This story isn't beta-ed so all mistakes are mine. Again, the BBC owns Doctor Who regardless of what anyone says. No copyright infringement intended and no money for me.
***Re-uploaded due to a significant error! I'm so sorry!
The quiet sniffles of Mickey was the only sound he heard. There on the table was what remained from the carcass of Rose. Her skull was cut around the top. The cerebrospinal fluid mixed with blood to make her skull like a punch bowl of pink fliuds. There was no brain. The droids had only needed a brain to repair the ship. They had found one. The one he had conveniently left behind.
The Doctor's hearts stopped. He obviously did not hear her heartbeat. That was long gone. His precious girl was dead. He would never see her smile or hear her laugh. He would never smell her hair or hold her hand. Now whose hand will he hold? This hand of his was made to cradle hers perfectly. This body was made for her. This brave woman once held the Time Vortex at great risk to her to save his life. She saved him again and again. She was his salvation, she made him a better man. And what did he do? He left her in danger at the mercy at scavengers of human organs. They took her brain. They killed her. No. It was him that killed her. He was one who knew the danger of leaving her here. How much did she scream? How much pain was she in? How long did it take her to die?
He choked back a sob but didn't try stopping the tears. He moved silently to Rose and raised his hand to touch her cheek.
"Don't you dare touch her! You left her like a bloody spare part for them to use!" The Doctor jumped backwards and saw Mickey in the next table with a venomous look on his face. The Doctor ignored him and touched her cold cheek. He remembered touching this cheek when it was warm. How much had he took for granted? He told Rose that humans withered and died and yet he was too afraid to take the chance with her. Now here he was next to her dead body. She would never know how he felt.
He unlocked the restraints with his screwdriver as well as Mickey's. He scooped her body in his arms and walked to the TARDIS. Mickey followed behind. The doors to the TARDIS automatically opened, bringing in her thief and wolf. The silent funeral march continued until the Med Bay where he placed her body on the examination table. He stroked her cheek again when a fist connected to the side of his jaw. He held the table for stability turned to face the owner of the fist.
Mickey was breathing hard and still crying. He lost the woman he loved to a prat who did not care enough to make sure she was safe. The other Doctor would have never let this happen.
The Doctor straightened up and rubbed his eyes. "Hit me again if it makes you feel better."
Mickey did not take the bait. "I want to kill you but you will just change your face again."
The Doctor looked at him with a resigned look. "I deserve that. You would only have to kill me thrice again before I'm gone permanently."
Mickey looked at him and at Rose. He walked up to her and traced her nose. "She would kill me before I touch a hair on your head." He leaned down and kissed her bloody cheek. "She loved you, you know?"
The Doctor's breathing hitched. "I know. I was just too much of a coward to do anything about it."
Mickey walked to the door before pausing. "Did you love her?"
The Doctor rubbed his thumbs over her lips and then gave her a chaste kiss. He tasted her blood on his lips. "Rose Tyler, I love you."
It was then she began to glow.
Few things in the universe could shock the Doctor. The extinction of bananas in Klox 97, the Master returning, a human baby winning gold at the Anti-Gravity Olympics of 5684 and now, Rose emitting a golden light from her dead body. Even in death his pink and yellow girl still kept him on his toes. Mickey ran forward before the Doctor held out his hand to stop him.
"What's happening?" Mickey was frightened. This never happened to the dead. They should just be lying there perfectly still, not glowing.
"I don't know! This is impossible. She's dead!" The Doctor was panicking. What was happening to his girl?
Rose's body began healing before their eyes. Her skull began regrow from where it was opened. A hint of a brain was seen. All the other cuts and bruises began to lighten and fade. Then she gasped a lungful of air and her chest rose. The golden light was fading and Rose Tyler opened her eyes. Both men rushed to either side of her and each held a hand. She looked at the both of them and tried to sit up. The Doctor quickly caught on and gently held her up. She remained quiet for a few minutes, leaning on the Doctor.
"I was dead. I remember dying," she whispered, holding on to the Doctor. The Doctor held her closer and silently cried in the hair. He would never forget that he cost Rose Tyler her life.
"It hurt. It hurt so much. I was happy I was fading away." The Doctor did not hold back his sobs. He pressed a wet kiss to her hair. Rose's hand came up to the back of his head and turned him to look at her. "Don't think I blame you Doctor. History was at stake. Earth was at stake. The universe was at stake. I'll do it again if I have too."
"No!" The Doctor still held her, burying his face in her neck. "You are to remain alive Rose Tyler." He raised up and held her face between his hands. "You are to remain so very alive." He kissed the tip of her bloody nose and held her.
Rose turned to look at Mickey and turned away from the Doctor to hug him. Mickey was crying unashamedly and grasped Rose tightly, still unable to speak. The three of them simply sat as the tears flowed, no words were spoken. About an hour after, when Rose began become exhausted, she asked to go to her room.
"I need to wash my blood off my skin." Both men cringed at her admission. She was bathed in her blood that had mostly become dry and rubbed off like vermillion powder. The three stopped at her door and kisses on the cheek were given before she entered and shut the door. Mickey and the Doctor stood outside, silently debating whether or not to enter.
"How?" It was the one question Mickey had. His gran did not glow golden and come back to life after she had died. People did not glow when they died. They were just still and cold, not alive and moving like Rose.
The Doctor just stared at the door. "I don't know. I will have to run some tests but I'll spare her from doing it so soon. She needs to rest. It will be traumatizing for her."
"You should go in."
The Doctor looked at Mickey startled. Wasn't Mickey jealous of him stealing Rose away on an adventure? He had grown up a lot in the past few hours. Perhaps seeing the woman you loved being killed and then coming back to life will age a man by decades.
"She would want someone with her. Since she loves you…" Mickey left his reasoning unfinished.
"But you hate me." The Doctor was confused.
Mickey shrugged and looked at his shoes. "Yes I do but Rose needs you and I can put aside my hatred of you for her sake."
The Doctor found it hard to swallow. Mickey was the bigger man. "How long did it take for her to die?"
Mickey jumped at the question. He looked at the Doctor with pain and terror in his eyes. Tears began to form again making his eyes glassy. "I'll forever have nightmares about it. She screamed and screamed. There was so much blood…" Mickey broke out in heart wrenching sobs. "They were halfway through her skull when she stopped screaming."
The Doctor pulled Mickey into a hug while the man sobbed. He cried too, his regret and guilt would never fade even though Rose absolved him. Mickey pushed him away after a few minutes and dried his eyes with the end of his t-shirt.
"Go to her. She needs someone." With that, Mickey Smith turned and walked away.
About the regeneration thing. The metacrisis has not happened so that's one regeneration. Then The End of Time story has happened yet either so that's another. Then the eleventh into the twelveth Doctor makes it three. Kill him and it's the end.
Thank you for your support!