Doctor Who is still not mine.

Chapter 2

Rose was thrilled to be back on the TARDIS. For the first time in a very long time, she was home. Everything was the same and yet, everything was different. The console room was larger and brighter than she remembered, but that likely had to do with there being a newer Doctor. (Though, Ten had never redecorated after Nine. Odd that he would choose to do so now.) It was still the same TARDIS. She could feel the old girl's soul still reverberating throughout. Exploring the corridors, she found her old room. It was exactly the way she'd left it, except the TARDIS appeared to take her marriage into consideration and provide a larger bed. Somehow, her husband had already found his way there and was claiming his side of the bed. "What's with all the pink, Sweets?" He asked. "It was a phase" she replied, though she had to admit that she missed living in a space surrounded by her favorite color. Why men, be them human or half timelord, were repulsed by pink was beyond her. It's not like women are repulsed by blue. In fact, TARDIS blue was her second favorite color. Maybe she could convince the TARDIS not to redecorate...

Memories assaulted her. Here, she had crashed that first night after saving the Doctor from the Nestene Consciousness. Here she had dreamed. She had had nightmares here: daleks, cybermen, and creepy children looking for their mummy. But she had also dreamed here. Dreamed first of a leather clad, brooding hero with a huge, goofy grin, and later of a man in a suit with a sonic in his hand and the smile that still makes her weak in the knees. She looked over at her sleeping husband, already taking up more than his half of the bed and snoring to wake the world and sighed. So much for dreams.

The man in her bed was the spitting image of the man of her dreams, but something had always seemed a little off, though she couldn't have said what it was. True, this man was only half timelord, and he had only one heart instead of two, but she had been assured that otherwise, he was exactly the same man. After all, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. Right? Only this is not a duck. He looks like the Doctor, walks like the Doctor, and even talks like the Doctor, but somehow, he is not the Doctor. And she didn't even see it until today. Though she ran to the waiting arms of her husband upon arrival, she was dumbfounded by the presence of both of her Doctors in the console room. Her husband, wonderful as he was, paled in comparison. Overcome with guilt for thinking such thoughts, she also went to bed, clinging onto the tiny edge of the bed that she could still claim for her own, and attempted to sleep.

She woke up on the floor. For the millionth time, she had been quite literally kicked out of bed sometime in the night. Thank goodness for thick carpeting. She was disoriented at first, but as she gazed around the room, she smiled. She was back on the TARDIS, and she was finally home.

She had little difficulty finding the kitchen and made her way to the kettle for a cup of tea. It appeared that no one else was awake yet. So she was startled when she heard a quiet, "Good morning" behind her.

It was River. "I thought I heard someone," River said. "Did you sleep well?" She asked, kindly.

"Well, I did, until I woke up on the floor again. Sometimes, I don't know why I bother getting in bed in the first place." Rose chuckled. "You?"

"I'm a hologram. I don't sleep. But... Yeah. The getting kicked out of bed thing? There's a reason I actually preferred sleeping in jail as opposed to sleeping with my husband."

"Jail?!" Rose was concerned. There was a criminal on board!

River just smiled and began to tell her story. For once, River did not issue her trademark "Spoilers" remark, but realized that she and Rose's timelines would never have crossed if it were not for this particular situation and decided to tell all. She started with the library. But that just led to more questions, and before she knew it, River had poured out her entire life story to Rose: murder attempts, wedding, and all.

"Wait, you actually married the Doctor?!" Rose exclaimed. "I thought he didn't do domestic. I thought that he would never do it unless he was half human!" She was shaken by the idea. Granted, the Doctor that River had married was neither of Rose's Doctors, and it was typical for a new face to take on a new personality, but the Doctor had married a human (granted, River was not your typical human, but still) - and the lucky bride was not Rose Tyler. She was hurt. No, she was beyond hurt. Did her heart just break all over again? But why should it? She was happily married to the Doctor, too. Except that she wasn't, not really. She was suddenly very jealous of River Song.

River, however, was jealous of Rose Tyler, though she was careful not to let on. "Oh, he still never did domestic, and neither did I. That's probably how we made our unorthodox relationship work."

"Did you love him?" Rose asked.

"Yes. Yes I did. Or at least I thought I did. I was trained to be his killer, and became obsessed with him. Then there's the whole my timeline goes backwards thing. Messed me up good. But I don't think he ever loved me, or at least not nearly as much as he loved you. He'd never admit it while he was awake, but the few times we spent the night together? Well, he'd call for you in his sleep."

Rose felt as if she had been punched in the gut. She didn't know if she should be happy that the Doctor still remembered that he loved her or not. Her jealousy of River abated some as she realized that they had a rather unfortunate bond. River had the man, but Rose had his hearts. They had both lost in the end.

River seemed to realize this too and reached her hand to the blond sitting across from her as a gesture of friendship. Rose smiled back and was pleasantly surprised to be able to feel River's hand in hers. "Hard light" River said and smiled. The women had finally found a friend in each other.

Clara had also risen early and offered to make breakfast. Unfortunately, no one had warned either of the other women about Clara's lack of cooking skills and together they learned that she made pancakes as well as she made souffles; which is to say, they were horrible. But the three women had had fun cleaning up the mess and making a fresh batch of pancakes (without direct involvement from Clara, much to her shagrin), and chatting. Clara admitted that she was a little star struck, having met both women.

"The woman he married, and the woman he loves. I never stood a chance." Clara said, a bit jealously. The other women just looked at her and smiled. "A woman does not simply travel with the Doctor without falling for him just a little, Sweetie." River sympathized. After all, even her own mother had crushed on him!

"Donna seems rather unaffected by his charms," Clara pointed out.

"Well that's because he allowed her to travel with him on the condition that she didn't fall for him" Rose responded.

"Talk about not having a chance..." Clara replied.

"Who doesn't have a chance?" Amy remarked as she entered.

"Donna and the Doctor." Clara responded. River lifted her mug of tea in greeting to her mother.

"Oi! What about me and the Space Man?" Donna's voice echoed from down the hall as she started in for breakfast.

"Oh, no, you fell for him too?" Martha said coming up right behind her. Apparently, the men preferred to sleep in today. The women were completely ok with that, getting to know each other and laughing over stories of the Doctor.

The new friends were interrupted by a muffled cough, like someone was trying to get their attention. They all looked up and blushed, suddenly feeling very awkward.

The Doctor in triplicate form had entered the room.