Hello everyone! This is my first full size fic, so please be kind. Later chapters will be from Evy's POV, but it seemed appropriate to start with the good-bye at Bad Wolf Bay. A few other chapters may be from other main characters' POV, but this will be mainly Evy, I think.

Music ~ In the Arms of the Angel by Sarah McLachlan.

Rose stands on the beach, not sure what she's waiting for. And then he appears, see through, like the 'ghosts' that started this whole mess.

"Where are you?"

"Inside the Tardis. There's one tiny little gap in the universe left, just about to close. And it takes a lot of power to send this projection; I'm in orbit around a supernova. Burning up a sun just to say goodbye." She can tell he's struggling not to cry like she is; she can hear it in his voice. And she realizes that she can't tell him; she can't tell him about the miracle growing inside her at this very moment. It would break him- to know that not only is he losing her, he's losing his child as well.

"You look like a ghost." It's the only thing she can think to say; a minor detail compared to the huge things left unsaid, the things they should have told each other months and weeks ago. It doesn't matter how the projection looks. All that matters is that he's here, here to say goodbye.

"Hold on." The projection fiddles with the sonic, and the image fills in and becomes real-looking.

She steps closer to him, hoping but not daring to believe that it might be solid, might be real. She reaches out, cautiously.

"Can I-"

"I'm still just an image. No touch."

Rose knew that; knew that the hope of holding his hand one last time was a false one, even as she asked.

"Can't you come through properly?" She asks, desperately, and yet without hope. She knows he can't, they both know that. And it's not just for her she asks; if he could come through, he would be able to stay, and she could tell him about the child she's carrying, the miraculous, impossible child they made in the heat of the moment ,with the fear of losing each other and the desperate joy of reunion after impossible odds.

"The whole thing would fracture. Two universes would collapse."

"So." She sighs, fighting her threatening tears. For a few moments, they both just gaze at each other, trying to savor these last moments. Then he breaks the silence.

"Where are we? Where did the breach come out?" Of course he would be curious.

"We're in Norway."

"Norway?" He surprised. He won't be, after she tells him the name of this beach. Darling Ulv Stranden. Bay Wolf Bay.

" Beach 'bout fifty miles out of Burgin." She takes a breath. "It's called Darling Ulv Stranden."
"Dalek?" Of course he would hear that and nothing else.

"Darlig," she says stressing the pronunciation. "It's Norwegian for Bad. This translates to bad wolf bay." Irony of Ironies.

They both smile at that, remembering the name that followed them throughout all of their first year or so together.

"How long have you got?" It can't be long, it certainly can't be long enough for all the things they have left unsaid, things they should have been open with from the beginning.

"About two minutes." Heartbreakingly short. The universe is beyond unfair or heartless, giving them that short amount of time; it's mercilessly, pitilessly cruel.

"I hardly know what to say." Oh, she does know what to say, but she can't say it. And beside that one fact, there is hardly anything worth saying.

"You've still got Mister Mickey then," he says, glancing over at the three figures standing several yards away, next to an army van parked quite illegally on the beach.

"There's five of us now. Mum, Dad, Mickey- and the baby." Oh, God. She didn't mean to even give him that hint, but it has just slipped out and flown into the hopeless space between them.

"You're not-"She can hear the hope in his voice as he makes the connection; realizes the wonderful, heartbreaking, impossible truth. She rejoices in that hope even as she is forced to shatter it.

"No; it's mum. She's three months gone. More little Tylers on the way." She says this with a false, forced smile. Jackie is pregnant- she and Pete certainly didn't waste time- but it's hardly something she would normally mention at a time like this. Then again, they're never normal, and it's the best- and true- cover she has.

"What about you?" Does he realize her lie? She doesn't think so. Neither of them are thinking straight; lies he would normally spot in a heartbeat fly right over his head.

"Yeah, I'm back working in the shop." She knows it's a weak joke to make, but she makes it anyway. Anything to cover the pain she's feeling at this moment.

"Oh. Good. Good for you." Yes, her lie definitely slipped past him; he's already accepted it as truth and forgotten it for dealing with Jackie.

"Shut up. No, no I'm not. There's now a Torchwood on this planet, it's open for business." She gasps another breath. "Think I know a thing or two about aliens." Another weak jest, but this one has a real sentiment behind it. The baby's one of the many reasons she agreed to work at Torchwood- she can imagine how many creatures and people in the universe would do anything to get ahold of a half Time-Lord child, and Torchwood can help protect her child from that.

"Rose Tyler. Defender of the Earth." Pause. "You're dead. Officially, back home, So many people died that day and you've gone missing. You're on the list of the dead. Here you are. Living a life, day after day. The one adventure I can never have." She wants to tell him so badly about his little girl, the girl she's decided to call Evelyna. He could have had that adventure he's imagining for her alone, could have had it if she'd told him when she first found out; told him instead of deciding to make it a surprise for both her mum and him.

"Am I ever gonna see you again?" Now she's really crying, and not just for herself. She knows she won't, that little Evelyna will never know her father, and her father will never know his daughter, if the universe has its way.

"What are you gonna do?" Without me? She adds in her thoughts. Without your daughter?

"Ah, I've got a TARDIS. Same old life, last of the Time Lords."

His tone is lighter, but she knows how lonely he really is. God, she wants to tell him he's not the last, not anymore. He's not alone; he has a daughter now. But she can't. It would break him. She can see how much it's costing him to lose just her; Hell, it's costing her, like her heart is being ripped out and the air stolen from her lungs. And if it's costing him that much, how much would it cost him to lose both her and a daughter?

"On your own?" Without us? She cries out inside.

He nods.

And that simple gesture shreds the torn remnants of her heart even more.

"I-" she finds herself starting to tell him, but chokes it down, a small sob escaping her lips. She gathers herself, brushing windblown strands of her hair aside.

"I love you," she manages to choke out. That simple phrase, even for so long unsaid, if not unknown, is so insignificant compared to what she should be telling him. They should be celebrating ; not crying as the closing walls are tearing them apart, unable to even touch in these last few moments.

"Quite right too," God, she loves him – even now he's able to maintain part of his old arrogant jokes.

Now it's her turn to nod. He's right- she couldn't have chosen better. Evy, even unborn and growing as she is, couldn't have a better father. A man who saved the world with a Satsuma in his pajamas, who saves somebody's world every day. But she'll never know him.

Rose completely breaks down into sobs, gasping in between. But her Doctor's not finished.

"And I suppose this is my last chance to say it." He pauses.

Rose knows what he will say, but she manages to quiet herself a little, just to be able to hear him say it.

He meets her eyes, his own full of ancient sadness and the fresh agony that must be mirrored in her own.

"Rose Tyler-" And then, before he manages to speak another syllable, the image fades before her eyes, gone like it never was. For a minute she just stands there, internally reeling from this latest, cruelest blow. And then she crumples, disintegrating into sobs that she can't stop, can't control and doesn't want too.

He's gone. But even in the depths of her grief, the fierce love and protectiveness she has for her unborn Evy manages to hang on, to give her something to cling to as she sobs on the beach. And she makes a vow she will keep or die trying. For both herself and her daughter, she will find a way back to him.