"Must be the other me," he muttered to himself. "I think I'm getting some of his memories but I hope I don't get too many, it'll take all the fun out of it." He had a feeling it was more than that though.
He was just glad Rose hadn't heard he'd been talking to himself as she came back in.
"Not getting dressed up?" he asked, looking at her jeans, white top and grey jacket.
"What for?" she asked, looking down at herself. "I don't want my mum thinking I've got a posh wardrobe."
"Ah, good point. So, ready to explain a few more things to her then?" he asked, taking his long coat from the coral strut.
"New coat hanger Doctor?" Rose smiled.
"Possibly, I was rather in a hurry to stop you collapsing on the floor at the time. Are you feeling better?" he asked hopefully.
"Sort of. This is gonna take some explaining. I mean I told her a few things, like the you that's just disappeared was a different version of John but I'm not promising she'll get the bit where you are, well, a younger version of him."
"Rose, we can forget it if you want? I could always take you to the Christmas village in Germany or the planet Christmas."
"You're having me on Doctor," she nudged him playfully.
"No, there's a planet that has snow all year round, you'd love it," he told her, holding his hand out.
He smiled when she took it and played with it with her other hand.
"Doctor, if you'd rather go some place else? You can leave me and come back for me?"
"What? Why would I want to do that? Rose, we are going to spend this Christmas Day at your mother's because, well, it's the right thing to do."
He didn't want to tell her that he had got this feeling that things the last time hadn't gone so smoothly for the planet Earth. He wasn't quite sure how this was going to work, memories trickling into his mind of things he'd not even done yet but surely it would give him the advantage or was it cheating? No, how could it be cheating if his other self had already done it and he was just passing on a few tips?
"Oh, come on then but we should have got her a present."
The Doctor let go of her hand and dashed behind the console, bringing two boxes wrapped in shiny red paper with white bows and a tag on each.
He handed one with Rose's name on it to her. "Happy Christmas Rose," he told her, standing back. "No, don't open it until later, it's a surprise."
Rose stared at him, accepting the gift. "You shouldn't have Doctor. Thanks, it means a lot to me."
"My pleasure, now you won't feel guilty about not being able to give her anything. Come on then, let's hope she found a turkey from somewhere? Did I tell you that on some planets, they think that the English eat the people of the country Turkey for Christmas dinner?" he laughed, wondering where that had come from. "They also think that Santa has fearsome claws and you spend the day after Christmas boxing each other?"
"You're having me on again Doctor, John never told me that. Do ya think he's telling you these things?"
"You think he is?" he asked, sure that it was true to a certain extent because he'd just regenerated, been nowhere and he knew he couldn't possibly know that something should be going on outside but it was all quiet. He was getting the strangest of feelings though.
"Well, if he is, at least we know you're still around, eh Doctor?" she asked, putting her present on top of the other as he held her mother's out for her to do so.
Rose opened the door then looped her arm through his. She missed John, so much but would he want her to mope around and miss out on what she could have with this version of him? The Doctor chatted away as Rose opened the door to the block of flats and they climbed the stairs.
"I was wondering if she's invited Mickey?" Rose asked him as they reached her floor.
"Why would she do that? Doesn't she trust me that she feels she needs a referee?" he grinned.
"As long as she doesn't think I'm that low right now she can shove me back to him," Rose replied, knowing this wasn't going to be easy for either of them and it was almost a year since she'd first met him, well this him.
The Doctor let it slide, he was only making things worse for her by acting and dressing like the man she wished he was. He was about to be in for a few surprises, including Jackie giving him a big hug and not wanting to let go when they entered the flat.
"John! You're back," Jackie shrieked, making Rose take the two presents as she dragged him inside. Then once she let him go she turned to Rose, who had since put the two boxes down. "Oh, don't worry, that was just for the neighbours who keep asking if he's come back yet. I told them he might be back for the holidays and here you are."
The Doctor wiped his cheek on his coat sleeve and was sure there was still some lipstick there.
"Yeah, he's back mum, just a slightly different version but it's him. So, do ya need any help with dinner?"
"No, don't be so daft, you two go watch the telly. Oh, you don't mind I invited Mickey do ya? Only I'm sure he was only going to open a tin of baked beans, poor soul. Did he find ya in Cardiff? He never said."
"Yeah Mum, he found us. Well, open your present, it's from both of us," she pointed to the one with 'Mum' on the tag.
She went to sit next to the Doctor in the chair so he smiled and moved over, thinking she and John would have done that but at least she'd not totally rejected him. He'd been thinking that if they took it very slowly, they could make it work and when she was gone, which wouldn't ever change, he'd be a lot less lonely than his other self had been.
Jackie opened her present, a purple fluffy jumper and Rose wondered where he'd got the idea from.
"Aw, it's lovely Rose, thanks. I'll just go get yours and John's. Oh, do ya mind if I call you that now?" she added, seeing Rose was now curled up at his side, like she used to do when they had visited every Sunday before he'd 'gone away'.
The Doctor thought about it, what did Rose think about it all?
"Well, if you insist though no-one actually called me that. I came up with it years ago when I started visiting Earth on a regular basis, then I got grounded and got a job as an advisor to UNIT but they always called me Doctor."
"Yeah but don't ya get tired of it?" Jackie asked as she came back in with two presents.
The Doctor had never been given a Christmas present before so he was at a bit of a loss. Rose got up slightly and passed it to him.
"Open yours first then?" she insisted, looking at the flat package.
He smiled at her and carefully opened it. It was an olive green Beatles t-shirt and the Doctor didn't know what to say.
Rose noticed. "It's yours, I mean John's favourite band, we used to dance around to their songs."
"Oh, well in that case, they're my favourite band, I almost became the fifth Beatle, did I ever tell you?"
"Yeah, loads of time and how you got mixed up with them at the airport and everyone thought you were Paul."
The Doctor grinned. "Sorry, that's not happened to me yet but thanks for the warning."
"Sorry, I keep forgetting," Rose apologised, reaching for her present. It was a blue hooded top so Rose smiled and thanked her mother.
Jackie went off to fuss over dinner, leaving the two of them and Rose put the presents on the new coffee table her mother had made her pay for to atone for smashing the other one, being strangled by a plastic arm or not.
Rose sat back against him as he watched the 24hr news about a probe that had been sent to Mars.
"So, do ya think they'll find anything once it lands?" Rose asked him, trying to show an interest.
"What? Oh, there's no-one there now, all gone, a long time ago. I did spend quite a lot of time there in my fourth regeneration, did I not tell you?"
"Nah, you never got a round to it but I think you mentioned something about pyramids. Are you ok with this?"
"With what? Sitting watching the news?"
"No, me sitting with ya."
"If that's what you used to do then I don't object. I know this isn't easy for either of us Rose but I'm not opposed to you doing what you used to do with him, if that's what you want?"
"I think I do but I don't want to make ya uncomfortable," she replied, putting her hand in his.
"Oh no Rose, you could never do that. I wish I could explain things better to you. You looked after me, when I got stranded here and I could never repay you for that and then, I just left you and I am so sorry that I had to do that."
"Let's not go through that again Doctor. I had to accept you went back where you belonged and knowing I'd be seeing you again kept me going. You though, the other you, you said nothing about it, you let me go on about him like I was talking about someone else."
"Rose, we're all separate individuals, we just share memories and sometimes, certain traits are passed on but other times, we are completely different and are not always so agreeable and people leave but hey, there is no way I am ever going to leave you behind, ok?"
"Yeah, he told me about that. He said there were only a few who chose to stay, one was Sarah-Jane and the only way you left her was because you had to go home and humans weren't allowed. How come you never went back for her though?"
The Doctor turned off the TV. "Sometimes Rose, it's best I leave people to get on with their lives and hopefully they are better for having travelled with me but take for example when I just changed? You knew who I was, you knew who I was going to change in to but imagine if you were seeing it and you had no idea what to expect? What if you had rejected me and gone running off as soon as we landed? Sometimes it hurts to see people go so to spare myself, I never go back and that's where you were different."
"You came back for me, the first time, before you knew about John. You said you'd rarely done that before."
"Maybe I just had a good feeling about you?" he lied, knowing full well what had taken him back, the same feeling he was getting now that he'd done it before and another version of himself had already met Rose and lost her.
How could he prevent that this time, without causing a temporal anomaly but the more he'd thought about it, the more he'd come to believe she was no longer around and that meant one of two things. She had died or was lost somewhere in time or even worse, was no longer on the planet and he just hoped she'd been sent to a parallel earth and not into the void or the time vortex, both were equally deadly.
"Well, I was glad ya did come back to me," Rose smiled, touching his cheek then kissing it.
"Did your mother leave any marks earlier?" he grinned.
"Nah, you're clear, she rarely leaves a mark," Rose laughed, checking both sides of his face and kissing the other cheek.
"Tell that to the old me who got his face slapped, that really hurt," he smiled.
"Oh, you remember that?" Rose teased him.
"Well yeah, can you kiss it better again?" he asked, putting his hand on hers as he squeezed her shoulder.
Rose smiled at him. He was just as cute as her Doctor had been, maybe even a little bit cuter because he was slightly younger and he acted younger but that was to be expected after he'd only just regenerated.
"Doctor, I'm sorry, for reacting like I did earlier. I can't imagine what it's been like for you these last six months, knowing the you in the future and I shared something but he told me, before you took him back that we weren't meant to have anything at all until he changed. Don't ask me why, I thought it was a bit harsh, you were still the same person but I think I get now what he meant."
"Do you?" he asked, touching her cheek gently. "Then tell me or is it another of your secrets you're not allowed to share with me?"
"What you said, I made you regenerate, you changed to please me so that I would fall for you and I did. I get that you've done all this before, well I think I get it, it's just a bit strange thinking that I've done it all before as well so there's another me out there somewhere but he wouldn't tell me what happened."
"He, I mean I can never tell you that but Rose, sometimes things are in flux, which means anything can happen and what causes us to part may also be in flux. I'll have to study the timelines a little closer when we get back to the Tardis but even if it's not, maybe we can cheat a little and manipulate them?"
"You'd do that for me?" she asked, running her fingers through his hair, now he had some again.
"Oh yes Rose, you would be so worth it. So, what do you think eh? Want to give us a chance? I mean I know I'll be different from the other me, in lots of ways but it's what he wanted. Well?"
"Can we take this slowly? I mean it's gonna get a bit of getting used to and I know it's what I wanted all this time, to have you back but I wouldn't want you to think I'm only doing this because I don't have a choice."
"I'd never think that Rose, I know this must be really hard for you, to accept that I'm him, just a bit early. It's like looking at a photo of someone when they were younger, before you knew them. You know it's them but you've never actually seen them like that."
"I suppose that's true. My mum said I must be upsetting you, am I?"
"I can't deny you gave me a bit of a frosty reception but I half expected it. Why don't we take this slowly then? How long did it take you and the other me?"
Rose smiled. "About a week, just as we moved in together."
"Blimey, I must be losing my touch then?" he grinned.
"Oh I don't know Doctor, I think you've still got it but I'll have to check on that."
Moving his arm from her shoulder, he pulled her closer. "Is that right?" he asked, putting his other one around her waist.
Rose ruffled his hair and put her other arm around his neck.
"Mum said I wasn't being fair, she said you went away knowing you'd never see me again while I got the chance to get you back."
"Well, imagine your mother getting something right?" he grinned.
Jackie had chosen that moment to open the hatch. "Oi, I heard that."
Rose giggled as Jackie closed it again. If they were going to make up, she wasn't going to watch. She waited a few minutes then dared look again to see them kissing, arms around each other.
"Daft pair, they don't know how lucky they are to see each other again," she said to herself as she checked on the turkey she'd had in the oven since she got up.
A while later, they were all sat around the table, Mickey had reluctantly joined them and the Doctor had won a pink paper hat when he and Rose had pulled a Christmas cracker and given it to her, Rose smiling at him. Then Jackie got a call to say to go outside, it was snowing. As the Doctor stood holding Rose's hand, he got another feeling that things had gone rather differently the last time around but since he thought it was trickling down slowly from the future, he hadn't got the full picture.
Rose squeezed his hand. "Whatcha thinking about Doctor?" she asked, kissing his cheek then trying to dodge some snow.
"Ah, nothing my love. So, where shall we go first then?"
Still holding his hand, she pointed to some stars, then saw a shooting star fly across the sky. "That way?" she asked, then changing her mind.
"Well how about that way?" he asked smiling at her and stealing a kiss, Mickey looking like he wanted to throw up again.
"I think you two are completely mad," her mother told them, her arms folded. "You just got each other back and you're off again."
"Yes but Jackie, this time, Rose and I will enjoy the experience so much better. Don't you think Rose?"
"Yeah? Can we just stay until morning?"
"For you, anything, as long as your mother doesn't throw me out?" he asked, looking at who was sooner or later going to become his sort of mother-in-law.
"I never threw ya out before, did I?" Jackie protested.
Rose noticed Mickey was sneaking off.
"Leave him love, we'll see him again soon enough, his curiosity will get the better of him and he'll start looking for excuses to bring us back, trust me."
"You know that because?"
"Because I'm getting it from the other me, slowly and that's fine because you know what?"
Rose shook her head. He took her to one side, out of the earshot of the few people who'd remained.
"Because I think what I said is true Rose, I am becoming him more and more and I think, well I have a theory we, well me and the future me, well eventually, well, we'll merge, become one."
Rose was stunned. This was not what she was expecting. "Wow, you really think so? So, that's good, yeah, because then, there's only gonna be one of ya and I don't have to worry about my Doctor in the future being ok, right?"
"Oh that is so right Rose, this is what he meant. How did he know though I wonder? If this is only happening now? Oh, I get it."
"Are you gonna share?"
"The regeneration Rose, the regeneration, you absorbing the time vortex, me taking it out of you. I did tell you that?"
"You just did, is that how I got back to you, to save you?"
"Well yes but never mind that now. You told the Tardis you wanted to go back to me, the Tardis knew the time vortex would be taken from you and that I'd regenerate, are you with me?" Rose nodded, trying to keep up. "The Tardis somehow connected herself to the other Tardis your Doctor was using and wham!" he clapped his hand, making a few people turn towards them.
The Doctor grinned and waved until they'd all gone back inside.
"A fusion of the two Tardises, two identical Doctors. Rose, it's not that the thoughts are trickling down from the future at all, it's me, us absorbing them but they're starting to wear off as time passes. It wouldn't be good if I knew what was going to happen in the future. I remember a few things though," he told her, letting them into the block of flats and Rose staring at him.
"You know the code," she stated, not believing what she was hearing.
"Well not just that but you told me something, well that I'd have to be careful about knowing what was going to happen because people would take advantage of it."
"Yeah, I told that to John when he first got here. It's true then? You're my Doctor?"
"Oh yes Rose, I think I just might be. Are you ok with that?" he asked as they reached her floor.
"Yeah, of course I'm ok with it. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well I thought because I'd changed slightly, well you wouldn't believe me."
"You're only a bit different but it's you, you're John. You've been tryin' to tell me that all day and I couldn't grasp it."
"Well, it's just a bit of a shock, that's all. I never noticed it but it's becoming clear now. I'll only remember the past, not the future, that's all to come but I know something valuable."
"You do?" Rose asked as they reached Jackie's door. "Are ya gonna tell me?"
He wasn't quite sure if he should tell her the other him had figured out a way to prevent them being parted but what it involved was too much to tell her, that his two worst enemies would come together and cause her to be flung towards the void and a figure from her past would be the one to save her but he'd been right, she'd been taken to another parallel universe. His other self though, before they had almost fully merged had managed to relay a way to prevent it but until then, he was going to spend every moment he could making up for the time they'd been apart.
As they lay in Rose's bed that night, getting to know each other again, he made her a promise.
"Rose, whatever was the reason to split us up, I'm going to make it my mission to prevent it, you just have to trust me."
"I do trust you John. I know you wouldn't let me go anywhere without a fight."
"Oh no Rose, I most definitely wouldn't let you go without a fight my love," he assured her, stroking her bare arm as she lay next to him in just a vest top and shorts.
As she fell asleep after they made a start, the Doctor lay awake, already formulating how he would use the clever Tardis to save the woman he loved from being taken from him. His other self had let him know that he'd planned on getting there the exact moment Rose had let go of a lever of some kind and he'd appear just in time for her to land gently inside the ship so now, he had to work on some kind of remote control to have the ship land at the right time and open the doors.
How much time he had, he'd no idea because now, he intended putting it off for as long as possible and as usual, his other self had no idea how much time had passed because being with Rose wasn't half as long as he wanted to be with her and now, he knew he could save her, well they could save her, now he was sharing this body with the other him from the future but he wasn't going to tell Rose that.
The End!
A/N: I decided to end on this note rather than have them go through the entire second series and beyond and the end I did have planned, I may make into another story at some point but I thought I would end on the idea Rose and her Doctor were back together again without her completely rejecting the other one.