The first time I saw her, the Time War just ended. My entire world just ended. I was the Doctor, and the last of my kind. The last of the Time Lords. My latest regeneration just happened and I was... Kind of lost.

Seems stupid, aye ? Specially when I told Rose that I could feel the rotation of the earth, its speed and its place in the universe. But still, I was lost – even if I would never have admitt it in front of other people. C'mon, people needs the Doctor but the Doctor doesn't need sympathy ! This is the way it's supposed to work.

Of course, I have had compagnons who came with me in my adventures, but it was before all of that happened. Before Gallifrey died, before the Time Lords and the Daleks were locked up in time.

So, when I saw Rose Tyler for the first time, I certainly did not think she would become that important to me. But a few hours were enough, because, c'mon, it was Rose Tyler, the blond-haired girl who asked me why I had a north accent after I told her I was an alien. She was certainly completely crazy – that's why we got along so fine !

At that time, I looked like a sailor – old women of all species kept saying that, but, really, what was wrong with my jumper ? -, had giant ears (really, really giant ears), and, well, the most stupid face I ever had. At least, I looked funny. I don't like serious people – too boring. Rose was like that too. Gosh, that time with Queen Victoria ! « I'm not amused », really ! So irreverent. And still, she was so full of sympathy, so good. I guess, this is why I didn't leave her behind. I needed her, because, no matter what, a Time Lord can't travel alone. The weight of the universe is too big for one Time Lord – one wounded Time Lord. And as such, I needed Rose Tyler and all the sympathy she had, even if I didn't know it at that time. I came back for her because she was brave, and friendly, and because I was so lonely.

All those things about sympathy – I realized it much much later, when I had to give up on her to let her be happy with... well, me.

When I took her in the TARDIS, I was just being selfish. Terribly selfish. I didn't think a damn minut about her family, and Mickey, and her life. I had found a compagnon, even if I didn't want to have a new one, and, for Gallifrey's sake !, I wasn't going to take her back home !

Told ya, selfish. Selfish Doctor. This is not supposed to be possible, but, hey, war changes people – even me.

Back to our first meeting ! There was plastic, everywhere, attacking people, and Rose was trapped in her shop – not « her » shop, but the one she was working for. She certainly think, when we met, I was talking nonsense because nobody ever understand what I say. But, really, this is just basic alien-physics. Anyway, I remember well what I told her, in the end : « Run for your life ! » (with my big stupid-banana-smile). When I think back to this, I realized that she should have run away from me.

Actually, she did, and I hunted her down because a plastic-arm followed her – Wait a sec, she hunted me down too ! And that stupid arm tried to stranguled me ! And Rose was talking, talking, talking, wondering who I was, blabbering about a cat and the fact that men were stupids – what a silly conversation. But I made it out, with Rose's help, and I went out of her life – or so did I think. She followed me to the TARDIS, craving for answers. I smiled, said stupid things like I usually do, but I was dying inside. Specially when she asked me if I was alone. I would have shouted « Yes ! » if I could have, but a Time Lord doesn't do that sort of things. So, I made some twists, made my way out of this conversation. I was smiling to her but every time I turned my back on her, I was deadly sirious again. It was my burden – it still is. A Time Lord bears the universe on his shoulders and he can't complain, never.

But in the end, I couldn't let her like that. I took her hand – and it happened. Rose Tyler entered my life and never came out. I told her who I was – what I was – and still, she tracked me down, because the mysteries of the universe – basically, me – captivated her.

After that, I met Ricky-Mickey-No-matter-his-name and we saved the world. I knew the time had come to let her go, but I couldn't. How could this girl stay in this little life, to sleep, eat, and work like anybody else when she was able to fight against aliens and, maybe, to understand the motion of the universe ?

And, most of all, how could I stay alone after that ?

But she said no, for the sake of Mickey-Ricky-Something and her mother who tried to seduce me (I guess the ears aren't that awful). So I went away. But, c'mon, the Doctor never gives up. And I was being selfish, definitely. I came back, with this ultimate argument : « A time machine, o' course ».

She ran to me. Ran for her life, that I was going to destroy. None of us did know that. I could have, actually. I just had to think about it and I would have known it. But I didn't. And there she was. Not specially for the time machine, not for the spaceship, but for the adventures, for the brilliant life I thought I was offering her. Rose Tyler, deep inside, was a traveller. A misunderstood traveller, who grew up in a world that wasn't made for her – a world where everybody ate, slept and worked. She was a dreamer, and yet so conscious of the reality. She was a compagnon, a real one, a perfect one, even if she was so ignorant of the universe.

Her ignorance changed my life, because she wasn't rationalist like me, but she tried to understand with her heart. And that's how the wounded Time Lord, the lonely Doctor, began to recover from the dryness of his heart – or hearts. I was sick of violence and death and yet craving for vengeance. An antithesis I couldn't resolve, because it was like death was always on my way - 'til Rose's arrival. Rose, who could have save the life of her worst enemy if she thought he was worth it. Rose, who reminded me that I was still able to love.