In the Dark - by Kathryn Hart

Summary: Everything's going just fine and dandy for Rose Tyler and her new half-human Doctor. Then one day Rose sees the Doctor in his new TARDIS, clothed in a tweed jacket and a bowtie. And suddenly her life is turned to hell, and the only one who can save her from herself is the Doctor. There's only one problem: Rose hates him with all her being, blaming him for what happened and doesn't want to see him. Can he change her mind and show her the love they used to have? Can he admit to himself that he still loves her?

Genre: Angst/Hurt/Comfort/Drama/Romance/Friendship

Rating: T for dark themes, a sensual scene and minor language

Inspired by the manip I made a while ago on DeviartArt. Not intended to be a full fanfic, but I had a lot of requests to make it a reality, so here you go! View the original manip here: rosebadwolftyler. devianart (.-c-o-m-/) art/ In-the-Dark-Eleven-Rose-329204468 (remove the spaces, () and - in com)

"Tainted, has our love grown cold in a place that's bitter and broken? We tasted of a world unknown. Surely there must be something better. Something forever." ~Lifehouse

Chapter One: Secrets in the Dark

The first time it happened no one was really aware of it. Rose and the "Clone Doctor", aptly named John Noble, had been relaxing on the couch after a hard day's work at the Torchwood in their universe. Things between the two of them could be called a bit strained, considering that the real Doctor's memories still kept them from connecting on a deeper level. It was probably this distraction that caused them to miss what was initially wrong with Rose in the first place.

So anyways, late night, on the couch, the two of them watching a movie neither of them had seen, nor had even been made in their original universe. Rose felt especially weary; the two of them had spent the whole day tracking down a bird-like alien that had been terrorizing a small coastal town for weeks. Once captured and subdued, they then had to spend the late hours trying to get information on why it had been doing so in the first place. John was about ready to give up after hours of no luck but Rose didn't want to back down. Finally her step-father Pete stepped in and decided for them, giving them the next two days off for such diligent work.

Late night, on the couch, new movie, Rose especially weary. Got it? Okay.

Rose inched closer to her new Doctor and warily put her head on his shoulder, thinking he might pull away from her. Instead he looked down at her in surprise and gave her a dazzling smile. There were no words said on what was running through his mind, but it wasn't hard to guess. So, in a daring move, Rose snuggled in closer, remembering the time she had done this with her real Doctor, the night he had proudly shown her Back to the Future, a classic he was horrified to hear she hadn't seen yet and had demanded to rectify immediately.

As Rose snuggled in closer to him, she felt the long hours of her day catching up on her. Her eyes began to drift closed but as they did, she experienced the weirdest sensation, for only a fraction of a second there was a tingling at the back of her head and she saw an image of a strange, futuristic-looking room with a glass floor. She blinked and everything was back to normal, watching the movie with her new Doctor. Something in her head told her not to put this off so easily, but she was so tired she shrugged it off to the weariness of her mind playing tricks on her.
Oh how she would regret that decision in the days to come.

John hadn't really been paying attention either. The moment Rose had put her head on his shoulder his mind was inundated with a thousand thoughts flying at a hundred kilometers an hour. Ever since they kissed on the beach (oh that glorious kiss!) He had let himself hope that he could finally have what he'd wanted for the past four years (counting the year that never was): a very domestic life with Rose Tyler.

And he had been prepared for her mixed feelings on it. Sure, she was going to pine after the other Doctor for a while, he just hadn't counted on it being this long. They'd been in this world for three months and she still couldn't look him in the eye without looking down guiltily, much less give any sort of physical contact.

There was that one time a few weeks ago when she had tripped on the last stair but he had caught her before she fell. She merely extracted herself from his grip immediately and thanked him, before rushing down the hallway to her bedroom with the bed only she slept on. His single heart was beating only for her, couldn't she see how much this was killing him?

All of these thoughts flew away as they were replaced by ones of joy and hope. Hope that they could do this every night, not just cuddle, but other 'fun things', get married, start a family, life the life he had never dared dream before.

So you see how easy it was to get distracted at that moment when, for only an 65th of a second (yes those genes from DoctorDonna still lingered with no side affects), he felt as if she wasn't beside him, that her head wasn't on his shoulder and she had somehow disappeared. But when he looked down at her she was still there, nearly asleep.

He merely chalked this up to just the counteractive to all this wishful thinking, that she would someday leave him.
Oh how right he was.

The second time it happened Rose was definitely aware of it, and chose to hide it from her friends and family...

ONE MONTH LATER

"Hey honey," Rose grinned as John walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek. "We got a live one, Jake says it's another outbreak of Weevils. Y'know, I've been wondering what all the fuss is about them, since I haven't heard of them, much less seen one."

"That's because they come out of the rift, didn't Jack ever tell the Doctor that?" John looked at Rose sharply. It was the first time she had ever mentioned the Doctor after he left them on Bad Wolf Bay.

"No, the last time I saw him we were batting Davros and the time before that the Master. His work life never really come up." Rose cocked her head. She was so worried about offending John by asking him about the Doctor's adventures after they were separated and she was curious about this 'Master'. Well, that would have to change soon."Besides, the rift was created in the other universe, how can stuff come out of it here?" Rose shrugged.

"We're not exactly sure, but it could be because the TARDIS has landed here a few times after that initial event that caused the rift to open, sort of like building a bridge that can be crossed both ways, with the rift smack dab in the middle."

"Charles Dickens, the Gelth?" It was a statement rather than a question.

"Our second date," they both grinned, and time seemed to freeze for them as they remembered that time so long ago...

"Okay!" John yelled, startling her out of her reverie. "Weevils! I can't wait!"

"Only you can get excited about something like this!" Rose shouted as John sped off for the door.

"Oi, watch it Blondie!" He shouted over his shoulder. Rose giggled.

"Hang on, I have to grab my coat!" She ran back into the room and grabbed her favorite blue leather jacket, the one she had been wearing when she was looking for the Doctor all those months ago.

As her fingers brushed up against the leather, Rose gasped as a headache flared and a flash went off in front of her eyes. For a moment she was back in that room with the glass floor.

There was a man wearing a tweed jacket and a bowtie sitting on steps leading upwards looking absolutely miserable.

"They were your parents," he said to someone behind her. Rose spun around to see who he was talking to but her eyes flashed again.

Her breath came in ragged gasps as she gripped the chair her jacket was on, back in Torchwood, in her world.

"No," she gasped. Not when she was finally beginning to accept her new life, not when things were going so well between her and John.

Because she had a feeling that that was the Doctor, and the room he was in was the TARDIS. Who he was talking to was of no consequence, at least for her.

A couple months ago she would have been overjoyed at what was happening, but now she was angry and very, very scared. Being with John, having him kiss her, make love to her, it was everything she had dreamed about with the Doctor and more.

That was why she had felt so guilty at first. She always thought that their friendship was more important than anything else life had to offer. But now she could admit she was wrong. Tonight she was going to ask him how he felt about having children. She knew he'd absolutely love starting a family.

But now the Doctor was butting back into their lives, ruining everything they had worked for, and Rose couldn't allow that. She loved John too much.

So she bit her lip, swallowed the negative feelings down, grabbed her jacket, and headed out the door, all memories of the experience pushed to the back of her mind.

The next few times were pretty much the same as the second time it happened, except every time it grew stronger and more painful, but so far she had managed to keep it a secret from everyone.

And she didn't always see the TARDIS, sometimes all she saw was an empty street, or a deserted road. And not always on Earth, and not always in the same time period. What those things had to do with the Doctor she had no idea. She just wished this problem would go away and she would never see the Doctor again, except of course if she needed him.

And she would need him, very soon.

The day had been pretty quiet so far, but Rose's head hurt like hell. She popped another aspirin in her mouth but threw the bottle in a drawer as she heard John enter their bedroom.
"Hey there beautiful." Rose turned around and flashed him her biggest smile, hoping he wouldn't notice the pain she was in.

"Hey yourself." She sighed in content as he wrapped his arms around her frame. She leaned against him, putting her ear on his chest and listened to the comforting beat of his single heart. John made a noise of pleasure as he buried his face in her shoulder.

"I have a surprise for you," he whispered in her ear.

"Really, for me? What is it?" She pulled her face away to look at him, her eyes shining in curiosity.

"Oh no sunshine, not until tonight when your family comes over for dinner." Rose could barely hold in a squee of excitement. This morning she had spied him holding a ring in a box when he thought she wasn't in the room. He was going to propose, tonight! All her dreams were coming true, finally she could-

"Rose!" John cried as her knees suddenly buckled. She let out a scream as her entire body felt like it was on fire. John could only watch in horror as she faded away from him.

"No!" Rose cried in agony as she collapsed in an unknown parking lot. "John!" She sobbed into her hands when she realised what had happened. She was in the other universe, away from her life, her family, and the man she loved.

After crying for a few minutes she wiped the tears from her eyes and took note of her surroundings. It was early morning, so there was no one in the parking lot she had appeared in. And this was the longest she had ever been transported.

She stood up and turned around, looking for a familiar police box. She still wanted to blame this all on him, but there was also the possibility that he could be the only one to help her now. Only there was no TARDIS.

Rose took a step forward and gasped as the pain came back. She held her stomach, trying to grasp any sort of relief, when all of a sudden her vision went hazy and she collapsed again, this time unconscious.

When Rose opened her eyes again she saw someone she never thought she'd see again.
"Oh John, I thought I'd lost you!" She threw herself forward into his arms. John held her as she cried.

"You scared the bloody daylights out of me Rose!" She pulled back and saw the terror still lingering in his eyes. "One moment you were there, the next you were gone, screaming like you were dying." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Three days you were gone Rose! Then I find you on our doorstep, unconscious, like that for another two days! I thought I lost you forever! I had to lie to your family, I couldn't face them and tell them what had happened to you. I could barely process it myself without losing it. I thought I'd never see you again, Rose you have to tell me everything that happened!" Rose lowered her head in shame.

"I've been lying to you for the past year, John. I'm so sorry, I never thought it would happen like this and I never meant to hurt you but...it's happened before." She raised a hand to stop John's outburst. "I never meant to hurt you," she whispered again, tears steaming down her face. John looked at her sympathetically and leaned over to hug her.

"Tell me everything that happened Rose, where were you, where did you go?"

"Well, this time I woke up in a parking lot, I don't know where, but it was in the other universe."

"How do you know? You could have been anywhere."

"Because, a couple times...I've seen what I'm pretty sure is the TARDIS...and the Doctor, if he's regenerated again." John was silent for a moment. "John?" She asked as he stood up and ran a hand through his hair. Finally he turned on her, his features angry and full of hurt.

"It always comes back to him, doesn't it? No matter how hard I try I'll always be second best to you!"

"No, that's not true!" Rose tore the bed sheets off her and leapt up. "You're all I need, all I want right now. You're my Doctor, and...and, I love you." She looked him deep in the eyes, before her own eyes flicked down to his lips. He caught the movement and closed the distance between them for a passionate kiss. Rose replied with all her energy, throwing her arms around him, one hand running through his hair. "My Doctor," she stated possessively in between kisses. She inhaled sharply as his hands slipped under her top.

"Rose," John whispered huskily, the terrors he'd had to experience the past week catching up with him. "Rose, I need you."

"Okay," she agreed, grabbing his tie and pulling him in towards their bed.

"You have to tell your family," John said, his fingers drawing Gallifreyan love symbols across Rose's bare skin.

"Tonight," she replied, getting up to lean over him, her lips hovering over his. John groaned in pleasure, all previous thoughts seemingly forgotten.

That night, rescheduling their earlier plans, John and Rose had Jackie, Pete, and Rose's little brother Tony over to the little flat that they shared.

"What's this all about sweetheart?" Jackie said as she guided Tony over to the couch. Four years old and as cute as hell. Rose smiled at how normal they all looked, feeling the back of her eyes burn with unshed tears at how it might all end soon, at least for her.

Rose waited until they were all seated on the couch. She stood in front of them, with John behind her for support.

"I'm going to start this out by saying that none of this is John's fault and you can't blame him for anything, okay?" She waited to continue until both Jackie and Pete agreed. "When John said I was sick, so sick you couldn't come see me, well, that was a lie. I wasn't sick," she waited to see if Jackie would get upset, either at her or John, but she just sat there holding Tony with a befuddled look on her face. "It's hard to explain exactly what's been happening, I don't really know myself but..." she struggled with the right words to say.

"Her body's been, for some unknown reason, transporting over to the other universe, with adverse side affects," Rose turned to look back at John, a grateful smile and a single tear running down her face.

"Adverse side affects?" Jackie finally spoke up, handing Tony to her husband. "Honey, is this...thing hurting you?" Rose couldn't reply, she just nodded, tears streaming down her face. Jackie leapt up and embraced her daughter. Rose tried to keep it together but a few sobs escaped. While they were hugging, Pete turned to John.

"Any way you know how to stop this?" John shook his head.

"I need to know at least an inkling of what's going on before I can try to fix it." Finally Rose and Jackie released each other, wiping the tears from their eyes.

"I don't know if we can stop this mum, or how much time we have left."

"No sense wasting it then," Rose spun around to see John kneeling in front of her. She gasped as he pulled a ring out of his pocket, the one she had seen him with earlier but had completely forgotten about. "Rose, I know the future might seem a bit bleak and uncertain, but I want to spend every moment we have left together, no matter how cheesy it sounds." Rose half laughed, half sobbed. "So Rose Tyler, will you have the honor-"

"Yes! Yes of course you idiot!" She interrupted the rest of his carefully prepared proposal by throwing herself at him with so much force that she knocked them over. Sprawled on the floor, they both began laughing. John helped her sit up and put the ring on her finger. Pete smiled, Jackie wiped tears from her eyes and Tony demanded to know what was going on and why everyone was crying.

The ceremony was a very small ordeal. Jackie had objected at first, dreaming for years of the day where she could plan a huge wedding for her only daughter, but had relented after realising John and Rose wanted to get married as soon as possible. Only a few friends and coworkers were invited, of course Tony would be the ring bearer and Pete would give his step-daughter away.

The morning of the wedding...

"Oh honey, you look so beautiful." Jackie wiped happy tears from her eyes, seeing her daughter in a gorgeous mermaid-style wedding dress. The dress was the only extravagant thing about this whole wedding. Rose had let her mother handle at least that, and had to agree Jackie had outdone herself.

"It's marvelous," Rose spun around in front of a floor-length mirror, loving the way the dress accented her curves to the highest degree. "John's eyes will melt off when he sees me in this."

"Are you truly happy with this sweetheart?" Rose looked at her mother's reflection in the mirror.

"I am mum. I really am. If you had told me this would happen two years ago, I would have hated it. I thought all I ever wanted was the Doctor. I guess I still do love him, in a way, but John has given me everything the Doctor never could. I mean, of course I miss all the travelin' and stuff, but, as I told the Doctor once, there's no one else I'd rather be stuck with." Jackie was quiet for a moment.

"Well, if that half Time Lord man is good enough for you, then he's good enough for me."

"Who's good enough for you Jacks?" John appeared at the doorway, dressed in a dapper black suit.

"John!" Rose shouted. "Don't you know it's unlucky to see a bride before her wedding?" John looked thoroughly confused.

"I thought we were having a Gallifreyan wedding."

"Yes of course, what we can." John didn't have access to his Gallifreyan traditional robes nor a high priest to perform the ceremony, but, as they had agreed on earlier, they would perform the sacred vows which John had taught Rose the right Gallifreyan words to say. They would also have their wrists tied together with a red ribbon for the entire ceremony, sealing their bond for life. The rest of the wedding would be in traditional Earth style. "What's that got to do with seeing me before the wedding?" She waved at her mother as Jackie left to give them as little privacy.

"It's tradition on Gallifrey for the future husband and wife to kiss right before the ceremony, for luck." Rose couldn't hold back a grin.

"Sure it is." Sarcasm dripped from her voice. John grabbed his chest, as if in pain.

"You doubt me, me of all people?"

"Oh come here then," John came up and grabbed her shoulders. As their lips were about to touch, Rose suddenly collapsed.

"Rose!" John was able to catch her before she fell. He laid her down on the floor and she began to shiver violently. "Rose, Rose, listen to me!" John grabbed the sides of her face and forced her eyes to focus on him. "Rose, find the Doctor!" He wasn't sure if she had understood, but it was too late. His single heart clenched in horror as she vanished out of his arms.

Far away and long ago, in a tiny house, a woman was in the kitchen, preparing breakfast for her husband and her young son when she heard a noise at the door.

She wiped the flour off her fifties style apron and strode to the door, her red hair bouncing in its pony tail. She opened it and gasped. A woman in a very futuristic-for-that-time wedding dress lay unconscious on her doorstep.

"Rory!" Amy Pond-Williams cried. "Come here, now!"

Please review, tell me what you think! I highly recommend listening to that Lifehouse song, it's called "The Beginning" and is the theme for this story :)