Breach

Rose Tyler shifted in her bed, groaning as the entanglements of her blankets kept her from finding a more comfortable position. Her inner clock told her alarm would be going off soon, signalling the beginning of another boring day at work. The shop. She hated the shop. Rose supposed she didn’t have to work, not with the money her Dad made in this dimension, but what else was there to do? At least it helped keep her mind off the Doctor.

Oh, she had tried travelling, but it just wasn’t the same. Not without him. The world was such a small place and, as much as she hated to admit it, there wasn’t much left in it she wanted to see. She bet he’d be angry with her if he knew she was thinking like that… but it had been almost a year. Next week, in fact, it would be exactly one year.

She groaned, her own thoughts bringing back a misery she doubted she’d ever be rid of. Oh, yes, she and Mickey had tried another go at it, but somewhere deep inside she thought they’d both knew it was a lost cause. She was in love with the Doctor. She probably always would be. Mickey understood that. They’d parted on good terms, still friends, but she didn’t see him much these days. He was always off with Jake—they both worked for her father—working to help keep the peace. She was glad he’d found his place.

Grumbling, she tried to shift again to her stomach in order to soak up the last bits of her pre-morning haze, but a tightening around her waist prevented any such movement. Rose froze, startled, because blankets did not tighten around your waist when you tried to turn over. Gingerly her fingertips brushed over the cotton of her t-shirt, and then that of the sheets until they met with the very warm, very real, flesh of an arm. Rose’s brown eyes shot open in surprise as she jerked up and away. This motion proved almost fatal as her head came into very noisy contact with the metal of a rather low ceiling. She blinked, trying to rid herself of the stars dancing before her vision, but they didn’t go away. She squinted—her room was awfully dark for this time of the morning—but the stars wouldn’t go away. Funny coloured stars, too, almost greenish-aqua in—

“Rose, what’re you doing? You hit your head?”

Rose froze. There was no way in hell the voice that had just spoken from behind her was who she thought it was. No. Way.

“Rose?” the voice piped up again, and there was the softest touch on her shoulder. She jerked, spinning around with barely enough sense to keep herself from banging her head again on the low bunk. Her eyes travelled along barely lit, white cotton sheets to a bare chest dusted in dark hair and bathed in that same, all-too-familiar greenish-aqua light, to the familiar angled jaw that hinted stubble, to the nose, the eyes, the hair, the—

“Doctor!” She was in his arms within seconds, arms wrapped around him in every effort to stop the wonderful dream from ever ending.

“Uh… Good morning.” The Doctor replied, wrapping his arms tentatively around her in return. “Are you okay?” his brow crinkled in that curious display he was accustomed to making when he hadn’t quite figured out what was wrong yet.

“You-you-you were gone! I mean I was gone! I mean, how did you get here? I thought the void could never be breached again! What happened? How did you manage it? Were you working on it all this time?” Rose stumbled through her questions, pulling away to hold his face in her hands, studying every detail, committing everything in that instant to memory.

The Doctor frowned, “We walked here, Rose, after the rip in the dimensions closed, remember? And we talked about this last night—we can never cross into that dimension again. You’re never going to see your parents again. Or Mickey.” She recognized the ‘here’ he was referring to as the Tardis—oh, the Tardis! Rose thought she would never again see it; never again feel the rush of excitement of stepping out somewhere totally unexp--

Rose stared, dumbfounded, “La-last night? What happened last night?” she asked, confused by his response. She had gone to bed last night a little buzzed from a few glasses of champagne with her Mum, but nothing out of the ordinary.

“Yes, Rose, last night after we sealed the rip in the wall between the dimensions.” He placed his hands on her shoulders, concerned. She’d seemed somewhat shell-shocked last night after he’d brought her back to the Tardis. Hadn’t said a word until he’d tried to leave her—and then she’d clung to him like there was no tomorrow, sobbing and rambling about her mother and himself. He held her then and, for whatever reason, couldn’t let her go. So he’d stayed all night. The Doctor was relieved himself, he almost couldn’t believe how close he’d came to actually losing her forever. He’d slept unusually well after that, considering he didn’t usually sleep.

“But that was almost a year ago!” she exclaimed, her earlier confusion escalating almost exponentially.

“It certainly feels that way, but it was only last night.” He replied, grip tightening on her shoulders. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“What’s the date?” she asked.

“What?”

“What’s the date?” she repeated.

“Whatever you want it to be.” He replied simply.

The answer simultaneously infuriated and relieved Rose. She was on the Tardis. With the Doctor. It was almost too good—

All thought stopped. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously and she jerked away from his touch, “Who are you and what kind of sick joke is this!?” she demanded, climbing out of the bunk while keeping one eye on him.

“What do you mean who am I? Rose, you know who I am… I’m the Doctor.” He shifted forward, following her out of the bed and reaching for her.

Rose tried hard not to focus on the fact that he was only wearing a pair of boxers as he stood up. Instead she tried to focus her energies towards the ridiculous nature of the illusion—or dream—“I SAID who ARE you?” It was just too good to be true. The Doctor couldn’t actually be here—or rather, she couldn’t actually be there. She’d been zapped to the other dimension just before the rift closed. That meant this had to be some trick. An alien invasion, or some kind of sick mind warp, or… Or maybe it was her. Maybe the stress had finally gotten to her and she’d gone mad? But did insane people question their sanity? Rose wasn’t sure.

The Doctor frowned, stepping closer and taking her shoulders in his hands. “Rose, it’s me, it’s really Me.” He watched, a curious expression of concern written across his features as her resolve started to crumble. He watched as her eyes grew wet with tears and they started to trickle down her face, “Rose Rose Rose!” he repeated reflexively, “What’s the matter?”

“You’re gone.” She replied, “Or rather, I’m gone. I was about to get sucked into that vortex thing when Dad flashed through in an instant and brought me over to his side. Don’t you remember? I said goodbye to you on that beach, halfway around the world… You said we’d never see each other again… That there were no more faults between the dimensions.”

He frowned, “There ARE no more faults, Rose. But you were never flashed over—in fact, you never even almost got sucked in. It must have been a dream, Rose. A very human nightmare—“

“It wasn’t a nightmare!” she exclaimed, “I was there for almost a year! A year, Doctor, where I tried to travel, where I tried to patch things with Mickey—that didn’t work out, mind you—where I worked in that dumb little shop, stuck with the knowledge that whatever I did, whoever I was with, it would never match up with you!”
He frowned once more, “That is very unusual. But I can guarantee you have spent all night with me, in that bunk. Your mother, father, Mickey—yes, they’re all gone, but you, Rose, you stuck around, stubborn as you are. You stuck around despite what I told you to do because that’s you, Rose. If I remember correctly, you just couldn’t bear the idea of leaving me alone.”

Rose sniffed, wiping her nose on her arm, “Of course I couldn’t leave you alone, Doctor, I love you. From the very start, I think.”

The Doctor pulled her into a tight embrace; “I almost lost you for good yesterday, Rose. I will never, ever make that mistake again. I promised your Mum I’d take care of you. And with her gone I’m going to have to work extra hard at that.” He pulled away to give her a crooked smile.
Rose gave him a somewhat teary-eyed smile herself, “You almost sound afraid, Doctor. Did she put the fear of God in you?” she joked.

The Doctor’s smile broadened, morphing into his full-fledged, signature grin, “God, the Devil, the Daleks, Harriet Jones… some kind of fear, that’s for sure.” Despite her tear-streaked face, Rose burst into laughter. The sound was the most beautiful thing the Doctor had heard in ages. “Now, are we feeling alright again? If you get ready quick, we can make it in time to see the centennial of the first settlement on Mars in twenty-five twelve.” He announced, turning and grabbing his clothing from the floor to dress.

Rose watched him, studying him. Nothing felt strange; she hadn’t seen any weird warning signs like she had on other occasions. The Doctor, however, was taking her accusations in good stride.

“Come on Rose, don’t go standing around in your skivvies all day. There’s places to go, things to see, and we don’t want to miss a moment of it, do we?” he said, throwing her jeans at her. Rose merely stared at him for a moment. The scene was so surreal, and the monumentousness of the situation was just sinking in. She’d woken up in bed with the Doctor. In bed. Blood rushed to Rose’s face.

“Doctor?”

“Yes Rose?”

“Why were you in my bed?”

The Doctor paused in his movements, now clad only in his suit pants. “You asked me to stay.” He replied simply.

“I asked you…?”

“Yes. So I stayed.”

Rose tore her eyes from where they had very much been focused on the Doctor’s chest to look him in the eye. “I-I… Uhm… Did… did we, uhm, you know… Last night?”

The Doctor arched one brow at her, lips quirking in that oh-so-Doctor way, “We slept, Rose. And I held you.” He informed, pulling on his shirt.

“Oh…” She almost sounded a little disappointed.

“And we kissed.”

“We kissed!?” Rose exclaimed, eyes going wide. Why oh WHY could she not remember last night?

He grinned, “No, but your reaction was good enough that I don’t mind having said we did!” he laughed, picking up his coat from where it hung by the door of her room, and darting out before she had a chance to respond, “You best hurry up. We don’t have forever, you know!”

Rose stared down at the paper in front of her. They’d picked it up before leaving her time, Rose pretending to be curious as to how they would cover up yesterday’s peculiar little mishap. “July ninth two-thousand and eight…” she muttered, staring at the front page. Below the date was a large picture of Torchwood Tower, London, with the top floor entirely caved in. They were calling it terrorism. How funny—though Rose supposed that it had, indeed, been some form of terrorism… if alien.

“Not for long, Rose!” the Doctor replied, already deep in the throes of flipping switches, turning knobs, and pulling handles.

Rose looked up at him and smiled, “So we’re ready?”

“Yes we are. Almost there… And… Yes! Here we go!”

The Tardis gave its usual shuddering start, followed by the whine that faded in and out as they materialized through time and space. It was for sure the most beautiful sound she’d heard all year. Rose barely contained the excited energy that was flinging itself around inside her. When the noise stopped, Rose was the first one out the door. What met her eyes made her heart pound.

A multitude of aliens surrounded them in crowds, pushing against each other, and visiting stalls. They were nestled between two of those stalls—a food vendor to the left by the smell of it, and a game vendor to the right—and the line-ups were huge. The crown walked past in blurs of human-coloured flesh, and alien blues, reds, greens, oranges, and purples… You name it you could spot it.

“Welcome to the two-hundredth anniversary of the first colony on Mars. Rose, welcome to Freyd Zero-One.” The Doctor said from behind as he stepped out into the crowds with her.

“It’s… so crowded…” she noted aloud.

The Doctor nodded, “Two million people gathered on the specially constructed fair grounds just outside the city for this event. It’s huge—bigger than the moon landing even was. The Moon belongs to Earth… Mars doesn’t, so it’s considered to be the very first step humanity took into space.

Rose nodded, “I see.”

Then the Doctor took her hand, “Come on, let’s explore. Later tonight everyone will gather for the Marsian Emperor’s speech. I’ve always her Emperor Flowdab was a fantastic speaker, if not a touch eccentric.”
Rose nodded and followed him into the dense crowd. They explored as much as they could that day and Rose tried so many alien foods she was sure she would never eat again. At sundown they found themselves perched on a balcony that hung over the district square where the Emperor’s speech was to be held. Rose watched the people below chatter and yell and wait for the final few minutes before what she assumed to be the odd, Marsian form of Earth trumpets wailed, announcing the arrival of Emperor Flowdab.

“Here he comes.” She announced, turning to smile at the Doctor. She found him to already be smiling at her and her cheeks flushed and she averted her eyes to the stage that was to very soon hold the Emperor.
Minutes later a large, though not seemingly overweight, being stepped from behind silvered curtains. His skin was pale, with a blue-ish tint to it, so very unlike the planet itself, with big black eyes that seemed to have no differentiation between pupil, iris, and the rest. Just all black. His nose was a faint bump on his otherwise smooth face, and his mouth seemed very similar to her own, only he had a distinctly thin top lip with a more voluptuous bottom one. He wore long black robes trimmed with silver, a silver sash embellished with a… wolf? Rose squinted. Yes, it was the silhouette of a wolf.

“Is he wearing… a wolf on his sash?” Rose asked.

The Doctor smiled, “The Marsians took a taste to the wolf from Earth almost three hundred years ago, when humans first visited, but before they settled. The symbol has been in the royal line ever since then. It’s become a sign of royalty, and a sign of friendship between your peoples, ever since.”
Rose nodded, “I see.” She replied, studying the Emperor again. A shiny silver choker graced his throat, the design pointed at the bottom so that it hung over his robe, and high so that it sat just at the junction of neck and jaw. He wore a thin band of silver around his head over short, sleek with hair. Somehow, even with the pristine white hair, he didn’t seem old to Rose.

“Good fortune be upon you all.” A cheer went up from the crowd when the emperor spoke, and Rose was surprised that his voice sounded even younger than she had guessed. “May the grace and happiness of this day bless us all with a peaceful future. I would like to thank all of you for coming. Without you this day…” Rose turned to look at the Doctor, studying his profile. He was leaning on the rail next to her, relaxed with a wide smile of enjoyment gracing his face. He didn’t look different. He didn’t act different. He didn’t speak any differently, and yet, Rose still felt there was something off with the whole situation. She had tried to convince herself it really was a dream, but… that year had just felt too real. It had been too vivid, and it was too strange that she could remember tiny, little things she couldn’t remember in normal dreams. Like what she wore, or what she ate. Something weird was going on, and Rose hated the very thought of it. Why couldn’t things just go back to normal? Why couldn’t they just find some magical way that she could come back? Why wasn’t it that simple? Rose frowned, looking away from the Doctor and down into the crowd. Her eyes locked with someone directly below her who had their back turned to the crowd and their face turned toward her. Rose started from her spot at the railing.

“What’s that? Are you okay?” The Doctor asked, turning to her.

“Someone down there is staring at me.” She announced, pointing.

The Doctor looked down, frowning. The figure wasn’t trying to conceal itself in the slightest. He looked very human, except for the colouring and the tattoos. The boy’s hair was an icy blue, his skin pale, and covered with a number of black tattoos. His eyes were a shockingly bright fuchsia, and when he met the Doctor’s gaze he immediately looked away and disappeared into the crowd.

“Off we go then. Can’t let that kind of behaviour go unquestioned.” The Doctor announced, dashing off towards the stairs. Rose followed at a run and soon they had made the two flights and were in the crowd themselves, headed in the same direction as the mystery boy.

“… and for his very brave sacrifice in time of crisis, we have named this Earth settlement for the Captain of team twelve-zero-one, Harrison Kristian Freyd…” the Emperor’s voice intoned after them.

Rose kept a close eye on the Doctor as they followed her watcher so as not to lose him in the crowd. It was longer than she expected before the people began to thin out, and both time-travellers took a break to catch their breath as they looked around for any signs of whomever they were chasing.

“Over there!’ the Doctor announced, catching the last flash of the unusually-coloured blue hair. They were off again, darting down an alleyway only to meet with a dead end. “What in the…?” The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, shining it over the back wall of the alley they’d run into.

Rose leaned against a wall to the side, trying desperately to catch her breath. “Do you… know any… species that look like that?” she asked between breaths.

“Well he looked like a Kahryian.” He replied, “But they live almost on the other side of space. He’d have to be a long way from home.”

Rose nodded, resting her head back against the redness of the brick wall, “What do you think he was st—AHHHHHHH!” A shifting in the wall behind her startled her, but before she had even the time to move, the wall had all but melted away and Rose had fallen into the black void beyond it.

“Rose? Rose!” the Doctor shouted as he dashed into the blackness himself.

“It’s alright—I’m alright. I’m not hurt—OW! That was my foot!”

There was a shuffling in the blackness as the Doctor stepped away. “Sorry.” He replied, turning back to the door just as it slid shut, encasing them in perfect blackness.

“… Are we trapped?” Rose asked from somewhere to the Doctor’s right. He turned to look at her only to collide with her instead.

He stumbled back from her once again, “Uhm… Just a second. Where is iiittt… Aha!” A little flash of blue signalled the lighting of the sonic screwdriver. Suddenly both were encased in dim, blue light. Rose looked around, noting the grey, rough quality of the wall behind her. “Looks like the only way to go is down.” The Doctor motioned to the black abyss opposite of where the door had been. “Hold on to my coat so I don’t lose you in the dark.” He suggested, turning his back to her. Rose complied, burying her hands in his trench coat and following along behind. They met soon with a short flight of stairs, then a bit of hallway, then another, longer flight of stairs before the ground levelled out again.

“We must be nearly thirty feet under now.” He commented.

“Under where?” Rose asked in return.

“Underground.” Came his immediate response as they walked forward. They were no turns in their hall, no detours, and no choices. Just a long, straight, and somewhat narrow, hallway that seemed to go on forever in the dark. The sonic screwdriver was powerful for its size, but it still only cast a four or five foot circle of light around the both of them. That was why, when a door seemed to materialize out of nowhere, Rose jumped.
“I am starting to suspect we’ve been set up.” The Doctor announced, studying the door.

“What ever gave you that idea, Doctor?” Rose replied dryly.

“Well, the whole—oh do shush.” He waved his screwdriver at her, casting odd shadows over them both, before lowering it to the handle and pressing buttons.

“Doctor?”

“Just a moment, Rose.”

There was a pause then, “Doctor?”

“Just a minute, Rose, I’m trying to undo the lock.”

“Doctor!” Rose’s voice persisted.

“What is it?” he asked, spinning on her.

Rose stepped forward, “You didn’t even try the handle.” She replied, pulling on the latch. The door swung open silently.

Both companions stared into the room. Inside were two chairs made of heavy metal and decorated with leather restraints. The Doctor raised an eyebrow, “I think we’ve stumbled upon someone’s private room…”

“Maybe we—“ Rose’s reply was turned into a surprised shout as she was pushed from behind into the room. The next thing she knew she was being dragged by something towards the chairs and she began to struggle, screaming for the Doctor.

“Rose! Rose!” the Doctor replied, and Rose made out his form across the room as he struggled with a tall man with similar features to her stalker.

Rose was thrown roughly into the chair and held down as the restraints were tightened around her limbs.

“Doctor, I suggest you stop.” Came a voice from behind her. Rose strained her neck only to have her stalker step out beside her. She stared hard at him as he cleared his throat, “I said… I suggest you stop… Unless you want Rose dead?” Quicker than she could see, Rose felt a blade press against her throat and followed the sparkling silver blade up to the hilt of the sword the boy now held in his hand. Upon the sight the Doctor stopped and was immediately forced into the opposite seat himself and strapped in.

“Let Rose go.” The Doctor demanded immediately, “You have me. Let her go.”

The boy shook his head, “This isn’t about you, Doctor. It’s about Rose, and what’s best for her.”

The Doctor’s fists clenched, “What’s best for her? What’s best for her would be letting her go!” The blade dropped from Rose’s throat and she let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.

“What’s best for Rose is to wake up.” The boy said, turning away from the Doctor, “Rose, my name is Mikhail. I’m a Kahryian, and you are a very long way from home.”

Rose pulled at her restraints, “It’s only Mars. We haven’t even left the galaxy!”

“Emperor Flowdab told us you would be coming. We knew if anyone in this world knew, it would be him—“

“And why on Earth would the Emperor, of all people, know or care that I was here?” Rose demanded.
Mikhail smiled, “Rose, think about it. There was a point in your life where you had access to every particle of time that has ever existed. Did you think you did not know you would be separated from the Doctor?”

Rose’s eyes flashed to the Time Lord in question, “I had no clue.” She replied flatly, “Or else I would have stopped it, wouldn’t I?”

Mikhail turned from her, “Time is not so easy, is it, Doctor?”

The Doctor shook his head, “It would have just torn a hole in time, Rose, like it did that time you tried to save your father.”

“So you see, that other self knew that. It knew what was going to happen, even what is happening right now. It knew all possibilities and all outcomes, and it prepared you. That’s how Emperor Flowdab knew you were coming.”

“I… told the Emperor?” Rose questioned.

“No, you named him, Rose.”

“Flowdab? What an awful name—“

“Bad Wolf.” Mikhail interrupted. Rose and the Doctor stared at each other, wide-eyed. What was going on? “And he doesn’t actually exist Rose.”

“What do you mean ‘doesn’t exist’? I’ve met him myself when—“ The Doctor fell quiet when Mikhail held up a hand.

“I’m afraid, Doctor, that you don’t exist either.”

“You’re lying!” Rose screamed, but in the back of her mind, some nagging bit had known all along it wasn’t true.

“I’m afraid I’m not.” Mikhail replied, kneeling before Rose as tears began streaming down his face.

“Don’t listen to him, Rose! He’s lying, he wants us to lose trust in each other!” The Doctor’s chair fell into darkness and his voice fell into silence.

“What did you do to him?” Rose asked angrily through her tears.

“Nothing. You merely realized the truth and he stopped existing. Nothing outside of this room exists anymore, and as you can see—“ he motioned around the darkness and over his two companions and himself, “—There isn’t much left of this room, either.”

“Well, I don’t believe in you and you’re not disappearing!” she argued.

“We are Kahryian, dream-walkers, in the real world. Therefore we have spiritual and physical realities that your dreams do not. This, Rose, is a dream.”

Rose squeezed her eyes shut “Stop it! Leave me alone, you’re lying! Doctor! Doctor, come back!”

Mikhail shook his head, “Listen to me, Rose, we haven’t the time to waste on wailing childishly. I know this is hard—I know you’ve spent the last year picking apart every last action from that day to determine what you could have done differently. But there is hope. I am on your side—not theirs—and I have come to help you wake from this dream.”

“Why should I?” she snapped, “And why should I trust you? Why didn’t you just come speak to us?”

The boy stood, “There are but three of us—and three is almost too many—in your mind. You wouldn’t have believed us and if we had not gotten you somewhere secluded, the crowds could have turned nasty in order to protect you. You had to believe you were alone.”

“And why are you helping me?” was the next question she flung at him.

“You are a good person, Rose, which is the first reason. No one should live a dream life. They oft times end more cruelly than reality. The second reason is that you are the only one who can free the real Doctor. And despite being in another reality, the Yvarins knew that. Which is why they tore a new hole on this side of the universe to bring you back. They had to lock you up to make sure you did not interfere.”

“Free the Doctor? What happened to him!?” she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It was even more absurd than the idea that the whole last year had been a dream!

“The Yvarins finally managed to capture him. With think he is sealed away with you, but until you wake we can not be sure.” Mikhail, noting she seemed less aggressive, began loosening her restraints. Rose rubbed her wrists and stood, the weight of what was happening finally sinking in.

“If I am asleep, how do I wake up?”

Mikhail pulled a vial from his waist and held it to her, “This will bring you to the waking world.”

“What is it?”

“A dream expeller. It will not be pleasant, but it will wake you.”

Rose didn’t like the sound of it, but she pulled out the stopper, “If anything bad happens to me, you know it doesn’t matter what dimension we’re in, the Doctor will come for you.”

Mikhail nodded, “Trust us.” He said before his figure disappeared into the darkness.

Rose stared at the violet-coloured liquid with trepidation. Steeling herself, she swung the whole thing back like a tequila shot and counted to ten. Nothing. She let the vial drop and it disappeared into nothingness. She stared at the floor, and then it hit her. Her stomach turned and the sensation to wretch came over her so violently that it brought her to her knees. She gripped her stomach and could feel the muscles of her abdomen trembling under her fingers. She shuddered once, twice, three times before bile rose in her throat.
Rose opened her mouth to vomit and found it was tightly wrapped around something. She took one breath, two; her throat suddenly completely clear of the burning substance it had been filled with moments ago. She opened her eyes to find herself looking through a strange liquid coloured aquamarine by the lights overhead. She kicked her leg, panicking until she felt the mouthpiece that covered her lower face. It was a breathing apparatus. She spun around in the water, arms stretched out, and determined she was in a tube. She looked up, following the line of the tube only to stare into bright, aqua light. She squinted and looked away. Another light caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She turned and gasped as another tube came into view—inside, the Doctor.

Rose moved forward, beating her fists on the glass with little affect. She looked around desperately but found nothing to help herself with. She looked down at herself to find herself fully clothed in the street clothes she had worn her last night home. The only thing in her pockets was a pen. She poured her energy into smashing at the glass with the writing impediment, but it was useless.

‘It would have been nice if he had given me some sort of idea on how to get out of this tube,’ she thought, turning her attention upwards. She squinted against the light and kicked until she was at the top of the cylinder. She felt along the top until she came to what she determined to be the light. It was impeding her search so she used her pen to smash at it. Luckily only half went out, the other half was left giving a bright, but much less blinding, glow. Her eyes wandered over the machinery above her; the only useful looking bit was the long, slim pipe that ran from her oxygen tube into the ceiling. She looked across the way at the Doctor, wishing she had his screwdriver before reaching up. The pipe was cold in her hands, and didn’t budge the first time the twisted her grip around it. She placed her feet against the glass and her back against the glass on the other side and gave a harder pull. She felt the metal twist slightly beneath her fingers. Rose grinned triumphantly and took a deep breath. She pooled her strength and twisted ruthlessly. The pipe turned and came loose in her grasp; water began flooding into the oxygen tube. Rose dropped to the floor of the cylinder and started using the pipe on the glass. After the second try hairline cracks appeared. Rose gave another swing, concentrating on that as she held her breath. She needed to move fast, she couldn’t hold her breath much longer.
One last, heavy ram hand the glass shattering. Rose and gallons of water spilled forth in a violent wave. Rose tumbled head over heels, pulling at her mask desperately in order to get air. She gasped as the mask came loose and pulled it off completely, inhaling deeply. She took a minute to catch her breath before standing, taking stock of her surroundings. It was dark except for the circles of light that their cylinders gave off, but she could see shapes in the shadows and knew it wasn’t the pitch-black nothingness that had been in her dream. She trudged her way to the Doctor, water-laden pants weighing her down. She placed wet hands on the glass, smiling, “I’m here, Doctor. I’m here for real this time, and I’m going to wake you up.”

Rose stepped back and took aim with her pipe. This would be much easier with more room and without all the water in the way. With one mighty swing she did the damage of two in the water. She swung again and the glass shattered. Rose dove out of the way as water spilled forth. The tube connected to the ceiling snapped and the Doctor tumbled free. Rose rushed after him, lifting him and slapping his face.

“Doctor? Doctor! Wake up. You’re free, come on!” Rose encouraged.

The Doctor groaned as if to argue, but nonetheless his eyes slide open, “I had… the most wonderful dream. You didn’t disappear, did you know that?”

Rose smiled and crushed him into the tightest hug she could manage, “I’m here, Doctor! I’m here!”

The Doctor’s mind hurried to wake up with the rest of his body. He registered a presence above him, arms around him… and curiously wet clothes. What had been going on?

“Rose?” his muffled voice came from her shoulder.

Rose pulled back, “Yes Doctor?”

He stared at her, recognition and realization seeping through him, “Rose!” he was up in an instant, arms wrapped tightly around her. He pulled away, “Is it really you?”

She laughed, “It is.”

“Good, otherwise this could later turn out to be a very bad decision.” His hands grasped the sides of her face as she stared at him, and suddenly her brought their mouths together, thoroughly kissing her breathless. When Rose gasped, he took the moment to slip his tongue into her mouth. She met his almost hesitantly, but needed little encouragement afterwards.

He only pulled away when they were both desperate for air, “There is something I never go to say the last time we spoke…”

Rose stared up at him, “Yes?”

“Rose, I—“

BLAM. The sound of a door slamming open furiously alerted the two time travellers that they had been noticed.

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A/N: This may be continued if enough people want to know what happens. I really just wanted to write a AU fic where they had a chance to get back together. ;3;