AN: An alternate ending of my own fic, because I really wanted to explore this idea, but I also wanted To Make Much of Time to be a Doomsday fixit. I recommend reading that first, but if you don't want to, all you need to know to understand this is that Rose and the Doctor have a telepathic bond, and she's time sensitive.

Hopping to Pete's World was like jumping into an icy cold lake. The love and adoration the Doctor had projected to her only a moment ago disappeared, and Rose's lungs seized up at the loss.

She stood there for a second, staring at the barren white wall, then she threw herself at it. "Take me back!" she sobbed as she pounded against it. "Take me back, take me back!"

"It's stopped working," Pete said in a quiet voice. "He did it. He closed the breach."

"No," Rose moaned quietly, but the sharp pain in her mind told her Pete was right. The Doctor wasn't there.

Rose…

A sob caught in her throat, and she pressed herself closer against the wall. The pain and desolation she felt was suddenly not all her own. Doctor?

Love…

Rose stretched her mind as far as she could, gasping when she felt the Doctor's brush against hers. For a brief moment, it gave her hope that somehow, he would reach through the Void and take her home, but then the sensation faded and her mind was truly empty for the first time in months.

Her sobs then were inconsolable. She slid down the wall and curled up against it, not wanting to believe he was truly gone. Eventually, Mickey had to pick her up and carry her to Pete's Jeep for the ride to the Tyler mansion.

The first four months Rose was in Pete's World passed in a blur. After two months, her mum tried to get her to rejoin the rest of the world, and that was when Rose finally explained to her the nature of their engagement.

"It's not just that I miss seeing him and holding his hand," she said, her voice choked. "He was there in my head, and now he's not. An' it's like… like I'm constantly looking for something that never shows up."

Jackie held Rose while she cried, muttering darkly about weird alien rituals. Rose couldn't even laugh at that, because the Doctor wasn't there to gloat about being right.

But after that, Jackie backed off—and she didn't let anyone else pester Rose either. Gradually, the ache in her mind became a background pain, instead of something she was aware of at every moment of every day. Whether that was because it was actually getting better, or because she was getting used to the level of pain, Rose was grateful for the relief.

And then one night, four months after she fell, she had a dream. The Doctor was calling her name. When she woke up, she was sitting bolt upright in bed, and the voice was still there, only now it was whispering across their bond, calling her name, drawing her close.

Rose closed her eyes and focused on that faint call. Reaching for it strained her mind, but when she succeeded, the completeness she felt was worth the ache.

He beckoned to her again, and she tried to promise him that she was coming. Then she dressed quickly and roused her parents and Mickey out of bed, hoping all the while that they would believe her.

Pete was the only one who doubted, but he was quickly overruled. Within an hour, everyone was dressed and the Jeep was filled with petrol. After tossing her bag in the back, Rose climbed in and closed her eyes, focusing on her bond with the Doctor.

They drove all day and through the night, following the voice in Rose's head. When she spotted the sign and realised what the name meant, hope welled up inside her. A message to lead myself here, she remembered.

She barely let the Jeep come to a complete stop before jumping out, running onto the beach. At the water's edge, she felt the connection in her mind strengthen, and she turned just in time to see a faint outline of the Doctor appear.

A strand of hair blew in her face, and she brushed it away impatiently. "Where are you?"

"Inside the TARDIS. There's one tiny little gap in the universe left, just about to close." His Adam's apple bobbed. "And it takes a lot of power to send this projection. I'm in orbit around a supernova." He chuckled weakly. "I'm burning up a sun just to say goodbye."

Rose's knees wobbled at the word goodbye, even though she'd already suspected. She forced a smile. "You look like a ghost."

"Hold on." He pointed the sonic screwdriver at something she couldn't see, and his image solidified.

Rose took a step toward him, her hand out. "Can I…"

The muscle in his jaw twitched. "I'm still just an image. No touch."

She knew exactly how much that had cost him to say. The bond was weak, coming through the Void and across who knew how many light years, but the vivid sensation of his emptiness seared its way across time and space into her own heart.

"Can't you come through properly?" Rose begged. A goodbye wasn't enough; it would never be enough.

The Doctor shook his head. "The whole thing would fracture. Two universes would collapse."

"Is there any way… the bond," she said, hoping against hope that he knew a way to keep them connected, even across the Void.

His fist clenched. "There's no way to maintain a telepathic connection over the Void. This is only possible because of the crack, and I'll—" He pressed his lips together. "I'll have to make sure it's closed after we say goodbye."

Rose choked back a sob. She missed him so much.

"Rose, I'm—"

She shook her head fiercely. "Don't. Don't say you're sorry."

He hesitated, but finally nodded. "Where are we?" he asked, changing the subject before either of them could think of a convincing reason to break through the Void. "Where did the gap come out?" The Doctor looked around, and Rose wondered if the projection was showing him more than it did her.

"We're in Norway."

"Norway. Right," he said, as if that was what he'd expected.

"About fifty miles out of Bergen. It's called Dårlig Ulv Stranden."

"Dalek?" His eyes widened and he scanned the beach frantically.

"Dårlig," Rose pronounced clearly. "It's Norwegian for bad. This translates as Bad Wolf Bay." They both laughed a little at that—she'd really seen everything when she was Bad Wolf, hadn't she?

But if I saw everything, why couldn't I find a way to keep this from happening? Rose gritted her teeth and forced the thought to the back of her mind. Down that road lay madness, she knew.

"How long have we got?" she asked, wanting to change the subject.

"About two minutes."

Rose nodded once and wiped the tears from her eyes. Two minutes wasn't nearly enough time to say all she wanted to say, but she wouldn't waste it.

She lifted her chin and looked him straight in the eye. "I love you."

His eyes closed and he was silent for several seconds before he looked at her again. "I love you, too."

She covered her mouth with her hands and sobbed against the power of their combined grief, then she gathered her strength and looked at him. "Am I ever going to see you again?" she asked, cutting to the chase.

"You can't, love." The words were barely more than a whisper.

A timeline glimmered in the distance, and Rose suddenly smiled. "Don't know you know me well enough to know I will always find a way back to you?"

That muscle in his jaw twitched, and even through this tiny hole in the walls between the worlds, she could feel the strength of his guilt. "Rose…"

She shook her head furiously, cutting him off. She wouldn't let him tell her to have a fantastic life, not again. Not when there was an empty place in her mind that ached for him.

He nodded, understanding what she wouldn't say, and accepting it. "You've got your family though, that's good."

"There's five of us now," she told him. "Mum, Dad, Mickey, and the baby."

Even though they both knew it was impossible, she felt a wave of shock from him, followed by a confusing mixture of wild hope and gut-wrenching loss. "You're not…"

Rose half-smiled. "No. It's Mum. She's three months gone. More Tylers on the way."

She cocked her head and looked at him, a thought just occurring to her. "What are you going to do?"

"Oh, I've got the TARDIS. Same old life, last of the Time Lords."

"On your own?" He nodded, but Rose knew the TARDIS disapproved of this as much as she did. "You need… I need you to…" She swallowed hard. "I want you to find someone to travel with."

He took half a step back, but she wouldn't give up. "You can't just… don't hide behind your walls, Doctor."

Precious seconds ticked by before he nodded.

Rose lifted her chin. "I love you," she said one more time, hoping it would be enough to get him through until they were together again.

The barest hint of a smile flickered across the Doctor's face. "You really aren't going to give up, are you?"

"Not bloody likely."

Time was almost up, and they both knew it. "Be careful, Rose," he said urgently. He lifted his hand up in midair before dropping it back to his side.

A moment later, Rose felt the brush of his mind against hers, strengthening their bond. A torrent of emotion flooded into her mind: pain, guilt, grief, but mostly love.

She knew what he was doing. The few seconds they had left would never be enough to say everything they wanted, so instead he was showing her. Tears streaming down her face, she focused inward while still keeping her eyes fixed on his projection and attempted to do the same thing.

They both gasped the moment she managed to push through the Void to him. Returning this mental caress was almost like being held one last time… almost.

Finally, the projection flickered and disappeared, severing their bond in the process. Rose cried out and dropped to the sand with her head in her hands.

A moment later, she felt familiar arms wrap around her shoulder. "That's right, sweetheart," her mum said, stroking her hair out of her face. "Just let it all out."

"He's gone again, Mum," she sobbed, and she knew Jackie knew what she meant.

"Well then you'll just have to find a way to get back to him, won't you?" she said bracingly. "Lord knows that man is hopeless without you."

Rose chuckled weakly. "I'm not sure where to begin," she said honestly.

"Rose Tyler," Jackie said sternly, "your father is the director of Torchwood. You've got access to more fancy gadgets than anyone except himself, probably. And you don't know where to start finding a way home?"

She stood up and held out her hand. "We've been sitting too long, if your mind has gone that much. Come on; we'll stay the night someplace and then head home tomorrow, where you'll start learning everything you can about this Void."