Rose wandered out of her bedroom, feeling ruffled and confused. She was back home again. Back in her borrowed reality. Her dad's reality. She yawned and stretched as she walked down the hallway and into the wide open kitchen and living room. She jumped in shock when she saw him, turned away from her, sitting on the couch.
"Ah!" She yelled. "Oi, Don't scare me like that!" the Doctor had jumped up at her yell and turned quickly to face her. She saw bags under his eyes – bags! – and his blue jacket wasn't on. He didn't look right without his jacket.
"Sorry!" He yelled back, rubbing his eyes. "Didn't mean anything by it."
"No, 'course you didn't." they stood there silently for a minute. Rose adjusted her pajama shirt, only now realizing she was wearing it. The Doctor opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again without a word. It was horrible. Rose hated feeling so awkward staring into his face, her Doctor's face. Like the first day he had regenerated all over again, only with that face that had saved her life so many times. "You… want some breakfast?" She asked in an awkward attempt to break the tension. The Doctor nodded.
"Hmm, sure. Yes." They walked to the kitchen together and Rose put a couple of plates of breakfast down onto the table. They ate in silence until Rose couldn't take it anymore.
"Doctor," he looked up at his name suddenly, his eyes softening. "One thing I'm still confused about."
"What?" He looked mildly sullen now. "About me and him? We're the same. He told you himself."
"No, no," Rose said, "about Jack." Now The Doctor looked interested again.
"Yes?"
"Well, it's just," Rose paused. "he, well, died. Right in front of my eyes. I saw it. And then he came back. And how did he survive through the Dalek attack back on Satellite 5 in the first place?" She looked up to The Doctor's face to see a furrowed brow. He was thinking, but looking at her face very hard.
"Well," he started, and Rose smiled at the word she was so used to hearing those lips say. "You sort of brought him back."
"What?" Rose was dumbfounded. "Brought him back when?"
"That day on Satellite 5, you brought him back to life. When the TARDIS was still in your mind."
"Then why didn't he come back with us?" The Doctor could see that breakfast was now forgotten, which was a shame because this human body hadn't actually had anything really substantial to eat yet. But even so, he set down his muffin and pushed his plate aside.
"Because you did more than just bring him back." Rose still looked confused, understandably. "He stayed on the Satellite. He fixed his Vortex Manipulator. He tried to jump back in time to, well, your time in London, but he got the date wrong. And that's what you get with a Vortex Manipulator! He should know, I just keep telling him, and – "
"Doctor, you are rambling. Off subject."
"Right, sorry," he said, "Jack, well, he went back much further than he anticipated."
"And you went back and got him?" Rose asked.
"Well, no." The Doctor breathed in through his teeth, trying to figure out how to tell Rose what she had done. "You, sort of, made him immortal." The room was utterly silent with the final word. Rose's mouth fell open and her eyes widened.
"Im-immortal?" She questioned. Her voice was begging to hear it wasn't true.
"Immortal." The Doctor nodded and looked down. "I've actually seen him die and come back to life too many times to count. It has become a bit underwhelming, as a matter of fact." The Doctor smiled and looked up but Rose's face made him somber up again.
"So," she asked, "he went back to the-"
"Mid-1800s, yes." The Doctor said.
"Right." Rose rolled her shoulders, "and he just… lived until he met up with you again?"
"That about sums it up." The Doctor said. He decided that telling her a bit more wouldn't hurt. "He actually said he watched you while you were growing up. Never interfered, of course, but watched." Rose still nodded.
"And I did this to him?" The Doctor sighed. He knew she should have a hard time coming to terms with this. He thought some of the most entertaining hews he had ever received might pep her up a bit.
"You know," he began, "I actually know for a fact that he lives a long time, but he does quite a bit of good with it. You have met a future version of him, you know, you just didn't recognize him. Well, neither did I, at the time."
"Really?" Rose asked, visibly sitting up straighter and looking the Doctor in the eyes, which made a nice change. He smiled wide, the way she loved, showing all of his teeth.
"Oh, yes! Rose," he leaned in close, "Jack is the Face of Boe!" He let out a big laugh at the announcement. Rose's jaw dropped so shockingly low it was impossible she hadn't unlatched it. And then she let out a laugh of disbelief. That was all the permission The Doctor needed. He started laughing loudly and fully and Rose joined in.
They laughed and laughed together for at least ten minutes, restarting more loudly each time the laughter began to die down. By the time they finally stopped, Rose was clutching her stomach and The Doctor was wiping his eyes.
"Jack…is…the…Face…of…Boe?" Rose got out, gasping for breath between every word.
"I know!" The Doctor said, "Can you believe it?" I mean, when we met and he kept giving us all of those enigmatic riddles, I think he just did it because he knew it would drive me mad." They started off laughing again, and it just felt right. The two of them laughing together. More like old times, and maybe, The Doctor thought, more like it could be between them in the future. Their future.