Fic: Radiant 8/? - R - Doctor/Rose
Title: Radiant
Chapter: Getting it Together
Author: Jinni
Rated: FR18
Disclaimer: All things Doctor Who belong to the BBC, et al.
Distribution: Silent Obsession and any other sites I might post it to.
Notes: Started as a response to a challenge issued at Time and Chips.
Notes2: We’ll begin with the obligatory recap of PotW, shall we?
Spoilers: Everything. It’s all up for grabs. This includes all of season 2.
Previous parts found HERE
CHAPTER EIGHT
Rose looked over her shoulder, at the empty doorway of the wardrobe room. No Doctor. Of course, she hadn’t really expected him to follow her. Not when he said so calmly that a few moments to herself couldn’t hurt. To let things sink in.
Problem was, she didn’t think that things would ever actually sink in. Not really. Years from now, she would look back and wonder how she had taken it all in stride.
Maybe, she thought, rifling through her memories for everything that had happened and how she felt about it.
Finally, she shrugged. Maybe not, too.
She had Regenerated. Capital ‘R’, that one. R-E-G-E-… oh, whatever. Sounded like the start of a song, not some weird biological process that she had undergone.
She was now a Time Lord… or was that Time Lady? Were there separate titles for men and women? She’d have to ask, she supposed. All that knowledge in her head, and nothing about the Doctor or his people. Nothing about his planet and what had happened - a story that she had never managed to get him to part with. All she knew was that they were gone. Gone from space and time. Maybe that was why she didn’t know anything about them; they’d disappeared before she got the knowledge. It made sense. Sort of.
Then again, hadn’t the Doctor once also said the same of the Daleks? That they were gone from time and space? She knew how accurate that had been. Rose’s eyebrow rose, the idea playing out in her head, providing possibilities that she couldn’t put voice to.
There were too many thoughts in her head and it was far too confusing right now. And, fluttering about in the back of her mind like a half-formed thought that she couldn’t get rid of, she knew that these ideas and thoughts were different than the ones she would have had before. More… mature. Yes, that was the word. She’d grown up somewhere between one body and the next.
No more was she Rose the nineteen year old shopgirl.
No more was she the Rose that had fought off Slitheen with the future Prime Minister.
Or told the Sycorax off, using pretty turns of word that she’d picked up along the way from the Doctor.
Except, she was still that person. Just not that naïve.
Not by a long shot.
She reached out and laid a hand on the wall to steady her suddenly whirling mind, unable to bring herself to deal with the clothing situation just yet. The TARDIS hummed comfortingly in the back of her mind. Just a presence, a warm whisper that she’d always had to some extent before, but that was so much stronger now. The TARDIS was happy about this, but understood her mixed feelings on the matter. The TARDIS was so much more alive than she had ever imagined.
Mixed feelings. She laughed softly. That was putting it lightly, Rose thought. She pushed off of the wall and started to wander through the wardrobe. There was a rack of clothing nearest the door that immediately caught her eye. Things like she’d found before in here, to wear when they were just out and about with no real cause for dressing any particular way. Jackets and jeans. T-shirts and the like. She pulled one out and held it up to eye level, frowning. She’d worn this not too long ago and remembered liking the way it fit, the way the color made her look.
Not now. Now it looked too…too…
Unable to find the right word, Rose shrugged and put it back on the rack.
“It’s not me. Not any more,” she whispered to herself, voice still sounding odd. It was like someone was there, speaking for her. Like a foreign film, dubbed over into English. Not her voice. Not her body. Not her feelings or but sort of her thoughts.
So - still her overall? Was that how it went?
Very confusing. Rose shook her head. She hadn’t understood regeneration when the Doctor had done it and it made no more sense to her being on this side of things, to be perfectly honest. How was it that she didn’t know what she wanted to wear?
She paused next to what looked to be sensible skirt and pants suits. Her nose wrinkled. No, this wasn’t it, either; though she suspected the TARDIS put them out front for her to see just in case she’d taken a liking to the same style the Doctor currently had. None of it felt ‘right’, though. Not the skirts, not the trousers, nor the blouses that hung side by side with them.
Rose giggled under her breath, still surprised when it didn’t sound like her own normal laugh. This was silly, wasn’t it? Standing around, trying to figure out not only what she wanted to wear, but what style she wanted to wear.
Very silly.
She slowly began the winding walk through the wardrobe, pausing every so often to investigate one bit of clothing or another. Nothing was calling out to her. Not a thing so far.
“Perhaps I’m meant to be a nudist,” she said out loud with a laugh.
“I wouldn’t object.”
Rose jumped, dropping the shirt she’d just pulled from the rack nearest her. She turned, arching a brow at the Doctor. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” Picture of innocence. He was good at that. Seemed to be a recurring thread between his incarnations. The ability to look innocent without being innocent in the least.
“Sneak up on me.”
The corner of his mouth rose. “I could be wrong - though, mind you, it’s doubtful given how brilliant I am - but you should be able to tell when I’m nearby. Unless, for some reason, you didn’t get that bit of genetic quirkery.”
Rose frowned, confused. “What are you talking about?”
He tapped at the side of his head with one finger. “Slightly telepathic, remember? Might not be able to read my mind, but you should know I’m there, at least. Well, when you learn how, since apparently it’s not as instinctual as I’d thought it was.”
“Tele..pathic,” Rose repeated slowly. “This is weird, you know that, right? Very, very weird.” Easy to think of the Doctor - an alien - being telepathic. Harder to think of herself, just plain old Rose Tyler being -
She stopped short, thoughts just hanging there, and was forced to confront once again the fact that she wasn’t plain old Rose Tyler. Not anymore. Rose Tyler, yes - but plain or old, not so much. Not even human. Not anymore.
Never would be again.
Rose turned from the Doctor, unable to stand the blatantly curious look in his eyes right at that moment. She shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll get used to it.”
“You will,” he agreed from behind her. Closer now. She’d bet he was standing within arms distance, even though she hadn’t heard him move. “You always were one of the most amazing people I’d ever met and that hasn’t changed. You’ll be all right.”
Nodding, Rose flashed him a smile over her shoulder. Yes, he was directly behind her. And he was right, too, she would be okay. No sense worrying about it. That was her, the new no-worrying Rose Tyler.
She turned back toward him with a smile on her lips.
“Now - as for you choosing to be nude in this incarnation -“ the Doctor waggled his eyebrows. “I won’t complain. We’ll have to adjust our adventures for places where clothing is optional, of course. Exstacia Eleven is good for that. Entire cities without a scrap of clothing. Beautiful weather.”
“I’m not a nudist,” she cut him off with a laugh, running a hand through her hair. It slid through her fingers, so much silkier than it had been before. And brown. Dark brown. Long, dark brown hair. She liked it.
“You sure? Could be interesting.”
Rose laughed and shook her head. “I’m sure there’s something here for me to wear. I just have to find it.”
“Well - how about this?”
Her breath caught when the Doctor showed her what he’d pulled from the nearest rack. A black leather jacket. Not like a biker would wear. This was a smart looking leather blazer. Perfectly tailored to her body, she would bet. The TARDIS was just smart like that. It was nice. Really nice. It called out to something in her, resonating as ‘right’ and she could picture herself in it. Picture the way it would show off this body, her new coloring.
But it reminded her of something that the previous Doctor would have worn. Leather. And a pair of dark slacks, a jumper just a little bit lighter.
As she thought about it, the outfit came together in her head, until she was picturing it on herself; in this body.
And she liked it.
She reached for the jacket with a question in her eyes, but the Doctor just gave it to her with a grin. His eyes were sparkling with genuine excitement and amusement.
“Go on, try it on,” he urged.
Rose nodded, smiling. Why did this call out to her like nothing else had? Was it because of the previous Doctor and how close she had been with him? She held the Doctor’s gaze, “You going to just watch me? Or will you turn around like a proper gentleman?”
x x x
There was a split second where he debated not turning around. Where he wanted to just grin cheekily and stay right where he was, arms crossed, watching to see if she actually had the courage to do what she was teasing him with. Strip down to her knickers and change clothes.
Just a split second, nothing more. But it was long enough for his Rose to take up the banner of his almost-challenge. She smirked, raising her eyebrows. So beautiful. Always so beautiful.
He followed her with his eyes as she took a step back, searching the racks of clothing. She pulled two articles from amongst the assortment, never breaking his gaze. “Last change to turn around.”
Her fingers toyed with the bottom edge of her shirt, playing with the tanned skin just beneath. The Doctor swallowed, unable to keep his eyes from straying to where those fingers played.
Then they were moving, grasping at the bottom of the shirt and lifting up. Quickly. Suddenly. Though, true, she had warned him.
The Doctor turned abruptly, taking deep breaths. They sounded too much like panting to his ears. Rose’s husky laughter taunted and teased at him from behind.
He tried not to think of her changing clothes as the whispery sound of rustling cloth filled the air; the sound of a zipper sliding down. Tried so hard not to think about Rose’s skin, bared to the air. All he had to do was turn around and he could see her in all of her new found glory.
Just… turn.
But he didn’t. He wouldn’t force that on her right now, with everything else she was going through. Wouldn’t take things that far even if it was what she thought she wanted with this new flirty personality and luscious…oh so luscious, from the bits he’d seen… body.
“Can we get chips after this?” she asked from behind him.
“Of course,” he responded, automatically. “You think you still like them, then?”
The sound of clothing moving about stopped. Rose made a small, disturbed noise. “I… hope so. I have to, right?”
The Doctor snorted. “Doesn’t work that way. Just because you liked them before, doesn’t mean you like them now.”
He heard the moment when she started dressing again, punctuated by a sigh.
”They sound good, in my head,” she offered after a long moment.
“Well, that’s a good sign, I suppose,” the Doctor said. He was glad he had his back to her, so that she couldn’t see the smile on his face.
Fascinating, watching her go through this.
He hoped she still liked chips, too, though. Be a pity if she didn’t. They’d have to find some new hobby other than seeking out - and then eating - the best chips ‘round the universe, throughout time and space.
Some more shuffling and then, “All right. Turn around.”
The breath caught in his throat when he laid eyes on her for the first time. He’d been right, then. She’d imprinted, somehow, someway, on his previous self. Despite the fact that he should have been jealous; he really couldn’t be. That was him, after all.
And like so very, very long ago, all he could mange was one word.
“Beautiful.”
She smiled slowly, lips spreading out into a grin. He longed to see her tongue poke out from between her teeth, like it had before. But it didn’t. Probably wouldn’t ever again; at least, not like it once had; before, when she’d been Version One. It would never be an unconscious habit that she did so very often.
He’d miss it, he realized. Miss those little quirks.
“You think?” She held up a lock of hair, letting it drop back to her shoulder. “It’s so… straight.”
The Doctor rolled his eyes. “One of these days, I am going to describe for you - in detail - exactly what I looked like through all of my regenerations.”
Perhaps he would gloss over the older models. Wouldn’t want her worrying that his next self might be a candidate for the seniors’ home.
“That bad?” she asked, starting toward him. Every step she took, in her bare feet, across the wardrobe floor seemed to have a little something extra behind it. Whatever else she was, Rose was completely comfortable with this new body now. Sashaying about in it like some sort of interstellar model.
“Oh…awful. Completely awful,” he nodded, watching those hips move ever closer with each and every step. Wait - “What was the question?”
Rose laughed. She paused in front of him, looking at him with bright blue eyes that sparkled with all the wonder he’d seen before from her. There was something else there, too, now. A timeless wisdom that he would have done just about anything to save her from.
Except let her die.
Anything but that.
He reached out and took her hand, running his thumb over the back of it. With a wink, he put it to his lips, leaving a soft kiss on her knuckles, before flipping it over to do the same to her palm.
Then he dropped it, grinning despite what he knew had to come next. “Chips - and then we go visit your mum? And we try to keep her from killing me outright, yeah?”
END CHAPTER
Note: At some point I will write a "Remix" of this chapter... an "AU" version where the Doctor didn't turn around; just in case anyone would be interested in reading that.
Chapter: Getting it Together
Author: Jinni
Rated: FR18
Disclaimer: All things Doctor Who belong to the BBC, et al.
Distribution: Silent Obsession and any other sites I might post it to.
Notes: Started as a response to a challenge issued at Time and Chips.
Notes2: We’ll begin with the obligatory recap of PotW, shall we?
Spoilers: Everything. It’s all up for grabs. This includes all of season 2.
Previous parts found HERE
CHAPTER EIGHT
Rose looked over her shoulder, at the empty doorway of the wardrobe room. No Doctor. Of course, she hadn’t really expected him to follow her. Not when he said so calmly that a few moments to herself couldn’t hurt. To let things sink in.
Problem was, she didn’t think that things would ever actually sink in. Not really. Years from now, she would look back and wonder how she had taken it all in stride.
Maybe, she thought, rifling through her memories for everything that had happened and how she felt about it.
Finally, she shrugged. Maybe not, too.
She had Regenerated. Capital ‘R’, that one. R-E-G-E-… oh, whatever. Sounded like the start of a song, not some weird biological process that she had undergone.
She was now a Time Lord… or was that Time Lady? Were there separate titles for men and women? She’d have to ask, she supposed. All that knowledge in her head, and nothing about the Doctor or his people. Nothing about his planet and what had happened - a story that she had never managed to get him to part with. All she knew was that they were gone. Gone from space and time. Maybe that was why she didn’t know anything about them; they’d disappeared before she got the knowledge. It made sense. Sort of.
Then again, hadn’t the Doctor once also said the same of the Daleks? That they were gone from time and space? She knew how accurate that had been. Rose’s eyebrow rose, the idea playing out in her head, providing possibilities that she couldn’t put voice to.
There were too many thoughts in her head and it was far too confusing right now. And, fluttering about in the back of her mind like a half-formed thought that she couldn’t get rid of, she knew that these ideas and thoughts were different than the ones she would have had before. More… mature. Yes, that was the word. She’d grown up somewhere between one body and the next.
No more was she Rose the nineteen year old shopgirl.
No more was she the Rose that had fought off Slitheen with the future Prime Minister.
Or told the Sycorax off, using pretty turns of word that she’d picked up along the way from the Doctor.
Except, she was still that person. Just not that naïve.
Not by a long shot.
She reached out and laid a hand on the wall to steady her suddenly whirling mind, unable to bring herself to deal with the clothing situation just yet. The TARDIS hummed comfortingly in the back of her mind. Just a presence, a warm whisper that she’d always had to some extent before, but that was so much stronger now. The TARDIS was happy about this, but understood her mixed feelings on the matter. The TARDIS was so much more alive than she had ever imagined.
Mixed feelings. She laughed softly. That was putting it lightly, Rose thought. She pushed off of the wall and started to wander through the wardrobe. There was a rack of clothing nearest the door that immediately caught her eye. Things like she’d found before in here, to wear when they were just out and about with no real cause for dressing any particular way. Jackets and jeans. T-shirts and the like. She pulled one out and held it up to eye level, frowning. She’d worn this not too long ago and remembered liking the way it fit, the way the color made her look.
Not now. Now it looked too…too…
Unable to find the right word, Rose shrugged and put it back on the rack.
“It’s not me. Not any more,” she whispered to herself, voice still sounding odd. It was like someone was there, speaking for her. Like a foreign film, dubbed over into English. Not her voice. Not her body. Not her feelings or but sort of her thoughts.
So - still her overall? Was that how it went?
Very confusing. Rose shook her head. She hadn’t understood regeneration when the Doctor had done it and it made no more sense to her being on this side of things, to be perfectly honest. How was it that she didn’t know what she wanted to wear?
She paused next to what looked to be sensible skirt and pants suits. Her nose wrinkled. No, this wasn’t it, either; though she suspected the TARDIS put them out front for her to see just in case she’d taken a liking to the same style the Doctor currently had. None of it felt ‘right’, though. Not the skirts, not the trousers, nor the blouses that hung side by side with them.
Rose giggled under her breath, still surprised when it didn’t sound like her own normal laugh. This was silly, wasn’t it? Standing around, trying to figure out not only what she wanted to wear, but what style she wanted to wear.
Very silly.
She slowly began the winding walk through the wardrobe, pausing every so often to investigate one bit of clothing or another. Nothing was calling out to her. Not a thing so far.
“Perhaps I’m meant to be a nudist,” she said out loud with a laugh.
“I wouldn’t object.”
Rose jumped, dropping the shirt she’d just pulled from the rack nearest her. She turned, arching a brow at the Doctor. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” Picture of innocence. He was good at that. Seemed to be a recurring thread between his incarnations. The ability to look innocent without being innocent in the least.
“Sneak up on me.”
The corner of his mouth rose. “I could be wrong - though, mind you, it’s doubtful given how brilliant I am - but you should be able to tell when I’m nearby. Unless, for some reason, you didn’t get that bit of genetic quirkery.”
Rose frowned, confused. “What are you talking about?”
He tapped at the side of his head with one finger. “Slightly telepathic, remember? Might not be able to read my mind, but you should know I’m there, at least. Well, when you learn how, since apparently it’s not as instinctual as I’d thought it was.”
“Tele..pathic,” Rose repeated slowly. “This is weird, you know that, right? Very, very weird.” Easy to think of the Doctor - an alien - being telepathic. Harder to think of herself, just plain old Rose Tyler being -
She stopped short, thoughts just hanging there, and was forced to confront once again the fact that she wasn’t plain old Rose Tyler. Not anymore. Rose Tyler, yes - but plain or old, not so much. Not even human. Not anymore.
Never would be again.
Rose turned from the Doctor, unable to stand the blatantly curious look in his eyes right at that moment. She shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll get used to it.”
“You will,” he agreed from behind her. Closer now. She’d bet he was standing within arms distance, even though she hadn’t heard him move. “You always were one of the most amazing people I’d ever met and that hasn’t changed. You’ll be all right.”
Nodding, Rose flashed him a smile over her shoulder. Yes, he was directly behind her. And he was right, too, she would be okay. No sense worrying about it. That was her, the new no-worrying Rose Tyler.
She turned back toward him with a smile on her lips.
“Now - as for you choosing to be nude in this incarnation -“ the Doctor waggled his eyebrows. “I won’t complain. We’ll have to adjust our adventures for places where clothing is optional, of course. Exstacia Eleven is good for that. Entire cities without a scrap of clothing. Beautiful weather.”
“I’m not a nudist,” she cut him off with a laugh, running a hand through her hair. It slid through her fingers, so much silkier than it had been before. And brown. Dark brown. Long, dark brown hair. She liked it.
“You sure? Could be interesting.”
Rose laughed and shook her head. “I’m sure there’s something here for me to wear. I just have to find it.”
“Well - how about this?”
Her breath caught when the Doctor showed her what he’d pulled from the nearest rack. A black leather jacket. Not like a biker would wear. This was a smart looking leather blazer. Perfectly tailored to her body, she would bet. The TARDIS was just smart like that. It was nice. Really nice. It called out to something in her, resonating as ‘right’ and she could picture herself in it. Picture the way it would show off this body, her new coloring.
But it reminded her of something that the previous Doctor would have worn. Leather. And a pair of dark slacks, a jumper just a little bit lighter.
As she thought about it, the outfit came together in her head, until she was picturing it on herself; in this body.
And she liked it.
She reached for the jacket with a question in her eyes, but the Doctor just gave it to her with a grin. His eyes were sparkling with genuine excitement and amusement.
“Go on, try it on,” he urged.
Rose nodded, smiling. Why did this call out to her like nothing else had? Was it because of the previous Doctor and how close she had been with him? She held the Doctor’s gaze, “You going to just watch me? Or will you turn around like a proper gentleman?”
x x x
There was a split second where he debated not turning around. Where he wanted to just grin cheekily and stay right where he was, arms crossed, watching to see if she actually had the courage to do what she was teasing him with. Strip down to her knickers and change clothes.
Just a split second, nothing more. But it was long enough for his Rose to take up the banner of his almost-challenge. She smirked, raising her eyebrows. So beautiful. Always so beautiful.
He followed her with his eyes as she took a step back, searching the racks of clothing. She pulled two articles from amongst the assortment, never breaking his gaze. “Last change to turn around.”
Her fingers toyed with the bottom edge of her shirt, playing with the tanned skin just beneath. The Doctor swallowed, unable to keep his eyes from straying to where those fingers played.
Then they were moving, grasping at the bottom of the shirt and lifting up. Quickly. Suddenly. Though, true, she had warned him.
The Doctor turned abruptly, taking deep breaths. They sounded too much like panting to his ears. Rose’s husky laughter taunted and teased at him from behind.
He tried not to think of her changing clothes as the whispery sound of rustling cloth filled the air; the sound of a zipper sliding down. Tried so hard not to think about Rose’s skin, bared to the air. All he had to do was turn around and he could see her in all of her new found glory.
Just… turn.
But he didn’t. He wouldn’t force that on her right now, with everything else she was going through. Wouldn’t take things that far even if it was what she thought she wanted with this new flirty personality and luscious…oh so luscious, from the bits he’d seen… body.
“Can we get chips after this?” she asked from behind him.
“Of course,” he responded, automatically. “You think you still like them, then?”
The sound of clothing moving about stopped. Rose made a small, disturbed noise. “I… hope so. I have to, right?”
The Doctor snorted. “Doesn’t work that way. Just because you liked them before, doesn’t mean you like them now.”
He heard the moment when she started dressing again, punctuated by a sigh.
”They sound good, in my head,” she offered after a long moment.
“Well, that’s a good sign, I suppose,” the Doctor said. He was glad he had his back to her, so that she couldn’t see the smile on his face.
Fascinating, watching her go through this.
He hoped she still liked chips, too, though. Be a pity if she didn’t. They’d have to find some new hobby other than seeking out - and then eating - the best chips ‘round the universe, throughout time and space.
Some more shuffling and then, “All right. Turn around.”
The breath caught in his throat when he laid eyes on her for the first time. He’d been right, then. She’d imprinted, somehow, someway, on his previous self. Despite the fact that he should have been jealous; he really couldn’t be. That was him, after all.
And like so very, very long ago, all he could mange was one word.
“Beautiful.”
She smiled slowly, lips spreading out into a grin. He longed to see her tongue poke out from between her teeth, like it had before. But it didn’t. Probably wouldn’t ever again; at least, not like it once had; before, when she’d been Version One. It would never be an unconscious habit that she did so very often.
He’d miss it, he realized. Miss those little quirks.
“You think?” She held up a lock of hair, letting it drop back to her shoulder. “It’s so… straight.”
The Doctor rolled his eyes. “One of these days, I am going to describe for you - in detail - exactly what I looked like through all of my regenerations.”
Perhaps he would gloss over the older models. Wouldn’t want her worrying that his next self might be a candidate for the seniors’ home.
“That bad?” she asked, starting toward him. Every step she took, in her bare feet, across the wardrobe floor seemed to have a little something extra behind it. Whatever else she was, Rose was completely comfortable with this new body now. Sashaying about in it like some sort of interstellar model.
“Oh…awful. Completely awful,” he nodded, watching those hips move ever closer with each and every step. Wait - “What was the question?”
Rose laughed. She paused in front of him, looking at him with bright blue eyes that sparkled with all the wonder he’d seen before from her. There was something else there, too, now. A timeless wisdom that he would have done just about anything to save her from.
Except let her die.
Anything but that.
He reached out and took her hand, running his thumb over the back of it. With a wink, he put it to his lips, leaving a soft kiss on her knuckles, before flipping it over to do the same to her palm.
Then he dropped it, grinning despite what he knew had to come next. “Chips - and then we go visit your mum? And we try to keep her from killing me outright, yeah?”
END CHAPTER
Note: At some point I will write a "Remix" of this chapter... an "AU" version where the Doctor didn't turn around; just in case anyone would be interested in reading that.