Disclaimer: If I owned Doctor Who, you'd be lucky to get a single episode per year.
A/N: I'm a bit surprised by the amount of reviews. Because the word count didn't pass 5K I didn't expect to get over two or three. I guess that goes to show how popular 10/Rose is! Even after all this time. Yay!
Also if anyone sees any errors in my writing, please let me know and I'll try my best to fix them.
The Doctor had plenty to think about what his older, now un-existing, counterpart had told him. But for now he strutted up to Rose, who was grinning at him mischievously.
"What?" The Doctor inquired.
Rose pulled something from behind her. "Cake?" She offered the small treat to him.
The Doctor laughed and accepted the cake and took a bite.
"Ball bearings you can eat. Masterpiece!" He cheered.
It was amazing. No matter how much he babbled on, Rose actually remembered what he said (usually). Most of his companions just droned him out when he was on a roll, but dear Rosie seemed to have a sixth sense or some sort of subconscious radar for his running commentary.
Rose hugged him.
"I thought I'd lost you." She said.
Ah right, the isolus child. He had already forgotten about that, with the stunt his older self had pulled.
"Nah!" The Doctor denied. "You're not going to lose me for a very long time. Not if I can help it. And since I'm brilliant, that is saying quite a bit." He preened and Rose rolled her eyes while giggling.
"So, what now?" She asked.
"Well, we'll go see the games! That's what we came for, isn't it?"
Rose took the Doctor's hand and teasingly begged him to give him a clue about them. The doctor teased her right back.
Fireworks crackled above their heads.
"Y'know, they keep on trying to split us up, but they never ever will." Rose said as she admired the fireworks.
The Doctor, however, preferred to look at Rose instead of the colorful exploding streams of fire above their heads.
"Not if I can help it." He said, uncharacteristically serious.
Rose glanced away from the fireworks. "We'll always be okay, you an' me. Don't you reckon, Doctor?"
The Doctor grinned at her. "Always."
After the 2012 Olympics Rose and Doctor went back to the TARDIS.
"You liar!" Rose laughed. "Got me right there, for a moment."
"Not my fault you're so gullible." Doctor teased.
"Hey!" Rose protested and threw the TARDIS mallet at him.
The Doctor dodged it while laughing.
"So, where are you taking me next, O Great Lord of Time?" Rose asked sarcastically.
The Doctor didn't reply at first. He just looked at Rose, a wistful look in his eyes.
"What?" Rose asked, a bit confused over his sudden mood change.
The Doctor shrugged it off and strutted towards the console.
"Y'know all my incarnations have strong points and weak points that vary from each other. Like, my second incarnation was pretty good with the flute." He fiddled with a few knobs on the console.
"Okay…" Rose said slowly, unsure where he was going with this.
The Doctor flipped the final knob and suddenly the console room was filled with music.
"Let's find out if I've still got the moves, shall we?" He grinned cheekily and reached a hand at Rose.
Rose snorted a laugh and took his hand. The Doctor immediately pulled her close and started twirling her around. Rose shrieked a laugh as she was swung, swirled and dipped by the Doctor who, as it turned out, definitely still had the moves.
It happened when the Doctor pulled Rose up from their final dip. For a short moment he was just holding her, then he lowered his lips against hers.
Rose was so surprised all she did for a moment was grip his arms and stare blankly with wide eyes. After the initial shock had worn off she hummed against the Doctor's mouth happily and slid her fingers into his hair.
After who knows how long a time later, the pair broke apart, both rather winded.
"I should've done that the first time we danced…" The Doctor gasped out.
"Yes, you should have." Rose rasped back, dazed.
Cheeky little vixen the Doctor thought, amused.
The Doctor was still a bit haunted by his future's ominous warning, but that didn't stop him from having a good time with Rose. He took her to an asteroid bazaar where she bought a small trinket for her mother. Which reminded her that she hadn't visited her for a while, which made the Doctor cringe in anticipation of visiting Jackie Tyler.
Much too soon the TARDIS materialized in the Powell Estates.
"I'm going to get slapped." The Doctor dreaded as they walked hand-in-hand to Jackie's apartment. "I just know it." He pouted cutely.
"Why'd she slap ya?" Rose shook her head.
"Weeell, it's been a while since I last took you to see her, and she sort of had her heart broken by that Elton or Elvis, or whats'isface bloke then. And also, now we're sort of… y'know." The Doctor trailed off and pressed a kiss on her head.
Rose snorted. "I'm pretty sure she believes we've been shagging since leather jacket. So, I'm rather positive you'll be fine."
The Doctor stumbled over his own feet. "What, seriously?" He squeaked out with wide eyes.
Rose only gave him a tongue-in-cheek grin and dragged him along. They entered the apartment. Rose cheerfully, and the Doctor attempting to fade into the background, hoping against hope that Jackie wouldn't notice him with her daughter visiting.
"Mum, it's us! We're back!" Rose called cheerfully.
Doctor cringed. Why couldn't she have said 'it's me, I'm back'? Jackie might've been less keen to notice him then.
Jackie came to the hallway and pulled her daughter into a hug. The Doctor took it as an opportunity to try and sneak past the pair of women, but it wasn't meant to be.
"Oh, no you don't! C'mere!" Jackie called out and the Doctor tensed up.
Then Jackie pulled him close and landed a big fat kiss on his lips. Then she proceeded to hug the stuffing out of him. The Doctor may or may not have protested, but he was in too much shock to really remember. Fortunately Jackie released him soon after. Deeply disturbed, the Doctor wiped his mouth.
"I think- I think I may actually prefer the slap. Sorry Rose, but your mother kissing me is just- just wrong." He stuttered as Rose did her best trying not to laugh. She took pity on him and kissed the corner his mouth. "At least she likes you." She consoled.
The Doctor glanced at Jackie to gouge her reaction over her daughter kissing him. She was just standing there as if nothing in the world was out of place.
Oh. She probably does believe I've been shagging her daughter. The Doctor thought, oddly disturbed and relieved at the same time.
Rose started twittering away about the bezoolium she'd gotten Jackie, and Jackie replied that her father was coming to visit. She cheerfully went to the kitchen to put on some tea.
"She's gone mad." Rose whispered.
"Tell me something new." The Doctor replied, not particularly used to Jackie being so chipper.
"Granddad Prentice- that's her dad- but he died like ten years ago." Rose explained.
That's new. The Doctor thought. Interesting.
Rose followed her mother to the kitchen to try and reason with her, however then a blurry, but definitely humanoid, shape sort of just walked into the room through the wall.
"Dad, say hello to Rose. Ain't she grown?" Jackie said with a wide smile while Rose and the Doctor just stared. The Doctor glanced out the window and realized there seemed to be more of them. He took off running and Rose followed him.
Once they were outside they realized that the 'ghosts' really were everywhere. Once they had faded they went back inside and tried out the telly. The Doctor wasn't pleased to find out the ghosts really were literally everywhere on the planet.
"When did it start?" He asked Jackie, and she started going on about her neighbor hearing a noise in the cellar. Doctor rolled his eyes and corrected Jackie to 'worldwide'.
"Oh! That was about two months ago."
Jackie was adamant to believe that the 'ghosts' were really ghosts, but neither the Doctor nor Rose were so sure. So they went to the TARDIS to try and figure things out. The Doctor even had his nerd moment as he jumped out with some 'ghostbuster' equipment, complete with singing the theme song. He managed to crack Rose up, at least.
After the 'trap' was set and the Doctor was outside the TARDIS, Rose and Jackie were inside the time ship with Rose running maintenance.
"You even look like him." Jackie took the opportunity to talk to her daughter privately.
"I suppose I do." Rose agreed with a grin.
"You've changed so much." Jackie sighed.
"For the better." Rose agreed.
"I suppose."
Rose looked at her mother. "What's this really about?"
"What happens when I'm gone?" Jackie asked morbidly.
"Don't talk like that." Rose frowned, not comfortable where the conversation was heading.
"No, but really. When I'm dead and buried you won't have any reason to come back home. What happens then?"
Rose looked down for a moment and didn't answer immediately.
"You know I love him, don't ya, mum?" She started.
"Of course I do." Jackie replied immediately.
"He does return my feelings, mum and-"
"Won't you ever settle down?"
Rose smiled at her mother. "The Doctor never will so I won't either. We'll just keep on traveling. And there's nothing bad about that. It's what I want." Rose finished quickly as Jackie opened her mouth for a protest.
"In forty years time- fifty- there'll be this woman, this strange woman, walking through the marketplace on some alien planet. She's not Rose Tyler anymore- she's not even human." Jackie declared seriously.
Rose blinked at her mother before dissolving into giggles. "Mum-" she started, but was interrupted by the Doctor's shout "Here we go!"
Rose turned around and looked at the scanner. "Scanner's working! It says delta-one-six!" She shouted back jovially. She turned back to her mother.
"Mum, I'll always be your daughter, no matter what happens. And as long as you're here I'll always come and visit. Yeah, once you're gone I won't have much of a reason to, but it's not so bad. I'll have the Doctor."
"So you'll just keep traveling." Jackie said mournfully.
"And that's a good thing." Rose reassured. "All children leave their homes eventually. I doubt granddad Prentice liked dad all that much at first either."
That managed a smile from Jackie. "No, I suppose he didn't. He thought Pete a deadbeat and unworthy of my affection."
"But you loved him anyway, though lord knows you two bickered. And it's the same for me with the Doctor. Sure, our lives are not what you call 'ordinary' but we're happy. I'm happy. Shouldn't that be what really matters in the end?" Rose reasoned and Jackie sighed.
"I suppose you're right. But can I at least expect grandchildren?"
"Mum!" Rose jumped, thrown off balance by her mother's sudden change of topic. "Uh, um, I- uh, I'm not sure we're compatible in that way." Rose flustered, not actually sure if that was the truth or not.
"Why? What kind of contraception have you been using?" Jackie kept on going.
"Mum!" Rose squeaked.
"Fine, fine, don't tell me. I don't need to know all the strange alien things you've been using. For all I know he may have tentacles down there."
With that Jackie went away to sit a little ways away. Not a moment later the Doctor burst in and started running around like a mad child on a sugar rush.
"I said so! The ghost have to be forced into existence from one specific point. I can track down the source!" He flicked the lever with a shout of 'allons-y' and started the dematerialization sequence.
He started babbling away as the ship flew to her destination. The Doctor gave Rose a smack on the lips and then realized Rose was uncharacteristically still. "You're staring at me." He pointed out.
"My mum's still on board." Rose said slowly.
Oh… shit. The Doctor thought as he located where Jackie was sitting.
"If we end up on Mars I'm going to kill you." Jackie said and crossed her arms defensively.
They landed. Doctor looked at the monitor and noticed that the TARDIS was surrounded by soldiers and theirs guns.
"Well, there goes the advantage of surprise." The Doctor noted lightly. "Still, cuts to the chase. Stay in here Rose, look after Jackie." He told Rose in the same light tone.
"I'm not looking after my mum!" Rose immediately protested.
"You brought her." The Doctor stated.
"I was kidnapped!" Jackie protested, sounding a lot like her daughter had just moments ago.
"Doctor, they've got guns." Rose pointed out seriously.
"And I haven't. Which makes me the better person, don't you think?" He said cheekily and kissed Rose's cheek. "They can shoot me dead, but the moral high ground is mine."
"But I don't want them to shoot you dead." Rose whined. "I really like that body of yours."
The Doctor preened under Rose's compliment while Jackie rolled her eyes.
"I like it too." He grinned and bounced on the balls of his feet. "It's very light."
Then he turned and was out of the TARDIS before Rose could form another protest.
"If they're not going to shoot him, I'm going to strangle him." Rose grumbled as she and her mother pressed up against the door.
"Now you sound like me and Pete used to." Jackie smiled.
The pair listened to the Doctor's exchange with whoever it was that was out there. The woman in charge called the Doctor on his bullshit and all but demanded for him to reveal his current companion.
The Doctor reached in and pulled out Jackie, going on about some outlandish story that made Rose want to slap her forehead. Apparently Jackie was now Rose who had aged 57 years. Rose couldn't believe the little lie was bought, but then again the queen and her guards had also believed her to be a feral child bought with a sixpence from a circus.
Before too long the TARDIS got confiscated. Rose peeked out of the doors and noticed the Doctor. He gave her a nod. Rose closed the doors again. Well, what else to do in hostile environment than go sightseeing?
Pretty much everything went downhill from there. The Doctor discovered a void ship, and that the 'ghosts' were bleeding through the cracks of the universe, making them bigger, therefore making them extremely dangerous. Then Rose got herself caught by a Torchwood employee, effectively mucking up the Doctor's half baked plan to keep her safe. Then the apparent ghost attempted a coup of the ghost shift- and soon succeeded. Then an army of cybermen invaded the planet. Then the Doctor found out the void ship was not of cybermen design, but of someone or something far more dangerous.
With Rose- well, she was just pleasantly surprised to see Mickey of all people. She had a hard time not to giggle as he made goofy gestures behind the Torchwood employee's back. That amusement didn't last very long when the alarm went off and four daleks emerged from the void ship.
The cybermen and daleks clashed, and no alliances were made. Cybermen decided that now of all times would be a good idea to 'upgrade' their 'recruits'. They managed to get Yvonne (the woman who had been in charge), but got distracted long enough for Jackie to make her escape. The Doctor wasn't included as a recruit, the cybermen determined he had information about daleks and let him be… for now.
When things looked the grimmest, a new hope arrived. Daleks and cybermen may have come from the void, but they were also followed by their enemies: people whom the Doctor could call his allies. The Doctor was taken for a spin in the parallel universe where he met Pete Tyler, who had become Torchwood's new director at that universe. They came back, fully intending to put a stop to the madness.
And they started with rescuing Rose and Mickey from the daleks, then Jackie from a couple of cybermen who had caught up with her and wanted to upgrade her. Parallel Pete also got a rather touching reunion- er, first meeting?- with his dead wife.
Soon the situation went from man-we're-screwed to holy-shit-the-universe-is-doomed, as apparently the four daleks had stolen a Time Lord prison ship containing millions of daleks, and managed to get it open using Mickey's handprint.
They went back to the breach room and watched through the window as the dalek army kept on pouring out of the prison ship.
"This world is going to crash and burn. There's nothing we can do. We're going home." Pete declared and took a dimensional hopper and gave it to Jackie. "You're coming with us."
"But they're destroying the city." Jackie protested frantically.
"Oh, I've forgotten you could argue." Pete said affectionately. "It's not just London, it's the whole world. But there's another world, just waiting for you. And it's safe- as long as the doctor closes the bridge." He explained to his parallel-wife.
He turned to the Doctor who grinned at them maniacally while wearing cheap 3D glasses.
"Oh I'm ready." The Doctor declared. He ran to a computer and started clacking away. "Equipment's right here. Thank you Torchwood! Slam 'em down, and close up both universes."
"We can't just leave." Rose frowned, not believing the Doctor would leave this world to rot. "What about the daleks and cybermen?"
"They're part of the problem, and that makes them part of the solution." The Doctor beamed, looking quite insane. "Well? Isn't anyone gonna ask? What is it with the glasses?"
Rose grinned widely. No matter the situation, the doctor could always act so ridiculous. That's part of the reason she fell so hard. "What is it with the glasses?" Rose indulged him.
"I can see!" He practically sang. "We've got two separate worlds, but between them we've got the void. That's where the daleks were hiding, and the cybermen traveled through it to get here, and you lot." He pointed to the parallel universe people.
He then proceeded to take off his glasses and nearly poked Rose's eye out by shoving them on her face. "I've been through it. See?" He swayed playfully from side to side as Rose looked at him through the paper glasses. She reached out her hand to 'touch' the green stuff surrounding her Doctor.
"What is it?" She inquired, ever curious.
"Void Stuff." The Doctor replied gaily. "Look at the others." She instructed Rose. "The only one who doesn't have it: the only one who hasn't been through the void. Your mother." The Doctor pointed at Jackie. "First time she's looked normal in her life." He couldn't resist adding. Jackie protested the derisive comment.
The Doctor took off running towards where the rift would be, practically skipping.
"The daleks, the cybermen, they lived inside the void, they're bristling with it. I just open the void in reverse. The void stuff gets sucked back inside!"
"Pulling them all in!" Rose joined the Doctor's cheering.
"Sorry, but what's the void?" Mickey cut in.
"The dead space. Some people call it hell." The Doctor explained.
"So, you're gonna send the daleks and the cybermen to hell? Man, I told you he was good." Mickey grinned.
Rose frowned as another thing occurred to her. "But… we've all got void stuff. Including me. We're all contaminated. We'll be pulled in."
The Doctor opened his mouth to say that she would go to parallel universe with the rest. Soon she's going to have a choice to make. And he closed it again. This was it.
"You've all got to go back to Pete's world. Ooh I like that: Pete's world. We should call it that!" He addressed the people in the room. "I'm opening the void, but only on this side."
"And then you close it, for good?" Pete specified.
"The bridge itself is soaked in void stuff. In the end it'll close itself." The Doctor corrected.
"Won't you get pulled in?" Mickey frowned.
The Doctor grinned and showed them the magna clamps.
"That's why I've got these! I just have to hang on for my life. Been doing it all my life." …and when you're literally holding on for your lives… the Doctor couldn't hold back a wince.
Rose interpreted the Doctor's wince a bit differently.
"I'm supposed to go." She stated, not asked.
The Doctor's entire demeanor went grim and he stood in front of her.
"You should. You'll be safe."
Rose closed her eyes in pain and looked down.
Whatever that choice is going to be you are going to abide by it.
The Doctor sighed and lowered his eyes
SMACK
His head flew to the side as Rose gave him the patented Tyler Slap.
"Ow! What was that for?" He whined.
"For even daring to suggest something so completely retarded! I'm not going to leave you. Ever." …going to abide by it.
The Doctor stood there for a moment before his mouth stretched into a grin. He grabbed Rose by the back of her head and pulled her into a short snog. Mickey may or may not have made a sound of disgust, but honestly he was too distracted to care.
"Right! You lot, off you go." The Doctor gestured to the rest of the group after he and Rose had pulled apart.
"I'm not leaving without her!" Jackie protested immediately.
"Well, you don't have to." Rose reasoned. "I mean, you're not soaked in void stuff. You won't get sucked in."
"Jacks…" Pete whispered.
Jackie turned to her parallel-husband. She shook her head. "I can't, Pete, I just can't."
Pete's face was stony. For a moment he just stood there like a statue, then he pushed his hopper and disappeared without any further words.
"Right. Guess that's it for us." Mickey said and gave Rose a hug. "Bye, babe." He said and left as well. The rest of the team followed his example.
"You should go too." Rose told her mother.
"What are you babbling about?!" Jackie wrinkled her nose.
"Mum…"
The building rocked.
"Systems rebooted. Open access" said the cool female voice of the computer.
"Rose! Those coordinates over there, set them all to six." The Doctor called out and Rose went to abide by his command. A security camera got her attention. "We've got cybermen on the way up."
"How many floors down?" He asked urgently.
"Just one."
"Oh, my god." Jackie whimpered.
The Doctor hopped to a computer and clacked something in.
"Levers operational."
The Doctor grinned. He grabbed a magna clamp and gave it to Rose, along with a peck.
"There we go. The old team! Hope and Glory, Mutt and Jeff, Shiver and Shake!"
Rose snorted a laugh. "Which one's Shiver?"
"Oh I'm Shake." He beamed.
"That's all nice and dandy, but don't you think we've got to get to it?" Jackie cut in as she spied the daleks approaching.
Rose and the Doctor attached the magna clamps to their walls and went to the levers. "Let's do it! And stay close to the wall, Jackie. You may not be seeped in void stuff, but there's going to be millions of daleks and cybermen flying past us." He shouted and he and Rose activated the breach. As soon as the mechanical computer declared the breach online they made a mad dash to the clamps and clamped on.
You have a sonic screwdriver.
How was that even relevant? But still, just in case the Doctor made sure he could whip it out at any moment
The breach opened and started sucking in everything drenched in void stuff. Jackie was crouching near Rose and was helping her hold on, just in case.
"Mum, you should go to dad." Rose told her mother as the daleks and cybermen whirred over their heads.
"Don't be daft, Rose." Jackie admonished.
"I'm serious."
"I'm not leaving without you."
"Mum, I've got the Doctor. But what about you?"
"I've got you!" Jackie protested.
"Mum, I love you and I would always visit you if you stayed here. But I've got my own life now. I've flown the coop. Dad could make you so happy in the parallel universe."
"But you wouldn't be there." Jackie protested.
"We've had a good life together, mum. Simple, yes, but good. I'm happy with the man I love. You deserve to be happy with yours."
Jackie's eyes filled with tears. But before she could say anything Rose's lever sparked and glitched.
"Offline" Said computer. Immediately the suction lessened.
"Oh!" Jackie gasped and climbed over to fix the problem. She pushed the lever back with almost no difficulty.
"Online and locked."
The force of the pull intensified again. Jackie looked at Rose who was smiling at her. Jackie started toying with the big yellow button that Pete had hung around her neck. She looked back at her daughter who nodded at her.
"I love you!" She screamed over the roar.
"I love you too, mum." Rose screamed back.
Then Jackie pushed the button and disappeared.
"Systems closed."
Rose was asleep in her room and the Doctor was sitting in the console room, staring at his sonic screwdriver.
"Remember, you have a sonic screwdriver. It's very important." He mused. "Rose had a choice to make, and she chose to stay with me, over her own safety. Check. But where did the screwdriver factor in?!"
"This is not what my future self was talking about? Ugh. This doesn't make any sense."
The Doctor rubbed his face in frustration.
"Fine, from the beginning again. If I hadn't had those warnings. Screwdriver? Irrelevant. Let Rose come to her own decision. I'm sure she still would've chosen me and… abide by it."
The Doctor's eyes widened.
"Abide by it! That implies I didn't listen to her last time. Yes, and if I hadn't done that I would've done what would keep her the most safe. I would've forced her into the parallel universe."
The Doctor's grin faded.
"And she would've been in the parallel universe. Aaargh! I don't get it! Where's the screwdriver!?"
"Doctor?"
"Rose? What are you doing up?"
Rose shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."
"You miss her, don't you?" The Doctor embraced Rose.
"'Course I do. But she's happy there, and that's all that matters to me."
"Do you wish you hadn't convinced her to leave?"
Rose shook her head. "I don't regret it. Though, I would like to know how she's doing."
"Hmm…" The Doctor hummed and suddenly started running around the console, twisting knobs, and gazing at consoles.
"Doctor?"
"If I can find a hole in the universe, a tiny hole, and that's a very big if…" The Doctor looked up at Rose. "We may be able to send a massage through."
"Really?" Rose asked hopefully. "Won't that collapse the universes?"
"Nah. Think of the void as glass. Try to force yourself through and it shatters, but shine a torch through… The light projects on the other side leaving the glass intact."
"But you on your side."
"I'm sorry, Rose. This is the best I can do."
Rose smiled. "It's far more than I've dared to hope."
Jackie Tyler heard her daughter call for her in her dreams. Most people would think her mad, but not her husband. Not after everything they'd been through. There was also Mickey. So they packed up and followed wherever she heard her daughter. To some completely backwater beach in Norway.
"Mum." Jackie heard her daughter call and turned to see a transparent image of her and the Doctor.
"Rose!" Jackie called and took a step towards them.
"Ah! We're just an image, Jackie. You can't touch." The Doctor interrupted.
"You look like ghosts, all see through and stuff." Jackie pouted as she took a step back.
The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at something and the image solidified.
"Where are you if not here?"
"Inside the TARDIS. We're orbiting a supernova. It's rather beautiful, actually." Rose replied.
"There's a tiny little gap in the universe left, and it's just about to close. This projection takes a lot of power. We're sort of burning up a sun to do this." He grinned a bit sheepishly.
"Can't you come through for real?"
"Sorry, no. The whole thing would fracture and two universes would collapse." Rose replied.
"Oh, now you even sound like him." Jackie laughed.
The Doctor pulled Rose closer to him with one arm. "Where did the gap come out, anyway?"
"Norway. Some place that translates as Bad Wolf Bay." It was Mickey who replied that question.
"What? You serious?" Rose blinked in surprise and the Doctor laughed at the irony.
"Uh, right. Don't want to say this, but we've only got a few minutes."
"How are you doing, mum? You are happy there, right."
"Would be better if you were here." Jackie smiled. "But yeah, can't complain. Pete and I 'renewed' our vows and I'm three months pregnant now."
"Get out of here!" Rose jumped, her eyes alight. "Mum, are you serious?"
Jackie smiled softly and placed her hands on her still unnoticeable belly. "More Tylers on the way."
"That's great, mum."
"Yeah, it is. But what about you two?" Jackie took a different approach.
"What do you mean?" Rose blinked in confusion.
"Uh, no. No children for us." The Doctor replied quickly.
"What, no working bits?" Jackie shot back.
"Oi! My bits work just fine. Er, but I am practically sterile." The Doctor said, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
Rose buried her face in her hands in embarrassment.
"Oh. Alright. But you are still going to make an honest woman out of her, tight?"
"Mum!" Rose protested.
"What? I'm your mother. I have the right to want to see my daughter happily married. And obviously since she's never going to leave you…" Jackie pointed to the Doctor.
"Mum, leave him alone. He doesn't have to marry me if he doesn't want to." Rose stood up.
The Doctor blinked. "If I don't want to?" He echoed.
"See? Rose wants to marry you, the least you could do is man up and-"
"Mum, stop it!"
"Would you want to marry me?" The Doctor asked, ignoring everything around him but Rose.
Rose looked up at him in surprise.
"Well, yeah. Forever, right? I would marry you on the spot. But it's alright if we won't ever."
"No it's not!" Jackie disagreed adamantly.
"Actually, we can marry on the spot." The Doctor admitted.
Everyone clammed up at that declaration.
"We can?" Rose asked finally.
"Y-yah. But only if you want to."
"I do, but only if you do." Rose replied coyly.
"Good! Get married then. Now!" Jackie demanded and the couple jumped, almost having forgotten about her.
"Um…" The Doctor looked around the console room. "Ah!" He finally exclaimed and took off his tie.
"Right." He wrapped one end around his hand and the other around Rose's.
"Right. In a bit of a hurry, so I guess we'll have to do the quick version." He glanced at Jackie and Pete.
"Pete, say 'I consent and gladly give'." The doctor instructed.
"I consent and gladly give." Pete said after the shortest moment of hesitation.
"And you." The Doctor nodded at Jackie.
"I consent and gladly give." Jackie beamed happily.
The Doctor turned to look at Rose straight in the eyes.
"Rose, I'm going to whisper something in your ear. You have to remember it, and tell no one what I said."
Rose nodded and the Doctor leaned over. He whispered something their three witnesses could not hear. When he pulled back he smiled at his wife.
"I just told you my name. My real one. Keep it safe."
"Always, My Doctor."
The Doctor leaned over and kissed her.
Jackie, Pete and Mickey burst into applause and cheers. Mickey even whistled. But soon their cheers fell silent.
The newly wedded couple broke apart.
"Time's up." Rose said softly.
"I'm sorry." The Doctor said.
"Don't be. I know for sure she's happy now. And she knows I am too. That's more than enough."
The Doctor laughed and leaned to kiss her again, but Rose pulled back.
"Uhm, are we really married, or did you just do this for my mother's sake?"
The Doctor looked surprised for a moment but soon threw his head back in a laugh.
"Oh, no. This is the real deal, wife."
Rose's eyes lit up with happiness and she glomped her new husband into a kiss. As they broke apart a movement in the corner of the Doctor's eye got his attention. He turned and witnessed something truly ironic.
A bride dressed in white, and it wasn't Rose.
I know the end seemed rushed. I don't like it much myself, but the problem is that Jackie definitely needed to be present, and this is supposed to be the last time Rose and the Doctor will ever see her.
About the handfastening ceremony itself: I know I practically ripped off Doctor-River wedding, and I'll admit I did it on purpose. I don't ship DRiver, at all, but the shotgun way they got married was really well done. It's also symbolic in my story, as Eleven ceased to exist. This is one of the many ways that will solidify how different but also similar things would turn out. So, yes, Doctor's marriage similarities to River and Rose were done on purpose.
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