Author's Note: For those of you who have already read this, I apologize for the lack of page breaks. Apparently, they disappeared when I posted this. They are there now, and should make the story more sensible. Edit: Apologize again... page breaks and I don't seem to get along. They should work now, and be in the proper places. Thanks for reading!

There was that noise. The swooshing of the TARDIS disappearing for the last time. Rose stood with her human Doctor and watched the TARDIS in its last moments on Bad Wolf Bay. She felt his hand reach for hers. Now that "the" Doctor and Donna were gone, she could feel her emotions pulling every which way. Her Doctor had Donna now and maybe she would be the one that could stay with him forever. After all, Donna was almost like him now.

She took the hand that was being offered. She didn't know what to do now. Here she was on the beach where the Doctor left her. Twice now. This time he left her with a piece of himself. Could he replace the Doctor she knew and loved? Would the knowledge that he was human and could age with her ruin the mystery of her Doctor?

There was only one way to find out.

With tears in her eyes, she looked at the Doctor. Seeing her reflection in his eyes, she moved her mouth to speak. There weren't words yet. She tried not to cry. She wasn't ready to be comforted yet.

"You ready to go then?" the Doctor asked. He smiled gently, trying to send her as much hope as he could in one smile.

Rose blinked back her tears. "Yeah. Think so."

The two walked hand in hand towards Jackie, who had been watching the whole scene taking place. She pulled them both into a hug when they were close enough, and gave them each a kiss on the cheek. She had learned to trust the Doctor and if he decided this was best for her Rose then so be it. At least her daughter would have someone who would love her forever.

When the three of them stepped out of the hug, they all had tears in their eyes. Rose, because of her lost love and possibly found love. Jackie, because of her love for her daughter. And the Doctor, because he was starting to realize that he was human.

2 months later

"Who in the hell designed this thing?!" the Doctor yelled. He was lying on his back, his head and upper body in the cabinet trying to fix a leak in the kitchen sink. The Doctor pushed himself forward so that he could sit up. He looked at the puddle that was forming around him as he realized that he had made the leak worse than it had been.

"Put me in a spacecraft or with technology from the 30th century or later and I would have it fixed in a minute," he sighed. He brushed his hand through his wavy brown hair. His jeans were soaked now, there was a growing pool of water on the kitchen floor, and he had no idea what he should do to fix this.

The Doctor put the wrench on the ground, and stared intently at the drain under the cabinet. It should have been a simple fix. It had only been leaking for a day or so, but he assured Rose that he would fix it so that they didn't have to call for a plumber. They couldn't afford one anyways.

Leaning back down to work on it, the Doctor grumbled about current technology and what he could do to the sink to make it more user-friendly. Rose wouldn't like that, he thought. Though he knew that she appreciated alien technology and post-modern ways of accomplishing tasks, he also knew that she felt most comfortable in her own world's advances. If he tried modifying the plumbing and other things in their apartment, then he would have to deal with her wrath. Well, at least her frustration. She didn't get angry at him for too long.

He picked the wrench back up and tried tightening the bolts near the leak. Sonic screwdriver would be really helpful, right now, he kept thinking to himself. "If only I could…" he started to stay, but then the bolt tightened, and the leaking slowed. "Finally!" he remarked.

The Doctor got the rest of the bolts secured, and scooted himself out of the cabinet. "Now to clean this mess up before Rose gets home," he muttered. He didn't want to drip water all over the floor, so he took off the wet jeans and socks before searching for some towels. He crossed the kitchen, into the hallway. It wasn't a large area, but it was big enough for a separate linen closet to exist in between the bedroom and the kitchen.

Pulling the first towel he saw down from the shelf, he watched in horror as the others started coming down on top of him. There were only about five or six, but they had been so neatly stacked and folded. But, as it always happens the slow motion of the towels falling ended up with about seven towels scattered at his feet. The Doctor bent down to pick them up, squatting in front of the pile.

"Well, that's a picture that is," a voice said behind him. "Gone domestic, have we?"

The Doctor nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound. He spun around, still partially squatted, and looked up at the person now standing smugly in front of him.

"Mickey, what the hell are you doing here?" the Doctor asked. "How did you get in?"

Mickey dropped his smug smile. "I have a key," he started. The Doctor narrowed his eyes at that. "Rose gave it to me in case I needed to get in for any reason," he explained.

"Why would you need to get in?" the Doctor asked, a tone of distrust slipping into his voice.

"Rose said," he paused. "She said that if, um, well, if you, I mean, if anything…"

"She doesn't trust me," the Doctor said evenly. He had stood up while Mickey was stumbling over his words, and crossed his arms over his chest. He thought he must look silly in his t-shirt and boxers, but then again, now was not the time for thinking about that.

Mickey looked away from the Doctor's gaze before answering. "No. That's not what I said. Of course, I had not really said anything, did I? She does trust you, but she also knows that you're not used to a human life, and wanted to make sure that someone other than her could get into the apartment to make sure you were gettin' on OK."

The Doctor wasn't sure what he wanted to say to that. Mickey certainly looked pleased with himself for getting all that out. He was still getting used to Mickey being more confident in himself. The parallel world had done him good. In fact, the Doctor was glad that he had decided to come back here before the universe had been sealed. It was good for Rose to have a friend from her world.

"Fine," the Doctor responded. "You still haven't told me what you're doing here now."

"Right. I was wondering if you would help me buy a birthday present for this girl that I met at Torchwood."

The Doctor shook his head. "Let me get this straight. You used your key, which you only have to check on me in case I blow up the building, the key that's been entrusted to you by Rose, in order to come in here, while I was busy with the broken sink to ask me if I would go shopping with you. For a girl you just met. On what universe, would I be interested in that for?"

Mickey glared at the Doctor. "I was thinking that since we're friends and all that you might want to help a mate out."

"Well, I…" the Doctor stuttered. "I didn't mean it that way. Sorry." He looked down at the pile of towels that was still at his feet. "Can you help me put these away first so that I can clean the mess in the kitchen? I only needed one or two of these damned things."

Mickey laughed. "Yeah. I'll help you. 'Cause I'm a good friend, I am. You comin' with me after, then?"

"Yeah, sure. But don't expect me to be helpful. I don't know anything about impressing girls."

"Impressed Rose well enough," Mickey said as he started to pick up the towels.

"That was entirely accidental. I didn't do anything. I didn't buy her things or take her out or anything. It just happened."

"Oh sure, accidental. Is that what you call stealing someone's girlfriend, and taking them across time and space on 'adventures'? You didn't have to buy her anything, Doctor, 'cause you showed her the whole world."

"Well, then maybe you should do that for this girl you met. Take her to see the world and all of time and space," the Doctor snarked. He grinned at his comment if only to lessen the tension that was building between them. Also, to make himself feel better about the fact that he was no longer able to travel the universe. He hated being human.

"Maybe I will. Build myself a TARDIS, and go off leaving the two of you behind wonderin' if I will ever return."

Apparently Mickey didn't take the joke. That was just as well, the Doctor thought, it wasn't that funny.

The two of them finished folding the towels and cleaned up the mess in the kitchen. They had remained mostly silent until it was time for the Doctor to change into clean clothes. He looked down at himself, and assumed it had to be normal for men in this century to walk around their house in their boxers. Mickey hadn't seemed to mind or notice.

"I'm gonna go get changed. Be back in a tick," the Doctor said.

"Yeah. Best you do, as I am getting' sick of those happy frog boxers of yours," Mickey replied.

So much for not noticing, the Doctor thought. He went into the bedroom, and found clean clothes. He was still getting used to having and wearing different clothes each day. He stripped off his t-shirt and admired himself in the mirror. He liked this body more than many of his others. Sighing to himself, he was glad that if any of his regenerations were to be human, at least it was a good looking one. Running a hand through his messy hair, he grinned at his reflection. If nothing else, Rose liked it.

He finished changing, and found Mickey pacing near the door.

"You haven't yet learned that men don't take six hours to change, have you?" Mickey remarked.

"Oi! I'll have you know that men who care about how they look take as much time as is needed," the Doctor replied. "I know how to put myself together, unlike some people I know." He looked Mickey up and down and grinned. "Yup. Definitely. Ready to go , then?"

The Doctor grabbed his jacket, and with a light bounce in his step, exited the apartment. Mickey trailed behind him, making sure the door was locked before heading to the car.

This traffic is ridiculous, Rose thought as she was driving home from work. After a long day at Torchwood, she really hated sitting in an hour of traffic to get to the other side of London. In fact, she always hated traffic. The fact that it was no different in this universe than in her old one didn't make her feel any different about it.

Even though she had been in this parallel world long enough before coming back with her human Doctor, she hadn't felt quite at home and didn't notice things like traffic before. Now, she seemed to be noticing them, and noticing how much more comfortable she was than before.

Well, almost.

The light turned green, and Rose continued on through town. She thought about her old Doctor. The real Doctor. She would never tell this Doctor she felt that way, but she couldn't help it. She could tell the difference between the human one and the Time Lord one. She felt guilty for making this distinction, but it was mostly true. This Doctor tried to be whatever she wanted him to be. He was like a little kid soaking up all the information he could so that he could be a 'real' person. She tried to tell him that he was a real person, and all he needed to avoid doing was talking about time and space like he did, and he would be fine. He didn't like that answer, and was always changing things about himself, always asking her opinion about his aesthetic and behavioral choices. After 2 months, it was starting to get annoying.

She missed her old Doctor. She missed his antics and the world-saving activities they always ended up doing. Not that she wanted to be in danger all the time, but she missed the adrenaline rush of some of their more dangerous adventures. She missed the way he looked at her.

"Well, now," she muttered to herself. It wasn't like this Doctor didn't look at her like that. In fact, he did a lot. He also acted on it which was wonderful. She loved the feel of him, and the sounds he made. But there was something missing. It was one thing to be intimate with someone, and it was another to have a 900 year old Time Lord looking at her the way he did. It was like she could see the love he had for her in his eyes. He was never going to do anything about it, she knew that, but there was not a whole lot that could top the degree to which that emotion ran between them.

Focusing on driving, Rose managed to get through traffic unscathed. She smiled when she could see her building. She liked the apartment that she and the Doctor had found. It suited their needs - one bedroom, a large living room for having family get-togethers and a sunny kitchen. Not that she cooked much, but they managed. They even had good neighbors. She liked that about London. There were always people to talk to.

She pulled up to their designated parking space, and gathered her things from her car. She had some work that needed to be done tonight for her meeting in the morning. She groaned at the thought. She then remembered the kitchen sink. How she got from one thought to the other, she had no idea, but the memory brought urgency to her step, and she rushed up to the apartment to make sure the Doctor was OK.

"Doctor?" She called out as she walked through the door. No answer. She locked the door behind her, tossed her bag and coat on the floor, and went into the kitchen to find him. "Doctor," she called again. Next she went into the living room. He was there, his back turned towards her, and his hand was lightly fingering a fringe on the table lamp.

"There you are," she smiled. "Hi there."

The Doctor turned around. She noticed that he was back in is pinstripe suit. He was also wearing a serious expression. Rose felt her throat begin to close up.

"Doctor?" she managed. "Is everything OK?"

He looked at her mournfully. Though concerned for what may be about to happen, she walked over to him and kissed him on the lips. She raised a hand to his shoulder to steady herself. She noted his surprised response, but smiled when he kissed her back. Whatever was wrong, they would fix it. She knew that about their relationship. Whenever he had a bad day, he would act as though he would leave and wallow in what wasn't available to him anymore. But, they always worked it out.

She felt his left hand reach around to hold her waist and pull her closer to him. There was urgency in his touch, but she ignored it for the time being. Her tongue darted out to open the kiss more, and was glad that he responded to that. There was hope yet.

He pulled back from the kiss. "Rose, you….I…" he started to say.

Rose smiled up at him. "It's OK, Doctor. I'm here now. We'll work it out, yeah?"

The Doctor gave her a half-hearted smile. Definitely going to be one of those days, she thought. "I know just the thing. Come with me." She took his hand, and releasing herself from their embrace, pulled him along with her towards the bedroom. Once near the bed, she placed both hands on the lapels of his jacket, and pulled him down for another kiss. This time, he responded quickly. He opened his mouth to her, and raced his tongue against hers. She sighed into the kiss, pushing herself into him. His hands held onto her hips, and helped her close any distance between them.

Mickey dropped him off in front of the apartment and thanked the Doctor for his help. The Doctor nodded in response, and ran upstairs to get started on dinner. He opened the door, and noticed that there was a light on in the bedroom. Rose must already be home, he thought. He strode delightfully towards the partially closed door.

"Rose, you're not going to believe what Mickey made me do today!"

That's the moment when the Doctor's world turned upside down.

I hope you all enjoyed. I would appreciate any and all comments. I will be posting chapters every to every other day. Thanks to all!