taxonomites | seventeen | location: around taxon | someone who appears to save the day

"I don't think you could be the girl everyone laughs at," the Doctor says, giving her a tight smile. "Worries about, yeah. After all, you're with me. And I'm an escaped convict, remember?"

"Mum always worried but you never let her down. Don't expect you'll start now," Rose tells him. She half-heartedly returns the smile and slowly slides back to her original place in the tub. She's emotionally wiped out right now as well as physically.

"Did I do something wrong? Did I push too hard or am I not--enough of something?"

Cautiously, he reaches out for her again, this time to take her hand. He can't deny his attraction to Morgana, he simply can't, but even with it, his feelings for Rose haven't diminished. Arbitrary romantic obligations don't make a whole lot of sense to the Doctor, but relationships in general don't make a lot of sense to him, either.

He just doesn't want to hurt her. To hurt anyone, really.

"I don't want you to be anyone but Rose Tyler," he says.

Rose lets him take her hand in his, fingers threading together as naturally as they always have. Regardless of what their relationship is, the Doctor is a part of her. Her favorite part. He has been since the moment she first took his hand.

"Okay." It's really more of a whisper than anything. She forces a smile for him.

"S'good 'cause I'm rubbish at undercover."

"Yeah, you are," the Doctor says without hesitation. He pauses, and considers his words. "Wait, did I say you were? Sorry, I meant, um, well, uh---"

Good job there, Doctor.

It makes Rose laugh though and she nudges him with her shoulder.

"Hey! I haven't got any psychic paper to tell 'em I'm Lady Bashadom of Bashdonia. Got to rely on you to get me in."

"Yeah, well, I've got---"

He reached into his pocket to produce the psychic paper, but found that pocket empty. He searched the other and found the same. Nothing but his sonic and a few odds and ends.

"That's strange," he said. "I could've sworn I had it while I was here."

"Gone missing?" Rose asks, one eyebrow quirking up. "I don't think it was in the blue suit jacket when I had it but it's hanging in the closet if you want to check."

It's actually the one item of clothing she wears that doesn't end up tossed on the ground in the room. At least not when she wears it.

"Maybe," he says, trying not to worry about it. It's just psychic paper, he can always hatch a new one if he needs to...but where did it end up?

"Maybe I left it in my room, when we---" he cleared his throat. "The last time I was here."

She turns a little pink at that, biting her bottom lip to keep from grinning. The Doctor is uncomfortable enough about sex. She doesn't need to make it worse by teasing him. At least not right now.

"Right you were disheveled," she admits with the slightest bit of teasing in her voice. She considers offering to get out of the tub and go look with him but she knows that's ridiculous. She can let him out of her sight for a minute to two. "Why don't you go look? I'm just going to wash my hair. I'll follow when I'm done."

He smirks at that. He likes that she's still got that ability to tease in her.

"You sure?" he asks, warily getting to his feet. He keeps his hand on hers and doesn't pull away, just in case.

She takes a deep breath and actually considers it a moment before nodding. She can do this. She doesn't have to let this event rule the rest of her life. "Yeah, open doors between us and just a few meters." More than a few but 'a few' sounds better to her. "I'll be alright. Pretty sure I can scream loud enough for you to hear." She feels a little sick knowing in a few seconds she'll be alone in this room but that's part of the point. It's a baby step, a small demonstration that no matter how hard he tried, the Master hasn't ruined her. She pulls her hand away and nods, forcing a smile.

"Just down the hall, yeah? I'll be all right."

"All right," he says. He lifts her hand up and kisses her fingers. It's a very romantic gesture, something he doesn't do often, if at all. Still, he gives her that, then turns to leave, pausing briefly in the hallway to check on Tara before he heads to check the other room.

The uncharacteristic romantic gesture does make her smile and it goes a long way toward soothing whatever tangled feelings she's got about Morgana and the Doctor. When he's gone she washes her hair, rinses it and steps out of the tub feeling a bit better than before. She's trying not to be too jumpy, too twitchy about being alone to very little avail. She pulls the tee shirt she'd worn in here back on and pads warily into the bedroom. It's empty, naturally and much to her relief.

The hallway seems longer than she remembers it and about half way across it she scuttles a little faster, tip toeing rapidly to the door of the second room. "Doctor," she says as she edges her way into the room.

The Doctor bursts out of the room and reaches for her arm. Any anger, any hurt, any upset is completely replaced by pure joy on his face.

"Come here, you have to take a look at this."

And behind the door of the room, tucked neatly in the corner, is a very familiar blue box.

And at the sight of that familiar blue box, Rose has the same joy on her face. She laughs, biting her bottom lip around a huge smile then reaches out to touch the TARDIS as if she wants to make certain it's real. She can feel it alive underneath her hand and she rests her cheek against it as if she could hear a heartbeat. She can't but it's something she used to do in the parallel world, try to get it to wake up a little.

She starts to open the door then stops because as much as the TARDIS once felt like home to her, it isn't her home anymore. She looks over her shoulder, eyebrows arching up. "Can I?"

The Doctor reaches into his pocket, then makes a startled face.

"Key," he says. "I left it with---"

Though he had two, didn't he? Where was the second one? Had it gone the same place as his psychic paper?

He shakes his head and holds up his hand. "Watch this." And with a snap, the door to the TARDIS opens.

She'll worry about the fact that her key is missing later. Right now she's torn between being very worried over the Doctor's forgetfulness and absolute glee that the TARDIS is here. In any case the Doctor will get better now. Or he should and he'll remember where he left the key.

She laughs out loud, a real Rose laugh when the door opens. "Look at you," she teases him and steps inside the TARDIS. The floor feels familiar to her bare feet and subconsciously she holds her breath as she takes a few more steps inside. There were days she never thought she'd see the TARDIS like this again. For the moment all the pain she's gone through the last couple of days is replaced by joy.

In that moment, there's nothing but joy. The TARDIS clings to his mind and he to hers, and they're together and it's perfect. He doesn't think about why the TARDIS is here, he doesn't think about what it could mean for the universe. She's here, now.

"We can go home," he says. It comes out sadder than he'd expected it to.

Rose turns to him, her face falling a little. "Or we could go anywhere. It's a time machine. My timeline is always going to be there. Mum, Dad, Mickey...won't think anything of it if I'm a bit older."

She takes another moment to ponder things. He said when they leave this place everything changes. She's not quite sure she's ready to give everything up right now. "Or we could stay here for a little while. Make sure things get sorted out. It'd be a responsible sort of thing to do. Timeline's still waiting."

It's appealing. Taking her anywhere. The Doctor and Rose in the TARDIS, the way it should be. His hearts almost broke when he thought he lost her today, now he knows he's going to and he's just waiting for them to shatter.

"You've got me to save out there," he says, sad. "I can't keep you from that."

"I will," Rose promises. "Time machine, remember? We can stick to just the past even. Or just the future or just other planets."

Goodbye wasn't supposed to come this fast. But the TARDIS is back. It's the TARDIS, it's their way out. It's everyone's way out. He should be ecstatic. He should be thrilled. He should be bouncing up and down and racing to the controls.

Instead, he stands there. "We---can't."

She's got this irrational desire to run. It's warring with the insecurity and fear of being alone so recently introduced to her. She looks at him, eyes filling up with tears. She knows it's time to go find an earlier Doctor. One that won't send her home, not right away.

"Okay. I'll just go get properly dressed. Can't show up in London like this."

She steps closer to him, hands reaching up to smooth over the lapels of his jacket before she tiptoes and kisses him. It's one of those kisses. The kind that she pours everything into; everything she felt about him before, everything she feels now.

It's the end, isn't it? He's got to take her home, back where she'll leave him for his human self, back where they don't have what they have now. And they never will.

She kisses him, and he kisses her back just as desperately. He should be more gentle, he thinks. She's been through more than enough today to not have to handle any more from him. But just one more kiss, one more goodbye. He can't let her go without that.

And he breaks the kiss, reluctantly.

"Go ahead and get dressed," he says. "I'll---I'll get the TARDIS ready to start sending people out."

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler

Re: Rescuing the Victims--Rose Tyler