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"It's going to be okay," the doctor whispered to Rose as he gently stroked her cheek. Sitting side by side at the TARDIS doorway, the couple shared a mutual feeling of hope. "It always turns out okay." He wiped a tear from his wife's eye as she leaned into his touch.
"I know," Rose responded. She quickly placed her lips onto his. They were cold. Colder than usual, despite the warm touch of the star right outside the ship. She moved to place her forehead onto his, trying to absorb every last moment while her husband was still this version of himself.
The doctor was regenerating, again. Rose had been through this many times before, but it never seemed to get any easier. It felt like losing and gaining a part of them every single time. She never knew who she was going to get. She never knew what memories she'd form with this incarnation. All she knew is she'd love her spouse, her dearest doctor, through thick and thin, through time and space. She didn't have much time left with this version of him. The hand he'd settled on her shoulder glowed with warm golden light. She'd have to back away soon.
Rose suddenly grabbed her husband's face and stared into those beautiful big brown eyes of his. She was staring into them for the last time. She tried to speak but the words seemed to get caught in her throat.
The doctor smiled in that enchanting way she'd fallen in love with from the very first time she saw it.
"Rose Tyler, I love you," he said, the words spilling out his mouth so naturally.
"I love you too. I love you so, so much," Rose croaked through tears. She had to back away. She could tell you first hand having regeneration energy blasted straight into your heart didn't feel good to say the least. But prying herself away from the doctor's grasp was just about the hardest thing in that moment. He gave her one last kiss, both of them taking in every detail. She stood and walked back to the console despite every instinct telling her to stay. The doctor stood too and faced the star, his dear friend Joy. He knew Rose didn't like to see this part. He remembered how she'd described seeing one of his faces morph into another as 'scary'. She though he looked in pain.
Rose watched his back as the regeneration energy flowed into the vacuum of space. It overwhelmed the doctor and overwhelmed her too. She saw as every part of her husband's body was replaced by that golden light she'd seen so often. That damn painful, cleansing golden light. When it started to die down, the first thing she saw was the blue of her spouses clothes replacing the gold. Then she started to see their head.
Blonde hair flowed down her partners back. It reminded her of her amber-eyed blonde wife she'd had not too long ago. The energy continued to die down, slowly revealing the doctor's new form. A curious thought hit Rose. This form looked so familiar. No, it couldn't be…
Adrenaline running through her veins, the doctor turned around in a hurry. She couldn't wait to see her new form, and for her wife to see it as well.
"Oh hello!" She said, excited as ever. But Rose… she didn't seem well. She didn't have that intrigued, loving look she'd always had after her past regenerations. No, she looked scared. Terrified even. No love behind her eyes and not a word coming out her mouth. Just a projection of fear.
The doctor started to walk towards her, worried. "Rose, what's-"
"Who are you?!" Rose interrupted. She couldn't believe it. This couldn't be real… The love of her life, her dearest doctor, was standing there in front of her. And she was an exact recreation of herself. "What are you doing?" She yelled. The doctor, her perfect mirror, stood still, face almost as terrified as her own.
"Tell me what's wrong!" The doctor yelled desperately.
"You- you have my face." Rose had stopped yelling. She was practically whispering.
The doctor couldn't believe Rose's words. She took a hand to her face. She felt everything in just a few seconds. Every dimple, convex and concave shape, every line, bump, hair and atom. She knew this face. She'd been holding and kissing it just minutes ago. She'd stared at this face everyday for the past couple thousand years.
The doctor was snapped out of her strange disbelieving state when the loud sound of Rose ripping a small mirror from the console resonated across the room. A screw flew and hit the ground.
Rose solemnly walked across the console room floor. The doctor didn't know what to expect. Her wife reached out her arms and pushed the mirror into her face. The doctor didn't want to stare into it. A glance was enough. There she was. The woman she'd loved for millennia, stuck in a mirror like daughter of mine from that damn alien family.
Rose suddenly dropped the mirror. Despite the loud shattering sound, it was as if she hadn't. Mirror or no mirror, the same face stared back at the doctor. Rose's confused anger turned to confused sadness. She grabbed her wife in a hug, burying her face in her shoulder.
"Oh doctor, my love, that's my face. Why do you have my face?" she cried quietly to her copycat. After everything, she loved that copycat to the ends of the universe and back. It was going to be okay. It always turned out okay.