If this doesn’t work then I’ll post to my blog like you said. This is the picture I’d like you to paint for me, minus the red pipes on either side (I shot it through a small red dolly). And just so you can see what she was like, here is the album on facebook, AND my 2 fave videos of her. I miss my girl so much! :(
My sincerest apologies to the following medalists! The Eleven/Rose Junior Ski Jump category was accidentally left off the medalists list, but it's been added now, and I will post the medalists below as well. Both of these wonderful authors will receive prizes appropriate for their medal!
To everyone who competed at the first-ever New Who Fic Olympics, we salute you for your braveness and audacity! We applaud your fic-writing abilities and we commend your competitive spirits!
To everyone who voted, you are heralded for your making a difference! You are praised for your button-clicking skills and your capacity for making hard choices!
And for you, anyone who read and enjoyed the New Who Fic Olympics, thank you!
Now onto what we're all here for!
Prizes
Gold medalists will receive one painting of a picture of their choice (one or two figures max) by the lovely licieoic as well as screenshot promos randomly and upon request (within reason) for two months from me, hollonsy.
Silver medalists will receive one ficlet (1000 words max) of their prompt by one of tumblr's great writers and screenshot promos randomly and upon request (within reason) for one month by me.
Bronze medalists will receive one URL graphic from dameofpowellestate and individual text promos randomly and upon request (within reason) for two weeks by me.
Medalists
GENERAL CONSERVATIVE CURLING
Gold
Min and the Doctor - thecoolmomma
TEN/ROSE CONSERVATIVE CURLING
Gold
Misunderstandings and Reconciliations - dryadalis
Silver
The Lonely Blue Box - atimelordswife
Bronze
Tethered - sepiatonesky
ELEVEN/ROSE CONSERVATIVE CURLING
Gold
Goodnight - insolitaparvapuella
NINE/ROSE CONSERVATIVE CURLING
Gold
When Skies Are Grey - dameofpowellestate
Silver
One Last Dance - thatfantasyworldofmine
TEN/ROSE JUNIOR SKI JUMP
Gold
That Quiet Blue Box - atimelordswife
Silver
All Along - sonicroses
Bronze
Wait A Second - followthebadwolf
TENTOO/ROSE JUNIOR SKI JUMP
Gold
The World Moves Beneath Us - kilodalton & brighterthanroses
Silver
Banana Pancakes and a Tulip - thedistortedmirror
Bronze
The Times Rose Tyler Wore My Clothes - itsgoodtobealunatic
NINE/ROSE JUNIOR SKI JUMP
Gold
Some Deals Are Made To Be Broken - dameofpowellestate
Silver
Second Chances - samihiggins
Bronze
No More Running Alone - thatfantasyworldofmine
ELEVEN/ROSE JUNIOR SKI JUMP
Gold
Knowing - sereynity
Silver
A Moment in the Void - hallow777
ELEVEN/ROSE LUSTY LUGE
Gold
The Lodgers - thesilverfoxandthebadwolf
TEN/ROSE LUSTY LUGE
Gold
A Shop Girl With A Broken Fob Watch - licieoic
Silver
Choradion - dryadalis
Notes
If you medaled in more than one place (i.e. silver and bronze), you will receive both major prizes (the graphic and ficlet) and the promo of your highest level (the screenshot for a month).
Since licieoic was kind enough to donate her talents for prizes and then won gold herself, she will be receiving a ficlet by me in place of a painting.
Despite working in collaboration, kilodalton and brighterthanroses will receive individual prizes.
Winners of paitings, please submit the photo you wish to be painted here.
Winners of ficlets, please submit a prompt here.
Congratulations to all the medalists of the 2014 New Who Fic Olympics, and to everyone who participated!
fic - the world moves beneath us - tentoo/rose - chapter 2/?
A collaboration between kilodalton and brighterthanroses
Summary: He’d promised himself he’d never again be without her, that he wouldn’t ever have to be. But then he gets a glimpse of his future.
Rating: Teen
Previous Chapters: 1
A/N: No warning, but the story deals with themes related to character death
Nu Who Fic Olympics (nwficolympics) Tags:
Country: USA
Team: TenToo/Rose
Event/Rating: Junior Ski Jump
//
Rose has just finished arranging the chrysanthemums when she hears the all-too-familiar grinding of gears from across the room. Tiny, half-forgotten fears like daggers slice through her chest for the first time in months as she turns around. The TARDIS. With the Doctor. Gone.
He'd said--he'd promised! Told her again and again that he'd do this with her by his side, that they would be equals in this world, that the very thought of being without her was too much to bear.
This Doctor, for all of his faults, is no liar. Just as angry tears begin to bite at her cheeks, she sniffs back her grief and remembers that. Sure, he still chooses to withhold valuable information when they collaborate with Torchwood, but never from her. Okay, so it took him seven months to tell Jackie that they were growing a TARDIS of their own, but in all honesty, Rose hadn't pushed him too hard on that one in the first place, so it really wasn't his fault. And yes, there are years of secrets he holds, centuries of loved ones and enemies and heartbreak and joy, memories he'll probably never share with her, but she has her secrets, too. Things she's simply never had time to tell him.
She inhales slowly through her nose. This can’t be happening. She’s never once doubted his promises of forever, whispered in bed against her cheek or shouted in Paris streets during their trip around the world, and she for a moment, she hears that old American song her mum loves—everybody plays the fool sometimes.
On her exhale, the sound of the universe echoes through her kitchen. She stands tall and stiff; she fully intends to chew him out... until he stumbles out of the TARDIS with something like grief in his dark eyes. And guilt begins to gnaw at her stomach. How could she ever doubt him?
"Rose?" he asks. His voice cracks. He stands before her, the same as he ever was, except now he carries a burden on his shoulders that reminds her of another man in another universe.
"Yes Doctor," she says, and he pulls her into his arms, runs a hand through her hair. "I'm here." She wants to know so many things--what did you do? where did you go? what happened?--but he beats her to it.
"How long was I gone?"
She pulls back to look at him. "Seconds, minutes--I don't know. How long were you gone?"
"About three and a half minutes." He sighs. "It was an honest mistake, I swear." Rose frowns. Of course, she believes him. Always has, even when she was young and foolish. Now that she has seen the small cruelties of the universe, she thinks it's possible that he really did just make a silly mistake.
"Best not do it again, mister," she says, a burgeoning smile on her face. "Or I'll chuck the marmalade."
That wakes him up. He gapes at her for a moment before laughing a beautiful, hearty laugh. "Oh, Rose Tyler. That happens again, and I'll buy the bin bags." She reaches down for his hand and squeezes tightly.
"Where did you go?" His smile dies as he gazes at her for a long, long moment. "Doctor?"
And then his mood shifts so quickly she nearly gets whiplash. "Oh, just a quick jaunt to 32nd century Rome. Didn't mean to go, like I said. I tripped and grabbed the damn dematerialization lever to steady myself. The coordinates were already set."
She rolls her eyes. "Typical." He pouts. "So you didn't go sight-seeing?"
"Nah," he says, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. "No fun without a hand to hold." Again, he turns solemn. "You know I wouldn't ever leave you behind, right?"
She turns away, guilt rollicking in her stomach. "I should pack a few bags," she says. He catches her hand before she can get away from him.
"Rose."
It would be so easy. To just say, "Yes! Of course!" and run into his arms. To brush it all aside. But he's not telling her something. And by the look in his eyes, it's something big. There's all sorts of things it could be--a week away with someone new, a planet in the midst of unending war, a child in tears.
"Doctor," she says, staring at the bedroom door. "What happened in 32nd century Rome?"
She practically hears his body sag, that's how well she knows this man. "You weren't there." And then he reaches for her waist, pulling her back against him. “But now you are. Here. With me. And… I think we should put this behind us.”
“Oh, you do, do you?” Rose wrenches herself out of his arms. “I have to take care of the flowers,” she says, turning back to the kitchen. The Doctor freezes for a moment. She looks back at him. “Where do you think I should put ‘em? I was thinking they’d look nice on the mant—”
“No!” he shouts before she can finish. Rose frowns at him, brow furrowed in confusion. “I mean, don’t you want to get started? We can be back in mere seconds—”
“If you get the driving part right,” Rose mumbles.
“—and they’ll be as fresh as ever,” he finishes, ignoring her.
Winking at him, she walks toward the TARDIS and presses her hand against the wood. “Let’s forget Rome. I want a planet. Somewhere distant.” She turns to him and smiles. “Somewhere new.”
“New? Distant planet? Got it!”
He pushes her into the TARDIS and hides a grin as she stares at the interior, taking it in for the first time. Of course she has seen their ship’s new interior, but she’s unused to it, to how the walls feel old and new all at once. Familiar, warm colors line the walls underneath sheets of glass so thin they look as though a single touch would break them. Instead of coral, thick branches made of glass curl up towards the ceiling, and the dim blue light of the time rotor shifts and dances across the walls, reflecting off of the walls. Her trainers click against the panels of the flooring. One thing remains the same—there’s a sunny yellow jumpseat next to the console, waiting to grow worn and dirtied like its counterpart a universe away. The Doctor leans against the console, which looks to be made of the same smooth glass as the time rotor. It is warm under her fingers when she reaches out to touch.
“Ready?” he asks, and for a moment—just the slightest sliver of a moment—Rose wants to ask him about the echo of grief in his dark brown eyes, in the lines of his face.
Maybe next time. “Ready!”
//
They materialize on a planet called Binoa. Rose steps out into the cool air and immediately reaches for the Doctor’s hand. He squeezes hers tightly and grins down at her. “By this time, humans have colonized Binoa, but there are a lot of differences between these humans and you.”
“Like what?” she asks as he begins to lead her down the pavement. Binoa certainly looks human—all skyscrapers and smog and rushing bodies in suits and skirts. A young child screams, red-faced and pouting, as his mother tries to pull him along with her. Traffic honks and a man on a bike nearly runs Rose over.
“Well for one, these humans are the descendants of those from Earth, but they’re also related to all sorts of peoples. Juna, N’losgos, even the trees of Cheem. We’re in an era of massive human imperialism.”
“So they’ve… danced?”
“Exactly!” She smirks. “What?”
“Perhaps I’m not so different from these people, then.”
He bumps his hip into hers and laughs. “That’s certainly true,” he says. “Now, there’s a little café on 2nd and Mahogany, back in the other universe. How about we see if it’s as good here as it is there?”
They wander through the streets, breathing in Binoa and soaking in its sights. There’s a gigantic park on the way to the café, and Rose decides she’s tired enough of city sounds to venture into the greenery, pulling the Doctor along, even as he complains about his growling stomach. Underneath the canopy of the trees, Rose feels her skin cool. She’d been sweating in the smoggy sun of the business district where they’d parked the TARDIS, so the shade is nice, even if she isn’t as dry as she’d like. Their stroll leads them to a field where hundreds upon hundreds of people lay on towels and blankets, reading from tablets and the occasional paperback novel, basking in the sunlight. Children race each other around their parents, laughing and shrieking and generally being a nuisance.
Rose smiled up at the Doctor as he squeezed her hand. “It’s like Central Park,” she says, thinking back to finally seeing Elvis and a late night meandering through Manhattan. “You almost kissed me there.”
“Yeah,” he replies, a distant look clouding up his beautiful features. “I almost did. Time wasted, I suppose.”
She rests her head on his shoulder. “Doctor,” she murmurs. “You can always kiss me now.”
Apologies for the mishap earlier, but the polls are now open (for good this time)! Whether you participated or simply enjoyed the fic, please go vote for your favorite fics of the 2014 New Who Fic Olympics!
licieoic replied to your post “When will the polls be opening? :)”
Will there be a masterlist of all the fics?
Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: Not right now. There will be, and hopefully within the next week, but this weekend is shaping up to be a busy one so a masterlist won't be happening just yet.
That Quiet Blue Box
Author: atimelordswife
Country: USA
Team: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Event (rating): Junior Ski Jump (Teen)
Words: 7.602
Summary: The Doctor learns the hard way that he's not alone in this universe. Character Death.
Written for the 2014 New Who Fic Olympics.
The Quiet Blue Box
If the Doctor were to be honest, he never expected to have someone pledge to spend their “forever” with him, especially not if they knew the events surroundings the end of the Last Great Time War. After that disastrous day when he committed the ghastly genocide of (nearly) two races, he entered the Time Vortex, sentencing himself to a long and lonely life (one that he would keen to end soon). However, the moment he intertwined his fingers with a young blond human in the basement of some nameless building on the planet called Earth, his predetermined future changed entirely. He had expected to live on as the last of the Time Lords, a lonely madman in a blue box, but that pink-and-yellow human changed everything.
Years after he initially met her, once they had shared their vows and sealed their lives together, people would ask for the story of how they came to be. He would merely cock his head, quirk an eyebrow high, and simply say: “Run.” With that one word, he could convey their entire history together. He could tell them how that blond human named Rose Tyler took his past wounds and healed them over and helped the future scars fade away. For the ones who asked, they gushed at the romance and the meaning behind the word, not knowing just how much Rose Tyler impacted the Time Lord. She was so much more than his companion or wife: she was his lifetime-partner, his equal through-and-through.
The story he would tell was one many knew; however, the story he knew was one that only a handful understood. You see, the love story between the Doctor and Rose Tyler was so much more than a story: it didn’t create a relationship…. It created a home for two lost souls desperate to be saved and loved by the other.
Yes, Rose Tyler was so much more than his significant other. She was his home, the person who reminded him that he was never alone.
But, like they say, all good things must come to an end eventually.
* * *
It started on a seemingly normal day.
(Well, as normal as a day can get for life on the TARDIS: complete with running for your life from the fleshing-eating Venus-fly traps of the Pholcer planet, overthrowing the government of the Fourteenth Class of Ralfadorians with a rubber band and a little bit of luck, and rescuing one another from the hands of an alien desperate for world domination. All in a day’s work, after all).
By the time the Doctor had retired to the TARDIS, Rose had already changed into her bright pink pajama shorts and white tank top, her bathrobe draped over the jump seat near the console. Her hair fell in wet ringlets around her shoulders, framing her almond-shaped brown eyes and dusting her upper back; it was clear she had showered shortly before (the Doctor felt a flash of disappoint flood him. He’d wanted to join her… Wash her… Ravish her… Whatever worked). The Doctor shrugged his tan coat off his shoulders and threw it over a coral strut before approaching her, a bright smile etched across his face.
“So what movie did you want to watch tonight?” he asked, flicking switches on the console to send them into the Vortex. “There’s a fantastic flick from 3509 that I haven’t shown you yet, a remake of Pride and Prejudice with Julie Andrews.”
Rose chuckled under her breath. “Now you’re gonna tell me Julie Andrews is an alien.” The Doctor’s grin widened, and Rose shook her head in disbelief. “No, no way! Julie Andrews is not--”
“It’s a hologram,” the Doctor answered. “The entire movie is a modernized remake of Pride and Prejudiced, complete with holograms and your science-fiction space ships…. Well, nonfiction at the time, I suppose.” He pulled a level, and the ship shook beneath them, signaling the TARDIS’s dematerialization sequence. When it had finally steadied, the Time Lord bent down and pressed a quick kiss to Rose’s head. “You up for it?” As he pulled away, though, he noticed Rose’s vacated expression. “You alright?”
She bit her lip, attempting to find the correct words before she responded. The Doctor felt his breath catch, and a slight stab of fear wedged its way between his hearts. Rose flashed him a small smile and let her eyes flicker to the ground, fingering the hem of her tank top. “You know how I had that stomach bug last week?”
The Doctor nodded, pressing his lips into a thin line, as he leaned forward and cupped her face between his hands, scrutinizing her from every angle. “You don’t look ill. You still got it then?”
“Thought so,” she murmured, brushing a strand of gold hair away from her line of vision. “But then… Then I realized I was a few days late.”
The Doctor stared at her with blank look. “What do you mean?”
Rose locked her gaze with his and sent him a full-tooth grin, her tongue poking through her teeth. “I mean it’s not gonna be just you ‘an me on the TARDIS anymore.”
“Why?” he asked, stepping back in confusion. “You aren’t inviting your Mum are you? Cause if you bring her, then oh the whole family’s coming along. ” He threw his hands into the air with exasperation, circling the TARDIS console. “Jackie’ll come and then Pete, and of course, Tony will follow, which is even better--”
Rose laughed, her eyes sparkling. “You’re still angry ‘bout my little brother spilling his juice on you!”
He furrowed his eyebrows in disgust. “Of course! It was my blue suit, Rose. I like my blue suit.”
“Only you do.”
“Oi, what’s wrong with blue?”
The blonde shook her head and let out a low chuckle, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. The Doctor took a moment to marvel at his pink and yellow human, so full of life and love and laughter, and completely his. He remembered the early days after Rose’s mother, Jackie, had crossed over to the parallel universe with the parallel version of her husband, Pete Tyler, leaving her only daughter behind in his care. At first, Rose had been nearly inconsolable, only finding comfort in the fact that if she were alone in life, without the only family she had ever known, that she’d rather be lonely with him than anyone else. Eventually, Rose had moved past her mother’s departure and started looking towards her future, embracing everything that life had to offer her. With that came the Doctor, and he couldn’t have been happier. It took a while, granted, for them to finally confess their love for another, but when they did, they finally realized that they weren’t alone in life so long as they had one another.
(That day, the suns breathe life, and the dying stars faded away).
The Doctor reckoned he had to be truly lucky. Luck had played an enormous role in his life since then. Shortly after Rose promised him forever in a proper Gallifreyan ceremony, they met the brilliant Martha Jones and traveled with her for a short time, showing her the stars and leaving her life for the better. However, the Year That Never Was struck, and Martha was forced to leave, albeit scarred, but, she swore, it was for the better. The thing she had seen and the experiences she lived had outweighed the horrors she had faced any day. Once she had taken her leave, the Doctor was left with the fact that he was, once more, the last of the Time Lords, and he mourned the loss much like he did right after the Time War. However, this time around, Rose was with him to help pick up the shambles his life had fallen into, and soon after, he was ready to begin traveling again, content with his companion at his side.
A few months after Martha left the TARDIS, they encountered Donna Noble once more and took her on the journey across space and time. It was a funny sort of arrangement, Rose told him a short time after Donna had joined them, because the fiery red-head reminded the blonde of everything she once had when she had lived her mundane human life. After she had lost Jackie and Mickey and the only home she had ever known, she had forgotten essentially what it meant to be human, grounded to one planet with a stable job and steady income and all the insecurities and vulnerabilities and successes that came with it. With Donna aboard, Rose seemed to regain a certain something she had lost the day Jackie went to Pete’s World, a spark in her eyes that the Doctor didn’t know he had missed. In the end, it was for the better, and it evoked a fire between the Doctor and Rose that hadn’t been there before. They both believed, wholly now, that they weren’t alone in the god forsaken universe so long as they had one another. It was a belief that would eventually be shaken time and time again but would always hold firm.
Then came the moment that made their ever-moving lives perfect. There was often times when it seemed like mere days ago that Rose’s family had crossed over from Pete’s World, settling back into London, England, Earth, just after the near fiasco with the Daleks, Davros, and the Reality Bomb. If Donna and Rose hadn’t been locked inside the TARDIS when they were taken aboard the Crucible, then Rose’s Bad Wolf tendencies and Donna’s piloting would never have played a part in his life, never allowing Donna to save the TARDIS and Rose to learn how to defeat the Daleks. Reality would have been lost, the Daleks would have reigned supreme, and the Doctor would have lost Rose, sentenced to a lonely life... again. However, they persevered, and Jackie, Pete, and their three-year-old son, Tony Tyler, moved back to London where Pete planned to start up his Vitex business from scratch. Donna continued to travel with the Doctor and Rose until she found Lee from the Library, on a distant human colony on the outskirts of the Valastra galaxy. It was a wonderful reunion, and, eventually, the two returned to Donna’s present-day Earth to life out their lives together. Rose and the Doctor were left traveling with one another, popping in for visits with their family and friends. It was a long and twisting road, but no one could have been happier.
Until now.
“It’s not my mum, Doctor,” Rose said, pulling the Doctor from his silent musings. “Believe me, she’s had enough with all the traveling and universe hopping to last a lifetime.”
“Oh, but you can never have enough, Rose,” he said, nudging her with his hip with a maniac smile plastered across his face.
“Doctor,” Rose said once more, locking her gaze with his own. She reached out for his hand, intertwining their fingers together, and sent him a soft smile. “I’m pregnant.”
The Doctor’s grip slackened, and his mouth dropped open in complete disbelief. He struggled to form a coherent sentence, stammering overall of his sensible thoughts before choosing to shake his head in response. “W-What?”
“I took a few tests,” she answered, her tongue poking through her front teeth as she grinned. “And the TARDIS helped me set up an in-home ultrasound. The old girl confirmed it. I’m pregnant.”
He stood before her, shell shocked with wide eyes, and she bit back a quiet giggle. “B-But I thought… We weren’t compatible.”
“Would you look at that,” Rose remarked. “I’ve managed to silence the biggest gob in the universe.” She shrugged slightly and ducked her head, finding her nail beds quite interesting at the given moment.
“Rose,” the Doctor said, his voice cracking as he attempted to keep it under strain. “Time Lords have TNA, triple helix; humans have DNA, double helix. Our species are not compatible. Trust me, human and Gallifreyan pregnancies are impossible.”
Rose shook her head. “Doctor, I know where you’re going with this. I didn’t get knocked up by someone else, and I didn’t get impregnated by some alien plant or something. It’s yours. Like I said, the TARDIS took care of everything. The baby has Time Lord TNA. It’s yours, Doctor.” She reached out and grasped his wrist, pulling him close until his hand rested just above her stomach.
The Doctor’s expression softened as his fingers ghosted over her torso. “You’re sure?”
“Yes,” Rose said, grinning widely. A single tear dripped from her eye, and she hastily wiped it away. “You’re gonna be a dad.”
He let out a loud guffaw, a bubble of joy building within his chest. He pressed his free hand against Rose’s stomach and closed his eyes, dropping his mental barriers for the first time since the Time War. When he reached out with his mind, a flicker of warmth responded, stroking against his own essence with the utmost curiosity.
“I can hear him,” the Doctor whispered softly.
“It’s a boy?!” she asked, happiness settling across her features.
“Yes,” he answered, the smile never leaving his face. “Yes, it’s a boy. Rassilion, I’m going to be a father again… I’m gonna be a dad.”
He turned his incredulous stare on Rose once more and let out a boisterous laugh. It caused Rose to titter under her breath, her own laughter echoing like silver bells through the console room. Happiness ensnared the couple, and bliss seemed to have become a permanent fixture on each of their faces.
* * *
“Do we have to tell her?”
Rose huffed from her position against the entrance of the TARDIS, crossing her arms against her chest as she clenched her hands into tight fists. Aggravation seemed to ooze from her very core at her husband’s antics, and she struggled to plaster a concrete smile on her face. The couple was preparing to leave the Vortex for present-day London where Jackie and Pete were awaiting their arrival for their regular Sunday brunch, and Rose had decided that it was an opportune time to tell her parents the news of her pregnancy. The Doctor, on the other hand, thought differently.
“I’m going to get slapped,” he pressed on, fidgeting with the TARDIS controls. “Your mother is literally going to slap me into my next regeneration.”
“You’re giving her a grandchild, Doctor,” Rose argued as she ran a hand through her hair, gripping the roots with irritation. “She’s not going to ruin her chances of getting any more.”
“Grandchildren. Do not, under any circumstances, Rose Tyler, say that word around your mother.” The Doctor turned to face her, eyes flashing wildly. “If there is one thing that will provoke Jackie Tyler, it’s calling her old, and reminding her of grandchildren is a guaranteed to earn me a slap... Anyway, look, grandchildren aside, she’s not going to like the idea of me…. dancing with her daughter.” He flicked his wrist through the air, making a gesture towards his companion.
“She already knows you’re dancing with me,” Rose protested.
“It’s one thing to believe that theory. It’s another thing to confirm it.”
Rose threw her hands into the air in exasperation. “You’re impossible! Look, we’re telling them, alright? And that’s the end of that.”
“Rose,” he said, making a move to protest, but the blonde narrowed her eyes in response.
“They’re my family, Doctor.” RRose ran her hands down her torso, caressassing the place where the baby rested inside her. “They’re your family too. Don’t you want them to be happy for us?” She took a deep breath, attempting to calm the fluttering butterflies in the pit of her stomach. “Look, if you really don’t want to come, then you can stay on the TARDIS, but I’m telling my mum and dad today.”
The Doctor sighed to himself and landed the TARDIS in its regular parking spot at the edge of the driveway that led to the Tyler home. He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it slightly, before reaching for his tan trench coat that was strewn over a coral strut. He was silent as he approached Rose, holding out his elbow towards her when he came to a stop in front of the TARDIS doors.
“Ready?” he asked, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
“Yeah, a bit nervous though.”
“Don’t be.”
“And why is that?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow high at his sudden shift in attitude. The jittery form rushing around the console had disappeared, leaving a calm and controlled Time Lord behind.
“Because you’re their daughter. You’ll always make them happy.” The Doctor leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead, pulling back and flashing her a reassuring smile. “So, Rose Tyler, are you ready?”
He nudged her side with his elbow, and Rose looped her arms through his. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Together, the two trekked up the lawn of the Tyler estate, and Rose found herself marveling at her surroundings. It had merely two years since the Tyler family had returned to Jackie and Rose’s original universe, and already Pete’s Vitex business had taken off with a steady income building enough so that they were able to move out of that old flat on the Powell Estates. As they approached the house, Rose caught site of the curtains in the foyer moving ever so slightly, causing a wide smile to split across her face. It took all her self-control to keep from bolting towards the house, and yet, the Doctor caught onto her eagerness and tugged her forward.
As Rose poised to knock, the door was ruthlessly flung open, and a flash of ginger hair clouded her vision as she found her arms full of a five-year-old, Tony Tyler.
“Rose!” Tony cried out glee, his hazel orbs sparkling. “You came! You came!”
“Well I promised I would,” Rose answered as her younger brother gripped her wrist, pulling her into the house. The Doctor chuckled lightly under his breath, and it was a moment later that the little boy engulfed the alien in a tight embrace. Rose smiled to herself: Tony idolized the Time Lord.
“Mum said we couldn’t have any pastries till you got here so hurry up!” Tony called over his shoulder, dashing back into the house.
“Of course she did,” Rose murmured, knowing that the sugary delights of life were always the first thing on the child’s mind. Casting a side glance in her husband’s direction, Rose shook her head, knowing that the Doctor would be right behind Tony in the kitchen.
Jackie appeared in the doorway, ushering her daughter and son-in-law into the house with bright smiles, wet kisses, and tight hugs. Pete followed behind his wife at a quiet distance, watching the younger woman overpower the couple with her welcome. Rose took it all in stride, conversing eagerly with her mother, while the Doctor accepted Jackie’s hug and continued into the house, ducking past Pete in the process.
“Hello, sweetheart,” Pete said as he engulfed Rose in a tight embrace. “Feels like forever since I’ve seen you.”
“We come by every Sunday,” Rose insisted with a wide grin. “Surprised you aren’t sick of us yet.”
“Yeah, after a while these visits start to wear on you. Trust me, Pete,” the Doctor interjected, casting a sideways glance in Jackie’s direction.
The older woman squawked in protest and swatted the alien on the arm. “Rude is what you are, Doctor.”
“Not the first time I’ve heard that, and definitely not the last,” he answered, winking in her direction as he grabbed Rose around the waist and turned her towards the kitchen.
The family sat down at the kitchen table where brunch had already been set out, Rose and the Doctor at one end while Tony, Pete, and Jackie crowded the other. For the most part, things at the meal went smoothly, but the Doctor could sense Rose’s unease at the current situation. He reached under the table and pulled her hand into his own, squeezing tightly to remind her to stay grounded.
“So where have you two been lately?” Pete asked , and the Doctor leaned back in his chair, glancing at his companion.
Rose assumed he thought this was the perfect moment to announce her pregnancy, but she thought otherwise. “Plants,” she said. “We got caught up with these fleshing-eating Venus-fly traps on this planet called Pholcer .”
“Blimey, what’d you go there for?” Jackie asked. “I swear you two go looking for danger sometimes.”
“Well that’s the problem,” the Doctor suddenly said, pulling Rose from her silent musings. She flashed him a panic-stricken expression, but he ignored it. “Normally that’s part of the adventure, but we’re going to have to take it easy for a while now that Rose is pregnant. We’ve been discussing what our future travels are going to entail now that the baby is coming along, but… Oh, Rose, didn’t you have something to tell Jackie?”
Rose blinked.
“Oh, you bloody bastard. If Mum won’t slap you for that, then I certainly will!”
“I’d rather your hand stay right where it is-- Rose, listen to me. Rose!”
“What the hell were you thinking?”
“Think of Tony, Rose. We have children present.”
“Children? Oh I’ll make sure you don’t have children ever again!”
“You’re pregnant?!”
Rose turned to her mother who was frozen on the spot, eyes wide as she struggled to form some semblance of a sentence. Pete and Tony mirrored her expression, though the younger Tyler seemed more astonished by the curses his older sister had dropped.
“You’re pregnant?” Jackie repeated, attempting to gauge her daughter’s reaction.
Rose pressed her lips in a resolute expression. “Yeah.”
“How… How far along are you?” Jackie gushed as she pushed herself to her feet and stumbled around the table. “Oh my God, I can’t believe it. My baby’s having a baby!”
Rose let out an excited laugh and wrapped her mother up in a tight embrace. “Just a few weeks, about a month or so.”
“Do you have the godparents picked out yet?” Jackie asked, gripping her daughter by the shoulders.
Rose nodded. “We talked to Mickey and Donna the other day.”
“Oh, honey, I’m so happy for you!”
The two women continued to squeal with excitement as the Doctor lounged in his chair, watching the exchange with pride. Eventually, Pete came around and clamped a strong hand on the Time Lord’s shoulder, leaning forward. “Congratulations, Doctor. You deserve it.”
“Thanks, Pete,” he said and beamed proudly.
His father-in-law seated himself beside the alien and bit into a biscuit. “I could have sworn you said that Time Lords and humans were incompatible though.”
“We’re supposed to be, but you humans seem to be compatible with just about everything,” the Doctor answered, taking a sip from his iced tea. “Can’t help it, I suppose. Your need for survival is too great. In billions of years, there’s not going to be any pure humans left. You’re all just going to be spread out across the stars, intermingling with different species and becoming more and more unique as individuals. It’s a truly beautiful thing.”
“So humans as they are right now die out?” Pete asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. “Eh, I guess beauty’s in the eye of the beholder.”
“No,” the Doctor answered. “There’s beauty in everything; you just have to look hard enough.”
Jackie and Rose eventually separated long enough for the older woman to glance over at the Doctor and signaled him to join them. He stood up and made his way towards his mother-in-law, albeit wary of an oncoming slap. Jackie stood still for a moment before rushing forward and embracing the Time Lord tightly, her arms locked tightly around his waist. The Doctor relinquished himself in the comfort that the hug provided, overcome with a feeling he hadn’t felt in centuries: a hug from a mother.
“Congratulations, Doctor,” Jackie Tyler whispered in his ear. “You’re gonna be a father.”
“Yeah,” the Doctor choked out, his voice cracking. “I’m gonna be a dad.”
* * *
The following months were tough on Rose and the Doctor as they underwent a lifestyle change in order to accommodate for their unborn son. Shortly after Rose announced her pregnancy to their friends and family, the two decided to keep “running for their lives” to a minimum, visiting planets that were known for pleasure or tourism. Rose took a break from making a difference in the universe to simply appreciating its beauty. The Doctor, on the other hand, hadn’t even argued about the current arrangement; in fact, he pushed for Rose to take it easy while they could still travel.
For the Doctor, this wasn’t just about him becoming a father. This was about the universe offering him a second chance at life: complete with a family and love and all the happiness he could harness.
By the time the six-month mark had rolled around, the Doctor and Rose had grounded themselves to simple hops through time on Earth. They wanted to be close to their friends and family for when the baby would come. Already, Rose found it harder to maneuver herself over long distances and had practically locked herself up in the TARDIS. The Doctor had pondered the idea of settling down in present-day London close to Rose’s family so that it would provide a stable environment for Rose if the baby should come ahead of time. Eventually, he chose to park the TARDIS in the backyard of the Tyler estate and return to his job at UNIT, becoming a consultant for various cases.
Rose would often spend her days in the company of her mother while Pete was away for business and Tony was at school. Every morning, mother and daughter would meet for breakfast, exchanging small talk and nonsense ramblings about their day-to-day lives. It was an awkward situation for Rose, who had become so accustomed to her unusual way life, to suddenly return to a domestic one.
(It was even more concerning that the Doctor had been the one to initiate it all).
It was during one of these quite unremarkable breakfasts that the question finally arose.
“So, what daft alien name does the Doctor want to call my grandchild?”
Rose peered at her mother from over her mug of tea, quirking an eyebrow high. “What are you going on about?”
Jackie shrugged, sipping her own beverage gingerly. “He’s an alien, Rose. What am I supposed to think? I assume I’m going to get stuck with a grandson with a Martian name, so you might as well get it over with now.”
“He’s not a Martian, if that helps,” Rose supplied, biting back a groan at her mother’s antics.
“I don’t care where he’s from,” Jackie continued, pushing herself away from the table. “I just want to know--”
“Gallifrey.”
“That the baby’s name then?” Jackie inquired, placing her mug in the sink. “It’s pretty, doesn’t sound like a boy’s name, if you ask me, but still…. It’s nice.”
Rose shook her head, smiling softly. “That’s where he’s from. Gallifrey’s the name of his home planet.”
Jackie was silent for a moment before turning back to her daughter. “He doesn’t talk about where he’s from that much, does he?”
Rose nodded and rested her chin atop her clasped hands, leaning forward over teh table on her elbows. “I’ve known him for years, Mum. I even married him, and I still don’t know half of the things about that planet.”
“What do you know?”
“That it’s gone,” Rose said, huffing rather loudly. “And that it doesn’t matter.”
Jackie placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes in her daughter’s direction. “How can his home not matter, Rose? Don’t you think he misses it?”
“Oh, I think he misses it a whole lot more than he lets on,” she answered with a small smile. “But I also know that Gallifrey was never his home. Right here, with you and me and the TARDIS, with our family, that’s his home.” She raised her gaze and caught sight of the clock on the stove, and she pushed herself to her feet, maneuvering her swollen belly around the chair.
Rose grabbed her purse and threw it over her shoulder and made a move to leave; however, at the last moment, she turned on her heel and flashed her mother a small smile.
“Jack.”
“Come again?” Jackie asked.
“Jack. We’re calling the baby Jack,” Rose said in a soft tone. “The middle name will probably be some weird Gallifreyan one; I’m leaving that up to the Doctor to decide. But… I’m pretty adamant that I name my child after my mum. The Doctor agrees. He says that it’s tradition on Gallifrey to carry one of your ancestor’s names. He’s more than happy naming his son after someone as remarkable as Jackie Tyler.”
* * *
It was three months later that the Master returned, and with him, came Gallifrey.
Sending Rassilon and the Council back into the Time Lock had brought out a side of the Doctor that only a handful had seen before. The man who swore to abhor violence took up a gun against the Time Lords with his friends and family there for all to see. It was there that the truth came out: the one that many had guessed at, few had been told, and only Rose who knew.
It was the Doctor that destroyed Gallifrey and Time Lords that final day of the Time War.
Rose, Pete, Jackie, Martha, Mickey, Donna, and Captain Jack Harkness. His allies, his comrades, his friends, his family. Everyone knew now. The Savior of Worlds was the Destroyer of His Own.
After the light from the broken link had vanished, the Doctor was left in the middle of the room: bloodied, broken, and bruised with an angry Jackie Tyler in his face. He struggled to regain his bearings, exhausted to the core and unable to handle any confrontation at the given moment.
However, Jackie persisted.
“You ended it?” she said. “You ended it! You killed your own kind!”
“Jackie,” the Doctor said, making a move to protest, but her hand slammed into the side of his face, knocking him off balance so that he collapsed in a heap on the ground.
“Jacks, I think you should calm down,” Pete began, focusing his efforts on his wife.
“He’s a murderer!” she cried out. “You killed your entire race!” Tears welled in the corners of her eyes. “You killed them all!”
“I had no other choice,” he gasped out, shaking his head.
“I felt sorry for you. I felt sorry for you!” Jackie continued. “I accepted you into my home; I accepted you for my daughter! Oh God, what’s that child of yours gonna turn out to be? A murderer, just like you?!”
“Enough… Just stop,” a voice said, so weak and frail that it struck fear in all the occupants’ hearts.
The Doctor pushed himself on trembling hands and knees, eyes wide with panic as he caught sight of Rose huddled against the back wall. She was hunched over her torso, hands clamped down over her bulging abdomen. As if she could feel his gaze upon her broken form, she looked up, locking her eyes with his own, and pulled her hands away. They were soaked with blood.
The Doctor wasted no time in pushing himself to his feet and bolting towards the blonde, engulfing her into his arms. His hot breath tickled her neck as his pale hand stroked her sweat-tangled curls, the moment repetitive in order to sooth the flailing woman. He murmured reassurances under his breath in his native tongue as tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, Jackie’s accusations flying from his mind. Rose trembled in his arms, her body shaking, hitching as the pain rippled across her lower abdomen.
He could vaguely hear Martha beside him, barking orders to those around him. However, the Doctor refused to let go of his wife. He couldn’t.
He wasn’t alone anymore. He had Rose. He had his unborn son.
He couldn’t lose them. They were his family. They were his everything. They were his home. He couldn’t lose them: not now, not ever. He just couldn’t.
But why did it feel like he already had?
***
The Doctor didn’t know how a person could get used to screaming.
As he sat there, eyes drawn on the wall ahead, the sound pierced the air, ringing continuously in his ears. There was a sharp intake of breath was just as ragged as the first, and before he knew it, the screaming started up again. Each intense shriek struck him to the core, and he struggled to remain calm in the situation. He didn’t know how long he could keep his collected concentration drawn to the specific spot on the white wall outside of the operating room, and he hoped no one would judge him if he lost it. It was a natural instinct to be bother by pain -- hers or anyone else’s.
After everything he had suffered through in his nine hundred years, though, he didn’t know why. He had watched his planet burn and his people die, yet it was Rose’s screams that caused his stomach to churn and for his control to slip. Perhaps it was because this--it was supposed to be a beautiful thing. They always said that the process was the most awe-inspiring experience in one’s lifetime if one was ever able to witness the miracle in its fullest. They never told it from an outsider’s perspective, however. For them, it was terrible and heart-wrenching all at once. Especially if it was your wife fighting for her life in the other room and you were powerful to help her.
Unabashed reactions were the most raw when it came to life, and that’s how the Doctor had always known to life. Having the chance to travel the universe and see the most horrifying and extraordinary things made his reactions different than what other people expected them to be. If people dared to view his reaction to the current situation in a negative light, as he sat there with a stoic expression, they didn’t understand. He wasn’t passive; he was so close to breaking. It was just those screams, leaving him shell-shocked as he listened on.
If he closed his eyes, the Doctor could picture the last time he saw Rose. He had been sitting in the back of Mickey’s car as they rushed to the Hub where Martha had planned to deliver his and Rose’s baby when the ten months had passed by. However, now, they were heading there to save them. Rose had been sprawling out across the back seat, her head in his lap, as she struggled to breathe. Her eyes, wide and brown, had frantically looked around the vehicle, seeing her husband’s blood-stained hands pressed against her wound. The Doctor could almost feel the panic swelling within her as she inhaled deeply, her lungs expanding to make room for oxygen, but she wasn’t able to draw in any air. Mickey and Martha had been shouting incoherent statements, and the smell of blood marred his senses.
Now, Rose had been taken from his arms and rushed into a side room off of the main part of the Hub. Martha and Owen Harper were operating on her and the baby, and the Doctor kept his ears pricked to hear the new sound: a baby’s wail.
But none ever came.
The Doctor was a genius. He knew that Rose’s injury would have forced her into an early labor. It would have been the only way to save her and their child.
But the baby never cried.
***
“The shot just missed some important organs,” Martha said. “It was touch-and-go for a while there, but… she’ll pull through and heal up good as new.” The medical official let her eyes flicker to the floor even as the group let out a unison sigh of relief, defeat radiating off her and flooding the room with tension. “However, we…” Her eyes seemed to burn into the Doctor’s very core. “I’m sorry, but we weren’t able to save the baby.”
The Doctor’s world seemed to freeze in its orbit, the shock overwhelming him and halting his thought process. He couldn’t register the situation; everything seemed to lose meaning, and while Martha continued to speak, coherency was lost on the Time Lord.
“W-Where’s the baby?” the Doctor asked, his tongue thick against the roof of his mouth.
Martha paused, turning her full attention on her friend as puzzlement washing over her. “What do you mean?”
He swallowed a lump in his throat before proceeding. “I saw the blood; it was localized across her lower abdomen. I assume the gunshot interfered with the baby’s living environment. Rose is nine months along, almost full term. The baby would be able to survive outside his mother’s womb, so emergency delivery would have been the only option.”
“Doctor,” Martha said, shaking her head. “Didn’t you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Rose is in critical condition--”
“I know that, but what I want to know is where you put my son,” he answered in a soft tone, eyes wide with vulnerability. “I want to see my son. He’s my son; I’ve got to make sure he’s alright.”
Martha opened her mouth to speak, but her words caught in her throat. She shook her head, a tiny motion, as if she couldn’t quite process the older man’s reaction. Her thoughts left her, and she struggled to find the right words that would destroy the Doctor’s life. “Doctor,” she began, but nothing followed. She turned her attention to her Mickey, hoping with all her might that he might have the solution.
“Doctor, are you okay?” The question was silly, unnecessary even. Everyone knew that the answer: the Doctor wasn’t alright. It was probable that he never would be again.
The Doctor simply stared at the younger man. The scene replayed over and over again in his head, and while he knew what it meant, he didn’t believe it because there wasn’t any possible truth in it. Sorrow consumed him, and he found it a struggle to even breathe. There was no possible way that his son was dead. For the first time in his long life, after experiencing so much loss, he had allowed himself to open up to the possibility of happiness. If he had truly lost his unborn child, the grief and guilt that would accompany it would crush him, and he feared he’d crumble beneath it all.
“Where is my son?” the Doctor asked once more, fixating his attention on Martha.
“We did everything we could, Doctor,” she said, and he didn’t doubt it for one second. “But… I’m sorry, but we couldn’t save him.”
It was like the eye of a hurricane had passed over as an ominous silence settled upon what had once been the epicenter of chaos. All eyes were centered on the Doctor’s still form in the middle of the waiting room, half of his panic-stricken face illuminated by the overhead light, as his body trembled with concealed emotion. Everyone seemed to stand back as if he was a predator poised to attack its prey, but Jackie, one of the few brave souls, reached forward and placed a comforting hand on the Doctor’s shoulder.
That was when it hit, and suddenly, it was hell on Earth.
“Where’s my son?!” The Doctor’s scream bounced off of the ivory-colored walls of the waiting room, reverberating through the halls of the hospital. His voice thundered on and on, building to a crescendo that overwhelmed any passerby with the grief behind it.
“Doctor,” Jackie tried to console him, but he paid her no heed.
“My son’s not dead!” he roared, lunging towards Martha, but Mickey wrapped his arms around him before the Doctor could get any farther. “My baby’s not dead! He’s alive. He’s here! He’s my son! Why are you lying to me? Where is my son?!”
His screams continued on, unanswered, until the last of his strength finally left him. He crumbled to the ground, propped on trembling hands and knees, as his vision began to blur. He tore his mental barriers down and sought out the tiny flicker of life that used to have been his son’s presence, hoping to find the resounding warmth of his unborn child.
Nothing pushed back. No warmth. No light. No one.
He was alone all over again.
* * *
The Doctor stared at his Rose as she slept soundly, a white bandage wrapped around her torso. A thin line of blood showed through them, and it caused a single tear to drip down his cheek. She had suffered so much at his hands, already and now, she had lost her son because of him. If he hadn’t shot the link, she wouldn’t have been on the receiving end of the blast that vanquished the Time Lords.
Rose fidgeted slightly in her sleep, murmuring under her breath, “Bring my baby back. Bring him back.”
He left before she could wake up.
* * *
The first time the Doctor saw his son, his eyes were closed.
He was laid in the middle of a cot, a blanket covering his tiny form. With trembling hands, the Doctor pulled back the sheet and leaned forward, engulfing his son in a tight embrace and cradling him to his chest. The Doctor closed his eyes and allowed himself to believe that the tiny bundle in his arms was listening to the twin heartbeat’s beneath his skin, marveling at the similarity between his father’s and his own. The Doctor wished that the tiny boy in his arms, the most important person in the world to him, the small Jack Tyler that never got to open his eyes, would wake up and make the connection with the person who held him. The Doctor wished for nothing more than to feel the tiny flutter of life in the back of his mind once more, the reminder that he was no longer the last of his kind, the reminder that he was a father, the reminder that he had a son to love.
But Jack Tyler never opened his eyes.
* * *
If the Doctor were to be honest, he never expected to have someone pledge to spend their “forever” with him, especially not if they knew the events surroundings the end of the Last Great Time War. He had expected to live on as the last of the Time Lords, a lonely madman in a blue box, but Rose Tyler changed everything.
The love story between the Doctor and Rose Tyler was so much more than a story: it didn’t create a relationship…. It created a home for two lost souls desperate to be saved and loved by the other.
Yes, Rose Tyler was so much more than his significant other. She was his home, the person who reminded him that he was never alone.
But, like they say, all good things must come to an end eventually, and worse times are just around the corner.
Following Jack’s death, the Doctor was left scarred, and Rose left broken. Their family and friends stayed by their side through it all however, always reminding the couple that they weren’t alone in their grief. Everyone mourned the tiny Jack Tyler even though he never took a single breath in this universe.
The tears were shed, the lessons learned, and life went on.
While they were surrounded by constant love and support, one thing was for sure for the Doctor and Rose.
