For shuntoff

[huffpuffblonde]

It took three weeks to get to that beach, ten minutes to get a broken heart, five and a half hours to leave, three more weeks to get back home, and another month before she bothered to leave her bedroom. Two weeks after that she had an identity established, and started training at Torchwood. Sixteen days and she was a certified field agent. A year

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[shuntoff]

His life had been long. It was filled with blood and destruction. She was the opposite of all that. She seemed to be filled with life and wit. He would have remembered her. She was a stranger. A stranger he never had the privilege of meeting. His answer was wobbly at best. He wasn't even sure it was possible, but it was all he had. It was the only thing that even made sense right now. He had defeated the Nestene Consciousness and blown up a shop in the progress. She wasn't there. He never saved her.

"Oi!" He spun around to her. "You don't think I know that? I handled the Nestene Consciousness. You weren't there. I dealt with that lot alone." Alone was what he was best at. The war had taught him that. Last Great Time War. It taught him more things than he was willing to admit just yet. He knew better than to let anyone depend on him because of that. It was just simpler that way.

He stepped away from the controls and stopped in front of her. "Don't know." He shifted his gaze around the TARDIS slowly. He wasn't sure he could look her in the eyes and say no. Felt a bit wrong. But then just like that he came to a different decision. He looked down at her and that manic grin appeared. "I could give it a shot."

[huffpuffblonde]

For a long second, it felt like everything was crashing down around her. Like the universe was playing some cruel joke on her, taunting her with this other Doctor in his other TARDIS, who seemed very much uninterested in her sob story, at least at precursory glance.

Alone. He dealt with it alone, though. That... tugged at something inside her, and she frowned. He shouldn't have to be alone. She realized, then, what it meant. This universe never had a Rose. She was never there for him. He never met her at Henrick's, never took her along. He never had anybody else, no other companions. He carried on alone. With nobody.

She was shaken from her reverie, though, by a haunting, beautiful, manic smile. Oh, she remembered that, and she couldn't keep her own off of her face. "What- really? Take me back? You're gonna--!"

She couldn't help it. For the second time, she lurched forward and threw her arms around his neck. Brilliant, wonderful man no matter what universe he was from.

[shuntoff]

The hug came as a bit of a shock. Another one? So soon? All he had offered to do was try to get her home. Didn't necessarily mean he would succeed. For a moment he contemplated cutting that hug short, but he didn't. Instead his arms lifted slowly to lock around her and he leaned back to lift her off the ground. His hands pressed flat against her back. It was nice. When she had hugged him before it had come as a bit of a shock. It was strange. Being on your own meant there wasn't too many people you could go around hugging for the fun of it. He liked it though.

Not hers. Just like that he was reminded that he wasn't her Doctor she was looking for. His arms got stiff and seemed to loosen their hold around her. He put her back on her own feet and drew back to look at her. "I'll see if I can get you back to that Doctor of yours." It was strange saying that. He wasn't him. He wasn't even close to being him. He couldn't even imagine it really. Regeneration could change him into anything really, but the man she seemed dead set to find wasn't him in so many ways.

He nodded quickly and spun back around to his controls. "One question though--is this other me fantastic? 'Cause if he's not then honestly what's the point." This was his way own way of finding out what this other Doctor was like. He wouldn't come right out and ask for differences ever. Knowing couldn't hurt because his future wasn't his future. Right?

[huffpuffblonde]

She felt the hesitancy. To be honest, she hadn't even considered the fact that her hug might be unwelcome, like the first one was, because hugging him was just... natural. Granted, it was a bit less natural, having been separated from him for nearly two years, but now that he was here, it was flooding back as if no time at all had passed. The fact that he hugged her back... well, that was just brilliant, and she squeezed her eyes shut a moment, beaming into his shoulder.

She tugged back when the moment was up, watching him work on the controls with a lightness she hadn't felt in ages. She was going to go home. She was finally going to see him again.

"Wouldn't be you if he wasn't fantastic, would he?" She grinned, tongue poking out from between her teeth. Granted, she didn't actually know this version, but her instincts told her that this man was brilliant, and she trusted her instincts- and him- indefinitely. "That your way of nosing in, then? Because you can just ask, if you like, now that I know it's not gonna tear a hole in time and space."

[shuntoff]

He smiled to himself despite his heavy hearts. She was something else that girl. She wasn't a stupid ape. She had a certain charm about her. She was smart as well which was a rare thing around here. So many people were wrapped up in their own business they never noticed the world turning under their feet. They didn't notice the multiple invasions they had almost been victim to. They had all been stopped by him and not a single one of them noticed. Granted they didn't know what they were looking at so could he really judge them?

He shook his head quietly at her question. She had caught him. Smart girl. She knew him well. He must have kept her around for some time. He must have allowed to her to get close enough to him to actually learn things. That didn't sound like him here, but who could say what he was like in her world.

"Alright." He turned and pressed his back into the console. He crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head. "What's he like?" She seemed to genuinely trust him and that meant that maybe he did as well. If he had met her during the Nestene Consciousness that meant he wasn't all rainbows and sunshine. Judging by her personality here she would of had to have worked hard to get him to stop being a miserable bastard.

[huffpuffblonde]

She grinned a bit as he turned around, crossed his arms in his 'trying to be casual' way, and asked. She knew he would. Couldn't resist hearing about himself, that man. She tugged her legs up, crossing them beneath her, and tilted her head to the side as she pondered the question.

"Well, for starters, he regenerated. So, if you mean the first go, he was you. Your face. Complete nutter," She teased, before reverting back to serious. "Bit lonely, at first, but not so much, after a while. Clever, all manic energy and dashing about and nearly getting himself blown up. I think he wanted to, at first, because he wasn't... he didn't have anybody else. Until he got stuck with me, anyway."

She was dancing around, trying to say things without saying them. He was sad, and lonely, but he had her. And she loved him. "And then, after he regenerated, he was a bit pretty. Skinny, great hair. Happier, I think, most of the time. Just as nutters as the first go, but less... hurt. Still the same man, though, both of them. They save the world. The universe. All the time. Made me better. And now he's alone." She shifted her eyes downward again.

[shuntoff]

Regenerated. He was tempted to ask how he even wound up dying, but he decided against it. It wouldn't ruin anything, but it would really put a damper on his mood. Everything she was saying sounded fairly accurate. He was lonely and clever. She was right about one thing his life was not a top priority. Dying was not something he feared. He didn't really have anyone to go on for. It was a sad and ridiculous notion, but it was completely true. There was no one he was running back to after every adventure. It was just him and the TARDIS. Would she miss him if he just up and died? Bit silly of him to think and downright human, but he couldn't help himself sometimes. It just happened.

He leaned forward a bit when she talked about his regeneration. That'd be his tenth. He sounded quite different than how he was now. She must have really changed him. She must have given him a reason and that was something he'd probably admire her for. There was a part of him that would have loved to have been less hurt. To have all the pain from the Time War ease into something he could live with. He had things he didn't though. He had her and a different world. What'd he have?

"Right. Well I'll try an get you back. Then you won't be alone and he won't be alone." But he'd be back to being alone. He could handle that though. He had been alone for a long time. He knew how to be alone. He had the TARDIS to talk to. She would listen to his stories and indulge his insanity. He didn't need someone. "Problem solved." Always running, but with no one to run to.

[huffpuffblonde]

Something about the way he said it was tainted. She wouldn't be alone, her Doctor wouldn't be alone, but this man... he'd still be alone. She couldn't think like that. She had her own version to get back to. Her own Doctor a universe away, waiting for her. They weren't interchangeable. They couldn't swap out like parts. It wasn't the same.

Still, something inherently Rose protested that he was inherently Doctor, and should therefor not be made to be alone. She paused, worrying her lip with her teeth.

"If it turns out that we can't... get through. D'you think I could--" Eyes anywhere but on him. "Stay on for a bit? Not really the stationary sort, me. Too much to see."

And maybe, if he wanted, he could drag out sending her back. It was a time machine , after all, and he looked... so alone. Like he could use a friend.

[shuntoff]

The way she was looking at him was difficult. He felt like he was on display for her and that alone was hard to deal with. He bowed his head and toed the grating below. His arms seemed to tighten across his chest. Looking up at her became extremely difficult and something he just couldn't work out how to do. Instead he focused on the ground as she spoke. He didn't know what to say to her. Keep her on if he couldn't find her universe. Could he do that? Wouldn't that be a bit wrong of him? Taking from the other him because he got a bit lonely sometimes? Seemed selfish of him.

He lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck and then his head popped up. His hand dropped and he nodded. "I'll get you through, but if we can't---we'll see." He didn't want to commit and then somehow down the line it got too difficult for him to handle. What would he say then? Sorry you have to leave now. He'd just be abandoning her. That didn't seem right. He wasn't big on abandoning people even if they were strangers.

"Trust me though--" He turned back to his controls. Least that way he didn't have to look at her. Looking at her was strange. Looking at her and knowing she got on so well with this other him. "couple of weeks with me and you'll be begging for me to drop you some place else." His smile wasn't quite reaching his eyes.

[huffpuffblonde]

For a terrifying moment, she thought he was going to say no. That she had nothing, and he'd shut her off the second they found out whether or not getting her home was even possible. She had to remind herself that this him was... different. Ages on, who knew how long he'd been alone? And there she came, flouncing into his life, just expecting a space in it, throwing her arms around his neck, inviting herself on board. She shouldn't. Tone it down, Rose.

And then he agreed, for the most part, and a smile tugged at her lips which she firmly restrained. It wasn't a guarantee, it was a 'we'll see', but the qualifying statement was at least good enough for her to know he was seriously considering it. "Oh, I dunno. Just a bit of a warning, but I'm at least half as nutters as you are. We make a pretty good team, you and me. You don't get tired of that after a few weeks. Stayed on with the other you for years. Would've done forever, if I hadn't..."

[shuntoff]

The stories she told weren't his. They didn't belong to him. They were different men. They had different circumstances that shaped them. From what she had told him he was a bit more tolerable in her world. He would have liked to have gotten a peek at himself just once, but that might not have been a good plan at all. Time and space. Wibbly wobbly stuff. Not always as stable as one would hope. He had her though. She could tell him. She could tell him of the life he had missed out on. As sad as he was about what he was deprived of he was more than a little curious about it all. Who wouldn't be? He was still the Doctor and curiosity did tend to get the better of him.

He nodded his head quickly and flipped a switch. "You'll get your forever." He didn't look back at her. He was busy, but not so much that he couldn't look back. He knew if he looked back that face would be filled with sadness. Sadness over missing the other him. Felt a bit wrong seeing her that bad off. Felt wrong. It suddenly occurred to him that one moment he was saying he'd do his best and now he was making promises? That was a bit daft of him. It seemed like an appropriate thing to do though. Make her a promise.