This is my first fanfiction in over 10 years. I'm rusty and only started with the current Doctor Who last month. I made it through all 7 seasons and now I see fanfiction back in my life. Brilliant!
Doctor Who doesn't not belong to me. If it did there would be no need for this story because the Doctor and Rose would be together forever. So there. :) In other words, the BBC owns all.
D.O.C.T.O.R.W.H.O
It was time to say goodbye again. The Doctor hated saying goodbye. Time, circumstance, death, all these things eventually separated him from his companions. Sometimes it was the right decision at the right time, but so often it broke his hearts. This break would be the worst of them all. He knew Rose could not stay and yet he couldn't bring himself to say farewell to her.
The Doctor sighed. Call it weakness but what exactly do you say to somebody who has helped to heal your tortured soul and mended your hearts? How do you say goodbye to them? Oh, the times he had had with Rose. The light and laughter she had brought to him, starting back when he'd been all leather and gruff. He'd even died and regenerated, just to save her. He would go on, he always went on, but he would never be the same. As he worked at the computer, Rose was vocalizing his inner feelings, saying what he could not. He didn't want this separation any more than she did.
/I've had a life with you for nineteen years. But then I met the Doctor. And… all the things I've seen him do for me. For you. For all of us… For the whole… stupid planet and every planet out there. He does it alone, mum. But not anymore. 'Cause now he's got me./
Could the Doctor take any more of it? His mind was brilliant but he knew there was no way around this. The Void was inevitable. He would not lose Rose to that. It was better to let her go, having had the chance to spend part of two of his lives with her. His eyes locked with Pete's as he put the chain around her neck. She would be safe there and that was all that matted to him. He pressed the button and just like that Rose was gone. His hearts broke once again.
/I think this is the "on" switch."/
And yet a moment later there she was! Rassilon, that girl! Rose Tyler was nothing if not stubborn. Didn't she see? The Doctor didn't like this either, but did she really understand? Was she willing to give up everything? Not just her world, but her family to be with him? Was he really worth that her?
/I made my choice a long time ago and I'm never going to leave you. So what can I do to help?/
Perhaps it shouldn't have come as a surprise to the Doctor but it did. Yet he had taken similar action. He had offered Rose the chance to travel with him after their first adventure together. She said no and he'd stoically tried to take that in. He'd stepped in the TARDIS and departed. Only to return moments later not ready to say goodbye. Why should it be any different for Rose? She had told him forever before, and apparently she had meant it and everything that entangled. He'd accept her decision, even if he thought she was making a mistake to give up her future for him. The Doctor would spend the rest of the time they had together, however long that may or may not be, trying to be worthy of that kind of devotion and love.
But the Universes, the Powers that Be, whatever you wanted to call it, they would not allow it. Apparently they had other plans. The Doctor watched frozen, unable to do anything as Rose struggled with the lever. This was worse than anything he could imagine as he watched her slip away. He screamed her name in absolute terror. At the last moment Pete appeared and grabbed Rose before vanishing. The Doctor gasped and closed the breach.
Feeling older than he ever had before, the Doctor walked to the wall. Somehow he knew in the parallel universe, in Pete's world, Rose was on the other side. So close together and yet so far apart. If he had only said goodbye perhaps things would've played out differently, perhaps this would have gone smoother. He couldn't go back to his own timeline, no matter how hard he wanted to, he just couldn't make it right. But the one thing the Doctor could do, was give her a goodbye.
D.O.C.T.O.R.W.H.O
From inside the TARDIS the Doctor called to her. It had taken a while to be able to do this but finally everything was ready. The TARDIS seemed slightly smaller these days. As if there was not quite as much room on the inside. Much like his hearts. The spark that was Rose Tyler was gone from his life but she would never be forgotten. He knew he shouldn't burn up a sun just to say goodbye, but he would do it for her, for his brilliant Rose, so she could go live her life. He didn't want her to carry the ache that he felt, nestled deep inside, for every companion, every friend, and every family member he'd ever lost. That was the curse that was a Time Lord's cross to bear alone. He loved her and their time together and was so proud of her. At long last she needed to know that.