A/N: It's Rose's last day on Gallifrey! The last two chapters of this fic will be set in Rose's universe and they'll cover her reunion with the Tenth Doctor. There will be several additional 100-word drabbles at the end of this chapter to cover the Doctor's eight-hundred years of time and shenanigans that he has to go through without Rose.

When Rose woke the next morning, she was in far better spirits than she had been the morning prior. She was warm, comfortable, and content in a way that she couldn't remember being in a very long time.

She sighed and snuggled closer to the familiar warmth and scent that surrounded her. She realized that she and the Doctor had fallen into the same position that they had been in when he had attempted to keep her protected in the Gallifreyan wilderness. However, it was now his back that was to her front, and her arm that was wrapped tight around his middle.

She leaned forward and buried her nose in the loose folds of his shirt as she pressed her palm tighter against the front of his chest. She silently marked the soothing rhythm of his double heartbeat and attempted to memorize the sensation of it against her fingertips.

"Are you … trying to feel my pulse?" The Doctor's low, rumbling voice vibrated against both her hand and her chest as she continued to press as close to him as she could possibly get.

A teasing smile curled up Rose's lips as she nodded her head against the space between his shoulder blades. She made a small, humming sound of assent in response.

He let out a small breath of amusement as he slowly reached down and wrapped his hand around hers. His fingers gently traced against her skin as though it were the most precious thing that he had ever beheld in his life. She felt as well as heard his slow, nervous intake of breath as he flattened his hand over her own, centering it more solidly between his two beating hearts.

Rose leaned forward to press a slow, lingering kiss to his temple. The Doctor shivered violently in her grip as he sucked in a startled breath. However, she felt his eager response as a warmth overflowed from his mind into hers and made her feel as though she were drowning in a sense of love and desire. He finally forced her hand away from his chest so that he could press a long, lingering kiss to her fingers.

Rose could have happily stayed in that position for a few hours longer, but the Doctor seemed to have other ideas. He quickly released his hold on her and sat up in bed as though he was eager to stretch his limbs. However, Rose watched curiously as he seemed to hesitate there for a moment. It was as though part of him longed to jump up and run away - an act that she was (unfortunately) quite familiar with - but the other part of him refused to be moved. He kept his back to her as he let his legs dangle off the far side of the mattress and seemingly weighed his options.

When it seemed that he was unable to come up with a conclusion of his own, Rose grew impatient and decided to make his choice for him. She rose to a sitting position as well, pressing her cheek tight to his nearest shoulder as she gripped his arm and silently begged him to stay.

The Doctor immediately let out a long breath of defeat. His shoulders fell and he slowly leaned back into her. He muttered something in the musical language of his homeland as he turned and pressed a kiss to her hair.

"You've said that before, haven't you?" Rose asked quietly. "It sounds familiar. What does it mean?"

The Doctor let his cheek rest against the top of her head as he heaved another small sigh. "It's difficult to explain in a language that you would understand," he replied slowly. "Time Lords have words that exist outside of time and tenses. They're words that aren't bound to a certain time or space but instead exist in every place, all at once."

"Tell me," she insisted as she brushed her hands over his arm in slow, soothing patterns.

"It's a promise, I suppose," he explained as he gently nuzzled his cheek against her hair. "A declaration."

"A declaration of what?" Rose pressed earnestly.

"Of loyalty and dedication. Of fidelity and trust."

Rose turned her face further into his shoulder as she squeezed her eyes shut and fought against the tears that threatened to break loose at any moment. Even after all this time, even after all they'd been through, it seemed that the Doctor still couldn't bring himself to say the words that she actually needed to hear.

"It's a promise, I suppose," he continued as he gently nuzzled his cheek against her hair. "It's a vow to be with you, at all times, no matter what happens. It's a promise that exists outside of death and regeneration. It's something we might say to someone who we know is going to go far away for a very long time. It means that I wish I could follow after you, but even if I can't be with you in body, I'll be with you in spirit until our timelines cross again."

"Didn't know the Time Lords could be so poetic." Rose decided to try her hand at levity in an attempt to cover up her own heartbreak.

The Doctor breathed a small noise of amusement as he lifted his head from hers and brought his free hand to the back of her neck, silently urging her to meet his gaze.

"Only this daft Time Lord." He raised a sarcastic brow as he smiled down at her. "And I suspect that there are few subjects that might be considered devastating enough for me to wax poetic about."

"Oh, just give it a few centuries," Rose replied with a slow, watery smile, "I'm sure you'll be able to find plenty out there in the universe to fill out your sonnets."

She watched as his gaze dropped pointedly to her lips and Rose felt her heart turn over in her chest as she took in the look of unabashed hope, desperation, and desire that she saw in his expression. When he leaned in to kiss her again, it was slow and reverent. Suddenly, Rose felt as though even a low-class Londoner like herself might be inspired to write a few lines of poetry in the wake of such beauty.

Rose raised her hand to reach for him and urge him to continue, but as she did, she happened to catch sight of the dimension cannon that was still strapped to her wrist from the night before. She felt a heavy sense of resignation settling in her gut as she realized that this was the last morning that she would ever have with the Doctor like this. Sometime in the next twenty-four hours, she would have to say goodbye to him and the odd relationship they had created together.

Rose wasn't sure if the Doctor read her thoughts, or if he simply understood the look of heartbreak on her face, but he instantly caught her shift in mood and raised his hand to cover her wrist. It was as though he wanted to try and erase their imminent goodbye by simply keeping the device out of sight.

Not yet, his thoughts whispered as he leaned forward once more and began to snog her in earnest.

But soon, Rose reminded him solemnly.

He already has your future, he insisted, let me have this.

There was really no telling which one of them it was who reached out to create contact this time. They both already had their hands in one another's hair and were mentally seeking connection as though their very lives depended on it.

Contact, their minds murmured in unison. Rose sank back onto the mattress once more and the Doctor eagerly followed after her.

She could sense the way that he longed for so much more, but he knew that it was not for him to take. Instead, he filled her thoughts and attempted to memorize every last detail about her so that he could store it all away in the space between his hearts and never forget, no matter what memory blocks were put in place. She could already feel his mind turning towards the long, empty nights ahead where he would fall asleep alone and wonder why his sheets smelled so hauntingly familiar. She could sense his future self's frustration as he paced back and forth and pondered over the strange sensation that something was missing .

Rose met his heartache with her own as her mind turned back to Torchwood, back to her family, back to the dimension jumps that took more and more out of her every time she subjected herself to them. She revealed to him the hurt and disappointment she felt whenever she realized that she had missed him yet again and her frustration as time slowly ticked down all around them and countless innocent lives were lost.

She didn't realize that the tears she had been attempting to hold back had broken loose until the Doctor pulled his lips away from her own and gently began kissing the wet tracks from her cheeks.

"Don't cry, love," he whispered against her skin. "It'll all be over soon, I promise."

"How do you know?" she sobbed desperately.

"Because you are the strongest, most capable woman I know." He continued to catch every tear with his mouth and fingers and refused to let a single one fall. It'll work, love, he continued to assure her as his thumb traced over her cheek. Trust me. I wouldn't ever send you back through that void if I wasn't absolutely sure.

"Maybe you were right, Doctor," Rose mused quietly as she reached up and began to trace his features with her fingertips as well. "Maybe things really were meant to happen this way. I don't know if I ever would have been able to get back to you in the future if you hadn't done your little 'jiggery-pokery' to my dimension cannon."

She could see the sour turn to his expression as he clearly displayed his distaste for her cavalier attitude over all of the hard work that he had done over the past few days. However, she could sense the moment that his thoughts decided not to take offense when she gently traced the edge of his lips with her thumb. She filled his mind with as much adoration and appreciation as she could manage.

The Doctor was so sure that she would never give up on her quest to get back to him, but Rose would be lying if she said that she wasn't beginning to seriously doubt herself. She had spent so many years taking one step forward and three steps back. It was wearing on her severely. Having the Doctor's reassurance that she wouldn't have to make any more blind jumps made her nearly dizzy with relief.

"You will be careful, won't you, Rose?" he asked as he continued to dutifully scan every single line of her features and commit them to memory. "I have not asked for details, because frankly, I am afraid to hear what you might have say, but I know that you indicated that something is going on in the future; something dangerous."

"I'm always careful," Rose lied quietly. When the Doctor flashed her a dubious, pointed look in response, she smiled and rolled her eyes good-naturedly at him. "I've learned how to get out of a great deal of trouble since meeting you," she added teasingly.

"Is there a lot of this in the future, then?" His expression suddenly grew grim as he stared down hard at her. "I do not know if I can send you back to him if there is any chance that he might be pulling you into another dangerous situation; knowingly or not."

"Trouble's just the bits in between," she assured him as she reached up and placed a slow, lingering kiss to his lips. "Besides, you're worth the risk."

"Tell me, Rose," he whispered roughly, "what did I ever do to deserve you?"

"It's not about something that you did," she replied simply, "it's about who you are."

"And who am I?" he asked as he continued to pepper her face with sweet, delicate kisses.

"You're mine," Rose informed him simply, "my Doctor."

Yours, he agreed, using his thoughts to reach out to her while his mouth found better things to do against the sensitive skin of her throat. Forever.

Rose and the Doctor allowed themselves the rest of the morning to simply exist within one another's company. When both of Gallifrey's suns had risen well over the horizon, she finally convinced him to find her one last thermos of tea before she left. She was pleasantly surprised when, for the first time since she had barged into his life, he sat down and shared breakfast with her.

"I can't think of what to say," the Doctor finally admitted when he had nothing left to busy his hands or fill his mouth with. "There seems to be so much, but so little time."

"It's always the way with you," Rose teased as lightly as possible.

She was back in her old, blue leather jacket again. She felt oddly out of place standing there with him in the midst of that old, disused barn. It was easy to forget when she was wearing her stolen Gallifreyan robes and skirts that she didn't actually belong here. Now that reality was sinking in, and it was apparent that she was different - an anomaly who would never be able to fit into this time or place.

"It's a good thing these goodbyes don't really ever seem to stick."

"A very good thing indeed," the Doctor agreed as he glanced up at her with a small, wry grin.

"We'll see each other again," she assured him confidently. "And you won't have to wait alone - not for all of it. I may not know much about the life you lived before me, but I think that you have plenty to look forward to, Doctor."

"Not 'Doctor'," he reminded her quietly. "Not yet. I'll have to go back to being 'Theta' again - just for a little bit longer, at least."

"Theta," Rose agreed thoughtfully.

She tilted her head at him and granted him the brightest, most confident smile that she could manage. The last time that they had said a goodbye like this, she had been sobbing with uncontrollable tears running down her face. She had thought that it would be the last time that she would ever be able to see the man she loved. This time was different. Now she knew that she had something - and, more importantly some one - to look forward to. She knew that this goodbye would not be forever.

"I love you," she informed him simply as she took one last long, lingering look at his youthful face.

The three little words seemed to hit him like a punch in the gut, but there was a bright, shining spark of hope in his eyes as well. A slow grin steadily stretched over his features in response. He was about to open his mouth to speak, but Rose rushed forward before he could get a single word out and pressed one of her fingers to his lips.

"No, not now," she instructed him quietly. "Save it for when I get back to you. I don't want to hear it for the first time as a goodbye."

The Doctor sighed as he looked into her eyes with an expression of helpless desperation. "Rose Tyler …"

"It's alright, Doctor. I already know," she assured him. "Some things don't need saying."

I never do erase her memory in the end. I simply bury her deep down in the space between my hearts where she can be allowed to take root - a seed of eternal hope.

The call of the stars only grows louder after she leaves, and soon it is a call that I can resist no longer. I take my favorite granddaughter with me (Arkytior - the only one I ever cared enough about to name myself) and follow the leading call to Earth.

I tell myself it's because I am bored. Susan knows it's because I am searching for someone.

I remember someone telling me once that I'm rubbish with goodbyes, but it takes me a while to figure out why. I watch as my newfound friends and acquaintances come and go - some of them disappearing as though they had never been, and others being forcefully ripped away like a Band-Aid.

I suppose it doesn't really matter in the end. None of them are really the one I'm searching for, anyway. I tell myself it's for the best as I ignore my broken hearts and move on to the next adventure. Not every goodbye is forever - I'm certain of that.

The entire time that I'm stranded on Earth, my dreams are haunted by visions of a small, stifling barn and thick, Gallifreyan heat. I left my home planet because I hated being confined, but now I am right back in yet another prison.

I keep the vision of a starry, pre-dawn sky ever before my eyes - the sensation of fingertips at my temples and the smell of arkytior blooms on the breeze. It calms my wanderlust, but does nothing to satisfy the sensation of desperate yearning.

I am surrounded by people; drowning in humanity - but none of them are her.

With all of time and space once more at my disposal, I take to the skies with even more recklessness than when I originally left Gallifrey.

I try to abandon my search for her, but it seems that every young human instantly snares my attention. Any one of them could be the one who I know I am missing. I don't remember what she looks like - those details have been long forgotten in an attempt to preserve the timelines. I only know that she's out there, somewhere, waiting for me, but I can never seem to catch up to her.

The slow path is longer and more painful than I could have ever imagined. I bear every single loss and hardship, following the song that continues to call me across space and time, leading me steadily onward in the direction of my destiny. It is a call that haunts me whether I am asleep or awake, a call that no one else seems to understand.

They think my wandering aimless, my goal intangible. I do not bother correcting them; after all, I barely remember my true purpose myself. I just know that I can't stop; someone is waiting for me.

I used to dream of eternity with wide-eyed hope and childlike exuberance. Now I've nearly forgotten the twisted, golden timelines twining together into infinity, their voices whispering such promise, such joy, such peace.

I forgot that eternity can be a curse as much as it can be a blessing. It is cruel, destructive, and uncaring. It does not spare a thought for all those that it tears away while I, alone, am forced to go on.

With each new goodbye I am reminded of the piece of me that is missing. She is the only hope that I have left.

How many centuries have I searched? How many years have I spent trying to fill the void she left behind? How much time have I wasted in this fruitless endeavor?

Gallifrey is gone, but that was never really my home. My home is not a place or a planet or a purpose. Home, for me, is solid golden timelines. Home is a warm hand in mine and the subtle hint of arkytior blooms on the breeze. Home is a promise of forever that I know is lying in wait somewhere up ahead, just around the bend of the time vortex ...