To Walk Among the Stars {Ten x Rose AU Fic}
A short fic (possibly to be continued) written and submitted for the NW Fic Olympics Title: To Walk Among the Stars Author: allonsy-wolf Country: USA Team: Ten/Rose Tyler Rating: Teen for dark themes Event: Junior Ski Jump Summary: Rose isn’t sure what’s real and what’s not. The Doctor tries to show her. AU. He calls himself the Doctor, and everyone thinks she is crazy. She is admitted one week after the Incident, and he stumbles into her life exactly three days later. She tries to keep her distance from everyone there, and she manages well enough. She's always been good at distances, despite the darkness in her head. She eats her lunch slowly, eyeing the nurses who eye her just as well. She's a good girl who eats like she's supposed to. She's afraid they'll shove it down her throat if she ever refuses. They watch her with a sick satisfaction - as though they truly believe they're helping her. She doesn't notice him until he grips her hand, and she jumps high enough to win a medal. He gestures frantically for her to be quiet, and then struggles to whisper, "Run." His gaze wanders right above her, and her head shoots up quickly. A nurse comes towards her slowly, holding a sedation needle. "It'll be okay, miss," the nurse says nervously, swallowing thickly as though to build confidence. She looks desperately back at the man who had taken her hand, but he had disappeared into the sea of mindless people, taking her last brink of sanity in his wake. She's shaking when they sedate her, but her mind is calm once they walk away. The man returns, sitting next to her on the too-white couch, and offering her a sympathetic look most lunatics couldn't manage. "I tried to warn you sooner," he says quietly. His hands move rapidly, fiddling with a fraying end of his sleeve or tracing messy patterns on the couch. "But they got to me first." She looks at him with wide eyes, her slowed mind working hard to process his words. "Are you real?" she blurts. "Yeah," he says quickly. He touches her arm softly, rubbing his fingers over the fabric over her shirt, and it feels almost too real. "That okay?" "Yeah," she answers just as quickly. His hand moves down her arm and to her fingers, where he cautiously wrapped them into his own. She wants to pull away, she knows she should - but the darkness in her mind clears the moment his skin touches hers, and the distance doesn't seem so far away. "Are you real?" he whispers softly, and she surprised a smile. "Yeah," she says, and she stares straightforward. She finds him the next day, taking time out of her timeless day to track him down. He sits at a table by himself, head down, and the nurses don't pay him half the attention they pay her. She slides into the seat swiftly, and he's smiling although he hasn't looked up. "Wondered if you'd care enough to look for me." She bites her lip at that, tasting the rusty water that slips onto her tongue. "S' not like I had anything better to do," she mumbles. He pokes the Jell-O on his plate, wrinkling his nose in a maddeningly adorable way. He tells her that his Jell-o cup is actually an alien who can control all Jell-os. She thinks he's insane. But then again, it dawns on her, they all are. They're silent after he throws the Jell-O away in disgust, the steady tickticktick of the clock pushing them closer to the edge. He takes her hand and her mind clears, and she thinks for a second that she could get used to the white, white walls of this awful place. "Can I show you the stars?" he whispers quietly, and she peers at him through foggy eyes. "You can see the entire sky from this one balcony." And panic fills her from head to toe, and she can hardly stammer out no just no, and then she watches as his heart breaks in his eyes. "Quite right," he murmurs, offering her a sad smile. He drops her hand softly and then he's walking away, and she's shaking as his figure gets smaller and then she wants to cry because she knows she answered wrong. She sits down on the ground and brings her hands to her face and trembles as the darkness inside tries to break free. Then there's contact - the softest trace of skin on hers, and she gasps and launches herself up, bringing the madman into a hug. "Did I mention none of the nurses know about it?" he says breathlessly, resting his hand on the small of her back. She's still shaking and her head is screaming at her as the door to the balcony opens and he leads her into the starry night. She gapes at the beauty above her, trying to focus on the light of the stars instead of the darkness of her mind. He holds her hand, reminding her of reality when everything seems imaginary. He smiles at her and she smiles back. It’s easy to pretend they’re normal for a moment. She leans against the balcony with him, and he talks about all the stars and constellations he knows. Beautiful nothings about myths from years before she existed. For a brief moment, she thinks he’s just a normal bloke. It’s only when his required, starch-white clothes rub against her arm lightly that she remembers who he is – who they both are. He cuts off suddenly, and peers at her through long and thick eyelashes. She watches as his mouth moves, forming a question she isn’t sure if she wants to answer. “What’s your name?” he asks, and the way he says it is so pretty and real that she wonders if he actually said it. She hesitates, and then she’s moving her lips to reply. “Tyler,” she whispers softly. “Rose Tyler.” He smiles at her and squeezes her hand. “What an excellent name,” he says softly. “Rose Tyler.” She manages a small smile back, ignoring the demons thrashing in her head. They pound at the walls of her skull, screaming to get out and save her before this man hurts her. “You can call me the Doctor,” he tells her, and the demons quiet down. They know a doctor won’t hurt her. His eyes wander back to the stars, and he rubs his thumb along her knuckles. “Wouldn’t it be the greatest adventure to travel the stars?” And, for the first time in her whole life, she thinks she’s found a place she belongs. *** When she wakes up, she’s alone. And it only takes two hours to find out that her Doctor had never existed.
