The Dreams That Give Us Pause, for the Who Contest prompt Almost
Title: The Dreams That Give Us Pause
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: G
Characters/pairings: Rose, Rose/Doctor
Warnings (including spoilers): Spoilers for Doomsday.
Wordcount: 294-ish words.
Author's note: Written for the who_contest prompt 'Almost'.
Summary: 'Once the wall closes, she goes back.'
[*]Once the wall closes-
No, that's not right. Not like it's just that, just something that happened, just some event in the past that set the stage for the now. It was far more than that. It was the end of everything. There is no now for her anymore, she has no more life in her, and that event that was almost just the closing of a wall is-
It's everything, now.
After. Rose can't even pull herself together for her mum, for Mickey, for her- well he's not really her da, but... Because they're acting like it's over. And she can't, she just can't accept that it's over, no way.
Once the wall closes, she goes back. Back to those breathless seconds when her grip was slipping, when his eyes- so old, but so young, too, so much life in them when he looked at her- when his eyes locked on hers and she could see in them all the words he'd never said. Back to when her fingers slipped and cramped and...
And then weren't holding on. She replays those seconds and thinks, could I have held on? And maybe she couldn't. But she almost had, and that- that she nearly held on to the entire universe that was in her hands, to his eyes locked onto hers and the words in them that he almost said, and couldn't hold on, that she let go...
She replays those seconds and thinks, maybe this isn't real. Because this?
She's lying on her side, facing the wall of the guest bedroom in her not-father's house a million trillion nothings from the man she loves, separated by a wall that isn't a wall, except that she can't reach him.
She can't reach him.
...this isn't life.
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: G
Characters/pairings: Rose, Rose/Doctor
Warnings (including spoilers): Spoilers for Doomsday.
Wordcount: 294-ish words.
Author's note: Written for the who_contest prompt 'Almost'.
Summary: 'Once the wall closes, she goes back.'
[*]Once the wall closes-
No, that's not right. Not like it's just that, just something that happened, just some event in the past that set the stage for the now. It was far more than that. It was the end of everything. There is no now for her anymore, she has no more life in her, and that event that was almost just the closing of a wall is-
It's everything, now.
After. Rose can't even pull herself together for her mum, for Mickey, for her- well he's not really her da, but... Because they're acting like it's over. And she can't, she just can't accept that it's over, no way.
Once the wall closes, she goes back. Back to those breathless seconds when her grip was slipping, when his eyes- so old, but so young, too, so much life in them when he looked at her- when his eyes locked on hers and she could see in them all the words he'd never said. Back to when her fingers slipped and cramped and...
And then weren't holding on. She replays those seconds and thinks, could I have held on? And maybe she couldn't. But she almost had, and that- that she nearly held on to the entire universe that was in her hands, to his eyes locked onto hers and the words in them that he almost said, and couldn't hold on, that she let go...
She replays those seconds and thinks, maybe this isn't real. Because this?
She's lying on her side, facing the wall of the guest bedroom in her not-father's house a million trillion nothings from the man she loves, separated by a wall that isn't a wall, except that she can't reach him.
She can't reach him.
...this isn't life.