Author's note: I am a little rusty at this. I own nothing but plot. My thanks to my co-writer/beta ArthurianElayne.

Bad Wolf Bay.

Those words still echoed in Rose's furiously spinning mind as she heard the TARDIS vanish. She spun around to watch her mind still trying to work everything through.

Her Doctor... should she even call him that? The Doctor? The partially-human Doctor? The Meta-crisis Doctor that grew from a severed hand? Which was definitely new. Even having worked at Torchwood for years just trying to get back she'd never seen anything like this.

His hand slipped into hers and held it tightly. They were all quiet for a long moment. Well..quiet was not exactly in Jackie Tyler's vocabulary...

"Oi!" Jackie's voice broke the silence, "There's barely any reception out here!"

Rose turned to watch her mother quickly dial, "You calling Pete or a taxi?"

Jackie answered quickly, "Both! Dropping us in the middle of bleedin' nowhere.." Before returning to muttering rapidly into her phone.

The Doctor finally spoke, "How is your dad anyways? Haven't seen him in ages. I suppose he managed to get rid of the rest of those cybermen- assuming they didn't all come through to Canary Wharf."

Rose shook her head, "He's not my dad -he's just Pete. Only Mum calls him my dad. He's not. Doesn't want to be. He is Tony's dad though."

"Oh." For once he was silent. His hand still clinging tightly to hers.

Jackie broke the silence, walking closer talking into her mobile, "No Pete. They're both dead quiet actually. It's eerie, I know, he never shuts up usually. I'll see you in Bergen tomorrow morning, bring Tony. Bye!"

Rose glanced over and watched her mum gradually get louder as she spoke trying to get a taxi to come out to the beach.

"My mum is the same in any universe." She whispered, she kept her eyes completely on him.

"Didn't really expect her to show up with one of those Dimensional Jumpers. Then again she might make some run in fear. Not too sure on the Daleks though." The Doctor smiled slightly.

"Dimensional Cannon." Rose corrected with a smile, he was trying to make her laugh.

Jackie yelled as soon as she was off the phone, "Go and strand us on a beach. Couldn't you have just taken us home? I swear. Darlig Ulv-Stranden... Do you know how long it takes to get a taxi out here? I'm gonna have to call Pete again."

"Well..it wasn't exactly me-I suppose I stranded me out here as well. I ran off with my own TARDIS...imagine that..."

"Oh it was you. Two of you are identical you are. You as good as stranded us. Or you woulda done the same in his shoes" Jackie turned back to her mobile to call Pete again, Norwegian was just a little out of her grasp.

Rose walked guiding the Doctor. (Her Doctor?) a little further away from her mother.

"Did you know he- you- the other you was planning this?" Rose asked, unable to contain her curiosity any longer.

"Well, yeah. Two of us - one universe big disaster. In two universes, we're divided up a bit. And someone had to get rid of the Daleks. I'm the part-human Doctor, I'm the one who committed genocide. So my punishment is staying here with you."

"Punishment?" Rose stepped back.

"It's not much of one. He is out there wishing he could be me, just a little bit. More than a little bit," He looked at Rose meaningfully, "Gonna miss my TARDIS though, really going to miss my TARDIS." The Doctor looked forlornly off into the distance for a moment.

Rose sighed, "Me too."

He stared off into the distance, "The control room, the noise-"

Rose interrupted him, "The swimming pool, the study..."

"I'm even going to miss the squash courts, never really used them much. Now that they're gone I'm going to miss them. And the wardrobe... I just flew off with my own wardrobe. Blue- I am permanently stuck in blue. I think I'll miss the pinstripes while I'm at it." He ran his fingers through his mop of carefully mussed hair.

"Time and space. Now you're just going to be stuck here with me." Rose smiled apologetically. She glanced over at her mother who was still on the phone.

"There are far worse places in the universe to be stuck. Even if I have to get a house and a mortgage... and a job...A real life..I could have a real, human life- weird. I can have a real human life with you." The Doctor glanced over at Jackie who was softly speaking into her phone trying to get Pete to hire someone in Norway to come and get them.

"I'm a step ahead of you. Already have a job. Kind of. I'm a consultant for Torchwood."

"Consultant? From what I saw it looks like you run the place. Inventing a dimensional cannon, propelling yourself between the universes."

Rose smiled, "Still, just a consultant. Not all bad though- I finally got my A-Levels. Wouldn't hire me otherwise.."

Jackie pumped the air in success. "Finally! Oi! We're getting a ride, should be here soon. We're still spending the night in Bergen though. No way around that." Jackie seemed rather pleased with herself, "Rose d'you remember what way the road is?"

DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW

"Bergen, absolutely beautiful Bergen." The Doctor commented after they had finished their supper at a waterfront café, "I haven't been to Bergen in years. Well centuries... last time I was here ... 1702. Terrible fire, whole thing burnt down. Well just about."

"How'd that happen?" Rose asked.

"Oh look at that fjord. Love a fjord. Isn't that a fantastic view? What do you think Jackie?" The Doctor made a mental note to tell Rose the story at a later date when Jackie wasn't around.

"Last time I was here I was pregnant, nauseous and freezing to death. Couldn't you have left us somewhere warm? It's damn cold." Jackie complained as a very pale Norwegian waiter cleared away the plates.

"Least the hotels aren't completed booked. It was very easy to get a room. Even without my psychic paper. Oh.. I am going to miss my psychic paper. How do you get into things without psychic paper... I suppose I'm going to have to be invited..." The Doctor pondered aloud at light-speed. Rose wondered if he felt as awkward as she did.

"Mum and Pete get invited to all sorts of things, I'm sure they could scam you an invitation."

"Oh Rose darling, I hate those things. After a while they grate on you and I have to pretend to be her. That other Jackie. Everyone thinks I've gone mad. Well, even more so after we convinced everyone Rose was our secret child." Jackie whined, "I'm tired, I'm going to bed."

And with that Jackie Tyler threw down her napkin, left her chair and wandered away leaving Rose and the Doctor to pick up the bill.

DWDWDWDWDWDWDW

Rose stood awkwardly between the room her mother had booked and that of the Doctor. Should she wait for an invitation? Should she just start ripping off his clothes? Should she kiss him? Hold his hand? Not hold his hand? Give up and go sleep next to her mum? Their hands were still clasped together. They'd been holding hands most of the evening. Not quite ready to let go of each other just yet.

"You could...well I could...I mean now- you can, right?" Rose tried to ask what should have been a simply question, or simply evolved naturally. It just came out awkward. They'd had each other, a hand to hold and time and space to keep them occupied. It was worth giving up other things. Or so the younger Rose had told herself. All the running had tired them out enough those days to have her sleeping soundly most nights.

"I can- what, oh yes. I can...of course I can." The Doctor let go of her hand.

"Oh...thank you"

"You're welcome...so I'll see you in the morning." He cracked open the door. "Enjoy the complimentary soaps..nearly as good as a little shop, I love a little shop."

'They had one, in the lobby. You could buy gum, and magazines and erm..condoms.." She tried to give The Doctor a significant look. She hadn't been to bed with any bloke since Mickey and that was years ago...how did one proceed? This was not highschool- The Doctor wouldn't simply force himself upon her.

"Condoms? Oh right" The Doctor blushed before breaking off on a tangent 'Did you know that prior to the use of latex rubber, humans would use sheep intestines. Can you imagine...Of course species have used all sorts of different contraceptive methods over the years, on Raxicoricophallapatorius..."

"Sheep intestines...wow...Um...interesting" Rose laughed a nervous laugh. What had happened to the kissing. The kissing was good. The talking was awkward. "Doctor? Right...so...I love you." She looked him directly in the eye.

The Doctor's face softened. His dark eyes looked like they could melt her at any second. He took her into his arms and held her tightly. "Oh Rose...I love you too" he whispered, "I've loved you for ages- didn't you know?" He placed a sweet kiss on her full lips. "Goodnight" he pulled back to look at her and retreated into his room.

Right...thought Rose. Crap... She had intended to have her in there with him. A thought occurred to her, a terrible thought. Maybe they weren't physically compatible. I mean he certainly looked human enough, but would things below the belt...but he was half-human now, or partially human anyway. This terrible thought had occurred to her years before in the TARDIS. She had comforted herself on long lonely nights by herself that The Doctor must be incapable of copulating with a human woman, or else he'd have shagged her already.

She stared at the polished wood of his closed door. She could just barge in there, rip her clothes off and insist that he follow through on that kiss he gave her. Could she?