They remain still for a few minutes after the TARDIS is gone. Rose is hyper aware of everything and nothing in those moments ("All that is, all that was"): the feel of the Doctor's hand in hers, the coldness of the air, her mum shifting behind them, and the numbness that is threatening to take her over from the inside out. She has been numb since Canary Wharf and is desperate to feel again but this is not the time nor the place.

Jackie says she is going to ring Pete and arrange a ride home and heads a little ways down the beach to give them their privacy. The Doctor is looking at her with hope and concern but all Rose can think is that he looks cold. She tugs on his hand so that he will know to follow her.

Rose leads them to a small cafe where she orders a pot of tea and some pastry. She isn't really hungry but the tea will warm them and pastry will give her something tangible to focus on. They sit quietly while waiting for their order but it isn't as uncomfortable as it could be.

"I meant what I said on the beach. I do love you. I always have."

"I know. I love you too. I just," she trails off for a moment, "All the times I've imagined getting back to you, it wasn't quite like this and now I'm not really sure where we're supposed to go."

The Doctor fixes their tea while trying to work out what he wants to say. Usually he just allows words to spill out in a rush; brilliant, careful words that few can hope to follow completely but now he is cautious and steady. He knows that he needs to be clear because he doesn't want any misunderstandings between them. Nothing important left unsaid. Not anymore. Not ever again.

"It isn't bad, don't misunderstand," Rose says before he can get a word out. "It's just different than I'd imagined. I thought when I finally found the right universe, we would take care of the stars going out and the missing planets and sort of pick up where we left off. Even though I know we couldn't. We're both brand new people from who we were. Still, that was the fantasy."

"That was my fantasy too. Well, not the part with the stars going out or the missing planets because I didn't know about them yet but the rest of it, yeah." The Doctor continues, "But you a Torchwood agent, no doubt the best agent, defending the earth, defending the multiverse. That's impressive."

She gives a shrug and a breathless-not-quite-laugh, "I don't trust Torchwood. Not even with Pete in charge. After Canary Wharf and everything they did, I don't think it is possible to trust them not even if you and I were running it. Do you want to know why I agreed to work for them?"

"I had thought it was because of Pete and it helped to keep you at least a little connected to the stars."

"I hate the training, the reports, the protocols, the rules. I hate the guns. More than anything, I hate the guns. Torchwood did give me a connection to the stars that was nothing like what I was used to with you but still better than I would get anywhere else. No, I agreed to work for them when Pete asked because I thought 'Well, I'll be in contact with all different species and the most brilliant of scientists, maybe with those resources I can find a way home.'" She takes a sip of her tea. "I used Torchwood and yeah, I helped to defend the earth and even managed to protect and save some aliens sometimes from Torchwood. But my reasons were completely selfish. I wanted to go home. I wanted you."

Before the Doctor can respond Jackie walks over to their table and sits down. "Pete is sending the zeppelin, it'll be a few hours until we get back to London, and then a car will take me to the mansion and you two to Rose's flat."

Rose nods, "Sounds perfect."

They get hotel rooms for the night as it will take the zeppelin hours to reach them and they could all use a shower and some rest. Jackie bids them goodnight and says she'll ring in the morning when it's time to leave and Rose and the Doctor head upstairs to their room.

"I wanted you too," he says after they've both showered and are stretched out on the bed. "Everyday I would have given anything to have you with me, holding my hand, smiling at me – you have no idea how much I missed your smile. If there was anyway, and believe me I never stopped looking, I would have come for you."

"This is hard for you, isn't it? You're as out of sorts as I am and you always know what to do."

"Can't imagine this is easy for any of us, in this universe or the other. He's going to lose Donna. A biological metacrisis cannot be sustained in a human mind. He won't have any other choice but to lock-down or erase her memories completely. He is going to lose and Donna is going to lose and you and I are here stumbling around in the dark."

Rose is silent as she digests all of this new information. She doesn't even realize that she's crying until the Doctor brushes her tears away. "Everything we did, all of us, we saved all those planets and all those people and none of us get the happily ever after that we wanted. I would say it isn't fair but I know enough of the universe now to know that there really isn't any such thing."

"Are you unhappy?"

Her eyes meet his, "No. I'm a bit numb and probably suffering from a case of mild shock but I'm not unhappy. I feel horribly selfish saying that especially now that I know what is happening in our original universe to the Time Lord Doctor and to Donna but there it is, I'm not unhappy. You're here and we're together. How could I be unhappy about that?"

"I'm selfish too, you know," he says after a moment. Rose looks up at him and he laces their fingers together as he continues, "I am so grateful that I get to be here in this universe with you starting a whole new adventure rather than where I would be had the metacrisis not happened. For the first time, probably in my life, I haven't lost everything. I rather think I came out ahead."