who_topia 1.9.1 - After the Worst
"I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is the leaving you all. I'm not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven." Louisa May Alcott - Little Women - Spoken by Beth to Jo.
The day after the worst day of her life, Rose woke up in a tiny hotel in a tiny town somewhere in Norway. Her back was stiff from the hard mattress, her fingers ached from biting her nails down to the nub, and her eyes were puffy from crying. Jackie woke her up early and bundled her into Pete’s jeep.
The trip to Norway had been full of tense-yet-hopeful silence, music to fill the time, and a bit of conversation, work stories, little word games. They drove through Holland playing a few intense and amusing rounds of Mornington Crescent.
The trip back, though... it wasn’t silent. Pete and Jackie kept up an almost constant commentary over the music that they kept on a little louder than strictly necessary, Mickey putting in his two cents every so often, rapping a bit with the radio.
Rose curled up in her seat with her forehead pressed to the window and watched Europe pass by.
A week after the worst day of Rose’s life, she finally left her bedroom and went downstairs for breakfast. Of course, given that it was three in the morning, there was no one to see her downstairs, but it was a step, she felt, and anyway she didn’t want to deal with the awkward silences or awkward conversations that she knew would fill the time if she had breakfast with her mum and Pete..
She sat on the kitchen counter with a bowl of cereal and a cup of tea, and started crying before she was halfway done. Everything seemed to have a memory, even here in this mansion she’d hardly been in before, in this world they’d spent not even twenty-four hours in together. She remembered sitting somewhere on some planet as some alien housewife and her partner fixed them breakfast, the Doctor exclaiming over the sweet breakfast cereals and grinning like a little kid when he was allowed seconds. She remembered sitting on the counter in her mum’s council flat as Jackie tried to teach the Doctor to cook shepherd’s pie and how he, despite his insistence that he was a perfectly proficient chef, set the pie on fire.
The next day, she came downstairs for breakfast with the family, and she didn’t shed a tear.
A fortnight after the worst day of her life, Rose went back to work. She got some curious looks and two or three soft questions, but on the whole, it was as if nothing had changed. Rose, who had always been quiet and a bit broken, was no different, only a bit more determined, somehow, and no one saw fit to comment on that.
Six months after the worst day of her life, Rose went on a date.
It wasn’t her idea, and it wasn’t her choice of dates, but Jackie thought that maybe she should get out, and Pete knew this nice boy in research who was more than willing to have a drink with a pretty blonde field agent. Rose listened politely, smiled and nodded, laughed softly at his jokes, and told him the sex was amazing at the end of the night. He smiled awkwardly and asked if he could call her, and she smiled and gave him a number that was two digits off.
She went home and spent the next twelve hours in bed with a vibrator and a box of tissues, alternately crying and orgasming, sometimes at the same time.
A year and a half after the worst day of her life, give or take, Rose laughed in public for the first time in a year and a half - properly laughed, not just polite and quiet and stifled, but loud and a little obnoxious, with her head thrown back and her eyes twinkling. She twirled around with Tony on her hip, the people assembled for his first birthday party watching in mingled surprise and pleasure. A photographer sold a picture of the two of them to the Sun, which speculated that the reclusive and private heiress had possibly fallen in love recently.
Rose just shook her head when her co-workers asked, and just said that she’d had a good night.
Just two hours before the picture was taken, Rose had received confirmation from her superiors at work that her newest project had been approved and they could begin work on it immediately.
Only Tony could be certain the two were related, and he wasn’t talking.
Two years or two years and six months (depending on how you measured time) after the worst day of her life, Rose found herself on that beach in Norway again, feeling her heart break again, saying good-bye to her Doctor again.
She refused to show how much it hurt her to be left behind again, and when Jackie tried to make conversation to fill the silence as they took the train to the nearest zeppelin port, Rose joined in enthusiastically and pretended she didn’t see how the Other Doctor’s eyes followed her every move, and how they were shadowed by the realisation that the kiss on the beach didn’t mean things would work the way they were meant to.
Jackie booked them all on a sleeper, since the trip would be slower (but more comfortable) than taking the train all the way back to England. Rose wasn’t entirely sure what her mother was trying to do when she only booked two rooms, but she made herself comfortable on half of the bed and tried to pretend she didn’t notice the Other Doctor pace and stand awkwardly before settling gingerly on the other half of the bed without touching her.
She woke up with his arm around her waist and his face nuzzled into her neck, his breath warm on her skin. It was different than she remembered, how he kept her warm under the blankets when she remembered how cool his skin used to be against hers.
Two years, six months, and one day after the worst day of her life (give or take), Rose Tyler decided to move on with her life. This wasn’t what she wanted, not by a long shot, but it was something.
And maybe it was enough.
Rose Tyler
1041 words
The day after the worst day of her life, Rose woke up in a tiny hotel in a tiny town somewhere in Norway. Her back was stiff from the hard mattress, her fingers ached from biting her nails down to the nub, and her eyes were puffy from crying. Jackie woke her up early and bundled her into Pete’s jeep.
The trip to Norway had been full of tense-yet-hopeful silence, music to fill the time, and a bit of conversation, work stories, little word games. They drove through Holland playing a few intense and amusing rounds of Mornington Crescent.
The trip back, though... it wasn’t silent. Pete and Jackie kept up an almost constant commentary over the music that they kept on a little louder than strictly necessary, Mickey putting in his two cents every so often, rapping a bit with the radio.
Rose curled up in her seat with her forehead pressed to the window and watched Europe pass by.
A week after the worst day of Rose’s life, she finally left her bedroom and went downstairs for breakfast. Of course, given that it was three in the morning, there was no one to see her downstairs, but it was a step, she felt, and anyway she didn’t want to deal with the awkward silences or awkward conversations that she knew would fill the time if she had breakfast with her mum and Pete..
She sat on the kitchen counter with a bowl of cereal and a cup of tea, and started crying before she was halfway done. Everything seemed to have a memory, even here in this mansion she’d hardly been in before, in this world they’d spent not even twenty-four hours in together. She remembered sitting somewhere on some planet as some alien housewife and her partner fixed them breakfast, the Doctor exclaiming over the sweet breakfast cereals and grinning like a little kid when he was allowed seconds. She remembered sitting on the counter in her mum’s council flat as Jackie tried to teach the Doctor to cook shepherd’s pie and how he, despite his insistence that he was a perfectly proficient chef, set the pie on fire.
The next day, she came downstairs for breakfast with the family, and she didn’t shed a tear.
A fortnight after the worst day of her life, Rose went back to work. She got some curious looks and two or three soft questions, but on the whole, it was as if nothing had changed. Rose, who had always been quiet and a bit broken, was no different, only a bit more determined, somehow, and no one saw fit to comment on that.
Six months after the worst day of her life, Rose went on a date.
It wasn’t her idea, and it wasn’t her choice of dates, but Jackie thought that maybe she should get out, and Pete knew this nice boy in research who was more than willing to have a drink with a pretty blonde field agent. Rose listened politely, smiled and nodded, laughed softly at his jokes, and told him the sex was amazing at the end of the night. He smiled awkwardly and asked if he could call her, and she smiled and gave him a number that was two digits off.
She went home and spent the next twelve hours in bed with a vibrator and a box of tissues, alternately crying and orgasming, sometimes at the same time.
A year and a half after the worst day of her life, give or take, Rose laughed in public for the first time in a year and a half - properly laughed, not just polite and quiet and stifled, but loud and a little obnoxious, with her head thrown back and her eyes twinkling. She twirled around with Tony on her hip, the people assembled for his first birthday party watching in mingled surprise and pleasure. A photographer sold a picture of the two of them to the Sun, which speculated that the reclusive and private heiress had possibly fallen in love recently.
Rose just shook her head when her co-workers asked, and just said that she’d had a good night.
Just two hours before the picture was taken, Rose had received confirmation from her superiors at work that her newest project had been approved and they could begin work on it immediately.
Only Tony could be certain the two were related, and he wasn’t talking.
Two years or two years and six months (depending on how you measured time) after the worst day of her life, Rose found herself on that beach in Norway again, feeling her heart break again, saying good-bye to her Doctor again.
She refused to show how much it hurt her to be left behind again, and when Jackie tried to make conversation to fill the silence as they took the train to the nearest zeppelin port, Rose joined in enthusiastically and pretended she didn’t see how the Other Doctor’s eyes followed her every move, and how they were shadowed by the realisation that the kiss on the beach didn’t mean things would work the way they were meant to.
Jackie booked them all on a sleeper, since the trip would be slower (but more comfortable) than taking the train all the way back to England. Rose wasn’t entirely sure what her mother was trying to do when she only booked two rooms, but she made herself comfortable on half of the bed and tried to pretend she didn’t notice the Other Doctor pace and stand awkwardly before settling gingerly on the other half of the bed without touching her.
She woke up with his arm around her waist and his face nuzzled into her neck, his breath warm on her skin. It was different than she remembered, how he kept her warm under the blankets when she remembered how cool his skin used to be against hers.
Two years, six months, and one day after the worst day of her life (give or take), Rose Tyler decided to move on with her life. This wasn’t what she wanted, not by a long shot, but it was something.
And maybe it was enough.
Rose Tyler
1041 words