The Doctor didn't think he would get much sleep that night. He wasn't particularly tired after Rose had gone to bed so instead he changed into Pete's pajamas and hung up his suit after giving it a once over with his sonic. Rose had been right earlier, he needed to take good care of it since he didn't know how long it would be before he had a fully functional TARDIS to take care of his wardrobe again.

Sitting down on the bed, he closed his eyes and while holding it in his palm, reached out to the coral with his mind. He felt it's hum again and it relaxed him. The little chunk of TARDIS seemed to be doing just fine, which was a relief to him. Still, he was anxious to get the growth acceleration started which meant he needed to get his hands on several things…

His thoughts turned to what Rose had said about Torchwood. Odds were that he might very well find everything he needed there, but in exchange for what? His run ins with the Torchwood Institute in the other universe had left him with a deep seated mistrust of the organization, and despite what Rose had said, he would not be won over easily by this one.

The Doctor recalled something else Rose had said, specifically about him moving into her flat. He grinned, thinking of how differently he and his other self had reacted to such a comment. When the other Doctor and Rose had been stranded on Krop Tor they had discussed the possibility of this very situation. At the time great big warning bells had gone off in his head when Rose had suggested sharing a mortgage. The prospect had terrified him, both because of the domesticity behind it as well as the idea of sharing close quarters with this beautiful woman he had already grown far too attached to.

Thankfully, this Doctor no longer needed to have those reservations. It was true that Rose was having a hard time with how things had ended up, but that would change… wouldn't it? She had asked for some time, and patience on his part. He could do that. Moreover, living together in a flat shouldn't be too terribly different than in the TARDIS. Well, no that wasn't true… it could be very different, but still… this is what he had meant when offering to spend his life with her. Where exactly didn't matter, though preferably not under Jackie Tyler's roof for very long. If things progressed according to human customs, well then that could certainly get to be a bit awkward, having Rose's mum nearby. Not that he was entertaining any such thoughts, of course not. Time Lords were far above that line of thinking! Running his hands through his hair, the Doctor scowled. Blasted human hormones, this was going to be a bit tricky.

Tucking the TARDIS coral safely back into his suit pocket, he decided to go exploring to clear his mind. Sonic in hand, the Doctor tiptoed quietly past Rose's room and down the hallway in the direction of the grand staircase. As Rose and he had gone upstairs earlier that evening, he thought he had spotted a library on the ground floor, just over to one side of the entryway. Surely there would be enough new books in there to keep him occupied for a while… at least until he began to feel a bit drowsy.

"Aha!" he whispered triumphantly as he wandered into what was indeed a library, and a grand one at that. "Well done, Pete, well done!" he thought with a smile. This would do quite nicely. Turning on a small lamp over in a corner, the Doctor began perusing the many shelves of books and finally settled on an atlas of this universe's galaxies. It would be a while before they would be up among the stars again, but he may as well get started on familiarizing himself with the differences he would be encountering.

After studying the atlas from cover to cover the Doctor moved on to history books, curious to learn how events in time were different here on Pete's world. He was just getting settled in with another book when he heard a noise coming from not too far away. It was a crying child.

Setting his book down, the Doctor headed in the general direction of the commotion. Down the hallway, a dim light shone through a door that was slightly ajar. Peering through, he saw a little blonde boy sitting in his bed knees drawn up to his chest, tears streaming down his face. He was clutching a stuffed… TARDIS?

The Doctor opened the door a bit further and poked his head in, not wanting to alarm the child. The little boy rubbed his eyes and peered back at the stranger, surprised enough to momentarily stop his crying.

"Hello there!"

The child rubbed his eyes some more and crinkled up his forehead. "Wh-who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor! Who are you?"

"I'm Tony. Tony Tyler."

"Nice to meet you Tony Tyler! I've heard a lot about you! And is that a TARDIS you're holding?"

The little boy looked down at his stuffed TARDIS and then back at the strange man. Tears still on pause, he nodded his head.

"Well now, I had a lot of great toys growing up, but I never had a stuffed TARDIS! You are one lucky little boy! May I see it?"

Again the child just nodded. The Doctor surveyed his face and finding no fear in the little boy's eyes, took it as a good sign and let himself into the room. Sitting cross-legged on the floor beside him, he smiled at Tony who held out one of his most precious belongings to the man in stripped pajamas. Before the Doctor could take it, however, Tony pulled it back and narrowing his brown eyes said, "Are you really the Doctor?"

Grinning, he leaned closer in and whispered, "Do you want me to prove it?"

Tony nodded, sitting up straighter.

Digging into his pocket, the Doctor pulled out his sonic. Tony's eyes went wide and a ghost of a smile began to creep across his still tear-streaked face.

"Is that a sonic screwdriver?!"

"Yep!" the Doctor replied, popping the p.

"Wooow. Can I see it?" asked the awestruck boy, timidly holding out his hand. "I'll let you play with my TARDIS!"

"Fair enough, Tony Tyler! Here you go!" Disabling it before handing it to the little boy, the Doctor made the swap.

As the two looked over each other's traded treasures, shuffling could be heard approaching the room. When the Doctor looked up, there stood Jackie, in a pink fluffy dressing gown. When she took in the sight of her little boy holding the sonic, her eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"Tony Tyler you give that back!" Rounding on the Doctor she continued, "And you, Doctor, don't you know he could blow himself up or something?!"

"It's fine, Jackie! I disabled it; all it can do is light up and make noise."

"Oh. Well, alright then. But why are you two up? You should be sleeping, young man."

Tony gave a great big sniff and put on his best pout. "But mummy, I had a bad dream. I woke up and was scared but look mummy, it's the Doctor! He came to visit me! Is sissy back?"

Jackie's heart melted and she smiled. "Yes sweetheart, Rose is back. But she's sleeping now, and you should be too. There will be plenty of time in the morning to play with the Doctor and Rose, yeah? Now why don't you lie back down and close your eyes."

"But I want a story, mummy. Will you tell me a story? I want to hear about the cats!"

Jackie sighed. The Doctor looked perplexed.

"Sweetheart, you know Rose is the one that's good at telling those stories. Why don't I tell you the one about-"

"That's ok mummy, the Doctor can do it! Not as good as sissy, but he was there too so it's ok. Right Doctor?"

"A little help Jackie?"

Hands on her hips, Jackie sighed. "He means the one about those crazy cat nuns. Why Rose thought it was ok to tell a little 4 year old boy about something like that is beyond me but it's his favorite."

"Ah, the Sisters of Plentitude! Right, excellent taste Tony!"

The little boy beamed.

"All right you two, one story and that's it. I'll be back to check on you in a little while." She tucked Tony back in, kissed him goodnight and shuffled out with one last glance over her shoulder. Her son was grinning from ear to ear as he clutched the Doctor's sonic in his little hands and waited for his favorite story from this man he had grown up hearing so much about.

The next morning Rose woke up feeling a bit disoriented. She was back in her old room and it took her a moment for her mind to catch up with the events of the past forty eight hours. This had always been the hardest part of the day for her when she first arrived in this universe. Waking up and remembering that the Doctor was gone, that she was stranded here without him, and that she didn't know when or if she would ever see him again. Mornings had never been particularly kind to Rose Tyler regardless of what universe she was in, but after the events of Canary Warf they had taken on a nightmarish quality.

This morning was almost the same, but not quite. As she recalled Bad Wolf Bay again in conjunction with her immediate surroundings, her body began to respond the way it usually did. Her reaction was Pavlovian. She could feel her muscles tense in preparation for the onslaught of painful memories. But before her usual tears could cloud her vision, a new feeling crept into her consciousness. Excitement. It was true that the Doctor she lost both at Canary Warf and again just two days ago was still gone, but she wasn't alone this time. Her mind hadn't quite yet figured out what to do with the question of who he really was, but it at least recognized his presence and surprisingly enough, that alone calmed her.

With a nervous eagerness she had not felt in years, Rose got up and quickly got ready. She wondered if the Doctor was still asleep and if she should go to his room to check. As she approached his door she paused. Their parting last night had left her a bit shaken; she was not quite sure what she was feeling. Her body was reacting to his presence and his touch much in the same way it had reacted to her Doctor in the past, but her mind was still setting off alarms. Could they really slip back into their old way of life this easily? She had practically commanded him to move in with her without asking! She had no idea what was happening and it terrified her.

Deciding she needed some tea before facing him again (last night had been a tad awkward there at the end) Rose went downstairs, in the hopes that her mum would be in the kitchen. Glancing down at her watch, she realized she had slept in and it was almost time for Tony to go to nursery. Jackie would no doubt be wrangling her little brother into his clothes and out the door. Perhaps she and her mother would have a chance to talk later.

As she approached the kitchen she could hear some chatter, interspersed by great big giggles. When she was just about to walk in, she was greeted by an unexpected sight that made her stop in her tracks just outside the doorway. Tony was sitting at the table fully dressed, his bowl of cereal polished clean. He was looking on in fascination as the Doctor finished carving something… was that an apple? Jackie stood at the counter sipping her tea and smiling, a far cry from the frazzled state she was usually in every morning as she tried to get Tony ready for the day.

"Rose!"

A blur of blonde hair came barreling at her and a second later she found herself almost being knocked over by her little brother.

"Rose, you're back!"

Dropping down to kneel beside him, Rose gave her baby brother a long hug and peppered his face with kisses until the little boy started to wriggle in her arms in an attempt to escape. He normally didn't mind the attention from his sissy, but today he was insistent.

"Look Rose! Look what the Doctor is making me!"

Leading her by the hand, Tony pulled and pulled until they had made it back to the table. The Doctor looked up at Rose flashing her his most winning smile, the one she couldn't ever help but beam back at. In his hands he held an apple, or what was left of it anyway, now that he had carved it into a little blob with two hands and two feet, a toothy grin upon its face.

"What is it?" she asked perplexed. It wasn't anything she had ever encountered in her travels with him or in this universe either.

"It's an Adipose! Aren't they cute?"

"A what? Adipose? As in… fat?"

"Yep!" he replied, popping the p. Oh how she had missed the way he did that.

"The Doctor told me all about them Rose! They're friendly aliens, but they like to eat your fat so you have to be careful. Don't ever take skinny pills or they'll pop out of your tummy!"

Jackie huffed and rolled her eyes, but couldn't hide the amused look on her face.

Rose was so confused. What in the world were they going on about?

"Alright, young man. Time to finish up your breakfast and get going, you can play with the Doctor some more later."

Tony opened his mouth ready to whine by the looks of it, but before he could the Doctor handed him the apple carving and interjected, "Here you go Tony Tyler, an Adipose ready for the taking! Hurry up and eat him before he decides your tummy looks a bit pudgy!"

The little boy's eyes went wide and he quickly took a chunk out of the blob's little head. He giggled again as he made a big production of eating the alien. Rose looked on in amazement. Tony hated most fresh fruits, she was the only one that could get him to eat them and even then it took a lot of bribing. She glanced over at her mother who just shrugged and shook her head, a look of amused exasperation on her face.

The Doctor stood up and went over to the sink to wash his hands. Tony joined him.

"He's quite taken with him. I think you've got competition now, Rose." Jackie had approached her daughter with a cup of tea, handing it over with a wink.

Rose smiled as she observed the Doctor hoisting Tony up onto the counter so that he could help him wash his sticky hands. When they were done, he hopped off the counter and looked up at the Doctor, a shy grin on his face.

"You'll come back, right Doctor? Mummy said we can play this afternoon! And then you can tell me another story?"

"Absolutely!"

Tony threw his arms around the Doctor's legs and then ran off just as suddenly. Jackie smiled and began to walk off after him. Pausing she turned back to them. "Have a good day you two! Be back for dinner, yeah? I'd like to have at least one nice sit down, all of us, before you go and disappear off into your flat and we don't hear from you for weeks… Oh don't look at me like that Rose! I remember how it was with your father when we first got back!" She winked at the pair and scurried off.

Rose's face grew hot and she shot a glare back at her mother but it was too late, she was gone. What was she playing at? Years ago Jackie was constantly throwing hissy fits about them traveling together, lecturing her about how unseemly it was, and not wanting to know what all they "got up to together in that blue box of his." Now Rose got the distinct feeling she wanted to practically shove them into bed together!

Behind her, the Doctor choked on his tea a bit but recovered quickly and shoved a biscuit in his mouth. Rose wanted to die. This was not how she had imagined their morning starting out.

"So… shopping! Where to then, Rose?"

The Doctor's voice sounded strained, a little too keyed up and excited about clothes shopping, of all things. Especially since he was so adamantly against it just last night. Rose was going to kill her mother.