Just watched the episode Journey's End a day or two ago and this was how I ended up writing through the feels. I kind of liked it, so decided to make it public. Enjoy~
"Do you think you made the right choice?"
The familiar voice still sent a shock of wonder through Rose Tyler's chest. The girl had been unable to let go of the warm, textured hand since the Doctor had left, unable to let go of the bit of him she'd been given. No, it wasn't the Doctor. No, it wasn't the man she'd spent years traveling with, the man whose life she'd saved and who had saved hers in return - and, much as it ached to admit it - no, it wasn't the man she fell in love with.
But it was still a man she loved.
Rose looked to her Doctor, the meta-crisis version that had been "born" just hours before, the version that had been placed under her care.
"I don't know, but—it's a choice. I made it, I gotta stick with it. I gotta stick with you." She responded slowly, glancing to where the TARDIS had been standing minutes before. The familiar sound of the beloved machine had grated in her ears, painfully nostalgic, and it still rang in her head, carrying away the Doctor she'd known, leaving her with this echo of him.
When he'd left the first time - the Doctor - she'd felt pain. Pain and grief for the loss of not only her friend, but the loss of what could have been, the emotions they shared and times they would have had. When he left this time… Rose felt that loss, yes, but there was also hope. There was a certain sense of closure, and this time the girl felt, thought, for the first time that maybe she could accept she would no longer travel the stars with the Time Lord.
The Doctor loved her. Rose knew it, even if he couldn't say it. She even understood why he couldn't say it, how real that would make it and how painful that would be for him. She didn't blame him for being unable to speak those words. What would be the point of making him suffer so when she couldn't even stay with him.
This other, new, gaze, soft and a little lost, rested on her with something akin to hesitation, but his hand was warm and strong around hers. Finally, Rose smiled. She could not have gone, could not have insisted on going with the Doctor because this one needed her in a way the other couldn't. This Doctor, truly her Doctor, could live with her, love her, be her best friend, and with him, they could be what they wanted.
He seemed to realize this at the same time.
"You told me, back then, we'd be together forever." The Doctor said, a soft smile curling his lips. Rose nodded slowly, feeling her tears pool once again in her eyes. "Yeah, I did. And I meant it."
His whispered response broke her control, and the tears started to pour as the man she loved whispered the only thing she wanted to hear; "Now I can mean it too."