The Doctor closed the door of the Tardis and leant against it for a moment, looking at Rose's worried expression.

"What do you mean, a storm?" she said.

"I don't know." He looked away.

"Is it… is it something to do with what the beast said?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. Maybe."

Rose chewed her lip and put a hand on the console. She nervously tucked some hair behind her ear.

"Should I be scared?" she said.

The Doctor looked back up at her, meeting her eyes. Rose noticed he looked almost as scared as she did. There was a second of silence.

"What is it, Doctor? What's happening?"

He groaned, running his hands down his face.

"The Tardis," he said, " The Tardis has been talking to me."

Rose frowned at him. "But what's wrong with that? Doesn't she always talk to you?"

The time lord walked over and leaned on the console in front of her, waving his hands as he spoke.

"There's a... a telepathic link, inside the heart of the ship, you know - you've felt it, but it got stronger," The Doctor started to ramble.

"It… it fed off other energy and created a stronger link. A visual tie. It's still only inside my head, but I could see her, I could… I could touch her. Almost like a hologram, but... tactile. You see usually with a mild link, even a strong one, you can only send a few words, a few emotions at a time. You can bounce off the energy of both parties and over time build up a better link - but it's still not like talking to another person – like the way you and I talk. But the Tardis used you, Rose, it used your connection to her like a battery, charged herself up and made that visual connection. She talked to me in the same way you do."

Rose paused for a moment, trying to understand what he was saying. "But… that's good isn't it? You can talk to her properly. Isn't that… don't you want that?"

The Doctor bit the inside of his cheek. "It takes a massive amount of power to do – it's not something you just do on a whim… And she did it twice. Came back a second time."

Rose nodded slowly. "Why didn't you say anything?"

He looked down at her, hoping she wouldn't look hurt. But she didn't, she looked worried for him instead. He took her hand.

"I didn't want to say anything until I knew what was happening."

"But didn't she tell you?"

The Doctor looked into her eyes, and they both knew that she had.

"She might have been in a humanoid form, but she was still the Tardis… cryptic as ever." He rubbed the console affectionately.

Rose dropped his hand and paced for a moment, still not sure she understood. She looked away from the Doctor for a moment. 'He's hiding something,' she thought.

"Wait… you said she used me? How did she use me?"

"When you came back for me, on Satellite 5, when you looked into the time vortex, that created something powerful."

"The Bad Wolf."

The Doctor nodded, "Right. But more than that. Even after I took the energy out of you the link between you and the Tardis was still there – not as strong as it was, your mind couldn't have dealt with that – but it was still solid enough for her to use, make herself stronger – flow through your mind and into mine."

"Is that why I could hear you?"

"What do you mean? When?"

"You said it's happened twice now. But it was only one time..."

"She used a different kind of energy the second time," the Doctor said, brow furrowed, sounding concerned.

"Right… well, I was in bed. And I heard this… humming, like the Tardis, but then it got stronger for a moment, and I could actually feel it, feel her emotions, I think, and then it... just went away again."

The Doctor bit his lip, frowning. "That was all that happened?"

"For a few minutes, yeah. But then it came back. Softer, though. And then I could hear you."

He raised his eyebrows. "Me?"

Rose nodded, looking thoughtful. "Not… not exactly your voice, or anything. It was like… like the Tardis, but different. And I don't know, I just… I just knew it was you. I thought I was imagining it at first, but…" She trailed off, looking a little unsure.

The Doctor ran his tongue along his teeth.

"The link must have been stronger for you than we thought," he said, hoping that that was the right answer. They couldn't have been bonded. 'Impossible,' he dismissed it.

"But… hang on a second. So the Tardis could… link with me because of Bad Wolf, right?"

"You got it."

"But… how could you and I link? How are we connected?"

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and turned around, pulling out his sonic and pretending to fiddle with the console.

"Oh you know," he said, "time… energy."

"Time energy?"

"Mhmm…"

Rose frowned. She was not letting him off with a lie that pathetic. She walked around so that she could see his face. The Doctor didn't make eye contact.

"Doctor," she said softly.

He met her stare.

"Alright," he said, breathing in for a moment before continuing, "when I… when I took the energy out of you, when we…"

'Kissed.' The Doctor looked at her for a moment, remembering. No. Not the time.

"… When I took it into me, it didn't just link you and the Tardis. It interconnected us as well."

"So… that's our link?" Rose said.

He clenched his fist for a second, fighting the urge to turn away. He could stop here. He could just tell her that. Just leave it at that. He inhaled again deeply. No, he was going to tell her.

"No. No, that was broken, severed when the Tardis took the energy back. It was there for a little while, but it didn't have the same power as the one with the Tardis, it couldn't maintain itself. Wasn't strong enough."

"But… I don't get it then. How could she link us?"

"When..." He started speaking, hearts in his throat. 'Oh, god.'

"...When I took the power out of you, it was too strong for even me, and I had to regenerate… You were the last person I saw, before I died. And that… that created a bond, between us."

Rose nodded, looking a little touched. 'She has no idea,' the Doctor thought.

"My people use to call it a psychosomatic connection… and usually that's all they are, just a connection. But…" he looked away for a moment, self-conscious, but then met her eyes again with more force. "But it's more than that."

The Doctor took her hands, and Rose felt her breath hitch a little in her throat.

He continued, not taking his eyes away from hers. "I didn't just die seeing you, I died for you. I died… I died because I… because I loved you," he swallowed hard, almost wanting to slap himself at the false past tense, but sure she would understand, "And that… sacrifice fed into me when I regenerated. I thought… He thought of you… shaped my- himself for you - and that's what made our bond."

Rose looked stunned for a moment, she blinked slowly. When she spoke, it was almost a whisper.

"I always knew," she said, wanting to look away, but her eyes wouldn't leave his, "I always knew you used t- that he loved me."

She breathed in sharply, pulling her hands from his, and turned and walked away as quickly as she could, not wanting him to see her tears.

'I loved you.'

'I loved you.'

'I loved you.'

'Loved.'

Rose closed her bedroom door behind her and collapsed onto the bed. She had been right. Painfully, heart-breakingly right. She let out a sob, and then hated herself for it. The Doctor was enough, she told herself, wiping her eyes. Even if he didn't feel the same way she did. He had loved her, once. She should be grateful for that – shouldn't she?

She sat up. 'Some things are worth getting your heart broken for.'

Sarah Jane was right, she decided for the hundredth time. Rose inhaled, steadying her breath. She stood up, and walked over to the vanity. She tried to breathe slowly as she picked up concealer and dabbed it under her eyes. Her hands found mascara and gave her eyelashes a quick coat, then fixed the redness around her nose. She breathed in again, slowly tugging off her shirt. Rose looked at herself in the mirror for second, then reached over and picked up a new top, a blue one she liked, pulling it over herself. She smoothed it down before taking out her hair and running her fingers through it, and took in her appearance. She looked much better. 'Even good', she thought, surprised. The sooner she faced him the better, she decided. And he still hadn't told her what this storm was, and why the Tardis needed to warn him about it.

The Doctor did nothing. For once, he was completely still. Standing exactly as he had been before she dropped his hand. 'I should go after her,' he thought. 'I should tell her.' He went to silence his thoughts, as he always did, but the Tardis hummed inside his head, and finally, he let her in, closing his eyes.

"This is it," she whispered, and the Doctor opened his eyes, letting his mouth drop a little. He understood.

This was his last chance.

She was leaving.

It was real.

It was real.

'It's real.'

He didn't feel his knees sink, or feel a small silent cry escape his lips. He didn't feel his hands try and steady themselves against the console, or the air moving past him.

It was all so slow. Every second stretched on, and he could hear Rose in his head. 'Forever.'

He was on the floor now. He looked down at his hands.

And then he was back there again.

"Your stupid game killed her!" Jack screamed.

He looked at the ashes. Her ashes. Her. How could it be her? He ran his hand through them. 'No,' he thought, 'No. No. No. NO.' His mind stopped. Had his hearts stopped as well? He didn't know. He didn't know anything. Only one fact swirled through his mind, twisting and turning. 'Rose is dead.'

Hands were on him, pulling him up, pulling him away. He should stay with her. He should – no. No it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. He was standing now.

He was standing now. The Doctor cleared his throat, registering his surroundings. It was going to happen again. And this time she wouldn't be coming back. He knew it. The Tardis had told him. And he'd wasted time pretending he didn't believe her.

He heard slow footsteps behind him and turned around.

Rose stood behind him. She looked beautiful.

"I- I got a little overwhelmed," she said, obviously trying to sound casual. "Sorry."

The Doctor walked forward, not saying anything.

Thousands of light years from Rose's home world, trapped inside a time lock, raging against the last time war, the Doctor's people had learnt to slow down time.

And so did he.

She blinked.

Every moment was slower.

Brilliantly, fantastically, slow.

Rose grazed her lip, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. His hearts stopped beating.

He walked over to her.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I'm so sorry."

"Doctor?"

He leaned in, closing the distance between them.

Their eyes closed. He placed a hand around her waist, gently pulling her closer to him, while his other hand rested on her cheek, his thumb underneath her jaw. Rose felt her knees go weak, letting her weight fall into him as he brought his lips to hers, grazing them softly for a moment, lingering, before he pulled her in quickly, making her sigh, and kissing her deeply, passionately, letting his body sink into hers as he threw aside any fear or denial or insecurity.

They pulled apart briefly, and he gazed into her eyes, which flickered open blissfully.

"I still love you," he whispered, and he kissed her again.

When they finally broke apart he still held on to her, as if trying to document every second of this moment. She smiled up at him, completely forgetting that there was a storm coming – so close they could have touched it.

But he hadn't forgotten.

He traced a fingertip lightly over her bottom lip, and she felt as if she was in a trance. The Doctor kissed her forehead, and she closed her eyes.

"Now then," he said, breaking the spell and leaping back to the console, "we have things to do, you and me!"

Rose was still stunned. "Like- like what?" she stuttered, not quite sure if she was dreaming.

"Well," the Doctor said, suddenly unable to look at her, "you wanted to give that Bazoolium to your mother!"

The Tardis burst into life, flying through the vortex, dancing through space and time. The ship sighed softly as she prepared to land at the Powell Estate, humming a sad song that her Thief now refused to hear.

Doomsday had arrived.

It was all over.

Deep breaths - that was emotional to write. I hope I haven't left anyone with too many Doomsday-grief-feelings! I wrote it to the Broadchurch soundtrack, so it was bound to get a lil angsty. I was going to continue, but I think I might leave it here, since I wouldn't have changed their ending. Too sad and simple and beautiful. So there you go! I hope you liked my first fan fic (I'm definitely hooked), thank you to everyone who has been following, I appreciate the support xx