Disclaimer: Doctor Who and the characters in the show do not belong to me. I'm just borrowing them for a bit.
Summary: The Doctor and Rose. Objects in constant motion. And not something they would have changed for the world.
A/N: This is my first try at a Reunion piece - it's based at some point in S4 but certainly before the finale. Very AU at this point. :) Many thanks to my beta reader
. Also, this was too big (o.O) to fit into one post, so I'm splitting it up.
Back flush to the wall, Rose sucked in a deep breath and forced herself to release it slowly. Where any exposed skin met the metal on the wall, it sucked up the coldness from it and she shivered. She found herself to be at a three-way intersect and from two directions the sound of booted feet running echoed sharply. One of them had been the way she'd come from, the other...
Probably more of the same guards, chasing the fool she'd just saved. She hadn't been able to get a good look at his face as he'd ducked the shot fired from the guard behind him but she figured that the ragged breathing from the corner next to her was from him. Rose closed her eyes for a second and shook her head, smiling wryly. She'd been on vacation, had come to Darlig Ulv Stranden again just to...just to see, she supposed. It had been five and a half years and she'd decided it really couldn't hurt. Besides, Norway had looked like a grand place to come and visit, memories aside.
That had been before she'd discovered a nearby scientific base had been overrun by aliens attempting to gain control of the technology and research being horded there. Rose had done the intelligent thing and alerted her dad, who had in turn had alerted Rose's team and they were on their way. But even the fastest zeppelin wasn't a TARDIS, or even a jet from her world, and the trip from the UK to Norway was longer than she had time for.
Even the Norway branch still had to scramble and they were at least a few hours outside of her area.
So she'd done the stupid, but necessary, thing – opened the boot of her car, shoved bags and suitcases aside to reveal a hidden bottom and pulled out her weapons. After an hour of surveillance, she'd realized they were probably close to getting their hands (or flippers or tentacles or whatever) on whatever choice piece information would give them an edge on the human race.
Despite Pete's vast misgivings, he'd given her the go-ahead to proceed, under extreme caution and with specific instructions. Avoid detection, avoid a fire fight, and bloody hell, avoid getting hurt.
She'd been spotted fifteen minutes after she'd scaled the fence and busted in through a window (the alarms were already going off, so it hadn't mattered much); twenty minutes and counting later, there'd been a fire fight and one, she thought with some guilt, she'd started. She had, so far, managed to remain unscathed. Rose grinned. Her dad would just have to live with one out of three.
The running guards were getting closer and she instinctively reached around the corner to grasp the hand that waited there, almost as if it had been reaching out for her as well. Another breath but this time she let it out quickly in a gasped "Run!" and then she was pulling the stupid sod forward.
Probably a scientist who'd decided to wander despite the alien invasion or an unlucky bloke who'd not realized...wait a sec, had he said "Run" as well?
Glancing over her shoulder, Rose very nearly tripped over her own feet in shock. It couldn't be.
But the voice, nearly shouting now, shouting rather shrilly "What?!" was his ... the hand gripping hers was his ... the suit was bloody awful but the shoes... "Doctor," she gasped, laughing and nearly crying at the same time. She wanted to turn and punch him and then hug him, maybe punch him again, and then, no maybes about it, snog the life out of him.
But shots were zinging around them and she had to get to the computers and download the virus that Mickey had cooked up on the flight he was on and there was simply no time.
So she ran.
"Rose?" the Doctor said, shaking his head at her. "Oh, this is not good – well it is, because it's you! And me! Which makes an us again! But I knew that hole the TARDIS was sucked into was bad news. End of the universe bad and I've already nearly had one of those, thanks. This'll be worse than almost-Belgium!"
As usual, she really had no idea what he was talking about but she supposed that the whole two universe thing couldn't be good. All the openings had been closed, after all...
"Fuck! The research! Think dad said something 'bout the Norwegians researching something stupid and this base was gonna close, be scrapped 'cause of it!" There was no time to simply bask in the fact that they were together again. Rose squeezed his hand hard and he returned the gesture, shifting his hand so that their fingers entwined together. "Betcha they were tryin' to open it back up again, that's what you fell through."
"It's always the Norwegians," he replied, mournfully, tugging her down another open corridor. She followed his lead and now it was his turn to grin over his shoulder. Despite their situation, his eyes were alight with glee and it eased her own nerves. "How long's it been for you?" he asked.
"Five and a half years. You?"
"Too long."
So much pain in those words and if there was a later, they were going to have a nice sit down.
"Travelling with anyone?" Rose asked, curious.
"Oh, a few here and there..."
"Good. You need looking after, you do." There was pleasure that for however long they'd been separated he'd had someone at his side. After a second, she continued with, "Anyone I'd have liked?"
The Doctor snorted, trying door after door. "Martha Jones and Rose Tyler in the same room, that I'd liked to have seen. After about a month of snark and snide comments, I suppose you would have. Donna's kind of like your mum, so you'd have liked her."
Rose boggled. "You travelled with someone like mum?" she repeated, barking out a laugh. "Can't wait to tell her that." Now they were in a corridor she recognized and they switched leaders with Rose in front. "Control room, gotta set up a virus that Mickey sent me," she explained.
"How's the old boy?" he asked, almost but not quite making it sound like he was asking about his favorite puppy.
Catching up while running for their lives. It was like old times.
"He and Jake are together," Rose replied, giggling at the noises that the Doctor made, all of them amused and none of them really surprised. "His gran just passed, though, such a shame. Lovely woman."
They slammed into each other when Rose hit the brakes, trying the door to the control room. Locked and she had no idea what the pass code was ... as she reached to unsnap her sidearm from the holster to shoot the lock, a familiar buzzing sound went off in her ear and her eyes snapped over to the sonic screwdriver.
Leaning over, his hand never letting go of hers, the Doctor grinned manically. "Forget about this?" he teased, waggling his favorite 'toy' slightly, and in minutes they were inside and barricading the door.
Not stopping, Rose hooked up her mobile to the control system to start the download. The Doctor had wrenched off a panel and was now on his back under it, long legs sticking out at familiar angles. She crouched down next to him, shoulder pressed tightly to knee, and punched in all the buttons that Mickey had instructed her to.
Even with Jake flying, they'd never have gotten here in time, which had made trying to explain the mess to her dad a bit easier.
"Sonic screwdriver, if you please," came the muffled voice under the control board. She fished it out of his jacket pocket and slid it under to him, almost half-expecting to hear the familiar warm hum and vibration of the TARDIS under her. But it was just cold beeps and blips from a cold machine in a cold station that she could hear.
He slid back out and stared up at her, hair all askew, eyes wide. "How long 'til the virus takes?"
"Five minutes. How long 'til almost-Belgium?"
"A few hours, give or take. Belgium's a bit hard to predict."
Rose blinked, the Doctor blinked back. And then it wasn't so much that one lunged at the other, more like they mutually fell upon each other. It was an uncomfortable position - he was leveraging himself up on one arm and she was twisting her upper torso around her knees - but neither of them cared. It started off as a hug (closecloseclose until they were nearly one) but Rose had waited five and a half years and before he could do anything like protest or hide back under the console, she kissed him.
The Doctor meeped in surprise but he had always fancied himself as a quick study, or so he'd told Rose on more than one occasion. The hand that had wrapped around her shoulders to pull her into the embrace shifted up to her neck as he returned the kiss. With a feeling of glee, Rose's hands found their way into his hair and tangled in the long, messed up strands.
When the soft tendril of feeling brushed against her mind, she jerked her head back, fingers stubbornly refusing to leave off from where they were playing. "What…?" she gasped.
He beamed at her. "The TARDIS just said hello," he informed her. "Hello!"
She blinked back an unexpected wetness. "Hello," Rose whispered back, the smile growing on her face with every second.
His face sobered slightly and the hand on the back of her neck trailed forward, tracing her throat, chin and then up to her forehead. "Rose Tyler," he muttered, leaning forward. Rose stilled as the Doctor pressed a light kiss to her forehead.
There was another brush against her mind but it was unlike the one from the TARDIS - that had been like a single, pure note of song that echoed through her mind. This was a combination of jangled emotions and a single thought of "Rose".
She stilled under his touch, eyes going cross eyed as she stared at his chin. "W-was that you?" Rose squeaked, sounding shocked.
The Doctor pulled back. "If I say yes, will you hit me?" he asked, sounding dubious.
She punched him in the shoulder in response. "You can do that?" Rose demanded. "All those years and you never told me?" She went to smack him again but he stopped her, long fingers curling around her wrist as he gave her a sheepish look.
"Previous me was rubbish at it," the Doctor admitted, pulling them both up to their feet. "Complete and utter rubbish at it. After, it just never came up."
Rose mock scowled at him. "And you never thought that would have come in handy, yeah? Like when we were lost or when…"
He pointed a long finger at her nose and waggled it in front of her face. "You, Miss missy miss, got your knickers all in a twist once upon a time when you found out the TARDIS was in your head, remember?"
She crossed her arms, head tilted and for a frightening second was the spitting image of her mother. "Bit of a shock, that was," she huffed, "but I had time to get over it, you alien sod."
The Doctor tried another tactic. "Rose, it's not like it's something I can just toss around! I need some physical contact..." Her eyes narrowed and he swallowed hard. Looking slightly desperate, he bent his head to silence her with a kiss. It worked right up until he jerked back, eyes wide. "Belgium!"
Cursing, Rose turned and grabbed her mobile. "Done!" she crowed, punching the air in celebration.
The Doctor grimaced. "The Huralions will have realized that this lovely virus of Mickey's just shut down operations," he warned. "They're a race very, very fond of, well ... boom." He spread both hands open wide as the last word popped out of his mouth.
"Fuck, of course they wouldn't be anything else." She hurriedly unhooked the mobile and slipped it into her back pocket. Turning back around, she found herself enveloped once more in the gangly arms of the Doctor. Rose clutched at the back of his suit jacket and buried her head in his shoulder.
"I won't ask you," he told her hair, his voice suspiciously uneven. "I want to but I won't because I told you to live a fantastic life and you have been, oh you really have. So proud of you, Rose my girl --" And for a moment, she thought she could hear a hint of a Northern accent. "Even if you decide to stay here, nothing will ever change that."
That answered any questions or worry that might have been stalking around in one Rose Tyler's brain. He still wanted her, no matter the time or the distance that had been between them, but he was leaving it to her to tell him how it was going to be. She'd known he'd trusted her – with his life, with his TARDIS, even – but this was a new kind of trust and it sent her heart fluttering in her chest.
He gave her that, the least she could do was give him the truth in return. "I don't know," she told his shoulder. "Will Belgium hold off until I think it over?"
She felt him chuckle and then press a kiss into her hair. "Last time you made this decision, it took you less than five minutes," the Doctor teased as they separated, "so, yeah, probably."
Last time had been different and they both knew it. For all that she had missed the Doctor, Rose had built a good, solid, life for herself in this new world. Pete had stepped in as her dad – though it wasn't a complete fit and she was oddly grateful for that – she had a little brother she adored; a job that she was good at; and friends and family who cared about her.
But while it had been good, fantastic even, it had still been missing him. Him, his TARDIS, the travelling.
This time it was going to take her more than five minutes to make up her mind.
Rose jumped a good foot in the air when the door behind her rattled as something big, heavy and, knowing her luck with aliens, very ugly and angry, slammed itself against it. She frowned. "First off, let's get out of here, yeah?"
"Best idea I've heard all day!" the Doctor beamed.
"Well...?"
"Well, what?"
She spread her hands wide and then sighed. "I was goin' ta ask how we get out of this mess but you've got that 'Rose, this is the only way' expression 'bout you again."
He waggled his eyebrows at her. "Can't go out the front door and there is no back door," he stated, striving for solemn but completely losing the effect he was going for, "so the only way to go is..."
"Up," she groaned, filling it in for him.
She tipped her head back and studied the large vent in the corner of the corner of the room. It just sat there, looking completely innocent; but Rose knew better than that, oh yes she did. It could be hiding any number of things she didn't want to run across. Angry aliens, terrified science types that tended to freak out first and ask questions later, spiders...really ugly spiders. Really ugly spiders with bite-y bits.
Perhaps, god forbid, even really angry, terrified, ugly spiders with bite-y bits. After all, angry, ugly, scientific spiders was just silly - wrong planet to come across something like that.
Shoulders slumping, she followed the Doctor over and watched as he deftly unlatched it from the wall with his sonic screwdriver. They stared at each other, mouths twitching slightly despite the inherent danger right behind them.
Just like old times, Rose thought with a surge of glee as the Doctor helped her clamber into the ventilation shaft.
~~
Ten minutes and two pairs of sore knees and elbows later, Rose forced a halt. "We're lost, aren't we?" she hissed at the Doctor over her shoulder, eyes narrowed in irritation.
"We're not lost!" he responded, voice lowered as well. They had made that mistake before and it had alerted the aliens to their position. They'd managed to get away without a scratch – well, that was, without a scratch to themselves. Where there had been once been some very nice material, there was now a jagged, burnt hole in the Doctor's long coat. He was still sulking.
"Then where are we?" When he didn't answer, she sighed. "For a Time Lord, your sense of direction is just rotten."
When there was even more silence, she sent another glare over her shoulder though this one didn't have as much weight behind it as the first one. "And stop checkin' out my bum," she told him.
He grinned.
She shot him a rude gesture over her shoulder.
"We're not lost," he repeated, pointing to the next turn. "One more left, then the second star on the right and then straight on till..."
"That," Rose interrupted mildly, "is from Peter Pan."
The Doctor blinked. "So it is. Still, good advice. Left, straight until we get to the second right and we'll find Donna where I left her. Hopefully," he muttered.
"Where's she at?" Rose asked as they started up again.
"Oh, you know, somewhere nice and cozy. Very safe, very secure."
"You left her in a storage cupboard, didn't you?"
He sniffed and Rose sped up.
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