A/N: Here you go, chapter 5. Thanks to everyone who's left reviews on my stories recently - I'm sorry that I haven't been replying, life's been hectic lately! But I love you all dearly and really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment, so thank you so much. L xx

Chapter 5

When Rose and the Doctor arrived at Jackie's house, they didn't go up to tree house at first; instead, they wandered around the large garden together. Almost instantly, the Doctor had slipped his hand into hers, and now he was listening to her talk to him about her secret.

"I didn't notice anything different for years," she said carefully. "But then...I had an accident."

The Doctor's eyes widened in alarm and he stopped still. "What happened?" he demanded.

She took in a deep breath. "Well, we'd had this alert at Torchwood, notifying us that there was suspected alien activity along South Bank. So, I went to see what was going on."

"On your own?" he interrupted disapprovingly.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Yes. I often did. Anyway, it turns out it's a bunch of Krexovaci hiding out."

The Doctor hissed in sympathy. "Nasty buggers, them."

"Yep," Rose agreed. "Nice teeth..."

His eyes widened again. "A bite off one of them would kill a human," he murmured. "Poisonous venom – would cause a vicious fever. Unrecoverable."

Rose shrugged. "Unless that human's immune system's changed."

He swallowed hard. "So, you're saying a Krexovacca bit you and your immune system fought the poison?"

"Yep. I mean, I got the fever and all that. But after three days in bed, I recovered. Felt absolutely fine."

"Thank goodness for that," he replied.

"Yeah. I didn't think anything of it 'til it emerged that seventeen other people had been attacked previously, and not survived."

He swallowed again. "Well, that's my Rose. Braver and stronger than your average stupid ape." He gave a nervous laugh.

"And then six months ago I got caught in the middle of something, and ended up with a knife in my chest. Punctured a lung."

The Doctor flinched, and choked on air. "You what?" he shrieked. "Blimey, Rose!"

"I know, I know," she gave him a small grin. "Jeopardy-friendly or what?"

He breathed in and out heavily as he tried to ignore his imagination's picturing of the scene. "You were stabbed in the chest," he mumbled, feeling dizzy and sick to his stomach, squeezing her hand so tightly it was almost painful. "You could've died."

"Didn't, though," she said brightly.

"No," he agreed. "Bloody lucky – didn't I tell you? Ancient Rome, remember? With the statues?"

"You said I was your lucky pants," she smiled.

"Yep. My Fortuna," he murmured. He brushed his knuckles across her cheek tenderly.

She rolled her eyes again, but leaned into his touch. "Not that lucky though; I got trapped in a parallel world for six years, Doctor."

"But you're alive," he replied. "And that's what's most important." He screwed up his eyes in thought. "But...it's more than that, isn't it? What you've got to tell me, it's more than two lucky occasions where you survived. There's no coincidence here, is there." He stated that last part rather than questioned it.

"Only Ianto knew about the second event. He's my friend, we work at Torchwood together. He's nice, you'd like him. Welsh. Really looks good in a suit - "

The Doctor cleared his throat, his jaw clenching tightly. "Rose. Shut up. Get back to the point."

She sent him an apologetic look and continued, "Well, there we were, marvelling at all the blood – well, okay, not marvelling, I think I was probably screaming a bit, but then I couldn't breathe properly so I shut up, but I do remember him repeating over and over: there's so much blood, god, there's so much blood - "

He winced. "Again, Rose. Too much detail. You need to learn to censor these things before you say them."

"You can talk!" she retorted.

"Yes, but right now this is about you. And I don't want to hear about how this Ianto fellow looks in a suit, or how much blood - " he cut off, gulping audibly. "I don't want to think about your blood being all over the floor, thanks, so let's cut to the chase. How quickly did you recover?"

"Well, I stopped breathing, so Ianto gave me the kiss of life - "

"I bet he did," the Doctor muttered.

"But it didn't work. Then my heart stopped. He told me after that he'd stopped CPR after it became apparent that I wasn't gonna miraculously come back to life. We were too far out in the middle of nowhere, and our phone signals had been blocked; no one was around, and he couldn't call anyone for help."

The Doctor was staring at her, his mouth agape. "Woah," he exhaled roughly. "You mean – you – you actually - "

He was as white as a sheet. "Hey," she murmured, cupping his cheek. "It was okay, though. I woke up."

He blinked. "You...woke up," he repeated flatly.

"Yeah. Gave Ianto the fright of his life, that did."

"I don't get it - "

"I was dead. Then I wasn't. We didn't stop to question it there and then; he bandaged me up and got me into the SUV and we started driving back. In complete silence. Neither of us knew what had just happened, how it had happened..."

The Doctor was stood rigid. "And then?"

"And then, when we got back to base, Ianto stole Owen's medical equipment so that we could run some secret tests. And that's we found out that my -" she broke off, swallowing firmly before continuing, "That my cells had regenerated, so to speak. Not in that full-change-of-body thing that you do, but enough to keep me healthy. And alive. And it appears...looking young." She paused, watching his wide-eyed expression with trepidation. "So...well. I guess it's all thanks to that Time Vortex thing I did way back when. There you go - Bad Wolf strikes again. So. Here's me," she finished, smiling weakly to try and initiate some sort of response from him. "Stuck with you."

The Doctor remained standing incredibly still, gaping at her. "You mean...you mean...you mean...anytime you...you'll just..." he stammered.

"Yes."

"And...and so you'll never..."

"Yes." Her smile dimmed a bit, because he looked aslightly like he was going to throw up any second. "Doctor? You really are stuck with me now, eh?" She tried to laugh, but her throat felt thick with emotion and nerves.

"But...that...that's...you...you can't..." he spluttered, unable to form a coherent sentence.

Rose flinched. "I...can't?" she repeated, fear rising within her. "What? I can't stay with you? I thought...I thought you'd want me to, I..."

"What? Yes! Yes, of course I want you to! What I meant was, it's...it's impossible, and I would've, surely I would've been able to...to...to tell!" he exclaimed, waving his arms around and ruffling his hair in confusion. "Why didn't I know this? Back before you got trapped...Why couldn't I tell?"

"Well, you weren't here when it was all triggered, were you? So how could you have possibly known? I'd never been hurt that badly - fatally - when I was with you, so it hadn't been necessary. You've said it yourself; your time sense is all skewiff since the War...so you wouldn't have been able to see this pan out in my timeline even before I got trapped here."

The Doctor's distressed look was tempered a little at her words. "Yes, I suppose you are right."

"Of course I am," she grinned teasingly, tongue between teeth. Then, she stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around one of his. "Listen, I know this is a lot to take in, but - "

" – wait a sec, Rose," he interrupted, shifting out of her grip so that he could frame her face with his hands. "If this is a lot to take in for me, it's sure as anything got to have been a substantial lot more for you to take in. How were you, after you found out?"

She swallowed thickly. "I was...confused. Scared. But now you've found me again, I know I'll be alright. You'll be there for me. You will, won't you?" she asked hurriedly.

He stroked the pads of his thumbs across her cheekbones. "Oh yes," he answered hoarsely. "Always."

"I know it's..." she started, but broke off, tears starting to glisten in her eyes.

"What?" he prompted softly, drawing her into his arms, his hands slipping from her face to rest at her waist.

"It's not...right. It's not normal. Well, obviously." She sighed in frustration, trying not to cry. "But what I mean is, I'm human, so I'm not s'posed to live forever with you. I'm not s'posed to get the chance to be with you for the rest of your life..."

"No, you're not," he whispered, voice cracking. He sniffed, trying to keep it together. "But I think we can safely say that you're a bit exceptional, by human standards." He paused, staring at her lovingly as he brushed the backs of his fingers across her cheek. "By anyone's standards," he amended.

She laughed, shrugging nonchalantly. "Weeelll..." she drawled.

He tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. "And really, I don't know why I was so surprised. You are rather stubborn. You always come back to me."

"That's me," she smiled.

"You swallowed Time to save me, Rose Tyler," he marvelled, resting his forehead against hers and closing his eyes. "And yet I never realised just how much you really did. Save me, I mean. Because of course, all that time we were together, you were there, saving me when I needed you to. But now...you'll always be here. To save me in the future, too. That's quite good to know," he concluded, as a tear slipped from his eye.

Rose tilted her head, pressing her lips to his in response, aware that she wouldn't be able to reply verbally or else she'd break down in tears. He kissed her back, holding onto her tightly.

When they pulled apart, Rose grinned at him. "Forever's a long time," she teased. "Sure you won't get bored of me?"

He smiled back at her adoringly. "Oh, never," he answered.

"Brilliant," she grinned back.

His expression grew contemplative. "How were you going to tell your parents? Your brother? Your friends?"

Rose looked at him steadily. "I was hoping I wasn't gonna have to."

His brow furrowed. "Rose, they'd've noticed you not aging sooner or later..."

"Yeah, but I didn't ever truly believe I'd be here long enough for them to notice. I knew you'd find me one day. Before I turned fifty or whatever, hopefully. Until then...well, I was just gonna stick to some story about a genius alien anti-wrinkle cream or something."

His lips quirked upwards at her admission. "Right. Creative," he admired.

"Thanks," she said, rolling her eyes.

"You have so much faith in me," he marvelled, shaking his head in awe.

"Yep," she agreed, nodding. "Blind faith."

"Most people would call that naive, you know," the Doctor informed her ruefully.

"What would you call it?" she countered.

"Ohhh," he breathed out roughly. "Optimistic?"

"Optimistic?" she repeated, wrinkling her nose up.

"Why, what would you call it?" he chuckled.

"Romantic," she answered, as if it were obvious.

"Ah, right. I see," he replied, pursing his lips to hold in his laughter.

"Hey!" she admonished, seeing through his failed attempts at keeping a straight face. "Our whole...thing...is romantic. You crossed the void between universes to see me again. Before that, even – you burned up a sun just to say goodbye! Tell me that's not at least a little bit romantic!"

"Okay, fine. Our impossible love story is epic and beautiful and should go down in history," he relented, bumping her nose with his playfully.

Rose rolled her eyes. "You're laughing at me."

"I'm not!" he insisted, looking at her seriously now. He took hold of her hands and entwined their fingers tightly. "I love you. More than anything. You know that. And blimey, Rose – for you to really be able to stay with me...that's...oh, that's just the most perfect thing I could've ever wished for."

Rose blinked back tears. "See? Romantic," she whispered.

He smiled. "Yeah, maybe."

"I love you, too, by the way," she added, before yanking him forward into a passionate kiss.

"Rose?" he whispered, when she pulled back.

"Yeah?" she answered breathlessly.

"Can we sit down for a bit?" he asked.

"Why? Have I turned your knees all weak?" she joked, straightening his tie distractingly.

"Course not!" the Doctor denied quickly. Rose raised an eyebrow. "Well, maybe a little," he amended sheepishly.