Part II

He looked up into the eyes of the girl that he hadn't seen in decades now. He was confused. How could she be here? She was supposed to be trapped in Pete's World. He jumped upright and pointed his sonic at her to begin scanning.

"You can't be the real Rose."

"Ask me anything." The blonde spread her arms wide, smiling that glorious, warm smile that always made his hearts dance and his stomach leap.

"Um…. What did we have on our first date?"

"Chips." She put a finger to her chin in mock consideration. "I do believe that you also thought it would be a good idea to show me the destruction of my own planet. You certainly know how to give a girl a good time!"

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as the tests began to come back as completely, utterly, perfectly human. "Satellite Five. We were there twice. Which young men where with us each time?"

"Adam. The bloke with the opening in his head now." She made a circular gesture at her own forehead, then grinned as she snapped her fingers. "I wonder how that's going for him.

"The other was Jack. Captain Jack Harkness," she repeated in a mock-serious tone that made him chuckle. "American savior of London during World War II. Handsome young man."

"I didn't ask about me yet," the Doctor joked, losing sight of his questioning. Rose giggled, and he started. There was something… ethereal about it. He shook himself. However she got here, she must have gone through the void. It was probably just Void Stuff messing up his superior Time Lord Senses.

Her gaze softened along with her smile. "C'mon, Doctor. You know that it's me. Don't you want to hear how brilliant I was in finding a way back to you?" He nodded slowly. "We should go get chips. For old time's sake." He nodded again, failing to notice the slight tug at the corner of his mind which was helping him along. "We can talk over chips. And maybe a Coke. Or a milkshake. I'm starving."

That got him. He grinned and leaped onto her in a tight hug, from which embrace she squeaked good-naturedly and hugged him back.

"Rose Tyler. My brilliant, incredible Rose," he breathed into her hair, and he could see a light blush creep up her neck. "I am never going to let you go again."

She pulled back, her eyes sad, and she didn't have to say anything. It wasn't going to work like that. He looked into her distraught eyes and decided that they could work on a solution later. He was, after all, brilliant.


The Moment sipped her chocolate milkshake- she had never tasted one before, and somehow it was better than experiencing it through someone else's memories- and listened to some long tale that the Doctor was spinning about Queen Elizabeth. She laughed in all the appropriate places and reveled in the firm warmth of his hand in hers. Just as she folded another soggy, vinegar-soaked chip into her mouth, the Doctor reached the punch line of his story and she spat out bits of potato as she laughed.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was examining her. His earlier doubts about her not being exactly right were quickly receding, but he couldn't forget what her last words to him had been. "I love you." And now here she was, laughing at his daft story and eating chips and holding his hand, much like they had done when they were just mates. He didn't know what to think, but the suspense was killing him. The longer he waited for her to mention the incident, the further away his courage to breach the subject slipped.

"Doctor," she finally said after he finished his story.

"Yeah, Rose." He smiled fondly at her.

"Do you want to know how I came across?"

"Of course."

The Moment thought for a moment, reviewing what she knew of physics versus what the Doctor knew and what he would expect Rose to know.

"Well," she eventually began, "Imagine a see-saw, right? Well, when one person travels from one universe to the other, it unbalances the see-saw. As long as you go back quickly it's ok, but if you stay for too long, the whole thing collapses. Our solution is to make a switch- when I come over here, we bring a bit of water with my approximate mass over to the other universe."

The Doctor thought for a moment. "Ok, I suppose that might work. But matter is fundamentally connected to the universe that it's from, and it doesn't want to be in a different one for very long. How are you working on that?"

"Well," what the Doctor thought to be Rose smiled, "Since you asked, I'm the one to worry about because I'm more complex than a bunch of water. And I'm already from this universe, but I've spent plenty of time in the other one, too, so I can survive indefinitely in either without using up tons of energy. It's a bit like… a rubber band. It can stretch for a while, but the longer it sits, the harder it is to keep it up. That's why we rotate out the water- we just keep bringing in new water from this universe, then sending it back and getting more…"

The Doctor gaped at her. "That's a ridiculous amount of energy! After you reach a certain length of trip, it would be impossible to find enough energy in the world to power that transporter!"

"That's why I can only stay for a week."

Both of his hearts plummeted. Thoughts of another goodbye already swirled through his mind, and he choked a little bit on the rush of emotion. Rose looked concerned and offered him a sip of her milkshake, which he accepted.

"Are you sure?" He honestly thought that he might cry, but he clenched the fist that wasn't holding Rose's hand.

She looked even more concerned, and now her own sadness appeared on her face, too. She stroked circled on his hand with her soft thumb and scooted a little closer across the plastic bench on which they sat. "Yeah. And, this time…" she paused, and her lip trembled a little, too. "This time it's for good. I'm sorry Doctor!" she cried as he let out a small sob. It was only a second before he regained his composure, but the Moment was beginning to understand the complex human emotions that she was feeling. She wasn't sure if she liked it.

"Doctor…" she moved so close to him that she was almost sitting in his lap. "I thought you would want this. You know, a chance to spend some more time together, then say a proper goodbye on our own terms." He nodded sadly. "And… I wanted it, too. There was something you were going to say to me when I left last time."

"I love you." He said it in a rush, still looking at his lap, and she leaned closer as though she hadn't heard him. His double pulse thundered in his ears like a melting year on Woman Wept. Did he still have time to take it back? Pretend it hadn't happened? Could his hearts take another break?

"Doctor?"

The Doctor jerked his head up to realize this his nose was almost touching Rose's. For a split second, he thought that he might have seen a glimmer of gold in her eye, but then it was gone. Fortunately, her soft, pink lips were still there. He leaned forward a fraction of an inch, closed his eyes, and enjoyed the Moment.