A/N: I know this has been done before but I got it in my head and needed to get it out! I hope you enjoy!
Rose Tyler was tired.
So very, very tired.
She had been non stop traveling, jumping over and over again through different universes, some more dangerous than others. The last one she had just come from was one of the worst she had come across so far. She wasn't sure that she was even on Earth. She had found herself in a battle field in the middle of some war between creatures she had never seen before. One side could have been human but they were so covered in grime and dirt and blood that was it hard to tell.
She knew that it could have been possible that the Doctor would be involved in this war somehow, working behind the scenes to try and stop it but just like all the other places she could sense her Doctor wasn't present and she vanished out of that world before she became part of the war herself.
And that led her here to this world that, to her relief, looked alot more like her original universe with no present signs of danger.
She was in the middle of a small town with shops and venders lined up down the streets with people crowding the area. She didn't know if the Doctor would come to such a domestic little place but something was holding her there and if she did recall correctly, the Doctor had taken her someplace similar a while back.
She spotted an empty vendor's stall just ahead and discarded her gun under the table temporarily. She was already drawing attention to herself and she didn't want to alarm the locals if she was just going to do some harmless browsing.
Releasing a deep breathe, she ran her fingers through her hair and walked into town, observing the people, the merchandise and subtly looking for any sign of her wild haired, skinny Doctor.
She noticed a few people giving her odd looks and she couldn't really blame them. She knew she didn't exactly look average all covered in dirt and her face marred by the exhaustion she felt. So she simply smiled at them and carried on walking.
She spotted a vendor selling food and a box filled with ice and water bottles beckoned her. She licked her lips and swallowed past the dryness in her throat and the ache in her stomach from hunger. She hadn't had time to eat or drink anything and she realized with a pang that she really had no idea where she was. It looked like Earth but what century? What decade? What country? The last thing on her mind when she took off to find the Doctor was bringing along any money and she certainly didn't have money for every place she could possibly come across.
She closed her eyes, breaking her gaze of the mouth watering food and started forward again.
She didn't know how much longer she could stay before the dimension cannon pulled her out of this universe and she wasn't sure she even wanted to stay much longer. It was a relief to be away from the danger and panic that the other universes brought her but she was having no luck finding the Doctor here and that was her number one priority.
So with no luck she decided to just turn back around, grab her gun and head back to Pete's World. The dimension cannon would need recharging to get her to another universe and she didn't feel like getting stuck anywhere and her mother would be glad to see her.
However just as she turned she spotted a familiar face in the crowd. A face that all in one second had her heart soaring and then falling deeper than it ever had before.
There in the crowd of people just in front of her was her Doctor but he wasn't her Doctor. There he stood in all his glory with his big ears, short hair leather jacket, a cross look on his daft old face.
She should have moved, it would be dangerous for him to see her and she wasn't even sure if they had even met yet. She was never really sure what the Doctor had done before she came into his life and this could have been one of his journeys pre-Rose Tyler.
That theory however was quickly squashed when his eyes scanned the crowd and came to rest on her. Relief briefly flickered across his face but then it faded into one of annoyance and he stalked towards her.
Her heart leapt into her throat and her brain was screaming at her to run. She could not, under any circumstances, interact with this Doctor. But he was the Doctor, so how could she possibly run?
"Rose Tyler." He scolded as soon as he was close enough and her eyes welled at the sound of his rough, northern voice. She had gotten so used to his newer body that she had forgotten how much she really missed his older self. "I told you not to go swannin' off and what's the first thing you do? You go swannin' off!"
He was now standing in front of her, scowling at her like a father reprimanding his child. "How can I look after you if you don't stick around?"
Her bottom lip trembled as she stared at him and she bit down on it softly to keep him from noticing. She drank in his appearance, branded every last inch of him into her brain. She had had pictures of him while she was with the newer Doctor but seeing him again in the flesh was so much different. Part of her wished she could give up the chase right then and there and stay with this Doctor, travel once again with the man she had fallen in love with so long ago. But he would scold her for thinking such things, it would ruin the fabric of time and yes time could be rewritten but some things should never be re written and this she was sure was one of them.
She noticed that suddenly his face softened as he looked into her eyes and then his eyes trailed over her body, his brow furrowing and she could see the gears turning in his powerful brain. She was honestly surprised it took him that long to figure out that the Rose standing before him was not the Rose he had arrived there with. She didn't want to answer any questions, she couldn't answer any questions without threatening time so instead she did something she had wanted to do since she first saw his face again.
She threw herself at him, her arms tightly winding around his neck and she buried her face in the space between his neck and shoulder. She inhaled his scent and a sense of peace that she hadn't felt since she was trapped in Pete's World washed over her. She couldn't help the smile that crossed her lips or the few stray tears that leaked out of her eyes and onto his jacket.
His arms gently came around her to hold her against him and she tightened her grip on him, turning her head to rest against his shoulder.
"Rose?" There was something strange in his voice as if he didn't really recognize her and it stung but only for a moment because she knew she wasn't his Rose and he wasn't her Doctor but that was alright because being there in his arms meant she was one step closer to finding her Doctor.
She knew he was confused and possibly a little agitated, she could feel it in the tenseness of his muscles and she knew he required some sort of an explanation but she couldn't part from him, not yet.
She remained in his arms for as long as possible, until he repeated her name with a forcefulness that couldn't be ignored and she gave him one last tight squeeze before reluctantly pulling away.
She wiped the tears off of her cheeks and then smiled up at him. Just as she had expected his brow was still furrowed and he eyed her carefully but she still could see his concern for her tears behind those blue eyes.
"When are you?" He asked.
She laughed and shook her head. "You know the rules, Doctor."
He frowned. "I made the rules."
"Yeah." She agreed. "You did and there's a reason for that. I'm sorry I-I can't tell you. I shouldn't have even spoke to you."
Suddenly she remembered being here with him and she remembered that she ran out of the TARDIS in the middle of this instructions and that when she did finally meet up with him he was a lot less angry than she thought he'd be and now she knew the reason.
"But listen, your Rose is going to come up to you soon and she's going to ask you to buy her something and you're going to."
He cocked an eyebrow. "Oh am I?"
She grinned at him, a real true grin, her first grin in ages and nodded. "You bet you are."
"Rose, I-" He began but she shook her head to silence him. She could feel the beginnings of the familiar pull of the dimension cannon and let out a breathe. Another single tear rolled down her cheek as she looked at him knowing that it'd be the last time she'd ever see this version of him again.
As much as that thought did hurt she was grateful that the universe gave her this opportunity to say the goodbye she never got. She took a few steps forward and pulled him in for another hug. It was gentler this time, her arms slipping lightly around his waist and her eyes closing as she buried her face into his chest, listening to the sound of his two strong hearts. She placed one hand over his left heart and nuzzled her nose against the right, muttering in a tone barely above a whisper, "Goodbye my Doctor."
She felt his body tense and silently cursed his Time Lord senses. Before he could question her any further she pulled out his arms, lifted herself onto her toes, pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek and then ran past him, using all of her will power not to turn back.
The Doctor stood there momentarily stunned, his hand touching his burning cheek and then when reality finally caught up with him, he turned around and searched the crowd for Rose.
"Doctor!" He whirled around at the sound of her voice and saw his Rose making her way through the crowd towards him. She was biting her lip to hide a sheepish grin and her eyes were lit up with childlike wonder unlike the Rose he had just seen who had a darkness and sadness in her eyes that he had only ever seen in the mirror.
"Rose-" He was quiet astonished by the quiver in his voice and he snapped his jaw closed before he said anything else and the young Rose lifted her hands in surrender.
"I know, save the scolding, yeah? I was just checking things out. 'Sides, its not like there's really anything dangerous here. Except maybe the prices but thats what I got you for." She grinned, her tongue slipping between her teeth and she reached forward to grab his hand. "Use some of that alien technology, yeah? There's a cute little shop right down the road with some clothes and I could really use some new clothes."
Her words were only half registering with him as he was distracted by searching the crowds for the other Rose. He wanted to know what had happened to her to cause her such pain and why she was holding onto him like it was the last time she'd ever see him. Surely if she was there she must be with a future version of himself. Though something else was telling him that was not the case at all.
"Doctor?" He snapped out of his thoughts at Rose's questioning voice and glanced down at her. "You alright?"
Looking at this young Rose he felt a tightening in his hearts knowing that one day she'd be that Rose he had just saw and he wouldn't, couldn't do anything to prevent that.
He squeezed her hand and offered her a small smile. "I'm always alright." He shrugged. "You were saying something about a shop?"
Rose looked skeptical for a moment but she brushed it off and nodded. "It's right down here."
He let her lead the way and made sure her hand was securely wrapped in his own. He didn't know what was going to happen to her or when but for now he'd do anything to protect her.
Peering out from behind a building, her gun securely wrapped around her torso once more, Rose observed the Doctor and her younger self. A sad smile crossed her lips at the memories that flitted through her brain and was glad that her younger self still had all of those memories to come.
She let out a sigh, hardened her face and took off in the opposite direction, slowly disappearing out of that world as the dimension cannon sucked her away once more.