Life After the Stolen Earth

Life After Stolen Earth

[only a short story, I appreciate any criticism and feedback]
[enjoy]

Rose Tyler-Smith spread out on the lounger, fanning herself with a copy of Science Weekly that Mickey had left lying around. The Doctor was chasing Donna and Mickey around the replica of the TARDIS he had built. It wasn't bigger on the inside (much to the children's dismay), but it looked perfect on the exterior; the interior had been built in the basement, Rose would never had heard the end of it otherwise. Mickey was eight now: he was full of energy, the unruly mop of blonde hair atop his head constantly falling in front of his face. Rose loved it, he was a perfect picture of his father. Luckily, he had also inherited the Doctor's intelligence - both her children had. Mickey was already much further ahead in class than his fellow pupils and Donna could already read independently and write short sentences. Donna was three now, at that age where her soft, brown, baby curls were growing out and she was gaining her own confidence. She still was mostly adorable, but she was in her toddler phase where she was much more mischievous than she looked. As if on cue, Rose looked up to see Donna straddling the Doctor's back, tugging at his hair. Rose chuckled; she had a fiery temper, much like her namesake.

And as for the Doctor, the last twelve years had been beyond anything she had ever imagined. After that wonderful yet horrible day on that beach in Norway, she and the Doctor had spent the year travelling around and catching up. By the end of it, it was as if Rose had been there in that two years with Martha Jones and Donna Noble. Admittedly, she was jealous of that two years she'd missed, but she wasn't going to live forever and therefore decided there was no point pining for time she would never get back. They married on the 26th March, 2010; five years after that day a strange alien in a leather jacket with a stupid grin had grabbed her hand and said, "Run!". The wedding had, of course, been approved and mostly organised by Jackie, and it wouldn't be any other way, parallel universe or not. The Doctor was known as the Doctor to family, but otherwise they had agreed that he should be known as John Tyler-Smith. The Doctor couldn't imagine Rose Tyler having any other name, that's what he said at least - hence the double barrel surname.

Life had been lovely for them, they lived in a lovely townhouse on the outskirts of London and her parents lived a ten minute walk away. There was no job the Doctor or Rose could do to fully satisfy their longing to travel to a far off planet whenever they pleased, but they worked happily in Torchwood together, solving anything and everything that came their way. Their children also kept them occupied and brought out the soft and vulnerable Doctor that Rose cherished. He sang them Gallifreyan lullabies and told them the stories of his childhood and thousands & thousands of adventures over the years. He left their adventures for Rose to tell, and when it was her turn to tell the bedtime stories, he would snuggle up with Donna or Mickey and look just as intrigued as them, the whole family reliving those memories.

However, as Rose basked in the sun with a slight smirk on her lips, she wondered. She wondered about her old Doctor, the one she'd met at the time she felt most useless. She wondered about that broken time lord in the leather jacket, the one that had just come back into the world after a war that had left him completely alone, the one that exclaimed, "Fantastic!" when something made him excited, the one who (still) adored bananas, the one that so desperately needed fixing when he looked up at the sky and said, "For once, everybody lives." And that is what Rose had done. She had gained his trust, become his best friend. She had absorbed the entire time vortex, defeated the Darlek race, made an insecure American con man immortal. She was Bad Wolf, and she made her Doctor who he was today. But the time lord who she had fixed was still out there, and could be broken again. She missed the beautiful sound of the TARDIS and the thrill of life, and the running, everywhere. She missed the musty smell of that old leather jacket and sometimes, felt an awful jealousy about the fact that there was a Doctor out there having adventures without her. She wondered what his next regeneration looked like, what he sounded like, what personality he had adopted. She wondered if he was finally ginger! Despite her jealousy of being without her time lord Doctor, she hoped desperately that he had found someone to keep him in check and to stop him succumbing into loneliness.
The deep, dark, never ending, dangerous hole of loneliness.

She was dragged back to reality with a peck on the cheek and the children clamouring at her feet for lunch. The trip down memory lane had left her a little teary and the Doctor looked at her and cocked his head. She wiped her eyes, smiled softly and squeezed his hand. "Come on kids, who wants to make TARDIS cupcakes!". The Doctor squealed and ran into the house, followed closely by Donna and Mickey. Rose stopped for a second and looked up at the sky. Rose Tyler-Smith had her Doctor, her children and her parents. Sure, the universe was a little out of her reach, but she was happy and wondering.
You could say that her life was, well, fantastic.

[vote, maybe follow]
-emily-