Fic: Leaving the beach 1/?
FYI This is the first of a few posts to my journal trying to keep all my fanfic in one easy to access place instead of spread all over the shop. Mostly Doctor Who initially, but I'll add my (currently long-hand) Ashes to Ashes stuff when I get the chance, or no-one is ever going to read the stuff because of my frigging Word software messing me about. I'll try not to clog up ye're f-lists.
Title: Leaving the Beach, 1/?
Characters: Rose/Ten, Jackie (and eventually Pete and Tony, but not yet)
Rating: R for later chapters (yes, that's a smut-promise), but this one is just U
Summary: What happens next, and all that.
Disclaimer: Oh, they're not mine. But maybe I'm in the parallel universe and they are... Ok, I'm not.
They sat, on a rock on the beach, no words for a good long while. Rose was dangling her legs over the side, the Doctor was cross-legged beside her.
"So. Forever." She said, flatly.
"Forever." The Doctor replied, without emphasis.
"What's the first thing you wanna do in 'forever', then?" Rose was playing with her thumbnails, really, really unsure of what was going to happen next. There was no TARDIS to hop in, just the two of them, on a beach, in a world new for him in so many ways. She'd played out a version of this in her head time and time again, but the reality was starker, more exciting, more overwhelming than she'd ever imagined.
"Well," He breathed in thoughtfully, "Do they do chips here? I could definitely do some chips now."
He caught her eyes, and briefly quirked an eyebrow before breaking into a wide grin. It really was him, no doubt about it. She smiled back, and he unfolded his legs, scooting along the rock to sit, legs dangling, beside her. He took her hand and they both looked out to sea again. Rose swung from re-living that awful grief of last time again to every few seconds realizing he was still here, sitting beside her, his lean fingers entwined with hers possessively.
"Yeah, they do chips, aliens, Torchwood, trouble. You're gonna love it." She laughed. There was a beat. "You're gonna miss her, aren't you?"
The Doctor looked down at his hand, and his face stilled in an expression of something dark and painful.
"Yes." He said, looking into her face and letting her see the tears that didn't fall but were there none-the-less. "I don't know what I'm feeling, Rose, it's somewhere between neuron-implodingly happy, and stunned because I'm never going to hear her in the background of my mind again."
Rose squeezed his hand. As much as there was a part of her battling with the suspicion that she had got second best, she began to fear that maybe she was second best to the TARDIS. Had they both been palmed off with the silver medal when they wanted the gold?
"You got me." She said, meeting his gaze seriously.
"Have I?" He searched her face with his eyes, and she remembered the time in the TARDIS, when he'd first regenerated in front of her, and she wasn't even sure it was him, and he wasn't sure if she still wanted to come with him. Only now the stakes were much higher - strangely, she thought, given that this was no universe-threatening crisis, just the future hearts of two nearly ordinary people.
She nodded, and his other hand reached up to her face, running a thumb over her lower lip.
"I know this isn't perfect, Rose, but nothing ever is, really. You've got more experience of this than I do - of this world, of how it works when you get someone back you thought was gone forever. I know what he was thinking, and I know it was his naivete, but I am him, and I'm just as naive when it comes to humans and now I am one. Well, partly. He was right, I need you, just as much as I ever did before. More now. And what I've left behind is going to sting a bit, but you've got me through worse before. Haven't you?" He gabbled it all out, sounding a little desperate.
"S'pose I have." Rose smiled.
"Oi, you two, the car's here." Jackie called, a little further down the beach.
~~~
Title: Leaving the Beach, 1/?
Characters: Rose/Ten, Jackie (and eventually Pete and Tony, but not yet)
Rating: R for later chapters (yes, that's a smut-promise), but this one is just U
Summary: What happens next, and all that.
Disclaimer: Oh, they're not mine. But maybe I'm in the parallel universe and they are... Ok, I'm not.
They sat, on a rock on the beach, no words for a good long while. Rose was dangling her legs over the side, the Doctor was cross-legged beside her.
"So. Forever." She said, flatly.
"Forever." The Doctor replied, without emphasis.
"What's the first thing you wanna do in 'forever', then?" Rose was playing with her thumbnails, really, really unsure of what was going to happen next. There was no TARDIS to hop in, just the two of them, on a beach, in a world new for him in so many ways. She'd played out a version of this in her head time and time again, but the reality was starker, more exciting, more overwhelming than she'd ever imagined.
"Well," He breathed in thoughtfully, "Do they do chips here? I could definitely do some chips now."
He caught her eyes, and briefly quirked an eyebrow before breaking into a wide grin. It really was him, no doubt about it. She smiled back, and he unfolded his legs, scooting along the rock to sit, legs dangling, beside her. He took her hand and they both looked out to sea again. Rose swung from re-living that awful grief of last time again to every few seconds realizing he was still here, sitting beside her, his lean fingers entwined with hers possessively.
"Yeah, they do chips, aliens, Torchwood, trouble. You're gonna love it." She laughed. There was a beat. "You're gonna miss her, aren't you?"
The Doctor looked down at his hand, and his face stilled in an expression of something dark and painful.
"Yes." He said, looking into her face and letting her see the tears that didn't fall but were there none-the-less. "I don't know what I'm feeling, Rose, it's somewhere between neuron-implodingly happy, and stunned because I'm never going to hear her in the background of my mind again."
Rose squeezed his hand. As much as there was a part of her battling with the suspicion that she had got second best, she began to fear that maybe she was second best to the TARDIS. Had they both been palmed off with the silver medal when they wanted the gold?
"You got me." She said, meeting his gaze seriously.
"Have I?" He searched her face with his eyes, and she remembered the time in the TARDIS, when he'd first regenerated in front of her, and she wasn't even sure it was him, and he wasn't sure if she still wanted to come with him. Only now the stakes were much higher - strangely, she thought, given that this was no universe-threatening crisis, just the future hearts of two nearly ordinary people.
She nodded, and his other hand reached up to her face, running a thumb over her lower lip.
"I know this isn't perfect, Rose, but nothing ever is, really. You've got more experience of this than I do - of this world, of how it works when you get someone back you thought was gone forever. I know what he was thinking, and I know it was his naivete, but I am him, and I'm just as naive when it comes to humans and now I am one. Well, partly. He was right, I need you, just as much as I ever did before. More now. And what I've left behind is going to sting a bit, but you've got me through worse before. Haven't you?" He gabbled it all out, sounding a little desperate.
"S'pose I have." Rose smiled.
"Oi, you two, the car's here." Jackie called, a little further down the beach.
~~~