Chapter Six – Time in a Bottle

It hurt. It hurt even more than the first time, or maybe it was the pain of leaving the Doctor behind, but this time Rose was convinced she was dying…until at last the agony lessened and she decided she wasn't. She stumbled, started to fall, braced herself for the impact – but it never came. Somebody caught her, strong arms going around her and easing her to the ground. Rose blinked several times, her vision cleared – and her eyes met the brown ones of the Doctor. Her Doctor.

He had done it. She was back where – when – she belonged.

"Told you I'd always catch you," he told her, smiling that familiar smile. They were both sitting on the TARDIS floor, she realized distantly, his arms still around her.

"Doctor?"

"The one and only…well, not really. As you know."

Rose shook her head, trying to clear it, but the world still seemed to be rotating in several directions at once.

"Just wait a bit," he told her. "It'll take a few minutes for the effects to wear off. You've had quite the journey, Rose Tyler."

No kidding. Rose closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest. "That was weird," she murmured.

"What was?"

"Meeting you. The previous…previous you."

"It happens. One of the dangers of time travel."

A thought struck her and she opened her eyes. "So you remember meeting me then?"

The Doctor nodded. "You're not exactly easy to forget, Rose Tyler."

She frowned. "But you didn't exactly seem happy to see me when we first met. On Earth, I mean. The previous you. You certainly gave an Oscar winning performance of pretending not to know me, in fact."

He shifted, not meeting her eyes. "Oh. Well. Actually, at that point, I didn't really remember you."

"So I am easy to forget, after all?"

"I'd just destroyed both my home world and the Daleks, then died, and just barely regenerated," he said flatly. "Frankly, I'm surprised I remembered my own name."

Oh. Pain tightened in her chest. "I'm sorry," she said in a small voice.

The Doctor looked back at her and the grim expression on his face vanished. His arms tightened around her. "Don't be. You saved my life, Rose."

"I did?"

"You did. After I…did what I had to do…" Rose suppressed a shiver. The Doctor swallowed once, before continuing. "I was badly hurt. Dying. I didn't expect to regenerate. Didn't want to. I just wanted it all to be over, wanted to die along with my world. But as I lay there, I remembered one word. Just one. Do you know what that word was?"

She shook her head.

"Rose. That's all. Just Rose."

Tears blurred her eyes. Gently, the Doctor brushed them away. "Everything was a jumble after that. I honestly didn't remember you when we met in London. It wasn't until the very end, right after the Autons were destroyed, after you had saved me – again, that it all began to come back to me."

"And that's why you asked me to go with you? Because you already knew I would?" she whispered.

"I asked you because I wanted you to come with me. I asked you the second time because I knew you would."

"And…and you remember everything now?"

"Up to and including that kiss. Which was slightly soggy, by the way."

Rose burst out in a half-laugh, half-sob, her anguish beginning to recede – which is probably what he had intended, she decided, watching him grin at her. "I can do better," she told him.

"I'm fairly sure you can." The sudden intensity in his eyes made Rose gulp. For a moment time seemed to freeze, and she was vividly aware that she was leaning against his chest, both of his arms holding her and his mouth mere inches from hers…and then she remembered something else, and she pulled back.

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"I wonder…" With that, Rose pulled out of the Doctor's arms, hauled herself to her feet, wobbled briefly, then staggered out of the console room.

"Rose!" the Doctor called after her.

"My handbag," she shouted back over her shoulder.

It was right where she had left it. Rose knelt before an antique chest of drawers, reached in the bottom drawer beneath a pile of frilly Victorian ladies' under-things, and pulled out her handbag. This wardrobe had been the only place she could think of that the Doctor would have no reason to use. She blew a thick layer of dust off the handbag then, holding her breath, opened it…and exhaled with relief. It was all there, including the data crystal.

"I didn't bother to look for it." A voice said behind her.

Rose sat back on her heels and looked up at him. "Why not?"

"Because you asked me not to." He came into the room and sat beside her.

"Here." Rose held the bag out to him. The Doctor gave her a questioning look. "It was for you. I thought…I thought I might not be able to save Gallifrey, but maybe I could save just a little bit of it. For you."

Slowly the Doctor took the bag and opened it. Rose watched, as one by one, he set the items she had collected on the floor in front of them. The gold stone, the purple flower, dry and brittle now, even the empty food container. The Doctor's hands were shaking, she noticed, just a little. And then the green crystal… He held it up so that it caught the light.

"The complete works of Gallifrey. Everything ever written by my people," he said reverently. "I had forgotten about this…"

"Can't think why," Rose said, trying to lighten the mood. "What with the fire, and the thieving, and all that running…"

"Rose." The look on his face froze her tongue. "Rose, you…" He had to swallow twice before he could go on, and his eyes glinted with…were those tears? "You don't know how much this means to me."

She gave him a watery smile. "Just…just consider it a delayed birthday present or something. What to get for the Time Lord who has everything…"

"It's perfect. Not this," he said when her eyes darted to the data crystal. "Better than that. You gave me time. One perfect day." And then he bent forward and kissed her.

THE END