I seriously love you people. The prologue wasn't even up for twenty-four hours, and I get such amazing feedback!

But yeah…

Chapter Summary: So, maybe she was little off course when she'd placed them. The TARDIS doesn't claim perfection, you know! Rose and the Doctor land exactly three years before their first meeting…or at least, three to her. So, Rose has yet to drop out of high school, yet to break up with Jimmy Stone, and yet to see the Doctor. It's utter madness, waiting, but she's grown used to it. Meanwhile, there's a familiar family in 1913 that needs saving.

She was running…She was always running, it felt like. But oddly, she didn't seem to mind...not when she had him by her side. He was grinning that maniacal smile again. The smile that foretold crazy amazing adventures—probably involving prison breaks, explosions, and other things of the sort.

She absolutely loved it.

Where they were running now, she wasn't exactly sure, she couldn't remember. But, she couldn't find it in herself to care. Because this was what she lived for, the thrill of adventure, of traveling, of—she shot him a covet look that he missed—of romance…

She loved this man, of that she was certain. And it was odd, that; because she couldn't remember his name, and he seemed to be switching between three different faces. Like, the universe couldn't seem to decide what he looked like.

But she would worry about that later, she decided, now, she just wanted to focus on this: The wind rushing past her face, the thrill as he squeezed her hand with his, the—beeping of her alarm clock?

Rose Tyler awoke with a start, breathing as though she'd run a marathon, reflex causing her to hit the snooze button and close her eyes again. She tried to remember the dream she'd been having, something...something with a doctor? She couldn't quite remember. Before that, there had been screaming, so much misery and pain, it hurt to think about actually…

"Sweetie, it's time to get up, you'll be late for school," Jackie called from the living room.

The girl groaned, rubbing sleep from her eyes roughly, as the last dregs of the dream slipped away.

She sighed and got to her feet. No use worrying about it now, whatever she'd been like in the dream, that wasn't her. She was sixteen year old Rose Tyler, sixth form student at Peckham Secondary School, and girlfriend to Jimmy Stone—not pining after some madman in a blue box.

But hadn't she been married to that madman, in the dream? At least some form of him. Hadn't she loved him dearly, had been willing to die to keep him safe? Wanting to when he was gone?

…It had felt so real, she thought, pulling on her blazer and slipping into her shoes. She'd been an adventurer, a soldier (and that scared her just a bit), a daredevil even…when in real life, the most outrageous thing she'd ever done was skip school with Shareen to go to the mall.

Unexpectedly, the thought of her best friend's name caused a sharp shooting pain to go through her chest. Why? It had only been the Saturday before that she'd seen her. Oddly if felt like much, much longer.

"I'm leaving," she called to her mother, not bothering to stop in the kitchen for a bite to eat. She was going to be late enough as it was. No need to tarnish her already teetering reputation (one too many outings with Shareen took their toll) with the teachers by being late.

That had been the other odd thing…in the dream, she'd dropped out of school to live with Jimmy—who had turned out to be rather horrible and mean. She hadn't ever gone back to finish, and she never achieved her A-levels.

"That proves it then," she said aloud. "There's no way Jimmy would ever make me drop out of school."

She'd most definitely say no on the off chance he asked. He'd understand. He was such a sweetheart. With that final happy thought, Rose Tyler stepped onto the bus that would take her to school.

~oOo~

He awoke to the smell of grass and dirt in his nose. It was rather overpowering to his senses, he thought, but not moving from his position. He didn't think he could, even if he wanted to. Emotions, too painful to name, swirled around inside him. He ignored the tears most definitely dripping off his face, refused to acknowledge them.

Because admitting that they were, would be allowing the reason they were there to be true. But it…it couldn't be…it couldn't, Rose couldn't be…

He choked.

He could hear yelling in the background. Someone must have found him at last. Odd, the scenario he was in…it was almost familiar.

"John hurry, someone's collapsed in the garden!"

That voice! It was…who was it again? It was…like a voice he'd heard once, one that'd made some sort of impact on him…

He blinked blurrily, as calloused hands heaved him to standing, leaning heavily on an unknown source.

"It's alright son, we've got you," a man said calmingly, and he too sounded familiar.

He wanted to ask them who they were, where he was, but when he opened his mouth, all that came out was, "They're gone, all gone. Why did they go?"

And he blacked out again.

~oOo~

When she arrived at school, Rose looked around for her best friend, spotting her siting in a bench near the door.

She swallowed the irrational lump in her throat, reminding herself for the third time who she was and who she was not, and walked over.

"Hey," she said faintly, collapsing beside Shareen and managing a weak smile.

Shareen frowned. "Hey," she said slowly. "What's up with you?"

Rose looked down to avoid her eyes. "Don't know what you're talking about, 'm fine."

She felt a hand on her forehead. "Hmm, no fever," her friend muttered. "How many fingers am I holding up?" she asked, waving four fingers in front of her face.

Rose forced a laugh. "I told you, I'm fine! Now, get off, the bell'll ring any second."

She sped for the door, Shareen trailing confusedly after her.

Honestly, she tried to convince herself, it was just a dream, a simple, nonsensical, amazing, fantastic (her heart gave a stutter at that word), horrifying, scary dream. She wasn't sure why it was affecting her so badly. For crying out loud, she felt like the world was spinning under her, making her dizzy at the thought.

'The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinnin' at one thousand miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I canfeelit. We're fallin' through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world'

That's what it felt like, it was exactly that. And she could remember him saying that, word for word, not long after she'd met—no, no, invented him. Because he wasn't real. He was a figment of her imagination. A—a Batman, without the tights—actually, maybe a bit more like Super Man, if she was going by—

She shook her head to clear it of any thought, anything on the Doctor who didn't exist.

Despite that firm thought, throughout the day, anything that would remind her of the dream, would give her heart a little tremor. She found herself having to bite through her lip in history to stop from correcting the teacher. Honestly, what did she know? It wasn't as though she'd been there…

She wished she had been though, wished it existed, wished that life she'd seen, before it all went wrong, was real.

And as she hid, under the pretense of going to restroom—it wouldn't fool Shareen for long—she cried for all that she'd lost, all that never was, and all she never possibly could be.

~oOo~

"-John, he's so cold, like he's been standing in a lake, but he looks like he's running a fever."

The Doctor moaned, slipping away from the nightmare he'd been having and into—the real nightmare, life. He didn't want to live anymore…he wanted to go home: to where his family would be, where River would be, where every single one of his long gone companions would be, where…Rose would be.

He wanted to cry out, release the pain that was continually shattering his hearts, mending them, and shattering them again. But he couldn't find his mouth.

He became aware that someone was blotting his forehead, wiping away just a little bit of his worries and pain. A million lifetimes ago (or so it felt like) he could remember with perfect clarity of his mother—his brilliant, fantastic, amazing, beautiful mother—doing the same. Just a little peace, just for a little bit, he decided. Then he would face the days that were to come.

He slipped into blissful dreamless sleep.

~oOo~

The weeks past very slowly for Rose, who continued to have dreams that she refused to call memories. Names and faces of people she'd never met—never would meet, would flutter past her eyelids and she would curse her drastically improved memory.

There was half of her—the larger half—the part that was still the little girl who ached for an adventure, that wished it was all true. That she was actually twenty-six year old Rose Tyler, companion to the wonderfully brilliant Doctor, the girl who didn't flinch at danger, the Bad Wolf, the girl who had married a very loving man who had died—well, actually, that bit contributed to the other half.

That life she'd seen, it was scary, it was dangerous. So many people—including her beloved John—had died horrible deaths. She would never wish that on anyone, just so she could have her adventures.

She was hiding again. She was hiding a lot lately. Someone had once said that her face was like a movie screen, any thoughts she had played straight across her face. And that was why she hid when she thought about the Doctor. Because she was absolutely sure if Shareen, or her mother, or Mickey, or—God forbid—Jimmy, saw her, they wouldn't be able to mistake the look on her face as anything but longing.

She sighed. Jimmy. Jimmy Stone. One thing the dream had been right about so far. Oh how she wished it hadn't been. Before her dream, if Jimmy had seemed slightly demanding, or not always there when he said he would, she'd passed it off as something with his band, or trouble with a mate or at home. But now, well…she didn't want to think about it.

And next week, if her dream was correct, Jimmy would ask her to move in with him and drop out of school.

"That'll be my sign," she decided. If he didn't ask, she would give up, she would force herself once and for all to let go of her past-future.

Regardless of whether or not it was the truth, she had to stop moping. Shareen had long passed with the thinking that she was simply ill. Now, she was under the impression that she was having a rather large fight with Jimmy ("I never did like him. Always seemed a bit sketchy to me."). Rose didn't bother to correct her.

After all, next week, it might (would, a part of her said) be true.

~oOo~

About a month had passed since the Doctor had woken up in the garden of the Daniels' house. It had taken about a week for his body to recover, and another two to grasp what was going on.

He was in the past, his past. More specifically, he was in his past body. Ninth incarnation.

At first, he had wondered if all the things that had happened—meeting Rose, falling in love with her, having her taken from him, all those brilliant companions, falling in love with River, River dying, Rose dying—had all just been a dream brought on by his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the War. But now, he was sure, he was back and it was all because of the TARDIS.

Besides, he could never simply dream up people like Rose and River, not in Five Billion years.

He could remember this family, from before. This was the family he had grown to love, to cherish, so much in fact, that he had risked a lot to make sure that they wouldn't step foot on that cursed vessel in a year's time.

And it all led back to one familiar name, attached to one slightly familiar face.

"Doctor, will you tell me another story about the stars?" a quiet sweet voice rang from beside him.

He looked at little Rosie Daniels, the child so achingly familiar, and gave an eye-crinkling smile. He hauled her up onto his knee.

"I think I could, if your mummy's okay with that." He looked at Amelia Daniels, who simply smiled, before flicking her eyes back down to her sewing.

He wracked his brain quickly and quirked his lips a little. "Once upon a time," he began. "In a world far, far away. There lived an arrogant alien prince…by the name of Theta."

Rosie scrunched her eyebrows. "What kind of name is that?"

He swallowed his laugh. "A spaceman's name, I s'pose."

This little girl, this sweet little innocent girl, had helped him so much. More than she could ever imagine. The first time around, right after the Time War, it was her innocence—so very much like Susan's had been once upon a time—that had saved him from letting the grief destroy him.

And unbeknownst to her, she was helping him again. This time, her innocent Susan-like personality wasn't the only thing that was keeping him sane.

She was so like Rose. So like her, that it almost physically hurt. In the way she talked, in the way she acted sometimes. Her eyes were the same color. The exact same shade of brown that belonged to Rose Tyler. It was the little things, the little things that helped the most.

And as he saw the astonishment and wonder on her face as he regaled her with his past among the stars—an edited version, of course—he couldn't quite help the smile on his face.

~oOo~

"No."

Jimmy Stone recoiled in surprise. "What's that s'posed to mean?"

The frown etched firmly into Rose's face deepened. "It means 'no' Jimmy."

"But you're my girl," he protested, a bit too much possessiveness soaked into his tone.

Her eyes narrowed. "You're asking me to give up my chance of a decent career, and a good bit of my money, on the chance that you'll get a gig with your band, am I right?"

Now he scowled. "Well your making it sound a lot more negative than it is, but yeah."

And suddenly she was inches from his face. "How the hell am I s'posed to know that you're not just going to dump me in five months, take my money, and run off with Noosh? Don' think I haven' noticed you givin' her eyes."

The surprised look on his face told her all she needed to know. "Ah, I see, tha' was the plan, then. Right then, goodbye Jimmy."

She turned to walk away, but he caught her arm tightly. "I don't think you understand me Rose, you don't get a choice. You lost that when you became my girl."

The cold look she sent him made him take a step back. "You leave me be, Jimmy Stone. I am a lot of things, but I most certainly am not your—I am nobody's girl. "

He swallowed, intimidated by her change in demeanor, but his grip on her wrist tightened.

A half of a second later, he found himself pinned to the floor by Rose's knee. "I don't think I need to repeat what I just said, do I, sweetheart?" she hissed, an icy smile he'd never seen before spread across her face. He shook his head quickly.

Slowly she got to her feet, her eyes still trained on his, her mouth still turned up in a mirthless smile.

And then she was gone, leaving Jimmy to wonder what the heck had just happened. He had no way of knowing, that just down the street, Rose Tyler was wondering the exact same thing.

~oOo~

When Rose felt herself far enough away from Jimmy, she found a bench and collapsed in it.

What…what was that? That attitude of hers had come out of nowhere! Never in all the sixteen years she'd—

But that was it, wasn't it? She wasn't really sixteen. In her mind she was twenty-six—close to twenty-seven, actually—year old Rose Tyler, Vitex heiress and commander of the Alternate London branch of Torchwood. That did explain the reflex that had pinned Jimmy to the ground.

So…so, all of it was true. It really had happened. Everything. The Doctor, the time travel, the TARDIS, the parallel universe, all of it.

Abruptly, her throat tightened and she brought a hand up to her mouth to cover a sob. So John had—her mother, Pete, and—oh God —Tony, everyone she knew in the alternate universe had—had…

She couldn't complete the thought.

It could have been minutes—or perhaps hours, she didn't know—that she sat there, silently weeping for what she had lost. But finally, she wiped away the remnants of her tears and stood.

She was sixteen. In three years her Doctor would come for her. However, until then, she would have to wait. Wait, she would. But she would plan. Plan until her Doctor came for her.

She'd have plenty to keep her busy until then.

~oOo~

For the Doctor, the weeks went by far too quickly. It wouldn't be long, until he would see Rose again. But…

She wouldn't remember him. Could he deal with that? Not knowing if she'd fall in love with him? Would he be okay with it if she didn't?

Yes. It would hurt. Oh, it would hurt. But if it meant that she was alive, oh so blessedly alive, then he could live with that.

He looked up at the photographer. Somehow, he wasn't sure how, John and Amelia had managed to convince him (for the second time, in his mind) to take a picture with them.

He didn't actually mind it, despite the grumblings he had given them. It would be nice, to have a photo of this fantastic family.

He tried not to grin, despite the fact that he was bursting with want to.

"Dare you to smile," he muttered to Rosie, who turned from her spot next to him to grin. Daisy, her older sister by four years, poked her in the back.

"Face the front."

The flashbulb went off and with that, the Doctor and the Daniels were forever preserved in history.

~oOo~

A-Levels were far too easy for Rose. They came and went in the blink of an eye. But she felt a little better about having to wait, once they were done.

Her mother was confused, when she took the job at Henrick's.

"You could go to college, travel (Here, Rose had snorted), do anything, and you're choosing to work at a clothing store?"

Rose shrugged. "I'm going to take online classes; I told you that, months before I even sat my A-Levels."

Her mother watched incredulously as her daughter danced around the kitchen, pulling together a meal practically out of thin air. Jackie didn't know, couldn't know, why she was so gleeful.

It wouldn't be long now.

The week before, Rose had celebrated her eighteenth birthday. In a little over a year's time, he would be here to take her away.

The Doctor.

And, to steal a line from a book that didn't exist yet, all would be well.

The radio, which she'd been dancing along to unconsciously, suddenly caught her attention. "-and that was the 80's single Bad Wolf by the one hit wonders the Rose Garden, next up, we continue our trip down memory lane with the song Back in Time by Huey Lewis and the News."

Bad Wolf?

Bad Wolf was still following her? Even after she'd basically reversed everything that'd happened? Would that mean the Doctor was still going to force her home during the events on the Game Station? After all the planning she'd done, hoping to prevent that?

Perhaps, it was assurance. Perhaps, it was simply telling her that she'd find the Doctor again.

"—tell me doctor, where are we goin' this time? Is this the 50's, or 1999?"

Laughter she couldn't hold in suddenly bubbled up inside her.

Okay, so apparently, Bad Wolf had a sense of humor. There was no possible way in this, or any other universe, that could be a coincidence.

It was such a bad joke, but she couldn't help but let it lift her spirits even higher as she sang along.

~oOo~

He knew he needed to leave soon.

He'd done what he was meant to do: John and Amelia had sworn that they wouldn't go anywhere near the Titanic. He supposed the outburst he'd given when they'd first gotten the tickets had scared them enough.

But he didn't want to go.

This family. This beautiful, wonderful, absolutely and utterly fantastic family meant as much as the fifty-some companions he'd had during his very, very long life.

They were not quite, but very close, to being something he'd call his family. Because he knew all he needed to know about them.

Amelia, who liked to be called Ellie, preferred coffee over tea (no milk, two sugars), had read all six hundred books in her library, mothered practically everyone who came in contact with her, and dreamed of travel. John hated eating anything sweet, worshiped the ground his wife walked on, and took care of his moustache almost religiously.

Daisy Daniels, who was the eldest child at ten years, had eyes far wiser than that. She was quiet, serious, but when you really got to know her, you found she could prank like a professional.

Rosie was the second eldest, being six and three quarters. She was the absolute sweetest thing on the planet. She loved to listen to his stories about his 'magic' blue box. She was utterly creative, spinning her own tales up on the spot if he grew tired of talking. His temporary room was plastered with drawings she'd gifted to him.

Next was John the second, who was called Jack and was quite proud in informing anyone he saw with the fact that he was four and a half. He adored his older sisters, and had, as of late, taken to following Rosie everywhere.

The youngest, little Ian, was just over two. He'd just spoken his first word little over a week ago. It had been flower and he had pointed at Rose.

It had been such a long time since he'd felt so proud.

…

But, despite this, despite the fact that he had this family, who was willing to take him in, who was willing to love him like he knew he didn't deserve…

…He had to go.

He had to leave before he gave into the fact that he wanted to stay here, and be a part of their family. Every day, the decision to leave got more difficult.

"Doctor." Rosie was tugging on his shirt.

He looked at her, surprised at the urgent look in her eyes. "Yes Rosie?"

"You're leaving soon, aren't you?"

He gaped at her. "W-what?"

She looked almost, annoyed at him. "You have to go save the princess, don't you? So she can save you back!"

"How did you—but I—but those are just stories Rosie," he spluttered.

She grabbed his hand. Her own was dwarfed in his soft grip. "You are not of this Time, Doctor. I can feel it. And the blue box you're hiding in the woods behind our house, she's been singing to me. She says it's time to go."

Tears gathered in his eyes. "Oh Rosie, I wish I could stay."

She grinned at him. "It's okay, your Bad Wolf needs you."

Bad Wolf. Even with Time spun back to the events previous, it was still following him. What could it mean?

Even with the pit in his gut at the words, he managed to grin back.

"I'll miss you dearly, Doctor," she told him, tugging him down to her height so she could grab him in a vice grip around his neck.

"I'll miss you too."

And the next day, the Doctor was gone from the Daniels house.

…

Of course, that isn't to say he went straight to Rose right after he left. No, he still had things he needed to do before then.

First, he had to have a conversation with a man about a certain leather jacket…

~oOo~

It was January first, 2005, just a little after twelve in the morning. Rose Tyler strolled along happily with her mum…well, she was happy, her mother was not.

"It's all Jimbo's fault," she complained. "His axle broke."

Rose scoffed. Jimbo paled in comparison with Pete. Then again, most of her mother's boyfriends had. "Dump him mum, he's useless."

Jackie looked indignant. "Like you can talk, you haven't had anybody since that worthless Jimmy Stone. Be fair though, my time of life, I'm not going to do much better."

They stopped, playful banter aside. Rose put a gloved hand on her mother's shoulder. "Don't talk like that. You never know, there could be somewhere out there."

Pete, she wanted to tell her, Pete was out there and he was brilliant. He had seriously love Jackie, not just as a replacement for his own wife.

Jackie smiled softly. "Maybe, one day." She suddenly grinned brightly at her daughter. "Happy New Year!"

Rose grinned and grabbed her in a hug. "Happy New Year!"

They started to go their separate ways, Rose pausing only to shout to her. "And don't stay out all night!"

Jackie laughed. "Try and stop me!"

Rose continued walking, seeing the estate coming up in her vision. She was a bit tired, but deliriously happy. Because this was it. This was the year.

She stopped suddenly, when she heard a gasp of what was unmistakably of pain. She turned, just a bit weary, to look at the man hunched in the shadows.

"You alright mate?" she asked.

"Yeah." The voice was soft, rough, barely there, but she recognized it anyway. Only several years of Torchwood train kept her face schooled in the cautiously curious face she had. This man was most definitely the Doctor.

And she remembered this from before. She'd assumed he was drunk, but…no, he was obviously in pain.

"Are you in a bit of trouble?"

She can almost see him grin. "Nah, I'm alright."

I'm alright. I'm always alright.

"Maybe it's time you went home," she suggested, and for his sake, she hoped home included her this time.

"Yeah…"

She hated this, seeing him in pain and not helping. So badly, she wanted to gather him up in a hug, because she can almost see his eyes, glinting from the street lamps. Hurt eyes. Eyes that had seen far too much.

She did her best to give him a smile and, just because she knew he'd appreciate it, the smile was tongue-touched. "Well, happy New Year!"

"And you," he managed, and it broke her heart just a bit to see how much better he looked with just a simple smile.

Swallowing, she turned away toward her building.

"What year is it?" he called to her.

She turned back to him. "Blimey, did you hit your head or something?"

He gave a little half shrug that didn't really say anything.

"2005," she informed him, a little thrill going through her. "January the first."

"2005," he said, and she could hear the wistful tone in his voice. "Tell you what, I bet you're going to have a really great year." His voice cracked a little at the end.

"Yeah," she sighed, her smile brilliant, because she knew with utter certainty, that it would be. "You know what, I bet, you're going to have a great year too."

She could tell he was surprised by her, but he didn't do anything more than give her a cracked smile.

She gave him another tongue-touched smile. "See ya."

As soon as she was up the stairs and into her flat, she collapsed.

The fact that she could remember having that conversation the first time around and it hardly changed, scared her just a bit.

Would it all be for not? Would she not be able to change enough that he would still end up alone?

The good mood, the happy patient waiting, all that was gone. Now, now she was angry. Angry at Time, for being so unchangeable, angry at the Doctor, for giving up. But mostly, she was angry at her future self. Obviously, she hadn't tried hard enough. Her Doctor was out there, in pain, possibly and probably regenerating. Where the hell was she? Where the fucking hell was she?

No.

No.

This wasn't going to stop her. Gods help her, but she wasn't going to give up. If she had to rip apart the threads of Time and Space, she was going to be there for her Doctor.

And mercy on the souls of those who tried to stop her.

Whoa, I seriously did not mean to write this much. But Rose's path is over the course of three years and the deal with the Doctor…well, I've decided he needed a little love. The Daniels volunteered.

The Daniels, by the way, are technically not OCs. I did, of course, make up their first names (yes, their familiarness was intentional), but they made their first and only cameo in Rose. But hey, Rosie wants the Doctor to visit. So he might very well visit.

Next time, we'll get into the actual story. And the Doctor and Rose will meet once again!

I'd really appreciate it if you could tell me what you thought of this chapter!

Thank you!