Rose wasn't sure when her peaceful sleep started shifting into the clean garden that she and the TARDIS often visited in during her dream, but at some point it did and Rose smiled as she looked around, realizing that the shimmering golden energy of Bad Wolf was now glimmering off every surface vibrantly. Not only was Bad Wolf completely intertwined, but it shone now and Rose took that as a sign that she was about as close to fully being Bad Wolf as she was ever going to get.
"My wolf!" Exclaimed the human appearance of the TARDIS and Rose spun around, finding herself immediately enveloped in a hug.
"It's such a relief to see you," Rose murmured to the being who hummed lightly in response.
"I'm always here," she comforted.
"You know it's not the same. The last time I saw you-
"I was asleep. I can see your timeline Rose. I can see all the timelines all the time. You can sense timelines, and with practice you may eventually become more in tune with them than even the Doctor. But I will always see things more clearly than either of you," the TARDIS laughed and Rose rolled her eyes.
"It's not exactly a fair competition between the three of us. Time Lord, TARDIS, and whatever I am."
"Rose Tyler. Bad Wolf. Both or either depending on the day. Uniquely you, my dear," the TARDIS chattered aimlessly. Rose sat down on the bench they often frequented, heaving a sigh.
"I've had so many questions I want to ask you since the last time we were able to properly speak," Rose confessed as the TARDIS joined her.
"And now you're having a hard time remembering them? Or they don't seem all that important anymore? You can sense you're nearing the end of something but you can't sense what?" The TARDIS guessed and Rose nodded.
"That's exactly it. Should I be worried?"
"The opposite. What you're sensing is the end of the divergence in your timeline. All those burning questions you had…you know you have the answers somewhere here in your mind. Things are a bit disorganized still and I'm afraid they'll stay that way for a while. You are so young still, my wolf," the TARDIS spoke Kindly.
"I hardly find over a century to be young," Rose scoffed.
"For a human, no. But as we've already discussed, when you and I became one, you ceased to be just a human. Bad Wolf is limitless really," the TARDIS explained.
"So I'm immortal?"
"No. No being is immortal. You may live virtually forever and still not be immortal. Everything comes to an end eventually. If time itself can come to an end, so shall all things in it," the TARDIS answered solemnly.
"But will I live long enough to give him forever?" Rose asked, unable to grasp her mind around the TARDIS' cryptic words.
"I can't make those guarantees Rose, no one can. You may cease to age as humans would, but that doesn't make you invisible to death or destruction. And despite how he acts, the Doctor does not have unlimited regenerations either," the ancient being tutted with disapproval.
"And you're saying that everything I've been wondering…I know it all already. Somewhere deep in my mind, but I just can't find the information?"
"You're a being of time, Rose. And you travel through time. Your mind has to figure out how to sort through memories in a logical way. Humans can only grasp time as a linear concept, but you are no longer restricted to thinking that way. However it is the only way you've learned time up till now, so you will need to re-learn and as you do, your mind will find ways to organize all your memories and all your senses. This is something that will take practice, but the Doctor can help you! Time Lords are taught from the time they are young that time is complex and even they still struggle. The two of you will learn together. I will help," the TARDIS promised and Rose nodded.
"At least this sort of discussion is no longer making my head ache. I don't really think I understand it, but it's getting better," Rose admitted.
"Exactly. You're quite in tune with Bad Wolf these days. That display with the Family…"
"I know, I should be careful," Rose interrupted.
"I don't need to warn you anymore, little sister. You understand the limits to Bad Wolf are self imposed for a reason. A being of pure time would become a vengeful god, hungry for power and unstoppable. But your human nature runs deep, even as you leave the restrictions of a human life behind. This is why I chose you, Rose. This is why we created Bad Wolf together," the TARDIS told her sincerely.
"You called me sister."
"Just a new term I'm throwing around. Do you like it? There isn't yet a word to describe our relationship," the TARDIS chirped happily and Rose smiled.
"I think it fits, but I'll probably just keep calling you TARDIS," she grinned cheekily.
"And I shall always call you my Wolf."
"You said the divergence in my timeline is coming to an end. Does that mean I've made it? Can I finally see him?" Rose felt her heart swell.
"Almost, I promise. You are so very close to your goal. Yours and the Doctor's timelines are forever intertwined. They always have been, though he hasn't been able to sense it. This time you've spent apart…think of it as a bubble or a wrinkle. At the end your timelines were always meant to come back together," the TARDIS answered.
"Please, please tell me there are no more adventures I have to endure watching him, but not being able to reach out," Rose begged.
"That's entirely up to you. You know that. You could've jumped forward at any point. You chose to stay, to help," the TARDIS spoke, a raised eyebrow at Rose who shrugged.
"I know you're right. But I just didn't feel right seeing Martha alone. Knowing how he treats his companions…is there anything I can do to change that?"
"I know a great many things about the universe, but I still haven't figured out how to make the Doctor change his mind. You see how hard I have to work to get him where he needs to go!" The TARDIS exclaimed in frustration.
"I suppose that'll just take time. Tell me, though, the ones he's said goodbye to. Is there a possibility of bringing any of them back into his life?"
"If they're still alive, there is always hope. The ones that have passed on are gone, we cannot undo that."
"Yes, I've learned that lesson," Rose agreed, thinking once more about her father's death.
"But if they live on, between you and the Doctor, I'm sure you'll find some solution," the TARDIS flashed a mysterious smile.
"You know, don't you?" Rose accused.
"I know a great many things, some of them will come to pass and some will not. That's how the whole free choice thing works," the TARDIS laughed.
"Right, right. So if I want to get back to the Doctor now…you'll help make sure I get to the right point in his timeline?"
"Well first of all, there are many 'right points'. You are free to see him again anytime after your timelines diverged. You could see him again seconds after or centuries after. That is completely up to you."
"I won't be making him wait centuries and you know that," Rose scowled.
"But before you see him again, there's one more thing you may want to do. Some time after you were initially trapped in the parallel world but before your timelines diverged completely, the Doctor had a daughter," the TARDIS explained and Rose balked.
"M'sorry?"
"Daughter is a…loose term. His DNA was extracted by a prick on the hand and then split and grown into a new being through progenation. It's technology from the future, simple in concept but shocking in practice. A human colony in the far future was using it to produce adult humans, ready to fight in an endless civil war. Donna Noble was traveling with the Doctor at the time, and helped name the girl Jenny," the TARDIS continued and Rose let out an exasperated sigh as she shook her head.
"Yes, I've met her. It should've clicked the second I saw her."
"Unfortunately shortly after her creation, Jenny was gunned down. The Doctor waited, hoping she would regenerate but the process didn't start right away like it normally would so there once existed a timeline in which Jenny woke up alone and stole a spaceship to explore the universe. But she was never able to track the Doctor down and I had a feeling you might like to change that," the TARDIS prompted.
"I assume the Doctor was reluctant to get attached, but in the end he did? And then his hearts broke yet again thinking she had died," Rose mused, answering her own question as the TARDIS nodded in confirmation.
"So once again it'll have to be Rose to the rescue. How will I get there if the Doctor isn't there to help pinpoint my search through the Vortex?" She asked.
"Oh didn't I mention, I'm parked there right now! Just slip outside and wait for the Doctor, Martha, and Donna to get back into the TARDIS. Then you'll be able to seek out Jenny freely. I think you'll find you're quite drawn to her," the TARDIS winked.
"Oh you are a cheeky thing."
"Just making sure you both get where you need to go," the TARDIS smiled warmly as the world around them started to shimmer.
"Time to wake now, my Wolf," she called gently, her voice fading as Rose felt herself being pulled back into reality.
As Rose woke in her room on the TARDIS, she wasted no time. Knowing that she was so very close to properly seeing her Doctor again made everything else (like showering, eating, and even changing clothes) seem completely irrelevant. There would be time for that later. She darted through the corridors and into the console room, doing a quick check on the monitor to make sure the Doctor and his companions weren't directly outside the door. The TARDIS seemed to be parked in some sort of underground tunnel which Rose found it easy to find a hiding spot. She only needed to wait a few moments before she heard the Doctor's voice.
"…bringing us here. It just got here too soon, which then created Jenny in the first place. Paradox. An endless paradox. Time to go home?"
Rose had to fight her chuckle when he mentioned the endless paradox. At this point her whole life was one endless paradox after the other, although she hoped reuniting their timelines would help calm that down for at least a bit. She heard Martha respond as the three of them entered the TARDIS. Rose didn't risk sparing a glance and waited until she heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS departing. Using the same tricks she had used to stay hidden during her year traveling the Earth with Martha, she wandered the complex tunnel system hoping to find Jenny quickly. Finally she came to a small, clean room where a very familiar blonde lay on a table. Rose's eyes softened as she looked down at Jenny. The young woman was not moving and didn't appear to be regenerating, but Rose brushed a stray hair aside lovingly and felt a small spark. She moved her hand back in surprise as a glimmer of gold energy seemed to seep into Jenny's forehead. Moments later the woman gasped and opened her eyes.
"Hello!" She greeted and Rose felt jaw pop open.
"I'm Jenny and I'm not sure why but I feel like I know you! Then again I've met an awful lot of people in a very short amount of time today," she laughed.
"It's…complicated. But I'm Rose. I'm a….friend of your dad," Rose tried to explain lamely.
"Oh, so has he gone then?" There was a slight tinge of disappointment in Jenny's voice and Rose put a comforting hand on hers, noting the lack of a spark this time around.
"He waited, hoping you would regenerate like him…but you didn't so yes he left. But I can help you find him again! I'm headed that direction," Rose offered. Jenny paused for a moment in thought.
"I think…I'd rather like to do some adventuring on my own first. He seemed very disappointed that I was born a soldier. If I could just save some more civilizations first, I think he might be happier to see me," she said decisively.
"Jenny I hope you know that your dad loves you just as you are. He's just a stubborn old git. And I truly do mean that, in the nicest way. He would be thrilled to see you," Rose tried to assure the young girl.
"All the same, every girl has to grow up sometime. And I was born grown! But I will want to see him again soon…how will I find him?"
Rose smiled, digging into her pockets to find her trusty old cell phone. She had thought to grab it from her room that morning. She hadn't used that thing in ages, but trusted that the technology still worked.
"His number is plugged in here. I won't need it anymore. Give him a call, we'll come find you," Rose promised and Jenny took it gleefully and bounced up off the table.
"Thanks Rose! I guess I'll be seeing you," she called as she darted from the room. Rose chuckled slightly at the childlike energy she exuded. Last errand done. It was time to go home. Before anyone else wandered into the room she closed her eyes and allowed herself to be pulled into the Vortex, hopefully for the last time in a while.
...
The Doctor dematerialized the TARDIS in a panic, the sound of the Cloister bells still ringing in his ears. Did a bell count as a knock? The Doctor hadn't waited to count 4. He could clearly see the face of Ood Sigma, staring at him in judgment as the Doctor watched the light of a deathly laser beam flash in Adelaide's window. He wanted to be angry at Adelaide, wanted to blame her for being stupid. He was the last of the Time Lords and there were no rules of time for him to obey. Of course, he couldn't be angry at Adelaide. He had told her she was destined to die on Mars and then he had broken his own rules in anger and arrogance. Adelaide was stubborn, but she wasn't wrong about him.
"Time Lord Victorious is WRONG!" she had shouted, and the Doctor agreed. He was horrified at his own words. He needed someone to distract him, to keep him grounded. He needed Rose or Donna or even Martha. But after all that had happened with her, he refused to make the same mistake again. With Martha, he'd gotten off easy. She'd left him unharmed and on mostly-friendly terms, but he was tired of having his hearts broken again and again. He had lost Rose, and then gotten her back, and then lost her again only to lose Donna. It was too much.
The Doctor knew it wasn't fair to place that blame on his companions. Rose had never wanted to leave, and neither had many of the others. Some he had left behind for their own safety, others he had lost to tragedy. He was never going to stop chasing danger, and danger was never going to stop following him. So it was time to stop inviting people along on his adventures. They did more harm than good. So what if he blurred the lines of what was right or wrong? It was all subjective in the end. The Time Lords were gone and nobody was there to slap his wrist or punish him for bending the rules a bit. He'd been told that he would die after 4 knocks. So if he just kept running every time he heard a single knock, he would never have to die.
With renewed determination the Doctor set the destination to random, but as he spun around with a flourish to flip the break he tripped over his own foot. Glaring down, he eyed the offending object which showed at broken shoelace that had come undone. He threw his shoes off in frustration and set off to the wardrobe to find a new pair before his next adventure. As he turned to go, a bright light behind him caused him to stop and wheel back around.
"Not again!" He almost growled. Donna appearing on his ship had been a fluke. Things didn't just appear on his TARDIS! As the light faded, a very familiar form appeared and the Doctor stood completely still, unable to move or breathe even a word. What he was seeing could not possibly be real.
As Rose felt herself fully actualize once more in the console room, she couldn't pinpoint exactly why but she knew it was right. Something in the back of her mind felt complete, like it had finally clicked into place. She wondered if what she was feeling was her timeline shifting back as it intertwined with the Doctor's again. Whatever it was, she was grateful and she smiled as she spun around looking for the Time Lord himself. Her heart skipped a beat as she gazed at her pinstripe Doctor. He seemed frozen in fear, like a deer in headlights so she avoided stepping towards him even though every instinct told her to run into his arms. But his arms weren't open and waiting for her like she always imagined they would be. The look on his face was almost horrified. So instead she opened her mouth and said the first thing that came to her mind.
"You left me."
The anger came rushing back as she realized that she hadn't forgiven this particular Doctor, not yet. Her ability to compartmentalize her relationship with the Doctor at different points in their respective timelines was stunning to her, but as she stared at him and the fear and horror in his expression, she knew he was fairly fresh from abandoning her. And those feelings of heartbreak, anger, confusion, and betrayal just hit her like a tidal wave.
"What?" The Doctor stuttered. His pink and yellow human stood before him once more. How, he hadn't figured out yet. But there she stood, and she was angry.
"You heard what I said, Doctor," she snapped.
"How…why…what…how are you here?" He floundered over his words again and Rose shook her head in disbelief. Always needed an answer.
"It's a long story that I don't particularly feel like telling you at the moment, Doctor."
"I took you home," the Doctor shifted gears, taking a few steps towards her cautiously. "The walls were closing for good, Rose. If we could have kept traveling back and forth, of course I would have kept you with me. You and other me."
"You didn't take me home, you didn't take us home! You took us to a parallel world and left us stranded," Rose fought to keep her tone calm.
"That world became your home when you got stuck there the first time. You have your family and your life. You have...well, me," the Doctor insisted. His mind couldn't fully engage in the argument since it was too busy re-living every memory of Rose he had. And re-memorizing her every feature.
"You never stopped to even ask what I wanted. You never stopped to ask if I had a good life there before bringing me back. I spent that whole first year looking for a way home and then when I finally found it, you sent me away. AGAIN. The TARDIS is home, you are my home. I'm home now, Doctor," Rose pleaded, trying to catch the Time Lord's gaze as she continued to close the gap between them until he was only an arm length's away. The man in question kept his eyes anywhere except for the brown eyes seeking his own. Her eyes would break him. He had to stand firm in his decision.
"And what about the Metacrisis me? He was the best version of me I could have given you, Rose," The Doctor replied seriously. "I'm a thousand year old Time Lord. Rose, you're a human with an amazing life ahead of you. There is so much you can do with your human life, but it's just a blink of an eye for me. You need to spend your time with your family. I made that call because I felt it was best. I'm just a crazy old man with a box," the Doctor stated firmly.
"You're a grade-A prick is what you are," Rose muttered.
"I don't know how you ended up here, but I promise I'll find a way to help you get back to your family-
"Doctor-
"Because I'm sure they miss you-
"Doctor."
"And your mum will slap me once she gets the chance-
"DOCTOR," Rose shouted, putting her hands on his arms. They both paused as the tall man immediately stiffened. It was the first time they'd touched since she'd appeared on his ship. A million thoughts flew through his massive brain. He should pull himself away, leave the room, take her home. But he didn't want to do any of that. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and squeeze. He wanted to take her hand and run across the stars and never stop. He wanted to welcome her home and never say goodbye again. Before he could do anything, though, her arms were wrapping around his body...the body that had been made for her. Rose's head was buried into his neck and he felt her hot tears trickle down her cheeks, landing on his shoulder. The tears melted his defenses and he let his body bend to match her shape, tightening his own arms around her. He burrowed his nose into her golden blonde locks. Several minutes passed without a change before Rose finally shifted and allowed her eyes to drift to his feet.
"Doctor, why aren't you wearing any shoes?" she wondered aloud.
"I was right in the middle of changing them," he answered, allowing a grin to spread across his face. Maybe everything would be okay.
"Right," she responded, an eyebrow raised as her tongue slipped in her teeth. That famous tongue-in-teeth smile showing him the Rose Tyler he knew was still in there.
"Rose, what happened? Why did you leave them all?" the Doctor asked softly, thankful he could still feel her heart beating against his.
"I….I just couldn't stay there," she whispered. She'd already told his other self her story, but she wasn't sure why those memories weren't opened to him yet.
"But you would have been fine there," the Doctor insisted helplessly. Rose rolled her eyes with a huff.
"Regardless of whether I would be your definition of 'fine' or not, you left me. I fought to get back to you, fought with everything I had and I succeeded against all odds. You said it was impossible and yet I made it back to you. I made it back to you on Game Station and I made it back to you from a parallel universe. But you were so determined to get rid of me that you traveled to a parallel universe to stick me there forever. You made sure the walls of the universes were sealed and you left me stranded. You gave me a taste of forever with you, a taste of an eternity chasing the stars, and then you dumped me in a world without even space travel. And I was so angry with you, Doctor. I had John to keep me company and we helped each other, but we were both so angry with you. You were scared of the thought of losing both of us to time one day, so instead of manning up and enjoying the time you got, you sent us away before you could get hurt. How well did that work out for you, hmmm Doctor? Because from what I can tell, it hurt you even more because not only were you lonely, you felt guilty for leaving us behind."
"There was no place for the Metacrisis in our universe-
"JOHN. His name. Was. John," Rose shouted.
"Fine, John then. There was no place for John in this universe," the Doctor insisted.
"There was no place for John in any universe, that didn't make it right to dump us in a parallel world."
The Doctor was quiet. He had turned so that only his back was facing her now. Rose heaved a sigh, trying to bring her tone down. She was getting nowhere with him at this rate.
"Doctor, did you ever wonder why we never stumbled upon a parallel version of me?" she questioned. The Doctor shrugged, waving his hands wordlessly.
"Didn't you question it? You question everything!" Rose continued to push, walking around so that she was facing him again.
"There was a parallel version of you, it's just that it was a dog," the Doctor tried to tease her. Rose's gaze hardened into an icy glare.
"You know that's not what I'm talking about. Everyone else had a parallel version of themselves in Pete's World. I'm not talking same name. I mean exactly identical version, just with different circumstances. My mum and dad, Mickey and his gran, even your former companions Sarah Jane and Donna. I met them all in Pete's World. They all existed. All of them, except me and you," Rose said forcefully, closing the gap between she and the Doctor. The Doctor took 3 steps back in panic, halting when he felt the console seat behind him.
"Time lords only exist in one universe, in one reality. It's because we're beings of time. We couldn't exist in two forms. We already have regenerations. The multi-verse would collapse. Imagine parallel versions of me? Each with several regenerations running around and crossing worlds?" he rambled. Rose slapped her hand across his mouth.
"God I forgot how much of a gob you really have. Shut it, Doctor. I know why you only exist as one being. But what about me?" she questioned again, removing her hand.
"I don't know!" The Doctor exploded. "Okay?" he snapped. "You're right. I questioned it the second we didn't find a parallel version of you on our first visit to Pete's World. I've been questioning it ever since. It doesn't make any sense. You've never made any sense! You traveled from a parallel world to get to me by slipping through cracks you never should have known were there. I don't know why you are that way, you just are!" Rose grinned victoriously, her tongue just barely slipping in between her teeth. It made the Doctor's hearts race against his will to see that little pink tongue peeking between her pearly white teeth.
"For someone who claims to be so brilliant and amazing, you really do overlook the simplest things," she teased. The Doctor clamped his mouth shut, refusing to justify her merciless teasing with his questions.
"Come on Doctor! Ask me what I know you're dying to ask me. How do I know what you could never figure out?" Rose continued to taunt him, dancing around the console, humming her own little tune. The TARDIS gave the Doctor a jolt of electricity through the floor.
"OW!" he exclaimed, bringing his foot up to rub it.
"Serves you right for not wearing your shoes," Rose rolled her eyes.
"I told you I was taking them off to put on a new pair!" he whined childishly which made Rose giggle. Again, both the Doctor's hearts fluttered against his strict instructions not to. It didn't matter whether Rose was back for good or not, she was still a human. She was a human who defied all odds, that's true, but human nonetheless and she would fade and die and leave him alone. And chances were that she would leave him before then. She would find a life outside of the TARDIS.
"Of course you were," Rose nodded in sarcastic agreement. "Come on Doctor, aren't you the littlest bit curious?"
"FINE," he huffed. "What brilliant reply do you have to your own question?"
"Bad Wolf," Rose answered, her tone suddenly very serious.
"What?"
"I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I took the words and scattered them throughout time and space, including in other universes. I controlled time for those brief moments and I made sure that Rose Tyler was born in one universe only: the Universe in which you existed and the Universe in which she was destined to become the Bad Wolf. I am the Bad Wolf and I created myself within a circular paradox. Rose Tyler exists because of Bad Wolf and Bad Wolf would never exist without Rose Tyler. I am this way because I had to be... to save you," she explained.
"That's….that's not how time works, Rose!" he sputtered.
"For exactly 13 minutes and 22 seconds I held the entire time vortex in my tiny human head and I became the Bad Wolf. Do you know how much an all-powerful being can do to manipulate time lines during 13 minutes and 22 seconds? Enough to ensure that no matter what happened in the multi-verse, Rose Tyler would be born and she would meet the Doctor and save him. You are not meant to wander through this world alone forever, Doctor," Rose said gently, finally catching his gaze. She stared into his deep, brown eyes and he found himself completely entranced, unable to look away.
"I took all of the time vortex energy out of you," the Doctor whispered.
"Something so powerful will always leave a trace behind. It was locked away, but she helped me find it," Rose answered honestly.
"The Bad Wolf?"
"No...her," Rose smiled mischievously, patting the ship's console.
"My TARDIS? That's impossible. You're not telepathic, and even I can't actually communicate with her. She's far too complex," the Doctor insisted.
"So's Bad Wolf," Rose said as she shrugged her shoulders.
"Rose this makes absolutely no sense. I took all of the vortex energy out of you, it killed me! I've never liked these teeth as much as the last ones," the Time Lord grabbed his hair in frustration.
"We'll talk about your distinct lack of self-love later. But yes, the amount of vortex energy you took from me saved my life and it killed you. But it wasn't 100% of it. Enough remained to permanently alter my very essence. These days I can even access a certain level of Bad Wolf like back on the Game Station. At least that's what I've come to understand," Rose sighed.
"But that's-
"Impossible, so you've said…many times. In fact, we've had almost this exact conversation before," Rose told him, her tone almost bored.
"What do you mean?"
"Well…I've been trying to find the right point in your timeline for a while now and the first place I landed was a few years back. When you still had big ears and wore that tattered leather jacket."
"How have you been traveling? And what happened to meta- I mean John?" The Doctor decided to ask more pointed questions in the hopes that she might actually answer them. Rose felt a familiar pain sting her heart at the mention of John.
"I travel through the Vortex without a capsule…it's not exactly comfortable but I've done it half a dozen times now. But Doctor…I've told you all this before. Why aren't you remembering?" She groaned. She did not feel like rehashing her entire history with the Doctor.
"If I've blocked the memory I usually use a specific phrase to trigger the memories coming back. Did I tell you what?"
"Have you ever told me anything useful?" Rose narrowed her eyes at him and the Doctor huffed.
"Bad Wolf was probably too common…Rose Tyler obviously didn't do it either. I don't suppose the TARDIS is being very helpful if you two can communicate so well," the Doctor hinted and felt another jolt of annoyed electricity through his feet.
"Ow! Alright alright," he exclaimed.
"We can't speak plainly when I'm awake, Doctor," Rose explained although she mentally turned the volume of the TARDIS song up in her mind. The TARDIS didn't send any words to her, but her song swelled with love…it was a romantic tune. In a spur of the moment decision, Rose pulled the Doctor close to her and planted her lips onto his.
There was exactly one quarter of a second of surprise shock on the Doctor's end before his mind switched off and he found himself responding to her kiss automatically. For 3 blissful seconds he kissed her back enthusiastically and then he felt a wall he had no realized was there in his mind break down and memories came flooding back.
A confused and disoriented Rose appearing on his TARDIS moments after he had left her the first time in London…seeing Captain Jack swing Rose up into the air as an unfamiliar feeling of jealousy swelled in him...Rose smiling and laughing as they ran down a hill somewhere…the terror he felt as a man pointed a gun at his Rose somewhere in a desert terrain…kissing her in this very console room before she disappeared before his eyes.
Even as these memories played on fast forward in his mind, he did not pull away from her kiss. More memories played of a very familiar human…Alice…no it was Rose. It had been Rose all along, how had he not recognized her? He suspected that the TARDIS had something to do with that one. Suddenly he felt her pull away, gasping lightly for breath.
"Oh Doctor," she murmured sorrowfully.
"I love you, Rose Tyler."
"What?"
"I remember everything Rose, you magnificent human! Well I suppose human isn't quite the right word anymore, but you magnificent YOU!" He cheered, picking her up and spinning her around as she laughed gleefully.
"I love you too," she said, the joy radiating from her heart as the TARDIS sung gleefully in both their minds.
"You have been through so much, my Rose. I have been a fool. I'm not sure how to make it up to you," the Doctor admitted when her laughter quieted.
"An apology would be a good start."
"You're right, of course you're right. Rose Tyler: I am sorry. I am so very sorry. I sent you away so many times, convinced that I was no good for you. And that last time…I truly did believe you could be happy with…John. And I couldn't bare the thought of watching you die whether because of me or because of time…"
"I understand…sort of. But what I was always most upset about was you never listening to me when I said I wanted to stay. I said forever and I meant it," Rose insisted.
"I know, but forever for a human and forever for a Time Lord are so vastly different," the Doctor defended. Rose paused before arguing back. A part of her acknowledged that she couldn't blame the Doctor for needing to protect his heart. His life was so long and he was aged even beyond those physical years because of the responsibilities he'd had to face. When she had first fallen in love with him, she could never have understood what he'd been through.
"I'm not 17 anymore Doctor. I know what forever means for both of us and I've waited so long to find you again," Rose whispered as he pulled her into a tight embrace.
"You certainly have been busy. Would you like to tell me about it?" He offered.
"Eventually, but not just now," she confessed. There was so much to tell him still, but she didn't feel rushed. They had forever, after all.
"Then what shall we do, Rose Tyler? The whole universe waiting for us out there," he said, an eyebrow raised.
"Well Doctor…I think there's only one option," she responded, her tongue peeking through her teeth as she grinned.
"Well then Rose Tyler," he said, extending a hand as he flipped the brake off and allowed to TARDIS to head to a random destination.
"RUN!"
Author's Notes: I think I may genuinely sob. I have been writing this story since April 2016 (a little over 5 years). I began writing it in college at the height of my Doctor Who obsession and so much has changed. I have left it and come back again multiple times. Honestly the only reason it took me so long to write this final chapter was because I wasn't sure I was ready to let it go. And honestly it could keep going forever and ever. I could've drawn out there reunion, but the plan was always to end it as soon as they were reunited. I just hadn't intended to add so many adventures in the middle!
For those that have been following and reading this story for many years: I genuinely love you and appreciate you. For those that just found and binged it in one go: please forgive the continuity errors. Writing over several years will do that to you! And for anyone who has ever left me a Kudos, Favorite, Follow, and especially Comment...THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.
I am open to the possibility of a sequel, but I will be very honest in that it wouldn't be coming anytime soon. My next fanfiction project is going to be a Dean/OC fic in the Supernatural fandom so if you like that show too stay tuned for my next story. Hopefully it won't take me as long to write!