Their Girl (Fic: Doctor Who, 10.5/R/S, Ficlet)
The first time Sarah Tyler-Smith sees the inside of Torchwood Tower, she’s ten years old.
She’s begged for years, of course. Rose gave her a firm no each time. The Doctor-John, as he’s known by now-started, many times, with a wavering “welllll…” before a sharp elbow from his wife cut him short. Pete, a doting grandfather in all other respects, gave in to every other request but that one.
For years, Rose and John had battled, back and forth, on when to show her, when to tell her. She’s ten, John had finally argued this year. She won’t stand for us evading much longer.
They have a meeting to get to, so for now they decide it’s all right to leave Sarah with Dr. Rourke, Torchwood’s resident astrophysicist. He’s been a friend of Rose’s since she joined up, and John has gotten on quite well with him, consulting on some of the more difficult space-time conundrums they come across.
They stay to chat with Rourke for a few minutes before the meeting, leaving Sarah to roam the office and look at maps, star charts, the kinds of things John shows her once she’s done her homework. But more than anything, her attention is captured by a yellow button in a glass case.
“What’s this?” she asks, during a lull in the grownups’ conversation, before seeing the case’s plaque. “The dim-en-sion cannon,” she sounds out. She looks up at Rourke and her parents inquisitively. “What’s it do?”
As Rourke goes over to explain, John and Rose stand together, his arm around her waist. With her blond hair and toothy smile, Sarah’s the spitting image of Rose. Now more than ever, they realize how much so.
“The dimension cannon,” John says softly, nostalgically.
And Rose says proudly, “That’s my girl.”
She’s begged for years, of course. Rose gave her a firm no each time. The Doctor-John, as he’s known by now-started, many times, with a wavering “welllll…” before a sharp elbow from his wife cut him short. Pete, a doting grandfather in all other respects, gave in to every other request but that one.
For years, Rose and John had battled, back and forth, on when to show her, when to tell her. She’s ten, John had finally argued this year. She won’t stand for us evading much longer.
They have a meeting to get to, so for now they decide it’s all right to leave Sarah with Dr. Rourke, Torchwood’s resident astrophysicist. He’s been a friend of Rose’s since she joined up, and John has gotten on quite well with him, consulting on some of the more difficult space-time conundrums they come across.
They stay to chat with Rourke for a few minutes before the meeting, leaving Sarah to roam the office and look at maps, star charts, the kinds of things John shows her once she’s done her homework. But more than anything, her attention is captured by a yellow button in a glass case.
“What’s this?” she asks, during a lull in the grownups’ conversation, before seeing the case’s plaque. “The dim-en-sion cannon,” she sounds out. She looks up at Rourke and her parents inquisitively. “What’s it do?”
As Rourke goes over to explain, John and Rose stand together, his arm around her waist. With her blond hair and toothy smile, Sarah’s the spitting image of Rose. Now more than ever, they realize how much so.
“The dimension cannon,” John says softly, nostalgically.
And Rose says proudly, “That’s my girl.”