I walked upstairs to my room. The bed was unslept it, but there was something on the pillow. I moved closer and saw it was a small box with a note. I opened the note first.

Rose,

I've been fiddiling around with some things at night (because I need more sleep than I used to, but still not as much as a normal human) and I made this for you. I'll see you in a month.

The Doctor

P.S.

07543 289 542

His cell phone number, I guessed. I opened the little box and sat down on the bed. It was a small pink sonic screw driver. I was overwhelmed with regret. The day before canary wharf I had told the Doctor I wanted my own sonic- how often did we get seperated just when I needed his? He had laughed at the time. Told me he couldn't set me loose on the world with a sonic. But here it was. He had remembered. And not only had he remembered, he had changed his mind. Decided he could trust me with it.

I cried for a while. I felt very confused, but mostly foolish. When I was still seeing my therapist, she told me I was suffering from a sense of saudade. It's a Portuguese word that doesn't really translate into English, but it roughly means longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing may never return. It is often described as "the love that remains" after someone is gone.

I had liked that there was a word to describe how I felt- it meant others had gone through it. I realized I was overcome with a sense of saudade again. Last time, I always had a glimmer of hope that he would find me, or that I would find a way to see him again. I had never given up (even though he had), but now I was faced with the realization that there was a very good chance I could lose this man who loved me.

Day Three

I was back at work. We had been puzzling out a message sent to us from Echpone. It took us three days just to dechipher that it was a friendly greeting. I dictated one back, and for once an alien encounter was friendly and uncompliacted. Mum made a roast for dinner. I thought about calling the Doctor to thank him for the sonic, but settled on a text.

Day Seven

It was a Saturday. The Quavis fleet was going to be soaring through our atmosphere for just a moment, so Mum, Dad, and I bundled up Tony and took him to the countryside to watch. We all laid out on the blanket, and we watched them glide by. It only lasted a moment, but I was left with a feeling of lack. I wished the Doctor was there to hold my hand.

Day Eight

We landed the TARDIS in a little garden and walked into the tiny little white house that owned it. I took the Doctor's hand and asked him why he had a key. He had smiled at me and pulled me inside by the hand. Inside was simple. It had a little tv and a bookshelf in the living room with some cozy looking chairs and a sofa. He led me up the stairs, past a room with a large bed and into a small pink room. It was had a little dresser, a little table, and a cot. I had a memory of the Doctor making it himself. He had told me it was a replica of his, when he was little. I looked at him, confused, and he pointed to the mirror hanging off the back of the door. I walked into view and saw myself, very pregnant. He came behind me and wrapped his hands around my stomach. Kissed me on the cheek. "We don't have to take her out in the TARDIS til she's ready," he told me.

I woke up in tears and decided I wasn't going to get out of bed that day.

Day Twelve

I was unsure how I was going to make it through a month of his being gone. I didn't miss the other Doctor anymore. I missed my Doctor. I was startled the first time I called him that in my head. Happy, but also sad, because I still couldn't bring him home yet. He had to finish the mission. I had been going out to the shed everyday to talk to the TARDIS, but this day was different. It started pulsing at the sound of my voice, and emitting a faint glow. I called the Doctor.

"Rose!" he exclaimed when I answered.

"Hi Doctor," I whispered back. I felt suddenly shy. I realized we hadn't spoken since that night. "I was calling because of the TARDIS." I told him what was going on. He hummed happily.

"That is exactly what it should be doing. You've been talking to it?" he asked.

"Mhm. How'd you know?"

"The coral was happy to hear your voice. It's not an it anymore- it's a she!" he said excitedly.

"Doctor, there was one other thing..." I began, but then I heard a laugh in the background. A female laugh. I heard him cover the phone and whisper, "No... I'll be right there." I closed me eyes.

"What were you saying Rose?"

"Nothing important." I answered before hanging up.

Day Fourteen

I laid in bed after a particuarly vivid dream. I closed my eyes but couldn't sleep, so I decided to try something new. I took slow, deep breaths, reaching out with my mind. After thirty minutes I felt the tentitive edge of some other. There wasn't any other way to describe it.

Rose.

It brushed against my mind like a whisper. His voice, like the night he whispered into my hair that he loved me.

It's me.

I wasn't sure if he could hear me, if this was really happening. How long I could maintain a connection.

I sensed his confusion, his hesitation. His indescion. To shield or not to shield, that is the question. He decided not to shield. I felt him unfold.

How?

I asked. It was easier to convey feelings than sentences.

Are you okay?

Apparently not as hard for him.

I... miss you.

I fell back to sleep feeling like I was wrapped in his arms.

When I woke up in the morning I was unsure if it had really happened, but there was a text on my phone from an unsaved number.

I love you Rose Tyler.

I saved the number in my contacts as The Doctor.