A thought occurred to Rose, even in her shell-shocked state as she stared at the changed face of the Doctor.
'Jack!'
'What?' It was a reflex response from the Doctor, but in the next second he realised what she meant.
'What happened to Jack?' Repeated Rose, staring at him imploringly. The Doctor bit his lower lip, his new features stilling.
'The Daleks… He told me I had twenty seconds, and then…' the Doctor swallowed but forced himself to go on. Rose was wracking her brain, trying to twist the memories out of it, but finding only vague flashes of light and yawning blanks.
'He faced them down at the last Rose. Went down proudly.'
Rose looked like she'd been hit in the stomach. She sunk slowly to the floor, the combined shocks suddenly too much for her. The Doctor went to her, wrapped his arms around her, and a tiny, detached part of her noticed that he still smelt the same.
'A burial.' Came the quiet words from her mouth, muffled into his leather jacket.
'What?' Asked the Doctor, as sobs began to wrack her body.
'We have to go back, give him a proper burial.' She felt him nod in agreement, before he stood, helping her to her feet.
They worked the time ship in sombre silence, save for one command by the Doctor of 'hold that down,' which only served to make Rose sob harder, silent tears running down her face.
The console pulsed, then stilled, and Rose looked at the door, not wanting to go out there, not wanting to face what she knew to be. The Doctor sighed, a long, shuddering sigh that only began to express the depths of his pain, then held his hand out to Rose.
Tentatively, she took it, and he led her to the door. Before they could get there though, someone pulled it open, and to their disbelieving eyes, Jack stepped through.
'Hello, took you long enough… who the hell are you?' Jack changed his sentence half-way through, on beholding the stranger holding hands with a tear-streaked Rose. His inquisition got no further however, as said stranger dashed forward to envelope him in a tight hug, laughing madly.
'Whoa, hi, not that you're not good looking, but-' once again, he was cut off, as Rose, slower to recover, flew to join the hug, laughing as well. Jack decided to go with the flow, until the two managed to regain enough composure to detangle themselves and draw back.
'We thought you were dead Jack,' gasped Rose, through something that was half- laugher, half- tears.
'Rose said something about giving life, but I didn't think, didn't realise that she managed to…' The stranger was shaking his head, expression captured by wonderment, and Jack noticed that he was wearing the Doctor's jacket. He cocked his head on one side as his subconscious beat him repeatedly around the head with something.
'What's… who…?' was the best he managed, looking from one to the other, grinning slightly as he was caught up by their joy. Rose realised the reason for his confusion first.
'Jack, this is the Doctor.' She told him, sounding a lot more confident about it than she felt.
'How…?' Jack still didn't feel up to full sentences.
'It's a Time Lord thing. Our grab for immortality. One body wears out, and we get a new one.'
'So you're the Doctor.'
'That's what she said.' The Doctor grinned, rubbing his hands together in unsurpassable joy. One regeneration traded for the lives of both his favourite companions seemed like an incredibly good deal to him.
'Now. Barcelona.' Rose grinned back at him, and they raced each other to the console, Jack shaking his head behind them.
The End