"Doctor?"
"Yes River?"
"Who is Rose Tyler?"
The Doctor nearly chokes on his tea. Where could she have possibly heard that name?
"Huh?" he stutters, in case he heard wrong. He hopes that he heard wrong.
"Rose Tyler," river says again, noticing his odd reactin "a letter came whizzing through from the vortex addressed to you from her" River explains, holding up an A4 sheet of paper. The Doctor quickly snatches it out of her hand.
"Calm down, I haven't peeked, what's so important about Rose Tyler? Old companion or something?" she asks.
"More than that..." The Doctor mutters clutching the letter tightly in his hand. It smells of her, that mxed scent of roses and honeysuckle
"Oh so you had another little girlfriend before me Doctor? You cheeky boy." River says with a wink. But she can hardly disguise the uncertainty in her voice. The Doctor looks up at River Song, the woman he pretends to love for her own sake. Well maybe today he's done pretending.
"Rose Tyler is the only woman I've ever truly loved. And I still do really. Three regenerations and I've never quite gotten out of her grasp on my heats. It's sad really." He says without really thinking about River as he says it. He can barely gather any thoughts as soon as Rose Tyler is in his mind. He still dreams of her, every night without fail. He looks up at River, who looks like she's just been stabbed and he feels very guilty about it. She didn't deserve that.
"Oh... right…" she says quietly; because that's who Melody Pond is, girl who can hold in all of her emotions. No matter how much it hurts, and believe her, it hurts.
"What does she say in the letter?" she asks trying to regain control of her emotions. But The Doctor just folds it up and puts it inside his jacket, without saying another word, as she expected him to do. "Right of course," River mutters "singing towers of Darillium it is then?" she asks and The Doctor smiles. He can grant River her dying wish. He can love her, even if it's only for tonight. Because after tonight she will go to the library, and she will never come back out.
oOo
When The Doctor takes her back to the university, where she will meet the other archeologists on her expedition he kisses her goodbye, but since the letter he can't help but imagine she's Rose. And that thought really does break his hearts, but he puts on a brave face for Rivers sake. She seems confused but somewhat happy, because she saw him cry and he gave her his screwdriver. She doesn't know why.
When he leaves her, and heads back into the TARDIS he thinks of her and the wonderful times they had together, even though his hearts weren't quite in it. They had fun with her parents, Amy and Rory Pond, and they had good times with Clara Oswin Oswald, and all the other friends they had met along the way. But he could grieve her properly later. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out the letter. It read:
Dear Doctor,
This is going to all sound very weird and strange and you're totally going to freak out and be angry and stuff but just read the whole letter through first okay. Just promise me you'll do that okay?
Right first things first, I'm in the parallel universe still and this letter was sent through a small crack in time and space and I don't have much time.
Your clone, James he called himself, has changed. I don't know what or how but one day he was fine, next he went crazy. Trying to take over the whole of the earth, and he's doing a pretty good job. This is all I could hope for, that you'll come and save me. Reality itself is cracking, like cracking enough where you could maybe get through. This whole universe is destined for disaster; please I need your help.
Mum and Pete and Tony are dead, James killed them. Now doctor before you get angry, don't get angry. Please be calm enough to try and sort this, I don't want them to die in vain. James is hunting for me, and I'm next. This is my last hope, so please just come if you can. If you can't its okay, I understand – so don't get annoyed.
I know you'll try your hardest.
I love you. I loved you then and I love you now. I never loved James.
-Rose Tyler (BAD WOLF)
The Doctor reads the letter over and over again. And by the thirteenth time, he knows only one thing.
He will save Rose Tyler.
