Disclaimer: You all know I don't own any of it, if I did, this fic wouldn't exsist.

Set after Journey's End.

Rose/ 10.5

This is my first published fic so... be kind?

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Rose felt terrible, she knew she had let the Doctor down, but she just didn't know what to do, what to think. It was like when he regenerated, except this time he was the same man to look at, but was he the same man inside? It scared her to think of the possibilities, but even then she knew she was being stupid; he was still her Doctor, still the same man, it had to be. She just needed time to adjust, time to understand, she just needed time and she was ever grateful that it was a Time Lord that she was dealing with. Rose knew she was getting close to understanding and being able to finally take in the events of the last week and process everything. Just one more day, she promised herself, she couldn't make him wait any longer; she missed him more than it made sense to.

The Doctor sighed; Rose had been distant for the last few days, since Bad Wolf Bay. She still chatted away to Jackie and cooed at little Tony, watched TV with Pete and smiled and chatted to him too. But the smiles didn't quite reach her eyes, and the chatter was just chatter and he could tell that emotionally she was trying to keep her distance. It was understandable, she needed time to adjust, as did he, but that didn't stop it from hurting.

He sighed, Rose Tyler was clever and he had taught her too well. She was world wise and wary of almost everything now, just as he was. After such a tumultuous life it was hard not to expect the worst around every corner. He had an idea; he had given her time to think, maybe now she needed a hand to hold and to guide her… maybe. Mind made up, the Doctor set off to find Rose in the expanse of Pete's mansion.

Finally he found her, in the kitchen leaning against the bench top just staring into space. He walked in silently, not wanting to disturb her yet. Pushing his hands into his pockets he leaned against the counter opposite her and decided how to begin.

Rose raised her gaze to his face as he spoke.

"Would you like to know my first memory of you? Will that convince you?" He asked gently.

And she knew exactly what he meant.

"I am convinced." She told him, looking him in the eye. Her eyes confused and her brows knitting together. She was so sincere, she had almost fooled herself.

"I know you're not – and that's okay," he hastened to add "I know it's hard to understand, even I'm having trouble adjusting. I just thought, maybe… maybe that might prove to you that I am the same person. I'm still him, and the him before him." He finished with a lopsided grin and a small chuckle in his voice. "Would it? Help, I mean."

Rose looked up at him, thinking, calculating. Would it help? Or would it just be a story that would raise her hopes and achieve nothing. She smiled. "Yes, I think it would. Help, I mean." He looked down at her, returning the smile. "Okay." He moved across the small room until he stood a few feet in front of her. He looked away and stared straight ahead. He closed his eyes as he remembered. "That hard to remember?" She teased, a little light-hearted, a little upset. She still thought, after all this, she still thought that she might not be worth it. The Doctor glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes.

"No way. First memory of you? Easy! Where I put my seusseplugs, not so much, but you? Easier than breathing." He reassured her honestly, taking her hand for a second, giving it a gentle squeeze. Closing his eyes again, he began.

"It's night and I'm in the middle of London, skulking in the corridors underneath a shop. Sounds ridiculous. I've got a small detonation device in my hand and I'm walking along, heading for the roof. I have to kill the signal. I can hear movement down through a door to my left. It's not much but there's definitely something moving down there. Of course, my curiosity gets the better of me, besides, if that was shouting I heard before, I don't want another life lost. One was too many. I'm walking along a wide corridor towards a set of double doors. I've put the small bomb into my pocket, it'll be fine, it's not active yet. I get to the doors and open one, it swings in its hinges silently. So quiet that they don't even hear. That's when I see them, the things I have to destroy. Faceless and plastic, they're lurching towards me. But I look again, they're not facing me… there's someone else. To my right, I can barely see through the animated plastic, there's a blonde girl." His eyes snap open, still staring ahead.

"Backed up to the wall, cornered, scared and helpless. Oh but she's not helpless anymore. No, that's why I'm there, I was meant to be there. I help her." He smiled.

"I grab her hand in mine," he recites as he takes her hand, giving it a soft squeeze and looks her in the eye – conveying dancing emotions in his deep brown eyes "and her eyes open and she looks at me wide-eyed – surprised, shocked. Her hand is tightly in mine and I hope, oh I just hope she'll trust me. I look into her eyes and smile, just a little, because I know she's special. She glows and I can tell I was meant to be there, I was meant to meet her, this little human girl practically glows and I can't imagine why, but it's fantastic. I look into her eyes and say one single word, just one lone word. One, just one. I look at her and I say… "run!""

Rose smiled up at him through watery eyes and the Doctor held her gaze as he held his breath, hoping the tears were of relief, or happiness and praying that that smile was genuine.

"And we never stopped did we?" She chuckled through a weak sob, remembering what he had said to her when he regenerated. He was trying to convince her he was the same man then too, and she felt a pang of guilt for making him have to prove himself to her all the time, even if it was because he changed his face.

"Oh no, never." He grinned, his eyes brimming with tears now too as he saw that the smile reached her eyes.

"I'm glad I got to run with you, Doctor." She told him, grasping both his hands in her own, and he understood what she really meant. It wasn't simply a name she was saying, it was his name and she really meant it this time. She was glad she came into the TARDIS that night, glad she got to run with him – the Doctor, and that's all that mattered.

"So you're convinced? Still the Doctor then, am I?"

"Always. My Doctor." His grin widened, threatening to split his cheeks as he laughed and hugged Rose close to him and she clutched him, afraid she would lose him yet again. Her tears seeped into his suit jacket but neither of them cared as he spun around with her in his arms. It was a ridiculous thing to think that a tiny three letter word could change so much, but in the end, they had witnessed crazier things than that. Pulling apart finally, they stood in each others embrace and laughed tearfully at each other, what a pair! A nine hundred and four year old human Time Lord and a twenty-three year old human girl from London.

Impossible was not a word that they recognised anymore.

As their lips met, it was a silent promise that they would always be there, always catch each other – and run.