Notes: As you can see, I'm not anti-Mickey either. Poor guy. Heh. (The first bit of this was so much fun to write... last joke took me by surprise...) Again, Ten probably behaves (strangles cough) more like Nine than he should. Sorry.

To everyone who reviewed, thank you for your support! (At least, I hope it was all support-- I don't upload stories until they're completely finished, so I've only seen the reviews for the first couple chapters.) This one's a bit less structured and ideologically controversial than some of my other stories, so, as fond as I am of it, I was a bit worried. I'm always a bit worried, but... yeah. Again, thank you so much. I hope someone enjoyed it.

And now, to the last chapter, with the line no fic called 'Hotel California' could leave out...

(-)

You can check out any time you like...

As it turned out, the Doctor had been just as distracted when he'd left Mickey as he had been when he left Rose.

"There were guns," he half-stammered, as they escorted him into the TARDIS.

"Yes, and I really am sorry," the Doctor said, looking miserable.

"There was a revolution an' they arrested anyone who wasn't a citizen on suspicion of terrorism and they had guns."

"I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"They locked me up with a guy named Large R'sharn. He was really, really short. He kept looking at me."

"Seriously," he said. "I apologize profusely. I'll do the best I can to make it up to you. How about a nice cup of tea? Tea always helps."

Mickey shuddered. "D'you have any idea what 'tea' was prison slang for?!"

"No, and I would be eternally grateful if you didn't tell me. Come on, now. We'll get you a nice, non-communal shower and some clean clothes and some tea and some chocolate and we can watch all the Tom Hanks movies you-- oh, hang on. That wouldn't work for you."

"Not being a girl!" Mickey yelled.

"Seriously, I'm sorry! I don't have much experience with men."

"Oh, just-- just get away from me, you bastard." Mickey tugged himself out of their grip and hurried away.

"...Well," sighed the Doctor. "That was a total failure."

"Actually, I thought it went pretty well," Rose said, thoughtfully. "I was expectin' him to slug you. As long as I keep 'im away from the cricket bat, I think he'll be fine."

The Doctor sighed and walked over to the control panel. Rose was halfway out of the room following Mickey when he quietly said, "Are you?"

She hesitated, then kept walking away.

As usual, he'd hit upon the biggest question in the room.

-

The next day, she caught him fingering his old jacket in the console room.

"It's just, I have to wonder," he said, not looking over at her. "Was he right? Am I completely daft? Have I chucked everything I've ever known straight out the window? 'Cos I never thought so before, but-- I've been pretty spectacularly stupid, lately. Seein' Mickey, I can't take a step without hearin' a pachinko machine."

"...No," he said, after a moment, "I still don't believe it. It's just-- he looked so damned disappointed. Is that really what I've become?"

He was far too good at finding the questions. She just wished she had half as much talent finding the answers.

She made sure she was gone by the time he turned around.

-

It was three in the morning, and she was awake.

The funny thing was, she'd been asleep a second before. And she didn't remember waking up. She just... was, now, staring up at the ceiling with a strange deep sense of peace.

I wanted to apologize. It was the only way to make sure you'd understand.

"Yeah," she said. "I know."

But you don't. Not all of it. Oh, Rose, there was another message there. Rose, you looked into me, and I looked into you. We were one in thought and purpose, and I know you don't remember. But you know what the Doctor was saying about nonlinear time? And how even he can't understand it?

"Yeah..."

Dearest Rose, I'm not linear. It's hard for me to even understand that things happen in an order where you live. And the only reason I've ever been able to is you.

"Me?"

We were one. It may be over for you, partly, but for me it had already happened, would always happen, is still happening. I was you, and you were me. And... it's so hard to understand why this is hard for you... you still are. You were with me in every moment of the universe, beginning to end. We saw it together, watched every atom, watched every civilization live and die. We are seeing it together. We have seen it forever. You let me become you, so we could save our Doctor. And you, Rose dearest, became me.

Rose frowned, trying her best to understand. "You're sayin'... I could see everythin', all at once... so that means I had to be everywhere, t'see it... and everywhen?"

Yes, that's it.

"An'... if I was in every time... that means I was in this time, too?"

Yes, dear Rose.

"An... every other time? Past an' future?"

Yes.

"So any time I looked, I could see me. You mean... we're everywhere, forever?"

Yes.

"Me at nineteen, with you, we're everywhere? An' in the past, too... Before it even happened..."

Yes.

"...Did I just repeat everyfing you'd told me, just in different words?"

Yes.

"Sorry."

Sorry? Don't be. I know how hard it is for you to understand. The experience of it would have killed you; I am wiser than to expect you to understand it in a moment. Perhaps even in a lifetime.

"So... why are you telling me this?"

Because you need to know. We'll always be connected, Rose, because I always have your past self within me. Which is how I could contact you so easily. And, Rose... that isn't going to end.

"...What do you mean?"

Like the song, my Rose. You can leave the TARDIS at any time you want. But your past will still be here, and your future will still sense me.

Rose shuddered, breathing coming slightly more quickly, still staring at the ceiling. "So, that was your other message. I can check out any time I like. But-- I can never leave."

My dearest Rose. It's the price you paid for him. Do you think now it was a mistake?

"...No," she said, shaking her head. The reason she'd come back to save him in the first place; the universe needed the Doctor. He was good and necessary and the great catalyst of the universe, saving all sorts of situations that would've ended in disaster.

He blamed himself for all the bloodshed that had taken place after he arrived, but the truth was, there would be far more dead without him. He didn't realize it, but the very universe would've burned down to ashes. And he was good at it, and it was what he was, and he was still the Doctor. Always would be.

No matter how stupid he'd been, he was still in there. The special person she cared so much about.

And we will always be there for him, as we have been already. Sleep well, dearest Rose. And seize tomorrow. The time you have is limited...

Because she couldn't remember it, but she'd already lived an eternity.

Rose shook her head, and settled down into unsettling dreams.

-

Someday, her echoes will remain here, warning, rememberance, blessing-- and he'll never realize just how much she's still here until it's almost too late. But that's the way it should be.

Someday, just in time, he'll hear the echoes of her voice, and he'll understand.

"The truth is, it's an intergalactic roadtrip through space and time. Different from a regular roadtrip in subtle but very important ways, chief among which are a) we never know where the war zones are, and b) there's only one person in the universe who knows how to drive the car.

One false step, and we could wind up being tortured in an alien prison 'cos we stepped on the wrong color cobblestone. One false step, and he could be gone and leave us stranded on an alien planet, with no money, no common language, and no way to ever get home.

That's the risk we take. An' I'm still up for it. Are you?"

Someday, just before the end, he'll remember, a scene among many other scenes.

"Okay-- the truth. You're different. It scares me. An' maybe not all of it's an improvement. But I'm still here. An' so are you. An' maybe it's hard, but that makes it worth it."

She smiled at him, and everything was all right-- maybe too all right, maybe he never had doubted anything in that particular incarnation, and god knew that had turned out to be a hideous liability, but it was easier to understand why when he remembered that smile.

"C'mon. Let's go find trouble."

And they did.

(-)