Disclaimer: Doctor Who © BBC

Author's Notes: I apologize for the long wait! Been swamped with homework, and we just had our internet shut off in our apartment. I'm currently using my school's internet to upload this. Anyway, moving more towards to main plot now that we've gotten through some main relationship issues. Time to get back to the premise of the story! Anyway, I always thought Rose and Amy would be the ones to get along out of the gang. They both have quite a bit in common, in my eyes at least, so I thought I'd play with that for this chapter. It was also requested that these two were the ones to find the sleeping Doctor and River together! ;-) Enjoy! Made it a bit longer to make up for the wait. Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing!

The distinctive blaring of the alarm clock echoed throughout the room. Rose groaned as she rolled over, eyes blinking rapidly as she tried to adjust to the light of the morning. Though it wasn't extremely bright, the shift from complete blackness to somewhat light still caused her to squint.

She moved to hit the snooze button, only to find that the alarm had decided to roll off the side table and hide someplace else. John had seen an ad about a new alarm clock that had wheels attached to it, and would roll about the room to different spots. It was meant to get the owner up and out of bed, each day finding a new hiding spot so it took longer to find. John, being John, figured it'd be simpler to make his own version. Of course he always managed to sleep through any kind of alarm, so it was always Rose who had to get up.

She sat up abruptly and threw the covers off of her. Stubbing her toe on the leg of the bed frame as she swung her legs out, she cursed and began looking high and low for the bloody clock. She wondered if she could accidentally break it and buy a proper one instead.

Though she loved her enthusiastic human Doctor, she sometimes wished he didn't have all of the alien qualities of the original Time Lord.

"Ah ha! Found you now, you bugger!" Rose quietly exclaimed as she found the device hidden under a pile of John's old socks. It automatically stopped beeping as soon as she touched it and a wave of relief washed over her.

She looked over to her sleeping heap of human Doctor, and smiled. She figured a nice cup of tea would do him some good. She vaguely remembered being on the TARDIS and how the Doctor never seemed to sleep. He'd told her it was due to him being a Time Lord and such, she couldn't remember much of what he'd said. But she had to admit, she loved having a human version of him that she could actually spend a whole night with, though sometimes she thought he milked out every second of sleep he could get.

Rose quickly put on some more appropriate clothes, sweat pants and sweat shirt, and began to make her way out to the kitchen, carefully closing the bedroom door behind her. She turned around and a flash of red hair swept across her vision, and she narrowly missed bumping into Amy. She forgot the married couple had occupied their guest bedroom, which was directly across the hall from the master bedroom.

"Oh sorry about that!" Rose whispered.

"Yeah, no problem. Figured I'd get up...Rory's snoring woke me up." Amy yawned as she too closed the door slowly behind her.

"I was just about to make up a pot of tea, it seems to be the only thing that wakes John up. You want some?" She asked the red head as they tip toed down the hallway toward the stairs.

Amy nodded and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she followed Rose. She was too tired to keep up a conversation, at least until she'd gotten some caffeine into her system. The floorboards creaked as they started down the stairs. The house wasn't necessarily old, but it had enough years in it to show. A stillness in the air that left a peaceful, easy feeling amongst the two, and they both were content with not speaking.

Rose stepped off the bottom step and walked almost robotic like towards the kitchen. She passed by the front room and almost payed the figure lying on the couch no attention, but it seemed far too...awkward shaped, to be the Doctor or even River for that matter. Something inside was screaming at her not to look over, but by the time she turned her head it was too late to stop the motion. Her breath caught and it felt as though her heart stopped momentarily.

Instinct told her that the shape she'd seen on the couch couldn't have been just the Doctor, or River. In fact it was both of them. Their legs were tangled together in a big mess, and River was lying slightly on top of the Doctor, with her head resting on his chest. One of her arms was draped lazily over his stomach, and the Doctor looked to be holding her tightly around her waist and middle of her back. She wasn't sure if it was because she didn't want to find him looking at her, or if she was afraid to see him sleeping peacefully, but Rose was thankful to find the Doctor's head turned away facing the back of the couch.

She directed her attention forward once more and quickened her pace into the kitchen where she let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Amy entered almost directly after she had, and Rose wondered how long she'd been staring at the two. She began rummaging through cupboards and drawers, trying to keep busy.

"Hey, thanks again for letting us stay here." Amy jarred her out of her thoughts and Rose jumped slightly.

"Oh, yeah, yeah. It's no problem at all." She flashed a smile at her as she filled a pot up with water.

Amy pulled out a chair and it squeaked as it scratched against the floor. She flopped herself down and stretched, trying to wake herself up. Another silence fell over the two of them for a couple of minutes. Rose had occupied one of the seats across the table from the red head, and tried to process everything she'd just seen. She wished it was all just a dream. She wished everything the Doctor had told her the previous night was a dream.

Curiosity started to get the better of her, "Hey, Amy?" She spoke low so not to wake the Doctor and River up.

"Mmm?" Amy grunted in response.

"Um...well, I was wondering..." Rose started fidgeting with her sweatshirt, "Are...are the Doctor and River..." She trailed off, not wanting to ask a question she'd regret getting the answer she knew was coming.

"You want to know if they're together?" Amy raised an eyebrow and smiled. She knew Rose loved him, it was quite obvious by how she'd been acting when they first got to her world. The fact she was with the human version of the Doctor also helped as a dead give away.

"...I know they're not married, River already said they weren't, but...I don't know...It's just. Hard. Do you know what I mean?" Rose looked up at her, searching her face for answers.

Amy gave her an encouraging smile. "Yeah. I do." She paused. "But to be honest, about your question I mean...I really don't know. It's so hard to keep track of those two. It's all back to front for them."

"Yeah, the Doctor was telling me about all of that."

"I'm sure he didn't tell you everything." Amy smirked. "Rule One: the Doctor lies. Or strays from the whole story, which in most cases can be put into the same category." She chuckled slightly and then sighed. "River and the Doctor have...a very complicated relationship. And I don't mean as in 'dating' or anything." She added in quickly. "Rory told me when he'd been alone with River, she was telling him about her and the Doctor. They're both time travelers. But they keep meeting in the wrong order, as the Doctor would say, it's all timey wimey...We never know what version of River we'll get, and we have to keep an eye on what we all say. Especially those two. Spoilers, as River would say."

She was interrupted by the whistling of the tea pot. Rose jumped up and got together cups for everyone. She nodded for Amy to continue.

"We're lucky, this version of River is one we've already met before...but, for her..." Sadness washed over Amy as the words she spoke started to sink in, "For River, Rory was saying, every time she meets us, she knows us more..and we know her less. From her perspective at least.."

"So, when you say, they're back to front..." Rose began.

"I mean that they're going in opposite directions. One day, River will meet a version of the Doctor that doesn't know her. And, from there, I'm not sure." She shrugged. "My guess is that it'll be the last time she sees him. He can't cross his own timeline, and vice versa. River's already done that in order for us to figure out this whole rift thing...which means who knows how many times she'll see the Doctor before it's her last time." Amy stared down at the floor as she finished.

"And, what about you? What happens when she first meets you? I know you guys raised her, kind of, as kids...but...what about the Doctor?"

Amy felt tears well up briefly, and she blinked them away. "We...we just got done meeting a version of River that didn't know the Doctor...And, honestly, I don't know if this is going to be the last time I see her. We just...left her at some hospital the Doctor knew would keep good care of her. He said she'd eventually come looking for us. But..." She sighed and clapped her hands to her knees. "Best not talk like that, eh? Is the tea done? I think I might take some up for Rory."

"Oh, right, sorry. I almost forgot about that." Rose went and checked on the brewing tea. "Still a couple more minutes, if that's alright?"

Amy nodded.

Rose leaned against the counter as she waited for the tea to finish. She wondered why River was left in a hospital, but figured she should keep her questions to herself. Amy seemed to be going through her own stuff, and she had a feeling if she were to add her own drama in, she'd just overwhelm the poor girl. Though she did have one left that she couldn't help but blurt out.

"So how did you first meet the Doctor?"

Amy snorted, "I met him when I was a little girl. Bloody man changed my life forever." She mumbled the last part.

"Seriously? You've known him your whole life?" Rose asked astonished. She never knew him to stay in someone's life for more than a year or so. To finally meet someone who'd known him longer was almost unbelievable.

"Kind of. I met him once as a kid, and then he...kind of...turned into my imaginary friend." She started laughing.

Rose laughed with her. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, he went into his TARDIS and was going to fix something. He said he'd be back a few minutes later but ended up not showing up for another 12 years. So in between then people told me he was just my imaginary friend, until I started to believe them. That's, of course, until he showed up again." Amy smiled. "It's embarrassing to think about." She covered her face with her hands and laughed.

"So is this right after you met him again?" Rose was referring to Amy's current timeline.

"Oh no, it's been..." She paused as she reflected back on how much time had passed. "A good few years since then. Rory and I were only dating when the Doctor showed back up, and now we're married. We both traveled with him for a little bit, lots of stuff in between, and then he and I eventually were on our own for a bit until we got a letter. It was from the Doctor and so we went and met up with him, and been traveling again ever since. That was a good while ago too." Amy kept out everything about the Doctor's death, the end of the universe already happening, and how Rory had been erased from time and then brought back as a Roman Centurion.

Rose's eyes were wide as she took in all the information. "Wow..that's..."

"I know." Amy chuckled. "So what about you?"

Rose was jarred out of her thoughts as she reflected back on her own life with the Doctor. "Oh let's see...goodness that was a long time ago. Well, when I still lived in your world, it was back in 2005 when I first met him. That was 2 regenerations ago too! He was completely different from the Doctor now. Back then he had a shaved head and wore a leather jacket." She snorted

Amy's eyebrows shot up and her mouth hung open. "Oh god, better or worse style sense than what he has going on now?"

Rose pursed her lips in thought, "Eh, bit better. Suited him at the time. But yeah, so I traveled with him for a year or so. I was dating someone at the time, living a somewhat boring life working in a shop, still living with my mum. It was strange and exciting when I first went with him. First place he took me to was the end of the world for planet Earth. That was..." She held her hands out in front of her. "Strange. Very strange! Lots of other adventuring, and then he regenerated after a bad encounter with the Daleks. Traveled with that version of the Doctor for awhile, looked exactly how John looks now, and then there was lots of other stuff in between. Got trapped in this world, thought I'd be stuck here forever, found the Doctor again, and then when John came about, he brought us back to this world." She summed everything up quickly.

"How long has it been since you've seen the Doctor then?" Amy ventured.

"Last time was a good few years ago. Time in this world progresses faster than in your world." Rose answered. She looked at the clock, "Oh! The tea!" She quickly set everything up and poured a couple of cups for, she figured it was safe to say, her newly acquired friend. "Here you are." She handed them over and smiled.

"Thanks." Amy smiled back. "For everything, I mean. I haven't had someone to talk to like this in a very long while."

"Yeah, same here." She nodded.

The red head shuffled out of the room and back down the hall. As she passed the front room and peered in, she noticed only River lay on the couch. The Doctor was seated on the floor with his head buried in his hands. She knew there would be lots for the Doctor to sort out on his own, especially after being found snuggling up to her daughter, and worse, in the house of a woman who was still in love with him. But she figured that could wait. They all needed to get moving on fixing the rift before it got any worse.

She cleared her throat to get his attention, "Hey, you two best get up. There's some tea in the kitchen."

The Doctor nodded and moved to wake up River. Amy was about to head back up the stairs when she turned around and added, "Oh, and Doctor. You're lucky Rory didn't catch you." She smirked as she saw a blush creep across the Doctor's face.

It was 9:53 am by the time everyone had left the house. Rose had managed to borrow a van from one of her neighbours and everyone had piled in and were headed to the place they'd determined as the starting point of their investigation.

Rose and Amy had kept quiet about the Doctor and River cuddling up just hours prior, and were focussed on the task at hand.

"So what exactly are we doing again?" Rory asked.

"We're going to figure out the cause of these rift thingies." Amy answered and patted his leg.

"Right, I get that. But how do we know where to go again?"

River was the one to answer him, "John and I were able to plot out some key points on where they seem to be coming from. The first ones were a bit too scattered to figure out where exactly, but when we looked at more recent findings we could plot out a general area on a map. There were a few buildings around the areas we were looking that may possibly hold where it's all coming from."

"Right, ok. So how do you know it's coming from just one area? Rory furrowed his brow.

"These things shouldn't be happening, which leads me to believe that they aren't naturally made. The way they've all been happening so far have been very methodical and all plotted out precisely. So, if they're man made, then where else to hold whatever it is that's causing them, than in a large building?" John exclaimed, sounding excited.

"Ah, right." Rory nodded. "Why do I get the feeling you're both excited about this?" He referred to John and the Doctor.

"What's not to be excited about?" They both answered in unison.

"Well, for one, the fact that it could rip the world apart." Rory mumbled.

"What was that?" The Doctor asked as he popped his head between Rory's and Amy's.

"Nothing."

The Doctor smirked and patted him on the back of the head. Amy giggled.

"Oi, before we go too far I think we should stop back at the TARDIS. Check and see if the old girl is up and running again." The Doctor added in as they turned down one of the streets marked on their route.

"Maybe we should go in separate groups? Cover more ground?" Rose looked back in the rear view mirror. She'd been the one who offered to drive.

"Ooo I like that idea!" The Doctor perked up and bounced slightly in his seat. River rolled her eyes and held him down. "Who should go with who? And do we get cool communication devices and code names?"

Amy, Rory, and River all groaned at the same time. "Enough with the code names, Doctor!" Amy scolded him.

"What? I liked the ones I gave you all last time. They were cool." He crossed his arms.

"The Nose is not cool." Rory looked back at him and pointed a finger at the Doctor.

"Ok, then what about the Lone Centurion?"

"Oh please don't bring that up again!" Rory banged his head against the window.

John and Rose looked at each other and shrugged.

"Ok, ok. What about Rory the Roman?" The Doctor suggested.

"Aren't code names meant to keep our real names secret?" Amy asked.

"Oh, good point. Right, then what about Roranicus? Wasn't that the name you went by back then?" The Doctor smirked as he leaned forward and put his elbows on the seat in front of him.

"Roranicus?" John asked, puzzled.

"Long story." Rory answered. "And no! Rory is fine."

"Alright, though I think we should leave the one used for River the same." He whispered to the married couple who both laughed.

"I heard that." River stepped on the Doctor's foot as a warning.

"Ow, ow, ow! Ok!" He laughed as she punched him on the arm playfully. "So, back to the first question, who will go with who?"

"How about John and Rory go together?" Rose suggested. The two nodded in agreement. "You and Amy?" Rose motioned to the Doctor and Amy who both nodded.

"Wait, so then that would leave..?" The Doctor gulped as he realized who Rose was purposefully pairing herself up with.

"River and me." Rose answered as she looked back at the curly haired woman.