Title: Setting Sun
Rating: T
Set: Post 'Father's Day'
Spoilers: Anything up to, including and especially 'Father's Day'
Pairings: Even more unashamedly Doctor/Rose than the episode was.

Author's Note: I'm afraid this includes the typical nightmare scenario but I had to use it for angsty/drama reasons. I like to think I've done it in a vaguelyinteresting way. My other fic on this episode was major Rose angst, so I'm going a lot more Doctor/Rose on this one. She did kill him, after all.

---

Rose was sitting there, staring at them, trying to commit every interaction between her mum and dad to memory. It may not always be pretty, but it was her family and she was with them now in a way she had never experienced before. She knew that they were in trouble and that they may not have much longer so she had to make the best of it whilst she could.

She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even realise what her dad was doing as he shoved the infant version of herself towards her. The Doctor screaming her name brought her back to the here and now with a start, but it was already too late as he scooped baby Rose away from her.

He had told her not to touch the baby.

Oh God…

There was a stomach churning, unearthly howl as one of those reaper things appeared in the church in front of them. Everyone was screaming, running for their lives but they had no where to go. This was it, they were done for. Whatever the TARDIS was supposed to be doing, it wasn't going to finish in time.

The Doctor shouted at everyone to get behind him, that he was the oldest thing in the room. He'd said that, hadn't he? That the older something was, the safer it was. She glanced briefly at baby Rose. This was certain this was not good for her. Or anyone else that was less than nine centuries old for that matter.

It was quickly apparent though that the Doctor had made a horrible misjudgement.

All she saw as the creature swooped down to smother him was a slightly startled expression on his face. Rose screamed his name out as if it would somehow stop it happening.

When the creature flew up into the air again, there was nothing there. Nothing left.

Gone.

It was so quick.

She stared at the spot on the floor where he had been standing but he didn't come back like he should have, grinning his idiotic grin, grabbing her hand and telling her to run for her life.

The creature swooped down low over the congregation before latching itself onto the TARDIS. In an instant, both had disappeared.

Rose ran down to where the time machine had stood, but all that was left was the key. Her key now lying uselessly on the ground.

It had stopped glowing.

The TARDIS was gone.

And so was the Doctor.

The sky darkened as though the sun was setting. As if it knew that without him around she thought that there was very little point in it bothering to carry on.

Her dad tried to comfort her but she shook him off. She didn't want anyone to touch her but the Doctor. Her Doctor. She was waiting for him. For the comfort of his hand in hers, his leather jacket and his northern accent.

But he wasn't coming back.

She melted into tears, realising what she had done. What she had lost because of her own stupidity. She let her dad hug her now, sobbing as though sheer force of grief would bring him back, knowing that no one could possibly understand what this meant to her.

The time seemed to shift, and she was still crying but now she was looking at her dad. He was explaining to her what he had to do to sort this out, to save them all. Rose was barely listening though, she knew what he was saying and knew that he was right. He was so brave. She wondered if he realised that and wished she could have told him.

She passed him the vase, a gesture of acceptance. This was going to make everything all right again. For everyone else at least.

"Are you going to be there for me, love?" he asked, willing to do this but not wanting to do it alone.

She nodded, sharply. Wasn't that why she had come here in the first place?

"Thanks for saving me."

But she hadn't. He was still going to die anyway.

The next moment she was outside the church, watching her dad run in front of the car. This was it. She'd been here before, she knew what was about to happen. She waited for the hand on her shoulder and the Doctor's unmistakeable voice in her ear, telling her to go to him.

The voice never came.

She turned around, frowning. There was no one there. No Doctor. No mum. No guests milling out of the church to see what all the noise was about. She ran back inside the doors, but the place was empty.

Back outside she spotted the lone figure of her dad, lying in the street. The car was there but the driver was no where to be seen. She ran over to him and knelt at his side, carefully cradling his head in her hands. But his eyes didn't open like they should. He didn't look at her one last time to say goodbye.

He was already dead.

She'd broken her promise and he'd died alone.

Rose stood up, gasping in deep, panicked breaths. She glanced around, seeing nothing but empty, silent streets. The TARDIS not where it should be on the street corner. This wasn't right. Everything should be back to normal now. Her dad had died to save the world.

Why hadn't it worked?

Why was she alone?

The reapers swept around from the far side of the church, looking down at her howling.

'Just get on with it,' she thought, staring defiantly up at them, 'Take me too. Please'.

They screamed at her one last time before shooting up in the air, out of sight within moments.

And Rose stood on a abandoned street, on a dead world, with her father's body lying a few feet away as a constant reminder of his empty sacrifice.

Her eyes shot open, and darted around the dark room. For a moment Rose was utterly confused and then she remembered the dream and her heart began to pound. It was so real. Just like being back there.

It was just a silly dream though, she told herself. Nothing to be frightened of. Just her head trying to sort things out. It was to be expected really.

She tried to swallow, but her mouth was bone dry and she found the action painful. She needed a drink.

Getting up, her bare feet made little sound as she padded softly over to the ensuite bathroom. She sucked in a sharp breath as she touched the cold marble floor, but continued on regardless. Filling the glass full of icy water, she swallowed it in relief. As she looked up, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She never was the prettiest sight when she got out of bed.

She didn't look much like her dad, she realised. There was much more of her mum in there, which was probably a good thing since he was kind of ginger. She smiled at that. Mum's looks, dad's personality. Not a bad trade off after all. She could just imagine what it would have been like if she'd had a little brother or sister who had things the other way round. She smiled again. She probably should avoid trying to give herself more nightmares.

She had stopped crying about her dad before she had stepped foot back inside the TARDIS. After all, she had done what she had set out to do – he hadn't died alone and more than that he had known that she loved him. They had got to know each other for a few short hours, which was more than the world had ever been willing to give them. She'd grown to love him as a person rather than other people's rose tinted memories of this perfect father and husband who didn't exist.

She was so proud of him. Proud to be his daughter. And because of that she found she had nothing left to cry about, only things to be grateful for. She now knew who her father really was and it was better than any white lies her mum could have made up to comfort her.

That didn't mean the tears didn't come though, just the reason was different. They now came when she looked at the Doctor. When she thought about him and how close she had come to never seeing him again. When she had been trapped down with the Dalek and she certain she was going to die, she had thought about him then too, but it was so much worse now. Worse to have to contemplate living without him.

Everyone always thought they were a couple. Jabe had initially thought she was his wife. When she had arrived back home after her year absence the policeman had asked if they were sleeping together. Her mum had said she was infatuated by him. Adam had said it would take a better man than him to get between them. Her dad had assumed he was her boyfriend and even when he found out he wasn't, he had mentioned how much the Doctor must care about her.

Even strangers seemed to think they were together as evidenced by the disapproving looks they gave because a man his age was with such a young woman.

Then why did she so vehemently deny it? Why could she never do anything about it? What if he had died and she had never told him anything?

A sharp flashback of her nightmare played through her mind. The Doctor hadn't come back. His hand hadn't touched her shoulder. She'd been alone.

She knew she was being stupid, she knew it wasn't real, but she couldn't ignore the sudden urge to go and check on him. She ran down the corridors of the TARDIS to the control room, throwing the door open and holding an apprehensive breath.

Her eyes immediately fixated on him, sitting in the single chair, eyes closed and apparently asleep.

Trying hard to return her breathing to normal, she walked slowly towards him. She stood there in front of him, looking down at him. He was so peaceful like this, all trace of his sometimes manic personality just melted away. Tentatively she reached out and touched his cheek with two gently fingers, as though it was the only way to check he was real. That this wasn't a dream and what she had experienced a moment ago was in fact the terrible reality.

His skin was much softer than it should have been for someone who was nine hundred years old.

She pulled away, intending to stop being so silly and return to her room, but he suddenly grabbed at her wrist and looked at her with startling blue eyes.

"You alright?" he asked, quietly concerned.

She nodded tightly, feeling embarrassed, "Just a dream….I needed to check…"

She felt so stupid and couldn't manage to say it out loud.

"I'm real, Rose," he said understandingly, "And I'm not going anywhere."

She shook her head, struggling to hold back the tears that tried to spill over once more, hating that the thought of losing him did this to her. She wasn't a weak person, but there was just something about this man and the way she felt about him that threatened to tear her to shreds if she wasn't careful.

"You can't say that," she whispered, "You don't know what will happen. What if I mess up again?"

He shook his head, "Don't think about it. It's not going to happen."

"But you died," Rose said desperately, unable to put into words what that meant to her.

"No, I didn't," he soothed, "I just got wiped from time for a while. It was alright in the end, wasn't it."

Rose couldn't get the image of him disappearing under the cloud of black wings out of her mind.

"What was it like?" she asked in a small voice, "Did it hurt?"

He shook his head, "Rose, don't do this… It doesn't matter anymore."

"But you weren't coming back," she said, tears falling freely now, "I never told you…And you didn't come back."

The feelings from her dream were overwhelming. The helplessness. The fear. The fact she was alone.

The Doctor reached up and cupped her cheek the same way he had in the church.

"Rose," he said gently, "Stop thinking."

He paused momentarily. This was probably a bad idea really, but for a moment earlier today he hadn't existed and little things like what was right and proper seemed insignificant in comparison.

He leant up and kissed her softly on the lips.

Startled she looked at down at him through tear blurred eyes and he wondered if he'd misread her totally. Then she sprung forward and crushed her lips against his, cradling his head with one hand and using the other to pull him close to her by a handful of jacket. He could taste the slightly salty trace of her tears on her lips and his kisses followed their trail across her cheek, wiping them away. He wouldn't let them mark her face. He continued over her cheeks and down her neck, before he brushed a spot just behind her ear that made her mew in delight and become slightly unsteady on her feet.

"Oi," she complained softly, "Stop exploiting my weak spots."

He looked up at her grinning, glad to see the sadness had lifted from her face, "I haven't even started yet."

She shook her head, not quite believing he'd said that.

"Well, you've got plenty of time because I am never letting you out of my sight ever again," she stated solemnly.

"Not a problem," he said, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her onto his lap. She settled there just nicely, her head resting in the crook of his neck, her fingers trailing lazy patterns across his chest which made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

Bloody woman would be the death of him, he was sure.

"I love you," she said with a contented sigh, "You do know that, right?"

"Well, I did assume you didn't go round kissing everyone like that…"

"Seriously," she scolded.

"Yes, I know," he said softly, "And I love you too, Rose Tyler. At least, I think I do. I'm not exactly the universe's greatest expert on these things… But it feels right…"

She smiled, "That'll do me."

"You know I don't do domestic though," he warned, "I don't do settling down and having babies, mowing the lawns to the right height and buying a new car every six months just to out do the neighbours."

She shook her head, "And I don't want that. I want the universe, and want you to be there."

"Don't ask for much, do you?" he said with a grin.

"Nope. I'm low maintenance, me."

"So where do you want to go now then?" he asked, letting a hand trail up and down her thigh. It was so easy to touch her like this, to run his fingers possessively across her to demonstrate that she was his. He wondered why he hadn't done it before and how one little kiss could change everything. She hadn't even questioned it. Humans really were a wonderful species.

"I don't care," she said with small shrug, "Somewhere far away."

"You don't fancy a trip back to your mum's then?"

She glanced up to him with a curious frown. He didn't like her mum, why on earth would he want to go and see her? Then she grinned in realisation.

"You just want to go and rib her about her hair."

"No," he said with a shake of his head, "Not just that. The dress was bloody awful too. Opportunities like this don't come along everyday."

Rose laughed, thumping him softly in the chest, "Just stop it alright? I've had enough trauma with her sense of fashion and hairstyles, thanks. I'd rather not dwell on it."

"I probably shouldn't take you back to see her in the seventies then", he mused.

"No thank you," she said quickly, "Besides, I've had enough of the past. I'd like to think about the future for a while."

"Ask and you shall receive," he promised with a flourish and a nod, "What part of the future you interested in then?"

She smiled mischievously.

"You, me and the next few hours," she said, pulling him closer to kiss him again.

The Doctor had to admit, Rose always came up with the most interesting ideas.

As he kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her tightly, Rose thought she could feel a new warmth. Somewhere, the sun was rising again.