Rose wedged her foot in the door and then pried it open, wrestling against The Doctor to get in. "Please, you can't leave yet! Look, isn't there some way you could make sure you don't remember meeting me? You've got your sonic screwdriver! The human brain is basically an organic computer, right? So couldn't you, you know, do your thing, wave it around a bit, and make yourself forget?"
The Doctor stopped fighting her back and gave an admiring whistle. "Rose Tyler, oh, I like you!" He leaned against the side of the door and scratched his head, mussing the already askew brown hair, and appeared to be considering her suggestion. "I suppose maybe a little jiggery-pokery…"
Rose took advantage of his lax position, and shoving him to the side, reentered the Tardis. The Doctor stumbled, and righted himself, watching her turn to him, arms crossed and feet planted firmly on the Tardis floor. "Two months I've been missing you. That might not sound like long, but it was a lifetime to me. You took my heart with you when you left Doctor. I lay in bed but I couldn't sleep, ate but I couldn't taste, couldn't even watch the telly…course that's probably more to do with having my face stolen by one than missing you..." She gave a brief shiver and then returned to her rant. "Everything reminded me of you. I couldn't do anything properly; anything but think of you. And that day on the beach? What kind of goodbye was that? I travel across the world, fueled by dreams of you, to the one spot in the universe where we can reconnect. And then you don't even show up properly. Just your bloody hologram. And you didn't even finish saying it…you were finally gonna say it…that you love-" She broke down, tears spilling down her cheeks, and then yelled the last part "You are not leaving me again. So you just go on and try because I am NOT stepping foot out of this Tardis!"
The Doctor had been silent throughout her speech, his face changing from initial confusion, to sadness at her apparent heartbreak, to a "huh, really now?" look when she said she'd had her face stolen by a television set, to a startled, slightly wary expression when she mentioned the word love, and back to sadness, finally settling on an apologetic, conciliatory one. "Well…I don't know what all you are talking about, though I think I've got the gist…but I suddenly feel very guilty for things I have not yet done." He held out his arms and she fell into them, burying her tearstreaked face in the front of his suit. After a moment she looked up at him, smiling shakily. "So I can stay?"
He looked down at her gravely, his intelligent eyes deadly serious, "This is probably a terrible mistake…but I'll give you one trip."
To Be Continued
