She had finally done it, after so much time of listening to that haunting whisper of "Rose", she was right at the beach where the voice had led her. Dårlig Ulv Stranden. Bad Wolf Bay.
She got out of Pete's jeep and could automatically smell the salt from the sea and hear the waves crashing to her right. With only the smallest amount of hesitation, she walked away from the jeep, away from Jackie and Pete and Mickey, and came to a stop. Where was he? She questioningly turned back to her family when she saw something appear to her left.
"Where are you?" she asked softly, after a moment of just staring at him.
"Inside the TARDIS," the Doctor answered. "There's one tiny little gap in the universe left, just about to close. And it takes a lot of power to send this projection. I'm in orbit around a supernova." He gave her a weak smile. "I'm burning up a sun just to say goodbye."
"You look like a ghost," she told him, trying not to let her emotions spill from inside her.
"Oh, hold on," he said, and he must have pointed at something in the TARDIS with the sonic because suddenly he wasn't translucent anymore. She took a few steps until she could stretch out and touch him, if she wanted.
"Can I tou-" she subconsciously murmured, reaching out to touch his face.
He shook his head a bit. "I'm still just an image," he said quietly. "Don't touch."
She nodded her head and tried to keep her voice from shaking. "Can't you come through properly?"
"Then the whole thing would fracture," he told her, more serious than she had ever seen him. "The two universes would collapse."
"So?" she asked, half-serious, until she saw him give a little laugh, his eyes crinkling whenever he smiled. She didn't find it funny.
There was a moment of silence until he spoke up. "Where are we? Where did the gap come out?"
"We're in Norway," she told him.
"Norway, right," he said, with a nod of the head.
"About 50 miles out Bergen," she continued. "It's called Dårlig Ulv Stranden."
"Dalek?" he asked, bewildered.
"Darlig," Rose corrected him. It's Norwegian for "bad". He continued to stare at her, confused.
"It translates into "bad wolf bay," she explained with a humorless laugh. He smiled whenever he heard her laugh. She struggled to keep herself from crying.
"How long do you have?" she asked, hearing her voice waver.
"About 2 minutes," he said softly.
She started laughing, even though she could already feel her tears falling. "I don't know what to say." She laughed again and he joined her. There was another moment of silence.
"You've still got Mr. Mickey, then," he pointed out casually, tilting his head toward the people behind her.
"There's five of us now," she said without looking at him. "Mum, dad, Mickey... and the baby."
"You're not..." he looked at her in wonder, without completing his though.
"No," she laughed. "It's mum. She's three months gone. More Tylers on the way."
"What about you?" he asked, "Are you..."
"Yeah, I'm... I'm back working in the shop," she answered the question that he never really asked.
"Oh, good for you," he forced himself to say.
"Shut up," she teased, rolling her eyes. "No, I'm not. Torchwood on this earth's open for business. Think I know a thing or two about aliens."
"Rose Tyler," he beamed at her, Defender of the Earth... You're dead. Officially, back home." She could feel her tears falling faster. "So many people died that day and you've gone missing. You're on the list of the dead...here you are, living your life day after day. The one adventure I can never have."
She was holding back sobs at this point. "Am I ever going to see you again?"
"You can't." There was a no emotion in his voice, as he just stared at her crying form.
"What are you going to do?" she chocked out between sobs.
"Back to the TARDIS," he looked away from her. "Same old life, last of the Time Lords."
"On your own?" she could stop herself from asking. He nodded.
"I-I love you," she finally managed to say.
"Quite right too," he said quietly. She nodded. "And I suppose..." She held her breath.
"Oh Rose," the Doctor said, with a small smile. "If only there was someone out there who loved you."
She felt every part of her body freeze as she let out a confused "what?"
"You didn't really think I would love someone like you, did you?" he asked shaking his head. "I'm a Time Lord, the very last of them, and you think I would love such an ordinary girl like you? Maybe next time I should pick a companion who actually completed her A levels."
She felt as if he had punched her in the stomach. "What do you mean?"
"I don't love you Rose," he told her, slowly. "All this time was fun and all, but now I'm finished. You see, I had seen that in my future timeline I would end up in this alternate universe, the same exact way you did. So, instead of having to sacrifice myself into this alternate universe in order to stop the Daleks, I thought to myself, well, why not pick up an insignificant human to fall into the alternate universe for me? And it worked like a charm! Now I'll be off into the TARDIS to continue my exploration."
"You...you used me?" Rose stammered out.
"Yes," he replied, no guilt in his voice. "And now I'm going to leave you. Goodbye, Rose."
And with no further goodbye, the Doctor disappeared from in front of her, forever gone from her life. As she stood there, she felt herself start to shake.
"Insignificant...human..." she murmured to herself. She suddenly found herself standing in front of her family and Mickey.
"Well, time to go I suppose," Pete announced after a few moments of silence.
And that's when it hit her.
"NO!" she screamed, trying to run back to where she had been standing before, to where her Doctor had been standing before. "DOCTOR NO! PLEASE!" Two pairs of arms tried to contain her as she thrashed, crying, trying to escape.
"It's not good!" he heard Pete yell. "Jackie, get me one of the needles from the back!" She felt a sharp sensation on the side of her arm.
"Doctor," she whispered, seeing his face in front her Whether it was real or not didn't matter. She closed her eyes.