Without Lying -- 10/Rose

[A Moment In Subtext]

Doctor Who
Without Lying
By. A Moment In Subtext

"Will I ever see you again?"
"You can't?"
You can't ever see [i/]me again, Rose Tyler.
The words echoed in the back of the Doctors mind, the rest of a choked back sentance. Just an echo, a remnant of an almost half-finished thought, something he couldn't quite say because he couldn't lie to her.
You can't ever see me again, Rose Tyler.
Bad Wolf raced through the Vortex, across all that was, and over all that is, and into all that will be. As she went she altered, just a bit changed of what is, a little modification of what will be. Only small variations, calculated to keep her Doctor from lying, to bring him back to her Rose.
She took his almost-words and changed the way they read, what they meant, which words were stressed.
You can't ever [i/]see me again, Rose Tyler.
Bad Wolf raced, and the universe changed to suit her.

[A Moment In Subtext]

Bad Wolf raced through the Vortex, tweaking the things that are, adjusting them to fit her What Will Be.
You can't ever see me again, Rose Tyler.

--

Rose Tyler stood in the shaded doorway near the back of the Powell Estate, watching her two-year-old brother, Jonathon Peter, toddle around the huge backyard. The blond-haired boy looked over at her and smiled, a gap-toothed grin that caused her to smile back instinctively. He stumbled a little bit and fell down on his arse, and she quickly walked over and lifted him to his feet.
"Thanksh Rose." He said with another grin, and a slight whistle through his teeth.
She ruffled his hair good-naturedly and began to stand up again when a familiar keening filled the air and the wind filled up. Jonny attached himself firmly to her leg and she had to force him to let go so she could swing him up to her hip and back toward the house, her eyes scanning the sky and ground for the inevitable blue box.
"Wass goin' on, Rose?" Jonny asked.
"It's okay, Jonny." She said soothingly, the glanced over her shoulder quickly. "Mum! Mum!"
"I hear it, I hear it." Jackie called back impatiently. Still, it took her a few seconds to join Rose beside the door. Jonny reached his little arms out to her with a cry of 'mummy!' and she held him closely, while standing protectively by Rose's side.
At a particular spot in the air, to high up to be safe and moving at a speed much too fast to be safe, at an angle that definately wasn't safe, the Tardis finally appeared and came zooming downward toward the now abandoned yard. It hit spinning, and skidded to a stop, scuffing up the carefully cared for lawn in the process.
Rose and Jackie stared at it, waiting for it to do something, and after while, Jonny peeked out of Jackie's chest to watch curiously as well. After a long enough time that Rose considered doing something herself because obviously the Doctor wasn't going to, the door on the side of the box swung open and an unfamiliar man stepped out, grinning the Doctor's trademark grin.
"Cheery-o!" He said, the grin leaving his mouth but not his eyes, obviously overjoyed to see them and only barely restraining himself from bouncing on his heels.
". . .hello." Rose said doubtfully.
"Who're you?" Jacked demanded.
"I'm the Doctor." He said. "Freshly regenerated. Needed the excess energy to jumpstart the Tardis, push her into this universe. Burned her out for about a week, too."
"Well, he talks like the Doctor." Jackie said, still eyeing him suspiciously.
"Jackie Tyler!" Would you believe, I even missed you! And that's not an insult. Oh! And who's this?" He said, noticing Jonny for the first time, hiding his face again.
"My brother, Jonathon Peter Tyler." Rose said, a hint of defiance in her voice. "I told you me mum was-"
"Pregnant, yes. At Bad Wolf Bay, in Normandy. Believe me yet?"
"I don't-"
"Two hearts, Rose. Two hearts! Feel." He took her wrists and placed her palms agains his chest. "You see?"
"Rose?" Jackie asked.
Rose pulled her hands back. "Y-yeah. He's telling the truth. Two hearts."
"But. . .?"
"But he's not. . ." She looked back and forth between her mother and the man and settled her gaze on him. "You're not. . ."
"We went through this last time I regenerated, too. Still me, Rose, just, differenent body."
"Different mind, too." Rose corrected.
"Well. . .maybe. Not that different, this one. Same hearts, though." There seemed to be something to that sentance. . .Rose couldn't put her finger on what it was, but it made a strange warmth bloom in her chest.
"Oh, I've got most of your stuff. Had to sell a couple things when I got stuck in 1343, had to bribe a man to keep the secret of my two hearts to himself. Seems that would've marked me as a vampire or some such thing then. Not at all the welcome I would have enjoyed, not at all. Ooh, its probably dusty, haven't much gotten around the cleaning up in there. Spent a few years trying to find other ways to get here that wouldn't involve regeneration."
"How long?"
"Excuse me?"
"How long have you been trying?"
"You believe me?"
"Of course I believe you. Now, how long?"
"Since Norway."
Rose rolled her eyes. "Okay, not much of a personality change, then. Good job, that. But I kind of figured that much out. How long?"
"Oh, a long time, Rose."
"Doctor. How long?" She tilted her chin up stubbornly.
The Doctor shuffled his feet. "Forty-three years." He admitted.
"Forty-three years!?"
"Yep." He nodded. "Course, I burned out the Tardis a few times. I mentioned gettng stuck in 1343?"
"It took you forty-three years to figure this out?"
"Well, sort of. Didn't want to change on you again so soon. Saved it as a last ditch effort."
"You fool man." Rose muttered.
"They all are, dear."
"Hey!" He protested, then stumbled. Rose caught onto his shoulders before he fell and righted him. "Sorry. I'm still a little weak from the regeneration." He stood up straighter. "I don't suppose you know of a good motel somewhere nearby, inside the Tardis gives me the creeps when she's burned out." He looked affectionatly back at the box.
"Motel?" Rose asked in confusion.
"I'll not hear of it!" Jackie exclaimed at the same time. "You must be daft. Stay in a motel? You'll stay right here on the estate, I'll have a spare room made up for you. Right across the hall from Rose, if you like." She set Jonny down (he quickly scurried behind Rose's legs) and hurried into the house without waiting for a reply.
Rose looked after her. "Hmm, I didn't think she liked you that much."
"Must be this new body then." The Doctor mused. "By the way, how'd it turn out?"
Rose looked him over appraisingly. "Turned out good. You'll love it."
"Am I ginger?"
"You always ask that?"
"Rose."
"Well. . .its sort of orangish. . .not sure you'd call it ginger, though. . ." She reached forward a plucked a strand of hair from his head.
"Ow! Rose!"
She held it out to him with a grin. "Here, what do you think?"
He took the strand of hair from her and held it up to the light. "Ginger! Finally!"
Rose laughed and shook her head. "You're impossible."
"Yep, and proud of it."
He beamed at her, and much the same way as it had been with Jonny, she found herself beaming back without thinking.

[A Moment In Subtext]

No! Bad Wolf shouted into the Vortex, There has to be a better way! She paused and raced on.
You can never see me again, Rose Tyler.

--

Rose Tyler lay on the floor in the Torchwood Alien Device Testing Area, for about an hour after the strange gray cylinder had lit up. They hadn't known uite what it was, or even who had built it, but that wasn't enough to stop them from testing it.
Adeola Jones, whose counterpart had died at Canary Wharf in the other universe, but was still alive and well in this one, had believe it to be a childs toy. She had been wrong. Terribly, wrong.
When Rose had first touched the device, she'd known it contained the memory of a very powerful computer system. How she'd known, she didn't know, maybe it had a telepathic field of its own, similar to the Tardis. She'd said what she did know to Adeola, who'd passed it on to their immediate superior and been given order to try to access the information within.
Neith of hem had expected it to be booby-trapped, though in hindsight, it would be rather stupid not to have some form of protection around a memory core that powerful. At least a firewall, she thought sardonically. The second she'd tripped what should have been the access control, the cylinder had lit up in an odd shade of green, then a bright flash of light lit the room. Rose had screamed, and when Adeola had burst into the room she found her crumpled unconscious on the floor, the cylinder lying just a few feet away.
The medical staff had been alerted, and all the procedures had been followed to the letter, even the one insisting that the cylinder be left out in plain sight where any of the doctors could accidentally re-active it and knock all of them out like Rose. Also, the one that said that they couldn't move Rose until she woke up. Which was how half the medical staff ended up crowded in the TADTA, annoying the hell out of Adeola.
Rose stirred and opened her eyes, trying to focus on the far away ceiling.
"She's awake!" Adeola said excitedly, somewhere above her, and the from the ceiling was suddenly cut off.
"Are you alright?" The doctor who'd gotten in her way asked. She tried to focus on his face and had no more success than she had with the ceiling.
"Fine." She said, sitting up. "I'm fine. Just having a bit of trouble focusing my eyes, thats all."
"Lets have a look, then." She turned her head and let him shine a light in her eyes. "Everything's normal." He told her. "Might just be shock."
"Doesn't feel like shock." Rose said. "And I'm not in shock." She put her hand to her head as the room spun further out of focus. "It just got worse."
"I don't-"
"That thing," She pointed accusingly in the direction she though the cylinder had gone. Someone, probably Adeola, pushed her arm over so it was pointing in the right direction. "Lit up and flashed, and now I'm having trouble seeing. Do you think that's a coincidence?"
"Well, no, ma'am, but'"
"Adeola?"
"Here." The other woman said from Rose's other side.
"I want that thing locked up until we figure out what it did to me."
"Agreed."
"And I want all these doctors out of here."
"Oh, thank god." Adeola breathed. "Alright, you heard her. Everybody out."
"Help me up." She held out her hand and let Adeola drag her to her feet. Everything became a fuzzy, muted-looking gray. "I can't see at all now."
Adeola opened her mouth to say something, but before she could a strange sound filled the air.
"The Doctor!" Rose exclaimed.
"Which one?" Adeola asked. "There are six doctors still in the room."
"No, no, no, not a docter, the Doctor! That's his Tardis landing!"
"What?"
"Just wait for it." Rose said, trying to look toward the door.
"Out of the way!" A man yelled, above the buzz of the doctors starting to leave. "Rose?!"
"I'm here!" Rose shouted, waving her hands in the air. "Doctor! I'm here!"
"Rose! - Get out of my way, for heavens sake! -Rose!"
"Doctor!"
Suddenly she found herself engulfed in the Doctors arms. It took her a moment to realize that he was speaking, she was so caught up in finally having him with her again, taking in the familiar feel of his hug and his unique scent (something she'd almost forgotten).
"-I tried to get here in time to prevent it, Rose. Really, I tried." He said quietly. "I'm so sorry."
"What happened?" She asked, trying to distract herself.
"Callipsi computer firewall." He said, and she had to resist grinning triumphantly. "Causes those who trigger it to go blind."
"Is it permanent?" Adeola asked, slightly taken aback by how easily her boss had acquiesed to this man. Rose Tyler was never this tactile with the men they met. Ever.
"Unfortunately. I'm so sorry, Rose."
"Stop saying that." Rose said. "It's not your fault."
"Well, maybe we can reverse it." Adeola tried.
"No." The Doctor said sadly, pulling Rose closer. She seemed to melt into him, content to let him hold her as long as he wanted, and to support most of her weight, as well. Adeola's eyebrows raised even higher. Rose never let anyone help her, she was self-sufficient. And she never really trusted anybody enough. "I'm sorry, Rose, you're never going to be able to see again."
Rose considered that for a moment. Adeola could see the wheels turning in her brain. In just a moment, Rose was going to pull away from the man, stand firmly on her own feet, and dedicate herself to finding a cure regardless of what this strange 'doctor' said, Adeola knew it.
"That's alright," Rose said, "I've got you."

[A Moment In Subtext]

No, Bad Wolf thought, that isn't right. She raced onward.
You can't ever see me again, Rose Tyler.

--

Rose Smith sat with her back pressed against an apple tree, soft blossoms falling into her hair and lap, littering the ground around her. (One of the few disrepetancies between this universe and the one she had been born in that still startled her was that the apple blossoms here were a light blue color. It seemed like such a small thing, when compared to all the other differences.) Her head was tilted back and her eyes were almost closed, slitted open just enough to see the two small boys playing in the sand.
She smiled slightly and hummed a half-forgotten alien melody under her breath, something she ad leaned on a shopping platform, many years before and a universe away. For a moment, she seemed to travel back to that place, the sights and smells of the completely alien planet that seemed so common when compared to where she found herself now. She was shocked out her her reverey when one of the boys gave a loud laugh. She shook her head, faultered, and stopped humming altogether.
She frowned pensively at the lost tune and sighed. Yet another part of her life completely forgotten. Not that that wasn't what she wanted, she just didn't want to lose everything. Behind her there was the soft sound of apple blossoms being crushed underfoot, and in her mind she identified the walker without bothering to look. It should have surprised her, but that range of emotion was beyond her now.
"Actually," The Doctor said cheerily, "I believe that bit goes like this." He hummed a few bars, as out of tune now as he'd been on that station. "Of course, it still sounds better in triplicate. Underwater. When you have two tongues."
Rose still didn't look up. "You're in the wrong universe."
"Yep. Mind if I sit down?"
She shifted over without actually moving more than a milimeter and he sat down cross-legged beside her. It was such a familiar gesture she almost closed her eyes before catching herself. There was a long, awkward pause, the sort you'd notice between ex-lovers who'd finally been re-united after too many years. Not that that was meant to imply that she and the Doctor had been lovers, unless you had a very active imagination.
"I married Mickey a year after Norway." Rose said finally.
"Oh. How is Mickey, anyway?"
"Dead." Rose said flatly. "He's dead. He and Jake died when Torchwood Two exploded."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Mickey was my best mate. Casual, frequent casual shag. But I didn't love him. Only married him cos that one came along." She nodded her head toward the darker skinned boy. "In a way, I'm almost glad he's gone. Not glad he's dead, mind, just, glad he's not here to remind me of everything I lost. You know? He was a reminder of all the things I'd left behind."
"So am I." The Doctor pointed out.
Rose didn't respond immediately. "He's four years old."
"What's his name?" The Doctor asked, allowing Rose to change the subject.
"Jonathon Thomas."
"Nice name."
Rose nodded, then opened her eyes and glanced at her watch. "Mum will be here any minute now to pick up Theo. That's her son, Theodore Peter. He's five. Ah, there she is." She nodded toward a vehicle that had just pulled up to the curb. "Theo! Mum's here!" She called.
"Mummy, mummy!" The child yelled, running to attach himself to Jackie's legs. Jonny followed, his shouts of 'gran' drowned out by Theo's enthusiastic chatter. Jackie's eyes went to meet Rose's and froze on the Doctor. She knelt down. "Why don't you boys go play some more, okay? I need to talk to Rose and her friend." The boys clapped and ran back to the sandbox as Jackie marched over to the two of them.
"Where the hell did you come from?" She demanded as soon as she stopped walking, planting on hand on her hip and pointing the other accusingly at the Doctor.
He looked up at her patiently. "Other universe. You know, yours. Oh, I brought your stuff, well, most of it, anyway. Lost a couple chair before I realize they were cleaning out your flat."
"You have a time machine!" Jackie protested.
"Yeah, changing established events is a big time travel no-no. Causes a paradox. Big problems for me to clean up then."
"Reapers." Rose said.
He nodded and stood up, offering Rose and which she quickly accepted but dropped as soon as she was up. "Exactly. What I did get, and I did get most of it, I've got stored in the Tardis. I'm parked over on the corner of Fifth and Park, if you want to pick them up." He tossed her a silver key. "Down the first hallway, take a right, then a left, and another left, and its the thrid door on the right. Go on, then."
Jackie blinking, then hesitated, glancing semi-discreetly toward the two playing boys.
"Go on. Rose and I'll watch the kids We're in the middle of a very important private conversation." He made shooing motions with his hands.
She frowned, doubtful, and didn't look in the least reassured.
"Oh, come on! I was a parent once!"
"You were?"
"Why does no one ever believe that? Yes!"
"Because you're-"
"Grandkids! Grandkids grandkids, even! Go, for petes sake!"
"Pete has sake?" Jackie asked. "No, nevermind, that's not important." She paused. "Fine then. I'll expect see you at the estae for dinner tonight, Doctor." While he was still looking slightly stunned, his mouth hanging agape, she turned on her heel and, with a quick shout to the boys to 'be good and stay with Rose,' got into her vehicle and drove away.
Rose watched her until she'd gotten out of sight. "You just gave my mum a key to the Tardis." She deadpanned.
The Doctor nodded absently, then his jaw snapped shut. "What!" Rose nodded. "I didn't!"
"You did."
"Must be getting daft in my old age." He muttered. Rose made a noise slightly akin to a snicker. "Its been five years for you.
"Five years and six months." She confired. "How longs it been for you?"
"Hundred, maybe two hundred years." He shrugged, then sighed in the same tone he'd used when he'd re-united with Sarah Jane. "Oh, I missed you, Rose Tyler."
"Smith." Rose corrected. "Rose Smith now. Married Mickey, remember?"
"Oh, right, yeah. Sorry."
"'s, fine." She paused. "Two hundred years?"
"Give or take a few decades. I think. Maybe more. Times all wonky in the Tardis, remember."
"Still, two hundred years. Wow. How much did you miss me?"
He didn't answer immediately, and as the minutes passed she realized that he probably wasn't going to.
"You know I can't go with you." She said.
"What? Why not?"
"There's mum and Pete-"
"You can always come back to visit, just like you used back- back. . .there." He finished, trying to avoid calling the other universe 'home.' She gave him a look that said that she knew he'd been thinking it despite his not actually saying.
"I have a job-"
"At Torchwood!"
"Its different here. Completely different. All those things they did to make you hate them, never happened here. Not at all."
"Still. . ."
"Its a good job. I get to work with the alien devices and-"
"You're bored out of your mind."
Rose didn't respond to that. "And I've got a son-"
"Bring him with you."
"-And if you think for one second that I'm going to let mum and Pete raise my child without my supervision you must be- wait. What did you say?"
"Bring him with you." The Doctor repeated with a shrug. "Plenty of room in the Tardis. Sure, we'll have to be a smidge more careful than we were before, of course. Maybe, save the work once a week instead of four times," That earned him a brief smile, "But we'll manage. We always manage, you an' me."
"But. . .you said you don't do domestic."
"I travelled with your mother, how much more domestic can I get? Nah, tromping across the universe like we do isn't domestic, no matter who we bring along. Should have realized it before now, I suppose. Ah, well, twenty-twenty hindsight and all that. Come one, it'll be fun. Just you, me. . .and him. Romping around through space and time. What do you say?"
Rose bit her lip, then nodded. "Yeah, alright. Why not? Been telling Jonny all his life about the wonderful Doctor an' his amazing blue box, he might as well see the real deal, huh?"
"Brilliant. You really tell you're son stories about me?"
"Of course I do." Rose said, as if there should have never been any doubt. "And all of them true."
"All good, I hope."
"For now. I haven't told him about the Daleks yet."
The Doctor frowned. "Good."
"So, straight to the Tardis after mum's dinner?"
"After?" The Doctor asked, then answered himself. "I suppose it'll have to be after. I do have to get my key back."
Rose laughed and the Doctor beamed.
"One thing's still bothering me thought." The Doctor said slowly.
"Oh yeah, an' whats that?"
He picked one of the flowers out of her hair, sniffed it, then flicked his tongue out and licked it, causing Rose to catch her breath. "Apple blossoms?" He asked, as if it were the craziest concept in the universe. "Apple blossoms are blue here?"
"Yeah," Rose said with an easy grin and a laugh, "Yeah, they are."

[A Moment In Subtext]

Bad Wolf hesitated. No, she decided, no, not quite.
She stopped in her racing to consider the possibilities, then pulled her alterations out of what will be and turne dback to what is, what was. And there!
She raced once more.

--

"Will I ever see you again?"
"You-" The Doctor stopped.
So did Rose. And Mickey, and Jackie, and Pete. And the wind, and the sea, and the whole world. The glowing form of Bad Wolf appeared beside them.
You must not be seperated. She said into the universe. She slid into an overlapping position with her Rose. And you will not be. The world resumed its spin.
"-ca-"
"Doctor." Bad Wolf/Rose said. Rose reached forward and Bad Wolf spread her tenrils through the Vortex. Rose's hand met the Doctors startled shoulders. Bad Wolf/Rose leaned forward, and their lips also met, Rose's confident, the Doctor's stunned. Rose kissed the Doctor and Bad Wolf wrestled the Vortex, pulling them between universes. The ebb and flow of the multiverse tugged them on, until both stood inside the Tardis, the ship the schroedingers cat of two universes.
Rose pulled away from the Doctor and Bad Wolf pulled out of Specific Time, back into the Vortex, where she could see everything. She smiled.
The Doctor and Rose conspicuously said nothing as they moved toward the door, both knowing there were equal chances of finding a beach in Norway, or an exploding sun. Without thinking, the Doctor reached for Rose's hand and she gave it to him, so easily slipping into their old routine it would have scared them if it hadn't felt so completely natural. Rose reached for the door, and at the Doctors nod, pushed it open. They peered out onto the slightly stunned faces of Jackie, Pete, and Mickey.

--

Perfect, Bad Wolf thought. She raced into what will be.

--

Rose, who's name was sometimes Tyler, and sometimes Smith, and sometimes even Mrs. Doctor, stood in the control room of the Tardis.
"So," She said. "Do you suppose she'll still fly?"
"Of course she'll still fly!" The Doctor said. "Its only been, what, sixteen years?"
"Sarah's seventeen." Rose corrected.
"Seventeen years then. That's plenty of time to be domesticated for me."
"You just want to get away from my mum." Rose teased.
"No, I want to beg away from your demon brother. Right little terror, he is."
"Which one? John or Thomas?"
"Thomas." He gave her a look. "If I didn't think Jackie'd kill me for it, I'd invite Jonny-boy to go along with us."
"Doctor, she's been your mother-in-law for the last twenty years. I think you've got the right to call her 'mum' now."
"Rose. I love you, I love our family, and the life we've made, and in some sense I even love your mum. But there no way in hell I am calling Jackie Tyler 'mum.'"
Rose laughed.
"Mu-um! Suzie broke my sonic screwdriver!"
"Give it here, Matt." The Doctor said. "I'll fix it up, right as rain. Well, earth rain, anyway. Some forms of rain you don't want to be calling rain-"
"Doctor." Rose cut him off.
The boy handed over the device. "Thanks, dad."
"Tell your sister she'll get her own sonic scredrive when she turns twelve." Rose said.
"But thats four months away!" A little girl said from the doorway.
"I don't care if thats four seconds away, you know the rules. You won't touch one until your birthday. Understood?"
"Yes, mum." The girl said, scuffing her shoe on the floor.
The Doctor handed the boy back his screwdriver. "There. Good as new. Better, actually." He winked. "Now, run along you two. You're going to love Falsash Station."
"After the revolution this time, Doctor." Rose said after the children had scampered away. "Not in the middle of it."
"I'd never dream of-"
Rose burst out laughing. "Like hell you wouldn't. We've got a whole new universe to explore. You can wait to fix this one little thing. We have a time machine after all, its not like we're going to miss it. Though, the way you drive, sometimes I'm not sure. . ."
"Ah, ah, don't taunt the designated driver, Rose."
"You're only the designated driver cos you won't teach me how to drive her." Rose pouted.
"Yep." The Doctor beamed. "Read to go? Falsash Station, 2368." He pulled a lever.
"Lets do it." The Doctor nodded toward a button and she pushed it. The center column of the Tardis began to move.