A/N: Due to the suggestion by a reader, and the content of the story I have changed this story to 10th Doctor and 10th Doctor Duplicate. Rose is in this story, as more than just a nod or plot devise. Her role will develop and I hope you, as readers and Doctor Who fans, will enjoy it. Read on!


Louis lounged happily across the warn leather couch in her living room. A content sigh filled the otherwise silent flat. Time alone was rare, since Ian spent much of his time either grading papers or preparing for a class, and she was either working or doing something involving school.

Time alone was so very welcome.

It meant that she could wear minimal clothing and turn up the heat. She could pull out her cooler and fill it with bottles of beer. She could pull out her secret stash of romantic movies and not feel worried about Ian poking fun at her girlie side showing through her roughish and somewhat boyish exterior.

She was in the process of taking full advantage of that freedom when an insistent pounding at the door made a groan of frustration expel from her chip filled mouth. She put her chips down on the table and began the process of becoming presentable to open the door. With her utter lack of care at the moment, though, that involved pulling on a pair loose warn sweats and zipping a hoodie over her sports bra. Her only intention was sending the poor soul on its way, so attire didn't really matter.

The banging resumed when whoever it was thought she was taking too long. To be honest she'd been distracted by the movie she'd had going. A huff and tiny foot stomp later, the movie was paused and the door flung open. She expelled a cry of aggravation and attempted to close the door on her visitor's face.

John was having none of that. "Oh, really, Louis. Let's not be immature about this. I've given you your standard two days to be childish, now grow up and invite me in."

"Oh, no. You stepped in it this time, John. I don't want to see you, ever. I don't want to hear from you. I don't want here about you. Understand?" She tried to close the door, again, but he shoved it back and pushed into the flat. "Seriously? You're trespassing, now. So, get out. Don't make this into a domestic."

"I'm not the one turning it into a domestic. You are. Besides, it's not trespassing. I have a key and this is half my brother's flat."

"Yeah, and it's half mine. Ian is out of town and that key was given to you for emergencies only. So, I'll say it, again, you're trespassing and I want you out."

"Yeah, well, that's all well and good but I want you, so," John tugged at his ear and huffed. "Where does that leave us? Cause I can't figure it out."

Louis shifted from foot to foot for a moment before grumbling and guiding him into the kitchen. She waved him toward a seat and began pulling out things for tea and coffee. She knew he, like Ian, preferred tea when aggravated but she really needed a good cup of Joe. Her back didn't relax until she heard the familiar bubble and hiss of the water heating from the coffee maker.

She looked over shoulder to see John staring at a cabinet off to the side. He was tense as well, strung up and wrung out. She licked her lip and mulled over how to defuse this situation. If things went the way she had a feeling they were going, John in a good mood was in the best interest for all parties involved. That decided she sneakily pulled out her phone and began going through her contact list, picking out the most suitable candidates and preparing a mass text for if she couldn't find an alternative solution.

Once the tea was ready, she placed a cup before him and some fixings, not sure how he would like it. Ian liked a little sugar and a lot of milk, but he and John were two completely different animals at times. She stared at her cup for a moment before steeling herself and sitting across from him at the small table. They sat in silence for a time before the nervous hum ringing in her ears became too much to bare.

"What are you doing here, John?"

"I already told you."

Louis scowled down at the table. "You want Rose. I'm not blonde enough to even act as temporary replacement, so, I'm gonna ask you, again; what are you doing here?"

"I don't really know. I want you, but I don't. It's all very confusing." He took a sip of his tea before continuing. "I just can't figure it out. Why do I want you? You've said it yourself; you aren't anywhere near blonde enough, so why can't I let it go? River thinks it's because you keep saying "no." I'm inclined to agree."

"So, you think that if we just jump on in to the sack for a good screw you'll be right as rain?" John nodded stiffly and she licked the corner of her mouth, again. "I would love to help you out, John. But, I have to think of myself, and saying yes to this plan of yours? It would kill me."

John looked up from his brooding to meet her eyes and saw a shine in them that he had somehow missed in all their interactions. It was so familiar. It was warm and distant and close and cold and pained all at once. It was a look he'd seen several times in his own reflection.

"Oh."

She sniffled a little before her small broken voice filled the kitchen. "Yeah. Oh."

John focused on his tea for a moment before shifting in his seat uncomfortably. "I should, probably-"

"Yeah, you really should."

John let himself out and Louis stayed where she was for a moment. That didn't go the way she had hoped it would. It went the completely wrong way, actually. Nothing of the sort was meant to come out, but it had, and she'd somehow managed to out her feelings.

Something inside her snapped and she broke down. And once they started, the tears showed no signs of stopping. A little bit more of her soul ached with every body wracking sob.

For a time she couldn't bring herself to move, but, finally, she managed to find herself collapsing onto the couch. Was a person allowed to hurt this much? And if they weren't, what did that make her?

She continued on muttering words of nonsense until, after several minutes of endless tears, she got a little bit of a hold on herself.

"For the best, really. Now I don't have to play pleasant anymore." A few more tears leaked out of her eyes for a time before finally she sniffed. "That's enough of that. Crying is useless. Man up and move on."

She sniffed a few more times before shuffling to her room to grab a bottle of something stronger. Once back on the couch she opened the bottle of Jack Daniels she'd dug up and took a few healthy swigs. Sighing in relief when she felt the liquid begin to seep into her bones, she turned her movie back on and watched in silence for a moment.

"Man, why I couldn't I be a Jane Austen character?" She watched as Darcy awkwardly tried to make Elizabeth welcome at his estate. "I'd probably end up as Ms. Lucas or something with a less pleasant outcome."

John wandered for a time, not really sure of how to work out what had just transpired between Louis and him. It sure made things a lot clearer, and answered some questions.

Still, though, it made things a lot murkier. She had legitimate feelings for him, and therefore wouldn't sleep with him. But, everything he'd seen of her said she wasn't one to have those feelings. Hell, he'd talked to Jake just that morning, when he was making up his mind whether to approach her, again. What he had said about their encounter gave no indication that she was one to allow emotions of that sort into her life.

He found himself in front of Jack's flat. For a moment he wondered if it was a good idea to try and have a civil conversation with the man about his cousin. It had never been an easy topic to bring up with the American. Apparently there was bad blood in the water in regards to his family.

"What the hell?"

John began pounding on Jack's door, calling for him to open up. He didn't have to wait long; Jack was soon blinking sleepily at him. It didn't take long for him to register it was John at his door and he grumbled his invitation.

"Sorry, I didn't know you'd be asleep, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered you." Jack snorted and John had to agree. He would have. "I need to talk to about something that you, weeeell, won't like."

Jack pulled a bottle and can of beer out of his fridge. He tossed the can at John and popped the cap off of his bottle. They both drank for a moment before Jack led him into the living room.

"So, what do you need to talk to me about?"

"Louis."

Jack choked on his beer. "Now, when you say Louis, there's no chance that you're talking about a guy and not my cousin, is there?" John chuckled and Jack groaned. "Really, John, just sleep with her and put me out of my misery."

"Well, that's actually what I'm here about."

"I'm not giving you pointers on how to make it with my cousin."

"Well, I'm going to need more than help, Jack. I'm going to need a miracle." John finished off his can and set it down on the floor by his feet. "She's got legitimate feelings for me. That's why she won't sleep with me. But, she's perfectly fine with sleeping Jake."

Jack burst out laughing. "She slept with Jake? Jake Simmons? Wow! And not with you."

John endured his friend's laughter for time before throwing his empty can at him. "All right, I get it. Did you miss the little detail where she has feelings for me? That's why she won't sleep with me. Well, I'm supposing that's the reason, not sure if there are any others, though."

"Maybe the fact that you're her best friend's brother?" John made a noise of conceit before rising to get another beer. "Just out of curiosity, Doc, how much did she say?"

"Well, she didn't really say anything. I just sort of figured it out. Why do you ask?"

Jack was silent for a moment as stared at the bottle in his hand. "Doc, I don't hate my cousin. Really, we're a lot alike. We both do drastic things. We both like beer out of bottles. We both love a Smith. Well, I love a few but that's hardly the point."

John paused in lowering himself back into his chair. "I think you just said something vital, but my brain isn't quite making sense of it."

"She doesn't just have feelings for you, Doc. She's in love with you." Jack watched as his friend's face became white. "And if she's anything like her mother, she's going to make you pay for it. If the two of you were friends, this wouldn't be a problem. But, and you can't argue this, you two are in no way friends."

"Yeah, she mentioned that the other day."

"So, you've talked about this, then?"

"We've gone over our lack of friendship." John took a swig from his can. "Which, I terribly want to contest. How can she so easily be friends with Ian but snub me without even a second thought?"

"She's not snubbing you, she's making her point. She may be in love with you but damn if she acts like it." Jack sighed. "Listen, don't take it personally and just leave her alone. Don't call her; don't go to her place to talk to her. She'll be civil for Ian's sake, but if you try any funny business when she's alone with you, I'm only going to say I warned you as your eulogy."

"She hasn't attacked before. I mean, we've never really been alone before, and even then she hasn't been civil every time. What's changed?"

"What's changed? Look, you know now. Before she was only torturing herself but now you know, and that gives you this power over her. You won't use it, cause I know you, but you still have it. And you are going to pay for it. No one, in her mind anyway, should have that kind of thing over her. Feelings that strong are something to be hidden and managed."

John slowly felt any hope he had repairing things Louis slip away. "What do I do?"

"Nothing. You can't do a damn thing until she's weeded anything she's ever felt for you out using logic and throwing herself into school, work and art, a little bit." Jack readjusted and kicked his empty bottle, letting roll across the floor. "Listen, Doc, she may be a little bit Harkness, but she's mostly her mother's daughter. She has standards, mental checklists and a scary ability to cut out anything in her life that's distracting or somehow harmful. And that's you."

"What does that even mean?"

Jack gave a bitter laugh. "You're harmful now. Over the next few months, when you see her, all you'll see is the rage. She'll be going through everything she knows about you, as well as everything she doesn't, and she's going to be categorizing it. You'll be separated and marked and when she's done with you, in her mind, you'll be nothing but a set of checks and balances. You won't even be a person to her anymore."

John looked down at his hands as he loosely held onto his drink. "And I can't do anything?"

"No. Any chance you had at having any sort of relationship with her, friendly or otherwise, just left the field."

Ian couldn't really register what was happening. Sure, he'd done some odd things in his life. Even some that he, to this day, couldn't honestly say he knew the reasoning behind. But, this, what he was doing right now, was proving to be the oddest and least thought through.

"You look like you're going to be sick, Ian. Should we pull over?" He turned his head slightly to regard the blonde beside him.

"No, no. I'm fine, really." He swallowed the lump in his throat and looked back at the road. "I'm just hoping the instructions I left my fill in are clear. Wouldn't want to come back and have no one know what's going on."

He watched her from the corner of his eyes as her tongue poked through her teeth. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

Ian tightened his grip on the steering wheel for a moment. Stealing another glance her way, he tried assessing her feelings. "Are you sure you are? I mean, really, you've kind of blindsided me with all of this."

She tugged her lower lip into her mouth and he sighed as he focused on the road once more. "It's not too late, Rose. We can just turn around and head back to the courthouse and file papers for an annulment."

She laughed and lay her hand on his clenched fist, which instantly relaxed. "I can promise you that if you even think about turning around, you'll be in big trouble."

"Fine, fine. I'll drop it." There was silence in the car for a moment. "Your mother is going to kill me. I heard about John's first encounter. I can feel a sting my cheek now, and it's getting stronger the closer to Brighton we get."

Rose giggled and curled up in her seat. "Oh, you'll be fine. Maybe. Really, I wish that were something I could guarantee but the only boyfriend I've had that she's approved of was Mickey."

"And you aren't just introducing your boyfriend this time around. You're introducing your husband." He pulled over at a shoulder and felt Rose move her hand to his shoulder. "We just eloped, Rose. What on Earth is this going to do John? I didn't even think about him! I just saw a chance and went. Rose, I'm a horrible person. Did he even know you were back in town?"

"No, he didn't."

"There are so many questions I should have asked. There are things that need clearing up. And what are we going to do for living arrangements? I can't just leave Louis to handle the rent on her own. I can't leave her alone. She needs someone. And who's going to be able to adjust to living with her?"

"Ian, breathe. You're right."

"I am?"

"Yes, there are things you need to know. But not while we're sitting here, in the car. We'll stop at the next hotel and get a room for the night, all right?"

Ian felt a thrill start in him her words coaxed him back onto the road. A room. Not a couple of rooms. But one room, for the two of them.

"You are very persuasive Miss Tyler."

Rose made a disagreeing noise. "Not Miss Tyler anymore, Ian. Noble-Smith, that's me."

Ian's stomach lurched a bit. He didn't allow himself to relax until they checked into the hotel. There were too many uncertainties floating in the smallish blue car. Too many unanswered questions. Made it difficult to breathe, and it was too cold still to open a window.

Ian dropped their bags in the closet and followed Rose into the sleeping area.

"So, Rose, really-" He was cut short when he looked up to see Rose standing by the window. "Rose?"

Rose turned slightly. "I guess there are things to talk about, then?"

She watched as Ian sat down, and chose to stay where she was. "Weeelll, yes. There are a few questions I would like answered, but If you aren't up to it. We can talk later?"

"Do you remember when I first met you and John?" Ian smiled faintly. "You looked exactly the same. Same manic grin. Same fabulous hair. Same warm brown eyes. I couldn't get enough of you two, but at the same time I thought I would explode. And you were both giving me this attention, like I was the most clever thing in the world."

"That's cause you are, Rose. You're the most clever, brilliant, and beautiful woman I know. Sure, when we first met you were just a girl coming into her own, but you've grown up to be so much." She watched as looked at his clenched hands. "It's why we fell in love with you."

"See, there! That's the thing. You can say it."

"I don't understand."

Rose moved before him and took his hands in hers. "In all the time he and I were together he never once, not once, told me he loved me. The not getting married thing I could handle, but how could I continue on like that? Not knowing for sure? Oh, every now and then he would start to get around to it, but then he would stop short. Like it would break him."

Ian swallowed hard, she could see his Adam's apple bob. "Have you talked to him about this? Last we talked about it, he was under the impression things didn't work out because he couldn't commit to marriage."

"I know. I tried talking to him about a month ago. I called him, asked him to meet in Brighton. He came, but he seemed to think things were just going to go back to where they. Just like that!" Rose snapped her fingers affect, startling Ian. "Sorry. Thing is, though, when I tried to talk about our issues he just went back to same old John diversion tactics. Finally, fed up, I asked him if he was ever going to say it. I was so willing that even if he promised to say it someday, I would have gone back into ignorant bliss. All he could manage was; "Does it really need saying?" What do you have to say, Ian?"

She watched as Ian's eyes became very sad. "I love you, Rose Tyler."

She pushed forward, kissing him with everything she was worth. Ian responded enthusiastically, pulling her as close as she could come. They stayed lost in each other for a while before Ian gently pulled away.

"Rose, kissing you is the best thing I've ever experienced, really. But, why now? You never batted an eye at me before."

"Oh, but I did. About a year after John and I became serious, and his handicap became clear, I saw you. I saw you and I began watching. You were always so guarded and distant, I couldn't help but wonder what you were like when John wasn't there, purposefully over shadowing you. And don't give me that look. He does it on purpose and you let him.

"As I watched you I began to realize that for all your similarities, you two are so very different. Just different enough that I couldn't fool myself into thinking it was transference when I began to feel more for you. It was that night that I joined you and Louis for drinking that did me in. You said it then, when we were snogging by the phone. You said that you loved me and damn you're brother."

Ian's eyes widened and he worked his jaw, to deny it she was sure, but then his brow lowered. "I did say that, didn't I? The details don't all come through all time. I was a little bit gone by that point."

"Not too far gone, though, I'm happy to say. You remember it very well for a man who had the amount of booze you had." Her tongue poked between her teeth and she saw his eyes zero in on her mouth. "I became confused and left to sort myself out. Mickey gave me updates from time to time. Did you know he's now one my dad's go to guys. I'm another!"

She felt her chest inflate with pride. It was something she couldn't help these days. Her life had been so without direction until she'd begun dating Mickey. She'd never finished school and had wasted several months on someone who didn't care at all. Then came Mickey. He picked her up and dusted her off and cared. The Noble-Smith brothers were the last bit of push she needed to try and be better. Working in a shop wasn't going to be her whole life, anyway.

"So, you're working for Pete's security company? That's brilliant, Rose!" Ian kissed her, then, and she hummed in content. "So, will you stay in Brighton, or-?"

"Don't be daft, you loon! I'm moving in with you, in London. Mickey can't handle the operation on his own. Sure, he's done fine for now, but I'm clearly needed to keep things running smoothly."

"Clearly!"

Rose felt a soft smile take over her lips. "I can't say it, yet, Ian. I feel it, so much! But, I'm gonna need a little time to adjust, yeah?"

She giggled softly as Ian nuzzled her neck for a moment, pulling her tightly to him, again. "You take all the time you need, Rose Tyler. I mean, Rose Noble-Smith."