"Listen," Rory said, he grabbed Amy's hands in his own and held them to his chest, "whatever happens, at least we're together. And we're in the TARDIS, so we're safe."

"Yeah." Amy nodded, not really believing it. She glanced over to Rose who was still standing by the door, her hand softly touching it. She'd been like that since the Doctor had come banging on the other side of them. Amy briefly wondered how long it'd been since she'd seen the Doctor. It couldn't have been too long; the woman looked barely out of her teenage years.

"You're half right." A deep, posh voice informed them. Amy and Rory froze, recognizing it as House. Rose turned around and looked towards the console, her face dark. "I mean, you are in the TARDIS. What a great adventure. I should have done this half a million years ago. So, Amy, Rory, and – oh. Our visitor from before, we've never been formally introduced. How rude of me. I'm House. Who, are you?"

Rose took a breath and stepped forward. "I'm Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth. And if you think I'm gonna let you just pop back into my universe, you've got another thing comin'."

"Oh?" If House had a body, he'd be smiling. "Then why shouldn't I just kill you now?"

"Because killing us quickly wouldn't be any fun." Rory said hurriedly. He glanced at Rose who smiled and nodded. "And you need fun, don't you? That's what Uncle and Auntie were for, wasn't it? Someone to make suffer. I had a PE teacher just like you." Rose snorted. "You need to be entertained, and killing us quickly wouldn't be entertainment."

"So entertain me. Run."

Rory grabbed Amy's hand and they raced out of the console room, Rose right behind them. They twisted down the corridors, all of them darkened and grey. Footsteps echoed around them as their feet pounded against the metal ground. It was different, Rose belatedly realised. The walls were no longer coral and the ground wasn't so much of a metal grating anymore, more of a steel look. She missed it, the earthy look of the TARDIS. Or maybe she simply missed the life of it. Dark and powered down, it felt so dead inside the once magnificent ship.

Rose slammed her hand down on a button beside one of the doors. "This way." She called to Amy and Rory. The couple swiftly turned and followed her into the new corridor. Their run turned to a brisk walk, Rose was at the front now and she deliberately slowed it down.

"Uhmmm… Shouldn't we be running?" Rory asked.

Rose nodded. "Yup, but if we don't slow down for a mo' then we won't be able to keep the pace."

Rory's brow furrowed as he considered her words. He nodded his head. "Right."

"So what do we do?" Amy questioned "We can't kill House."

Rose glanced over her shoulder at the red head. "'Course we can't. But I'm assuming the Doctor will eventually find a way back onto the TARDIS. He usually does."

"And in the mean time?"

"We stay alive."

Amy sighed. Where was the Doctor? How was he even going to get onto the TARDIS?

The trio kept up a pace of running and then slowing to a jog and ending in a brisk walk, then speeding back to the jog and running again. They continued the cycle for some time. Nothing seemed to be happening. It was during one of their lulls in which they were walking that Amy decided to pick the conversation back up.

"So how old were you then?" Amy asked Rose, the three of them walking side by side. "When you met the Doctor that is." She was trying to gage just how experienced this Rose was. She seemed so young.

"'Bout nineteen."

Rory's brows rose. "Couldn't have travelled with him for long then? You barely look twenty one."

Rose laughed, but neither Amy nor Rory could see what was so funny. "I travelled with the Doctor for two years. Known him years longer though." She smiled nostalgically. "Is a bit complicated." Rose waved her hand airily.

Amy moved forward and opened the next door in the corridor. It slid open and she stepped through. "Yeah, well, it's not like we don't have time."

"Yeah," Rose started to say when the door quickly slammed shut. She raced forward and slammed her hand on the release button. Nothing. "Amy? Amy!"

Rory continued to slam his hands against the door. "Damn it! Where is she?"

Rose bent down beside the release panel and pulled out her sonic. "I assume she's just on the other side of the door. I might be able to release the lock."

"Amy!" Rory hollered. He leaned his ear against the door and listened intently. "Oh my god. If he hurts her. I – I…"

"He won't." Rory looked down at the blonde. Her eyes seemed to glow gold in the dark, fierce and deadly. "Don't worry Rory Williams. Amy will be fine." She turned back to the release button and opened the lock. The door slid open and Amy threw herself into Rory's arms.

"Oh my god. Oh my god. Rory!" She clung to her husband as if she hadn't seen him in years. "Thank god, I thought you were…"

Rory stroked Amy's hair back from her face. "I'm fine. Now come on. House is only getting started. We need to get moving."

Rose nodded and took the lead. "He'll want to separate us again. He'll be able to play with us that way. Anything he shows is just fake though, they're illusions, so don't believe them. He may be inside the TARDIS, but he doesn't have control of time. He isn't connected to it in any way."

Amy stared holes into the back of the blonde's head. She trusted the woman, but how did she know so much? "How do you know?"

Rose turned around. "I know because I'd sense it if he could. Enough questions, we need to keep moving." Her eyes glowed gold and Rory realised that they hadn't seemed to be gold earlier. They really were glowing gold. They'd instantly assumed she was human, but now Rory felt oddly naïve.

They reached a vertical corridor, the first so far. Rose almost fell down, but Amy grabbed her waist and pulled her back. Air rushed up from the empty hall, blowing back the women's hair as they stood before it.

"So are we having fun yet?" House's deep voiced echoed around them. They all looked up and glared. "I'm rather enjoying the sensation of having you running around inside me."

Rose made a face. "Yeah, cause that's not perverted." Rory snorted.

House continued on, as if he hadn't heard her. "I've turned off the corridor anti-gravs, so do be careful."

Rose nodded once, considering. "Well, he may be a psychopath. But you can't say anything 'bout his manners." Amy rolled her eyes. She sounded like the Doctor, using witty banter in the middle of a life or death situation.

"Come on." She said gruffly, and then edged her way around the vertical drop of the corridor. Rory followed her, Rose took up the rear. They slid their feet along the small edge provided by the corridor drop. Once they reached the other side, they picked up the pace and began running again.

Rose worried her lip with her teeth as they ran. She could keep this up forever, literally. But she wasn't sure how long Amy and Rory would last. She glanced at the red head. Amy in particular. Rose wasn't sure what it was, but something was wrong with Amy. She simply hoped it wouldn't cause her to collapse at any moment. The last thing they needed was a fainting ginger.

The TARDIS picked up a piece of junk from the pile of possibly useful mechanics that could be utilised to build a working TARDIS console. "Bond the tube directly into the Tachyon Diverter." She instructed the Doctor.

He rolled his eyes as he dragged a wall towards their building area. "Yes, yes, I have actually rebuilt a TARDIS before, you know. I know what I'm doing." He turned and grasped the rope with both hands and pulled with all his strength. The wall, lying down on one of its faces, didn't even move.

The TARDIS laughed, though it sounded more like a scoff. "You're like a nine year old trying to rebuild a motorbike in his bedroom." She turned and raised an eyebrow at him. "And you never read the instructions."

The Doctor's mouth dropped open and he quickly spun back around to face his TARDIS. "I always read the instructions."

The TARDIS stepped forward challengingly. "There's a sign on my front door. You have been walking past it for seven hundred years. What does it say?" She crossed her arms.

The Doctor frowned as he thought furiously. He turned back and pulled on the rope. "That's not instructions." He deflected.

The TARDIS raised an eyebrow and waited for him to face her again. When he finally did, she raised both her brows. "There's an instruction at the bottom. What does it say?" A glimmer of a smile tugged at her lips, oh she had him now.

"Pull to open." He almost sighed in relief. Close one.

"Yes." But she wasn't done yet. "And what do you do?"

The Doctor frowned. "I push." He growled lowly.

The TARDIS looked heavenward. "Every single time. Seven hundred years. Police Box doors open out the way."

The Doctor pulled the rope over his shoulder with all his rage fuelling him through. "I think I have earned the right to open my front doors any way I want."

"Your front doors?" The TARDIS definitely scoffed that time. "Have you any idea how childish that sounds?"

"You are not my mother."

"And you are not my child."

Fed up, the Doctor dropped the rope and stalked over to the infuriating woman – time and space ship – whatever. "You know, since we're talking with mouths, not really an opportunity that comes along very often, I just want to say, you know, you have never been very reliable." The TARDIS instantly straightened up.

"And you have?"

"You didn't always take me where I wanted to go." He accused with a pointed finger.

The TARDIS' brows furrowed. Really? She thought, he honestly didn't see it? "No, but I always took you where you needed to go."

The Doctor froze. He looked at her, really looked at her. Then he realised. "You did." His face broke into a wide smile. "Look at us talking. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could always talk, even when you're stuck inside the box?"

The TARDIS frowned. "You know I'm not constructed that way. I exist across all space and time, and you talk and run around," she gestured with her hand in a flippant manner, "and bring home strays."

The Doctor laughed. "Strays! Is that what you call them?"

She rolled her eyes and groaned. "Oh you sound just like her."

He froze. Again, she'd said it again. He stared into the TARDIS' eyes, deadly serious. "Her who? No – don't change the subject. You've mentioned her multiple times now. Her who?" The TARDIS' knees buckled and she fell forward. The Doctor caught her and helped her stand up right. "Are you okay?"

The TARDIS grasped her side, her face twisted in pain. "One of the kidneys has already failed. It doesn't matter. We need to finish assembling the console."

The Doctor glanced over at their half assembled mess of a machine. "Using a console without a proper shell. It's not going to be safe." He commented softly.

The TARDIS swallowed and straightened up. She held her head high and looked to her Time Lord. "This body has about eighteen minutes left to live. The universe we're in will reach Absolute Zero in three hours. Safe is relative."

The Doctor smirked. "Then we need to get a move on. Eh, old girl?"

Not too long later, the Doctor was finishing up the finale touches. He attached some ropes around the console and checked the spring on a button that'd previously sprung off. "Right. Okay, let's go. Follow that TARDIS." The Doctor pushed pulled down on the main lever of the console. Nothing happened. The Doctor's face fell. "Oh no, come on. There's rift energy everywhere. You can do it. Okay, diverting all power to thrust. Let's be having you." He pulled a knob and pushed a few buttons then pulled the same lever down again.

Huge sparks erupted from the console. The Doctor and the TARDIS both jumped back as insidious black smoke erupted from the rotor.

The Doctor hopped forward again a second later, frantic. "No, no, no, no."

"What's wrong?" The TARDIS looked all around the console but for the life of her couldn't see it. She flew her ship naturally without thought, this was another thing entirely.

"It can't hold the charge. It can't even start. There's no power. I've got nothing." He slammed his hand down. How was he supposed to save the Ponds now? House would escape into the universe and destroy it as he searched for any remaining Time Lords.

The TARDIS smiled lovingly at her Time Lord. "Oh, my beautiful idiot. You have what you've always had. You've got me." She then raised two fingers to her lips and kissed them. Golden energy, the Time Vortex, glowed in her eyes and around her fingers. She touched the rotor and it roared to life.

The Doctor grabbed hold of the console and laughed as they began to dematerialise. He hid the sorrow, the painful memory that had surfaced with the golden look of hers. It was the same as another woman's eyes, all those years ago.

No. He wouldn't fall back into that endless pit of despair. A pit he'd only just learned had a ladder to get out of. No, he wouldn't 'open that can of worms' as it were.

"Whoo hoo!" He whooped as they flew threw the Time Vortex. It was rough and loud. Something a kin to wind roared around them and he decided that it was rather magnificent. In all, a much nicer thought to focus on.

The TARDIS hollered across the console to him. "We've locked on to them. They'll have to lower the shields when I'm close enough to phase inside."

The Doctor flipped a few switches and read the readout on the screen. "Can you get a message to Amy? The telepathic circuits are online."

The TARDIS frowned. That would be far too much work, she decided. She nodded at him anyways. Silly Time Lord, always taking the harder course of action. Of course, he didn't know Rose was on board, or that she had even left her universe. He suspected something, the TARDIS could tell, but there was nothing substantial enough for him yet. He wanted so desperately for her to be happy. She soon would be.

Rose wrapped her arm around the rung of the ladder and pressed the heel of her palm against her forehead. Rory glanced up at her worriedly. "What's wrong?" He hollered past the wind of the vertical corridor.

Rose shook her head.

"Wolf! Wooooolf!"

Rose blinked. The TARDIS?

TARDIS? The woman tentatively reached out with her mind to the other.

"Hello, dear." Her voice sounded within her skull. It was strange, having someone inside her mind who wasn't the Doctor, and after so long.

"Rose what's wrong?" Rory called up to her.

"I'm gettin' a message. Is telepathic."

Amy looked down from above Rose. Her face smiled down at the blonde. "The Doctor?"

"You have to go to the old control room." The TARDIS instructed before Rose could reply. "I'm putting the route in your head. When you get there use the purple slider on the nearest panel to lower the shields." Rose nodded her head and sent back an affirmative to the TARDIS. "You'll have about twelve seconds before the room goes into phase with the invading Matrix. I'll send you the pass key when you get there. Good luck."

"Rose?" Amy asked, sounding as worried as her husband usually did.

"'M fine!" She hollered up to the red head. "We have to keep going! 'S farther up that way!"

They continued climbing and when they reached the correct floor, Rose hollered up to Amy to step off the ladder. She waited while Rose and Rory followed her up.

Amy smiled excitedly at the blonde when she made it to the horizontal flooring. "It was the Doctor right?! He's on his way."

Rose couldn't resist smiling back. "It was the TARDIS actually."

Rory, who'd just made it off the ladder, frowned. He looked around the darkened hallway. "I thought this was the TARDIS."

Rose began walking down the hallway at a very fast pace. The other two easily kept up the same speed by her side. "Yeah, it is. But it's not."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Now you sound like the Doctor."

Rose laughed. "Mum used to say that all the time. No," she shook her head, "this is just the shell. In order for House to control it like he is, he's got to get rid of the mind first, yeah? He deleted the TARDIS Matrix and put her in a woman."

"Wait," Amy said, catching on faster then her husband, "that woman then? The one who kissed the Doctor? That's the TARDIS."

"Yup!" Rose replied, popping the 'p' again. "She sent me a message." Rose tapped the side of her head, "Telepathic me. Be a bit more difficult to get a hold of either of you. Though I'm sure she could manage. She is magnificent." Rory raised his eyebrows. She really did sound just like the Doctor, maybe just a bit less posh.

Amy froze. "What happened to the lights?" She raised her arms in front of her, the way one did in the dark to keep from running into walls.

Rory and Rose paused. They glanced at each other and shrugged. "The lights are fine." Rory told Amy. He took her hand and her other instantly went to his face.

"House is messing with our heads again." Rose informed them. She looked about for a light switch.

"Oi!" Rory called after her as she headed down the corridor. "Where do you think you're going?"

"What?" Amy asked. "What's she doing?"

Rose glanced over her shoulder as she turned down the hall. "Just checkin' for a light!" She yelped and jumped backward when she saw the Ood standing there. Nephew swung his arm and Rose quickly blocked it with her forearm. She kicked the alien in the stomach and ran back down the hall. She grabbed Rory's arm and pulled him down the hall the way they'd come. Rory dragged Amy along with him as Rose led them down a different path to their destination.

Amy shook Rory's hand off her wrist. "I can see now, Rory. I can see." He nodded at her and let go. The three paused and caught their breaths.

"It was the Ood." Rose told them as she leaned down over her knees. "Nephew. And he's still comin'. We've got to move. Come on, now."

They half jogged down the pathway and Rose turned abruptly right. Another vertical chamber stood in their way. She jumped back before she fell and let out a sigh. The three edged there way around it, as they had with all the other vertical hallways they'd come across. Once on the other side, they were faced with a dead end. "This is it." Rose said with a nod. "I had to go a different way 'cause of the Ood. But this is it. I recognise the entrance."

Amy looked down the way they'd come and crossed her arms. "Well open it then."

Rose shrugged with a shake of her head. "The TARDIS said she'd –" She cut off abruptly and closed her eyes. "Crimson. Eleven. Delight. Petrichor." Rose recited. "That's the pass code."

"Petrichor?" Amy wondered allowed. What the hell was that?

"What do we do?" Rory asked frantically. They were running out of time, they had to be running out of time. "Do we say it? Crimson. Eleven. Delight. Petrichor. I said it." He gestured with his hands for the doors to open. They remained closed.

No. Rose thought, the TARDIS is telepathic. The pass code would be then too. She looked to Amy, her face scrunched up in thought. Almost there, Rose grinned.

Amy tapped her chin as she thought. "Petrichor. Petrichor." Where had she heard that before?

"I said it." Rory said desperately. He turned to Rose who was grinning at his wife.

He turned to Amy. Her eyes lit up just as he looked to her. "Petrichor!" She exclaimed triumphantly. "She told you what it meant. The smell of wet dust, remember? So, oh, it's the meaning, not the word."

Rose nodded; her grin a smile now. "The TARDIS interface is telepathic. You don't say it, you think it." A light shuffle of steps sounded at the end of the corridor. The three companions turned to see the Ood down the hall.

"It's coming." Rory supplied.

Rose nodded. "I can't help with him." She looked up. "But I can distract House." House was sentient, Rose briefly considered, did that me he could kill her? She didn't know, but she was definitely about to.

Behind her, Amy was plugging her ears, whispering the codes over and over again as she thought of an event for each. "Crimson. Eleven. Delight. The smell of dust after rain."

Rory looked worriedly to Rose. She had that look in her eye, the same self sacrificing look the Doctor got. "How do you mean?"

The door slid open.

Rose turned and pointed to a lever. "That one there. That'll lower the shields and let the Doctor in. Go!" Rory ran into the coral looking control room without a second glance.

Rose turned to Amy and grabbed the woman by the shoulders. "Amy. Do you love the Doctor?" Amy nodded. "I'm going to buy him some time."

Her eyes widened. "What? No! What are you doing? Don't – whatever it is. Don't." She grabbed the other woman's arms, almost mirroring her position.

Rose shook her head. "It won't work if I don't get him the time. But listen Amy. If you love the Doctor, this is vital." She looked straight into the red head's brown eyes. "Don't tell him you met me. Not now, not ever. Not under any circumstances. Do you understand?" Amy opened her mouth to protest but Rose quickly shook her. "Do you understand!?" Amy nodded, her eyes hard and sad. "Good." Then Rose's eyes glowed bright gold, brighter then ever before. "Goodbye Amelia Pond."

Rose pushed Amy into the console room. The doors slid shut as Amy rushed back towards them. Through the crack of them, just as they slid closed, she saw the glowing gold woman jump into the vertical corridor. The anti-gravs were still off. Amy screamed out and slammed her fist against the door.

"Amy!" Rory hollered as he raced over. His wife continued to scream, slamming her fist against the closed doors over and over again. Rose couldn't be dead. She couldn't be gone. She hadn't even gotten to see the Doctor.

Rory reached his wife just as the doors slid back open. The Ood. Amy creamed and jumped back. Rory grabbed her hand and pulled her across the console room to the other side. The Ood calmly followed them across.

Rory held his wife, shielding her from the alien when a burst of bright light materialised in the console room. The Ponds quickly grabbed hold of the coral struts that circled the old room. Bright rings encircled a giant orb and wind whipped past the companions. A sound, very similar to the TARDIS' usual grinding noise filled the air and suddenly everything was still.

The light faded to its greenish dead glow from before.

Amy swung out from behind her coral strut, she smiled brightly at the Doctor, standing before her by a different time rotor. The woman, the TARDIS, was sitting on the ground, having fallen in the landing. "Doctor." They raced towards each other and hugged as the console he'd used continued to spark randomly. Amy held him tightly, as if she were trying to make up for the loss that was Rose Tyler's absence. Little did she know, every time the Doctor hugged her, he was doing the same.

"Oh…" The TARDIS groaned from the floor. The Doctor turned and quickly helped her to stand up. "Not good. Not good at all." She looked to Amy and Rory. "How do you walk around in these things?"

"We're not quite there yet." The Doctor said. "Just hold on." He helped her to sit down on the edge of the time rotor they'd built together. Then the Doctor twirled around to his companions. He clapped his hands together and smiled gleefully. "Amy, this is, well, she's my TARDIS. Except she's a woman. She's a woman, and she's my TARDIS."

"Yes Doctor." Amy nodded. "We know."

He didn't seem to hear her. "And she's a woman. She's a woman and she's the TARDIS. Wait, how'd you know?"

Amy quickly changed the subject. "Did you wish really hard?"

The Doctor's mouth dropped and he frowned. "Shut up. Not like that."

"Hello." The TARDIS greeted as she stood up. "I'm… Sexy."

The Doctor dragged a hand down his face as Amy smirked. "Oh. Still shut up." His mind switched tracks. "But how'd you know?"

"The environment has been breached." House stated calmly from all around them. "Nephew, kill them all."

Rory's eyes widened as he remembered the green eyed Ood. "Where's Nephew?"

Amy gestured to the Doctor. "He was standing right where you materialised."

"Ah. Well, he must have been redistributed." The Time Lord responded, not all too caring. At Rory and Amy's confused looks he expanded. "You're breathing him." Amy quickly covered her nose. Seriously? She thought. Meanwhile, the Doctor sighed despondently. "Another Ood I failed to save."

"Doctor." House greeted in a somewhat pleasant tone. "I did not expect you."

The Doctor grinned and raised his arms. "Well, that's me all over, isn't it? Lovely old unexpected me." He walked about the old console. Oh this thing brought back memories didn't it? He almost dared to think her name, among so many others.

"The big question is, now you're here, how to dispose of you? I suppose I could have fun with it. But really, I've found a different sort of amusement instead." The TARDIS looked up with a look of dread on her face. Rose. "Why shouldn't I just kill you now? Quick, and easy."

The TARDIS fell forward; she could feel the feeble human organs begin to fail her. Rory ran forward and moved quickly into nurse mode.

"Because then I won't be able to help you." The Doctor implored. "Listen to your engines. Just listen to them. You don't have the thrust and you know it. Right now I'm your only hope for getting out of your little bubble through the rift, and into my universe. And mine's the one with the food in." The Doctor put his hands on the console. He looked up. "You just have to promise not to kill us. That's all, just promise."

Amy's eyes grew furious. "You can't be serious." This monster was the reason his companion was dead. Rose died for him to stop this thing. Amy opened her mouth, but Rose's words stopped her. Not under any circumstances.

"I'm very serious." The Doctor gave Amy a hard look. "I'm sure it's an entity of its word."

"Doctor," Rory interrupted from the floor. His hand was over the TARDIS forehead, the other clutching the woman's hand, "she's burning up. She's asking for water."

The Doctor ran over and knelt beside her. "Hey. Hang in there, old girl. Not long now. It'll be over soon."

The TARDIS smiled briefly. "I always liked it when you call me old girl."

House spoke from around them again. "You want me to give my word? Easy. I promise."

The Doctor nodded. "Fine. Okay. I trust you. Just delete, oh er, thirty percent of the TARDIS rooms, you'll free up thrust enough to make it through. Activate subroutine Sigma nine."

"Yes. I can delete rooms." The House confirmed. "And I can also rid myself of vermin if I delete this room first. Thank you, Doctor. Very helpful. Goodbye, Time Lord. Goodbye, little humans. Goodbye, Idris."

A bright white light shone through the console room. The Doctor covered his eyes and looked away as it consumed the room. The TARDIS' shell shook violently as the blue box slipped through the rift back into the universe.

The grinding noise of the materialization sounded and just like that, The Doctor, Rory, Amy and the TARDIS were in the main control them.

The Doctor lowered his arms and walked around the console. "Yes. I mean, you could do that, but it just won't work. Hardwired fail safe. Living things from rooms that are deleted are automatically deposited in the main control room. But thanks for the lift."

"We are in your universe now, Doctor." House informed him. "Why should it matter to me in which room you die? I can kill you just as easily here as anywhere. Fear me. I've killed hundreds of Time Lords."

The Doctor's green eyes darkened. "Fear me. I've killed all of them." The look slipped and he pulled on an easy going lack of concern façade. "Oh but you're right. You've completely won. Oh, you can kill us in oodles of really inventive ways, but before you do kill us allow me and friends Amy and Rory to congratulate you on being an absolutely worthy opponent."

He nodded at Amy who quickly began clapping her hands unenthusiastically. "Congratulations."

"Yep," The Doctor continued, "you've defeated us. Me and my lovely friends here, and last but definitely not least, the TARDIS Matrix herself, a living consciousness you ripped out of this very control room and locked up into a human body. And look at her."

"Doctor," Rory whispered, "she's stopped breathing."

House's deep voice sounded throughout the TARDIS shell. "Enough. That is enough."

The Doctor glared menacingly. "No. It's never enough. You forced the TARDIS into a body so she'd burn out safely a very long way away from this control room. A flesh body can't hold the TARDIS Matrix and live. Look at her body, House."

"And you think I should mourn her?" He sounded bored.

The Doctor's glare darkened at the alien's tone. "No. I think you should be very, very careful about what you let back into this control room. You took her from her home. But now she's back in the box again, and she's free."

Golden streams of light and dust escaped from the TARDIS' mouth. They shot about the control room, slipping through the cracks. The TARDIS' soul slowly began to take back its home, one glowing beam at a time. Soon enough, the room was filled with glowing streams flying from one place to another.

"No." House protested, to no avail. "Doctor, stop this. Argh! Stop this now." The TARDIS' soul increased its attack. Its beautiful fingers seeping back into the time rotor and brightening the room.

"Oh, look at my girl." The Doctor's voice was adoring, proud like a father at his little girl's first football match. "Look at her go. Bigger on the inside. You see, House? That's your problem. Size of a planet, but inside you are just so small."

"Make it stop." House pleaded.

The Doctor spun around, and turned his back on House's voice. "Finish him off, girl."

"Ow. Don't do this! Argh!"

Very quickly, the last golden rays disappeared into the TARDIS. The room no longer glowed the unnatural green colour. It was bright and golden. The TARDIS shone like a star in the night.

"Doctor, are you there?" The Doctor spun around at the sound of the TARDIS' voice. There she stood by the stairs. The TARDIS' human body glowing golden like an angel. "It's so very dark in here."

The Doctor stepped up to her, his eyes wide "I'm here." He studied the woman's face. He didn't want to forget this, not a single moment of it.

"I've been looking for a word." The TARDIS told him. "A big, complicated word, but so sad. I've found it now."

"What word?"

She smiled. "Alive. I'm alive."

"Alive isn't sad."

"It's sad when it's over. I'll always be here, but this is when we talked," her smile grew and if her entire being hadn't already been lighting the room, the Doctor knew that that would have, "and now even that has come to an end. There's something I didn't get to say to you."

"Goodbye?" He guessed with teary eyes. He'd always been awful at goodbyes.

"No." She shook her head, oh her silly old Time Lord. "I just wanted to say hello. Hello, Doctor. It's so very, very nice to meet you."

"Please." He pleaded. "I don't want you to. Please."

The TARDIS smiled at him. "You won't be alone." She lifted her head up and raised her arms as the gold glow slowly dissolved into smalls pieces of dust and sparkles of light. The familiar grinding noise filled the room and soon enough, she was gone.

The Doctor stood there, staring at the spot she once occupied. He couldn't bring himself to look away. Amy held her husbands hand tightly. She wanted to go to him, but she wasn't sure if that was what he wanted. The Doctor. The Lonely God.

Slowly. Very slowly. He turned to his companions.

Rory watched the Doctor. He waited as long as he could, but he had to ask. "What about R –?"

"Rory!" Amy quickly smacked Rory's arm. He turned to his wife, face questioning.

The Doctor glared at them. "Who?" Amy refused to believe that the Doctor's voice sounded that watery. The Doctor could get emotional, but he was never, emotional.

"No one." Amy quickly responded before her husband could say anything.

The Doctor glanced between his two companions. He certainly wasn't in the mood for this. "Amelia." He said warningly.

Amy sighed. "Look, she told me not to say, okay?"

The Doctor frowned. The TARDIS had mentioned a 'her'. Multiple times she'd mentioned another person. "Who? Why?"

"Because I didn't think I'd survive."

The Doctor went rigid. Ever single muscle in his entire body froze. He was paralysed. His eyes went to Amy and Rory, both of which were looking past him, smiling. The Doctor's hearts constricted, painfully. Dare he even believe?

He turned around.

There, standing at the top of the staircase was the most beautiful vision he'd ever seen. Rose Tyler. Her hair was longer, no longer peroxide blonde. It was a more natural looking honey colour. Her eyes were more golden then green, and she wore significantly less makeup. But it was her. Her in her TARDIS blue leather jacket. Her in her Torchwood regulated boots. Rose Marion Tyler.

She walked down the stairs and stopped at the bottom. She smiled, that special tongue in tooth smile. And he was gone.

The Doctor raced across the room and swept her up into a hug. She laughed and it sounded like angels. He swung her back and forth, like he had after Krop Tor. He set her down and smiled at her. Smiled like he felt he'd never smiled before. Belatedly he realised he'd never smiled like that, not in that body, not to Rose.

Rose left her arms hanging around his neck and she smiled up at him. He was a bit shorter, but she didn't mind. Not at all. "My Doctor."

The sound of her voice. The Doctor's eyes filled with tears. "Oh, my Rose. I missed you so much."

Rose smile was blinding. "Good." She said.

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

The Doctor wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back to him. He held her there for a long time, relishing the feel of her, the smell. She still fit. She always did. Every body of his seemed to respond to her in the exact same way. They were made for her. He was made for her.

Someone cleared their throat. Rose and the Doctor reluctantly pulled apart. The second they did, the Doctor picked up Rose's hand. He couldn't let her go. He'd never let her go again. The Doctor knew at the back of his mind, something was wrong. She would never have left her Doctor, her family. He knew that the world, somewhere, some when, was ending. But for those blissful few seconds, he was happy.

"So," Rory said, "you're alive then."

"Yup!" Rose winked. "Can't get rid of me." Her tongue poked out of her smile and it took all the Doctor's self restraint not to hug her again.

"Don't I know it…." The Doctor grumbled jokingly.

Rose poked him in the chest. "Oi! Don't start with me Chinny. Seriously, between that thing and that nose, you might as well be livin' on Easter Island." The Doctor's mouth dropped open.

"Yeah," Amy raised a hand and pointed at her, cutting off any retort the Doctor had thought up, "but I saw you jump down a vertical hallway. While the anti-gravs were off."

The Doctor's eyes widened. He turned to his companion. "Rose!" He stopped suddenly and smiled. "Rose Tyler." It sounded good coming from that mouth. "Rose Marion Tyler." The words tasted wonderful on his tongue. Rose raised an eyebrow, amused. His mind snapped back to the conversation at hand. He gasped. "Rose! Jeopardy friendly is one thing. But really."

Rose smiled at him. It wasn't necessarily a happy smile though; her eyes were sad and far away. The Doctor decided very quickly that he did not, in fact, like that smile. "Oh Doctor. We've got a lot to discuss." The two stared into each other's eyes for a few minutes.

Amy watched them completely intrigued. Rose had said she was a companion. Amy could see that, they knew each other. The Doctor though, that smile one his face and the look in his eyes. Not even ten minutes ago if someone had asked Amy if she'd seen the Doctor at his best, she'd have said yes. Now she wasn't so sure. Not even River Song, who Amy was quite certain was the Doctor's wife, made the Doctor smile like that. If anything, the Doctor avoided River. He always seemed to grumble when she was around. It'd been getting better, she had clearly been growing on him. But this. This relationship standing before her. The Doctor refused to let the woman's hand go. And Rose seemed to be on the same page.

This changed everything.

Rory coughed. "Right, well." Rose and the Doctor glanced back at them. They looked surprised, as if they hadn't realised Amy and Rory were still there. "I'm going to go eat some dinner while you two… talk." Rory pulled Amy's hand and the woman reluctantly followed her husband of the steps and out of the console room.

The Doctor and Rose looked back at each other. Rose blushed and looked down.

"Right," he said, though it was clear he didn't really know where to start, "So…"

"You changed." Rose commented. It wasn't a sad voice, nor was it happy. She seemed… content.

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Oh. Yes. Well." He raised his arms and smiled in a manner that stole Rose's breath away. All charm and glowing arrogance, something Rose didn't think she'd ever seen from him before. "What do ya think?"

Rose crossed her arm and pursed her lips. She looked him up and down. He was wearing a light brown striped dress shirt with a tweed jacket and elbow patches. His trousers were a bit short and he was wearing laced up brown boots. Her eyes went back to his face. Green eyes.

"Blimey," she laughed, "your eyes are just goin' through all the colours of the rainbow, aren't they?"

The Doctor frowned and his brows developed a slight line between them. "That's it. Brand new regeneration and that's all you've got?" He straightened his bowtie.

"Yeah, well, I'm tryin' real hard not to be too put off."

"Put off?" The Doctor had moved right past mildly insulted to full blown displeasure. Rose Tyler not liking his regeneration, it sounded like some sick joke.

Rose poked his bowtie. "After all our arguments about bowties, Doctor. You finally put one on again, and I'm not here to see it!" She smacked his arm lightly.

The Doctor caught her hand and held it against his hearts. "You're here now." She smiled up at him. "Why are you here, Rose? What's happening?"

She shook her head. "Nothin'. No really, Doctor. Nothing is going on."

"But…"

"You're dead. In the other world." The Doctor didn't event think, he just moved. He grabbed hold of Rose and crushed her against his chest. She returned the hug, allowing him to comfort her.

"How?"

"Old age."

He pulled back and looked down at the woman in his arms. Young as ever. The Doctor couldn't have died of old age. She hadn't aged a day herself. She hadn't aged. "No." Was it possible? Could he ever really be that lucky? Rose didn't say anything, she just watched him as he processed the information. He fought a smile from taking over his face. "But that's…" The Doctor though, the one who grew old with her in the alternate universe. "I'm so sorry."

"Why?" She wasn't angry, she wasn't even sad. Rose Tyler, always so compassionate.

"You had to watch him die Rose. You'll probably never die. It's my fault."

Rose stepped out of his reach. Her eyes hardened and she crossed her arms. "Really? Because I don't remember you holdin' me down as you forced the Vortex into me." He opened his mouth but she raised a hand and continued on. "You know what I do remember? I remember an amazing man givin' me a chance to live a fantastically normal life. And I remember choosin' him instead. I remember bein' asked to travel with a mad alien and sayin' no. I remember changin' my own mind." She sighed, the fight leaving her and stepped forward to stroke his cheek. The Doctor closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. "It took me a long time to convince you this wasn't your fault in the other universe. I'm willin' to do that again, Doctor.

"I don't blame you." She whispered, so close that her breath ghosted across his face. "I don't blame you 'cause I don't, nor have I ever, seen this as a bad thing."

The Doctor smiled and cupped her hand against his cheek. "My Rose."

She frowned. "Something's wrong." The Doctor's hand tightened, but she didn't seem to notice. Rose closed her eyes and focused on the swirling energy inside her. The BAD WOLF. A soft humming – no, a singing – flowed through the golden light in her mind. It was faint, as if weak and it seemed to be breaking in an out, like a CD with scratches on it. "The TARDIS' jibbert cathacode troisieme timepiece needs to be looked at; she had a bit of a close call there towards the end."

The Doctor blinked. "I'm sorry?"

Rose rolled her eyes and headed down the steps that led to the underside of the control room. "Honestly Doctor. Do you really think you'd live with me for 60 years and not teach me to control the Time Vortex?"

"Wait. What? Rose!" The Doctor hurried down the steps after her.

Amy and Rory could hear the laughter down the hall from the control room. Amy gave her husband a quick look and then headed into the brightly lit area. It was empty.

"No," Rose was saying as sternly as she could manage, "don't you dare try to fuse those two together."

The Ponds skipped down the steps to find Rose and the Doctor sitting on separate swings across from each other. They both had their sonic screwdrivers out and were fusing wires together. The Doctor was smiling broadly at her, holding two wires close together. Rose shook her head and laughed.

Rory smiled. "How's it going under here?"

The Doctor looked over at the Ponds. Amy had never seen him so carefree. Nothing, not a single speck of sadness seemed to lurk in his eyes. "I'm just putting up a firewall around the Matrix."

"And 'm fixin' the jibbert cathacode troisieme timepiece." Rose informed with a bright, toothy smile. "If things get a bit slow, don't mind it."

Rory nodded, though he had no clue what she was talking about. "Right. Will do." Amy smiled at her husband and looked back to the Doctor from her perch on the stairs. She leaned her head against the railing. "Are you going to make her talk again?"

At that, the Doctor smiled at Rose. "No need. I've got Rose now."

Rory frowned. "I don't understand."

Rose winked. "The TARDIS and I've got a… special connection." She noticed the slight frown to his features and quickly recognized it as something other than confusion. She slowly dropped her smile. "You okay?"

Rory shook his head. "No. I watched her die. I shouldn't let it get to me, but it still does. I'm a nurse."

The wires in the Doctor's hands sparked and he quickly shoved his fingers in his mouth. He nodded at Rory's words and wiped his fingers on his jacket. Rose wrinkled her nose at him. "Letting it get to you. You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now, that's all that counts. Nearly finished." He turned back to the wires. Rose lifted her sonic quickly and did it for him from across the small space between them. No sparks erupted. She smiled cheekily at him as he scowled. "Two more minutes," he told the Ponds, still eyeing Rose. Then he turned to the couple, "then we're off. The Eye of Orion's restful, if you like restful. I can never really get the hang of restful. What do you think, dear? Where shall we take the kids this time?" The Doctor stroked a piece of the TARDIS.

Rose's eyes glowed gold. "Mmm… Eye of Orion might be another day Doctor. She's back home; she wants to get right back into the swing of things." Her eyes widened and she laughed softly, "Oh this is going to be a good one." The Doctor's eyes sparkled as he leaned toward his companion, completely enraptured.

Amy smiled too. She couldn't help it. "Look at you two." She gestured to the Doctor and the TARDIS. "It's always you and her, isn't it, long after the rest of us have gone. A boy and his box, off to see the universe."

The Doctor absent-mindedly played with the wires as he smiled at Rose. He didn't seem to realise that Amy was talking only about the Doctor and not Rose. "Rose and the Doctor in the TARDIS. The way it should be. You say it as if it's a bad thing." He glanced at the ginger. "But honestly, it's the best thing there is." Amy tried to keep the smile on her face. She still didn't know who Rose was, but the Doctor seemed so happy to have her around again. Amy briefly wondered if she'd ever get Rose's full story.

The woman in question spoke up again. "House deleted all the bedrooms. I can make you two a new one." Her eyes glowed for a second as Rory and Amy glanced at each other. "Don't worry. It's covered."

The Ponds smiled and laughed lightly if not a little warily. They said their goodbyes and headed back up to the main hallway. Rose fiddled with the wires on her end for a second. She glanced up at the Doctor then went back to work. She did it three more times before the Doctor finally said something.

"Rose." She looked up, eyes wide. "What's wrong?"

Rose bit her lip. "Is probably nothin'…just… Doctor? What's wrong with Amy?" The Doctor's eyes saddened instantly. Something dark grew there; it was the first time Rose had seen anything dark in him since she'd come home. "I don't want to start nothin', honest Doctor. Is just, something is… off. Do you know what it is?"

He slowly shook his head. "No." He looked up at her. "But I'm working on it."

Rose nodded. The two went back to their wires. Rose could hear the emptiness in the control room. The lack of laughter was a weight on her chest she'd never really felt with the Doctor before.

"I'll tell you what though," Rose said with her tongue in cheek smile, The Doctor looked up and his entire demeanour softened at the sight of it, "bunk beds? Really Doctor?"

"Oi!" He cried. "I'll have you know, Rose Tyler, bunk beds are very cool."

I really do hope you've all enjoyed reading this. I'm not quite sure if I'll continue it just yet. I'm sort of 50/50. So! If you want me to continue, let me know. Message me, review it. I really don't mind. If not a lot of people seem to mind, then I think I'll just leave it as it. Otherwise, it's up for debate.

For anyone who might be wondering, a "jibbert cathacode troisieme timepiece" is and object that "...records the passage of time aboard a TARDIS. When a TARDIS is near death the flow of time between the interior and exterior breaks down. The effect of this is similar to Temporal Orbit. In such cases several minutes will pass inside a TARDIS for every second that passes outside." I didn't make this up, it's canon from classic who. Google the title and I'm sure you'll find everything about it.

Anyways! Thanks for reading and let me know if you want more! :)