That Perches in the Soul

rumple-belle:

Ten x Rose, G

Summary: Set during The Christmas Invasion, the Doctor hopes Rose will still want to come with him. For the 31 Days of Ficmas, prompt #1 – Hope.

Notes: I’m going to try to write something for this every day and do all 31 days. We’ll see how well I do. Title obviously from the Emily Dickinson poem because I am uncreative hack.

[AO3]

Hope is a precious and dangerous thing.

He has spent nine hundred years being full of the stuff, using it to drive him onward, to never look back, to do the thing that no one else could do because it was right. He’s seen it inspire entire planets to change and become masters of their own destiny. It is more powerful than any weapon, and the one thing he had left when everything else was gone.

But in this moment, as he stands in the courtyard of the Powell Estates, in his new suit and trainers, he realizes that he didn’t understand how fragile hope could be. It is truly the thing with feathers. It’s light and warm and makes his insides flutter. His hands are clammy, his hearts thrumming with anticipation as he waits for Rose to decide.

Does she still know me?

“I just thought, because I changed…”

Does she still want to come with me?

She shifts from one foot to the other. “Yeah, I thought, because you changed you might not want me anymore.”

Does she still love me?

He exhales and starts to smile. “Oh, I’d love you to come.”

Her mouth curves into a wide, beaming smile. “Okay.”

Then she reaches out her hand and wraps it around his, in spite of how much it still unnerves her. He grins back at her, bouncing on his toes as his whole body vibrates with energy. Jackie and Mickey might not understand, but Rose does. His brilliant, fantastic Rose.

He points, and she leans into him, the proximity making his hearts skip in his chest.

“That way?” she asks, looking sideways at him.

His eyebrows lift, and he makes a little affirmative noise. Tomorrow he’ll be in the TARDIS, ready for a new adventure, and he wants her to be beside him, just like she is now. And there it is, he thinks. Right between them, that vibrant, powerful, and delicate thing.

Hope.

She smiles again. “Yeah, that way.”