Dreaming of a Blue Box ✧ Doctor Who ¹ ✓

70 - The Parting of the Ways (Part IV)

Continuing from 'The Parting of the Ways - Part III'

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ROSE SAT ON A BENCH IN THE PARK, head slumped in hands. She saw in the corner of her eye Mickey joined her on the bench scooched a few inches away, hugging herself. "You can't spend the rest of your life thinking about this." Mickey rubbed his hands together. "Lily made her choice and it's hard but it's something you'll need to understand."

He kept talking but Rose zoned out to keep from lashing out. That's when she saw a pair of large letters painted on the tarmac of the play area the bench was overlooking. 'BAD WOLF.' She stood, scanning the area, and spotted the same words in chalk on a brick half-wall. "Over here!" She cried and ran in the direction of it. "It's over here as well!"

Mickey joined her side when she stopped, looking at the words himself. "That's been there for years." He brushed it off with a shrug. "It's just a phrase. It's just words."

I thought it was a warning."She looked at him. "Maybe it's the opposite. Maybe it's a message!" Rose grinned as it all started to make sense."The same words were written down now and two hundred thousand years in the future. It's a link between me and Lily and the Doctor!" She pointed at the sky. "Bad Wolf there," And then to the half wall. "Bad Wolf here."

"But if it's a message, what's it saying?" Mickey asked.

"It's telling me I can get back," Rose told him and sprinted to where the TARDIS was parked. "I need to save them." She said, swinging the doors open with determination and running up to the console, knowing Mickey was right behind her. "All the TARDIS needs to do is make a return trip." Rose smiled up at the console tube. "Just reverse."

"Yeah, but we still can't do it." Mickey pointed out.

"The TARDIS is telepathic," Rose explained, patting the console. "This thing is alive. It can listen." She walked around to the area where Margaret the Slitheen was when she looked into the TARDIS light. "We need to get inside it. Last time we saw you, Mickey, with the Slitheen, this middle bit." She tapped on it. "Open, and there was this light, and the Doctor said it was the heart of the TARDIS. If we can open it, I can make contact! I can tell it what to do!"

"Rose?" Mickey frowned. "If you go back, you're going to die."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take for Lily and the Doctor." She nodded. "Because there's nothing left for me here."

There was a small break of silence before Mickey muttered. "Nothing?"

"No," Rose answered quickly.

"Okay, if that's what you think, let's get this thing open." Rose tried to ignore the hurt that laced his voice.

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Mickey's attempt to open the hatch, via a chain attached from it to his car, failed horribly. She wordlessly sat in the captain's chair, hugging one leg to her chest and the other hanging off, helping her twist the chair back and forth. Her mum entered the TARDIS and walked up to Rose. "What do we do now?"

Rose rested her chin on her knee, muttering. "I don't know, Mum, okay?" She shook her head at Jackie. "But I can't give up 'cos Dad never did." She watched her mum's eyes squint, puzzled. "He'd tell me to try anything. If I can save my sister and the Doctor's life- try anything."

"But," Jackie gave her a disbelieving short laugh. "You were just a baby when he died, Rose."

"I know because I've met him." Rose choked out. "I met Dad."

The smile on Jackie's face faded. "Don't be ridiculous."

Rose dropped her leg and leaned forward, trying to seem as serious as she could. "The Doctor took us back in time, and we met Dad."