Rose had run past him as soon as they opened the doors of their new TARDIS. He had let her randomly set coordinates. He hadn't even looked at them. Should he have looked at them? He definitely would have changed them. But -
But...
The planet was deserted. Untouched, rather.
"Doctor! I think we're the first people to be here!" Rose exclaimed, echoing his thoughts like she so often did. He finally tore his eyes from the landscape and looked over at her.
She was lying on the ground underneath a grove of trees a few meters away, staring up at the sky, smiling in amazement. He swallowed hard, trying to keep down the emotions that were threatening to overtake him. He walked slowly over to her and laid down beside her.
"'s beautiful," she breathed. He gave a short little laugh.
"That it is," he agreed. He stared up at the orange sky through the silver leaves.
"...Doctor?" Rose's face appeared in front of him. She was leaning over him, worried, a little scared.
"It's nothing," he said quietly.
Then he felt them. He thought for a brief moment that it had started to rain, but then realized that tears were trailing slowly down his face. Stupid human emotions.
"What's wrong? What is it? Are you hurt?" Rose looked alarmed. The Doctor shook his head.
"No, it's not - " he sighed and pulled her down into a tight embrace. He kissed her hair.
They stayed like that, silent, for several minutes. Rose, closing her eyes, trying to figure out what to say, what was wrong. The Doctor, staring up at the sky, at the trees, at the snow covered mountains in the distance, remembering where a great city once stood in another universe.
"Where are we?" Rose asked at last. The Doctor took a shaky breath and held her tight.
"Gallifrey."