When he Knew
Title: When He Knew
Author: fading_xhopex
Notes/Warnings: Written as part of last author standing challenge. Prompt: Doctor/Rose from another characters POV, in this Case, Mickey Smith Takes Place after Girl in the Fireplace
Summary: It was in the Tardis Console Room, that he knew it would never work out
The Tardis was parked in the Vortex for a few days, because the Doctor said that repairs needed to be made. Nothing major, all routine, but Mickey Smith suspected that he just wanted a break to tinker without a disaster looming. So for now, Mickey took to wandering the Tardis, exploring his new world, and trying to figure out what had possessed him to actually ask to come along after so long of denying both Rose and the Doctor.
"Ah, who am I kidding? I know why I came on board, and she has blonde hair and a smile that would make any man do whatever she asked." He spoke aloud. He got up from the kitchen table where he had been eating breakfast alone, and continued his explorations of the Tardis.
He came on board, he realized, not just to prove that he was more than a tin dog, but to try and repair what might be left of his and Rose’s relationship. Yet the more he travelled with Rose and the Doctor, the more he began to suspect that while they would always be friends, there was no them anymore.
In truth, he first suspected it when Rose and the Doctor stopped in Cardiff to refuel. Before he regenerated, and they still had that character Jack with them. When everything went to hell, she ran back to them, leaving him to fend for himself. He tried afterwards to convince himself that she wasn’t running to the Doctor, or to Jack, but running to where the excitement was. That she needed that thrill like an adrenaline junkie. The arguments always felt hollow.
When she went back to risk her life to save the Doctor, he convinced himself that it wasn’t anything more than a sense of duty to the universe. Even he had to concede that the universe was a far better place as long as the Doctor was around to keep it safe. He tried to ignore the obvious anguish that he was alone, fighting to save the future. There was more than friendship, he knew it then, but he still held out hope that there would still be Mickey and Rose.
That slipped more when he did finally start travelling with the two. As they stood on that unnamed derelict, staring at the broken time window, Rose’s face showed utter devastation. “Rose,” he said at the time, “Rose, we should leave. There’s no way he can come back. The window’s they’re all broken. You said he programmed this to take us home if there was an emergency.”
She just shook her head and continued to stare at the window, almost as if she could wish it repaired and bring him back to her.
“Rose, he’s not coming back. He can’t. He’s stuck in the past, with her. He left you for that Madame De Pompadour. He’s with her now. Let’s go back, live our own lives now.”
Rose had whirled on him then. “He didn’t leave me for her. She’s an important historical figure, and she was not supposed to die yet. Don’t you see? A single change in history like that and we might not even exist. There would be no world to go home to, Mickey. He’ll find a way back, and I’m not going to leave him stranded on this ship!” She turned back to the blank and broken screen, and waited. Three and a half hours later, it was moot point and the three of them got back into the Tardis. He had only a slight glimmer of hope now that he and Rose could ever have what they had before.
Mickey found his way towards the console room. He might as well check to see if the Doctor had finished with his ‘repairs.’ And it was there, standing in the doorway of the console room, unnoticed, that he knew he had lost any chance of getting back with Rose.
The pair was sitting on the command chair, Rose’s head resting on the Doctor’s shoulder and his arm around hers. He was telling some story of some exploit long past. There seemed to be a photo album in Rose’s lap, but whether it was one of the Doctor’s or one of her own, he couldn’t see, and he didn’t want to get closer to find out. The Doctor made some wild gesture and loud exclamation, and Rose giggled. He grinned back at her, and pulled her closer to him in a quick embrace.
The two might continue to deny that there was anything between them, but Mickey knew that it was there. It was obvious to anyone looking, even to him. They were head over heels in love with each other. They couldn’t stand to be away from each other, and even when they were together, they always moved to be touching in some way. It was almost sickening, how they looked at each other with those lover’s eyes.
Mickey left quietly, before either could notice he was there and try to include him. That would only leave all three of them feeling awkward. And that’s why he felt uncomfortable aboard the Tardis. He made every situation awkward, like a third wheel. He made a vow not to stay much longer on the Tardis. It was a mistake to come along. In their eyes, he would always be a tin dog, a third wheel. It was time for Mickey Smith to find home.
Author: fading_xhopex
Notes/Warnings: Written as part of last author standing challenge. Prompt: Doctor/Rose from another characters POV, in this Case, Mickey Smith Takes Place after Girl in the Fireplace
Summary: It was in the Tardis Console Room, that he knew it would never work out
The Tardis was parked in the Vortex for a few days, because the Doctor said that repairs needed to be made. Nothing major, all routine, but Mickey Smith suspected that he just wanted a break to tinker without a disaster looming. So for now, Mickey took to wandering the Tardis, exploring his new world, and trying to figure out what had possessed him to actually ask to come along after so long of denying both Rose and the Doctor.
"Ah, who am I kidding? I know why I came on board, and she has blonde hair and a smile that would make any man do whatever she asked." He spoke aloud. He got up from the kitchen table where he had been eating breakfast alone, and continued his explorations of the Tardis.
He came on board, he realized, not just to prove that he was more than a tin dog, but to try and repair what might be left of his and Rose’s relationship. Yet the more he travelled with Rose and the Doctor, the more he began to suspect that while they would always be friends, there was no them anymore.
In truth, he first suspected it when Rose and the Doctor stopped in Cardiff to refuel. Before he regenerated, and they still had that character Jack with them. When everything went to hell, she ran back to them, leaving him to fend for himself. He tried afterwards to convince himself that she wasn’t running to the Doctor, or to Jack, but running to where the excitement was. That she needed that thrill like an adrenaline junkie. The arguments always felt hollow.
When she went back to risk her life to save the Doctor, he convinced himself that it wasn’t anything more than a sense of duty to the universe. Even he had to concede that the universe was a far better place as long as the Doctor was around to keep it safe. He tried to ignore the obvious anguish that he was alone, fighting to save the future. There was more than friendship, he knew it then, but he still held out hope that there would still be Mickey and Rose.
That slipped more when he did finally start travelling with the two. As they stood on that unnamed derelict, staring at the broken time window, Rose’s face showed utter devastation. “Rose,” he said at the time, “Rose, we should leave. There’s no way he can come back. The window’s they’re all broken. You said he programmed this to take us home if there was an emergency.”
She just shook her head and continued to stare at the window, almost as if she could wish it repaired and bring him back to her.
“Rose, he’s not coming back. He can’t. He’s stuck in the past, with her. He left you for that Madame De Pompadour. He’s with her now. Let’s go back, live our own lives now.”
Rose had whirled on him then. “He didn’t leave me for her. She’s an important historical figure, and she was not supposed to die yet. Don’t you see? A single change in history like that and we might not even exist. There would be no world to go home to, Mickey. He’ll find a way back, and I’m not going to leave him stranded on this ship!” She turned back to the blank and broken screen, and waited. Three and a half hours later, it was moot point and the three of them got back into the Tardis. He had only a slight glimmer of hope now that he and Rose could ever have what they had before.
Mickey found his way towards the console room. He might as well check to see if the Doctor had finished with his ‘repairs.’ And it was there, standing in the doorway of the console room, unnoticed, that he knew he had lost any chance of getting back with Rose.
The pair was sitting on the command chair, Rose’s head resting on the Doctor’s shoulder and his arm around hers. He was telling some story of some exploit long past. There seemed to be a photo album in Rose’s lap, but whether it was one of the Doctor’s or one of her own, he couldn’t see, and he didn’t want to get closer to find out. The Doctor made some wild gesture and loud exclamation, and Rose giggled. He grinned back at her, and pulled her closer to him in a quick embrace.
The two might continue to deny that there was anything between them, but Mickey knew that it was there. It was obvious to anyone looking, even to him. They were head over heels in love with each other. They couldn’t stand to be away from each other, and even when they were together, they always moved to be touching in some way. It was almost sickening, how they looked at each other with those lover’s eyes.
Mickey left quietly, before either could notice he was there and try to include him. That would only leave all three of them feeling awkward. And that’s why he felt uncomfortable aboard the Tardis. He made every situation awkward, like a third wheel. He made a vow not to stay much longer on the Tardis. It was a mistake to come along. In their eyes, he would always be a tin dog, a third wheel. It was time for Mickey Smith to find home.