sunday_reveries; 1/9-1/23
"You can never really know someone completely. That’s why it’s the most terrifying thing in the world, really-taking someone on faith, hoping they’ll take you on faith too. It’s such a precarious balance, It’s a wonder we do it at all.
And yet..."
- Libba Bray
The scent was what pulled her from sleep.
It wasn't unpleasant, but rather light and completely subtle. If she hadn't been so accustomed to waking to an alarm clock without fail for years she would have missed it completely. But going from spending her time alone, save for the working days, to sharing her flat with another person had required certain changes and accommodations to be made. He would close the cabinet doors she might leave ajar after she'd gone from the room, leave the cap off the toothpaste, forget to turn off the television, but never leave the front door unlocked. Little things, but different all the same.
Same man, but not. Same Doctor, but different name. It had taken her a good while to be able to call him John, because John Smith had been the name that made the most sense. It had taken her time and she had done it, but it still fell into the category of things that were different.
At first, different had scared her. Petrified her, really, sometimes left her mouth dry and her throat aching with just how afraid the idea of different was, and doubled those things when she was confronted with them. Because he was different - so very, very different - while exactly the same in other ways. The similarities were more disorienting than the differences because sometimes she'd catch herself wanting to ask him where they'd go next, tomorrow or the day after, with the stars stretched out in front of them like a dream-created tapestry.
And then she would remember.
The remembering wasn't bad, because in reality they were happy together. Happy with what they could have and - though neither of them would admit it aloud to the other for fear of a result in pained feelings - missing what they didn't. But they had a life, and that life was together because it was where they wanted to be.
Her hand passed over her eyes, still asleep and a little disoriented, then reached for the lamp on the bedside table. The room was illuminated in a partial wash of gold light, and little rays caught and flickered in the glass of the vase.
The vase that hadn't been there when she had fallen asleep. The vase that was made of blown glass and perfect, with iridescent swirls of different shades of colour and made a perfect home for the dozen pink roses blooming inside. A small, white card peeked from behind a pair of them and she tugged it gently free.
Dinner tonight?
- John
Rose smiled and tucked the card back beside the vase. She knew he had left, probably for something for breakfast, but she knew he would be back soon. The same way that she knew what her answer would be.
It might not be the life she had thought she would have, but it was a life she had let herself dare to dream of. And it was one that she wanted. One that she wouldn't give up, and one that made her happy.
And that was more than enough.
Muse: Rose Tyler
Word Count: 520
[ooc: For timelordly, rude_not_ginger and metacrisis_ten (because meta!Ten is adorable!love! <3]