Rose woke with a start, her own name ringing in her ears.
iRose…
Rose…
Rose!/i
Her name, but not her voice. The Doctor's. She'd dreamt she'd been back on the TARDIS. It was starting to become hazy though, and she had to will herself to hold onto the last remaining shreds of the dream. It was important. The Doctor had told her something important. What had he told her?
iRose…
Rose, come to me. Follow my voice. Find me! Find me, Rose…/i
No, not a dream. A message. From the Doctor. Somehow, he had managed to contact her across the Void. Or he had managed to slip back into this universe? But if that was the case, why hadn't he come for her? Surely, if he could get to her, he would. Maybe something was holding him back. Maybe he needed her help to come through all the way. One thing was sure, though, and that was that he was calling her.
She had to find him.
She jumped out of bed, pulling the bedclothes with her. They tangled around her legs and she almost tripped before kicking the sheets to the side. She rushed out of her room and down towards the end of the hall, where the guest room door was shut. Conveniently, Mickey had had a few too many scotches with Pete and was spending the night at the Tyler mansion, rather than driving back to his grandmother's flat in the city.
"Mickey!" she called, pounding on the door. "Mickey, wake up! Mickey, come on!"
Midway down the hall, a door creaked open and Pete ducked his head around the doorframe. "Rose? What's wrong?"
Jackie pushed past Pete into the hallway. "What the hell are you yelling about at three in the morning?"
Rose ignored her parents, and continued banging on Mickey's door. "Mickey, you bum, get up!"
Mickey finally flung the door open wide, wearing just his pants and a vest. "Damn woman, can you shout. What the hell is wrong?"
"I had a dream," she said, worrying her thumbnail.
"And so did I, until you interrupted it. What's your point? Why'd you wake all of us up?" Mickey asked, rubbing his eyes.
"It was a dream, but...it wasn't a dream. It was more than a dream...ugh, I'm trying to explain it," Rose said, frustrated. "It's important. It's about the Doctor."
"Oh here we go again, the bloody Doctor. He's not even in this universe and he's still causing me to lose sleep. Well, I'm freezing. If this is going to take a while, maybe we should move to the study. Pete, you can start a fire," Jackie said, marching down the hallway.
"Uh yeah..sure," Pete said, following after his wife with a bemused expression on his face.
Rose shot a sidelong glance at Mickey, who sighed and followed after Jackie and Pete, letting Rose bring up the rear. They all stood around while Pete fiddled with the firewood and finally got the instant-light log to ignite. The flame fanned out and spread, setting the rest of the wood alight. They all took a seat, and looked expectantly at Rose.
"I had a dream," she said, fiddling with the sleeves of her pajamas. "But it wasn't really a dream. It was weird. I was on the TARDIS, and the Doctor was there. He was calling to me, told me I had to find him. I can just about feel the TARDIS tugging at my mind, but it's distant. I think he may be trying to come through, to come back for me, but he might be stuck. The dream was his way of trying to communicate with me. He's telepathic, so he can do that, get inside your mind, your dreams. I have to find him, and help him, if I can."
"Rose, how can you be sure this wasn't just another bad dream?" Jackie asked, not unkindly.
"Because it felt different. I just...it's a gut feeling, mum. Maybe it's blood calling to blood," she said, letting her hands drift down to her abdomen, which was still taut and flat in spite of the life growing within.. "But I know it was him calling to me. And I have to find him, if I can. I just have to."
"Where was he calling you to?" Pete asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.
"I'm not exactly sure. It's just...that way," she said, biting her lip and gesturing vaguely.
"Somewhere to the North?" Mickey asked.
"Yeah...I think so. I think the closer we get to it...the more sense it will make. It's just a feeling I have...don't ask me why," she said uncomfortably.
"Well then, what are we waiting for? Everyone pack a bag and get dressed," Jackie said, getting to her feet.
"You believe me?" Rose asked, shocked. She'd imagined it would take more than a little convincing on her part to get them to believe she wasn't just dreaming.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. The point is, you believe it. And if there's any chance, however slight it may be, that you can find the Doctor, well you've got to do it. You grew up without your dad, I don't want your son or daughter to go through the same if they don't have to," Jackie said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Alright, we can take the Jeep," Pete said, standing.
"Okay, yeah, okay," Rose said, jerking to her feet. Impulsively, she threw her arms around Pete. "Thanks, dad."
"Yes, of course, sweetheart," he said, patting her on the back.
"Rose?"
Rose turned to look at Mickey as Jackie and Pete left the room. "Yeah?"
"You know...your baby wouldn't have to grow up without a father. If you don't find the Doctor, I mean," Mickey said, swallowing thickly. "There's always me. I could..I would try to take care of you both."
"I know you would," she said softly. "But Mickey...if he's out there, I ihave to/i find him. I don't know anything at all about Time Lord reproduction, aside from the fact that they apparently are genetically compatible with humans. I'm just...I'm afraid something will go wrong. If I can't find him."
"We're gonna find him," Mickey said firmly.
"I really hope you're right," she sighed.
She stood on the beach, her hair whipping around her head in the frigid breeze, which cut through her leather jacket as if it were nothing. She knew this was the place, although she didn't know how or why, or why there was no sign of either the Doctor or the TARDIS. She knew he was coming for her, though. He had to be. This place was called Bad Wolf Bay, and she refused to believe that was a coincidence.
And then, out of the corner of her eyes, she caught a glimpse of something brown. She turned around to face whatever it was, and there he stood. The Doctor, sonic screwdriver in hand. His figure was transparent, though. He looked like a specter. She gravitated towards him unconsciously.
"Where are you?" she asked.
"Inside the TARDIS," he replied. "There's one tiny little gap in the universe left, just about to close, and it takes a lot of power to send this projection. I'm in orbit around a super nova. I'm burning up a sun just to say goodbye."
"You look like a ghost," she said, shaking her head uncomprehendingly. Say goodbye? She had thought for sure he was coming for her.
"Hold on," he said, fiddling with the sonic. A moment later, he became solid.
She walked closer towards him, her hand outstretched to cup his cheek. "Can I…?"
"I'm still just an image. No touch," he said ruefully.
"Can't you come through properly?" she asked, her voice just barely wavering.
"The whole thing would fracture. Two universes would collapse," he replied in that matter of fact way he had.
"So?" she replied without thinking.
He smiled, but it didn't touch his eyes. He glanced around them, a puzzled expression on his face. "Where are we? Where did the gap come out?"
"We're in Norway."
"Norway. Right."
"About fifty miles out of Bergen. It's called 'Dårlig Ulv Stranden'," she said, the foreign words feeling heavy on her tongue.
"Dalek?" he replied, eyebrows knitting together in disbelief.
"Dårlig," she corrected. "It's Norwegian for bad. This translates as Bad Wolf Bay. How long have you got?"
"About two minutes," he answered, and she didn't think she was imagining the look of regret in his eyes.
"I can't think of what to say," she said, laughing to hide how anxious she was. This was not going at all like she had imagined. She only had two minutes to tell the Doctor all the things she had never said, to tell him he wasn't the last. Looking at him, she didn't know if she could do it. Not if they weren't going to see each other again.
He chuckled lightly, and nodded his head towards her family, standing off in the distance in front of Pete's Jeep. "You've still got Mr. Mickey then?"
"There's five of us now," she said, gathering her courage. "Mum, dad, Mickey...and the baby."
The look of longing in the Doctor's eyes was like a dagger to her resolve. How could she tell him that he wasn't the last if he wasn't coming for her, if they weren't going to be reunited? She was already heartbroken, no sense in him being heartbroken too, if he wasn't already.
"You're not…?" he asked wistfully.
And just like that, she knew she had to lie to him, because if he did know, two universes might actually collapse. "No. It's mum. She's three months gone. More Tylers on the way."
He made a little sound of what might've been disbelief. "What about you. What are you…?" he asked, his voice trailing off, as though he were afraid of what the answer might be.
"Yeah, I'm back working in the shop," she replied.
"Oh, good for you," he said insincerely.
"Shut up," she admonished. "No I'm not. There's still a Torchwood on this planet. It's open for business. I think I know a thing or two about aliens."
"Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth," he said, a proud grin briefly alighting on his face before his expression became more sober. "You're dead, officially, back home. So many people died that day and you've gone missing. You're on a list of the dead. Here you are, living a life day after day. The one adventure I can never have."
"Am I ever going to see you again?" she choked out tearfully, still holding out hope that he might find a way back to her.
"You can't," he answered, the regret clear in his voice.
Not 'you won't', 'you can't. With the unspoken implication being that it was not possible for them to see each other again.
"What're you going to do?" she asked desperately, needing to know that he would be okay on his own. He had once told her the thing you needed most while traveling across the universe was a hand to hold. Who was going to hold his hand now?
"Oh, I've got the TARDIS. Same old life, Last of the Time Lords," he said with a smile that did nothing to conceal his pain.
And there it was again. The Last of the Time Lords. She wished she could do it over again, that she had the courage to tell him, but she couldn't bring herself to break both his hearts. What good would it do telling him when they were separated by the Void? She found her voice, and instead asked him a question. "On your own?"
He didn't speak. He didn't have to. He just nodded, so slight it was almost imperceptible. He was alone again, as he had been before.
She felt a brief and absurd flush of pleasure that she hadn't been replaced. This had been as hard on him as it had been on her. She didn't want him to be lonely, though, because he did stupid things when left to his own devices for too long. She didn't have the courage to tell him the truth about the baby, but she knew she had to say to him the thing that had always gone unsaid between them. She would never forgive herself if she didn't say it. "I…" she said, her voice cracking. "...I love you."
A bittersweet smile flickered across his face. "Quite right, too. And...I suppose...if it's my last chance to say it. Rose Tyler-"
She stared at the spot where the Doctor had been standing in disbelief. He was gone, leaving the three words she had always ached for him to say unsaid.
And she was never going to see him again.
Dr. Grant, her obstetrician at Torchwood, had referred to it as 'intrauterine growth restriction', but Rose knew what it really meant: failure to thrive. The fetus was too small, its twin heartbeats were weak and almost inaudible, it wasn't developing at a normal rate. She had purposefully avoided learning the gender, because that would make it more than just an it. An it she could just begin to cope with at the moment. A he or a she, a son or a daughter? Not so much. Not much about her pregnancy had been normal. Then again, her child wasn't normal, and her doctor knew that. Her fears that something bad would happen to the baby if she couldn't get back to the Doctor were coming true.
Maybe humans and Time Lords weren't meant to procreate after all. Or maybe they just didn't know what to do because she had frustratingly little knowledge of Time Lord biology herself.
Dr. Grant had conferred with Dr. Harper, another Torchwood doctor (with a lowercase 'd'), and the two of them had agreed that the likely reason for the baby's abnormally slow growth and erratic heart rhythm was the various physiological differences between humans and Time Lords. Rose only knew the things the Doctor had mentioned in passing-their blood was different, their brains were larger and more complex, they had a binary vascular system, and their core body temperature was significantly lower than that of a human. But she was sure there were other things, things that had never come up in conversation. In other words, Rose's human womb was an inhospitable environment for the half-Time Lord fetus growing inside of it. She was failing her child, and it hadn't even been born yet. She lived in a constant state of terror that one day, Dr. Grant wouldn't be able to find a heartbeat at all.
As it was, she was constantly sick and always exhausted. She was still working for Torchwood (because she refused to sit at home), but had been put on light duty months ago and was stuck doing boring things like filing and coordinating meetings between different departments. She longed to be out in the field, because that took her mind off how desperately she missed the Doctor, but everyone, including herself, knew that the middle of an alien skirmish was no place for a pregnant woman to be, let alone one who could barely go five minutes without needing the loo for one reason or another.
So she filed and coordinated. She forced herself to eat, following the strict diet that had been planned out to ensure that her body had enough nutrients for both her own health and the baby's (not that it was doing a lick of good either way). Her sleep patterns were erratic at best, and she often spent the night tossing and turning until her body would finally give in to exhaustion and allow her a brief respite. Jackie bought her a special body pillow, and though it made her more comfortable, it couldn't quell the nightmares she had almost nightly of standing on a frozen beach in Norway and watching the Doctor fade away.
"Rose?"
She looked up wearily from her computer to see Pete, Dr. Grant, and Dr. Harper standing in the doorway. Her stomach flip flopped, and she felt a wave of nausea wash over her. Whatever they were here for, it probably wasn't good. "...yeah?"
"Have you given any thought to going out on maternity leave? It is paid," Pete asked neutrally.
"No. It's not about the money, I need something to distract myself with," she replied, trying to remain calm. She knew where this was probably leading. "I plan to continue working until I'm physically unable to, whenever that is."
"Well, that's the thing…," Pete said, obviously uncomfortable.
"What are you getting at?" she asked, cutting directly to the chase.
Dr. Harper cleared his throat, and saved Pete from having to answer himself. "It's just that you're considered high-risk due to the...complicated nature of your pregnancy."
"So? I do everything exactly as Dr. Grant tells me to. I'm fine. Really," she insisted.
"Rose, you're not fine," Dr. Grant interjected softly. "You've told me you have to force yourself to eat. You're not sleeping nearly enough. You are running yourself ragged, and it's not good for you or the baby. Your blood pressure is too high. If you keep on going like this you're putting your life and the baby's at risk."
"So you're not asking me if i want to take maternity leave, you're forcing me to," she said coolly.
"Everyone agrees that this is for the best," Pete interjected.
"Not me," she said furiously, blinking back tears. "What about what I want?"
"Rose, don't be difficult. You want to live to see this baby born, don't you?" Dr. Harper asked, not unkindly.
"Well yeah, of course I do," she said, swiping at her eyes.
"Then you need to listen to Dr. Harper and Dr. Grant. They know best," Pete said gently.
And that had been the end of that.
She was thirty-six weeks when they forced her to take maternity leave, worried that even the banality of office work might be too much stress on her already overtaxed body. Without Torchwood as an outlet, she was forced to spend a lot more time with her thoughts, which was especially torturous at night. Her favorite (ha!) thing to dwell on was the fact that if her and the Doctor had actually landed at that stupid bloody Ian Dury concert instead of in 1869 Scotland, Torchwood might never have been created, and they wouldn't have been separated by the battle at Canary Wharf. Then she would feel guilty immediately afterwards for thinking it, because that would also mean that her mother and Pete wouldn't have been reunited. She couldn't begrudge her mother well-deserved happiness and a second chance with the man she loved, when that was all that she longed for herself. Jake and Mickey both dropped by frequently to make attempts at cheering her up with chips or cheesy movies, but nothing soothed her restless heart. She wasn't used to sitting still for so long, hadn't done it in years.
Besides Bad Wolf Bay, she also spent a lot of time wondering if she had been meant to die at Canary Wharf, to be sucked into the Void, into Hell, as the Beast on Krop-Tor had suggested. Her own words echoed in her ears, now sounding incredibly naive: "They keep on trying to split us up, but they never ever will." The Doctor had told her to never say never ever, and she had dismissed him, and look how that had turned out?
The thing she spent the most time thinking about though was how on Earth she was supposed to raise a half-Time Lord child by herself, how she could even look into his or her eyes on a daily basis and not think of their father. She couldn't even tell them much about their own heritage and history, because the Doctor had always been so closed-lipped about Gallifrey and his past there. She didn't know how her mother had done it, raising her alone, let alone living on a council estate. She wasn't worried about providing for her baby financially so much as she was concerned about meeting his or her emotional needs. Most expectant mothers looked forward to the births of their babies, but Rose was just dreading it. Her mother offered reassurances that she would feel differently once she had a chance to hold her child in her arms, but she had her doubts. She didn't think she could love anything or anyone more than she had loved the Doctor, and she was ambivalent at best about the baby, which only made her feel guilty. Everyone told her she'd be a brilliant mum, but she thought she was rubbish. What kind of mother felt next to nothing for their own child?
At forty weeks, when she should've been full-term (well, if the pregnancy were completely human anyway), she was 0% effaced, and the baby was still small for its gestational age, although its heartbeats had grown stronger and become more regular. A week passed, then two, and she kept expecting to go into labor, but nothing changed. The baby's growth finally picked up a little around week forty-three, and it was midway through week forty-eight that Dr. Grant decided the baby was developed enough and finally induced her, since it seemed her body apparently had no intentions of doing that itself. She had protested that she wasn't ready, but Dr. Grant was worried that allowing her to go any longer might put her at even higher risk. Two days after being induced, she finally went into labor, and after eighteen of the longest hours of her life, Dr. Grant finally handed her the tiny swaddled bundle containing her and the Doctor's infant son.
She accepted the bundle gingerly, and stared down in quiet disbelief at her baby boy's pink little face. Eyes a very familiar shade of chestnut brown peered back at her intently, their gaze unfaltering. He had a full head of hair several shades lighter than his father's, but equally as wild and sticky-uppy. His smile was what pulled at the strings of her heart, toothless though it were, but just as wide and guileless as the Doctor's as he cooed at her happily.
"He looks just like his dad," she said softly and to no one in particular.
"They say most babies do, at least in the beginning," Dr. Grant replied. "Supposedly it's an evolutionary thing, a way for fathers to identify their own children. There's been conflicting research on the subject, though."
"Never mind evolution, he's perfect," Jackie declared from the side of the bed. She'd been the only one allowed into the delivery room with Rose.
"Yeah, he is, isn't he?," Rose agreed, smiling for the first time in a long while, despite the ache in her heart. She might not have the Doctor any more, but she certainly wasn't alone.
After much agonizing and debate, Rose named her and the Doctor's son Anthony (Tony for short) after Grandad Prentice, her mother's father. His middle name was John, a slight nod to the pseudonym the Doctor had been (and maybe still was) so fond of using. Anthony John Tyler. Such a normal, mundane sounding name for such an extraordinary child. Despite her complicated pregnancy and many worries, Tony physically developed like any other human infant, although his verbal and motor skills were advanced beyond that of the average baby his age. At seven months, he could identify the people he saw the most by name (mummy, grammy, pappy, Mickey), though he couldn't form full sentences. At nine months he started walking without assistance, much to Rose's dismay, as it meant that he (like his father) was capable of getting himself into trouble if she turned her head for more than a few moments. Every day, he grew to look more and more like the Doctor, a fact that either made Rose smile or twisted a barb into her heart, depending on how she was feeling that day.
Tony was twenty months old when the stars began to go out and they started getting stray transmissions and signals that had not originated from within their own universe. Most of the transmissions were cries for help. The stars were dying, the walls of reality were breaking down, and no one knew what to do to stop it.
"I have to find the Doctor," she said to Jake, looking over his shoulder at the latest readings. "We have to find the Doctor. He's the only one who has a chance of doing anything to stop this."
"Yeah, but he said it wouldn't be possible, not after the breach was closed," Jake reminded her.
"But the breach must not be closed now, not completely. How else could all those stray transmissions have gotten in? If they can get in, maybe we can get out, I can get out, and find the Doctor," she said.
"Alright, but how are you going to find the right universe, the right dimension?" he prodded. "The Doctor said there were dozens of parallel words, all stacked against each other. How can we be sure we'll find the right one?"
And that was how they started working on the dimension cannon.
"Control, I need mothership. Lock me onto the TARDIS. Now!" Rose said urgently into her mobile. She turned to look at Donna's mother and grandfather. "Right, I'm gonna find them. Wish me luck!"
She disappeared from the house, Wilf and Sylvia's well-wishing still echoing in her ears, and rematerialized in the middle of an empty street. There was no sign of either the Doctor or the TARDIS, no sign of anything living at all. She feared she was too late. Heaving up her gun, she started jogging down the street, looking for any sign of movement that might indicate life. She rounded the corner, and came stumbling to a halt. There, about fifty yards down the street, was the TARDIS, just as she remembered it. She stood, gaping, unable to believe she had actually found him after so much time. The doors creaked open, and the Doctor and Donna stepped out together. They were talking, though the words were indistinct, their backs turned to her. Her voice froze in her throat right as the Doctor finally turned to look in her direction.
His gaze met her own, and she broke out into a grin. All the countless months (years, really) of trial and error, all the failed jumps, all the injuries she'd sustained, all the moments she thought she might leave Tony an orphan, all of it was worth it. Because she had finally found him. Without realizing it, she propelled herself forward, running slowly at first, but gradually picking up speed as the Doctor sprinted down the street towards her. She spotted the Dalek at the last minute, out of the corner of her eye.
"Exterminate!"
"Doctor, look out!" she shouted, right as the Dalek fired.
The Doctor dodged to the side not a moment too soon, narrowly avoiding the shot, which shattered the windshield of a nearby car instead. Before the Dalek could take aim a second time, Captain Jack materialized in the street and aimed his own gun, blowing the creature apart. The Doctor pushed himself up off the ground and back into a standing position just in time for Rose to fling her gun to the side and launch herself into his arms.
"Oh my God, it's really you!" she exclaimed breathlessly against the side of his neck.
He squeezed her even tighter. "It's reallyiyou/i," he echoed back at her. "How did you even get here?"
"It's kind of a long story," she said, pulling back to look at him.
"I hate to interrupt the reunion of the century, but fleet of Daleks invading Earth, kidnapping people, exterminating them, etc...," Jack interjected impatiently.
"Right, sorry," the Doctor apologized sheepishly. "Saving the world first, catching up later. Just like old times, eh?"
"Like old times," she said, smiling back at him.
It was only as they were towing the Earth back to its rightful place, the TARDIS on autopilot, that she finally got a moment alone with him in the kitchen, which was conveniently the same time that her courage just about ran out. She had so much to say to him, and no idea how to make the right words come. She had dreamed of this day, but she had never dared to dream that it would actually become reality.
"How long has it been for you?" he finally asked. Neither one of them, it seemed, was quite sure what to say to the other.
"About four years. You?" she asked as casually as possible.
"Hard saying. Counting the year that never was? About three, I suppose. You know how it is on the TARDIS, time passes differently. At any rate, it was far too long," he finally finished, tentatively reaching across the table for her hand.
"Yeah," she agreed quietly, looking down at their entwined fingers.
"Rose, what is it? What's wrong?" he asked gently.
"Nothing," she answered immediately.
The Doctor snorted. "You're a horrible liar. Some things never change."
"Takes one to know one," she shot back.
"Alright, you've got me there. But I've got plenty of time to wheedle it out of you," he said, just a trace of amusement glinting in his eyes.
"So you're not planning on dumping me back in Pete's World then?" she asked, biting her lip.
The Doctor looked affronted. "Not unless you want me to. Why on Earth would I do something like that?"
"I don't know. I guess I just assumed you'd moved on. There was Martha, and there's Donna," she replied, worrying her thumbnail.
"They're just friends. Close friends, yes, but just friends," he answered, pulling her hand away from her mouth. "If you keep doing that, you're going to make yourself bleed."
"That's all right. Maybe then, this will start to feel real. I just...I just can't believe I actually found you. And you're alive. Do you know how many worlds I went, places where you were dead or never existed? Universes where we never met? And I just kept looking, because I hoped that there was even one reality where you were still alive, where you knew who I was. I had to believe that you were wrong when you said I could never see you again," she told him shakily.
"You know I'm going to have to disable the dimension cannon. Too dangerous to leave it just sitting around. Now that the reality bomb never happened, the walls between worlds will begin to close You'll have to choose again...go with your parents, or stay with me," he said, failing to meet her gaze.
"I lied to you," she finally replied, swallowing thickly.
"And I've lied to you, too. That's all in the past now," he said, brushing a lock of hair away from her face. "The important thing is that we found each other. In the whole wide universe, you made your way back to me, Rose Tyler."
"No, you don't understand," she said, thumping her fist against her thigh in frustration. "I lied to you because I thought I'd never seen you again!"
"Rose, it's okay. Whatever it is, I forgive you," the Doctor said earnestly. "No need to beat yourself up over it."
She swiped furiously at her eyes. "I have to tell you the truth."
"Alright, so tell me. I'm listening," he said, giving her hand an encouraging squeeze.
She made herself look up to face him. "It wasn't...it wasn't mum who was pregnant. At Bad Wolf Bay. It wasn't my mum. It was me."
The Doctor's face was unreadable. "So you and Mickey…?"
"No. Not me and Mickey."
She knew the exact moment the penny dropped, because his grip on her hand grew slack. He slumped back against the chair, a dazed expression on his face. "Krop-Tor. That night on the base, after we thought we'd lost the TARDIS for good."
"Yeah."
"Boy or girl?"
"Boy."
"I have a son?" he choked out, his voice breaking. "iWe/i have a son?"
She nodded, reaching inside her shirt to pull out the locket she had worn since beginning the trials with the dimension cannon. She clicked it open, and slid it across the table. "His name is Tony. He just turned three not too long ago."
The Doctor picked up the locket and stared down at the picture inside intently. "He looks like me."
"Yeah," she replied, smiling faintly. "He looks like you."
"I'm not the last."
"Not anymore."
"Why didn't you just tell me? I could've…"
"You could've what? Torn the universe apart to get to us?"
"I would've figured something out," he protested. "You could've died! You both could've died! It shouldn't have even been possible for you to conceive in the first place. Your body, it's not built to nurture a Time Lord."
"And yet I did, and lived to tell the tale," she said, raising her eyebrows at him. "Mind you, it wasn't easy. I was sick and miserable nearly the whole time. But it was worth it. To have that piece of you."
"Bad Wolf," he blurted.
"I'm sorry?" she replied.
"Bad Wolf. It changed you. Must've somehow. I thought I took it all out of you, but maybe I didn't. A little bit of it must have stayed with you. There's nothing else that could explain it. A human shouldn't have been able to carry a Time Lord fetus to term. The biology, the physiology, it's too different. And yet you did it," he said with something like awe in his voice. "You did the impossible."
"Wouldn't be the first time," she replied, tongue poking its way through her teeth.
"Oh Rose Tyler, you are amazing!" he said, nearly knocking his chair over in his haste to get to her side and pull her into his arms.
The multiverse was safe, for now. The Daleks, Davros, and the disabled reality bomb had been imprisoned in an unbreakable time lock, and all the planets had been returned to their rightful places in space and time. Jack, Martha, and Mickey had gone off together, back to Torchwood to keep their own world safe. Sarah Jane had returned to her son, and a much simpler life of investigative journalism. Donna was having a brief visit with Sylvia and Wilf-they were supposed to pick her up in a couple of days.
There was only one thing left to do.
"Are you ready to do this?" Rose asked, clasping his hand tightly. They were standing in the doorway of the TARDIS, looking up at the Tyler mansion and Jackie's disappearing figure as she walked across the lawn.
"I thought I was. It's been such a long time since I had children... Rose...what if I'm rubbish? As a parent? What if he hates me?" the Doctor asked in a panicked whisper.
"He's not going to hate you," she replied, squeezing his hand in reassurance. "And you're not going to be a rubbish parent."
"You don't know that," he said.
"Actually, I do," she replied confidently. "But you're never going to know for sure if we don't do this. Besides, you said we haven't got much time before the walls between realities are sealed again. I want to give him time to say goodbye to mum and Pete before we go."
"And what about you?" he asked.
"What about me?" she replied.
"Have you said your goodbyes?"
She smiled faintly. "They always knew when I found you, me and Tony would go back home with you. It's something we all prepared for."
"You say that as though you were sure you would find me."
"I couldn't let myself believe otherwise. I had to remain optimistic, for the baby's sake."
"Alright," he said finally, squaring his shoulders. "Let's do this."
They had just walked up the steps and onto the veranda when a small child came rushing through the open French doors and launched himself at Rose. "Mummy! You were gone over a day! That's more than twenty-four hours. I counted. Pappy had to read me my bedtime story last night and he's not as good as you at doing the voices."
"I told you I'd be back," Rose said, balancing the toddler on her hip. "Don't be so hard on your pappy, he tries his best."
"Who are you?" Tony asked, regarding the Doctor curiously.
Rose, Pete, and Jackie all stood silently, waiting to see how the Doctor would respond to the little boy's innocent, but loaded question.
The Doctor briefly had the look of a deer caught in the headlights before he regained his composure and bent down so he was on the same level as the child. When he finally spoke, his voice wavered. "Hello, Tony. I'm your...I'm your dad."
"You're my dad?" Tony repeated.
"I am," the Doctor confirmed. "And I'm sorry I've been away for such a long time, but I promise to never leave you and mummy on your own ever again, okay?"
"It's okay, I'm not mad. Mummy said you were busy saving the universe, and the universe is really, really big, so I bet it took you a while. She was sad that you were gone so long, though. You should've taken us with you. Do you really have a spaceship that's bigger on the inside?" Tony asked, squirming out of Rose's grasp so he could stand directly in front of his dad. The adults chuckled in unison-undoubtedly, the boy was his father's child.
"It's not just a spaceship, it's a time machine, too. And yes, it is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside," the Doctor answered kindly.
Tony's eyes lit up. "Cool! Can I see it?"
"I think that could be arranged, yeah," the Doctor said with a smile.
An hour later, the adults stood around the TARDIS console as Tony played at their feet with a set of diecast race cars the Doctor had produced from one of his many voluminous pockets.
"You could come with us, you know. If you wanted to. The TARDIS is plenty big enough for all of us," the Doctor told Pete and Jackie.
Pete shook his head. "There is no you in this universe, Doctor. Someone has to stay here, protect the Earth. Especially if Rose and Mickey aren't going to be around any more."
"Jackie?" the Doctor asked.
"I'm staying with Pete," she said, taking her husband's hand. "I'm not going to leave him on his own. We've made a life here, together. I will miss Rose and Tony terribly, but I don't think I could live the kind of life you live on the TARDIS, and I'm assumed dead back home."
"You realize we won't be able to come back, right?" the Doctor said quietly. "Once we leave, I have to make sure the breach is completely closed, and after I do that, the walls between dimensions will be sealed. Permanently."
"Yeah well, I've heard that one before, mister. Not the first time you were wrong about something, I'm sure it won't be the last," Jackie replied, ruffling his hair fondly before he had a chance to bat her hand away.
"All the same...we should treat this as goodbye. As though we will never see each other again," the Doctor advised soberly.
"Tony, come say goodbye to grammy and pappy," Rose said, urging the little boy off of the grating.
"Are they going somewhere?' Tony asked, clambering to his feet.
"No, they're not going anywhere. We are. We're going home," the Doctor replied.
"And they aren't coming with us?" the little boy asked plaintively.
"No, they aren't. So make sure you hug them extra hard," Rose told him gently.
The Tylers crowded together to share one last family embrace before parting ways. "Oh no you don't!" Jackie scolded, pulling the Doctor into the mix as he tried to edge his way around the console.
"Just take care of them," Pete said to the other man as they shook hands.
"You know I will," the Doctor answered.
Before things could become any more emotional, Pete and Jackie slipped out of the TARDIS.
"Watch and learn, my boy!" the Doctor exclaimed to Tony as he initialized the dematerialization sequence, thus beginning the journey of their little family.
The Doctor, in the TARDIS, with Rose and Tony Tyler. Just as it should be.