for galaxys

[thatsortofman]

The TARDIS has come to rest in London again. Modern-day is a relative thing, all time is a relative thing, but it's the general period that he's come to think of as a baseline for most of his travel along Earth's timeline. It's the time of Martha and Donna and Torchwood. It would be the time of Rose, if any of the time in this reality belonged to her anymore.

As always, even the thought of the blond sends something of an ache that echoes through both his hearts, the bittersweet knowledge that she's safe and alive and living a life that he'll never get to even glimpse. Out of his reach, but at least alive. That has to be comfort enough.

He does his best to slip the memories. It's a lovely day, the sort of spring day that are a rarity in London -- no rain, no chill. Just a warm, gentle sort of sun that casts the park he's sitting in in dappled light through leaf-laden trees. Nearby the TARDIS is parked in the shadow of a towering oak tree, countless pairs of human eyes glossing over the thing-that-shouldn't-be-there without looking twice.

The Doctor has commandeered a bench. Commandeered. That did make it sound official. Mostly he's just taking up more than his fair share of it. He's trying to look thoroughly casual -- as if a man in a suit and a coat, all on his own, belongs in a sunny park on a Saturday. His sonic is in one hand, occasionally flipping on in what looks like a fidget but is in fact his best attempt at subtlety. The TARDIS had picked up something strange in this area, in this time, and he is determined to find out what. It had barely registered on his instruments to begin with, defying measurement and isn't that a puzzle. He can't pass up that sort of mystery.

So he's looking. He doesn't know what he's expecting to find, but no matter what his imagination might have cooked up, it's nowhere near what's waiting for him.

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[thatsortofman]

He watches her, watches the fond touch along the TARDIS, and only steps in after her half a second later. He pulls the door shut, sealing the world away for the time being. And in that moment he exhales a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding. She's really here, back in the familiar surroundings where they had spent so much time together, flung across time and space but safe and secure within the TARDIS.

The Doctor is quieter than he usually is, all the words that are usually so ready to spill out of him in a burst of whatever emotion has taken him are still and absent.

Rose. His Rose. His chest aches, but it's a sweet sort of pain. "Then stay. As long as you can, stay." But that was the kicker wasn't it? He didn't know what brought her here, or if it would unravel and take her away again. But oh he planned on finding out.

[galaxys]

"Is forever alright by you?" She smiles, softer this time and it sounds like a joke but there’s an obvious tone of sincerity in her voice now that she’s had a moment to take all of this in, to find herself back on the TARDIS with her Doctor. It’s all she’s wanted for over a year, all she’d wanted before that, her old life plain and empty without him.

Rose feels his eyes on her as she makes a circuit around the center console and then finds her way back to him, immediately slipping her hand back into his, no hesitation, palms fitting together like they were meant to. "I know you’re going to try and find out how this all happened, Doctor, but for now, can we just enjoy it?" She wants to remind him as much as herself, to not get bogged down in questioning this kindness from the universe, that day on the beach in Norway far too fresh in her memories to waste a single second of this.

And so she steps closer to fold herself back against his chest, all of those lean lines and angles, arms winding around him, chin tucked over one shoulder. "Do you— do you remember what you were about to say to me? Before I was trapped on the other side?" A bold question, her gaze lowered even though she can’t see his face now, half holding her breath.

[thatsortofman]

She knows him too well, he realizes, as she speaks. She knows him. She's seen the worst parts of him really, all those sharper edges, the anger and the rage and the scars of battle so newly fought. She's so much of the reason he managed to be more than that.

He wraps his fingers around her hand, holding tightly. He has the grace to look vaguely sheepish, somewhere around the corners of the smile that's taken residence across his lips, as she calls him out on that. "Yes, yeah. For now, of course." For now. But he will need answers, eventually. He knows himself well enough for that.

His arms wrap tightly around Rose as she steps in once more, turning his head just enough to brush his cheek to soft blonde hair. He stills at the question though, a subtle tension that races through him and only has his embrace tightening. "I remember. Bit hard to forget, really..." he trails off. The things left unsaid were always the hardest, weren't they, the sort of regrets that tore a place in his soul apart and made a permanent residence for themselves. A breath, and he wonders at himself, at how three simple syllables can be so difficult to speak when oh he means them with every last cell of his being.

"I love you," he manages, but they're spoken in a whisper, like they're too delicate for any more volume.

[galaxys]

She nearly expects him to balk, to back down, not to brush her off but to skirt the question (he's good at that, she knows that, too.) But Rose has held on to that unfinished sentence for so long that she can't help but ask, swearing she can feel both of his hearts beating against her, biting down on her bottom lip when she feels him tense.

And then it's her own heart crashing against her ribs, eyes widening over his shoulder, finding the courage to lean back so that she can see his face, the both of them a little afraid and vulnerable; there may have been others for him, but Rose Tyler has only ever loved the Doctor.

Rose can't help this next part, either, the way she holds his face between her hands again, smoothing a thumb beneath one eye before she leans up, just slightly on her tiptoes, pressing her mouth softly to his as she dares to let her eyes shut. She's kissed him before, a different face, a hazy memory, but nothing like this, warm from head to toe, bursting with sheer affection, relief, joy.

so sorry for the delay on this

[thatsortofman]

The Doctor knows heartache. He knows it intimately, an old friend who has traveled with him longer than anyone else. He's known it with Rose, that day on that barren beach, knowing that he'd never see her face, hear her voice again. But now she's hear and that ache has changed to something sweeter. There's a vulnerability in his own expression -- not unheard of, but rare that it makes it all the way to the surface.

But the words are spoken, let loose into the world, and he meets Rose's gaze, the faintest flicker of smile over his lips. For once in his life, he doesn't have anything else to say. H watches her, silent still, soaking in the softness of that touch.

And then her lips are on his and he's kissing her back, like the touch of her lips are the catalyst of some reaction that's been waiting all this time. He kisses her back, just as soft, just as gentle, winding his arms around her securely. His Rose.

no worries at all!

[galaxys]

She's almost surprised when he kisses her back, still half expecting him to bolt, all long nervous limbs and energy. But he doesn't, he holds her like she's everything and she feels the same way for him. Rose Tyler and the Doctor in the TARDIS again, where they both belong, where she's always wanted to be. Rose makes a soft little sound against his mouth, one hand shifting up into the back of his hair, holding him gently as she leans back to get a better look at him again, cheeks flushed, eyes dark, all very human.

"Blimey..." she breathes out, mouth tingling, blinking slowly up at him. "I've been waiting a long time for that." A pause, a little cheeky now, half smiling. "Have you?"

[thatsortofman]

All very human and all the sort of beautiful that should be classified as a dangerous weapon across multiple galaxies -- all the more when she talks, when she smiles. He feels himself grinning despite himself, looking upward for a moment as though he's considering, thoughtful.

"Oh... well. You know you're not supposed to kiss and tell, isn't that what they say?" he teases back, even if that is in no way at all how that saying is meant to work. His expression softens, and he lifts a hand to brush back some of that blonde hair, fingertips lingering along her cheekbone softly.

"Too long, I think."

[galaxys]

That surprises her a little as well, although she feels even more reassured when he smiles at her like that, when he touches her hair and her face. Perhaps absence really does make the heart grow fonder-- the Doctor is usually wordy in nearly everything except in regards to himself, and Rose has spent a lot of her time traveling with him trying to parse what he's thinking, how he's feeling, what's going on in that 900 year old brain.

But now he lets her see it plainly, tells her so, I love yous exchanged and it's almost more than she'd ever expected but everything she's wanted. She smiles back at him, radiant and adoring and leans back in to hug him tightly, arms curled around his neck, tucking her face into his shoulder. "I feel like I'm home when I'm with you. I don't want to lose that again. I don't want to lose you, Doctor."

[thatsortofman]

He's spent a lot of time with these words in particular, with the missed chance to speak them, when they'd faded away from one another, already worlds away. The Doctor has turned them over and over in his mind again and again since then, wondering if speaking them would have made things worse. Wondering if it would have helped. In the end, he'd settled on not wanting to miss the chance this time around.

Summoning up another smile, he tightens his arms around her in a proper hug. "Then, welcome home, Rose Tyler." He steps back now, far enough that he can lean back against the edge of the console. "You remember the place, yeah? Don't need to give you directions to the loo again?" He can't keep the grin from his face despite his best attempts.

His expression sobers in the next moment, however. "We are going to need to figure out how you're here. What brought you here, and what drew the TARDIS in. Too much for a coincidence, don't you think? And more than that..." a pause, and he looks at her, dark eyes full of so many things that don't even have proper words, "...I need to make sure it won't go and reverse itself." He doesn't want to lose her again.