DW Fic- Falling to Pieces 2/2 Complete
Title: Falling to Pieces 2/2 Complete
Author: Salimali
Rating: PG 12 ANGST ANGST and more ANGST
Characters: Ten/Rose, Jackie
Disclaimer: I don't own DW or any of its affiliated characters.
Spoilers: Set sometime during series 2 AU as if series 3,4 & 5 neever happened.
Summary: Can the Doctor save Rose from her greatest enemy- her health?
Author Notes: With apologies for taking so long with this chapter. Life has been very mad at the mo, hopefully it'll settle down soon.
Chapter 1
The Doctor carried the unconscious body of Rose into the TARDIS. It had been two weeks since the day in the bathroom and Rose had battled hard to find a cure within the 21st Century but to no avail. Earlier in the day she had finally acquiesced to the Doctor’s begging to allow him to heal her and he wasted no time in following it through. Jackie had packed all of Rose’s belongings into the TARDIS and the Doctor had synced up a phone for Jackie so they could always stay in touch. He’d placed Rose carefully into her bed and had gone back to say goodbye to Jackie when he realised that she wasn’t there. He went out into the flat to look for her when he saw that she was standing out on the balcony, hands gripping the railing tightly, looking up at the cloudy night sky, the light pollution stopping them from seeing the stars.
“You promise me you’ll take care of her, Doctor,” she demanded without turning to look at him. The Doctor moved so he was mirroring Jackie’s pose and she continued, “When it’s her time to die, when she’s old and can no longer keep up with you, please don’t abandon her on some alien planet. Bring her home to die, somehow do that for me. Please, promise me.”
The Doctor was taken aback by Jackie’s emotions: he’d realised these last few weeks how much she loved her daughter and how strong she was, especially to put her daughter’s life and happiness before her own. He resolved to somehow make it up to her.
“I promise you with all my hearts and my remaining regenerations that I will never leave your daughter alone. Ever.” The Doctor leaned towards Jackie and hugged her tightly. “And I will try anything to get her back to you at some point.”
“Go now,” whispered Jackie. “Go and make my little girl better.”
The Doctor pretended to shy away from her when she leaned him to kiss his cheek. It was a game they played, the ‘Doctor-and-Jackie-disapprove-of-each-other’ game. Both knew it but both enjoyed playing it. He hugged her back tightly and kissed her cheek.
Jackie watched as the TARDIS dematerialised, taking her daughter away forever. She knew that the Doctor would save Rose somewhere, sometime in the future and for that she would be eternally grateful, but she couldn’t help but be sad at losing her daughter. She knew that rationally she wasn’t losing Rose really, some people were given medical death sentences and had no back-up plan, but it didn’t stop the hurt. Especially in that the only people she could talk to about the situation had just disappeared into the unknown.
Jackie turned from looking at the indentation on the carpet, got her coat and keys and left the flat.
The Doctor piloted the TARDIS towards where he knew there would be a cure. New Earth, some 3 years after he and Rose had originally been there. The Doctor knew that the humans on New Earth would take the cat nun technology and reopen the hospital just as soon as there was a humane way of curing all the illnesses. He hoped the TARDIS didn’t mess up and land them in the wrong time. Checking the TARDIS view screen and computer to make sure that the date was right, the Doctor let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. They were in the correct time, Rose could be cured.
Rose woke up to find herself staring up at a pristine white ceiling, the hum of machinery filling the silence, a drip attached to her arm, the multi coloured fluids draining into it. She wondered where she was, the place seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place where or why. Turning her head to look for the Doctor, she was astonished to see a cat nun looking at her chart. New Earth! That’s where she was. But where was the Doctor? Rose began to panic - what if he’d left her here with the cat nun nurses? Her heart rate began to climb and the machine attached to her heart began to bleep furiously, alerting the cat nun to her distress.
The nurse turned around with a gentle grace and spoke, “Oh thank goodness, you’re awake at last.”
“Where’s the Doctor?” Rose croaked.
The nurse handed her a cup of water and Rose drank from it eagerly, again asking, “Where’s the Doctor?”
“He’s gone out for a little bit, he’s been sitting by your side for the last five days, he hasn’t moved, not to eat or sleep or even wash. When we realised you’d be waking soon he left to freshen up. He’ll be so sad that he missed your waking.” The nurse fussed around Rose, busying herself with shutting off the machinery and checking the drip feed.
Rose thought about what the nurse had said; five days was a long time for her to be unconscious. He must have been worried she was never going to recover. Rose steeled herself to ask the nun a favour. “Do you think...um...you could not tell the Doctor I’m awake?”
The cat nun nurse smiled knowingly. “Of course, that’s a good idea.” She checked her watch. “He should be back any minute, he said he’d only be twenty minutes or so.”
Rose laughed. “The Doctor has never taken less than fifty minutes to get ready, especially if he has to wash his hair!” Rose realised that this was the first time she had laughed for a long while. Her body didn’t ache anymore, she wasn’t in any pain and frankly she felt wonderful and full of life. “Am I cured?” she asked the cat nun nurse, suddenly figuring out why she was feeling so good. “Did it work?”
The nurse smiled in reply, “Yes, you’re fully recovered now. It took a while because it was such an old illness we had to synthesise a cure for it.”
Rose felt guilty; last time they were here, there were the sub humans, giving their lives so people like her could be cured. She hoped she and the Doctor hadn’t done anything bad.
Suddenly Rose heard a voice she felt she hadn’t heard for ages and her heart leapt at the thought of seeing him with a smiling face at last. The nurse looked at her and motioned for her to lie back down. Rose giggled quietly as she cuddled back down into the bed. Closing her eyes and trying hard not to peek through them, Rose held her breath and waited.
The Doctor was worried. He’d spent too long showering and now was concerned that Rose might have awoken without him being there. Well, if he was honest with himself, it wasn’t the shower that made him late. He’d spent longer than usual styling his hair until it was just right and then even longer choosing a suit and shirt. He wanted to look especially good for Rose when she woke up as he had plans for her. He had finally decided upon the casual look - she’d loved his shirt and T-shirt combination when they’d defeated the werewolf in Scotland - so he’d chosen that outfit.
He rounded the corner to Rose’s room to see the nurse checking over her. “Is she all right?” he asked, worried now that something had gone wrong in the fifty minutes he’d been gone.
“What’s happened?” He leaned over Rose to check her over when he saw that she was awake. Her big brown orbs shone like gold, glinting in the sunshine as he saw them fill with tears. He leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. “Hello.”
“Hello, my Doctor.”
“My Rose.” He countered, grinning madly. “I’ve been waiting for you for so long.”
“Now I’m here, I’m never leaving you again. Ever.”
The Doctor smiled, “Nope. Never. You and me, Miss Tyler, together forever.” He leaned down to wrap her up in his arms and hugged her as if his life depended on her. He wondered when he’d realised his life did indeed depend on Rose Tyler. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The Doctor grinned at Rose again and swiftly kissed her hard. “Let’s get out of here, shall we?” he whispered hoarsely.
Helping her off the bed, he wrapped his fingers through hers, tugged her towards him and said one word: “Run.”
And they did.