If I owned Doctor Who, Jenny would have long since become a companion. Along with Jack. And maybe Malcom Taylor.


The Doctor freezes at the question, then drops his head in contrition and blows out a sigh, "You have to understand that nothing, I mean not one single thing, is ever that simple with River Song. Her time-line is tied to mine, so we keep meeting, but it's all in the wrong order. Jumbled like a big ball of wibbly woobly, no wait...forget the wibbly wobbly, it's nothing like that. The first time I met her was the last time she met me and it's been that way ever since. I am older each time we intersect while she gets younger. Mostly. Also, she is going to spend the rest of her very long life in prison for killing me, so the least I can do for her-to make things easier on her- is allow her to indulge in this one fantasy."

Rose crosses her arms with a huff, "So what you're tryin' to avoid telling me flat out is that this River still thinks she is married to you-even though it never happened in this reality-because you feel sorry for her. And you didn't tell her your name, which supports your argument. I got all that right, right?"

"Well, when you put it like that...but your version was so boring!" he scoffs before facing her and throwing his arms out in a bout exasperation, "I didn't know what else to do Rose! She messed everything up when she didn't shoot me! Then she had the audacity to tell me it was because she couldn't let the man she loved die! I was desperate! All I needed was a few minutes of uninterrupted contact with her to set time and space back on its correct path, but River had convinced her parents to aid in keeping us as far away from one another as possible."

His hands drop onto her slender shoulders, "I admit that I used the poor girl's affection for me against her in order to set things right. I'm not proud of it, using her like that, but you know better than anyone just how good I am at turning people into a weapon of some sort and using them for my own ends."

"You can't say that Doctor. You warn everyone that travels with you how dangerous things can get," Rose defends, hugging herself to the Time Lord, "I chose to fight, like so many others, because I believed in you. Still do."

"But I've done you wrong so many times. I can't even begin to comprehend how you still have the ability to trust me, forgive me, after all I've done to," he confesses, his voice dropping low, laden with defeat, "I think I have finally learned the lesson the universe has been trying to tell me though. No more tag alongs. It's too dangerous."

She retaliates with a thwack to his chest, "It's not all bad for the ones who follow you around. I mean gettin' to visit all those places, see aliens that no one back on Earth could ever drea-"

"I meant for me," he flatly replies.