So sorry it's taken so long! Forgive me! Life's been pretty busy with marriage, work, and family drama. Blech, domestics. Anyway, this chapter is up. It's not really that climactic. It focuses more on humor and later on, an explanation of the Pond's to Rose. I think it's a pretty good smooth-over chapter. Enjoy! Read, rate, review!

When Eleven and Rose walked back to the main console room hand in hand, they saw Tony asleep peacefully in Jackie's arms.

"Poor bloke, just kinda fell limp after a moment of singing to him."

"No joke. You? Singing? Enough to put anybody out." Eleven laughed.

"Oi." she said rather softly as she looked down at the boy, caressing his pink cheeks with her fingers lightly. "He asked me to."

The Doctor chuckled and looked down to Rose, who was moving towards her son. She freed her hand from his, and put it on Tony's face, stroking him delicately with her thumb and kissing his forehead.

"Be back soon dove." she whispered.

Rose hugged her mum and dad before they left to the safety of their home.

"And you're sure they'll be safe in the house? I mean, it got John while he was in there."

"Yes, but he had previously been infested. Once you're infested, you're always infested in some way or another. The Beast planned that. He's trying to make you weaker."

"It won't work."

"I know." he said, simply taking her hand and pulling the lever.

"So where are we going to find this thing?"

"I have a feeling a lot of this has to do with a man named Aldrich."

She stiffened at the sound of that name as he leaned back against the console.

"What do you know about Aldrich?"

"Not much. TARDIS told me she found out you weren't aging and found your anomaly."

"She told you?"

"No. I think she thought it best that you did."

Rose said nothing. She simply grabbed his right hand and put it in two different spots on her chest. He looked at his hand with uncertainty.

"No. That can't be."

The Doctor looked up to meet her eyes and shook his head. He knew how...but it was impossible. But he should know by now that this girl was simply impossible, yet she still existed.

"Aldrich isn't after me, is he?"

"No."

"So, you're-"

She nodded.

"And Tony?"

Again, she nodded.

"He's after Tony, isn't he?"

"Yeah."

He had to think, and quick. What was the difference between him and a Time Lord child?

"What's so special about him?" he asked, more to himself.

He paced back and forth in the TARDIS, trying to formulate a new idea.

"Come along Pond."

"What did you call me?"

"Err- Rose. Sorry come along Rose Allons-y and such." he shook his head.

He couldn't lie. He had been thinking of Amy and Rory a lot recently. Their sacrifices for each other still made him tear up at times. They left him; abandoned him and just moved on without him...and it hurt. A lot. Is this how his companions felt when he left them against their will? Is this how Rose felt the first time?

"Yeah, that's exactly how I felt. Especially coming back and seeing you had moved on to other companions. Martha and Donna."

"How did you-"

"You were talking out loud stupid." she smiled with her tongue in her teeth.

"Because then, more than ever, I was scared to be alone. Who knows who I would be if not for them? They kept me sane. And who knows what I would become without you?"

"I'm not blaming you for anything. You did what you had to. I would've done the same thing."

"So, landed!"

"What? We couldn't have."

"We did. I promise. Look outside."

She gave him a doubtful look, and walked to the door. When she opened it, she turned her head to him and smirked.

"What?"

"Come have a look!"

Eleven walked outside.

"What? But how! I pulled the lever!"

"Don't worry sweetie. You moved. About two feet to the right it looks like." the TARDIS grinned his favorite River smile, but it didn't have the same effect on him that it used to.

"Oh shut up."

The Doctor scratched his head in confusion.

"I know why."

"Why then?"

"Me." she said simply.

"You?"

"You need to take the boy with you."

"Out of the question." Rose pushed past him, getting in the TARDIS's temporary face. "Are you trying to kill my son?"

The TARDIS smacked her. Hard. And Eleven stood in shock and Rose held her hand to her face.

"What was that for?"

"I have protected you from death in so many ways and I helped the Doctor find his way here to save you and Tony, compromising both universes just so you could find each other. Are you daft enough to think that I would ever sacrifice a child? Especially one as special and unique as your own?"

Rose shook her head, unable to speak from the shock.

"You slapped her into silence! Would it work for me too? She can get pretty loud sometimes...well all the time."

"Let's see." Rose responded for the TARDIS and slapped him.

"Oi!"

"I feel a little better." Rose smiled.

"Bet you do."

She blew on the tips of her fingers like she would the end of a recently fired gun.

"Just go get Tony."

"Right."

Rose ran out of the TARDIS, and he kept on rubbing his face, thinking of that crazy girl. His crazy girl. Rose came back with the sleeping boy in her arms. "Okay, let's go."

"Alright!"

Eleven snapped his fingers, making sure Rose was watching. He wouldn't lie, he'd wanted to show that move to Rose since the moment he'd found out he could do it in the library. He looked at her and smirked.

"Jealous much?"

She rolled her eyes and turned away, but looked back and gave his favorite tongue-in-teeth smile. He could feel himself getting warmer.

"You're blushing!"

"What? No! Impossible. Timelord's don't blush."

"And look at you now. Achieving the impossible, yet again." she laughed.

This time he rolled his eyes as she walked back to the room the TARDIS had created for Tony and laid him down in his bed. Eleven came up beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close. They watched him sleep, and they watched him dream.

"So...who were Amy and Rory?" Rose asked quietly.

"Companions."

"Husband and wife?"

He nodded. "Best friends I ever had."

Rose narrowed her eyes at him.

"I fell in love with you. Different concept altogether. Met her when I first regenerated. She was seven."

"When did you regenerate?"

"Let's go to the console room."

The Doctor stood up, helping Rose up and leading her into the other room. He leaned against the console and began his story.

"2010. A Timelord, the Master, released a council of Timelords from Gallifrey that had sent a sound wave through time to reach him so they could pull themselves through. Another war would start. They were power hungry and wanted to create a new Gallifrey. It would've destroyed the universe. In the Master's last seconds, he sacrificed himself for the safety of the universe. He had been my best friend back on my planet, but until the moment he saved us, he considered me his foe. The only one standing in his way of taking control of Earth. I said goodbye to my dearest friends before I regenerated...including you..."

"Did you...talk to me at all?"

He nodded slowly.

"Why don't I remember?"

"Because I was just a drunk on New Years to you. Nothing more."

"That was you?" she asked in exasperation.

Again, he nodded. "Remember what I told you?"

"That I'd have a great year."

"Did you?"

"Best year of my life Doctor. Best year of my life." she smiled coyly.

"Well I'm glad. Very glad to have had you by my side."

The two smiled in silence, just holding onto each other's hands. He played with her fingers when she attempted to start the explanation again.

"Anyway...Amy and Rory?"

"Ah, yes. Met Amy when she was seven. Left to go test drive the new TARDIS-"

"New TARDIS? What did you do to her?"

"Oi! Why do you have to assume it was me?"

"Because it was!" the TARDIS chimed in.

"Well, that's no fair. I feel like you're ganging up on me."

"Oh, we are. He destroyed me during his regeneration and then crashed me in Amy's backyard."

"Pretty careless, sounds like. Do you even know how to drive her anymore?"

"Anymore? He never did!"

They both laughed

"Oi!"

"Oi yourself."

"Anyway!" he continued. "Came back and it had been twelve years."

"Ooh. Bet she wasn't happy."

"She pretended to be a cop and handcuffed me to an air conditioner."

Rose shook her head. "Nope, not happy at all."

"I left again, and when I came back it had been two more years."

"So why did she travel with you again?"

"Because I'm cool." he almost sounded offended.

Rose snorted. "As if."

Eleven ignored her. "We had a lot of adventures together, then she tried to snog me!"

"Oh, how terrible." Rose said sarcastically.

"Oh, come off it."

She smiled menacingly and motioned for him to continue.

"Did I mention she tried to the night before her wedding? Anyway! Decided to bring along the hubby-to-be and took them on a little trip to Venice. Of course, it didn't turn out the way we had planned. Lots of things happened. They got married, continued traveling with me, and had their honeymoon night in my TARDIS."

He made a disgusted face. Rose laughed as he tried to go on.

"They conceived a child in the time vortex, creating a Time Lord baby. That child's name was Melody Pond. Amelia was kidnapped by a religious order calledthe Silence right after she found out she was pregnant and and we didn't notice until it was too late. She had the Melody and they took the child away from her and raised her to be a killer. They raised her to kill me."

"Wait, so she was kidnapped after being pregnant for maybe a few months, and you and Rory didn't notice until she had the child?" Just how oblivious are you two?" she sounded angry now.

"Woah woah, calm down Rose. We're not that stupid. They replaced her with a Doppleganger. Still had her consciousness and everything."

"So once Melody got older, she tried to poison me and shut down my regeneration capabilities, but then saved me by giving me some of her regeneration energy. She sacrificed the rest of her lives to save one of mine...and she hardly knew me."

He paused and shook his head, in wonder and sadness.

"Once she was past the point of murder, she went into hiding from the Silence and changed her name to River Song."

Rose gasped and looked to the TARDIS's form. "So you married your assassin? You really do live life on the edge."

He chuckled lightly, but his face became solemn as he continued the next portion of his story.

"Went to Manhattan, New York and Rory got zapped back in time by a Weeping Angel. We had to force the TARDIS through the timeline to 1938. She nearly refused to go." he narrowed his eyes at her.

"I tried! I promise I did, but the city was full of time distortions! Not my fault." she finished, crossing her arms like a child.

"Oh stop acting like a child." he demanded, then flickered a smile in her direction.

She smirked back and looked at Rose as he continued. Her many expression entertained her.

"So we landed, took care of a lot of business. Statue of Liberty paid us a visit and Amy and Rory jumped off a building, trying to create a paradox. It completely collapsed the timeline and destroyed all of the Weeping Angels in Manhattan...well almost all of them."

"So, that's how you lost them?" Rose asked.

"Oh no. Paradox worked. We were all sent to a graveyard in Manhattan. Almost got to leave when good ole' Rory got zapped back by the one of the surviving Weeping Angels. Amy decided she couldn't live without him, and went along for the ride."

He closed his eyes and shook his head. Only after a few minutes did Rose realize the tears that were trailing down his cheeks. His best friends. They were gone.

"Well, couldn't you have gone back and picked them up?"

He shook his head again. "Timelocked."

Rose remained silent as his anger boiled up. "It's not fair! Why them? They were good people!" he kicked the console and stubbed his toe. He limped around the room ranting about life and betrayal and endings. "I let them down! Promised them adventures of a lifetime and then just left them to live to death. What kind of friend am I? I could've done so much more! So much more!"

"Doctor, you're the best friend either of them could have ever had Doctor." the TARDIS reassured him. "You gave them adventures they will never forget. And you fixed their love when they didn't know it was repairable. You gave them so much more than friendship. You gave them everything, and in return, they gave you a family."

"I don't like endings." he cried, finally leaning back against the console, scraping his hands over his face and through his hair.

"I know." Rose said, standing up and wrapping an arm around him. "Neither do I. But we live with it. We move on, and we become stronger because of it. I can see how strong Amy and Rory made you. Don't ever let it slip away Doctor. You might lose yourself."

The Doctor nodded after a bit and his chipperness came back. He ran around the TARDIS like a madman. But Rose knew it was only a facade. How much longer would he be able to hide his pain? How much longer before he completely broke? It was only a matter of time. So Rose promised herself right then that she would be there to pick up the pieces when he finally did.

"Okay! So let's go give Aldrich a visit!"