Sorry it has been so long. hangs head in shame Hope you all forgive me. Just this and then a epilogue!
"…Doctor?"
The Doctor felt relief rush through his body as Rose stirred in his hands.
"Rose," He started, tears forming in his eyes, "It's me, it's the Doctor, I'm here."
Slowly, her eyes opened and blinked as she regained focus.
"Doctor, where am I?" She asked sleepily and dazed.
Pete stepped forward from the door and up to her side and took her hand. "Sweetheart, you're in the Infirmary in Torchwood."
Rose tilted her head and her eyes found the familiar shape of her Dad.
"Hey Dad." She smiled.
Pete returned the smile and squeezed her hand, "Hey," He said back, "Look, I must go and phone your Mum. She'll want to know you have woken up." He squeezed her hand once more and left the room.
Rose tilted her head again so she faced the Doctor.
"How did you get here, you told me it was impossible." She asked, smiling weakly as the Doctor sat on the edge of her bed. "You told me that the universe would collapse,"
"I did say that didn't I?" The Doctor flashed his best grin at her, "Well being the genius that I am I found a way. Well, I say me, I mean the TARDIS found a way – she misses you."
Rose chuckled softly, he always talked about the TARDIS being alive and called it a 'she' often. "Alright then, she misses me. What about you? Have you -," Rose stopped, a lump forming in her throat.
The Doctor stopped smiling as his eyes, though reluctantly, watered, "Oh completely. Ever since the moment the breach closed with the void between us. My hearts sank as it became just a tall white wall, giving off no energy, just a cold wall."
Tears ran down Rose's cheeks, leaving a wet trail, "I've miss you too," She sobbed. Quickly, with every once of energy she regained since waking, she rose and threw her arms around him, embracing him close. "I can't believe it's you."
The Doctor held her, smelling the fruitiness of her hair, not quite believing he was there either, holding his Rose once against, against the odds of the universe and the fundamental rules of science.
"I know, but I am here now," he replied, withdrawing himself slightly from their long-awaited embrace just to look into her soft brown eyes, "I'm so sorry Rose, so sorry," he kissed the top of her head.
She looked up unsure of why her was apologising. He was here now, and that was all that mattered, they could be together.
"I came to take you back, for us to travel the stars once more."
"So why can't we?" Rose asked, confused, "You got here and you can take me back, take me home, right?"
"Rose," The Doctor began seriously, "You're ill -,"
"-and I'm getting better," She interrupted.
"No," The Doctor said firmly, "You collapsed because you're energy was drained," The Doctor paused and breathed, "by me."
Rose was still confused, "What?"
"When you absorbed the time vortex to save me from Satellite Five, the essence of your energy changed and became more then any human's energy ever should be. It mutated in what can only be described as Bad Wolf energy."
Rose gave him a look of bewilderment, "What's that got to do with anything with -?"
"I used that energy to get here. I concentrated it to get through the Void. It protected me. You protected me. Bad Wolf energy is all over the universe, in different times and places, more specifically the times and places we have visited and especially Bad Wolf Bay." The Doctor explained as simply as he could, it was a lot more scientific then he was letting on, but he knew Rose wouldn't be able to understand the spacio-temporal fundamental laws of the Time Lord meta-physical listings of science.
"What does it mean though? Why does that stop me from going home?" Rose questioned. The Doctor smiled inwardly, even though she was ill she wasn't afraid to ask about the reasons why the inevitable happens.
"The Bad Wolf is your energy, it's in you, it is you. But I harnessed the energy to protect me through the Void and to get here safely. I didn't come in the TARDIS. And now, because I am existing in your world, I'm still getting energy from you and making you unwell."
"But I feel better!" Rose insisted, "Like you are giving me energy and my health is improving."
The Doctor sighed, "Because I am close to you. But you're deteriorating. For you to recover I need to go back through the Void and give back the energy that I am taking on this world."
Rose began to sob as she realised the truth, "Can't you stay? Please? We could stay close to one another all the time, never parting. Like now, we're both here now, surviving."
"Rose, I'm sorry," The Doctor replied, tears falling now freely though silently down his cheeks, "But I can't."
"But why?"
The Doctor sighed again and looked at Rose. He raised his hand to her cheek and wiped away her tears. He brushed a single strand of hair away from her face and kissed her forehead.
"Do you remember anything when you absorbed the time vortex?" He asked softly.
Rose nodded, "Bits and pieces. I have dreams about it. I'm not sure whether they are real flashbacks or not."
"You said you saw all of time and space. All that ever was, all that ever is, and all that they ever could be. That you couldn't let go of it." The Doctor recalled.
Rose felt something twig in her memory; she remembered a glowing light, a sense of strength and enormous power. The whole of time and space running through her head.
The Doctor continued, "That's what I see all the time, and even though it drives me absolutely barking mad," The Doctor smiled at Rose weakly, "I can't let go of that. It is what makes me who I am, a Time Lord. The Last Time Lord."
Rose looked up at him, "But how come you can't see that now?"
"This is a parallel universe." The Doctor said sadly. "I can't function with diesel, which is all that is available here. I need petrol, back where you were born, where the TARDIS is, where we both should be." The Doctor pulled Rose into an embrace as she began to cry, "I'm so sorry, Rose, and I wish there could be another way."
They held each other for a while. It was just them, and then that was all that mattered.
"Rose," The Doctor said, after what seemed to be some time, "There's something I have to say to you."
Rose leant back, "What, Doctor?"
"Rose, I have been waiting to say this for a long time. Even when you were travelling with me, after we defeated every single alien threat that got in our way, and then the impossible happened."
The Doctor stopped realising a large lump in his throat, which he quickly swallowed away.
"I thought," The Doctor breathed, "I thought that I would never get the chance to say this to you. I never actually thought there was a possibility to see you again."
The Doctor swallowed again.
"But, now that I am here," The Doctor breathed and mustered up some courage, looking into her eyes again, "Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth, I love you." He smiled, happy to say it, "I love you, always have and always will. And I will certainly never ever forgive you."
Rushed with unfamiliar emotions, The Doctor lent in and kissed the love of his life. A kissed which was very well received.
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