He still thought about her every day.
No matter how many companions came with him and how many new bodies he had, his thoughts always drifted back to her.
So many lifetimes were lived by him that the brief amount of time he had spent with her was unbelievably small in comparison, merely a blink in his long existence. But no matter how relatively small it was, it was the greatest blink he had ever known.
He still visited the places and times he had gone to with her. New Earth, Victorian England, World War II. It hurt to go there, despite the years that had passed. He went there alone, and he went with companions, but there was always something missing. He had attempted distracting himself soon after she had gone, tried to find another to fill the gaping wound in his very existence that was caused by her departure. But while he was able to rebound onto them, it was only rebound, and no matter how fond of them he became, he never felt the same as he had for her.
He spoke of her often, something that the others always took note of. The others always hoped and prayed that he might find solace in them, that he might finally be able to get over her and love again, but deep in their hearts, they knew that he wouldn't. The only one he would ever love was far away, farther away than even the edge of the universe.
He always kept one small thing on the control panel. He supposed that it was just a masochistic reminder of his past. In all honesty, it probably was. But he didn't care, because in spite of the pain it brought him, the wonders it reminded him of, of women who lived far longer than they should've, of ghosts from the other side of the universe, of a quirky captain named Jack, were far greater than any hurtful memories that might surface at the mention of its name. The small possession was really nothing; others would enter his domain and notice how he would gaze at it when he thought no one was watching, with a terrible mixture of infinite sadness and longing etched on his youthful face, and be puzzled as to how such a seemingly insignificant item could stir up such emotions.
The item was a single red flower in a small clear vase. Once his companion saw him reach out and gently touch its crimson petals, and quietly whisper a single word, laden with the emotion that the flower conveyed.
"Rose."