Finally some Answers

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She felt it the instant she was set down on the grating of the TARDIS. Part of her reached out. She could feel the TARDIS in her mind, greeting her like a long lost sister. She breathed out a sigh of relief as she felt something inside her settle and join with the marvellous ship she had been chasing for nearly two years.

"Hello, old girl," she grinned, placing a hand on the nearest coral strut. She felt a warmth stoke her mind and she shivered pleasantly. "I missed you too. But I'm home now. I hope he's been looking after you." The TARDIS gave a half-hearted grumble. "Oh, let me guess, he spent more time than you liked on repairs?" An affirmative hum.

"Are you talking to the TARDIS?" Donna cried incredulously. Beside her, the Doctor looked baffled.

"You can understand her?" he put in, using the same tone as Donna.

"Yeah…" she said slowly. "Doesn't she usually start warming up to everyone?"

"No," the Doctor responded. "Well, yes, she does warm up to people, but no one ever actually gets what all her sounds mean. When did you get it?"

"Erm… after you regenerated."

"Oh! Of course!" he cried rushing over to the console. Rose followed, his enthusiasm getting her excited. "Right after you looked into the heart of the TARDIS. One name. One name, that is so stupid!" he said in annoyance as he typed her name into the password section of the Loupa file. "I almost had it this morning. But I put Rose Tyler. So close!"

"So, what is that file, then?" Donna asked from just behind them.

"It's a record of Rose… before I actually knew her as Rose. This cheeky one decided to travel through all of my past regenerations."

"Hey, I didn't choose to, it just happened. I had no control over it."

"Being me, I found her very interesting and generally curious. She let me know just the bare minimum, that she was going to be a companion of mine one day and was trying to get back to me. Finally she let me take some scans and blood samples. Not much of it made sense. I could get a few things, but I was missing too many details. Now that I know them, a lot more of it makes sense!"

He pulled up one of the diagrams that showed her DNA.

"That ain't human," Donna said.

"No, that's Rose. I could never make out some of it, but now…" He cocked his head and examined it for a moment, slipping his specs on. "You're human-plus," he told her. "Human plus Time Lord to be specific… and something else. See, this is obviously human." He pointed out that part of the strand. "And this strand here is Time Lord - you have no idea how much that shocked the hell out of me - but these two here… they look so familiar. I was trying to figure it out when I was called away to the Time War." He paused a moment and his mouth slowly dropped. "But… No! It can't be. Yes! No... Hold on."

He ran across to the nearest strut and used the sonic to chip a bit of coral off. When he got back to the console a second later, he placed in a small hole and an analysis began to appear on screen. It showed a DNA strand for the piece of coral, two of which matched Rose's perfectly.

"TARDIS," he said flatly, completely stunned. "You're part… TARDIS…" He stood and stared at her in bemusement before letting out a somewhat shocked, short laugh. "Well, I guess that explains a lot."

"Yeah, it does."

"Wait," Donna said in bewilderment. "So… she's pretty much a human/Time Lord/TARDIS? And that's why she can just... disappear? So where did you end up after talking to me?"

"First or second time?" Rose asked. "The first time I met you was actually the one of the first times it happened. Went to that purple forest, wanted my Mum and ended up god knows how many years in the future, Mum was an old woman! She told me that thought somewhat controlled my destination, so I thought of home and ended up at the TARDIS, right when it faded away. And there was Donna standing in her wedding dress behind it!"

"I thought she was another alien," Donna said. "Turns out I wasn't really wrong. What about the second time?"

"The Ood Sphere. Not long after you, I'm guessing. The TARDIS print was still in the snow. Had a good talk with Ood Sigma. Told me that I would be 'ending your song, like you ended theirs'. Oh, and there was a message. But remind me to tell you that later, because as worrying as it is, we're in a time machine and for once the universe can wait. I want some answers."

"But… but I've already told you what you were…"

"Yeah, and what about that thing that happened when you first met me? You grabbed me there was this… shock or something. When you were curly hair and teeth you said you knew what it was and tell me when I found you again."

The Doctor rubbed at the back of his neck. "Well, I didn't really have all the details back then. I mean the basis of it is still the same, but considering that you're also part TARDIS it could mean something completely… Oohhhhh…"

"What?"

"Do you remember when I regenerated?"

"How could I forget," she snorted.

"You said the translation circuits were down when I was unconscious. In some way, I'm connected to the TARDIS. We have a bond… The last time I felt that bond shock was with the TARDIS."

"So she's not going to function when you're out to it?" Donna said.

"No, no, she's enough of her own person that she's fine. Thing is, I said that it hardly happens between Time Lords, let alone humans. Truth it, it hardly happens ever. I was genuinely surprised when I connected to the TARDIS. Once it does that, it can't really have another owner. If you die… so does your TARDIS."

"What is this, Eragon?" Donna snapped, not liking the thought that if he died - and if she was correct in assuming what he was getting at - then Rose and the TARDIS would die with him. "Let me guess, if they die, you live on?"

"Curse of the Time Lords…" Rose muttered.

"No!" the Doctor said. "Well, the TARDIS maybe. She's very old. Millennia old. It's only a one way bond… Rose, when we bonded, it was two way. We both felt it just as strongly."

"So, if one of us dies… so does the other one?" She didn't altogether like the sound of that.

"Essentially, yes. But if one dies… the other could keep them alive." A huge grin was slowly growing across his face. "Rose! This means I'm not going to lose you!"

For the two years he had travelled with her, he had a constant underlying fear that he would lose her one way or another. Now, that wasn't going to happen. Without warning, he swooped her up in another huge hug, his arms wrapping around her tight. So tight his arms had almost doubled back to him again. He had never been able to do that before…

Setting her down, he took a closer look at her.

"Blimey, Rose, you're skinnier than me! Come on, we're getting you some food. How about chips? Bet you haven't had those in a while."

"Brilliant!" she said.

"Really, Doctor," Donna laughed as he set the TARDIS in motion. "She's skinny so you want to fatten her up! Is no one else allowed to be as skinny as you, then?"

"It's alright, Donna," Rose told her. "He knows it's because I haven't had much of a chance to eat anything. God, I'm starving. I haven't had a proper meal in three weeks!" Donna's mouth fell open at that.

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When the TARDIS landed they all stepped out to brilliant sunshine. Donna lit up when she recognised this as somewhere close to her home.

"You know what? I'm going to go visit Gramps, let you lovebirds catch up." And then she walked off, leaving the Doctor embarrassedly rubbing his neck at the blunt statement.

?...DW…?

They got their chips in relative silence. Just holding each other's hand, taking in the fact that they were together again. They couldn't help smiling when they noticed that the other was gripping just that little bit tighter, not wanting to let go or for this all to be a wonderful dream.

After getting their chips, they went to a nearby park and set up on the grass. They doctor spread out his coat and they lay on that like they had on New Earth. They lay on their stomach to eat the chips. One hand always grabbing a chip, fighting each other for the best looking ones, the other hands rested together, always touching.

"I missed this," Rose said.

"Me too... You know, you haven't told me what else was real."

"Sorry?"

"When it was really you and not a hallucination," he told her. "Rattigan's wasn't. What else?"

"Erm, were you in that hospital on the moon? I met Martha there. I had a bit of concussion and might have told her a little more than I should."

"Yep, I was… Hang on, Martha knew about you from the start?"

"She didn't really realise who I was till later. She told me that when I met a future version of her. Oh, and guess what? She's married to Mickey!"

"But she's engaged to Tom!"

"I'm just going from what I saw. Let's see… You would have seen me out of the corner of your eye a few times. I saw Donna when there was a murder or something going on. Agatha Christie." The Doctor grinned at the memory. "I saw you yelling at a witch. I woke Martha up when you collapsed. And what was up with losing your memory and being a school teacher?"

"I was hiding," he told her. "I had to become human, but it kind of rewrites my entire life, gives me fake memories and hides my real ones. Do you have any idea how freaky it is to see your dreams become real life?"

"If I wasn't so confused, I would have been laughing," she told him with a grin.

"Thank you, you're so supportive," he said sarcastically as they quickly fell back into their old ways. Then he became rather serious. "Just tell me, were any of the times on the Valiant real?"

Rose hesitated. She remembered his reaction as the Master had attacked her. She couldn't let him think that was his fault. "What's the Valiant?" she said.

"Liar," he accused sadly. "Which time?"

Rose sighed in defeat. "I think it might have been the first time. You seemed pretty shocked to see me. He broke my leg, but I still walked on it till I escaped."

"Yeah, that was the first time," he said, his voice tight. "Everything just went quiet, and when he came back it was like nothing had happened. He told me that I was starting to see things… and I guess I was. That was when I started seeing you all the time."

"Well, there was one other time that I can remember that you did really see me. Jenny." His face crumpled slightly and she realised that he didn't know. "You were right, you know. About me being her mother." She held her slightly scarred hand out to him. "That machine had both of our DNA. And let's face it; with the both of our DNA combined… how could she really be dead?

"But Rose, you saw. She - she died in my arms!"

"And she woke up in mine."

"What?"

"She woke up, Doctor. She's alive!"

"She's alive?"

"She's alive." Slowly a grin lit up his face, and then he was laughing with incredulous joy and pulling her in for a hug. Then it faded, as he remembered another daughter who had died. One that truly wouldn't wake up ever again.

"I wish… I wish I could say the same for another of your daughters," he said. "'Course, in a way she's still alive. She's in the computer matrix."

"Thank you. I can just see River's exasperation." She saw his eyebrows rise in surprise. "Yes, I met her. I've met all our children."

"O-our- our children?" Rose laughed.

"Course, you silly. I love you; did you really think I would come all the way back here for someone else?"

The Doctor blinked at her for a moment, taking in all that was said. He didn't reply. He just pressed his lips to hers, pulling her closer like he had wanted to for so long.

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Suddenly everything began to shake and the Doctor shuddered as he felt the world being pulled out of orbit. They clung together as the earth seemed to move in an unnatural way. And when it finally stopped… it was night.

Or was it? Looking up in the sky, strange planets could clearly be seen.

"What's going on?" the Doctor wondered aloud, concern and confusion evident in his voice.

Rose just stared up at the sky. Visions of what had seen coming back to her. "It's the Darkness," she said.

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Oh, alright! You twisted my arm! Journey's End, coming right up. If I count up all the other times I'm most likely going to write this episode, it's going to be somewhere around four or five times!

But, as you can already see, it's going to be rather different to the script.