An Ever-Fixèd Mark

[preserved_ginger]

Title: An Ever-Fixèd Mark
Rating: PG
Character(s): Ten, Rose (off-camera)
Pairing: Ten/Rose
Beta: glory_jean
Spoilers: Not a one, so long as you know the villain in The Satan Pit and the alien entity from Fear Her.
Notes: The title is from Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare.
Summary: For her, it’s different.

He’s finding it harder and harder to let her out of his sight – and with good reason. First, there was the Beast (the echoes of its prophecy about Rose still ricochet through his mind). Then, the Isolus and, following on immediately from that, an utter certainty that a storm, the likes of which he’s never seen before, is on its way.

It’s hit a nerve, and he knows it. He’s never been particularly capable of rational thinking when it comes to Rose’s well-being. This time is no exception, but he also knows that he can be almost possessively protective of her when the mood takes him. And, right now, he is in that frame of mind.

The fear that she will “die in battle”, and thus prove the Beast correct, rattles him more than he cares to admit. And although he is adamant, when Rose asks him, that the prophecy is a lie (the unspoken promise he makes to himself being that he will make it a lie, if he has to), he is nervous.

He knows himself well enough to realise that he would do anything up to – and including, which is perhaps the most worrying thought of all – changing time itself to save her, and that frightens him. How many people, planets, universes could he let fall, if they stand between him and the life of the woman he has let become more important to him than almost anything else?

It’s all very well being a “no second chances” sort of a man, but for Rose will he let there be times when there’s not even a first chance, let alone a second?

It’s not as if there’s anyone who could stop him.

Comments

[sapphire-child.livejournal.com]

As much as I utterly adore the Doctor/Rose relationship there is a darker side to it which you have shown so well here. He can deny her nothing, never has been able to and ultimately he knows that it could lead to catastrophe. The last line is particularly dark.

Wonderful.

[bananasandroses.livejournal.com]

I think the side of the Doctor this shows is a side everybody – except possibly Rose herself – has seen. He’s fiercely possessive and protective of her, and in many ways that’s not exactly healthy, but the two of them seem to thrive on it, oddly enough.

Wonderful.

Thank you!

[glory_jean]

That last line definitely makes this fic.

And Shakespeare online? Cooool.

[bubbles234.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's just stunning. *Sits in awe*

[postverta.livejournal.com]

Wow...just wow. Brilliant!

[starbuckhan.livejournal.com]

I adore the last bit

It’s all very well being a “no second chances” sort of a man, but for Rose will he let there be times when there’s not even a first chance, let alone a second?

Love it :0)

[jellybean728.livejournal.com]

Ooh. You know, sometimes I wonder if the Doctor didn't give her up because he was afraid of himself & what he might do if something happened to Rose that wasn't of his own doing. (Or her own doing)

[reetinkerbell.livejournal.com]

I love this.

[hoperomantic.livejournal.com]

That was fantastic.

[bagatellery.livejournal.com]

Concise and wonderful.

[helygen.livejournal.com]

*shivers*

You've captured the dangerous darkness in him quite exquisitely here. That last line encapsulates the fear that drives him, I think: fear of himself. Given what's to come after this point, all the way up to that ending, it puts several of his actions into perspective, imo.

Gorgeous work, as ever :)

[requialexa.livejournal.com]

What I love in the darkness here, that you show so well, is how clearly Ten is the same man who took her to see her father. He's the same man who loves her in the same fierce way that Nine did, and yet it's more now--more fierce, more forbidden, almost...even as he appears more comfortable with the relationship as Ten... Yup. Nice work :D