Title: Time Traveler
Rating: K+
Pairing: 10th Doc/ Rose
Disclaimer: BBC...blah blah blah
Summary: "Are you sure about this?" he asked her one last final time before they took the biggest plunge of their lives.
Rose wondered through the corridors as if her whole body was on auto-pilot, Mickey leading the way because frankly she just wasn't there.
No, she was somewhere else, deep in her thoughts. Same place she had escaped into the minute he had jumped through the mirror, leaving her and Mickey behind without as much as a second glance back.
Sheshoould hate him, fiercely hate him for leaving her after all she they had been through. Had she meant nothing to him at the moment? Had all the times they shared, the struggles they gone through been nothing, when compared to Reinette?
And yet she couldn't hate him, she wasn't mad in fact the emotion that was coursing through her being with such force was pure disappointment. In him, in her and in everything…why did things always have to go so terribly wrong? Soon her time with the Doctor would be up, that she had learned from Sarah Jane, and she could see the beginning of the end creeping up upon her.
Today, this adventure had been the spark to put the wheels into motion. Her time was coming up, perhaps sooner then she would have ever thought. Definitely, disappointment, she was practically drowning in it.
Two weeks had already passed since Versailles and things hadn't really changed. Sure, they had all slapped on a brave face and gone about their business but it still remained thick in the air, a constant dark cloud above them.
Rose had never expected to reproach the Doctor about his actions. What would she say? I'm jealous and I love you. The thought alone made her snort in laughter and cry in pure anguish. Perhaps before Reinette she had still kept hope alive for being able to someday have something close to a happily ever after. But much of it had chipped away after Sarah Jane – that had been a harsh landing back into reality and the French puff, well that had been the final nail in the coffin for her hopes and dreams.
The Doctor had never told her exactly what had gone on between the two, but she was a woman and some things never truly changed. Of course the courtesan had fallen in love with the Doctor, who wouldn't? She had too along time ago, fallen hard and that had been her own mistake.
Rose Tyler, she told herself, you should of have been more careful and logical about things. Now they were in some alternate reality and masquerading as the help to her own parents, although they weren't exactly her parents…she didn't even exist, she was a dog!
Just another day in her life, funny how the thought alone no longer boggled her, this had become her life even though she was full of so many regrets, this wasn't one of them. So instead she resigned herself to just being his companion and best mate…at least she had that, not even she could deny it. He was her best friend and vise-versa. They were perfectly in sync on almost all levels, except that one she was restricted from ever venturing.
Mickey had decided to stay in the alternate reality forever. She didn't know whether it upset or relieved her, perhaps that's why she was crying.
Like Mickey had said, they once had something but that was long dead and buried, no matter how much they tried to act otherwise. She had the Doctor and nothing or no one else could ever come close to him, to making her feel what he did with just one wink or smile.
She was a hopeless fool; there wasn't any doubt about that. The hole she had dug herself into was far too deep that crawling out for the sake of her own sanity looked impossible.
Once inside the TARDIS she headed directly to her room and burst into a fresh new batch of tears. Why did she cry so much? She had never pictured herself a crier, but then again, perhaps she had just needed the right motivation to become one.
Rose could feel him behind her watching her from the open doorway. He hovered there for a while but when she paid him no attention he finally let her grieve in peace. For once she wasn't wrapped up in him…for once, he just had to let her be.
Five years, two months and four days.
That's how long it had been since Mickey had decided to stay behind. She hadn't known it yet, couldn't have, but that had been the end of it all and the beginning of something completely different.
Looking back she couldn't but feel a surge embarrassment run through her, she had such a foolish child at the time. So narrow minded when it came to love, she failed to grasp one thing. Sometimes you can love more than one person at a time and there were so many ways to love another.
It had been after their quick stop at her mum's flat that she and the Doctor finally had to face the music. With each passing day it was like there was a huge elephant in the room with them, they could hardly breathe or tip toe around the issue at hand.
Finally he had been the first to cave in. Slamming his fist down on the control panel she had been startled and almost had fallen of the old battered chair. Looking up she could see the dark look on his face, but once she was closer she saw that it was pure frustration and something else, deeply kept in check.
"She looked inside of me Rose and understood the loneliness in my soul. I was her lonely angel and I did grow to love her in our short time together."
He could see Rose's head hanging down in absolute defeat, taking a step closer he crouched down by her. Tugging her head up to meet his eyes he gave her a watery smile as tears shone in his eyes.
"I loved her like I did everyone else I've allowed into my hearts. That's why I risked it all to save her; I save those I love Rose. I have loved each and every one of my companions, even the thin dog and you Rose I love you with everything I am".
Rose let out a small sigh, "I love you too but you're not…"
She was caught off by him once more, "but I don't…you humans always presuming. Did you ever stop to think that I may be in love with you? I know I'm a bit inept when it comes to feelings but I thought that somehow you would pick up on it, through my actions."
"Actions? Like jumping through that sodding mirror without even caring that you were leaving me behind!" her voice rose to a fevered yelled as she pulled away from him. Moving around the controls she just needed to put some space between him and her.
"I had to do it Rose, she would of have died. I couldn't of let her die, not as long as it was in my power to prevent it. So I jumped but I came back, I was only gone five and a half hours". The Doctor began to move around the controls and advance towards her.
Once near enough he pulled her into his arms. At first she tried to refuse his touch but ended up letting him wrap her into his embrace. "I always knew that there was a chance of getting back to you and if there hadn't I would of still done it and waited to get back to you…I would of waited an eternity for you Rose Tyler."
"Reinette would have kept you fine company I'm sure" Rose bitter voice broke through and hit him right in his very soul.
"No, she was lovely Rose, I won't deny that but she's not you. In the end I love you, you hear me you silly ape? I love you and only you, you're brave, beautiful, cheeky, a complete pain in the ass but you're my Rose. Reinette might of have seen inside of me and understood but you managed to do it all on your own Rose. You're deep under my skin and in my blood."
Waiting for her response he began to panic. Perhaps he had just messed up colossally and completely misread her feelings for him. But as soon as that feeling arose he felt her hand sliding up the lapels of his jacket and around his neck. The Doctor then found himself looking into the happiest pair of brown eyes he had ever seen.
Smiling he leaned down and capture her lips with his. At first they tentatively touched, still afraid of all the feelings that were finally being unleashed. Passion soon began to rise and they both held on tightly to each other. His tongue darted out and traced it away across her lip until it was finally granted the access it desired. Lips against lips and hands wondering across skin that burnt at the touch.
Stepping away from Rose the Doctor let out a small shaky breath he had been holding.
"Usually it's customary that the groom kiss the bride after I declare the man and wife but I guess this will do too" the Irish priest replied with a hearty laugh.
Looking like a small kid that had just been caught with his hand inside the cookie jar, the Doctor's ears began to redden at the tips. Rose couldn't help but giggle as she looked back at their guest. There weren't many but all of them were the ones that truly matter, those that had always been close to their hearts – her mum, Jack, Sheren and Sarah Jane.
"And by the power invested me I now declare you husband and wife, time lord and lady, Doctor and Rose" the priest finish and gave them their final blessing.
The Doctor hugged Rose to him fiercely; he had never felt such an intense bond to any other being in his life. This was right, it had taken his whole life to get to this moment but he figured that everything before Rose had just been a pretense to her.
No longer would he be the sad lonely angel Reinette had dubbed him to be. Perhaps if she had taken a deeper look she would have realized that he wasn't alone anymore that his own angel had come into his life and filled him to the brim with love.
"Are you sure about this?" he asked her one last final time before they took the biggest plunge of their lives.
There was no coming back from this; once it was done nothing could reverse it.
"Yes, I love you" she answered him simply and he knew that no other words were necessary.
"All right, here we go Rose Tyler" the Doctor grabbed her hand and they both ran across the platform and jumped straight into the essence of time.
Fallowing through the air they could feel it running through them, a brilliant shade of purple flooding them as the energy grabbed a whole of their souls. He had explained that it was like being reborn, but before each birth there must be a death. Rose could feel it, her heart beginning to slow down and tears began to fall down her face as she crushed him to her. The energy around them changing from purple to blue and enveloping their two figures into a cocoon of raw time. Flames began to spark as they burn with an immense intensity.
Finally the two burnt bodies hit the icy cold water below and Rose and the Doctor resurfaced, not a scar or burnt on their skin. Looking about with wild amazement they both began to laugh and hold on to the other.
Resting their foreheads against each other they both tried to catch their breath and control the shattering of their teeth.
"We did it" she exclaimed softly, she could feel it within her, the power of time and space coursing through her veins.
She had thought the Doctor mad when he had proposed the idea. Never had she thought it possible to be able to be reborn once more. Literally dying and being reborn as something different, something so much more equal. She had offered her mortality and he his three lives. It could of have easily been rejected and that would of have been the end of them but they had been confident in their feeling for each other.
Their love had seen them through so much more, it would see them through this as well and it had. Now they were equals in every sense of the word. Five lives they had bargained for, nothing more and nothing less.
Together they would roam the universe, man and wife, time lord and lady, the Doctor and Rose.
FIN