Rose takes a deep breath. Since she got to this world it seems like all she's done is go back and forth to different places, putting out fires and saving the world. On the TARDIS she's just been following people around - looking for Jackie, looking for the Doctor, looking for Jackie again.

She feels an impulse to search out the room she used to use. She can see it in her mind - pink walls and unmade bed, dressing table strewn with cosmetics. There are things in that room she thinks she would like to have back, memories of travels with the Doctor and with Jack, souvenirs of a life long since gone. She even starts to take the remembered path towards that room.

In the end Rose decides to leave it be. She's no longer the young girl who lived in that room, and she's learned that people are what's important, not possessions.

"Not things," she murmurs to herself. She's alone in a quiet hallway of the TARDIS, and there's no harm in talking to herself. "It's people that count, not stuff."

She loves this ship, loves traveling. But for the past six years, her thoughts have been centered on the Doctor. Not his ship, not the running for their lives, not the adventures. Just the Doctor. She resolutely pushes away the words that the Doctor in blue whispered in her ear. If he can say them, then her Doctor can say them, too. She doesn't allow herself to wonder why her Doctor hasn't said them before now.

She loved him as a sad man with big ears and a black leather jacket, and she kept loving him when he turned into a skinny bloke with great hair. She loved him on Bad Wolf Bay, and even though he didn't say the words back to her she knows he has feelings for her. That's enough for right now.

And just like that, she has her answer.

Rose takes off down the hallway, trusting in the TARDIS to show her the way.

"The Doctor," she says. "Where is he?"

The TARDIS obligingly leads her to the Doctor in brown.

"Doctor!"

The Doctor in brown looks up from his workbench. A small contraption full of orange wires is in front of him, half assembled or half-taken apart, Rose can't tell.

"Breach detector," the Doctor says, holding up his sonic screwdriver. "I'm just tweaking it. Might help us find the breach a bit quicker. This is harder than I thought it would be," he admits.

Rose pays no heed to his explanation. "Doctor."

"Yes, Rose?"

"I'm staying with you."

"Well, I under- what?" He blinks at her, and Rose almost laughs at the look of amazement on his face.

"I'm staying with you."

His smile turns into a big grin. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" she says indignantly.

In her dreams of a happy reunion there was also a kiss or hug or declarations of affection, but just then the breach detector begins to beep.

"We're getting closer!" The Doctor scoops it up and hurries for the door. "See you in just a bit!"

Rose checks on her mother. Jackie is still in the kitchen, sitting at the table with a cup of tea in front of her. She's chatting with Donna, who is enjoying hearing about Jackie's life on a new world.

"Sounds absolutely marvelous," Donna is saying cheerfully. "Especially the part about being so rich!"

"It's been nice," Jackie allows. "Pete is wonderful, and now that we have Tony it's even better. He's almost six now," she adds. She starts to pull out a photo to show Donna but realizes that her bag and wallet are back home. When she and Mickey set off after Rose she didn't think she would need identification, especially since she was officially dead on Earth.

"Mum." Rose steps into the kitchen and smiles at the two of them.

"Sweetheart." Jackie stands up and hugs Rose. "Where have you been? I've been sitting here for ages."

Rose smiles. "You could have come looking for me."

Jackie shudders. "No thanks. I've had my fill of this ship. What's taking so long?"

"We're in the Time Vortex," Donna explains. "Floating around until we can locate the breach between our two universes. Once we find it we can slip through, drop you off at home, and seal the breach back up."

"And then that's it, yeah? No more ways through."

"In theory," Donna hedges. "You never know."

"I know that well enough," Jackie says proudly. "My Rose is the one who got the Dimension Cannon working."

Rose smiles. "Mum, you're always bragging about that."

"How many mothers can say the same?" Jackie grows serious as she looks at her daughter. "Am I going back alone, Rose? Are you staying?"

Donna holds her breath.

"Yeah," Rose says softly. "I'm stayin'."

"It's not like I didn't know she would choose him," the Doctor in blue is saying to Donna. "I wasn't born yesterday."

Donna snorts with laughter.

"Okay," he allows. "I'll give you that one. But still. She doesn't care that I'm the same - that I'm better! She sees what she's used to seeing."

"I don't blame her," Donna sighs. "But you can stay too. Stay with us."

"I have some pride, Donna! More, maybe, now that I'm human. Blimey, but you lot are full of pride, aren't you?" He sighs. "I won't stay and watch them live happily ever after. I can't. And anyway, he would never let me."

Donna glances around. They're standing in one of the hallways of the TARDIS. Now that she understands how the ship works she can truly appreciate the way they're always given the privacy they need. No one is around, and Donna is sure that TARDIS won't allow them to be overheard.

"We could build a TARDIS of our own," she whispers.

He blinks. "What?"

"We could build a TARDIS! Ourselves! You and me. Leave them to it and travel the universe."

For a moment his eyes gleam. Then he shakes his head. "Ah, Donna. Once upon a time I would have jumped at the offer. This body won't live long enough for a TARDIS to grow. I haven't got a few thousand years."

"No," she says slowly, thinking it through. "You've got maybe fifty or sixty years, if you're lucky." She ignores his grimace. "But. But...if you shatterfry the plasmic shell and modify the dimensional stabilizer to a foldback harmonic of 36.3, you accelerate the growth by the power of 59!"

His mouth is hanging open. "Did you just think of that? Did you come up with that all on your own?"

She grins. "Brilliant Time Lord mind!"

The Doctor in blue shakes his head. "He would never go for it. I can't be trusted. He thinks I'm a genocidal maniac."

"He what!" Donna says indignantly. "You're no such thing!"

"That's what I told him! He wants to dump me on the other universe, let me be its problem instead of his."

"He wouldn't," Donna says. "He couldn't."

"And he's the one who was prepared to spend the rest of his existence caring for the Master." The Doctor in blue shakes his head again. The more he thinks about it, the more this plan will work for him. "You and me. Traveling the universe together."

"The DoctorDonna!"

"We can do this, Donna. We can. It'll be brilliant. Think of the adventures we'll have!"

"We won't tell him," she whispers, lowering her voice just in case the TARDIS does not approve of this scheme. "We'll drop Rose's mum at home and act like you're staying behind with her. When he and Rose go back inside the TARDIS, I'll wait until they're out of the control room, and let you back in. And once the breach is closed we'll tell him our plan. We'll take a piece of coral and grow our TARDIS, and then we'll be on our way. I mean, we can always get together with them once in a while."

"Yeah, Christmas."

"Summer holiday."

"Guy Fawkes day," they both say together, breaking out into simultaneous grins.

"Do we have a deal?" Donna asks.

"Oh, yes! Deal."

Despite her happiness, Rose knows there is something she must do. Her mum and Donna are back together, chatting like old friends. Jackie has been convinced to go to Donna's bedroom, and when Rose left them they were drinking from a bottle filled with clear amber liquid and giggling madly.

Her Doctor is still in breach detection mode. Rose doesn't mind, because the sooner they find the breach, the sooner she will be assured that she is indeed staying with him, that this hasn't all been a dream. The sooner that happens the sooner she'll lose her mother, but she's had long years to accept that.

The Doctor in blue is not in the control room. The two Doctors seem to have reached a tacit understanding of mutual avoidance. Rose finds him in the library, staring out of a window that really should not be there.

He glances over as Rose enters the room.

"Hello."

"Hi." Rose clears her throat.

"We're not there yet, are we?" His voice holds no emotion. No curiosity or fear.

"No. Not yet."

"Didn't think so." He continues to stare at her, leaving Rose flushed and uncomfortable.

"I'm stayin' here," she says. "With him."

"Yeah. I know." He nods once and glances away. The hurt is evident on his face, but he makes an attempt to hide it.

"I'm...I'm sorry if I hurt you. It's just that you're not the one I came back for."

He frowns slightly. "I am, you know. We're the same person, more or less. Well, less one heart and more of mortality. But still."

"I just want you to understand that," she says earnestly. She wants, needs him to understand. "It's not that I think you're not him-"

"But you do think that," he interrupts her swiftly.

"I know you're not." Rose holds his gaze, and the five words he'd said earlier to her hang between them. The fascination she feels for him is there, and try as she might Rose can't completely dispel that.

He seems to sense this, and despite his resolution to seize his fate himself and not have it thrust upon him by his counterpart, he steps closer to Rose. How could he not try one more time?

"I have one heart," he says quietly. "One life. I'll grow old, the same as you. I could spend that life with you."

"But you're not the Doctor," Rose says softly, and he nods and steps back. Her words sting him.

"Then promise me you'll be happy, Rose Tyler."

"I...I will."

"That's all I want." He manages to call up a smile. "Well, then. I'll see you in a bit."

"Doctor," Rose blurts out before he can leave. "Wait."

He turns around, somewhat surprised to be addressed as the Doctor when she'd only just finished telling him he wasn't.

Rose founders when she meets his eyes. "Good luck," she manages to say.

"Yes," he says, and waits.

Rose shakes her head slightly. "What?" She hadn't asked him a question.

"Yes," he says again. "The answer is yes." And he walks away, leaving Rose alone.

"We're here," the Doctor in brown announces. "Ready?"

"Ready!" Rose says cheerfully. She's coaxed Jackie into the control room.

"Are we back?" Jackie asks anxiously.

"We are," the Doctor in brown assures her. "Back home. Back to the world you've chosen, back to-"

"Oh, thank goodness!" Jackie interrupts him. "Let's go!"

"All clear." He stands back and watches as Jackie hurries to the door. She's followed by Donna and the Doctor in blue. Rose moves slowly, stopping to smile shyly at him. He smiles back, though there is perhaps some sadness in his expression. He knows that she is choosing him, but he also knows that someday he will have to say goodbye to her.

Rose holds out her hand and he takes it, walking outside after the others.

Jackie is looking around in confusion. "Where are we?"

The Doctor clears his throat. "Er...Norway."

"Norway?" Jackie says. "Not London?"

"Yeah. Sorry."

"Well! Fat lot of good this is! Back of beyond, bloody Norway! I'm gonna have to phone your father."

"He'll be here before you know it, Jackie," the Doctor in blue says. Acting in his guise of a newly-human Time Lord who's going to spend the remainder of his life in exile, he moves to stand closer to Jackie.

"Yeah. There's lots of time to call Pete," Jackie says softly, remembering suddenly that she has to say goodbye to her daughter.

Rose smiles through sudden tears. "It's okay, Mum. I'll be okay."

Jackie hugs her tightly, not bothering to hide her tears. The Doctors and Donna all look away uncomfortably.

"Goodbye, darling," Jackie whispers. "I'll take care of this one, don't worry." She gestures with her head towards the Doctor in blue, who looks like he doesn't know how he feels about that.

"Goodbye, Mum. I love you." Rose gives her mum a final kiss. She watches Jackie move back, getting away from the path of the TARDIS.

"Are you ready?" the Doctor asks. Donna glances at him. There's a note of uncertainty in his voice. He's not entirely convinced that Rose will stay with him after all.

"Yeah," Rose responds.

Donna turns to the Doctor in blue, looking at him questioningly. He nods once. He's ready. All they need is to wait for Rose and the Doctor in brown to get in the ship.

The Doctor takes a step towards his ship, ready now to take Rose away, but Rose is looking at her mother.

"Rose?" he questions softly.

Donna looks sharply at Rose, than at the Doctor in blue. This isn't going to plan.

"Wait," Rose says in a voice that cracks. "I just need a minute."

"If you need to say goodbye to your mother, we don't have much time left. The breach will be closing."

Rose doesn't look over at her mother, standing a few meters away with the Doctor in blue. It's hitting her that this is truly it. She's said goodbye to Jackie before, prepared to stay with the Doctor. Every time, she's found her way back to Jackie. This is different. This will truly be forever.

No more Jackie. No watching Tony grow up. Her family will be lost to her.

She has to make sure it's worth it. The Doctor is worth it all, she knows that, but damn it, she needs to make sure.

She looks back to her Doctor.

"Last time we were here you said something. Do you remember?"

He starts to speak and stops.

"The worst day of my life, that was. What did you say?" Rose holds his gaze with hers, willing him to answer.

The Doctor nods briefly. "I said 'Rose Tyler'."

"And how was that sentence gonna end, Doctor?" She holds her breath, waiting for the words that will decide her future. It's so tenuous right now - she doesn't know which Doctor she wants and needs. She only knows that both of them need her, in different ways for different things. She needs them for different things, and it's time she decided what is most important to her.

"Does it need saying?" the Doctor asks quietly, and Rose steps back in shock.

"You won't. That's your way, isn't it? You give me a choice but you won't say the words."

"Rose, no-"

"Tell me what you were going to say."

He is silent.

The Doctor in blue stands with Jackie, wishing he had his coat. It's chillier here in Norway, colder than he remembered. Maybe it's the fact that he's only wearing a thin t-shirt under his jacket. Maybe it's that he's human. Maybe it's that the last time, although so clearly memorized, he was only an image on this beach. His memories have added detail and smells and sensations where none existed. The trauma of the event, he supposes, and is surprised to find that his false memories are pretty close with the reality of the beach.

"What are they saying?" Jackie asks him.

He shrugs. "Dunno."

"Don't you? But he's...you're him!"

"Not anymore. Grew out of his spare hand, yeah. Now that I'm here? Two separate beings."

Jackie shakes her head. "Just when I think nothing about you could get any weirder."

He shrugs, not listening. Does he want Rose? Of course he does. As it happens, this human body wants her very much. But if she's chosen to stay with the other Doctor, then the plan to run away with Donna and grow a new TARDIS is the best one for him. The sooner Rose says goodbye to her mum the sooner he and Donna can start.

Rose steps away from the TARDIS and the Doctor and Donna. She walks back to the Doctor in blue, slipping slightly on the sand. He stands where he is, watching her approach with his hands stuck in his pockets.

She comes to a stop in front of him. "You said the answer was yes," Rose says. "What was the question?"

He has a slight smile on his face. "I suspect you're thinking about that question right now."

She has a question in mind, a frightening, exhilarating question. Whether it's the correct one for his answer is a chance she's going to take. "Say it again," Rose orders in a low voice.

He blinks in surprise, her words the very last thing he's expecting. Donna and the Doctor look uncomfortable and slightly upset. He wonders what's happened. Donna meets his eye and shakes her head. She's not sure what Rose is doing. The Doctor in brown looks worried.

He looks back at Rose. Her eyes are clear but hard. She's come to some decision already that none of them know anything about. Her blonde hair is blowing in the wind. She's so bloody beautiful, and brilliant, and capable and fearless. Fantastic from the moment they met, and she's even more so six years later. His desire for a TARDIS abruptly leaves him.

He swallows. "I love you."

For a long moment she stares at him, wide-eyed. Then she grabs him, pulls him down to her and kisses him. For a second he's perfectly still. Until this moment, he'd thought she'd be staying with the other Doctor. He'd made his peace with it. Then, as the kiss continues, he wraps his arms around her and kisses her back enthusiastically.

Both are breathing hard when they break apart.

"I made my choice," she says softly. "Damn you for being able to say the words."

He takes a chance. "Never gonna leave me?" he asks.

"Never say never ever." Her voice is serious but there is the beginning of laughter in her eyes, the beginnings of hope.

He laughs softly and kisses her again. She might regret this, but he knows he won't.

Donna abandons her plans with a sigh. It would have been fun to have her own TARDIS, but he belongs here with Rose. She smiles instead, because this is what they both want. The Doctor in brown has accepted the inevitable, and walks into the TARDIS. She follows, casting one last affectionate glance back at the embracing couple. She raises a hand to Jackie before closing the doors.

The sound of whooshing draws Rose and the Doctor in blue out of the haze of kissing. They stare at the place where the TARDIS had been.

"They left while you two were snogging," Jackie says. "He never was one for goodbyes, was he?"