Beaches

Summary: The beach. That same beach. It was always there wasn't it. Where everything came full circle. Where every single bad thing between two universes happens. It had to be here. She knelt by him, fists clenched and holding tight onto his suit jacket.

Disclaimer: Don't own Doctor Who

Heart pounding in her ears, eyes watering, throat closed, she turns around to meet his eyes. But there's no one there. No one at all, the console room is still empty. She gets halfway through a relieved sigh when she hears him curse again, and sees sparks fly from the bottom of the console. She jumps at the sudden noise and turns back towards the TARDIS door, opening it and sprinting out into unfamiliar territory.

She glances around at her surroundings, heart still pounding and eyes wide. She would never get over what it felt like to go through that door into a new land. She was surrounded by mountains on all sides, but right in front of her was a huge beautiful lake and on the opposite side of the lake there was a beach. She swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to push back the memories of standing on another beach not too long ago, arms outstretched, waiting to be consumed by darkness.

Those thoughts she had on that beach had been selfish. Who else would stop the daleks if not her now that everyone else was gone. The rest of Torchwood had never dealt with them before, only cybermen and without Mickey and Jake and her mum or Pete she was the only one who could fix the problem. But now she was here because of the TARDIS, she was stuck here instead of saving her world from the Daleks.

She clenched her fists by her side and tried to blink back the frustrated tears pickling in her eyes and burning her nose. She would not cry, she had done enough of that already when the Daleks first came. She and her Doctor had put up a good fight, defending their world until the very end.

Or until his end, she thought bitterly, I'm still alive. She turned back then and looked at the TARDIS in her brilliant blue, humming sadly as if she could hear Rose's thoughts. Rose closed her eyes, allowing a few tears to fall before shoving the blue envelope into her jacket pocket and pulling out her phone. It was just the distraction she needed right now.

She pulled up her GPS again, pressing the back button and choosing "walking directions to" and hitting "Go". She glanced around her again, hoping beyond hope that she was at least on Earth and somewhere close to where she needed to be. She would not brave sneaking back into the TARDIS and hitching a ride with him. She really didn't need the reminder of her Doctor back home. Not right now.

She glanced back down at her phone, and blinked in surprise. She was almost exactly where she was supposed to be. She just needed to get across the lake to the beach on the other side. She bit her lip. She could do that one of two ways, she could try walking around the huge lake, which according to her GPS would take hours (and according to her invitation, she didn't have that much time) or she could swim across and risk ruining her phone, her invitation and her clothing.

She wasn't much for being prompt, but in matters where he was concerned, she always felt she needed to be. Especially if he had given her a specific time and place. He had never done that when they traveled together, so this much be important. She walked closer to the lake, slowly making her way down a hill towards the water, prepared to swim. He would just have to owe her a new phone when she made it across.

However, when she made it to the shore, there was a boat waiting for her. She fought back the urge to smile and pushed it out into the lake, wading a little in the water before climbing in and grabbing the oar and paddling it across to where the coordinates led her. It wasn't quite the center of the beach, but a little off towards the side in front of another hill and what looked to be writing in the sand.

She got the boat as close to the shore as she could and waded the rest of the way to the bank. She pulled the boat onto the shore with her, coating her wet trainers and jeans with sand. Then she stood, hovering over a note in the sand.

Cover your tracks

She stared at the note for a moment, dragging the boat farther onto the beach and reaching in it to grab the oar. She used the smooth wood to cover her footprints in the sand and pulled her phone out again, following the coordinates the last few steps to what looked like a small bush while continuing to use the oar to hide her tracks.

She sat behind the bush and checked the time on her phone. She still had ten minutes left. She sighed a bit dejectedly and gazed down at her cold and drenched feet. Then she slid her trainers off as well as her socks, setting them out to dry before she crossed her feet under her.

The wait was long, even though it was only ten minutes. It left Rose alone with her thoughts and them kept wandering back to the other beach with her Doctor and the Dalek and the death of her family. She couldn't help but blame herself. If only it had been her that died on that beach, her Doctor would have come up with a plan to save everyone by now. But no doubt that Dalek was running rampant through her universe.

But maybe that's why she was here. Her Doctor had been him after all, he could help her. He could help her save her family just as his TARDIS had saved her from death.

She checked her phone again, a bit impatient and noticed she only had three more minutes to wait. With a soft smile, she looked up and back out at the beach. Then, a bit far off she noticed something she hadn't before. There was a group of people, laying on a picnic blanket.

She briefly wondered if she should go join them when she saw a man stand up and make his way closer to the lake. She crouched a little lower and watched, following his gaze out to the water where an astronaut was wading towards the shore. She blinked several times in confusion and rubbed her eyes. Had she dozed off waiting?

She checked her phone again, only one minute left before turning back to the man and the astronaut. They were still there and now the man stood facing the astronaut, speaking to the person in the suit. She watched, heart pounding as she gazed back down at her phone for a brief moment.

Then she heard what sounded like a gunshot and someone screaming and her eyes snapped back up away from where her phone now told her she was out of time. She saw the man fall to his knees in front of the astronaut who shot him again, throwing him back a little ways. Then she saw something she thought she would never see again, golden light surrounding the man's hands and face.

"Doctor," she whispered, eyes wide. That was The Doctor. That man she hardly recognized was him. He had regenerated and now he was again.

She watched, almost defeated as he stared back at the people on the beach who had been at his picnic and then gazed in her direction. Mouthing what looked like "I'm sorry" before his gaze fell back on the astronaut.

He held his arms wide open in defeat before the astronaut who still had not left. And her breath caught in her throat. She knew in an instant what was happening here. Her Doctor had told her about this, about how his other self, this Doctor could still die if he was killed before he could regenerate.

She stood then, eyes filled with tears, the need to hide forgotten as she watched the scene unfold before her. As the astronaut fired another blast at him, cutting off his regeneration, she felt a scream rip free from her throat and she fell to her knees, overcome with grief once more. Why would the TARDIS bring her here to lose him all over again? To lose him and all hope of ever seeing her family again.

She fell to her side behind the shrub and curled in on herself, body shaking with silent sobs.