#elevenrose

She was there, just behind him.

Regeneration hadn't changed the instinctual knowledge of the pattern of her breathing and the reassuring thud of her single, fragile heart. He closed his eyes. Despite what he already knew to be true, his own hearts began to beat in overtime.

"I'm dreaming, aren't I?"

She moved closer, just behind him, close enough that he would be able to smell the artificial apples and cinnamon of her perfume, if she were real. He breathed through his mouth and told himself it didn't mean anything. When she spoke, he could hear the amusement clear in her voice.

"Does that mean I'm the girl of your dreams?"

(Pretty soon poor asexual, confused Eleven is going to be hiding under a sofa or something to get away from her furious glares, and it's tickling my funny bone SO hard.)

The only thing that could possibly be better is if they had gotten Chris back to be the War Doctor. Not that I have any problems with John Hurt and his weary gravitas, but it would have been SOO great to see Chris again reprising his angry, wounded fury instead, if... Well, we all know what couldn't happen there, and it sucks, but it would have made the presence of Rose even more fun, if we also had Nine aboard!

Sound came back to Rose first.

Not sight, not memory, but a steady rhythm that she knew, knew in the most intrinsic part of her, meant she was exactly where she was meant to be. Rose frowned faintly, still drifting in a heavy, clinging fog she could not understand. But slowly pushing it away were two heartbeats, a melody that was precious and familiar.

Her breath caught. Not just familiar.

Him.

Awareness crashed back in pieces. She was warm and his arms were around her, holding her tight - careful, protective, like if he let go she might vanish.

“Easy… easy…” a voice murmured above her, soft but threaded with tension.

Her eyes fluttered open. At first, everything was blurred shapes and light. Then slowly, achingly, the world sharpened into focus. And there he was - the Doctor.

A different face than either of the two she had known before, yes, but not a different man. Not really. His green eyes were locked on hers, wide and searching and full - so full of something that it made her chest ache just looking at him. Relief. Fear. Wonder.

Love.

So much love it nearly knocked the breath out of her.

For a second, neither of them spoke. They just looked at each other. Like they were both making sure the other was real.

His hand came up, trembling just slightly as he brushed a strand of hair away from her face, fingers lingering like he couldn’t quite believe he was allowed to touch her.

“Rose Tyler…” he said, voice rough, almost breaking. Her name sounded like a prayer when he said it. “I love you.”

The words impacted with the force of a supernova. There was no hesitation, no customary deflection, no running. Just truth.

Rose did not think. She did not need to. She surged forward, closing the space between them, her hands gripping his coat as she pulled him into a kiss. And he kissed her back like he had been waiting lifetimes to do so.

It was not a gentle kiss, it could not have been - there was too much emotion for that. Too much relief, too much finally. His hand cradled the back of her head, holding her there, grounding her, as if anchoring himself to something real after too long adrift. Rose felt it too, felt the universe snapping back into place.

When they finally broke apart, both of them were breathless.

“I love you, Doctor,” she whispered, forehead resting against his.

A shaky laugh escaped him, equal parts joy and disbelief. “You’ve got no idea how much I've missed you.”

“Oh, I think I do,” she shot back softly.

His expression shifted then, not losing the love, never that, but something heavier settling in beneath it, a grief that had not actually faded yet, "I thought I'd never see you again."

"Yeah, well, I promised you forever, didn't I?" Rose replied, trying to chase away the sorrow.

The Doctor did not get to respond to her, because the world jerked harshly and reality came crashing back down around them. Rose pulled back slightly, only just enough to glance at the world around them, and froze. Dark silver metal walls that were stark, seamless, and humming faintly with energy. No windows and a door that looked far too reinforced to mean anything good. They were in a cell on some sort of spaceship, one must have just taken off.

"So, this place is lovely," Rose remarked, tone dry.

“Yeah,” the Doctor spoke quietly, “Not exactly the reunion suite I had in mind.”

Rose huffed out a breath, “Kidnapped again. Never a dull moment for us. What happened? Who are they?”

The Doctor’s jaw tightened. For a moment, he did not answer. Then he took a breath, steadying himself, and tightened his arms around her slightly, as if bracing both of them.

“Rose,” he said gently, but there was an edge to it now, serious and urgent. “I need you to be very, very brave for me, now.”

“That bad is it?” she replied, steady and unafraid.

A flicker of pride crossed his face, quick and bright.

“Yes, it's that bad” he said softly. Then his expression darkened as he continued in a low voice, “We’ve been taken by slavers. Part of the Pexelton Galactic Empire.”

Rose felt a chill crawl up her spine.

“Never heard of it,” she said, though something in his tone told her that didn’t mean anything good.

“That’s because almost no one gets in. Or out,” the Doctor said grimly. He shifted slightly, as if the very walls were listening. “The Pexelton Empire… it’s one of the worst civilizations in the universe, Rose. Built on exploitation, cruelty - entire systems stripped for labor, species treated like commodities. They don’t just conquer, they consume.”

Rose’s stomach twisted. “And no one stops them?”

“They’ve tried. Believe me, they’ve tried.” He glanced upward, like he could see beyond the metal ceiling to the stars beyond. “The entire galaxy is locked down. Shielded with exclusion tech so advanced it makes most defenses look like toys. No TARDIS can land here. No teleportation works. Unauthorized ships get torn apart before they even breach the boundary.”

Rose’s breath caught. “So you've never been inside?”

“Never,” he admitted, frustration flashing across his face. “I’ve been trying to get in for…far longer than I’d like to admit. That's why I was on Delfon IV. Tracking signals, following up on rumors. Things have intensified in the past year - more and more people were being taken, and the exclusion field has started growing past the boundaries. Time is converging around the galaxy in a way that doesn't bode well all, like something massive is about to happen.” His gaze snapped back to her, intense. “And then you showed up.”

Despite everything, Rose smiled. “Yeah. I’ve got a habit of doing that.”

“You do,” he said, a ghost of a smile answering hers.

"It was Bad Wolf," Rose admitted to him, "I was in Devonshire with Mickey and fell through a... well, some sort of wormhole, I suppose."

"Which should have been completely impossible," the Doctor replied, then frowned, “I’m sorry. I should’ve realized you were on the planet as soon as it happened. I never would have brought you so close to the Empire's borders. And I wasn't fast enough to stop-”

“Don’t,” she cut in immediately, firm. “Don’t you dare. We're together now. That’s what matters.”

His eyes softened again, something vulnerable flickering through them. For a moment, the weight of everything - the empire, the prison, the danger - fell away. It was just them, just Rose Tyler and the Doctor.

She reached up, brushing her fingers lightly against his cheek.

“We’ve been through worse,” she said softly.

He huffed a quiet laugh. “Have we?”

“Yeah,” she insisted, a spark of defiance lighting her eyes. “The Game Station, World War Three, the devil himself. Bit of a dodgy empire’s not gonna stop us.”

That did it, a real smile breaking through, bright and fierce and unmistakably him. “Quite right.”

He shifted, sitting up a little straighter, resolve settling into every line of his body. More than just a man in that moment - a storm barely held at bay.

“I’m going to get you out of here,” he promised, voice steady and absolute, “I swear it, Rose. Whatever it takes.”

Rose didn’t doubt him, not even for a single second. Because the storm that lived inside of him, the one that all monsters feared, would never let her down.

She leaned into him, resting her head briefly against his shoulder, drawing strength from the steady rhythm of his twin hearts and told him, with a faith that could never be shaken, “I know.”

And she did know. Because it was the Doctor. Because it was them. And no matter how impossible it seemed, they always found a way.

"Rose!"

The voice hit her like a shockwave and nothing else could have possibly mattered. Even as she struggled, even as her arms were pinned behind her, it was his voice that was what mattered.

Tears already forming in her eyes, Rose turned and saw him racing toward her. He was long limbs and wild energy - a storm barely contained. A waistcoat, dark jeans, a silver velvet bowtie that was slightly askew, and a purple frock coat flaring behind him. Brown hair a mess, like he had just sprinted through a cyclone.

Green eyes locked onto hers, wide with something raw and terrified and furious. Her heart stuttered in her chest. Recognition slammed into her, instant and absolute. A different face. Younger and older, at the exact same time. Alien and ever so familiar.

“Doctor…” she breathed.

It didn’t matter that his face had changed. It didn’t matter that time had clearly moved on without her. She knew him. The same soul. The same brilliant, impossible man. Her Doctor.

“Put her down!” he shouted, voice breaking with urgency as he closed the distance between them, “Right now! This is a bad idea, a very bad idea. I am quite serious when I tell you that if you don't release her, it will be the worst decision you ever make!”

One of the masked figures produced something small and metallic. Rose saw it a second too late.

“Doctor!”

A sharp sting hit her neck. She gasped, the world lurching sideways.

“No!" The Doctor cried out, furious, "No, no, no!”

Her limbs went heavy instantly, strength draining out of her like water through her fingers.

“Rose!” he yelled again, closer now, so much closer than before, fighting against the masked aliens trying to keep him away from her.

She tried to hold onto his voice, his presence. To stay conscious. To reach him. But her vision blurred, the colors of the market smearing into streaks of light around the only image she could keep in focus.

“Doctor…” she whispered weakly, her voice barely audible and her eyes fixed on him as he fought toward her. He was almost there, less than a foot away. “I found you…”

Then everything tilted. The last thing she saw was him, one hand outstretched and almost, but not quite touching her, desperation etched into every line of his face.

1. ”all nervous and shaky and a bit rubbish“?

Definitely how he’d feel if Rose was about to kiss him (bro was completely dazed when cassandra!Rose kissed him lmao).

2. the more interesting line: ”it’s this, or go to your room and design a new kind of screwdriver“

Idk but it seems like he’s directly pulling from experience. Which makes me headcanon that there’s been definitely some romantic situations where Rose and him had come really fucking close to crossing those carefully erected boundaries between them and actually kissing and the Doctor just…fled, overwhelmed, and in a nervous bout of frustration worked on a new design for his sonic, just to freaking calm down.

And now, he regrets it, of course. ”Don’t make my mistakes“ when this whole episode is about borrowed time and making the most of it with your loved one? Hmm don’t know when this happened before lol (except now he get‘s his fear of losing his beloved was in his way of doing just that).