Thanks for the lovely response to the first chapter! I was planning on only having two chapters but when I finished the story it seemed better to split it into two more, so there will be three in total :) Please please do let me know what you think in a review, it means the world to me. Many many thanks, enjoy chapter two! Donna x


Chapter Two

And save it they did. Rose didn't have time to revel in the moment she stepped back inside the TARDIS, her Doctor's TARDIS after so long, so caught up were they in their plan. She closed her eyes as the Doctors worked together, communicating through the speaker, unable to believe her luck that she was actually back. The worrying thought had just occurred to her that she had no idea what she was supposed to do next, when a new voice joined the swarm of others and promptly pushed all other thoughts out of her head.

"And for my next trick…!"

Her head snapped up, a wide smile spreading across her face as she let out a squeal. It had been so long since she'd heard the familiar northern accent that she loved so much, the voice belonging to her first Doctor. The man who'd told her to run and had never let her look back since.

When it was finally over, when they'd done everything they could, both the Doctor and Rose let out a huge sigh of relief, pulling each other once more into a hug. God, she'd missed him.

"Did you hear him?" Rose asked him gleefully, and he nodded.

"Yep! I miss him, sometimes. Being him. I seemed to get away with being a lot ruder."

"Oh, I dunno," She teased, "You've got your good points too, Doctor. Is it still Doctor? There's so many of you now I feel like you should have a different name! Shall I just call you 'Ten?'" He pulled a face.

"God, no. Chinny, bless him, has taken to calling me sandshoes, but that won't stick. They're trainers, for god's sake…"

Rose spluttered at the name Chinny, but then her face quickly dropped as the reality of the situation hit her. After so long, she was back in her universe, without any explanation, and no idea what was going to happen to her. Suddenly, she wasn't so elated any more, and sank down into the chair next to the console.

"So." Her voice was quiet, "I guess now… Now we talk?"

"Yeah I guess so." The Doctor nodded gravely, "Where do we start?" Rose looked up at him.

"We start where it ended. Dalig Ulv Stranden. Can I ask you honestly, Doctor… Did you know it was going to happen?" Looking puzzled, he shook his head, indicating for her to elaborate. She took a deep breath.

"Did you know that you… That my Doctor, my human Doctor… Did you know that he was going to die?"

"I…" The Doctor sighed, "I hoped that I was wrong. The answer to your question is no, when I left you with him I didn't know. I would never have done it otherwise. I wanted you to be happy, for us to have a life together, and that was the way of giving it to you." His eyes filled slightly with tears, "But when it happened to Donna-"

Rose's hand flew to her mouth, "Oh, my god, did she-?"

"No, she's not dead." He consoled her, "But she would have been. I had to take her memories, everything about me and you and all of us… It all had to go."

"I'm so sorry. But I'm so glad, too, that she's not dead. You – my human you, that is, worked it out as well, what was going to happen to him. It was horrific, obviously, but we kind of managed to make peace with it, because we knew it was coming. But his biggest fear was that Donna was dead. She was his other half, you know? And we had no way of knowing whether you had saved her from the same thing that happened to him. I just wish I could tell him that she's okay. But," she looked down at the grated floor, "It's a bit late now."

"A human-time lord metacrisis is impossible, Rose." The Doctor reached for her hand, "I'm so, so genuinely sorry that I didn't work that out before. When… When did he…?"

"A year ago. Not too long, but as I say, we knew it was coming. The time we had together was perfect, and he made sure to do as much research as he could on how I could travel back here after it happened. So that we could still be together."

"Were you and him-"

"Yes. I mean," Rose smiled weakly at him, "We weren't married or anything, there's no way you or him or any Doctor would give in to the domestic that easily! But yeah. We were together in a way that me and you weren't."

"Well, you can rest assured that whatever work he did, it would have helped a lot; made it much easier for the Moment to create a wormhole through the void as she did. None of it was in vain." The Doctor ran his hand through his hair, "And Rose… About… The way you were together with him. It's not that I didn't want- I mean, you know how I-"

"You don't have to make excuses, Doctor." Rose reached up to cup his cheek, "We thought we had all the time in the universe. I know how complicated it is for you with humans. Even if you did…" She hesitated, "Love me, then I know we couldn't have had that kind of life together. I was just a bit younger, and a bit too stupid to see it then."

"Never stupid, Rose. Just so very human." The Doctor frowned slightly, "Speaking of which… You said you had gold light coming from your eyes before the wormhole appeared?"

"Yeah, it looked… I don't know, it's scary, but it actually looked like you do right before you regenerate. Like the same kind of energy."

"I suspected so."

"Suspected what?"

"Bad Wolf." He said simply. "I told you about what happened, didn't I, after you looked into the heart of the TARDIS. You connected with her, then, she gave you power you couldn't handle and so I had to absorb it. But I think there's quite a bit of it left behind, Rose. I think you're something different now."

Her eyes widened in panic, "Oh, my god, like a metacrisis? Is the same thing going to happen to me as the Doctor and Don-"

"No!" He insisted, "God no, I'm not trying to scare you. I just think your connection with her is still there." The Doctor patted the console, "I just think that she's never going to let anything happen to you. I mean, look at you. It's been years since that happened and you haven't aged a day."

Rose nodded, "I did notice that. My mother has never been more jealous of anyone!" She laughed, "So, then… In a perfect world, that would be that, wouldn't it! I'm here, not aging, and you're here, unable to die, and we're in our universe, in our TARDIS…" Her voice was bittersweet now, and thick with emotion. "In a perfect world, we wouldn't have to go to the gallery now, would we."

"No." The Doctor swallowed, "We wouldn't. But I think if the story of you and me has taught us anything, Rose, it's that we don't live in that world. We live in this one… And in this world, the rest of my life in this body is fixed in time. I carry on, not that I know how long for, and then at some point I'm killed, and I regenerate into him. Into chinny chin chin." He smiled sadly, holding both of her hands.

"And you have to do it without me." He nodded.

"Yes, I do. If you stay with me now, then events will happen differently, and I won't become him and we won't save my planet and… Oh, you know. Timey wimey paradox. The fact is, I'm not with you for the rest of this body's life. I'm not with you when I regenerate, and if we try and force it then the likelihood is the universe will split us up a different way. And I can't let that happen. I need to know you're safe."

Rose nodded sadly. As awful as it was to find this Doctor again and have to leave him, the truth was she had experienced his regeneration before, and had been able to get used to it. She knew that this was what needed to happen, that she couldn't stay with an earlier version of him… And besides. She'd had too physical a relationship with the man who looked and acted exactly like the Tenth Doctor to be able to go back to just being friends. It was too much.

"Do you think he'll want me?" She bit her lip, "I mean… It's been four hundred years for him…"

"And I know he's missed you for every single day of them." The Doctor said firmly. "I saw his face when he heard Bad Wolf, I know everything he felt when he saw you again. I saw how tightly he held you, and I know he never, ever wants to let you go again. Because he feels exactly the same way about you as I do, Rose. I promise you that."

"And…" Rose knew she was pushing her luck here, "What is that feeling?"

The Doctor tried to contain himself, but it was too much, and a single sob escaped from him before he could help it. "Don't make me say it, Rose, please."

She nodded, holding back tears herself at the sight of his crumpled face, and hurriedly pulled him into her, holding him tightly as he buried his face in her neck. They stood for a few minutes, wanting to make the most of every second together… And Rose wasn't sure how it happened, but slowly their faces were turned towards each other, and then their lips were touching even though neither of them had initiated it, and then, somehow, she was experiencing the most mind-blowing kiss of her life without any knowledge of how it had happened.

But they made the most of it. And when it was over, prompted by the bump of the TARDIS landing, they pulled back with traces of smiles rather than sorrow.

"This isn't goodbye." She insisted, stroking his cheek, "You'll be fine now, because you know for a fact you're going to be with me again. It's only a couple of hundred years."

"I know." He nodded, not having the heart to tell her that soon, he would have forgotten every single part of this day. "Not long at all. I'd wait forever for you, Rose, but I'm really very glad that I don't have to."