Tenrose One Shots

Willing To Wait

This is a Thirteenrose and Tenrose thing.

Rose Tyler was sitting in a cafe, drinking a coffee and working on papers for Torchwood. She took a breath and rubbed her face. In the back of her mind, she saw the ash falling from the sky that everyone else in London thought was snow. She remembered the Doctor taking her hand and asking her to come with him.

"Mind if I sit?" came a voice. Rose looked up to see a woman with blonde hair, a striped shirt, long coat, loose capris and boots. She was holding a cup of coffee.

Rose glanced around and saw the cafe was quite full. She hadn't noticed; she'd been there for hours.

"Yeah, sure," she muttered, moving her papers.

"Thanks!"

The woman was bouncy and energetic. She reminded Rose of the Doctor, and the thought only caused her pain. It had been two years since the Doctor left her on Bad Wolf Bay with his duplicate.

Rose hadn't talked to him since the Doctor left her. He lived in London and worked at Torchwood, too. Sometimes she'd see him and would catch him looking at her. He had asked her before he accepted a position in case it made her uncomfortable. She made him take it. They were both on the board and sometimes she would cut him off when he had a particularly long train of thought. She could summarize quickly when he could still be talking about the same subject for hours and never manage to get to the point. People thought that it was amazing.

"What are you working on?" the woman asked.

"Hmm? Oh, just paperwork."

"What do you do?" The woman seemed genuinely interested. Rose tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and cleared her through.

"I work for Torchwood, that big building across the street."

"That's amazing! What do you do there?"

Rose had an answer planned out in case anyone ever asked. "I'm the assistant to the main boss, Sarah Jane."

Of course, none of that was true. There was a Sarah Jane in this universe, but she didn't work at Torchwood.

"Oh, that's brilliant. Do you like it?"

"I guess," Rose shrugged as the Doctor came walking through the door. Since he'd come here, he had become completely addicted to caffeine.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him stop dead and look at her. She cleared her throat and glanced up at him. But he wasn't staring at her. He was staring at the woman sitting across from her. He looked so betrayed. Looking close to tears, he promptly turned around and left.

Rose watched him go. "Who are you?" she demanded. The woman turned to her, startled.

"What?"

"Who. Are. You." Rose wasn't in the mood to deal with any bullshit. The woman's face softened as she smiled.

"You're brilliant. Absolutely fantastic."

Had Rose been holding her coffee, she would have dropped it. She inhaled and felt herself pulling away from the Doctor. Her eyes stung as tears threatened to roll down her cheeks.

"Rose, please don't cry," the Doctor begged. "I'm sorry. Should I go?"

Rose shook her head, the tears falling down her face. She saw the Doctor reach out her hand to wipe away her tears but quickly put it down.

"Why are you here?" Rose asked shakily.

"Just taking a stroll down memory lane," the Doctor said nonchalantly.