The Monsters Turned Out to Be Just Trees

by mltrefry

Rose has put the Doctor in a bit of a time-out. So when a little girl knocks on the TARDIS door, and she finds London covered in trees, she'll have to figure this out on her own. Or at least, that's what she thought before finding her partner from the future among the chaos. A rewrite of "Forest in the Night" one shot

Rose shut the door of the TARDIS with a slam, and the TARDIS started her own engines, taking her away from the Doctor, Rome, and the pending eruption of Vesuvius. She huffed, then huffed again for good measure before turning on her heel and half stomping up to the console.

"If I didn't already know the moon would always exist, if I hadn't have heard him through the bond-" She stopped to collect herself. "I don't know why he's like this this time 'round. Don't know why he's so… ugh!" She growled, huffing again at the end and still felt too tense. "He shouldn't have put that decision up to Clara, or Courtney. That he made women face the decision to kill an egg or risk destruction is awful, and I just don't understand what wires in his head went wonky."

The TARDIS, bless her, tried her very best to sooth Rose, but even she was more than a bit put out by the Doctor's antics.

It had been rather rough since he regenerated. She didn't know if it was because Clara wasn't always with them, but he wasn't particularly kind to her. And since she had started seeing a fellow teacher, and wanted to travel even less, he began to put guards up.

Rose supposed it was the fact that one of Clara's students got nosy and slipped in that set him off this go, which she could understand to a point. But to take them to a point in time when he knew the moon was about hatch, knowing the outcome, knowing the details, and pretending to allow them to make the decision was bad form. He could have just said something, could have simply told Clara that it was dangerous for a teenager, or so many other possibilities.

It was once they were in the vortex and he was trying to explain himself out of the metaphorical dog house that she recalled having sent him off to Pompeii to be with his younger self. The TARDIS and Rose got him to the location and time, shoved him out the door, and here they were.

Rose moved to the jumpseat and collapsed, face in her hands, rubbing at her eyes, ignoring the faint knocking on the bond as time and space put distance between them.

"We should go to Clara, apologize." She said to the rotor when she lifted her head away. "Can't leave it like this, Jen will never forgive him if we scared off her favorite of our companions."

The TARDIS made a hum of agreement, and Rose set the date to about a month after the left Clara, allowing her plenty of time to cool off. She wasn't mad at Rose, of course, but Rose doubted Clara possibly seeing the TARDIS too soon after the events on the moon may not have her willing to listen.

The engines groaned, grinding as they made their way to their destination, then stopped with a thud. Then the TARDIS went eerily silent after a brief moment of being miffed.

"What?" Rose frowned at the ceiling. "What's got you all in a huff?" She asked, stroking the console in hopes of coaxing the Old Girl out of her funk.

There was a panicked knock on the door, causing Rose to turn to it with a frown. It happened again, and she moved swiftly, half expecting Clara on the other side when she opened it.

Instead, all she saw were trees, a massive forest all around them, and a young girl wearing a school uniform looking up at her in distress.

"I'm lost. Please, can you help me?" The little girl asked.

"'Course, sweetheart." She replied, kneeling down to be at eye level with her. "What's your name?"

"Maebh," She replied, glancing over her shoulder.

"Maebh. Hello, Maebh, I'm Rose."

"You're not the Doctor?" She asked, and Rose reared back.

"No. 'M his wife, and this is our home. Would you like to come in?" She asked, looking past the girl and at the trees surrounding them.

Maebh nodded. "Something's chasing me." She said.

"Well, best get in here, then," Rose said as she stood up, waving the girl inside. When she heard Maebh's gasp, she smirked, then closed the door. "I know. It's a bit much, isn't it?"

Maebh looked around in wonder, and Rose allowed her a moment before she got to the obvious problem at hand.

"Maebh, sweetheart, how did you get to be in the woods?"

"It sort of just appeared."

Rose frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I was with Miss Oswald and Mister Pink, see." She began. "And the voices, they told me…." She stopped, bowing her head. "I went off, see. I went off because they told me to find the Doctor."

Rose took a deep breath. "I'm afraid he's not here, now." She said, and Maebh frowned in confusion. "He's in a time out." She added with a smile, hoping to lighten the mood. When Maebh's confusion didn't waver, she carried on. "But I can help you get to Miss Oswald and Mister Pink, yeah? Just gotta tell me where we are, if it's far from London."

Maebh's frown deepened. "We are in London." She said, and Rose blinked.

"Oh," She said, glancing at the TARDIS console, seeing her coordinates. It did, indeed, say London. Trafalgar Square to be exact. Not quite where she intended, but close enough she supposed. She then went to the doors and opened them, seeing that there were, in fact, all those trees where there shouldn't be any.

"It's lovely, isn't it?"Maebh asked, coming up beside Rose.

"Suppose it is." She said hesitantly.

She chewed her lip, wondering for only a moment if maybe she should call the Doctor.

But only for a moment.

~DW~

She hadn't spoken to the Doctor or Rose in a couple weeks, and honestly it had been a pretty good but uneventful time.

Clara had caught up on all the work adventures put her behind on, though she'd realized she misplaced some work books at some point. She went on more frequent dates with Danny, which meant the deep seeded affection she'd felt for him began to blossom in a way it may not have if she was still out and about in space and time. It was pretty hard no to be smitten over Robin Hood, let alone Jane Austen and all the other wonderful, beautiful people she'd met along the way.

No despite the wonders of the universe, Clara was very nearly sure that a quiet life might be better for her.

But this? Looking around outside the museum at the trees, the actual forest in the middle of London? She might not be too fond of the Doctor, but she could put all that aside to make a call that may or may not bring about a little adventure. Eagerly, Clara got out her mobile, and speed dialed a number she hadn't thought she'd use again but couldn't help but keep. She listened to it ring on the line, looking out through the windows in awe.

"Hello?" Rose's voice came through the line.

"You two always showed me amazing things. Well, I've finally got something amazing for you two to see." Clara replied with breathy excitement.

"Will one of us do? Doctor's on a bit of a time out." Rose replied with a smirk in her voice.

"You will do. Know you're smart enough to help us figure it out. Besides, seeing something the Doctor hasn't? You're gonna love this." Clara bit her lip.

"Sure I will. One thing, though." Rose said, her tone unreadable. "There's a little girl here named Maebh. Said she was supposed to be with you and Danny?"

Clara's body went cold. "What?" She asked, whipping her head around to look back inside and seeing that the class was gathered, and nowhere among them was Maebh. What's more, neither she nor Danny had noticed the little girl gone first thing.

How Maebh got out was a mystery, what with how they could barely squeeze out with all the trees blocking the door. Then they should have heard the door, and the security guard could have mentioned letting a student out without their permission.

It didn't matter, all she knew was that Maebh wasn't there. It was only the knowledge that Rose was with her that prevented Clara from going into a panic. It didn't exactly settle the slight gnawing in her gut, though.

She sighed. "Right, so you're here. Means you probably know about the trees."

"Yeah, bit bizarre, that. Might see if I can search the TARDIS database, see if something like this happened before but no promises. Been living on this ship for thousands of years and still don't know Gallifreyan well enough to sort things out."

"Still won't translate for you?" Clara smirked.

"Suppose since there are other Time Lords about the pair of them don't think I need it. I'm in Trafalgar square, where are you?"

"At a museum. Not terribly far. Think you can pop the TARDIS over here?"

"Normally I'd say maybe, finicky as she is, but with the trees? Think it better I stay where I am."

"Right. I'll be there shortly, then." Clara said, hanging up and heading back inside.

"What did they say?" Danny asked as soon as she walked back in the room, startling Clara.

"Who?" She asked, adjusting the strap of the bag on her shoulder.

"The school?" Danny pressed. "Parents. You were just on the phone."

Clara looked down at her mobile still in her hand and the guilt she'd already been feeling about Maebh intensified.

"You didn't call the school," Danny said with exasperation. "You called them."

"Might have."

"I thought you said you weren't in contact?" He asked with just enough accusation to make Clara go on the defensive.

Gesturing at the doors she'd just come through, she said, "London has just been taken over by a gigantic forest. Who do you want to talk to? Monty Don?"

"I want to do my job, which is looking after these kids!" Danny snapped back.

Clara crossed her arms. "Oh, really? How many kids?"

"What?" Danny wrinkled his brow.

"Where's Maebh Arden?" Danny looked around, and just as the panic started to creep up in his features, she added, "She's with Rose."

Danny looked at her, eyes darting about. "Where?" He asked eventually.

"Trafalgar square. She's keeping her there for now."

"Better her than him." Danny grumbled before turning away, getting the kids to rally together.

Clara took a deep breath through her nose, and tried to calm her racing heart. She could feel it, the cusp of a bitter argument had been right there, just ready to overwhelm them. If she'd said Meabh was with the Doctor, she was sure it would have happened.

~DW~

Maebh didn't seem to want to talk much, which Rose could understand. She was in a very strange place, with a strange woman, and lost. She seemed content enough to sit on the stairs inside the console room and wait, looking at her phone, while Rose debated whether or nor she should become more involved than simply child minding.

Her brain could do calculations quickly, of course, but it needed data to start with. The TARDIS either didn't have or didn't want to show her anything on over night forests, and when she did try to do anything further, the Old Girl would groan as if she was in a bit of discomfort.

"He's here somewhere, isn't he?" She asked to rotor, stroking the panel. "Usually only like this when there's two of you about."

She got a very unsettled affirmation, and Rose sighed.

It would be better to just go out and see whichever Doctor was out there, because eventually they'll probably make their way to the TARDIS, probably thinking it was their own.

She'd be lying if she told herself she wasn't hoping for one of his younger selves. His last body, maybe. His eighth self again. Could go for younger still, but they tended to try and avoid them where possible. Anyone pre-time war always puts the Doctor on edge.

But she wasn't the Doctor, and she'd had thousands of years of practice at keeping her bond with him closed off, making sure that his own psychic feelers couldn't pinpoint her as another, potential telepath. She just couldn't touch.

"Maebh, sweetheart, we're gonna pop on outside, alright? Not far. Miss Oswald and Mister Pink are on their way." Rose said with a tilt of her head and an encouraging smile.

Maebh grinned, getting up and moving toward Rose, taking her hand. Rose smiled down at her, then led her outside.

It really was rather breathtaking, all those trees. If it wasn't for her long life being filled with experiences in invasions, Rose might have marveled at it. Instead, it left her uncertain as they strolled a bit away, stretching their legs.

She reached into her pockets and pulled out her own sonic, about ready to do a scan when she snorted. "Not much point in doing a scan, I don't think. Likely all real wood."

"What's this for?" Maebh asked, and Rose looked down at the girl noting that she'd put her phone away and was looking at the silver cylinder with the pink light.

"'S called a sonic screwdriver. Not sure why a screwdriver, exactly, my husband named it. But see, it can do all sorts of things except anything to do with wood. So, bit useless at the moment, yeah?"

March gave a small smile.

"Maebh, can I ask, do you know if there was any sort've sign this was gonna happen? Like, were there a buncha little plants about, more weeds and things slipping up through the cracks?"

Maebh shook her head. "They just came up overnight."

"Oh," Rose deflated a little. "Well, that's a bit disappointing." At Maebh's confusion, she quickly added, "Only 'cause I've seen a lot of things in my life, yeah? Been around a very long time and never seen anything quite like this."

Maebh frowned. "You don't look much older than Miss."

Rose smirked, "I moisturize," She said with a wink, a rustling of something catching her attention. She turned around quickly, putting herself in front of Maebh protectively, looking around and not finding anything. She thought she felt the gentlest knock on her mind, but ignored it. It was probably her husband, about to tell her he'd stolen his own TARDIS from his tenth self, and now that he'd done that could he please come home now?

There was more rustling, and Rose zeroed in on precisely where it was coming from when she spotted Danny pink leading the group from Coal Hill.

"Trafalgar Square, well done, Bradley. Excellent navigation skills." Danny said to one of the boys that was in their group. As soon as they emerged into the square, the class scattered, and Rose checked to see Maebh was alright before moving to join the adults near the TARDIS as they talked among themselves.

"Wish this reunion was under better circumstances." Rose said with a smile as she approached Clara.

"Suppose. Still no idea what's going on?" Clara asked.

Rose shook her head, tensing a moment at the sound of a tree breaking, the feel of the earth shifting around them.

One of the girls looked at a branch in her hand with a frown as she came up to her teachers. "Look, sir. No rings." She said, showing them the broken part of the branch. "Trees usually have rings to tell you how old they are, this one's got no rings. Why's that, sir?"

Danny frowned and stuttered, glancing at Clara.

"It's cause these trees are brand new!" A woman popped up behind them, her northern accent thick with the same excitement twinkling in her eyes. "Popped up overnight! Least I assume it's overnight, and none of you corrected me, so I'm right there. But that's the thing, though. Trees are supposed to have rings that mark the years, so these don't. But they're still growing. Nothing's taken them down. They grow right back when you take a blow torch to them if it affects them at all. Not that I would do that, of course, but I saw a few blokes try. Didn't turn out very well." She said, shaking her head and wrinkling her nose.

Rose looked the blonde up and down, taking her in. Her hair was just past her chin, and swept to her right, revealing gold and silver earring and cuff with a delicate chain connecting them. Her blue trousers rolled up to show her brown boots, and her blue t-shirt with a colorful strip was tucked into them, a pair of bright yellow bracers over her shoulders, peeking out beneath the gray-blue long coat. She was familiar in a way that was just on the edge of Rose's understanding. And she was beautiful, which gave Rose just a fraction of a moment of envy until the woman met her eye and she felt that same, light knock on her mental wall.

Oh!

"Sorry, who are you?" Clara asked as politely as possible.

"I'm-"

"The Doctor." Rose finished for her, getting both Clara and Danny to look at her like she'd lost her mind.

The Doctor grinned a big, lovely smile before it promptly fell.

"Oh, you're not my Rose." She said with sudden understanding.

Rose shook her head.

The Doctor smacked her forehead. "Oh, bloody hell, I knew it. You told me that you had to pop back inside a moment, thought maybe one of the fam might know something about what was going on. Thought I heard the engines go, but that couldn't have possibly been it, at least that's what I said to myself because why would my wife leave me in the middle of London during such an amazing event. But now I know! Unless I'm on a time out again. Am I? Not like you'd know, you're too young." She paused, putting her hands on her hips. "I gotta gob this go."

"I can see that," Rose said with a chuckle.

Danny shook his head. "Sorry, you're the Doctor? Older Scotsmen? Little taller."

"That was my last body," The Doctor replied with a gesture over her shoulder as if her twelfth self was somewhere among the trees. At Danny's widened eyes, she added, "Clara can explain. When she met me I had great hair and…. Wait, no. When Clara met me, I had floppy hair and no eyebrows." The Doctor said with pride. "Also, still a man, but much younger lookin'."

"Right." Danny said slowly. "I'm… I mean, I get … but how are you younger?"

"I'll explain later." Clara assured him, turning to the Doctor. "Do you have any idea what's happening?"

"Not a clue," She said excitedly. "Tried to do a scan, but they're trees. No moving parts, nothing to communicate with, just living, breathing trees. Which, I mean, wood, so the sonic is not gonna work. I should really add a wood setting." She said thoughtfully before shaking herself back on track. "So, far as I can tell, nothing's put them here. They're trees from this planet, from the area. And all over the world, this is happening all over the world, and it's their native trees. Their native flora. It's not alien. Far as I can tell, this is a natural event."

Rose noted this Doctor gestured a lot, more than his twelfth self for sure, reminiscent of the Doctor's younger selves. At least their more manic selves.

Danny frowned. "How can it be natural for a tree to grow in one night?" He asked, looking up and around them before back at the Doctor.

"Great question, glad you asked. See, thing is, the Ice Age was a natural event. Meteor strikes the Earth and overnight the whole planet changed. Well, not overnight, exactly, but far faster than the change of seasons. Whole icebergs coming from nowhere, ice and snow everywhere. It was a series of catastrophes, all leading to the extinction of so much, and a winter that lasted millions of years.

"You lot, at this stage, you've got more pollution pumping into the air than at any other point in your history. It would be brilliant to think all these trees were here to clean up your planet and put it back to right, but I don't know. I can't be sure." She then looked to Rose. "I'm gonna need the-your-TARDIS. I want to be able to do a proper scan."

"Be my guest." Rose said, tilting her head toward the time ship before looking to Danny and Clara. "Might be safer to bring the kids aboard, yeah? Oh! And you left some marking on board, too."

"Did I?" Clara asked, blushing a little as Danny rolled his eyes and called the kids over.

Rose followed the Doctor, following in right behind her, nearly ramming into the back of her when she stopped suddenly only a couple feet in.

"Blimey, forgot what it looked like before."

"You change the desktop every time you regenerate? Only skipped between leather and hair because of, what, me?"

"Ah, well, sorta… blew this one up." The Doctor hedged before darting ahead to the controls. "This one doesn't have the custard cream dispenser, though. Shame. Oh! But wait, gotta be jelly babies somewhere." She moved around, and Rose shook her head, hearing the door creak open behind her before darting in deeper.

"Alright, you lot." She said as the class followed Clara inside while Danny held the door open. "Rules first, there is no touching anything in the middle of the room. You can, of course, go down below, or you can go up to the little loft." Rose gestured, and the class dispersed.

"Your door says 'pull'," Danny commented quietly as he came up beside her.

"Yeah, well, predates me." She smirked up at me before joining her partner at the console.

The Doctor was scowling at the screen.

"It doesn't make any sense," She said, sounding serious for the first time since Rose re-met her. "You can't create an overnight forest, not with anything. I thought, maybe, someone or thing might have messed with the fabric of time. It's possible, very possible, given when you are, and who I am to you."

"Meaning?" Rose asked.

The Doctor glanced at her with a sad smile. "Spoilers, I'm afraid. Can't tell you. But I can say that this wasn't done by an alien force. The scans don't read anything."

"They don't read nothing… cause there's nothing there? Or there's nothing alien?" Clara asked from the other side of Rose.

"You would know." Danny said tightly, getting everyone to look at him where he stood by the pile of marking Clara had left behind. He looked up from one of the books he'd been looking through, then moved to the other side of the Doctor, extending it out. "You said you hadn't been around in forever, yet this is marked today." He explained as he extended his arm to show Clara.

The Doctor's hand darted out and gripped his arm.

"Hold on," She said, taking the book from his hand and looking at it. "Oh, oh… that's… oh no!"

"What?" Rose asked as the Doctor looked to the front of the book.

"Who's Maebh Arden?" She asked Clara desperately.

"Was the little girl who found me," Rose frowned. "Actually, she was looking for you… well, you as in the Doctor, dunno about this you specifically."

"Why do you need to know who Maebh is?" Clara asked.

"Because look," The Doctor said, turning the book about and showing them all the picture Maebh had drawn. It was a sun drawn in the top right corner with an angry face, a bolt of what looked like lightning coming from it, striking downward toward a bunch of trees. "This is dated today," The Doctor continued. "Maebh knows something, I know she does."

"Doctor, listen to me." Clara said in the stern but gentle way of a school teacher. "Maebh's vulnerable. She's barely functioning, she hears voices, she's on medication. Her sister went missing last year, this is the drawing of a very-"

"Which is dated today." The Doctor said, stabbing her finger at the date before pulling the drawing toward her chest. "I know my memory can be a bit fuzzy, but I bet Rose will agree that you haven't been back on the TARDIS before today. Couldn't have been, I don't remember you after our very terse goodbye."

Clara blinked then shook her head slowly.

"You said she hears voices." The Doctor repeated, handing Clara the work book before turning toward the console and bringing up an image of a sun on the screen with a tendril of something coming from it, reminding Rose of an incident from a very, very long time ago.

"She takes tablets," Clara replied with a nod. "Maebh takes them, and the voices stop."

The Doctor groaned, rolling her eyes before setting the homework book down on the console. She continued speaking as she headed for the stairs, moving down to where the kids were below the main deck, and Rose followed, peeking over the rail. "What I hate about the 21st century. People say they hear voices, and the lot of you shove a few chemicals at them. No one stops, no one listens to what they say. The voices, usually, are rather important." She stopped as the kids all looked up at her. "Alright, you lot, which one of you is Maebh?"

"Oh my god," One of the students started to whine. "Maebh's gone. Maebh's lost in the forest. Maebh's going to die."

"Ruby, that's enough." Clara chastised from somewhere behind them.

The Doctor spun around and looked at the rest of them. "We've got to find her. It's very possible the voices Maebh hears aren't just voices, but her being tuned in to a different channel. We find her, we listen to her, we ask her, and maybe she can take us to the heart of the forest. Maybe she'll lead us to who or what has caused all this." She took a thing that was probably her sonic out of her pocket. At Rose's frown at it, the Doctor beamed. "Sheffield steel, this. Had to make on a whim, no TARDIS, no normal parts. Sorta like it though, 's a bit funky." She said with an adorable twitch of her nose. Just as suddenly she sobered and looked back to Clara. "Does Maebh have a phone?"

"Well… yeah, she does." Clara blinked.

"Have you got her number?" The Doctor asked, and Clara nodded as she moved the workbook to her the same hand holding her bag, then withdrew her phone. The Doctor pointed her sonic at Clara's phone, the whir and hum familiar and strange all at once. "Maebh Arden is about five hundred yards south east of here. Not far, I can go get her."

"We can go get her." Rose corrected.

"I'll go, too." Danny said, getting ready to spring into gear.

"No, stay here, in the TARDIS." The Doctor instructed. "Anything out there, Rose and I can handle. These lot here, they need someone familiar with them, to watch them. And if you lot do venture out, you'll need someone who can find us. Clara has Rose's number."

"I don't mean any offense," Danny said. "But I do have combat training."

"Danny," Clara spoke up. "Let them go, yeah? Rose… she's sort've invincible."

Danny frowned, "Whaddya mean?"

"Don't worry about it." Rose waved it off. "Just know whatever happens, we'll get Maebh back safe, yeah?"

"You call," Clara said sternly. "As soon as you find her, you call."

"We will." Rose said, embracing Clara, glad that the habitual action was well received, and Clara hugged back.

When they stepped apart, the Doctor was already on her way to the door, and Rose half-jogged to keep up.

"Don't worry." The Doctor said with a quick shake of her head. "Whatever's goin' on out there, the TARDIS is the safest place to be." She opened the doors, and waved Rose out, then followed just behind.

They'd barely gotten very far from the TARDIS when the Earth shook beneath their feet. Instinct flooded Rose, and she looked up, seeing Nelson's column swaying before a clear crack formed as it lurched toward them.

"Doctor!" She shouted, giving her wife a might shove, then diving over her. The Earth shook more as the statue hit the ground mere feet from where they were, and the Doctor looked up over Rose's shoulder with wide, slightly panicked eyes.

"Gotta say, feels like it's been a long time since your instincts kicked in like that." The Doctor said as she and Rose shuffled and moved about, getting to their feet while holding on to one another.

"Really?" Rose panted. "Doesn't seem all that long ago to me."

"Yeah, well we're…. A lot older when I'm from."The Doctor said, her hand drifting down to Rose's and holding on while she stepped slightly away. "Come on, let's find a little girl that for once isn't related to us."

~DW~

It wasn't long after Rose and the Doctor left that Danny began to stare her down.

"What?" Clara asked, fiddling with her bag strap and trying to meet Danny's gaze.

"How long has it really been, Clara?" He asked. "The marking-"

"I did leave them two weeks ago." Clara assured. "I had brought them on, Courtney followed, we got stuck with the thing I told you about." She said, waving her hand about and not wanting to remember.

Danny nodded, seeming to accept that.

Clara let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, sagging against the console.

Danny came up beside her, resting against it, stretching out his legs and crossing one ankle over the other while crossing his arms. "Alright, now… explain to me what he -she- was going on about." And Clara's frown, he added, "different body. You met him when he was younger, I met him when he was older, now a woman?"

"Right." Clara nodded. "So, when the Doctor dies, they change their body. Rose told me about it, see. She'd come to see me once, told me that he felt his body was beginning to wear thin. Something about some of the hardest losses happening, I'm not sure. So, she said, the next time we'd see each other, he'd be different. Definitely on the outside, maybe a bit on the inside, too. When I first met him he looked like Adrian."

"Alright," Danny nodded. "So, he- they- don't die." He frowned. "But also they do."

"Right," Clara nodded. "Just, they continue on."

"For how long?"

"I never thought to ask." Clara realized with a blink. "I did hear Rose refer to him as his twelfth self. Sounds like the one we met is after, so that's at least thirteen."

"And how old are they?"

"Ancient." Clara said, peering off into nothing as she'd thought of the times he'd say he was so many thousands of years old. "And Rose? She was born same year I was, thought to have died during Canary Wharf, but… she said she did something that would keep her with the Doctor for the rest of their lives. Deeper than a marriage vow."

Danny nodded slowly, "So she's almost thirty."

"She's over a thousand years old." Clara corrected. "Time travel, remember?"

"And she committed herself to the Doctor when she was…?"

Clara pouted in thought. "Think she said they'd been travelin' together for over a thousand years, so… I dunno, young? Early twenties, maybe?"

"So," Danny turned to Clara. "She knew she wanted to be with him that young. Gave up everything for him. Did she ever hide things from him."

Clara chuckled. "They sorta can't. They have a telepathic bond, links them up. They can keep each other out from time to time, but secrets-" She stopped at the pointed look Danny was giving her. "It's not the same." She said firmly.

"No, you're right. It's not the same." He agreed. "But you see the point, don't you? I want that sort of level of trust with you. I want you committed to this. Things were going pretty great these last few weeks, and then I find out you called them when all this started up."

"It's not a you or them situation." Clara said firmly. "I'm done. When this is over, I'm done."

"You're not." Danny said.

"No, I am. I mean it. This Doctor, the one out there, she already said she hadn't seen me since I said goodbye to them a couple weeks ago. Which means, I'm done. I won't come back."

She didn't tell Danny that time could be rewritten. She didn't say that, while she sort of liked this new, bubbly Doctor she missed the old grouch she'd barely gotten a chance to know. She didn't tell him that, if they were to ask her back for a trip or two, she might just do it. Because the bad things rarely happened with them. It was more amazing sights, and drinks on various planets.

Clara didn't say anything because she wanted desperately to believe it. That she was strong, that she wasn't addicted to all of time and space.

After a few minutes of somewhat intense silence, she said, "They should have been back by now with Maebh."

Danny sighed. "You're right. Maybe they got lost?"

"We could go find them." Clara agreed. "But we can't leave the kids here."

Danny stared for a long moment then turned toward the stairs. "Alright, team, come on up."

~DW~

They'd been walking for a bit, side by side, following what they determined was the most likely path that Maebe took after finding her phone abandoned on the ground not terribly far from where they started.

They'd also been silent, which is why Rose startled when the Doctor said, "Don't usually meet up like this." She said with a bit of a smile, a laugh on her breath. "Already connected? Usually it was you before we were married meetin' an older me who was. Then there was that run in with my… Victorian self, where he hadn't even met ya yet. First time to my knowledge we're meetin' where you and I are nearly on the same page."

Rose smirked. "Suppose not. Also first time we've met up where I didn't have another one of you hovering about in a jealous fit."

The Doctor frowned, her nose wrinkling adorably. "Wonder if I'd be jealous of me how I am. Bit of a change to what I was used to."

"What made you…?" Rose asked, gesturing with her free hand towards her wife."

"I dunno." The Doctor shrugged. "I think it was a lotta things." She paused, looking down at her boots before stopping. "We… an old friend changed quite a bit from when I last remembered her. I think there was a part of me that wondered if I'd be better this way, too." She smiled a bit shyly. "Was worried after that you were gonna be a bit… but it turned out."

Rose smiled, shrugging a shoulder. "You're my partner. Doesn't matter what's on the outside."

"Yeah, well, thought considering how long we've been together, by the time I regenerated."

"How old are you?" Rose asked as they started again.

"Ain't it supposed to be impolite to ask a lady her age?" The Doctor quipped back.

"You're my wife, think it's a bit different that."Rose chuckled, bumping the Doctor's shoulder.

They went a few steps before the Doctor said. "Old. I'm very, very old. Older than you can possibly imagine."

Rose could feel, despite her block, the sheer sorrow that came with those words. The heaviness and the heartbreak.

She almost didn't want to know.

Tying herself to the Doctor was not something she regretted. It had been stupid, she knew that right from the moment she'd figured out what she'd done the first time she'd looked into the heart of the TARDIS. But despite everything, including the numerous personal costs to herself, she hadn't once regretted it.

But she could tell that the Doctor, or at least this Doctor, did to some degree. She couldn't imagine what had happened to make this bubbly, warm incarnation so utterly blue at the thought of her age.

"Hey," Rose stopped them again, shifting so she could face the Doctor head on, put her hand on the Doctor's cheek and get the Time Lord to look at her. "We're still good, yeah? You and me?"

She smiled. "Yeah," She nodded. "We're still as we've always been. Shiver and Shake, the Doctor and Rose Tyler in the TARDIS, next stop everywhere."

"Then whatever happened, it'll be okay, yeah? Long as we have each other."

The Doctor held her eye as she brought their joined hands to her lips, pressing a cool kiss on Rose's knuckles. "Yeah." She said, then lowered their hands and got them moving. "You know what's funny." She said after a few steps.

"What?" Rose asked.

"Path is growing over. Where we just came from, whole thing's just grown over."

"And we still don't know why Maebh dropped her phone. No signs of a struggle, though."

"Nah, I still say it's bread crumbs." The Doctor said matter-of-factly. "Didn't want to get lost, knew someone would come lookin' for her, wanted us to find her. Clara said she lost someone, and when people lose someone they're always lookin', always listening."

"So she hears voices." Rose supplied.

"And they're telling her someone. They warned her about the trees and the solar flare."

"Solar flare?" Rose questioned.

"It's what's happening right now, what we saw on the monitor." The Doctor clarified, and Rose nodded.

"You know what it reminded me of?" She said after a few steps, and when the Doctor looked up, Rose continued. "Remember the sun that was mined? Oh… about little under a thousand years ago for me. Was with Martha? You were-"

"Oh yeah!" The Doctor beamed for a moment. "Got possessed and nearly regenerated." She said thoughtfully before she blushed. "Was also after the first time we… you know."

"I do know," Rose laughed. "Blimey, suppose we had a lot of firsts again when this you came along."

"We adjusted." The Doctor blushed deeper. "It's nothing like that, though. Nothin's living in the sun, it's just… a flare. Only looks pretty bad. But we'll know more as soon as we find Maebh."

"Yeah," Rose agreed, and was about to say something when there was a howl in the distance.

They both stopped short and looked around.

"Right," Rose said. Not just hearing a wolf, right?"

"Nope," The Doctor replied. "Pretty sure I heard it, too."

There was another howl, and then the scream of a little girl.

"Maebh," they said at once, then let go of each other to run toward the sound.

Thin branches whipped at her face, stinging her skin but not deterring Rose in the slightest as she ran toward where Maebh's scream came from, the Doctor just behind her.

She spotted Maebh's coat before anything else, that bright red a beacon in all the green and red. The wolves were less harder to see, but Rose spotted them nonetheless.

There was a seven foot tall wrought iron fence that stood between them and Maebh, and Rose could quickly calculate that there was no way, even with a boost from the Doctor, that she could scale it in time to put herself between the wolves and Maebh.

There had to have been a door to the gate, and she stopped a moment a distance away, looking for one.

Maebh seemed to realize the same, and looked for one, finding it quickly and going through the door. Rose moved swiftly toward her.

Bending down, Rose cupped the Maebh's cheeks in her hands, forcing her to look at her.

"Listen," She told the little girl while the Doctor stood a few feet away, arms and legs spread wide and panting while she stared down the predators. "Don't wander off again, yeah? Rule one, that: no wandering off. So stay close, stay behind me, and no matter what happens, it's gonna be alright, yeah?"

Maebh nodded, looking past Rose to the Doctor.

"Might help get them away from us quicker if they think we're too big and scary to bother with." The Doctor said, not breaking eye contact with the wolves on the other side of the gate.

Rose stood straight, shuffled Maebh over to the Doctor where she could be sandwiched between Rose and the Time Lord.

Stretch your arms out super big, super wide, make us look huge. Like a crazy six armed, six legged thing from the planet Gaichett."

"No such planet." Rose retorted as she stared down the wolves.

"You're not old enough to know that." The Doctor quipped back, shifting a little as the wolves growled, backed up, and jumped the fence.

Rose moved, putting herself in front of the Doctor and Maebh, only to find the wolves running past them deeper into the woods.

"Right," Rose panted. "Not normal wolves, then."

"Probably from the zoo." The Doctor agreed. "But… they were ready to attack. Don't think we were that scary looking, so what was the-"

A deep, menacing growl came from where the wolves were, and Rose's heart began to pick up speed painfully. She watched the trees as a tiger, a creature she'd probably call beautiful under different circumstances, came prowling out of the woods toward them. It was probably used to being in a cage, but the graceful way in which it stalked toward them said that it's natural instincts had taken over, and someone forgot to feed it.

"Right, okay," The Doctor said over her shoulder. "We'll ummm… well, I don't have a violin with me. Bit out of practice anyway, and I don't think this tiger's gonna end up being the music type."

"Bloody good thing I know what you're on about." Rose said as she braced herself, the tiger looking ready to pounce.

A light shone in its eyes, flashing like a strobe, and she whipped her head around to see where it could be coming from.

Danny was flicking a torch in the eyes of the tiger from a safe distance away while Clara stood beside him, and arm stretched out behind her to keep the children of the class back.

Rose looked back toward the tiger in time to see it snarl one last time then giving up, turning around and heading off to find a better, easier target than them.

She sighed with relief, thankful to not have to suffer through another mauling, and turned around, dropping to her knees, and hugging Maebh while the class from Coal Hill cheered their teacher's ingenuity.

"Why did you run off, Maebh?" Rose asked as she leaned back, putting her hands on the girl's shoulders to keep her there.

She frowned, then started to waver her hands around her face, her eyes looking up.

"Maebh," The Doctor said calmly, getting down to her knees as well while the commotion behind them continued. "Maebh, sweetheart, can you talk to me? What are you seeing?"

"I can't-" she started to say, backing out of Rose's hold. "I have to-" And then she took off again, deeper into the woods.

"Maebh!" The adults all called at once, Rose and the Doctor racing after her in an instant, Danny, Clara, and the students just behind.

"You won't find your sister out there!" One of the students shouted as they followed Maebh, but she didn't even pause.

"It's not what she's lookin' for," The Doctor declared.

The came upon what might have looked like a clearing had it not been for the circle of thinner trees coated in cobweb. The way the sun shone through the branches and lit the area where Maebh slowed down and stopped, her hands falling to her side, made her and the circle look enchanted.

Rose stayed back, giving the Doctor space as she knelt down to be eye level with Maebh.

"What's she doing?" Danny asked as they caught up.

"Dunno, exactly." Rose said as the Doctor just watched Maebh for a moment.

"You're communicating with someone." The Doctor stated as a question, though Maebh showed no signs of responding.

"She needs her tablets." Danny insisted.

"She needs to be heard." Rose said firmly but gently, turning to meet Danny's eye. "Seen a lot of things in my long life, yeah? My best mate for years would have visions, little glimpses of the future, triggered whenever. Saved so many lives, him, all because he could give us a bit of a heads-up. 'Magine what mighta happened if we gave him a tablet to make them go away?" Rose turned back around and was taken aback by how utterly fondly the Doctor was looking at her. It reminded her quite suddenly of their tenth self. Just the smile came through.

Taking a breath, the Doctor turned back to Maebh, "Maebh?"

"I can't unthink it." She said desperately. "It's coming, it's coming for everyone."

"The solar flare. Yeah," The Doctor said gently, nodding. "But you didn't think it, Maebh, someone told you. Someone, or something is communicating with you, can you tell me who it is?"

"Me, I did it." Maebh replied. "I did this, I did these trees."

"Sweetheart, no. No you didn't. You aren't powerful like that, you can't make trees grow overnight. No, you know what your superpower is? Listening. You can hear things no one else can. Who is it? Who's talking to you?"

Maebh looked around them. "The thoughts just come to me. Ever since Annabel went missing, I look for her everywhere, and I don't find her. But I find the thoughts. The big forest was one. I thought everyone would love it."

"It is beautiful." The Doctor said with a grin, looking around them.

Maebh frowned. "The thoughts. They go so fast." She said before she lifted her hands above her head again, and began to flutter them about.

"This is stressing me now," One of the boys said with a bit of unease. "When I get stressed, I forget my anger management."

Rose glanced over her shoulder, seeing Danny had a hold on a boy's shoulder now, presumably the one who spoke given how close he was, but the maths teacher was watching the scene in the circle with fascination.

"Maebh," Clara said cautiously. "Can you see something that we can't see?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. "That's it," She said as she took out her sonic. "Everythin's subject to gravity. If I can create a little local increase…"

"No, you aren't experimenting on…" Danny started to say as the Doctor pushed something on her sonic, making it glow orange and hum.

Rose had seen so many things, and yet she still found herself gasping with everyone else as something that looked like thousands of fireflies hovered around Maebh.

"They're lovely," She gasped as she looked at what had been following about with a smile that quickly began to fade. "They don't like it when you're holding them. They want you to let them go." She told the Doctor.

"M sorry," The Doctor said to the lights. "I don't mean to hurt you, but it seems it's the only way we can all hear you clearly. I'll let you go, I promise, I just need to know: who are you, what are you doing here?"

Maebh turned to face the Doctor fully. "We are here." She said, but her voice wasn't the only one that came through. A deeper, ancient voice had joined Maebh's, comforting and reassuring. "Here, always, since the beginning and until the end."

"What are you?" The Doctor asked calmly.

"We are the green shoots that grow between the cracks, the grass that grows over the mass graves. After your wars are over, we will still be here. We are the life that prevails."

"You're the trees." The Doctor nodded. "But why are you here now?"

"We hear the call and we come, as we came before to the great Northern Forest, where we lie still in a great circle. As we came to the vast Southern Forest."

"What call?" Rose asked. "From who, or what? Earth?"

"The sun that creates. The sun that destroys. You are hurting us, let us go."

"The solar flare." The Doctor said with realization. "You're here because of the flare. I'm sorry, you said I was hurting you. I'll let you go. Thank you, thank you for telling us." She released them with the sonic, and they dispersed.

"That was actually quite cool." A different boy said, and there was a murmur through the class as Rose moved forward when Maebh gave a small cry.

"Maebh," She said as she knelt by the Doctor. "What is it?"

"They've gone. Why does everything have to go?" She asked.

"They've got work to do," The Doctor explained. "The sun's angry, you saw, they told you. And they're going to try and help. I think." She wrinkled her nose.

"Where they who told you to find us? Er-, find the Doctor?" Rose asked the little girl.

Maebh shook her head. "It's just a thought." She said. "I thought it came from miss."

Rose frowned, looking to the Doctor who shrugged.

"Coulda been you, or me. Might've even been Livie if she's hiding here somewhere. Family has a habit of stealing TARDIS's and running away." The Doctor explained with a shrug.

"What did they mean?" Clara asked, earning their attention. "They said they were here before, what does that mean?"

"I'd wager, we go through the history logs of the planet, we're gonna find that this happened before." The Doctor said as she got to her feet, reaching a hand down to help Rose up as well. "Whaddya say? Back to the TARDIS for a science lesson?"

~DW~

"So," The Doctor began, and Clara watched as this woman who was both strange and familiar began an explanation as to what was happening to the students. On the monitor in the TARDIS she had the same image from earlier of the solar flare happening, only this time it was much larger, stretching closer to the sun. "This is a big, solar flare. Now, normally, solar flares don't do much damage, least not like this. What woulda happened is, without all the trees, the solar wind woulda blown this whole planet away. But it won't, and it never has, an' you know why?" She paused, looking at the class all sat behind Clara and Danny on the stairs. When no one answered, she excitedly said, "'cos it's happened before."

"It has?" Danny asked skeptically, which was rather funny given that Clara had explained that the moon was an egg, but then again, maybe it was for the best that Danny remained skeptical. She'd seen so many things in the short time she travelled with the Doctor, Clara was willing to believe almost anything was possible.

If she were going to stay behind, stop travelling, she needed someone who would help keep her head on her shoulders and not in the clouds.

"It has, Mister Pink!" The Doctor exclaimed, lifting a hand and counting on her fingers. "The Tunguska Blast, 1908. Curuca in Brazil, and so, so many others, those are just the most recent. Extraterrestrial impact happens, trees come up to soften the blow." She made a gesture like she was holding a ball. "And this time, all those trees, all making oxygen, loads more than is needed, probably making you lot all a bit sleepy. What's gonna happen is when the impact of the heat happens, it's gonna burn it all off, all that extra oxygen, and it's gonna save the planet."

Clara grinned. "The wide ring." She said as she stood up, turning to the class and gesturing to Ruby. "In the museum, the red ring in the cross section of a tree, one of the rings was wider than the others and red. Ruby pointed it out."

"Probably another event, maybe the mark of an asteroid. Guess it might be Red Ring Day."

"Yeah, but…." Sampson spoke up, "I was reading on the way here, Mister Pink was helping me, said something about… defo, defoo…."

"Defoliant agents," Danny said with understanding. "He looked up, wide eyed. "The Government is sending out defoliating teams. They're dropping chemicals on them right now."

"No they aren't," Rose said as she came back into the console room, phone still to her ear. "Currently on hold with Kate, she's got UNIT contacting the government, but if anyone gets cheeky on their own, some civilian or something, might still be a bit'a trouble."

The Doctor frowned. "Might now matter." She tilted her head side to side. "Might matter a lot." She darted toward Rose and gently took the phone from her wife's hand, putting it to her ear. "They got hold music now? What's with the atrocious- Kate! Yeah, yeah, bit of a change. No, right Rose, wrong Doctor. Listen, great thing, getting the government to back down, the trees are not a threat. But the private sector. Yeah, figured you wouldn't, but if the mobile network's open… yeah, great. I got a team." She said looking at the students with a wide grin and a gleam in her eye that Clara could tell sparked their enthusiasm for a yet to be known project.

~DW~

"Attention citizens," Maebh began as she read from the script she and her classmates composed for the Doctor's project: save the earth.

Rose had watched them all, the gifted and talented, the furious, fearful, tongue tied bunch that Clara was so fond of pulled together and came up with a script to talk most of the people of Earth down from their attempts to remove the trees.

It made a part of her miss the times when River had been little, back when she was still Melody, and they took her on so many adventures without her parents knowing. It made her look forward to having Olivia around, the granddaughter she hadn't gotten to meet linearly just yet.

It also made her miss her husband, despite his being a bit crotchety, a bit meaner. He'd have loved this, she just knows it.

But her wife? Her wife was encouraging the whole time they students came up with the script. She explained what was happening numerous times, even answering the questions a few of them had about the other times the trees had come to help the Earth. Her husband would have done the same, Rose knows that, but she also knows he'd be more prone to insults, and likely would have infuriated Danny enough times that there would have been less willingness to keep the students inside where it was safe.

Maebh continued speaking into the microphone set up on the console, passing the message on to every mobile and phone on the planet, the TARDIS translating it where needed.

"Essential services have been disrupted due to an unexpected forest. We'd like to reassure you that the situation will be rectified very soon. Please don't be scared. And please, don't chop, spray, or harm the trees. They're here to help. Be less scared, be more trusting." And at the end, she hesitated. "Oh, and Annabel Arden, please come home." She said solemnly, and Rose's heart went out to her.

"Alright." The Doctor said as they ended the transmission. "Who wants to see a solar even close up?" She asked excitedly.

Before anyone could answer, Maebh gasped.

"Mum!" She cried with a smile. "It's my mum!" She dashed away to the doors, and Rose glimpsed the woman looking at the TARDIS in confusion before the doors were yanked open and Maebh ran out. The rest of the class followed after, only Clara remaining just inside the door. The Doctor came up beside Rose, tentatively taking her hand as if their earlier hand holding hadn't happened.

"So, trip to space, anyone?" Clara asked cheerfully.

"I want my mum," Ruby said.

"I slightly want my mum, too." Said one of the boys, and the rest of the kids agreed.

"Tell them, mister Pink, what an educational-"

"You go, then," Danny interrupted, his voice nearly as loud as Clara's. "This? This is enough for me."

"Stay with them, Clara." The Doctor said, getting their former companion's attention. "Best get them back before this all goes up. I don't think the human race tends to remember these things, but it might be a bit scary."

Clara looked like she was going to protest, then looked to Danny.

She stared at him an awful long time before she said, "Yeah," with a nod. "Yeah, alright." She said over her shoulder at the Doctor. "Maybe… maybe I'll see you again?"

Rose understood the question. She wanted to see this specific Doctor, not the one she'd told off. Not the one currently in Pompeii waiting for her to go get him.

The Doctor barely gave a smile, "I'm full up, my TARDIS. We've got the fam, see? The TARDIS fam, and occasionally the actual fam. I can't… I can't come back for you."

Clara looked absolutely crestfallen, but nodded in understanding.

"Right, then. Well. It was wonderful getting to meet this you, then." She said with a smile. She then looked to Rose. "Call you later?"

"Yeah," Rose said with a smile, waving as Clara stepped away from the doors, and letting them close behind her.

~DW~

Clara wasn't sure she made the right decision, walking away from the TARDIS, from the chance at seeing a solar even like this up close. A part of her, that addicted part, wanted to turn around and run back for one last wonderful sight, one last adventure.

The chants of the children ahead as they made their way back toward the museum where the rest of the parents would surely find them, kept her moving forward. The man at her side enough to keep her head out of the clouds.

But he could see it, she knew he could, with every dart of his eyes in her direction.

"There are wonders here, Clara." He said after a bit, drawing her out of her thoughts. "Bradley saying 'please', that's a wonder." He offered up as an example, and Clara couldn't help but smile.

"I know," She said, "It's just…."

"I told you before," He said, "that you're not finished with someone if you can be angry with them. I don't… I don't understand, entirely, how that Doctor is the same one that made you angry. But I knew, I could tell, that when you saw them you realized you weren't done. I won't make you stop, I'll never make you stop. The Doctor pushes you too hard, and you don't tell me, we're done, that hasn't changed either. But I want you to think long and hard, because they'd already done that to you once. You want to go back to that life, but figure out why. And please be truthful with me, I'll always want the truth."

"I won't see them again," Clara said firmly, despite being unsure.

Danny chuckled. "Yes you will." He said with a grin.

"Why do you think that?" The asked nervously.

His grin changed into a smile. "You still left you marking on the TARDIS."

Clara stopped as soon as she realized that yes, she had. Not like she could have practically carried all of it back, to London, and then home, but Danny was right. She would see Rose and the Doctor, the Scottish one, again.

It would just mean trying really hard to keep it a strictly social visit.

~DW~

"Reminds me a bit like that moment we watched the Earth begin. Only a bit, though." Rose said as she and the Doctor sat on the edge of the TARDIS, both doors open wide.

The Earth was a very safe distance away, though the TARDIS shielding would have protected them anyway. The planet before them was visibly green, the mass of trees created being plainly visible from space just as lights were at night.

"Bit better, this," The Doctor said with a grin. "Sorta like a date."

"Blimey, when was the last time I was on a date with you?" Rose asked herself, eyes darting away from the planet as if looking at the stars above their heads would give her the answer. She glanced at the Doctor, seeing her being a bit chagrined.

"I get better." She promised. "I remember a bit what I used to be like, and… it sounds awful, but being without Clara made me better."

Rose frowned. "Seems different for you."

"We did most of our travels without you." The Doctor reminded her. "Because you were with Jen, helping with the pregnancy. Because you were with Melody when she needed a time traveler. I got lonely, and Clara was the only one I could see where it wouldn't affect our visitin', or anything like that."

"I know," Rose reminded her. "I know all this."

"Yeah, but… I can't explain it. I think that body… regenerating older was hard enough. My wife not being around… I got used to you. Got used to knowing you would always know what to do, used to you being there to filter me and help me out. Clara was good, but she was never you and it made things hard."

"Take it you didn't travel without me again after that." Rose smirked.

"No," The Doctor shook her head. "Not at all."

They turned back to the planet just in time to see the solar flare make contact, and the trees acting as they should, protecting the Earth by having the oxygen burn up, over-feeding the flames and keeping the inhabitants from harm.

"Wow," Rose said with a shake of her head, awe deep in her soul. "Never get tired of this. Thousand years old, still like I never saw anything as amazing before."

"That feeling never goes away," The Doctor promised, but there was a heaviness to her voice that had Rose draw her attention away from the Earth and to her wife.

There was a far off, sad look to the Doctor's eyes. She stared at the Earth, but her gaze was unseeing, her mind closed off even as Rose lowered her own walls.

"Doctor?" She asked quietly.

She didn't even blink.

"I can count," She began, "At least three times you made sure I was where I needed to be for you. You sent me to you after the Ponds left us. You sent me to you in Pompeii. And today you sent me to you now. Because you remembered, you knew it was where I needed to be. And each time… each time, I got to warn you, a little, of what was coming." She met Rose's eye. "You're going to see Clara again, twice. The first, it'll be innocent. The second… she's going to cross a line. She will lose someone she loves, and she'll go too far."

Rose blinked. "Like…?"

"I can't tell you." The Doctor shook her head. "But she will attempt to betray."

Rose swallowed, nodding slowly, absorbing it.

"I want to tell you so much." The Doctor grinned sadly. "So much has happened between where you are now, and where I am. So many things, and I can't warn you. I know I can't, but I want to."

"Then don't," Rose said gently, looking at her wife again, seeing that longing and sadness in her eyes. "I'll catch up," She said as she reached out and put a hand on the Doctor's cheek, stroking her thumb along it while the Doctor reached up and covered her hand with her own. "Still with you, yeah?"

"Yeah," The Doctor nodded, finally cracking a grin, and the two leaned in and gave one another a very gentle, reassuring kiss.

As they pulled back, the Doctor dropped her hand from Rose's, allowing Rose to drop her own, and the two scooted back and got to their feet.

"You best get me back," The Doctor said as they closed the doors. "And you should get me from Pompeii."

"If I must," Rose smirked as they went to the console to pilot the ship together.

"Oi! 'If I must', she says. I promise you Rose Tyler, I'm much easier to tolerate after all this. Just needed a reminder of who I was. And a guitar, but that will come later." The Doctor said as she twisted knobs and flipped switches on her side.

"A guitar?" Rose smirked, arching a brow.

"Didn' I tell ya? I'm Doctor disco!" The Doctor replied, sending the TARDIS into the vortex.

~DW~

"Learned your lesson yet?" Rose asked her Doctor from where she stood in the TARDIS doorway.

"If I said 'yes' am I able to come home?" He asked her, his new voice sounding all that much stranger to her after having listened to his future selves gob all day.

"Yes, but because I know you're lying out your ass you're sleeping in the library for a week." She retorted, folding her arms and leaning against the door frame of the TARDIS.

"I said I was sorry," He said with exasperation, dragging himself up from the table and walking toward her. He met her eyes plaintively and honestly. "I am, truly. And I will do whatever it takes to make it up to Clara too, but please can we just move on already." And with her walls down she could feel just how much he meant every word.

"Fine," Rose relented with an eye roll as the Doctor. She eyed him with a put upon displeasure, though sent him love and reassurance through their bond.

He smiled, and she'd forgotten how wonderful this new smile of his was, and hoped fervently he used it more in the future before it changed to the one she'd seen not long before. It made it hard not to smile back, even just a little, and when he went in for a kiss, she didn't stop him.

"I need to change," He said after a quick peck. "A week of wearing a toga is a bit too much."

"Don't change too quickly," Rose called over her shoulder as he stepped inside.

"Knew you liked the look!" He shouted from somewhere inside, and she shook her head, wondering not for the first time how he could warm her heart for one beat of it and annoy her within the next.

She looked to her younger counterpart, standing next to the man who hadn't yet become her husband. "Enjoy that one while you can," She told her younger self. "He's one of the easier models to deal with." She said with a wink, ignoring the younger Doctor's preening, deciding to save that for a version of her more used to dealing with it.

Shutting the doors, she went to the console and put the TARDIS into the vortex.

"So," The Doctor said behind her. "Where did you go?"

"Who said I went anywhere?" She quipped.

"I could smell me on your skin, but it was a bit different." He said with a knowing look in his eyes and a bare smile to his lips. "So which me did you see?"

"Older one." She replied.

He seemed stunned by that, blinking and not saying a word. Even the hum from his mind was rather quiet.

"My… thirteenth self." He said softly.

"Yeah," She said, knowing what he was getting at. "Said s-they were quite old though."

He frowned, whether at her near slip up or the fact that he realized that they likely had a long time left together still.

"Anyway. S' nothing." Rose shrugged, looking him over, seeing the toga still in place. She smirked. "You looked pretty good in that, you know."

"I know." He smirked. "You couldn't stop looking at me."

"Was probably wondering how I handle those eyebrows." She teased and he darted forward, wrapping his arms around her, burying his face in her neck as she laughed.

"I am sorry," he said again. "I don't know why I did it, I don't…."

"It's not alright, but I forgive you." Rose said as he put her arms around him. "Just, don't let it happen again, yeah?"

He nodded. "Make sure it doesn't."

"I will," She promised, and they held each other like that for a long while.

"I have an idea how to make it up to you. Been thinking on it all week." He said after a bit.

"Oh?" Rose asked.

"It's been… nearly a thousand years of being married." He said. "I want to celebrate it."

Rose smiled, thinking of how the Doctor had told her that there were so many things coming for them, and how she hadn't made it sound like there was much joy in there. Maybe, from that Doctor's perspective, there wasn't. Or maybe it was one more way to prepare Rose, to allow her to enjoy the good moments, the happy, joyful ones, all the more.

"Yeah," Rose said, pulling back to give her husband a quick peck on the lips. "Where do you wanna go?"

The Doctor merely grinned.