Not This Time

Chapter 3

Rose's POV

"Bye Rose" Dylan yells at me as I leave the house. When he smiles it shows the dimples on his face and it's just adorable.

I open the car door and sling my handbag into the seat beside me. I pull out my car keys and start the car. Since it was cold last night a tin frost has settled on the car windows. Dylan would tell me to boil a kettle of water to melt it but I'm already late and I don't have time.

As I drive the car out of the driveway I check my phone. It's a text from Kayla. That bitch. How she even has the nerve to text me I really don't know.

I close my phone and pull out of the driveway. It's a really rainy day. Great. That's just what I need right now.

I turn on the radio to take my mind off Kayla. The weatherman always sounds so cheerful even when there's gale force winds.

"There will be a bit of a delay on the M15 south of Greenfield"

Oh fuck. I'm already late for work and now I'll have to take the M14 to get there. Ugh. What am I going to tell my boss? It's not like it matters anyway since Kayla stole my job. This week is my last week before I leave the company. They thought Kayla was 'a better fit' I hate even thinking about it.

Dylan assured me that it would be fine. He said I was talented enough to find another job. But what talents do I really have? He'll be pretty quick to dump me when he finds out how useless I am.

I pull into a petrol station to get a refil on diseal. The smell of petrol and smoke makes me gag.

I need some fresh air. But where can I get fresh air around here? Me and Dylan moved to the city to have better job opportunities or some shit but the air always smells like car fumes around here and I miss the fresh air of Bad Wolf Bay.

But I don't want to think about that, I definitely don't want to think about the man who left me at Bad Wolf Bay five years ago and I definitely don't want to think about everything that happened before he brought me there.

I get out of my car and walk into the petrol station, this is exactly why I need Dylan around, I always spiral when I'm left by myself. I understand now why The Doctor always needed to have someone travelling with him, being alone with you're own thoughts is a dangerous thing.

As I'm paying for my diseal I wonder if The Doctor ever thinks of me the way I think of him, he's probably moved on with some other girl by now, it has been five years. And I'm not sure if The Doctor can be alone for even five minutes.

But I have a life now, a boyfriend, I'm happy. But I still think about him every day. I still think about the adventures we had together even if he's probably forgotten all about me.

Once I've payed and got my car filled up with diseal I'm out on the road again. I see a sign for the M14. I can't believe how late I'm going to be for work now.

I reluctantly turn onto the M14. Cars zip past me and I realise that each car is a person with their own seperate lives and struggles. For a second it's all to much to take until I remind myself that pondering the mysteries of consciousness won't get me to work on time.

At least in this universe everything is normal. No cybermen, no daleks, no ood. My adventures with The Doctor were exciting but also terrifying. Part of me is glad to be living a regular life now. But another part of me knows that if The Doctor were to appear one day in his TARDIS and ask me to travel with him again I'd be gone in a heartbeat.

As I'm driving I notice that I've never actually taken this route to work before. It feels good to have a small respite from the monotonous routine that is my life.

Gradually the traffic thins and some hills come into view. I even see a few seagulls overhead. I've driven well out of the city by now. Maybe this road will take me past the coast and into the city center. I turn on Google Maps to help me navigate. Maybe I should take this road to work everyday. There's way less traffic and even a bit of scenery.

I see a sign pointing to the beach and a sign pointing to Greenfield. I'm just about to drive onto the road that will take me to the city when I catch sight of three words on the first sign that make my heart do a flip. Underneath 'Beach' the sign says 'Bad Wolf Bay'.

This is so fucking ironic I want to scream. I remember two years ago when I used to visit Bad Wolf Bay all the time, I used to sit on the rocks and wait for The Doctor to come for me. I was such a stupid little bitch back then. I've grown up a lot since then, I know that he's never coming back for me and I'm fine with that because I don't need some Time Lord to save me from things anymore, I've finally learned how to save myself.

Great. Now there's a traffic jam behind me because I can't chose between going to work like a normal adult or going to the beach where my time-travelling boyfriend (did he ever actually see me as more than a friend?) left me.

I look at the sign for Bad Wolf Bay and for some stupid reason I turn towards the coast. The cars behind me move on, glad I've made up my stupid mind.

I drive down the road until I get to a car park beside the beach. I park my car there and step out. I take a deep breath of the fresh sea air. It's been so long since I last came here. I used to come here everyday. Why did I stop? I know why, I gave up, I gave up thinking The Doctor would ever come back for me so I rented a flat in the city and tried to get on with my life as best I could.

I close my car door and walk down the stony path towards the beach. The pebbles get into my high heels, I'm really not dressed for the beach or nature in general.

When I get to the beach I am taken aback by how it hasn't changed at all. It's a long strand of sand with mountains in the distance. It's still beautiful somehow even in the rain.

I miss this place, I spent so long holed up in the city, running away from my problems. Memories flood over me like a tsunami. I remember The Doctor leaving me here. I can feel the coarse sand beneath my feet.

"What are you gonna do now?"

"Same old life, last of the time lords"

"On you're own"
He nodded, his expression full of pain.

"I-I love you" I could barely get the words out.

"Quite right"

He paused as if thinking something over.

"And I suppose that it's my last chance to say it. Rose Tyler..."

I sink to the ground, tears in my eyes, feeling the sand in my fingers for any remaining trace of him.