Passion 1/1; the Doctor/Rose; G

[scarfman]

Title: Passion 1/1
Author: scarfman
Characters/Pairing: the Doctor/Rose
Rating: G
Setting (spoilers through): framing sequence - during Journey's End; main story - aftermath of Age of Steel
Disclaimer: This work is derivative of property of the BBC. No profit shall be made and no market of the owner(s) is infringed upon.
Betareader: qtrhorserider
Summary: The one criticism of Journey's End I can't ignore is that both Rose and Donna, in their ultimate fates, were (as someone on my friendslist put it) denied their own agency - the Doctor decreeing and executing their fates for them without asking and ignoring any stated objections. I already fixed that for Donna; but Rose's was trickier.
crossposted scarfman dwfiction time_and_chips loves_them_all

---

"I love you," whispered the man in blue.

Suddenly Rose is traveling back in time, back along her own timeline to the best years of her life - except it's not the same, it's

better, because this time he's responding, filling her arms and kissing her back, and he really, actually said it -

And when she hears the time machine's door shut and its engines start she reacts with the old reflex: abandons what she's doing to run after it, and to think,

How could he do that to me? Without even asking?

Then she remembers how.

Mum seemed almost pleased to see the Doctor this time, although maybe she was just distracted by Rose's upset at the loss of Mickey. The Doctor had actually been the one to put the tea on while Rose cried out the story into the shoulder of her mother's sweater.

Not the whole story. Mum had asked, on learning that Rickey's gran was alive, "Is there another me there, too?"

"No," said the Doctor simply as he brought in the tray, while Rose was drawing a blank trying to decide whether, or even how, to tell her mother about other-Mum's behavior after Cyberconversion ... or even before. Technically it was true. There had been a Jackie Tyler, but there wasn't in the present tense, not anymore. So, wrung out, Rose let it stand, referring to other-Dad only as Gemini when he actively came into the story.

Once Rose was cried out, Mum said they had to have an evening in honor of Mickey. She'd miss him too, you know - she and Mickey'd spent lots of evenings together between the Slitheen plot and the Krillitane plot. She fixed his favorite meal, and she and Rose told their favorite Mickey stories, and the Doctor confessed how he'd covered for Mickey when he hadn't wanted to board the TARDIS after the Slitheen and hadn't the boy grown ... By the time Jackie went to bed Rose was working her way through all the Tyler home video, most of which featured Mickey in one capacity or another (there not being any video of what Mum referred to as the Jimmy Stone period).

"Now what's this one, then?" the Doctor asked, reentering from the kitchen. This time he'd just given up and brought the biscuit tin back with him.

The camera, with the characteristic Jackie Tyler wobble, was shooting across the table at the chips shop down the street, where Rose and Mickey were giggling as he hand-fed her. "This is my one-month anniversary at Henrik's," said Rose.

They watched silently for a few moments, then the Doctor said, "On one knee? He wasn't ... wasn't asking ...?"

"No," said Rose, blushing furiously. "This was just his, the first time he asked me out again after Jimmy Stone."

"Aaah," said the Doctor.

"I guess he wanted to give it a sense of occasion," said Rose.

They watched a few more moments in silence, then as Rose turned even redder the Doctor said, "So did you, apparently. That's a ten-second snog so far. Fifteen ..."

"Well, it was a milestone for me. I'd just come off the bad relationship with the bloke who withheld his affection from me, and here was man who genuinely cared for me giving me a second chance. That was worth a little ..."

"Passion?" the Doctor suggested.

"Yeh," said Rose.

"Forty seconds' worth so far," said the Doctor, and Rose hit the fastscan button to the next bit.

As the blue box fades from her sight, more blue comes into her peripheral vision ... and her hand is filled with another's, as it has ached to be filled for all these years. Now she knows, he didn't have to ask: she'd told him, in language they shared, and he hadn't left till she'd told him. Despite her reflex she knew too. Perhaps she should apologize to the man at her side for turning away, make sure he knows it was just a momentary lapse -

She feels a hand reaching for hers and she grasps instinctively, and the fit is perfect, familiar.

Oh, he knows.

fin

Edit More Journey's End fixit fiction here.

Comments

[electrictoes.livejournal.com]

Wonderful.

[missbadwolf.livejournal.com]

Oooooo lovely!!

[alienfish.livejournal.com]

I've finally seen to the end of year 3. Still to see Year 4, though I've been rather spoiled.

*grin* I guess the series is trying to make up for all those years with no kissing at all. Ooh, but the Children in Need special being designated official canon opens up opportunity to bring other former Doctors in. Not to mention the lovely lady-clone. And the other clone... and the Master's ring for when they feel like bringing HIM back.