Alright, new chapter! Sorry about the longish wait on this one, guys, I was just so incredibly amazingly stunned by the response for last chapter. I knew going in I'd made the neighbors not so popular, so to have that chapter receive head above shoulders the most reviews was almost shocking. Not that I'm upset, mind—this story overall has the most reviews I've ever gotten for a story. So thank you, so much, for sticking with me and letting me know how I've been doing.
Now then, onto business. This chapter hopefully fulfills to an extent a request made by Insanityisgood25 and sort of slightly one by saffarinda—though not exactly in the ways you might expect. Nevertheless, I'm going ahead with it. So, I would like you to suspend your disbelief for this chapter because I'm setting it in late July, 2012, although I doubt the Doctor was actually there for that long—that doesn't mean I'm ending the story, it just means I'm slightly bending cannon. Hope you don't mind. Anyway, enough rambling, enjoy!

Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock

Chapter Twenty-five

Amy and Rory were settling down on the couch in front of the television, not necessarily over-excited, but still a bit more interested in whatever program they were tuning into. The Doctor glanced back once more at them, but simply continued to do the dishes. Whatever they were watching, he could join them in a minute.

"You can leave them for later, Raggedy Man, you ought to come out here and watch this," Amy called.

"Oh no, no, Pond," he countered, not even turning around this time. "That's how things never get done. Take the TARDIS, for example. Should've fixed that circuit seven-hundred years ago back when it first broke, but I put it off. Now look at the Old Girl; still the same blue box. It's grown on me like the mold on these dishes would. So I'll be out in a minute— it's a television program, not like it's going anywhere."

"Er, actually," said Rory, who by this point had actually turned the TV on, "it looks like it has. Sort of. At least, the people have."

"What people?" He asked, dropping a plate in the sudsy water with a splash.

"Oh my God," Amy said, seemingly stunned. "All those people in the stands—just gone. What happened to them? Is it aliens?"

"Amy," the Doctor said, in an attempt to calm her down. It didn't work.

"Are we being invaded again? Is this the cubes? Is that what they're here for?"

"There's plenty of cubes here and we haven't disappeared," he pointed out reasonably, drying his hands on a towel.

"But maybe they needed the people at the ceremony for some specific reason. We've got to get down there, yeah?"

She was jumping up from the couch as he leaned in the archway between the kitchen and living room.

"What ceremony?"

"The Opening Ceremony," Rory gestured to the screen as if it were obvious. "You know, the Olympics?"

He heard the announcer's voice at last, "They're gone. All of those people. It's a terrible, terrible turn of events." And he saw the empty stands.

Amy looked at him, clearly expecting him to grab his jacket and race for the TARDIS. He simply waved a dismissive hand. "Oh, it's taken care of."

"What?" Both Ponds demanded.

"2012, right? London's hosting?" He checked, and they both nodded. He smiled. "Well then, nothing to worry about."

"What are you talking about, they're gone!" Amy cried in disbelief. "Aren't you at least a little interested?"

"Yes, yes," he nodded, "I was very interested a couple hundred years ago."

"Wait, but—" Rory started, but he held up a hand.

"Hush, Ponds, have a look," gesturing back to the television, they both turned their heads. A moment later, the stands were filled.

"What?" They both said again.

The Doctor grinned. "See, what'd I tell you? All taken care of. Incident with an Isolus Pod, nothing more, it's gone back to join its family."

"How do you know all this?" Amy asked suspiciously, then her eyes widened. "Were you there?"

Before he could answer, though, Rory gave a groan. "Oh, well that's great. Torch bearer just tripped."

"Seriously?" Amy asked with a slight hint of amusement. "Are they going to call this The Most Embarrassing Olympics of the 21st Century, then?"

"Nah, they'll call it the Best Olympics," he said with a smile. And then he saw those shoes, those stupid, wonderful sandshoes. "Ah, there we go, the cavalry! Right on time."

"There's a mystery man. He's picked up the flame. We've no idea who he is. He's carrying the flame," the announcer said.

"Who is that?" Rory demanded, but he just smiled. Amy, however, was studying the rest of the 'mystery man' as the announcer had put it.

"But that's…" she trailed off, glancing back at him sharply once, before looking at the screen more closely. "That's the suit. That's your suit."

"What are you talking about, the Doctor doesn't wear a suit," Rory reminded in a confused tone.

"He did," she countered, "the once." Rory's eyes went wide as well.

"Yes, I did," the Doctor nodded. "Now hush, I'm about to do something amazing." They all watched as his last regeneration ran up to the cauldron and lit the Olympic Flame, the Isolus Pod shooting up into the sky. "There, see? Well and taken care of."

Rory turned off the television, and both Ponds turned to face him. "So that was you, but in a different body, right?" The nurse checked.

"Yes, the last one, actually," he confirmed. "There I was, all dashing hero, getting caught on film all the time. I'd just dealt with a rather unfortunate fan club, week before that, I think. Long time ago, now."

"But you were all alone," Amy commented quietly. He opened his mouth to clarify that statement, but the phone rang.

Being nearest, the Doctor stepped forward and picked it up. "Hello? Pond- er, Williams residence."

"You're still there? Great!" Jack Harkness practically shouted. A couple of other voices were speaking loudly in the background as well, and he thought he recognized him.

"Jack, where are you?"

"Martha and Mickey's house, came over to see the Opening Ceremony with them—"

"Boss, how were you there?" He could just make out Mickey's question faintly. He glanced over at Amy and Rory to see them looking more than a little curious.

"Alright, alright, let's do this sensibly, eh?" He suggested. "Both on speaker." Pressing a button, he unleashed chaos.

"What the hell were you doing at the Olympics?" Jack demanded loudly.

"Jack, not in front of Mandy!" Martha scolded.

"Oh, sorry, Martha."

"Are you three all together or something?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, watching the Ceremony," Mickey told them, "and about to jump in the car and head over there to figure out what was going on with those people disappearing, when they suddenly showed back up. Then the Boss comes running in with the torch. How'd you do that?" He added this obviously more in question.

"How do you think? Time travel," he answered, "Hardly matters if you think you've seen the last of me—always around," he grinned even as Amy rolled her eyes.

"So you all knew him back when he looked like that?" The redhead asked.

"Oh yeah," Jack replied, "Had to stop ourselves from jumping in the car again to go say hi."

"Yes, well it's good you did stop yourselves; that would have wreaked all kind of havoc on the timelines." He was incredibly relieved common sense had prevailed. "To that me, Jack's still on Satellite Five, Mickey's in a parallel world, and Martha's a stranger," he rattled them all off.

"You know, only that last one made even close to sense," Rory remarked, and he smirked a bit at the nurse. Leave it to Rory.

"Wait, but if I'm still in the parallel world," Mickey spoke up again, and the Doctor suddenly tensed, "then Rose is there, isn't she?"

Amy and Rory both looked at him questioningly, both clearly hearing the significance Mickey had given the name.

He sighed. "Yes, Mickey, she is."

"Then why didn't we see her?" Martha asked.

"Because she was helping a family that got mixed up with the Isolus—the thing that made the people disappear. Now she's just waiting for me to get back. It takes a little bit, had to dodge all the crowds and reporters."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Jack asked, sounding almost confused. The Doctor felt confused by his question, before the immortal man continued. "Don't you want to see her?"

"What?" It sounded hoarse to his own ears. At once, two responses clashed in his head: Yes! No!

Of course he'd love to see her, just like he'd love to go back to Jack before Satellite Five and tell him how sorry he was; like he'd love to introduce himself to Mickey the mechanic and get his name right; like he'd love to walk the Earth with Martha if only to make it a little easier; like he'd love to just bump into Donna at the marketplace on Shan Shen; like he'd love to give Sarah Jane a lift from Aberdeen to Croydon; like he'd love to push Rory out of the way of that Silurian gun, among other things; like he'd love to make it back to Amelia at the end of those five minutes.

But he couldn't.

Jack was still talking, however, and he managed to snap himself out of that shell-shocked state to listen, though he caught Amy and Rory sharing worried glances. "You could go back a few minutes, park the TARDIS around a corner or something, just talk to her for a bit till the other you gets back—"

"She already has her 'other me'," he cut across suddenly, his voice taking on an almost steely quality. He didn't need the Captain to tempt him further.

"But Boss," Mickey spoke up quietly, "she was distraught, when she got trapped with the rest of us, on the other side I mean. Couldn't you just, I don't know, talk to her? Let her know it'd turn out ok?" It was a testament to how much Mickey had grown, how much he still cared about the girl he'd grown up with, that he was willing to ask this on her behalf.

"But she was distraught, Mickey, I can't change that. She wouldn't listen to me, anyway, never mind the fact she never liked it when I changed." He scuffed a booted foot and ran a hand through hair that was a bit too long and floppy with a self-deprecatory smile. "No, Rose was convinced we wouldn't ever be parted, just like you're all convinced, like you all convince me."

"Doc," Jack began.

"I said no, Jack!" He snapped, only realizing afterward that no, he hadn't said it. But he wished he had, if only to stop this conversation before it started.

It was silent for a long moment. Then a little voice came over the line. "Hi, I'm Mandy."

A small smile, unbidden, came to his lips. "Hello, Mandy, I'm the Doctor."

"Really? Mummy and Daddy tell stories about you all the time."

"That's nice to hear." The tension had left his shoulders for the most part.

"Maybe we should call back later," Martha said softly, "we could meet up and watch a couple of the events or something."

Amy looked to him briefly, but he didn't speak. "Sure," she eventually promised. "Talk to you later." As she hung up, the Doctor walked around and sat heavily on the couch. A moment later, he had a Pond on either side. Amy took hold of one of his hands. "Who's Rose?"

It was funny, but he realized to himself that they would have never had to ask. He was going to tell them anyway.

OoO

Rory shared one brief, worried glance with his wife before turning full attention on the Doctor. The Time Lord was clearly gathering some thoughts—centuries-old thoughts, by the sound of it.

He took a deep breath and said, "She was the first, the first person I ever travelled with after the Time War. I was alone before that, hurt and angry and wondering why I'd lived. What the point of it all was when everything I'd ever thought was home, was family, had gone." He looked so incredibly solemn, like the pain was still there, and it probably was. Rory couldn't help but feel thankful that, for now at least, they'd worked out this arrangement, because he hated seeing that look on their friend's face.

But the Doctor smiled softly as he said, "And then I met her, this pink and yellow human, an otherwise insignificant shop girl from 2005—and I just had to bring her along. I don't know why, it just seemed…right. She helped me, so very much, to see the good in it all again, the wonders of the universe. And then she was trapped."

"In the parallel world?" Rory guessed, remembering back to what had been said over the phone. The Doctor nodded. "Can the TARDIS not go there?"

"Not since the Time Lords were gone," he answered. "She came back, once, but I took her back home, left her with a clone of myself, or him on the telly, rather," he waved a hand at the now blank screen vaguely. "Only he was part human, one heart, aged normally. It's better that way, for her," he nodded decisively.

Amy's eyes had gone a bit wide, though, and she asked tentatively, "Did you love her?"

The alien blew a breath out and then pressed his lips together for a moment. "Now that, that is tricky," he answered finally. "I think, perhaps, we were both a little in love, but not with each other, not with the reality of each other. She loved the humanness of me, I believe; the dashing about, handsome hero, charm that I developed, largely for her benefit—once I had regenerated of course. All those things I'm really not, especially not anymore." Again there was that inwardly directed smirk. For all his confidence and ego and bravado in the face of danger and certain death, he could just as easily and as often fall into these types of moods. Rory wouldn't have been surprised if that was really how the other man felt all the time.

Amy gave a snort, however, dispelling the somewhat serious air. "Yeah, you're not human and sometimes you do stuff like eat grass—which is gross, by the way," they all grinned a bit at that, "but charming? You, my Time Lord friend, have a wife. Did the Suit have that?"

"No," the Doctor replied, his lips twitching a bit in amusement. "Though Elizabeth I might tell you otherwise."

Yet another hint at that possible relationship. For all the times they'd heard her name or ended up in Tudor England, they'd never run across the infamous Virgin Queen. Perhaps that had been on purpose; but Rory also knew that the alien's mention of her was a purposeful distraction.

"Just because River's our daughter doesn't mean we'll get upset," he pointed out, causing the other two to look at him with varying degrees of surprise. "You can talk to us, about Rose," he tested the unfamiliar name out, "if you want."

The Doctor let out a breath mostly through his nose, but smiled softly and patted Rory's knee. "Thank you, Rory. And I am talking—used to talk about her all the time, how much I missed her, how she'd know exactly what to do if we were in trouble. Drove Martha up a wall," he grimaced at that, but added, "She was brilliant, and I made her out to be perfect. And that is so much worse."

"How did she get stuck in the parallel world?" Amy prompted gently.

"That was my fault," he answered automatically, but then stopped himself. "No…it was supposed to be my fault. We were sealing up the hole the Cybermen and Daleks and Torchwood had created between the two worlds, and it was time to choose which side. I sent her to the other side to be with her family, but she came back to stay with me." There was a terribly sad look to his eyes even as he smiled slightly. "And it almost destroyed her. The trap I'd rigged malfunctioned, and she went to fix it, even though she knew it meant she'd be sucked up with the rest of them, straight into the Void." His expression was one of admiration and more than a little pain.

"If Pete hadn't shown up when he did—oh, Jackie must have been distraught, she must have begged him to go back for her. She was Rose's mother and Pete was the man who was her father in our world, but a parallel version who'd never had a daughter. He still came back and caught her, though, saved her life. More than I would've done." He took a shaky breath and said, "And that was it, really. She was on the other side, and I convinced myself that I was so upset over losing her to the parallel world, that I missed her, that maybe I loved her. But it really wasn't that," he shook his head. "It was that she'd come back to be with me, convinced that she loved me, and I would have just let her fall into the Void. I chose to send her away intending never to see her again, and when she still came back, I didn't even risk trying to save her." He had looked down now, the fringe falling over his eyes so Rory couldn't read his expression, but his hands twisted together in his lap. Amy leaned forward slightly, touched his arm and he met her eyes briefly.

"Rose would have never believed me of such callousness," he told her simply. "She's probably never realized it, even after all this time. But in that moment, it shocked me, that I was still capable of it, that I really hadn't changed since the Time War. So I buried it under the grief of losing her, added it to the pile of regrets. Now I don't pretend anymore, not like I used to. That's why she wouldn't want to meet this me."

"That's a shame," Amy said softly, bringing a hand up to cup the Time Lord's cheek. She was surveying him with kindness and concern. "Cause you're still you, faults, charms, and all. It doesn't change anything, not to us."

He closed his eyes, not letting them read whatever emotion was passing over them, then placed his hand over Amy's. It was when he gently pulled her hand away from his face and stood that he finally opened his eyes. A pain shone in them, and a worry, and both only increased as he took Rory's hand as well and brought them all together.

"I hope it does, this time," the Doctor said softly. "I hope it's not my choice to make."

When he walked out back to the TARDIS, presumably for maintenance, Amy and Roy's fingers were still intertwined.

So that one became really sad. Sorry, no other way to really go about it. But at last, we have the Doctor and the Ponds talking about Rose. I hope for any of you that are really enamored with Rose that this chapter wasn't insulting; that wasn't the intent. This is how, personally, I think the Doctor would view things at this point, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I always found it strange that he sends Rose to Pete's World the first time with Jackie and the rest, then goes about his business getting ready to defeat the Cybermen and Daleks like normal. It's not until after she is almost sucked into the Void and is gone the second time that he really becomes upset. So since he was intending on her being in Pete's World at the beginning, that leads me to believe he was really feeling depressed/guilty about something else, even if he didn't realize it at the time. Namely, that he would have done almost nothing to stop her from falling into the Void.

Secondly, he leaves her with the clone during "Journey's End" clearly showing that even if he hasn't gotten over her (depending on what you think) it is obviously time for her to. Or at least try to. (Interestingly enough, I heard somewhere that Billie Piper didn't like how Rose immediately kissed Tentoo or whatever his name is. Can anyone verify that?) To that end, I think by that point or if not right then, then soon after, he's realized that whatever might have been between them is at an end, whether it was love or not.

Third and lastly, is the scene in "Let's Kill Hitler" with the Voice Interface. Note that when the Doctor requests for 'someone he likes', yes it goes to Rose, but it then proceeds to lump Martha and then Donna into that category as well. If you're trying to argue that the fact that it went to Rose means he still loves her, then you'd have to also argue that he loves Martha and Donna as well (and in increasing order as he feels "more" and "even more" guilt for each of them). I'm not arguing that; what I'm bringing to attention is that what he feels when he sees Rose is guilt. Not grief, not loss, not love, but guilt. He feels guilty for what he perceives as the wrongs he has done her, just the same as many of the others he's known. That doesn't diminish her in any way, it just puts their relationship as two really close friends with centuries' differences in age into perspective, in my opinion.

You can agree or disagree on any of these points, I just felt that I should articulate them so that people didn't get offended or accuse me of slighting Rose due to my Doctor/River bias. Note that all of my reasons for how I perceive the Doctor and Rose's relationship have nothing to do with River. This chapter is not intended to bash any character.

Also, I'm of a similar opinion as Steven Moffat regarding any actual appearances or visits with Rose in this story. To me, the Doctor and Rose's story began and ended on a cold, snowy New Years' in 2005. I would feel presumptuous or silly thinking I could add to it, so I'd rather not try.

On a funnier note, the comment Amy made about Elven being married where Ten wasn't was sort of a reference to two little interviews Matt Smith and David Tennant gave about the 50th and more specifically about the differences between their Doctors. Matt says that David's Doctor is better with the ladies, which David counters by saying, "He's married! He married Alex Kingston!" which I spent a good five minutes laughing over. Go Alex.

-phew- Ok, sorry about the long rambly-ness. Some of the plot points and dialogue from this chapter were taken directly from "Fear Her" and there were also references mainly to "Doomsday" and "Journey's End". As hinted, the next one is looking up with possible visits from other characters. Any and all requests are welcome! Sadness will not be allowed in the next chapter, I promise! Thanks so much for reading, and please review!