Time Rewritten

Chapter Five

Rose groaned and struggled to sit up, clutching feebly at her head. "Blimey, my head is killing me."

No sooner had the words left her mouth than she was assaulted with a deluge of memories. Memories of her childhood and her mother and Mickey. Memories of her past. Memories of meeting the Doctor when he was all leather and ears and memories of when he had fantastic hair and puppy dog brown eyes. Memories of Canary Wharf and the stars going out and building the dimension cannon. Memories of her brother Tony being born and memories of travelling to so many different and dangerous places to find the Doctor. Memories of finally finding him and standing next to him and the Tardis reappearing and the metacrisis running out. Memories of defeating the Daleks and the Doctor returning them home to the parallel world, leaving her with his metacrisis. Memories of that passionate kiss they shared on that beach.

But nothing after that, save for those two snippet of memories she had previously of him. Why remember everything else, but nothing of her life with the metacrisis?

She groaned at the assault of memories and frustration of how incomplete her memories were.

"Why can't I bloody remember?" she ground out in frustration?

An eerie silence greeted her. Odd. Where was the Doctor and why wasn't he still shouting at her? Had something happened? She couldn't remember anything after the slap. She slowly lifted her head and gaped wordlessly. The console room, the Tardis, looked totally different. Almost Goth-like different. The centre console, the heart of the Tardis, was surrounded by six metal beams that rose up and met in the centre, forming a strange dome. The heart gave off a blue hue, almost being the only source of light in the gloom. From where she was sitting she could make out a bookcase that made up the length of the wall, each shelf crammed with books. There were a few towering candle stands with every candle lit. This was not the Tardis that she remembered.

She groaned as she achingly rose to her feet, grabbing the edge of the console for support. The blue light from the centre column brightened momentarily, almost in a greeting and she felt the Tardis hum lovingly in her head. She closed her eyes and smiled softly. The Tardis truly was magnificent. She knew that she was sentient and intelligent and had a mischievous streak, like when she blasted Rose with icy cold water in the shower, making her shriek like a little girl, or when she hid the Doctor's bananas. But she always let Rose know that she was welcomed and on some level, loved by her. Maybe not so much with the big things, but if Rose needed something, she would almost find it immediately supplied in plain sight. But more it was the way she hummed in her mind, almost affectionately.

"Hello, Beautiful. What happened to you, then?" she sighed.

She felt something akin to a chuckle and an eye roll, almost like she was missing something obvious. Yes, she was definitely missing something obvious, but her head just felt too heavy and exhausted to think.

"Doctor! Where the bloody hell are ya? You've got some explaining to do!" she hollered. When all else fails, call the Doctor.

"Right behind you," a velvet voice responded from behind her.

She whirled around and had to grab the edge of the console to support herself at the sight of the Doctor. He wasn't tall, yet his posture gave him the illusion of being tall. He wore a buttoned up vest which was covered by a dark green jacket that looked well-worn and hung down to his knees. The jacket wasn't buttoned up and white shirt cuffs peeked from the sleeves of his jacket. He wore brown pants and worn brown boots that laced up to his knees. And to compliment the outfit, he wore a navy cravat tied loosely around his neck. On anyone else the whole attire would have been ludicrous, but he pulled it off with such confidence that she felt herself appreciating his clothing choice and how good it looked on him.