Disclaimer: I am not doing this for any monetary gain. I do not own Doctor Who nor the music of the wonderful Sara Bareilles.

Based on the music of Sara Bareilles, this is about the road it takes for Rose and Ten.5 to accept each other.

Chapter 1: Love Song

I'm not going to write you a love song,
'cause you asked for it
'cause you need one you see.

Rose gently tapped her foot against his ankle and the brown haired stranger looked up at the one who distracted him from his musings.

"Mum says we have to get going."

Her hands were in her pockets, the first thing he noticed above all else.

"Right," he said, getting up to his feet and dusting the leftover sand off his blue suit, "well then let's go."

Jackie Tyler led the way into a nearby town that she mispronounced but he didn't try to correct her. "Zepplin'll take us back in the morning so we'll 'ave to spend the night. Is that fine with you two?"

"Yeah," he said while Rose murmured a quiet, "Whatever." Jackie handed each of them a key to two separate rooms. Rose grabbed one and disappeared to the nearby staircase, walking up.

"You'll be alright Love?" Jackie asked sounding unsure.

"I can take care of myself," he said attempting (and failing) to give her a proper smile.

Jackie realized his distress and instead of calling him out on it gave him a gentle squeeze of the arm and left him to go upstairs herself. Unsure of what he should do next, the brown haired stranger looked around the hotel lobby and noticed a book case over to his left. After asking in proper Norwegian if it's alright for him to borrow a few for a little while, he grabbed some books and made his own way upstairs to his bedroom. Once he reached the fourth floor and began his walk down the hall, a door slammed shut and he realized it was the one across the hall from his own. His was Room 412 and hers was obviously 411.

Maneuvering the books under one arm, he opened the door and went inside locking it behind him before tossing the books onto his small, twin-sized bed. He picks up one to examine it when there's a knock on the door. He answers and it was Jackie with Rose who was pointedly looking in any other direction but at him.

"We were going for a bite and wondered if you wanted to come with?"

Oh, Jackie. Bless her! "Nah 'm a bit tired. I'm just going to stay in."

Rose snorted in derision and he tried his hardest to ignore it. It seemed to work.

"Tell you what," Jackie says, again touching his arm, "we'll bring you back something."

"Thanks," he says and closes the door and again locking it. Sighing and taking a deep, calming breath, he fell back to the bed and began his search. A name, a name... What's in a name?

The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.

A name pronounced is the recognition of the individual to whom it belongs.

Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.

The books he brought back were all classics: Shakespeare, Austen, Twain, Dickens. One of them had to have a name that was just right. A new life, a fresh start. With or without her...

Words. So many different, beautiful words. Of course all of them were currently in Norwegian but who was he to argue?

However, with his eyelids beginning to droop, the brown haired stranger leaned back on his stiff pillow and tried to read but instead fell asleep just minutes later.

"I don't want to hear it Mum!"

"Well Rose you're going to hear it. Stop walking."

All Jackie said was one little sentence and suddenly the shouting match that erupted caused them to be escorted out of the cafe. They arrived back at the hotel and Rose ran for the staircase and disappeared leaving her disappointed mother behind. She looked down at the small white take away bag clutched in her hand and shook her head.

Jackie decided to turn in for the night but before doing so thought it best to check in on the Doctor (which she still considered him to be) just to make sure he was fine. Plus she needed to drop off his supper anyway in case he was getting hungry. She had kept the extra key to his room and after knocking and getting no response went inside.

There he lay, fast asleep on top of a pile of books. He looked almost peaceful.

She left the white bag on the cupboard next to his bed before gently removing the trainers from his feet. He turned over and lay facing the wall with his arms wrapped around himself and his legs together. Going to the closet, Jackie removed an extra blanket and laid it on top of him so he wouldn't get cold. She turned off the light and gave him a gentle kiss on the top of his head before leaving him to his necessary and well deserved shut-eye.

Groaning, he turned over and moved to take away something sharp and square from under him. Blearily he saw something resembling a book before he took a deep breath and stretched. The room he was in was completely dark and silent.

What was going on? Where was the - It all came back to him and his spirits dropped.

Parallel world, Norway, abandoned, searching for a name.

He made to throw a book against the wall but stopped himself at the last second. Didn't want to wake the neighbours. The bedside clock read a little after three o'clock so he'd been asleep apparently for the last nine hours.

"Bloody human physiology."

After rubbing his eyes and forcing himself to stay away, the brown haired stranger continued his search for that elusive proper name.

"Doctor? Doct-"

"Mum, quit it!"

Rolling her eyes, Jackie knocked on his door again only once before it was thrown open and the man in question stood with the sandwich from the night before held in his left hand and an annoyed look that evaporated into a blank stare.

"Zepplin'll be here in about an hour dear," she explained, "so get together anything you want to bring with you, all right?"

He swallowed (a move decidedly not due to the sandwich since there were no bite marks in it) and while looking Rose straight in the eye said "All right," and shut the door in their faces.

"Mum, you have to stop calling him that," Rose said, grabbing her mother's sleeve and dragging her to the stairs.

"Calling 'im what?" Jackie asked, freeing herself.

Rose rolled her eyes and put her hands to her forehead. "The Doctor - he's not him."

"Yes 'e is."

"No he's not. The Doctor abandoned us here. Again."

"He might've abandoned you Rose. Or, he might have given you the one thing you really needed."

Rose didn't answer her and instead walked out the lobby door and continued walking away.

He needs you. That's very me.

The first time she could almost understand why he couldn't come back. And so she decided to try any means necessary to find her way back on her own. A part of her still hoped at the time that when (not if) she did find him again he'd take her traveling again.

The dimension cannon practically fell into her lap at that point. The amount of hours it took. Testing first on rocks, then rodents before volunteering to be the first human to travel through (or back).

She can hear someone (him) running up behind her and ignored it with every fiber of her being. After a few seconds, the person slowed down. They're still there mind, just waiting for her to be the first to acknowledge it. As her pace suddenly increased, theirs (his) followed. Rose finally stopped and turned around.

There it was, that face. He looked so confused and dare she say lost?

"Jackie told me to come find you. Said we're going off soon," he says quietly, almost whispering.

"Right."

Rose walks past him daring not to look back as she hears his footsteps again following her from behind. Stopping again suddenly, Rose turns and he walks into her knocking both of them to the ground. He stood first and reached down a hand for her to grab which she slowly accepted.

"You alright Rose?"

"'m fine. We'd better get going."

She chanced a look into those intense brown eyes (so young yet so old at the same time) and left him no choice to but follow behind.