The Doctor studied the woman before him. She was like a vision out of Norse mythology, stunningly beautiful, and surrounded by a faint golden aura of power.
"And who might you be?" he asked calmly.
"I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I scatter the words through time and space, a message to lead me back to you…my Doctor." And he was. She'd never seen this face before, but it was her Doctor, all the same. And he needed her. He just didn't know it yet.
"Do I know you?" He felt as if he should. There was something about her, something that just felt right…as if some part of him had been missing all this time, and she completed him.
"Not yet, but you will."
"What's your name? I can't imagine your mother looking down at her brand new baby girl and naming her Bad Wolf. No one's that daft."
She laughed then, a delightfully human sound, the aura of power seeming to ebb away. "That's probably the nicest thing you've ever said about my mum. And my name is Rose."
"Rose." Her name seemed to echo in the vaults of his mind, soothing the turmoil there.
"And why are you here?" He was nothing if not curious. That held true for each and every incarnation.
Rose's expression dimmed. "I'm here to help you. There's something you need to do, and it will break your hearts, and shatter a bit of your soul, but it needs to be done, or else all of creation will be lost."
A single tear slid down her cheek, some trick of the light casting it in molten gold.
"That sounds…ominous," the Doctor said slowly. Strangely, the idea of discovering more about this dreadful task ahead of him didn't seem nearly as important as stopping her from shedding another tear.
"You're from my future, aren't you?" he said suddenly. "You shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be talking to you."
He moved as if to turn away, but Rose reached out swiftly and caught his arm.
"I know…paradoxes, and reapers, and such…but I need to be here. What you need to do is so terrible, you won't want to do it, and once you have, you won't want to live."
She was sobbing openly now, and the Doctor felt his hearts constrict inside his chest. He couldn't bear to see her cry, so he gathered her into his arms, and again, it just felt so right, as if that was where she was always meant to be.
"You need to know that you have a future. It's going to hurt for a long, long time, but it will get better. You will find happiness and even…"
"Love?"
Rose nodded.
The Doctor stepped back slightly and squared his shoulders. "All right then. It sounds as if I have a job to do. Best get to it." He took her hand, and it fit perfectly in his own. Just as it was meant to.