The Withered Rose

A Talk With The TARDIS

Rose didn't know what to do. She felt.... like she didn't belong. This was the TARDIS, she used to call it home. She liked the Doctor's new companions, but she needed some time alone. None of them could get off the TARDIS yet, or she would have rushed to her TARDIS first-thing. But they had just done a parallel world jump, and they had pulled a TARDIS with them, so both of the TARDISes needed some time to settle and recharge. She was now walking absently along the corridors, not looking up to see where she was going, but she knew the TARDIS would put her room where she wanted, when she wanted. And after 15 minutes of roaming around, staring only at the floor, her door appeared before her. The white door with a rose painted on it. She stepped in the familiar room, and it felt like it was just yesterday when she had been last here, and at the same time, like it had been years, which they had been. The table was the first thing which caught her attention. The table with a vase full of roses, and an old photo album and a photo frame. She moved slowly towards the table. 

The old photo frame with man in a brown pinstriped coat and a blonde in a blue leather jacket, standing with their arms around each other, laughing, they looked like they didn't even notice the picture was taken. Rose smiled at the memories, staring at the picture, wishing it could all be like that again. Happy, beautiful and adventurous. With her Doctor.

She took the TARDIS blue photo album in her hand, and sat down on the familiar bed. She opened the album, the corners of the page were decorated with beautiful roses, and the center had a beautiful writing:

Travels With The Doctor

She turned the page to reveal a man in a leather jacket, who apparently did not that someone what taking his picture. There was Rose standing next to him, laughing over the fact that her daft old Time-Lord could get annoyed at such a small thing. There were more pictures of them, sometimes accompanied by Mickey, Jack, and even sometimes Jackie. There were pictures from different planets and different aliens, varying in appearance. The Doctor got more used to and comfortable to taking pictures and found that he rather liked it. Sometimes there were just pictures of the man in the leather jacket grinning at Rose, sometimes of sheepish looking people Rose was yelling at, while the Doctor was standing in a corner giggling at the scene. Then the pictures changed to those of a new man in a pinstriped coat, laughing and giggling and playing, as if half the time Rose and he wasn't even aware of the picture being taken, or of the fact that there were people arounf them, or even that there was anything in existence other than each other. There were pictures in the end, with Sarah Jane, Jackie, Mickey, Captain Jack, Martha, Donna from the day they stopped the Daleks building the Reality bomb. Rose turned the pages slowly, remembering the times she spent there, until she turned another place and nothing. I was blank. Of course, the album was a whole lot bigger and contained more pictures than it looked from the outside, but coming to the page where it all ended, she felt empty. She had lost the Doctor way too many times now. She had lost her whole family. She sat alone at her bed, staring at the blank page until she realised that someone was standing near her. Her head shot up but she relaxed as she saw Idris.

'Hello, Idris. I just thought I should rest a bit.'

'I know, my Wolf. I understand. Rose Tyler. Defender Of The Earth.'

'Not much left of the Defender Of The Earth now, is it?' Rose said, forcing a smile.

'Oh, Wolf, you are stronger than you realise. But I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for your loss.'

'It's - it's OK, I'm just used to it. Losing my family.'

'But it's not. The wounds may heal, but the scars never leave,' Idris said, looking in Rose's eyes, 'I missed you, my Wolf. My Thief's Wolf. And he missed you too. But now he is trapped in the choice - River or Rose? He believes River deserves her love, she is his wife, she has done things for him anyone can only imagine. But My Wolf, he loves my Wolf. He is stuck between the choice of his two loves.'

'But - I - I don't want to stay in that case. I don't want to put him in that situation. I don't want to be here - I want to go back to my TARDIS.'

'You can take your time. You have lost everything in your life. But never forget - never, my Wolf, that there is always a home here. A family waiting for you. There always will be me.' And with that, Idris disappeared, leaving Rose in the old room, again. And even though it looked as new as ever, she couldn't get over the sorrow and memories it brought. Soon, afterwards, she fell asleep, a dreamless, peaceful sleep. She was fast asleep and she didn't know when the door opened a bit - just a bit, and a man in a bow tie peeped in just to make sure his Rose was safe - and still here.

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OMG, I'm so sorry for not updating - it's been like 9-10 days and I promised to update almost everday! Thanks everyone for your patience, and please comment or DM me if you have any requests for this story, or any request in general - I can start a new story for you. And sorry for the short chapter.

Also, I read And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. It took me like 4 hours to read it yesterday, but my father took my three new books and said I can only get them on 1 per Sunday to read, after that I can keep the one I got. That's why I read this book now, and I just have 1 more book left now - The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd - which I get next Sunday.

And, did you all see the Comic Con with Jodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill and all?

~The Girl Who Hasn't seen The Doctor Who Virtual San Diego Comic Con yet

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