AN: Sorry it's been so long since my last entry, got a new job and don't have quite as much down time to work on my stories...anyways hope everyone enjoys the chapter. Again I do not own DW, and do not claim any credit to plot lines, quotes, or characters from the show. There is a dream sequence later in the story that is not of my imagination, but I loved it so much that I wanted to incorporate it into my story, tried to figure out who originally wrote it, but was not successful, so if anyone knows who tell them I think they are bloody brilliant.

Chapter 10: There and Back Again

The blackness was all around her; she felt weightless, like there was no gravity. It wasn't silent anymore though, voices were floating all around from every direction and into her ears, but she recognized all of them; they were her memories...

'Ok, first things first, how do I look?'

'Um...different.'

'Good different or bad different?'

'Just different.'

'Am I...ginger?'

'No, you're just sort of brown...'

'Ah I want to be ginger, I've never been ginger; And you, Rose Tyler, fat lot of good you were, you gave up on me, oh that's rude; is that all I am now? Rude and not ginger.'

'And could we find some clothes for Miss Tyler, I'm tired of nakedness.'

'It's not amusing is it?'

'Always take a banana to a party, Rose, bananas are good.'

'Does he still stroke bits of the TARDIS?'

'Yea...yea he does. And I'm like, do you two want to be along?'

'How's it going?...What?...Listen, I need to find out what's programmed inside these...what?...Stop it...'

'I trust him because he's like you, except with dating and dancing...what?'

'You just assume I'm...'

'What?'

'You just assume I don't dance.'

'You're telling me you do dance?'

'Nine hundred years old, I've been around a bit. You can assume at some point I have danced.'

'You?!'

'Problem?'

'Doesn't the universe implode or something if you dance?'

'Well, I've got the moves, but I wouldn't want to boast.'

'You've got the moves? Show me your moves.'

'Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete...'

'Jack will be back, he'll get us out, so come on the world doesn't end because the Doctor dances.'

"Rose!' The Doctor ran from the young TARDIS to the fallen blonde's side, the other two following close behind. 'Help me get her in there with him, it's the only way we can save her."

"But Doctor, there is nothing on this Earth that can save her or the other Doctor, the creature's venom is very lethal, the smallest amount can kill a human." Kyla said as the Doctor fumbled with Rose's arms.

"Clara, grab her legs, we have to hurry. Why does she always have to be so stubborn?"

"Did you not hear me, Doctor, she is a lost cause and so is he, there is not one single thing from this planet that can cure them of the poison's effects."

"Then it's a good thing both TARDIS' are not technically of this planet, am I right? Of course I am, their origins are based from Gallifrey, the home planet of the Time Lords. The machines are a very good defense for their owners, because they can provide the ultimate healing technology that Earth won't have, the TARDIS itself is what can save them...now are you going to help us or not?"

She quit her arguing at that moment though she didn't agree with what he was saying, she helped Clara with Rose's feet, and they carefully trudged over to the ship once more. Once inside they settled Rose next to the unconscious Doctor; Clara looked over to her Doctor to see him running around the strange ship's console pressing buttons and pulling levers as he mumbled to himself. He had a frown upon his normally chipper and excited face, she wondered what his plan was to save the two people laying on the grated floor.

"Kyla, I'm going to need you to stay on this ship while they are in the healing process, I'm going to help relocate them back to their own time by telepathically tethering this ship with mine.'

"But I belong in this time not the future," Kyla screeched. "You can't just rip me from my home."

"This is a time machine, actually both are as you seem to have forgotten, they can bring you back once they are back to health."

"And just how long is this going to take exactly. Doctor?"

"A few hours at least, possibly a few days at the most." As she went to argue with him he raised a finger to his lips and silenced her before she had a chance to speak. "Now, I need to release the nanogenes, you two stand clear of them."

He fiddled with a few more knobs and a cloud of golden particles began to fill the space around him then circling to the two invalids. The Doctor took Clara's hand and pulled her back out into the alley, telling Kyla to watch over Rose and her Doctor, but not to touch them no matter what. The doors to the TARDIS slammed shut behind them; they ran across the courtyard and entered his ship, he immediately began his random tinkering, and after a couple of minutes she felt the ship shift as it took off. She had so many questions running through her mind beginning with the arrival of the girl named Rose. She knew the Doctor had other companions in the past even though he spoke little about them, but for as intimate a relationship their earlier conversation had suggested she would expect him to have at least spoken of her more often and as a named person, but they were all referred to as companions...friends, but not names.

"Doctor, what's going on here really?"

"We are saving lives in a universe that we should not even be in, being here is risking tearing a hole in the rift, but it was unavoidable with her hopping the Void with that Vortex manipulator. I would scold Jack about giving her one of those, though it would probably be in vain anyways that man never really listens; and I cannot cross my own timeline to do so, and as far as anyone from that part of my life I mind as well be dead. I left them all behind right before my regeneration took full effect. There cannot be any gaps between the two universes we run the risk of collapsing them on top of one another, I have already had to reboot the universe once, and twice had to find a way to close all the gaps."

"What do you mean 'reboot the universe', you can't just turn it off like it's a computer."

"Actually, I can and I did...the gaps that I closed up twice in my last generation were closed, but were also weakened areas which later became cracks. If you fell through one of the cracks you were basically erased from history to the point not even your loved ones will remember you. I had to blow up my TARDIS in order to erase the actions of my several enemies, and easy way to look at it would be like running an universal virus scan...actually maybe that's not the best way to look at it. Oh look we have arrived!"

His rant was cut off as the TARDIS came to a hard stop, he rushed past her and out the door; Clara though still very confused followed close behind and found herself in a very strange lab, the other ship settled only feet away. They went to the other ship, both forms where still glowing with the nanogenes and Kyla was perched on a rail off to the side as far from the bodies as possible without losing sight of them either.

"There hasn't been any change, those things just keep surrounding them." Kyla said matter-of-fact.

"They were on the very edge of death, it's not an easy job to just fix, it is going to take some time to completely the process. I did say the minimum would be a few hours to a few days, and it has only been minutes since the process began."

"Can you take me back to my own time now, nothing went wrong, I need to get back to my own people."

"No, you need to stay here because I cannot, I shouldn't even be in this universe. The more I travel through time here the worse damage that can be caused." He motioned for Clara to get back to their ship. "Rose's family will be on their way up here in a moment, the security system has already alerted them that someone is in the building unauthorized. Relay the information about what is going on to them and they will help you look after these two."

Memories of when he first met Rose began to fill his mind as well as his other companions, the adventures that they had shared together, the images whirled behind his eyelids so fast his head began to hurt...wait why did his head hurt, didn't he die? He remembered his last moments there in Rose's arms as she cried over him and begged him to hold on, he had died; so how was he alive now?

Kyla was stalking the large room waiting for something to change in the Doctor and Rose, the rotating glow of the nanogenes had slowed and thinned, but never stopped. She hoped they would hurry and finish this process soon; Pete had made it clear he didn't completely trust or believe her story. He had wanted proof from either a conscious Doctor or Rose, or the other Doctor; which clearly wasn't going to happen. As she walked back into the TARDIS, where they'd decided was the safest place for the two, she got a great surprise.

As if he'd been shocked by an invisible wave of energy he sat straight up startling the former goddess who was standing just feet away.

"You're awake?!" She came to his side cautiously.

"How long was I not awake?"

"About three days..."

"Well, that explains why I am so hungry. Where's Rose?" Kyla nodded over to his left, looking over he saw her laying there silently as nanogenes busied themselves around her. "How long has she been like that?"

"Three days..."

"What happened, the last thing I remember is Rose holding me after I was attacked."

"She took on the monster by herself, and won, but at the cost of her own life too. The monster poisoned her as she made her fatal blow; she probably has a higher dosage running through her because it's tongue wrapped completely her body unlike the quick strike it gave you."

"She took it on by herself...that's my Rose, she's brilliant. How did you get here?"

"The other Doctor forced me to travel back to your time to watch over you during the healing process, he said he couldn't take me back himself, that you would have to do it. I need to get back to my people, there are more fowl creatures roaming the lands there and not enough soldiers to hold the countryside."

"Let's wait one more day and see if Rose's healing finishes up, but I promise we will get you back to your time as if only a day had passed there so we don't cross anyone's timeline and create a paradox."

It wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear, but if he could get her home with only a day of her being gone then she'd bite her tongue and be grateful that he was willing to travel back there. She left the TARDIS and crossed the hallway to another lab they'd given her access to and rigged into a housing area. They'd taken her to the mansion and gave her some of Jackie's old clothes so she could roam around the city without drawing attention to herself. They took her out to buy some food that could be stored at the lab, mostly fruits and veggies, and a mini fridge to keep them fresh in. They showed her around the town before taking her back to Torchwood and setting everything up for her to be comfortable and close to the TARDIS.

Clara walked nonchalantly around the ship's console and peered at her Doctor curiously, he'd been acting strangely ever since they'd gotten back from their detour, she'd thought with some space and no prying from her he'd snap out of it, but after four days of him faking that everything was fine she'd had enough and was determined to get an answer from him. He was tinkering with buttons and levers, completely unaware of her presence behind him.

"Doctor, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did, but I do suppose that is not the question you were meaning about." He glanced sideways at her. "So what do you want to ask?"

"I want to know what's been bothering you? Ever since we came back from helping Rose you have been acting very odd, like something's wrong, but you don't want to admit to it. Did something go wrong while we were there...that I do not know about? Is there a rip in space due to the TARDIS jumping the Void?"

"No...no I'm fine, nothing's wrong."

"And I don't believe you..."

"Clara..."

"Do you have a tummy ache, does the big bad Time Lord have a tummy ache?" She laughed as she mocked him knowing that it would provoke him enough to answer her question.

Pete and Jackie rushed up the elevator once the Doctor called them announcing that he was awake. They wanted answers to what had happened and gone wrong wherever he and Rose had ended up, why were they hurt. Jackie was the first to burst through the door of the lab, the Doctor was waiting for them in the lobby out front of the main lab.

"Where's my daughter? I need to see my daughter." Jackie said frantically as she went to pass him, but he grabbed her hand gently and kept her from heading down the hallway. "Is she..."

"No, but she is not conscious yet either, the nanogenes are still repairing the damage done while we were in Kyla's time period. And I need to explain without you panicking on me, Jackie. I know Pete knows most of the story, but since Kyla isn't familiar with Gallifrey technology she was not able to give proper details to what was going on with Rose and I."

"How are you already awake and she isn't?"

"Promise you won't start panicking?"

The older blonde stamped her foot, but nodded her head and only got an eyeballed look until she verbalized her promise. The Doctor began to retell Kyla's story the she'd told Pete, but added in the parts the woman didn't know how to explain. When he told them that Rose had actually died during their absence Jackie began to freak until he gave her a look reminding her that she had promised not to go overboard. Once she was all composed again the Doctor reassured them that the nanogenes would revive her, but it was going to take longer on her than it had him due to the amount of poison that had been pumped into her system by the creature. He suggested they just get back to their regular daily business because it was just a matter of waiting now.

"Doctor, may I speak with you privately?" Pete said as Jackie walked out of the lobby and into the elevator. Turning his full attention to the Doctor after the doors closed. "I told Jackie not to say anything because I know how she can be, but do you know how long you've been gone?"

"No, not exactly, I know I've been out for three days so I would assume for three days, why how long has it been?"

"You've been gone two months here, people have been starting to ask questions that don't know the major factors about Torchwood. You may not have realized how ingrained the two of you are in the way this institute runs, but people do know something is amiss when two of the top board members go missing without so much as a word. And not to mention, your wedding is in two days...will Rose be healed before then?"

"I hope so, but it's hard to tell at the moment. I will have the TARDIS run some scans to see how far the nanogenes have progressed." He looked over his shoulder at Kyla who had gone to the other side of the room. "I also need to return her to her own timeline, she's getting very anxious to get back there. I just don't want to risk getting stuck in that place again."

"What about the vortex manipulator Rose was using? I think it was rigged with a delay return button if it should need to be sent back without it's wearer. You could send her back by that then just have her return it through the delay option."

"I'll have to get it off Rose's wrist."

He said goodbye to Pete after getting the directions on how to use the delay button, when the elevator doors shut again he called for Kyla to follow him back to Rose's side. As they walked he explained to her the options she had in returning to her time; she could wait a few more days to wait for Rose to awaken and to attend their wedding should it not have to be put off, or to use the vortex manipulator to go home now. Ultimately she chose to go home sooner, though thanking him for the thought of inviting her to their wedding and wished him all the best. He crouched down beside Rose and reaching carefully for her wrist took the manipulator off her. The nanogenes hummed around his hands and arms as he was removing it; he stood up with it and had the TARDIS scan it to make sure it was in working condition after jumping the Void. Seeing that it was in perfect condition he explained how it worked as he wrapped it around her wrist.

"And once you have arrived just press this button after you've taken it off; it will return to its last location after one minute. Do not touch it after you've pressed the button or you'll return with it. Do you understand?"

"What did he say about Rose? Will she be better soon?" Jackie had grabbed her husband the moment he was off the elevator. "What did he tell you?"

"He doesn't know yet, he is going to see if the TARDIS can shed some light on her status. He'll let us know as soon as he does, so let's go home and get some rest. Martha is probably ready to hand over Toby, he's getting to be such a handful these days."

Her head was pounding, a dreadful beeping noise seemed to control the air around her; opening her eyes she saw the ceiling of the ship, eyes scanning to both sides she finally saw the Doctor tinkering with the control panel, his back was to her. She pushed herself up onto her elbows, a groan escaping her lips and bringing his attention to her from the console. "What happened, how did we get back, I had the worst dream; I dreamed that this creature with a snake head and a dragon body killed you, and then I attacked it and killed it, but got killed at the same time."

"Rose, you didn't dream that, it actually happened. It was a good thing you had brought the other Doctor with you or we might not have made it back."

"If we...died, then how are we here?"

"Nanogenes, the other Doctor had us brought back in here and he released them, but we've been out for three days, and missing for two months." He helped her stand and walk over to the little bench by the console, he began looking her over and checking her vitals to make sure she was in tip top condition. "How do you feel?"

"Different, but good...and alive considering the size of the headache pounding through my head." She sat very still for a moment then looked him in the eye; "Did you say we've been gone for two months?"

"Yes..."

"The wedding!"

"Is in two days." He could see her visibly relax and sink back onto the bench. "I'm going to go call your parents and update them..."

"Not tonight, let's just go home; you tell them tonight and we'll never get any peace from my mother, and I just want to curl up n our bed."

"Ok, let's go home."

His phone vibrated with a text message from the Doctor; opening the message he read the few words on the screen:

'She's awake, tell Jackie in the morning.'

He closed the message and went back to watching the TV as Jackie hummed in the kitchen as she cooked dinner. He didn't like keeping secrets from his wife, but knowing Rose she probably just didn't want to be bothered by her overbearing and overprotective mother. He turned off the TV and left the living room and walked down the hallway to the kitchen. From the doorway he watched her move from one pan to the other and Toby coloring at the table behind her.

They arrived back at their apartment about an hour later, he told her he'd make them something simple to eat then they could go to bed; she nodded then moved to go to the bedroom to go take a shower. He watched her walk almost mechanically into their room, he knew there wasn't another woman who could make him as happy as she did. He went into the kitchen and began their supper.

After her shower she felt a hundred times better than before, she put on some pajamas then went out into the main room just as he was putting their food onto plates. "What's for dinner?"

"Grilled cheese sandwiches and chips."

"Sounds perfect." She took her plate from him and they walked into the living room and sat down on the couch and turned the telly on and scrolled through the channels until they came to the Graham Norton Show.

"Feel better?"

"Yes, but I'm still so tired." She leaned her head onto his shoulder as she popped the last of her grilled cheese in her mouth. Her eyes began to droop at the rhythmic motions of his fingers on her shoulder until finally she fell asleep there on the couch. Half an hour passed and he let her sleep peacefully on his shoulder as he reveled in the fact he would still get to live out his life at her side and hers at his. He gazed down at her slumbering form and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before maneuvering so he could pick her up and carry her to their room. Placing her on the bed and pulling the covers over her he went back out into the main room to pick up their plates and put them in the sink to be washed in the morning; returning to the bedroom he walked into the adjourning bathroom. After a quick shower he climbed in bed beside her, but sleep would not come to him just yet so he contented himself by watching her sleep; she had curled herself up against him the moment he'd got in next to her. He thought over the last couple of years that he'd been laying in this same spot next to her, so many secrets and dreams shared between them, except one that was floating around in his mind at the moment. Seeing the other Doctor, even just the briefest glance, had brought the dream to the front of his memories; it had been on a night similar to this one, Rose had been really sick and had fallen asleep before he, he'd lain there and watched her until sleep finally took over and images began to appear behind his eyelids:

'He was in the TARDIS, standing on the console platform. Regeneration energy was coursing through his body, it felt like tiny tongues of flames licking at every cell in his body rewriting them. He could still hear the Ood singing outside the TARDIS, it is a beautiful and sad melody, and at that moment he realizes that he doesn't want this life to end or change, he doesn't want to become someone new, but it is too late. The process has started, and he has said his goodbyes, the last to his sweet Rose, his beautiful Rose, even before she had met him. There is a moment where everything is quiet, where he can feel every molecule of his body getting ready to burst, then all of sudden his body is screaming at him the regeneration energy finally takes complete control, he'd never held it off this long and he apologizes to the next him who will surely have to clean up the mess he will make. His chest heaves, he counts the last heartbeats he has left and steeling himself against the coming change. "I don't want to go," he whispers, tears in his eyes as the energy finally erupts from within and he is engulfed. He is on fire, it burns so much he just wants it to hurry up and end, to stop; he doesn't care if he dies anymore. Mentally he screams her name over and over and over again, chanting it like a mantra: Rose, Rose, ROSE!' His eyes had flown open and he'd seen their bedroom; running his hand over his face, chest heaving as he tried to shake the dream from his memory.

"What's wrong? Are you all right?" She'd asked as she turned to him.

He was sorry that he'd woken her in the process; gathering her in his arms and kissing her on the forehead then wrapping himself around her. She rubbed his back in an attempt to sooth him.

"Yea, just a bad dream," he says as he tries to fight back the tears that were trying to overwhelm him. "It's over now." But he knows it's not just a bad dream; somewhere across the universes the Doctor is regenerating, and he is alone and afraid.

He is pulled back to the present by the feel of reassuring caresses to the arm he'd wrapped around her, looking back down he could see the lashes on her eyes fluttering periodically. "What are you thinking about so hard? I can feel how tense you are, come on spill it out."

"I thought you were exhausted?"

"I am, but I won't get any sleep when it feels like I'm leaning against the hull of the Titanic." She turned over and looked up into his eyes with her own big doe ones. "Is it nerves about the wedding?"

"No, I'm not in the slightest bit nervous about our wedding...that I am waiting impatiently for," he wrapped his arms tightly back around her and pulled her very close to him, she grinned at him which he happily returned then placed a kiss on her lips. "It just can't get here fast enough for me. I was just thinking about a dream I'd had a long time ago. It was on a night just like this when I had it, when you were really sick..."

"I vaguely remember that, I woke up to you screaming my name. What did you dream about, you never did tell me about it."

He watched her carefully for a moment, she'd always been more sensitive to the topic of the original Doctor, "I dreamed about the other me's regeneration..." he watched her face trying to gauge her reaction to the information. When only a slight stiffness seemed to come over her he continued, "It was probably the worst one he's ever been through, and he was all alone. He didn't want to go..."

She had tears in her eyes that she tried to blink away, she knew he was better now, quirky and weird, and he had someone to keep him grounded when he began to take things too far. She looked up at her Doctor laying next to her and brushed her fingers over his sideburns and gave him small smile. "I don't think he's as alone as he thinks he is anymore, not as handsome either, and somehow I think we'll see them again one day. Now, let's get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be very long once my mother gets involved."

"Hmmm...you have a point there."

Rose was the first one to wake up, she was feeling better than she ever had in her entire life. Leaving the bedroom she went into the kitchen and started breakfast of French toast and bacon with a side of fresh sliced fruit. As she was getting plates down the sound of their bedroom door opening caught her attention, looking over her shoulder she greeted him with a good morning. He came up behind he and wrapped his arms around her waist and set his chin on her shoulder; she leaned into him as she put the food onto the plates.

"How did you sleep, my dear?"

"Wonderfully, feel like a whole new person if I'm perfectly honest. How about your, did you finally get some sleep?"

"Yes, fell asleep not long after you went back to sleep. Ready to face everyone today?"

"Hmm...not really, I'd much rather spend the day with you, however I'm sure everyone is expecting an explanation about what really happened while we were gone. My mother especially I bet."

"The good news though, they already know most of what happened while we were in the other time frame. They even got to meet a former goddess and had no clue...didn't think it would be a good idea while you were lying there unconscious, I'm sure your mum would have demanded she do something when the truth is she no longer has her godly powers. Now, come on we need to eat and get dressed for work, have a feeling we are going to have a lot of paperwork to catch up on once we escape your mum's clutches, and I don't want to be up there all night since our wedding is tomorrow."

"Speaking of our wedding, I am staying over at Martha's tonight along with Donna and a few other girlfriends."

"I'm not going to see you before our big day?"

"It's bad luck to see the blushing bride before the ceremony, especially if she's in her wedding dress."

He looked like he wanted to protest, but snapped his mouth shut then began eating his breakfast. After a moment he looked back up at her with his mischievous grin plastered on his face, her eyes narrowed in warning, but he did not take heed of it. "You, Rose Tyler, do not seem to be the blushing bride sort of girl."

"I don't know if I should be offended by that or not," she huffed. "I may not be the blushing bride who is all innocent, but I am when it comes to you and I since we have saved that for our wedding night."

They walked into the Torchwood building and were greeted by the shrill voice of Jackie as she caught sight of her daughter coming into the building. She created such a fuss that the other level one employees began to pay too much attention to the scene before them until finally Rose pulled her mother into the elevator and took all three of them up to the ninth floor and straight into Pete's office. They stayed in there until Jackie finally could keep herself under control and stop yelling at the Doctor for making the situation come up in the first place, even while he pleaded that it was an accident, and then she'd turn her wrath on Pete for allowing Rose to go and for not telling her immediately that her daughter was up and well. Rose had given the Doctor a sharp glance when she'd heard that the Doctor had told Pete the night before, but she just brushed it off when he gave her an apologetic grin, she'd let him slide on this one due to the matter of the situation. In the end everyone got to their own floor, Rose and the Doctor began their game of catch up with all the project paperwork laying on their desks.

Martha and Donna took their lunch with Rose in her office, catching her up on the gossip of the last two months, and questioned her about what happened while she was missing. After making sure she was feeling back to normal, they bombarded her with questions about this new version of the Doctor, Rose couldn't help, but laugh at their eagerness to know about this man they would never get to meet.

"Well, to be honest, I didn't spend all that much time with him to really give you a good description of who he is, but physically he is a good bit shorter that our Doctor. He's a little bit more childish looking too, but you can tell something has happened him on a tragic level, because there is an underlying sadness in his eyes even when he seems to be excited about something. We didn't start our time together on very good terms, it came with a bit of yelling at one another. Oh, and he has a new little companion named Clara; there is something familiar about her..."

"Familiar? How so?" Martha said, Donna nodding vigorously beside her.

"I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but there is just this feeling that I know who she is, just the exact information is being kept locked up."

"Maybe she's your child from the future, I mean you are about to be married, and I think we all know your mum will be expecting grandchildren to be following close behind." Donna said. "But if she is your child, how does she manage to cross the void and meet this other you?"

"Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey...we have a new TARDIS in this universe, it could travel back to those timelines for us when the void wasn't completely closed off, but if she was our child it would be stressed to her the dangers of crossing the void and that should only be done if you absolutely had to. That or it had better be an accident like when the TARDIS got pulled through the Time Vortex and dropped here when the Cybermen were trying to take over this universe with the help of that horrible man Pete used to work for, John Lumic."

"That name sounds slightly familiar, but it's like there is a fog around it," Martha said as her face scrunched up in deep thought.

"Trust me, it's probably best that you don't remember, what he was doing to people was disgusting, frankly I wish I could forget it myself." Rose finished going over a report and set it aside, then looked up at the two women sitting in front of her desk. Remembering back to the last day she'd spent in the other universe trying to find her Doctor and seeing Martha on the computer screen, then meeting both her and Donna when they were all captives of Davros and being slightly put off and jealous that he had found companions after her, especially beautiful and smart ones to boot; now, even though they were not the exact same they were her best friends. She couldn't imagine how different her life would be here without them always around. "You know what, I'm tired of playing catch up, I'm about three-fourths the way through, let's get out of here for the day."

"Sounds like a plan to me, we can go get ready for all the fun we are going to be doing tonight." Donna said excitedly.

"I'm going to go say bye to the Doctor then we can be off," Rose said as she slipped the finished paperwork into a file folder then locked it up in her filing cabinet. "Meet me on your level, Donna, I want to go out the side door and avoid having to talk to my mum before we leave. She'll treat unfinished paperwork like unfinished homework, and I don't want to deal with all that the day before my wedding."

The Doctor was tapping his pen on the desk as he stared down at the report in front of him, he hated this part of the job, it was so dull. He just sat there staring at the same line for several minutes until a knock sounded, Rose was standing beside the door, he hadn't heard the sound of the elevator arriving on to his floor. Smiling he put down his pen and got up from his chair and went over to her and wrapped her into a hug then kissed her sweetly.

"What is the honor of this visit, my dear?"

"I wanted to come see you before I head out, I'm going to play hooky for the rest of the day. I got most of the work done, and frankly I'm tired of staring at paper all day so I'm going to finish it after we get back from our honeymoon."

"We'll be gone for two weeks, you'll have even more work when we get back."

"Well, unless aliens attack the Earth while we are gone I don't think two weeks of extra paperwork could trump two months of it. Now, you have a fabulous evening and I will see you tomorrow as I walk down the aisle to become Mrs. Doctor Smith."

"That time just can't get here fast enough in my opinion. What are you and the girls going to do tonight?"

"Oh, that's a secret..." She leaned up and kissed him. "I love you."

She turned then and got back in the elevator and left him alone in his office again; he walked idly around the whole floor, looking over all the projects he'd worked on over the last couple of years...soon he wouldn't be spending quite as much time in here, they'd agreed that they would spend most of the time in the TARDIS exploring new worlds and meeting new people just as they did before when they first travelled together. They were only going to come in to the original time stream about six time a year, and each time spend two weeks catching up with everyone and helping Torchwood stay on track. They had already discussed in detail to Pete and Jackie their plan and somewhat to their other friends, but to everyone they knew it had been stressed that they didn't want to be called back unless they were absolutely needed there before they were due to return. Before they left they were going to openly announce to the whole company staff what the whole establishment really was all about. Those who couldn't deal with the secretiveness of the company would be escorted from the premises after all the information had been erased from their memory.

He looked up and saw he'd come to the last lab where he'd grown their TARDIS then later proposed to her, opening the door he went inside. This room would forever be very special to him, he doubted he'd let anyone outside of himself and Rose use this lab for anything. After looking over the room for a long moment he left it and locked it up with the master key insuring nobody would be able to enter it without him. Going back to the front desk he got back to the paperwork he'd been staring at before Rose had thankfully interrupted him on, he wanted to get as much as he could done before he left for the evening.