The Doctor wandered along the high street looking at all the humans wandering about shopping, talking, generally being humans. He shuddered at the domesticity of it all. Several of his previous reincarnations had been fond of domestic human traditions but this Doctor found he had a distinct dislike for them. Maybe it wasn't so much his new self as what his new self had been through.

He'd never been the same since the Time War. It didn't help that he blamed himself for what happened either. Maybe that was why he didn't do domestic. It would seem to normal, like he was allowing himself to move on when he felt he had no right in still being alive. He should've burnt with the rest of his kind, with his planet, with his home.

When he'd first woken up in the TARDIS he'd tried to end it all, but the Time Ship had been too smart for him and hidden anything that he could harm himself with. The TARDIS had spent days, weeks, maybe even months healing the Doctor back to full health. At first the Doctor wondered why when he felt so hollow inside, like an empty shell, he should continue to live, but then he convinced himself that death was the soft option. He should have to live with knowing what he'd done, that would be more payback than just dying. He deserved to suffer.

It was then that the Doctor had made a promise to himself never to have another companion, not after what he'd done. He could hardly be trusted with the safety of fellow Time Lords, let alone a human friend. For months he travelled alone saving a race here a planet there, but always moving on before people could even ask questions. Then one day he received a signal and discovered that Autons were planning on taking over planet Earth. Though he knew it would only cause trouble the Doctor decided to see if he could stop them.

It was then that he saw Rose for the first time. As he was wandering round the basement of a department store, a beautiful blonde girl of about twenty stumbled in and almost ruined his plans. He knew he'd have to save her and this would mean making contact with someone for the first time in just over a year. As soon as he grabbed her hand and looked into her gorgeous brown eyes he knew that he was about to break his promise.

Run. That was all he had to say and Rose Tyler was his. The Doctor had found a new reason to live. This human girl who still had everything to learn about the universe had shown an old Time Lord that sometimes older does not mean wiser.

So that was why he was here now. Rose had been travelling with him for a few months now and after the first disastrous visit home (in which he'd accidentally bought her home a year after her departure and not twelve hours), he was beginning to accept it as a part of life. Rose was currently out shopping, probably in one of the shops he was looking at now, with her mother Jackie Tyler.

The Doctor shuddered at the thought of Jackie. The first time they'd met he'd been invited into her bedroom, then the second time she'd smacked him. Nine hundred years of time travel and I've never been smacked by someone's mother! Rose had just laughed at him and it had been all he could do to stop himself chuckling. It did sound funny.

The Doctor sighed and wandered down the street, past the café where the smell of chips was wafting about. He headed towards the park that he and Rose had stood next to when he'd first told her who he was. Us, this planet, we're falling through space, you and I, clinging to the skin of this planet… and if we let go… that's who I am. Now go home Rose Tyler. Go home and forget about me. That had been the first time he'd held her hand without the threat of aliens on their tail. The soft skin of her small hand in his own had made his heart melt.

The Doctor stared at the park as kids ran around, swinging and playing tag. He knew one day Rose would be one of those mothers watching as their child played, and he'd be out her life. Forgotten. There was no way Rose could settle down with him. It wouldn't be right. All the complications, the fact that he'd outlive her and then of course if they had children they'd be part Time Lord, it just wouldn't work. I could make it work though… He hated the part of him that took risks. It made his feelings for Rose magnify and then he felt worse knowing they could never be together. It wouldn't… couldn't work.

He smiled as he watched a small brown haired boy trip and fall and what appeared to be his younger sister helped him up, taking him by the hand to the swings. The two siblings clearly cared for each other deeply and the Doctor only hoped that Rose would teach her children to be so considerate. He knew she'd make a fantastic mother one day. Though she'd probably deny the fact that she couldn't go on any more adventures. She'd probably end up taking her small child with her and running away from monsters would be accompanied by a fearful crying child.

As is thoughts began to drift the Doctor was suddenly bought back down to Earth by a familiar whooshing sound and the tingle in the air that only meant one thing. The TARDIS was landing. Frowning slightly he looked about. Surely he… or another of his selves wouldn't be landing here when he knew he was already here?

Glancing at the corner where many months before he'd parked his own TARDIS he now saw the time ship materialising into view. His frown deepened. If he was coming to find himself something must be deadly wrong. The TARDIS engines stopped and the door opened carefully.

Out stepped Rose, wearing a pair of ordinary jeans and an ordinary blue top. But something was different. It was his Rose, but older, maybe only by a few months, but defiantly older. After her a man followed. Tall, with a mop of scruffy brown hair and dark chocolate brown eyes, he was fairly dashing, wearing a long brown trench coat and pinstriped suit. They were both looking at the Doctor and he began to feel slightly self conscious.

Rose turned and said something to the brown haired man before carefully walking towards the Doctor. Her eyes were shinning, tears obviously threatening and the Doctor began to wonder what had happened. As soon as she was within ear shot she began talking.

"Doctor," she said, throwing her arms round him. The Doctor hugged her back wondering what on earth had got her so upset. The man in the pinstripe suit was walking over slightly slower than Rose and nodded at the Doctor. That was when he understood. The other man was him. He'd obviously regenerated. "I know this is breaking so many Time Laws, but you- he said that he remembered it."

Rose pulled back tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I just needed to say goodbye," she whispered. The Doctor glanced at his future self who nodded and wandered away leaving the pair of them in privacy.

"Rose, I don't know what happened, and I don't want you to tell me," the Doctor began. "But why did you come back?"

"I needed to say goodbye," she repeated quietly. "I needed to be able to let go."

They stared at each other for a moment, the Doctor seeing pain in Rose's soft brown eyes, Rose seeing confusion in the Doctor's bright blue ones.

"It was destroying our relationship," Rose said quietly. "I knew that I was shopping now and the new you said that he remembered this…"

The Doctor nodded.

"It's ok," he said smiling softly. "If this is goodbye, then there's something you need to know…"