Work Text:
In 1965, Rose was a student at Coal Hill Secondary School.
One day, she followed two of her teachers to a police box.
She found herself inside a ship, named for its ability to traverse Time And Relative Dimension In Space.
And while others came and went from the TARDIS, Rose Tyler never left.
~ ~ ~
“Run!”
If the urgency in the Doctor’s tone wasn’t enough, Rose feels it in the grip of his hand on hers — not that she needed to be told at all, with those dummies coming at them. Before the word is fully out of his mouth, she’s already moving quickly at the Doctor’s side, each pulling the other along.
It’s a familiar feeling, running for their lives together. How long have they been doing this?
It’s 2005 here, the Doctor said. Funny; that means that for once, Rose’s internal and external timelines match up. Fifty years since 1965, and it’s been fifty years in her personal timeline as well — though it’s easy to lose track, the way they travel, and she doubts she’d still remember her age without the TARDIS to help keep count.
She’s out of breath, chest pounding, and the Doctor has to help her stagger into the lift — the door closing behind them just in time to keep the dummies out.
They’ll have to do something about those things; can’t have them getting loose in London. But at least they have a moment to catch their breath.
Rose leans against the Doctor, who puts an arm around her, and gradually the painful pounding of her pulse slows.
She has only one heart, and it is not what it once was. When they first met, Rose was a girl; young, blond, his granddaughter’s classmate. Now, she’s nearly as grey and starting-to-wrinkle as the Doctor used to be. Beside his current face, she looks the older one.
She sees the shadow of concern in his eyes, more and more often lately, though he tries not to show it. She hears it, in his more melancholy recorder tunes. Nothing lasts forever (nothing mortal, at least; she still feels guilty about Jack), and they both know she’s no Time Lord.
Still, Rose thinks as the lift rattles upwards, five decades isn’t half bad. And if there’s one thing she knows, it’s that she’ll keep running with the Doctor so long as she has any say in the matter.