Well this is surreal. I can't believe I'm actually on the final chapter of a story. As some people who've read my other stories might realise, I don't generally... bother building up and carrying out a whole plot. So this is a particularly momentous occasion. The first ever (running) fanfic I've finished. Although I am pretty tempted to throw in a random and completely unrelated plot twist so I can continue it. But I realise it has to end. Unfortunately, I don't think you're going to actually like this ending. Especially if you're one of the ones who's been routinely asking for a nice romantic climax. So sorry about that. Mention the E word and maybe, just maybe, I could be persuaded...
Thanks to everyone who's reviewed throughout the story. You make my day. Days. Mentions...
eveekitty85: Ok, this ending is probably not going to make you particularly happy. So, sorry. But if it's any consolation, it doesn't make me that happy either... But I hope you like it anyway. I really do. Thanks for being such a great reviewer throughout the whole story, for every chapter. I really am honoured.
Jessie Wings: I like the way you think, lol. And would you mind explaining how the tone changed? I'm interested and rather dense. Thanks for reading and reviewing, even though you're not a particular fan of Doctor/Rose. :D
Vampirehelsing: And now I'm putting more up. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for reading!
Becsy Lexi: Well, here, all is resolved. Although, probably not quite as much as you'd like. Thank you so much for all your lovely reviews throughout the whole story. You're awesome (I love that word.)
Laseri: Ah, but this is... So here it is. The end. I'm feeling very sad. I really hope you enjoy it, after all the reviews you've given me. Thanks so much.
GinnyGin: Yeah, you can visit the Doctor. I suppose so. We should probably just go live in the TARDIS together, you know... I hope you like this and it works ok. Thanks for being such a great reviewer. And I'm glad we've resolved the Doctor and Jack custody issues. :D
WonderlandsOutcast: You got a lolly? I want to go to your school! I'm really glad you like the fic and I hope you enjoy this last chapter...
YamiKITG: I don't know if the Doctor has a TARDIS licence. But it would make an interesting fic... Thanks for reviewing and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
LilCosette: Nah, you can't feel sorry for Adam... Well, this should be the end. I hope you enjoy it and thanks for reviewing:D
LiTtLePeRsOn: Ok, I'm really sorry for mentioning school. And I hope this does make up for it. Thanks for reviewing.
earthdrago: Hmm. Not sure if you'll like the ending so much, but I hope it's ok. Sorry I didn't explain the hat thing so well in the story. But, anyway. Last chapter – I really hope you enjoy it!
The Angel Of Hope: So here it is. The final chapter. Hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much for all your reviews!
tulzdavampslayer: Yup, the finale. As it were. Well, I hope you like it anyhow. Thanks for reading and reviewing!
sora's-evil-twin.the-Bad-Wolf: Of course I'm going to update. And here it is. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks so much for reviewing.
Dr Azaria: You don't need to apologise. It's all fine. Well, I hope this chapter managed to work for your first two hopes. Not sure what it'll do about the third... Anyway, thanks very much for reading and reviewing. I appreciate it a lot. :D
Princess Jennifer: Well, thanks so much for reviewing. I really hope you enjoy this final chapter. School sucks, but I hope this may help you to forget a while...
Disclaimer: Not mine and the other nine chapters aren't, either.
"What is it?" asked the Doctor, taking the tin foil package from Rose and sitting down at the table, "A baked potato? We're not going for the healthier chip option, are we?"
He peeled back a bit of the wrapper and exposed the hard pink of the crystal.
"It's a crystal," he observed, mildly, "A pink one. Very pretty."
He looked up at Rose, who was leaning against the kitchen worktop, watching him expectantly. He noticed the disappointment and confusion in her gaze as she saw him place the crystal back down on the table.
"It's a very nice crystal," he tried again. "A good, strong pink." He grinned at her, mainly because he was at a loss as to what else he was supposed to do.
"It was prettier before," said Rose, not even bothering to conceal her frustration, "There was a light shining up through it. And it made me feel... made me feel completely calm. Completely relaxed – like nothing in the world mattered." She sank into a chair opposite the Doctor and buried her head in her hands. "I was so sure it was the thing you needed. So sure."
The Doctor looked at her curiously, her head down with her blonde hair concealing her face. He managed to suppress a strong desire to stroke her hair away from her face.
"Is that why you had to... had to distract Fridem?" he asked, gently, "So you could take this?"
"Yeah," muttered Rose, not lifting her head, "He was using it to control people on the planet. That's why everyone was so relaxed– not just because of the drugs. I thought that that was what you were asking him for, so I took it. It was obvious he wasn't going to give it to you, anyway." She looked up at him, bleakly, "Shouldn't have bothered, should I?"
He didn't answer her, though. The Doctor was looking down at the partially unwrapped crystal with an expression of intent fascination.
"Controlling people..?" he asked nobody in particular.
Gently, he lifted the crystal back off the table and held in his hands. Sensing the change in his mood, Rose watched him fixedly as he completely removed her sorry, tin-foil hat. When he had freed the small crystal, he turned it around in his hands for a bit, seemingly examining it closely.
"The base wouldn't come off," explained Rose, as she noticed him stop and gently touch it, stroking it with his index finger, "I tried, but I couldn't get it free..."
She trailed off as the Doctor suddenly looked up at her and grinned manically. His eyes were sparkling with something that looked to Rose like wonder and extreme excitement.
"Rose," he began, his voice coming out as little more than a breathy whisper.
He cleared his throat. Rose watched him, apprehensively. Was she imagining things, or were there tiny tears in his eyes?
"Rose," he said, in a much stronger voice, "I don't think you realise what... What..."
Suddenly, he lunged across the table and kissed Rose roughly on the forehead.
"Thank you, Rose. This is fantastic. You're fantastic! Best companion I-" He resumed his manic grinning, looking like he couldn't quite believe what was happening.
"S'ok," said Rose, her cheeks markedly pinker, still reeling from the kiss and compliments, "So it's something more than just a pretty crystal?"
"Crystal?" asked the Doctor, looking at her in bemusement, "Oh, the crystal's nothing. That was probably what was distorting the signal. No," he said, turning over the crystal, so Rose could get a clearer look at the rusty, metal base, three long spokes clinging firmly to the crystal, "This is what's important."
"What, that bit of metal?" exclaimed Rose, in surprise.
The Doctor looked at her, reproachfully.
"It's not just a 'bit of metal', Rose," he said, gently, "It's a bit of Gallifreyan metal. Probably one of the only remainders of its kind. I thought Fridem might have had something like it, but it was always a long shot. But now... Well, thanks to you, I have it."
Rose stared at the base, in awe. She'd originally thought it was worthless. Completely unnecessary. With growing horror, she remembered how hard she had tried to leave it behind. But it had turned out to be a link to the Doctor's home. And judging by the Doctor's reaction, a pretty important one, too.
"So was that what was producing the... calming ray things?" She asked, turning her attention back to the Doctor.
"Well, yes," said the Doctor, "It would have been producing the original signal. However, that pretty, pink crystal, would have distorted them. Dispersed and rearranged the components so that instead of feeling calm, they would have become little short of mindless. It's a healing tool," he added, "Soothes and heals. I haven't seen one since... you know."
"So is it going to go into the MedLab?" prompted Rose.
"MedLab?" echoed the Doctor, "Oh, no. It's not for healing people, Rose. That's probably why it caused – or prevented, depending how you look at it - so many problems on PeaceandLove. No, it's meant for healing the TARDIS."
"Right," Rose blinked, "So... what are you going to do with it, then?"
"Do with it?" said the Doctor, repeating her again, "Well, I'm going to do a hell of a lot with it. When I manage to install this into the old girl's system, you'll notice the difference, I promise."
"I will?" asked Rose, finding herself suddenly imagining the TARDIS turning pink.
The Doctor just continued grinning and pulled out the Sonic Screwdriver.
"If I can just remove this crystal without harming the base..."
Rose laughed, as the Doctor stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth in concentration. The Doctor glanced up at her and his grin broadened when he noticed the happy expression with which she was watching him.
Rose. His Rose. Female human. He'd taken her right out of her council estate. Shown her things that could have destroyed her. And what did she do? She laughed. She made him tea. She brought him a Gallifreyan artefact without him even asking – without him even implying that it was the thing that was needed. Amazing, really. With her, he wasn't alone. And he would have done anything in the world for her. Anything.
"Hey," he said, pausing in his careful examination of the metal with the Sonic Screwdriver, "When I've got this sorted, I'll take you anywhere you want to go. Somewhere amazing. I owe you."
"You don't owe me anything," said Rose lightly, smiling in amusement, "I'm here. On the TARDIS. With you. You've already taken me to amazing places. You've changed my life. What could you possibly owe me?"
If it was possible, the Doctor's grin became even wider and his eyes seemed to positively glow. His Rose.
"Besides," added Rose, conversationally, "It's not like I'd know anywhere to go, is it? I think I'll leave you to do the choosing. Or, you know, the TARDIS to do the choosing. Seeing as she's the one who seems to decide where we go. She'll like that... the thing, will she?"
"Of course she will," he answered immediately. His brow creased slightly as remembered something – realised something.
"So that's what it was," he said wonderingly, looking around in the way that Rose now knew meant he was thinking about the TARDIS.
"That's what what was?" asked Rose, curiously, frowning a little as she tried to get the difficult sentence out.
"Oh," said the Doctor, "When you were... well, having dinner with Fridem, me and Ben were going to go out somewhere." He paused as he saw Rose raise her eyebrows at him.
"You were going to go out with Ben?" she asked, mockingly.
"I had to get him out!" said the Doctor, defensively, "You have no idea how irritating that guy was, Rose. I mean, he was a nice enough, I suppose, but my God, he knew how to ask questions."
Rose simply shrugged and smiled – happy that the Doctor had at least admitted that Ben was a nice guy.
"Anyway," the Doctor continued on with his explanation, "As we were leaving, the TARDIS started sending me shocks. I could get in and out, but every time I touched her, I'd get an electric shock. So I thought... well, since nothing else seemed to be going wrong, I thought it must be something to do with you." He looked up at her for a second and Rose was struck by the genuine concern in his eyes, "Anyway, so we came. And you were fine. More than fine," he said, smiling ruefully at the memory.
"So, what do you think it was?" prompted Rose, anxious that they weren't back to talking about The Kiss.
"Oh, right. Well because the TARDIS is effectively in your head, I think she must have been reacting when you were so close to the Gallifreyan metal."
"Ok," smiled Rose, "So I'm connected to the TARDIS and the TARDIS is connected to Gallifrey. Makes sense. Clever girl," she added, to the room around her.
"Yeah," smiled the Doctor, proudly. Although he was proud of two girls – with the TARDIS because... well, because she was his TARDIS – and with Rose, for working everything out. And just being Rose. "Anyway, I'm going to install this now. Could take a while."
Rose grimaced, "Poor TARDIS. Hours of being ferociously banged with a mallet every time something doesn't go your way."
"Oi!" cried the Doctor, defending himself, "I am always very gentle."
"Of course you are," soothed Rose. She started to stand up, "Well, I would stay up, watch you work and make you endless cups of tea, but I'm pretty tired after everything. So I'll be going to bed."
"Alright then," said the Doctor, also standing up, "I'm moving into the Control Room now, anyway."
"Goodnight," smiled Rose, starting to turn away.
With lightning speed, the Doctor reached out and gently took her wrist.
"Goodnight," he said softly, pulling her towards him.
With infinite gentleness, he leant down and placed a light kiss on her lips. It was a split second touch, but it made Rose feel a hundred different feelings. It was strange – her kiss with Fridem had been much more. A longer kiss. More... physical kiss. And yet this butterfly kiss the Doctor had just given her seemed a thousand times more intimate, a thousand times more beautiful and a thousand times more meaningful.
Rose swayed slightly as the Doctor released her wrist and backed away a little. He smiled; the corners of his eyes crinkling up. Not giving anything away. Was his head spinning as much as Rose's was?
"Thank you," he said sincerely, looking directly into her eyes.
"No problem," murmured Rose, happily, "Goodnight."
She recovered enough to turn around and head off to her bedroom. At the door she paused for a second, remembering something.
"You know what Fridem thought you wanted?" she asked, pausing briefly to lean against the doorframe. "A love potion."
The Doctor seemed to choke on his most recent intake of breath. "What?" he managed.
"A love drug. Whatever. Thought you wanted a Ballifregan love drug."
The Doctor looked aghast for a second, before he worked it out. Then his easy grin spread back over his face and he chuckled softly.
"Love drug. Ha."
Rose smiled at him once last time before standing upright and moving off. Saying so softly that she could barely hear herself; "Guess he couldn't see you didn't need one." Then moved off down the corridor to her own room.
The Doctor stared after her in amazement, before carefully slipping his Sonic Screwdriver back into his pocket, lovingly picking up the crystal and heading off to the Control Room. He was prepared for a long and busy night. But he didn't mind – it was labour of love, after all. And now, he was running on pure adrenaline. He couldn't work out what had triggered the adrenaline, though – was it the discovery of the Gallifreyan metal, or Rose?
The Doctor rolled over, irritably.
Rose kissing Fridem. Fridem kissing Rose. Fridem turning and smiling. Taking Rose's hand and leading her away. Taking Rose away from him...
The Doctor moaned and shook his head, trying to clear the image.
It didn't work. Instead his head was now filled with images of Daleks. Hundreds of thousands of them. Surrounding him. He was aware that Rose was somewhere but she faded away as once again, he was reliving the destruction of Gallifrey...
With a shout, the Doctor suddenly sat bolt upright. Breathing heavily, sweat running down his face, he looked around the room with restless eyes.
His eyes alighted on a figure standing unannounced in the doorway, wearing shorts and an oversized T-shirt, quietly watching him. He felt himself noticeably relax as she smiled hesitantly at him.
"Nightmare?" she asked, calmly, closing the door behind her.
She didn't wait for his brief nod, "Yeah, me too." She walked a little further into the room, wearing a frown that was born both out of concern for the Doctor and memories of her own nightmare.
The Doctor looked at her worriedly. "Bad nightmares?"
"You know," shrugged Rose, "The usual."
The Doctor wasn't fooled by her carefree attitude. Even in the dark he could see the fear that had been left behind. He pulled back the covers a little, and motioned for her to get in. Carefully, she slid in beside him until she was nestled against his chest, his arms tightly locked around her. She felt safe.
"You going to tell me about these nightmares?" he asked, quietly.
"They're nothing," mumbled Rose, "Just... The Dalek. So many people died then." She paused a little and then added, almost inaudibly, "My dad."
The Doctor pulled her a little closer, wishing he could tell her not to worry. Wishing he could make it go away. But he couldn't – because it had all happened and it was real. All he could do was hold her and try and make sure that here, at least, she felt safe.
"You going to tell me about yours, then?" asked Rose, impishly, moving her head back a little so she could look him in the eye.
"It was nothing," said the Doctor, quietly.
"Didn't look like nothing," whispered Rose, looking at him with such understanding that he felt compelled to tell her.
"Gallifrey," he said, in a gruff voice, staring resolutely at the ceiling, "My planet. My People. Daleks." He left out the part involving Fridem. But as he remembered it, he tightened his arms around her, ever so slightly.
Rose nodded and then hugged him back.
"I had fun," she said, "On Peaceandlove. Well, Fridem wasn't too fun – but the rest of the planet was cool. The people were cool."
"You mean your little ape friends?" teased the Doctor,
"Oi," she attempted to stifle a yawn, "If I'm such a 'silly, little ape', how come I managed to get you that crystal?"
"Everyone has their lucky days," said the Doctor, nonchalantly. But Rose could tell from the way he was smiling that he didn't mean it.
"Hey, right when we arrived, you promised me 'hours of dancing in hot rooms'. Whatever happened to that?" Rose demanded, briefly remembering dancing with Fridem and thinking that dancing with the Doctor would be amazing. Indescribable.
"Fridem happened," said the Doctor, simply, "You wouldn't have liked it much, anyway. Strobe lights. LSD. Nah, it would have exhausted you. But I'll take you somewhere with even better dancing, sometime."
"I'm bloody tired now. You must be too – did you manage to put the metal in?"
"Yeah," smiled the Doctor, remembering what he was intending to do with the crystal, "It's going to work really well. The TARDIS should have fewer faults now. But, yeah, you could say I'm tired."
He rearranged his head on the pillow and then smiled at Rose who seemed to be having trouble keeping her eyes open. "Comfy?"
"Yeah," yawned Rose, quietly wondering why they never found these situations awkward. They were lying in each others arms and yet managing to talk like everything was normal. "You?"
"Couldn't be better."
"Ocjinoktihenaton," said Rose, sleepily.
The Doctor moved back in astonishment and stared down at Rose - who was already falling asleep - his mouth unattractively open.
"Rose," he demanded, "What did you just say?"
Rose's eyelids fluttered open. She frowned, drowsily. "I said it right, didn't I? I was practicing. I think I did... Ocjino... Ocjinok..." She drifted off to sleep, the Doctor staring at her in wonder.
The Doctor smiled and tucked some loose hair behind her ear.
"Do you know," he whispered, to her sleeping face, "that it's practically impossible for any human to pronounce that?"
He watched her for a while and before he knew what he was doing, kissed her cheek.
Rose stirred slightly, the corners of her mouth turning up into a beatific smile. One of her newly smooth legs brushed against where the leg of the Doctor's sweatpants had ridden up. The Doctor gritted his teeth, cursing the invention that had made her legs so smooth.
Then he relaxed and smiled again. She was here. Asleep beside him – inside his arms. Fridem hadn't got her. He had tried, yes, but failed miserably. Because no one was going to take his silly, little ape away.
Gently pulling her as close as he possibly could, he started planning where he could take her next.
No, I'm not in love with the last line either. (Thanks to earthdrago for pointing out the typo)But I've been obsessing over if for weeks and couldn't come up with anything better. Guess school has imprisoned my muse. Maybe I'll change it if I ever come up with something better.
Well. That's it, I suppose... Thanks for reading. And if you've bothered to read this far, why not bother to review? Good or bad, I love them all.
So thanks. Oh, and as a final thing – if anyone wants to suggest a better story title, go ahead. I'd give you credit, of course...