A Study in Perspectives: Rose Tyler

"Just time for one last trip. Dårlig Ulv Stranden. Better known as..."

"Bad Wolf Bay" The blue suited Doctor finished the first one's statement and both had a look of sorrow on their face as we all felt the TARDIS land.

Mum pushed open the door and immediately started talking. "Oh, fat lot of good this is. Back of beyond. Bloody Norway? I'm going to have to phone your father..."

I couldn't help but tune her out as I rotated on the spot, taking in my surroundings. The nightmares that tortured me for more than two years rose to the forefront of my mind and I could hear my heart beat racing faster by the second. I could see the scene from years ago when he vanished mid-sentence and my own personal hell began. My thoughts escaped from my mouth and fear rose already knowing the answer, but afraid of it nonetheless.

"Hold on, this is the parallel universe, right?" Our eyes met and I could read his goodbye. This wasn't happening.

"You're back home." Just those three words caused my body to freeze. It felt as if someone covered me in an unliftable weight and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Donna, his companion, kept explaining. All I heard was "the walls of the world are closing again." Something rose within me and I had to talk him out of the decision I knew he had already made.

"No, but I spent all that time trying to find you. I'm not going back now." All those years working on the dimensional canon and failing time after time. Finally we succeeded and now he was telling me that it was all for nothing? All that work, all those sleepless nights, all those nightmares watching him standing here in this exact spot and vanishing before he could say the words I so longed to hear. None of that mattered to him.

"But you've got to." The Doctor, My Doctor, took a few steps closer to me as he spoke, but his eyes met mine only for an instant before looking over my shoulder to the other him. "Because we saved the universe, but at a cost. And the cost is him. He destroyed the Daleks. He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own."

Behind me the same voice spoke, but I couldn't look away from the one before me. "You made me."

"Exactly. You were born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge. Remind you of someone?" As the question left his mouth he turned to look at me and I was forced to look away. My mind flashed to all our adventures and I knew where he was heading, but I didn't want to let that reasoning destroy my resolve. Pinpricks of heat stung the corners of my eyes as I fought back tears. "That's me, when we first met. And you made me better. Now you can do the same for him."

One fact still remained and I clung to it, setting my jaw so I wouldn't fall apart. "But he's not you." There is no way I could look at a copy of him every day and be happy. How could I? I opened my mouth, but couldn't find words to say.

"He needs you. That's very me." If my heart wasn't already breaking I would have challenged him. It was the other way around. The Doctor didn't need me; I needed him. I needed him so badly and he was going to leave me again.

Donna cut in, looking between the two Doctors expectantly. "But it's better than that, though. Don't you see what he's trying to give you?" I blinked bemused, not sure what she was saying. She looked at the Doctor behind me and nodded so I faced him as well. "Tell her. Go on." Tell me what?

"I look like him and I think like him. Same memories, same thoughts, same everything. Except I've only got one heart."

In my mind that was just another thing separating him from the Doctor. This man in the blue suit may look and sound like him, but he is only part of who the Doctor really is as a whole. Still, part of me needed to know what the purpose of telling me this was and I asked, "Which means?"

His answer is nothing that I expected. "I'm part human. Specifically, the aging part. I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life, Rose Tyler." My name rolled of his lips in the same way my Doctor said it and I felt my heart skip a beat. That was until it completely stopped with his next words. "I could spend it with you, if you want."

"You'll grow old at the same time as me?" Years flashed through my mind as all my imaginings and wishful thinking returned. Every scene I had ever played in my mind of what I wanted our future to be grew. Of course before I knew they were not possible, but now I was learning that maybe... maybe there was a chance.

"Together."

Disbelief filled me and I shook my head slightly, but before I knew it my hand was resting on his chest and I could feel his one, strong heart pumping away. It seemed to be calling me, making sure I knew how sincere his words were. At the same time, I had to hold back.

All of us turned as the TARDIS whirred behind us. She was getting impatient and I could see the closure in the Doctor's eyes and he took a step back.

"We've got to go." No, no you can't... My thoughts never did become words, but they screamed inside my head over and over. The first of my tears that I worked so hard to contain trailed over my cheek. "This reality is sealing itself off forever." I couldn't stop myself from following him, turning my back on the other Doctor.

"But, it's still not right," This was my last chance. I had to talk him into either staying or taking me with him because for years now he had been my life and I couldn't lose him again. "Because the Doctor's still you."

"And I'm him." It wasn't good enough and I had to show him that.

I turned back to the other Doctor and addressed them both this time. If he was determined to leave me then he would have to give me one last bit of truth before going. "All right. Both of you, answer me this." I looked at the Doctor, my Doctor, and asked him the question I had dreamed about for over two years. "When I last stood on this beach, on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing you said to me?" A second passed and I saw hesitation in his eyes so I pushed a bit harder. "Go on, say it."

Pain covered his face and I could tell the memory was just as fresh in his mind as it was in mine. "I said, Rose Tyler."

My name. I loved the way he said my name, but it wasn't the bit I needed to hear. "Yeah, and how was that sentence going to end?"

"Does it need saying?" The battle was lost and there was no talking him out of it. The Doctor looked at his human self and I followed his gaze, giving this one a chance to say what I so desperately needed to hear.

"And you, Doctor?" His arm lifted towards me anticipating my question. "What was the end of that sentence?" Whispered words filled me with a joy I never expected and as he pulled back I could see my Doctor in his eyes. My Doctor. I grabbed the lapels of his jacket and pulled him so his lips met mine in a crushing embrace. Reaching around him, I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and deepened the kiss. Emotions raged within me and for a second nothing else matter except for the fact that we were both there and he loved me.

A sharp snap broke the kiss and we twisted to see the TARDIS door had closed behind the Doctor and his companion. I had barely taken a few steps before they engine began running and she faded from sight taking the Doctor with her. They were gone.

A warm, firm hand wrapped around mine and I returned the gesture. Heat spread up my arm and throughout my body at the small contact and while my heart was breaking it didn't shatter. The Doctor was gone and I would never see him again. The blue-suited man and I looked at one another and when our eyes met a felt the smallest bit of hope.

I still had my Doctor.

Next Chapter: Doctor Duplicate