Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. Sadly. :(


The Doctor sat at my parents kitchen table, holding the tea cup and saucer the way he always did. It was hard to reconcile that he was the same.

They werent, though, not really.

I know he looked the same and acted the same, but my Doctor was traveling the stars and saving lives at the moment. He'd left me with this replica of himself. I almost hated him for it, because it hurt to think that he left me with this fake Doctor.

I loved my Doctor, I wanted my Doctor.

It might sounded spoiled and terrible, but it was true.

I pushed away the tea and biscuits mum had attempted, and failed, to make. I wasn't hungry and my stomach churned as my thoughts spun.

My Doctor wasn't coming back this time. He was in my home universe. I'd never see him again.

I bit my lip, hard, and flew up from the table as quickly as possible, I couldn't sit and watch the imposter drink tea in my parents house. I refused. I avoided looking at him as I fled the kitchen, ignoring mums shouts of surprise.

I should have known she would follow me as I tried to escape. I stopped in a corridor a few minutes later. I didn't even know where I was running to. I just needed to leave, to escape this false Doctor and what he represented.

"Rose, what's the matter?" Mum spun me around, so she could watch my face for a lie. She did that a lot when I was younger.

"That's not him, mum. He's not the Doctor, he's not my Doctor. The Doctor I fell in love with is out there, in the other universe traveling through space and time. I should be with him. Instead, he left me here with this false Doctor." I ranted, the sting in my heart growing as I acknowledged that fact. It hurt more than when I thought he didn't love me at all.

"Now, listen here, Rose Tyler. That man in our kitchen is the same as the one that left in that damn blue box. I know how you fell, sweetheart. I thought the same of this Pete. I wouldn't give him a chance, refused to look at him for a month, for God's sake. Once I looked past the fact that he's from here, not our neck of the universe, I realized that on the inside he is the same as your father. Look at us now, I'm happier than I've been in a long, long time. We're a family. Give this Doctor a chance, Rose. You may find that he isn't different at all." Mum kissed my forehead.

"I don't know if I can, mum." I was confused and hurt. Nothing was as it should have been.

"You can. Now, go in that kitchen and apologize. Go on!" She urged, more of that stern motherly steel in her voice.

I wiped my eyes and followed her into the kitchen. The Doctor and Pete were exactly where we'd left them. Pete had pulled the other batch of botched biscuits out of the oven and taken the other pot of tea off the stove.

Now, the Doctor was sipping tea and glancing at me often to check on me.

I felt awful. He still worried about me, after everything I said and thought about him. He was trying to give me space and I had been a colossal witch.

I looked at him, really looked at him.

He had the same eyes, the incredible hair, the manic smile and slightly slanted teeth. The same manly hands that I'd spent many nights dreaming about having on my body.

I blew out a breath and slowly walked toward him. We needed to talk sometime. No time like the present.

"Doctor, I'm sorry for how I reacted. I just needed a little time. You're him, but you have one heart and he has two. You're here and he's out in the universe doing amazing things. Its confusing and it hurts me to know he left me and is put in the other universe." I sighed, touching his hand. The warmth was familiar, so was the smell. "I'm sorry. I just need a little more time, to get used to things."

The Doctor gave me a gentle smile. "I am well aware how confusing it is. I'm completely upside down and inside out at the moment. I have to get used to one heart, human emotions and lung capabilities. Can't hold my breath indefinitely anymore."

I giggled a bit, the situation for the statement flashing in my memory. "Yeah. Thank you, for understanding."

"I'm here, Rose. Whenever and however you need me, you only have to say the word or give me the signal. I will wait forever if I have to." His dark eyes conveyed his sincerity.

I kissed his cheek and shot him a grateful smile.

"Alright, you plum, what are planning to do to take care of my Rose?" Mum demanded, setting her hand on her hips. We'd forgotten she and Pete were there with us.

"Mum!" I shouted, warning her with my eyes. Now was not the time for this. He had adjusting to do before he was ready for that conversation. He wouldn't take well to the idea of looking for a job and buying a flat, paying a mortgage. The man was practically allergic to domestic behavior, for God's sake! He nearly panicked when we briefly discussed it on the impossible planet.

Speaking of the planet, there was more than one moment, where I had wished Jack was there to help us. I missed the suave Captain Jack Harkness.

I shook those thoughts away. I love the Doctor. It wouldn't be fair to him to start down that particular road again. Especially since Jack Harkness was in the other universe.

"What? He needs to be thinking about it, sooner rather than later. He can't go running off across world's in that blue box, not anymore." Mum snapped back. "You both know it's true! The Doctor needs to figure out what he's going to do with his life. A change of name wouldn't hurt, to start."

"Mum, we will discuss it later. He just lost everything, except us three. He needs time to adjust to that fact. The rest will come when it's time for it." I replied, exasperated with my mother.

"Alright, Alright! No need to get your knickers all twisted." She hustled around the kitchen and exited without a glance backward.

I sighed and glanced at the Doctor. His face was screwed up in a grimace, his body was tense and his hands were clenched into fists. He was physically fighting his reactions to domestic living. He was frustrated with mum and the loss of ability to travel. He was upset about losing the one thing he had left of his people, his T. A. R. D. I. S.

I rubbed a hand down his back, hoping it would somewhat soothe him.

He shrugged me off and stood. "I need air. I need to think."

I let the Doctor leave, I knew he wasn't trying to escape me. My mother's subject choice made him feel trapped and vulnerable. He just needed open space and time to think. He wasn't ready for domestic or discussions related to becoming domestic.

I made my way to the living room and turned on the television, flipping until I found a movie that was vaguely familiar. It was a classic movie that I'd watched once, in the other universe. I would wait for him here. He'd come back when he's ready.


Unknown P. O. V

I watched him leave the house, distressed over something. I waited until he was out if sight, before I moved to a better position.

She was watching The Sound of Music. A glimmer of amusement overtook me, she was truly something.

It wasn't time yet, there was still more things to come before then.

I would watch them, and wait.

Soon. Patience.