Huge thanks to my grammar goddess veritascara, who took the time and patience to fix the grammar on this for me, I very much appreciate her and owe her infinite hugs

This is canon up to the end of Journey's End going AU at that point. It includes the missing scene where the Doctor and Donna gave TenToo the chunk of coral and instructions. Big thanks to Ash & Elensari for reading for me, and encouraging the story.

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Rose stood on the beach, feeling the wind whip by her as she listened to the fading sound of the TARDIS' engines. A part of her had been prepared for a moment like this, had readied for it, even if she never actually believed it would happen. For a moment, she felt utterly crushed by the weight of her feelings of hurt and betrayal. Then a warm hand slipped into hers, and she turned to see the other Doctor looking at her.

She stared into his eyes, as if sizing him up, and then turned to walk towards Jackie. Rose tightened her grip on his hand, giving it a small tug, and he followed her. Jackie watched them approach, with a small sad little smile. "He really is a bit of a plum isn't he?"

The Doctor started to protest, and then realized Jackie wasn't referring to him. She was referring to the Time Lord that had left them there. The protest died on his lips, and he shifted his gaze to Rose's face.

"It's already starting back up, Mum; I've got to go before the walls close completely."

Jackie wrapped her daughter in a hug. Rose kept her grip on the Doctor's hand, and she used the other arm to hug her mother back. "I know, love, and I'm going to miss you, just promise me you'll be happy."

She pulled back from the hug to look Rose in the face. Biting her lip and trying not to cry, Rose managed a nod for her. Jackie then turned to look at the increasingly confused Doctor.

"You're taking this one with you, then?"

He felt an icicle of fear trickle down his spine as he looked between the two women. "Go where? What's going on?"

Rose turned her head and latched her gaze on to his face. He could see the pain and determination that was lurking in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but you don't have a lot of time to decide, or for me to explain. You can stay here with my parents, and they'll do everything they can to set you up with a comfortable life. Or, you can come with me, and it will probably be really hard at times. But, I promise I will try to always give you a choice and never leave you behind."

The Doctor was utterly at a loss as to what was going on, but there wasn't a doubt in his mind as to what his answer would be. "You, Rose. Always you."

She nodded, brightening a little under the weight of sorrow she was carrying. Rose turned towards Jackie. "I love you Mum, never forget that, and tell Tony and Dad I love them too."

Turning back towards the Doctor, she looked up in his face again. "Do you trust me?"

His response was immediate; again, there was no question in his mind. "Yes."

She let go of his hand, only to wrap both arms around him, her right hand reaching for something on her left wrist. "Then hold on to me, good and tight."

Wrapping both arms around her, his mind was a whirl of questions that he hoped she would answer. Whatever was going on, he wasn't going to risk losing Rose. So he did as she asked and held on to her tightly. "Brace yourself." Her voice was soft as she did something behind his back.

Then came a sharp, wrenching jerk, and the intense feeling of being pulled through something just a bit smaller then he was. It hurt, but it only took a moment, and then suddenly, they landed. Rose barely rocked in place, but it was their grip on each other that kept him from falling over. Waves of nausea washed over him as he leaned on her heavily.

"You alright?"

The question was soft and laced with concern. "It can be a bit of a rough ride."

"Yeah, I'm fine." He pulled back, but let his hand slide down her arm to find her hand. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he let the nausea fade as he looked around. "We're in London, and no zeppelins."

It was a statement, but he turned to Rose with questions in his eyes. She gave him a small smile and nod. "Yeah, I'll explain in a minute. There should be a park nearby, and we can sit and talk. I gotta make a phone call first, okay?" Right now he was utterly confused and at a complete loss for words, so he simply nodded.

She gave him a slight smile and started walking, her grip tight on his hand. As they walked, she pulled out her old phone and punched in a number. "I kept it, and made sure it was charged up before each jump, just in case."

Rose put the phone to her ear, and after a few moments, smiled as she talked into the phone.

"Hey, it's me."

"Yeah, he did exactly what I was afraid of. I'm going to need a little help."

It was maddening to the Doctor, listening to half of the conversation. Curiosity was starting to eat him up, but he could also see Rose was struggling. So he kept quiet, saving his questions for later.

"Can you come get us? We're in London."

"Th' other one, he was going to leave us both there."

Well he surmised he was the "other one," not that he was overly fond of that description. However, couldn't really put her at fault for using it.

"We're in London, headed towards a park. How about you call when you get close, and I'll tell you were we are."

"An' Jack?"

Well that answered whom she was talking to. Not that her calling Jack was a horrible surprise, there weren't that many people she could go to for help here. But the watery sniff she gave kept him more focused on her than other speculation.

"Thanks for helping me."

"Okay, see you soon."

Closing the phone, she shoved it into her pocket before reaching up to rub her eyes. Rose then looked over at him, managing a small smile. He could see through that, though, and looked at her with concern. "Are you alright? No, that was a stupid question; you obviously aren't alright."

Rose made a sound that was half laugh and half sob. "I'm not alright, but I will be. Just, let's get to the park and sit down so I can tell you all of it at once, okay?" He lightly squeezed her hand, giving her a nod.

She clung to his hand as they walked, and then gave strangled laugh. "It's so strange, you being so quiet."

"Welllllllll, you did say to wait until we get to the park. I'm just trying to follow your instructions." He gave her a big grin, hoping it would make her smile.

"And you are actually following them; I thought you weren't big on following instructions." She gave him a pointed look and a smile.

"Oi! I can follow instructions." He gave a mock sniff, as if he was offended. Inside though, it gave him a fluttery feeling because it seemed she really was accepting him as the Doctor.

"Right, so then that time on Triptor III when we ended up running for our lives because you didn't, you did that on purpose." Her smile was a bit brighter as she teased him.

"Those were rubbish instructions. I mean really, everyone else knows that the color red is camp; mauve means danger." The small flutter got a bit stronger, and he couldn't help but to grin at her.

They stopped at the corner, and the Doctor could see the park now, and his expression sobered. Rose looked both ways, and then tugged his hand to lead him across the crosswalk and into the park. She grew more sober as they walked further in. Finally she stopped and moved to sit on the bench.

Rose tucked one leg under her and turned so she could face him on the bench. He copied her pose, keeping her hand in his, lightly rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. The Doctor was full of questions, but Rose had obviously been through a lot, so he waited for her to start.

He could see the sadness start to settle over her again, and it made his hearts–no, heart–clench a little to see it. His voice was soft and gentle, "Just take your time."

"Time," Rose gave another half laugh. "Yeah, I've got a lot of that now." At his puzzled look, she shook her head a little. "Let me start at the beginning, okay?"

At his nod, she started her story: "See, it didn't happen right away, but I started getting these really bad headaches and feeling really . . . disjointed. At first I thought it was just because I really missed you." His hand tightened on hers as she said that. "But then, it kept getting worse, and we realized something else was going on."

Brushing some hair back from her face, she took a breath in and continued. "See, that universe didn't have a place for me. It didn't bother Mickey or Mum because there had been an alternate version of them there. They were just filling in the holes they left behind. But there never had been a Rose Tyler there, and that dog doesn't count! So it was like that reality didn't know what to do with me and was trying to correct itself, possibly by getting rid of me."

He blanched a little, getting pale. "And he was just going to leave you there, oh Rose, I'm so sorry. I swear to you, I didn't know. If I had known that, I would have done anything to get you back."

She shook her head. "No Doctor, m'not worth tearing the universe apart. I wouldn't have wanted you to do that. But we did monitor things, hoping to find another hole or a crack, that maybe I could get through. Then when the stars starting going out, then we knew we had to find you, to fix things."

He nodded slowly, but there was a rather large question that loomed in his head. "But, why not tell him what was going on? You obviously talked to Jack in the TARDIS, right? How did you know to have something ready to jump back here?"

Rose looked away for a moment, collecting her thoughts. "When the Dimension Cannon started to work, we didn't find you right away. It took, well, a lot of jumps before we found the right universe. During those jumps, I saw things, lots of different potentials out there. One of 'em, well they weren't Time Lords, but they could read time lines or something like that, and they warned me this might happen."

He nodded a little and then asked again, "But why not just simply tell him that you couldn't stay there?" There was something more she was holding back, but they could get to that later.

Now she looked down at their clasped hands. "Because I really didn't want to believe that he could do that to me. I wanted him to want me for me, flaws and human lifespan and all. He's sent me away and left me behind before, but it was still so hard to believe he would throw me away."

Tears started to slide down her face, and he immediately reacted. The Doctor reached for her, pulling her into an embrace, and she let him. Rose buried her face against his chest and wrapped her arms around him. "Now you listen to me, Rose Tyler, you are worth everything, and it broke his hearts to do that to you. But he thought he was giving you a gift, a better life with your family. He thought he was giving you a human version of himself, to have a life and live the adventure that he can't."

She pulled back enough so she could look him in the face. "There is something more he didn't know, but first, there is something I need to know from you."

The Doctor reached up to cup the side of her face and wiped some of the tears away. "What do you need to know?"

She took a deep breath, and steeled herself. "Do you want to stay with me? I mean really stay with me. I know we don't know what's going to happen next, and I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to make your own life here, and not be bogged down with my problems. 'Cause I'm going to be sad, I'm going to miss him, and it's going to take time for me, figuring out this new you and me."

"Yes." Really, it wasn't a question at all in his mind what he wanted. If he had to tell her over and over again, he would until she believed him. "I will spend the rest of my one life trying to make you happy, if you will let me."

Another set of tears welled up from her eyes, and he carefully brushed them away. "That's what I want, someone that wants me. Someone that's not afraid to tell me that they love me, like you did. Who will offer me choices, like you did. I want that, no matter what else happens. Do you understand?"

He studied her face, not sure why this was so important to her yet, but determined to give her anything she wanted. "I'll tell you every day. I love you, Rose Tyler. The only way I'm going to leave you is if you want me to leave."

Her smile brightened, and she wrapped her arms tightly around him. Rose's words were muffled from her face being buried in his neck, "Then the rest of it doesn't matter."

The Doctor stroked a hand down her back, just holding her for a while. Finally he broke the silence, "So, since you seem to be the one with the plans, what's next?"

She withdrew enough to look up at him. "Jack's going to pick us up. I've got some stuff that I can sell for cash to get us started. We'll need a base of sorts here, and then, whatever we decide together."

A wide smile flashed on her face. "We aren't even going to have to be earthbound. I have a vortex manipulator. It's not a TARDIS, I know, but at least it means we aren't stuck–at least until we can grow one of our own."

He brushed some hair back from her face. "Sounds brilliant, I do have one important question though."

His face suddenly went serious, and her expression sobered. "What is it, Doctor?"

"We don't really have to have carpets where we live, do we?" His expression was pained, though there was a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.

Rose burst into laughter. "No, no, we don't."

The Doctor breathed a mock sigh of relief. "Then, Rose Tyler, I think this is the start of a beautiful life. Together."