Gently the new Doctor led Rose over to one of the plush sofas near the fire. It was a three seater and he sat her on the end and he took the middle cushion. In exasperation, Rose's current Doctor positioned himself on the arm of the sofa behind her.
One of the pinstriped Doctor's hands found its way to Rose's shoulder and squeezed. Turning slightly so that she could see him, she gave him a reassuring smile.
"Rose, I know this is going to be difficult," the bow-tied Doctor said, taking her hands in his. "But I need you to tell me what happened after I took Arthur and jumped through the time window."
"No," the other Doctor protested. "You shouldn't make her relive that."
"I need to know what the catalyst for the shift in the timeline was." The new Doctor tucked a stray piece of hair behind Rose's ear. "Right now, I don't need all the details, just an overview, generalizations really."
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, not wanting to discuss this while having to look at them. His actions still stung and probably would always hurt. And she never wanted to do this at all but this was about the diverging of timelines. This was something that she could do to help, and she would never refuse to help.
"Alright." She licked her lips and closed her eyes. "You jumped through the mirror, and it was about ten hours before you came back. And you were all bubbly and happy."
"Did I go back for her?" the Doctor in tweed asked solemnly.
Rose's eyes snapped up to meet his, and the hand on her shoulder tightened. "You went back for her?" She tried pulling her hands away from the Doctor in front of her.
He tightened his grip. "I went back to offer her a one off trip to thank her for helping me get back to you. But she had died before I got back there. Probably for the best. I have a strong feeling Reinette would have been cyberized on our next adventure. She wasn't built for this life, not like you, Rose."
Rose took a deep breath before continuing. "As far as I know, you never went back. I went to my room as soon as I knew you were back safely. We were in flight a few minutes later. After that we went on adventures, but things were different between us. I wanted to put some distance between us. Because some things aren't worth getting your heart broken for."
The spiky haired Doctor behind her slid down to kneel by her side. "Rose, I am the biggest prat in the Universe and I can't believe how close I came to losing you because of this. I don't think I can tell enough just how sorry I am."
This time Rose did manage to pull her hands free from the future Doctor's and she laid a hand on her current Doctor's face. "Just don't do it again or next time you will lose me."
"Never," the Doctor in pinstripes replied, raising himself up to bring his face level with hers. His eyes darted back and forth between her eyes and her lips. Rose was absolutely sure that he was going to kiss her. Finally, she thought as he started to lean in, and she let her eyelids flutter closed.
"Sorry to interrupt," the other Doctor said, hauling her current Doctor to his feet. "But my timeline is destabilizing as we speak, so we need to get cracking. Now, I need inside our head, Doctor. To try and repair your memories and to pinpoint the exact moment of the split."
The lights in the library flashed menacingly, and Rose acutely felt the time-ship's disapproval. Both Time Lords stared at the ceiling in disbelief.
"Curious," the green eyed man murmured. "I don't think that she likes the idea of us changing the timeline back. Did you do this?" He spun around, eyes darting everywhere as if he was waiting for the TARDIS to answer him. "On purpose."
There was a change the pitch of her humming. The only way to describe it was that she sounded smug. "I think that she did," the Doctor in converse said, sounding awestruck.
"Why, though?" Rose asked, coming to stand between her two Doctors. Each one reached down and took one of her hands. "What was so important that she felt she needed to fix?"
The older Doctor with the younger face squeezed her hand. "You, Rose, she did this to stop me from losing you." He took a deep breath and she turned to face him. "One last question and this one is so very important. January 1st, 2005, you and Jackie were walking through the Powell Estate. She had left and you were heading upstairs... Was there a man in the shadows?"
Rose screwed up her face in concentration, and her current Doctor asked, "Why does that matter?"
"Just trust me, this memory means everything," the future Doctor replied, gently taking Rose by the shoulders. "Was there anyone there? A man that talked to you."
Gently, Rose shook her head and looked up into the Doctor's green eyes. "No, there wasn't. At first I thought maybe. But then it shifted, and I know that I said night to mum and then ran upstairs. There wasn't anyone that I talked to."
The floppy haired Doctor let out a strangled cry of relief and leaned over and stole a quick kiss. Before Rose could react, he was bounding out the door to the library calling back over his shoulder, "Come along, Tyler. I wasn't joking about my timeline unraveling, and I have things to do before I fade from existence."
Rose stood there, completely puzzled as to what had happened to her in his past and why someone who was about to fade from existence sounded so damn chipper. "We should follow him, Doctor," she stated, pulling on the remaining Doctor's hand. He stayed rooted to the spot.
Just as she was about to ask him what was wrong, he hauled her into his arms and kissed her, his lips soft and cool on hers. It made her tingle in the same way the kisses from his future regeneration had.
The thought of the other Doctor made her pull back. As much as she wanted this to happen, this wasn't the time. "Doctor, did you feel the need to do that because you were jealous of your future self?" she teased, giving him a tongue in teeth smile. "Feel the need to stake your claim? Do you want me to rate your techniques?"
A low growl escaped from the Doctor's throat as he began to pull her from the room. "You just wait until we get this sorted and I'll show you technique."
~oOo~
The Doctor shrugged off his tweed jacket as he ran down the corridor, screaming for Mickey, Amy and Rory along the way. Within a few short minutes those three, Rose and the other Doctor joined him in the console room. He held up a hand to forestall any questions that the assembled group.
Snapping his braces first, the Doctor to explain. "We don't have long. Time is being rewritten." Amy began to protest but he cut her off. "If we have any chance of fixing this we need to hurry."
The TARDIS gave another disapproving hum, and the Doctor in his shirt sleeves winked at the time rotor. "I need to take those three, back to their TARDIS and help modify their memories." He pointed at Mickey, Rose and the Doctor. The latter two were standing with their hands clasped tightly together. "Amy, Rory, wait here. Do not wander off. I'll be back in a tick."
He ran out of the door to his ship, and Amy called after him to stop. If he heard her, he paid no heed, and he continued to run in the direction he believed the other TARDIS to be.
"Doctor, do we follow him?" Mickey asked, jerking his head in the direction of the open door.
"Might as well," the Doctor responded, tugging on Rose's hand and grabbing his long brown coat off the rack. "Allons-y."
Once the last version of the Doctor, Rose and Mickey had left the TARDIS, Rory sat down in one of the chairs around the console.
"What are you doing?" Amy asked indignantly. "We should follow them."
"Not this time. If his personal history is being rewritten, then we should stay here and let the two Doctors sort this out. Stay here."
"I don't think so," Amy snorted and walked towards the door which slammed shut in her face. She tugged at them but was unable to open them. "Spoilsport," she said, kicking the doors before begrudgingly walking up the steps and joining her husband in waiting for their Doctor to return. That alien was so going to pay for this when he got back.
~oOo~
Once back inside the familiar console room of her TARDIS, Rose let go of the Doctor's hand. "So you're going to fix this, yeah?" she asked the new Doctor.
"No," he replied with a large grin. "It has been too long since the changes started, and it seems that this was planned by my amazing time and space ship,"
"So you lied to Amy and Rory?" Rose raised an eyebrow in disdain.
"You see, that is why we need her." He pointed at Rose but looked pointedly at the other Doctor. "No one else keeps us in line like Rose. Well, Donna was fairly good at it, too." The last part was said with deep sadness. "The point is that Rose keeps us grounded. She makes us better."
"Of course she does," the Doctor in pinstripes replied, shrugging off his long coat and throwing it over a strut. "That was never a question."
The new Doctor turned his attention back to Rose. "And we love her, very much."
"Quite right too," the other Doctor chimed in. "I've just done a horrible job of showing her lately."
Rose looked down as she blushed with embarrassment at that naked confession.
Clearing his throat, Mickey alerted everyone to his presence, and the tension between Rose and the two Doctors was broken. "I know I'm new at this, but Rose told me 'bout those Reaper things. So shouldn't we do something to change things back? Coz I don't fancy getting eaten by one of those dragon thingies."
Both of the Doctors smirked. "Don't you worry about that, Mickey my boy." The bow tie wearing Doctor clapped a hand on his shoulder. "The Doctor and I will sort that out as soon as we erase yours and Rose's memories of meeting me. Which is a shame because I am, without a doubt, the coolest Doctor."
"You are very cool," Rose said, coming up to straighten his bow tie. "Especially with this. Bow ties are cool."
"I always knew that you would get it." He took her hand and started to sprint away with her. Over his shoulder he called to his counterpart. "Reset Mickey's memories to last night. I'll take care of Rose."
The spiky haired Doctor seethed. "I wish he'd stop doing that."
"Doing what?" Mickey asked. "Running off with Rose? It's not fun when it happens to you, is it?"
"Oh, shut up."
"You know I'm right," Mickey goaded. "At least he's actually you. Not just some alien that swanned off with your girl."
The Doctor ground his teeth and grabbed Mickey's upper arm and began to lead him towards the human's room. "Come on, let's get your memory sorted so I can get that bow-tied buffoon out of my TARDIS." The Doctor chuckled. "Bow-tied buffoon, I like that."
With a snort, Mickey replied, "Just remember, that's who you're gonna be next."
"Watch it or I'll remove more than just the last few hours of your memory. Do you like having control of your bladder?"
Mickey's eyes went wide. "You wouldn't really do that, would you, boss? Come on, I was only taking the mickey out of ya."
The Doctor chuckled. "I hope you like adult nappies."
~oOo~
"I don't like this," Rose sighed, sitting down on her bed.
The Doctor sat down next to her and took her hand. "I know that you don't like people messing with your head. I'm sorry, but this is necessary."
"It's not that." She bit her down on her lip. "After France on a spaceship, I was convinced that you didn't care about me. I was so hurt, and I felt so stupid for letting you walk all over me like that. I'm only just now starting to see that it's because you're an idiot alien git that can't express his feelings and not because you don't lo...care about me."
"Rose, she meant nothing. How could she? I was already so in love with you." He brought a hand up and caressed her cheek.
Turning her head slightly, she kissed his palm. "I see that now. But I'm going to forget everything that has happened today. Back to square one, me not wanting that kind of relationship with you and you with no memory of those events." A tear slid down her cheek. "You'll push too hard and I'll push back. Then I'll ask you to take me home. It's only a matter of time."
A crooked grin formed on his face, once again making him look so young. "I won't lose you, Rose Tyler, not again. So we are going to cheat a little. Okay, maybe a lot. First, I'm sure that I can help my younger version out there regain all of his memories. It should be easy. I can rewrite the neural pathways and bingo bongo, memories restored.
"And secondly, you are not going to forget today's events, not completely. Mickey and the other me wont remember anything but to you, today will seem like a dream. Details will be fuzzy. You won't be able to remember my face, pity that, or anything concrete about Amy and Rory. But you will remember everything that I, this me and that me, have said about the events in France and about how we feel about you. And like most dreams, even what you do remember when you wake up, will fade over time. That me may still have to earn your forgiveness, but I have no doubt that the two of you will work things out."
"You said earlier that the TARDIS did this, rewriting time, so that you wouldn't lose me. Did I... Did I die?" This question had been weighing on her mind for quite a while. If the Doctor loved her the way he said that he did, and if the man in front of her was this adamant about not losing her again, he wouldn't have just let her leave.
The Doctor didn't say anything, just stared at her. Looking away from him, Rose began to ramble. "Young, I mean? Did I die young? It's been three hundred years for you, so of course I'm dead. It's just, the way you talk about losing me... It doesn't sound like I voluntary left you."
"Look at me, Rose." His hand gently tilted her face back towards him. Her brown eyes met his green ones, and she could again see his age. "There was a battle and we won, saved the Earth again, but there was a cost. You, Jackie and Mickey were sealed away in a parallel universe. You lived a fantastic long life, of that I am sure. My precious girl, I wanted to tear apart both universes to get to you. I was never the same without you. I needed you more than I realized."
Gently he kissed her forehead and then hauled her to her feet. "Now change into the jimjams you wore last night, and we can modify your memories."
Rose instinctively knew that he was holding something back, but he had probably already told her more than he should have. If things were going to get better between her and the Doctor, she had to learn to trust him and when to pick her battles. This was one time she would let the secrets lie.
