preserved_ginger

Title: Rosemary, for Remembrance
Rating: PG-13
Setting: 4X03
Character(s): Ten. Rose (off-camera). Donna.
Pairing(s): Ten/Rose
Spoilers: Naming of some characters (and mention of their planet) from 4X03. Reference to characters from 2X08 and 2X09. No other spoilers.
A/N: This was inspired in equal measure by the quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet from which I took the title for this, plus seeing the “next time” trailer at the end of 4X02. Unbeta-ed; all errors therefore my own.
Summary: He'd never brought her here.

There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray you, love, remember

Hamlet, Act IV scene V

He never brought her here.

He knows he didn't; he'd remember, given what happened the last time he met the Ood. But he sees her everywhere, anyway; an ethereal ghost, created through his desperate longing for her, he suspects only he can see.

(Donna's not mentioned anything unusual; although they've only travelled together a short while, he already knows how well she can use her mouth.)

She isn't dead – she isn't, he'd know – but, although he cannot forget her, he wears rosemary for remembrance regardless.

Donna doesn't ask.

There's no need; the haunted look on his face speaks for him.