June 2018: re-edited since its original posting.

Chapter 2 - Dålig Ulv Stranden

The new Doctor followed Jackie out of the TARDIS, onto the eerily familiar beach. Jackie certainly recognized it, if her "Bloody Norway?" was anything to go by. Rose, the other him, and Donna exited behind them.

"I was pregnant, d'you remember?" Jackie asked the new Doctor as they moved a short ways down the beach. "Had a baby boy."

The new Doctor smiled. "Oh, brilliant," he told her. "What did you call him?"

"Doctor," she said.

She looked serious. Was she serious? "Really?" he asked.

"No, you plum; he's called Tony," she told him, laughing.

Alright, he thought, you like me now, so you're going to make fun of me instead of slapping me. Still, he appreciated it.

Rose suddenly commanded his attention, looking back at the Doctor. "Hold on, this is - the parallel universe, right?"

The Doctor told her, "You're back home."

"An' the walls of the void are closin' again," Donna added from beside him, "now that the reality bomb never happened. It's dimensional retro-closure."

The new Doctor couldn't help but smile at her, even though he knew her abilities wouldn't last.

"See," she said to the Doctor, "I really get that stuff, now."

So proud of herself. The smile faltered on the new Doctor's face. Thank you, Donna, he thought. I am sorry.

"No," insisted Rose, "but, I spent all that time tryin' to find you, I'm not goin' back now."

This was the Doctor's chance. He could still back out of his plan, and leave the new Doctor stranded - here, or anywhere - and travel the universe with Rose.

Fortunately - for the new Doctor at least - the Doctor seemed to be sticking to his plan. "But you've got to," the Doctor told Rose. "'Cause we saved the universe, but at a cost. And the cost is him," he said, looking over Rose's shoulder at the new Doctor. "He destroyed the Daleks, he committed genocide," he accused. "He's too dangerous to be left on his own."

Now hold on just a minute! "You made me," the new Doctor heard himself blurt out, angrily. Where was this in the plan? What he did was necessary - it saved the multi-verse! And wasn't he going to leave Rose with him? Way to set him up...

"Exactly," the Doctor told him. "You were born in battle, full of blood, and anger, and revenge." He turned to Rose. "Remind you of someone?" he asked.

Rose looked out at the water.

"That's me," said the Doctor. "When we first met."

A bit harsh, the new Doctor thought to himself. But then, that's what you're trying to be, isn't it? Plus, he couldn't help but notice Rose's reaction when the Doctor said it. Had she really missed the old him that much?

"And you made me better," the Doctor continued, gently, when Rose looked back at him. "Now you can do the same for him."

So I'm her pet project?

Rose shook her head, still not even glancing at the new Doctor. "But he's not you," she told the Doctor.

I told you she wouldn't believe it, thought the new Doctor.

"He needs you," the Doctor answered her. "That's very me."

Donna chimed in. "But it's better than that, though," she told Rose. "Don't you see what he's tryin' to give you?" Donna looked over at the new Doctor, eyes shining like the true romantic she was. "Tell 'er, go on," she prompted.

For the first time since they'd arrived, Rose turned to him.

Okay, here goes, he thought, nervously. "I look like him," he began, "I think like him, same memories, same thoughts, same everything. Except, I've only got one heart."

"Which means?" Rose asked.

"I'm part human," he said. "Specifically, the aging part," he added, hoping the major difference between himself and the other him really was actually what Rose would want. "I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life, Rose Tyler," oh, how he loved being able to speak her name, again. "I could spend it with you - if you want," he added. It was her choice. The other him might be sure of himself, but this him was giving up on making Rose's decisions for her.

"You'll g-grow old at the same time as me," she said softly, to the new Doctor's relief.

"Together," he told her quietly, mentally begging for her to accept him. His heart leapt as she moved towards him, placing her right hand over said heart.

A groan signaled from the TARDIS. Rose turned back to the Doctor and Donna, the new Doctor immediately missing her touch.

"We gotta go," said the Doctor, lightly. "This reality's sealing itself off. Forever." He turned to leave, and Rose followed after him.

"But -" she called, and the Doctor turned back to her. "It's still not right," she said. "'Cause, the Doctor's s-still you."

I'm not the Doctor, the new Doctor thought. She won't believe it. It's done.

The Doctor nodded towards him. "And I'm him," he told Rose.

"Alright," she said, and looked between the two of him. The new Doctor stepped up to her, so that the Doctor was on her right, he on her left. "Both of you, answer me this." She looked at the Doctor. "When I last stood on this beach, on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing you said to me?" he didn't answer. "Go on, say it," Rose insisted.

"I said 'Rose Tyler'," the Doctor told her.

"Yeah? An' how was that sentence gonna end?" Rose asked.

He could make him or break him with his next words, the new Doctor thought. He should tell her. For her sake. But for his own? Their own?

"Does it need saying?" The Doctor asked.

Rose looked at him, but didn't press him. She turned to the new Doctor. "An' you, Doctor?"

Doctor? he thought. She'd turned away from the old Doctor, and called him Doctor.

"What was the end of that sentence?" she asked.

Thank you, he thought at the old Doctor, then leaned close to Rose's ear, his hand gently on her arm. "I love you," he whispered. "I will forever."

He pulled back enough to look into her eyes. Please, believe I'm me, he begged, silently.

She grabbed him by the lapels of his suit, and pulled him down to her lips.

Just like that, he was hers. There was no more this Doctor, that Doctor, and Rose. It was just the two of them.

Her hands slid up into his hair, holding him closer, deepening the kiss.

The Doctor wrapped his arms completely around her, eagerly losing himself in her, as he'd dreamed for years - he could admit that to himself, now.

He felt her arms tighten around his shoulders, even as he pulled her closer to him. He held her like he'd wished he could so many times before, his lips never leaving hers. He could feel her, taste her, smell her; he was completely surrounded by her. So many times, when they'd been close, he'd been so tempted to give in, to forget all his arbitrary boundaries, to lose himself to her. And now...

She was his world.

He didn't think her legs were even supporting her anymore, from the way she was clinging to him. His grip on her tightened a fraction more, one hand splayed behind her back, the other gripping her waist. He had her. And he would never let her fall.

Her hands slid back, to cradle his head, then around his neck, just holding onto him.

Rose.

His Rose.

The TARDIS' engines sounded, and Rose suddenly broke away from the kiss with a gasp. Without a word or a backwards glance, she pulled herself from the Doctor's arms, and ran a few steps towards the dematerializing ship.

Within the space of a few heartbeats - more than a few, if the Doctor considered his elevated heart rate - it was gone.

He moved slowly towards her, reality breaking in on his earlier bliss. She'd chosen him, in the moment she'd kissed him; but now she was faced with the consequences of that choice. No TARDIS, no other Doctor, not even an actual goodbye.

Cautiously, he stepped up beside her, taking her left hand in his right. She looked at him, turning from where the TARDIS had been, and he could see unshed tears glistening in her eyes.

To be continued...