Breaking Point

First Morning Back

Standing in the console room, the first thing that Rose noticed is that it was quiet, far too quiet. Just a couple of hours ago, this room was filled with people celebrating saving all of reality and working together to tow the planet most of them came from home. But now everyone was gone, except for Rose and the two Doctors. The TARDIS herself even seemed a little dimmer and sadder, or maybe that was just the grief over what happened to Donna coloring Rose's perception.

As the Tardis dematerialized, Rose involuntarily let out a yawn. It had been 39 hours, 2 universes (not counting this one), and an incredibly emotional day since she last slept, and it was really starting to show. The Doctor in the blue suit noticed. "I saw that. Off to bed with you. We'll see you when you get up."

"Are you..." Rose started, but the Doctor in Blue answered her question before she could voice it.

"We'll be OK, she's alive, and that's all that matters." This answer startled her a little bit, being used to the usual, "I'm always OK."

Rose nodded her head a little. It was enough for her to drop the subject for now. She bids, "Good night," to the Doctor who answered her.

She then turned toward the other Doctor, who was sitting on the jump seat. His head was still lowered and droplets of water hung at the tips of his fringe. Rose put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a little, reassuring squeeze. He looked up at her, his face full of grief. She couldn't help but wrap her arms around his neck. Rose felt him stiffen for a moment, then he wrapped one of his arms around her and gave a little squeeze before he pulled back. "You should get some sleep, Rose."

Rose nodded. "Good night, Doctor."

She walked toward the hallway. Before she left the room, she heard a voice softly call out, "No night in the TARDIS Rose." She wasn't sure which one of them said it, and it gives her a little smile. Some things will never change.

As she wandered down the hallway, she mused on the appearance of the ship and how it compared to her memory. She found that her memory is surprisingly good, but that the real thing was much more vivid. Her mind turned toward the Doctor- Doctors she reminded herself, there was 2 of him now. That was weird, very weird. She was not entirely sure what to make of it. As she told her mother, she was sure that this New, New, New Doctor was really the Doctor, she could see it in his eyes, but he was part human. How could that even be possible? But then again, this was the same man who grew back a hand, and she didn't have a clue what all he was capable of. All she knew was it had something to do with the regeneration energy, the aforementioned hand, and Donna. She was too tired to try to think more about it right now.

She was still winding through the corridors when she realized three things: 1) she'd been walking for a bit longer than she remembered, 2) she didn't even ask if her room even existed on the ship anymore, and 3) if it was still there, was it still in the same place? She stopped for a second and tried to clear her mind of everything but the location of her room. Rose felt a welcome warmth in her mind, and received a little nudge. She followed the nudge, and a minute later, she stood in front of what was undoubtedly her bedroom door, which looked like it's solid wood, carved with an intricate rose in full bloom and a complex circular symbol she'd recognize anywhere, the one symbol she could recognize in Gallifreyan: Rose Marion Tyler.

Inside her room, she was struck by just how much she had changed in the years since she last stood in this room. A shocking pink and purple duvet is on the bed, clothes scattered everywhere, makeup on the vanity, the mascara she used the morning of the Battle of Canary Wharf laid on the floor next to the vanity where it must have rolled off.

It's nothing like her little flat in Pete's World, but then, that was the point, wasn't it? Her life there was functional, purpose driven. This pink and yellow version of Rose Tyler was dead, had died when she lost her Doctor. Gone was Rose Tyler, The Valiant Child, the naïve girl who believed that nothing could ever tear her and her Doctor apart. Standing in her place was Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth, The Big, Bad Wolf.