This has to be one of my favorite fics of the series. It’s angsty and poignant and heartbreaking and hopeful and gorgeous. What I love most about this story is how important it is. It is ever so important for the entire series. Because this needed to happen between them in order to establish that this is still our Doctor from canon. He needed to push Rose away, and I love how you used the Madame de Pompadour plot to do so. To me, that is one of the most sad and poignant episodes in Doctor Who - not just because the Doctor does leave Rose, but that it shows how incredibly short human lifespans are to the Doctor.
I think this fic is beautiful, and what makes it beautiful is how you go about telling this one story. You play it out slowly, and let the reader discover what happened, what the Doctor was thinking about why he pushes Rose away, and finally ending with what Rose really thinks about it. How hurt she is by what he’s done, and by whom he used to do it with.
There needed to be something that solidified their relationship from friends to shagging to permanent relationship - and this is the fic that did it for me. They needed to fight. The Doctor needed to push Rose away, and Rose needed to not be fine with that. What surprised me was that I originally thought this fic was going to be about the Doctor, and in a way, it very much was. But it was more about Rose.
The Doctor pushed her away because he got scared and then did exactly what she says he does - he was too much of a coward to tell her to leave. He would hurt her until she had just enough self-respect to get out. And to me, that’s very Doctor, and it’s very hurtful and mean. I love her line near the end about how she would never be mean to him like that.
To me, I needed to see Rose be her own person with her own choices and be able to stand up to him. Not because I needed to see Rose be strong - because I already know she is, but I needed to see Rose be on equal footing with the Doctor. I can’t imagine a better way to go about doing this other than having them fight, have the Doctor make a colossal mistake, and have Rose not only call him on it, but be forced to make the impossible choice to simply go home and leave him, or stick with him and continue the relationship. I had to understand that she wasn’t just a sappy love-sick teen in love with Mr. Magnificent. I needed to see that she saw him as a man, and that she still had a choice whether to be with him or not. I absolutely think that even had she gone home, she still would have been in love with him. I think he’s the kind of person you fall in love with, and then no matter what they do - you will never stop loving them. But I think she would have left him, if it was worse for her to stay with him. I do love that Chasoverse Rose is strong and will do what she needs to do to keep her pride and sanity and self-preservation, whereas I always got the impression that canon Rose was a bit young, and a bit naive and a bit blind in her love for the Doctor. So I sincerely adored this fic because you gave Rose a maturity and put her on equal footing with the Doctor. Because not only does she choose to stay with him, he also chooses to let her stay, and to be hers for the rest of her life. And that’s a HUGE deal for him.
Everywhere
I think this fic is beautiful, and what makes it beautiful is how you go about telling this one story. You play it out slowly, and let the reader discover what happened, what the Doctor was thinking about why he pushes Rose away, and finally ending with what Rose really thinks about it. How hurt she is by what he’s done, and by whom he used to do it with.
There needed to be something that solidified their relationship from friends to shagging to permanent relationship - and this is the fic that did it for me. They needed to fight. The Doctor needed to push Rose away, and Rose needed to not be fine with that. What surprised me was that I originally thought this fic was going to be about the Doctor, and in a way, it very much was. But it was more about Rose.
The Doctor pushed her away because he got scared and then did exactly what she says he does - he was too much of a coward to tell her to leave. He would hurt her until she had just enough self-respect to get out. And to me, that’s very Doctor, and it’s very hurtful and mean. I love her line near the end about how she would never be mean to him like that.
To me, I needed to see Rose be her own person with her own choices and be able to stand up to him. Not because I needed to see Rose be strong - because I already know she is, but I needed to see Rose be on equal footing with the Doctor. I can’t imagine a better way to go about doing this other than having them fight, have the Doctor make a colossal mistake, and have Rose not only call him on it, but be forced to make the impossible choice to simply go home and leave him, or stick with him and continue the relationship. I had to understand that she wasn’t just a sappy love-sick teen in love with Mr. Magnificent. I needed to see that she saw him as a man, and that she still had a choice whether to be with him or not. I absolutely think that even had she gone home, she still would have been in love with him. I think he’s the kind of person you fall in love with, and then no matter what they do - you will never stop loving them. But I think she would have left him, if it was worse for her to stay with him. I do love that Chasoverse Rose is strong and will do what she needs to do to keep her pride and sanity and self-preservation, whereas I always got the impression that canon Rose was a bit young, and a bit naive and a bit blind in her love for the Doctor. So I sincerely adored this fic because you gave Rose a maturity and put her on equal footing with the Doctor. Because not only does she choose to stay with him, he also chooses to let her stay, and to be hers for the rest of her life. And that’s a HUGE deal for him.