DR WHO FIC: Small Milestones
Title: Small Milestones
Author: charlottetrips
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Word Count: 500 exactly!
Rating: PG
Summary: Written for who_contest Drabble Challenge #6 "Thank You". Features 10.5 and Rose. (There are so many ways to write Doctor and Rose!)
It figured that the thing he'd be most aggravated about was his arrogance, his assumption of total control over others' lives. He could see what Martha had been frustrated about, why Joan had refused to travel with him and why Donna had been afraid of him that Christmas they'd first met.
Who was he to determine whether he should stay or go? Who'd given him the right to say that he was too dangerous to be kept around, that he had to be locked away in a whole other universe to protect "the greater good"?
And what about Rose? She'd spent god knew how many years looking for the bastard and he just dumps her on Dårlig Ulv-Stranden without a by-your-leave, foisting off the lesser (oh, he knows what she's thinking) version of him and goes parading off to the next great adventure.
He was vaguely aware that he was being a little unfair (there was Donna's near future to think about) but he couldn't seem to help it. It was the human in him.
He'd spent a sleepless night sitting on the front steps of the Norwegian motel, looking out at the stretch of sand and sea as the sun had blearily made its way above the horizon. The mist had dissipated and the wind drew long cold fingers through his hair and jacket.
Rose had pulled away from him once the TARDIS' engines had faded to silence and had treated him with supreme politeness, as if he was a visitor not the man she had been passionately in love with. Because he wasn't. "I need a little time alone," she'd said before falling back to walk behind him and Jackie. Time was something he had no control over anymore.
Jackie, who wasn't known as the compassionate type, took pity on him. She'd hustled them to the motel, away from the biting wind and bustled about until both he and Rose had warmed up and been put to their beds.
But, unable to sleep in a room that was on solid ground and surrounded by carpets and walls, he'd gone outside to contemplate the skyline and what his counterpart had done to him, to them. Was this feeling of unimportance what people felt when he turned his back and ran? Introspection wasn't something he was used to but somehow, being grounded without a way to escape, being part-human and, most of all, being here with Rose, made him see the need to reevaluate his philosophy in life. His old ways weren't going to work here.
He heard the door creak open behind him and a tentative step on the porch. He didn't need to turn his head to look. He knew it was her. After a moment, she sat down next to him and he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Her beautiful mouth broke into a shy smile and his single heart picked up its beat. So he wasn't perfect. But it was worth trying.