AN: So, about this venture. A while ago, when I firsted started writing fanfictin, I wrote an ElevenxRosexMeta!Ten story because of a Youtube video I'd seen. There were some ups, there were some downs, as always when you write some of your early works. It kept bothering me that I just didn't like the way I'd written it, it was structured, the characters, literally anything. So: I decided to do a rework of this famous story, a 2.0 version if you will. Only, this one will star Ten and Meta!Ten and hopefully fix some plot and charcter holes. *crosses fingers* As always, please review and tell me my mistakes or what I did right! I'm still continuing to grow. Constructive criticism is always the way to do that. If you loved the original, I hope you love this just as much. If you hated the original, I hope you love this new version. Thanks, lovelies!

The TARDIS was burning. The Doctor was thrown to his feet with a magnificent crash that always seemed to make him giddy. The entire ship was exploding around him, and his mind was scrambled trying to think of how he would get himself out of this one.

"Alright, old girl, don't give up on me just yet!" the Doctor exclaimed and dashed to his feet. He pointed his sonic screwdriver at the console, only to have it spit fire at him and pitch him head over heels out the door.

He clung to the edge of the mad blue box and clutched the screwdriver in his teeth.

Dong! Dong! He turned his head to look behind him, and what he saw made his eyes go wide. He was about to collide with Big Ben. The Doctor pointed his sonic at the console once more, clinging for dear life by his elbow. Please, please, please he begged.

Thankfully, the TARDIS steered him above the clock at just the right moment, and he was able to regain his balance long enough to pull himself into the ship and close the doors. His chest heaved from exhaustion, and the TARDIS was still burning.

"What are you doing?" he asked out loud. The ship just hummed at him in response. All of a sudden, the TARDIS' emergency lights kicked on and everything went sliding around. The Doctor couldn't tell which way was up anymore, and he felt himself sliding. He looked down to see the swimming pool.

"No, no, no!" he protested, but it was all in vain as he tumbled with a surprisingly large splash! Into the library's swimming pool. The ship landed with a resounding crash, and he groaned. They had landed on the side, making it a millon times more difficult for him to crawl out of the pool. He heaved himself up over one of the edges, sighing heavily. "Would it have killed you to put on some brakes?" he grumbled.

He reached inside of his coat pocket for the sonic screwdriver to take an analysis scan on the TARDIS' problem. What he saw made him frown. "Impossible," he said out loud.

He had been running a scan for about 20 years now, trying to find if there were any ways to get back into Rose Tyler's universe, but he had never expected the TARDIS to act on it's own accord when it did. Still, he supposed that explained the rough landing and the burning of his beloved ship. He patted her fondly.

"We'll get you patched up soon enough," he promised.

The Doctor looked around for something to pull himself out with, and his gaze landed upon some rope. He tied one end to his waist, and threw the other end over the door handle. Slowly, but surely, he pulled himself out of the pool and into the parallel universe.

He had landed in a garden outside of a nice looking flat. It was nighttime, and the wind was shockingly cool against his face. Although, that might have more to do with the state of drenched he was in. The leaves were starting to change colors. The Doctor walked over to the windows, hoping to get some kind of answer as to why he landed here and not Pete Tyler's mansion or Bad Wolf Bay.

There was a family dinner going on. It was an older man, dressed in a suit and tie, an older woman with bleached blonde hair, a younger man carving turkey, and a young woman laughing and smiling.

Turkey? It must be Thanksgiving, the Doctor mused. He watched the family interacting for a few moments. The younger woman jokingly put a dollop of mashed potatoes on the younger man's nose and kissed him. His heart yearned to find Rose as soon as possible so he could be the one enjoying Thanksgiving with her. Even if it meant he had to deal with Jackie. Still, he mused, he did the domestic holiday dinner affair with her family once and it wasn't so bad. There were Christmas crackers and lots of Rose Tyler smiles.

The young man looked up. It was the metacrisis.

He stumbled back from the glass and tripped over his feet, landing in the grass on his bum. The door opened to the flat.

Well, this was it. It was time to face the music.

His metacrisis stood in the doorway, light casting shadows on the grass. "You're him, aren't you?" is all he said.

The Doctor stood up and brushed himself off. He strode over to the door. "Yeah."

"And you've come back for her, I presume?"

"Yeah," he said, pulling himself up to his full six foot height.

"She doesn't want to see you," the metacrisis hissed. "We're happy." He slammed the door in the Doctor's face.

He got angry, and that is to say really, really, angry. No one treated the Doctor that way. Not even his own metacrisis. He rapped firmly on the door.

It was yanked open to reveal the metacrisis. "What?" he hissed.

"If she doesn't want to see me, let me hear it. Let me hear it from her lips." The Doctor's feet were planted firmly on the doorstep, teeth gritted.

Both men sized each other up. The metacrisis sighed. "Rose?" he called. "Come here, there's someone here for you."

And then a voice came from behind the door that the Doctor thought he had no hope to ever hear again. "Who's comin' on Thanksgiving? No one from work, I hope."

His metacrisis just chuckled darkly. Rose was there, next to him. She was so beautiful, as always. Wearing a long black dress that hugged her curves so well, and hair around her shoulders. The dark circles under her eyes had faded a bit. He couldn't get enough of this moment. The Doctor drank in all of her, like he could never get enough. He just wanted to crush her into his chest and never let her go again.

Her mouth hung open slightly before she spoke, "Doctor?"

All he could do is nod.

"But how are you-" she trailed off breathlessly, seemingly unable to finish her thoughts.

"Here?" the Doctor finished.

"Well, yeah."

"It was Donna," he admitted. "She left a gift behind before she left. An algorithm that kept replicating endlessly, over any possible universe, looking for a spark or a tiny crack that would lead me back here."

"I thought this is what you wanted," Rose said, making a sweeping gesture with her hand.

"It was the TARDIS," he admitted. "She acted all on her own and brought me here."

Rose's face fell slightly at those words, but she looked eagerly behind him. "Where is she?"

"Over in the garden," he assured. "Crash landed, in need of a repair. But Rose," he said solemnly, "I am glad she brought me here."

The corners of her mouth turned up slightly. "Me too."

"Rose Tyler," he pronounced with his ear splitting grin in tow.

"Would you like to come in for some dinner?" she invited.

The metacrisis looked at the two of them, like he was trying to decipher something.

"Oh, I don't know," the Doctor said, scrubbing his neck sheepishly. "I don't want to intrude. And the TARDIS really does need to be repaired."

"Let's get back, Rose," the metacrisis said gently, draping an arm around her shoulder to lead her back into the flat.

The Doctor was about to say something before he was drifting into black, his head hitting the ground with a loud thump! It's the Time Lord brain, he found himself joking.

…

The Doctor shot up and rubbed his head. It felt like he had collided with a train. "What happened to me?" he wondered out loud. He looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings, and found himself to be lying on a couch. He was in completely different clothes and had a thick blanket wrapped around his body. But where?

As if to answer his question someone appeared in the doorway to his left. It was Rose. This has to be a dream, he was telling himself. She wasn't standing there, he just had a nasty fall when the TARDIS landed.

Rose walked over to him slowly, like she was afraid if she moved too fast he might disappear altogether. She sat down next to him slowly, looking down at her hands.

"Hi," she said quietly.

"Hi," he croaked.

"That was a nasty fall you took out there," she observed. "I thought Time Lords don't get concussed?"

The Doctor's lips quirked upwards. "We don't usually," he said dryly. "Must have been from when I fell in the swimming pool."

"Yeah, John noticed you were soaking to the bone and freezing when he picked you up. He changed you into some of his clothes and I got you a blanket."

"Thanks," the Doctor said sincerely. "Where's Jackie then?"

"I sent her and Pete home with the promise of a full story in the morning," she told him, grinning. "You can imagine how well that went over with mum, but Pete convinced her if they left right then she could put Tony to bed, and she doesn't like to miss that."

"Your brother," he remembered. "The one your mum was pregnant with?"

"Yeah," Rose said, "He's two years old now. Growin' straight like a bean pole. Smart."

He smiled at that. "He's got a brilliant sister."

Rose blushed at that, her hand reaching out to touch his shirt. "You look so strange," she acknowledged.

It was then he realized what he was wearing. Instead of his normal suit, he'd been dressed in dark jeans and a band tee.

"Is this his usual stuff then?" the Doctor asked disdainfully.

"When he's around the house," she said. "At work, it's still the usual suit. You'd think after seeing him wear normal clothes for two years, this would be okay for me, but I think it's cause it's you."

The Doctor harrumphed. "I can dress down sometimes."

"When!" she laughed. "In your pants, maybe, when it's absolutely necessary!"

The Doctor reddened at that. "That counts."

He grabbed her hand out of reflex where it was still on his chest, and he noticed she flinched slightly.

The metacrisis cleared his throat as he entered the room. "Feeling better I see," he remarked flatly.

The Doctor just nodded, putting on his fake smile. Always alright. "I don't suppose there's any food leftover?" he asked hopefully. "It's only know I'm feeling famished."

Rose's face brightened. "Course there is, I haven't put anything away yet." She got up and immediately headed towards the kitchen.

The Doctor dutifully followed close behind, the metacrisis on his heels.

Rose quickly prepared a full plate for him, consisting of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, a bread roll, and cranberry sauce.

He inhaled. "Smells wonderful!" He dug into the plate with vigor, before asking, "Now, then, what have you lot been up to?"

Rose looked at the metacrisis. "We've been okay," she smiled.

"Welllll, I'd call it more than okay." John winked in her direction.

The Doctor cleared his throat. "Right then, back to the TARDIS I think."

"I think you should stay here, at least for the night," Rose said. "You did take a nasty fall to the head and you should try to sleep. When was the last time you slept?" she implored him, her amber eyes drilling straight into him for an answer.

"Nah, I won't sleep, me. I should really get back and try to repair the old girl. All I need is to set her right side up again," he said, avoiding her gaze and the last part of her question.

"At least let John help you put the TARDIS right side up," she sighed. "Please."

He nodded in acquiese.

"Good. You boys run along, I'll wash up."

They walked outside, defeated.

"You still can't resist her, can you?" John asked quietly.

"Of course not, I'm you. You know that better than anyone."

He sighed. "I know. What did you come back for, Doctor?"

"Her," he answered simply. "I hadn't really thought of what after that."

"That's what I thought," the matacrisis said coldly. Just- don't make this any harder on her than it has to be, alright? Until you figure out what you're doing, I don't want another Bad Wolf Bay on my hands. You don't know, you weren't here. And I understand, Doctor, believe me, I do. I'm just saying you don't know what it's like to be the ones left behind."

The words sliced straight through the Doctor's hearts. "Okay," he agreed sadly. "I'll try not to be anything more than her friend."

The metacrisis nodded, satified. "Good. Now, let's get this TARDIS right side up, shall we?"