All rights for Doctor Who are the BBC's. Sadly, I own nothing.

Set in the beginning of New Earth.

Part One:

"I heard you, you know," The Doctor said as he sat down on the grass next to Rose, looking at her. His brown eyes seemed serious. She frowned, and he added, "When you told Jackie I left you."

She blushed deeply and looked away. "I didn't know that."

He looked at her silently, his eyes focused on her. From the corner of her eye she could see his intent look and couldn't help but wonder what he wanted her to say. What could she say? She now knew he didn't; but back then, how could she know? He'd regenerated – how was she supposed to know what it meant?

"I'm sorry," She said quietly. He kept looking at her, apparently waiting for more. Is he angry? She asked herself. Is he mad at me? "I didn't know you didn't. I couldn't know! I've been traveling with you for all that time, and you were gone just like that! What was I supposed to think?" She hesitated before adding, "Sometimes it feels like you're all… normal, and if you were…"

He kept looking at her silently, his face impassive. She'd seen him passing judgement on other beings, and looking at his face, she wondered if he was doing the same thing to her. Unable to take his silence anymore, she asked, "Are you mad at me?"

"Mad?" He seemed surprised. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"I don't know." She looked away again. "It's just… the way you were looking at me…"

"No!" He gently took her hand with his, the one that wasn't busy holding him against the grass. "Rose, I'm not angry. I'm just… disappointed."

"Disappointed?" She asked, just as surprised as he was.

"Well… I thought you knew by now that I wouldn't leave you." She looked at him through her hair, hiding herself while watching him intently. "Rose, I wouldn't have even been here if it weren't for you. You saved my life. More than once, to be fair." She smiled. "Like I said, I only take the best. And you're the only one I took with me since the Time War. I might be different now, but that hasn't changed, and it never will, either."

"Because I really thought…" She started hesitantly, "I really thought you wouldn't want me there anymore. I didn't know what to think. You always saved me when we were in trouble, but then things were happening and you changed, and for all I knew someone could have taken you the way the Daleks took me." She paused. Her voice was quieter when she continued. "I thought you were dying again. I tried looking after you, but you kept sleeping and your fever was so high…"

"But I woke up." His voice was soft. "When you whispered in my ear, that little 'help me', those two tiny little words, I woke up. That's very me, isn't it?" She nodded. "The moment I knew you needed me, I was there for you. Just like I always will be."

"That was the first moment I thought it might be you," She admitted quietly after a long moment of silence. He turned to look at her, surprised. "I know I said it was you on the TARDIS, but I just… I didn't really believe it until that moment."

"Well, now you know." He smiled at her. She returned him a smile, nodding. "And I want to make sure it's clear," He added, turning serious. "I'm never going to leave you, Rose. That's a promise. I don't care what happens. It's you and me. Remember that."

She gently squeezed his hand. "It's you and me," She agreed. "Forever, yeah?"

"Yeah." He grinned, prompting her to grin back at him. "So," He continued, letting go of her hand. "The year five billion, the sun expands, the Earth gets roasted."

"That was our first date."

"We had chips." They grinned at each other again, remembering their very first trip together. "So anyway, planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up, oh yeah, they get all nostalgic, but revival movement, but then find this place. Same size as the Earth, same air, same orbit. Lovely. Call goes out, the humans move in."

"What's the city called?" Rose asked, looking at the large city in front of them.

"New New York."

"Oh, come on."

"It is!" He insisted. "It's the city of New New York. Strictly speaking, it's the fifteenth New York since the original, so that makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York." Rose looked at him, looking amused and something more, that he couldn't quite fathom. "What?"

"You're so different."

"New New Doctor." He grinned at her and she grinned back. New New Doctor alright, she thought as she looked at him. But now that she knew he was still the Doctor, she didn't really mind. He's made a promise, and she knows he's never going to leave.