Echoes of Summer - Chapter Thirty-Two: Clearing Things Up (Part II)
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. Series One through Series 4 Specials.
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 - Clearing Things Up (Part I)
Chapter Thirty Two: Clearing Things Up (Part II)
Breathing shallowly, her eyes darting around quickly as she searched her memory, she stuttered, “Um…ok…there was Martha! Martha Jones. She came to see me that first time, the morning after you disappeared from my room. So I ran into her outside…outside my flat. And she told me…she told me…” she grimaced trying to remember the dark-skinned girl’s words. “I can’t…”
Striding back toward her, the Doctor took hold of her by her arms firmly, but as she found herself hunching instinctively she understood that he was attempting to soothe her. “Just tell me what you remember, Rose. Start from the beginning of the day and just tell me. It’s fine if you don’t remember word for word but I need the gist of it.”
She swallowed, nodding gingerly. “Ok. Ok. But…you need to let go because you’re cutting off the blood to my-“ And she exhaled faintly as he quickly loosened his grip, instead maintaining his grasp but rubbing the skin where he had taken hold of her. “Thanks.”
He managed a wry smile. “This is…agitating me. Greatly.”
She tilted her head at him, blond hair falling across her shoulders and his fingers where he held her still. “I know. I’m trying to remember. She just…we ran into each other. She seemed…surprised, actually. To see me.” She nodded as she brought up the memory, as she remembered the look on Martha’s face. “She said it was sudden. Something like that. And she said…” She hesitated, frowning. “She said she knew so much about me. But that I didn’t know her. And that something, all this, she said...that all this seemed like a miracle but it wasn’t. It was a disaster.”
“All what?” the Doctor asked her darkly.
“This,” she stated firmly, motioning all about. “That I’m here. That it’s a disaster. One you were trying to fix.”
“That I was trying to fix?” he echoed in confusion.
“The other you. The other Doctor. Her Doctor. That’s how she said it. She said, ‘My Doctor’.” She raised her eyebrows at him. “And for me not to tell you.”
“Why not?” he demanded shortly.
“Because you would try to fix it. And you would only make more of a mess of it,” she finished quietly. And as he stared at her she added quickly, “But there’s nothing wrong, you said. Because you can’t see anything wrong, it’s what you just said-”
“Nothing is wrong!” he stated loudly, his grip tightening the slightest bit once more. “There is nothing wrong-“
“But I’m not imagining it!” she replied just as hotly. “I’m not imagining the visits or…or the visions! I’m seeing people and things, things we’ve done, only other people are doing them and I’m not imagining it!”
He stared at her, his face pinched in confusion. “Hold on, back up a bit. What?”
She hesitated. “What what?” she asked him in return, almost reluctantly.
“That’s my line,” he countered. “You said visions. ‘Seeing people and things.’ That’s what you just said. Explain that last part. What visions, what things?”
“Oh.” She paused. “Well, I was getting to that but you turned Oncoming Storm on me so I didn’t get a chance.”
He gave her a withering look.
“The day you stayed overnight at the hospital, with the…planetary police…whatever they were…the rhinoceros-looking aliens?” she said questioningly, faltering.
“Judoon.”
“Them,” she nodded. “The day that all happened, when we actually met Martha Jones, remember? I saw…something else. I saw a vision of you. But not you. Because I had just seen you and you had just…you’d just…”
“I’d just what?” he prodded her on.
She felt the need to reach out and strangle him suddenly. Inhaling and then releasing the breath shortly she growled, “The kiss. Remember the kiss?”
He hesitated at the memory, his mouth opening into a slight o, his eyes shifting sideways momentarily. And then he released one of her shoulders to point at her with a rigid index finger. “That was a genetic transfer-“
“Right. That. Whatever.” She rolled her eyes as he clenched his jaw almost childishly. “Anyway, you had just run off after the genetic transfer and I was left with those Judoon,” she stressed in irritation. “And when I turned back around to try to stall them, I saw you. Again. Only I guess it wasn’t you. Or not my you. It was Martha’s Doctor. With Martha. And he did his genetic transfer with her also-“
“Ah-hah! See? Genetic transfer,” he said with a satisfied nod.
She stared at him with barely constrained annoyance, continuing on. “After that her Doctor ran off the same way you did, down the hallway, and when I turned back to look for her she was gone, too. Just like that. As if she hadn’t even been there to start.”
The Doctor settled back once more, finally releasing her fully and eyeing her knowingly. “But that isn’t the only example you have for me, is it?” he asked her quietly. And as she looked at him wearily he lifted his head back, eyes widening slightly. “Oh, there are more. Quite a few more.”
Rose understood that look. “Yeah. There are a few times I’ve seen you. Not future you. I guess, the other you that pops up sometimes. Times I’ve seen two different things happen the same way only with different people. And things that have happened that make it seem like…”
The Doctor bowed his head, his eyes prodding her on.
“That make it seem like any changes we try to make aren’t going to work out,” she sighed. And she motioned toward the back rooms of the TARDIS with a mindless gesture. “When Donna came. She told me to get a blue dress. Because in the future I have a black dress. A black dress that you-“
A black dress that you fancy.
Shaking her head, her eyes closing as she struggled to change her sentence, she said, “The black dress that you got me. I had wanted to get it originally. For the time we went to Gamorra. But Donna asked me to get the blue one so I did. And then when I got here-“
The Doctor stared at her as she cut off, as she gazed at him helplessly.
“I didn’t want to tell you,” she said to him quietly, in the breath of a whisper, her heart abruptly aching. “I love the dress. Love it. And so do you-“
“I got it for you because I saw you eyeing it,” he responded haltingly, almost mechanically. As if he suddenly didn’t want to hold the conversation.
Her gaze turned sadly sweet, a small smile quirking her lips. “She told me you got it because you liked me in it,” she revealed to him.
And her words caused him to recoil slightly, making him seem as if he had been caught doing something wrong. Hastily, he suddenly turned from her and moved away, putting distance between them. Rose stared after him, her eyes settling on his shoulders and they were square, drawn up tightly. “You shouldn’t tell me anymore,” he said firmly, his back to her.
She paused, caught off guard. “You were the one who wanted me to tell you everything,” she argued. “You asked-“
“Yes. That was my mistake,” he replied instantly, head lifting though he did not face her still. “We’re not to know that future. We are not to know what will happen-“
“This isn’t the future!” she cried. And as he turned to look at her she sent him a beseeching look. “This is happening now! Real time! Two alternate lines of the same timeline!”
The Doctor stared at her as if she had lost her mind. “What are you saying?” he demanded almost inaudibly.
She broke off at the look that was crossing his face, the shadow that seemed to be falling over it. “I-“
“Who told you that?” he asked and this time, when he neared, his hands wrapping around her shoulders were stronger than the last time. And she sensed the fine trembling that raced through his limbs into those clawed fingers. “Who told you that?”
“Jack!” she cried, hands curling into her chest and she shrugged free of him, yanking her frame away with a glare.
He came to a sudden stop, his clawed fingers still before him, his face pale. And tilting his head, his voice low and ominous, he murmured, “You told me it was nothing. Nothing I had to worry about. That’s what you said. That it was safe-“
“Well, I didn’t know!” she shouted at him. And as he straightened his head once more, jaw clenching, she raised her hands and propped them on her hips, grimacing at feeling the reddened skin where he had taken hold of her. If she didn’t bruise in the morning she was going to be surprised out of her head. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you because they asked me not to. And now that you know, you still don’t see anything different so what does it matter? What’s the point? Maybe there’s nothing wrong now! Maybe he was able to fix it, the future you. Maybe it’s all fine now-“
“The point is I should have been able to see it. At the very least. And the point is that you should have told me all about this from the beginning,” he rapped out at her. “You’re better than that, Rose. I believe you to be better than-“
“Don’t you do that to me!” she yelled, at him and she threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. “I had people coming back with specific instructions from the future you to not tell you! How many Doctors am I supposed to listen to?” she cried in disbelief. She motioned at him furiously with a stiff index finger. “You don’t know what it is to have to deal with you sometimes! Whatever I do, I somehow manage to get you pissed off at me! Take off those bloody blinkers for one second and look at all this from my point of view, yeah?”
“And how would you like me to accomplish that, Rose Tyler!” he cried. “The very thought of my peeking into your thoughts had you wound up not even ten minutes ago!”
Recoiling, her fingers itching in anger, Rose stared at him speechlessly, her thoughts dwindling to silence. And then a moment later she whirled around. “Bugger this. I’m done. I’m going to my room. Come get me when you grow up.”
He sighed from behind, his voice sounding frustrated. “Rose…”
“Piss off,” she called over her shoulder as she headed for the doorway leading to the inner rooms of the TARDIS.
Moving amazingly fast, the Doctor slipped in front of her, blocking her way into the back rooms. Finding herself suddenly in his arms as he moved to stop her, she swatted at him angrily, countless flapping of her hands. He released her with an “Ow!” as she caught him with one last slap on the arm. And when he straightened, she had an index finger leveled at him firmly.
“Make up your mind!” she ordered him, her jaw clenching, her brown eyes flaming with anger.
“Ok, ok. You’re right,” he said to her with several nods of his bowed head, his hands lifting in a sign of peace before him. “I apologize. I’m sorry, I’m sorry-“
“You had better be!” she cried at him and she drew her finger back, crossing her arms over her chest. “Now, do you want to know or not? And whatever you answer, you had better be sure that’s how you want it to be!”
The Doctor hesitated, hands still raised calmly, eyes trailing down her face. “I…don’t know yet,” he answered slowly.
“Doctor!”
“I know, I know!” he said with another nod, eyes closing with the gesture. And grimacing, he lowered his hands carefully, lips pressing into a firm line. “Ok. Yes. I want to know. I want to know all of it.”
Rose arched a brow at him, head tilting slightly as her expression demanded he be clear of his answer.
“Yes,” he repeated. And then, reaching out slowly, he wrapped his fingers around one of her wrists, dragging her hand away from her chest. “Yes, I want to know. Over tea. Come on. It will calm us both down.”
She fought him for a moment, her jaw clenching. But as he sent her another apologetic look she rolled her eyes, her arms falling limply at her side. “Fine. Go on.”
Carefully, quite aware of her still smoldering anger, he motioned with his head and began to lead her toward the kitchens of the TARDIS, his fingers light around her wrist. The walk there served to cool her irritation and once they had reached the kitchen she held his hand with her own, both of them silent. Releasing her after a long moment, he went to the tea pot to fill it and she moved to the cupboards, reaching in to pull out two mugs and packets of tea silently. Once it was set to boil, the Doctor seated himself at the counter, waiting on her as she set the two mugs beside each other and then joined him.
“No anger,” he promised her as she looked at him wearily. “Just worry. Go ahead.”
Her jaw shifting slightly as she settled, she inhaled deeply. “Ok. I left off with Jack. But I’m not supposed to be telling you this, Doctor. They don’t want you doing something at this point in time to mess up what they’re doing in the future to fix whatever shambles we’re in.”
The Doctor bowed his head, seeming to feel the need to argue but managing to hamper it. “Right. I understand. And I won’t do anything. But I do need you to tell me everything. I need to make sure no one gets hurt with what is going on here.”
Rose gazed at him. And she leaned across the counter, reaching for his hand. He gave it wordlessly, meeting her eyes and managing a faint smile for her as she sent him an anxious look. “I know. I get that. But for now just listen to me and then later we’ll figure out what it all means. Yeah?”
He hesitated at her question but after a moment he nodded in reply.
“Ok,” she breathed. And she released his hand, tapping it slightly. “I’ll pick up with Donna.” Swallowing slightly, Rose straightened on the stool, arms crossing on the counter. “When I met…Donna Noble, she was following us around. Remember? I asked you about the woman with the ginger hair?” At his nod she continued, “He had sent her, the future you, to talk to me.”
“Concerning what?” he asked quietly.
Tilting her head, she reached to fiddle with an earring thoughtfully. “She told me…that something was coming. But for me not to tell you because they were attempting something in the future that could iron out the problems we’re having here and now. She mentioned that they were close. To fixing it, I guess. But then Jack came to talk to me so I really don’t even know anymore.”
The Doctor was silent for a long moment. He knew what he wanted to ask. He just wasn’t asking it yet.
“You want to know what’s coming,” Rose murmured with a knowing look.
His eyes widened slightly but he remained quiet nonetheless.
“I don’t know what’s coming,” she answered still. She shrugged, her hand falling away from her earring and she looked toward the tea pot blindly, musing. “She never told me. Jack didn’t tell me either. But I think whatever it is, they’re trying to fix it. Because…” And finally she broke off, her breath feeling somehow strangled in her throat.
The Doctor was hesitant as well. “Because…”
Pausing, her words feeling heavy suddenly, she lifted her eyes to him. And when he met them he straightened, his lips parting. She knew what he saw. An abrupt change in her face, an unexpected pain in her eyes.
“I don’t think I’m supposed to be here,” she whispered mournfully.
The Doctor stared at her, stunned speechless. And even as her words sank into him he was already shaking his head at that, eyes darting to the countertop. “No. That’s not…”
Rose watched him, her eyes trailing over his face and shoulders as he stammered on.
“I would sense it, Rose,” he explained to her. He lifted a finger motioning to the kitchen, to everything. “If you were not meant to be here I would know it. I would see it. I would know everything wrong because I would need to fix it. There’s nothing wrong with you being here. You were meant to be here-“
“But you don’t see the alternate timelines either,” she said to him quietly, causing him to look at her. “You don’t see where one timeline branches from the first. You don’t see the same things I see. The book, that Matron had-“ she splayed her hands as if she held the book at that very moment. “I saw things in her version of the book that I didn’t see in my own. That I still don’t see in my own.”
The Doctor’s face was solemn, a small smile quirking the corners of his lips. “You still have the journal?” he asked her.
She returned his look, her expression soft. “Yeah. I’m going to keep it forever,” she whispered.
The Doctor gazed at her for a long moment in silence, his face unreadable. But then his gaze dropped back to the counter top, his hands coasting across it absentmindedly. “Well, I’ll let you know what I think,” he said, inhaling deeply.
Rose leaned forward, waiting for him.
Pursing his lips as he mused momentarily, he finally said, “I think…that whatever I’m doing in the future to fix the problems they’re facing…is working. I don’t see anything wrong with the timelines, quite possibly because they could very well be fixed by now. And I think I wasn’t alerted, neither myself nor the TARDIS, to these problems because…perhaps they just weren’t meant to affect us. Maybe what you’ve seen are bits and pieces of their attempts to clear up the timeline. Have you seen anything since? Other than Jack coming back to you? Have you seen shifts in the timeline? Other people doing the things you are doing as well?”
Rose hesitated. “I saw…Martha. On the Pentallian. When the sun was taking you over, the same thing was happening on her side. To you. I saw a different version of you and you were being taken over as well. That was the last time I saw anything like that.” She broke off uncertainly. “Is…is that a good thing?”
The Doctor couldn’t respond for a moment, his shoulders lifting to shrug. “I…couldn’t even tell you,” he answered bitterly. And he glanced over, Rose jumping, as the tea pot began to sing. Rising, he moved toward the pot and removed it from the flame. “I will tell you this, though. If they have the problem solved, or close to being solved in their time, I’m more than willing to leave it in their very capable hands. In my very capable future hands, if I do say so myself.”
Rose snickered at that, causing him to throw her a small grin as he set about preparing the tea. “Then…” she prodded him, leaning her elbows on the counter and shifting restlessly. “You forgive me for not telling you?” she asked.
The Doctor slowed in pouring the tea. “To be quite honest, I forgave you the moment after you told me. A part of me knew you hadn’t held back from telling me to be cruel. You had your reasons for not telling me.” Finishing with her mug, he reached out and set it in front of her on the counter before turning to his.
Rose dragged the mug close to her frame, feeling the heat rise from the liquid. “And we’ll leave it now?” she asked him. “We’ll let them do what they have to do? Just the way they wanted?”
The Doctor was already nodding as he finished up his own mug and brought it over. “Yes. I will distance myself from the issue and see what comes of it. But if there are more visits, more problems with the timelines, I need you to tell me. Don’t hide things like this from me, Rose. The future Doctor and I are still the same person. We only want-“ And he broke off as he settled into the seat opposite her, playing with the handle of the mug silently.
She smiled at his bowed head, wanting him to look at her but content with merely gazing at his profile. “I know.” And as he finally lifted his head to look at her she smiled and took a sip of the tea.
Next Chapter - Chapter Thirty-Three: Summer In Those Eyes
Wordlessly, the Doctor turned left and bolted, hauling the girl after him. Stumbling at the sudden movement she quickly righted herself and ran, following closely, their hands caught together. He was breathing hard, heaving almost, but not from exertion.
It was falling apart, here and now.