Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Doctor Who (2005)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, The Doctor/Rose Tyler
Characters: Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who), Rose Tyler | Bad Wolf, Pete Tyler (Pete's World) - Mentioned
Additional Tags: Post-Episode: s02e13 Doomsday (Doctor Who), Episode Fix-It: s02e13 Doomsday (Doctor Who), Bad Wolf Rose Tyler, The Doctor Loves Rose Tyler, Rose Tyler Loves the Doctor, Rose Tyler Stays, Short & Sweet
Summary:
The Doctor stares at the white wall that’s across from him seeing it and yet not, a shudder rolls through him quick and violent near shaking him apart at the seams. He feels lost in a way he hasn’t felt since the final days of the Time War. He can’t seem to process the day, everything has happened in such a short period of time that nothing makes sense.
for @flamesandpages 🌟 took a few liberties with my own theory here. also, no editing—first draft, only draft! hope you don't mind.
based on my tags on this post.
✨
He will always call it a coincidence, though Jackie believes otherwise, and Pete Tyler knows better than to disturb their as-yet-unbelievable peace by arguing with his indomitable wife.
"Right place, right time," he says in the days and hours after. "Just pure luck."
"Rubbish! You're a hero, plain and simple."
"Well, I'm glad I was there anyway," he replies humbly. And that, at least, is the truth.
✨
He didn't know what to expect when he went back for her; he certainly didn't anticipate the sight of her legs flying up off the ground, hair streaming behind her, her eyes wide and tear-filled from wind and terror.
Her mouth had been open in a silent scream, a voiceless call for help from her Doctor, who could do nothing but brace his own body against the pull of the void. "Rose!" the alien was shouting. "Hold on! Hold on!"
But he was close enough to do something about it.
It was just instinct. Pure reaction. Before his weight could shift and tip him backwards into oblivion, Pete's hands flew out, grasping the handle of the lever to which she clung. Her hands were cold, bloodless. He gripped her so tight he was certain it hurt. But he didn't think of that until later.
"Hang on!" he cried. "I've got you. Don't let go!"
She couldn't answer—not with words. She only barely managed a nod before a silvery arm whipped past them, and she ducked her head away. More came, some coming within inches of his own head.
He thought, in that moment, that this might be the end—and to his horror, he wouldn't even see it coming.
It felt interminable, the brightness and the wind. His fingers froze, and still he gripped tighter. But soon the flashes in his periphery seemed more white than silver. The wind was an uninterrupted scream, unbroken by the juddering howls of Daleks or half-issued Cyber commands. His eyes, now watering, left Rose, and turned to the abyss that seemed, almost impossibly, to be turning in on itself.
Closing.
"I've got to go," he said, turning his head back to his daughter—because she was his daughter, no matter what he'd told her before. It was impossible to look at her and not see the pieces of his Jackie, of himself in her stark jaw and soulful eyes, which blinked at him through tears and running makeup. "It's closing."
She seemed paralyzed by her horror. But he didn't have long. There wasn't time…
"I'll look out for Jackie," he said, speaking fast. His voice, usually so sure, was filled with emotion. "And I'll never forget you. How you saved two worlds. I'll never let Jackie forget either, as if she could."
His words earned him a smile, and Pete felt himself smiling too, even as the whistle intensified. His window was closing; his fingers loosened.
But he chanced one last thought. "I'm proud to have a daughter like you, Rose. In any universe."
A tear slipped down her cheek, so quickly he thought it might be an illusion. He wished he could wipe it away. It seemed the fatherly thing to do, and now he'd never get that chance.
"Dad," she said, voice breaking.
But it was too late. He was letting go, and losing his balance. He had only a second—just one horrible, endless second—to smack that big yellow button.
And he did, stumbling forward into a different world. Into Jackie's arms, which shook as they wrapped around him. It seemed dark without the pure light of the void. His legs bowed and steadied like he'd just got back from sea.
"Where's Rose?" Jackie had cried. "Where's my daughter?"
Pete Tyler could barely catch his breath, but he had enough in him to say, "She's safe. She's with the Doctor." He looked up, into Jackie's crystalline blue eyes. "She's safe."
✨
Time is a funny thing.
It seems an eternity between her letting go—or, Pete letting go of her—or the pull of the void letting go of them both—and when she hits the ground. But it can't be more than a second. Maybe two.
All she knows is when she lands, it hurts.
"Rose!"
The Doctor's voice sounds loud and clear and close, after the numbing volume of the wind. But that's because he is close. As she pushes herself up to her feet, wrists smarting, he is very close—running into her bodily with almost as much force as gravity itself.
They tumble backwards together. She hits the ground again, but this time, it doesn't hurt so much. It just feels like arms and legs and frantic hearts-beats, so fast and strong that she can feel them through his suit.
"Rose," he says, over and over. "Rose—Rose—Rose." Like he's been stripped of his entire vocabulary.
It makes her smile—makes her laugh, too, as she burrows into the welcome of his embrace, breathing in the scent of wool. "Can't get rid of me that easy," she rasps. Her throat is parched; she doesn't care. She tips her head up, or something like it. "Best not try it again, though."
"I won't." He answers so fast, there's not even an instant of hesitation. His arms go tighter around her. "Never, ever again."
He sounds like he means it.
She knows he does when the first kiss lands on her forehead—then her nose—then her chin. Before she can think better of it, she is returning the kisses. Little ones on his freckled cheeks, and his fluttery eyelids, and his permanently clean-shaved jaw.
One lands just right, and it's their lips, and she decides that all adventures ought to end this way.
Maybe a bit less sore. Maybe not rolling about on the floor.
But otherwise, just like this.
This, she believes, is the happiest of endings.
✨
"Did you mean it?" she'll ask, someday, in the future. "What you said, when Pete rescued me."
"I did. I'll never send you away again, Rose. I'll never leave you behind." They will be in a tight spot, when this conversation happens. The Doctor will be getting a bit shifty—a bit anxious about her safety and other such nonsense.
But he'll smile, and it will be a little guilty, because he'll have been thinking about it. Which is why she'll have brought it up.
She always knows.
"It never seems to stick, anyway," he'll add. Which will make her laugh, which in turn will make his smile a little brighter. "I've learned my lesson."
"Quite right, too," she'll reply, beaming away. "Guess that means you're stuck with me."
Ten x Rose: What if, rather than the Doctor's fear coming true that the universe would steal Rose from him if he admitted his love for her, the universe blessed him with fighting for the Doctor to keep his Rose, because the universe loved Bad Wolf.
The Doctor thought he might break as he saw her standing there, face turned away from him, by the window looking out into the garden.
Her name escaped his lips in a whisper but it felt loud enough to be a scream. And it tumbled off his lips a second time when she suddenly started moving and he felt his legs carry him in her direction, and suddenly he was running towards her and all the times he's been running in the past year suddenly get clear because really, he'd always been running back to her.
Her name felt like a prayer on his lips when she stopped and reached out a hand, lips agape in awe and glistening with tears. No words came over them as she moved them, soundlessly repeating the same words from the goddamn beach.
'Can I t-'
"Rose," he breathed again and hungrily scanned her face with eager eyes, taking it all in and it broke his hearts a second time when he realised how broken she looked. It devastated him how much she matched him.
And yet he couldn't wipe the broad grin off of his face and his sight blurred when her fingers brushed his cheek.
Rose choked back a sob and instead of pulling her hand back, she took his face in both of her hands.
"Oh God, oh God, it's you," she sobbed and he nodded slowly, still grinning under her trembling touch.
"Yeah - yes, it's me." His voice broke.
God, his voice.
Rose's eyes plunged into his and the Doctor felt like drowning, it had been too long, too damn long and the smile blossoming on her lips was all he needed.
The Doctor pulled her close in the same moment that Rose flung her arms around him and then both were trembling, melting against each other.
Minutes could have passed, whole eternities, for all they could care. Time stood still and all the Doctor heard was the erratic beating of their joined heartbeats and the sound of her breathless sobs into his neck. He hadn't stopped whispering her name over and over again and clutched her even tighter to him.
And then Rose pulled back, only so much so she could look at his face and couldn't stop grinning. The Doctor's own eyes were red and still wet from tears and slowly, Rose raised her hands and gently wiped away the stray tears.
The Doctor let out a breathless chuckle and couldn't quite believe his luck.
Rose continued stroking his cheek and finally managed to whisper:
"I’ve missed you."
His voice was rasp and thick from tears, a rough whisper when he spoke.
"Quite right, too," he offered and both chuckled at the irony.
"How long?", Rose asked quietly and smiled when now the Doctor reached out to gently wipe away her tears, his fingers so soft and careful as if he was afraid she might break under his hands.
"Two years" he told her, not quite finding his voice yet.
Rose's heart was still drumming violently and she wondered if she would ever catch her breath. Her fingers slowly brushed down his face and rested on the pinstriped lapels of his suit. A trembling smile grew on her lips as she stroked her hands over the ever same material, and it felt like nothing had changed.
"Fourteen months," she told him then, meeting his eyes again.
She almost gasped when the intensity of his stare hit her. The Doctor looked at her and cracked a light, apologetic smile, feeling new tears rise in his throat at her words, at hearing how long he had left her here.
"I'm sorry I didn't make it ealier."
His voice was quiet, almost inaudible and Rose leaned closer as he leant down, his breath prickling on her skin and it felt like home when she rested her forehead against his.
"Why now?" she asked after a while, searching his eyes again, her hand finding his scruffy cheek again.
The Doctor smiled like he hadn't in a long, long time now.
"Consider it a Christmas present."
For a moment, they just stared at each other.
And then Rose laughed. It bubbled up in her chest and then burst out of her, leaving her breathless and she startes crying again because there were too many emotions at once and the Doctor joined in with a breathless, happy, disbelieving chuckle as Rose buried her head in his chest, muffling her laughter and soon her sobs. Smiling sadly, he pressed a lingering kiss on the crown of her hair and wrapped his arms around her, holding her steady against him as she cried.
Rose didn't even know why she was crying. But she felt overwhelmed with everything and now he gave her a stupid answer like that. God, how she had missed this. How she'd missed him.
"Rose?" she heard the Doctor mumble into her hair after some time when she'd calmed down again.
She hummed against his chest, hiding her teary smile in his oxford.
The Doctor rested his face on her head and closed his eyes, breathing her in.
"I love you," he finally told her with a smile and he felt so, so relieved.
The words barely left his mouth when Rose froze in his arms.
Slowly, she pulled back. Stared at him with wide, still tear - stained eyes. And for a moment she thought she hadn't quite heard him.
"Say that again," she requested, stunned, her voice a mere whisper.
A slow smile spread on the Doctor's face and he lowered his head to whisper into her ear:
"Rose Tyler. I love you."
He pulled back, his smile never faltering. Rose closed her eyes, her face suddenly just a few inches away from his.
"Again," she whispered and without wasting another breath, the Doctor gently grabbed her face with both of his hands and closed the gap between them and kissed her.
Instinctively, Rose wrapped her arms around his neck as the Doctor pulled her to him by the waist, drawing her closer still and she would have lost her balance had she not held on to his neck.
"Again," she breathed against his lips as they both gasped for air and the Doctor smirked, his eyes still closed.
Rose escaped a chuckle as he started to pepper her face with kisses, repeating the same three words between each kiss.
When he reached her lips, he gently kissed her again, suddenly tasting salt. Surprised, he pulled back and discovered her crying, still smiling.
With a soft, loving smile he brushed a thumb across both of her cheeks, so relieved to finally being able to do this, the feeling of desperation when he couldn't that day at the beach still lingering inside of him.
"Something went wrong, don't you think?", he whispered hoarsely. "All I’ve done so far has been making you cry."
Rose chuckled and shook her head, leaning back into him.
"It’s alright," she mumbled and sniffed a little. After a pause she looked back up at him. The Doctor felt one of his hearts skip a beat when she gave him one of his beloved signature grins, tongue poking out between teeth that alone made him feel like he could fly without a TARDIS. "I can give you one or two ideas of how to make it up to me."
He hummed happily and pulled her back against him.
"Mhh, I'm listening."
"Well, first, you could consider getting a Plus One," she replied, almost casually and the Doctor grinned brightly.
"Oh, you can count on that, Rose Tyler," he breathed and released her from his arms, taking a small step back, her eyes on him the entire time. "But first,"
He grinned and offered her a hand.
"Let's go home."
Rather than sharing this as all the individual stories, I want to remember the entire series!
~Healing Hands ~ 3/3 chapters ~ 6158 words~
Love shows itself most clearly in a desire to help each other in vulnerable moments. When Rose lets the Doctor help her with her migraines, she starts a chain of events that will result in them both opening up to each other and finally, allowing themselves to fall in love.
~Casting Out Fear ~ 4/4 chapters ~ 8158 words~
A visit to a seemingly uninhabited planet will force the Doctor and Rose both to deal with deep-rooted fears they carry regarding their relationship.
~Even Though it’s Breaking ~ 2/2 chapters ~ 4299 words~
Rose had taught him to smile every day, but now she was gone. How was he supposed to smile without her by his side?
~Retrouvailles ~ 2/2 chapters ~ 6693 words~
In the telepathic dampening field of Legilo, the Doctor can find temporary relief from the ache of his broken marriage bond. On this trip, however, he'll find something more.
~Safe in Your Arms ~ 1/1 chapters ~ 264 words~
For the Timepetalsprompt weekly drabble prompt, "Never again." Rose is back, and the Doctor makes a vow to himself. Doomsday reunion, AU, supplants Journey's End.
~Holding Onto Forever ~ 1/1 chapters ~ 501 words~
After years apart, neither the Doctor nor Rose are inclined to let each other go.
~Redefining Forever~ 1/1 chapters ~ 3112 words~
Rose is home again, and she and the Doctor are ready to take whatever variation of forever Time is willing to give them. Then in a routine medical exam they learn forever is more literal than they thought, and that there are options open to them that hadn’t been possible before.
This was written for @doctorroseprompts weekly prompt of “Rose ties herself to the clamp” (though technically they Doctor ties her to it, but shh, this still counts).
Ten x Rose, Doomsday fix-it, 391 words
The Doctor’s fingers scrabbled at the knot of rope, but his hands were shaking too badly. Muttering curses under his breath, the Doctor grabbed his sonic and pointed it at the rope, and watched it fray before it snapped apart, and he hauled Rose into his arms.
His heart was racing frantically in his chest and his panic was threatening to choke him as the last few minutes were still seared into his memories. The way Rose had let go of her clamp to right the lever that had fallen offline... The way her fingers slipped, inch by inch, off of her lever... The way she screamed when she began to fall, but was jerked roughly to a stop by the rope he’d tied around her waist...
Through the fog of terror, he felt a warm, gentle wave of peace overcome him, and he tried to relax into it.
“Oh, Rose,” he whispered into her ear. He pulled back and scanned a careful eye across her face before he pressed his lips to every patch of skin he could reach. “Are you all right, love? Are you hurt? Gods, I was so scared!”
She sent him another wave of calm, and she carded her fingers through his hair.
“I’m fine, Doctor,” Rose murmured soothingly. “I promise. I’m fine. Your tether really came in handy.”
“What would’ve happened if you weren’t tied down?” he asked miserably.
Unbidden, an image of himself pressed against a white wall popped into his mind, and a phantom pain tore through his mind.
But as quickly as it came, it disappeared, and in its place was the strong, bright, beautiful feeling of Rose’s mind against his.
“Don’t do that, Doctor,” she said firmly. “Don’t. I’m here, and we’re together. Just as it should be.”
The Doctor nodded and inhaled deeply before he ducked down and pressed his lips to his wife’s. Yes, they were indeed together, and would be forever.
“Right,” he whispered against her lips. He pressed his forehead to hers and basked in the love she was sending him. He sent her his love in return, and his relief and thankfulness that they’d both survived the day and still had each other. “Right. Let’s go.”
He pressed a parting kiss to her lips before he took her hand, and together they made their way home.
