Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who; but if I did, I'd have done something different with the 2011 Christmas Special.

Chapter Five

Upon seeing young Rose, Rory froze. His jaw hung open like a fish, his train of thought lost as his gaze went from one Rose to the other. Then he seemed to notice someone else standing a little behind Rose. He began to stammer something, until he said, "It's you," pointing to Ten. "I know you." How this man could be here, Rory did not know. But anything was possible when you knew the Doctor.

Ten could do nothing more than look confused. But it was him, Rory was sure of it.

"What'd you mean, you know him?" Eleven said. "You can't know him; I wasn't that person when I met you."

What was the Doctor on about?

"What? No, he's the one who gave me this." Rory lifted the sonic device in his hand for everyone to see. "He told me to always keep it on me, that I'd need it one day. You said," he told Ten, "to be vigilant. That one day the device would start beeping, and that it would mean something bad was going to happen. Well, you were right."

His shoulders sagged, his eyes shining with unshed tears as he looked back at Eleven. Rory let out a sigh before saying, "Amy's gone."

She was gone, and he hadn't been able to protect her. Two thousand years he'd guarded her, and now she was gone. There'd been a hole in his chest as he'd looked down at what Amy had been –a puddle of goo on his kitchen floor-, until he remembered something. The key. The TARDIS key the Doctor had given them in case of an emergency. He could bring the TARDIS home and with the Doctor's help they'd be able to save Amy.

Because he had to save her, he couldn't –wouldn't- live without her.

Eleven paced back and forth in the console room, feeling everyone's stares on him. He decided talking to his former self would help, and walked over to him; he gestured for Ten to follow him to the kitchen, so they could talk without being overheard.

"What's happening? I honestly don't know this man," Ten whispered.

"I know, I'm thinking you'll get out of here and go to give him that thing he's carrying. It definitely looks like something I started making a few weeks ago."

"Perhaps you'll finish it now, and I'll take it to him. But what's that about Amy disintegrating?"

Ten looked positively troubled: even though he didn't know Amy and Rory yet, Eleven knew he'd do everything he could to help them. It was in his nature.

Their hands roamed their hair, rubbing their skulls, trying to think of something to explain what was going on.

"I've always known being with me was a danger to others, but I just hate the idea of being on my own," said Eleven.

"Is that why you saved Rose?"

"No. Ah- maybe. Not being with her for two years… it was the hardest thing I've ever gone through. I love her, and I'd never told her. Now I get to tell her every day."

Ten sighed as he processed what Eleven was telling him –that Rose had been lost for years- and felt a deep pang of grief for his future regeneration, because he'd never know what it would feel like not to have her around, unlike Eleven, who'd suffered so much from her loss.

Suddenly, Eleven looked up.

"I knew that leaving them on their own would expose them to a lot of threats, that's why I gave Amy a key to the TARDIS, so they could call it if they needed to," he started. It looked like he was on a roll. "And if Amy disintegrated," –he started pacing again- "it must mean that it was a fake Amy taking her place, and that the real Amy is out there somewhere. So, not all is lost!"

"Brilliant!" Ten said. "Now we need to fix that sonic device, figure out a way for me and Rose to leave your TARDIS, so we can give it Rory."

Both of their faces were alight with joy, and although they would have loved to keep on chatting, they ran back to the console room, and told everyone what they'd discovered.

Then, Eleven started finishing the sonic, and Ten ran back to his TARDIS and tried to make her cooperate.

In the meantime, old Rose took Rory to the kitchen and started making him some tea. Young Rose followed.

She sat in front of him and said nothing, for she didn't know what to say. She'd almost lost the man she loved, and could not imagine what Rory must have been going through.

He continued to look at her with a puzzled expression on his face, making her blush by the way he stared at her.

"Here, this should make you feel better," old Rose said to Rory, handing him a big cup of hot tea. She sat beside him, to avoid touching young Rose. "We just got it from the Quiet Islands, on planet Brillia. Whenever the Doctor gets anxious, I give him a cup. And then he sleeps like a baby."

"And what about you? Aren't you gonna tell me what's going on with you two? And the man who gave me the device, who is he?"

"That's the Doctor, but on his former regeneration."

Rory spat the tea he'd been drinking. "He's what?" he said. Rose looked as calm as ever, and it made Rory think it really wasn't a joke.

"And this is me, but a couple of years in the past."

Young Rose just sat there, waiting. Rory's jaw hung open and remained so for a while, before he said, "You're not joking, are you? This is actually happening: Amy's turned to goo, there're two Doctors, two Roses… now you're gonna tell me there're two TARDISes, right?" He started shaking his head, not really believing what he was hearing.

"Right," said young Rose. It was obvious to her that they'd help him somehow, Ten and her, because he seemed to know him. "So, you've met my Doctor before. Was he wearing the same clothes as he is wearing now?"

Rory looked up; both Roses seemed to be thinking the same thing, their faces were like a mirror, one real, the other a reflection.

"Actually," he said, "yeah, he was. What does that mean?"

"It means we'll go and give your past self the device you just brought with you."

"And Amy? Will you help me find her too?"

"Of course," said old Rose. Her hand squeezed Rory's arm; he looked down and sighed. "We will, the Doctor and Rose you know."

That seemed to do it, along with the tea Rose had given him; Rory suddenly relaxed; his eyes, tired and red from the tears, started closing of their own free will. Rose grabbed his arm and yanked him up.

"Let's go, big boy. Let me take you to bed."

"D'you want me to help you?" young Rose said.

Old Rose thought about it for a second, while Rory collapsed on the spot. "OK," she said, "but careful. We can't afford the risk of causing a paradox right now."

"Yeah," young Rose said. "Come on. Lead the way."

"Got it!" Eleven shouted at the ceiling. He turned around to find himself alone. "Oh, well, that's rubbish." But his eyes sparkled with glee; at last he'd made it, the device he'd been playing with for months now actually had a purpose. It was simple enough to handle, so Rory should be all right with it.

"Got what?" Rose said from behind him. She snaked her arms around him, and he inhaled her scent, loving her more than ever before in that one moment. He even forgot what he'd been doing before, just basking in her presence.

"The- um… the sonic thingy. I fixed it!" he said, showing it to her.

"Well, that's great! And the other you should be getting here…" she said, as she turned on the spot.

"I did it!" shouted Ten from across the room.

"Now," finished Rose.

Ten ran up the steps to the centre of the console, grinning like he'd won the Intergalactic Lottery.

"I managed to find a way out here, but the TARDIS won't hold on to the vortex for much longer. We have to go now or risk being trapped here forever."

Young Rose appeared behind him, she was quite unsure of what to say. What did you say to yourself in situations like these anyway? So she merely waited for her Doctor to lead the way.

"That is brilliant news, because I have just finished fixing the sonic device," said Eleven. He handed it to Rose, who twirled in her hands. "Now, these are the coordinates to Amy and Rory's house." He gave her a small blue disc, which she handed to the Doctor. When there was nothing more to say, they all stood there looking at each other, until old Rose said, "Isn't the vortex closing for you, Doctor?"

That made him jump right back to action. "Ah, yes! We must really be going. Rose…" and he made a small gesture to the storage room, where their TARDIS was parked.

Old Rose followed him.

She walked beside him to where the TARDIS stood, and looked at it longingly. Sighing, she closed the distance between them and gave the Doctor a small, sweet kiss. Like every kiss she shared with her Doctor, it left her tingling and her mind swirling with ideas that to some would be too far fetched, but to her and her Doctor were just normal thoughts.

"I know you'll be nice to her," she said, and he laughed (of course she'd know!), "but I did want to tell you this: let her in. Don't keep pushing her away. You almost lost me, but you decided to change that knowing it would have a high price to pay. I only ask that you are honest and open to me, as I've always been to you."

He sighed and rested his forehead on hers. "My dear Rose, how clever you are. Now that I've got a second chance with you, I won't waste it, I promise."

"I know you'll keep that promise. And remember, I'm stronger than you think."

They both smiled at that, and finally, the Doctor stepped into the TARDIS and Rose walked back to the console, where her other Doctor would be talking to her right now.

Eleven looked into Rose's eyes and felt all his love for her expand throughout the universe. He wanted to be one with her, and soon they would be. She walked closer to him, maybe sensing all this coming out of him, and hugged him fiercely. He returned the hug with the same force.

"Thank you," he heard her say. "For coming back for me." She looked up into his eyes and he saw all his love reflected in hers. She was truly the one for him.

"It was nothing."

"It was nice meeting you, but I think I have to live with the other you a bit more first. And then get to know you again."

"Yeah." He smiled.

"I think you should stop regenerating so often. I do love you, but do you know how difficult if is for me to get used to the idea that your face is different? When you changed last, in the beginning I half expected to see your baldy head sometimes, and then I saw you were this scrawny bloke with crazy hair, and I remembered you'd changed," she said. But the only thing he registered was, "I do love you." She'd told him –not Ten- that she loved him. It really didn't matter what he looked like to her, she loved him, his essence, no matter what. And that stirred something deep inside him.

He kissed her passionately, and left a burning feeling in her lips, a feeling that travelled down inside her right to her centre. She could feel him there, and it was the strangest thing. It left her breathless.

The TARDIS started humming, making them come out of their stupor. Old Rose was coming up the stairs, so the Doctor quickly –but gently- released young Rose. As she came up the stairs, Eleven started distinguishing a faint –and growing- glow about her. She was ravishing.

"I think you're wanted somewhere else, Rose."

"Yeah, I should get going," she said, but she was still too dazed from her kiss with the Doctor to be able to form any coherent sentence. With a simple wave, she turned and walked away, to her Doctor and their TARDIS, and their future ahead.

Once she was out of sight and earshot, Eleven turned on his heels and faced his Rose, who now fully glowed. Her life force was visible all around her, when it shouldn't have been able for him to see it like that. The edges of her mind touched his, and a thought occurred to him.

"Could it-" he started. "Nah, it couldn't, could it? Are you…?"

But she didn't let him finish, she simply smiled and rounded his neck with her arms, planting a kiss on his lips.

The Doctor rounded her waist with his own hands, pulling her closer.

They knew they'd always be together, but right then, Amy and Rory depended on them, and they couldn't let them down.

A/N: Reviews make my day! Thanks for reading; I've gained a bunch of new readers with this story! I want to write some one-shots, but I don't know what about. So you tell me! They'll be my gift to you.

Xo, Ella