The Doctor stood at the console, the small ebony box in his hands, and looked at the image of the young man outside on the scanner. This was going to be difficult.
Mickey was tired, he's been sitting there waiting for what seemed like hours but looking at his watch told him it had only been 45 minutes. He hadn't seen Jackie since she had sullenly marched off to her flat, having counted the ten seconds she had been told to wait.
Mickey was still flicking through his copy of the Evening Standard, the print now smudged across his fingers and the contents imprinted on his brain. He was starting to think he was wasting his time. It had taken Rose a year to get back last time and to her it had been only a few days. There was no telling how long he would have to wait if she was on a longer journey.
He jumped to his feat and began to move in the direction of his flat when he heard a familiar sound. He turned back as a swirl of wind surrounded him and queasy feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. There before him was a familiar Blue Box.
The Doctor had not moved for sometime, he was just standing there, cradling the black box in his hands, watching Mickey on the scanner pacing up and down outside the doors. Prepared for what was to come the Doctor headed towards the doors.
Mickey almost jumped when the door of the Tardis opened and the Doctor stepped out. He strained to look in to the Tardis as he waited for Rose to follow the Doctor out. But the Doctor pulled the door shut behind him and obscured the view inside. Mickey looked at the Doctor and noticed a change in the man. The Doctor seemed older, not necessarily aged but tired.
"Where's Rose?" asked Mickey.
The Doctor seemed to pull the box in his hands closer towards himself. Mickey looked down at the box as a he began to form ideas about its contents. He stepped back from the Doctor, his body tensing as though expecting to be hit.
"Where is she?" he was more insistent.
The Doctor seemed to stiffen before he spoke, his neck stretching in an attempt to make himself taller.
"Mickey," he said the name gently "she asked me to give you this, here and now".
"Wh..what is it" asked Mickey, stepping back even further, his gaze fixed on the box as the Doctor stretched out his arms to give it to him.
"It's all that's left" said the Doctor.
Mickey froze, all feeling seemed to stop. He could sense the anger growing inside him but the need to know what had happened was more urgent.
"You promised you'd look after her" he spat.
"I did" said the Doctor.
"How, how can you say that to me and bring her back in a box" Mickey was nearly crying now.
"It's not how it seems, time is not …".
"No", Mickey interrupted "you don't come back here with that and say you looked after her. You don't come back like this and start trying to block me out with technobable"
Mickey was nearly dancing in desperation now, the emotion he had been holding back was threatening to boil over at any moment.
"What happened" he insisted.
"Time makes fools of us all" mumbled the Doctor to himself.
This was more than Mickey could take and he lunged out at the Doctor, grabbing him by the scruff of his coat and slamming him against the Tardis.
"Tell me what happened" shouted Mickey, his face crumpled in a mix of fear and fury.
"She died" said the Doctor as simply as he could manage.
Mickey could feel the box pressing in to his stomach where the Doctor held it in front of himself. He dropped his hold of the Doctor and stepped back away from him again, feeling like his blood was turning to ice in his veins. He was so numb that at first he did not feel the faint vibration in his coat pocket and it was not until he heard the familiar ring tone that he registered that his mobile was ringing.
"Answer it" said the Doctor, his voice simultaneously compassionate and commanding.
Mickey did not take his eyes of the Doctor as the reached in to his pocket, pulled out his phone and answered.
"Hello" he said.
"Hi Mickey, it's me" said the voice.
"Rose is that you?" asked Mickey, confusion apparent in his voice.
"Yes you daft git, of course it's me" the was amusement in Rose's voice "sorry it's taken me so long to call it's just been so hectic lately"
"So long?" repeated Mickey.
"Yeah, it must have been weeks since I left. The Doctor kept nagging me to phone home but I didn't think it'd matter since he juiced up my phone. How long has it been for you?"
Mickey looked down at his watch "About fifty minutes" he said.
"See, I told him. Mickey, it's been wonderful I wish you could have seen some of it." She was buzzing with enthusiasm "guess where I am now?"
"I don't, I don't know"
"I'm standing on top of a mountain, the rocks are purple, the grass in orange and the sky is yellow. There are two moons up there as well as the sun and there are birds nearly 10 foot long flying over my head"
"Are you coming home" Mickey's voice nearly broke as he looked at the box in the Doctor's hands.
"Not yet, there's so much yet to see, it could take me a lifetime. But don't worry I'll keep in touch. Look. I've got to go"
"What?"
"We're going down to the city to watch the parade. Oh, it's too complicated to go in to. I'll tell you all about it next time. Luv' ya, bye"
"Love you" said Mickey but she was already gone.
Mickey stood there looking at his now silent phone for ages before he looked back up at the Doctor.
"It took her a lifetime" said the Doctor.
"What?" asked Mickey again.
"It took her a lifetime but she saw it all. The Pyramids of Celestis Major, the Singing Books of the Talisian Library and she had the greatest ride of her life in the Horsehead Nebula"
"A lifetime" said Mickey.
"Yes, a long lifetime" said the Doctor.
"How long?" asked Mickey.
"Being as old as I am I sort of lost track but she told me to tell you that the Queen Mum would have been green with envy." the Doctor almost smiled at the memory "She asked me for one last thing. To bring her remains back to you here at this moment"
"So, she never cam back"
"Oh no, you'll see her again. You're certainly not going to get away from that nasty incident in Cardiff, oops, said too much already. And there will be more calls. No it's just after a life of adventure and event, this night was the most important of them all".
"Why?"
"Because this is the night you let her go"
Mickey was stunned. Rose was dead but she was still alive, it was too much to grasp. The Doctor took a few steps forward and placed the box in Mickey's hands.
"She wanted you to have this," said the Doctor "she said it would help you understand your own future better".
"But Doctor, how did she die, was it." Mickey could not think of a word.
"Peaceful?" asked the Doctor.
Mickey nodded.
"Yes it was peaceful. She was surrounded by her family, her Children and Grandchildren and me" said the Doctor.
"Children" said Mickey "Did she?"
"Get married. I'm sorry but I can't tell YOU, about that" said the Doctor with a mischievous smile.
The Doctor turned back to the Tardis, opened the door and stepped inside.
"Why can't you tell me?" shouted Mickey after him.
"Think about it" said the Doctor before the door shut and the blue box evaporated.