She buried her head in his rough tweed jacket and breathed him in, that same smell of time and timelessness. She could sense how fragile he had become since they had last parted. She sighed as she listened to him whisper her name over and over into her hair in disbelief.
Rose pulled herself loose from his embrace so that she could get a good look at him in this new regeneration. He looked so young but his eyes told the truth as always. He always seemed to have the same eyes or at least the soul behind the eyes.
The Doctor found his function of speech temporarily impaired as he took in what was happening. The first words out of his mouth when he could manage to say more than just her name was; "But, it's impossible!"
Rose just threw her head back and laughed, "Oh Doctor, after all this time do you still think anything is impossible? How many times have you been proven wrong?"
The Doctor laughed at her astute observation of his penchant for the word.
"Doctor didn't you know I would find my way back to you some way somehow? You just can't get rid of me that easily." Rose grinned cheekily at him.
The Doctor just held her arms length the by the shoulders and grinned at her in response.
"In all seriousness, Doctor, he said you would know, that you and he had, well, planned this."
"Yes, but you know how when there's something you would like to happen so badly that you decide to believe it will never happen instead of hoping and then being disappointed? Well, let's just say that to live in constant hope of seeing you again would have eaten away at me and I chose to just live each day as it came and have new adventures and meet new companions to keep myself busy."
Rose placed her hands on his waist and nodded wordlessly in agreement.
The Doctor's face grew quite serious and he drew a deep breath and his brow furrowed as he recalled how he had come so close to being completely swallowed up in despair in the time following leaving her with his meta-crisis clone.
Rose loosened his grip on her shoulders as she read the sadness in every line on his face. Gently she cupped his cheek in her hand and drew his face down to hers for a reassuring kiss on the cheek. "We both have lived through so much, yeah? Just think, there's yet so much more for us to live through…" Rose took his hand in hers in that all familiar embrace and continued, "together?"
The Doctor looked down at their interlaced fingers and felt a smile forming on his lips, "Together, Rose Tyler." he responded and Rose breathed a sigh of relief as she noted the smile had reached his eyes.