[[I should have been doing homework all day today but instead I couldn't get this story out of my head so I put it all on paper. I've always wanted to explore how Rose the TenTwo came to terms with one another in the beginning, before they fall back in love and happily ever after so that's what these next chapters will be. Playlist is: Behind The Sun by Matt Costa, Be Here Now by Ray Lamontagne, You and I by The Violet Archers, We Never Change by Coldplay, and Live Forever by Oasis]]

Now here I come to dance around the sun
I've been oh so blue stuck behind the moon
Now let me in back where we begin
And let me hold you like the way I used to do

They called in a jet to take them back to England. Pete had offered to send a zeppelin but Rose refused due to her experience in WWII London. He wanted to think the Doctor had taken Pete's immense fortune into account when he left them stranded on that beach so far away from London, but knew better. His Time Lord counterpart had more pressing things to think about…like Donna. Oh, poor Donna Noble. He knew what would happen to her and what his other self would have to do in order to save her. There was something more than sadness and empathy that he felt…he had Donna to thank for his humanness; the inadvertent gift she had given him—the opportunity to live out his shortened life with Rose. He was connected to her by more than just the earnest friendship they had shared, but pieces of her had transferred over into him. Most of them good, i.e. the one heart and keen understanding of people. However, there were a few unfortunate qualities he discovered he had inherited as well, such as her headstrong abrasiveness. He made a mental note to keep that part under control until Rose had accepted him fully lest she accuse him of being a different man.

But he was a different man. He quickly touched his fingers to his forehead, hoping it would pass as an unnoticeable gesture. His head felt so much lighter. It was bittersweet, really. It was a relief not to have the whole universe, all of time and space, going on in your mind all at once. All that Time Lord knowledge and consciousness was still there, after all he was only part human, but it came in bouts now. Like a file cabinet: filled to the brim, but organized in folders, easily attainable when he needed it and stored away when he didn't. He wondered how he never went mad before with it all shouting to him, an unending cacophony inside him. Of course, some did indeed consider him mad, perhaps he always had been. Perhaps they all were, all the Time Lords, and that's why the universe had feared them so.

"Please fasten your seatbelt, sir, as we prepare for take-off." A woman with soft eyes and a wrinkled smile motioned towards his seat. She wasn't unsightly but he placed her at about 55 years of age and she had a grandmotherly air about her. He imagined Jackie had picked her out because she was a comforting presence but too old to stir any sort of fancy in Pete. He smirked to himself at the revelation that Rose's mum, despite becoming a renewed mother and wife, still resembled that head case he met all those years ago. Well, that he met. He wasn't sure whether he should keep correcting himself. They were his memories too, his thoughts, his feelings. So what if it wasn't his physical body present at the time, weren't humans the ones who believed in souls anyhow?

He buckled his belt around his waist and squirmed around in his seat a bit in excitement. This was a new adventure, being a passenger in a 21st century aircraft. He was a bit disappointed that his travels would be so lengthy and inefficient now without the TARDIS, but this was all part of being domestic and he would embrace it with open arms. One look to his left and he knew it was all worth it. The one adventure he thought he could never have. Rose, his pink and yellow human—he ought to stop calling her that considering that her humanness wasn't a novelty any longer but old habits die slow.

He was almost childlike in his energy. He didn't carry himself as heavily and she wasn't sure if she was grateful for it or bothered by it. "Have you ever been on an airplane before?" She inquired, wondering if his vivacity was due to exhilaration. "Weeeellll, depends on your definition of 'airplane'." He flashed her one of those toothy grins and she was once again overwhelmed by just how Doctor-y he truly was. The way he drew out his "well", the way he hinted at enigmas as if they were common knowledge, the glint of unconditional affection in his eyes when he looked at her. But she knew he wasn't quite the same. She couldn't help but smile back, it was involuntary, but behind it there was nothing but conflict as she struggled to understand this new Doctor.

The town car drops them off in front of a mansion straight out of a period piece. They'd been living here for years now, ever since she and her mum had crossed universes, but she'd spent most of her days jumping through time and after growing up at Powell Estate, the sight of the place and the reality that she lived here still left her in a bit of shock. "So, this is home, then. You can stay here with us, if you'd like. It's certainly big enough." She glanced over at the Doctor as they crossed the threshold and realized in a spell of embarrassment that he didn't have any belongings with which to stake a claim.

Jackie came bounding in behind them. "We're never calling that driver again. You think he'd have some sympathy, I only just crossed universes, didn't think to bring along my wallet. I said, doesn't he know who I am? So this is the house…Tony and Pete must be out, I told them not to wait up for us. Rose can show you around, thought she might get lost herself. Hardly ever here, that one." The Doctor gave Rose a knowing look, realizing she hadn't been around because she had been looking for him.

"Go ahead and pick any room, as long as it's not Rose's. Tony doesn't need to be hearing any of that sort of stuff yet."

The Doctor and Rose turned the same shade of coral. "Mum, we don't, uh…" She tried to turn the conversation around on her mother to bypass the awkwardness. "Besides, I think it's a bit too late for that" She and the Doctor enjoyed a laugh, just like old times, as Jackie told them to "Shut it" and carried on up the stairs.

Rose was thankful her mum had retired to her own room and that the rest of the Tyler clan had been out so they could avoid complicated introductions and polite conversation. All she really wanted was to lock herself away with the Doctor in a private wing of the house and discover him entirely. She'd started making a list in her head of sames and differences. Same: face, fingers, hair, grin, eye twinkle, sense of style, knowledge of the cosmos. Different: inhibitions, landlocked, gait, life span. As she led him around the colossal residence, she imagined he was making a list of his own of domestic humany things he looked forward to doing.

He looked in awe at the stainless steel pots and pan hanging above his head making kitchen constellations and imagined whipping up some blueberry pancakes and bacon and waking Rose with the smell to have her walk in groggy but smiling and place a kiss on his dimpled cheek. Cooking breakfast on the weekends – yes.

He glanced at the mantle in the dining room and saw a copious amount of pictures blatantly taken in a studio of the Tyler lot, Rose forcing a pleased look, Tony unable to keep his focus on the camera man, Pete ever the professional with an impassive look on his face, and Jackie with the cheesiest grin (and the most eye makeup, which he'd never thought possible) he'd ever seen upon her, a few even had Mickey standing awkwardly beside them. Posing for Tyler family portraits – pass.

Despite Rose's appeals that they were nothing special, the Doctor insisted on seeing all the bathrooms. They were glorious things with plumbing and bathtubs and decorative towels. The one in the TARDIS was something more like that you'd see in a train: simple and to the point. But these were so homey, he adored them. Nothing screamed "household" like little bows on your hand towels and clawed feet on your bathtub. In all his 900 years, he'd never taken a proper, relaxing soak in a tub before. Take a bubble bath – yes.

The television in the family room was superfluous to say the least. It took up an entire wall and was voice activated. He was sick to his stomach with both delight and dread as he spotted several pairs of plastic glasses with blue and red lenses on the coffee table. "Yeah, they make tellys in 3D now," Rose remarked as she followed his eye line. "Took me a while to actually try it out since every time I saw them I just thought of….well, you know." He did know and he wanted to scoop her up in his arms and assure her that he would never leave her again but despite the passionate kiss on the beach, he was unsure of where he stood with her now and didn't want to push her away with overzealousness. "Mum usually sits here with Tony and watches her programs all day long." His face contorted into an expression of displeasure as he imagined having to spend his days with Jackie until he found a proper job. Watching soap operas with Jackie Tyler because there were no other tellys in the house and she pressured him into spending time with her and Tony – pass.

They went into Tony's room and found his most pleasant surprise yet. The whole thing was painted in TARDIS blue. There was a mobile above the crib with stars and planets he recognized as those he had taken Rose to. She had taken all their adventures and turned them into bedtime stories for her little brother. "To say I missed you would be an understatement," she explained calmly.

"There wasn't really anyone else I could talk to about you. I felt guilty telling Mum and Dad how much I'd rather be off with you than here with them. Mickey was understanding, at first, but I think he thought that when you left, we would pick up where we left off and there was only so much he could listen to. Even at Torchwood, I sound like a loony because, no offense, but you don't carry the same weight here as you do in the other world." She made her way over to the mobile and ran her fingers through the miniature worlds. She remembered being furious with him. How could he have expected her to live on like that, without him? After he'd given her everything—the sight of the Earth burning before her very eyes, adventures of saving the world from werewolves and Slitheen, a love so deep that even planets made entirely of ocean couldn't compare… What had he expected her to do? "The more I talked about you, the more I realized they sounded like fairytales so that's exactly what they became," she smiled as she thought of the way Tony's eyes alit when she spoke of the Doctor and their escapades. "He loves you already. 'Doctor' was like his third or fourth word."

The way she tenderly touched the furniture and spoke about him like he was a ghost made his hearts, no just one now, go weak. He'd always known she was bound to be as miserable as he was at their separation and that just like he did, she would find a way to carry on with his life and at least be complacent with his existence, but seeing it all here written on her face and on the walls, was more than he could bear. He strode across the room to take her limp hand in his. He didn't say a thing—just stood there and held her hand like he was always meant to. He had a flash of another reality where this room belonged not to Tony but to a child of his own and he and Rose had come in to kiss it goodnight. The stories of their adventures weren't just fairytales, they were promises of the things they would show him someday. He wondered if Rose had ever dreamed of having children but had relinquished that future in order to travel with him. For the first time in hundreds of years, he considered the possibility of being a proper father. Have a family with Rose Tyler – yes.

Their last stop was her bedroom. She was hesitant as to whether or not she should show him. He'd been inside her room in the TARDIS plenty of times, but things were different now. In the end, she gave in, certain that if she didn't he would tease her about it…or at least the Doctor she knew would…this new man, she wasn't entirely sure. Her first impulse was to tidy up—there was clothing in piles on the floor, files full of loose paper stacked on her desk, an empty coffee cup on her night stand—but the urge left her as quickly as it came on. After her moment of vulnerability in Tony's room, she wanted him to see how she lived, that she had kept busy and lived on without him. Not that she really needed to prove herself after saving the whole bloody multiverse, but the feeling remained all the same. He had kept mostly quiet during the tour, though she had seen the inner dialogue within his head but upon seeing the picture frame next to her bed, he let out a hearty laugh. He walked over and picked it up to get a closer look. "Ahhh, I remember this." The picture was one they had taken of the pair of them on a scooter bike in the 1950s. As usual, they'd been trying to get someplace else and ended up in London to save the UK from aliens. They were so happy then, certain that nothing in the universe could stand in their way. The Doctor and Rose Tyler: the stuff of legend. "1953, coronation of our lady Elizabeth II, case of the muppet faces. Lucky I was there to invent the home video and put that lovely little grin back on your head." Same: memories, voice. He talked just like him, all those ups and downs in his voice, easily excitable, witty to the last.

She sat down on her bed, directly in front of him now. "You're really him, aren't you?"

"In the flesh," he replied before kissing her softly. She did not resist, but rather leant into it and soon he was on the bed beside her. Internally, he reached out to his Time Lord self through their remaining connection and thought one phrase ardently: "Thank you."