Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: Thank you so much for the incredibly kind feedback. I hope you keep having fun reading this:) Enjoy!

All These Things That I've Done

by Kristen Elizabeth

"Are you going to tell me where we're going?"

If John heard her, or even acknowledged her presence, he did a good job of hiding it. He was searching the racks of the TARDIS wardrobe, pushing aside cricket sweaters and black leather jackets with mounting frustration.

"John?" she tried again, louder this time. When he still ignored her, she tried a different approach. "What exactly are you looking for?"

Whatever it was, he landed upon it right then. A smile spread across his face as he lifted out a long, brown trench coat. "Hello, old friend," John said to the garment. "Oh...I've missed you."

"Something you left behind?" Amy guessed.

"In a manner of speaking." Tossing aside the hanger, John slipped the coat on over his T-shirt and jeans. "Blimey." He moved his arms experimentally. "Bit tighter than I remembered."

Amy smirked. "Maybe you've just gotten bigger."

"Meh..." he conceded, patting his trim, but no longer quite so slim stomach. "Not nearly enough running anymore."

The coat must have had some magical power; it had lifted John's mood out of the dumps where it had been firmly lodged ever since they'd left Amy's bedroom.

He had flat-out refused to tell her what had bothered him so much. He'd merely set a course and then torn off in search of the coat, leaving Amy with the worrying realization that even though the Doctor was gone, she was still traveling in a box with a mad man.

But maybe he'd moved past it now. Perhaps he just needed something to make him smile.

As John was still adjusting to the fit of the coat, Amy turned her attention to the wardrobe. They were in a different section than the one she'd perused in order to find the outfit she now wore. Perhaps this area was reserved for costume clothes, like the blinding pink poodle skirt that caught her eye.

The skirt was on the same hanger as a short, fitted blue jacket. Amy took them both and ducked behind the wall of clothes to change.

"What do you think?" she asked a second before she stepped back in view. "Am I ready for the hop, daddy-o?"

The grin on John's face vanished. His eyes, so light a moment earlier, grew dark. "Take those off."

Amy frowned. "It was meant to be a laugh. What's your problem, mate?"

He swallowed heavily. "Please."

When she came back out a minute later, redressed in her red sweater and black shorts, he was staring at himself in the mirror.

"I'm sorry," John said. "It's just...that outfit...it reminds me of a different time. When I was a different man."

Amy approached him cautiously. "It's all right, you know." She put a tentative hand on his shoulder. "Plenty of blokes like to wear skirts. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

His body shook beneath her hand and until he threw back his head, she didn't recognize that he was laughing. John reached back to squeeze her fingers. "Come on, then. We'll have landed by now."

She followed him back to the console room, careful to keep from tripping over the trailing ends of his precious coat as they dashed down the short flight of stairs.

"But where have we landed?" Amy demanded.

"Look for yourself." John indicated the door. "Go on."

As she stepped outside, Amy squinted at the sunlight. "It's...Earth," she guessed. Turning around, she took in the houses, cars and lawns. "England. But..." She shook her head. "That's all I've got."

John joined her, adjusting the collar of his coat. "London," he informed her. "Ever been?"

"On a school trip once, but it was all museums and galleries and cathedrals," Amy said. "What part of London is this?"

"One of the best," he promised. "And..." His eyes scanned the neighborhood. "If memory serves me right, the house we're looking for is..." He stopped and pointed. "Just there."

"Who lives there?" Amy wondered.

John was already off and running. All she could do was follow him up to the front door. He knocked with a flourish, looking like a young child on Christmas morning.

But when a heavyset woman in a blue sari answered, some of his enthusiasm wavered. "Excuse me," John said to the woman. "Does the Noble family still live here?"

The woman shook her head. "No. This is my house. They have not lived here for two years."

"Do you know where they moved to?" he pressed.

"Kensington? Perhaps it was Chelsea. I cannot remember." She started to close the door, but John stopped it with his foot.

"They're friends of mine. I need to find them."

"Everyone is now a friend of theirs," the woman snorted softly. "That is what comes with money." With that, she forcibly slammed the door shut.

"We should go," Amy suggested after a few seconds of silence passed. She tugged on John's sleeve. "C'mon."

"It doesn't make any sense," John said as they walked back to the TARDIS. "Money? They never had money. She would have said if they'd had it hidden away somewhere. She wouldn't have ever stopped talking about it."

"You mentioned Donna Noble awhile back. Is that who you're looking for?" Amy asked.

They reached the blue box. "Yes. She'll be able to help us. We have to find Donna." With a snap of his fingers, John opened the doors.

The first thing they both saw upon entering the TARDIS was a slender woman standing at the console with her back to them. Upon hearing them enter, she turned around.

"You know, you really ought to be more careful." She shook her head with amused patience, her dark braids swaying back and forth. "Leaving the door open like that. Anyone could wander in."

John took a step forward, staring up at the new arrival with wonder. "Martha Jones...is that really you?"

"Actually, it's Smith-Jones now." She held up one slender hand, putting a small, but lovely diamond on display. Lowering her arm, her smile faltered and her voice wobbled. "I thought we'd lost you, Doctor."

He said nothing. He only crossed the distance between them and enfolded Martha in a huge hug.

"Excuse me?" Amy abruptly interrupted the reunion. "What did you just call him?"

The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. - Eden Phillpotts

"You heard that, didn't you?" Rose pointed at the wall. "The TARDIS. I swear...I heard the TARDIS!"

The Doctor tried to stop her, but she was already at the wall. "John!" she yelled into the crack. "John, are you there? Can you hear me?"

He came up behind her. "Rose, please come away from there. It's not safe."

"But I heard it. I know it's him." She pressed the heel of her hand against her heart. "I can feel him."

The Doctor reached for her. "We don't know enough about the crack and it's not safe for you to..."

"I want him back." Leaning heavily against the wall, Rose's wet eyes darted back and forth, focusing on nothing. "I want him back," she repeated. Shrugging off his hand, she looked up at him. "Bring him back."

The precious moment that had just passed between them was gone. The Doctor cleared his throat. "I don't know that I can."

His admission hung in the air between them.

"What're you saying?" Rose finally asked. "You're not even going to try?"

He held up his hands in his own defense. "No, no, that's definitely not what I'm saying. What I am saying is that this crack is just as much of a mystery to me as it was to him. I haven't figured it all out yet, that's all. And I never will if you get too close to it and get sucked away, too."

Reluctantly, Rose stepped away from the wall.

"Thank you," he said with a small sigh. "I promise you, Rose Tyler, I will do my best to bring him back here."

"You never break your promises," she murmured. "That part's always left to me."

The Doctor frowned. "When did you ever break a promise?"

"I promised that I'd stay with you forever, remember?" She lifted her shoulder. "I didn't."

"You couldn't," he corrected her. "It wasn't your fault. It was just..."

"Destiny?" Rose guessed. "Do you really believe that?"

The Doctor countered, "Do you?" He gestured around the room. "Was all of this meant to be?"

"You made this happen," she reminded him. "You left us here."

He inclined his chin. "It was for the good of the universe. He was dangerous."

"To the Daleks! Did you really think he was going to kill anyone else? Like he'd wake up one morning and decide to wipe out...I don't know...all bunny rabbits?" Upset now, Rose put a hand to her stomach. "The Daleks wanted to erase every other living thing from existence and you were going to let them go, to try again another day. As far as I'm concerned, you're the dangerous one!"

Slowly, the Doctor turned away from her. "It was genocide."

"It was the right thing to do," she argued. "He made every world, every universe safe...and what did he get for it?" Rose rushed on, "He got stuck here without a screwdriver, without the TARDIS, with..."

"You." He didn't look at her as he added, "I wouldn't call that a punishment."

Rose drew in a ragged breath. "So...what? You gave me to him? Like a toy you didn't want anymore?"

"Oh, Rose." Exasperated, he turned his neck to see her. "You can't believe it was that simple."

"I don't know." She hung her head, looking down at the swell of her belly. "I just know that I go over and over that day on the beach in my mind, trying to figure out exactly what you were thinking." Rose lifted her eyes. "Trying to find the moment when you decided to leave us behind."

The Doctor couldn't look at her as he said, "It wasn't on the beach." He closed his eyes. "It was on the Crucible, when I realized what he was."

When he opened his eyes, Rose was at the door. "I'm going to bed. There's linens in the hall closet and the couch downstairs folds out."

"Rose..."

"Goodnight."

The way she spit out the word, like it tasted bad, kept him from following her as she left the room.

To Be Continued