amberfocus (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
amberfocus) wrote2008-04-25 04:57 pm
amberfocus) wrote2008-04-25 04:57 pm
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A Place in Time (2/30)
Banner by megz33
Chapter Two: Another Life
Rose Tyler walked down the steps of her school with a smile on her face. She had just received the most basic degree at university and it seemed like the whole world was opening up to her. Not only had she achieved it, she had gotten perfect marks for the entire program.
She hoped it didn’t mean that Torchwood would try and recruit her again. She’d tried to work for them, she really had, but day in and day out it had just been a reminder of all she had lost. She’d left after a year, the only good thing to come of it was an accellerated A-levels course that had completed her previous education. They had never understood why she left, never understood that it was just too painful to see the remnants of alien worlds that washed across her desk each day.
No, the only way to put it behind her had been to walk away from that life completely, immerse herself in her studies, make new friends and figure out how to live her life again in the way that ordinary people must. Most days that worked. Dwelling in past heartbreak, well, it hadn’t been good for her. And it hadn’t suited her fighting spirit.
It had been four years since her life had changed forever and she’d worked hard to live in the world she’d found herself in. She no longer thought of herself as being trapped here. What good did that do, anyway?
Of course, now that she was done with school she was still so unsure of what she was going to do with her life. She’d thought about becoming a tour guide for extended trips, showing the uninitiated the excitement of just hopping a train and going wherever the whim took them. She still loved travelling even if it meant doing it on one small world and not the open stage of the universe.
Well, she’d get it sorted sooner or later. Rose tried not to worry about it too much. Life was too short to waste time worrying on things like that. Of course her mum would say that she was waiting on the Doctor to come back before she could make up her mind on anything.
She wasn’t though. She knew that it was impossible, even if her mum did insist that if the Doctor loved her as much as Jackie thought he did, he’d find a way, some day, some how. “Poor, deluded mum,” she whispered. It could never be. And wasting her life away mourning four years later, well, she couldn’t do it.
Rose had grieved properly for two years. Then she’d made up her mind to tuck that pain away and brought it out only twice a year: the anniversary of the day she’d lost him and the anniversary of the day she’d said good-bye. Then and only then were those thoughts allowed to take over.
Still, whenever she saw a shooting star, she made a secret wish that she’d see him again. Her Doctor. Even if their relationship was never again what it had once been, if she could just touch him one last time, maybe she could put forever behind her. Maybe.
“Stop it!” she told herself. “Don’t do this to yourself.” Other students gave her odd looks and she smiled weakly. Just a little crazy out talking to herself in public. ‘Now think,’ she thought, ‘Happy thoughts, only happy thoughts.’
“Rose!” She turned around at the sound of her name being shouted from across the wide lawn she walked along. It was Nick Daniels, a former classmate of hers.
She waved at him and slowed her pace as he hurried towards her. “Hello, Nick,” she said when he fell into step beside her.
“Hi,” he said. “Some of us are getting together for a party to celebrate the end of the degree program. Want to come?”
“Tonight, is it?” Rose asked. He nodded. “I don’t know. It’s not going to be one of those pub crawling things, is it?”
“Probably.”
“That’s not really my idea of a good time. I’d rather celebrate quietly,” she said. She’d never have said something like that when she was still nineteen.
“Quietly, hmm? How about you come out with me for dinner, then? A nice quiet celebration, just you and me?” Nick asked. Rose stopped walking and turned to look at him. She didn’t say anything. She wasn’t sure what to say.
“Well, I’d say that’s a no then,” Nick said trying not to look too disappointed. “I’ll see you later, Rose.” He started to walk away.
“Nick, wait,” she said. He stopped but didn’t turn around. “Are you asking me out on a date?” Rose asked.
“I was.” He turned to look at her. “I understand if you just want to stay mates, Rose.”
“If you’re good with just being mates, and you don’t mind going Dutch, then I think having dinner with you would be lovely,” she said.
“All right then. Where would you like to go?” He asked her.
“A fish and chips place?”
“I was thinking somewhere fancier. It’s not every day we finish something like this.”
“Surf and turf?” she suggested.
He shook his head. “The Bromeliad,” he said.
“Well, if you really want to. Make a reservation and ring me when you know the time and I’ll meet you there.”
“Good then. See you tonight, Rose.”
“Yes, bye then.” He jogged off in one direction while she headed to her car and began the drive to her mum and Pete’s house. In her car it was safe to talk to herself. “Nick, wanting a date, I can’t even imagine. I’ve never done anything to encourage him. Well, frankly I didn’t realize there was anything to encourage.”
Nick was a nice enough bloke and he was pleasant enough to look at and in another life she might have seriously considered dating him. But that was one thing she wasn’t ready for. Time enough had passed for many things, but lending her heart out to a man again was not one of them.
She wondered if she’d ever be ready for it. She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life pining for a love unlike any other; a love denied her by the very universe itself. But her heart wasn’t ready to do anything else. Not yet. Good mates were worth their weight in gold, though. And maybe she could have that kind of relationship with Nick.
When she at last arrived home she hurried up to her room and then into the shower. If they were going to The Bromeliad she would have to do something fancy with her hair and pick out a dress. She still wasn’t used to upscale restaurants even after four years of living in this house off and on and having money be no object. She would always be a fish and chips girl at heart, emphasis on the chips. They could take the girl out of the Powell Estate, but she highly doubted they could ever take the Powell Estate out of the girl.
By the time she got out of the shower the sun had set and the stars had come out. Blame that on the on demand water heaters in the house. She could shower for hours if she’d wanted to. Normally she didn’t want to be so wasteful, but when her mind wandered like it did tonight she sometimes forgot.
Nick called and gave her an eight o’clock reservation time. She set about preparing for the night, drying and setting her hair in curlers, dressing in a sequined, spangled red dress that hugged her figure and strappy black sandals with 3 inch heels. She put a black choker with a red rose in the center around her neck. When she took out the curlers she arranged her hair in soft curls about her head.
Rose walked to the French doors and stepped out onto the second floor balcony to test the weather and see what kind of wrap she needed to wear. For a moment she gazed up at the stars, thinking of how she had once danced among them and a small corner of her mind wishing she could dance among them once again. Then the shooting star streaked across the sky. “I wish I could see my Doctor again,” she said to the heavens. Then with a sigh she went back inside, collected her wrap, and made her way back down to her car. ‘It was too bad,’ she thought, ‘that wishes never really came true.’
Ch. 3: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/46419.html
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Oh and I loved this line: Time enough had passed for many things, but lending her heart out to a man again was not one of them.
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*Chews nervously on thumbnail, & reaches for new box*
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(Poor Nick... you're the new Mickey... lol)
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OK, Doctor, WHERE ARE YOU?!
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re: A Place in Time (2/30)
Re: A Place in Time (2/30)