The nights were long when he wasn't there. Rose would stay up late in to the evening, staring at the crevices and cracks in the walls mindlessly as she waited for her Doctor to return. She knew he couldn't help it; he would be with her all the time if he could, but Torchwood worked its employees like dogs these days, and it was because of her he was there in the first place.
Tonight was one of those nights. Rose was happily preparing dinner on her day off, Torchwood activities not crossing her mind for once. She was making the Doctor's favorite, spaghetti bolognese, when she heard her phone chiming from the bedroom.
Rose quickly dropped the spoon she was using and sprinted off, grabbing the device on it's last ring. She smiled as she saw the caller ID and brought the phone to her ear.
"Hello, Doctor." Rose said brightly.
"Hello, Dame Rose," the Doctor teased, a joke from their long ago past.
She laughed lightly, making her way back to the sizzling dish. "You know I hate it when you call me that."
"No, you don't. You love it," he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.
"What's up? When are you going to be home for dinner?"
"Rose..." The Doctor said, and she automatically stopped in her tracks. She knew that voice. She hated that voice. She knew what was coming next.
"You're working late tonight, I'm guessing?" Rose said, trying to keep her voice even.
"They are hours away from breaking the code on that accelerator we found last month. Since I was the one who found it in the first place, your father wants me to be there when they crack it. It could be a long night," he responded, and Rose could hear the longing in his voice. He wanted to be home just as much as she desired him to be.
"I guess I can't lure you home with promises of spaghetti bolognese, can I?"
"Oh, don't tempt me, Rose! You know I can't resist your cooking!" the Doctor groaned. "I promise I won't be home too late. It shouldn't take more than a few hours. Save some for me, will ya?"
Rose let out a huff of breath. "Of course I will. See ya tonight."
Without another word, she clicked the phone shut. Rose knew she was being irrational, it wasn't the Doctor's fault he was missing dinner once again, but a part of her always resented when he worked late. It only brought back the feelings of the dark depression she fell in to after she first got abandoned at Bad Wolf Bay all those years ago.
Rose sighed. With the Doctor gone, it meant another night alone with her thoughts. After dishing up what she cooked, she took her dinner to the couch. Rose tried to feign off all memories with mindless reality television, but that could only last for so long. Without even meaning to, her thoughts jumped back to all those months ago, and she remembered.
The alarm blared beside Rose's head. She slammed her hand down on the clock with probably more force than necessary, but she was still fuming from the night before. Her and the Doctor had butted heads once again, but when didn't they argue these days? Her ecstasy on Bad Wolf Bay only lasted a few short moments before reality set in. This "Doctor" may have all of her Doctor's thoughts and memories (something she didn't believe, by the way), but he was a clone, an empty case of the man she once knew. He wasn't her Doctor. He wasn't the man she had fallen so deeply in love with, was so passionately enamored with. To her, he was only a shell.
Of course that was what they were arguing about the night before, it was all they practically could discuss these days. Their arguments always went the same. The Doctor would moan on about how Rose wasn't being fair to him, how she wasn't even giving him a chance. He kept reminding her of the days after Bad Wolf Bay when they came home together, when he moved in to her apartment and she gave him lessons on how to live in the human world. He kept reminding her that they were once happy, that is, until Rose decided he wasn't enough, that he wasn't exactly the same man she fell in love with. They've been fighting ever since.
Rose rolled over and found herself alone. He must've been really angry at her this time; the Doctor almost always returned to their room in the middle of the night after they fought. Sighing at the empty space, she rolled out of bed and took in her morning appearance. Her eyes were still rimmed red from the night before, and her hair was sticking up in all places. She took in the calendar sitting on their nightstand, reading the date. 40 days, she thought. 40 days since you left me here. 40 days since her heart got broken all over again; 40 days since her Doctor left her and this clone took his place. 40 days of pretending she was happy when she was almost at the brink.
Rose looked in the mirror again and tried to wipe the redness from her eyes. She looked horrible, she had to admit, but she wasn't going to waste time in setting things straight with the Doctor. She knew what she had to do, even if it broke his heart. She was done with the fighting, she decided. 40 days she had put up with him, tried to rekindle the feelings from before, but it just wasn't working. It was time to end it.
"Just do it, Rose. Don't be a coward," she mumbled to herself. Rose huffed out a breath, made sure she was standing tall, and walked out to the living room to face him.
She found him laying on her couch, his head hanging off the side in a lopsided manner. His eyes fluttered open when he heard her approach, and he dragged himself up to a sitting position.
They stared at each other for few moments, neither of them speaking, before Rose broke the silence. "I don't want to fight with ya anymore, Doctor," she said simply.
He looked back at her with hooded eyes. "I don't like fighting with ya either, Rose."
Rose stood there in the entryway, clenching her fists to stop her shaking hands. "Doctor," she began, avoiding his gaze, "I think I'm going to move back in with my parents for awhile."
The Doctor jumped up with a start, his stare like daggers to her heart. "...What?" he asked, clearly startled. "Why?"
"It's too soon," Rose replied, trying to stay calm. "I'm still not over...him. Every time I look at you I see him, and all the feelings come back. You may have his face and memories-"
"-Rose, please don't start this again," the Doctor interceded, nervously pushing his hair back from his face. "I am him! Can't you see that? I remember everything he did. I know that we fought off Slitheen, danced in the TARDIS, got lost more times that I can count, and I remember exactly how he felt when he had to leave you at Bad Wolf Bay. Can't you see that?"
"But you're not him! Not really!" she cried, digging her nails in to her palms. She couldn't believe they were going to fight over this again. Would it ever end? "I didn't travel with you! You're a...clone! A copy! You may have his face and memories, but you aren't the same! You were born from a war; you've got Donna's personality inside your head! You're different!"
The Doctor spun around so he wasn't facing Rose anymore, his stance full of tension. "I can't believe you," he said softly. "You're being so daft, you know that?" he growled, spinning back around to look her in the eye. "Why can't you just understand-"
"See! Right there!" Rose screamed, cutting the Doctor off. "The real Doctor wouldn't call me that, no matter how stupid I was being! You're just too-"
"What, Rose? Too what? Human? Because that's what I am now. Part human, part Timelord, which you conveniently seem to forget quite often."
"Okay, I'm just done with this." Rose took in his angry gaze, throwing back one of her own. "If this is how you're gonna act, then you don't know a thing about me. Goodbye, Doctor." Rose gave him one last glare before she turned and started towards the doorway.
"You like to eat cereal at midnight, every night."
Rose stopped in her tracks. "What did you say?"
"You say I don't know anything about you, but I probably know more than he ever did now. For example, he hasn't lived with you, so he doesn't know that you snore. Loudly, I may add."
"I don't see where this is going-"
"You hate the color yellow, even though I don't know why. You hate it when people leave your office door partway open. You always wash your dishes right after you use them. You hate apples. You never wear jewelry because you find it gaudy. You could talk about your family for hours, and even though you pretend he annoys you, you love Tony with all your heart. You brush your teeth before you floss, and you can't stand having your hair parted to the side." The Doctor stalked forward and leaned his head down towards Rose's ear. "So yes, Rose Tyler, I do know more about you than he probably does now," he said in a whisper.
Rose stood there, speechless. The Doctor was right at her shoulder and his breath was hot on her neck, but she couldn't get herself to shake him off. She was entranced, her mind slowly shifting. Could it be he was changing her mind? No, it wasn't possible, was it? The Doctor, her Doctor, told her all of those things about the metacrisis Doctor to soothe his leaving. He was lying to her, he had to be. They couldn't be the same person, right? Rose's mind twirled around in circles as the Doctor leaned over her.
"But that's not all, Rose Tyler," he began again. "Even if you doubt it, I do have all of his old memories. I know how fascinated you were with the TARDIS the first time you saw it. I remember when we traveled to England in the heat of World War Two and we danced in the TARDIS. I remember when I regenerated in front of you, and that adorable, confused look on your face when you saw me. I remember when we solved the mystery of the disappearing children in 2012, and I remember when I lost my hand to the Sycorax leader. I remember how terrified I was when you were hoarding the Time Vortex. I remember our first kiss, the first time I looked in to your eyes. I remember-"
"Oh, shut up," Rose growled, and with as much force as possible, spun around crushed her lips to his.
Everything she ever thought about this Doctor left her mind right then. In that moment, she finally found what she was looking for. This Doctor was her Doctor, just like they told her all those days ago. This was the man she loved. And with that thought in mind, Rose wrapped her arms around his body and deepened their kiss, the Doctor's arms entrapping her like they did back at Bad Wolf Bay. Rose broke away for quick breaths, but this new realization only made her want him more.
"Doctor," she breathed between breaks, "my Doctor. It's you, isn't it? It was you all along." She pushed her lips to his once more. "I love you," she murmured against his mouth.
The Doctor broke away from their kiss and looked her straight in the eye, his face mere inches from hers. "Do you mean that?"
"Yes," she replied with a smile. "You are my Doctor. I've always loved you and I always will."
The Doctor pulled her in to his embrace, and with one last smile he pushed his lips to hers again, falling in to each other.
The click of the door opening brought Rose back to the present. She didn't realize she had fallen asleep on the couch, her dinner now sitting cold on the table. She turned on her side and saw the edges of the Doctor's figure around the corner, and checked her phone for the time. 12:00 AM, it read.
"365 days," she whispered. 365 days since Rose and the Doctor officially declared themselves a couple. Exactly a year together, and Rose wouldn't change a thing.
She smiled when that familiar figure peered in to the living room. A returning grin spread across the Doctor's face when he saw her laying there, and he crossed the room in a flash. She didn't even get to say hello before the Doctor pulled her to her feet and kissed her deeply, making her stomach flutter.
"Do you know what time it is?" The Doctor whispered between kisses.
"What?" she asked, even though she knew perfectly well what time it was.
"It's 12:00, my Rose. Happy anniversary."
Rose broke away from the embrace to smirk up at the Doctor. "Always punctual, you are."
"Well, you know me. I am part Timelord, after all," he laughed. "Any chance we can start our anniversary with that delicious pasta you promised me?"
"Crap," Rose muttered. "I fell asleep and forgot to save it."
The Doctor eyed her mischievously, then disappeared in to the kitchen without another word. He wasn't honestly going to try to salvage it, was he? It was sitting out for hours! Rose stood their dumbfounded as she heard Doctor moved around the kitchen, the sound of rustling of cabinets being opened and closed drifting down the hall.
After several minutes of waiting, the Doctor returned to the room with two bowls of cereal in his hands. "I may have missed dinner, but may I join your nightly tradition of midnight cereal?"
Rose laughed as she took one of the bowls from the Doctor. She planted a kiss on his cheek. "You're impossible!"
"No," he smirked, "just a bit unlikely."
They both took seats on the couch and turned up the volume on the television. Rose lay her head against the Doctor's chest, feeling the steady, single beat of his heart on her cheek. This is how it should be, Rose thought. The Doctor, midnight cereal, happy in our own little piece of forever. Rose leaned up and pecked her Doctor on the cheek. Together.