Fic: "Something New," DW, Rose/Ten, PG.
First thing I've written in weeks besides the "Heroes" Big Boom. I guess I just had to work out some finale issues! (And I still don't think they're entirely worked out.)
SIGH.
Title: "Something New"
Author: monimala
Fandom: "Doctor Who"
Rating: PG
Word Count: 575
Disclaimer: Uncle Rusty and Auntie Beeb own all.
Summary: Takes place directly after 4.13, "Journey's End." Rose comes full circle, sort of.
"This is wrong," she says, softly, once the whirring noise and its echoes have evaporated into the vast nothing of Bad Wolf Bay. "You're wrong," she adds, looking at the man who is a Timelord and a human at the same time, at the man who is the Doctor and isn't the Doctor at the same time.
He doesn't disagree. He just stands there, hands in the pockets of TARDIS blue trousers, kicking his trainers against the sand. His mouth begins to reshape the words he whispered in her ear, the words she waited two lifetimes and traveled across time to hear, and she lifts her hand, violently shaking her head. No. No, because as much as they made her heart thud in her chest and her stomach leap, they were wrong, too. "Stop it," she whispers, tongue flicking out nervously over her dry lips.
She can still taste it. The difference. The bit of other. She reckons it must be the science of one heart versus two. A heart that's going to grow old, going to skip beats, going to clog up like a drain if he eats too many chips.
"Rose, you silly girl," her mum chides, tugging at her arm. "Rose, he's not your Doctor, but he's *a* Doctor, isn't he?"
It's easy for Jackie to say that, because she and the Pete who isn't Rose's father get on so well. For them, it was like magic. Pete lost his Jacks and Jacks lost her Pete and in each other they instantly found what they were missing.
This Doctor never lost her, never missed her. He never breathed the heart of the TARDIS from her mouth and never said goodbye to her on this very beach, even if he remembers the shadow of every event in between that made her fall in love with him. This Doctor was born hours ago in the Medusa Cascade. He cocks his head just so, stares at her with dark eyes so familiar that she aches. They aren't familiar enough. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
Jackie teleports then, mumbling something about going to get a car or a transport and how Pete and Tony will never believe where she's been. Rose barely acknowledges the shimmer of the device. "I… I can't call you his name," she says, shrugging blankly. "I just can't."
*I can't love you. Not like him.*
"Then don't." He offers the sad ghost of a smile, a ghost that wants to be big and bright and bordering on absolutely mad. Then he slowly puts out his hand, wiggles his fingers in an urge for her to take hold. "Call me, call this, something new."
The man who is a Timelord and a human at the same time has a warm palm. As much as she wants to lift it to her face, see if it feels the same against her cheek, she gives it a good, firm shake instead. But she's lost enough, learned enough, that she doesn't let go straightaway.
This is wrong, but she'll make do. She has no choice.
No, wait, that's not true, she corrects, stubbornly setting her jaw and eyeing him with resolve. There is one thing. "Well, then… got any suggestions? Roger, maybe?"
"What? Oi! Do I look like a Roger to you?"
"Mickey?"
"Taken!"
"Jack?"
"Taken by entirely too many, I suspect."
"Howard?"
"Oh, now that's just *mean*, Rose Tyler."
She chooses to make it fantastic.
--end--
July 6, 2008
SIGH.
Title: "Something New"
Author: monimala
Fandom: "Doctor Who"
Rating: PG
Word Count: 575
Disclaimer: Uncle Rusty and Auntie Beeb own all.
Summary: Takes place directly after 4.13, "Journey's End." Rose comes full circle, sort of.
"This is wrong," she says, softly, once the whirring noise and its echoes have evaporated into the vast nothing of Bad Wolf Bay. "You're wrong," she adds, looking at the man who is a Timelord and a human at the same time, at the man who is the Doctor and isn't the Doctor at the same time.
He doesn't disagree. He just stands there, hands in the pockets of TARDIS blue trousers, kicking his trainers against the sand. His mouth begins to reshape the words he whispered in her ear, the words she waited two lifetimes and traveled across time to hear, and she lifts her hand, violently shaking her head. No. No, because as much as they made her heart thud in her chest and her stomach leap, they were wrong, too. "Stop it," she whispers, tongue flicking out nervously over her dry lips.
She can still taste it. The difference. The bit of other. She reckons it must be the science of one heart versus two. A heart that's going to grow old, going to skip beats, going to clog up like a drain if he eats too many chips.
"Rose, you silly girl," her mum chides, tugging at her arm. "Rose, he's not your Doctor, but he's *a* Doctor, isn't he?"
It's easy for Jackie to say that, because she and the Pete who isn't Rose's father get on so well. For them, it was like magic. Pete lost his Jacks and Jacks lost her Pete and in each other they instantly found what they were missing.
This Doctor never lost her, never missed her. He never breathed the heart of the TARDIS from her mouth and never said goodbye to her on this very beach, even if he remembers the shadow of every event in between that made her fall in love with him. This Doctor was born hours ago in the Medusa Cascade. He cocks his head just so, stares at her with dark eyes so familiar that she aches. They aren't familiar enough. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
Jackie teleports then, mumbling something about going to get a car or a transport and how Pete and Tony will never believe where she's been. Rose barely acknowledges the shimmer of the device. "I… I can't call you his name," she says, shrugging blankly. "I just can't."
*I can't love you. Not like him.*
"Then don't." He offers the sad ghost of a smile, a ghost that wants to be big and bright and bordering on absolutely mad. Then he slowly puts out his hand, wiggles his fingers in an urge for her to take hold. "Call me, call this, something new."
The man who is a Timelord and a human at the same time has a warm palm. As much as she wants to lift it to her face, see if it feels the same against her cheek, she gives it a good, firm shake instead. But she's lost enough, learned enough, that she doesn't let go straightaway.
This is wrong, but she'll make do. She has no choice.
No, wait, that's not true, she corrects, stubbornly setting her jaw and eyeing him with resolve. There is one thing. "Well, then… got any suggestions? Roger, maybe?"
"What? Oi! Do I look like a Roger to you?"
"Mickey?"
"Taken!"
"Jack?"
"Taken by entirely too many, I suspect."
"Howard?"
"Oh, now that's just *mean*, Rose Tyler."
She chooses to make it fantastic.
--end--
July 6, 2008