Title: Reflections
Author: SlayersGrl
Summary: One year since Rose was separated from the Doctor, she returns to Bad Wolf Bay.
Disclaimer: Definitely, completely, entirely not mine.
Author's note: I was watching Army of Ghosts/Doomsday again… I decided a little less doom and gloom was in order.

She stood on the edge of the cliff overlooking the bay, the ocean gently smashing against the rocks below. She watched in silence as time marched on without her. The sun shone and the wind blew and life staggered onwards. On today of all days, the world seemed determined to ignore one of the most significant events in her life.

A year ago today she had lost the Doctor.

It was with a shaking hand that she clung to the last remaining proof that he had even existed; that her memories of another life were real and not some figment of her imagination. She slowly unclenched her right hand to reveal her TARDIS key. She touched it gently, remembering when the Doctor had given it to her. But that simple remembrance unlocked a floodgate. All of her experiences through time and space were free to reassert themselves, to remind her of what she had gained and ultimately lost.

As the anguish began to overwhelm her, she thought about simply tossing her last connection to the Doctor into the depths of the ocean below. She longed to forget the cause of so much pain. But that would be to forget the Doctor, the man who had shown her how to live. He showed her what it meant to be completely and utterly alive. The pain and the sadness reminded her she was human. To forget her pain would mean to forget her happiness as well.

No, today she had made a decision. It was time to move on. She would live her life the way she wanted to live: looking towards the future but never forgetting the past.

"I can't wait for you any longer," she whispered as she closed her fingers around the key. "Just promise you won't ever forget me. Because I will never forget you."

Smiling, she turned her gaze to the sky, closing her eyes as she envisioned all of time and space just waiting to be discovered. "I hope you're having a fantastic life." For the first time in a long time, her heart filled with hope. Not the false hope that she may one day see her Doctor again. But hope that life would go on and wounds would heal. She would just have to let time run its course.