AN: I just wanted to start by saying that you guys are all awesome. Thank you for not hating me or anything after that last chapter. You've all been great and supportive! Also, I had a really hard time choosing between the Josh Gracin version of this song, and the Brantley Gilbert version for the title of this chapter. Both are amazing.

Chapter 15 – You Don't Know Her Like I Do

You say there's no need to be worried
You bet it's just a bump in the road
You think if you really love somebody
The best thing to do is just let her go
Truth is I think you sound a little crazy
Until you've been in my shoes
You don't have a clue

You don't know her like I do
Don't have these eyes I'm looking through
If you had half of what she gave
You would never let her walk away
And every time she took your breath
It would scare you half to death
Cause you'd have everything to lose
You don't know her like I do.

- Josh Gracin, "You Don't Know Her Like I Do"

Rose pulls out of the tight embrace. She looks at the man sitting in front of her. Green eyes. Shaggy brown hair. Prominent chin. Ridiculous outfit.

She stands up and slowly backs away towards the door, too shocked and confused to process what she is seeing. She stares into the sad eyes staring back at her until she passes through the door frame, at which point she turns and bolts towards her room.

He really should have noticed something was this off. She never made any comments about his new appearance. He figured that with everything she had been through, she already had too much on her mind and just accepted that it had happen. It's not like she hadn't seen him regenerate before.

He had thought about asking her multiple times what she thought about his new look. He was especially curious about her opinion on the bowtie. But every time he thought about bringing it up, he decided that she had already been through too much and didn't want to come across as shallow or unsupportive. So he just let it slide.

It wasn't until recently that he started seeing the signs that something was off. She would look at him and do a double take. Or seem slightly confused when he said something, as if she couldn't tell that it was him who was saying it. Now he understood. As the drugs that her body could break down wore off, the hallucinations became weaker. The five drugs still in her system combined with her need for normalcy and a piece of her life before everything that happened were enough to sustain the image of his former incarnation. These moments of confusion were reality bleeding through.

He considered his suspicions confirmed when she straightened his tie earlier that night. She straightened nothing. He knew what she was doing. She had done it many times before. But just then, she was only straightening air.

He wasn't sure how she was going to react to this knowledge. Since he let her know that her delusion was just that, it should be enough to break it and she'd see the real him. Maybe there was a better way to let her know this information, but he figured the "rip off the Band-Aid" approach was best. Better to let her know as soon as he did, rather than try and hide it from her.

It was all too soon that she broke away from his embrace. As soon as he looked at her, he knew his prediction was correct. She was seeing his current form for the first time.

And she was terrified. She couldn't stop staring at him. She backed away from him, looking scared, confused, hurt, and angry. She certainly had a right to feel all these things. He didn't know why he might have expected anything other response. She continued staring at him as she backed out of the room. As soon as she passed through the door, she turned and ran.

He considered running after her. He wants to hold her and help her through this as he has with everything else these past couple months. Instead he just sits where he is and buries his face in his hands.

He should have noticed sooner! How could he have been so stupid?!

He wonders what will happen next. He had promised that he would never leave her unless she asked him to. Would she ask now? Would she blame him for not realising? The anger and fear he had seen in her eyes suggested that the answer to both questions would probably be yes.

He gets up and walks slowly back to his own room. On the complete opposite side of the TARDIS from where Rose is. He walks over to his desk, where there are pictures of him and Rose, souvenirs from some of the planets they visited together, and everything he used in his process of tracking her down. He hasn't been in this room long enough since he found her to put any of it away.

He thinks about going through it again to see if there was anything he missed. If he could have found her faster. He is hoping not to find anything. Then he would know he had done everything he possibly could have; that he could not have done anything else to save her sooner; that everything that had happened was inevitable.

But he can't look through everything because while he might feel better if he found nothing, it would be a bigger burden finding something that proves he could have gotten to her sooner than it is not knowing. Instead, he first grabs a fistful of papers and notes and shakes them with his eyes clenched tightly until they rip. He throws the ripped papers on the floor and he grips the desk with both hands and flips it over. Papers flies everywhere. Frames crack. Souvenirs brake. But he doesn't care. They are all replaceable.

He collapses onto the floor, grabs the nearest pillow, and screams in frustration into it, hoping beyond anything else that Rose cannot hear him.

Rose runs as quickly as she can into her room. She shuts the door and quickly locks it behind her. She leans against it as she slowly slides down to the ground. She is shaking uncontrollably as she tries to work out everything she is feeling.

Confusion: How could he not have noticed? How could she not have noticed?

Fear: Who is this new man? She has apparently been with him for the past few months. Why is she afraid of him? Why did all her trust in him disappear as soon as she saw his true face?

Anger: In him. In herself. In the Master. In everything that lead to this moment.

And yet, there was a bit of relief in there too. At least now she can explain everything she has been experiencing. As horrible as the reasons are, it is comforting to have a reason for everything.

But at the same time, she can't help but notice the similarities to the first half of her latest nightmare. She thought the Doctor looked like one person, when in reality he was someone completely different. He might not be the Master, like he had become in her dream, but how could she be sure?

She sits there for what fells like hours, trying to figure out what she should do next. At first she allows herself to cry. After a while, no more tears come. At one point she thinks she heard the sound of something crashing, but she decides not to think about it. She has too much on her mind already.

This really did explain so much though. Why his voice would sound off. When his eye looked green instead of brown, she now realized those were his new eyes. The man who pulled her out of the pool was this man.

When she calms herself down enough, she makes her way over to the bed and lays down. She thinks back to the previous night and how he held her through the nightmares and stayed with her even after learning everything she went through. How he made her feel safe and promised her he would never leave her. That was something her Doctor would do.

But is he still her Doctor?

As she rests her head against the pillow, she can smells a pleasant muck right where the Doctor had been lying last night. She realizes that he still smells the same as he did before. She tries to think back to the first time he regenerated. When she was there to watch the process. She remembers having this same fear. Wondering if he was still the Doctor she knew and cared about. But it didn't take him long to do something to prove to her that he was still her Doctor. It just took a cup of tea.

This Doctor has, apparently, been showing her that he was still the same man since he saved her from her prison. He still cares for her. Puts her first. Does whatever he could to protect her. Is that not enough to convince her?

It is.

She gets up, leaves her room, and goes in search of her new (new new) Doctor.