Four

The Doctor stood rooted to the spot; unable to take his eyes off her face, he was speechless.

Rose Tyler had hardly changed at all, yet in so many ways she was a completely different person, one that seemed almost alien to him. Yet she was still his Rose. He could see it in her eyes. They were sparkling with pure delight and her smile was utterly mesmerizing.

"Rose," said the Doctor faintly, taking a step towards her. He reached out a hand to gently stroke her face, but was stunned to see her take a step back, away from him.

"No touch," she explained quickly, "you're still just an image, and if you touch me you'll break the connection!"

The Doctor was clearly at a loss for words. He was longing to touch her; he desired it more than anything else. He wanted to wrap his arms around her tightly and never ever let go.

"We haven't figured out a way to pull you across properly yet," Rose continued, sheepishly.

"But how did you even get me here?" questioned the Doctor, his eyes fixated on her, "this must've taken colossal energy! You should be dead! We should all be dead!"

At these words, and to the Doctor's sheer amazement, Rose burst into a fit of laugher. Here was the man who was going to save her all over again: the Doctor, her Doctor; the man she had so painfully lost and was determined to find. Here he was at last, stood before her, not even a day older, in all his seriousness. She laughed harder as she knew; deep down, that everything was going to be ok now.

"Sorry," she said after a moment, "but your face!"

And suddenly it was as if the Doctor had got the joke, for he began to laugh as well, chuckling exuberantly.

They stood for what seemed like an eternity, laughing long and hard, ecstatic that they had finally been reunited at long last on the one place they least expected: Bad Wolf Bay.


Jack Harkness quickly hoisted the Doctor's lifeless form onto his shoulders.

"I say, is he alright?" asked the elderly man bearing the red ticket, "somebody get the young fellow a glass of water!"

"That won't be necessary!" said Jack under the strain of the Doctor's weight.

"Everybody, it's ok, I'm a Doctor," said Martha Jones, assuredly, "everything's going to be fine!" She quickly turned on her heels and ran after Jack, who had already taken it upon himself to carry the fallen Time Lord back to the Tardis.

All of the ships passengers, including the waiters and crewmembers, were gazing after them, muttering amongst themselves in suspicious undertones. Yet once they had escaped the prying eyes of the guests, Jack carefully lay the Doctor down so that Martha could check that his hearts were still pumping. "They're faint, but both seem to be working."

"Great," said Jack, wiping his brow. "I take it this is exactly the way it happened before?"

Martha nodded. "Any ideas?"

" None."


Walking together along the shore, the Doctor and Rose were completely oblivious to the world. All that mattered was that they had each other, for however brief a period.

"Mum had a baby boy, Tony. And Mickey's head of electronics now: he can do anything with a computer! You should see him; he's really changed, doesn't need me anymore."

The Doctor was listening eagerly to Rose's story as she filled him in on everything he had missed out on. She had been working for Torchwood ever since her time travelling the stars with him had come to such an abrupt end. Her father, Pete Tyler, was head of the entire organisation, and Rose herself, had been feverishly working on a top-secret project for the past year or so.

"Basically we've been building this, um, travel machine, this dimension calendar so that, well, so that I could find you!" Rose smiled bashfully, the Doctor simply beamed at her. "It took us ages to get it to work," she continued, "and even then I could only jump between other parallel worlds 'cause of the walls being sealed off… it wouldn't register the Earth at all. But then something started happening," said Rose in a more serious tone, "it was like the walls between worlds were being ripped apart! Travelling for us was getting easier, but things were getting worse."

"Rose, what's happened?" asked the Doctor, coming to a standstill. He could tell that there was something seriously wrong, just from the look in her eyes.

"The darkness is coming… and nothing can stop it, except you."

"What'd you mean? What darkness?"

"The stars are starting to go out, one by one, all across the universe. It's coming Doctor, the darkness is coming!"