I don't own Doctor Who.

Donna was mad at him, he was certain of that much. Grace as well, he had yelled at her a few minutes ago. Jack had followed her out of the room, giving the Doctor a glare to express his feelings. He didn't mean to yell at her, she hadn't done anything wrong. She just was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He and Donna had been fighting, something they rarely did, but lately it was more and more. He knew why, and it was the very reason that he had been hesitant to try to have another baby. The constant let down was hard on them both.

They had gotten lucky once, they had a walking miracle in the TARDIS already, and he wondered if trying again was being greedy.

She had done most of the yelling, and shooed him out of the room when he tried to calm her down. He hated this too, but she didn't seem to understand that. It was just as hard on him when the test showed that she wasn't., but she seemed to think that he didn't care.

He wished that they could have several children running around, had always, but it didn't seem like that was what the universe wanted for them.

Then Grace had showed up in the room, asking something about where they were going to go today. He yelled at her, telling her that not everything revolved around her.

Her smile had fallen at once, but she didn't yell back. She just frowned and turned walking out of the room. Jack glared and followed, and now he was sitting on the chair looking at the console.

They had been happy, why did they have to mess with the balance? He knew better, knew that he couldn't ask for more than what he had.

"You all right?" Jack asked, entering the room again.

The Doctor looked up, surprised there was a soul on the TARDIS that was still talking to him at this point.

"Always," the Doctor lied. "Surprised you are talking to me."

Jack shrugged, and made the Doctor scoot over so he could sit beside him. "Someone has to," he told him, which made the Doctor feel just a little worse. When did he become the bad guy?

"Grace okay?"

Jack shrugged again, "She won't talk to me, locked herself in her garden. Still, it makes her happy, so that's fine."

"You'd give anything to make her happy," the Doctor told him, but it wasn't a question.

Jack gave him a serious look. "You know that, just like you would for Donna."

"I'm afraid I'm doing a pretty poor job at making her happy right now," the Doctor confided.

He could hardly pretend he was fine when he wasn't these days. Not with this lot around. It took 900 plus years but he had found people who could read him like a book.

A short simple book, even.

Jack looked sympathetic. He wrapped an arm around the Doctor shoulder. "She's not mad at you, you know. She's just frustrated, and I'll bet she's blaming herself."

The Doctor shook his head, "Not her fault."

"Did you tell her that?"

The Doctor thought about her, and while he thought he had, he hadn't said it so plainly. Maybe she just needed to hear it from him, that he didn't blame her. He didn't- how could he?

"No, I guess not," the doctor admitted.

"Go talk to her Doctor," Jack smiled that famous grin. "Please, it'll make the whole place better. Don't you guys know you are the foundation of this home?"

The Doctor smiled, and gave a tiny nod. He removed himself from Jack's arm, and went to find Donna. After he got settled with her, he needed to apologize to Grace. He had told her that she was selfish, and she was the farthest thing from that.

The Doctor walked into the kitchen, always having a good sense of where Donna was since they had become a couple. She looked up, and he braced himself for another set of harsh words but instead she let out a sob.

"Sorry," she told him, looking down.

He moved to her at once, pulling her into an embrace. "No, I'm sorry. This all- it's been hard, but it's not going to be better if we are fighting each other. Donna, I love you, no matter what."

She looked up at him, "Even if I can't give you another baby?"

He kissed her lips, and then pulled back. "It's not your fault, I want you to know that. We knew that it might not be easy for us, but it is just how it is. And if we never have another baby, then I will love you just as much as I do at this moment."

She hugged him more tightly, "Should we give up?"

"No," he shook his head, even if he had been considering it. It meant too much too her, and he would do anything for her. "Maybe take a break, a couple of weeks off, and then try again."

"Okay," she agreed, looking down at her now cold tea.

"Let me make you some more," he told her gently. He sat about making her a fresh cup, and then kissed her deeply.

"I got to go apologize to Grace, and then would you like to take a trip?"

She nodded, "Yes, somewhere relaxing?"

"Anything," he vowed. "Anything for you."

She smiled and then frowned, "What did you do to my girl?"

The Doctor looked away, "I'll fix it."

"You better," Donna returned, sounding much better now. "You know how mothers can get."

The Doctor smiled at her, "I know, on my way. Drink your tea, and then we will figure out where to go."

She nodded, and he hurried away. The TARDIS moved Grace's garden closer to the kitchen, and he was surprised when the door opened. He walked down the long path, listening to the soft singing of his child's voice. She got that from her mother, sounding like what he thought an angel might, if they were real.

She was singing an old Earth Hymn and he smiled to himself, looking around the garden. He had given her this one years ago, all for her own, and she had taken it from bare to beauty. She put in a lot of hard work and it showed.

There were young trees, growing strong in the artificial son, and plants in rows. There were section for fruits and vegetables. Even a pond, the TARDIS had made for her.

He could see why she saw it as such a retreat from the outside world.

She didn't look up as he approached, just kept pulling weeds away from the plants. The TARDIS stopped the weeds in the other gardens, but left them here for Grace. It was good therapy she claimed, and by the way she was yanking she was in need of it.

"Grace," he said softly, announcing his presence.

Instead of looking at him she looked at the ceiling and muttered. "Traitor."

He smiled, wishing she would smile back. "Grace," he tried again, reaching out for her hand. She didn't fight him, and he pulled her to a stand and walked them to the bench.

The room was warm, the 'sun' in its full glory, but he adjusted his temperature. It was probably not too bad for her, with her human temperatures.

She was looking anywhere but at him, and he looked down at her dirty hands. It made him want to hug her.

"I'm so sorry, Grace," he told her. "I didn't mean to yell, and I certainly didn't mean what I said. You are the least selfish person I know, love."

Grace sighed, and looked at him. "I don't care about what you said."

"Then what is it?"

"All you and Mom have been doing is fighting," she told him.

"Sweetheart," he did hug her now. "We still love each other."

She pulled away a little and rolled her eyes, "I know that, I'm not a child. It's just-"

She stopped there, and he brushed a tear from her cheek, "Just what?"

"I just don't like it is all," she muttered.

He suspected there was more to it than this but he decided to let it go. For now. "Let's go somewhere, a beach?"

She looked up and smiled, always easy to forgive. All of her mother's temper, but so willing to drop it just as quickly.

"Wash up, and meet us in the console room," he instructed, kissing her cheek and starting to walk out.

He heard the TARDIS hum, and Grace say, 'All right, you're not a traitor, sorry."

He smiled.

It was another couple of minutes before they were all in the console room, but at least he seemed to be back on speaking terms with everyone. He vowed to make it up to them today, anything they wanted he would try to give.

"So where to?"

He was standing by the console, but willing to let any of the others pilot if they asked.

Grace had opened her mouth when the lights went off and the TARDIS shook.

Hard.

It was only seconds, but it felt like minutes before the lights came back on and the shaking stopped. They were all on the ground, but Jack was helping Grace up. He moved to Donna, who was laughing. His Donna.

"Doctor," she said in between giggles. "You haven't been that bad in a while."

"Wasn't me," he protested, but smiled back at her. It was the first time she had laughed in weeks, it seemed. He didn't mind if it was at his expense.

He didn't even notice Grace moving to the door until it opened, "Grace, wait. It might not be safe."

Grace looked back, "'Cause that had always stopped me."

He shrugged, she had a point.

"So where are we?"

He and the others moved to the doorway, stepping out. It looked like London, except he looked up. No…No, this couldn't be. This was impossible.

He grabbed Grace's hand, and Donna was giving him a look.

"Doctor is this-"

"Yes," he agreed, quickly. "Come on, we shouldn't be here."

"It's the parallel world, right daddy?" Grace asked, fighting his tug."Where you left Uncle and Rose?"

"Yes," he agreed again, as gently as he could manage.

He had left them here together, had hoped they would make a happy life. His human self could give Rose what he couldn't and call him crazy he didn't really want to stick around to see either of them. He was a coward, but he had closed those doors a long time ago.

He got them back in the TARDIS and closed the doors, but when he moved to the console the TARDIS wouldn't move.

"You promised," Grace was insisting, sounding younger than her years.

"Promised what?" He lied, hoping if he claimed he didn't know he could be forgiven.

He had promised Grace a long time ago that if somehow they had made it here that he would let her try to see his duplicate, that they decided would be her uncle. She wanted to meet him, and he had thought a promise wouldn't hurt anything because there was no way back.

But here they were and she was calling him out on it. She didn't understand though. What he had done, he had done with the best of intentions, but that didn't mean that things went according to plan.

"Daddy," she demanded. "You said if we ever made it I could meet Uncle and Rose."

Rose's name no longer tore open a hole in his soul, but that didn't mean he didn't still care about her. He was about to protest when Donna looked at him, maybe she would help.

"Doctor," she moved closer. "You promised her, and besides we should see why we were pulled here."

He swallowed, outnumbered. "Okay," he agreed. Inside he was going crazy, but on the outside he was resolved.

They heard a soft knock on the TARDIS door, and Grace was reaching to open it. "Let me," he tried to tell her, knowing it had to be one of two people. Or both.

She had already opened it however, and there stood his duplicate. He didn't look much older, so it couldn't have been very long since they had left them here.

"Hello." His duplicate said with a smile.