A/N: Here's a little lunchtime reading. How does Rose's Birthday affect the Doctor beofore the events of Doomsday compared to when he gets her back. AU fic, Rose fell through the rift, matha's gone back to uni and Captain Jack has rejoined the crew of the TARDIS. Follows on from "All that's left behind"

Two very different Birthdays

It had started off as any normal day for them. Rose needed her washing done and Mickey wanted to pick up some clothes before heading off for an adventure. There was nothing remarkable about any of it until they walked through Jackie's front door.

"Surprise!" She yelled. "Happy Birthday darling." Jackie pulled her daughter into a tight hug.

"It's your birthday?" The Doctor squeaked.

"I suppose it must be."

"Oh Rose, how could you forget your own birthday?!" Jackie shook her head.

"You forget lots of things in the TARDIS." Rose shrugged.

Mickey rolled his eyes. "Well I didn't." He said reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small gift box.

Rose froze and she felt the Doctor tense beside her. Oh god, please don't let it be…

"Well go on, open it." Mickey grinned, shooting the Doctor a smug look as they all walked into the living room.

"I'll open it in a minute." She smiled. "What's with all the food and balloons?" Looking round the room they could see tray after tray of party food, balloons and streamers strung up everywhere.

"Well, I've invited all your mates over for a party."

The Doctor watched Rose's face light up as her mother listed off names he'd never heard before.

He thought about what he'd said to her the day before after meeting Sarah Jane and it hit him. Rose was ageing, everyday she was getting closer and closer to leaving him behind.

His thoughts were broken as the doorbell rang and he heard some girl's scream as Rose let them in.

It was going to be a long day.

XxXxX

Rose found the Doctor in her room, staring out of the window, his brow furrowed and hands jammed into his pockets.

"You okay?" She asked stepping through the doorway.

"Hmm? Oh, yes I'm fine." He smiled and turned back to stare out of the window once more.

"What's up?"

"Nothing." He shook his head and tried to look happy.

She raised her eyebrow at him, not believing a word.

"It's nothing. Just me being silly. Too many people. Nothing to worry about." The Doctor's voice faltered slightly. "Come on. Your friends are here to see you." He tried to turn her round with every intention of marching her out the door but she wouldn't budge.

"Not until you tell me the truth."

"I told you. It's just me being silly."

"Then it wont matter if you tell me." She shut the bedroom door and folded her arms across her chest.

He gazed at her for a while and then sighed. He knew that look. It was the look that said he was going to give in to her, he always did. And that was the problem. He couldn't deny Rose Tyler anything. With his other companions no meant no and that was the end of it but Rose wasn't any other companion. She was dangerously close to causing him a lot of heart ache, today had just reminded him of it.

"Rose, I'm just feeling a little sad today. That's all."

"You were fine until we got here."

"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?"

"It never came up. I forgot myself to be honest, everyday just merges into another in the TARDIS. A bit like time doesn't exist in that funny blue box. Is that what this is about? You feel bad because you didn't know it was my birthday?"

"Sort of." He shrugged.

"God it's like getting blood from a stone. Since when did we stop telling each other things? Whatever it is we can fix it."

"That's just it. We can't. I can't."

"Okay, now you're making me nervous."

"You're going to leave me Rose Tyler."

"What? Don't be daft. Why would I leave you?"

"You won't have a choice. The day will come when you'll leave me and I'll be alone again."

She watched as his eyes shimmered with tears and she didn't know what to say.

"You live your lives so quickly and fantastically but it's a fleeting moment in time and all too soon it's gone. You're gone."

"But we've known that all along. I'm not the first human you've travelled with."

"I know, but you're the first human that…" He stopped and looked down at the floor.

"That what?"

He shook his head.

"Tell me." She reached out and touched his arm.

Rose almost jumped when he reached out and pulled her into his arms. He held her tightly, rocking slightly from side to side, his face buried in her hair.

"I couldn't bear to lose someone else."

"You're not going to lose me."

"One day I will. You'll have enough or get too old or taken from me. Which ever way it happens it will happen."

"But I'm here now." She whispered, pulling back to look at him. "You know what I've learnt from you? Take what you can while it's there."

He watched a small smile touch her lips

"So what did Mickey the Idiot buy for you then?" He asked abruptly, stepping away from her and shoving his hands deep in his pockets.

Rose tucked her hair behind her ears and played with a pair of hoop earrings.

"Nice. Very original." The Doctor bit back a smile, trying to hide the sarcasm in his voice and the relief that it wasn't a ring instead.

Rose rolled her eyes affectionately "Except they're gold."

"You don't like gold?"

"It's just not very me. I'm more of a silver girl."

"Ah. Yes, of course." He nodded as they descended into another earth shattering silence. He risked a glance up at her through his lashes and found her still gazing at him. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Since when did we stop telling each other things?" He teased, the darkness he felt lifting slightly at the softness in her eyes.

"Just glad you're here. I know you don't do domestic normally and I….. well it means a lot."

Rose watched a shy smile spread across his face and she stepped towards him, taking one of his hands in hers.

For a moment the Doctor searched her face, wondering what she was thinking but it soon became apparent as she tentatively moved her face closer to his.

He froze not knowing what to do. His brain was telling him he should stop her but he didn't want to. Just once he wanted to have something he shouldn't, even for just a second.

He'd almost told her yesterday. 'Imagine watching that happen to some one you…' But he hadn't finished that sentence and he knew he never would. He'd just have to hope she'd work it out; that she'd know how he felt even if it wasn't said.

Rose's lips were creeping nearer and nearer to his and the Doctor felt his breath catch. A knock on the door caused Rose to stall then detour so that she pressed a light lingering kiss on his cheek instead.

He quashed the disappointment he felt, his brain telling him it was the right thing to do.

"Rose? Everything okay?" Mickey's voice came through the door as the handle turned.

"Yep. Be right there." She called, her eyes never leaving the Doctor's. "You coming back out?"

He nodded silently, his hand still gripping hers.

Rose turned towards the door, pulling him with her but stopped when she felt his resistance to move. Turning back she saw him take a hesitant step towards her before lightly pressing his lips against hers.

"Happy Birthday Rose." He whispered before disappearing out into the hall.

XxXxX

That was Rose's twentieth birthday and it seemed so long ago now so when she walked into the kitchen of the TARDIS she couldn't help but laugh out loud as Captain Jack leapt out at her yelling the exact greeting her mother had two years previously.

Of course it had only been two years on her time line, for the Doctor it had been more like four. She'd spent a year with him after that birthday before she had been ripped away from him and he'd been without her for two years by the time she found herself back home again.

"Jack what are you doing?" Rose giggled as he picked her up and spun her round.

"What? It's your birthday. I'm allowed to spoil you. Where's the Doc?"

Rose shrugged, "He got up before me. Probably tinkering with something some where."

"You mean he didn't wake you with arms full of suprises?"

"Why would he?"

"You know, I think that whole time vortex thing has scrambled your brains. It's your birthday, he should be spoiling you!"

"He always spoils me." Rose avoided looking at the Captain as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"He doesn't know does he? You didn't tell him."

Rose shook her head.

"Why not?"

Before she could answer him they heard the Doctor whistling in the corridor.

"Good mor…" The Doctor faltered as he stepped through the doorway. "What's all this?" He frowned, looking at all the treats in the table.

"Nothing. It's nothing. Jack was in one of his moods, that's all." Rose lied, praying Jack wouldn't give her away.

He eyed the pair suspiciously.

"I," Rose said moving towards the Doctor, "am going for a shower." She pressed a kiss to the Doctor's lips and pinched his bum, giggling to herself as she darted out of his grasp and down the corridor.

"So things okay between you two?" Jack asked, taking a seat.

"Any reason they shouldn't be?"

"Well, you didn't wait for her to wake up this morning."

The Doctor looked at him oddly as he sat at the table opposite his friend. "Has Rose said something?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know you're the one making odd comments. What's going on Jack?"

"Nothing."

"You're a terrible liar Harkness. There are only two reasons you go to town like this on breakfast, either Rose needs cheering up about something or it's someone's birt…." The Doctor's voice trailed off as he stared unseeingly at Jack. The cogs in his brain turning overtime. "It's Rose's birthday. How could I forget it's Rose's birthday. God she must really think I'm the most insensitive kafgow in the universe."

"A what?"

The Doctor waved away his question. "First she gets stuck here without her family, then I put her through hell…."

"Not your fault." Jack interjected.

"Maybe not but it wasn't the best homecoming was it? Spent most of it on my back or kidnapped. And now I forget her birthday." He sighed and rubbed his eyes wearily.

"Well she didn't remind you."

"She shouldn't have to though should she? It's something I should remember."

"Well if it's any help I don't think she wanted you to know. Any ideas why?"

The Doctor shook his head and stood. "I need to talk to Rose."

XxXxX

Rose walked out of the bathroom, rubbing her hair with a towel when the Doctor breezed into the bedroom. She smiled at him but it faltered when she saw the expression on his face.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked softly, he looked almost hurt.

"About what?" Rose mumbled, moving over to the dresser.

"You know what."

She sighed and turned back to face him. "Remember the last time we spent my Birthday together? You spent most of it hiding in my room. It upset you," she shrugged. "I didn't want it to happen again."

The Doctor closed his eyes and cursed himself. "Things are different now."

"I know but it's still going to remind you that you'll be on your own again one day."

"That's not what I mean. Come with me." He reached for her hand and smiled softly as he led her to the medibay. "Now promise you wont hit me."

"I hate it when you start telling me something with those words."

"Rose, promise."

"I promise." She sighed.

"Okay sit there." He pointed to one of the beds as he pulled out a monitor. "Okay. Here we have your hearts,"

"If you're going to say that you arranged for the vortex to give me a second heart you are the biggest cheapskate in the world! That is never going to sound normal. Me having to hearts. Right, sorry." She looked down at the floor sheepishly.

"And you say I talk too much! Anyway. I've been trying to figure out what it all means, what else the time vortex has done to you. Now this is the part where you don't hit me, remember?"

Rose nodded and as if to prove herself she tucked her hands under her thighs.

"Right, so if I could give you anything in the universe for your birthday, what would it be?"

She frowned at the excited sparkle that had appeared in his eyes, wondering what that had to do with anything, but she knew the Doctor well enough to play along.

"Umm, a credit card with no limit?"

"I can do that anyway. What's the thing you want most but can't have? Bearing in mind I can't bring Jackie through the rift and if you say George Clooney I will tickle you 'til you cry!" His lips twitched as he hid his smile.

"Umm," She frowned staring at a spot on the wall. "Any other year I'd have said you but I've already got that." She said, a smile creeping across her face.

"True, true. How 'bout……" he leaned his face close to hers and lowered his voice to a whisper. "forever." He watched with some satisfaction as her eyes widened.

"What?"

"This is where you keep those hands to yourself." He ran his fingers through his hair, suddenly nervous again about her reaction. "Okay, we've already established that the time vortex did a bit of jiggery pokery on you and over time you've grown a second heart. Now that doesn't make you a Time Lady or anything, but it does mean you're not quite human anymore. When the Face of Boe said I wasn't alone I figured… well it doesn't matter, but now I know. He meant you. Rose, technically or biologically speaking you're part Gallifreyan."

She stared at him for a moment as if he'd grown an extra head while his words sunk in. Then she remembered 'forever'.

"So you're saying that I'm not human. So that means…..I'm not going to die?" A smile split her face and the Doctor relaxed slightly.

"Well obviously you will eventually but not for a long time yet if the TARDIS is right."

"So you won't be all alone again 'cause I'm going to live longer than a human?"

The Doctor nodded and watched as her smile grew by the second.

She was an amazing girl his Rose, far too amazing to be an ordinary human being. She was so much more than that. Who else in the universe would take that news and be grinning wildly?

"Everything ok in here?" Jack's voice drifted in from the doorway.

"I'm not going to die!" Rose said incredulously.

"Well I should hope you'd have a few years in you yet!" Jack laughed.

"No, I mean I'm literally going to live for….."

"Possibly centuries." The Doctor said softly, his gaze never leaving her face.

"When did this happen?" Jack asked, stepping closer to the pair.

"Time vortex stuff." Rose shrugged, staring off into the distance, dreaming of all the things she and the Doctor would do. "We've got all the time in the world." She looked back at the Doctor and threw her arms around him.

"I didn't think you would take it this well." The Doctor laughed.

"Well," she lowered her voice and whispered in his ear "if you take me back to our room, I'll show you just how well I'm taking it."

The Doctor choked.

"So instead of The Three Amigos, we're The Three Immortals, huh?" Jack grinned. "That's not so bad." He turned and left the lovers to their own private birthday party. "I don't know, you get brought back to life by the time vortex, become immortal and suddenly everyone wants to get in on the act!" he muttered retreating to the kitchen as Rose's giggles filled the air.

A/N: There you are folks. A little bit of TenRose fluff for you all. Please review.

"Catch ya on the flip flop!"