Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the mentioned characters. In fact, I wouldn't want to own Doctor Who right now, but that's another story.
For my faithful follower who reminded me that I still had some more story to tell you. Actually I do apologise for this one, it is a little bit different, but it was ment to be the last chapter of the story. But maybe I will change my mind about that.
The lonely boy
Rose absent-mindedly stroke the intertwined patterns of the TARDIS walls with her fingers as she passed the endless corridors with none particular goal at hand.
It was a quiet day in the miraculous ship.
Without actually talking about it both Rose and the Doctor had come to the silent agreement to just skip the day on new adventures and spent it calmly on the inside of the TARDIS.
The Doctor had disappeared hours ago.
Rose might worry about him if she wouldn't hear the little hammering and tinkering sounds coming out of his room from time to time, followed by the one or other explosion which kept Rose from knocking on his door to ask what he was up to.
She could picture him working on spare parts for the TARDIS console, which would in any kind whatsoever improve the functions of his ship.
Actually, Rose came fast to the conclusion he just added the parts because he didn't know any better ways to pass his time.
However, she wasn't one to interfere with old habits, so she just let him do whatever he might be doing.
Rose had spent her morning in bed, an old habit she had abandoned every since she started travelling with the Doctor for the mere lack of time.
Usually around this time he would already be knocking firmly at her door, impatiently rocking on his heels, eager for her to finally get up and about so they could be off to any sorts of new adventure.
Though, for the sake of their new agreement to skip the day on travelling, she had finally come to spent hours and hours just lying around while actually doing nothing.
That had felt quite nice after all the running which came hand in hand with spending time with the all energetic Doctor.
Today she had finally managed to catch up on all the magazines she usually collected from all the strange planets they came around.
From time to time she was gathering some really weird stuff in the little shops they stopped by, so by now Rose had grown an estimable accumulation of the barmiest items she had stumbled over during their travels.
So, after hours spent lying stretched on her belly, her legs crossed behind her back on the enormous bed the TARDIS provided her in her room, Rose was up to date on the Djagaran royal family tattle, knew how to fix a Hermogydan anti-gravity motor cycle and was quite fond of the idea to start growing her own Scepterian silk-pillow-tree.
But for now she had finally managed to catch up on all the little things which got inevitably neglected whilst travelling with the Doctor, which had left her straying sort of aimless through the endless corridors of the TARDIS.
Eventually, after her time of just walking about, Rose ended in the empty console room which lay in a dim green light for not being needed the day.
Deep buried in thought Rose walked over to the centre of the room to delicately stroke her fingers above the impossible TARDIS console.
Rose had never quite started to understand all the different knick-knacks on the control surface.
It appeared like a miracle to her the Doctor was able to make any sense of all the varied levers, gauges and switches.
But after spending quite some time with him by now, she'd grown to the conclusion that sometimes he didn't know what he was doing with the stunning ship himself.
At times she was sure he just tried pushing all things he could possibly come up with, hoping it would bring him to the places he wanted to go.
Secretly Rose was quite sure that the TARDIS was the actual true driver of the little blue box and she just showed some sort of pity for her hopeless Time Lord.
But obviously Rose would never tell him that.
At last, Rose stopped her little way around the console, leaning her back with a soft sigh against the cold metal, her face turned towards the dark doorway which lead to the heart of the ship.
So, what should she do now?
Well, of course she could go fetch the Doctor. Ask him to bring her to any new planet he might come up with, threw them in any kind of daft, impossible new adventure.
But actually Rose didn't want to break their little silent agreement on spending the day quietly on the TARDIS.
As much as she loved the adventures and running with the Doctor, she really was in need for some sort of hiatus by now.
Of course it was fantastic to see all the miracle places alongside the Doctor, but on the other hand, she was just a mere shop girl from the Powell Estate.
She missed the quite days, just loafing on the couch and laughing about the newest tatter on Eastenders. Maybe she could ask the Doctor to bring her back to her Mums? Just for a day or so.
But Rose knew how the Doctor thought about her mother and she wasn't quite fond of bringing up the idea just yet.
From Jackies point of view they'd visited her mother just two weeks ago, but for Rose it felt like decades. Her head started spinning if she just tried to recapitulate all the places they'd visited in the meantime.
Travelling with the Doctor really was incredible and fantastic and remarkable, but sometimes it became just a little much for a plain human from solar system, Earth, who hadn't even known alien life in the universe existed.
Let alone talk about the mere wonders whom awaited them if they'd were open enough to look up the sky and be willing to actually see them.
Rose let out a deep sigh. Well, this didn't really help much in finding out what she wanted.
She had spent enough time just lying around in her bedroom doing nothing, but she still wasn't quite ready to face any new sights waiting outside the blue wooden doors behind her.
Well, maybe it was time to explore some more of the stunning ship.
Her decision made, Rose pushed herself of the console, heading for the narrow corridors lying in a dim eerie shadow. Of course this wasn't her first stroll around the TARDIS.
Actually, by this time Rose had spent many hours travelling around the peerless ship.
But usually the TARDIS just led her to the places she wanted to go, which left little time for exploring more of the wonders of the ship.
If Rose wanted to find the Doctor, a door would appear right by her ride which led directly to him. If she wanted to find her way around the kitchen, the corridors would just shift to let her stumble right inside the large galley.
But Rose knew these weren't the only wonders the ship held to explore.
The Doctor said the TARDIS corridors were endless. Well, she couldn't quite imagine that, everything had to have an ending. Surely somewhere must be a wall which blocked the path and led her back.
But after spending more and more time with the Doctor and his miraculous ship, Rose ideas about the impossible had shifted somewhat and by now she wasn't quite as reluctant anymore to believe the TARDIS corridors might actually go on like this forever.
Rose paused a moment and let her gaze wander around her surroundings. All corridors were made of the same strange material as the console room.
Some sort of engulfed metal which left the impression all corridors of the ship had one day just sprawn out infinitely, starting to grow from the large control room, the centre of the impossible ship.
Everything inside was lit by a dim defuse light which appeared to come out of the surroundings walls themself and left the ship in a mystical ambiance that sort of fitted the mysterious time space ship.
Rose continued her way around the aisles, passing many doors which seemed to just grow out of the interwoven structure of the wall. After a while, she just started opening some doors at random, risking a little careful peek inside to possibly shut the doors quickly.
By doing that she had found her way to the pool the Doctor had actually mentioned around one or two conversations.
The pool lay in a huge bright tilted room, which gave the impression the enormous tub lay in bright sunlight, letting the radiant turquois water sparkle in a million different colours.
Rose made herself a mental note to definitely try out the pool any time soon, but continued her tour around the TARDIS for now.
Another door revealed an entirely black room which appeared to contain absolutely nothing, until Rose ventured a step inside the apparent void.
With just the time for a little surprised squeak, Rose suddenly found herself floating right on spot in mid-air, her hair standing upwards in a wild huddle, floating all around her.
Before her jumper, which appeared to develop a mind of its own, could hover any further, Rose swung her arms in a sweeping gesture around her body, turning her whole self around in a fast twist, which brought her securely out the doorstep, where she landed with a little 'bump' right on her backside on the floor.
Pulling a grimmace in annoyance, Rose rubbed her hurting bum as she continued her tour around the ship.
After time the doors on the sides of the corridors seemed to repeat themselves, but as soon as Rose opened one of them, she found herself in whole new sort of adventure.
There was a room which looked like a charming Victorian garden sprawling in warm sunlight.
One room showed various skies from distant planets, which changed its settings every few minutes or something.
Rose had paused a little inside that room, gazing up with her mouth hung open in wonder as the ceiling of the room changed from a very light golden lit colour, into a deep bright burning orange sky, to a purple clouded vault, which Rose recognized from a lovely planet with bolt headed dwarf like inhabitants whom Rose and the Doctor had saved from a nasty Grask invasion a few weeks ago.
Another room contained an actual real living fairy tale-like forest.
Rose had only dared to walk a few steps inside the dark, eerie scenery, framed by huge crooked trees lying in a deep mist, before she turned again and ran for the brightly illuminated door which brought her securely back inside the corridors of the TARDIS.
Just like that Rose was soon laughing out loud by the sheer wonders the TARDIS held for her as she stumbled from boundless devastated lands into crammed rooms, full of indescribable trinkets Rose couldn't even start to put names to, in nothing but mere seconds.
Finally, still bursting with laughter from her last encounter with an angry chugging steam engine that appeared to fabricate large amounts of really weird looking tiny hats, Rose paused at the sight of a strangely odd looking door, Rose had never stumbled upon before on her many explorations of the TARDIS.
The door was covered in a strange dark pattern, which reminded her of the beautiful circular ornaments shown on the TARDIS control screen and made it differ from the usually surface of the other doors.
Rose stopped in her movement, putting one loosened strain of hair behind her ear.
The sight of the door gave her an odd feeling. Almost as if the door, or more so the room the door protected, called out for her.
She could feel a slight shiver run down her spine. Part of her wanted to run. Turn around and run as fast as she could from this strange, different door.
She couldn't put her finger on the strange feeling, but somehow she could tell that whatever might be hidden behind that door, meant trouble.
Rose bit her lip. Well, she wasn't Rose Tyler, rescuer of million civilisations, protector of the galaxies, and companion of the Doctor, for now getting scared of a simple wooden door.
But even though she couldn't tell why, that strange dark door scared her in a way more than even a nasty Slitheen attack would.
Rose sighed. She could just pass the door. Of course she could. Move on like she'd seen nothing. Let her gaze just slip that odd frame.
But at least in one way she was right: She wasn't the Doctors companion for nothing. Her curiosity was insatiable. For all, it was what had brought her to this strange door in the first place.
With her heart pounding like drumbeats in her ears, Rose approached the door. The small golden doorknob felt like fire inside her dead cold hands. But Rose didn't flinch.
Instead she held her breath as she turned the small handle and pushed. The door uttered a little squeak, which sent shivers down Rose spine, but again she didn't stop.
By now it was more than mere curiosity which kept her going. It was like something inside the mysterious room was pulling her in.
Her feet started moving out of nothing, as if some invisible strings were dragging her inside.
She could feel her lungs burning from the lack of air as she peered inside the room, but she didn't care. Suddenly everything meant nothing.
The room was dark. Very dark, but not pitch black as she might have pictured it from the outside.
Actually, Rose could make out some faint strange silhouettes which she couldn't quite put her finger on. She frowned and took a courageous step further inside to get a clearer look.
But as soon as she took more than two paces into the room, the door immediately fall shut behind her.
Rose spun around at once, rushing back and trying to open the door again in panic, but it wouldn't shift.
With a small furious cry, she tried jogging the handle but the door wouldn't move an inch.
Rose could feel a sour taste on her tongue as realisation suck in: She was locked.
Locked inside a strange room, trapped inside the TARDIS. Somewhere so far within the ship probably even the Doctor didn't remember. Somewhere she never was supposed to go in the first place.
Rose could feel the panic creeping up her throat. "Doctor?" she tried calling out. "Doctor!"
No answer.
"Doctor, help! I'm lost" Rose cried, her voice bouncing off the walls of the empty room.
Still nothing.
"Doctor, please" she added this time rather silent, more for herself, before she finally fell shtum.
This was no use. The Doctor was hours away, locked in his room surrounded by a variety of fussing knick-knacks, where he probably wouldn't hear her screaming if she was standing right in front of him.
Rose frowned. This was so typical.
An entire Dalek fleet? No problem.
Nasty werewolf attack in Sixteenth Century Scotland? Not a challenge for the magnificent Dame Rose Tyler of Powell Estate.
Of course Rose would manage to get lost in the safest place in the universe: Lost inside the TARDIS.
With a little sigh Rose pushed herself of the wall and turned towards the room.
Suddenly, she could hear a small sobbing sounds from the opposite side of the room. Rose heart sank as she realised the obvious: She was not alone.
"Hello?" she tried out. "Who's there?"
She sobbing continued, but the sound was so small, Rose didn't wonder she hadn't heard it in her first look around.
She could feel the adrenaline rushing through her veins as she approached the black centre of the place, ready to fight whatever might be lurking in the dark.
But the sound stopped dead the instant Rose took more than two steps towards the room.
Rose frowned, trying to make out any potential danger in the darkness. Then finally, she spotted the small figure crouched down in one of the distant corners of the room:
It was a child.
"No please. Please, don't. I'm scared. Please don't hurt me" a thin voice called out, a little croaky from crying.
Rose heart sank. It was a child. A frightened child, all alone inside the darkness of this empty room.
"It's alright. I won't hurt you" she told the small boy, her own voice sounded a little shaken by the sudden rush of emotion.
She tried approaching the boy, but as soon as she took any step further towards him, he shied away from her.
Carefully she took a few quick steps, closing up the distance between them.
Rose crouched down beside him, keeping a safe distance to the desperate child. She couldn't quite make out his face in the dark, but he couldn't be much older than eight or nine.
"Hello, I'm Rose, what's your name?" she tried again to reach out to him. The boy didn't answer but instead curled up a little tighter on himself.
"I'm scared. Please. I'm alone. I'm so alone. I don't want to be alone" the child whimpered in a small voice over and over again.
Rose could feel her heart being ripped into a thousand tiny little pieces as she observed the shivering child.
"You are not alone. Not anymore. I won't let you be alone. Look, I promise. I'm here now. My name's Rose. Rose Tyler. I've got a friend called the Doctor. This ship 'ere, it belongs to him. I'm sure he can help you find your parents. Just tell me your name, ya?"
But the boy still didn't react to her, he kept on muttering to himself: "Empty. It's so empty inside. Why is there no one here? I don't want to be alone."
"Look, you don't 'ave to be alone. I'm with you." Rose stood up once more and tried to walk over to him. But as soon as she came near he just flinched away again.
But this time, Rose didn't stop. Instead, she reached over to him and stroke her hand gentle over his small, shaking shoulders. "It's alright. You don't have to be scared."
With once, the boys head shot up and met her eyes and it wasn't until then, that Rose caught a glimpse of his face, his wide dark eyes reddened and watery from tears.
Rose gave him a small, encouraging smile, running her fingers reassuringly above his smooth hair, as the room suddenly started spinning around her.
The image of the little boy started to crack and shutter and Rose could feel her heart tremble as realisation hit her from behind.
"Doctor?"
It wasn't as much of a question then it was a stunned statement of realisation.
Because Rose might not have recognised the small face, distorted in fear and hurt, or the small broken voice, from a man changing his appearance so many times over the centuries, but she did know the tremor that lay within the small broken boy in front of her.
Had always known it and would recognise it in all his shaken forms and shapes.
Rose could feel hot tears running down her cheeks as she realised whom she was talking to.
Who it was, that was locked up alone, frightened and all by himself, deep down in the most forgotten shoals of the TARDIS. With once the room started shattering around her.
Rose stood up in disbelieve as the walls started crumbling and spinning, distributing the darkness to reveal bright green light which finally left Rose standing inside the large, dimly lit console room of the TARDIS, right where Rose had started her tour this morning.
Rose blinked a little bewildered against the sudden light, as if she was just waking up from a very vibrant dream. She could hear a voice calling out for her.
"Rose? Rose! You won't believe what I found! I was just working on this trans-dimensional pocket distributer as I thought: 'Why not try to connect the dilingual power engine to the minima maxmeriser as I looked over and-"
The Doctor stopped his ramble mid-sentence as he walked into the control room and found Rose standing there alone, clinging onto the console.
"Are you all right?" He asked in bewilderment, as he spotted the tears on her cheeks.
Rose have him a small smile.
His dark brown eyes were widened with concern behind his specs, which hung slightly askew on his nose. He held a small strange device in one hand, and the quietly buzzing sonic screwdriver in the other.
"What happened?" He asked her again, his voice croaky with concern as Rose didn't react to his question.
But instead of giving him an answer, Rose suddenly pushed herself off the console, rushing over to him and throwing her arms around his neck, burying her face in his lapels of his suit as she felt new tears digging up their way to the surface.
The Doctor coughed a small laugh as he caught her, pulling her to the side to catch them both from ramming into the railings of the TARDIS.
"What was all that for?" he asked bemused, but stopped as he realised Rose wasn't pulling back.
Both stood together like that for a moment in silence, before Rose finally let go of him, moving back just an instant without losing her touch, just so she could look him in the eye.
His eyes still held a little worry about her strange behaviour, but he didn't dare to say a word and Rose could see the same emotions lying deep down buried within him, even if his eyes may be brown, warm and kind by now.
She brushed away one tear still hovering above her cheek with her right hand, before looking him directly in the eye:
"You don't ever have to be alone again Doctor. Maybe you don't realise it, but I'll always be right here waiting for you, ready to catch you and reach you a hand whenever you may need it. I'm never gonna leave you. "