The Doctor looks down at his hand … He can see the residual vortex energy bursting in tiny flashes through the pours of his skin. His cells are dying.
"It means … I'm going to change."
He tries to explain things to Rose. She looks concerned. He doesn't want her to be afraid. He tries to encourage her.
"You were fantastic ..." he tells her.
But it's like it's not the Doctor. Like it's someone else and he is just watching it happen. He is changing. This Doctor is becoming someone else. He won't be himself anymore. Not exactly. He doesn't want to change, this Doctor. He was fantastic too.
" … and you know what? So, was I." He hears himself saying as he smiles at Rose.
The Doctor smiles and then everything goes white. He can't see Rose anymore. He can't feel the gentle caressing vibrations of the TARDIS console room or taste its warm amber glow. He is gone. Then through the blinding desensitizing chaos of change, the Doctor becomes aware of something. Something warm. A gentle touch an embrace. Lips on his lips. Rose is kissing him, and he kisses her back. Her body is still attuned to the vortex energy. In this moment Rose is like the Doctor, and he can feel his energies mingling with hers. She is siphoning off some of the Doctor's regeneration energy.
"No!" The Doctor screams inside his mind. He had told her to stay back. This is too dangerous. In her current state she could disrupt the regeneration. The Doctor could die. Rose could die. Rose might die in his place … No no no no no no no … Before he can push her away. the Doctor's body explodes. Or at least, to the Doctor that's what it feels like, and everything goes from blinding white to deafening black. The Doctor's body goes limp.
She just stands there in disbelief and confusion trying to understand why and what was going on. "Everything seemed find just about an hour ago, what happened to him for this to happen?!" was all she could think while watching this happen.
Rose is trembling hard as she watches the alien she fell madly in love with over time. She knows he can't see her bodies reaction but she feels it and tears began streaming down her face once she realizes what was just said to her. "H-He's...dying...". The words were softly spoken in her mind which made her heart break into pieces.
Rose has never felt love for anyone like this before, not even Mickey. When she broke up with him after his last encounter on the TARDIS with them she knew it was the right thing to do, she just didn't love him as a lover. But...The Doctor...HerDoctor that was a different story.
She couldn't let him leave, no she had to do something! She did the only thing she could think of. She slowly approached him cautiously and without warning she met her lips with his. When she did this Rose felt something happening to her body but she couldn't figure out what. At this point she was too frightened to move so she stayed perfectly still as she continued to kiss him.
Once everything around her goes from bliding white to black her body becomes weak. Rose watches The Doctor fall to the ground, she gasps and drops down to her knees next to him. "D-Doctor?!" she says weakly and shaken. "O-Oh no w-what have I done?!" she says softly to herself as tears fall down her face again. "I...killed him!" she says as she begins sobbing.
"Doctor ... "
"Doctor ... "
Those words trudge through the blackness ... slowly ... so slowly ...
The sounds are calling to him from so far away. Not just sounds ... voices ...
"Doctor ... "
No. Not voices.
Voice.
One voice.
Rose's voice. She is calling him. She needs him. She's crying.
But, the voice is so faint ... so distant. He has to find her. The Doctor promised to always take care of her. He promised. She needs him.
The Doctor pushes through the blackness to the voice ... to Rose. As the sounds of her cries grow stronger he finds himself pushing his body more desperately ... staggering ... running toward her.
"Rose ... " He calls out at the darkness. "Rose!" The Doctor screams, and his eyes break open, and the darkness surrenders to painful beautiful light.
It takes a moment for the Doctor's vision to focus in the amber light of the TARDIS console room. His thoughts are scattered. But, he knows this light. He remembers vaguely Jack commenting that the glow of the console room was "eerie." But the Doctor has never thought so. This light, like the orange sun of lost Gallifrey, is comforting to him. It is home. He is home.
The Doctor's eyes focus, and there, in front of him, is Rose. The human girl ... so young and beautiful and fresh with hopes and dreams and boundless possibilities. The console room's golden light spills around her face shooting beams through her hair and for a moment, he is back on Gallifrey and Rose is the most beautiful sunset he has ever seen.
Without word or thought or hesitation, the Doctor leans up and brings his face to Rose's. He places his hand behind her head filling his fingers with the softness of her hair as he pulls her towards him and brings her mouth to his.
Moments ago, he kissed her, to save her. And then, she kissed him, to save him. Those kisses were love. He loves her, and she loves him, of this there is no question.
And now this kiss. This kiss is love and blessed relief. This kiss is celebration and gratitude.
This kiss is joy and ...
This kiss is passion.
At this moment she thought she had lost him forever and she would have to live with the fact that this was all her fault. She was weak but regardless she shook while she cried for him.
All Rose wanted was to see his bright smile one last time, she would do anything to take it back. She would even die for him if she had to!
"Doctor..." was all she could say in a soft voice as tears continuously fell down her face and fell to the floor. The TARDIS is so silent you could hear her tears hit the floor. She couldn't live without him...she just couldn't. The Doctor changed her life and for the better!
Just when she thought this was the end Rose suddenly felt lips against hers. This was a dream it just had to be...right? But, as soon as she felt his hand in her hair she knew it was real. She kissed him back with tears still falling except now they were tears of joy. Her Doctor was alive! The Doctor wraps his arms around Rose and holds her warm body close to his. He can feel the beating of her heart and the pulsing of some remnant of vortex energy still coursing inside her, and the two seem to be in sync. She is no longer in danger.
Rose has always been unusually well attuned to the TARDIS's energies. It is the reason she was able to revitalize a Dalek with nothing more than her touch. But it is something else too. She is so like the Doctor. So much in tune with the Doctor, with his rhythm ... his energy. She is his soul mate.
The Doctor manages to stand, easily bringing Rose with him in the process, never breaking their embrace. Despite his light frame, the Doctor is deceptively strong. Lifting Rose is almost effortless.
Then the Doctor ends the kiss and looks down at the woman in his arms and smiles. Tear stains streak Rose's face and the Doctor brings up a hand to smooth them away.
"There now. None of that." The Doctor chides gently. "We are the conquering heroes." He encourages with a smile.
Abruptly, the Doctor takes a step back looking perplexed.
"Same teeth." The Doctor remarks while he runs his tongue around inside his mouth. "That's weird." He adds as he quickly brings his hands up to his head. "No hair!" The Doctor exclaims!
"Rose, I didn't change! I'm still me!" The Doctor exclaims with genuine surprise. And just like that, he is moving again. The same old Doctor ... always in motion.
"Now! Barcelona!" the Doctor announces almost leaping to the TARDIS console to enter coordinates.
"Oh, there is one more thing that I should mention before we go." The Doctor bounds around the TARDIS console flipping switches. "The people of Barcelona ... they don't wear clothes." He says in a matter of fact manner like he had just declared that Rose might be required to wear a hat. "I hope you don't mind going native?!"
She smiled and leaned into his touch as he wiped her tears. "My Doctor..." she whispered with such love and passion with her eyes closed.
At this moment Rose felt something different inside her more then before any of this happened. Rose now felt in tuned with him, she felt as though a part of him was inside her body and soul now. That feeling just felt so warm and amazing that she smiled with the biggest grin she has ever had.
She watched him as he checked to see if anything had changed, she couldn't help but giggle at his reaction. She then followed him over to the console and sat in the chair as he flipped switches for Barcelona. When he explained that people of Barcelona never wore clothes and they would have to do the same she almost felt her heart jump out of her chest. She couldn't help but eye him while she imagined him without clothes. She realized she was staring in a daze when he awaited her response. "Huh?" "Oh n-no I complete fine with that Doctor." she smirked but with a slight blush.
