OHHHHHMYGOSHIAMSOOOSORRY!

You have no idea how crap I feel for abandoning you this long...45 days. I know, believe me, I KNOW that I am a terrible person.

I don't have any excuse. Well, except that this chapter was HARD. Seriously, you have no idea how difficult it was to write this chapter. I'm trying to stay as true to the characters as possible, and I usually THRIVE in awkwardness, but this was just SO awkward with SUCH great characters that I had a bit of trouble...please don't judge me too harshly!

This begins with a flashback scene of Jackie and Rose, and returns to our dear Rose and Doctor...the LOOOOONG awaited Confrontation Scene!


Rose stomped into her room, tossing her coat onto the floor before turning around and glaring at her mother, who stood in the doorway with arms crossed.

"What?" she exclaimed angrily, stepping purposefully on her rumpled coat.

"You know well what," Jackie scolded, stepping forward, snatching the coat up from the floor, and pushing it into Rose's hands. "You know, you're lucky."

"Oh, yeah, lucky," Rose snorted, dropping onto her bed in exasperation.

"You are," Jackie shot back. "Just knowing the Doctor—just knowing him, Rose, how many people in the world can say that?"

"More than he'll admit," Rose grumbled. "He loved me, and he thought this was what I wanted. But he was wrong, and now I've got to suffer for it."

"Suffer?" Jackie exclaimed in surprise. "Now, young lady, you listen to me. You've had your fair share of trouble, I know that much, but you've had a pretty damn good run of things. You've got a family that loves you, and a man who I know would do anything for—"

"All right, you don't know anything about it," Rose scowled, setting her hands on her hips. "That man isn't the Doctor, mum. He might have you fooled, both you and Dad, but he hasn't got me fooled."

They were silent a moment; Jackie could concede only that the man was not really the Doctor, but that he didn't love Rose was something she didn't believe. Part of it was in the Doctor's eyes—Jackie could see the genuine emotion there, but she doubted that Rose could. Part of it was within herself. She wished only that Rose would see how she did understand…She had spent so many nights trying to understand this new world of time and space, most of all trying to understand this new Pete, and had discovered only that he loved her every bit as much as her own Pete. It was the hardest thing she'd ever had to learn, but she had been open, had let Pete in. Rose refused, the stubborn girl.

No—not girl. She was a woman, and if she didn't learn from her mother's experience, she'd have to learn on her own. She'd have to see just how much this new Doctor loved her. Jackie prayed she didn't see too late.

##

Rose stared through vacant eyes into her mirror. Her room in the TARDIS was much as she had left it; good old girl, keeping it the same…good Doctor. There had to be a part of him that still loved her.

The moment she returned to the TARDIS, she crumpled the dress into a ball, tossing it to the floor of her closet. Kicking off her shoes, she fell with a huff onto her bed. Almost as soon as she caught her breath from the fall, the door opened slowly; her heart soared when the Doctor entered.

"Howdy," he said with a lopsided grin. Rose peered up at him with a sort of mesmerized curiosity; green eyes there where she once remembered those beautiful brown ones…with more than a little sadness she remembered that only the false Doctor in that other universe had the same brown eyes.

"Hey, Doctor," she said, unable to tear her eyes away from the busy task of running over his entire body. "Um…bow tie?"

"I wear a bow tie now, bow ties are cool." He straightened it as if to prove his point. Rose shrugged, pushing herself sideways on the bed for the Doctor. He sat himself down beside her, sighing gently as he did. There was a brief silence before either of them spoke.

"Doctor—"

"Rose—"

They laughed a little, and the Doctor urged Rose to speak first. She blushed, looking askance slightly as she pushed a strand of half-blond hair from her eyes—as her hair grew it was browner and browner still.

"I just wanted to say, Doctor…I've really missed you." She leaned back a little bit, lifting her chest into the air. He was still a man, after all.

If she managed to give off any signal at all, he didn't notice it.

"Missed you too, Rosie," he said, giving her a gentle little punch on the arm. It took her a moment to register what he had just called her, and a moment more to notice how much it bothered her.

"Um…could you not call me that?" The Doctor furrowed his brow at Rose's request, but shrugged. "I mean…I refer Rose, if that's okay. My little brother calls me Rosie."

"So, why can't I?" He looked into her imploringly. "I mean, brother and sister, that's close. But come on, it's not like I can call you Tyler, that's all…boy-ish. And I know for a fact that you, Rose Tyler, are no boy." His cheeky grin made it impossible for her not to smile.

"For a fact, do you?"

"Indisputable."

Rose controlled her breathing—had she gotten him? "Oh? And…how, may I ask, do you know that?"

"Well, I mean of course, unless blokes use tampons." This revelation made the blood rush to Rose's face. "I do clean out the bathroom, Rosie—"

"You're gross!" Rose tried to find humor in his words, but could only cringe at how openly he spoke.

"Oh—yes, I suppose it's impolite to talk about that sort of thing, especially since—we haven't seen each other in ages!" The Doctor looked at her with delighted eyes that seemed to glow. "Rose Tyler, I have missed you!"

"I've missed you, too," Rose laughed, noting that their conversation had taken a complete loop. "I hope you haven't been having too much fun without me."

"Oh, you know. Same old stuff; did you know that me and the gang restarted the whole universe?"

"No," Rose said with a small smile.

"Yeah, piece of cake. Before we found Donna, of course—"

"Yeah, how did you find Donna?" Rose straightened her spine, eager to hear how the older woman had seduced her Doctor. "And how'd she…you know, regenerate?"

"Long story," the Doctor said with a smiling sigh—a smile that Rose knew had to be a lie. "Basically, we found her on a bit of rock in space, took her for a spin, and the rest is history! Or—technically the future, I suppose…the rest is a little rolled-up bit of time wrapped in a bigger bit of time."

"That's it?" Rose asked slowly. "Just…found her?"

"Yep," he shrugged absently. "And Saturday, so close!"

Rose looked away sullenly. She had to get him off the subject; setting him on it in the first place was a mistake.

"I'm not about to forget you, you know."

Rose looked up at the Doctor. "What?"

"You. Just because I'm with Donna, just because I…" He drifted off, his eyes unfocused. "I mean, come on! Besides Sarah Jane, you're my oldest mate here!" He extended a hand, cupping hers in his. "Some things change, a lot…but some things don't. I will always care about you."

Rose couldn't help it—she was speechless.

He loved her, he cared about her, Rose—she knew suddenly without question that it was true. But did he love her as she wanted him to love her, or something less?

Something less than her Doctor?

Quickly she shook away her thoughts and nodded. "I know that," she replied stiffly.


Once again, I am SO sorry and ashamed at how long this took. I promise the next chapter is coming sooner than this one did, perhaps even tomorrow? This chapter was the hurdle-now, all of the pieces may fall into place!

Reviews are just wonderful. I also ask that if you haven't read the prequel fic 'Old Friends, Crackers, and the End of the Universe' that you do so soon!

Again, and I cannot state this emphatically enough: REVIEWS.

XOXO and my eternal love and servitude,
Bella