The great and mega friendly Iximaz has agreed to become my beta, so I will be replacing these chapters one after another. No worries though, nothing will change storywise :)

Chapter 1

Doomsday

Rose was holding on to the magna clamp for dear life. And as always in a life with the Doctor, quite literally.

Cybermen and Daleks were flying past her so fast, she could hardly make out their forms. One of the Daleks zoomed past her in a blur, missing the lever by mere inches. For a second Rose allowed herself to think what would have happened if it had actually crushed into the lever. Would it have moved? Would the breach have closed too early? Would she have been able to pull it back?

She looked up to see the Doctor smiling at her widely, his expression a mixture between pure joy and maniac excitement only he could muster: The Doctor. Her impossible Doctor.

Soon the flying creatures became less and less and out of the corner of her eyes, Rose saw something move in front of the breach. Pete had materialized, arms stretched out wide, as if trying to catch something. He stared at her for a second, saw her and the Doctor's joyful expressions, smiled at her, pushed the yellow button and vanished again into another universe.

The pull lessened, the breach folded like a sheet of paper and just like that there was a whole universe between Rose and her Mum. She let go of the clamp, staring transfixed at the plain, white wall that had been a gateway to hell just seconds before. She knew what this meant for her now, but she didn't feel a thing. No sadness, no anger and certainly no regret. The truth, the finality of her situation, hadn't sunk in yet. Rose knew. Right now she only felt numb. And the Doctor's hand sliding into her own carefully, as if unsure what to do. Unsure? The Doctor? The man who always ran headfirst into danger? The man who never needed or even wanted a plan?

"I'm sorry, Rose. So sorry."

Mutely Rose looked up into his sad, pitying eyes. She knew it wasn't his fault. If anything, it was hers. But she hadn't been lying: She had made her choice a very long time ago. She would never leave him.

"I'm... I'm just really tired. Can we go home?" she asked and was shocked at how broken and small she sounded.

The Doctor stared at her for a moment. "Home?" he whispered unsurely.

It took a moment for Rose to realize that he didn't know if she meant the Estate.

"Yeah, home. Back to the TARDIS."

He smiled at her, barely hiding the relief he felt, squeezed her hand and led her back to the TARDIS. She went back to her room and slipped into her warm and welcoming bed and slept, comforted by the soft noises that always accompanied life in the TARDIS.

She woke hours later, still tired and feeling as if she were drowning in water. Everything seemed to be so incredibly far away. She made her way to the kitchen, not really hungry but feeling the need to do something, anything really.

The table was set for one person, a steaming cup of tea and a plate of banana pancakes just waiting for her. Rose stared at the scene for a minute. Had the Doctor done this for her? Mr. "I don't do domestics"? She smiled softly, sat down and enjoyed her breakfast. It was true, she had just lost her Mum, but... well, at least she knew that her mother was happy and safe somewhere. She had Pete and Rose... Rose had the Doctor.

She found him half an hour later, standing in the console room and staring at some monitors. Even after two years, Rose had no idea what they all did.

"Thanks for the breakfast," she said. The Doctor had been so engrossed in whatever he was doing that he almost jumped when he heard her voice.

"Well," he said, still sounding uncertain, "I thought you could use it."

"It was very nice," Rose said and suddenly felt rather awkward. She had no idea what to do next and the Doctor looked at her as if she was a bomb, ready to explode at any second. "What are you doing?" she asked. She wasn't really interested; half of the time she didn't understand what he was saying anyway, but she loved how he tried to explain things to her. And right now, she just really needed to hear his voice to reassure her that she wasn't all alone in the universe. That he was still there.

"Oh, I'm looking for something... you know," he answered evasively, refusing to meet her eyes.

"Actually, I really don't," Rose said, now curious.

"Well, I'm looking for some crack or breach between the universes."

"Why?" she asked somewhat suspiciously.

"Just in case," he muttered quickly. His hands were fiddling with some pieces of metal, still not looking at her at all.

"In case of what?" Rose was quickly losing what little patience she could muster today. What the hell was he talking about? And why did he act like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar?

"In case you wanted to go back," he answered quietly. Rose felt as if her insides had turned into ice. Did he want her to go? He had sent her away and she had just come back. Not for a second had she considered the mere possibility that the Doctor might not want her to stay with him! What if... what if he didn't want to be the only person she had left in the universe? What if he thought of her as a burden? What if she wasn't fun to be around anymore?

"Oh," was all she could say. Unable to hide the deep hurt she felt, she continued softly, "Do you want me to go? Because I don't have to stay here if you don't want me to."

"What? No! That wasn't what I meant. I thought... I thought maybe now you regret it, you know... not staying with your Mum," the Doctor said quickly.

Rose looked at him as if he had completely lost his mind. "Every time you sent me away, I came back. I told you. I told you I would never leave you!" Her voice rising up in anger now.

"I just don't want you to have any regrets," he said, and finally looked at her. "I don't want you to wake up in a couple of month and realize that there is no going back."

"There was no going back for a very long time now. I promised you forever," she answered stubbornly.

"Okay then... Where to now?" he asked, his voice still sounding rather awkward, as if he couldn't believe that she was still there and promising not to go anywhere.

"I don't know... How about finally seeing the dogs without noses?" she suggested.

His eyes lit up and he started to make his usual dance around the console, all the way chatting the same way he always did, with her standing by and pushing or pulling something he pointed out.

The Doctor with Rose Tyler in the TARDIS. Just like it was supposed to be.