There's a howling in the factory yard; there's a pounding in my head...

[alsotravels]

It's closer now, so close he can feel the energy building in his solar plexus, coiled and waiting between surges, can feel his hearts straining, and it's all right, for once. Time to go and all that, and so he tosses a grin at Rose through the pain, says his last words -- fantastic last words, really -- and throws his head back. He's overwhelmed

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[fantasticrose]

Rose doesn't generally go down by the Rift room, but she's feeling antsy and doesn't fancy going outside for a walk (or clubbing, as Cassandra has suggested) - both because it's nippy, and because sometimes she just gets scared of bein' out alone in the dark. So she's wandering down the hallways and is close enough to hear the Doctor shouting at the Rift.

She stops stock still for a moment, her heart suddenly racing. It can't be him. It can't possibly be him, she's not that lucky.

Well if it's not him, it sounds horrifically similar....Doctor

[alsotravels]

The Doctor turns, because he's know that voice anywhere, and if she's here, then he can at least look after--

Except she's wrong. Not wrong in the way Jack's wrong, but she's older by a couple of years, and scarred, and for a moment all he can think is that he promised Jackie Tyler that he'd take care of her.

For a moment, he wants to believe it's not her, but who else would know him, here?

"...Rose?" He's just staring now, taking in the differences.

[fantasticrose]

It's him. It's him. It's the Doctor, her Doctor, the proper Doctor, and as nice as the one who's been here is, this is the man she's missed since before she even came here.

She lets out a small cry, quite without meaning to, and basically throws herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and holding on for all she's worth.

"It's you," she says. "It's really really you!" And maybe she's crying a little, but she's smiling too, and she can't help herself. She never thought she'd see this Doctor again. He'd died, because of her, and she'd lost him forever.

And now he's here.

[alsotravels]

The Doctor wraps his arms around Rose, ignoring the adrenaline rush of someone launching themselves at him -- no matter what, it's still Rose, and Rose is safe -- and just lets her cling for a minute.

"And who else would it be, face like this?" he asks, before gently prying her away and taking her by the shoulders. "Rose. I need you to tell me something. How long has it been since you last saw me? What's happened?"

[fantasticrose]

Rose sniffles a bit and scrubs at her face. Brilliant way to greet him, all... red and blotchy. "'Bout two years?" she estimates, and then shakes her head. "But it wasn't... when I came here, it wasn't... you. It was the... you regenerated, and then there were the Sycorax, and then we went to New New York and I ended up here and I've missed you so much."

That last part needs adding. Even with a Doctor around, it wasn't the same. She'd missed his big ears and his big nose and his jumper and leather jacket and his Northern accent. Him.

Of course, only after she says all that does she realise that she may've given away a bit of information that he wouldn't necessarily have - what if he hadn't gotten to the Game Station yet?

Bugger.

[alsotravels]

And those words hit him with all the force of a fist to his gut. You regenerated. Not his universe, then.

"Then I'm not the right one," he says, voice soft and a bit sad. "Not really. I was regenerating. I started to, and then... I was here. Just now. I can check, if you'd like," and he holds up his sonic screwdriver, "but somewhere the Rose Tyler I know's stuck on the TARDIS, and I'm not there."

[fantasticrose]

Thing is, she knew that in the back of her mind when she saw him. People don't get back from here. Somewhere, there's a Doctor on New Earth searching in vain for his Rose, and she's stuck here. It's a one-way trip, at least as far as anyone here knows so far.

And of course she's young and so fragile since John died (not that you'd know to look at it) that the words carry a meaning to her that they weren't meant to carry.

His Rose is still stuck on the TARDIS somewhere, alone. They don't quite match up. Her smile wobbles a little, but she's grown up a bit, and grown more accustomed to hiding a broken heart, so she nods, and looks away, absently twisting her engagement ring on her finger.

"Yeah," she says softly. "Sort of figured. One-way trip'n all. 'M sorry, you must be... really worried about her." Not that she faults him for that at all.

Oh good lord, you're going to pine, aren't you?

She's also gotten good at ignoring Cassandra.

[alsotravels]

The way her smile wobbles -- oh he's stupid sometimes, him. Gigantic Time Lord brain, and he's still more or less an idiot. But he knows Rose Tyler, and he knows what she looks like when she's trying not to be sad about something, and it's the most natural thing in the world to drop his hand down and take hers.

...Or it would be, except there's a ring there.

He picks up her hand, examines the ring, and asks, in a voice which is not at all jealous, "So... who's the lucky man?"

Did we mention he doesn't sound jealous in the slightest? Good.

[fantasticrose]

Surprisingly, her smile doesn't disappear immediately when he asks the question, as her gaze turns to the ring he's examining, it just turns... very very sad. To be honest, she misses the jealousy that is so very much there no matter what he might say otherwise, because... well, thinking about John tends to make everything else irrelevant.

"His name was John," she says, very softly. "He died."

Oh, it's so much more complicated than that, but the gist of it is there. The important part.

She takes a deep breath and tries to will away all the heartache she's suffered the past few months, so she can smile at the Doctor and answer his questions if she can and revel in the fact that he's here. It doesn't quite work. "I'll tell you what, though, I missed you something awful. Took your time, huh?"

[alsotravels]

The Doctor places a hand on her shoulder. It seems the right thing to do, the comforting thing to do, for all that comfort's something he's never been that good at.

"I'm sorry," he murmurs. and he really does mean it. Of course, this John fellow was most likely human, probably an idiot, but he was Rose's idiot, and the Doctor doesn't much want him dead.

It really doesn't matter that he's not her Doctor, and she's not his Rose... He's the Doctor, and she's Rose Tyler, and it still makes his hearts clench to see her unhappy.

But she's changing the subject now, and his morose look fades to his usual Rose-inspired grin.

"Well," he says, "if I knew the company I'd have to look forward to, I'd have made the trip all the sooner. Come on then: you can tell me what I'd have been like. Doesn't count as spoiling the ending if the story's been changed, now does it?" And with that, he offers Rose his arm, so they can take this coversation... somewhere that doesn't have a hole in the fabric of space and time staring him in the face. Good plan.

[fantasticrose]

Well, he was human, and in some ways even Rose will admit he was a bit ridiculous, but he was brilliant, and he was hers, and that made him perfect.

They didn't even get to have sex, okay? She is mourning this relationship. (Okay, the lack-of-sex is actually not often thought about these days, but it's also worth pointing out. This was LOVE.)

And Rose can't help but smile, wide and happy, because... this is how life was supposed to be for... well, forever, in her mind, before she came here. Before the Game Station, and slightly different after. She threads her arm through the Doctor's and rests her head against his arm for just a moment.

"Well, you're tall, and skinny. And you seemed very put out at not bein' ginger. And you act sort of like a hyperactive ten-year-old in a sweetshop a lot of the time." She looks up at Nine fondly. "But I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss this face. Even with those ears."

She is ALL the innocent, Doctor.

[alsotravels]

"This daft old face," the Doctor murmurs, remembering what was years ago for her, and just minutes for him. "And what's wrong with my ears?" He's only pretending to be put out, though. Mostly, he's just happy to see her again.

He hadn't expected to, after all. Not with these eyes.

"Not ginger, again? It would've been nice to be ginger. Not that I'm complaining, mind. So. The Sycorax and New New York. Must've been something... For you, at least. Jack would've been there before, I imagine, but if he doesn't like it..." He smirks a bit, as if what Jack likes is a matter of supreme unconcern. Not that it actually is, mind, but there are appearances to be kept up. Wouldn't do for Jack to get too sure of himself.

[fantasticrose]

Rose looks startled at the mention of Jack, though her smile doesn't fade entirely - she's a little too excited about having her Doctor here.

"Jack's not with us. You said he was stayin' behind to help rebuild earth or somethin'. I figured we'd probably pick him up later, but..."

Maybe things are more different than she'd thought. After all, if Jack didn't stay...

[alsotravels]

And just like that, the Doctor's smile vanishes. He's got a very, very bad feeling about this.

"Rose, this is very important: tell me everything you remember from before I regenerated. Did I send you away?"

[fantasticrose]

That... is ominous. Rose's smile fades, too, to a look of concern, but she obliges.

"Yeah. We were on the Game Station, and you were building a delta wave and you sent me onto the TARDIS and triggered Emergency Programme One and sent me home, which I am still sore about, thank you very much." She gives him a stern look, but she doesn't really mean it too much - she doesn't really know what happened, the Doctor had been a bit... vague on that, and then she was here, and she hadn't actually thought to ask the Doctor here about it. She just knows that she saved the day. She thinks. "And then I got Mum and Mickey to help me open the TARDIS console, and I looked into the heart... and then I woke up on the floor, and you were there, piloting away, and then you.... changed."

There's a shift in tone at the end, from vaguely confused to almost sad. It still hurts to think about, losing him without having any idea what was going on.