After making the deal, it was clear what was to happen next. Team TARDIS had to break up into three different directions and not one of the three was very inclined into doing so. The Doctor especially despised the arrangement because Martha was going straight into a hell hole, and although Rose's task seemed simple enough it almost sounded too simple, like there was something sinister behind the plan. Although, he'd never let any Dalek nor Time Agent sans Jack aboard his TARDIS, so Rose was the logical choice in the end.

Martha broke the Doctor's thought process, saying his name.

"Martha, I…"

"Don't, it's beneath you." Martha grinned, almost making fun of some strong emotions. "No matter what happens, I love both of you."

Martha moved to hug both the Doctor and Rose. It was a communal hug, but each had a negative inkling that it might be the last time they all touched.

Martha pulled away from them, briefly turning the other direction to a standing Abel. The Time Agent strangely seemed rather sympathetic and not impatient like she may have thought him to be. Abel actually cared strongly about her, and in a way it made all of this so much easier since Tom could not be here.

Rose smiled at her friend of the last year who really had helped her more than she could ever realize. "Bring us back a souvenir."

Martha laughed a little at that. "Sure. See ya soon."

With that, Martha left as she fell into step with Abel leaving the Doctor and Rose alone staring at each other wordlessly other than the motionless waiting Daleks.

Rose broke the silence. "So, I guess I should, ya know, go."

"Yeah."

She moved to walk away before suddenly turning back having realized something. "Hold on! You gonna tell me what to do?" She laughed a little at their awkwardness.

"Oh, right, right, right, right, right." The Doctor had been thinking of something completely different. "Open up the grating where I'm always tinkering away on the far side of the console. Whatever you do don't touch the grating on the right front area. That could be bloody disastrous. Only the far side. Once you climb in there you're going to plug in this ship directly into the TARDIS. Simply do that and then just spin the rotator cuff on the console a half turn and the Pythagorean lever to its right angle and zing zang you're done." He swiped his hands for effect.

"Sorry, the rotator what and what kind of lever?"

The Doctor looked at her like she was stupid before saying slowly, "The blue circle thingy. Turn it with your arms halfway and then that yellow right triangle instrument needs to be turned on the angle that marks a perpendicular line."

"Right, thanks."

"Don't mention it."

"See you lata then?"

With a strong sense of foreboding, he answered, "You might not and that's what I'm afraid of."

"You?" Rose teased. "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf now?"

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of. Oh, Rose, look, back on that beach I was going to say something to you."

Rose tensed. She knew what was coming, but she never wanted it like this. It could only mean one thing. "That was when you thought that you would never see me again, and if that is the only time that you can ever say it then, I'm sorry, Doctor, but don't."

"Before you go, Rose, I just need to get it off my chest. It needs saying this time."

She enunciated clearly with almost anger this time, "It doesn't. Doctor, I don't want to hear it."

"Let me then." The Doctor leaned in towards, Rose initiating a kiss which she jumped right into as both their hands made their way into each other's hair for a couple seconds of pure passion. It was their first ever kiss done consciously by both parties without seismographs, time vortexes, or anything other than raw feelings. It was magic for them both, but as Rose pulled away her head fell and went right into the Doctor's shoulder crying desperately. Ever since the Doctor told her she would die on the TARDIS she told herself that she was ready. Rose could have been strong and lighthearted about it before, but the Doctor's passion spelled something way deeper than any relieved fantasies or dreams. She couldn't escape it this time. Death was certain.

"I'm sorry, Rose. I'm so sorry." The Doctor looked at her, almost crying with centuries of loss on his mind personified through her.

She pulled away, fighting accepting her demise with denial. "I already died earlier today in the Yonkers building when I got shot. I can die again."

"Not this time, Rose."

"And you're… you're really just going to let me die?" Rose wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

The Doctor sighed, defeated. "I don't know how it's going to happen. I just know that it is to happen and that there's nothing in the universe I can do to prevent it."

"Funny, I escape death not knowing it a hundred times in the span of just five years and then one day I walk right into it prepared for it. Irony."

The Doctor only half laughed at her attempt at a morbid joke with his emotions getting stronger knowing he was about to lose Rose forever. Rose cupped his cheek with a few more tears as she whispered, "I love you, Doctor," before turning around and walking back towards the TARDIS. Dalek Caan glided behind her following Rose leaving the Doctor in the room by himself. He looked over at the computers near him knowing that he had to solve an almost impossible puzzle with his heart having just left him for the last time…