.waiting. [open]

[Rose Tyler]

It had been almost a week since Rose had last seen the Doctor. She had asked him to drop her on earth for her mother’s birthday. He had quickly taken off once more after leaving her. He didn’t really enjoy such personal events or didn’t really like Jackie that much to stick around for a full day. She had expected for him to pick her right off in the morning. But now a week after Rose was still waiting for him to return.

It wasn’t unnatural for the Doctor to be off some time. During their first trip he had missed it by a full year. But lately he had been pretty good when it came to landing in this period. She couldn’t help but be a bit worried about him. The Doctor managed to find trouble anywhere he went. They had once visited one of the most peaceful planets in the galaxy and he had started a rebellion. The people of the planet had not been very happy with him.

The only thing that gave her hope was her faith in the Doctor’s ability to get out of said trouble. If he had a gift for finding trouble, he had another to balance it out and get out of it. She just hoped that he would come for her soon. Safe. She turned to look at her mother who was busily chatting with her friends. Since Mickey had stayed behind in the parallel universe she didn’t have anyone to talk to. It wasn’t like she could just trust anyone with the secret. Mickey had known about it all.

Who would have thought she would end up missing him so much. True that she was gone for long period of times with the Doctor. But in the back of her mind she had known that he would be there on Earth waiting to hear about it. Even after their breakup, he had been a friend. She had underestimated his friendship, had taken it for granted.

Now that he was gone she could see it. Too late to say anything now, he was gone. He was back in that world, helping the humans and defeating cybermen. She couldn’t help but be proud of him. Mickey had grown a lot in that world, had stood up for himself. She hoped he was doing well for himself. Even they wouldn’t meet again.

“Mom, I’m going out for a walk.” Rose called from her side of the room and stepped outside. She doubted Jackie had even heard her. She needed some fresh air. This has been the longest she has been home since meeting the Doctor. While Rose was glad to be around her mom after been away for some time, the house sometimes felt small and crowded in comparison with the TARDIS. With the universe out there, she had seen so much in such a short period of time.

The streets were busy with shoppers and tourist. But there was no sign of the familiar police box. No sign of a familiar brown coat and spikey hair. “Where are you doctor?” Rose looked up at the blue sky. It was cold outside but at least the sky was clear.

Her walk finally ended in a small park. There were some kids playing around and even a few couples sitting in some of the benches. Seen the couples reminded her that Valentine’s Day was nearing. Maybe she could get something for the Doctor. She hadn’t seen the Time Lord celebrate the holiday before, but maybe she could get him started. It would be something simple. She still wasn’t sure what the Doctor’s feelings were towards her.

For such a smart person he was terrible at sending signals. The only time they had kissed it had been to save her life and then she had been possessed. Like was complicated when you had a crush on an alien.

word count: 668
tags: open
timeline: feb 7, 2006 (right after The Age of Steel)

[THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR]

The Doctor was in good spirits today.

No, not good. Great! Fantastic! Brilliant! As far as days went, today had been one of those days where everything had gone perfectly and wonderfully right. Well, so far. As far as days tended to go in the Doctor's highly erratic schedule, it was still rather early for him. But still! It had been lovely so far. It hadn't been one of those days where he managed to pull off a grand and dangerous gambit and beaten the bad guys and saved untold lives, as he had done so often before. There had been no great adventure. No monsters. No villains.

In fact, it had been an utterly boring day! Being the Doctor, he would have normally chafed at the inactivity, sending his beloved blue box spinning through time and space in order to find something horrible and/or wonderful to get himself entangled in. But sometimes... sometimes... even the Doctor needed a day off now and again. Don't whiz about through time and space. Don't play the hero for a few hours. Really. On the (exceedingly) rare occasion, boring had a charm of its own.

Besides! Sometimes one could find as much joy in the simpler things in life! He had begun the day by mucking about in the TARDIS, and in doing so had uncovered a few odds, ends, and various little treasures that he had all but forgotten about. His hat collection, for instance. How could he have forgotten something like that?! That had been a fun hour after he had uncovered that. Of COURSE he had taken the time to rummage through the hats and try certain favorites on, though in the end he had gotten bored and packed them all back away.

After a few more cases of mucking about before inevitably getting bored, the Doctor now found himself back in an era where he had been... well, he'd been spending a lot of time here. Not just England, or Britain, or the United Kingdom, or whatever it was calling itself right now. The funny little Earth country had long been a favorite of his, and it was his haunt more often than anyplace else. No, he'd recently been spending a lot more time in the early 21st century. And why not? All of his most recent companions came from this time frame. There was plenty of interesting stuff going on.... though, being Earth, there was never a shortage of interesting stuff going on.

But right now, he wasn't too terribly interested in interesting stuff. There was something that he wanted, more than anything else in all the world.... Jelly Babies! What? He was having a craving. Was it so weird to satisfy one's need for a craving? Dreadfully bothersome things, cravings. They were like one of those little itches that wouldn't go away unless you scratched it. And you couldn't scratch cravings. So going to his favorite confectionery and buying a big bag of jelly babies was the next best thing!

It would have been sensible to land the TARDIS next to the shop and just popped in for a moment before going on his merry way. Well, sensible was boring! Really, the Doctor had made a miscalculation in his landing (yet again), placing him nearly a mile farther than the landing spot he had intended. No matter! What was a little jaunt through London?

It was cold out, so he had opted to exchange his typical tweed jacket for the newly-acquired olive green waistcoat. He'd considered throwing on a scarf, but in the end had decided against it. It was cold, but not that cold. Really, it was surprising at how lovely it was out for a London February day.

The walk had been a pleasant one. Bit boring, but that could not be helped. Walks were rarely too terribly interesting. Impatient as always,t he Doctor opted to take a small shortcut through a local park. It seemed busy enough this time of day; people and children out enjoying the rare sunny day.

And then there she was.

He had to do a double take to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Guilt could do those sorts of things to a man, and lord knows the Doctor had enough guilt over her to cause him to sometimes mistake passing blondes for her, if only for a moment. But no. No! It was her! It was-- “ROSE!”

A thousand whirling emotions poured in the Doctor, emotions that made his hearts clamp and stomach writhe as if his innards were scrabbling to escape out some trap door. It was unpleasant, but then there was also something.... familiar and pleasant and warm about seeing the blonde's familiar face. Who knew? It was all some big jumbled mess, and one he didn't know how to react to. He knew that talking to her would be trouble. He knew it. He should just bow his head and scuttle away, back to the TARDIS, jelly babies be damned.

But it was too late. His brief flash of pure exuberance had caused him to call out her name, and certainly loud enough for her to hear. No turning back now, much as he would have liked to. Instead, his face split into a broad grin as he bounced over to her. Arms spread to clasp her in a quick, warm hug as he placed a quick kiss alongside each of her cheeks. Then he stepped back, the broad grin only widening as he did so.

“Rose Tyler!” he repeated, clasping his hands together in a delight that was only partially feigned before launching into a rapid-fire stream of speech. “Look at you! Brilliant, brilliant Rose Tyler! How long it has been, let me think.... ahhhh... No matter! How are you? How's Mickey (Mickey, right?) And Jackie? Ohh, but its been so long! Are things holding out okay? What am I saying, of course they are. Wouldn't have it any other way. Speaking of which, where's--” A brief pause before a realization hit the Doctor, causing him to slap himself on the forehead. “Ah! Right! You probably don't recognize me, do you? 'Course not. It's me! The Doctor! I've regenerated since last we met. New face, new teeth, new lots of things! Oh, but its been a very long time since last I saw you!” Another pause, this time with the Doctor's wild grin settling into a warm smile. “It's good to see you, Rose Tyler...”

-- -- -- -- -- --

Words- 1087
Notes- ----

[Rose Tyler]

Rose was enjoying the day out more than she had imagined. She had spotted an old school friend and they had talked for sometimes before she was on her way once more. With Mickey gone it felt normal to talk to another human from her time, someone she knew. Maybe it wasn’t so bad been on Earth for some time. Not fighting big threats, just taking some time off from all the running, even if she enjoyed the running.

The only thing that still bothered her was not knowing where the Doctor was or if he needed help. She trusted the Doctor. He was a brilliant man capable of looking after himself. But like anyone else even the greatest men needed someone. At least she knew he would come. The Doctor would come back for her, even if it took him days, weeks and even months to get here. She would wait for him. She trusted that he would come back.

Nothing else happened after her meeting with her old school mate. She watched as the children happily played the day away. The shone continued to shine down on London. The winter winds didn’t even seem to bother them. They were bathing in the warm sunlight. It reminded her of her own childhood. She would come here with Mickey and the other children to play. Sometimes for so long that her mother would have to come and pick them up for supper.

Back then she hadn’t even imagined seen the things she had. Of how many life forms shared the universe with them. Humans sometimes were so small in comparison. The Doctor and their travels had taught her that. “One day we’ll be out there, flying across the stars, seen things that were just the works of fiction to us.” Dancing with aliens. Rose smiled, remembering meeting Jack some months back. She wondered what Jack was doing now.

She had asked the Doctor about the time agent, but he had changed the subject quickly. He had simply said that Jack was fine and that she shouldn’t worry about him. She hoped that they would cross paths once more. She enjoyed having Jack around the TARDIS. She couldn’t understand why he had stayed behind. Jack had looked like he was enjoying traveling with them too. The Doctor and her had already lost three companions, though Adams hadn’t been much of a lost.

Rose pulled her phone out, looking at the time. Maybe it was time to go back home. Or maybe she would call her mother and say that she wasn’t going to be home until supper time. She still didn’t want to go back. But she wanted to get something to eat. Closing the phone she looked down at it. Even though the Doctor traveled in a “phone booth”, there was no way to contact him through a phone.

Maybe next time they celebrated Christmas she needed to get the Time Lord and actual cellphone. It would make things a lot easier if she was able to contact him if needed. She didn’t want to risk another Christmas Day. If any aliens decided to come back and attack the Earth it would be nice knowing that they could contact the Doctor immediately. Not just hope that he would turn up and save the day, which was pretty much what he always did.

Rose had been ready to live the park and find the nearest shop when someone called her. She turned around to find out from where it had come. The voice hadn’t sound familiar to her. She noticed a strange man that looked closer to a boy than a man, moving towards her. Apparently that he had been the one to call her.

Rose was sure that she hadn’t seen him in her life before. She would have remembered someone that dressed in such a strange form. Frankly the only other person that dressed so strangely was the Doctor himself.

“Eh?” The strange person apparently knew her though, since he quickly hugged her and even kissed her. From where she was sitting she looked dup at him, her moth slightly open in confusion. He didn’t just look like a boy, but had the energy of a kid. He began to talk away and Rose hardly made out what he was saying. Apparently the strange clothes weren’t the only thing that reminded her of the Doctor. The way he was talking also resembled the man.

If she wasn’t aware that the Doctor was the last of his kind, she would believe them to be related. Rose opened her mouth to say something, but the man continued to talk on. Finally she was able to understand something of what he was saying. What she heard almost made her heart stop. ‘The Doctor’, this man was the Doctor. Her Doctor? But how?

Regeneration. The Doctor had regenerated again. But just when she was getting used to the Doctor’s new body, his new personality. Her eyes watered at the realization of what that meant. To regenerate the Doctor must have been killed. “Doctor.” Rose wanted to hug the man and smack him at the same time. That’s why he had taken so long to come back. “You died.” The last part was just a whisper.

“How did it happen?” She shouldn’t have allowed him to leave. She should have known that the Doctor would have found trouble. But she hadn’t even thought of the Doctor dying. Not so sudden. She hadn’t even been there for him. If his regeneration had been as bad as the last one then it must have been horrible for him to be alone.

“Jackie, she is fine. Mickey, you know he stayed behind in the parallel universe.” Maybe he was still abit6 confused from the process. “How long since it happened. I’ve been here for a week waiting for you to get back.”

word count: 1006
tags: eleven/open
timeline: feb 7, 2006 (right after The Age of Steel)

[IANTO JONES]

Ianto was sitting alone on a park bench in the park. He was wearing casual clothes. Blue jeans, long sleeve button up shirt that was not tucked and he had a black vest on that was not button.

He was studying a group of small and big, ugly pigeons eating up his crumbs. He was eating an Italian Submarine Sandwich. The rats with wings were flocking Ianto for more crumbs. He knew if he threw pieces they would pester him. But, he did not mind their company. He did like their cooing sound. They were fun to watch too.

And it was a nice day too! Ianto wanted to take the opportunity to be blessed by the sun herself. His girlfriend, Lisa was out shopping. And the Torchwood One’s junior researcher decided to chill out in the park. He liked to watch people in the park.

Ianto’s phone rang and he looked down to see it was a call from Torchwood. He opened it up, placed it near his face, “Yes?” he asked the Torchwood member on the other end. “Yes…” he nodded his head and he looked up as he saw a man and a blond talking. “The funny guy and the blonde?” he asked on the phone. “Yes…no?” he double look the man. “The Doctor?” he listened. “Yes, I can.”

He was nervous. Torchwood One told that the Doctor’s landed near by the park. The CCTV showed Torchwood one that Ianto was at the same location. He had to distract the Doctor while a team came to snag the Doctor.

He watched them first and tried to figure to approach them. He was sure they were not looking, he grabbed a pigeon that was near him and he threw the bird at them.

“HEY WATCH OUT WITH THAT---“ he yelled as the bird flew at them.

[THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR]

“Died? What? Nooo!” Oh humans. Silly, silly humans. Always with their dying and 'oh no you're not my Doctor any more' nonsense whenever he changed a face. Of course, he supposed he could see where they came from in their view: humans only had the one shot at life, and no regenerations. Not an uncommon thing, the lack of regenerating to cheat death, but it certainly made humans become ever so hung up on death and dying. Come to think of it, maybe that was just how they coped with the whole matter. Came to terms with it. A new face could be disorienting if you weren't used to it.

Unlike most other Time Lords, though, the Doctor went through his regenerations faster than hotcakes. If they weren't all dead, he'd be sure he'd be the reigning champion at having burned through several incarnations. Changing faces wasn't even something he much blinked an eye at any more.

But that didn't matter! “Of course I didn't die, Rose. I'm still here, aren't I? Bit different (well, loads different), but...” the smile faded away, giving way to an almost petulant look. The Doctor had always been a man of particular quirks, and this one had added quite a few into his personal repertoire. One of them was an aversion to referring of his either his age or his past self, no matter how long ago or not it had been.

Again, he silently cursed himself for losing his control and reflexively calling out to Rose. Stupid, stupid, stupid! He was getting old. Too old, maybe. Forgetting himself too much. Should have picked an older face; this one had far too much energy that he hardly even knew how to deal with. Find a way to disentangle himself, and fast. Run away. If there was one thing the Doctor was good at, it was running.

At first he didn't respond to Rose's inquiry at how it had happened. That was none of her business! Not any more. He knew how this was going to peter out, and it wasn't going to be pretty. Still, Rose continued to try to respond to his earlier barrage of questions, unwittingly orienting him to just where he was in her time line with....him. The last him.

“It doesn't matter how it happened,” he snapped peevishly in response at her repeated insistence that tell her what had transpired. “It was ages ago.” Well, not truly. Not on his end of the spectrum. A couple of years, possibly? Long enough, certainly. The old versions of him were long dead and gone, leaving an old old man with too young a face.

It was then that he noticed the moisture forming in Rose's eyes. Oh, bloody--! Now he'd gone and made her cry. “Hey,” he said, his voice quieting to the point where it... almost... sounded gentle. It was as good as he was going to get, comforting a woman whom he had once... “It's all right, Rose. This is just some.... side trip... thing.”

He reached out, as if to brush away her tears. He tapped her nose instead; an old gesture he had once used in a habitual display of fondness for... who had it been for? Too old now. Hard to remember sometimes. The smile he so easily wore returned to his features, crinkling his brow. “Don't worry. I'll turn up properly in a few more days. I do come back, Rose. I always come back.

“Now!” His mood flaring back up to its usual manic cheer, he spun around, raising the finger that had tapped her nose into the air. Time to try and distract and deflect the current conversation route. “I know what we can do in the meantime! I know this marvellous shop that---”

SMAK! PIGEON TO THE FACE.

“Aah!” The Doctor took several stumbling steps back, arms flailing wildly to ward off the thing that had decided to crash in the vicinity of his face. “No! Bad! ...Oh.” Just a bird! Letting out a huge sigh of relief, the Doctor dropped his arms, shoving his hands into his coat pockets almost sheepishly.

He hadn't seen Ianto throw the bird at him; the Doctor's back had been turned. That, honestly, was probably a good thing. He did notice the man, though. Had he been the one who had shouted a warning as the bird nearly ate his face? The Doctor cocked his head curiously, brow furrowing as he attempted to place the face and voice.

Ah! Torchwood! Jack's lot! No, wait, this was before Jack took over for Torchwood. Wonder what he was doing now? Ah, didn't matter! No wait, maybe it did. At this point in time, Torchwood wasn't exactly... well, on the friendliest of terms with him...

-- -- -- -- -- --

Words- 808
Notes- ----

[IANTO JONES]

The Torchwood One crowd in the office was watching Ianto throw the pigeon. They all started to laugh their head off. “What is he thinking?” one member was laughing. “I am glad he was not in intelligence!”

The other man was watching, “You got to give him credit for clever because it was a way to stall the Doctor. Hey is that team out there yet…I am not sure how long Ianto Jones will keep in one place.”

The other guy looked, “He will throw his body for a tackle. I put 50 quid on it. Any takers?”

***************

“Sir,” Ianto said as he was moving to the Doctor and Rose. “You need to be careful with these pigeons…” he was trying to help brush his hands over the Doctor’s suit. What was another way he could stall the Doctor from moving.

“I need help,” he said as he was turning to look at Rose Tyler and the Doctor. “You two seem to be two intelligent individuals…” that was understatement. The Doctor was more intelligent, but a threat and Ianto was speaking to so called threat.

Taking a deep breath, Ianto was feeling nervous as he can smell the smell of London. He missed the smell of Cardiff which was less smelly then London.

Tapping away against his chest, he was pretending to find something. “I thought I had it with me,” he was acting he was looking for it. “I lost my mobile phone…Do you have one I can borrow?”

Oh that was a great idea, he had thought he could use the phone to dial Torchwood and maybe they could trace the Doctor if they had failed to capture him.

Rubbing the back of his head, Ianto would make a great improviser as a performing, he was looking worried. “I have this important meeting and I need to check my voice box and call to say I am going to be a late.” Was he pulling strings or what or was he making the story to complicated. He needed to keep it simple so he can make this lie sound as it was the truth. He learned to do this when he was a kid as he was trying to get out of trouble and he was trying to get his sister get the blame. So, he was a sneak. It was true they say the quiet people can’t be trusted. They are the ones that make the most trouble.

Giving a sad look at them, he tried to make it look like he was in serious trouble. “I will be in your debt,” he added with a calm look. “Oh, I do like your coat,” he said to the man. He did have a nice coat.

[Rose Tyler]

Rose trying to control herself, her crying wouldn’t fix or solve anything. It was horrible finding this way that the Doctor had regenerated. But at least he was back and that was what was important now. Along with the fact that he was alive, a new face true, but still alive. He also looked healthy. Though now he looked younger and had a strange sense of fashion. “A bowtie, you wear a bowtie now. Really?” Rose looked at the thing. A very strange sense of fashion indeed.

From the Doctor’s continuous ramble Rose was able to understand that this wasn’t her Doctor. Well in a way he was. But he was a future version of him. For the first time since meeting the man Rose allowed herself to finally relax. Then she was tempted to smack the Doctor on the head for scaring her like that. He’d almost scared her for a moment thinking he’d died and regenerated. The anger quickly melted into fear. She wasn’t familiar with how time worked, but she was fairly sure this wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Doctor isn’t it dangerous for you to be here with me?” Rose didn’t want anything bad happening today, especially not because she found out something that she wasn’t supposed to. What if an older version of her showed up and by touching they ended up bringing the Reapers back? One meeting with those aliens had been enough to last her a lifetime. Thinking about an older her though made Rose stop on her tracks. If this really was a future Doctor, then where was she?

“Doctor where am I?” Rose covered her mouth. That was she’d been trying to avoid right. But maybe knowing where she was would mean she could avoid meeting herself. Rose hoped that her logic worked. “I don’t want to cross paths with myself if she’s here.” Rose quickly began to blush. She didn’t even know what to say in this situation. What to ask and what was safe for her to know. Things with the Doctor were never simple.

“Unless since you said it was a long time ago, I’m dead.” Rose knew it would be impossible for her to spend all of the Doctor’s life with him. But she hoped she could spend hers around him. The Doctor had been the best thing to happen to her. Rose smiled when the Doctor mentioned a shop. He’ll never change no matter how many regenerations passed would he? At least that made her feel better.

Their conversation was quickly cut short as a bird flew right into the Doctor. Rose screamed almost tripping as she stepped back. For a moment thinking that the Reapers had appeared once more. Though she quickly noticed it was a simple bird. Relief quickly came. “Doctor are you…?” Rose had to hold back her laughter. That had actually been a bit funny even if she had no idea where the birth had come from.

“That was strange” Rose turned to look at another approaching stranger “I’ve never seen them do that before. Maybe they just didn’t like you Doctor.” Maybe they were alien pigeons out to get revenge on their biggest enemy. Now it really was becoming harder for Rose to hold back her laughter. Instead she tried to focus on the man that was now talking to them.

“I think I have mine.” Well it wasn't really hers. But the man didn't need to know that. Rose quickly began to look through her pockets for the small mobile phone. “Now where are you…here!” Rose finally pulled Jackie’s phone out. The Doctor still hadn’t fixed hers after the trip to the parallel world and it didn’t work on this dimension. Handling the phone to the man she hoped he would hurry and leave. She wanted to talk to the Doctor and now couldn’t with him there. “I rather liked the old coat Doctor…Smith. What happened to it?” Rose hoped it hadn’t been destroyed. It really had been such a lovely thing.

-sorry for the shortness-

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