DISCLAIMER: I do not own Doctor Who; the BBC sadly does.

The reception to the first chapter was wonderful and I want to thank each and every one of you. The past few weeks have been so difficult on me, and to come home to see all your critiques and kind words really made a difference. So this next chapter is dedicated to all of you. Anyway, I'm sorry this chapter is shorter than usual, like I said, it's been a hard past few weeks. It also drags on a bit, but it's a bit of filler so I can get the necessary people into the plot. Anyway, tell me what you think and have a wonderful day! You guys deserve nothing but the best.

Erin

Three months to convince Rose Tyler to fall in love you.
That's all you have to change your future. Will it be enough?

Chapter Two

In the beginning,
I never thought it would be you.
-Jason Derulo, The Other Side

He was dying.

At least, that was what first crossed his mind when he opened his eyes to find Rose hovering over him. He had assumed it was his former companion, but when her tangled golden mane and ripped leggings came into view, the truth struck as his world turned upside down. Bad Wolf, he reminded himself, Bad Wolf was here. A warm smile tugged at the corners of her lips as her eyes twinkled with amusement. Her face was the most prominent image in his current line of vision, and it wasn't until she shifted her weight that he took notice to the blinding lights behind her. The memories of the moments before he lost consciousness came flooding back as he struggled to adjust to the brightness above him, locked in a dazed and disoriented state.

"What did you do?" he asked through gritted teeth, a dull ache forming at the back of his head. He pinched the bridge of his nose as if the action could somehow alleviate the pain. "I feel like I had a run-in with the Judoon."

Bad Wolf's small frame shaking with laughter. "You were regenerating, Doctor. I may have stopped it when I stopped time, but as soon as I put time back in motion, the regeneration followed." She rocked back on her haunches, wrapping her hand around his bicep as she did so. "I had to absorb the radiation from you." Her expression softened, and she tilted her head to the side. "Sounds a bit familiar, doesn't it?"

He propped himself on his elbows and blinked hard, trying to clear away the clutter claiming his thoughts. "Yeah," he said with a small smile.

A part of him drifted away to a time many years before, when he had last regenerated and sacrificed everything… just so he could be someone more for Rose Tyler. He remembered how he sent her away, her screams echoing through the TARDIS doors, and how his only wish was that she would continue on, happy and alive, with the human life he so desperately craved but could never have. He remembered how she came back, enveloped in the warm golden glow of the TARDIS, and how, for a moment, a single instant in time, he allowed himself to hope that everything would be alright. He remembered the heart-wrenching, gut-twisting realization he had when the glow remained even after the Daleks were gone and how he knew the saving grace that the TARDIS had gifted her with was slowly killing her. Most of all, though, he remembered how he knew the only option was to take away the power flowing through her and save her, even if he would change and possibly lose her. Because, in that moment, nothing mattered more than keeping Rose Tyler safe—even if it meant he would lose her in the end.

The Doctor closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, the scent of freshly fallen snow and coffee overcoming him. He narrowed his eyes at the smell, casting a questioning look at his surroundings. He lay upon ground that was covered in snow from the previous night's storm and finally noticed the faint chill that encased him from head to toe. Bad Wolf had pushed herself to her feet and was leaning against the wall of an alley; the brick was dotted with graffiti and cracks, showcasing the wounds sustained by the passage of time.

"Where are we?" the Doctor asked, turning back to the blonde in front of him.

"You're the Time Lord. You tell me," she answered.

He stood up on trembling legs, waiting for the world to stop shaking, as he attempted to regain his bearings. Whatever she had done to relocate him, it had messed with his time sense, and he felt like he looking at the world through a curtain, a haze covering the scene. It mirrored the disorientation he experienced after a regeneration, and it wasn't a feeling he enjoyed quite so much.

"Late twentieth century," he said, glancing around the alley. "Early 2000s, perhaps. Great time to be alive. Cell phones, computers, chips, cars… Not exactly a technological empire yet—that's what the 40th century is for—but, mind you, I quite like this era."

Bad Wolf rolled her eyes at his antics. "It's January second, two days into the new year. It's been… oh, twenty fours hours since Rose Tyler last saw you." A stern look crossed across her as she rested her gaze on him. "This is your last chance, Doctor. If you choose to back out, I'll take you back to your TARDIS, and you can be on your way."

There was a short pause before he shook his head. "No. I… I want to do this."

I get to see Rose again, he thought. That alone is worth it.

A bright smile broke out across Bad Wolf's face. "Fantastic! First, we need to find you a place to stay. Now, I actually already have one set up, but if you don't like it, you can find another place to set up your home base—"

"Wait, wait, wait," the Doctor said. "Where's my TARDIS?"

"Oh." The blonde looked as if she had swallowed a lemon. "I hid it."

"You what?!"

"For the next three months you will be living on Earth." She ambled towards him, gesturing towards the world around them. "You will live as a human, and you can't do that with an alien spaceship waiting for you on the street corner." She folded her arms across her chest and seemed to reign her emotions in. "Besides, I can't trust you with a time machine. You chose to come back here, and that means that if you make a mistake, it's permanent." When the Doctor made a move to protest, Bad Wolf quickly stopped him. "I have enough power to bring you back here and change your life with Rose while still preserving your intertwined timelines. I have the power to interject you into society with a name and a background and a house and a job, but, under no circumstances, am I able to give you a third chance. This is it, Doctor. If you want to change your future, it starts and ends right here and right now."

The Doctor was catapulted to a time years before when he had been traveling with Rose. Losing the TARDIS on that impossible planet orbiting a black hole: the idea had once terrified him to a point he could barely function. Rose had been the only thing that kept him going on Krop Tor. As long as he had her hand to hold, he had been fine, but now, as he faced the prospect of three months without his ship—his only constant companion—a wave of fear overshadowed him. He didn't regret his choice, and he trusted Bad Wolf to keep things in check. Regardless of whatever occurred during these three months, he knew she would protect the timelines (especially if it threatened her creation), and if taking away the TARDIS was a way to do so, he had to accept it even if he didn't like it.

"Alright," the Doctor said. "So what do I do now?"

"Settle in," the Bad Wolf answered. "Find a home base. I'll explain more later on."

She snapped her fingers and disappeared from view, vanishing into thin air; the Doctor found himself lunging forward, trying to catch her before she left him alone in 2005. However, she was gone, and he was left on his own to face the unknown. He shoved his hands deep in the pockets of his coat and sighed. Loneliness had become a permanent fixture in his life since he said goodbye to Donna, and while he had become accustomed to it, it wasn't something he enjoyed. He missed being around people and having a hand to hold, and that was one of the reasons he had come back in the first place.

The entire situation had happened so quickly, so it was a tad bit overwhelming for him. Just a few hours before he had boarded the TARDIS, wondering what the new regeneration would entail, only to come face-to-face with the opportunity to go back and prevent it, change his future, all through one Rose Tyler. He wondered just how Bad Wolf knew so much about him: how she knew that this incarnation was made to love Rose, how she knew he'd agree to come back here, and how she knew of just how human he were subjects he was still coming to terms with, and yet her explanations were quick and concise, enough so that he could accept them without question and the least bit of hesitation.

The Doctor stared at the place Bad Wolf had once stood and licked his lips. He was at a loss as to how to move forward. He truly had thrown himself into this situation without any second thoughts or weighing the risks that were associated with it; he had only heard the mention of Rose and a postponement of his regeneration, and he had jumped ahead of himself. Rose had always made him better, and regeneration was not something he was looking forward , he was left here on Earth for three months with only one job/task to his name: convince Rose Tyler to fall in love with him. How, exactly, he frankly had no clue about. One thing he did know was that he was in love with her.

He just hoped that was enough.

He raised his hand and ruffled his hair before taking a deep breath and making a move towards the mouth of the alley. Time to face the music.

The Doctor had deducted it himself: London was in the middle of winter. January had brought an anomaly to the normally mild season, snow accumulating over night and ice paving the sidewalks and streets. Needlessly to say, not all residents were prepared for the change in weather, and their attempts to remedy the situation were scarce.

Nonetheless, the environment didn't bother the Doctor. He had been tossed into climates far worse than an England winter, and even though the cold season was bearing down hard, he paid no heed to the surroundings and proceeded out of the alleyway. The morning crowd bustled around him as they headed to their destinations, and he found himself pushing against the current, traveling the opposite direction than most. As he threaded through the throng of people, a harsh wind blew through the area, causing many to duck their heads into their coats in order to hide their faces from the blistery conditions. He approached a crosswalk and analyzed the scene around him as he waited for the opportune moment to cross, subjecting himself to a few quiet moments alone with his thoughts.

He was wrong.

The familiar blonde head appeared in his line of vision, and he felt himself shake (whether it was in fear or anticipation, he had yet to figure out). She flashed him a sharp smirk and crossed her arms over her chest, nudging his leg with the tip of her boot. He cast her a sideways glance, noting that her boots left no indentation in the surrounding slush. Did that mean she was merely visible to only him or a figment of his imagination?

"What are you doing here?" he muttered under his breath. "Thought you were leaving me on my own. It's kind of difficult to be alone when you seem to be looking over my shoulder everywhere I go."

Bad Wolf laughed. "I'm just making sure you don't screw this up. You have a tendency to be the smartest man in the universe and yet make the stupidest decisions at the same time."

The Doctor huffed and ducked his head, frustration at the current situation nipping at the edges of his thoughts. The last few hours had taken his life by a choke-hold and thrown it sky high, sending him falling back to the ground without any means of slowing his descent. There was no set pattern or definites to his life any longer; Bad Wolf had eliminated them the moment she offered him the chance to go back.

A part of him screamed at him for his foolishness and rash decision-making; on a typical basis, he tried to take calculated risks without damning the consequences (aside from the episode on Mars. That was a time he would never go back to, but a time that had influenced him anyway). Jumping into the twisted situation just to prevent his impending regeneration along with the chance to see Rose again proved Bad Wolf right. He was too human. Those humans—those brilliant and beautiful humans—had changed who he was; somehow, humanity and all its messy glory had seeped into the furthest depths of his core, affecting him in ways he didn't know possible.

Love, he recalled Bad Wolf telling him, was a part of being human. Thinking and feeling, knowing and loving—it was those traits that made human beings real and whole. They made them complete, and it was terrible, even, how many times those traits could break them as well. They heal and destroy. They grow and decay. In a way, he decided, they could bring life or snuff it out. Humanity was a complex idea that he had yet to fully understand, but he knew a part of him was different. His rationale didn't center around a Time Lord's mind set. (Then again, he had never followed his species way of thinking in the first place, did he?)

"Well," the Doctor drawled out, looking everywhere but the blonde beside him. "Perhaps if I had my TARDIS, I could set up my home base." He scratched his neck as he pretended to process certain courses of action he could take. "I could fix that chameleon circuit to make it look like a proper house or something, with doors and carpets and things. Maybe I could even go into Rose's room, find a couple of thing she doesn't have yet, and give them to her as gifts. You know? Try to woo her."

"Sure," Bad Wolf said calmly. "Just tell me how you plan to woo a woman who doesn't even know your name."

The Doctor paused, his hand resting on his neck, and reached up to pull on the bottom of his ear. He couldn't help it; it was a nervous tick in his present incarnation. "I could bring her flowers?" He had meant for it to be a statement of confidence, showing Bad Wolf that he knew how to handle his second chance, but the way it came off as a question only went to showcase his uncertainty towards it all.

"What kind of flowers?" she asked skeptically.

"...Roses?" the Doctor said, wincing at the answer.

He was screwed.

Bad Wolf rolled her eyes, and the Doctor knew that if he were in her place, he would have already been regretting his offer to send him back to this time. He silently vowed that he would try harder because there could be consequences should he make any mistakes during the next three months—consequences that could ruin all the future moments in Rose's life and all the past ones in his.

"Do you even know her favorite flower?" Bad Wolf asked, raising an eyebrow with inquiry.

"Forget-me-nots," he responded automatically. The answer rolled off his tongue like habit, and Bad Wolf was taken back. In truth, he was too. She had mentioned the flower type once during their travels together, and the fact that he could relay the answer without hesitation only sought to show that his feelings for her were palpable.

Shifting through his memories, the Doctor found himself able to recall the little details about Rose that she had made in passing, never intending them to mean more than simple conversation fillers. Perhaps he was in over his head, but he found himself not caring in the slightest. He had made his decision, and he would rather try one more time than continue his life without her. If there was a chance—albeit a small one—that he would return to Rose at the end of the three months, he wasn't one to look the gift horse in the mouth.

"So what's your plan?" Bad Wolf looked forward, watching the passing cars with no real interest. "You just gonna walk up to her flat with forget-me-nots and ask her on a date?"

The Doctor followed her gaze, looking for a gap in bumper-to-bumper traffic that he could cross through. "Well…" He trailed off, searching for the right response. He shrugged half heartedly and turned his gaze down to his shoes. Finally, he huffed and pulled at the bottom of his ear again. "I don't know! I haven't really given it much thought! Buy her some flowers, chocolate maybe?" He leaned towards Bad Wolf, a smile tugging at his lips. "You know, chocolate increases the level of serotonin in your brain, which can lead to feelings of well-being and enhanced mood—"

Instead of letting him ramble, the blonde scrunched her face up in disbelief. "How in the world did you get her to fall in love with you in the first place?"

"What?" the Doctor asked. "Bad plan?"

"Well," she drawled out, mimicking the Doctor.

"I'll have you know that I was quite the romantic in my eighth body," he replied indignantly, whipping his head in her direction.

She quirked an eyebrow and snorted, reaching up to a piece of hair that had fallen into her line of sight. "Your Victorian era?" She twirled the tendril lazily around her pointer finger, and a part of the Doctor wanted to reach out and brush it back. "Anyway, it's not like you can just woo her into bed. Seduction and falling in love are two completely different things."

The Doctor swallowed thickly. "Then what do you suggest I do?" He threw his arms out in front of him, indicating the world around them. "I'm in her timeline before she ever even met me. She doesn't even know me."

The Bad Wolf pursed her lips and locked her gaze with his own. "How did you make her fall in love with you before?" she asked again.

"I…" The Doctor was at a loss for words. He ran a hand through his unkempt hair, pulling at the strands in frustration. "I don't know. It just happened. I know how I felt about her: she made me better, and it was hard to imagine a life without her. In a way, I guess, well… We both saved each other and that… Well, that was enough."

She narrowed her eyes in determination and grasped his hand, intertwining their fingers together. "Then save her again." She pulled away and flashed him a small smile. "You all ready then?"

"Where do I go now?" he asked.

"There's a flat registered under your name." Bad Wolf leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. He could feel her hot breath against his cheek; it sent a shiver up his spine, and he closed his eyes. Perching herself on her tiptoes, she whispered two words in his ear. Disbelief overwhelmed him, and he wrenched himself out of her hold. But when he opened his eyes, she was gone, and he was on his own again.

Powell Estates. Right, he mused. It seemed too good to be true that his so-called "home base" was in the same vicinity of the woman he was willing to risk everything for.

He nodded to himself in understanding and thrust his hands into his trouser pockets. Shaking his head, he blew out a long breath and took a step forward into the street.

The headlights of the car weren't necessary in the morning light, so the Doctor couldn't place the blame on lack of light. The horn had been blaring all the while too, so he couldn't blame the lack of warning. In truth, the driver did everything it could to avoid the random pedestrian who had stepped out in front of them on a busy street, unaware of their surroundings, but nothing could have stopped the collision.

There was a screeching of brakes, and the roar of an engine drowned out all the outside noise. However, even with his superior Time Lord biology coupled with quick reflexes, it was too late. The car hit his legs, and the force propelled him backwards. He had no time to react, unable to raise his hands in defense, and he slammed across the hood of the car, head bouncing off of the hard, unyielding metal. Shock coursed through his veins as he was paralyzed in fear, unable to stop himself as he slipped from the hood to the pavement below.

He laid there for a short moment as the world continued around him, stuck in a daze while attempting to decipher the sky from the street. He could hear muffled screams and horns slicing through the air, and when he tried to lift his head off the ground, he was met with a blinding pain. He uttered a pathetic groan before laying back on the cement, trying to process what had just happened. He wondered vaguely if this was just another ploy—a trick or a trap—set by Bad Wolf to ignite another regeneration. Perhaps the entity had decided he was unworthy of the second chance and had chosen to remedy the situation by forcing him into his next incarnation.

Then again, the accident was a result of his stupidity, not Bad Wolf's ulterior motive.

The Doctor finally registered a blood curdling, ear deafening scream ensuing from behind him, and he shifted slightly, ignoring the throbbing in his joints. If he wasn't already weak and raw from his almost-regeneration, he doubted he would have been affected this much by a simple bump in the road. He felt hands grasp his coat as he was rolled over onto his back; he but his lip to muffle a pained moan.

"Mickey!" a voice gasped out. "You shouldn't move him. What if he has a broken neck or something?" Cool fingers were pressed against his neck, checking his fluttering pulse.

Without further prompting, he opened his eyes and met the glassy chestnut ones that had haunted his dreams since he first met her. Coincidentally, though, they were the same pair he had seen just minutes before. He groaned once more and propped himself on trembling elbows (he was pleasantly surprised to find that he had the strength to do so, and it proved that it was probably nerves more than the actual accident that left him shaky and winded).

He stared up at Bad Wolf with a confounded expression before saying, "You know, chocolate is good for blood sugar levels too. Next time you're feeling particularly irritable or moody, remember that. It'll give you quick energy, might make you feel better. It's better than hitting people with cars."

The brown eyes widened before averting themselves to the side. "I think he's got a concussion. He's delirious or something."

"Why? What's he saying?" a voice inquired.

"Mumbling 'bout chocolate," came the reply. Bad Wolf hovered over him, her panic-stricken face causing bewilderment to blossom in the Doctor's chest, but she seemed to relax as soon as she made eye contact with him. "Are you alright, mate? Can you hear me?"

"'Course he's not alright, Rose," said the other man who stood off to the side of the blonde. "He got run over by a car."

"Technically, I went over, not under," the Doctor responded and gathered his feet beneath him. He rocked back on his haunches and grasped the outstretched hand offer to him. "But same difference really. I still get hit by a car whichever way you say it."

Bad Wolf cocked her head, surveying his form with a critical eye. "Are you okay?"

"I'm alive," the Doctor said. "That's good enough for me."

And he meant it.

Suddenly, a tremor coursed through him. It was as if he had stepped under a frigid waterfall, the shock seeping deep within him to jar his cold, rusty bones. Bad Wolf stood in front of him, analyzing his every move, her head tilted to the side as puzzlement nipped at the edges of her expression. She looked at him without the familiar smile, a lack of recognition echoing through her features. It was if she didn't know him.

Perhaps she didn't. Perhaps this wasn't Bad Wolf at all.

The Doctor let the rest of the world fade out of view as he locked his gaze on the blonde woman before him. The petite and curvy woman stared back with twinkling chocolate eyes; she had her golden locks tied back in a high pony that swung with her movements as she shifted anxiously above him. She was dressed similarly to Bad Wolf and had a ragged cardigan pulled over her outfit of a white blouse and standard, denim blue jeans; a pair of black scuffed Chucks completed the look. The woman in front of him was so familiar and yet lacked the warmth that her presence usually brought him. This was Rose Tyler: a sight that caused the air to leave his lungs in a loud whoosh, yet she wasn't the Rose Tyler he once knew. She was a completely different person.

Observing his disorientated state, Rose eyed him curiously. "Definitely a concussion," she commented before kneeling down on the pavement next to him. She brushed a golden strand behind her ear and flashed him a small but reassuring smile. "Are you sure you're alright, mate? Do you need a hospital?"

"Yeah, I'm—" He was talking to Rose Tyler. A bright smile overcame him. "I'm fantastic."

Rose furrowed her brows as she continued to scrutinize him. "Hold on, don't I know you?" She stared at him intently, analyzing his battered form. "You're that drunk from the Estates, aren't you?"

"Powell Estates, right?" the Doctor asked.

"Blimey!" she gasped. ""What are the odds I'd see you out here? ...Do you… I-I mean, are you sure you're alright? Do you need the medics or something?"

The Doctor couldn't blame her for the constant questions. The first time she had ever seen him in this form, he had been a drunkard looming in the mouth of an alleyway; the second, she somehow managed to hit him with a car. There was only so much one could learn about a bloke through those meetings.

"Rose?" a voice interrupted, and the Doctor turned his head, catching sight of a short, muscular dark-skinned man leaning against the driver's side of the car. He snorted under his breath, ignoring the temptation to shake his head at the thought of Mickey Smith hitting him with a car. Heaven knows how many times that man had wished he could do bodily harm to the alien who took his girlfriend away during The Year Rose Missed Because The Doctor Screwed Up.

"What, Mickey?" asked Rose, exasperation lacing her voice.

"If he says he's alright, let's just leave him be," Mickey answered.

Rose turned her full attention to the driver. "I can't believe you! You hit a person with your car and you're worried about the legal—"

"He's right," the Doctor interjected. "I'm fine, and it's my fault really. I wasn't paying attention where—"

"See!" Mickey said, gesturing towards him. Irritation fluttered in the pit of his stomach, and the Doctor clenched his hands into tight fists. As much as he respected the brave and honorable man Mickey had grown into, the younger version was high on his list of annoyances. "No need to involve the cops. We're all good here."

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow at the man and snapped, "You hit a person with your car, and you aren't the least bit sorry?" The alien rolled his eyes. "Got somewhere better to be then? Because I'm pretty sure that there is something better out there to do than apologize to someone whose death just might have sent you to the nick for a couple decades."

"Now just hold on one minute!" Mickey protested. "You were the one who walked in front of me."

"Well," the Doctor began, but Rose cut him off.

"Both of you," she warned, "will shut up before I make you. Now, what's your name?" The last question was directed towards the Doctor.

"John Smith," the Doctor responded.

"Serious?" Mickey asked.

The Doctor spared him a cold look before Rose snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Oi, I'm talking to you." She took a deep breath and extended her hand towards him once more. "If you're sure you're alright, let me take you where you're heading. It's the least we can do."

"Rose, I have to get the car—" Rose pursed her lips in a resolute expression, effectively drawing her boyfriend's protest to a close.

She intertwined her fingers in the Doctor's the moment their hands met, and a bright smile threatened to overwhelm him. It was beginning the same way it started. He could feel Mickey leering over his shoulder, and he swore Bad Wolf was watching over the exchange with bright eyes and a wide grin. The feel of Rose Tyler's hand in his own made his whole world erupt in a blinding light, and if he closed his eyes, for just one moment, he swore he could feel the Earth come to a shuddering halt.

With that one touch, he had effectively began the change.

Now, only time would tell the future.

One touch can be a difference between life and death.
You have three months to make yours count with the one you love.