The Doctor stood there and glanced down at a button.
Just a regular looking small blue button amongst a panel of other similar multi-coloured buttons.
And it was his job to press it.
There was no one else in the large crisp white alien room; he only had a small black military radio and the people on the other end of it for company.
But he waited for them to call him.
Waited for them to say that the markers were in place, the markers that would draw the means to dispel the storm and end the war.
Jackie and Daniel, one of the Torchwood techies who had come to see sense and would help reverse him bosses mistakes and save the world; they had already radioed and said that their marker was in place.
The Doctor began to wonder where Rose had got to when the radio in his hand sprung to life once more.
"Doctor?"
"Rose."
"Jenna's dead." Another of Torchwood's employees just adding to the death toll.
"The marker Rose, is it ready?"
There was a slight hesitation before she replied; "Yes, Doctor."
But there was something in her voice, a kind of finality, and the back ground was filled with a strange but familiar noise.
"Rose, where are you?"
There was no response.
"Rose?" he asked softly.
"Doctor, push the button." She commanded.
"Rose, are you safe?" he asked as his hearts shuddered and thudded in his chest.
Again, no response.
"Rose!" he shouted his voice almost cracking.
"Doctor, push the button, save the world." She said with tears in her voice.
"No!" he shouted, his entire body beginning to shake with exhaustion, worry and fear.
"Doctor, you have to, you have to survive; you, the world, it's worth it." Her voice faltered for a moment, you could almost hear her mentally pull herself together, "It's worth me."
"Not to me."
"Doctor."
This time he was the one with no words to say.
"Doctor, we're running out of time."
Time indeed. Something he thought would never be a worry to him until the end of his days a few centuries in the future but now, it felt as if the end had already come.
"Time," he said softly, "I could get the TARDIS and come and get you. We could leave; let these stupid apes suffer the consequences of their actions. We'd have all the time in the …"
"The world would be gone. 6 billion people. A species and their future. Good or bad."
"You're right." He said with tears beginning to form in his eyes.
"Save the world."
"And lose you?" he asked not really expecting an answer but one came anyway.
"Yes." She said defiantly.
"Get as far away from the marker as possible. Do remember Downing Street? You saved us then, try to get some place strong. Some place safe."
"Yes, Doctor." She said, the sound of her footsteps in the background.
"I will find you." He said determined.
The next voice to crackle over the radio was not Rose's.
"Doctor, you told me she would be safe." The voice pleaded questioning.
"Doctor, push the button." Said Rose's confidant voice.
"No!" Jackie screamed over the radio.
The next sounds any of them heard where the sounds of rockets being unleashed and not even 2 seconds later the subsequent double explosion.
He ran. As soon as the button had been pressed he abandoned the white room and the radio and ran. He didn't stop until he came upon the edge of a crater where a wing of the Torchwood complex used to be.
It was completely decimated.
"Rose!" he called jogging forward between the charred remains of bricks, mortar and cybermen pieces.
"ROSE!"
It was almost impossible.
Almost.
He closed his eyes and concentrated. He could do it, he could find her; he searched out among the debris for her thoughts.
Nothing.
Then, he searched for her heart.
A faint sound called out to him.
"ROSE!" he shouted his eyes springing open as he followed the trail of sound that was her heart.
Then he saw her trainer.
He stopped running and moved forward slowly towards the spine chilling scene before him. He could see only her trainer, a huge sheet of dented metal lay there where the owner of the trainer should be. He was almost afraid to see what was beneath it.
But he needed her.
It took less than 1 minute for him to move the debris, ever mindful not to damage the frail human beneath it, and in that minute he could already feel her heart beat slower.
Not dangerously slow.
Yet.
He glanced down her body and saw just a few cuts and bruises with a possible broken ankle, but he knew that appearances could be deceiving. Kneeling next to her, he held one hand to her head and the other over her stomach.
Internal bleeding.
A lot.
Too much for him to fix.
Her heart slowed slightly once again and with that his own hearts were crushed.
"Rose." He said softly.
She grimaced slightly trying to open her eyes.
"Easy." He said softly, sweeping back her hair and placing both hands to her head.
"Doc…"
Don't speak, just think. I can hear you.
Doctor
Oh Rose, what have I done?
Saved the world, saved my world.
But you…
The valiant child will die in battle. You said it lied.
It did. You are so much more than just valiant. Strong, true, compassionate, beautiful, caring, just, wonderful, amazing, powerful, smart, beautiful and fantastic. All that and more, my Rose.
You said beautiful twice.
Then it's doubly true.
Her breath hitched, her chest convulsed upwards towards him and her face grimaced in pain.
It was one of the most frightening things he'd ever seen; watching his world, his everything, his love fall apart in his hands. And there was nothing he could do.
Rose he thought soothingly, reaching into her mind to try and ease the pain.
She coughed throatily and drew a rattling and shuddering breath in and out; then her eyes opened for the first time since he'd found her.
I'm okay.
No you're not, and it's all my…
I'm okay because you're safe. I'd do anything to keep you safe, my Doctor.
Oh, Rose
And the tears began,
I need you he thought dearly.
At this a warmth spread through his body as Rose mentally hugged him. Fresh tears welled up in his eyes and dripped onto her muddy shirt.
"I love you." He said aloud.
I love you, too.
He brought his lips to hers in a soft teary kiss, as another wave of warmth spread through him.
My Rose, you are so special. I'll never forget you. Never, never, never ever.
She smiled again and coughed once more, deep and racking, and brought a deep crimson tinge to he pale lips.
Her heart jumped and then slowed.
They didn't have much time.
"Rose." He sobbed, the sound of his heart shattering could be heard in that one word.
Doctor, you were fantastic, wonderful and I want you to do one thing.
His eyes screwed shut, loosing more tears before he opened them determined not to miss another second of her beautiful shinning eyes.
Live and have a fantastic life.
For you Rose Tyler, anything. Anything. And he kissed her briefly once more, the iron taste of her blood on his lips sending fear course through this own.
He stayed there with her to the end, smoothing her hair and holding her gaze.
The warmth in him faded as her heart slowed further and she took her last breath.
And then she was gone.
It was the end.
The end of Rose Tyler.
He wept with her body cradled in his arms for what felt like an eternity.
When he had no more tears left to cry and the flaming debris around him had died down to embers he lifted her into his arms.
Her head pulled by gravity tipped back in a helpless and unnatural way as he carried her so carefully that her back was almost completely straight and her hair swayed ever so slightly with his slow march.
He carried her with dignity and physical ease, but the emotional burden was almost too much to take. With each crunch of the wreckage under his feet his heart shattered into smaller pieces.
He walked through crowded halls of the Torchwood complex.
No one questioned him.
Despite the atrocities they had all seen these past few days this would be the image that would haunt them in their nightmares to come.
The slow march of the Doctor as he carried the lifeless body of his young companion, another victim of their greed. Sheer rage emanated from him; so much so they could almost feel the heat of it as he walked past. But it was his tear stained cheeks, his moist eyes combined with everything else that sent shivers of fear through their bodies.
He reached the end of one hall and turned in the direction from which the TARDIS's soothing song was coming, only to be faced with the leader of the facility barring his way.
She visibly quelled at the sight of him.
Calmly he moved forward to stand directly in front of her.
"How much does it take? How much destruction? How much death, just for you to learn your lesson? All of you!
"Rose Tyler sacrificed herself for the world, sacrificed herself to fix your mistake.
"She thought it was worth it. Her life was worth a second chance for you and your race. Prove her right.
"But if you don't, if you don't change your ways, then I will return. And mercy will be replaced with revenge. Nothing will stop me."
She held his fierce gaze the entire time and then looked to the young girl in his arms, then back to him. She nodded slightly with a resolve in her eyes and then stepped to the side and let him past.
It took only a few minutes for him to reach room holding the TARDIS, as he entered the room 2 faces turned in his direction, all with an equal look of shock and horror.
"Rose!" Jackie cried, running forward, tears in her eyes.
She leaned over her prone body and brought her hands to her daughters face, stroking her hair and sweeping her thumb across her moist cheeks.
"Rose!"
"She's gone Jackie." The Doctor said softly.
And she turned on him fisting his lapels in her hands and shaking him, as tears flowed freely down her face.
"You said she'd be safe." Then she began hitting him hard on the chest, his own tears dripping down his cheeks, "You said she'd be safe!"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." And she stood back from him, and brought her attentions back to the lifeless body of her daughter.
DWDWDWDWDWDW
Later after he had taken Jackie and the rest home and had his last look upon her soft features etching them deeper in to his memory before he left, sneaking from the domestic scene by the back door and without so much as a nod of acknowledgement or goodbye he left with the intention of never gracing the streets of Powell Estates.
He slipped from the cool London air into the comforting warmth of the TARDIS, closing the door behind him he moved forward and had the machine dematerialise and set the controls to just float around in the place between time and space.
And then he legs went beneath him and he slumped to the floor the railing around the control panel digging into his back and being all the supported him.
His face grimaced in pain as he let loose a gut wrenching cry.
But no tears came.
His arms and shoulders felt stiff from carrying her, his chest bore the bruises of Jackie's anger. And he never wanted it to go away, this physical representation of his emotional pain.
It was something real, something that he could hold on to, while everything else seemed to slip away. The colour had drained from the world around him, leaving him in a dreary reality of black and white.
He had already done so much for her, but he wondered if living after her death would be asking too much.
But he had to keep going. It what he does, what he'd done in the past but it hurt so much.
He almost wished that there was a black space where his hearts would normally occupy, instead of the feeling of them being ripped slowly and painfully with each breath he took, the feeling of something squeezing the life from him with every beat they drummed in his chest.
But he had to go on; not because he wanted to, not because his life was worth hers, but because of his last words to her.
For you Rose Tyler, anything. Anything.