Disclaimer: BBC owns the rights to everything recognisable in connection to Doctor Who. And seeing how it includes even the Police not owning the rights to their phone boxes anymore, what is the chance that I could actually have rights to anything DW related?

Summary: Alternative ending to Journey's End. What would happen if Rose decided to take action when she saw the TARDIS disappearing? Spoilers (as could be expected) up to the end of Season 4

A/N: This is one of a few stories I have written a few years ago and published elsewhere, under a different penname, intending for them to be a warm-up before taking part in a writing project and experimenting a bit with my writing style. The project never took off and I decided that it might be as good a time as any to decide to add those stories to the rest of them for convenience's sake if nothing else.

The Choice

As soon as Rose heard the first sound signalling TARDIS's departure, she broke the kiss and sprinted to the ship as fast as she could. It turned out all the time she spent running for her life first as the Doctor's companion and then Torchwood star employee apparently paid off as she managed to reach the door while it was still solid enough to hold on to.

Unfortunately for her, that still wasn't nowhere near fast enough to actually have time to get inside. Grasping the TARDIS's shell desperately, she felt her skin start breaking from the unforgiving cold biting into it as they entered the Void.

On the foreign Norwegian beach, the human Doctor looked as the TARDIS disappeared with Rose. Behind him, he heard a choked sob so he turned and pulled distraught Jackie to him.

"It will be all right. She'll be fine," he told her quietly, knowing very well that it was a blatant lie but unable to bring himself to inform the woman that Rose would never survive the Void without protections. If the only comfort Jackie was going to have would be the thoughts of her daughter being happy with the man she loved, he wasn't about to take that away by informing her she likely witnessed the girl's last moments.

He frowned slightly. For whatever reason, he felt that he should feel more inclined to actually be honest about the situation instead of handing out empty hopes but he couldn't bring himself to, really. The other surprising thing was his own reaction to what he had just witnessed. While he would most assuredly mourn Rose as the wonderful friend she was, he didn't seem quite as torn as he was when she was stranded in this universe in the first place. Which was surprising because he knew he loved her.

That gave him a stop. He knew he loved Rose. Just like he knew so many things the original Doctor did. Only, being a mixture of the Doctor and Donna, he hadn't had time to examine what he actually felt yet. He could certainly tell what the Doctor felt about certain people or issues but he was his own person now and it only now occurred to him that he had yet to discover what it truly meant.

But for now, he needed to make sure Jackie returned home safely. And once they got there, he'd see about possibly getting a place in this world's Torchwood. Rose would want someone competent taking the mantle of the defender of the universe. Besides, he owed her that much.

III

Inside, the first indication that something was wrong, well, more wrong than things already were, what with what was happening to Donna, and leaving Rose, and encounter with the Daleks... In any case, the first indication that things got worse was the mental wail of the TARDIS as she tried to draw his attention to the fact that something was very, very wrong. It was rather disturbing, seeing how this was the first time he ever heard his ship this close to panic in all the centuries they spent together.

Still, nothing seemed to be attacking them and they managed to make it through the Void in record time. The landing seemed pretty smooth too, and a quick glance at the monitor told him that they were in both the right place and time. That made it all the harder to guess the reason for the warning signal.

That is, until Donna, trying to avoid him taking her memories as long as she could, opened the door.

"Rose!" the Doctor wasn't even fully aware he called that out. "No no no no, this isn't how it was supposed to be. What were you doing there? Please, make this some sort of a mistake." This couldn't be happening. There are many things loitering the Void, some sort of hallucinogen could be one of them. Or maybe it was a breakdown after forever losing the one person that helped him pull himself together after the Time War.

Just as long as this wasn't true.

Not Rose, not his Rose, his wonderful human. She was supposed to be happy. Get everything she wanted. Why would she go back? She said, the first time they landed in that universe, that she would have stayed if not for her mother not being there. That meant she should have wanted to stay there now, right? This had to be some sort of a mistake.

Just to assure himself that it was a mistake, really, he ran a quick scan with his sonic screwdriver. Then another one. And another. Because if it kept insisting that it really was Rose and that she was dead it obviously had to be wrong.

"Doctor?" he looked up, only now realising that he had completely forgotten about Donna. He would have to deal with her in a moment before his memories fried her brain but right now he couldn't bring himself to move.

"She... she's..." he tried before looking at his wonderful human reduced to cold, damaged tissues wrapped in clothes. "Why would she do that?"

"Because she loved you, you daft alien. You can't be nowhere nearly as smart as you think you are if you hadn't figured it out yet."

"But... but... She already had the other one..."

"I don't know how it worked for you, but here on Earth it is considered polite to actually let the girl choose. Not dump a substitute on her and run. No, wait, I do know how it worked for you. And let me just say, from a woman's perspective, that Romana would have fed you your testicles if you tried to blame your idiocy on cultural differences."

"Why would she need to choose? He was like me, only-"

"You know, if you need to add a 'but' to a statement that he was your copy then he wasn't a copy close enough for someone who was in love with you. As a matter of fact, no copy would ever be close enough."

"But she chose him. You saw that! She made her choice."

"She snogged him. That doesn't prove anything. I bet she did more than that with Mickey once and she didn't choose him either. Blimey, right now I could give you a list of all the people you snogged without it meaning any commitment."

"That doesn't-"

"Yes, it does. How thick can you be? Had I known you would dash out of there this fast I would have stayed outside and held the door open. How exactly did it seem like a good idea to be out of there before she could voice her decision?"

"Doesn't matter now, does it?" Donna opened her mouth and then closed it silently as she saw tears in the Doctor's eyes. There was no way to fix this. Sure, there never was a way to save everyone, but this was Rose. The Rose. The Doctor's Rose. And while his memories would probably soon burn her mind to crisp for now they were providing the images of just how deeply he cared for this not-quite-ordinary human girl.

She looked down wondering if there was anything she could say to ease his pain of losing his personal reason of existence that he rebuild himself around and hoped to keep safe and untouched, keeping her under glass if necessary. Universe-sized glass but then again, he never was one to do anything halfway. With a quick glance she saw him staring unseeingly at the girl's hand. Shaking her head to ward off the increasing headache, she chose to take a look at Rose's face and stilled.

Perhaps she had just imagined it, but- No, there is was again. A light impulse under the skin, as if- But it couldn't be, could it?

"Doctor!" She called out to get him to shake off that stupor as she kneeled down to manually check Rose's pulse. No sooner did she touch the other girl than she was enveloped in the light that suddenly erupted from the body. Being caught up in the process twice in such a short time was really just like her luck.

To say the Doctor was astounded as he saw Rose engulfed in what looked like a regeneration would be an understatement. But it was also, as far as he was concerned, the proof he needed that he was losing his mind. Still, as soon as the supposed regeneration energy faded, he helped the stunned Donna to her feet and lifted Rose up, heading for the infirmary. Just in case it was the reality, not him, that was crazy.

Then again, his craziness should not be written off too quickly as all the scans seemed to indicate that Rose was unconscious. Unconscious as in alive, having brain activity just not awake unconscious. This was too good to be true, really, and he was pretty sure that he didn't deserve any miracles (and didn't believe in them all that much either though in this case he was prepared to cut them some slack) but that was no reason not to hold onto hope.

"My headache's gone," he blinked as he realised that in face of the current crisis he managed to forget about Donna. Again.

"What?" he asked confusedly.

"My headache. It's gone. After she did the glowing thing."

"That's impossible. With all the memories-"

"About that. The only things I can still remember from you are those I actively accessed. And the more complicated ones are kind of muddy at the moment."

"That's impossible. The chances of something like that-"

"Just thought I'd let you know. And for whatever reason, I now remember 'Little Red Riding Hood' with surprising clarity instead."

"What?"

"'Little Red Riding Hood'. You know, that fairy tale with irresponsible parenting, speaking to strangers and a talking bad wolf?" He mouthed the last two words experimentally but she decided to ignore him. "How is she?"

The Doctor looked at the girl – no, woman – lying quietly on the infirmary bed. Her skin, that was recently badly damaged from the absolute cold of the Void was now unscathed, her hair brown. Well, brown-ish, but he expected it was her natural colour. He face looked... perhaps not as it always had but pretty close to the way it did when he left her on the beach. All in all, whatever happened didn't seem much like a proper regeneration.

Problem was, when he looked at the diagnostic results, they seemed to insist that she now had two beating hearts. Perhaps he was just fantasising after all. Still, no reason to be impolite while he was seeing things.

"Alive. So better than she was a couple of minutes ago."

"Yeah, she didn't seem like the sort to let you swan off like that. If I were in her shoes I wouldn't let you off without catching up with you and telling you off either."

"I'm sure you wouldn't," he answered distractedly, never letting his eyes off Rose. "I will need to check you up, see if there is anything left of my memories that could be dangerous to you."

"I feel fine," she shrugged. "And right now you've got your hands full with this one," she gestured to the bed.

"Donna..."

"If you promise not to try messing with my mind I'll let you look later. For now, I'm going home. I want to see my family after this whole mess."

"What if..."

"Stop whining, alien boy. And if you think I'm going to stay around and be caught in the crossfire as she gives you a piece of her mind, you've got another thing coming."

"Donna..."

"When she wakes, tell Rose that as soon as she feels up to it, we can go shopping together. Not like you gave the poor girl time to pack anything to take with her. Well, I'll be going. You know where to find me."

"Donn-"

"See you later! That is, if you aren't wearing a new face by the time she's done with you."

With that the redhead waved and marched out. Not that he tried to stop her. That would mean stepping away from Rose and he couldn't help a feeling that if he let go of her for a moment, she might disappear. He wasn't about to take that risk.

It was exactly six hours forty three minutes and seventeen seconds after Donna's departure that he saw Rose stir. Not that he allowed himself to look away from her for even a moment in that time.

"Rose?" he asked cautiously, desperately hoping that maybe this wasn't his imagination.

"Mmnhmf," she responded elaborately.

"Rose, can you hear me?"

"Mmnn. Hmmnh."

"Rose?"

"Mnh." Her eyes slowly opened. Then she blinked a couple of times. "You left me."

"Rose! Oh, Rose," at this point he couldn't really help himself and enveloped her in a hug. She let him, but as soon as he let go, she scowled a bit.

"You left me. Again."

"I'm sorry, Rose. I'm so, so sorry. If I had any idea you'd try something like that..."

"You mean if I didn't, you'd be fine with it?"

"I..." he considered the look on her face. "You had everything there. If I could have stayed with you, I would, but we both know it wouldn't be possible. I belong here and that universe wasn't suited for Time Lords. Or Tardises. But I left you with the next best thing."

"You mean with a stranger that happened to be wearing your face and have memories of us together that would mock me every time he spoke to me?"

"I..." He decided to change strategy. "He would be able to focus on you instead of the whole universe."

"At what point did I ever make you think that was what I wanted? Or are you just trying to point out how much different from you he would have been?"

"He would be able to grow old with you," he blurted out and, hit by the realisation, winced.

"What?"

"Erm, Rose, do you feel any different?"

"What do you mean feel any diffre- oh." Apparently some kind of realisation sunk in. Well, either that, or she noticed that she was hooked up to two different heart monitors. She was looking their way after all.

"I honestly have no idea how that happened. It should be impossible. Well, like that anyway. But even if humans had the technology needed to build a chameleon arch your DNA wouldn't be-"

"Doctor?" Rose interjected firmly. "Shut up."

"But if I don't know how it happened there is no saying if..."

"You're babbling," she informed him before furrowing her brow in concentration. Then her eyes opened a bit wider as if she had an epiphany. "And if you want a hint on how not to make this happen again, try this – next time you're talking to a scared and confused girl who happens to temporarily wield nigh-divine powers? Don't imply that being like you can help with her headache."

The End