He Let Her Down…

AN: A nice little one shot. I can say no more… 10/Rose. Please review!

He flicked switch after switch, walking around the Tardis' centre, a determined look was shown in his features.

Every now and then was the familiar and comforting bump as he rocketed through time and space, alone.

He glanced at the screen several times in just a few minutes as he rushed around the Tardis.

Once. Twice. Three times. A forth.

Every time he checked it was the same.

Nothing.

Nothing was coming through. No one was there. All was empty, and he was alone.

His hands went to his face and he ran them back through his hair. He was so tired. Tired of waiting.

Waiting.

Just standing there, walking around his machine, and waiting for it.

A voice. A flash of a face on the screen. Anything would do, as long as something happened.

Anything.

He felt helpless, and desperately lonely.

So lonely.

It was only when he had almost given up when he heard it, a voice.

He rushed to the screen, seeing the fuzzy outline of someone… of someone blonde. Could it possibly be…?

The person came into view, but it wasn't who he hoped it would be; it was Jackie.

She almost fell off of her chair when she saw him looking at her through the screen. "Oh my God! But… but you're here, how're you…?"

She glanced to her left, at someone he couldn't see. Then suddenly, he felt the sensation of looking into a mirror. His own face had appeared in the screen.

It was the same but different. He had aged much more the Doctor had anticipated; perhaps he had got the date wrong…

"Hello there," he said cheerfully. "Handsome face."

His replica mirrored the smile, although it seemed oddly forced, "Look at you... but how're you?"

"The Tardis is circling a birth of a star. A supernova. I found a hole in the wall between us, and before I fixed it, I wanted to say hello to some of my favourite people. I projected the Tardis to send signals to your computer - I tell you, it was difficult finding it though."

"Brilliant!" exclaimed his image on the screen.

Jackie's face had appeared next to the half-doctor. She was clearly confused, but said nothing.

The Doctor smiled all over; it had been so long since he'd had company, even if it was on a screen and they weren't right there with him.

However he was still only interested in the person he had yearned to see most though. "Where's Rose? Is she there? Can I talk to her?"

The smiles from Jackie's and his doppelganger's faces dropped like stones in a pond. He felt his stomach tighten as their faces fell into despair.

"Oh…" the clone breathed harshly. "I – I don't know how say…"

He swallowed, took a deep breath and announced with pain, "She died. Three years ago."

The air seemed to disappear from The Doctor's lungs. His blood and heart ran icy cold.

He felt the air around him compress tightly around his chest.

"No…" he felt a whisper escape his lips, though he had forgotten how to talk.

"It was a car crash," he heard Jackie say.

But he was blind to them now; the sorrow ran through his body and plagued him in grief. Swarming him.

He staggered back under the wait of it, only vaguely aware of the voices from his double and Jackie, but they didn't seem to register up to his brain.

His lip quivered and his face contorted as it began to dawn on him.

He would never speak to her again. Never hold her hand. Never hear her laugh. Never sense her aroma. Never see her face…

She was gone.

He felt the lump in his throat and the stinging in his eyes.

It had been his choice to leave her.

It had been his choice to not even say goodbye.

He felt the guilty remorse of it.

If she were with him, it wouldn't have happened.

He had let her down.

The End

AN: How cruel am I? Just to say I really am a 10/Rose fan – I mean really, really am. This… is the result of a bored teenager with angst running through her. Review please!