For those of you who are devotees of Ten/Rose, I feel like I have to give you a heads up. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Nine is my Doctor. The only thing that would have separated Nine from Rose was death. No Void. He would have known Rose had chosen him and would never have even tried to send her back to Jackie. There sure as hell would never have been any Reinette moment, either. Nothing against the Tenth Doctor, and certainly not David Tennant, but Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper were absolutely magnetic together, and although it isn't a particularly popular point of view, Rose's pairing with Ten didn't hold the same magic for me.

"So let me get this straight, I nearly got both of us killed, and if you had saved me instead of the TARDIS, it would have killed you. I would have woke up and found a different man looking at me, claiming to be you?" Rose had sprung up from the bed at his revelation and was pacing her bedroom floor.

"That's the way it would work, yeah."

"Different face, different voice, different personality, but you all the same?"

The Doctor nodded emphatically. "Yeah."

"I like who you are now, Doctor." Rose shook her head in despair. "Just when I think there are no more ways to be shocked..."

"My feelings for you would remain unchanged, Rose."

"How do you know that? If your personality is different, wouldn't it respond differently to mine? You might become an outrageous flirt. It's bad enough when you already have women who mistake your kindness for something else."

"You act like it would be all bad, Rose," he offered. "I might turn out a bit pretty."

"And you might turn into a grumpy old man who doesn't want to hold me anymore! I don't want pretty, anyway. I want you! I love your personality, and your manic grin. You do plenty of talking, but you don't just natter on aimlessly about nothing in particular. I'm not the same person I was before. I don't need some dandy who uses more hair products than I do."

Making a face, he replied, "I don't think I'd want to be that pretty, Rose."

"I don't want you to be anything other than who you are, right here, right now, Doctor. Remember Platform One? Maybe it's a Human thing, but I love you the way you are. I love your voice, and the way you have about yourself." Rose sat down on the bed in front of him. "I love your face, and don't tell me it's a 'daft old face'. I love your eyes, Doctor. No one else has ever looked at me the way you do. I'm glad the TARDIS took matters into her own hands so I could have you just as you are."

Rose locked her arms around his neck and kissed him in desperation. "Just you," she breathed. The Doctor gasped when she caught his lower lip between her teeth. His arms tightened around her possessively and he battled for control and won. A low throaty moan escaped Rose's throat when she felt his tongue exploring, memorizing the contours of her mouth. He pulled away from her for a moment, his heart in his eyes.

"So you like my daft old face?"

"Love it...and your Northern accent that you claim has no relation to England, and I love your leather jacket. Though, I must say...I like what's underneath that jacket even more." Rose smiled wickedly as the tips of his ears turned pink. "I think you should know, Doctor. I never fancied Jack. It's always been you, from nearly the beginning. But I have to say, I'm not sorry he's here. I never had a brother, you know."

Rose straightened abruptly as realization hit her like a ton of bricks. The Doctor swallowed hard; this was the moment he had feared the most. "You said everyone was dead– that you were waiting for the Daleks to finish you off. How did Jack survive?"

This time it was the Doctor who stood up and turned away, staring as if he were looking out an imaginary window. "This was the part I've dreaded the most, Rose," he confessed. "Jack did die. You used the power to bring him back."

Part of Rose was horrified that she had held that kind of power. For a few moments, she was the most power being the universe had ever seen. It was frightening to know that one person, even for a brief time, could wield authority over life and death, even resurrecting the dead. But she loved Jack.

"I'm not sorry," she confessed. "Jack is family, and this is our home. The three of us belong together, Doctor. We're all lonely, and so we fit together. You're the loneliest of all of us. Jack, despite his wicked ways, has a loving heart. He was lonely, too. And me...I always felt a bit isolated. I love my mum, but she never really wanted more for me than I already had. She thought being a shop girl had given me airs. That's why you're my home. I'm not sorry I brought Jack back."

The Time Lord turned around and Rose saw the anguish in his face. He shook his head sadly. "Bringing Jack back came at a price, Rose. You couldn't have possibly known what you were doing. I'm almost certain that when you brought Jack back, you made him immortal."

"What?"

"He's like Mount Vesuvius...Volcano Day. Like your father, Rose."

Rose's eyes widened in horror. "A fixed point in time and space."

"Yeah."

"And he can't die."

"Not permanently, no. You could stab him in the heart and he would die for a few minutes, and then he would come back to life as though it never happened."

"And I did this? To Jack?"

"My Rose, you couldn't have known. I don't think you were even marginally aware of what you did with the vortex running through you. You mustn't blame yourself."

Rose shook her head violently, choking back tears. "Does Jack know?"

"I haven't told him yet." he murmured. "I wanted to tell you what happened first. Despite my fondness for Jack, you are always first with me."

Rose threw herself in the Doctor's arms, tucking her face under his chin. "How can I face him? How can he ever forgive me for doing such a thing to him? The reality would drive me insane if it were me facing immortality."

The Doctor pulled her over to the sofa where Jack and Mickey had sat and visited with her earlier. He drew Rose into his lap, and soothed her. She was so compassionate, his Rose. It ripped him apart to see her so anguished about something she had no real complicity in doing.

"Shhh...there's nothing you can do. We just have to tell him the truth."

"But how, Doctor? How can I possibly begin to tell Jack the truth?"

"Tell me the truth about what?"

The couple gasped and both jerked their head up to see Rose's bedroom door open, with a concerned Jack Harkness standing in the doorway.