31 days of ficmas

Ice (Thirteen/Rose)

The ice was shining as much as her eyes she thought as they were observing the ice sculpture they had found in the TARDIS' cold room. They had been looking for something else, the product of an experience the Doctor had done a long time ago and that she wanted to show Rose, and had discovered the sculpture instead. The Doctor didn't remember making that one in all honestly. She remembered taking sculpture lessons a long time ago during a trip in the Ancient Rome. She hadn't had much of a choice back then. Rose had been changed into a statue, and she had had to improvise. Surprisingly, the statue had made it to nowadays and was now in a London museum. But that one? When had she done such a wonder? Why couldn't she remember it? Her memory was still a mess since the regeneration, and it was pretty annoying at times.

The sculpture was beautiful, a perfect reproduction of the original young Rose Tyler in ice, and kept in the cold room for obvious reasons. The dim light was reflecting on the cold material, making it gleam, and Rose's eyes were shining in admiration as her fingers brushed over her own features forever immortalised in the ice. None of them was able to say a word. The Doctor was embarrassed to have forgotten about it, embarrassed that Rose had found that. It was meant to stay hidden, maybe because it had been done when she was pushing back her feelings. Rose didn't say a word because she was amazed by the work that had been done on that statue, by the realisation of the time the Doctor must have spent watching her to be so precise, how well her body had been sculpted in a material so ephemeral and so fragile.

When you were thinking about it, the ice was probably the material that was describing the best the way the Doctor was seeing her at first. A young woman that would wither with the time, a fresh flower that would fade, a fragile petal that could be broken into brutal hands. The Doctor had never spared her. She had shown her the wonders of the universe, but also its dark sides, sometimes in a very crude way. Nevertheless, she had always been protecting the fragile human she was from any kind of danger that could come their way. She still did it, but not as much as before, and Rose happened to regret it, that protector side of the Doctor. It had been a part of her male selves. A part of their oversized ego. That ego was still the same, but it was less evident since her regeneration as a woman.

Rose was impressed by the approach the Doctor had used to create this piece of art. She remembered the statue made of marble she had once done for her. The work on that one was just as fine, just as precise, as it had been then. Had it been done after that adventure that had almost cost them to stay statues forever? Or was it part of the training she had been taking? Whatever it was, the work had been considerable, and it had definitely been worth it.

"Why have you never shown me this?"

"I don't know. I can't remember when it has happened. Maybe was I afraid of what you would think of it."

"I love this. It's just... It's wonderful, Doctor."

"You like it?"

"How could you think that I wouldn't?"

"I'm not that confident about myself inside down."

Rose grabbed the Doctor's hand in hers and lightly squeezed it toreassure her. It was something you were learning about her when you weregetting to know her better. As confident as the Doctor might seem at first, itwas just a false image of her. But for this masterpiece she had created, Rosepromised her that there was no reason to feel uncertain. She absolutely lovedit.