"Doctor?" Rose asked tentatively.
"Hello," Jason replied, wiggling his fingers at Rose.
"You remember?" Rose asked.
"Yes, Rose, I remember. Everything," he smiled gently.
Rose couldn't help herself. She rushed to the Doctor and threw her arms around him. She nuzzled her face into his chest, trying to stop the tears that we streaming down her face. She hoped that recovering his memories didn't mean that he no longer loved her. As if sensing Rose's concerns, he cupped her cheeks and tilted her head up to look at him.
"I love you, Rose Tyler. Nothing will ever change that," the Doctor comforted.
"I love you too, Doctor. I'll love you for my forever," Rose replied.
As they embraced, he asked, "Now then. Would you mind explaining to me why you have a Type 40 TT Capsule in your basement?"
Rose pulled back to smile at the Doctor. "Well, it's a bit of a long story, and Jack's already heard it." Rose reached for the Doctor's hands and moved them up to her temples. "But, I can show it to you instead." She offered with a knowing smile.
The Doctor gasped at what Rose was implying. "Are you sure?" he asked with wide eyes.
"Always," Rose replied.
The Doctor rested his fingers on her temples and Rose welcomed him immediately into her mind. She wasted no time in showing him her history with her first Doctor all the way through to meeting Jason in Manchester. When he finally receded from Rose's mind, the Doctor said "Blimey! I'm not sure I would have believed it if I hadn't seen it. Your Doctor was a much braver man than me."
"I don't know," Rose responded with a twinkle in her eye. "He always said he was a coward before the metacrisis. That little bit of human gave him the courage to finally stop running from his feelings. Plus, he never took a bullet for me."
"Yes, well, thank goodness for binary vascular systems," the Doctor winked at her. "So, that TARDIS is yours then? It appears that I am in the market for a new one."
"That's good news because I'm hiring a pilot."
"Fantastic!"
Somewhere behind them, Jack cleared his throat. "Well, I suppose if I'm not needed here anymore…" He made to move to the door to leave but the Doctor stopped him.
"Jack, wait." The Doctor walked over to Jack and embraced him. "Thank you for taking care of me all these years. I'm sorry my ship pulled you from your time to do it, but I'm glad she did. You are a great friend to me."
"To both of us," Rose added as she approached and hugged Jack in turn. "Please don't go. Come travel with us."
"Hmmm…" Jack pretended to think about it. "Only if you promise to take me the pleasure spa on Tiful's third moon? I've heard their cocktail hour is… inspiring." Jack winked.
"Anywhere in time and space," Rose replied. "As long as our pilot can get us there…"
"Oi!" the Doctor replied, "I can fly a TARDIS!"
"I know you can fly it, Doctor. The question is, can you land it?" Rose gave him a cheeky grin.
"I'll show you, Rose Tyler!" and he ran down the basement steps into the TARDIS with Jack and Rose at his heels.
Just as they entered the TARDIS, the hologram image of Susan, the Doctor's granddaughter, appeared before them.
"Susan?" the Doctor asked.
"Hello, my pilot," the TARDIS replied. The Doctor opened and closed his mouth several times, unable to speak whatever thoughts were swirling in his head. Susan grinned at him. "It's a rare moment when someone can stop that runaway gob of yours."
"What is this about?" the Doctor asked skeptically.
"Your TARDIS, my sister, embedded a message in her heart, which my Wolf dutifully brought back with her at your ship's request," the image explained. "She asked me to show this message to you when you recovered your memories. She loved you and wanted to see you happy. All she did up to the very end she did for love of you. And now, please place her heart inside of mine." Susan gestured to the console where Rose had left the heart. Rose approached the console, picked up the crystal and inserted into the slot that appeared in the middle of the levers and buttons.
"Her final act of love is to give to you the one thing you both deserve – another chance at forever with someone at your side. Her dying wish was for her pilot to be happy and loved for his forever," the Susan projection explained. "You're always rubbish on your own. But if my Wolf will consent, your TARDIS wanted Rose to have her remaining life so that Rose can fulfill her promise of forever."
The Doctor's mouth fell open as he realized what his dying TARDIS had given him. He moved to Rose and took her hands.
"Rose. My beautiful Rose," the Doctor lifted both hands to his mouth to kiss her knuckles. "My TARDIS used the last of her life to offer you a gift. There is enough energy left in her heart to modify your biology. It will extend your lifespan to match the lives that I have left."
"You mean…I can live as long as you? And travel the stars and experience the wonders of the universe together? For your forever?" Rose asked.
"For our forever," the Doctor answered.
Rose looked around the room at Jack, Susan, the time rotor, and back to the Doctor. All she had ever wanted since she met the Doctor all those years ago was to spend the rest of her life with him. Even when his human life was cut short, she hadn't felt a moment of regret in their life together. Rose was overwhelmed at the prospect of another chance to be happy and to live with the Doctor again, this time without her short human lifespan always hanging over their heads.
"Forever, then," Rose replied. "That's all I've ever wanted. I love you, my Doctor."
"I love you, my Rose."
"My Wolf, please stand in front of the console," Susan explained. "My pilot and my captain, please come stand beside me." Everyone moved as the TARDIS instructed and then she continued. "My wolf, you remember what it was like to look into the time vortex. This will feel similar, although it will not be without some discomfort." She turned to the men by her side. "Do not interfere until the process is complete."
With a nod from Rose to Susan, the console opened slowly as the vortex energy snaked out and swirled around Rose. Rose felt the burning of her body, down to the cellular level. The burning felt like it might consume her, but for Jack and the Doctor's sakes, Rose kept her mouth closed in an effort to stifle her screams of pain. As the burning receded, Rose's senses awoke – she saw colors she's never seen with her human eyes, heard the musical undertones of the TARDIS's hum, and tasted the chemical makeup of the air she breathed into her lungs. She glanced at Jack and the Doctor and gasped at the beauty of their timelines swirling above them. She smiled, waved her hand and said, "Hello."
The Doctor approached slowly, as if approaching a priceless piece of art balanced precariously on a shelf. Rose rushed into his embrace, studying the complexities of his scent – leather, tea, and time were now mixed with hormones and pheromones. She pulled back and the Doctor rested his hands over her hearts, smiling enthusiastically when he felt the double thump under his palms.
"My love, my hearts," the Doctor said in Gallifreyan.
"My love, my hearts," Rose repeated back. The Doctor's eyes glistened at the sound of his native tongue on another's lips. Rose then leaned forward and whispered the Doctor's given name into his ear for the second time that day. He kissed her passionately.
After a few minutes, Jack asked "Is there room for a third?"
"Jack…" the Doctor warned and Rose giggled.
"We can continue this later, Doctor," Rose explained. "I believe we promised Jack a trip. But if he doesn't mind, I'd like to say goodbye to Mum, Pete, and Tony, yeah?"
"But Rooose…" the Doctor whined. "What's the point of having a time traveling ship if we have to say goodbye when we leave?"
"Doctor, you brought me back twelve months late one time, so unless you want a Tyler slap from Mum, you better take me to tell her goodbye."
"Technically, that wasn't even me!" the Doctor complained.
"True," Rose replied, "but Mum prefers to slap first and ask questions later."
"Alright…" the Doctor agreed. "First stop, Tyler mansion, say, 6:30 tonight."
The flight to the Tyler mansion was surprisingly smooth and the Doctor made sure to point this out to his two companions. Before he could gloat too much, a loud banging on the TARDIS door interrupted him.
"Oi! What do you think you're doing, landin' in the middle of my kitchen!" Jackie's voice could be heard on the other side of the door. "I'm in the middle of making dinner!"
Rose couldn't help the giggle that bubbled out of her mouth. "Well…. At least you got here at the right time."
Rose, Jack and the Doctor walked out the doors of the TARDIS to find Jackie with one hand on her hip and the other wielding a wooden spoon.
"I see you're driving's not much better," Jackie smirked at the Doctor, who rolled his eyes at her in response. The sound of trainers skidding along the wood floor rang through the kitchen as Tony ran in with his mouth gaping at the sight of the TARDIS.
"It works! When did you learn to pilot it, sis?" Tony approached the ship in awe.
"I didn't. The Doctor flew us here," Rose replied, gesturing to the Doctor. "Tony, this is the Doctor. Doctor, this is my little brother, Tony."
"Hello, Tony," the Doctor grinned at him. "Fancy a little trip in the TARDIS?"
"Oi! Absolutely not!" Jackie replied before Tony could open his mouth. "There will be no TARDIS-flying for you until you're at least 18. I'll not have an alien kidnap both my children!"
Before anyone could argue, the sound of the front door closing and Pete's voice echoed through the mansion "Hello?"
"In here, Dad," Rose replied. Pete walked into the kitchen and smiled at the sight before him – his wife clearly annoyed by something the Doctor had done, his daughter grinning bigger than he'd seen in years, and the sparkle of something purely alien in the Doctor's eyes, much like what he'd seen in the eyes of the first, and second, versions of the Doctor the he had known.
"I see Rose has helped you recover your memories?" Pete asked the Doctor.
"That she has," the Doctor replied. "And I'm eternally grateful to her for everything. And to you too, Pete. That's a fine medical staff you've got at Torchwood."
"I can't agree more," Pete replied. "I assume this means that you're off traveling together now?" The Doctor nodded but Jackie interrupted.
"Not yet, you aren't," she exclaimed. "You'll stay for dinner." The Doctor was about the decline the offer, but Jackie added "We're having banana cream pie for pudding."
"Well, I suppose we could delay our departure a couple of hours. Wouldn't want to miss banana cream pie. Bananas are good," the Doctor agreed.
While Jackie finished fixing dinner, the Doctor and Jack moved the TARDIS to the garden and returned to find Rose in Pete's home office on the computer. Rose clicked a few final buttons and then stood up from the desk.
"There you go, Dad. I've submitted my resignation officially," Rose explained.
"I'm sorry to see you leave, but I hope you'll consider my proposal to remain on contract as a consultant," Pete replied. "And that goes for you too, Doctor and Jack. Your expertise could be invaluable to us, particularly in a crisis."
Jack and the Doctor glanced at each other and then back at Pete. "I think I speak for both the Doctor and myself when I say that we've both become a bit attached to 21st century Earth. We'll do whatever we can to help when and where we are needed."
The Doctor nodded in agreement, "Plus, I'd like to keep teaching for a bit. At least finish out the year with my current students. Grown attached to those little apes, me."
"Good," Pete reached out to shake their hands. "Please consider yourselves family. You are always welcome here."
After dinner, Jackie said a tearful goodbye to Rose as they prepared to leave, despite Rose's reassurances that they would return regularly for visits. Pete wrapped his arms around his wife to comfort her. Tony was disappointed that he couldn't go too, but Rose offered to bring him back as many souvenirs as she could.
Rose couldn't contain her excitement as they entered the TARDIS and the Doctor moved to send the ship into the Vortex. Rose decided not to tell her mum about her extended lifespan. Figured she'd save it for a future visit after she'd had time to prepare for her mum's reaction.
After dropping a bouncing Jack off at his pleasure planet of choice with promises to return in a week, the Doctor sent the ship back into the vortex and turned to Rose.
"Well, where do you want to go now? We've got a whole new universe to discover. Do you think the dogs in Barcelona have noses in this universe? Maybe New New York? Does it have apple-grass? Or maybe pear-grass… ew… no… maybe not…" The Doctor rambled off a few more ideas before Rose stopped him with a hard kiss.
"Doctor," she said when she pulled away. "How about we stay in the vortex for a bit, yeah? We can explore the TARDIS..."
The Doctor looked at Rose, a hint of disappointment in his features. "Alright, Rose," he agreed. "Where should we start?"
"How about the bedroom?" Rose suggested with a flirtatious grin.
Realization hit the Doctor as he processed her reply. His grin grew from ear to ear and a hint of pink colored his ears.
"Fantastic!"