The Doctor wandered through the halls of the TARDIS. He didn't really know where he was going, but just let his feet take him along as he thought about where next to travel. He'd been hopping planet to planet after Martha had said her goodbyes. It was lonely, but the Doctor thought it best if he was alone. Wouldn't hurt anyone that way.
He paused to look up at where he was. The door in front of him was just like the others in the hall, except on its front was a faded symbol in his language. A name.
He stared at the door, not moving for what seemed like hours. A million thoughts were going though his head, but the one that stood above the rest was don't.
Hesitantly, he reached for the door knob and turned it. The door opened slowly, revealing the familiar room to him.
It was exactly as it he had left it before, like she'd never left. The room itself was tidy, save for the bedcovers rumpled and a few loose articles of clothing lying in a corner. The walls, however, were cluttered with shelves holding various trinkets, and hundreds of photographs of the places they'd visited.
He allowed himself to smile as he took it all in. Moving over to her desk, the Doctor reached out to hold a framed picture in his hand. He was in this image, smiling with his arm wrapped tightly around her. His other hand was off-screen, holding the camera just a tad bid askew. She was laughing, mouth open in a happiness and eyes closed.
He couldn't remember what he'd done to make her laugh.
He moved onto the next picture frame. In this one, Jackie had taken the shot he recalled. She'd always wanted to take a picture of her daughter and him for a reference in case anyone wanted to know who the girl was traveling with. They were both smiling and again he had his arms around her. His head was rested atop of hers so that he hadn't been able to see her during the shot. He didn't know she was looking up at him like that.
Pain started to well up deep within his chest and he set the picture down and moved onto look at the walls. Most of the images were of various planets, and about half of them included part of him where he'd tried to mess up her shot. Seemed she'd kept a few of his photo-bombs seeing there were pictures of him doing unflattering things that obscured the scenery. They'd been so carefree those times…
Why was he here? This wasn't helping him. All he felt now was grief. It covered his hearts and worked its way through his being, making his whole essence feel drained.
He turned away from the pictures and was about to leave when he saw it. There, lying on the bed was her shirt. She'd left behind everything when she was taken, but had accidently draped this over the rail in the main console room before hand. Usually he'd scold her for this careless act, but she wasn't here was she. She wasn't going to walk back into her room like she usually did. Wouldn't playfully reproach him for being there. Or end up just tackling him into a tickle fight on her bed.
She was gone.
Gingerly, he lifted the shirt from the sheets. He ran his fingers over the fabric, his shaking hands holding it delicately, like it could tear any second.
Staring at the piece of clothing, memories rushed back to him painfully. He could almost see her, laughing as she walked with him hand-in-hand. Almost feel her wrap her arms around his neck as she embraced him.
He hadn't registered he was crying, until a tear fell onto the fabric.
"Rose," he choked out. "Why did you have to go?"
Tears cascading down his cheeks he sank to the floor, brining the shirt up to his face. He buried his nose into the fabric trying to bring back her smell, anything that he could.
"Please come back," he mourned, shutting his eyes as his body trembled. "I miss you so much, Rose Tyler."
Quietly he wept, alone with his memories. He only spoke once more, and confessed to her the words he'd never gotten to say on that beach, as if they could somehow bring her back.