A/N: I don't own Doctor Who, or any of the characters in this story. I hope you like it, please review and let me know what you think! I know its been done before but...I just couldn't resist. Thanks for reading, please review!

Rose clung to the lever with all her might, her body pulled towards the void by an irresistible force, so much stronger than anything she had experienced before. She was staring into the Doctor's eyes, he looked so desperate as he reached for her, eyes tortured as he watched her grip slip bit by bit from the handle.

Finally, suddenly, her grip gave out and she was flying through the air. She heard the Doctor's tortured scream, and was aware of the light growing dimmer...and she suddenly slammed, feet first, into a very solid object. Her body crumpled on impact, and she hit her head against the wall, almost knocking her out.

"Rose," she heard the Doctor's broken whisper, and moaned, wishing she could go and comfort him. "ROSE?" he cried suddenly, and then he was on his knees beside her, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "Shhh, shhh, love," he whispered when she tried to speak, seemingly not conscious of what he was saying. "You'll be alright, just hold still, understand?"

He ran careful fingers over her skull, finding the knot where it had impacted the wall and frowning slightly. He then felt down her neck, assessing her spinal column, smiling with relief to find it undamaged. He cradled her head carefully in one hand and moved slightly and shifted her body to lie in a more natural pose so he could assess the rest of her injuries. He hated to do it before he knew what was hurt, but she was so crumpled up he didn't have a choice.

Rose gave a startled gasp, almost a scream, at the pain of the movement, and her eyes rolled up in her head, passing out. The Doctor sighed, but knew it was probably for the best if she didn't feel this. She wouldn't have the concussion for long enough for it to hurt that she was unconscious, but he set about assessing the rest of her injuries quickly. Her torso and arms seemed unhurt, although he'd need a scan to confirm that for sure. When he got to her legs, he was amazed that she had been able to remain conscious at all; she had multiple displaced fractures of her tibia and fibula, and he was sure that, if he removed her shoes, he would find her ankles and feet to be in the same condition.

Now knowing everything he could about her injuries, and with nothing he could do to help her where they were, he lifted her carefully in his arms and, pulling out the sonic screwdriver, headed for the TARDIS.

They reached the ship and, pulling Rose's key over her head, he unlocked the door, careful not to jostle his precious burden. Once he was inside and the door was locked behind him, preventing any visitors uninvited or otherwise, he crossed the Console room in quick strides, and found that it now opened straight onto the Infirmary. Sending a quick thanks to the TARDIS, he laid Rose on the couch and set about treating her wounds.

Half an hour later, her bones were whole, her bruises gone, her concussion cleared. She hadn't woken up the entire time, a fact the Doctor was grateful for, and he rested his fingertips on her temples now, needing her to wake up and tell him she was alright.

"Rose," he said firmly, calmly, as his mind pressed on hers, "It's time to wake up now."

She sighed, shifting slightly under his hands, then her eyes fluttered open.

"Hello," he said, a grin spreading across his face as she looked at him, eyes wide with wonder.

"Hello," she replied and, sitting bolt upright, she grabbed him in a tight hug. "You're alright?" she asked quickly, pulling away and glancing up and down at him, concerned.

The Doctor chuckled. That was so like her: multiple leg fractures, a cracked skull and a concussion and she was worrying about him. "I'm fine, Rose. And you're fine now, too. You're lucky, if that hole had closed one second later than it did…"

"I'd be in hell," she said, shuddering slightly.

"Yeah," the Doctor replied, tone thick with relief as he clutched her tightly to him, reminding himself that she was still here. He pulled back slightly, staring into her eyes. He didn't know what made him actually voice the next words, he knew they were truth, but they shouldn't have been said. "I almost lost you…I love you, Rose."

"I love you, my Doctor. And I'm going to give you as long as I can, and then some." The Doctor, hearing her strange tone, pulled back slightly to look into her face. Her eyes were glowing a faint gold, and he stared in horror.

"No, no, no, no, no!" he cried, staring in horror. "Rose, NO!" It had worried him many times that Rose had survived the Vortex unscathed while it had killed his ninth self in a fraction of the time she had held it for, and he had used her frequent injuries as a way of checking up on her, seeing if there was anything hanging on, but he thought it was gone. It was supposed to be gone! "I'm not losing you again!" he swore fiercely, his teeth clenched.

"Doctor?" asked Rose, confused, her eyes once more brown, voice normal.

Ignoring her, he grabbed a scanner, running it over her body, lips moving in silent supplication. "WHAT?" he exclaimed, staring at it like it had gone mad. "That's impossible!" he cried, scowling. "WHAT?"

"Oh, stop that," snapped a voice that sounded amazingly like Mary Poppins. "I did it, alright? It was easy enough. You pulled me out of her and into you, so I just…pulled a bit of her along for the ride, as it were…I knew what was coming, and you love her too much to lose her, that would destroy you, and the universe still needs you."

"But…what exactly did you do?" demanded the Doctor, eyes wide.

"I simply tied her life to yours, as it were. She will live for as long as you do. Not just this regeneration, but all of them," the TARDIS explained. "Never wither, never age, never die…that is what you were promised, was it not?"

The Doctor was gasping as he finally grasped what this meant. The pain, the constant pain that he felt knowing one day he was going to lose her was unnecessary.

Rose was gaping at him, having cottoned onto what the TARDIS was talking about. "She did that for me…for us?" she asked, eyes wide.

"I did, little one. You always were my favourite, you came and picked up the pieces and loved him when he thought no one would, could or should, and you put him back together, and you willingly laid down your life to save his. So thank you, Rose Tyler, and it was the least I could do."

Rose stared at the Doctor, wide eyed, then launched herself at him, wrapping her arms tight around his neck as his encircled her waist, lifting her off the floor and spinning her around. He set her down again and pulled back to stare into her eyes.

"One thing I don't understand, why didn't we find out about this sooner?" asked Rose, confused.

"He had to tell you first. I hid it until he did. You needed to hear him say 'I love you' before he knew he would have you forever, or you would always wonder if he only loved you because he couldn't lose you. You see?" the TARDIS explained gently.

"I get that…oh my god, mum," Rose said suddenly, the events of the day crashing down on her. "I completely forgot…she's gone." Her lips quivered slightly as her eyes watered, and the Doctor wrapped her in a comforting embrace.

"There…there might be a way, not to bring her back mind you, but for you to say a proper goodbye, if that's what you want," he said slowly. "The universe is still sealing itself, there are gaps that haven't closed yet, if we go now…"

"I'd like that," Rose told him, before doing something she had longed to do for a long time but hadn't dared try. She stood on tiptoes and, pulling his head down slightly, kissed him softly, fully, on the lips. "I love you, Doctor."

"And I love you, my Rose," he whispered back. Seconds later he was all business again. "Well, come on, we'd better go if we're going to get to that crack before it closes, hadn't we?"

Rose followed him out to the Console room, her head still spinning with everything that had happened. It felt like her emotions were at war, joy and grief unable to decide who should have pride of place. On one hand, she was going to spend eternity, or as close to it as possible, with the man she loved, who loved her, but on the other hand, she was never going to see her mother again, never going to hold her, smell her hair or eat her terrible cooking.

All of the things she had lost balanced against the things she gained. She had known, since they met Sarah Jane, that the would never, could never, be, and she had forced herself to reconcile with that fact, and to be content with whatever he would give her, but now…now she could give him forever, his forever, and she would, joyfully.

The Doctor, seemingly excited by the challenge, ran to the monitor and started fiddling with the various buttons and knobs. Rose joined him, just standing leaning lightly against his side, taking comfort in his presence as her emotions continued to run riot.

"There it is!" cried the Doctor gleefully. "Now we just need the right power source…and here we have it, a sun about to go into supernova….well, I say about, a mean in the next thousand years or so, won't upset anything if we speed the process up a little," he told her, wrinkling his nose a little as he thought. "Here we go!" he reached around the console and pulled a single handle. "Now, you stand right there and call out with your mind, call for your mum. She'll know where to go."

'Mum…mum,' Rose called over and over in her mind. Moments later, she found herself standing on a beach, facing her mother, who had tears in her eyes, Pete on one side, Mickey on the other.

"Mum," she said, her voice thick with tears.

"You're really here. You…you look like a ghost," Jackie told her.

"She can't see me properly," Rose told the Doctor, who grabbed the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at one of the dials, and Jackie nodded.

"That's better," she said, and stepped forward, trying to hug her daughter, only to have her hand go straight through.

"Sorry, mum, I'm just an image, no touch. The universes are almost completely sealed off, just this last crack left, and we're using the energy of a supernova to send this message, to say good…goodbye," Rose told her, choking over the last word.

"Oh," was all Jackie could manage.

"Still got Pete then?" Rose asked, glancing over at her 'father'.

"Yeah. There's four of us now…me, Pete, Mickey…and the baby," her mum told her, eyes moist.

"You're?" Rose asked, eyes huge and wet with tears.

"Yeah. Nearly three months along now. Took you long enough to get in touch," Jackie told her.

"Not on this side, mum…it was just this morning," Rose told her, eyes tearing up. "We don't have much longer. I love you, mum."

"I love you, sweetheart. You tell that Doctor I said to take care of you, understand?"

"He will, mum, don't worry…we'll be alright, you just take care of yourselves, alright? You've got someone else to worry about now." Just as the sentence finished, she found herself back in the TARDIS, tears running down her cheeks as she sobbed. She would have fallen to her knees but the Doctor caught her and turned to take her to the seat, only to freeze, eyes widening almost comically.

"What?" he gasped, incredulous.

"Uh…"

"What?"

"'ho are you two?"

"But…"

"Where am I?"

"WHAT?"

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS PLACE?"

"WHAT?"

Rose had been clinging to the Doctor, but she turned to see what was going on, and gaped at finding a ferocious looking redhead standing in the console room in a wedding dress.

"What?" she demanded, staring between the bride and the Doctor, thoroughly confused.