AN: The prompt for this chapter was: timey wimey 9/Rose/10, amnesia 10, confused 9 and an exasperated Rose, during the time 9 left Rose before "it also travels in time," after au doomsday with established 10/Rose.
The tenth Doctor glared at his past self and opened his mouth to give an acerbic comment of the big ears and leather look. But his gaze landed on Rose for a moment, and he noticed lines around her mouth that he hadn't spotted earlier.
Immediately, his own irritation was forgotten. "Yes, you can laugh at my fashion choices and hair style later," he said brusquely. "Where's your TARDIS? I want to get Rose to the infirmary."
"I'm fine," Rose said at the same time as the younger Doctor jerked a thumb over his shoulder and said, "It's this way."
The Doctor brushed his knuckles over Rose's cheekbone. "You're not fine, love," he countered softly. He held her gaze until she let go of the pretence. "Is it your shoulders?" he guessed, remembering how the suction had stretched her body out.
"And my back," she admitted. "But don't you dare feel guilty," she ordered, some of her earlier anger returning to her eyes. "I'm right where I want to be."
"Come on," the younger Doctor offered. "She's just down a flight of stairs."
The Doctor could feel his past self's confusion, and he knew they'd have to explain a few things to him—after figuring out where exactly he was in his own timeline. For now, he took Rose's hand and followed the leather clad Doctor out of the room that would haunt his dreams.
The younger Doctor had thought he'd received all the surprises possible, but when the TARDIS chimed joyfully upon Rose Tyler's entrance, he was proven wrong. "She's never been this happy to see anyone but me before," he said, scratching at his head.
Rose let go of the Doctor's hand and rested it on a coral strut. "Oh, I'm happy to see you too, dear," she whispered.
The pinstriped Doctor smiled, but there was something in his eyes that his counterpart thought looked like awe tinged with fear. "Rose and the TARDIS have a very special relationship," he explained, and the Doctor knew that whatever that meant, he would have to live through it to understand.
To the surprise of one Doctor and the satisfaction of the other, the TARDIS moved the infirmary to just off the console room. The Doctor watched his future self shrug off his coat and pull open a drawer filled with medical instruments, noting his familiarity with the room. "I take it you didn't change the design with this regeneration, then."
"Do you do that?" Rose interjected.
The older Doctor pulled a sonic wand out of the drawer. "Sometimes. Up on the table, love."
And that's twice he's called her that. The Doctor pushed that thought aside and finally asked the question that had been nagging at him since he'd recognised himself in that sterile, white room. "But how are you with me?" he asked Rose. "I asked you if you wanted to travel with me, and you said no."
"Well, that answers that question," the older Doctor muttered.
"Doctor, when did you see me last?" Rose asked quietly as the older Doctor waved the device in slow passes over her shoulders and upper back.
"A month ago, for me," he said. "You refused to come with me, said you had to stay with Ricky."
Between the annoyance that flickered in her eyes and a smirk playing on the older Doctor's mouth, the Doctor guessed his epithet for the idiot never wore off. "His name's Mickey," Rose said tersely. "An' since he just helped save the world, maybe you could try to remember it."
The Doctor looked down and scuffed the toe of his boat against the deck. "Yes, Rose," he mumbled.
Rose shook her head at her first Doctor. So much like the Doctor she'd married, and yet so different. Her husband tensed, and she reached behind her back for his hand. Always my Doctor, she promised.
The younger Doctor's eyes widened. "You're… but…" He looked between the Doctor and Rose. "She's human!"
"And you've only spent a handful of hours with her, and you already think she's the best thing to ever happen to you," the Doctor countered. "Are you really surprised that feeling will only grow stronger as you get to know her?"
"But how is that even possible?"
Rose wrinkled her brow, then whispered, "Ahhh," when she realised the younger Doctor had picked up on the telepathic communication and knew what that meant.
Her husband walked around the table to stand in between Rose and her first Doctor. "Well… let's just say Rose does something that makes her more telepathically open than most humans."
"That makes absolutely no sense," the younger Doctor stated flatly.
She hopped off the table and crossed the floor to the baffled Time Lord. "But it happens," she told him, not wanting to get into the ways Bad Wolf had changed her. "And to make sure it still happens, I think we need to straighten out some timelines. It sounds like you left me in London and never went back for me?"
He frowned. "Well, you said no."
Rose chuckled. "And I regretted it as soon as you shut the door," she promised.
Hope filled his ice-blue eyes. "You did?"
"Yep. So now—as soon as we leave—you need to go back and get me." She smiled up at him, and the tip of her pink tongue showed through her teeth. "Just don't forget to tell me that she also travels in time."
"Yes, well we should be off now," the older Doctor said loudly. "Timelines to maintain and all that."
Rose bit her lip and looked between her two Doctors. The Doctor she'd married was frowning—no, glaring at his younger self as he shoved his arms back into the sleeves of his coat. Now that the pain and adrenaline from their near miss had worn off, Rose's earlier anger over his attempt to send her away returned, and she ignored his obvious jealousy.
Her first Doctor looked at her like she held all the secrets to the universe, and she couldn't resist the yearning in his eyes. In a quick motion, she grabbed his lapels and pulled him down as she pushed herself up on her toes. His big hands landed on her waist as soon as their lips met, and Rose melted into his kiss.
The Doctor tilted his head and deepened their kiss, and Rose slid her hands up to the back of his neck. He sucked her top lip in between his own, and she swayed into him and sighed.
"Oi!"
The older Doctor's indignant cry broke through the haze of passion, and Rose reluctantly pulled back from one Doctor's kiss to look at the other.
He had his arms crossed over his chest and was tapping one foot in a quick rhythm. "That's my wife you're kissing."
The younger Doctor looked over at him, one eyebrow raised in a lazy smirk. "Which makes her my wife," he pointed out, leaving the other Doctor to bluster indignantly.
Rose smiled up at him and rubbed her thumb along his jaw. "I love you," she vowed, and the awe in his eyes broke her heart.
"Even though I'm not pretty like that one?"
She pulled him down so she could whisper in his ear. "You're the one I fell in love with," she told him, adding the soft, chiming syllables of his real name to the end of her declaration.
His blue eyes slid shut and he pressed his forehead to hers. For one timeless moment, they stood together, sharing what had been and what would be.
Then the Doctor's hands abruptly fell away from her waist and he took a step back from her. "You should go," he said. "After all, I've got someplace to be."
"Finally," his older self muttered, gesturing for Rose to leave the room first. Instead of following her, he turned to face the younger Doctor. "You'll need to hide these memories," he said in a low voice. "I don't remember any of this, and truthfully…" He looked over his shoulder to where they could just barely see Rose, standing near the outside doors. "There are things I'd rather not have rewritten."
"I know the laws of Time as well as you," the Doctor retorted. "I'll take care of it as soon as we're in the Vortex. The TARDIS will give me enough of a hint to go back and pick up Rose." He levelled a gaze at his older self. "You just make sure you continue to deserve her."
Blue eyes held brown, until both Doctors were satisfied they understood each other.
The Doctor nodded quickly, then stepped around his future self to jog into the console room. A quick glance at the monitor confirmed that Torchwood was crawling with agents, so the Doctors flew the TARDIS together down into the basement in the middle of the night to avoid detection.
Watching Rose walk hand in hand out of his TARDIS with the Doctor she was married to was one of the hardest things the Doctor had ever done—and one of the easiest. On one hand, he had no idea how much he would have to live through before he gained that kind of intimacy with Rose Tyler, but he knew himself well enough to know it didn't happen overnight. Right now, the wait seemed interminable, and he wanted to skip over the time in between and just take her for himself.
On the other hand, he could go on in this life, in this regeneration, knowing that life with Rose was waiting for him. The TARDIS chimed, and the Doctor sighed. "Yes, I know I need to forget, but surely something will remain—some feeling that there's something good just around the corner."
She hummed her reassurance, and the Doctor smiled. "Right them. Let's do this," he said, and began the process of hiding his own memories.
oOoOoOoOo
The Doctor blinked. The TARDIS was in flight, directing herself as she frankly had a habit of doing. He frowned when he looked down at the coordinates. "What are you doing, old girl?" he muttered. "We asked her to come with us, and she said no."
The TARDIS hummed and flashed the temporal navigation panel at him, and a slow smile spread across the Doctor's face. "But then, I did forget to tell her something, didn't I?"
The ship landed with a gentle thud, just ten seconds after he'd left. The Doctor took a deep breath, then pushed open the door. Rose had walked to the end of the alley, and a knot lodged in his stomach at the thought that he'd almost missed her.
Rose stared at the Doctor with eyes he dared to believe were hopeful, and he flashed her a grin. "By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?"
