I enjoyed filming a lot. We had lots of fun, lots of laughs. I think the main thing is how close I got to Camille. Camille Coduri [Jackie Tyler] is now my oldest son’s godmother.
Summary: A post-GITF sick-fic UA. What if Rose had come away with more than nightmares after her run-in with the clockwork droids? What if her trust in the Doctor had been so fractured that she’d been afraid to tell him? And what if that broken trust might just lead to a dangerous situation for Rose? Will the Doctor be able fix it in time? Note: Trigger warning for non-explicit DV, self-loathing, PTSD, medical emergency.
Notes: Helloooooo shiny people! I can’t believe we’re finally here- THE EPILOGUE! The very final chapter of this fic, which was written for the @doctor-rose-events classic tropes event. Thank you all for coming on this crazy ride with me- I couldn’t have done it without you and you’re all fabulous.<3 I hope this brief look at a very different future with Rose and the Doctor (I couldn’t help kicking Doomsday in the bum, repeatedly) will leave us all in a good place, and with hope going forward. There’s ALWAYS hope, and no one is broken beyond repair. To that end, I’ll be posting a non-fic chapter in the next day or two with a list of trauma, counselling and DV resources that my wonderful people around the world have sent me. Keep an eye out for that in the next few days.I hope that you’ve all enjoyed this story, and I have to give a big shoutout to everyone who has encouraged me and left comments, the ladies on Fangirlia who have listened to me whine and complain incessantly, Aintafraidanoghosts for listening to me whine on chat EVERY SINGLE DAY, and finally, @rose–nebula, without whom I could not have done this. She’s beta’d every chapter, every week, no matter what crazy time of day or night I’ve sent them, and supported me emotionally and mentally when I was ready to fling a chapter into the abyss or set it on fire. I could not have done this without you, my dear. Thank you more than I can say <3 <3 <3 All mistakes are mine, and of course all recognisable dialogue from the episode belongs to one Mr RTD. I hope you enjoy!
“Jack! Thank God. Are you in Cardiff?” Rose clutched the mobile to her ear, watching in disbelief as the Doctor smacked the TARDIS console with a mallet.
“Rosie! Yeah, Mickey and I are at headquarters. Why? Is everything OK?”
The TARDIS jolted.
“Behave!” the Doctor snapped, scowling at the console.
“Oh my…hold on Jack- Doctor, stop smacking her!” Rose snapped. “Have you lost your mind?”
“She won’t do it, Rose! She’s resisting!”
“Rose?” Jack’s tone was suddenly sharp, all semblance of relaxed chit-chat gone. “What’s going on?”
“We’re flying down the highway, chasing a taxi driven by a robot santa, that’s what’s goin’ on!”
“What? What highway? Where are you?”
“London.” Rose took over holding down various knobs from the Doctor as he inched closer to the door. “Specifically, chasin’ a woman in a weddin’ dress to Chiswick, or wherever this robot is takin’ her.” She closed her eyes and ignored Donna’s screeched “Oh, you are kidding me!” as the TARDIS scraped the road beside the taxi, the bump almost knocking Rose off her feet.
“Rose? What the hell is happening?”
“You’ve got to jump!” the Doctor shouted, almost hanging out of the doorway.
“Who’s jumping?” Jack demanded.
“It’ll take too long to explain! Look, I need you to do somethin’ for me Jack- quickly!”
“What do you need?”
“I need you to find out everything you can about a woman who’s booked to get married at St Mary’s Church in Chiswick today. Her name’s Donna.”
“Last name?”
“Dunno. Once you’ve got it from the church, I need you to run it on every system you have- find out everythin’ about her.”
“Why?”
“Because she showed up on the TARDIS while she was in mid-flight, Jack! Just appeared in the middle of the vortex!”
There was a gasp. “You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m not kiddin’! I don’t have time to kid! I need you to do it now, Jack, please!”
“On it.” She heard Jack barking orders to someone beside him to call the church, followed by the clack of a keyboard moments later. “I’ll dig up everything I can, Rosie.”
“Thanks,” she exhaled, staring in disbelief as Donna hesitated to jump out of the taxi. “Quick as you can, Jack! There’s somethin’ weird going on here.”
“Whatever that thing is, it needs you,” the Doctor pleaded with Donna, stretching out his arm. “And whatever it needs you for, it’s not good! Now, come on!”
“Rose? Do you need me to come there?”
“No, not now, just…please find everything you can and I’ll text you the time and place when we land.” She hung up and watched Donna mutter about trusting the Doctor before finally taking his hand and flinging herself out of the taxi and into the TARDIS.
The door slammed shut and the TARDIS zoomed away.
However her relief was short-lived, because the TARDIS was groaning in agony and the console began exuding copious amounts of smoke.
“Oh my God! Doctor, what’s wrong with her?”
“Oi, watch your mouth, Blondie! Like to see how you look, jumping from a moving taxi in a blooming wedding dress!”
“Not you, the TARDIS!” Rose rushed to the console. “She’s shaking!”
“So am I!” Donna screeched. “Thanks to you two! But you go on worrying about your space machine.”
Rose closed her eyes, praying for patience. “I told you, she’s called a TARDIS, and she’s just saved your arse from a killer robot. And she’s alive,and she understands you, so unless you want to find yourself deposited at the end of the galaxy, shut it!” She turned to the Doctor. “She’s not goin’ to hold, Doctor.”
“We need to land,” he said grimly, clinging to a handle. “Soon.”
“Inside or out?”
“Out,” he said, gripping at the console. “She’s close to combusting.”
“The Estate,” Rose gasped, flinging herself across the console to seize a wobbling gadget. “Take us to mum’s- the roof. If those things come lookin’ for us, we can deal with ‘em up there better than in the middle of the town.”
“Right you are, Rose Tyler,” he said with a quick grin. “Allons-y!”
“Allons-y?” Donna snapped, seizing the nearest handle. “Who the hell says allons-y?”
The Doctor rolled his eyes. “I do. Now hang on tight because this is going to be a bumpy landing!”
“First time you’ve ever admitted it!” Rose couldn’t help but laugh as she hung tightly to a handle that had just appeared. “Thanks, love.” She patted the console in gratitude.
The TARDIS’ answering hum was strained.
“I’ll have you know my landing skills are usually just fine, thank you very much!” the Doctor squawked, tapping frantically at the console.
“Yeah, must be why you got me back a year late last time!”
“Are you ever going to let that go?”
“Oi! Are we getting out of space or are you two just going to flirt until we catch fire?” Donna demanded. “Honestly, all the spaceships in the world and I end up with the intergalactic Bonnie and Clyde!”
“We are not!” the Doctor exclaimed indignantly. “You’d do better saying Shiver and Shake!”
“Don’t you ever shut up?” Donna demanded. “Honestly, you-”
“Incoming!” the Doctor interrupted. “Hang on, we’re going to land-”
The TARDIS landed with a mighty thud, jerking them all to the floor, handles notwithstanding.
“-hard,” the Doctor finished. “Everybody alright?”
“”M fine,” Rose muttered, standing painfully. “Just a bit winded.”
“Are you sure?” He hovered over her, his face very close as he inspected her minutely. “Are you hurt? In pain? Rose?”
She couldn’t help but shake her head at his hovering. Even though she’d regained her full strength months ago, and it had been almost a year and a half since her illness, he still worried. He’d been even worse since their close call at Canary Wharf a few months ago. “‘M fine, Doctor but you’d better get that smoke before we burn the TARDIS down.”
“Smoke?” He whirled. “Oh! Right, I’ve got this. Both of you, out!”
“Oh I like that,” Donna muttered as she accepted Rose’s hand and rose painstakingly to her feet. “And I’m fine, thanks for asking.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “Come on,” was all she said. “Let’s get some air.”
They strode out the TARDIS to the sounds of the Doctor blasting a fire extinguisher at the console, and muttering apologies to his ship. They stood in silence, looking at the Estate below until the Doctor joined them.
“Well, I’ve put it out but she’s going to need a couple of hours, minimum.”
“Is she alright?” Rose turned to him, worried.
“Yeah, course she is, just needs a mo.” He shrugged. “Funny thing, for a space ship she doesn’t do all that much flying.”
“Yeah.”
“Sure you’re alright, Rose?” He inspected her closely, his eyes worried. “You’re not hurt? Injured? Unable to breathe?”
She blushed at the way he looked at her. Even after all this time, the intensity gave her shivers. “‘M fine. Promise. You’d better check Donna.”
He gazed intently at her for another moment before nodding and turning to Donna.
“You sure you’re alright, then?” he asked cautiously, clearly expecting another outburst.
“Fine. Not that it matters now.” Donna was subdued.
Rose exhaled in sympathy. “Did we miss it?”
“Yeah.”
“You can book another date,” she said tentatively.
“Course we can.”
“You’ve still got the honeymoon,” the Doctor said warily, watching the redhead.
“It’s just a holiday now.” Donna was looking over the edge of the building, unseeing.
“Right. Yeah. Sorry.” The Doctor cringed and turned to look pleadingly at Rose.
“Not your fault,” Donna said finally.
Rose blinked. That was a change. “Maybe not, but we still want to help,” she said softly, warily approaching the other woman, and noticing for the first time that the air was chilly and Donna was clad only in a wedding dress. “You must be cold.”
Donna shivered. “Yeah, a bit.”
“I have a jacket,” the Doctor offered, slipping it off.
“‘S alright, I have one of mine hanging in the console room,” Rose cut in, seeing the scathing look Donna directed at the jacket. “I’ll get it.”
“Hope it’s bigger than this,” Donna muttered, glancing briefly at the Doctor’s suit jacket. “This wouldn’t fit a rat.”
“Well there’s no need to be rude,” the Doctor huffed, slipping the jacket back on as Rose ducked briefly inside. “I was just being polite.”
“This is you being polite?” Donna demanded.
“Yes!” The Doctor sounded offended. “Rose says I have to.” He huffed. “Even when people make it hard to be,” he muttered.
“What was that?” Donna barked.
“Nothing!” the Doctor squeaked, and Rose couldn’t help but smile as she rifled through the coats hanging in the console room, wondering why on earth they hadn’t thought to chuck that wretched orange space suit away. She still had nightmares about the Doctor being trapped in that pit.
“So, you and Blondie-”
“Her name is Rose,” the Doctor cut in indignantly. “Rose Tyler.”
“Rose, then. You’re a thing?”
“A thing?” the Doctor sounded confused. “What kind of thing? We’re not things. We’re people!”
Rose bit her lip, trying not to laugh as she finally found the jacket.
“Well, I dunno what you aliens call it! Are you together? Married? Partners? I dunno, mated?”
“Mated! We’re not animals!” The Doctor was outraged. “Besides, Rose isn’t an alien.”
“She’s not?” Donna sounded disbelieving and Rose decided she’d left them long enough. Knowing the Doctor, he was going to be smacked, and soon.
“Nope! She’s human. Brilliantlyhuman.”
“Not from Mars then?”
“Nope, ‘fraid not,” Rose grinned, strolling out with the jacket. “Here you are- nice and warm. You’ll need it while we’re standing about in this December air.” She shivered. “Forgot how cold it gets here sometimes.”
“You know London then?” Donna reluctantly slipped on the warm Kalpesian jacket.
Rose grinned. “Lived here most of my life- this is where I grew up. Literally, right here. My mum still lives in this block of flats.”
The Doctor froze. “Jackie isn’t home, is she?”
Rose paused. “Dunno. But if she is, she’s probably heard us.”
The Doctor gulped and turned to the TARDIS. “There’s an incentive for a quick recovery and repair, if ever I heard one.”
Rose hid a smile. “Better pray she’s not.”
“Yeah.” He turned to her with wild eyes.
“I hate to break up this lovely chit-chat,” Donna interrupted. “But would somebody mind telling me why I was abducted and almost killed by a robot santa?”
Naturally, the Doctor ignored her question. “S’pose we’d better look at masking while we’re waiting for the TARDIS to repair herself- and I don’t just mean from Jackie.”
“Right.” Rose rolled her eyes. “If you’re lookin’ for the bio-dampers, they’re in your right pocket, from that time on Zerpebia- when we were bein’ chased by the creepy space piglets.”
“Oh yeah.” He grinned. “The Zorps. Have to love the Zorps- even if they did want to eat us.” At an impatient twitch from Donna, however, he cleared his throat. “Right, bio-dampers.” He dug into his pocket, frowning for a moment. “Ah, here we go! One basic model, coming right up!” he dug a gold wedding band out of his pocket and waved it triumphantly. “With this ring-”
“Doctor! Not that one!” Rose hissed, seeing the expression on Donna’s face. “Find a different one!”
“What? Why?” Catching her pointed glance at Donna, however, he flushed. “Ah. Yes. Never mind. Basic model won’t do here- let’s see what else we have…aha! Knew it was in here somewhere.” He waved the brooch around excitedly. “Here you are Donna, one first-class bio-damper, complete with style and all for the low price of nothing!”
The redhead rolled her eyes as eyed the brooch. “What does it do?”
“These creatures can trace you, and this brooch is a bio-damper- should keep you hidden.”
Donna hesitated. “I don’t know…”
“Donna, please.” Rose turned to the other woman. “We have no idea why those things want you or how they even found you, but whatever it is isn’t good. What does it hurt to wear this thing for a few hours until we sort this out?”
“Fine,” the redhead exhaled after a tense moment of silence. “Fine. Give it to me.” Seizing the brooch, she pinned it onto her dress and folded her arms. “Now what?”
“Now we wait.” The Doctor cast a longing look at the TARDIS. “And we chat.”
“Chat?” Donna was incredulous.
“Yep.”
Rose was fairly certain that if the Doctor popped another ‘p’, Donna was going to slap him.
“Chat. About. What?” Donna seethed through clenched teeth.
“Why they’re chasing you, obviously.” The Doctor looked at Donna as though she were mad. “What else?”
“That’s exactly what I asked a few minutes ago,” Donna growled. “And you ignored it.”
The Doctor cleared his throat, clearly sensing danger. “Right, well, good question. What do camouflaged robot mercenaries want with you? And how did you get inside the Tardis? I don’t know….” He sucked his upper lip in thought. “What’s your job?”
“I’m a secretary.”
Seeing the Doctor about to open his mouth (and almost certainly about to get himself slapped), Rose cut in hastily, fixing the Doctor with a glare. “Where do you work?”
“H.C. Clements.” Donna inhaled. “It’s where I met Lance- I was temping.”
Rose smiled. “Bit of a sweetheart, was he?”
“Yeah.” Donna smiled. “He got me coffee- and him the head of HR! Heads of HR don’t get the secretaries coffee.”
“Sounds like a good one. So tell us more,” Rose encouraged. “When was this?”
“Six months ago.”
The Doctor stared. “Six months? Blimey, that’s qui-”
“What does H.C. Clements do?” Rose interrupted, glaring at the Doctor.
“Security Systems. You know, entry codes, ID cards, that sort of thing. If you ask me, it’s a posh name for locksmiths.”
Rose opened her mouth to ask another question, only to be interrupted by a very familiar voice.
“You!” Jackie Tyler screeched, charging at the Doctor.
The Doctor gulped. “Blimey.”
“I’ll give you blimey! I’ve been waitin’ for you, mate!”
“Mum-”
“Don’t you mum me, Rose Tyler! You’re not too old to be put over my knee! And as for that ruddy alien of yours.” She fixed her glare on the Doctor. “You’ve broken my telly, you have!”
“Ah.” The Doctor grimaced.
“All it picks up now is the space news from some alien planet! I can’t get my shows and you’re not leaving this building until you fix it.”
“What? Look Blondie,” Donna glared, “ I’ve already missed my wedding and been abducted by killer robots-”
The Doctor shook his head frantically at Donna. “Don’t, Donna! Don’t!”
“Shut it, Martian boy- I’ll say what I bloody well want and we’re not hanging about here while you fix the mother-in-law’s telly!”
“I’m not from Mars!” the Doctor protested.
“Oi, shut it, you!” Jackie turned and glared at Donna. “I dunno who you are but you’re not getting in the way of my telly repairs!” She looked her up and down. “And what the hell are you doing out here in a wedding dress, then? On Christmas, no less? You’ve a nerve turnin’ up drunk!”
“I’m not drunk! “ Donna shrieked.
“Then who are you and what are you doin’ here?”
Rose swallowed. “It’s a bit of a long story, mum.”
Jackie folded her arms. “I have time.”
“Fine.” Rose took a deep breath. “It all started when Donna suddenly appeared on the TARDIS in mid-flight…”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“You had the reception without me?”
“Donna, what happened to you?” A dark-skinned bloke dressed to the nines came forward, staring at Donna.
“You had the reception withoutme?”
The room was utterly silent.
The Doctor cleared his throat. “Hello, I’m the Doctor- and this is Rose Tyler.”
Rose inhaled. This was actually painful.
“Roooooose Tyler. Yep.”
His usual popped ‘p’ sounded unnaturally loud in the silence that followed.
Donna turned to Rose. “They had the reception without me.”
Rose cringed. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“Well, it was all paid for,” an annoyingly nasal woman piped up. “Why not?”
Rose turned to Donna. “Let me guess- that’s Nerys.”
“Spot on, Blondie. Nerys the Nag, as she’s better known.” She scowled at the other woman, who squawked in protest.
The next thing Rose knew everyone was talking at once, demanding to know where Donna had been, an older woman carried on about silly messages and tricks, and it seemed as though the whole world was pressing in on them until Donna burst suddenly into tears.
Rose couldn’t help but smile as she felt the Doctor’s hand slip into her own, knowing as she did how baffled he became when confronted with emotions he couldn’t immediately explain.
“Crikey, didn’t see that coming!” he whispered, squeezing closer to her.
She shrugged. “She’s hurt that no one cared that she disappeared from her own wedding. And then to top it off, they decided to have the reception without her. They’re dancin’ while she was off bein’ hunted by robot Santas.” She exhaled. “Anybody’d be hurt by that. They’ve basically told her they don’t care where she was.”
“Right.” He was quiet for a moment, watching as the man Rose presumed was Lance comforted Donna and everyone applauded. “Didn’t expect the tears though- thought she’d tear them a new one when we walked in and found them bopping away. She seemed pretty furious.”
“I’m sure she is.” Rose turned to the Doctor. “Doesn’t mean she isn’t hurt. And I reckon she wants them all to know it and maybe feel a bit rotten about it- as they should.”
Donna winked at them as Lance led her away to the dancefloor, and the Doctor snorted. “Right again, Rose Tyler. Always with the right answers.”
“I try,” she smirked as the band started a new song.
“So.” He turned and looked her full in the face.
“So,” she said, her eyes on his, trying to keep the smile from her face.
“They have a band.” His eyes glinted.
“They do.”
“And the band is playing music.”
“It is.” She tried, she really did, to keep the smile from forming.
She failed.
“It’s nice. Sort of boppy. A boppy band.”
“Yeah,” she smiled. “You could call it that. What of it?”
“Fancy a dance, Rose Tyler?”
She raised her eyebrows teasingly. “Can you?”
“Nine hundred years old, me. I’ve been around a bit. I think you can assume at some point I’ve danced.”
Her heart began to pound because she recognised the look in his eyes: it was exactly the same look he’d given her when he’d spoken those words so many months ago, and his eyes had been blue instead of brown.
“Doesn’t the universe implode or something if you dance?” Her words were breathless as she played her part.
“Well, I’ve got the moves but I wouldn’t want to boast.”
This time, she let her smile spread freely across her face. “You’ve got the moves? Show me your moves.”
“With pleasure.” He winked. “Not trying to resonate concrete this time.”
“You’ll find your feet at the end of your legs: you may care to move them.” She laughed as he spun her out onto the dance floor.
Together, they twirled and swayed this way and that; forgetting just for a moment about robot santas and bio-dampers and mysterious hitchhikers in the TARDIS, and just enjoyed the music and the closeness of the other.
She waved at Donna as she shimmied past them with Lance before the Doctor whipped her into another complicated turn and dipped her.
“Oh,” she said breathlessly. “Look at you, Mr Smooth.”
He waggled his eyebrows as he held the dip for a moment before letting her up. “It’s Doctor Smooth, actually.”
She groaned. “That was terrible.”
“I know,” he grinned. “But you love me anyway.”
“S’pose,” she laughed, shaking her head, unable to believe how different things were now from where they’d been a year and a half ago, unable to believe that they were here,now and things were everything she’d ever hoped they could be.
Her physical health had improved, thanks to a careful regimen set by the Doctor, and she was finally back to where she’d been before she’d gotten sick. Her mind had slowly and steadily improved and she’d been seeing Elpi every week since that first day- even on days when she’d been so exhausted, so disheartened that she’d want to give up, to crawl into her bed and hide. Things had improved so much and she’d become desensitised to so many triggers that even she had to concede she was slowly getting better. Better still, she knew she could and would continue to improve, until her mind was her own again and none of the scars of the past had the power to hurt or control her thinking anymore.
Because slowly but surely, she was taking control.
The Doctor had been as good as his word and stuck by her through every up and down, every self-doubt (his and hers). He hadn’t withdrawn from her, even when it was clear that he’d wanted to. He insisted on taking her to therapy for as long as she needed to go, and refused to hear a word said about her being a burden.
That’s not to say things were perfect, because of course, they weren’t. As her health had improved, their comfort in disagreeing had increased, and now they argued as much as they ever had. Sometimes she stormed off in frustration when he started on one of his arrogant Time Lord rants, certain he knew better than everyone else, and she was fairly certain he was ready to scream whenever she ‘released her inner human-y human’ as he called it, and charged into a situation throwing caution to the wind.
Sometimes he’d get testy when they’d stumble across someone from his past, and his silence would infuriate her. But now, instead of his usual whirl and dash, he’d sigh when she came to apologise for pushing too far and he’d tell her, in little bits and pieces.
She treasured those little bits and pieces of his soul more than anything.
By the time the events of Canary Wharf had happened, and he’d caught glimpses of an alternate future- the future that would have been -that could have been- she’d known, without a doubt that she loved him, that she knew him. That he was her Doctor. So in that awful, soul-wrenching moment when they’d stood, his words of a different future, a lonely and broken future hanging in the air, she’d gathered her courage and told him. He’d been utterly flabbergasted before seizing her and kissing her ferociously, and she’d known, then, deep in her bones, that it was her Doctor, the same man who’d had burning blue eyes, the same man who’d loved her and died for her…and the man who’d brought her back from death.
Things had been dizzyingly heady, after that, but even then he hadn’t pushed for more than she was ready to give. He hadn’t said a word about the fact that she hadn’t shared that final, intimate experience in her mind with him, that she hadn’t said those words yet.
I am the Bad Wolf.
Because she would. She knew it now, and so did he, and why should they hurry? She knew, even if he didn’t (not quite yet), that they had all the time in the world and for now they were just happy.
“Rose?” He’d stopped dancing, and was holding her close, looking at her in concern. “Are you alright?”
“‘M fine,” she smiled, reaching up to caress his face. “Just…thinkin.’”
His eyes blazed with an intensity that she knew all too well, the gaze her Doctor, in both of his bodies, had only ever turned on her. Because he loved her.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, hello darlings. Is this a private party or do you take multiple bookings?” Jack suddenly materialized beside them, waggling his eyebrows and breaking the spell.
Rose rolled her eyes as the Doctor turned to Jack with a scowl. “What do you want?”
“Well, I like that! There I was, minding my own business, when I got a call about chasing taxis and robot santas.” Jack raised an eyebrow. “Ring a bell?”
“He’s really pleased you came.” Rose poked the Doctor before turning to Jack. “Did you find anything?”
Jack’s smile dimmed and he waved them off the dancefloor with a grim expression, leading them over to Mickey. “Yeah…you’re not gonna like it though.”
The Doctor exhaled. “Right, what have you got?”
“Yeah, hello to you too.” Mickey turned a glare on them. “You’re both ridiculous by the way- makes me queasy watching the two of you.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “Come on then, Micks, get on with it.”
“Right, well, your girl is one Donna Noble, works at H.C. Clements as a temp.”
“We’d already gathered as much!” The Doctor folded his arms. “Don’t you have anything useful?”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Graciou as always, Doc. And I’m afraid I do, but as I said…you’re not gonna like it.”
The Doctor narrowed his eyes. “Tell me.”
“H.C. Clements is owned by the Torchwood Institute.”
Rose stared. “Say what?”
“Yeah.” Jack exhaled. “The London branch of Torchwood, to be exact.”
“But-”
“It doesn’t exist anymore, I know.” Jack looked at them sobrely. “We disbanded it a few weeks ago, after Canary Wharf. But it looks like somebody bought this firm up twenty-three years ago, and if this Donna is involved in anyway…”
“Her fiance is head of HR at H.C. Clements,” Rose said quietly. “Donna’s a temp there. They’ve been together for six months.”
Jack blinked. “Six months? And they’re getting married? Isn’t that a bit-”
“Yes, yes, it’s quick,” the Doctor cut in. “Focus, Jack! We still have no idea why Torchwood is interested in Donna- because mark my words, it’s them. They’ve shown no compunction at all about meddling in things they don’t understand.”
“Here, boss,” Mickey cut in. “There hasn’t been no Torchwood London for the past few weeks. I should know- closed it myself.”
Mickey had decided to return to Cardiff with Jack after Canary Wharf, and Rose was glad for him. Jack had offered him the chance to grow, and have his own adventures instead of being their third-wheel, and he’d taken it. By the sounds of it, he was enjoying it.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. “But it was there for the last six months, Mickey, and just because you’ve closed the office doesn’t mean that there aren’t some of the old gang lurking about with unfinished business. Or worse, someone else has come in and taken over the operation.” He exhaled in frustration. “If only I could work out why. What do they want with Donna, and what did they do that landed her on the TARDIS?”
Jack passed him his mobile. “We managed to find this- one of the guests has posted it to My Space. It’s the footage of when she disappeared.”
“Right, she’s walking up the aisle, goose stepping as you humans do, no idea why, and then…oh. Oh. This is very, very not good. That’s impossible. That’s ancient!”
“What?” Rose demanded. “It looked like…if I didn’t know better I’d say it was Artron energy- like when you regenerated.”
“It isn’t.” He turned to her, eyes wide. “I….that looks like Huon particles.”
“What’s that?”
“They’re deadly. And defunct! Huon energy doesn’t exist anymore, not for billions of years.” He swallowed. “We got rid of them- my people did. They unravel the atomic structure. And they can’t be hidden by a bio-damper.”
“Oh my God.” Rose turned and dashed into the middle of the wiggling dancers. “Donna! Donna! They’ve found you! You have to get out! Get everyone out!”
“But I was supposed to be safe.” Donna looked almost vulnerable.
“The bio-damper doesn’t work- not with you. Come on, we’ve got to get everyone out!”
“Too late!” Mickey called from near the doors, peering outside. “They’re here. And we’re trapped.”
“Bugger.” The Doctor turned and, waving his sonic, cut off the music. “Stay away from the trees! Get away from the Christmas trees!”
“But-” An older woman Rose thought might be Donna’s mum began, only to have the Doctor whirl on her.
“But nothing! Get away from the trees!”
“Too late!” Jack called, drawing his gun as the baubles rose into the air and six santas lined up in front of the bar. “Everybody take cover!”
“Oh, honestly, do you always think with your weapon, Harkness?”
Rose rolled her eyes at Jack’s gleeful expression as she ducked behind the bar.
“Oi! Santa! Word of advice. If you’re attacking a man with a sonic screwdriver, don’t let him near the sound system.” The Doctor waved his sonic at the DJ’s desk and a horrific screeching caused the robots to explode.
Jack grinned. “Business as usual, eh Rosie?”
“S’pose so.” She shook her head as the Doctor muttered about separate remotes and people began to call for help. “Never a quiet Christmas since I met him.”
“You wouldn’t have it any other way! And neither would I!” The Doctor called, striding over with Donna in tow. “Even if it does mean we have to go to your mum’s for dinner after this.”
“Yeah,” she grinned, inexplicably happy despite the chaos and ever-present danger. “I’m so glad I met you.”
His eyes burned. “Better with two.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Not too far away, another TARDIS stood with the Doctor lounging in the doorway as Rose laughed at him.
“How are you still so rubbish at landings?”
“I am not!”
Rose rolled her eyes. “So you meant to land us in our own timeline however many years ago, so we could watch our younger selves fight killer santa robots?”
He cleared his throat. “There may have been a slight miscalculation involved. And it’s twenty-three years, four months and six days. To be exact.”
“Course there was.” Rose grinned. “Admit it, you’re a rubbish driver and you’ve always been a rubbish driver.”
“You take that back, Rose Tyler!”
She arched an eyebrow. “Why don’t you make me?”
“Why don’t you come over here and I’ll make you?” His eyes burned with a look Rose knew all too well.
She smirked and sidled over to him. “Feels a bit strange to be standin’ out here cuddlin’ while our younger selves are in there bein’ chased by those creepy robots.”
“They’ll manage.” He shrugged. “We did, after all. Long as we don’t interfere, everything will play out as it should do.”
“Yeah.” She gave him a meaningful look. “It will.”
He caught her meaning, and smiled. “Soon enough, that poor sod inside will have everything he’s ever wanted, everything he never thought he could have- including a wife.” He tapped her temple. “A bondmate. And everything he’s ever gone through, every loss, every sorrow, will be worth it. Because it all led me to you.”
She leaned closer and kissed him softly. “Even if you had to wait so long?”
“Even then.” He smirked. “Besides, I’m a Time Lord, Rose. What’s a measly year or two in the scheme of things?”
“Yeah.”
“What about you?”
She blinked. “Me?”
“Yes. You.” He looked at her in the way only he could. Her Doctor. “Has it all been worth it?”
She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking back over the last twenty-odd years, of adventure and heartbreak, of trauma and fear and danger and of hope and life and healing and love.
Always love.
She turned to him with a smile. “Yeah. Every bit of it.”
He gave her the smile that was hers alone and pulled her close for a moment, resting his chin on her hair.
She exhaled. “It meant a lot, you know.”
“What did?” He pulled back, cocking an eyebrow quizzically before taking her hand and sliding his fingers between hers.
“That you told me you loved me, that you asked me to marry you and bond with you before you even knew about the changes.”
He smiled and kissed her. “I’d do it again. That fool inside will do it again for me, soon enough.” He huffed. “Was a heck of a shock, though. Naughty TARDIS, hiding the structural alterations to your genetic makeup all this time.”
Rose laughed. “She probably decided we didn’t need to know.”
“Cheeky ship,” he muttered. “I’ll decide what’s need to know and what isn’t.”
“No regrets, though?” She cocked her head, watching him, tongue touching her teeth.
“None,” he said huskily, leaning in to chase her tongue. “I’m so glad I met you, Rose Tyler.”
“Better with two,” she smiled, before leaning in to kiss him again.
