Lines of Gold (Thirteen x Rose)
They’ve always dressed the part.
Every adventure they blended in, but suits were timeless. There was no “wrong” occasion for a suit, especially a more casual one like they used to wear. It was perfect for any occasion and now?
Well, now there were a lot of dresses.
The Doctor had been invited to a formal dinner on Calicon in the Nuveus Galaxy to celebrate the birth of the queens daughter. There was promise of balloons, streamers, presents, and cake (she truly loved cake this time round, and the other day she even had a cake adorned with pears which were most definitely not as horrible as they used to be).
But like the Doctor had said, she always dressed the part.
The TARDIS lead her to whole section of the wardrobe just filled with dresses. She had only been in here a few times when she was trying to hurry Rose along so they could get going. She swore she could see her twirling in and out of the racks as if she’d be back in a few minutes. An all too familiar pain shot through her hearts thinking of it. So she turned away in search for something that wasn’t Rose filled.
The search was empty of course. After Rose she hadn’t had the heart to have anyone dress up with the same frequency. Of course there were times where an outfit needed to be worn in order to blend, but the TARDIS just had a habit of making them appear on her companions beds instead of making the trip into the wardrobe room.
Looking around she could see the first dress Rose had worn in Cardiff when they dealt with the gelth. Next, a long black piece with a low cut front for a movie premiere in the 25th century. A cocktail dress for a new money party in the 20’s. Another dress for a movie premiere, this time with red lace covering the entire gown. Then there was the last one.
It was hidden behind some other formal gowns Rose loved to try on, but it peeked out because of its brilliant golden color.
The dress was one she wore to a ball. It was the only ball they had ever gone to surprisingly, but it was brilliant.
It was just days before her last in this universe, The Doctor was pretty sure it was less than a week, and they had gone to a ball thrown in honor of two princes that had married for both love and to open trade between their planets. It was restricted at first, the pair meeting while on vacation in another galaxy, but soon it blossomed into the first real thing the warring planets had seen in years.
She could see Rose dancing in the gown now, being dipped down by their long, lanky arms in that body. The dress had a sweetheart neckline, but sleeves attached to it. The entire thing shimmered with each dip, twirl and movement in the bright lighting of the ball room. Lines of sequined gold ran vertically down the dress, ever cut put in the perfect place for her body type. At the time the Doctor really thought the TARDIS was trying to drive them mad with the choice of gown for her- they had known there was no way Rose had found that garment on her own. The wardrobe was simply too big and everything too scattered. They had known it was the work of the TARDIS, but they didn’t complain in the least.
Now she was crumpled on the floor, tears falling into the sparkly fabric. She hadn’t even realized she had taken the garment off the hook, but yet the gold pooled in her hands as she gripped desperately at it hoping Rose would reappear in it.
She lifted up the gown to say her goodbyes by pressing her lips gently into it when she caught a whiff of Rose’s perfume still on the fabric.
Her heart twisted as she curled around the fabric on the floor. The ball could wait, she thought. Even just a trace of Rose was worth everything.
——— Inspired by @pipertennant from a text post I found from them about 13 x Rose fics they wanted to see