Hey guys! :) Sorry the update took FOREVER, I had a bit of writers' block and just couldn't get to it... but once i began writing this chapter, I couldn't stop... this has GOT to be my fave chapter to write this whole time...

Dedicated to: Rebecca Harkness-she was the one who encouraged me to continue this story :)

Song: "Fernando" by ABBA

Disclaimer: If I owned anything, well, the Doctor would've stayed with Rose, Martha would've married Jack, Donna would've remembered, and the Master would've had an affair with Martha... (but where would the fun in that be, right? ;D)

Rose fumbled with the sonic screwdriver in her hand, her mouth obviously gaping at the appearance of the man she hadn't seen in twenty years…"You…"she pointed her finger at him, feeling weak in the knees. He hadn't changed much, his bronze hair spiked in the front as normal, he in a blue suit and trench coat. He looked the same… still so young with eyes so ancient…

Immediately, Rose felt self-conscious. Time did not do her appearance justice—she didn't ever imagine seeing the Doctor seeing her like this, so, so… old.

"You look great," he said, awkwardly swinging his body back and forth, hands thrust in his pockets. "I mean, considering how long I haven't seen you since… not, not calling you old, of course. I mean, you're how old now? Don't look a day over fifty… dammit, it's been only twenty years, 'asn't it? You don't look a day over… oh don't mind me then. Rude and not ginger." The Doctor grinned that same grin Rose had fallen in love with over twenty years ago… now, now his grin seemed just, just like an inside joke that had become tainted with age and had become, well…

Sick.

"Care for a walk?" the Doctor cleared his throat, and gestured her to the outside balcony, which contained a small garden and walkway for passerbyers to enjoy.

[Flashback]

The dark, starry night was lit by the moon and the glow-in-the-dark butterflies. Another mission, another day, another planet and civilization saved, all thanks to the humble hands of the Doctor and human Rose Tyler. The Doctor and Rose strolled through the garden, Rose's cheeks painted red from the chilly frost of the planet, the Doctor's hand caressing hers.

The moon of the Alsamernon looked just like the one back on Earth—round and white with indents… so beautiful, so crystal clear.

"Fancy a trip to the moon?" asked the Doctor, enunciating the word "moon". "Always fancied a trip there… you know, walking on the craters. Not fair the Americans get to bounce around in space." He flashed a wide-toothed smile at her. Rose blushed a deep crimson and looked down at her trainers.

"Y'know, I s'pose a trip to the moon would be nice. This moon, or Earth's moon?" she grinned slightly at him, her tongue poking out of her teeth in a way the Doctor found irresistibly cute.

"How about the Lost Moon of Poosh?" he asked, tilting his head, casting his eyes down at her brown ones, a gentle butterfly flitting through their gaze.

Rose let out a laugh. "If it's lost, 'ow can we go to it?" she asked, laughing. Her eyes focused on the Doctor's nose, fearing if she looked into his mysteriously beautiful eyes she'd get lost and might not be able to look away.

"Oh Rose Tyler," the Doctor sighed, grinning at her. "Have you but forgotten? We've got all the time in the world…"

[End flashback]

Wasn't so true now, was it Doctor? Rose thought to herself, bitterly.

Can you hear the drums Fernando?
I remember long ago another starry night like this
In the firelight Fernando

Rose knew the Doctor was remembering a moment similar, or perhaps exactly the same memory, as hers for he looked off into the distance, a small, sad smile on his lips, a faraway look in his eyes.

You were humming to yourself and softly strumming your guitar
I could hear the distant drums
And sounds of bugle calls were coming from afar

"So, that's your daughter then?" the Doctor asked, gesturing behind them, though they were the only ones on the balcony. "Jade Tyler? Beautiful name."

"Yea', well that's the last planet you took me to before you dropped me off 'ere, back in good ol' London," Rose said, bitterly. She cast her eyes down into the sparkling city, buses and cars honking in midnight traffic.

"Oh yes." The Doctor didn't even hesitate speaking. "The planet made entirely of Jade… it disappeared, you know," he looked at her. "It disappeared not long after I dropped you off. Rumor had it that it lost its muse, its queen, its inspiration. It just broke down after that. Gone, forever." He stared directly at her eyes when he said that.

They were closer now Fernando
Every hour every minute seemed to last eternally

"Was… was that the call from the TARDIS that you received?" Rose asked, still not looking at him. "Before you left… before you dropped me off, you received some kind of signal from the TARDIS communications and you got the saddest look in your eyes… was that it?" What Rose really wanted to scream, "It's all my fault, isn't it? Everything's just ol' Rose Marion Tyler's freakin' fault!"

But she didn't. Because she loved him.

[Flashback]

"So, where we a-goin' next?" she asked, dancing around the console system. She waited a few seconds for a reply. She tried looking at him in the eyes, but he wouldn't look up at her. Rose sauntered over to the Doctor, trying to see what he was looking at. A large, beeping noise filled the TARDIS.

"Wot's that?" she asked, pointing at the screen. It looked like a black hole of some sort, sucking in what looked like to be a planet. But the things it was sucking in looked like shards of green glass, like, like jade…

He looked up at her, their bodies now distant. He had moved to the other side of the console to look at radiation patterns or something, muttering about it underneath his breath. Rose thought he was just babbling on about something or another, but when he looked up, Rose knew this was no ordinary goodbye to just another planet.

It was her goodbye.

[End flashback]

I was so afraid Fernando
We were young and full of life and none of us prepared to die

"Things die Rose, you have to understand that," the Doctor snapped, voice unusually harsh. "Everyone lives, and everyone dies. Mickey will die, Jackie will die, you will die, I will die, and Jade WILL DIE!"

That last bit sent Rose off.

"You know wot? Why are you even here? You said you could just, pop back into my life again, huh? Twenty years you were gone! Your daughter lived without a father for so long…." Tears streamed down her weathered cheeks. "You're just like all of them… the whole universe you promised to me, Doctor. But you… I was planning to forgive you for all the pain and suffering you gave to me!" she poked him in the chest.

"But don't you ever talk about my daughter like that, Doctor. Even if it is true, don't you ever say somethin' like that again," Rose sobbed, angrier than the Doctor had ever seen her before. "'Cos I saw people die, all the time with you. I get that. I've seen people die for you. And you know what? I'm not puttin' Jade in that position. Not the death position, and certainly not with you!"

And I'm not ashamed to say
The roar of guns and cannons almost made me cry

"I want you stayin' away from 'er, from my daughter…" warned Rose. "I don't want you anywhere near 'er, anywhere near 'er fiancé, nowhere near the wedding or her children!" she began to storm back inside the hotel, but not before turning back and sickly saying, "Everyone dies, Doctor. And you better be fuckin' prepared to meet it if you take one of your little trainer-pitty-pat-steps onto this land ever again!" She then noticed she was still clenching his God-forsaken screwdriver, and Rose hurled it at him. "And just to be clear, I ain't never wanna see your God-damned face again!"

She ran through the hallways until she reached the room she had supposedly seen the Doctor and Mickey and Jack before. Rose collapsed on one of the beds and broke into hysterical sobs, crying. The worst part wasn't when Rose had insulted him, or when she swore at him… it was when she had lied to him, when she had said she never wanted to see him again. While crying, she wondered why she didn't tell him the truth. Rose then came up with a reasonable explanation.

It was because she loved him. And lovers, even old flames, didn't do that to each other.

There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando