Come Back To Me 6/15
Pairing: 10/Rose, (with a little 9 in later chapters)
Rating: Teen
Spoilers: This is an AU, Post-Doomsday Reunion Fic. Spoilers include any and all episodes in Series 1-2 of Doctor Who.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, If I did you'd be watching this story on TV
Synopsis: Rose gets a strange visitor who may hold the answers to all she seeks. A romantic Doctor/Rose reunion story, with some action thrown in for good measure.
Chapter 6
Reunion
“Hey Dad,” the boy replied sheepishly. “I got her home without a scratch.
Grasping the boy under his arms, the Doctor hauled them both to their feet. The father towered over the son. “Do you think this is a joke, Tyler?” The Time Lord’s pale face was inches from his son’s and growing more crimson by the second. “How could you take off on your own like that? How could you steal the TARDIS?” He shook the boy a little in his rage.
“Dad I...”
“How could you go against everything I’ve ever taught you!?”
“Dad…”
“Do you have any idea how worried I was?”
“Dad I’m sorry, but…”
“Do you even comprehend what you could have done?”
“Dad!” The boy wrenched himself free of his father’s death grip.
“What!?” The Doctor stopped his tirade and stood staring at his son. His breaths came in little pants, his jaw muscle twitching in perfect tandem.
“Look!” Tyler gestured to a place behind his father.
Taking a long-suffering sigh, he spun around to confront whatever was so vital his boy would risk angering him further. What he saw leached all the rage induced color from his face. “Tyler,” his voice was grave. “What have you done?”
***
Rose stood paralyzed in the Doctor’s gaze, a million thoughts rushing through her mind all at once. There he was, finally, not ten feet in front of her and all she could do was stare. There was a rushing sound in her ears, blocking out everything else, as if there was an actual storm inside her from the tumult of her emotions.
He had a son. In hindsight, it made perfect sense, but that didn’t make the news any easier. Rationally, Rose knew that the Doctor had been without her for quite some time, so it made sense that he would have found someone else to love at some point. It had never been her wish for him to be alone. But this was not a rational pain, Rose thought as she absently rubbed her stomach, and all his babies should have been hers.
Jealousy changed instantly into a profound sympathy when she realized that since his son had come and gotten her, his mother must no longer be around. She must have been one more person to have left him, one more thing for the Doctor to have lost. But Rose was here, back with her lonely warrior, and suddenly that was all that mattered. “It’s me Doctor.”
“No,” he said, his voice not much more than a whisper. “You’re supposed to be with your family.”
“I am,” she answered.
He moved a fraction closer to her, his leaden feet reluctant to work. “You’re supposed to be home.”
“I am,” she said again.
The Doctor took another step. “You were supposed to have a fantastic life; a normal life, the one adventure I can’t have.”
“I couldn’t.” She whispered, her voice choking on the tears that had finally spilled over to run down her cheeks. “I’m not normal anymore. Nothing is fantastic without you.”
“I’m so sorry,” he said, “I never wanted to hurt you.”
Rose let out a little sob and held out her hand. “Then tell me you’re glad to see me and make the pain go away.”
A few quick steps and suddenly she was in his arms, and he was holding her too tight, and he smelled like dirt instead of tea and aftershave, and his five o’clock shadow was scratching her cheek, but Rose didn’t care, because he was here, and he was him, and she was finally home.
The Doctor pulled back to see her tear stained face, his own eyes unnaturally bright. Palming her cheeks with both hands, he used his thumbs to wipe away her joyous tears. “Rose?” he asked.
She smiled, remembering how he’d reacted the first time she’d seen him in this form. “Hello.”
Stroking her face with his palms he said,” I can’t believe you’re here.” His eyes were overly bright; the unshed tears threatening to spill over.
Rose glanced over his shoulder. “You have someone else to thank for that.”
Without taking his eyes from hers the Doctor firmly addressed his son. “Tyler, go to your room, now.” Little metallic clinking sounds echoed through the room as the boy scrambled to obey without comment.
Rose leaned into the Doctor’s touch as he traced her features with his fingertips. His thumb traveled down the bridge of her nose to caress the lips underneath. “You didn’t have to be so harsh with him.”
He closed his eyes for as second, little creases of strain appearing between them. “I can’t even begin to explain the scope of what he’s done,” he told her. “He’s a child, and yet he broke the rules of time and space and risked billions of lives to collect you.”
Rose ran her finger down the bridge of his nose, smoothing out the worry lines. “But he’s your child, and that explains a lot.”
“Yes it does,” he agreed, pride and pain warring in his expression, “but that doesn’t change the situation. I can’t send you back.” The sympathy in his voice threatened to rip a new hole in her heart. “Not ever. It’s just not possible.”
“I guess you’re stuck with me then,” she replied, flashing him a cheeky grin.
He smiled back, before leaning in to kiss her temple, a feather-light brush against her hair. “I guess I am.”
“I’m not leaving you again.” She leaned into his embrace, needing his warmth to keep her together, wanting to climb inside him just to be close enough.
“No.” he agreed, stroking her hair. His lips trailed down to kiss away her tears.
“Never again.” Her arms were clinging to him now, desperate to keep him with her.
“Never,” he agreed, before his lips descended again, finally finding purchase against the softness of her mouth.
He was so warm; despite everything she knew about his lower body temperature, his skin was radiating delicious heat. She’d been cold for so long and now all she could feel was his warmth invading every cell in her body. Letting out a little moan, Rose tried to get even closer, granting admission when his tongue stroked against the seam of her lips. She worked her hand underneath the back of his shirt to stroke the smooth skin underneath. He moaned this time and deepened the kiss, burying his hands in the blond strands of her hair. Cradling the weight of her head in his hands, he sucked on her bottom lip, using the weight of his body to support her against the pillar when her knees threatened to give out from under her. She poured all her love and longing into this kiss, trying to banish the loneliness that had pervaded her soul during the past months, trying to show him how much she needed him, and to prove how much he needed her. Rose let out a little cry of protest as he pulled back, her passion replaced by rejection.
“Shh.” He palmed her cheek again, quieting her objections. The kiss hadn’t left him unaffected, she noticed. Color infused his beloved face and his breath was coming fast. Rose laid a palm against his chest to feel the rapid tango of duel hearts. “We can’t do this here,” he panted, dropping his hand to take hold of hers. “I don’t know how to ask you this, how to even begin. It’s been a very long time.” his smile was playful, but a little uncertain.”
Rose had dreamed of this moment since before she’d ever left this amazing ship. She’d played it in her mind a hundred different times in a hundred different scenarios. Now that it was real, the details didn’t matter. She didn’t need poetry or moonlight, just him. Rose leaned in to touch her lips to his. The kiss was brief but passionate; an attempt to tell him all that she was feeling without words. “I need you,” she breathed.
A wolfish smile changed the Doctor’s face from insecure to debonair and he gestured towards the interior door with his free hand. “Follow me?”
Rose mirrored his playful expression and laughed. “Anywhere.”
Chapter 7