasn't asking him if he liked her, she was asking him something else, and the TARDIS translation matrix was no help at all.

`Yes, I REALLY like you,' he said, hoping that the real question would become apparent.

`Only, with Mickey an' me splittin' up, an' him bein' in a different universe an' all . . . well, you haven't made a move or anythin',' she said trying, in a round about way to find out if their relationship was going anywhere.

Ah, there it was the hidden meaning in the question. He had to admit, he'd asked himself this question recently. `Rose, there are a lot of things you don't know about me,' he started.

`You're tellin' me, I only just found out today that you're a dad.'

Oh yes, he'd let that slip earlier when he was distracted by building the Isolus scanner. He had used to be a dad, past tense, but he felt now wasn't the time to point that out. His face became sad at the memory.

`Yeah, sorry about that, I should have told you about that before now . . . but these things are difficult for me.' She reached over and held his hand.

`My physical scars heal when I regenerate, but the emotional scars, they don't burn away, and I carry them with me. I have suitcases full of emotional baggage up here.' He tapped his temple. `So, Rose Tyler, I do like you, I really like you . . . a lot. And I respect you, and I care about you a great deal.'

Rose was getting upset now, her selfish impatience was making him uncomfortable, and she didn't want that for him. `I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push you or anythin', forget I said anythin'. I was just feelin' insecure, what with Sarah Jane and Reinette; I just wondered where I stood with you, if . . .'

`Yes, Rose,' he interrupted. `You stand with me, at my side. You're helping me to heal those scars, and you've been so patient with me, and if you'll continue to do that for me, then yes.'

A tear trickled down her cheek. This poor man, this poor proud, scarred man was asking her for help, so that he could move on and look to the future. Rose could see that although the memories were still painful, he'd come to terms with them and was finding his peace.

She wiped her cheeks with her hands, and gave him a half hearted smile. `D'ya remember after the Slitheen thing, I told you I was signin' up an' that you were stuck with me? Well I meant it; I'm stickin' with you forever.'

He had said yes, he wanted her by his side! That yes meant they had a chance at a future together, and she would do anything she could to help that happen. She snuggled into his shoulder again, and he held her close, running mental calculations on how long 'forever' really was.

They remained cuddled on the sofa for the rest of the evening, until it was time for her to get some sleep. Rose went to her room and changed into her pyjamas, and the Doctor brought in the mugs of hot chocolate, in their usual night time routine. And tonight, without prompting, or being asked, he sat on the bed with her and put his arm around her, it had been a challenging day, and an emotional evening.

`So, what do you want to hear about tonight?' he asked her.

She rested her head against his chest and looked up into his dark eyes. `Let's see, tell me about another one of your companions. Where there any other feisty ones like Sarah Jane and me?'

He looked into the distance and then smiled. `Leela, she was definitely feisty.'

`Wha', Like `Leela' from `Futurama', the `fit' bird with one eye?'

The Doctor chuckled. `It's a good job she's not here to hear you say that, you'd have a knife between your ribs right about now.'

Rose looked stunned. `I said feisty, not homicidal, what were you doin' travellin' with someone like that.'

`Don't be too quick to judge, she was all right Leela. She was a Sevateem warrior, went about in a leather bikini, and carried a knife and poisonous janis thorns.'

`Leather bikini, janis thorns? Which one were you when you travelled with her?'

`Number four, floppy hat and big scarf,' he said with a smile.

`Oh yeah, I like him.'

He raised an eyebrow and gave her a quizzical look. `Of course you like him . . . he's me.'

`Yeah, but he was a different you, like when I first met you, you were a different you . . .' She stopped talking, struggling to explain the point she was trying to make. She looked up and saw him grinning at her with that cheeky grin that she loved so much.

`Oh, you know what I mean,' she said with a laugh.

He let out a chuckle and continued. `Leela was a savage, but a smart savage, and quick to learn. We had quite a few adventures, let's see, it's time for an `off Earth' tonight isn't it? So, let's think . . . oh I know, it was our last adventure together, we were on Gallifrey, and I claimed the Presidency . . .'

`Hold on, hold on, time out here. You were President on your home planet?' she asked incredulously. She knew nothing about this incredible man, and Gallifrey, was that wise to talk about his home? `Are you gonna be all right talkin' about it?'

`Oh yes, it was a good adventure, and Leela stayed behind to marry a Gallifreyan, but I'm getting ahead of myself . . .'

Rose nuzzled into his shoulder and made herself comfortable as he told the tale of Leela, he gently stroked her hair without thinking as he talked. He told of how he met her again in his seventh body, when she turned up at the old family house with Ace. She wasn't on Gallifrey when it was destroyed, but he didn't know what happened to her after that.

When he had finished, Rose was dozing with her head resting on his chest. He took the empty mug from her limp hand and shuffled from under her, gently lowering her head to the pillow. He had an overwhelming urge to kiss her cheek, and didn't resist, his lips gently brushing her cheek.

Still in the fog of early sleep, Rose reached up and caressed the back of his neck, her head turned, and her lips found his. It was a simple, chaste kiss, and the Doctor didn't resist, because it was the most gorgeous kiss he had ever experienced. It was sweet, innocent, and expressed the special bond that had developed between them.

Her hand released his neck, and her head rested back on the pillow with a contented `mmmmph' sound. He stood up and walked to the door, turning back to look at his pink and yellow girl, asleep under the duvet. As he stood there, he remembered a phrase that Jackie used a lot with Rose.

`Goodnight Sweetheart,' he whispered as he left the room.