Title: Now It's Done (1/3)
Author: momdaegmorgan - My master fic list
Rating: All ages
Spoilers: None
Characters/Pairings: Rose/Ten, Jackie, Other character
Summary: Jackie says it's for the best.
Prompt: Holding onto the phone, Holding onto this glass, Holding onto the memory of what didn't last, Waiting for better words, they'll never come, So dry your eyes, it's better, Now it's done -- Straylight Run, Now It's Done
Disclaimer: Doctor Who owns my soul. I own nothing.
Author's Note: Beta by sinecure


Rubbing her thumb over the smooth surface of the object she clutched in her hand, Rose only half-paid attention to the man in front of her. Only half-listened to his practiced speech. The words that slipped from his mouth, words he'd no doubt spoken countless times before, meant nothing to her.

Not now. Not here.

Hands buried deep in soft, satiny pockets--disrespectful for sure, considering the situation, but she didn't care--she gently caressed familiar, unknown patterns on the small button, wanting nothing more than to just push down on it with all her might. But knowing it wouldn't make one bit of difference.

~~~

Fidgeting restlessly in her seat, Rose fisted her hands around her drink. She could feel the fragile glass splintering in her grasp, but she welcomed the pain it would bring; if she weren't so numb she could actually feel it.

Someone was speaking again, to her, to the people around her. Their carefully planned words flitted across her hearing, words of hope and love and future. But the words were empty to her and she wondered, not for the first time, if life itself had lost all meaning.

~~~

Staring out on a night sky that reminded her, like everything else these days, of another time, another place, Rose finally let her tears fall. Mascara tracks slipping down her cheeks, she opened her hand, letting what she'd clung to so dearly for the last few hours fall to the ground.

The summer breeze was warm, soothing, but she shivered nonetheless.

"It was a lovely ceremony."

Rose nodded her head once, not wanting her mum to hear her crying. Not wanting her to get the wrong idea and think she was shedding tears of happiness.

Not that it'd make a difference; Jackie Tyler knew her daughter better than that.

"He's a good man," she insisted, crossing the balcony quickly to rest a comforting hand on Rose's shoulder. "He may not be the Doctor, but he loves you just the same."

Rose glanced down at her right hand and the ring wrapped around her finger. It was perfect. Beautiful. Everything every little girl ever dreamed of.

It made her sick to her stomach.

She didn't want it, didn't want this. Not if having any of it meant she couldn't have the man she loved.

~~~

Their voices slowly faded away, disappearing completely when the door shut firmly behind them, muffling even the loud music and voices coming from inside.

Kneeling down in the moist grass, the Doctor reached out, wrapping his hand around the phone Rose had dropped. Flipping it over, he stared at the screen, at the string of familiar numbers and the picture of the TARDIS circling through space.

Slipping the phone in his pocket, he took one last, quick glance up at the balcony, then slowly walked away, feeling like his hearts were shattering.



Chapter Two