So, I was challenged regarding my take on "The Girl in the Fireplace". I can't resist a challenge :)

The argument goes like this: "Given that Rose was ready to leave the Doctor (or at least, the thought did cross her mind) in the Rise of the Cybermen two-parter, I don't believe she would have almost kissed him right before."

I, however, propose that leaving the Doctor never did cross Rose's mind, there; and that it's an erroneous impression left in the memory and reinforced by a mistaken interpretation of the previous episode. So, there.

Of course, you, loyal readers, are always free to tell me whether I'm wrong! Dedicated to Vortex2018 in gratitude for the challenge. Enjoy...

This is a sequel to my stories "Heart of the TARDIS" through "The Girl in the Stalking Spaceship".

As yet un-beta'd.

Disclaimer: Surprise, surprise, I don't own Doctor Who. Nor do I get anything from writing these stories - except wonderful, constructive reviews! Wink, wink; nudge, nudge ;)

Chapter 1 - Not in Kansas, Anymore

Thank God the Doctor could sometimes be very, very wrong.

Just one more item added to Rose Tyler's list of Thoughts I Never Thought I'd Think.

After all of the self-reassuring Rose had just gone through, seeing herself and Mickey through the Doctor's absence - absences - going after Reinette; after all of the maybes she'd told herself, working out all the reasons the Doctor could - would - make his way back to them, safe, on the TARDIS; that same, beautiful ship, home, had dropped them right out of the Vortex and into nothingness. By all the Doctor's expectations, they were stranded; the TARDIS was (it hurt even to think it) dead; and no help would ever come. No Time Agency, no other Doctors, no one - ever.

Until Mickey, not bothering listening to a word the Doctor said, had opened the TARDIS' doors onto a London street corner!

Relief flooded Rose, with a certainty that somehow, someway, the TARDIS would be healed, and they'd be back to the stars in no time.

As the trio came back to the TARDIS, away from the animated Vitex sign, Mickey watched as Rose kept her distance and kicked at the grass with her boot.

"I've gotta see to the TARDIS," the Doctor announced. "See if there's any... well, I've gotta see." He was looking at Rose, who hadn't turned towards them. "Keep an eye on her?" he told Mickey, quietly. "No wandering off?"

"Yeah, sure," Mickey told him.

The Doctor looked hard at the back of Rose's head where she'd sat, before disappearing inside the ship.

Mickey stepped over to Rose. "He thinks you're gonna run off?" he said, sitting with her on the curb as he huffed out a laugh. "Isn't he the one that just left us on a droid-infested spaceship?"

"Oh, please, don't start on that," Rose begged with a pleading look, before gazing out over the water. "He had to, he's back, it's done."

"Yeah, well." Mickey fell silent at her side. Rose was in love. It was a lot easier for her than for him to accept the Doctor's excuses.

Mickey saw when Rose turned her head to look back down the way towards parallel-Pete's advert.

"He's right, though," Mickey spoke up, looking between her and the poster. "'S not your real family; they haven't got the real you."

"Don't see what it'd hurt to find out, jus' have a look," Rose answered him. "See what life's like for 'em. Not on a council estate, not likely." She smiled. "Can hardly imagine what Mum'd do without a flat completely packed with drunk neighbors on her birthday," she laughed.

Mickey had been to more than his fair share of those parties, getting pinched, and poked, and hearing all sorts of assessment and advice from Jackie's girlfriends. As much as they generally approved of him over Jimmy Stone, Mickey was never quite up to scratch in their books. What kind of friends would Jackie have, here, with a famous, successful husband? "Livin' all fancy an' whatever," he said to Rose. "What're the chances we'd even know each other, here?"

"Who knows? With the parallels?" She shrugged. "Could be we're next door neighbors," she answered.

Mickey thought about it. The same... but just a little bit different. His Mum? His Dad? His Gran, even? "D'ya think there's a parallel-me?" he asked, aloud.

"Could be, why not?" Rose asked.

"Think there's another Doctor?" he wondered. Another Doctor to snatch away another Rose...

"Ha!" Rose laughed. "Could you imagine that?" she asked, but then quieted, shaking her head. "Don't think so, though. Seems like the kinda thing he'd 've said, if the Time War hadn't reached here." She looked down, silently picking at the blades of grass between them.

Yeah, poor Doctor, last of the Time Lords, again. Always the weight of the universe on his shoulders, knowing what everyone can and can't, should and shouldn't do. Still, "What if we do find 'em?" Mickey asked. "If we run into another us? Is that what the Doctor's on about? Touchin' your doppleganger and rippin' apart space-time?"

"Doubt it," Rose answered, folding her arms over her knees. "If we were back in time, seein' a younger us, yeah; but everythin' here's, like ya said, parallel: its own thing on its own path." She stretched out, then climbed to her feet.

Mickey stood with her. "So," he asked, "you're not gonna wander off an' try an' join the Vitex family?"

"No," she laughed softly, shaking her head. "Jus' wanna stretch my legs." She looked over her shoulder at the TARDIS. "Don't like seein' her like this."

"I'll go," Mickey offered, jerking his thumb back at the ship. "See if the Doctor's got any bright ideas 'bout gettin' us home."

Rose nodded, hooking her thumbs in her pockets as she turned away.

"Rose?" Mickey called out to her before she left.

"Yeah?" she asked, looking back at him.

"If there is another Rose, let 'em keep her," he said. "Whatever you might think, she's not you. You're absolutely un-swappable."

She gave him a genuine smile at that. "Thanks, Mick. You, too," she said, pointing at him. "Lemme know if there's any word?"

"Sure thing," he agreed. He watched as she turned and headed down the walkway - away from parallel-Pete.

To be continued...