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"Mickey? Mickey, you awake?" Rose's voice called from behind the door.
He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and shuffled to the door. "Good morning."
"Morning," Rose smiled.
In the three months he'd "known" her, his excitement at seeing her smile had never died down. "So, how're you?"
"Fine," Rose shrugged. "Want to get breakfast?"
Of course he agreed. They walked down to a shop on the corner and ordered chips for breakfast. Well, Rose did. The Doctor simply sat back and watched her, bemused.
When Rose finished, the pair of them wandered around, talking about the most mindless things. He loved it. The simplicity of not having to fight aliens. Just sit around, watch television, talk with Rose. He even found he liked football. He wasn't nearly as good at playing it as his eleventh incarnation, but he enjoyed watching it.
As he and Rose walked, a rustling sound came from behind them. As he turned, he spotted a figure in a blue coat walking away.
I went back in the Nineties, watched her grow up.
If there was one person he could tell, it would be Jack. Also, Jack needed a firm talking-to for still being around when Rose was at an age where she could remember him. One wrong glimpse, and the universe could implode. And explode. At the same time.
"Hey, Rose, could you walk on ahead for a second? I think I left something at the restaurant."
"I'll come with you."
"Nah, it's okay. I got it."
"Sure," Rose shrugged.
He smiled at her and raced toward the Captain. As soon as he was sure Rose wasn't paying attention, he shouted.
"Hey you!"
Jack stopped, half turning, keeping his face away from Mickey and his voice lower than normal, "What do you need?"
"I'm Mickey Smith," he said, forcibly shaking Jack's hand.
"Hi," Jack said. "I'm... Owen Harper. I've got to go. Sorry."
"You're not going to cause a problem with the time line by talking to me," he said.
"What?" Jack stopped, gaping at him.
"It's me."
"You who?"
"Well, there are three guesses possible guesses here: One, I'm a future a version of Mickey, which is true in a manner of speaking. Two: I'm not Mickey, I'm an alien impersonating him, which is also partially true. Three: yours truly regenerated into the tin dog."
"What?"
"The Doctor," he said. "The whole time, it was me."
Jack stared. "No."
The Doctor nodded.
"No!"
"Yeah."
"But Mickey—"
"Was pathetic? Yeah. I have to live up to that standard, thank you very much. In some ways, I can't wait to regenerate again."
"That's really you, Doctor?"
He nodded.
Jack grinned and hugged him. "Oh, this is great! Though... I have to ask though, why'd you leave me?"
His smile faded. "... I can't explain."
"Why not?"
"Because you still didn't know by the time you caught up to me. We'll catch up."
"I will?"
"Yeah. You see a skinny bloke with really great hair, that's me."
Jack grinned. "I—I don't believe it."
Mickey nodded. "Also, be careful with all that Torchwood business. Seriously, control your team."
"It's been me and Suzie alone for awhile. Getting kinda dull. But we just got a new recruit: Toshiko Sato. Have you heard of her, in the future?"
The Doctor tried not to grin. "Yes, actually."
"Really?"
He nodded.
"Well that's good... wait, have you heard of her in a good, saved-the-earth way? Or the bad, destroyed-the-world-with-her-technological-genius way?"
"You said nothing but good things about her," he said quietly. Give it four years, and Tosh would be dead. Saving the world, naturally.
"Oh... well that's always reassuring."
"Yeah. Look, I've got Rose waiting for me. I just wanted to say hello. And sorry that I will be insulting you in your past. Stable time loop and all."
Jack grinned. "No problem."
"Pop in a couple times. Say hi. It's making me crazy pretending to be not me."
"I would, but the team might get suspicious," Jack said.
"Well, probably for the better, anyways. The last thing I need is you asking me the life story of each member of your team when they pop up."
Jack laughed. "Time travel. Gotta love it... It's good to see you, Doctor."
The Doctor beamed. "Good to see you too, Jack."