Rose was in bed, actually sleeping this time. He checked…well, he had Amy check. Just in case. He took the opportunity to drop Amy and Rory off for a pre-honeymoon, since the first one didn't exactly turn out the way he planned. He dropped them in the present this time. In Paris. He ran a scan with the TARDIS first, just to make sure there wasn't any funny business going on.

He needed time alone with Rose to run those tests. Something between him and Rose for now. If she chose to share what was going on with her then that was fine, but he wasn't about to divulge the information to anyone else.

He was just starting up the Time Rotor when a surge of memories hit him like a wave. He grabbed onto the console, doubling over with the force of it. New memories of a different time line. The same time line as the library memories. What originally happened before he saved Rose and brought her with him.

First came the Star Whale. Just him and Amy this time. Things played out pretty much the same. The creature was spared and freed thanks to Amy, same way it happened with Rose there, but Liz Ten only knew him. There was no mention of Rose or that incident with the statue.

Next, Churchill's Bunker and the Daleks. It took him a bit longer to sort out what was going on without her presence, not much, just a bit. He faced the Daleks aboard that ship on his own, and again, no mention of Rose or the Silence. No prophesy. He still saved Earth and the Daleks still got away.

Then came the Angels and River. River who wasn't Rose's best friend, but was the woman who knew his name, which could only mean one thing. He shivered, involuntarily at the thought. She flew the TARDIS, not Rose and Amy asked…another repulsed shiver ran through him.

He figured out what was going on with the statues, but a bit slower without her, a bit more than with the Daleks. The Angel still climbed inside Amy and she had to come to him on her own because Rose wasn't there to stay with her. Again there was no mention of Rose and again things played out pretty much the same. So, her presence wasn't changing things, at least not beyond mentions of her, and now he knew why she was with him this time.

It was him. He decided to bring her back because he was changing. Something inside him broke when he left her behind, when he walked away and that wound festered, creating a darkness, a coldness, like a sliver of ice had wedged its way into his hearts. That's why he chanced changing things because he knew what that foretold, or, at least, he thought he knew. That wound was healing now, had been since he found her. It wasn't fully healed, but he was getting there. So, it was working, but at what cost? Not to him, but to her.

Had she always been in this universe or had his request brought her there? Tore her from her family, kept her imprisoned in that hospital, made her go through…he didn't even know because she'd blocked those memories. Had he done this to her in his own selfish need to have her with him, to bring back the woman he loved, to keep himself from changing, to chance a happy ending?

He was at the crossroad, he could wait…do nothing. It wouldn't even take twenty-four hours and everything would revert back. Rose would be wiped from his recent time line. Or he could go to the Ood, as he'd done, and request their help.

The thought that he was the cause of her suffering was almost unbearable. He slammed his fist into the console, angrily. A Gallifreyan curse escaping his lips and this time she didn't shock him for his outburst because she knew. Knew what he was suffering.

"Doctor," Rose asked, almost as if she wasn't sure if she should.

She was there, in the control room, next to him. She must have come in when the memories were catching up with him. His two time lines merging. He turned to her, focusing through the haze of unshed tears. He cupped her cheeks.

"Oh, Rose. I'm sorry," he said, resting his forehead against hers. "I'm so sorry."

"Doctor, what is it? What's wrong?" she asked, concerned and a bit afraid.

"I did this. This is my fault." He pulled back, gazing into her eyes. "I did this to you."

"What do you mean? What did you do?"

"I was changing, had been since I walked away, since I left you on that godforsaken beach. I knew what was happening, knew what I'd become, and I knew you could stop it. If anyone could, it would be you, but it wasn't just that. I was selfish. I wanted you back and damn the consequences, but I thought it would be the universe. I never for one moment considered it would be you. That you would suffer for my actions."

He knew he was ranting. Angry at himself for what he'd done. Angry at the universe for making her suffer. Angry at the Ood for their part in all this. He never, never once, wanted her to suffer for him, not for him. Never for him.

"Doctor," she said, resting her hand on his cheek.

Her touch brought him back. He gazed into her hazel eyes, her beautiful hazel eyes that weren't pained or haunted, but only looked back at him with love and concern and maybe a bit of fear, but not for herself, fear for him.

"Are you saying that you brought me here, back to this universe?" she asked.

"Yes, I…" his voice broke. He swallowed. "I did this to you."

She threw her arms around him and hugged him. Wait. Hugged him? Didn't she understand? This was his fault. All of it. He was the cause of her suffering. He grabbed her arms and pulled her back, gazing into her eyes.

"Rose, you don't understand," he insisted. "This is my fault. All of this."

"You mean the hospital and everything I went through?" she asked.

"Yes, exactly."

She laughed.

"I don't care about that."

"But that's only because you don't remember. When you do-"

"It doesn't matter what I went through, Doctor. There isn't anything that I wouldn't give to be here, right now, with you."

"But-"

"Oh, shut up," she ordered and then grabbed his lapels and for a second time since she took his hand in the basement of that department store Rose Tyler kissed him. His lips connected with the softness of hers. He closed his eyes, breathing in her scent as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. At that moment nothing else mattered, not the universe, or planets, or consequences. There was nothing in all of time and space except him and her. With her he finally felt whole. He felt…something in the dark. In that cold, dark, lonely place.

His eyes snapped open and he flailed for a moment, as his mind tried to pull his body under control. He grabbed her arms and pushed her back, not hard, but a bit away from him.

"What's wrong?" she asked, concerned and a bit unsure.

Um…yes…wrong. He couldn't tell her why. At least not yet. Not until he knew what was going on with her. So, he decided to switch topics. If he couldn't lie he could avoid.

"We don't want to be late," he said, rushing over to the console and starting the Time Rotor.

"Late?" she asked, walking over to stand next to him.

"You wanted to stay, didn't you?" he asked, glancing at her.

She grinned and he couldn't help smiling.

"More than anything."

"Then there's someone we need to visit."

The TARDIS launched into the Time Vortex and they both grabbed onto the console, laughing.

Standard Disclaimer.

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