[Doctor Who] Eternity Measured in Light
Inspiration hit me the moment I finished watching 1x05. I couldn’t help myself, so even though it was nearly 2a.m. in the morning, I had to start a fic.
Title: Eternity Measured in Light
Series: Doctor Who
Rating: K+
Characters: Nine/Rose
Word Count: 685; Short short
It’s her third visit home; the time is one and a half years later since she ever stepped into the Tardis, the mysterious atmosphere greeting her, the not-so-fresh air filling her nose and lungs. Now she breathes it every day, has breathed it until she got here, embracing her mother and tears flowing for the third time.
The time seems to elapse too quickly when Rose is home. She catches up on the town news-the latest fashion, maybe, just to sink into the sofa and sigh about it or baking something with Jackie… but who is she kidding, she is Rose Tyler and neither she nor her birthmother was made for kitchen breeding. They both believe that the daughter, especially, was cut out for an adventure like no other.
It is only four o’ clock in the afternoon (four thirty-three to be exact) when she finally notices the gap in the air, the emptiness that flows like seawater over her skin. She puts a hand to her own face at that moment, a split second before she realizes her phone is ringing, and hastily picks it up without looking. (She doesn’t need to look. She knows when to hear his voice on the line, that precise moment in which he greets her without a hello.)
“Would it really kill you to let me stay here? For at least ten more minutes?”
/Well, seeing how there is a crisis over in Propakhanda, two million light years away with its population screaming for battle, yes, probably./
She smiles a little, the expression playing on her mouth. She knows he can see it, at least to an extent. “Is it all about saving the world? (Is it something less, something more?)”
/I prefer to take the opposite side of a hero. Being heroic is a tiresome job, so someone else can take the matter into his hands. Now that’s that, but the time is ticking and the planet’s waiting, Rose. That world could end with a snap and you wouldn’t even get to see it./
“Will I miss anything grand? I’m having coffee with my mother.” She can imagine it, the crease in his eyebrows, the way he glances at her with such an incredulous look.
/What do you think? You’ve been around me long enough, you should know./
Her heart finally bursts into excited flames and she laughs aloud, the sound carrying over to the other side like echoes, the beautiful sounds that can only be heard at the top of high mountains-but he can hear it right through his ear from this girl, an ordinary earthling who is nothing like he originally thought her to be.
He gazes at the center of the time machine, its gears ticking. “Are you coming or not?”
She clears her throat to gather it all back together. /I’ll be there in a minute./
“Remember, being late is not an exception.”
.
“I promise, mum, I’ll stay longer next time.”
Jackie kisses her daughter endearingly on the cheek and hugs her once more tightly. “I still don’t understand-you and that Doctor are so busy all the time! I’ll telling you, Rose, it better not be anything more serious. See, even if you are infatuated, something like marrying him is another story! He is an alien, you know-”
Her daughter backs away and catches her by the shoulders. There’s that laughter in her eyes again, the strange sense of mischief, fresh and new in her stare. “Don’t worry; we’ll never be able to marry. The Doctor does not do well with families.”
Then, wagging her finger with a broad grin, Rose waves goodbye to her mother and Mickey who comes running late from the bathroom to see her away. She gives them one last good look and then closes the door to a changing universe-and he is there, his arms crossed and the word ‘journey’ carved into his very face.
“Ready?”
She nods, walking up to stand by his side, looking eye to eye.
“Where to?” He asks nonchalantly, shrugging.
“Two million light years away from here.”
Title: Eternity Measured in Light
Series: Doctor Who
Rating: K+
Characters: Nine/Rose
Word Count: 685; Short short
It’s her third visit home; the time is one and a half years later since she ever stepped into the Tardis, the mysterious atmosphere greeting her, the not-so-fresh air filling her nose and lungs. Now she breathes it every day, has breathed it until she got here, embracing her mother and tears flowing for the third time.
The time seems to elapse too quickly when Rose is home. She catches up on the town news-the latest fashion, maybe, just to sink into the sofa and sigh about it or baking something with Jackie… but who is she kidding, she is Rose Tyler and neither she nor her birthmother was made for kitchen breeding. They both believe that the daughter, especially, was cut out for an adventure like no other.
It is only four o’ clock in the afternoon (four thirty-three to be exact) when she finally notices the gap in the air, the emptiness that flows like seawater over her skin. She puts a hand to her own face at that moment, a split second before she realizes her phone is ringing, and hastily picks it up without looking. (She doesn’t need to look. She knows when to hear his voice on the line, that precise moment in which he greets her without a hello.)
“Would it really kill you to let me stay here? For at least ten more minutes?”
/Well, seeing how there is a crisis over in Propakhanda, two million light years away with its population screaming for battle, yes, probably./
She smiles a little, the expression playing on her mouth. She knows he can see it, at least to an extent. “Is it all about saving the world? (Is it something less, something more?)”
/I prefer to take the opposite side of a hero. Being heroic is a tiresome job, so someone else can take the matter into his hands. Now that’s that, but the time is ticking and the planet’s waiting, Rose. That world could end with a snap and you wouldn’t even get to see it./
“Will I miss anything grand? I’m having coffee with my mother.” She can imagine it, the crease in his eyebrows, the way he glances at her with such an incredulous look.
/What do you think? You’ve been around me long enough, you should know./
Her heart finally bursts into excited flames and she laughs aloud, the sound carrying over to the other side like echoes, the beautiful sounds that can only be heard at the top of high mountains-but he can hear it right through his ear from this girl, an ordinary earthling who is nothing like he originally thought her to be.
He gazes at the center of the time machine, its gears ticking. “Are you coming or not?”
She clears her throat to gather it all back together. /I’ll be there in a minute./
“Remember, being late is not an exception.”
.
“I promise, mum, I’ll stay longer next time.”
Jackie kisses her daughter endearingly on the cheek and hugs her once more tightly. “I still don’t understand-you and that Doctor are so busy all the time! I’ll telling you, Rose, it better not be anything more serious. See, even if you are infatuated, something like marrying him is another story! He is an alien, you know-”
Her daughter backs away and catches her by the shoulders. There’s that laughter in her eyes again, the strange sense of mischief, fresh and new in her stare. “Don’t worry; we’ll never be able to marry. The Doctor does not do well with families.”
Then, wagging her finger with a broad grin, Rose waves goodbye to her mother and Mickey who comes running late from the bathroom to see her away. She gives them one last good look and then closes the door to a changing universe-and he is there, his arms crossed and the word ‘journey’ carved into his very face.
“Ready?”
She nods, walking up to stand by his side, looking eye to eye.
“Where to?” He asks nonchalantly, shrugging.
“Two million light years away from here.”