(Untitled)

[unitethem]

Jack'd left her at the outside of the TARDIS, and Rose found herself standing and staring at it for far, far longer than she'd expected too. It was just a blue box, a blue wooden box, and... and yet, here she was. Here she was, beach in the middle of nowhere, cell phone that wasn't working, and... and apparently with the Doctor

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[sortofaman]

The Doctor was researching...okay, so researching xenopsychology was the excuse he'd made to go into the TARDIS and rummage about in the computers for a while. The space station misadventure with Jack had got him wondering if he shouldn't fix his sonic screwdriver a bit, and he was looking for a file on resonator devices that he knew was in there somewhere.

The Smashing Pumpkins were merely a bagatelle on top of it all and air guitar might have been involved. When the door opened, he had one of those moments where everything seemed utterly normal, and he waved a bit in the general direction of the entrance, head bopping along to the beat. Really melodramatic this song...

Which was about the time he did a double take, and stared for a while.

[unitethem]

Rose bit her lip, half turning to nod at the door. "I just... sort of... let myself in. Jack- He... uh." She bit her lips together, and she took two steps towards him and stopped, her hands shoved in the back pockets of her jeans. "Told me you were here. And- Uhm." She gave up in that second, sort of gave up on words and just stood there, her eyes stinging.

"He told me quite a bit, actually. And m'phone doesn't work. The one you'd fixed? So, this is some sort of hole to nowhere." She was looking everywhere but at him, at the ceiling, the console--

"And you're- I just had to come, and..."

She was trying to fill the hole, but she just couldn't get anywhere.

[sortofaman]

Jack. The Doctor sort of processed that, then made a mental note to give said person a Piece Of His Mind for not talking to him first. "Oh. Um."

Ridiculously awkward, this, and he was fairly sure he'd be all right with it in a minute, just not when he'd been walked in on playing an invisible guitar to "Bullet With Butterfly Wings". "Hullo, Rose. It's been a long time." He cleared his throat and turned off the music with a push of one button.

After a moment, he realised she looked a bit older. Then again, so did he.

[unitethem]

She moved closer, and still hesitated, her voice oddly tight. "You've no idea." She licked her lips, and took a deep breath- And just gave in, the three steps enough to where she was hugging him as tight as she could, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as she pressed her forehead against his shoulder. "Hi," she said again because she didn't know what else to say, what else she was supposed to say right now with him just saying It's been a long time.

She pulled back enough to look up at him. "I know it's been- It's been a long time, for you. Norway, Jack said? The first time?" Her brows furrowed in a mix of concern and sympathy, and a little bit of nervousness.