Rose had made it through Christmas Day with surprising ease. She had always liked this time of year, so despite her feeling like a key member of the family was missing, she made an effort. She had two new people there to help fill up the gap, anyway - Pete and baby Tony. And of course, she still had her lovely mum, and her best mate Mickey.

She stayed over at the Tyler residence on Christmas Eve, so that she could wake up with her family and not to a lonely, empty flat. They had decorated the large house beautifully, tinsel and lights everywhere. Little Tony was too young for this veritable Santa's Grotto to have any lasting impact on him, but all the adults liked it - having the house done up in such a way lended a brilliant atmosphere. Rose almost forgot she was kind of supposed to be miserable.

Jackie was determined to make this the best Christmas they had ever had. Rose privately thought that Jackie had gone a bit overboard with presents and food, but she wasn't going to say anything, not when her mum looked so happy. Rose knew that it was probably quite natural for someone who had barely had two pennies to rub together to have a bit of a splurge once they had come into some money.

The dinner went well, the President's speech was hilarious - they had really elected a good 'un here, Rose reckoned - and the present-opening led to some interesting moments. By the evening, when they were all settled round the telly feeling stuffed to the brim with food, Tony asleep in Rose's arms, Pete and Jackie cuddled up on the sofa, Mickey dozing in the armchair, Rose was feeling quite emotional. On the one hand, the day they'd had and the picture her family made as they watched and laughed at a comedian she'd never heard of…it warmed her heart. But -

Last time she had spent Christmas on Earth in the 21st century, Rose had been getting to know a new Doctor. After sorting out the Sycorax, they had experienced a proper Christmas dinner at the flat, and Rose had been surprised and delighted when the Doctor joined in. The way he had looked at her…well, it made it very easy to know what her answer was going to be when he asked her to keep travelling with him.

After that, there had been a few more Christmases with the Doctor (because, well, time machine). Times they'd accidentally landed on a planet colonised by humans who still celebrated the holiday in some way, or in other time eras on Earth when they would arrive to help with some problem or other but end up at a Christmas feast or two drinking mulled wine and talking about traditions. Incidentally, Rose found out one day the Doctor was surprisingly fond of the Christmas tradition involving mistletoe. Which worked out very well for her.

In the here and now, Rose sighed wistfully, thinking about the planets she would never see, the people she would never meet, the Time Lord she would never kiss again. But then she looked down at her baby brother, who was stirring in her arms. Her breath hitched at the expression on his little face.

"Look at you," she whispered, stroking his cheek. "Is that a smile? I think that's a smile." She blinked quickly, trying to get rid of the ridiculous tears in her eyes. "You smiled."

"It's probably just wind, love," her mum said absently.

Rose laughed wetly and shook her head. "No, no. He smiled."

For the rest of the evening, Rose let her family continue to sweep her along in the festivities, taking her mind off the man she missed. But when she woke up on Boxing Day, Rose felt a bit down. The fun of Christmas now essentially over meant that today felt like an anticlimax for her, because although she had enjoyed herself the day before, she was now back to normality, waking up alone and destined to go into work, if all the missed calls from Jake were anything to go by. Sighing, she heaved herself out of bed and wandered to the window. Gloomy weather to match her gloomy mood. She would have to head back to her flat before work, get changed and grab her work stuff - stun gun, SUV keys, her pass to let her into Torchwood. Ugh. She could do without it today. She would much rather curl back under the duvet and pretend the Doctor were with her.

Rose ran a hand through her tangled hair and walked downstairs, rubbing sleep from her eyes and dodging the presents on the floor in the living room as she made for the kitchen. But a gentle clearing of a throat stopped her in her tracks and she whirled around. Her breath caught.

"Hello, Rose," the Doctor murmured uncertainly. He was standing next to the Christmas tree with a gift in his hand, a box wrapped and tied neatly with a bow. When Rose just stared at him wordlessly, the Doctor shifted from foot to foot and tried, "I, er. I don't know how long it has been for you, and I don't know how…welcome I am, but…well. I - found a way through, and I thought. Well. I thought I would just…see how you are. And…um."

She still wasn't saying anything and it was clear that this was making him very nervous, so Rose felt compelled to try to find her voice. "It's…it's been almost a year," she said, her voice hoarse. "Um. How did you…no you know what, you can tell me that later, just - " she stopped suddenly, eyes flying wide. "I mean, there is gonna be a later, right? You can, you can stay for a bit? Or is it just..two minutes, again? Are you just a hologram again because I swear to god, Doctor - "

He placed the present he was holding onto the coffee table that sat in between them and navigated around it swiftly to envelope her in his arms. "Not a hologram," he whispered, mouth to her ear. "I promise. And I can stay as long as you want me to."

She gripped him tight, arms looped around his neck, nose pressed into his pinstriped shoulder, breathing him in. "I've missed you," she said, her voice trembling.

"I've missed you too," he murmured. "So much, Rose. I tried - I tried so hard to get back to get you, you have to believe me. But I failed and then I thought it was impossible. But finally, finally I did it. And I was so scared I would get here and it would be too late, that you would have already forgotten me, or…"

Rose leant back, slipping her fingers through the hair at the back of his head as she met his watery gaze. "I love you," she said simply.

His lips quivered as he smiled. "I love you."

Her mouth transformed into the most beautiful smile, one that stretched to her eyes and lit up her face. "It's good to hear that," she admitted.

He released her waist and cupped her cheeks, stroking his thumbs beneath her eyes to wipe away the few teardrops collected there. "I'm sorry I didn't get around to telling you before."

Rose stood on her tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, a kiss the Doctor swiftly deepened, parting his mouth and reintroducing his tongue to hers. When they eventually broke away, they looked at each other with sheepish grins.

"I've missed that, too," he said cheekily, leaning his forehead against hers. "Rose?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you happy here?"

She swallowed hard. "No - yes. Sometimes, I am, yeah. Mum and Pete, Tony - that's Mum's new baby, I have a brother now, can you believe it? And course, Mickey, Jake, other friends at Torchwood. I…have a life here, now, I s'pose."

He nodded, but stayed silent.

Then Rose breathed out roughly, "But it's not home."

"No?"

"No. Home's with you."

The Doctor's eyes softened. "Where, though, Rose?"

"What do you mean?"

He took in a deep breath, then let it out with a whoosh, as though readying himself for saying something difficult.

"What, Doctor?"

His hands were practically shaking when he gripped her shoulders and looked her right in the eye. "I'll stay here," he said, and at first Rose thought he was joking. But he looked so very, very serious - and sad, and of course he would be those things, offering to give up his life as he was. His life in the TARDIS. There was no way Rose was going to let him do that. He'd go barmy.

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"I will," he insisted. "If that's what you want, I'll stay. I want - I want to be with you again. And I'll give anything for that. Anything. You say the word and I'll stay here and make a new life. With you."

"The TARDIS can't fly in this universe," Rose said quietly.

His jaw clenched. "I know."

"You wouldn't be able to see the stars." She tilted her head. "Unless you pilfered some tech from Torchwood to build a spaceship, but that's not the same. The TARDIS is home. For me, too. But especially for you."

"But I'm offering to - to start again. So that you can be with your family, and I can be with you. I want you to be happy."

"I'm happy travelling time and space, Doctor. Don't you see? I don't want you to stay here. I want to go with you. I want to go home. I want to see the universe again. I miss it. Torchwood's - I like it there, I'm good at it. But, it's - it's no substitute, not really. There's nothing like travelling with you, Doctor. Nothing like it."

He grabbed her into another hug, squeezing her tightly. "What about your family? Do you think…"

"Think what?" she said shakily, trying to push aside the gnawing pain she felt at the thought of saying goodbye to them.

"Do you think they'd…emigrate?"

Rose pulled back and looked at him with raised eyebrows. "What?"

The Doctor ignored her question. "Where's Jackie?" he said.

"Dunno…still in bed, probably. Tony likely kept her up in the night."

He bounded for the hallway before Rose had barely had time to blink.

"What are you doing?" she cried, dashing up the stairs after him. She watched him opening doors until he found Jackie and Pete's bedroom. Rolling her eyes, she sprinted into the room. "Doctor, for god's sake, you'll give 'em a heart attack."

"Jackie, Pete," the Doctor greeted cheerfully, as the couple stared at him from their bed in shock.

Rose sighed, and her eyes abruptly widened when she realised her parents were covering themselves with the duvet up to their necks. Oh, blimey. If they were naked - ugh.

"What the hell?" Jackie gasped. "You - you! You missed Christmas!"

The Doctor blinked at her. "I - wait, that's the problem you have with me?!"

"Rose could've done with you yesterday! Who turns up on bleeding Boxing Day instead of Christmas? You never could get your timing right!"

"Clearly," muttered Pete, as he covertly reached for his pants, which Rose then realised were on the floor beside the bed.

"Oh my god," she mumbled. Trust the Doctor to walk in on them just before they started the horizontal mambo.

"Anyway!" the Doctor said brightly. "How do you two feel about emigrating?"

"What are you talking about?" Jackie asked, eyebrows drawn together.

"Emigrating to the other universe - our universe, Jackie Tyler."

"Well we can't go back to London, they all think Pete's been dead twenty-one years!"

"Okay, so you move to, I don't know, Scotland! Easy-peasy!" said the Doctor, ever the optimist, apparently. "I'll get all the paperwork sorted, don't you worry. And when I say I'll get it sorted, of course I mean that I'll get my contacts to sort it," he continued, waving his hands around dismissively. "But anyway, how about it, hmm? You can bring what you like, who you like, for that matter. I really don't mind, the TARDIS is big enough for you to bring all your furniture if you want. And of course little Tony, can't forget him. And maybe Mickity-Mick-Mickey. And whoever else. Just - will you do it? For Rose?" he added, grabbing Rose by the shoulders and thrusting her forwards as though presenting them with a lost little puppy to take pity on. Rose folded her arms, completely bewildered by him.

Pete replied, "If you leave our bedroom for five minutes so that we can get dressed and have a chat, then we'll answer you."

"I don't need to chat," decided Jackie. "We're coming."

"What?" Rose gaped at her. "Mum, you and Pete have got stuff going on here - friends and family and obligations and - "

"And I'd rather like to stay in the same universe as my daughter. So if you're going with him, which we all know you are, then so am I."

"Which means so am I," Pete nodded. Jackie beamed at him and he smiled back. "You're right, Jacks. We don't really need to discuss it - all we need is family. And a bit of cash."

The Doctor chuckled, then wrapped his arms around Rose from behind, giving her a backwards cuddle. "See, Rose? All sorted."

"Are you sure about this?" Rose asked.

"Course I am," replied the Doctor.

"Not you," she said. "Mum? Pete? Are you sure you don't need to think this through?"

"How long have we got to get packed up, make arrangements for work and the house, and say our goodbyes to the neighbours?" asked Pete pragmatically.

"All the time you need!" the Doctor answered. "Take a week, two, a month, I don't care. The TARDIS needs a rest anyway, before we tax her engines by flying back to the other universe."

"Then there's no problem with our decision, is there, Pete?" said Jackie hopefully.

"No problem at all," he replied, looking at Rose with a reassuring expression on his face. "It's okay, sweetheart. We'll do this. For you, and for us. We'll be happy anywhere, so long as we have each other."

"I know that feeling," said the Doctor into Rose's ear, giving her another squeeze. She turned around in his arms.

"Thank you," she whispered. "You're giving me all the best bits, you know that? The best life. The perfect life."

"Wellll," he said, sniffing casually. "Only the best is good enough for my favourite human."

Rose shook her head at him fondly. "I can't wait for you to meet Tony. He's only a few months old but you'll take a shine to him, I reckon."

"If he's anything like his big sister then I'm sure he'll be fantastic." He paused, stroking her hair back. "Should you call Mickey? Think we have something to ask him, too."

"Yeah. I think he'll come with," Rose mused. "His Gran's gone now. He'll want to come with us."

The Doctor nodded. He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "I'll take you to the TARDIS so you can see the old girl again. And…well, we can, er, have a catch-up." He waggled his eyebrows. Rose giggled. "And then we'll get Mickey to come over. Yeah?"

"Deal," she agreed.

"Now can you two leave our bedroom please?" requested Pete.

"Or do you want to see your sort-of mother-in-law naked?" asked Jackie sweetly.

The Doctor blanched and grabbed Rose's hand, leading her swiftly out of the room. As they made their way downstairs, Rose laughed at him for his horrified expression. Then he went back into the living room and retrieved his gift for her.

"What is it?" Rose asked.

"Well, open it and you'll find out," said the Doctor, rolling his eyes.

Rose laughed and unwrapped her present. It was a box containing some of her most treasured possessions, photos and trinkets and the bracelet he'd bought her years ago - stuff that she'd had on the TARDIS and lost when she came to this world with only the clothes on her back. Her eyes welled up. "Thanks, Doctor."

He held her close and kissed the top of her head. "I'm glad you're coming home with me."

"Me too," she said softly. She glanced around the room. "We had a good day, yesterday, but it was hard to stop thinking about you, and all the Christmassy things we'd experienced together."

"Tell me about it. All the Christmases I've had since I lost you were disasters. Just awful."

"You never did say how long it had been for you."

"Long enough, Rose Tyler," he answered, kissing her cheek and then her nose. "Long enough."