Unscheduled

[lone_defender]

After their latest adventure, Rose hadn't found it surprising at all that Amelia and Donna chose to take a few weeks off from traveling. Although, she imagined they wouldn't last the full month, she could understand why they'd want the break in the first place. It'd been emotionally and physically draining for everyone.

Rose herself felt exhausted enough that she'd almost gone with Donna's not-so-subtle nudges to take the weeks off herself, and spend a bit of time with Torchwood instead. Almost. She wouldn't have been able to live with herself for an entire week of sitting on her hands instead of looking for the Doctor. She had limited time to find him, and the universe couldn't just have her idling about, wasting time, instead of looking.

She'd lasted a few hours of chatter and catching up on paperwork before she'd slipped out to the TARDIS and escaped. She didn't have a specific destination in mind, but maybe that was for the best. She could stumble across something important. And with the way her luck had been lately? It seemed more likely she would if she wasn't guessing.

She managed a few moments of aimless flight, scrolling through possible destinations, before she crashed. Or, more accurately, before colliding with something hard enough to send her sprawling painfully--as opposed to those times when it was just amusing--to the grating. And that alarm, unfamiliar as it was, couldn't be good.

She groaned, rubbing her head, and blinked up at the rotor, gathering her wits about her once more. "You're not s'posed to..."

...Be there.

How in the world was there suddenly someone standing TARDIS?

Comments

[fresh-faced-doc.livejournal.com]

A sound cried out as if to confirming. "Yes. Times up!" he worked the controls some more before he faded. "Right, I'm off then!"

[lone-defender.livejournal.com]

"Wait!" It was a bit mad, actually, trying to keep around someone--something--that caused a paradox which almost destroyed the universe...but really. Maybe she missed the Doctor. No, not maybe. And he was the Doctor, even if he had a different face and hadn't met her yet.

With the TARDISes separating now, she could make out the proper song well enough to know what to flip to slow the process a bit.

And she had the excuse that he'd forgotten his hat, anyway.

[fresh-faced-doc.livejournal.com]

"What?"

[lone-defender.livejournal.com]

She bit her lip, and held out his hat. "I wish I could tell you what happened. I really wish I could just make things right before they ever went pear, but you know I can't."

And...she was stalling and wasting some of the few seconds the delay bought her. Honestly. She'd practiced this speech--even if it was for therapeutic purposes, and she'd always imagined something more like a message in a bottle.

"Just...when the time comes? However it takes, remember this. Remember I'm still here. Still alive, and still fightin'." It didn't mean anything to him now, she was sure, but one day it would. She hoped, at least. "I know this isn't the best example, but I swear, I am looking after th'TARDIS, and I'll do everythin' in my power to keep her safe and healthy. She's not alone. And...th'most important thing, Doctor? I'm never givin' up. I'm not stopping until I fix things again, so don't you give up. Not on me, and not on you." She offered a smile that was...almost apologetic. "Can y'please remember that for me? And...I'll see ya around, Doctor. One day, yeah?"

[fresh-faced-doc.livejournal.com]

He took his hat off her and put it back on his head. "Right," he replied, bemused. "Of course. Well, I have a time stream to get back to."

[lone-defender.livejournal.com]

She nodded quickly, digging her hands into her pockets. "Right. Sorry. Like I said then, Doctor....see ya around."

[fresh-faced-doc.livejournal.com]

"Right." He continued to look at her in bewilderment as he faded.

[lone-defender.livejournal.com]

She watched the spot where he vanished from for a few moments more, before she shook her head and turned back to the console, setting the coordinates back to Torchwood.

One day soon, she told herself, she'd find out of that message got through. Despite the fact that they'd very nearly destroyed the entire universe, maybe that's what running into him was a sign of. She was getting closer to finding a way to get him back after all.

That was, if Donna didn't strangle her for making her miss out on that little crisis first.