Echoes of Summer - Chapter Thirteen: Black and Blue
Disclaimer: Neither Doctor Who nor any characters, items or materials of any kind pertaining to Doctor Who or the Whoniverse belong to me. I’m just looking for a good time. Hee. Trying them out for a bit, see how they fit.
Plot Summary: He was left with his lips against her jaw, her figure pressed to him as if she belonged there. One of many moments between the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler after he breaks his own rules to retrieve her from Bad Wolf Bay. The walls between worlds begin to fall, two different realities merging. And on the horizon a threat rises that threatens to destroy everything the Doctor holds dear.
Pairing: Ten/Rose
Beta: bratflorida
Rating: Starts at PG. Runs the gamut straight through to NC-17.
Spoilers: Oh yes. Tons of spoilers. All over the place. Probably without even meaning to but that’s what happens when you watch all the episodes like you’re possessed. So…erm…sorry.
Timeline: AU after the end of Series 2. Spoilers up to, including and going past Series 4 though. I’ve seen all of Series 1 through 4, including the series 4 specials but am not very familiar with the Classic Who much. As such, if I happen to include anything that really touches upon Classic Who, other than it being unintentional, I’ll be surprised out of my head. Really. You’ll probably see a lot of familiar things in the fic that play into the series of DW. Bear with me, it all ties in together.
Echoes of Summer
Prologue: In the End
Chapter One: Five and a Half Hours
Chapter Two: Explanations
Chapter Three: The First Tear
Chapter Four: Alone In This Bed
Chapter Five: The First Visit
Chapter Six: The Second Tear
Chapter Seven: The Rain
Chapter Eight: A Non-Human Chase
Chapter Nine: Two Hearts
Chapter Ten: What You See When You're Not Looking
Chapter Eleven: Dreaming of Wolves
Chapter Twelve: The Second Visit (Donna Noble Style)
Chapter Thirteen - Black and Blue:
When she found Rose the girl was poking into a rack of slim black dresses. Coming up behind her, Donna hesitated for a long moment, watching her as she held up one of the dresses to her own frame. “Don’t get that one,” she said to her and Rose turned quickly in surprise.
Donna managed a small smile for her awkwardly.
Rose blinked, the dress forgotten in her hands. “You’re…that woman. Have you been following me?” And as Donna paused in response she added, “You’re not very good at it. Trying to be inconspicuous and all.”
Donna smiled fully then, her hands clasping behind her. “Yeah. It’s…my first time,” she replied ruefully. And she took a step closer to Rose, reaching for the black dress in her hand and taking it. “Familiar, this one. I’ve seen it. In the closets. Your closets.”
Rose stilled, her hands curling in as the dress was taken from her. “My closets?”
Donna nodded, her voice quieting. “On the TARDIS. Your wardrobe got to be too much. And of course it would have, all those places you travel to, all the clothes you bring back. You had to expand to three closets…” She broke off, gazing at the dress. “He liked this one. Very much.”
Rose stood in stunned silence for a long moment, watching the woman with the ginger hair as she ran her eyes over the dress with a small, wistful smile. And then sense returned, realization with it. “You’re from…my future?”
Donna merely glanced at her before returning her eyes to the dress. And then, wordlessly, she hung the dress back up on the rack, running her palm down its length for a moment.
Rose swallowed. “Why…why shouldn’t I get the dress? If he likes it?” she asked and she clamped her mouth shut as the question came out. What did it matter if he liked it? And it was obvious who he was. But she liked it too. She thought she’d look wonderful in it. She turned to look at the dress once more.
“Because you’re not supposed to care whether he likes it,” the woman replied. And she sighed faintly. “I’m Donna, by the way. Donna Noble.”
Rose nodded slowly, realizing for a moment that the entire situation had become surreal in the blink of an eye. “Hi, Donna. I’m Rose.”
“Yeah.” Donna nodded quietly as well. “I know.”
Rose bowed her head. “’Course you do,” she murmured. And with a small purse of her lips, her eyes trailing over the dress, she sighed softly. “So…if not this dress, then which?”
Donna glanced around at her question. Then, lifting her hand, she motioned widely. “Take your pick. Anyone works just as well.” And her eyes caught on a flattering blue one. “That one’s nice. Brings out the blond,” she said with a small shrug. She paused for a second, examining the dress blankly. “Saw your Doctor. By the escalators.”
Rose nodded, motioning. “Yeah. Told him to wait for me. Wanted to do some shopping by myself, pick out something nice.” Swallowing once more, feeling her heart slowly begin to pick up speed, she floated over to the rack and lifted a hand to the dress, trailing a finger across the material. It really was lovely. She would get this one for the festival. “So, Donna,” she began, hoping she sounded nonchalant. “What brings you to my time?”
The redhead followed her silently, her eyes catching on a dress clinging to a rack on her right. “Oh, you know. The usual. Trying to fix it. It’s the only reason he would ever send anyone back.” She paused, letting her sentence die but knowing that Rose Tyler would listen to every word she spoke.
“Fix it?” Rose asked tremulously though she attempted to sound casual.
“Yeah,” Donna replied. “He’s a great big idiot, the Doctor. But…” And she paused, sweeping her hand over a shimmering dress blankly. “He’s also got a great big heart, that one. Two of them, in fact.” She threw the dress a look that was actually aimed at the Doctor had he been present. “Always trying to make things right by everyone.”
Rose bowed her head, her back to Donna.
“Anyway. My point is…the reason I’m here is that…he’s trying to fix things. For you. For us. All of us,” Donna explained. “He doesn’t…know how yet. There’s one solution that he has that he…doesn’t want to take-“
“Is he all right?’ Rose asked and she turned then to look at Donna, her face pale. “I mean…you make it seem like…is he all right?”
“He’s fine,” Donna nodded, throwing her a strained smile. “Bit thin. Keep trying to get him to eat. But I’m not his mum. And he’s old enough to literally be called my ancestor so…” she shrugged.
Rose smiled weakly. “Yeah.”
Donna paused once more then, hesitant. And finally, working up the nerve, she spun toward Rose. “Look…Rose. Like I said, reason I’m here. The Doctor…” she broke off, frowning as she looked for the right words. There were things that she could say and other things she couldn’t. Mostly because she just didn’t want to scare Rose. Looking at her now, she couldn’t believe what was in store for them all. Not when it was so completely obvious how much she felt for and worried over the Doctor.
She came to a stop, her heart feeling as if it would break. Wasn’t that just the problem in the end though?
Rose gazed at her, her face pinched.
She looked so young. So…innocent. “There’s something coming,” Donna said then, seeing Rose’s face numbly and not recognizing the girl there at the same time. Not in that way. “And the Doctor…he’s trying to fix it. Everything that happens…I can’t tell you what to do. What not to do. Because anything you do could potentially become what you would have done anyway. Does that make sense?”
Rose glanced sideways and in her eyes, suddenly, there were tears there. “No,” she said with a pained laugh, shaking her head. But a moment later she lifted fingers to her eyes to swipe away the tears. “None of it ever makes sense.”
Donna felt her eyebrows draw in. “Right, I know,” she said soothingly. And she took a step closer, catching the flicker in Rose’s eyes as the girl judged the distance between them. “Just know that…he cares for you. So much. Even if he never says it. It’s all in the smiles you two share. The laughter. Because I’ve never seen him smile and laugh with me the way he does with you.” She tilted her head, trying to capture Rose’s eyes as the girl looked down.
Her words, however, brought Rose’s attention back then. “I see,” she said thickly, her eyes tinged red, her lips pursing once more. “So…you’re the one after me then?” And she turned away even as the question left her mouth, her face paling once more. “And what about Martha? She there, too? Where am I?”
Donna settled into silence, understanding her questions and knowing they would have come out at some point.
“Am I there?” Rose asked her. And she recoiled even as Donna remained quiet. “No, obviously not. That’s why you’re here, I mean. Because I’m not. Or because something happens to me at some point.” She lifted a hand to her head, wishing she could understand. “Am I dead?”
Donna stiffened. “No.”
Rose stared at her, a scowl crossing her face. “Are you lying to me?”
Taking a step away, Donna slowly held up her hands peaceably. “There are things…I can’t talk about,” she said carefully. “And this is one of them. I just need you to understand that the Doctor cares for you. It’s why I’m here. Why we’re doing all this. Because something…happens…that isn’t out of your hands. Not really.”
Rose glared at her. “Make sense,” she ordered shortly. “Just…out with it.”
Donna exhaled in a soft sigh, her expression fighting to curl in anger. After a moment she composed it, her hands still lifted. “I can’t,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry. I just can’t. But don’t tell him either. Your Doctor. The past Doctor. He-“
“Why not?” Rose demanded. “If he knows maybe he can help me, help us, with everything that’s going on-“
“Because everything you do here in the past affects everything that happens in the future,” Donna answered, cutting her off. “Once we know where we went wrong we can figure out how to fix it here. And if your Doctor, your version of the Doctor, if he knows, then he’ll start doing things now.” She broke off. “Please. Not now. Not now that we’re so close. Just leave the timeline alone for now and let us handle it on our side.”
Rose hesitated, uncertain what to say. Where to even begin to argue.
“Believe me,” Donna said to her, her hands finally falling back to her sides. “Once we know how to fix it, you’ll never have to hear from us again. The future will iron itself out from what we do. You’ll never even know what we did. I promise.”
Rose settled into silence at her words, her hands fisted. “Is that…all you’re going to tell me? You can’t tell me anything else?” she asked the redhead.
Donna’s lips tightened into a firm line and she shook her head wordlessly, bowing it.
With a sigh Rose turned back toward the blue dress, her eyes trailing down its length almost blindly. Taking the material into her hand she glanced over her shoulder at Donna and caught sight of the familiar figure heading their way, winding around the racks lazily. “He’s coming,” she whispered to Donna, her eyes flying back to the woman.
Donna whirled around as the Doctor finally reached them, his dark eyes darting from Donna to Rose and then back once more. “Hello, again,” he said to her, smiling effortlessly. “Were you the one then? Following us all about?”
Donna opened her mouth to speak indignantly, a finger lifting.
Rose stepped in the way, gesturing toward Donna and pushing her back slightly. “No, no. I was a complete idiot, Doctor. I thought she was following us, remember? Well, turns out I dropped my…my…” And she came to a dead stop, hesitating suddenly, her eyes flying to Donna. And a second later the look twisted beseechingly.
“Her key,” Donna replied a bit too loudly and, with her heart beginning to speed up, she pulled out her own TARDIS key from her pocket, waving it. “I saw her drop it earlier and I’ve been looking all over for her. Lucky I saw you standing by the escalator, I figured she’d be on this floor. And she was!” A wide, feigned smile broke over Donna’s face and slowly, reluctantly, she dropped her key into Rose’s palm.
The Doctor’s face was blank and the slightest bit pale as Donna and Rose glanced at him.
Rose waved the key awkwardly. “Silly of me, wasn’t it, Doctor?” she prodded, smiling weakly.
The Doctor’s eyes followed the key as Rose stuffed it into her pocket. “Quite,” he replied softly, his eyes darting once more in Donna’s direction as the redhead continued to smile. “Thank you for…the key,” he said to her, motioning to Rose’s pocket.
Donna glanced at him. “No trouble at all. Well, you two have a lovely day,” she said. And she turned to look at Rose, her back shifting slightly to the Doctor, her face contorting as she gestured severely to Rose’s pocket with her eyes. As Rose blinked at her she turned once more to the Doctor and began to gingerly step away.
“Oh, Doctor,” Rose began, reaching out and dragging him to her side before turning them both to face the blue dress on the rack before them. “What do you think about this dress?”
Donna took another step away, her entire body stiff. She needed that key back. She needed it-
“I think it’s lovely,” the Doctor murmured, bowing his head as he turned his attention to it. “Even the material. Reminds me a bit of-“
Rose’s hand snuck out from behind their frames in Donna’s direction, palm turned up, key resting there.
Silently, holding her breath, Donna took a step back toward them, snatched up the key instantly and quickly darted off, hurrying. This would be one story to tell…someone at some point. Of that she had no doubt.
“So much shopping!” Rose exclaimed as they entered the TARDIS once more, loaded down with numerous bags. Behind her the Doctor shut the door, slipping his coat from his shoulders as he set down some of the bags she had burdened him with as well. Tossing the coat aside he took hold of the shopping bags once more as Rose floated up to the console and set her own bags down, dropping her frame into the jump seat. “What a day.”
“Indeed,” the Doctor replied, setting down the bags beside hers. “So tonight or tomorrow? Gamorra?” he reminded her. “I really do think you’ll enjoy it.”
Rose smiled at him. “It’s not as if we’re really on a schedule, yeah?” she smiled. “How about you give me a few hours? I’ll take a nap, shower and get ready and then we’ll just go. How’s that sound?”
The Doctor was already nodding, pulling on an earlobe as he circled his TARDIS console. “Sounds fine. Gives me a bit of time to get under the TARDIS. She’s been a bit jittery lately. I think it might be a bit tougher than I previously anticipated, recycling the stored power of the hypernova.”
Rose sat up once more. “Do you need more time? I mean…we really can always go tomorrow. You said they celebrated for eight days after all…”
“No, no. It’s fine,” the Doctor replied. “You go on ahead, take your nap. I should be ready by the time you’re done. Need help bringing the shopping bags to your room?” And he glanced toward her, a hand finding its way into his pocket.
Rose vaulted herself off the jump seat. “Nope, I’m good. I’ll just make a few trips. You get started.” And she began to scoop several bags into her hands, dragging them closer.
Catching sight of one bag in particular the Doctor reached out, quickly darting toward her. “Oh, that one-”
Rose paused in mid-scoop, her fingers closed around the handle of the bag.
“I wanted to actually give it to you later but…now that I think about it,” he murmured, taking the bag from her. “Maybe I’ll just give it to you now.”
Rose blinked at him. “For me? You got me something?” she asked him quizzically as he smiled faintly, lifting the bag onto the jump seat and digging in almost like a gleeful little boy.
“Well,” he drawled with a slight shrug, pulling out material wrapped in tissue paper, “I saw you eyeing it earlier, before we ran into the woman, with the ginger-“ And he motioned to his hair, glancing at her, the parcel held in his other hand limply.
“Donna,” Rose said with a nod. And she threw him a weak smile. “Her name was Donna. Donna Noble.”
The Doctor paused. “Gave you her name, did she?” he echoed in surprise. But then, waving it off, he turned back to the tissue wrapped item. “Well, whatever the case, I thought I would get it for you since I noticed you hovering over it for a bit.” And falling into silence he held out the gift, an adorably wide grin coming to life on his face.
With the tiniest arch to her brow but a smile of her own breaking, Rose took the parcel from him and straightened, unwrapping the tissue paper. And as it came open she felt her heart skid to a stop, ice streaking down her back.
The black dress from the department store.
“I noticed you looking at it for a while from the escalator,” he went on, gauging her reaction and then dropping his gaze to the dress as she pulled it out fully and let it hang in her grip. “It’s rather lovely, I’ll admit. I’m sure you’ll look…well…” And he broke off, turning his stare awkwardly from the dress back to the bag it had come in.
Rose remained speechless. But now there was the slightest twist in her stomach.
She knew why Donna had told her to get the blue dress. Because in her future she had owned this dress. Donna had said it herself, that she had seen the dress in one of her closets. That the Doctor had liked the dress very much.
“There’s…no way around it, is there?” Rose whispered faintly, her eyes caught on the dress.
“Sorry?” The Doctor asked with slightly wide eyes, glancing at her once more. As he searched her face he said, “Don’t like it? I can always…take it back?” And he tilted his head to catch her attention, leaning back against the console.
Rose swallowed. “No,” she replied. Then with a firm edge to her voice she repeated, “No. I love it. Thank you for the dress. It’s beautiful.” And she lifted a mischievous glance at him, her lips curling. “Maybe not rubbish when it comes to women’s clothing after all.”
The Doctor smiled once more, legs crossing at his ankles, arms folding over his chest as his gaze flew from her eyes to the dress in her hands and then back again. “You’re quite welcome,” he said quietly. Then, looking about once more he continued on, his voice falling back to its normal pitch. “And I have work to do. So go on and do what you have to do. And just let me know when you’re done.”
With that he lifted himself from the console and turned his back on her to examine it, a slight frown crossing his brow as he entered fix-it mode.
Setting aside the dress slowly, her eyes dragging away from it, Rose floated up beside him, hesitating momentarily. Then with a purposeful tap to his shoulder, she waited for him to turn back around, his eyebrows arched in question. Wordlessly she lifted her arms and flung them around his neck, catching him by complete surprise.
“Spontaneous hugging!” he said with a wide smile over her shoulder as she buried her face in his neck. And he returned the embrace fiercely, dragging her to his lean frame. “I love that!”
She giggled into his collar, refusing to release him for a long moment. “You’ll probably get tons more of them once we see this place you’re taking me to next,” she said, inhaling his scent and feeling it to be just right. Exactly him.
“Aw, I can’t wait,” he replied to that, his voice softening once more, his hands warming on her waist and back. And as she finally stepped back from him, hands sliding from his neck down his chest, he sent her a winning smile, all teeth and crinkled eyes.
Smiling herself now, she slid a hand inside the jacket of his suit, digging into the interior pocket as he merely allowed her, his frame swaying slightly as she worked. She envied the complete trust he had in her at times. She glanced up and met his dark gaze head on, her hand moving about inside his jacket. His pupils were dilated as he waited for her to finish what she was doing. What did that mean again, pupil dilation? She couldn’t remember. A second later she found what she was looking for and produced his specs. Tongue poking at her teeth, she slid them onto his face. “There you go,” she murmured. “Ready for work.”
He merely continued to stare at her, his smile soft behind his bespectacled gaze.
“And…I’ll be back in a few hours.” She took a step back from him, smoothing his suit jacket once more. Feigning nonchalance under the heat of his look she dragged her eyes from him, keeping them carefully intent on his suit. “Think you can get on without me for a bit?”
“Only for a bit,” he drawled with a small shrug, his voice slightly husky.
Her eyes caught on his for the slightest moment as she swallowed and then they darted away again. “Ok then,” she whispered through a sudden block in her throat. “Thank you. For the dress. Again. And I’ll be out later.”
“Molto bene,” he said, puffing up his chest with the statement. And he waited for her as she took hold of all her items, every single bag, and skipped off with them. As she vanished into the back hallways of the TARDIS he felt his smile slip the slightest bit. But then he turned his attention to the console and all was fine once more.
When she returned to the TARDIS, there was a slight skip to her step. Things were different now. She could feel it. She felt relief within her. That had to mean something. Once she stepped through the doors of the TARDIS she would see a change, feel a change. Perhaps the Doctor would smile now the way he had smiled with Rose. Perhaps lines will have disappeared from his face, shadows from under his eyes. Perhaps-
The TARDIS console room was empty.
Passing it, Donna Noble headed straight for the hallway leading deeper into the TARDIS. There were only a few places he hid himself and she knew just about all his spots. She tried the kitchen area first, finding it to be empty, except for the cooling cup of tea he had obviously forgotten about. Moving past it she headed for the next likely room and found it ajar.
Rose’s room.
Pushing the door open gently a bit more she peeked in and found him sitting on the corner of Rose’s old bed, staring blankly but intently toward one of her closets. Swallowing slightly, Donna slipped into the room and hesitated at the doorway, hands sliding the door shut a bit behind her.
“I really think I got through to her,” she said to him softly, her eyes flying around the room before darting back toward him.
He remained silent, merely blinking periodically at the open closet.
Taking a step and drawing away from the door, Donna leaned down, attempting to catch his eyes. “Doctor?”
He nodded slightly, his elbows resting wearily on his knees as he hunched slightly over them.
She had been wrong. Staring at him, sizing him up, he had the same lines on his face, even more if it could be believed. The hard set to his jaw was evident as if he’d always had it. The shadows under his eyes were more pronounced, his entire face just so tired. “I…” she uttered, uncertain. Refusing to believe. “She…she listened to me. She did. I’m telling you, she was there with me. She was…she…” she broke off, not understanding. Not wanting the truth. “She loved you. She loved you so much-“
The Doctor’s eyes fell closed at her words, his breath leaking from his frame painfully.
“I mean-“ she cried, straightening. And from the corner of her eyes she caught the faint flash of a familiar blue. Whirling toward the closet she pointed and then darted to the closet door excitedly, reaching in and taking the material into her hand. “This dress! I told her to get the dress! And she did! Look at it, it’s right here! I told her not to get the black one-“ She turned to him, her voice falling into its usual snide tone. “And I’m sorry about that, I know how much you liked the black one but if it means-“
“That black one?” the Doctor finally spoke. And as Donna looked at him he pointed to the left with a weary finger, not even following his own gesture.
Donna glanced over her shoulder in the direction and felt ice claim her at catching sight of the black dress hanging over the back of a chair in the corner of the room.
“No…” Donna whispered, shaking her head faintly. “No, that’s not…I told her not to…”
The Doctor sighed tiredly, shifting, and then rising to his feet. Silently, he floated over to the chair and reached out, taking the dress into his hands and bowing his head as he gazed at it.
“But I told her-“
“I got it for her,” he said, forcing her to break off. Gazing at the dress, feeling the material slip across his fingers, he nodded slightly, remembering. “The department store, of course. I never understand until it’s too late really. Well. Doesn’t matter.” His voice died off as he merely stared at the dress. “She wears the dress that night, the night we go to Gamorra. Did you know that?” And he tossed the question over his shoulder at her nonchalantly.
Donna came up behind him, uncertain what to say.
Inhaling deeply, as if to clear cobwebs that congested his lungs, the Doctor murmured, “The things she does. Rose, I mean. The things that she does…” he hesitated, lips parted as he searched for the proper words. “She doesn’t do them because she no longer cares.”
Donna pursed her lips, feeling defeated.
The Doctor trailed a hand across the bodice of the dress, his index finger digging under a set of pleats etched into the dress. “She does them because she cares too much.” He broke off, seeing the dress in his hands but appreciating only the vision of Rose in it, so long ago. When he inhaled again he tricked himself into believing he caught her scent from the material before him. “There is a change. A slight ripple. In the timeline. I can feel it,” he said to Donna with another slight nod. “Instead of the blue dress, she’ll wear this one,” he explained to her. “And she’ll wear it for me.”
Donna bowed her head, never wanting to wrap her arms around him and comfort him more than she did then. “How does she look in it?” she asked him quietly from behind.
The Doctor lifted his head at her question, as he pondered it. Then, chuckling mirthlessly, a single laugh, he murmured with a slight shake of his head, “Fantastic.”
Next Chapter: Chapter Fourteen - Distractions:
“I think…” he said softly, his hand hovering beside her cheek, finger still extended, “that we’re dressed just right for the festivities.” And he tilted his head as he nudged aside the lock of hair further, eyes focused on the gesture.
“Or for staying in,” Rose whispered thoughtlessly, her tone wavering.