Goodbye and Hello

The Doctor stood in the Console Room of the TARDIS, waiting. He'd been sending messages through to Rose for about an hour now, but he knew it would be a lot longer for her. He'd been grieving in her bed for a full two days, not sleeping, eating or leaving the room. He couldn't. Eventually he saw signs that told him that the breach was still open, just a tiny bit. It wasn't much, but it was enough. He could send a message through to her, to see her again, to see that she was okay, safe, and also to say goodbye.

Now all he had to do was wait. He'd turned off his visibility for now, in case any passers noticed him. Soon, he heard the sound of a car driving across the wet sand, the first person to leave was Rose. The Doctor's chest contracted when he saw her. It was obvious she got as much sleep as he did. She looked dead on her feet, but still looked as beautiful as she did when she was giving him a tongue in the teeth smile.

Her eyes looked around for him quickly as she walked away from the other three that stepped from the jeep; Jackie, Pete and Mickey. She stopped when she was roughly twenty feet from them, scanning the beach carefully. He slowly revealed himself to her, her face lighting up slightly as she turned to face him. He gave her a weak smile as she approached him. "Where are you?" she asked.

"Inside the TARDIS," the Doctor replied quietly. "There's one tiny little gap in the Universe left, just about to close. It takes a lot of power to send this projection. I'm in orbit around a Supernova…" he gave a small laugh, adding, "I'm burning up a sun just to say goodbye."

Rose looked at him sadly, the waves see-able through his transparent suit. "You look like a ghost," Rose told him, watching the waves crash against the rocks through his brown jacket.

He frowned, then held up his Sonic Screwdriver towards TARDIS Console. Giving the device a click, he slowly became solid. Or looked so, at least. He looked at her sadly as she approached him, wanting to bring her into his arms with everything he had, her having the same strong feeling. She stretched one arm foreword to touch his face. "Can I t-"

"I'm still just an image," the Doctor replied regretfully. He gestured her hand, adding sadly, "No touch."

"Can't you come through properly?" she asked in a begging tone.

"The whole thing would fracture," he shook his head in denial. "Two whole Universes would collapse."

"So?" Rose replied, only half joking. He smiled at her attempt to brighten the mood to the miserable scene. They watched each other for a few seconds, the Doctor finally noticing their surroundings. "Where are we? Where did the gap come out?"

"We're in Norway," Rose answered.

"Norway, right," the Doctor mumbled, looking around the beach, a 'not bad' expression scribed on his features.

Rose nodded. "'bout fifty miles out of Bergen," she informed him. "It's called 'Dårlig Ulv Stranden'."

"Dalek?" the Doctor asked, surprise replacing the not bad.

"Dar-LIG," Rose corrected. "It's Norwegian for 'bad'…" she added, smiling slightly. "This translates as Bad Wolf Bay!" They laughed at the irony, but quickly stopped. "How long have we got?" Rose chocked.

"About two minutes," the Doctor replied softly.

The Doctor watched Rose as looked around, racking her brain for the things to tell him. She shook her head, and then laughed. "I can't think of what to say!" The Doctor laughed, looking down at the sand then back up to her, noticing behind the three people standing by the Jeep. "Still got Mr. Mickey, then?" he asked, looking over at them.

Rose nodded and bit her lip. "There's six of us now," she replied. "Mum, Dad, Mickey… and the babies…"

The Doctor's eyes widened as he stared at her. If he knew her as well as he thought he did, she hadn't been with anyone since himself, only a few days previous for him. "You're not..?" he whispered as he looked down to her stomach, which was covered by her zipped up jacket. His thoughts quickly went back to the night they shared on board the TARDIS when she didn't reply, a large pit of guilt washing over him.

Rose looked up at him with sad eyes for a few seconds, then broke out a chuckle. "No!" she laughed. "No, it's mum." The Doctor sighed inwardly, a small amount of happiness, but also sadness coming over him. He was happy she didn't have to carry his child. She was stuck there, end of. He didn't want her to be in constant pain for the rest of her life. As much as he hated to admit it, he wanted her to move on. Her carrying, giving birth to and raising his child would defiantly not let that happen. He looked over at Jackie as Rose continued. "Went to the doctors, it's twins," she told him. "Three months gone, more Tyler's on the way."

The Doctor smiled, then looked back at Rose, the soon-to-be-big-sister. "And what about you?"

"Yeah, I'm back working in the shop," Rose said.

The Doctor looked surprised at the comment, wondering why she wasn't doing something more with her life. She'd been around Planets and Galaxies, only to return to the ordinary like of a shop girl? Nothing else coming to his mind, the Doctor replied, "Well, good for you."

"Shut up," Rose laughed at his seriousness. "Nah, I'm not. There's still a Torchwood on this Planet, it's open for business," the tears rising again. "I think I know a thing or two about aliens."

In that instant, the emotions of sadness and pain were replaced with a strong sense of proudness. "Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth," he said strongly, happily. There was another wavering look between the two, the Doctor remembering something important. "You're dead. Officially, back home," he informed her, watching as a few tears spilled down her cheeks. "So many people had died that day, and you'd gone missing. You're on the list of the dead." Saying the words alone made his hearts leap to his throat. He didn't really want to tell her… but he felt she had a right to know. Watching her cry, for him, was one of the most painful things he'd ever had to do. She was billions of miles away, untouchable, yet he could still watch her here and now, a fate he'd gladly have chosen death over. "Yet here you are, living a life day after day," the Doctor continued, hoping that words rather than physical interaction would suffice. "The one adventure I can never have," he added quietly.

She let out a cry as the tears continued, only more now. "Am I ever g-gonna see you again?" she chocked out, sobbing in earnest now.

"You can't," the Doctor replied, tears forming in his own eyes, but too stubborn to let them fall.

"Then what are you gonna do?" she asked, her cheeks looking like she'd just been beaten.

"I've got the TARDIS," he shrugged. "Same old life; Last of the Time Lords."

"On your own?" Rose squeaked, the Doctor giving a small nod, watching her with compassion. Rose looked him over, surveyed him, herself hopeless and heartbroken, the tears falling thick and fast. "I-" Rose chocked on the tears before she could finish her sentence. She took a few moments, regaining her composure, looking up at the Doctor again, his eyes full of sadness and pain? She couldn't. She couldn't say those three words, he silently hoped. This was already painful enough as it was. Determinedly, she tried again. "I love you," she finally said, another shuddering sob escaping her throat. She looked up at the Doctor to see his reaction.

He gazed at her softly as she told him the words he often tried to tell her, but failed. "Quite right, too," he smiled as her, gazing at her with tenderness and devotion. "And I suppose… if there's one last chance to say it," he smiled again, but dropped it quickly, seriousness flooding his face. "Rose Tyler-" he started, but all too late. The projection of his lover faded, himself staring at the spot where she had stood, tears in his eyes as his mouth formed the 'l' of his next word.. He was ready. He was going to say it, but the Universe... the Universe seemed to hate him.

Swallowing the large lump in his throat, he looked down as two tears ran down his face, his hands slowly coming up to wipe them away. He rubbed his face roughly, breathing out a shaky breath, sniffling. He took his hands away, preparing to do what he always did; move on. He moved to walk around the Console, flicking switches and buttons as he went. He didn't care where he landed, as long as it kept his mind off of everything, kept him distracted. He wondered around the Console, a bright, white object catching his eye quickly. He looked up sharply, a white dress standing on the top of the ramp. The dress quickly turned around, showing a tall, ginger woman, her shocked expression telling the Doctor she didn't mean to be where she was. She looked him up and down, the Doctor noticing someone behind her.

The woman looked toward his gaze, seeing a teenage boy standing in front of the TARDIS doors, his eyes widening as he looked around, expanding even further when he saw the Doctor. The young man was in a red school uniform with black trousers, an Adidas bag slung over his shoulder. He had deep, TARDIS blue eyes, dirty blonde hair that was swept into a side fringe. The Doctor knew who this young man was instantly, or at least knew an older version of him. This was Jason, the young man who'd travelled with him shortly while Eliza was still with him. Jason opened his mouth to say something, the woman beating him to it. "Who are you?" she asked the Doctor, having a strong feeling the kid behind her was in the same predicament she was.

The Doctor looked between them in shock as the woman continued. "Where am I?" she asked, looking around the TARDIS. "What the hell is this place?!" she thundered, the Doctor stuttering, "... what?" as a reply.

A.N: And thus, the second instalment of my 'Cub' series has come to an end. Now, before I say anything else, I will inform you I will not be doing all episodes of season 3 and 4, so I'll be writing them as one long story. And that story will not be out for a little while ( I haven't thought of a name yet, but I'll update giving all the details when that story is ready).

But sooner than that, I will be beginning a new story which involves the first year or so of Rose's life in the Parallel World (It'll still be during my Cub series, so a few of my characters will be there). I don't know what the name will be yet, but again, I will update telling you the details soon. All I know is that it'll be up in the next week or so.

Thanks to all who have followed, favourited and reviewed this story. It's been a bunch of fun writing it and hopefully still will be in a few months. Until then :)