Author's Note: Starts just after the Doctor and Donna leave Rose and Doctor 10.5 on Bad Wolf Bay… but the Doctor is a tricky guy… things aren't always as they seem.

(I'm continuing this! :D It's going to be set as Doctor Who: Series 5… episode two is up, it's called "In Their Wake" and episode 3 "The Shadows" is already done ^.^ I'm going to try to keep them to 2-4 parts (chapters) each. Please enjoy!!)

Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do not own Doctor Who or anything having to do with it… not sure who does really, RTD? RGB? (No wait.... RGB owns the colour spectrum) Ah! I know... David Tennant :) He'd be a lovely owner!

Doctor Who: A Parallel Life

Part 1

Rose broke off the kiss just in time to watch the police public call box fade from sight. The last pulse of its ancient engine felt like waking up from an incredible dream. He had left her, again. The hand that grasped hers felt the same, the face she stared into seconds later looked the same… but he wasn't her Doctor.

His chocolate eyes were warm and happy, a strange contrast to hers which were glossy with tears of hopelessness. She bit her lip,

"Is it… you? I mean really you? Like you regenerated or something?" Her voice cracked on some of the words, but she had to know. He smiled widely, an almost manic shimmer in his eyes.

"Oh it's better than that!" He brought her hand up to where a human would have their single heart and she felt the expected beats. Then slowly he moved her hand over to the opposite side… two heartbeats. His smile grew and her eyes almost brightened.

"My Doctor?" She asked, incredulous.

"Hello" He laughed lightly then picked her up in a tight hug and twirled her around.

"That's impossible though, I saw you the whole time in the TARDIS… how?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "I keep telling you lot, unlikely, not impossible! But you know what the most unlikely thing about this is?"

Rose grinned from ear to ear "What?"

He looked off to the sky over the water of Bad Wolf bay, a place which had held so much sorrow for the pair only a few years ago. It now marked the beginning of a whole new journey. A brilliant smile decorated the Time Lord's features all through what he had to say.

"903 years traveling through time and space and I'm going to spend the rest of my life on a completely different parallel universe! The only home I've ever needed is hurtling back to another dimension. I'm going to spend the rest of your life with you, and you Rose Tyler, you're going to spend the rest of it with me right?" He was looking at her again. The sinking sun made his eyes glow amber as he waited for her answer, the last hint of his silly smile still lingered.

"When I said forever, I meant it." Rose said quietly as she, without thinking, began to straighten his lapel. "But what about you? You can't stay here once I'm gone, and then there's the other you! He's going to die and there won't be anyone to save that universe. You must be mad!" The Doctor grew serious now,

"Of course I'm mad… but I couldn't stand leaving you here again. Someday you'll be gone, and I'll have to continue on alone as always, but that just makes our time now even more important. The universe can find a new hero… the Doctor's retired." He forced his mouth into a smile but Rose knew him too well to believe it. He would miss it; the running, the sonic-screwdriver, the TARDIS... the hopping. He was giving an eternity of that up for her. She couldn't understand it. After all those years was she really more important to him than his TARDIS?

With a sudden brilliant smile Rose remembered something. Perhaps the Doctor hadn't given up time and space travel after all.

"Pete's World could always use a hero… or two. Knowing you we'll be in trouble by tea time tomorrow."

"Parallel tea time, just like the British." He ran a hand through his gelled hair. The wind was making it even messier than usual so he tried to tame it.

"That's not the only parallel thing. Allons-y" She winked and strolled over to Jackie who was waiting on some rocks, respecting their privacy while calling Pete to pick them up.

"Oh now come on! You can't just steal my word like that," He said in a playful tone, and followed off after her, "and if you do at least say it right! Allons-y!" The Doctor, of course, said it much better.

"Mum!" Rose called out to Jackie who had just pocketed her mobile and was drawing in the wet sand. She looked up and brightened to see the New Doctor and Rose getting along. Jackie stood, brushing sand off her pants and walked up to the couple. "Mum, it's him, the real him." Jackie looked the Doctor up and down, unconvinced.

"You mean like?" She stopped short and Rose nodded enthusiastically. Jackie unexpectedly jumped on the Time Lord, hugging and kissing him all over talking in between.

"Ah! It's you! I knew you couldn't leave us, I knew it all along!" The Doctor shot a glare at Rose.

"Mum, mum, that's enough."

"Oh yes of course" Jackie backed off, patting down her jacket and smoothing her hair. The Doctor sighed

"It's good to see you too"

"Rose! Did you tell him?" Jackie turned her attention quickly to Rose.

"Not yet mum," she whispered with a wink.

"What is this, a Tyler family secret?" The Doctor said

"Oh you'll see soon enough. Pete'll be here in a tick." Jackie replied, the Doctor was getting slightly impatient.

"What? I thought you lived hundreds of miles away."

"We did, but after you showed up here all of us packed up and moved to a house near by, just in case. Good thing too, I'm starved." Jackie said.

"Brilliant!" The Doctor's smile hid any amount of loss he was feeling for his former life. 900+ years would make anyone an expert on hiding things.

The Doctor and Rose sat in the back of Pete's truck, while Jackie rode in front. Rose was glad the ride was short, she was about to tell the Doctor any second what she had waiting for him. The truck rolled to a stop in front of a large house. All four got out quickly, the Doctor curiously scanning the building. He leaned over to Rose who had settled next to him.

"We're going to need a flat of our own." He whispered without looking away.

Rose giggled, "Something with a larger wardrobe maybe?" The Doctor winced

"Oh that's right… I'll need to buy clothes. Where can I get those?"

"I mean a pre-stocked wardrobe." Rose smiled slyly at him.

"Pre-stocked? Why would someone sell a flat with a pre-stocked wardrobe?" He looked at her now, very interested.

"Why would someone carry around a 'sonic screwdriver' and a banana instead of a useful weapon?" With that she pivoted and walked around the back of the house, hesitantly he followed. He rounded a corner and then another. They stood in front of a white metal garage door in the back of the house.

"If you think I'm living in a garage think again Miss Tyler, and you should know by now that my sonic screwdriver…." He was about to continue when she flung open the door to reveal a familiar blue box. The Doctor could've sworn his hearts stopped beating for a moment.

"What?" He was incredulous,

"What?!" He was overjoyed,

"How?" He asked, only able to get out one word sentences and itching to look inside, doubting that it was his TARDIS.

"Even in Pete's World a parallel you dashed around in a blue police box. Strange coincidence, that you and your parallel you were so much alike, even down to the fondness for the police box shape." She sighed deeply "Except, parallel you is dead." At those words the Doctor lost a little interest in the TARDIS. He arched his eyebrows and turned to Rose.

"How did it happen?"

"Torchwood claims to the press that you died peacefully of old age. That you had run out of regenerations. According to Torchwood you can only regenerate twelve times."

"I never thought you'd need to know that though."

"But Mickey and I found your TARDIS, well not yours, this one, the parallel one… anyway it was just sitting in an ally, we went in, hoping to find you, parallel you of course, not you you. Blimey this stuff gets confusing." She paused

"Ah, to you I suppose. Any way go on then, what about parallel me?"

"There we found the other you, slumped over the control panels, dead. The TARDIS seemed so cold and dark. I used your sonic screwdriver to find a rift and we dragged her over to charge up." Rose grabbed a sonic screwdriver, identical to the Doctor's, from a nearby tool table and held it up. "I never realized how many settings there were. Took days to find the right one."

"Well, looks like you haven't gotten to setting number 943…" the Doctor added

"Why what's that?" Rose began twisting the dials on the screwdriver but the Doctor quickly snatched it from her hands and pocketed it.

"Ah, you really don't want to know. So, back to me… how exactly did I die?"

"There was tea spilled all over the consel so we took a bit back to the Torchwood lab and tested it for poison. No poison, just aspirin."

"Oh, so I really am allergic to that. Strange…" he pondered for a moment. "and parallel me… what did I look like?"

"You, he looked just like you… you must've regenerated at the same times too. Weren't you saying something about parallel worlds being made off of different decisions? How is it possible that there's a parallel you that's exactly the same?"

"Almost every choice I've made was the one I had to make… no other way out. Apparently though I wasn't the best at choosing companions. Even though most of my choices in this parallel world were the same there were obviously some minutely different ones that created it." He paused for a second to think, "Please tell me you cleaned up the tea."

"Every bit of it. After Micky and I charged it we brought it back here, and had a proper ceremony, strange to go to the funeral of someone who's still technically alive."

"I know the feeling…" With that he walked into the TARDIS. Rose cautiously followed him inside. The Doctor looked around for only a moment before turning to Rose and beaming at her,

"Rose Tyler. I am going to kiss you, come here!" He held her head in his hands, it was the first romantic kiss they had ever shared, and Rose loved every second of it. Behind them the TARDIS flickered into life. It lit up the control room and began playing soft background music, slightly alarmed at this the Doctor backed away.

"What's this buddy?" He said, looking around and tapping the consel. Rose stood close next to him.

"Oh I forgot to mention, the parallel TARDIS is a little more telepathic than yours. It's also a bit sappier than your TARDIS, but I'm sure you'll grow to love it just the same." The Doctor felt around the bottom of the consel and pulled a lever underneath it; the lever groaned and moved stiffly but once he got it switched the music and lights stopped.

"It wasn't the TARDIS that was being sappy, it was parallel me. I hate that switch. There she is though, back to normal." He ran a hand along the centre column lovingly.

"Oh lovely, now I have competition" Rose rolled her eyes and sat back in the closest foam chair. The Doctor quickly turned away from the TARDIS and sat next to her.

"Never." He smiled at her. "So what do you think? Just like old times, chasing about through time and space, or we could settle down... it's your call."

Author's Note: So after this I'm going to have some short epiode-like chapters, hopefully I can build like they do in the series, starting with some lighter plots and then growing to an epic ending... we shall see though ^.^ Thanks so much for reading! Reviews are loved! 3 3 (Two hearts mean twice the love ;D)