Rose's POV:
Rose scanned her card to clock out as Jack spoke with Ianto before the end of their shift, "Do you mind coving for Rose sometimes?" The ex-time agent purred
Rose rolled her eyes but Ianto didn't seem to mind, "Of course I don't, but why do I need to."
Jack cast a knowing glance in her direction, "She's going to on vacation for a while and probably won't be here much." The blonde smiled and walked away leaving the two to their conversation.
As she thought over her shift, everything seemed surreal, the events that had happened in only a matter of hours felt like a lifetime. With having the Doctor return, Sadie coming to spend the night, the debacle with the paperwork and the reveal of her being a Time Angel, she felt as if there was no way all of that could have happened in one shift.
A pair of small arms wrapping around her waist robbed her of her thoughts, "Bye Rosie!" Sadie squealed, and Rose looked up to see her mother standing in the doorway with Pete.
"See you later," Rose hugged her little sister and watched after her as she ran back to her parents, knowing just how long it may be until she saw the small girl again, but how short a time span it would be for her.
"You'll see her again, and it won't be that long for her," The Doctor's voice echoed Rose's thoughts as he came to stand next to her.
She tore her eyes away from her sister and turned to look at him, "How can you always tell what I'm thinking?"
"I've lived for over 900 years, I think it's a wonder I can't read minds yet," He flashed a grin at her, "No I can just tell what you're thinking by your eyes. You humans are pretty close to truth when you say, 'The eyes are windows to the soul.' If you know what you're looking for, you can always tell what is going through someone's thoughts if you look at their eyes." Rose blushed as they made their way to the door and towards the TARDIS.
"Hey wait for me!" The duo turned around as Jack's voice rang above the whistling of the early morning wind. "Don't leave without saying goodbye!"
The Doctor chuckled as Jack ran up to join them, "Oh we're not leaving just yet; the TARDIS still has to charge for a while."
"Where are you headed?" Rose pulled her jacket tighter around her as the wind swept a biting cold across the city.
Jack looked over the two dramatically, "Down to the pub." Words were followed by an emphatic sigh, "I need a drink, wanna join me?"
The Doctor was quick to reply, "No, I need to check on the TARDIS." He cast a glance over to his faithful time-machine.
Jack let his gaze rest on Rose, "What about you?" She could swear he flirted when he didn't even realize he was doing it.
"Sorry Jack I'm with him," The blonde replied with a gesture towards the Doctor.
The ex-time agent didn't seem bothered by their decline, "I figured as much." He started in the other direction, "I'll see you around, and make sure to stop by Cardiff once in a while."
"Will do," The tall brunet responded, watching their friend go, "And try not to get the earth into too much trouble while we're gone."
Jack stopped and turned back with a cheeky smile, "Oh no Doctor…that's your job," And with that he turned back and disappeared around the corner of Torchwood Tower.
With Jack on his way, the duo started back towards the blue box that sat in the middle of the court yard atop the rift in time and space. When they stepped inside, Rose couldn't help the gasp that escaped her as she looked around at the coral pillars, the grated flooring, and the main console. All the elements that had made up her home for almost two years, all the things she had longed to see again just one more time, and now here she was faced with them once more.
The Doctor turned and looked at her worriedly, "What? What is it? Are you okay?" Rose hardly heard the flow of questions as she took in her surroundings.
"I never thought I'd set foot in here again!" She laughed turning in a circle, so not to miss a single detail of the console room that had never seemed more hypnagogic.
Rose turned back to the Doctor as he spoke, his eyes glittering with euphoria, "It's great to have you back." After a moment he walked over to the TARDIS's main console, "It will be a few hours before she's fully recharged.
To be honest, the blonde didn't care, she was just glad to be back at all, "That's fine."
After a brief time, the Doctor's voice broke the silence, "How did come to realize you were a Time Angel?"
Rose stopped and looked at the alien, his eyes shined with curiosity; he always wanted to learn something new. "It started with me seeing slivers of the Time Vortex, and it only escalated from there. At first I would have intense headaches," Rose took a deep breath at the memory of the pain, "They faded with time, then I notice the double heartbeat. A quick trip to parallel Torchwood to scan my species told me I was a TimeLord…you can imagine my shock when I found that out," She paused as the Doctor laughed at her exaggerated expression of shock. "After that it was only a matter of hours before the reading on the scanner changed from TimeLord to Time Angel." There was a few seconds of silence before Rose continued, "Now for your second lesson on Time Angels."
The Doctor looked even more intrigued if that was possible, "Please, enlighten me."
Rose smiled at his eagerness, he could have written encyclopedias with his knowledge and knowing him, he probably had. "You will be truly immortal as a Time Angel…that means no more regenerating."
He smiled cheekily, his eyes twinkling in the light of the console room, "Then it's a good thing I like this incarnation." He looked down at his clothes, "And have a decent taste in fashion…I still cringe when I think of the incarnation of me that wore a vegetable as an accessory," He shuttered dramatically as he finished.
"Wait, wha- you know what, I don't want to know." Rose laughed.
Doctor's POV (Flashback):
"Why do humans need so much sleep?" The Doctor thought to himself as he glanced at the clock, the hands reading three in the morning. Martha, his current companion was asleep in her room down the corridor, and the Doctor was left to his own mind, which never proved to be a good thing.
He wandered the halls in boredom for quite some time, not really paying attention to where his feet led him. Eventually he looked up only to find himself in the Personal Section of the TARDIS's library. "Why did you lead me here?" He asked the sentient machine silently, and in response a blue and pink binder flew from the shelves and landed in one of the chairs nearby.
The Doctor walked cautiously towards the binder as it fell open to its first page, and suddenly he felt his hearts shatter. He understood what the TARDIS meant, the binder was something he hadn't dared look through since the Battle of Canary Warf, Rose's scrapbook of their adventures together. Gently he lifted the book as if the memories it held would fade away at the slightest touch, and he sank down into the chair on which it had landed. Slowly he began to thumb through the pages, taking in every detail of each picture and caption to the point where he was certain he could have recreated Rose's handwriting if he wanted to do so.
He hadn't noticed the tears that had begun to fill his eyes until he got to the Christmas with the Sycorax, and they spilled over onto his cheeks. The caption to go with the pictures, The Christmas Invasion fit as perfectly with the adventure as the rest had.
As he continued on he came across a picture of Rose staring up at a black hole with the caption The Impossible Planet / Satan's Pit as if she couldn't decide on a name. He smiled sadly to himself as he wondered why she hadn't called it The Bitter Pill after claiming to like the metaphor so much.
The next page had a picture of him holding the torch at the 2012 Olympic Games in London labeled, Fear Her. After that the pictures were carelessly tucked into one of the pockets, pulling one from its place he saw himself with his ghost catching equipment standing next to Rose, the both of them smiling.
"How could I have been so happy only hours before I lost her?!" He screamed in his mind, looking down at the captionless pictures. The Doctor decided that it would be a dishonor to Rose if he didn't put the pictures into place and give them a caption. As he placed them, he began to understand Rose's dilemma of choosing only one name, and narrowed it down to two, Army of Ghosts / Doomsday.
Just as he was about to close the binder and put it back on the shelf a piece of notebook paper with Rose's handwriting caught his eye. Gingerly he took it from the place where it had managed to stay hidden and began to read the words the paper masked.
Dear Doctor,
I don't know what has brought this to my attention, but I have a terrible feeling that we will not be traveling together for much longer. After what the beast said about me dying in battle I want to be able to say goodbye, so here it is.
I hope you never have to read this, but if you do that means I am no longer traveling with you in the Tardis. I don't want you to stop living your life because I'm no longer with you. Find someone else to travel with you, someone to keep you on a good path. Don't fall back into your old ways and remember how happy I was and give someone else the experience of the universe!
I want you to know that I will always love you and no matter what we will see each other again one day...you might look a little different but that won't matter to me!
I love you and I don't want you to live in sorrow over some annoying little shop girl. So go on and enjoy your life, I will see you one day!
Love,
Rose Marion Tyler.
The Doctor lost count of how many times he read the letter before he tucked it back into its place, putting the book back on the shelf. Though his hearts were broken he felt a since of closure having read the letter, and he silently thanked the TARDIS before making his way back to the console room.
Doctor's POV (Present):
Thinking about the memory made the Doctor ecstatic to have Rose back by his side once more, and for the first time let himself think of how painful it had been without her. A series of beeps from the TARDIS's main console told the Doctor she was fully charged and ready to fly.
"What was that?" Rose's voice reached him just before she stepped into view, a cup of tea cradled in her hands.
The Doctor smiled at her, "The TARDIS is fully charged and ready to go."
Rose looked at him for a moment before she responded, "One thing first, do you have a life form scanner?"
"There's one built into the main monitor," He said looking at her in confusion as she walked towards the console.
"Here stand in front of it," She piped, turning the monitor to face him, and suddenly a green light showered over him once more.
When it cut off the TARDIS's voice came soothingly through the monitor's speakers, "Species Time Angel. Known to be able to travel in time and space."
He glanced over to see Rose's eyes twinkling in delight, she was as happy as he was, and if at all possible, more.
He smiled at her making sure she knew just how excited he was, "Where would you like to go?"
She gave him a knowing look before responding in a lofty tone, "That way."