In his dreams, the blonde girl told him her name.
-X-
"Who are you?" the Doctor asked her again, but she just smiled and shrugged.
"Goodbye, Doctor," she answered and walked away — and yes, there was that light. He knew she'd be gone now.
"Doctor, we have to go," Ace urged him and he tore his gaze from the brick wall — where no light was seen now — and followed her.
-X-
She always wore the same clothes. Trust the Doctor to notice, Tegan laughed.
"You're always wearing the same clothes, too, aren't you?"
"Yeah," Adric agreed. "Before he regenerated, he always wore that same outfit. And that scarf. And ever since he regenerated, he's always wearing the cricket outfit."
The Doctor sulked a little. "It's not the same outfit," he pointed out, perhaps a bit too harshly, "I have plenty of other cricket outfits, I do wash them every once in a while!"
Tegan just laughed again.
"Anyway, Doctor, I'm just glad she's not another regeneration," Adric said. "What with the last time we've had someone following your every move like that…"
"Yes, well, there's no need to worry. I'm fairly sure I am not going to regenerate soon." Certainly not into a blonde girl who just looks at me in fascination and refuses to say her name.
-X-
"Oh, where am I now?"
The Doctor looked up, startled. He was alone in the room. Jo was somewhere with Captain Yates — having fun, she said. Fun!
"My dear girl," he said irritably, "I assume you're not going to do anything useful such as explain your method of jumping between parallel universes or say your name, so if you could just go away, this is a rather important project and I can't be distracted any more!"
"Oh," the girl's eyes grew wide. "This is when you were stuck on Earth and working with UNIT, isn't it?"
The Doctor looked at her sharply. She was after him, then? This wasn't a coincidence at all? But before he could ask her, the blinding blue light appeared and she was gone.
That night he had seen her in his dreams, for the first time.
-X-
He noticed her. Of course he did — he was rather amused she thought he didn't. She was near the museum — just like before, sticking to the shadows. Like she was always on the edge of sight, looking at the UNIT headquarters, or then, near the circle of stones — even in Wang Chiang's London he's seen her. Always wearing the same clothes. But now she was in the metro, sticking to the shadows.
"You dropped this," he straightened up and gave her a penny that wasn't hers, smiling a big smile as his eyes met hers. She looked scared for a moment — realising she's been caught, no doubt — but regained her composure after a short while.
"Merci," she said in French and started walking away.
"Even I give some sort of a name — and change my clothes!" he called after her, but she didn't turn around. It was only the small hesitation in her step that told him she had heard his words.
-X-
"This is getting intolerable!" he shouted at her. "I demand you tell me your name!"
"I can't, Doctor," she shrugged.
"Than what are you doing here?" he demanded.
"I shouldn't be here, this is a mistake."
"Are you in trouble?" he asked quietly, seeing the distress in her eyes rather than the confidence on her face — and Peri smiled, because this was her Doctor. She knew deep down he cared.
She also seemed touched, the blonde girl, and then just smiled sadly. "I'm fine, really, I am. Thank you, Doctor."
And then she was gone.
-X-
"Rose, if you keep on jumping, the entire universe is going to fall apart," Mickey sighed when he saw her face.
"I'm getting the hang of this, I really am!" she insisted, sitting down, all red with effort and concentration.
"You feeling alright?" he got closer, concerned now. But she just smiled him away. "I'm fine, Mickey, just a bit tired — I've been jumping through time all day long now. And it's definitely tuned in to the Doctor, so half the job is done."
"Yeah, now we just need to find the right timeline."
"I think I got the hang of it. C'mon, let's give it another go."
-X-
He's been dreaming about her again, recently. After so many years, that blonde girl came back to haunt his dreams — only now she was Rose. Dreams tend to fool us that way. And when he saw her, for real, again — no, he had to remind himself, he wasn't dreaming. Just for a second he was confused — but a second is a long time for a Time Lord. It was perhaps fitting he always remembered the clothes but not the face. But now she was there in front of him, a full person, with a name and a face. And then his face broke into a smile, and he broke into a run.
Even after the Dalek shot him, his first word was her name.
"Rose."
-X-
In his dreams, the blonde girl always walked away.