Far away,
This ship is taking me far away.
Far away from the memories,
Of the people who care if I live or die.
Rose didn't want to ever go back to her old life. Sure, living as a ''normal'' human was basely satisfying, and she knew that in all likelihood she would have gone on to marry Mickey, pop out a couple of kids and go on living her life. Nothing would be exciting, nothing would ever change. Chances were, she'd have worked in the shop for the rest of her life, and been a simple mother- never questioning what was fed to her, never believing in a world that was not in front of her face. It was a dreadful existence, but so many were happy to swallow that particular pill and deal with it. She couldn't have imagined what trip she would be taken on inadvertently and who she would meet - what she would meet. "Doctor" would have been a name for medical workers, and people who went to university for much longer than she, not someone who could change, save, and take lives. "Time Lord" belonged in legends and old wives tales, not in her daily life, and "aliens" didn't exist – they were just stories to tell children. "Be quiet or the aliens will get you," would be just another saying.
But as she felt the hum of something alive underneath her feet and the gentle pressure of someone's hand in her own, she knew that it was worth it. Worth it to throw all that away and leave it where it belonged – on Earth. She was here, with him, and as far as she knew, she would be with him for the rest of her life. He would not wither and die as she would, but that was okay. Rose Tyler was content to just stay by his side and allow him to lead her where he chose, and she was confident in the fact that he would always come back for her. She could, and would, always remember her time on Earth with Mickey and Mum, but there were …better things out there for her. She would never go back, not after this last trip. They had no clue, but Rose was leaving them – for good. It was her mother's worse nightmare, but it had to come to pass. There were things with The Doctor that were more important than the humdrum life that would have been hers on Earth. She couldn't forget. She couldn't live without him.
Starlight,
I will be chasing the starlight,
Until the end of my life,
I don't know if it's worth it anymore.
Ten years. It had been ten years since she'd agreed to come with him, and at first the time passed slowly and she thought that she would be young forever. At thirty nine years-old, Rose Tyler was no longer young – just one year and she would be fourty. The big four-oh. Neither one of them talked about it, or even dared to mention the progression of time, partly because he was immune and partly because it brought her away from him. She just wanted to pretend that she had never aged, never become anything other than the young woman that she had been, and that she would never leave him. When she had promised him forever, she had bargained something she had no control over, and while they had searched the stars for something to prolong her life, it simply wasn't possible. Flesh and blood human, Rose Tyler could not be saved from the affliction that defined their mortality. She was going to die.
The lifestyle they led gave her ten years – twenty at the most. Her bones were moving slower, and while she wasn't old by any stretch, her body was betraying her. She couldn't always be fast enough, strong enough, good enough to beat this alien, or vanquish that enemy. She was becoming a nuisance and a bother to him, and he was too polite and too well brought up to tell her so – or perhaps he was afraid of hurting her. Nothing would hurt her more than hearing that she was useless to him and that she could no longer stay with him as long as she thought. It was rough, even knowing that she had limited time on her hands, but knowing that he would live forever and eventually replace her. It was killing her, and yet she lived without stressing too much about it. When she was dead … she was dead. For her, mortality was that simple. If she would miss him when she was dead, she wasn't sure that was even possible. Rose was happy for her time with him. Rose was happy for him.