Rose let go of the safety of the coral strut she'd been clinging hold of.

"John? Is that you?" she had to ask, in case by some miracle, they'd swapped places during his regeneration.

"Sorry Rose, it's just me, well the new and improved me and I have you to thank for that so how about that hug?"

"Yeah, 'course it's you, it's just me being daft, sorry. I didn't know what I was saying."

It was the Doctor who stepped up to her, the leather jacket almost falling off him. He outstretched his arms and Rose did the same.

"You must have missed hugging me eh? Well like I am now anyway and that's fine Rose, I'm not offended you couldn't bring yourself to treat me like your boyfriend, that's very understandable and very loyal of you," he told her as she began to relax into him a little,

He still knew he was no substitute for her version of him though. He'd looked at the whole situation a number of ways but there was nothing he could do, he'd never be the man she wanted back, even after travelling together. All he could do now was try to act a bit more like the one she'd lost and lose all that gruffness he'd become accustomed to.

They stood for a while, just holding onto each other, like they'd actually been apart for the six months or so it had seemed like for Rose.

"You ok?" he asked, letting go slightly.

"Yeah. Are ya gonna tell me what just happened?"

"You saw me regenerate Rose, it would have happened sooner or later. I don't blame you in any way for it," he assured her.

"I made you change though, didn't I? I was being selfish, I wanted him back," Rose told him sadly.

He held onto her arms. Yes, she'd wanted him back, the future him but this is what he'd meant, she was never destined to meet up with the other one, no matter how much they both wanted it. She had to go through these events then maybe, just maybe, the other one would have had the time to come up with a plan for whatever broke them up. That only inferred one thing, the other one would have to break the rules and come back and stop whatever it was from happening. That way, they would still be together, with Rose in the future but what did it matter if she was?

She obviously hadn't been intended to be around after whatever had broken them up so why not cheat a little?

"I should go get changed, I think I lost a bit of weight," the new Doctor grinned at her. "I had so many questions to ask but they seem a bit pointless now. I had planned for my next regeneration but now I already know the answers and guess what the best part is?" he laughed, leading her to sit down.

"What's that Doctor?"

"I get to spend it with you, isn't that brilliant?" he laughed, letting her go and doing a dance around the console.

Rose stared at him. Then she realised, this was a younger version of John. Of course it was, how stupid had she been?

"Doctor, can I ask you something?"

The new Doctor stopped for a moment, making a dance out of flipping a few switches and finishing with a 'Ha!'

"Yes Rose, of course you can ask questions, ask away then! That's what you do."

"How long is a Timelord year, compared with a human one?"

"What? Is that a trick question? Blimey," he mumbled, putting his hand on his chin and thinking about it.

"Well, if it's too difficult for ya?" she teased, doing that thing with her tongue that John had loved so much about her.

"Yes, I can answer the question, do you doubt me?" he teased, sitting beside her and doing his best not to look like the black jeans were falling off him. "Hmm, let's see," he began, doing some calculations in his head and counting his fingers.

Rose giggled.

"Rose Tyler, you are winding me up," he declared, a big smile on his face. "You were just testing me, weren't you?" he nudged her, his long legs resting against the console. "Why do you want to know anyway?" he asked.

"Nothing Doctor, I told ya, I was just being selfish. I think I figured it out, that's all."

He looked concerned at her. "You figured what out Rose? Is it the fact that you'll never catch up with the future me? It's ok to admit, it's not like I don't know how you felt about him but I was hoping, maybe he meant for you to start over, with me?"

"Yeah, that's what he said, that in the future, he wouldn't have been so sad and missed me as much, if we'd got closer," she had to admit.

"You agreed? That you'd try? Rose, you don't seem to understand. I go on to be him, I'm the one who gets zapped into the past and spent it with you, until I could get back. Think about it this way, like a ripple on a pond, where does it start and where does it end eh? You can't rule out the possibility that by going back, he'd changed things so much that it rippled back, to me."

"Whatcha mean Doctor? That part of him rippled back into you, part of his personality?"

"Exactly Rose, that's where I get my personality from that I eventually become him. Blimey, this is difficult to explain. Long and short of it, I become him. Isn't that enough?"

Rose still looked a little sad to him though, like she wasn't entirely convinced. He got up and crossed behind the console, checking the monitor. There was just one thing that might just cheer her up or send her running away for good.

"Want a home visit?"

"You said you weren't taking me home every five minutes," Rose tried to smile.

"That was the other me, you can go home as many times as you want or need, I don't think I'm going to have quite as much a problem with your mother as my former self, like when she almost caused me to skip this regeneration when she slapped me for having you go missing for a year," he smiled from behind the monitor and seeing it was Christmas Eve, a tradition even his old self knew anyone from Earth hated to miss, well almost everyone.

"Really? Well I did leave my mum wondering if I was going back or if you were. Doctor, it was so much easier once I'd told her you were going to sort of change into a slightly different John, she asked me, when you sent me back if you'd already changed."

"Blimey, it's that easy?" he laughed. "Home it is then and a nice time of the year it is back there if I might say so?"

"Doctor, don't you dare take me back to last New Years Day or you'll have a very short regeneration this time around. Did he tell you to do that?"

"Who? What? What are you talking about Rose?" he stuttered, still holding the monitor like it would save him if she got really mad with him.

Maybe some of her Doctor's traits and mannerisms were seeping back from his future self and maybe, eventually, she would accept him as he was but not in the mood she seemed to be in now.

"You, trying to cause a paradox or implode the universe, whatever, what do I know? By taking me back to New Years day and me never meeting you, him."

"What? Why would I do that Rose? That was the best thing that could have happened to me, seeing you again after getting zapped from the future. You just don't get it, do you?" he smiled, thinking he really must go and get changed.

Rose nodded her head. "Get what? This is doing my head in, I can't think straight any more," she complained, letting herself fall to the side and curling up her legs.

He went to stand beside her. "My poor confused Rose. I would never do that to you but we would have still met, you'd have still changed me, that will never change, it's a fixed point in time, it was meant to happen."

"Really?" she managed to peer up at him when he stood in front of the console. "You look funny in those clothes, like they were your dad's or something," she smiled.

"Yes, I know but it makes you smile," he told her as he offered her his hand. "Rose, would it upset you very much if I chose the same outfit he used to wear, well when you met him?"

"You think it would upset me?" she asked, wiping a damp spot on her cheek. "Oh, you think by wearing it, we can start again?"

"Well that was the idea, if you want? It's not compulsory. I know why you were asking about the years."

"You do?" she asked as he hitched up his jeans, getting him another smile.

"You think that John, who is two years in the future is now even further ahead, according to Earth time, right?" Rose nodded. "While that's true, he will have altered his appearance so that he looks very slightly to have aged like a Human male."

"Timelords can do that?' she asked, hoping she'd still recognise him if they ever did catch up.

"Well yeah, we have to, wouldn't want to get captured by some alien chasers who thought we had the secret of eternal youth, would we?" he laughed as he offered his hand again, Rose reaching out for it and letting him sit her up. "That's better, it's not easy talking to an upside-down Rose," he smiled.

"So he won't look that much different, if I see him again?"

He still knew he was never going to win this battle with her. "Rose, I think what he meant was, somehow, you take me and make me into him, to what I become in the future. It's an endless paradox Rose, there is never going to be an outcome to this, you will always be two years behind him, that has to stay. Let me explain it to you but first, I really should get changed then we'll go see your mum eh?"

"Yeah, ok but I've got nothing for her."

"You're taking yourself back, what else could she possibly ask for?" he grinned.

Rose waited for him coming back, deciding to at least warn her mother it had actually happened.

"Hi Mum, we're on our way back."

"Well thank goodness for that then. Well, is he still rude or has he been changed by a near death experience?"

"He's changed Mum, he looks like John did but he's not the same."

"Listen to me Rose Tyler, you've been wanting this for the last six months and if you hurt him by saying it's not really him, then you don't deserve him, do you hear me? Can you imagine how hard it was for him to leave you like he did? It must have tortured him, allowing himself to get close to you and him never being able to see you again. At least you get to see a part of him. Well, what have you got to say for yourself?"

What could she say for herself? She was being ungrateful that he'd come back at all, throwing it back in his face.

"Sorry, I don't mean to hurt him Mum."

"Then you'd better tell him that before you come round. I'll have to go see if the shops still have any turkeys left, I didn't know if you were coming home or not. You've not lost your key have you?"

After saying she hadn't, she sat with her phone in her hand.

"It went that well did it?" the Doctor asked from the doorway.

Rose turned around and almost fell off the seat and he dashed over, taking her arm and sitting beside her after throwing his trench coat over a strut and thinking he might just start doing that.

"Hey, are you ok? Rose? Is this too much for you?"

"What? No, it was just a bit of a shock, for a moment I…" she stuttered.

"You thought I was him? I shouldn't have been so cruel as to dress like him, sorry."

"No, I have to get over this Doctor and it's me who should say sorry to you, I've been thinking about myself, not you. I have to think about how you feel about all this."

"Oh," he blinked, absent-mindedly rubbing the back of her hand and hoping the other him hadn't done that as some kind of mating ritual. Maybe that was a bit too soon. "Don't worry about me, Timelords don't get offended," he lied.

He had been offended, something he'd never even felt before he'd met her but he still kept her with him, hoping one day she would accept who he was. Now at least, they were one step nearer since he'd emerged from his regeneration.

Rose saw right through him. "I know you, this you, remember? You can't fool me."

"No," he grinned, "I don't suppose I can eh? Let's have a nice visit to your mother's for the next day or so?"

"Yeah, ok then, truce?"

"Truce, yes, absolutely Rose Tyler. I'm not your enemy Rose but maybe you should remember your promise to John? You said you'd try and make a go of it this time around, to make it easier in the future?"

"You mean if you hadn't come back?"

"Exactly. That was a fluke Rose, it should never have been possible but it was an intervention if you want to put it that way?"

Rose shook her head, still trying to come to grips with the fact this was just a younger version of her Doctor, by two years, which was why she'd been trying to find out how long it was in his terms. As if he knew, he answered her.

"Rose, time isn't a straight line you know? It's not like going from London to Brighton, think of it more like going via Birmingham? Yes, that's me two years in the future but I'm also here with you, now and I become him, for you. You made me Rose, you influence who I become. You could even say that when I came back it was because I was thinking about you. Oh, hang on, I did, didn't I?" he grinned, nudging her.

She knew what he was trying to do, to make her understand he was her Doctor, just a bit too early.

"So, let me get this right? You got zapped back to me because you were thinking about me, I already know that, you told me just before you left but you went back happy, because you'd got to see me again?"

"Oh yes Rose, can you imagine what a vast difference it made to him, getting to see you again? He thought he'd lost you and he got another chance. That's why now, it's coming back through time, slowly and I will become him."

"There'll still be two of you though, won't there?"

"Well yes, that's inevitable and maybe we'll meet up some day? Maybe by some flux in time, we'll cross timelines but it's very unlikely, I can't give you false hope Rose but you already know that? Right, shall we go face your mother's cooking? Can we make it tomorrow though, I'm sure she'll be out partying tonight and she'll give me a lecture for going away and leaving you."