Rose left Sainsbury's Supermarket and started down the street toward her TARDIS. She watched the people as they passed. Their style seemed so silly to her. There were overalls and plaid shirts or waistcoats, busy print dresses, and crimped hair. She'd seen and worn some really outrageous outfits in her travels through time and space, but these were the things she grew up wearing and couldn't help but laugh at it all. She looked in the shop windows, too. It was all a blast from the past. On her walk, she spotted a café and stopped in for a latte to take back to the TARDIS.

Rose only made it a few steps out of the café when someone called after her.

"Rose? Rose!"

She'd know that voice anywhere and she groaned. This couldn't be happening. She thought if she didn't look back and just kept walking, he might think he'd been mistaken. But he didn't stop calling out.

"Rose! Where are you going? Rose, stop! Rose!"

He was getting closer and Rose wasn't sure what to do. She started walking faster, but she knew he would, too. She either had to face him or run. She ran.

Rose weaved around other people on the pavement and ran as fast as she could. Coffee was sloshing out of her cup and burning her hand so she dropped it right where she was and pushed herself to run faster. Her pin-striped Doctor was still running after and shouting her name. She'd already passed her TARDIS and panicked when she saw his just ahead. She quickly changed direction but not before she caught sight of her younger self stepping out the door. The Doctor must have noticed too because he stopped shouting 'Rose' and just yelled for her to stop.

Rose raced across the street, trying her best not to get struck by the moving vehicles. There was a pretty close call and a few squealing brakes, but she didn't slow down. She chanced a glance back and saw that the pin-striped Doctor and her younger self were both racing after her. Trying to buy herself a bit larger head start, she turned down an alley between two buildings. There was a chain link fence, but she still didn't slow down. She used the handle of a dumpster there to give her a boost, took hold of the top of the fence, and gracefully flipped over. The Doctor did the same thing but was a bit slower and not nearly as graceful. It was just the head start she wanted. She ran past two shops and dived into the next. She turned away from the shop window, moved back a row of clothing racks, and pretended to be browsing.

Rose was counting the seconds, trying to guess how long it would take for the Doctor to pass her and then how long it would take her younger self to pass after that. The seconds kept passing. How fit was she back during her second year of running with the Doctor? How long would it take her to scale the fence? It couldn't take that much longer, but she had already been more than half a block behind them.

The shop door opened and Rose finally looked up. He must have figured out that she took shelter in one of the shops. The look on his face was severe when he found her.

"Who are you? What are you?" he demanded.

Rose sighed and shook her head. "I really wish you would have just left me alone."

"I asked you a question."

"Honestly, I wasn't paying attention," Rose replied.

"Hello," a saleswoman said pleasantly as she approached them. "Is there anything I can help you with today?"

"No, I'm sorry to bother you. I'll just be leaving now," Rose answered.

The Doctor held out his arm to block her path. "You're not going anywhere."

Rose pointed out the window at her younger self that was looking around helplessly.

"You're still not going anywhere," he insisted as he went to the door. Rose followed him and even though he blocked her path when he opened it, she pushed past.

"Stop!" the Doctor shouted, ready to chase her again.

"I'm not going anywhere. I've been caught. I just don't want people to overhear," Rose explained.

"Oh my god, she's me!" younger Rose said in shock. Older Rose just waved.

"I can't believe you found it so fast," younger Rose continued. Older Rose looked at her quizzically. It?

"I'm going to ask you again, who and what are you?" the Doctor asked.

Rose thought this might actually work to her advantage. If they thought she was an alien, this might possibly be an easy fix. "I'm a brancheerian," she lied.

"A brancheerian? Kind of a far from home aren't you? Aren't Brancheerians from-"

"The planet Sirus, yes, but I'm not. My people are from Sirus, but I was born in open space. Several generations ago there was an invasion on Sirus and my people fled to the nearby moons of Flamboon. I hear they later went back to Sirus, but my family decided to travel instead of living on the moons. My family has traveled for many generations."

The Doctor nodded as he took in this information. "So what are you doing on Earth?"

"It was an accident… well, sort of. I was looking to buy some ship parts, but I didn't realize that this was a level 5 planet. I knew I shouldn't be walking around, but I thought I'd just pick up a few provisions to see me to the next space station." Rose held up her grocery bag as evidence.

"So you're not planning to stay?" the Doctor checked.

"I'm leaving as soon as you let me go," Rose agreed.

"If you're so innocent, why were you running?" younger Rose asked.

"He caught me. I changed into the person that was with him and he figured it out. I'm not supposed to be here so I didn't want to be captured," Rose lied easily.

"How did you decide to be her?" asked the Doctor.

That was a hard one. Younger Rose was only coming out of the TARDIS when older Rose spotted her. But the Doctor never left her in the TARDIS while he wandered in a safe environment like this. It was likely she had just gone back to the TARDIS to grab something. That would mean that she had already been outside of the TARDIS.

"I had to change quickly after I almost came into contact with the man I was copying. She was the first person I really took notice of." Rose hoped they'd buy it. She had a feeling that their questioning was almost through. "I mean no harm. I promise. I'm just heading off to the next space station."

"To buy ship parts?" asked the Doctor.

"Yes."

"Is your ship going to make it to the next space station? I mean, if you need parts-"

"No, I don't need parts for my ship. I sell them. You know, hard to find ones," Rose quickly corrected. She didn't want him offering to inspect her ship.

"Hard to find such as?" the Doctor inquired.

"Oh, well, I heard someone at the space station has an osmiridium auxokinetic quad-dipolar trajector. Really hard to come by. You could charge just about anything you wanted for something like that."

"Really?" the Doctor asked with interest. "Well, if those are the kinds of parts you sell, I'd like to go browse, if that's alright. I've-"

Rose let out a shout in frustration. "Do you have any bloody idea how difficult you are?! I thought this might actually work, but you're… You're such a daft old man. Seriously, what am I supposed to do with you?"

The Doctor looked severe again. "You are a liar then. Did you really think I'd let you go without having a look at your ship?"

"I had hoped, yeah," Rose admitted.

"Is she even a brancheerian then?" asked younger Rose.

"No," Rose answered. "If you ask this thick-skulled alien next to me, he might be able to figure it out. Perhaps he could scan me with his sonic screwdriver to see if I have human-like readings. Maybe he'll figure out why I ran when he called 'Rose' and got scared when I saw the TARDIS. Maybe he'll figure it out when he realizes that I knew he was an alien without anyone telling me or how I already knew what a TARDIS and sonic screwdriver were. And maybe if I threw out there that he's a 902 year old Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, located in the constellation Kasterborous, he might put two and two together."

The Doctor's eyes widened and he gaped at her in surprise. "Rose?"

"Yes," Rose answered. "I ran because I was told to. I bumped into your previous incarnation before and he scolded me for not legging it the second I recognized him. Then I saw her and wanted to avoid a paradox."

"Why didn't you just say so?" the Doctor asked. "Why the elaborate story?"

"Because I thought I might be able to get out of this if I pretended to be whatever metamorph you were looking for. Then nobody's memories would have to be erased and I wouldn't have to deal with this whole thing."

"So this is me? This is really me?" younger Rose asked in surprise. "But... that's just so weird. You're me from the future?"

"Yes," Rose replied.

"How far in the future? I mean, you look exactly the same as I do now. Well, your roots need some touching up, but-"

"Yeah, thanks. I've been meaning to get to that. Thanks for pointing it out," Rose grumbled.

Younger Rose laughed. "Really though, when are you now? How much further along?"

Rose shook her head. "I can't say."

"Why not?" the Doctor asked skeptically. "It's like you said, we'll have to forget all this."

"I still can't talk about it."

"That doesn't make sense," said the Doctor. "By the look of you, it can't more than two years."

"If you're still skeptical about me being Rose, would this help?" Rose passed the Doctor her shopping bag. "Milk because I prefer cow's milk over all the other crazy milk around the universe. Bananas, of course. J-"

"Jelly Babies! You got me Jelly Babies and Jammie Dodgers!" the Doctor said excitedly.

"No, I got my Doctor Jelly Babies and Jammie Dodgers," Rose corrected as she took her bag back. "If you want some, you'll have to go get your own."

"Speaking of your Doctor," said younger Rose, "where is he?"

"Oh, erm, we sort of split up for the afternoon. He had some things to take care of and I had to do the shopping. I'm supposed to meet up with him soon," Rose answered anxiously.

"What kind of stuff?" asked the Doctor.

"Doesn't matter," Rose said as she shook her head. "Just seemed easier to split up."

"He just let you go off alone?" the Doctor said doubtfully. "Sounds to me like he knows there's trouble and he let you go off on your own?"

"And you let him?" younger Rose asked incredulously.

"There's no trouble here. Well, maybe a bit if you're chasing a metamorph, but we didn't know about that. I'm a big girl. I can go to the supermarket on my own," Rose stated defensively.

"When exactly are you supposed to meet him?" asked the Doctor.

"Soon."

"No, I said, exactly."

Rose checked her watch but it didn't do her any good. It wasn't set to Earth time. "Erm... We're supposed to meet at-"

"That watch doesn't help you, does it?" the Doctor challenged. "I can see it from here."

Rose sighed. "You're right. It's running on TARDIS time. Well, I call it TARDIS time, but you call it 'Rose time.'"

"Rose time?" asked younger Rose.

"Yeah, it's what his watch is always set at. He can know the time of day by his time sense and the sun and the stars, but he created his own time to run by. It's based on our sleep cycle so he knows when we should eat and when we should head back to the TARDIS so we can get some sleep," Rose explained. "I set my watch that way, too, so we're always on the same track."

"So are you meeting him by Rose time or Earth time?" the Doctor inquired.

"Erm... my time." Rose was having a hard time coming up with answers now. She was fantastic at coming up with the story of the metamorph, but she was struggling with lying about her meet-up with her Doctor. They weren't meeting up on Earth or in this time period. She had her own TARDIS and she was supposed to go meet him.

"You don't know," young Rose challenged. "You have no idea when you're supposed to meet him. Do you even know where?"

"It's not-"

"You don't, do you?" younger Rose continued. "He just dropped you off, didn't he?"

Younger Rose turned to glare at the Doctor. "You just dropped me off!"

"I would never do that," the Doctor argued. "Never."

"But apparently you have!"

"Where is he? Where is he really?" the Doctor insisted.

"Look, if you're both that upset about this-" Rose started.

"I want to know where he is and why you're stranded here," the Doctor angrily persisted.

Rose sighed heavily. "He's on Qetesh. Something's going on there and I requested that I come here while he dealt with that."

"You made him go alone?!" younger Rose demanded in outrage. "There's trouble out there and you asked him to do it himself?! Doctor, this isn't me! I would never-"

"I am you and I didn't send him into a war zone. Qetesh is a peaceful planet that is having a very minor issue. Though Qetesh is peaceful, the women there are owned by the men. The Doctor has to give me a temporary tattoo that states I'm his property, I have to stay mute the entire time, their clothes are revealing and give me a rash, and most of the food there is toxic to me and it's rude if I refuse it. It's absolutely miserable there so I asked to sit this one out."

"I'd let you stay in the TARDIS while I took care of it and then we'd do the shopping together," the Doctor argued.

"Well, that's not what happened," stated Rose.

"That still doesn't explain why you don't know when to meet him," said younger Rose.

"Look, I'll call him. If it makes you feel better, I'll call him." Rose took out her mobile and hit the TARDIS speed dial.

"Hello!" the Doctor answered the phone cheerfully.

"Hey, how's it going on Qetesh?" Rose responded.

"Done! The vermin are gone. I got to play the Pied Piper again. The good one, not the bad one. I was just setting in the coordinates to go meet up with you. But wait... why are you calling me? We should be meeting up. You shouldn't need to call me. We-"

"Stop babbling a second, please. I've gotten myself into a bit of trouble. No, strike that. You've gotten us into a bit of trouble. 1990's should be fine, you said. You didn't spend as much time in the 1990's. You-"

"The problem, Rose. Get to the problem."

"I've run into you. Well, you ran into me."

"Which me?"

"The last one. Not only that, younger me is here, too."

"Don't touch her! Paradox, Rose! Don't-"

"I know about paradoxes. We've been through that already. Me now and me then both know better than that. We're not going to touch each other."

"Not that it matters, but do you know when they're from?"

"I don't know, but judging by her relatively new shoes, I'd say… soon after Krop Tor."

"Alright. Well, as long as you don't touch her, everything should be okay. The me you're with now will just-"

"I know they won't remember. The problem is, they're upset that we're running errands separately. I've forgotten where and when we're supposed to meet, so I'm calling to set a new rendezvous."

"Ah, yes, you don't want them to know about your TARDIS. Alright, name the time and place and I'll come pick you up."

"Well, it's London, May 21st, 1992. What time is it?" Rose asked the pin-striped Doctor.

"10:56," he answered.

"How about 11:15 by Sainsbury's on Waterloo?"

"I'll be there."

"Okay, see ya soon." Rose hung up and looked up at the Doctor and her younger self. "All set. No problems. It's like I said, we're just fine. Anyway... I guess this is where we part ways."

"Can't we go see him?" asked younger Rose.

"It's better if we just leave off here. You two have enough to forget. Make sure you wipe the memories good, Doctor. You know how much trouble there will be if you don't," she told him. "I know I haven't been very pleasant with you and I'm sorry about that. I'm just kind of stressed out about this. It really has been nice seeing you. Really. And you," Rose said as she turned to look at her younger self. "This... It's been crazy seeing you. Take care."

Rose gave a little wave and started up the road. She only made it a few steps before the Doctor called out to her again.

"I've regenerated again, haven't I?"

Rose stopped but didn't turn around.

"You heard me call your name. You knew my voice and ran. If I were still this man, you would have looked. You never expected to hear my voice again. You've had a hard time looking at me this whole time and when you finally did, you said it was nice to see me again like you hadn't expected to see this face again. I regenerated."

Rose didn't want to answer and knew she didn't have to. He knew without a doubt. She bowed her head, overwhelmed by what she'd been doing so well at suppressing. It had been ages since she saw that face and heard that voice. It'd been years and years, just countless years since the meta-crisis Doctor passed away. She loved her Doctor now, but she'd never stop missing the meta-crisis Doctor and her Doctor with pinstripes.

"No!" young Rose argued in distress. "You said you usually keep a body for hundreds of years! If this isn't more than two years in the future... No! You can't regenerate again! You can't-"

"It's hard," said Rose, tuning to look at them again. "As you can already feel, Doctor, a storm is coming. Things are going to get rough, very rough, but you'll make it through. It gets better. Much better. I can easily say, I've never been happier than I am now. I think that my Doctor would say the same. Just... take care."

Rose turned again and went to go meet her Doctor.

Thoughts? Please review. ^_^