A/N So, idea popped into my head today and I wrote it instantly, decided I might as well post it up and see what people think. Hope you enjoy!

Summary: Alternate Journey's End beach scene, I know it's been done a thousand times. Oh well, here's one more. The clone is different and both he and Rose know it, know they just have to convince the Doctor and everyone will be happy. ONE-SHOT

Disclaimer: I own no rights to Doctor, nor any of it's spin-offs. I'm just trying to be creative and get my ideas out there. Don't sue please :P

DIFFERENT

"I love you," the clone whispered in her ear. Except she knew; she knew that it wasn't him who started that sentence so long ago, it was only a borrowed memory for him. And as she stared into his eyes she saw a flicker of something unfamiliar, something that although small now she knew would grow and grow until they realized just how different to two of them really were. Because they had already seen it; in his mannerisms and speech patterns, he sounded more like Donna than the Doctor and she understood more than anyone else that if she was already seeing this after barely an hour of his existence, just how different would he end up being?

She stared deeply into him, trying to figure out what that something extra was in his eyes… then she saw it. The pleading of his eyes, the way he nodded just slightly in the Doctor's direction, the tenseness of his body after he muttered the words.

He didn't want to live the same life as the Doctor because he wasn't the Doctor, not really. He knew what he should feel because he remembered feeling it but the human Doctor had been revealed already, although she didn't know that, and he was so unbelievably different to her Doctor.

She saw the approval in his eyes as she turned, only to see the Doctor walking back to the TARDIS, shoulders slumped. She ran to him before he could step back inside, wrapped her hand around the crook of his arm and pulled him back around to face her, anger blazing in her eyes as his fell to look searchingly at her.

"You said, you promised you wouldn't do this to me. You swore that night that you wouldn't leave me behind." Her voice was mixed with anger and pleading and hurt, and it broke his hearts. He swallowed and tried to convince her once last time, because he wasn't sure if he had the strength to keep denying her.

"But that's not what I'm doing Rose. I'm giving you the happiest life that I could give you. I'm-" She cut him off, tightening her grip on his arm to make him listen to every word she was going to say.

"No, you're not. You really don't get it do you?" Not giving him the chance to respond she pulled him back over to where the clone stood watching, a slight grin on his face. "Now look at him, really look Doctor. Tell me what you see."

And he did. He looking into the identical eyes and searched them. His mouth gaped open and he stepped back slightly at what he saw.

His eyes reflected the exact personality he remembered in intimate detail from when he was John Smith, except now his posture held cockiness and confidence that came from baring parts of Donna's personality. His eyes were light and sparkling, the deep pain and depth of history that he forever felt inside himself held no place in his clone's eyes.

"But-" the clone immediately burst into an explanation, wanting the Doctor to understand almost as much as Rose did.

"I remember everything but… it feels the same as when you telepathically connect with someone. I know everything, I can feel everything you felt but I don't remember it as being me. I know how you feel about everything," here his eyes flickered down to Rose, getting to the heart of the issue of the Doctor's decision, "but I only feel an echo of it. We both know that an echo will fade the longer I live." The Doctor swallowed thickly, feeling hope well up for the first time. "I'll be happy," the clone continued, looking around the beach serenely, "get a job." He paused and looked back up at the Doctor hesitantly, not sure for the first time.

"I'm human now so the knowledge is… I don't know, I can't quite recall everything as well as I used to… human brain now I suppose. I was wondering; could you take me back… to your universe? To 1913?"

Suddenly the Doctor's face split into a wide grin and he looked down at Rose with delight. "Oh, that's just brilliant!"

Rose looked confusedly around at them, before turning to a strangely quiet Donna who was just behind them. "You to?" the red-head asked, Rose's expression being shot back at her. They laughed together, glad they weren't the only one not to understand.

Rose and Jackie shared a quickly goodbye, hugging awkwardly as both the Doctor and Rose refused to relinquish their tight grip on each others hands. Everyone scrambled into the TARDIS and the Doctor, one-handed, sent them careening roughly into the other universe and into the past, specifically to about a minute after they left 1913 the last time.

The Doctor and John walked out of the TARDIS, telling Rose and Donna to wait for a few minutes, the Doctor looking extremely hesitant to let Rose out of his sight for even a moment and pulled her into a tight, desperate hug before they left.

He turned back once more at the door and looked over his shoulder at her questioning.

"Go on, I'll be here when you get back, I promise." She smiled at him, infinitely glad everything had turned out this way and that he was obviously just as afraid to lose her as she was him… She could only imagine what it would have been like if she hadn't got to the Doctor before he walked into the TARDIS on that beach, she shuddered to think.

Not even five minutes later the Doctor came running back up the ramp, smiling at them both in triumph.

"How'd it go?" Donna asked, leaning against the rotor.

"Good, everything's great. He's with Joan and they get the life they always wanted… He's a bit different from what she'll remember but not enough that it'll change anything. He was right, the longer he's alive and away from all this, the more he'll forget. His entire body is human now and that includes his brain, which means he can't retain all that knowledge anymore. He'll be back to being John Smith before long at all." He glanced at Donna. "The same thing should happen to you. You'll retain some of it for a while, it'll probably give you some headache, migraines even, but it'll fade and you'll be back to being Donna again."

She didn't look disappointed like they might have expected. "Good," she said after a moment. "Knowing it all takes the fun out of it a bit anyway. Besides my head's already starting to kill me." She rubbed her temple slightly and slouched even further. "Ask the TARDIS for some painkillers in your room, should be there by the time you get there."

He turned to Rose after a worried look at Donna and looked down at the beautiful blonde cheekily; letting out a huff of laughter as she crossed her arms and looked at him sternly. She walked towards her and stopped right in front of her, not touching but hardly leaving any modicum of personal space between them.

"You were going to leave me." She said, trying to look and sound angry but her infinite happiness letting a hint of a smile pull on her lips.

"No I wasn't," he denied, looked at her as though she were crazy. "What are you talking about Rose Tyler?"

She glared at him and poked him in the chest. "Oi, I'm waiting." He threw a cheeky smile at her and rocked back and forth on his feet. "What for?" He faked obliviousness, even though everyone in the room knew very well what for.

Donna rolled her eyes at them and pushed herself up from her slouched position, flicking a few switches and pulling a lever, sending them into the Time Vortex, enjoying the know-how while it lasted.

Rose pulled her arms up and around to rest on his shoulders and around his heck, one running through his hair affectionately and sighing in contentment as he slid his around her waist, fingertips slipping under her jacket and shirt and gently caressing the soft skin of her back, feeling the slight hitch in her breathing and reveling in her scent all around him as their foreheads came to rest together.

"Well," she began in a belated answer to his question. "It definitely needs saying now." She couldn't resist reaching up and brushing his lips with hers, only lingering for a second before pulling away again, the electricity running through her at their closeness and the mass of emotions rushing all over her making the action impossible to resist.

As he spoke his breathing hitched. "I love you," he whispered against her lips, sliding one hand up and around her neck to tenderly, but firmly, guide her mouth to his to meet in a deep and passionate kiss, pulling each other so close there was no air left between their bodies, Rose getting pulled up onto the tips of her toes to send them closer together. He wrapped his arm securely around her back, the other still cradling her neck and holding her tightly against him to prevent her pulling away, even though she never would.

"It's about time." Donna muttered from her place, now on the Captain's seat. She watched as the two ambled towards the door that led to the rest of the infinite rooms onboard the TARDIS, either oblivious or uncaring of the audience they shared.

As they reached the door the Doctor reached the doorknob and let it swing open , finally pulling just slightly away from Rose to call out to her.

"Donna, we're just going to get some rest, we'll talk about everything tomorrow." With that they disappeared and Donna snorted, shouting after them.

"JUST HOW STUPID DO YOU THINK I AM SPACEBOY!" She laughed to herself when she heard a muffled and undecipherable shouted reply and headed for her own room, chuckling the whole way and wondering just how long it would be before they emerged from what she only assumed was the Doctor's bedroom.

She heard an indistinguishable bang from somewhere further down the corridor, an extra hum of the TARDIS that almost sounded like a laugh and then the slamming of a door.

Before she fell asleep Donna only had one thought.

Things are about to get very interesting.

A/N So, I'd love to hear what you think. Sorry if there are any mistakes but none of my stories are Beta-ed, I go through them myself and fix any mistakes I find. Hope it was good and at least a little different from all the other Journey's End Doctor/Rose fics floating around.

Please Review!

Metal.