Fic: Lives, Rating: PG
Lives
Author: Me
Word Count: circa, 1658
Summary: Set during Series 1. Rose winds up meeting with a figure from the past.
Rating: PG (To be safe)
Author's Note: This is prompted by
otp_100's challenge number 60) Ex-Lover. Extremely unbeta'd. Comments are welcome.
Rose sat leaning back against the door of the TARDIS, relishing in the comfort it brought to her. The way she felt protected when she was near it. It didn't hurt that the Doctor was within it's walls. She'd have felt better if he were out with her, but she knew that this was her own action, so instead she'd asked him to stay in the TARDIS. She could have sworn she saw a bit of concern mixed with relief. Too domestic she supposed.
They'd returned to her time. Just a couple of weeks after her return according to her mother's time, but almost two months by her own. She'd gotten a call one day from Shireen, saying that Jimmy Stone had heard about her return from the land of the dead. He'd supposedly begged to see her, and in all truth, Rose needed that last bit of closure that she'd never completely gotten.
Yes, their engagement had ended just before she was seventeen, two and a half years prior, but that was only because he'd left her after finding out their shared dirty little secret. She'd hated him for all of the trouble that had happened because of their relationship, but she had to see him one last time. Just had to see how time had treated him.
The blonde heard the door of the TARDIS open and looked up.
“I'll take it he's still not shown up?” The Doctor questioned, his jacket off, and the sleeves of his jumper pushed up past his elbows. He was always making repairs to the TARDIS whenever they were in London. Probably in an attempt to avoid her mother, but that was expected after their first couple of meetings.
“Jimmy Stone was never one for being punctual,” she told him with a slightly bitter laugh. “He was a lot of things, but never on time.”
“You don't have to do this you know. You could come back inside and we could head off to the year 50,492. You could see the fall of the tenth Australasian Empire,” he offered. The blonde had gotten to him. He was trying to beg to get out of this domestic nightmare when, at one time, he wouldn't have been caught dead waiting for such an event to end.
“I know, but this is something I need. I'll make this up to you, I promise,” she told him, a small smile forming on her face. It was obvious though, that she was nervous, despite the front she was trying to put up for him. She'd never said what exactly had happened over the course of the life she'd lived with Jimmy Stone, but it was obvious enough that it wasn't a happy one.
“All right, but if you need me, I'll be in here,” he told her, noticing the figure stalking towards them, wearing a beat up buttoned denim jacket and a pair of loose-fitting black slacks instead of the nod she gave him.
He moved back into the TARDIS, closing it behind him. At least she had his jacket. A protective move on his part that she figured to be just a way of speeding things along instead of having her spend hours searching her room for a hoodie. She looked tiny in the leather jacket, but it gave them both a sense of peace- For him, something that might keep this guy at bay, while for her, it was like a security blanket. Neither would ever admit it though.
Rose looked back out to the street, finally seeing Jimmy Stone in his trek towards her. She slowly stood, stuffing her hands into the pocket of the Doctor's coat, blinking when she felt something slimy in its depths.
With a shake of her head, she looked at Jimmy as he finally reached her. He had changed over the years. He looked like he'd lost some weight, though that could have been the clothes. He always did wear baggy clothes. His hair was shorter than he'd kept it during their time. It was kept clipped, but still long enough to hang in his eyes a bit. She'd always picked on him about it-
“Hey,” he said, breaking her out of her scrutinizing thought pattern. His voice was hoarse. Probably all the smoking. Or maybe he'd made himself hoarse by yelling. He did that enough when they were together that it wasn't such a far off idea.
“Hey,” she said. Rose wasn't quite sure what to say to him. The last thing she'd ever said to him was “I need you.” How does a person say anything like that after so long.
“In'erestin' meetin' spot. I've never noticed this thing 'ere before,” he said, trying to ease some of the tension.
“Yeah. I've passed by it a few times. I love it. Nice classic look,” she said, a slight smile on her face, barely echoing the affection she felt for the ship.
Jimmy blinked at her tone but shook his head. “Look um... Would you mind if we went somewhere for a while? To talk? I mean... I know it's been over three years, but-”
The petite blonde looked at the blue police box uncertainly for a moment before taking a deep breath. She still had her phone in her jeans pocket, so if there was trouble, she could always call the Doctor. She nodded. “Yeah. That sounds like it'd be all right. Just... I told the person I've been traveling with that I wouldn't be too long. We're only here for a while.”
Jimmy's expression became unreadable for a moment, sending a small surge of worry through Rose. Had he expected her to stay with him for an extended amount of time? Did he think that she wouldn't be with anyone else? Well, anyone other than Mickey? She was a big girl who'd grown up since him. “Kay. Won't be too long. I just... How about enough time for a cuppa or two?”
Rose nodded and they started off. She looked back to the TARDIS in time to see the Doctor standing in the doorway watching them with a concerned expression. She smiled at him, trying to relay the message that she'd be all right. Unsure as to whether or not he got it, she saw as he ducked back into his ship.
They'd been gone for over an hour according to the Doctor's internal clock, which was more or less accurate. He'd never have expected her to spend this much time with an ex. While he knew that Rose could take care of herself, he didn't particularly trust the guy who could put a perpetual frown on Rose's face for more than five minutes.
He was about to head out in search of her when she finally entered the TARDIS, a small smile on her face, and for some reason, that made both of the Doctor's hearts clench.
“Have a good time?” he asked as he positioned himself next to the console.
“Nah, not really,” she told him. “Just... You probably wouldn't want to know. Too domestic.”
“Try me,” he challenged. He wanted to know what had put the smile on her face.
“He wound up paying me back the money he owed me, which I wound up dropping off with mum on the way back. Just to keep you from having to see her, since I know how much of a joy that is for you,” she explained. “He also... He apologized for everything and asked me to get back with him. Said how the last year he thought me dead made him think. Don't know why.”
“Just one of those little human quirks. Guilt and fear,” the Doctor suggested. “Maybe he felt fear at the fact that you seemed to just reappear after being 'dead' for so long. That fear ate at the guilt, and voila, you've got your ex begging.”
Rose laughed and looked at him with a quirked eyebrow. “For someone who doesn't do domestic, you seem to make yourself look like you know a lot about the way people think.”
“I've been around for over nine hundred years. What else am I going to do?” he retorted.
“Full of it...” she sang teasingly.
“I believe we've already had that conversation,” he told her with a smile before his expression went neutral. The one thing he wanted to know. “Anyways, what did you wind up telling the boy?”
Rose laughed and wrapped her arms over her chest, looking all the smaller in the leather coat. “I told him no chance. That I'd found a better life where I know I belong. That I'd found myself. He thought I meant with Mickey, until he noticed the jacket. Thanks for that by the way.” She started to move to take it off until he held up a hand for her to go ahead and keep it for a bit. He then motioned for her to continue on with her story. “I honestly wanted to laugh. I told him that I've been traveling, and that my life is all the better. And that I'd wound up stealing this from the person I've been traveling with.”
The Doctor smiled at how proud the blonde sounded. She'd changed so much since she'd started traveling with him. From shop girl to audience if not participant in universal events. No wonder she'd held her own with the Slitheen so well. He'd just not noticed it.
“Doctor?” she said, breaking the Doctor out of his reverie. “Are you ready to head off?”
He blinked and smiled at her with all the manic energy he had emanating from him. “Off to 50,429. Fall of the Australasian Empire and rise of the New Jamaican.”
“Wait! Jamaican?” could be heard coming out as a disbelieving squeak from the Public Police Call Box.