A/N: Soooooo, when I said Tuesday or Wednesday, I lied. I got a little excited and basically wrote the first chapter/prologue. Well alright folks. Here you have it. My newest Doctor Who fic chocked full of TenRose goodness. Be warned though, it's not gonna be fluffy. At least for now. With that, enjoy the first (though short) chapter of "I Have Loved the Stars Too Fondly".

8 July 2006 - Doomsday

The Doctor grinned. They'd done it. He and Rose had saved the world once again. For those few brief minutes he thought he would never see her again, but then she came back, just like she always did. He jubilantly looked over at his Rose, smiling, when he noticed the lever on her side had slipped out of place. His face fell and he watched in terror and Rose let go with one hand, reaching for the lever. He felt both of his hearts briefly stop when she let go with the other hand, throwing herself on the lever and reopening the void.

He screamed, "Rose! Hold on!" As watched her, unable to do anything to help, she began losing her grip.

"Rose, just a bit longer! Come on, you can do this! Just a bit longer!" Rose regained her grip with one hand and she was slowly fighting to get the other back on the lever. The Doctor felt as if his hearts were going to burst when suddenly, Rose lost her grip entirely.

"ROSE!" His cry of her name quickly turned into a wordless scream as he watched his companion being sucked into the void. Until the breech closed. With the void no longer open there was no force acting against them so Rose simply fell to the floor in front of the wall. The Doctor quickly released his grip and tripped over himself, trying to reach Rose. He stumbled to her, crouching down and pulling her onto his lap. Rose's head lolled to the side, her eyes shut. The Doctor shook his head.

"No…" he whispered. "No, no, no! Not now, Rose. Not after everything we've done, please! Don't do this." He gripped her face between both of his long-fingered hands, shaking her body slightly. "Please, Rose." A single tear slipped down his nose, dangling for a moment before landing on Rose's eyelid. The Doctor turned away and squeezed his eyes closed willing himself to stop crying, when a hand came up and brushed a tear off his cheek. He quickly turned back to see Rose's hand twisting into his hair. He saw her lips move but didn't hear what she had said.

"What was that, Rose," he asked.

He leaned forward as she repeated herself in a soft whisper, "We saved them." The Doctor smiled sadly. He swallowed past the lump in his throat.

"Yeah… Yeah we did," he mused, "We saved them." Rose slowly opened her eyes and sat up.

"You don't have to dance around the edges, Doctor." She looked him in the eyes as she spoke, "I know they're gone. I know I won't see them again. It's like I told you earlier," She let go of the Doctor's hair, bringing her hand down to his and lacing their fingers together, "I made my choice a long time ago." The Doctor's smile widened. He didn't deserve her. This girl, no- Even though she was just a year older, the things she had seen and done made her more mature than numbers could describe. This woman. This human of pink and gold that burned brighter than the brightest star he had come across in his lifetime. This human that he believed in and trusted more than anything. Rose Tyler, the woman he would give his life for and had decidedly given his hearts to.

9 July 2006 - Around 1 in the morning

Rose sat on her bed, staring at an old photograph. The edges were worn and there were two white lines that split the picture into quarters, from Rose repeatedly taking it out, folding it, and putting it back in her pocket. The photo was of her, Mickey, and Jackie sitting on a bench, eating chips together. It had been a completely ordinary day, but now, when her life was anything but, she found it comforting that her life had been so simple then.

The Doctor had carried her to her room and tucked her into bed, since she had passed out shortly after sealing the breech. She had slept for hours, until she woke up in the middle of the night, disoriented and confused.

After closing the gate, the adrenaline had kept Rose from fully understanding her situation. Her family, both blood and not, were trapped in a parallel universe. Regardless of the fact that she chose the Doctor, the one person she couldn't bear to be parted from, she still would never see her family again. She hadn't fully comprehended this until she had woken up and realized she was in the TARDIS. And that this was her home now. She would never be able to come home to Jackie's fretting or to Mickey trying to show up the Doctor. That was what had brought the tears and, as a result, the picture.

Rose sniffled and stood up, pulling down the edge of her t-shirt. She walked out of her bedroom, grabbing the rail in the hallway and following the light shocks that came from the walls and the floor that lead her to the kitchen. She walked in and saw the Doctor sitting at the table with his back to her. Rose briefly thought about turning back and just hiding in her room, but her feet continued to carry her forward. The Doctor was wearing pajama pants and a band t-shirt (something that caught Rose off guard) and was sitting with his face in his hands. Rose coughed a little, since she figured the Doctor had no idea she had just walked in. The Doctor started slightly and looked up. His eyes were sad.

From the moment Rose had met the Doctor, she had seen the sadness in his eyes. Sure, he kept it well hidden behind his different facades. First, it was the grouchy, gruff, sure-of-himself facade. Then, the mischievous, seemingly carefree, joking, and still very sure-of-himself facade. But, this was different. These eyes were stripped bare, with nothing hiding the sadness. Just the raw pain and anguish of a 900-year-old man, there for the world to see.

Except the world wasn't there.

It was just Rose, who pulled up a chair and sat next to the Doctor. The pair sat there not saying anything, just sharing the company, for near to an hour. The Doctor had folded his hands, placed them on the table, and not looked up since he had first seen Rose walk in. Rose sat staring at this man she had given up her life for without question. She wondered for a moment whether she should have thought it over. Whether she would be happier living with her mother and getting to know her father.

But then she stopped herself. When she had told him she had made her choice, she had meant travelling with him, being with him. But it was more than that, even though she hadn't realized it right away. She had meant him. Just him. Because, try as she might to deny it, somewhere along their journeys throughout the stars, Rose Tyler had fallen in love with the Doctor.

As always, please rate and review! Your guys' reviews always make me so happy and excited to write more! See you later this week with another chapter!