Tousled brown hair, brown eyes that reflected the universe back at her, and a strange blue suit... two out of three were the same. His hands felt the same, soft against her own and firm in their grip. If she just closed her eyes, she could imagine that he'd never left. Why would he leave her on this godforsaken beach again? Why would he choose...?
But he had chosen. Even worse, in a way, she had chosen. She wanted her choices back. She felt the tears gathering in her eyes like storm clouds in the background. Like last time, she expected the rain to come. It followed his memory without fail, but she had never expected to be caught up in its wake again. Surely, this time, it would never end, for as hard as she tried, she felt powerless to stop it. No matter how the man in front of her touched her face with the Doctor's hands and smelled the way the TARDIS felt, it wasn't the same. It would never be the same again.
She opened her eyes to find him staring at her as if they were still on that Dalek ship about to lose each other forever. She felt the ache in her chest intensify. She wanted to scream at him and kiss him all at once, but her mind raced with so many thoughts that she simply stood paralyzed, now crying in earnest. She could not resist as he pulled her close to him and she let herself sink into his arms.
She didn't remember when it started to rain, but she realized that her legs had gotten cold and wet. The Doctor's jacket was wrapped around her like a long blue blanket while he still stood in front of her in a sopping wet shirt.
"Sorry, I got your shirt wet," she managed to say, looking at the spot where she had buried her face in his chest.
"T'aww," he rolled his head down to look at her, an expression of nonchalance on his face and rain rolling down his forehead, "it's just a spot, really. Dry up in a minute, I'm sure."
She suppressed a laugh as she looked up at his now wet, tousled hair. "You look like a shaggy dog."
"I thought I was the rude one," his face tried to too hard to give her a hurt look. "You look like a wet, lonely Rose Tyler."
"I am."
"See? I'm always right."
"Always?" She stared straight into his eyes, wondering if leaving her behind was included in "always". She'd never imagined that she would be on the losing end of the Doctor's consistent need to be right.
She noticed his face darken, almost as if he sensed her thoughts. "We should probably go find Jackie, now," he suggested.
"Mom!" she shouted as the realization hit her that her mother had been waiting for them this whole time. "Where'd she go?"
"That way," he gestured with a tilt of his head towards a small, cottage like building in the distance.
"The bed and breakfast from last time," she stated. "She's gonna kill us."
"Most likely."
Rose reached for his hand out of instinct and he obliged, leading her away from the stormy beach without looking back.