No copyright infringement intended. I do not own Doctor Who or any of it's characters. This story is set just before Smith and Jones. please leave me a review or any thoughts you have on it. Thank you!

"Forever..." Who knew one word could make you feel as bright as the sun and at the same cause the deep searing pain of being burned by it's fire.

She smiled as he looked at her, taking in the moment, letting the pain and joy soak through every part of him before taking her hand. That burned too but he wouldn't miss the chance to hold her hand in his for anything.

The doctor woke with a gasp, blinking furiously and surprised to feel a tear escape and roll down his face. I can't do this anymore, He thought to himself for the millionth time as he stumbled out of the chair he'd passed out in and over to the console to check out where the Tardis had drifted to without his guidance.

"Well, would you look at that? You've been eavesdropping." He murmured as he looked at the screen. The exact planet where Rose had said forever was right outside the door. "I can't go out there you know. It might very well kill me and then where would you be? You'd just sit here on this rock like a monument to things that will never come back."

The Tardis' central control lit up brighter and hummed. "Right then, we're not going to think about... well, you know." He said softly, purposely avoiding looking at the screen again while he typed in the coordinates for a little moon habitation that only had people for three weeks out of their year. He just wanted to rest and not to think about anything. He wanted to sleep without dreams and for just one night, or day for that matter to not hear the voice that echoed in his ears.

The Tardis shook for a moment, as if it had collided with something and he quickly checked for damage. There was nothing wrong and in fact when he opened the door and leaned out he found nothing floating anywhere near him.

"Catching a bit of a cold, girl?" He asked lightly as he looked around then jumped when he heard the sound of a giggle just behind him.

"Who's there?" He called out, fishing the sonic screwdriver from his pocket when he heard a soft gasp in response. He couldn't see anything there but the sound was definitely real.

"Not really fair, playing hiding and seek with someone who doesn't know you're there. Come on now, let's see you." He said, cautiously walking back towards the center. He could hear footsteps now, and scanned the direction they were coming from. The readings were clear, a life form was somehow hiding right in front of him.

"I'm not hiding." A soft, shaking voice answered him, disturbingly close. The Doctor jumped backwards, "Who are you?" He demanded.

"I don't know what's happening. I thought... I thought I was dreaming and you were talking to the Tardis and, and you spoke to me! How? What is happening?" The voice was growing more frantic with every word, and he could tell it was beginning to hyperventilate.

"Whoa, breathe. I'm not going to hurt you. You can make yourself visible, I promise you're safe with me. I'll help you." He said, speaking softly as if to a frightened animal.

"I can't make myself visible," the voice said and he could tell it was crying. "I don't understand what happened."

"Okay, well, we'll see what we can do about that. Do you see that chair over the by console? Go and sit there while I figure out what's going on." He rushed to the controls, typing and flipping switches before diving to the ground and reaching through a hatch in the floor to pull out a device that looked very much like a metal fly swatter.

"What's that?" asked the frightened voice.

" This? Oh, it's a scanner of course, well, sort of a scanner. It's like when you put invisible ink over a lamp. Helps make unseen things...seen." He explained quickly, pressing buttons on the gadget before facing the chair.

"By the way, what's your name?" He asked calmly while waving the beeping device back and forth.

"Sela."

Sela was becoming more visible now, although still transparent. "You look like a ghost..." The memory of Rose's voice shot through the Doctor with a stinging pain and he quickly turned from the girl.

"Right, well, you just keep waving that over yourself. I need to... to finish these settings." He said, moving over to the other side of the central panel so that he would not see her at all.

"So, how is it that you knew I was talking to the Tardis? Or, for that matter that this was a Tardis?" He asked, trying very hard to block out the echo of Rose.

"I've seen you... I know it sounds strange. I can't really explain it completely but every night for the last few... months I guess you would count them, I've seen your life in my dreams." Sela said shyly, as the beeping continued . The Doctor poked in head around the console, and saw that she was now completely visible.

"Sorry, what?" He asked, moving back towards her. Taking the scanner out of her hands, he leaned against the console opposite her, fully interested now.

"Well, among my people we have what are called Links who are born psychically connected with another person. But, that's strictly confined to our own people and I never was one of them until the night the sky was torn. That was the first time I saw you."