As they walked towards what Jackie referred to as civilization to wait for Pete, the Doctor and Rose ambled along behind her in a more leisurely pace.
"So," Rose began, breaking their companionable silence, "what adventures do you think you and Donna will go on now?"
The Doctor's hand instinctively squeezed Rose's hand just a bit tighter and his eyes brightened with unshed tears. Rose looked up at him intrigued by his silence and caught the pained look on his face.
"Doctor?"
The Doctor took a deep breath and launched into a speech, "Well, you know, the two of them, there's just no telling is there? Did I tell you that we met Agatha Christie? And an absolutely enormous wasp, at that. Went back to Pompeii too. Volcano day no less. It's a wonder we didn't run into Jack. Remember he said he liked to visit there right before Vesuvius would erupt? What a rogue he was when we first met him."
"Doctor," Rose interrupted, "What are you not telling me?"
Sighing and shaking his head at Rose's perceptiveness, he looked into her eyes briefly before turning his eyes away to the horizon. "We won't be travelling together anymore."
Hearing the pain in his voice, Rose held back the flood of questions this revelation brought to her mind and managed to squeak out a simple "What?"
Clearing his throat, the Doctor launched into a rather longwinded and complicated explanation of why he couldn't let Donna keep the mind of a Time Lord or even her memories because it was killing her. Rose listened in wide eyed silence trying to look anywhere but into his eyes which held the pain he was keeping from his voice.
"But, that means, Doctor, that means he is alone! No one to hold his hand!" Rose couldn't help but exclaim once the Doctor had taken a breath. "How could heā¦that impossible man! Oh! Poor, poor Donna." Rose clung to the Doctor's hand and buried her head in his arm willing the tears to go away.
"Just tell me, Doctor, will he be okay?"
"I honestly don't know, Rose." he sighed, "I don't know."
"Oh, I could just slap that man sometimes!" Rose couldn't help but blurt out in exasperation. She then punched the Doctor's arm. "That's for general purposes." She said at the surprised and wounded look he gave her. Then she pulled him down and placed a soft kiss on his cheek, "As is that."
The Doctor loosened his grip on her hand and pulled her close to his side and whispered into her hair, "Thank you."
Rose watched him closely with a tight feeling in her chest. To have what she wanted was a feeling she wasn't used to. As happy as she was, there was a constant pain at the knowledge that the Time Lord Doctor was alone. Her heart hurt not only for him but for Donna. That brilliant woman she had come to know so well in such a short time who proved herself to be just beyond amazing. The Doctor's voice had shaken with emotion when he had told her what was going to have to happen to Donna to save her life, so she knew how hard the Time Lord Doctor had to be taking it.
Rose took a deep breath and sent a wish into the vastness of two universes that her Doctor would be okay.
