364 days, 23 hours, 57 minutes, and 12 seconds. That's how long it had been since Rose Tyler had been stranded on Darlig Ulv Stranden a second time. The Doctor, her proper Doctor, pinstripes and all, had left her on that beach again, this time with his Metacrisis. He promised them forever and forever turned out to be 364 days, 23 hours, 57 minutes, and 12 seconds. Rose had never wanted to be left in Pete's World. She had fought nonstop since she'd been trapped the first time to get back to her home universe, the only universe in which the Doctor existed. She'd finally been reunited, only to be left on that dreaded beach hours later with a confused half-doctor and a broken heart.

The Metacrisis, it turned out, was not the Doctor. It was more complicated than that. He had the Doctor's memories, but he was still his own person, a very human person. It didn't take Rose long to figure this out.

"That's not my name," he said shortly. Rose paused, looking at him oddly. They were seated in the kitchen in Pete's mansion home. Rose didn't plan to stay forever, but they'd only been back in this universe for a few days and they were still trying to figure out what to do.

"I'm sorry?"

"My name's not the Doctor. I think he thought we were the same person, that's just like him, he can have quite a bit of an ego sometimes. We look the same and we've got the same memories, but I'm not a Time Lord and I'm just not him. I don't think I'd like to continue to be called the Doctor," the Metacrisis rambled on. Rose took a deep breath, feeling her heart break just a little more. She had seen it coming, but she didn't think he would be so outright about it. Still rude and not ginger, she thought fondly.

"Alright. What would you like to be called then?" Rose asked gently. The Metacrisis looked thoughtful for a moment, dressed in the powder blue jimjams just like her Doctor had been dressed in those years ago at Christmas.

"John," he said decisively.

"Not John Smith?" Rose teased with a light laugh. The Metacrisis, John, twisted up his nose in disgust.

"Of course not. John Noble. I am part Donna, afterall," he said proudly. Rose smiled genuinely this time and nodded.

"Alright then, John Noble. What shall we do next?"

"Rose Tyler, let's see the world!" he jumped up, grabbed her hand, and ran.

And that's exactly what they did, for about 6 months. They traveled the Earth they'd been stranded on. Technology was not yet ready to reach out to the stars, but they saw all the Earthly treasures they hadn't seen before. They went to Paris, New York, Rome, Moscow, and strangely they both loved Iceland. On their trip to Barcelona when John was telling Rose all about his adventures on the planet Barcelona with the nose-less dogs, he was overcome with an intense migraine and had to end their trip early. It went away after a few days and they continued to travel, though less extensively. It didn't take more than a week before other symptoms started showing. Signs of organ failure. Rose had a sneaking suspicion she knew what it meant, and one day when John was resting in the bed they had come to share in their cozy flat, that suspicion was confirmed.

"You know what this means," John said softly, taking Rose's hand gently in his and stroking the back of it with his thumb. Rose looked away, furiously blinking back the tears that were beginning to form.

"Rose, please," John pleaded softly. She turned her gaze back to him and broke down as soon as her eyes met his. They were still the Doctor's eyes, aged with worry and wisdom beyond his physical years, but they were different because in John's eyes there was hope and pure joy.

"You knew from the beginning, didn't you?" she whispered.

"I had a feeling. I'm sure Donna didn't last long in her current state. I'm sure he had to get the Time Lord mind out of her. I don't think he ever even considered that my single heart meant that my mind, as well, wouldn't be able to handle the Time Lord essence inside of it for too long. I was an accident. Something that never should have been created. A Time Lord-Human Metacrisis. It's never happened because it can't happen and yet he stupidly thought that it would all be okay if he just dropped us here and ran away. Rose, I'm so angry at him for doing this to both of us. Somewhere in that brilliant mind of his, he had to know I wouldn't be able to grow old with you," John ranted.

"I don't think he did this to us on purpose, John," Rose said softly, though she herself was angry as well. She had finally learned to love John separately from the Doctor. She had finally accepted that while she would never see the Doctor again, she got to spend her life with the man she loved. She had finally accepted all of this and it was not being ripped away from her. How many times would her heart be broken by the man she had willingly given it to?

"Of course he didn't do it on purpose, but he still did it. And now I'll have to leave you," he whispered, voice breaking.

"No, I won't let that happen," Rose argued. "You're sick, but we have access to the best medical resources this planet can offer. We can fix this."

John looked doubtful, but he didn't argue with Rose. He didn't have the heart to. Even though he was fully human, Time Lord abilities lingered faintly. He could sense that his timeline was coming to an end. There were a few paths he could take, some slightly longer than others, but none gave him more than 6 months.

So he did what he knew he needed to: he loved Rose with all his being. They explored and went on as many adventures as they could. In between, Rose forced John to visit Torchwood's medical facility to get tests and treatments. Things helped, but only temporarily. They never helped for more than a week or so before his body started shutting itself down again. It was during one of their adventures within London (they had plenty of those once John started getting more sick), that John decided to blurt out the thought he'd been holding in for the past 2 months.

"Marry me!" he proclaimed suddenly. Rose sat up suddenly, looking at him strangely.

"What?"

"Marry me, Rose. I love you with everything I have. You're my whole world and I need you to know that," John told her passionately, placing a hand on either side of her face so that he could easily look into her eyes. Rose pulled away slightly, shaking her head a little.

"You're insane, John. Of course I love you and of course I know you love me. But why do we need to get married? We're not even from this universe. What does a piece of paper here mean?" she rambled as she stood up and began to pace. John sighed, relaxing back onto their picnic blanket with a knowing smile.

"You're overthinking this," he told her softly.

"No I'm not. Planning a wedding takes time and money and why waste that? We don't need to be married. We don't need a wedding. And we're young! We could get married in another ten years if we wanted to," she argued in vain. Her breath caught as she mentioned the future. It was something they didn't talk about on purpose. Rose wasn't ready to accept that she was going to lose John. They continued to work on cures for him and he didn't seem to be getting worse, so Rose took that as a good sign.

"Rose," he called softly. She refused to look at him.

"No."

"Rose, stop giving me reasons not to do it. Do you love me?"

"Don't be stupid-

"Do you love me?" he repeated.

"Of course I do," Rose assured him softly.

"Then marry me."

"But why-

"Because I love you and I want to marry you," John laughed. Rose sighed again, falling to the ground beside him.

"Alright fine," she muttered, pressing her head into his neck as he kissed her forehead.

"Great cuz I've already got the wedding all planned. Let's go!" he laughed, pulling her up with a jump and running towards their car. He didn't grimace at the ordinary vehicle like he usually did.

"What? You've got the wedding planned? But you didn't even know if I'd say yes!" Rose argued as she joined him inside the car and he took off towards home.

"Oh I knew you'd say yes. I've had it planned for ages. It's tomorrow! I suppose you'll be needing this," he grinned at her as he handed her a beautiful, simple diamond ring. She gaped at him, taking the ring and slipping it on her finger. Of course, it fit her perfectly.

"I'll never understand you, John Noble," she commented in astonishment.

"Nor I you, Rose Tyler."

Rose glanced at that ring on her finger now as she twisted it around in worry. It was paired with a thin silver band. Etched into the wedding band were circular patterns filled in with the gorgeous Tardis blue that both she and John favored so much. John told her it was High Galifreyan, all he could remember. A side effect of his decline had been that he was losing pieces of the Doctor's memory. Luckily, he was really only losing the oldest pieces and not the ones that contained his precious memories of Rose.

Rose closed her eyes and leaned her head onto the hospital bed she was currently sitting beside. Her husband of only 4 short months. They'd been married that next day, almost 8 months after they'd been dropped off at Bad Wolf Bay. Rose had never pictured herself the wife type, not after growing up with a single mother like Jackie, but she found that marriage suited her quite well. Of course she assumed that was because of the man she was married to. John was like the Doctor in so many ways. They had the same mannerisms, the same gob, and the same love of excitement and life. But John was his own man in many ways. Where the Doctor was closed off, John was open to love and even pain. Where the Doctor was arrogant, John was a bit awkward. He was a new being, born as a 900 year old Time Lord, but still experiencing the world on his own for the first time. He had grand memories of their home Universe, but this Universe and his life with Rose were the only tangible experiences he had. And Rose loved him for it. It was strange to be with the man who had the Doctor's face, but to know and love him as his own person. She knew she'd never stop loving the proper Doctor, of course, but she was happy with John. And that was all coming to an end.

365 days, 23 hours, 58 minutes, and 3 seconds after they'd been left on the beach, Rose sat beside her human husband's hospital bed. He was coming in and out of consciousness and was hanging onto life only with the help of several machines. His heart was weakening by the second and though Rose would never say it, she knew these would be her last moments with her husband. She cried softly into the hospital bed before she felt a hand brush her hair back. She looked up to see John smiling softly at her.

"Don't cry, my darling Rose," he whispered. Of course that only made Rose cry harder. She choked back a sob as she grabbed onto his hand and squeezed it gently.

"How long have you got?" she cried helplessly. She knew he could sense his timelines all coming to an end. She wasn't sure if he knew how long, but figured it was worth asking. She didn't want to waste her last few moments with him on tears.

"About 2 minutes," he confessed with a cough. Rose nodded solemnly, the pain her heart clenching mercilessly. It reminded her of the conversation she'd had with the Doctor a few years back when he was saying goodbye with a hologram, back before the stars had gone out.

"What am I gonna do without you?"

"You're going to do what you've always done, Rose. You're going to go and live a fantastic life," he instructed her. She laughed through her tears.

"It doesn't sound the same coming from your mouth. You need your Northern accent," she teased him. Neither of them wanted to face the end, but of course that didn't stop the seconds from ticking by.

"I haven't been honest with you, Rose," John said softly.

"It doesn't matter now."

"Yes it does. I haven't been honest because I've been selfish. And I need to tell you this now. When you saved his life back on the Game Station, when he regenerated...there's something about that day that you don't remember because he took the memories and locked them in your brain. He had to, but I should have told you," John rattled on anxiously, his heart rate picking up. He knew he only had 1 minute and 7 seconds in which to make his confession.

"Shhh," Rose calmed him as she watched him clamor for his breath. "None of that matters anymore. I can't go back to him anyway," she soothed.

"It does matter because it could make all the difference in the world for you, Rose," he insisted. 53 seconds left.

"Doctor stop it," Rose cried before covering her mouth. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she cried over and over again.

"It's alright, my darling. I know what you meant. You know he loved you too, very much. I don't think he'll ever stop," he told her quietly. 32 seconds left.

"John Noble, I love you. Please, don't leave me," Rose tried to beg him one more time. It didn't matter that it was futile. John sucked in a deep breath. 27 seconds left.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," he told her, leaning down to kiss her softly once more before falling back into his pillow in a coughing fit. She rushed to help him recover.

"Stay strong, my Rose, and keep living. It may be a long life, yet for you," he told her gently. 17 seconds left.

"Goodbye, John," Rose said softly. 11 seconds left.

"Goodbye, Rose. And I suppose, since it's my last chance to say it…

"Doctor please don't," Rose panicked. She couldn't bare for it to end the same way again. 4 seconds left.

"Rose Tyler I love you." The machine beeped loudly and though a swarm of doctors and nurses flew in the room and crowded around them, Rose knew that was the end. She glanced down at her phone and shook her head in resigned disbelief. Exactly 365 days, to the second, was all she had with John Noble. Rose stood and left the room quickly, running straight into the arms of her mother who had been waiting respectfully outside.

Her mother, Pete, and even little Tony had all been welcoming to John, but all of them had kept their distance for the most part. They couldn't understand that it wasn't the Doctor. Tony, of course, just followed the adults. Her 4 year old brother clung to her leg as Rose cried into her mother's arms. The three of them stayed that way for a long time. Pete and Mickey joined eventually and Rose let herself believe it would all be okay, just for a moment.

The funeral was the next day. Rose almost didn't want to go, but forced herself to any way. It was a small funeral. Her parents and a few of the people from Torchwood who had met John all came to pay their respects. They hadn't settled down long enough to make any friends so not many people cared that John was gone. Rose didn't say anything, no one really did. Jackie and Pete both expressed their gratitude that someone had loved Rose so deeply, but after that the funeral wrapped up. Rose headed back in the direction of her flat, but someone caught her arm. Rose turned to find a distraught Jackie.

"Rose, please, don't go hide in your flat all alone. We're here for you. Pete took time off from Torchwood. We want to help," she begged. Rose pulled her arm out of her grasp gently.

"Mum, don't worry about me. I've got to sort through his stuff. I don't want it laying all around the flat forever. I'll be fine," she said, though even she wasn't convinced by her own lie.

"Rose, don't do that just yet," Pete called, catching up with the two of them. He pulled a Tardis blue envelope out of his suit jacket. "Here, he told me to give this to you after it was all taken care of. He told me to tell you he's sorry for not giving it to you himself." Rose took the letter wordlessly. She opened it instantly, not waiting to be somewhere private. She recognized his handwriting instantly.

My Darling Rose,

I asked your mum to give you this after the funeral. I wanted you to have it sooner, but I didn't think you'd open it until everything was settled anyway. I'm so sorry I didn't just tell you this in person. I've had a year to figure this out and I don't have all the details, but I need to tell you what I do know: There might be a way for you to get back to your home universe, back to him.

Please understand, my love, that all of this is just my best guesses. I'm not as clever as he was, but I don't feel like there's much left for you in this world. If my suspicions are true, you'll outlive your family by a longshot and your only hope of a happy ending is to make it back to the Doctor. I could be wrong about all this, Rose, and you could just be an ordinary human who will live an ordinary human life span. If that's the case, I want you to continue to live and be happy. I want you happy, either way, of course, but I don't think you're an ordinary human.

When you opened up the Tardis to save the Doctor, you looked into the heart of the Tardis and she looked back into you. You saw the entire Time Vortex and in that moment you became more than Rose Tyler. You became the Bad Wolf. I know you remember some of this, but I know you don't remember how it ended. Your head couldn't handle the Time Vortex, just like my body is rejecting the Time Lord trying to settle in. You held onto the Time Vortex for several minutes, destroying the Daleks and restoring Jack's life in the process. You made sure the Doctor was safe and I have a feeling that's not all you did. The Doctor tried to remove all of the Huon energy, gold stuff the Time Vortex and subsequently the heart of the Tardis is made of, from you, but I don't believe he could remove it all.

Look at yourself in the mirror, my Rose. You don't look a day over 21. You were 20 years old when you absorbed the Time Vortex. I don't think you're aging. That tells me that there's still a significant amount of Huons in your body. You've grown accustomed to it, having it be in your system for so long. I think it would be safe for you to unlock the Bad Wolf if you can figure out how. The Tardis could help you, I'm sure of it, but you have to make it back to her first.

There are always weak points in the walls between the Universes. It's not usually enough for anyone or anything to sneak through, of course, not without breaking the walls entirely. I think you might be able to, though. I just have a feeling it would let you through. You don't belong in this universe and it can sense it. The universes want to correct themselves, and you are a mistake that was never supposed to happen in this universe. The Doctor put you back here, but it shouldn't have been this way. You got through once and I think you can go through again. You'll need to build an updated version of the dimension cannon, something more like an arrow. You're not trying to blow a hole, you're just trying to slip yourself through a crack. There are some potential design plans in my desk drawer in our flat. Take a look at them, try them out. Take your time, I think you've got plenty of it. I want you to stay safe.

If you make it back to him, make sure that you know where you are in his timeline. Going back too early could destroy the whole thing, though I'm sure you know that. I'm sorry I don't have more information for you, Rose. As I said, these are only my suspicions. You know I'm often correct, though. Please, try for yourself to have a happy life...even if I'm wrong about everything. I could have told you this before, could have helped you with it. But I was selfish. I am a selfish man and I want to enjoy all the time with you that I have. I don't want to share it with efforts getting you back to him.

Good luck, my Rose. I will always love you.

Yours,

John Noble

Rose sucked in a sharp breath. It was hard to keep track of how old she was between the different universes and her time with the Doctor. She'd spent about 2 years with him, by her count, before she was trapped the first time. She spent another 3 years trapped in the parallel universe before making it home to him. And then she'd ended up back in the parallel universe for a year with John. That would make her 25 now. 6 years ago she was a 19 year old shop girl who had an empty relationship, an empty bank account, and a boring life. Now she was a 25 year old widow living in a parallel universe with her dead father and having traveled time and space with a 900 year old alien.

"What does it say, Rose?" Jackie asked cautiously.

"He thinks...thought...that there's something different about me since I saved the Doctor years ago. And he thinks that difference is gonna mean that this Universe is gonna try to kick me out since I don't belong here. I'm not sure...it's kinda complicated and they're just his thoughts," she said distractedly.

"What you mean, different?" Jackie questioned again. Rose shook her head, re-reading the letter.

"'M not sure," she responded. "Mum how long has it been since I first met the Doctor?"

"6 years maybe, why?" her mother responded suspiciously.

"Do I look 25?" Rose asked softly. Jackie studied her for a moment.

"Oh," she said as she raised her hand to her mouth in shock and her eyes began to water.

"What's going on?" Pete demanded, taking a look at Rose. "Oh. I guess I never saw it before," he murmured.

"None of us did. Too busy worrying about John, I guess," Rose agreed.

"You still look like you did when you were 20 years old, except that you stopped coloring your hair," her mother said softly, running a hand gently through Rose's dirty blonde hair.

"John thought I might not be aging. Only more time will tell, though," Rose sighed.

And time did tell. Rose re-read John's letter almost daily, but after looking at the designs he had stashed away, she decided she wasn't yet ready to even think about that. She took her old job at Torchwood back and continued to help them with Alien encounters and the like. Pete's World had a parallel version of pretty much every alien she had every encountered, with the exception of Cybermen and Daleks thank goodness. Rose was an excellent Torchwood agent, especially because she as the best at peaceful negotiations. Still when her thirtieth birthday rolled around, others started to take notice of the fact that she didn't look a day over 21.

"Mum, I think I have to accept that he was right," Rose sighed as she sat with her mom after the party guests had cleared from her 30th birthday bash.

"I always looked young for my age, maybe it's that?" Jackie tried.

"Mum, you know I haven't aged at all. There's other things that have stopped happening as well," Rose confessed with pink cheeks.

"Are you sure you couldn't be pregnant?"

"MUM."

"Just trying to be thorough!" she raised her hands in defense.

"I haven't been with anyone since John died. You know that," Rose spat angrily.

"I'm not sure what you want me to say Rose. There's no going back to that universe. There's nothing left for us there anyway," Jackie said dismissively.

"How could you say that?" Rose asked quietly. "Mickey's back there now. So's the Doctor. Our home planet, our home universe, and you think there's nothing there," Rose scoffed.

"Rose, we're dead there. The Doctor's got all his friends and Mickey's doing great I'm sure. You've got me and your dad and your little brother here. Why are you fighting so hard to try to leave us again?" Jackie questioned.

"Mum, you know I'm not trying to. I'm just trying to come to terms with something I don't understand. I'm not aging, which means I'm gonna watch you all grow old and die...even Tony. I'll be here for you. I'm not going anywhere, I promise. But one day you'll be gone too and then who will I have?" Rose pleaded. Her mother was quiet for a few moments.

"Let's just keep living our life and we'll see, okay? I'm not convinced John was as brilliant as he thought he was. I think you're just being paranoid about it. I'm sure I see a wrinkle or two," Jackie teased. Rose gave her a half-smile, but she didn't believe it for a moment. At night when she was home from work, she began working on the Dimension Arrow, a device that would widen a slit in the wall of her home universe just long enough for her to be launched through. It worked on the same basic principles that the dimension cannon did, but it was technically much harder to build. Rose had time, of course. She meant what she promised her mother. She had no intentions of leaving her family behind again. Not if she had an eternity to work with.

As hard as it had been, Rose had come to peace with never seeing the Doctor again. It had been 6 years since she'd last seen him, 5 since she'd lost John. Even if she did age and die like a normal person, she would be okay. John had given her more love in a year than she knew she would experience in any human lifetime. Of course, if her family aged and died and left her behind, she would furiously try everything she could to get back to her Doctor. But for now, she wanted to enjoy them for as long as she could.

It ended up that she got to enjoy her mother for another 43 years. Her mother lived to the ripe old age of 89 and died peacefully in her sleep. Pete only lived another 2 years after her passing. Tony lived to 97 and Rose was with him throughout his entire life. When Rose turned 40 and looked half her age, she had to fake her own death and retire from Torchwood. She still helped behind the scenes as she could, without most of the people at Torchwood knowing she was still alive. She did a lot of anonymous traveling after that, investigating on her own and finding danger and adventure around every corner. It was thrilling, but not the same without the Doctor beside her and his sonic screwdriver to get them out of a jam. Once she realized she would have to find a way back to him, Rose began to once again ache for the Tardis and her pinstriped Doctor. She had no clue what would happen when she made her way back. How would she find him? When would it be? She didn't know, but by the time Tony passed away she was 119 years old and her Dimension Arrow was ready.

"Well, here goes nothing," she murmured to herself as she pressed the button on her machine and felt the oh-so-familiar tug of herself being pulled into the void.

Author's Note: Hello there, Whovians! This is my first Doctor Who fic. I've read pretty much every completed, long reunion fic for Rose and the Doctor. They're my absolute favorite pairing. I decided to give it a shot! This is sort of an extended prologue, which is why it's technically the first chapter. Originally I was just going to do it through John's death, but I decided to rush through this and get to the good stuff for the actual story. I'm not sure yet where I want to dump Rose. I sort of want to a Season 4 re-write with Rose playing behind the scenes and scheming with the Tardis. Bad Wolf will be a huge part of this story, of course, but I'm not going to go crazy and turn Rose into a Time Lady or anything like that. There will definitely be...some extra goodies though. So please let me know if you guys liked it and if you'd like to see more!