The sound of the TARDIS rang out, a sound Rose Tyler would never, ever forget. She was on her feet and running outside as quickly as she could manage in her pregnant condition. Her Doctor was out running an errand, and for a brief moment she flashed back to the days when she was traveling with the Doctor, and he had left her to go somewhere.
She skidded to a stop in the backyard, transfixed by the sight of the glorious blue box before her. She couldn't say she was surprised, for some small part of her had always expected the Doctor to return. She had known deep inside that he would, just as she had known she would find a way to find him when they were first separated.
The door swung open and a man wearing a bowtie emerged. She took him in, then peered around him to see into the TARDIS, hoping to see some sign of the Doctor.
"Well, hello." The man grinned and adjusted his bowtie, which had fallen askew.
"Hello. Where's the Doctor, then? Are you his new companion?" It hurt her a little to say that, to think she was replaced with someone new. Of course, the Doctor needed someone to travel with. She couldn't begrudge him that. Travelling in time and space was lonely, even when you went with someone else.
The man's smile lessened. He looked at her, as if waiting for her to say something. She returned the gaze, eyebrows knit in confusion.
"Well?"
"Rose… don't you recognize me?"
She looked at him again, and the realization swept over her in a tidal wave. Oh. This was the Doctor. He'd changed again.
Suddenly she was back in the kitchen of the flat she and her mother had lived in those years ago, confessing how confused and scared she was, while the Doctor lay, sleeping in the other room.
All the air left her lungs and it felt like her chest was collapsing in on herself.
"But you're—you're different. You regenerated." She whispered, and the full realization of how far behind she had been left hit her.
She had simply imagined him staying the same, traveling through time, saving the world. But she had forgotten the Doctor was always changing. He had to, traveling through time, running everywhere. She'd run with him once, she ought to have known.
But of course, when you fall behind it's hard to catch back up. You miss things. Tears threatened to well in her eyes, but she swallowed them back. "What happened?" What regeneration was he on? How many had she missed?
He looked at her, and she saw a flicker of the Doctor she knew and loved in his eyes. It was the look of a man burdened with too much pain and too many secrets.
"Saving the world. Ran into a bit of nasty radiation." He summed up quickly. Rose could sense it was a longer story. "Saw you before the end, though." The Doctor remarked quietly. She looked up at him.
"But you couldn't have, I've been here."
"It was before you'd met me. New Year's, the year you met me." He explained, leaning up against the TARDIS.
"Oh. I remember that, I think. I always thought it was a coincidence, someone who looked like you. Like you did." She corrected herself quickly. She'd managed to convince herself it was just a drunk man, nothing more. Of course, after she'd been forced into the other dimension, Rose had always wondered if that was him, saying goodbye.
And it had been.
She couldn't stop the tears from surfacing. The Doctor looked down at her, smiling sadly.
"Look at you, Rose Tyler. Here, alive, doing well. And you're pregnant!" He returned, managing to pull the quirky smile back onto his face. "Look at you, you look like you've swallowed a planet!"
Despite the mess of emotions running through her, Rose couldn't resist a smile and a laugh. Her confusion melted a little as he held out his arms, and she ran into them, hugging him tightly.
"Rose Tyler, I've missed you." He whispered in her ear.
A small choked sob escaped from the back of her throat. In that moment, it didn't matter that he looked different, and acted differently. He was the Doctor, no matter how he changed.
She pulled back to look at him, then at the TARDIS. The sliver she could see from the door told her the TARDIS was different, too.
"But how did you get here? The universes—"
"That's a secret. Timey wimey stuff." He tapped the side of his nose with a smile. "Can't actually tell you. What I can tell you is that your world is in danger, and we're going to save it."
Rose let those words sink in. She had never expected to hear them again, not from him. There was a burst of emotions, and mixed with the hormones running her pregnant body, tears began running tracks down her face, and the Doctor looked very concerned.
"No! Nothing bad—well, it is bad, but we're going to fix it. So it's good. Great fun!" His hands fluttered around, looking for something to console.
Rose shook her head. "No, I'm not upset. I just—I'm happy. I'm glad you're here. And I can't believe it, either." She said with a small laugh. "C'mon inside, I'll make us some tea. The Doctor—my Doctor—should be back soon."
"Brilliant! Tea's good. I'll just pop back in the TARDIS a moment, you go on in."