A/N: This story is a continuation of a one shot I did quite a long time ago called "Happily Ever After", which is the second chapter of my story "Not Domestic", which is a series of one shots. Obviously this one is no longer a one shot, but in order to keep ND in order I'm leaving it there and re-uploading that chapter here, so there is NO need to go back and find it and read it: This fist chapter IS that chapter. That's why chapters 1 and 2 were uploaded together. That said, I only have four and a half chapters of this story right now, and they don't have a proper ending yet. I started work on this AGES ago and I feel it's high time I post it and HIGH time I get back to writing Rose and TenToo! But I'm sorry, I cannot promise you a decent ending for this yet. After a few weeks this might go on hiatus for a bit. Also, I apologize right now for the vastly differing chapter lengths.
Anyhow, this is my version of a story I know a BAZILLION people have already written: TenToo's first day and night in Pete's World. I've seen it better done, honestly, but I wanted to give it a go. This story assumes the deleted scene with the chuck of TARDIS is canon, btw. And just to tell you now: There are no sexy times in this story. That's why it's a K+ rating. But here goes nothing:
"Why did he do it?" Rose Tyler looked listlessly across the great grey expanse before them. Sand, sea, and sky all melded into one big overcast horizon as far as the eye could see. She sat on the damp sand with her legs crossed and hugged herself slightly as the temperature lowered, the sun sinking down in the sky to her left. Jackie Tyler paced somewhere behind her, trying to contact Pete and manage transport to get them back to London. But Rose didn't care anymore. She couldn't even think about London. All she could think about was him.
"Do what?" The Doctor – or a man that looked just like him – sat down beside her. He crossed his legs in a similar fashion and wrapped his arms around himself like she did, if for no other reason than to let her know that she was not alone.
"He left us here." She told him without bothering to turn her gaze from the sea. "Why did he do it? He said you were him, you so tell me why." Her tone held more accusation than sympathy as she finally turned to look him in the eye, and was for a moment taken aback by how much he looked just like the Doctor. Her Doctor.
"Because he loves you." He told her simply, trying to ignore the sting of her words. It was not the answer she wanted.
"Then why couldn't I stay?" She sniffed, turning her eyes once more away from the perfect vision of the man she longed for in a vain attempt to hide her tears. All she wanted was to be back there – to be with him. But he had sent her away, back to the saddest beach in the world. And she could not figure out why.
"Because he loves you." The man beside her said with more emphasis. Rose was getting tired of his conjecture, and his voice – so strikingly like his – was not helping.
"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked sharply. She wanted to believe him – she wanted to know that the Doctor loved her. And she wanted the Doctor to be the man sitting beside her on the beach. But she had yet to decide if he was.
"Look at it this way: He knew that you had one human life to live, and so did I. He wanted you to be happy." The Doctor-like man leaned forward, hoping to catch her eye.
"But I would have been happy with him!" Her voice cracked as she turned away once more, trying to stay the flood of tears that threatened to pour down her cheeks. Beside her, the Doctor fought his own battle to keep tears at bay as Rose's words hit him. He knew how she must feel – betrayed, lost, and confused - and she had every right to feel that way. He hoped that eventually she would see it the way he did; as a blessing, and not a curse. But for now her denial still cut him to the bone, the pain in her eyes ripping into his single heart. He still loved her, but how could she ever accept him?
As Rose looked into his eyes, she could see him – The Doctor. All of him. Her Doctor. Here, with her, at Bad Wolf Bay. His eyes conveyed honesty above all else – honest emotion, honest meaning, and honest knowledge.
"Not forever." He replied gravely at last. "I've lived long enough, I know. People grow old and die, but I don't. I mean… he doesn't." He caught himself, now looking away and distracting himself with his hands in his lap. He fiddled aimlessly as he spoke, trying to distract himself from the pain of his own words. He still could barely believe his new biological changes, and even more so his new situation. "I…He didn't want that to happen to you." He continued, looking up at last and hoping she would accept his apology of sorts.
"What do you mean?" Rose's brow furrowed as she, like always, looked to the Doctor for answers.
"He told you once… I told you." The Doctor spoke earnestly, looking into her eyes and still fighting tears. "You could spend the rest of your life with him. And yes, you would have been happy. So would he. But you're human, and he's a Time Lord." He had to look away again. "You would grow old and die, but he would not. And there would be nothing he could do but watch you fade away." He sniffed and looked back up into her eyes. "You could spend the rest of your life with him, but he could never spend the rest of his life with you. And…" He swallowed hard. "And it breaks his hearts."
This time it was Rose's turn to twiddle her thumbs, as she realized that she was not the only one heartbroken by the Doctor's departure.
The Doctor looked to her and hoped that she understood the actions of his former self, and could forgive him. He had not left her because he had wanted to. She had not done anything wrong. In fact, she had done everything right. She was fantastic. And he loved her.
"Did you ever wonder why he never told you?" The part-human-time-lord spoke up again. "All that time, he would never say it. He loved you, and he knew that you knew, but he could never quite say it." He said with the understanding that only one speaking from actual knowledge could; because the 'he' that he referred to was entirely himself.
Rose bit her lip as the other Doctor's words echoed through her mind: Does it really need saying? She knew that what this Doctor said was true, but she normally tried not to think about it. She had wondered about that before, but never quite figured it out. And the answer threw her off guard.
"It was because he was scared. I was scared." The Doctor's voice began to tremble, "So scared of loosing you; of watching you grow old and die, or be lost, or killed, or…" His breath caught in a sob, and he could not continue.
"... Doctor?" Rose whispered, taken aback, and placed a hand on his shoulder. As the name escaped her lips she realized again that he was, in fact, her Doctor. He must have been. As the pure, honest emotion of his words sank into her heart she could feel that this truly was the same man.
"I love you, Rose." He repeated his earlier words strongly, looking up to her once more. "I can say it now. I don't have to be afraid." He smiled weakly as the realization of his new life dawned on him. "I can spend the rest of my life here, with you. And that's all I've ever wanted. That's what he wanted. We're the same man – and we both knew that if we had one human life to live there was only one place we could ever spend it. He did this for both of us." He cautiously lifted his hand and gently placed it on the side of Rose's face. She leaned into its warmth, closing her eyes as she felt his touch and remembered how long she had waited and how hard she had fought to be with him. Perhaps this was her chance. Perhaps he had not left her at all.
The Doctor smiled at last as he finished pouring out his heart."Our… Happily ever after." He added quietly. Rose's heart seemed to grow stronger at his words, as she too realized what their new life meant. The other Doctor's words still rang in her head: He needs you. That's very me. Perhaps the Doctor had his reasons after all. Perhaps they were good ones. Perhaps they were the best.
"He said it was because you were dangerous. You killed the Daleks. You committed genocide." Rose pointed out, although her tone now held no accusation.
"So did you." The Doctor reminded her with the same matter-of-fact tone.
"Yeah, there is that. I hope that your attempt worked better than mine." Rose almost let out a laugh. "But about being human…I mean how human are you?"
"I really dunno. It's all knew to me." The Doctor scratched his head just like he always did. Rose bit her lip once more as she realized how much she had missed that. It wasn't just him; it was everything about him: All those little things that she never quite noticed before, until he was gone. "I mean sure, I've got one heart: One life." The Doctor continued, placing his hand on the disturbingly silent right side of his chest. His tone was relaxed, but the reality was slowly dawning on him. He only had one human life, and then it was over. He would die. And there was nothing he could do to stop it. He tried not to think about it as he finished answering, "It seems the only bits of him that I'm not are the wounds that he needed to heal after that Dalek hit him."
Rose gasped quietly as she recalled that night, fresh in her mind. "Do you remember it?" She asked.
"I remember you." The Doctor replied in a far-off tone. "I remember running towards you – running like I've never run before. I remember hearing the awful sound of a Dalek firing, and panicking for a moment, thinking that I might never see you again." His brow wrinkled as the memories came flooding back. "I remember lying in your arms, thinking that if there was one last thing for me to see before I died, I was glad it was you." Rose blushed, but smiled for the first time since they had arrived at Bad Wolf Bay. "I remember standing up to regenerate... After that, I just remember waking up on the TARDIS floor. The next time I saw you was in the Vault." The Doctor finished.
"Did it hurt?" Rose continued her questions, "I mean last time –"
"Last time, I nearly had a neural implosion." The Doctor informed her in a very not-my-fault tone. Rose's smile grew a tiny bit bigger as he began to talk in technical terms she did not fully understand. Just like old times. "I was careless." He continued, "But this time, all that energy had time to settle down. Regenerating always hurts a bit, but the meta-crisis itself actually felt rather good: All of that energy. Donna activated and stabilized the process, and provided that extra bit of DNA that my hand needed." He raised his right hand up to examine it again with a silly grin. "So I am part human – part Donna, specifically. But only the aging bit as far as I can tell. Well, maybe a speck of her snarky wit. Maybe more than a speck." He smiled, his eyes searching the horizon as he thought over the events that had brought him to life. "Good ol' Donna." He murmured absentmindedly. He would miss her. He did not know exactly what had happened to her after she left Bad Wolf bay, but he could guess. And he was glad that this time it was not him that had to let her go. He wished her the absolute best in life; she deserved it.
Rose may not have been thinking about it, but he, too, had lost everything by coming here. He had lost so many good friends; Donna, Martha, Sarah Jane, and Jack, just to name a few. He had lost his TARDIS – at least for as long as it took for the new one to grow – and he had lost a great part of his life. But he had gained a life with Rose.
His mind snapped back to the present as her hand touched his, and he reminded himself that it was worth it. "But you are still… I mean, you're him." Rose scooted a bit closer.
"I'm him." He nodded. "I can recount to you every single one of our adventures, if you'd like. Shop window dummies to Daleks, and everything in between." He smiled. That smile. That same smile that would always, always make her smile back.
"So… what are we gonna do now?" Rose pulled herself across the sand to be even closer to the Doctor, until their shoulders were touching.
"Whatever you want, I suppose." The Doctor placed his hands on the sand behind him and leaned back slightly, looking up to her as she moved to turn towards him. "I mean… it's always been your choice. I know that I've changed. It's going to take a lot of getting used to. But what I said earlier was true." The tiniest hint of hesitation grew in his voice. "I've got one life – one human lifetime to live, Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you… If you'd like."
"Doctor…" Rose blinked and simply stared at him for a moment, deciding at last if he was or was not her Doctor. But she could not deny it anymore. There never had been and never would be anyone more perfect for her than him. And as such, she decided that a bit of teasing was in order. "... Was that a proposal, or what?" She asked with a straight face, expertly hiding her laughter.
"What?" Color flushed the Doctor's checks and he sat straight up at once. "No… I mean… sort of? What kind of proposal? I mean, um…" He stuttered, before finally finishing in a humbled tone, "Do you want it to be one?"
Rose chewed her lip once more as she carefully considered his words. "…Maybe." She said shyly. She had never expected this day to come, but she had secretly dreamed of it for some time.
"Then maybe it was." He answered with another large smile, wrapping his arm about her waist and scooting even closer. He had never given a proper, honest proposal of marriage before; he had never given himself the chance. He had not had a family since nearly a thousand years ago when he was a very young Time Lord on Gallifrey, with no knowledge of humans or earth. But he longed for the chance to be a part of one again. "What do you think? Is one lifetime long enough?"
Rose looked into his eyes once more and knew that if there was one person she could spend a hundred thousand lifetimes with, it was him. But one lifetime would just have to do. "You won't mind the everyday life?" She asked.
"Not if it's with you." He answered. "Besides, the new TARDIS will grow faster than you think." He added with a smile.
"Still, it seems a bit… domestic... For you." She smiled, remembering the difference in the man she had first met in the store basement and the man that sat with her now. But the change was good.
"I'll bet it's brilliant." The Doctor smiled. "Fantastic!" He called happily, once more reminding Rose that he really was every bit the man that she had known and loved for so long.
"Better with two." She told him with a smile.
For a few long, comfortable moments, the Doctor simply smiled back and held her close, thinking about how long he had waited to be with her, and how much of a miracle it was. A whole new life and whole new world awaited them. But the best part was that they could once more discover it hand in hand, together. It was a greater gift than anything he had ever dreamed.
"Oh look, the stars are starting to come out!" He pointed to the darkening sky. As they began appearing overhead and the last rays of sun sank down past the cloud-covered horizon, Rose and the Doctor lay on the cool beach, staring up at their beauty.
"You know… Doctor." Rose said his name with a special emphasis and pulled herself close to him, hugging his left arm as he pointed up at the stars with his right. She pressed her face warmly against his shoulder and snuggled comfortably beside him. "I've always thought that if anyone in the universe deserved a happily ever after it was you."
"Rose…" The Doctor turned away from the stars to gaze upon her face once more. "I've never had an ever-after before. Happily or otherwise. But now that I have one, I'm glad I get to spend it with you." He smiled He grinned warmly. "That is a happily ever after indeed."