Title: Phantom

Genre: Angst, Romance, Drama

Rating: PG-13

Couple: Ten/Rose

Spoilers: Spoilers for season 2 through Doomsday

Summary: Hope. Simultaniously Humanity's greatest strength and greatest weakness. He might have said it was impossible, but he had also taught Rose not to believe in that word. Not even if it destroyed her. Post Doomsday.

Chapter 1


Disclaimer: Oh boy...I want DW for christmas. Don't have it yet.

AN: Well, bit of a quick update, but as this story is pretty much written out already in my head, I figure I should get it done while its still there. :P

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Phantom

Chapter 2: Lull



Her hand fell to her side, arm arching with the need to reach out and touch him, to hold him close again and reassure herself that there was good in this universe. Even...even just for a proper goodbye. You couldn't say a proper goodbye without a hug, could you?

The sadness in his eyes reflected her thoughts.

"Why...Why didn't you come here and say it properly?" She managed through the thick lump in her throat. Of course, she already knew the answer, in a way. If he could have...then it wouldn't have been a goodbye, would it? Because he'd have taken her back, or stayed...

"The whole thing would fracture..." He shook his head slightly. "Two universes would collapse."

She spoke instinctively, the first word that came to mind. So simple, so obvious, and so painful.




A member of the clean up crew had found her. Apparently she hadn't noticed the time--or the lights going off around her. Jackie fully planned to give her an earful when she saw her--working herself to death was not readjusting herself to a new world...it was slow suicide. Yes, she planned on a good tongue-lashing the moment she got in earshot, and maybe a good slap, too.

Her plans derailed horrendously the moment she laid eyes on her daughter. Dried tracks of mascara were smudged across pale skin, and rich brown eyes--eyes that had always held such determination and defiance--seemed dull and hollow in their puffy red rims.

She looked so vulnerable and weak as she stared into the distance, that it was all Jackie could to not to pull her into her lap and rock her till she slept, like she had when Rose was a baby.

"Rose...sweetheart, what's wrong?" She shooed away the man that had escorted her daughter with a wave, and then pulled close the young woman whom, for once, looked as young as her age.

She didn't really need to ask that question. There was only once before that she had seen her oldest daughter like this was when they had first arrived here, before she had those dreams, and said her final goodbyes. She had never really gotten over it, but she had always hidden it behind a smile, buried it in the endless work that Torchwood offered.

Her daughter looked up at her with a sadness that shattered her heart. "Nothing, Mum. It was nothing."

She frowned severely, a moment, then rubbed Rose's arm soothingly. "It was something about the Doctor, wasn't it? What was it, Rose? You can tell me."

"I..." She chewed her bottom lip a moment. "I waited for Midnight...and nothing. Nothing happened."

Jackie squeezed her eyes shut, and pulled her daughter closer, willing away all the tears and pain that someone so young should never have to endure. "Oh, Rose..."

--

She pulled up the blanket tight to her chin with a sigh. The coarse blue wool of the underblanket and the heaviness of the flower-patterned comforter were like a reassuring sheild, a wall of warmth away from the cold, empty reality surrounding her.

She knew she shouldn't have expected anything. Those sort of 'midnight' things never actually worked like that. Those were fairy tales, not real life--not this one or the one the Doctor had shown her. He had told her it was impossible...and he had never really been wrong before.

He really wasn't coming.

She snapped her eyes shut and curled tighter into a ball with a soft whimper. A part of her told her she was better than this, that she should be strong and brave, that she should make her life everything he would have wanted...but a stronger part said he would have wanted her to be with him.

"Doctor..."

--

Mickey barely scrounged up a wave to his friend, Jake, as the man made his way home with his newest catch--Mickey'd been much too worried about Rose to compete with Jake like he normally did.

Everything would be alright. Rose simply needed some time alone, and she'd be fine. There was nothing to worry about. Jackie had told him no end of reasurrances and insisted he go home and rest...

But he was not the only one stubbornly staying in the pensive silence of the Tyler sitting room, too worried to sleep. On the opposite couch from Mickey, Pete Tyler slung one arm over his wife's shoulders in casual reassurance, while she cradled her sleeping infant daughter. The crackling of the dying fireplace was the only sound that filled the room.

Mickey shifted uncomfortably, and glanced toward the stairway that led to Rose's room, from which not a sound came.

"She'll be okay..." Jackie said softly, more to herself than to anyone in the room, voice as strained as if she had been the one crying all night. "She's strong, Rose. She'll be okay."

"Was it just the anniversary that caused this?" Pete asked, not for the first time.

"I...I don't know." Jackie sighed hopelessly. "She went on about rifts and readings and...oh, you know me. I couldn't make heads or tails of it all."

A rift...like the one that they often charged up at?

"The Cardiff Rift?"

"I think so." Jackie nodded. "Why?"

"Nothin..." Mickey frowned. "Its just a place she and the Doctor would go. Maybe somethin happened to it."

She shook her head. "She said nothing happened. For the longest time, thats all she said."

Mickey sighed after a moment, settling his face in his hands. He hated feeling so helpless, so utterly worthless. He had originally joined up with Rose and the Doctor thinking it would make him feel like he was important and a part of something big--and found his place wasn't anywhere in his home universe at all. Ever since he'd come to this new world, he'd been someone who influenced everything he came into contact with, a savior and a troublemaker at the same time...

Now...now he just felt like Mickey Smith, ex-boyfriend of a girl who went swanning off with someone more important, the tin dog that got left at home until they wanted him to hack a government agency. Worst, he suddenly felt as if he no longer knew Rose at all.

--

The sun was just beginning to color the skies when she finally fell into the comforting arms of sleep. She dreamt of warm, familiar arms holding her tight. Of a soothing voice telling her everything would be alright, telling her all of her faith was well-founded after all.

She wanted to cry when she looked up at the one holding her tight, in the familiar, beautiful, lighting of the TARDIS consol room, but there was something so calming, so wonderful, so reassuring about his presence, all she could do was cling tightly to him, and breathe in his familiar scent. The scent of home.

She was complete, she was happy, she never wanted to leave his arms, not ever again.

There was a loud crash, and the wonderful scene vaporized into her empty bedroom, chill with the morning. A shrill voice came from outside the room. "What the hell are you doing?! You're gonna kill someone with that! And this early in the morning, too!"

There was a reply from a male voice, closer, but Rose did not care to hear it. It had all been a dream. Of course it had been. And just like a year before, she had been ruthlessly ripped away from it all too soon.

She sat up in the bed, and brought her knees to her chin, fighting away the urge to break down into tears. She would not cry this time. Not any more...all it did was worry others...she could handle this on her own. She could...she would. She bit her lip and buried her face in her knees.

A moment later, however, her face jerked upward once again, as she heard a familiar whisper echo through the room.

"Rose...?"

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AN: Whew, this chapter was a bit tough, considering I only really had material for a few paragraphs for this chapter in my mind.