He loved her. She knew he loved her. She'd seen it in his eyes, even after all those years, even after she wasn't with him anymore, which is why she stayed, why she… No, she couldn't think about that. This Doctor, the present Doctor couldn't find out about that. She thought he was alone because she died, but this must be what happened. This. Now. Somehow she had to get him to see. She had to change things, but she couldn't tell him. No matter how much she wanted to. Future knowledge was too dangerous.

"Alright. Both of you. Answer me this." Both Doctors walked up on either side of her. She looked from one to the other then settled on the Doctor first. "When I last stood on this beach on the worst day of my life…what was the last thing you said to me?" When he didn't answer right away she continued. "Go on, say it."

"I said, Rose Tyler," the Doctor said, his voice thick with emotion.

"Yeah, and how was that sentence going to end?"

She knew he loved her, loved her enough to still love her all those years later. He almost said it before. If she could just get him to say it. To admit it. Then maybe things could be different.

The Doctor couldn't remember ever being in this much pain. The only time that came close was the day he lost her at Canary Wharf. He could see the confusion in her eyes, but he couldn't comfort her because he knew one touch. That's all it would take. And he wouldn't be able to go through with this. He wouldn't be able to do what needed to be done.

Creating the Meta-Crisis was the only way to save them. The only way to save all of reality, but it came at a price and the price wasn't the Meta-Crisis. The price was her, but he couldn't tell her that. He couldn't let her know how he felt because he knew if he did she'd never stay behind. The half-Time Lord couldn't be left on his own and the Doctor couldn't chance taking the Meta-Crisis with him. The half-Time Lord was too dangerous. Rose would fix him as she'd fixed the Doctor after the Last Great Time War. She wouldn't leave him because she didn't leave people who needed her and he knew the Meta-Crisis would stay with her forever because they shared the same feelings for her.

"Does it need saying?" The Doctor asked, barely holding in his emotions.

He watched her turn to the Meta-Crisis and his hearts lanced with pain.

"New Doctor, what was the end of that sentence?"

The half-Time Lord put his hand on her shoulder and bent down to whisper in her ear. The Doctor didn't have to hear the words. He knew what the Meta-Crisis was whispering. Three words that would have to remain locked away in his hearts forever.

When the half-Time Lord leaned back she looked into his eyes for a moment and then kissed him. The Doctor felt like someone ripped both of his hearts from his chest. He turned around and walked away because the sight of them, together, was killing him.

Knowing that she would be happy and safe were the only things keeping him from crumbling on that beach. Donna followed him into the TARDIS. He leaned up against the coral as Donna started the time rotor. He was too devastated to do anything, but watch as she flipped levers. He felt like someone had taken a piece of his soul and he knew he'd never be the same again. Rose Tyler, his other half, the golden angel who saved him, was gone and he would never see her again.

A door closed and Rose snapped back with a gasp. She hadn't been standing there kissing the Doctor. She'd been kissing the new Doctor and her Doctor was leaving.

She ran to the dematerializing TARDIS, but it was too late. The TARDIS vanished and she was left alone. He's gone. He left me and now he's…he's gone. She hadn't been able to stop it. Her Doctor was gone and she'd never see him again.

She felt the new Doctor take her hand and she turned to look at him. He gazed into her eyes. She knew he loved her, but she couldn't help feeling that this wasn't right. She would help him, even though it wasn't fair, even though her heart felt like it'd been broken beyond repair. She would do it because he needed her.

The Doctor promised he would never leave her like he'd done to Sarah Jane, but he lied. She knew he thought he was doing the right thing. That was the Doctor, always trying to do the right thing, even if he was wrong.

"Do you still have your phone, sweetheart? I've got to call your father," Jackie asked.

Rose let go of the new Doctor's hand and turned around. She dug her phone out of her pocket and handed it to her mum. The new Doctor was beside her a moment later, taking her hand again. She let him because she knew he needed to know that she wasn't going to leave him and she wouldn't. How could she? None of this was his fault. She knew the Doctor was counting on the one thing that he knew for sure. Rose Tyler didn't leave people. She didn't want to leave Gwyneth in the basement of that funeral parlor, she didn't leave Adam behind in Van Statten's museum, she couldn't leave Jack behind, and even after the Doctor sent her away because the only way to stop the Daleks on that Game Station was to destroy everyone, including himself, she'd come back for him.

He was right. She wouldn't leave the new Doctor alone because that's not who she was, but she knew it was going to take her a while, probably a long while, to be able to look at him and not feel like her heart was being ripped open because the man he looked like, her Doctor, was gone and she'd never see him again. The only thing that kept her going was the fact that she knew the Doctor loved her. She'd seen it in his eyes. Not only the brown ones, but the green ones too. He still loved her, even years later, but that was a secret she'd have to keep. Something she couldn't even tell her mum. The new Doctor had already been through so much, losing the TARDIS, being marooned in a parallel universe, she couldn't hurt him like that.

I don't own Doctor Who, any of its Characters, any of its Story Lines, however I do own a fez.

Thank you to all my brilliant readers and if you have time reviews are always welcome! :)