Warning: a bit of swearing, but it's fleeting.


Time changes.

The Doctor readily accepted the punch Pete Tyler threw at him, even if it made his aching head throb all the more. He wasn't prepared for the sobbing hug, though, and held onto Pete awkwardly as Pete got his tears out.

It was okay, the Doctor liked hugs.

He would take a thousand punches to the hell he was facing now. Little Jack stood like him, hands tucked into the pockets of his school pants, whether by accident or design, he was unsure.

"I thought you were dead."

"I know," the Doctor paused, gently fingering his bruised eye. "Everyone did. I don't know what your mum's told you."

"There was an accident, everyone was in an accident but you didn't survive."

"They didn't know." The Doctor sighed, settling onto the deck chair, crossing his legs. He was getting too old.

"Mummy lied to me." Jack turned and looked at him and the Doctor found himself looking into his own eyes. "You lied to Mum." Jack turned away again, crossing his arms over his thin chest.

"No, I didn't. Neither of us lied. I…couldn't get back and your Mum didn't know." The Doctor uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. "But I'm here now, Jack."

"You made Mum cry. Lots."

"I know. I feel bad for it. How can I make it up to her?" Jack looked down, scuffing his foot back and forth, and shrugged. "You know your mum better than I do, right now. But I…" love her "I…want to make it up to her. I was thinking you could help." Jack shuffled a little closer, not looking at him and the Doctor kept his eyes on him.

Everything he'd dreamed, everything he'd planned for his reunion with Rose and the rest of his family, because Jackie was right and they were and had been for a long time, was going wrong, horribly wrong. He'd never in a thousand lifetimes thought that he would be sitting on a balcony on the coast, explaining himself to his half-grown son.

"How can I help?" Jack asked, making a face. "I'm just a kid."

"You're not just a kid. I bet you're the smartest in your class." Jack didn't reply and the Doctor frowned. "I bet you're a great brother and your Gran told me how much you take of Cathica and your mum."

"I'm the man of the house. Mum said so," Jack said warily. "Since you were dead, someone had to be the man of the house to take care of them." Oh, Rose.

"And she's right. But maybe I can help you, a little. When you need it, of course."

"Mum cries in her sleep." Jack came closer and leaned against the Doctor's leg a little, worrying a loose string near the knee of the Doctor's trousers. "She thinks I don't hear, but sometimes she cries in her sleep. Maybe…" Jack looked up, saw his dad watching him. "Maybe if you're here, maybe she won't cry anymore."

"I hope I can keep your Mum from crying, but sometimes people have to cry." Jack was silent for a minute before speaking up.

"Can you teach me how to play football?" How the hell am I going to do that?

"I can try. Always was a bit rubbish at it, though."

"Jamie Denny's dad plays football with him every afternoon after school." Yay for Jamie Denny, the Doctor thought darkly.

"So, maybe…we could," Jack finished. The Doctor brought his hand up to Jack's shoulder, relieved when the boy didn't jerk back.

"I'd like that very much."

"Okay. I think I'd like you to stay."

"I'd like to stay, too," the Doctor replied, a grin crossing his face. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Mum says I always have to say that, so's I'm polite, not rude like…" Jack trailed off before grinning up at the Doctor. He fought the urge to roll his eyes.

"Your mum will never forgive me for being rude."

Time heals, again.

Rose watched, arms crossed, as the Doctor stood and pulled Jack into a bone-crushing hug, the boy's feet dangling off the ground. When the Doctor let him go, Jack said something up at him and the Doctor tousled his hair before Jack ran off.

The Doctor looked up at her, eyebrows raised, one hand smoothing down the back of his hair.

"You all right?" She nodded, moved a little closer.

"I'm sorry, Doctor."

"Listen, Rose. I know I…I made it hard for us to…" he rolled his eyes at her raised eyebrows. "Okay, impossible for us to have any sort of non-platonic relationship. And I know I said I don't do domestic…but…I do. I do 'do domestic,' I just…couldn't… Couldn't do it then. Haven't been able to for a long time. But you changed all that and looking back, regardless of what I think or feel, we were domestic."

"That sort of domestic is a lot different than this sort of domestic, Doctor. I won't go off with you again and I…" She sighed. "I can't have you going off, either. Not if you're going to stay. I can't deal with the fact that one day you might not come back, again. I can't lose you like that again."

The Doctor nodded and turned, putting his hands on the railing.

"The thing is, Rose, I…" Why the hell couldn't he say it?

"Yes, Doctor?"

"I…oh, fuck. I love you, Rose. I love you so much, I have done since the first time I saw you."

"Took you long enough to say it." She bit her bottom lip, fighting a smile, watching him as he threw his head back and laughed.

"Yeah, it has. What would they think of me now, falling in love with a human shop girl?" He let out a breath. "So, I'm thinking this is the adventure I want." She leaned against the railing, facing him and he moved so that she stood between his arms.

"Yeah?" He nodded.

"Yeah. What better adventure than watching your children grow up?" Rose nodded, looked away.

"It's a pretty good one." He ducked his head so his gaze met hers.

"I've missed a lot. I know. I have a lot to make up for."

"Wasn't your fault, Doctor."

"Then consider it a profit for you. One Doctor at your service." His lips came down softly on hers, feeling her smile grow as he kissed her. She pulled back, bringing her hand up to his face and once more rubbing her thumb over the scar on his jaw.

"I don't want a slave. I just want you."

Time grows.

The Doctor looked around the garden, lifting his drink and taking a sip, studying the people who had become his family. Martha, hugely pregnant, stood at the table, mixing the salad she and Mickey had brought for the cookout.

She caught his eye and smiled and he lifted his drink to her. Mickey stood with Pete at the grill, grunting over the hamburgers and sausages and steaks, something the Doctor never quite understood and didn't think he'd ever quite get into.

How grunting at a sausage made you more manly, he wasn't sure.

Jackie and Pete's twins, Amy and Phillip, ran through the garden with Jack, kicking a football back and forth and Cathica followed them, screaming at the top of her lungs as she chased her brother.

Jackie stood talking to Rose, on the corner of the patio, each with an arm around the waist of the other. He studied Rose, her thick blonde hair, her deep, dark eyes and the gentle curve just beginning to show under her white summer dress and sweater. She looked up at him, a slow smile crossing her face and he smiled back.

If he'd been told a year previous that he would be standing there, he never would've believed it.

If he'd known when he took Rose Tyler's hand what his future had held, he would've laughed.

He looked down at the infant in his arms, with her chubby cheeks, resting comfortably on his hip and kissed the top of her head, breathing in her baby-powder smell.

But he wouldn't give it up for the world.


TBC. Epilogue uploaded simultaneously. Please read/review! Thanks!