The Doctor leant back against the console, arms folded and jaw set, staring out at the empty space of the room in-front of him.
His mind slipping back to thoughts of the last few days, playing them over and over in his head. The Cybermen, the Daleks, Rose.....
He gulped and gazed upwards at the panelled ceiling of the TARDIS, longing for the day the tears would stop falling.
His thoughts were quickly abandoned by a knock on the wooden doors in front of him. He sniffed, regaining his composure and strutted towards the doors.
Swinging them open he greeted the visitor with a dazzling smile.
"Hello stranger."
"Hello," he said embracing her in a long hug. The Watcher, as she was still known to some, was an old friend, a very old friend. Much older than the Time-Lord himself, she spanned eternity. If there was belief, there was her. But for the billions of years she had lived she didn't look a day over 20. 'Lucky for some,' thought the Doctor- briefly remembering back to some of his previous incarnations.
Chuckling to himself he drew out of the hug and gazed at his friend. She had always been there for him, through everything, a friend to hold on to when he found himself all alone.
She was a watcher, THE watcher. Some said she was a creation of God, a being to watch over existence, to spread his word, his belief. Whether this was true or not, the Doctor had never asked, merely content with a comfortable friendship, no questions.
The Watcher gazed up at the Doctor, her pale hand reaching up to grasp his shoulder.
"Are you OK," she asked slowly, tilting her head to the side as if judging him.
"M' fine," he said sidling back into the TARDIS, the Watcher following him closely. He stopped at the battered chair and slumped down onto into it, his face in his hands.
"Well that's blatantly not true," she said whipping off her silvery jacket and flinging it over the back of the seat before settling down next to him.
"What's happened, tell me?" she said in a quiet voice. "You wouldn't have contacted me so urgently otherwise. Where's Rose? What's happened?"
She placed her hand on his back and he stiffened for a moment before releasing his face from his hands.
"She's gone," he said in a low voice, his eyes dark. "She's just.....gone."
The Watcher closed her eyes for a second, letting out a sorrowful breath for the loss of the friend she had met only twice. But that had been enough to realise how special she was and how much he would miss her.
Opening her eyes, she let a single tear stream down her cheek, for his loss. She could feel his pain, seeping out of every fibre of his body and it hurt her.
The Watcher, the one being, witnessing the whole of creation, the whole of eternity and yet she was in agony. HIS agony.
She reached for the Doctor's hand and slowly turned him towards her. He gazed up into her eyes, his own filled with tears as she pulled him into a warm and comforting embrace. The embrace of a good friend.
Minutes passed and the Watcher felt the warm trickle of tears fall onto her bare shoulder, but still he did not let go. Silently mourning the loss of Rose.
Time seemed to slip by them. Eternity.
"Tell me her story..... " she whispered.
And he did.