The Stuff Life is Made Of, 3/5
“Rooooooooooooooooooooooooooose! Wake up please wake up it’s light outside won’t you wake up!” Ian streaked into her room, launching himself onto her bed, and she fought back a groan. She had a terrible headache, the stress of her encounter with the Doctor the night before ensuring she’d had a night full of stressful dreams.
She opened her eyes to the light-flooded room, her brother’s bright brown eyes gazing at her intently. He grinned as he saw her awake, and started to bounce next to her on the bed. “You slept late and I was waiting for you to wake up but Mum wouldn’t let me and what is it like when the…the…TARDIS takes off? I think it goes whoosh but Mum says no it makes this awful noise and I couldn’t ask her anything else because she shooed me out of the kitchen so what does it sound like when the TARDIS takes off?”
Rose wearily pushed herself back against the headboard, patting the covers next to her. Ian moved to sit in the spot she’d indicated, and looked up at her expectantly.
“It….doesn’t whoosh. It makes a noise like…like…” She paused, trying to think of a way to describe it. ‘Ancient, and wonderful, and like time’ was always how she had thought of it, but those were hardly concepts that her little brother would understand. “It sounds like you might imagine a dinosaur would.”
“A dinosaur?” Her brother’s eyes had grown, impossibly, wider; he looked both awed and a little bit frightened.
“It’s not a dinosaur, it just sounds like what you think a dinosaur might.” She leaned down, holding her brother’s gaze. “You know, if you’re good-and if Mum lets you-you might ask the Doctor to show you.”
Her brother pouted. “I would have done but he’s not here.”
Rose felt a small flash of fear. “He’s not here?”
“No.” Her brother sniffed, before getting out of bed and running to the window. “See?”
Rose fought down the tide of fear rising in her stomach, forcing herself out of bed and over to the window. Surely Ian simply meant that the Doctor had gone off on…on a walk, or an errand?
She reached the window, looked down into the back garden of the house; she saw greens, pinks, yellows, browns…but no blue. No glorious, wonderful, anachronistic blue Police Public Call Box awaited her in the back garden.
She felt her world spin away, the sound of Ian’s rambling becoming lost in the buzzing in her ears. He’d left. He’d…left her. He’d kissed her on the back terrace last night, had begged her to come with him, had promised to give her time…and the bastard had left her when she’d not been able to say yes.
He’d told her he’d stay-For a bit, at least, he’d said last night, after kissing her to within an inch of her life.
He’d lied, apparently. She’d forgotten how easily he could do that in this body. Easy to forget, really, when he’d never really done it to her.
She staggered to the small chair to the side of the window and sat heavily. She would not cry. She would not give the alien git that kind of power over her. Not anymore. She’d cried for him, oh so many times…
…no. It was far, far better to be furious. To take all of the emotions which were roiling through her, to channel them into righteous fury. The bastard had run away. The old him-the first one she’d loved, who’d never have done this to her, not after he’d fought impossible odds to come back-he’d called himself a coward, once.
She rather thought the word was more applicable to the new one-the one who’d, more than once, now, left her behind without a second glance.
Always wait five-and-a-half hours, he’d said after that first time he’d left her.
He could sod his five-and-a-half hours.
She collected herself, stood; Ian was staring at her, expectantly. “Right, then, Ian. Go let Mum know I’ll be down in a tick; she might want to have a pot of tea ready.” She leaned down. “If you’re quick, I’ll sneak you a biscuit.” She winked as she stood, and fought back a smile as her brother tore out of the room.
She had a quick wash in the en suite, pulled on jeans and a jumper, and walked into the kitchen ten minutes later. Her mum was just pouring out the tea; from her expression, Rose knew her mum had noticed the TARDIS was gone, as well.
Rose sat heavily, before remembering her promise to her brother. She stood, hurriedly found a biscuit, gave it to the eagerly waiting Ian, before returning to the small table and collapsing in the chair.
Her mum sat in the chair next to her, her expression sympathetic. “I’m sure he’s just…off running errands,” Jackie offered.
Rose smiled mirthlessly. “D’you really think so, Mum?”
Jackie took a sip of her tea, thinking, before she replied. “I really do. He…he was like a man who’d found a second chance at life, last night. He’d not have left if he didn’t have to. Not after what he did to find you again.”
Rose pushed her mug away, the steaming liquid looking less than appealing in her current state. “I wish I could believe you, Mum.”
“Rose. He loves you. As much as an alien can, I reckon.” Jackie was leaning towards her, willing her daughter to believe her words.
Rose sighed, wearily. “I was making things messy for him. Domestic, no doubt. He hates domestic, more than he hates messes.”
“He’ll be back, love.”
Rose looked at her mum. “How long do I wait, then? Do I spend my entire life, staring out the window, expecting the TARDIS to appear in the back garden? Do I just put my life on hold, until the day he decides he’s well and ready to return? I’ve been through this once, Mum, the waiting and the hoping and the living but not really living in the present, waiting for him to come back for me. You saw what that was like, what it did to me. You want me to do that again?”
“You love him, Rose. Wouldn’t you go with him, again?”
Rose closed her eyes, hating herself for her answer. “In a heartbeat, if he came back for me.”
“Rose…give him a day, at least.” Jackie scooted closer. “Give him a chance to prove us wrong, Rose.” Jackie grinned. “’sides, he knows I’ll regenerate him if he breaks your heart again. He’ll be back.”
Ian sat across the table from them, slowly munching his illicit biscuit, eyes wide as he watched the two of them talk. Her heart nearly broke as she thought of the Doctor with her little brother, of how gentle he’d been; of how tentative he’d been on the terrace the night before, until he’d touched her, until he’d found out that she still loved him fiercely.
She wanted to believe her mum, believe that he’d only gone on a short jaunt to buy milk, or chips, or to thwart an alien invasion. But she was terrified of holding out hope, only to have it crushed by cruel reality. It would break her.
She gave in. She could live with one day of hope. “Fine. One day.”
-----------------------------------------------
Jackie watched her daughter shuffle out of the kitchen, shoulders tense and head hung in dejection.
That alien git had gone and broken her heart again. After he’d sworn he’d not! If he was anywhere on this Earth, she was going to find him, was going to slap him to within an inch of his worthless life, before tearing him apart.
She listened to the sound of Rose’s footfalls on the steps leading to the first storey, shooed Ian out of the kitchen-“It’s a lovely day outside, love, why don’t you go see what’s in the back, where the TARDIS was last night?”-and reached for the phone.
It was short work to speak with Mickey, to tell him what had happened; she’d never heard Mickey so murderous, and hoped he’d not find the Doctor first. She wanted to kill him, not have Mickey do it.
“Can you search for the TARDIS? Some signature or some such?” she asked him, towards the end of the call.
She listened to the silence on the line as Mickey pondered the possibilities. “We should be able to do. Just need to get the energy signature. The question is…will Pete let us use official resources to do it?”
“Don’t you worry about that, love. Just see what you can do about finding that blue box. Oh, and Mickey? I get first dibs on him.”
She heard Mickey laugh. “Just leave a piece for me.”
Jackie rang off, feeling much better for having a plan, a course of action to try to find the man who was coming perilously close to breaking her daughter’s heart again.
Her next step was to find Pete. He was sat in the library, the newspaper spread out before him; he looked up as she walked in, giving her a beaming grin.
“Hello, love.” He leaned up as she leaned down, brushing a light kiss across his lips. Jackie smiled, once again grateful for the man in front of her, for the second chance the alien git had given her.
That didn’t mean she wouldn’t kill that alien git when she found him, though.
“Pete…I…” Jackie paused. She had so rarely asked Pete for a favour since they’d married, she really had no idea how to go about it.
“What is it, Jacks?” He folded the paper, set it down next to him. He scooted over on the small settee, and she sank down next to him.
“You...you noticed the TARDIS is gone?”
“I thought he’d just moved it,” Pete said, heavily.
“No, it’s gone. He’s up and gone and left our Rose. Again.”
Jackie felt anger flash through her. She hoped they’d find him, that he’d reappear in the back garden and swan out as though nothing were amiss. Like he had the first time he took Rose; the most excruciating twelve months of her life, those had been. “It’s not been twelve hours; it’s been twelve months,” he’d said, as though he’d simply bought semi-skim instead of cream. She hoped that, because she wanted to catch him unawares, to hit him as soon as he set a plimsoll-clad foot outside those doors.
Pete’s gaze sharpened. “Gone? When?”
“Overnight, I should think. Wasn’t like I stayed up watching the blasted thing. He’d said he’d stay, I thought he might keep his word for once.”
Pete brought an arm around her pulled her to him. “You want us to look for him?” he said, softly, his tone neutral.
Pete had always had a knack for being able to figure her out, for knowing what it was she’d ask or need. He understood her, and she once again felt a moment of gratitude for her chance to have him back.
“I do. Just for a day or two, to see if he’s still here. To be able to give Rose some kind of answer.”
Pete paused, his lips resting against her hair, as he mulled over the request. “It’ll...have to have some sort of official reason behind it, if we’re to use the Republic’s resources.”
Jackie sighed into him, nodding. “I know.”
“Right, well, that’s easily done. Something to do with the Canary Wharf battle should do it.”
Jackie leaned back. “That’s it? That simple?”
Pete grinned. “That simple. ‘s the least I can do. Just...don’t kill him, Jacks.” Pete paused, then added, “Well, not unless he really was intending to leave Rose.”
Jackie leaned forward, whispering “Thank you” against her husband’s lips before kissing him.
-----------------------------------------------
It was, quite easily, the longest Saturday of Rose’s life. She tried not to think about the day before, of the intensity of seeing him again. Of seeing him in the Torchwood lobby. Of talking with him, of arguing with him; of how impatient he’d been, how confused, when she’d said she couldn’t drop everything and go with him. Of dinner that night, of their time on the terrace after; of kissing him, of feeling like she’d finally found home again, as hackneyed as the thought was.
She wanted to go with him again. Oh, how she wanted to go. She’d leave her life behind-all of it-to go with him again. Never see her mum, her brother or sister, Pete, Mickey, or Jake-never finish her degree. All to be able to travel with him again, the man who she loved so fiercely he couldn’t touch her without gasping. The man who didn’t understand human emotions, human needs. The man who’d left her behind now twice, but who’d killed himself to save her; who loved the universe so completely. He didn’t understand her, nor she him, but she didn’t want to live without him again. She didn’t think she could live without him again, regardless of whether they got a proper goodbye or not.
Well, that’s that decision made, then, she thought; small help it would be unless he came back.
She spent the day curled in the lounge window seat, a book in her hand, but her attention held by the view out the window. Ian was tearing around the back garden, happily chasing anything that moved; the clear day was warm, and her brother had spent nearly his entire day outside. It made it easier, really; every time she set foot outside, needing fresh air, he’d run over and ask her about the Doctor, about the TARDIS; lunch had been nothing but Ian asking about the TARDIS and how it travelled. She dreaded the thought of what it would be like, her brother asking after a blue box that was never to return. It would kill her just a little bit each time, she thought.
She had to have hope that he’d be back.
Dinner was a sombre affair, the four of them seated in the small dining room, memories of Friday evening’s dinner lingering like a miasma in the room. Pete and her mum had tried their best to make conversation, to keep her spirits up, and she’d tried her hardest to play her part, to answer in kind and to discuss things that most decidedly had nothing to do with the Doctor. But it was hard, and by the end of supper she decided she was completely exhausted.
“I think I’m going to go upstairs,” she said, once the dishes had been cleared. Her mum glanced over at her in concern. “’s okay, Mum. I just need...I just need to relax. Maybe a nice soak in the bath.”
She walked upstairs, slowly, her feet heavy as she contemplated that he really might not be coming back for her. He might really have run away. She’d said all of those things earlier that morning, had entertained those thoughts; but deep in her heart, she’d had faith that he’d come back. He’d not leave her. He wouldn’t.
But now, nearly fourteen hours after she’d awoken, it looked like he might have.
Rose ran the bath, sinking blissfully into the bubbles, allowing the calming scent to wash over her as the warm water soothed her tense muscles. She had no idea if she should be angry, or hold out hope; soaking in the tub, she finally resolved to live only in the present. At least until there was some kind of answer to what had happened to the Doctor and the TARDIS.
If only he’d left a note...
She roused herself from the bath with a sigh. Wishing things were different wouldn’t make them so. She’d simply have to keep to her resolution to live in the present, to take things as they came.
She dried herself, brushed her hair out, and dressed for bed. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to sleep, but at the very least she needed to lie down, to try to get some proper rest. Against expectation, she fell asleep, dreaming of the man-alien-who’d left her again.
She was startled from her dreams by a furious knocking at the door to her room.
“Rose!” Her mum’s excited voice carried through the wood of the door, and Rose glanced groggily at the clock on her nightstand-quarter-to-two in the morning-before rolling out of bed and stumbling to the door.
“What?” she asked, slightly breathless, as she opened the door.
“They’ve found ‘im. The Doctor.”
Rose very nearly fell, her legs suddenly losing their strength. They’d found him.
She clutched the door, willing herself not to fall. “Where?”
“Sydney. Pete’s made a call over to Torchwood; the jet will be ready for you. If you want to go, that is. Mickey’s already on his way there.”
The jet. The most impressive Earth-based thing Torchwood owned. Like the Concorde back home, Mickey had explained to her when she first started at Torchwood, only faster.
“I’ll be ready in five minutes.”
She met her mum and Pete downstairs, pulling her jacket on as she hurried down the final few steps into the foyer. Pete was dressed for travel, and she found herself unaccountably grateful for his presence. With he and Mickey along, she’d be able to face anything.
After a quick hug and a kiss from her mum, and a wish of good luck, she and Pete set out for the airfield. Time to go find the Doctor.
She opened her eyes to the light-flooded room, her brother’s bright brown eyes gazing at her intently. He grinned as he saw her awake, and started to bounce next to her on the bed. “You slept late and I was waiting for you to wake up but Mum wouldn’t let me and what is it like when the…the…TARDIS takes off? I think it goes whoosh but Mum says no it makes this awful noise and I couldn’t ask her anything else because she shooed me out of the kitchen so what does it sound like when the TARDIS takes off?”
Rose wearily pushed herself back against the headboard, patting the covers next to her. Ian moved to sit in the spot she’d indicated, and looked up at her expectantly.
“It….doesn’t whoosh. It makes a noise like…like…” She paused, trying to think of a way to describe it. ‘Ancient, and wonderful, and like time’ was always how she had thought of it, but those were hardly concepts that her little brother would understand. “It sounds like you might imagine a dinosaur would.”
“A dinosaur?” Her brother’s eyes had grown, impossibly, wider; he looked both awed and a little bit frightened.
“It’s not a dinosaur, it just sounds like what you think a dinosaur might.” She leaned down, holding her brother’s gaze. “You know, if you’re good-and if Mum lets you-you might ask the Doctor to show you.”
Her brother pouted. “I would have done but he’s not here.”
Rose felt a small flash of fear. “He’s not here?”
“No.” Her brother sniffed, before getting out of bed and running to the window. “See?”
Rose fought down the tide of fear rising in her stomach, forcing herself out of bed and over to the window. Surely Ian simply meant that the Doctor had gone off on…on a walk, or an errand?
She reached the window, looked down into the back garden of the house; she saw greens, pinks, yellows, browns…but no blue. No glorious, wonderful, anachronistic blue Police Public Call Box awaited her in the back garden.
She felt her world spin away, the sound of Ian’s rambling becoming lost in the buzzing in her ears. He’d left. He’d…left her. He’d kissed her on the back terrace last night, had begged her to come with him, had promised to give her time…and the bastard had left her when she’d not been able to say yes.
He’d told her he’d stay-For a bit, at least, he’d said last night, after kissing her to within an inch of her life.
He’d lied, apparently. She’d forgotten how easily he could do that in this body. Easy to forget, really, when he’d never really done it to her.
She staggered to the small chair to the side of the window and sat heavily. She would not cry. She would not give the alien git that kind of power over her. Not anymore. She’d cried for him, oh so many times…
…no. It was far, far better to be furious. To take all of the emotions which were roiling through her, to channel them into righteous fury. The bastard had run away. The old him-the first one she’d loved, who’d never have done this to her, not after he’d fought impossible odds to come back-he’d called himself a coward, once.
She rather thought the word was more applicable to the new one-the one who’d, more than once, now, left her behind without a second glance.
Always wait five-and-a-half hours, he’d said after that first time he’d left her.
He could sod his five-and-a-half hours.
She collected herself, stood; Ian was staring at her, expectantly. “Right, then, Ian. Go let Mum know I’ll be down in a tick; she might want to have a pot of tea ready.” She leaned down. “If you’re quick, I’ll sneak you a biscuit.” She winked as she stood, and fought back a smile as her brother tore out of the room.
She had a quick wash in the en suite, pulled on jeans and a jumper, and walked into the kitchen ten minutes later. Her mum was just pouring out the tea; from her expression, Rose knew her mum had noticed the TARDIS was gone, as well.
Rose sat heavily, before remembering her promise to her brother. She stood, hurriedly found a biscuit, gave it to the eagerly waiting Ian, before returning to the small table and collapsing in the chair.
Her mum sat in the chair next to her, her expression sympathetic. “I’m sure he’s just…off running errands,” Jackie offered.
Rose smiled mirthlessly. “D’you really think so, Mum?”
Jackie took a sip of her tea, thinking, before she replied. “I really do. He…he was like a man who’d found a second chance at life, last night. He’d not have left if he didn’t have to. Not after what he did to find you again.”
Rose pushed her mug away, the steaming liquid looking less than appealing in her current state. “I wish I could believe you, Mum.”
“Rose. He loves you. As much as an alien can, I reckon.” Jackie was leaning towards her, willing her daughter to believe her words.
Rose sighed, wearily. “I was making things messy for him. Domestic, no doubt. He hates domestic, more than he hates messes.”
“He’ll be back, love.”
Rose looked at her mum. “How long do I wait, then? Do I spend my entire life, staring out the window, expecting the TARDIS to appear in the back garden? Do I just put my life on hold, until the day he decides he’s well and ready to return? I’ve been through this once, Mum, the waiting and the hoping and the living but not really living in the present, waiting for him to come back for me. You saw what that was like, what it did to me. You want me to do that again?”
“You love him, Rose. Wouldn’t you go with him, again?”
Rose closed her eyes, hating herself for her answer. “In a heartbeat, if he came back for me.”
“Rose…give him a day, at least.” Jackie scooted closer. “Give him a chance to prove us wrong, Rose.” Jackie grinned. “’sides, he knows I’ll regenerate him if he breaks your heart again. He’ll be back.”
Ian sat across the table from them, slowly munching his illicit biscuit, eyes wide as he watched the two of them talk. Her heart nearly broke as she thought of the Doctor with her little brother, of how gentle he’d been; of how tentative he’d been on the terrace the night before, until he’d touched her, until he’d found out that she still loved him fiercely.
She wanted to believe her mum, believe that he’d only gone on a short jaunt to buy milk, or chips, or to thwart an alien invasion. But she was terrified of holding out hope, only to have it crushed by cruel reality. It would break her.
She gave in. She could live with one day of hope. “Fine. One day.”
-----------------------------------------------
Jackie watched her daughter shuffle out of the kitchen, shoulders tense and head hung in dejection.
That alien git had gone and broken her heart again. After he’d sworn he’d not! If he was anywhere on this Earth, she was going to find him, was going to slap him to within an inch of his worthless life, before tearing him apart.
She listened to the sound of Rose’s footfalls on the steps leading to the first storey, shooed Ian out of the kitchen-“It’s a lovely day outside, love, why don’t you go see what’s in the back, where the TARDIS was last night?”-and reached for the phone.
It was short work to speak with Mickey, to tell him what had happened; she’d never heard Mickey so murderous, and hoped he’d not find the Doctor first. She wanted to kill him, not have Mickey do it.
“Can you search for the TARDIS? Some signature or some such?” she asked him, towards the end of the call.
She listened to the silence on the line as Mickey pondered the possibilities. “We should be able to do. Just need to get the energy signature. The question is…will Pete let us use official resources to do it?”
“Don’t you worry about that, love. Just see what you can do about finding that blue box. Oh, and Mickey? I get first dibs on him.”
She heard Mickey laugh. “Just leave a piece for me.”
Jackie rang off, feeling much better for having a plan, a course of action to try to find the man who was coming perilously close to breaking her daughter’s heart again.
Her next step was to find Pete. He was sat in the library, the newspaper spread out before him; he looked up as she walked in, giving her a beaming grin.
“Hello, love.” He leaned up as she leaned down, brushing a light kiss across his lips. Jackie smiled, once again grateful for the man in front of her, for the second chance the alien git had given her.
That didn’t mean she wouldn’t kill that alien git when she found him, though.
“Pete…I…” Jackie paused. She had so rarely asked Pete for a favour since they’d married, she really had no idea how to go about it.
“What is it, Jacks?” He folded the paper, set it down next to him. He scooted over on the small settee, and she sank down next to him.
“You...you noticed the TARDIS is gone?”
“I thought he’d just moved it,” Pete said, heavily.
“No, it’s gone. He’s up and gone and left our Rose. Again.”
Jackie felt anger flash through her. She hoped they’d find him, that he’d reappear in the back garden and swan out as though nothing were amiss. Like he had the first time he took Rose; the most excruciating twelve months of her life, those had been. “It’s not been twelve hours; it’s been twelve months,” he’d said, as though he’d simply bought semi-skim instead of cream. She hoped that, because she wanted to catch him unawares, to hit him as soon as he set a plimsoll-clad foot outside those doors.
Pete’s gaze sharpened. “Gone? When?”
“Overnight, I should think. Wasn’t like I stayed up watching the blasted thing. He’d said he’d stay, I thought he might keep his word for once.”
Pete brought an arm around her pulled her to him. “You want us to look for him?” he said, softly, his tone neutral.
Pete had always had a knack for being able to figure her out, for knowing what it was she’d ask or need. He understood her, and she once again felt a moment of gratitude for her chance to have him back.
“I do. Just for a day or two, to see if he’s still here. To be able to give Rose some kind of answer.”
Pete paused, his lips resting against her hair, as he mulled over the request. “It’ll...have to have some sort of official reason behind it, if we’re to use the Republic’s resources.”
Jackie sighed into him, nodding. “I know.”
“Right, well, that’s easily done. Something to do with the Canary Wharf battle should do it.”
Jackie leaned back. “That’s it? That simple?”
Pete grinned. “That simple. ‘s the least I can do. Just...don’t kill him, Jacks.” Pete paused, then added, “Well, not unless he really was intending to leave Rose.”
Jackie leaned forward, whispering “Thank you” against her husband’s lips before kissing him.
-----------------------------------------------
It was, quite easily, the longest Saturday of Rose’s life. She tried not to think about the day before, of the intensity of seeing him again. Of seeing him in the Torchwood lobby. Of talking with him, of arguing with him; of how impatient he’d been, how confused, when she’d said she couldn’t drop everything and go with him. Of dinner that night, of their time on the terrace after; of kissing him, of feeling like she’d finally found home again, as hackneyed as the thought was.
She wanted to go with him again. Oh, how she wanted to go. She’d leave her life behind-all of it-to go with him again. Never see her mum, her brother or sister, Pete, Mickey, or Jake-never finish her degree. All to be able to travel with him again, the man who she loved so fiercely he couldn’t touch her without gasping. The man who didn’t understand human emotions, human needs. The man who’d left her behind now twice, but who’d killed himself to save her; who loved the universe so completely. He didn’t understand her, nor she him, but she didn’t want to live without him again. She didn’t think she could live without him again, regardless of whether they got a proper goodbye or not.
Well, that’s that decision made, then, she thought; small help it would be unless he came back.
She spent the day curled in the lounge window seat, a book in her hand, but her attention held by the view out the window. Ian was tearing around the back garden, happily chasing anything that moved; the clear day was warm, and her brother had spent nearly his entire day outside. It made it easier, really; every time she set foot outside, needing fresh air, he’d run over and ask her about the Doctor, about the TARDIS; lunch had been nothing but Ian asking about the TARDIS and how it travelled. She dreaded the thought of what it would be like, her brother asking after a blue box that was never to return. It would kill her just a little bit each time, she thought.
She had to have hope that he’d be back.
Dinner was a sombre affair, the four of them seated in the small dining room, memories of Friday evening’s dinner lingering like a miasma in the room. Pete and her mum had tried their best to make conversation, to keep her spirits up, and she’d tried her hardest to play her part, to answer in kind and to discuss things that most decidedly had nothing to do with the Doctor. But it was hard, and by the end of supper she decided she was completely exhausted.
“I think I’m going to go upstairs,” she said, once the dishes had been cleared. Her mum glanced over at her in concern. “’s okay, Mum. I just need...I just need to relax. Maybe a nice soak in the bath.”
She walked upstairs, slowly, her feet heavy as she contemplated that he really might not be coming back for her. He might really have run away. She’d said all of those things earlier that morning, had entertained those thoughts; but deep in her heart, she’d had faith that he’d come back. He’d not leave her. He wouldn’t.
But now, nearly fourteen hours after she’d awoken, it looked like he might have.
Rose ran the bath, sinking blissfully into the bubbles, allowing the calming scent to wash over her as the warm water soothed her tense muscles. She had no idea if she should be angry, or hold out hope; soaking in the tub, she finally resolved to live only in the present. At least until there was some kind of answer to what had happened to the Doctor and the TARDIS.
If only he’d left a note...
She roused herself from the bath with a sigh. Wishing things were different wouldn’t make them so. She’d simply have to keep to her resolution to live in the present, to take things as they came.
She dried herself, brushed her hair out, and dressed for bed. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to sleep, but at the very least she needed to lie down, to try to get some proper rest. Against expectation, she fell asleep, dreaming of the man-alien-who’d left her again.
She was startled from her dreams by a furious knocking at the door to her room.
“Rose!” Her mum’s excited voice carried through the wood of the door, and Rose glanced groggily at the clock on her nightstand-quarter-to-two in the morning-before rolling out of bed and stumbling to the door.
“What?” she asked, slightly breathless, as she opened the door.
“They’ve found ‘im. The Doctor.”
Rose very nearly fell, her legs suddenly losing their strength. They’d found him.
She clutched the door, willing herself not to fall. “Where?”
“Sydney. Pete’s made a call over to Torchwood; the jet will be ready for you. If you want to go, that is. Mickey’s already on his way there.”
The jet. The most impressive Earth-based thing Torchwood owned. Like the Concorde back home, Mickey had explained to her when she first started at Torchwood, only faster.
“I’ll be ready in five minutes.”
She met her mum and Pete downstairs, pulling her jacket on as she hurried down the final few steps into the foyer. Pete was dressed for travel, and she found herself unaccountably grateful for his presence. With he and Mickey along, she’d be able to face anything.
After a quick hug and a kiss from her mum, and a wish of good luck, she and Pete set out for the airfield. Time to go find the Doctor.