This is the longest single chapter I've ever written - almost 10,000 words, about 22 pages of writing at font size eleven. Jeepers.
Quick explanation: This will be an obligatory Rose/Doctor shipper 50th anniversary fix, but I wanted to establish Rose's presence in the prime universe first, so this chapter is from S5E13: The Big Bang. Obviously, there are several direct quotes (even though I tried not to rehash the episode, it's pretty much all there), so a quick disclaimer that I own none of it, which makes me very sad but is true regardless.

Please don't forget to review and let me know what you thought!

The Doctor was tired.

He was very, very tired.

He hadn't been this tired in a long time.

Or he'd been this tired for far, far too long.

He couldn't remember which it was.

He'd had an impossible day, and there was an impossible woman asleep on his ship.

In his bed.

Perhaps she'd been very, very tired for very, very long, too.

A twelve-year old was dragging her very tired nanny to the museum. Literally. Rose Tyler felt her arm might be pulled right out if she didn't move her feet quick enough to follow her charge.

"This way!" Amelia called enthusiastically, letting go of Rose's hand and barreling her way through the museum, not stopping to look at any of the exhibits.

"Amelia!" Rose gasped, chasing after the energetic redhead.

Rose Tyler knew something was off. Not just with her charge; Amelia's enthusiasm and energy seemed unparalleled. Even Rory struggled to keep up sometimes.

No, something was wrong with reality.

But no one else could feel it.

Except Amelia, which is what had drawn her to the child in the first place.

Posing as a childcare specialist, Rose Tyler had spent years looking for children who drew stars. Stars which, in this reality that was distinctly unreal, didn't exist. She'd come across a few, but most had just had wild imaginations and relatively normal timelines. Since her…incident…with the Time Vortex, and a long, unchanging life during which it seems she'd been continuously exposed and protected due to the Bad Wolf (she'd almost fallen off her chair when she'd seen the remnants of the Time Vortex lighting up her brain in the results of a scan she'd run on herself, concerned about the fact that she didn't seem to be aging), Rose had had the ability to see the timelines of those around her. At first, she'd thought it amusing: each person seemed to have a sort of line that reached up towards the sky, as though they were all puppets. With time and practice, she learned ignore them, not see them, isolate them…she felt like a musician plucking the delicate strings of a harp.

It was what allowed her to see that while many of the children she'd met would have relatively normal lives and should have relatively normal lives, something was definitely strange about Amelia's.

Bad Wolf had permitted Rose much more than the ability to live a (very) long life in the body of a young adult; it had changed her mind to allow her to see different realities around her. This specific ability had given her a nasty headache – it seemed everywhere she turned, people made choices that affected reality. Eventually, however, Rose discovered she could tune out small changes and minute differences that didn't really affect the world in any significant way.

But then something had happened. A man had disappeared. Gone. Poof. Like magic.

Rose was absolutely certain that the Doctor's sudden disappearance from reality was very very not good.

In fact, she felt a searing pain, which had brought her to her knees, clutching her head. Her mind felt as though it were being ripped in half and the pain just went on, and on, and on…

And then Rose understood.

Whatever the Doctor had done, however he had managed to erase himself from reality, he had erased all of himselves.

Which meant that Rose suddenly had two versions of every event that happened to her, two lives that didn't add up. She remembered her world with the Doctor, but now she was stuck in this world that was Doctor-less.

So she had tracked down Amelia, the girl with the fracturing timeline that felt almost similar to Rose's own. With a bright smile and a flash of psychic paper suggesting she was very distinguished childcare professional, Rose Tyler became Amelia Pond's psychiatrist.

Of sorts.

Whenever her Aunt Sharon was around, Amelia defended her belief in the stars as fiercely as any child would, while Rose gently scolded her and reminded her of what they could see outside, of how there were no stars, and how she was letting her imagination run wild.

Then in the evenings, Amelia would sneak out of her large house and meet Rose at the park that was close by. They would sit on the swings and Amelia would tell Rose about her dreams, her strange dreams of stars and other planets and seeing them using a magical blue box, hand in hand with a bowtie-wearing, fez-sporting alien, English-speaking, floppy-haired alien.

Rose would reassure the young girl that yes, something was indeed wrong. There certainly should be stars, because she remembered them, she could see them in her mind. She knew their names and their constellations.

One night, Rose had been forlornly sitting on the swings in the park, kicking up sand with her well-worn trainers. She was remembering her other life, her life with the human Doctor in the other world. He was gone, she remembered. He'd died years and years ago, but the ache in her heart made it feel like it was only yesterday. She didn't remember how she'd ended up in her situation…she assumed that she'd been brought back to her original world when the Doctor had reset the universe – without him, she never would have been trapped – but she certainly didn't know how she'd ended up with a billfold containing psychic paper in her pocket. But she chose not to question it. It had been very useful, after all.

She was surprised to see a pajama-clad Amelia Pond, running towards her as fast as her small legs could propel her, something that Rose couldn't make out in her hand. She frowned and stood from the swing to shorten Amelia's run by a few steps.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked Amelia, her eyebrows puled down over her eyes as she crouched to be eye to eye with the young girl.

Amelia, still huffing and puffing from the run, pressed the papers she'd been holding into Rose's hands. It was a museum brochure, a slightly confused, slightly hopeful expression crossed Amelia's face. Cautiously, Rose opened the brochure to see that a certain exhibit, the Pandorica, had been circled several times in red pen, with a rather large arrow pointing to it.

Rose's frowned deepened and she felt nerves build up in her stomach. "Amelia," she said seriously, placing her hand on the girl's shoulder and looking at her seriously. "Who gave this to you?"

"Flip it over," Amelia said excitedly, still slightly out of breath.

Rose did, slowly turning the waxy paper in her hand. Along the side she saw what had Amelia so excited.

Come along, Pond.

Rose took a deep breath, feeling a treacherous hope start to bloom in her core. "Okay," she breathed out. "Okay, we'll go tomorrow." She stood up tall, wincing as her knees cracked loudly when they straightened. She affectionately ruffled Amelia's hair and walked her home, hand in hand. Once the house was in sight, Amelia took off with a wave and a smile, which Rose returned.

When the young girl was out of sight, she let out a loud huff and ran her fingers through her hair. "Okay," she whispered to herself. "Okay."

So now there they were, in a crowded exhibit that was making Rose anxious. Out of habit, Rose carefully ran her eyes over everyone in the exhibit with what felt like a natural caution. Or distrust, she wasn't sure which.

When she caught up to Amelia, the young girl had already pushed herself to the front of the crowd to look at the Pandorica. Rose took her hand and gripped it tightly, lowering herself to be on the same level as the girl. "I know you're excited," Rose told her. "But we have to be very careful. We have to stick together. Understood?" She made sure Amelia knew she was serious by looking at her sternly.

Unbothered, Amelia nodded her head and took a sip of her soda. Out of nowhere, a hand reached out and snagged it from her. Both Rose and Amelia whipped around to find the culprit, only to see no one there. Amelia let out an annoyed huff, which made Rose smile. "I'll get you another." She told the girl, who smiled up at her thankfully.

They turned back to the Pandorica to search for any clues as to why someone would want them there, and Amelia's eyes zeroed in on a yellow sticky note.

Stick around, Pond.

She grinned up at Rose, who quickly reached out and snatched the note from off of the historical object and observed it closely for any other hints as to what was going on. When she saw nothing else, she sighed and looked down to meet Amelia's wide green eyes. "This is going to be horribly boring, I'm afraid," she told her, though Amelia's eyes shone with excitement at the potential adventure.

They hid in an exhibit with some tall, fake grass. Rose's back hurt from slouching so she wouldn't be visible, but she said nothing. Silently and stealthily, she and Amelia waited until the museum was dark and they couldn't hear any sound before squeezing their way out.

Amelia reached for Rose's hand and held it tightly as they made their way through the dark museum, and Rose gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as they made their way back to the Pandorica. Though Rose was doing her best to be calm and reassuring, she felt a shiver make its way down her back.

When they finally reached the exhibit containing the Pandorica, Amelia and Rose shared a confused look before they made their way to the large box. Amelia let go of Rose's hand and ducked under the velvet rope to look at the box up close while Rose kept an eye on her and looked over the room suspiciously.

Amelia reached out and placed her palm against the stone of the Pandorica, jumping back when the box began to glow green. She ducked back under the velvet rope and stepped away from the box, crashing into Rose, who put her hand on the younger girl's shoulder and gripped it tightly.

A flash of light made them both blink and the box began to open. Rose felt her heart pound in her chest, making her ears roar, and she held her breath, still keeping a tight grip on her young charge, even if Amelia showed no signs of wanting to leave Rose's side for a second.

Strapped inside the box was a young woman with bright orange hand and a red scarf. Rose frowned and blinked a few times to allow her minds to see the timelines.

Oh, this was not good.

This was very, very not good.

"Okay, guys." The redhead said, an edge to her tone, "this is where it gets complicated." If there'd been any doubt in Rose's mind about who this girl was (which there wasn't, because the timelines didn't lie), the Scottish accent would have done away with it.

Moving quickly, Rose unstrapped the older Amelia from the seat in the Pandorica, holding her tightly as the woman stood and shook out her legs. She was careful not to let the younger Amelia touch her older self (blimey, this was confusing), but watched older Amelia with concern in her eyes.

"Rose," the older Amelia breathed, and Rose was hit with a wave of relief that Amelia knew her.

"Amelia," Rose smiled, watching the younger Amelia's eyebrows pull into a confused frown.

"Just Amy, now." Amelia – Amy – said with a grin. She let go of Rose to stretch properly and stepped away from the box. "Where's Rory?" Amy asked her, and Rose frowned, confused. Why would she know where her Rory was?

Amy seemed to understand and let out a huff, blinking rapidly so as to not shed any tears. She spotted a screen on the museum wall and went to it quickly, hitting the play button.

According to legend, wherever the Pandorica was taken throughout its long history, the Centurion would be there, guarding it. He appears as an iconic image in the artwork of many cultures, and there are several documented accounts of his appearances, and his warnings to the many who attempted to open the box before its time. His last recorded appearance was during the London Blitz in 1941. The warehouse where the Pandorica was stored was destroyed by incendiary bombs, but the box itself was found the next morning, a safe distance from the blaze. There are eyewitness accounts from the night of the fire of a figure in Roman dress carrying the box from the flames. Since then, there have been no sightings of the lone Centurion, and many have speculated that if he ever existed, he perished in the fires of that night, performing one last act of devotion to the box he had pledged to protect for nearly 2000 years.

"Rory," Amy breathed, and Rose saw a few tears slip free, "Oh, Rory." She whispered again. Rose could hear the pain in that one whisper and looked away, feeling as though she were intruding on a private moment.

"EX-TER-MI-NATE!"A loud voice called. Rose felt as though she'd been punch in the gut. Moving quickly, she crouched down in front of Amelia to meet her wide, confused, and frightened eyes.

"Amelia," Rose said, making sure Amy could hear her. "Go to Amy. Do not touch her, do you understand?" Amelia gave a frightened nod and ran to join Amy, who was looking at Rose with wide eyes. "Get behind her, Amelia," Rose positively growled, "Get behind her and do not touch her!" Amelia did as she was told without question, wide eyes peeping around Amy to keep an eye on Rose. Rose was fairly sure that Amelia touching Amy wasn't a problem – they came from different realities, and there was no way that little Amelia in this reality would become this particular Amy – but she wasn't about to risk it.

Rose turned to face the attacker, a snarl on her face and her eyes glowing gold. She felt power build around her, and she wore it like a comfortable and regal cloak.

Out of nowhere, a tall man wearing a tweet vest, brown trousers that were slightly too short, a red bowtie, and had floppy hair materialized between Rose and the Dalek. The Wolf in her growled as the man got between her and her prey.

"Trouble!" He exclaimed, almost happily, before he turned around to see Rose, her face grimacing in anger and her eyes glowing brightly with the Time Vortex. "Rose! What?" The man – The Doctor – started to say, before his eyes caught sight of the two Amelias only a few feet away. "Two of you? Complicated." He breathed.

"EXTERMINATE," The Dalek cried again, with more conviction this time, as though it were just waking up.

"Run," Rose snarled to the Doctor, who did not need to be told twice. Moving quickly, he went to the Amelias and grabbed each of their hands.

"Come along, Ponds!" He shouted as he dragged them away. He turned back when he noticed that one group member was decidedly not following. "Rose! Rose, please, Rose! You have to run!"

Just as Rose was about to tear into her prey, the glow of a flashlight distracted her, tearing her eyes away from the alien in front of her. "What's going on?" the human man shouted, a security guard, presumably. Rose felt fear crawl its way up her throat at an innocent by stander. She heard the Doctor yell at him to run, to leave, to get away, but the man just kept coming.

"DROP THE DEVICE." The Dalek demanded.

Device? The torch? Rose squinted to see the man behind the light, but it was far too dark.

"SCANS INDICATE INTRUDER UNARMED." The Dalek declared, dismissing the guard.

"Do you think?" The man demanded calmly, the torch falling to the floor. Suddenly the man's hand split open and shot at the Dalek. Rose, who was already in a defensive mode, felt torn – this man was obviously a threat; the Dalek had declared him unarmed before being shot – but the Dalek was still around, albeit wounded, and she found her attention split between the man and the Dalek.

"VISION IMPAIRED." The Dalek shouted to no one but itself as it retreated down a corridor of the museum. It seemed to power down before their eyes, shot dead by the man's shooty hand, which Rose was still eyeing carefully.

Out came the Doctor, sonic screwdriver out and all, once the Dalek was dead. Her vision cleared of goal and the weight of power left her shoulders. She gave her head a quick shake to clear her mind of the Wolf.

"Amy!" The man called, and as he came out of the shadows, Rose recognized him. He was older, obviously, which was why she hadn't recognized the voice, but the man standing before her was most certainly…

"Rory," Amy breathed, fresh tears coming to her eyes.

"Rose," Amelia whimpered, coming over to take Rose's hand and clutch it tightly. Rose protectively wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulders, rubbing soothing circles on her back.

As Rory and Amy hugged – reunited (though the kissing was knew, and Rose made a mental note to ask Amy about that later) the Doctor ambled over to her, pointing his screwdriver at her, his face deathly serious.

"Pond, step away from her." He said quietly, his voice dangerous. Amelia only hugged Rose's knees tighter, making Rose lift her eyes to glare at the unfamiliar Doctor, no matter how her heart soared at the sight of him.

"She knows me. This her doesn't know you." Rose told him quietly. "And we have a very important rule. We stick together. We most certainly do not wander off." Amelia grinned up at Rose in response, but the real clue, the real hint in that sentence had been for the Doctor.

The Doctor advanced on her with long strides, looking at her carefully and almost angrily. He ran the screwdriver over her face, lighting it up with a green hue, and Rose simply raised an eyebrow and waited for him to be done. Dissatisfied with the results, he touched her face, looked into her eyes (watching pupil dilation, she assumed), smelled her hair. She simply rolled her eyes and let him do what he had to do.

"Rose Tyler," the Doctor finally whispered to her, leaning so that his forehead was against hers. "I never thought I'd see you again." He swallowed. "Am I hallucinating?"

Rose gave him a small smile hesitantly running her finger over his cheekbone, taking in his new face. "New new new Doctor." She said quietly, watching his eyes light up at the memory. She sighed. "I'm sorry, catching up will have to happen later," she said, not wanting to say the words and ruin the moment, but her mind would not calm while they were so close to a Dalek that may or may not be alive.

"Right as usual, Rose Tyler," the Doctor murmured before moving away from her. She followed quickly behind him, Amelia still clutching her hand. "Yeah, shut up, 'cause we've got to go. Come on." The Doctor snapped at Rory, obviously ruining a moment between reunited lovers. Rose rolled her eyes. Still rude, obviously. Whatever the Doctor said, however, had no effect but soon Rory and Amy were snogging again and Rose chuckled when the Doctor helplessly danced around them and Amelia covered her eyes.

"Rose," Amelia whispered, drawing her attention. Rose crouched. "I'm thirsty, can I get a drink?"

"Oh, it's all mouths today, isn't it?" The Doctor complained, overhearing the question. Rose glared at him in response, which he promptly ignored. "The light from the Pandorica…" The Doctor mused aloud, no longer paying attention to any of them. "It must have hit the Dalek."

The Dalek started to move, making them all jump. "Out!" Rose shouted loudly, getting Amy and Rory's attention. "Get out! Out!" The five of them ran from the Dalek, out a door. The Doctor stopped to sonic the door locked (like that would work against a Dalek anyway) and pleasantly started talking to Rory.

"So! Two thousand years! How did you do?" He asked the younger man.

"Kept out of trouble," Rory said with a small shrug of indifference.

Two thousand years? That couldn't be right. Cautiously, Rose blinked and there were the timelines. She turned her gaze on Rory, gasping when she saw that his timeline was as complicated as Amy's, and the two swirled together and melded into one so perfectly that Rose had to fight back tears. She wasn't a believer in true love, but these two…people…that she only knew as children were always challenging what it was to know.

The Doctor's head whipped up at her gasp, and she blinked the timelines away. The Doctor hmm'd at Rory's admission, stopping to free his hands of a fez by casually popping it onto his head. "How?" He asked, moving about.

"Unsuccessfully," Rory replied honestly, which made Rose laugh – a good, loud, honest laugh that she hadn't laughed in a long time.

The Doctor came up to her and pressed his finger to her lips, which made her stop laughing but her eyes were still crinkled as she grinned widely. "Fingers on lips," he whispered, a knowing smile on his face at the inside joke. She replaced his finger with hers with a conspiratorial wink.

"Hang on," Amy interrupted the moment, marching forward to stare at Rose and the Doctor. "Rose, how do you know about all this? About the Doctor, and what was that back there, with the Dalek?"

Rose struggled for words while the Doctor opted to ignore Amy and start moving about. "Amy…" Rose started. She nervously ran her hand through her hair and rubbed the back of her neck, a nervous tick she'd picked up from her Metacrisis Doctor in the reality that had never happened. "Before I met you," Rose stopped again, stumbling over words. There was no need to tell Amy that she'd travelled with the Doctor hundreds of years ago. "Before the Doctor was him, I travelled with him, and I know that doesn't make sense, but that's all I can tell you until we get out of this mess."

Amy set her jaw, about to argue, when Rory interrupted them.

The Doctor grabbed a mop to lock the door further, but Rory stopped him with one shout. "The mop!" He yelled, making the Doctor jump and turn to look at him quizzically. "That's how you looked all those years ago when you gave me the sonic." Rory told the confused Doctor.

"Ah." The Doctor replied, swinging the mop around so it rested in the crook of his elbow. "Well, no time to lose then." He punched coordinates into the – Rose crinkled her nose distastefully – vortex manipulator and was gone in a second. He was back only a second later, jamming the mop to block the doorway before disappearing again. Rose wanted to roll her eyes but refrained.

"How can he do that?" Amelia whispered to her. "Is he magic?"

"No," Rose whispered loudly. "Just mad."

The Doctor reappeared. "Right!" He declared, taking off. Rose followed behind his companions, sensing a but. "Wait!" The Doctor shouted suddenly (basically the same as a but, Rose reasoned), "Now I don't have the sonic. I just gave it to Rory two thousand years ago. " He disappeared and reappeared, and Rose found herself quite fed up. He reached into Amy's pocket and pulled out the sonic before running off again. "No, hang on." He stopped again. Rose groaned audibly this time, and he shot her a look that said calm down, drama queen. "How did you know…" he advanced on Amelia, who simply looked up to Rose as if to say is he for real..."to come here?" He finished.

Amelia looked to Rose, who quickly realized she had the papers in her pocket. She reached in and handed them to him. "Ah, my handwriting. Okay." He said quickly, grabbing museum brochures and going about his business. When he reappeared using the Vortex Manipulator, there was a soda pop in his hands, which he handed to Amelia. She took it gratefully and shot a grin at Rose.

"You said you'd get me another," She reminded her nanny.

Rose huffed. "Well, we were hidden in that weird penguin exhibit, weren't we? Didn't have time to get you a drink."

The Doctor paused, looking between the two of the suspiciously, before finally deciding to move on.

"What is that? How are you doing that?" Amy asked him.

"Vortex Manipulator," Rose replied for him, disgust seeping through her tone. "Absolutely horrid form of time travel." Once again, Rose's unnatural knowledge of things she shouldn't know earned her a distrustful and confused look from Amy, which surprised Rose by hurting to her very core. She's known Amy since she'd been just a kid with no one to talk to, and now Amy didn't trust her?

The Doctor advanced on her, getting uncomfortably close to her face. "Rose Tyler," he tested the name on his tongue, taking his time with the words. He still wasn't sure she was really there, she realized. He doubted her. Which, she reasoned, would be perfectly normal, were she anyone but herself. He should know by now that she didn't play by Time's rules. "A quick test, I suppose," he allowed himself. "First word I said to you?"

Rose grinned. "First word you said to me?" She repeated, flicking his floppy brown hair with a wide, tongue-touched grin that she knew he loved.

He grabbed her wrist and brought it away from his face, looking at her seriously. "First word, Rose Tyler."

She leaned close to his ear – close enough that she could feel his floppy brown hair tickling her face.

"Run," she whispered. With that word, oddly enough, she felt Amelia's grasp disappear from her fingers. Her heart squeezed in her chest – time was still collapsing and they were running very, very low on time.

He pulled away, sharing a secret grin with her that told her he was satisfied with her answer. He seemed to want to say more, but Amy drew his attention. "Doctor!" She snapped impatiently, "Where are we going?"

"The roof!" He declared, walking a few steps away from Rose.

Just then, a smoking, fez-less version of the Doctor appeared at the top of the stairwell, and all four eyes turned to look at him. He keeled over and rolled awkwardly down the stairs. Rose ran over to him at the bottom, crouching next to him and holding out her hand to the Doctor, who froze at her gesture but seemed to desperately want to see what was happening.

She leaned in close to his ear and whispered two words. "Bad Wolf."

His eyes shot open and he turned his head to whisper into her ear in turn. "Twelve minutes. Get me to the Pandorica. I can help you from there." It was a wheezing, breathless sort of whisper, and his breath made her own hair tickle her neck, but at least she had instructions now. The Doctor lay back down, and she heard the double thrum of a Time Lord heartbeat quiet significantly in his chest.

"Are you…I mean…are…you…Is he dead?" Amy stumbled over the words.

"Yes." Rose lied, straight-faced, eyes still on the soon-to-be-dead Doctor, before snapping her gaze to the live one, who was watching her nervously. "Twelve minutes." She told him.

He nodded. "Good." He replied, making his way up the steps.

"Twelve minutes to live?" Amy demanded, looking between the Doctor and Rose. "How is that good?"

"Oh, you can do loads in 12 minutes." The Doctor replied airily. "Suck a mind, buy a sledge, have a fast bath." He shrugged. "Come on, to the roof!" He declared.

"We can't leave you here, dead." Rory retorted, looking at the living Doctor in shock.

"Oh, good," the Doctor replied sarcastically. "Are you in charge now? Tell me, what are we going to do about Amelia?" Rose's eyes snapped to meet his, anger making them tinge gold. He met her gaze evenly for a few moments before looking away as Rory and Amy called for Amelia.

"Where's she go?" Amy asked, whirling on Rose, who could do nothing but look at her former friend with sad eyes. "What did you do?" Amy demanded, nearly shouting in Rose's face. Rose closed her eyes and looked away, her heart squeezing again.

"There is no Amelia." The Doctor interrupted. "From now on, there never was. History is still collapsing."

"How can I still be here if she's not?" Amy demanded, turning his attention to the Doctor.

The Doctor shrugged. "You're an anomaly. We all are. We're all just hanging on at the eye of the storm. But the eye is closing, and if we don't do something fast, reality will never have happened. Today, just dying is a result, now come on."

Amy turned to Rose for a more in depth answer, or at least, a more helpful one than he'd given, seeming to accept (though still with distrust) that Rose was rather knowledgeable about a wide variety of things. "You're Amy from the reality where there are stars. She was from the reality with no stars. Different worlds altogether. Under no circumstances does she become you. That's how you're still here." Rose explained as best she could.

"What about me?" Rory asked.

Rose turned, frowning at him. "You're a two thousand year old plastic Centurion," she said with a small smile. "Even I don't know what to make of you, Rory Williams."

Rose looked back down at the dead Doctor, running her thumb over his cheekbone lightly. "He won't die." Amy said with conviction. "Time can be rewritten. He'll find a way, I know he will." She sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than anyone else, but Rose let it go. Everyone dealt with the loss of the Doctor in their own way. The Doctor shouted at them to join him, and Rory looked at Rose expectantly.

"You go," Rose said with a small smile at the man. "I'll stay with him." Seeing how they wavered, unsure whether they should leave her, Rose waved them off. "Go. He'll get angry if you don't. Find me when you need to." Rory nodded tensely and the two took off.

Rose hid from the Dalek as it went after the living Doctor. Once it was gone, Rose began her work. She dragged the Doctor, cursing him for somehow being impossibly heavy in every regeneration, to the waiting Pandorica. She huffed as she dragged the man into the box, cursing him the whole way.

Her hands shook with the effort to get him into the seat in the centre of the Pandorica, but eventually she managed to drop him onto the seat – knowing he would have a sore rear was a small satisfaction when she thought of how sore her back would be from dragging him around. Expertly, she hooked him up to the Pandorica's machinery, routing in the Vortex Manipulator so that he could go through with his plan.

She knew the moment they finished on the roof when she heard their voices echoing through the halls of the museum, and turned her head to try to better understand what they were saying.

"Who told you that?" the first voice to echo loudly enough so that Rose could hear was a woman's, one she'd not met before. Which meant this was River Song. Rose had seen the woman during her quick peek at Rory's timeline, and felt a begrudging respect for her.

"He did!" That was Amy. Wrong. The Doctor hadn't said he was dead, Rose had and he simply hadn't argued or disagreed.

"Rule one," River retorted drily. "The Doctor lies."

Rose turned back to the Doctor and continued to strap him in. "You know," she said casually. "When I travelled, rule one was 'don't wander off''."

"'Course it was," the Doctor gasped through heaving gulps of air. "You were so jeopardy friendly." He gave her a wan smile, which she returned. When he was fully strapped in, she gave him a peck on the cheek and walked away from the Pandorica, allowing it to close.

"Doctor!" She heard Amy shout from down the hall. Rose sighed, knowing that she would meet rage next. She turned her back to the Pandorica and turned to face the hallway through which three people were currently barreling. She stood with her feet about a foot apart, shoulders squared and arms behind her back in a casual resting position. She held her head tall and proud.

"What have you done to him?" Amy demanded as soon as she reached Rose, all fond memories of her as her nanny gone with Amelia. Now, her eyes glinted dangerously. River Song, for her part, kept her eyes on the Pandorica, and stood in a stance that was almost the same as Rose's. The two women turned to face each other.

"Rose Tyler," River acknowledged, the name leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.

Rose inclined her head. "River Song. So nice to finally meet you."

"Didn't think I ever would," River admitted as she looked the blonde over. "Hoped I wouldn't, actually. Did you know?"

Rose shrugged. "I saw the possibility." Rose chose to ignore the fact that River had hoped never to meet her. River and the Doctor were romantically involved in a time line where Rose was still stuck in the parallel world, and she tried to force down the satisfaction that her return might put his relationship with the woman in jeopardy.

"What is he going to do?" River asked her quietly.

Rose sighed. "The TARDIS is burning." River was clever, she was so clever.

But she wasn't getting it. "So?" She demanded.

Rose lifted her chin, slightly annoyed that she had to explain the whole situation, "The TARDIS is burning at every point in time. If you threw the Pandorica into the explosion…right into the heart of the fire…" She trailed off, raising her eyebrows as River did the math.

When she finally finished, her eyebrows shot up on her forehead. "Oh." She breathed, and Rose gave her a tiny smile. "Let there be light." She said quietly. She turned to Rory and Amy. "The light from the Pandorica will explode everywhere at once. He's going to pilot the Pandorica into the explosion." She looked to Rose for confirmation, who said nothing, which River figured meant she wasn't wrong.

"That would work?" Amy demanded.

Rose shrugged, at a loss for words.

Amy breathed out a shaky breath. "He didn't even say goodbye."

Rose examined her for a moment. "It didn't need saying." She said quietly, letting those words sink in between the four companions that waited for the Pandorica to take off. "It's speeding up." Rose said needlessly. "He's going now."

The Pandorica began to give off lightning strikes and to shake violently. The box glowed a violent, angry light before it crashed through the ceiling of the museum. "Geronimo." Rose whispered.

Rose laughed at all the appropriate moments during the speeches, She smiled at the couple, she drank champagne, and she clapped when the bride and groom kissed. And when tears started to flow down Amy's pale cheeks, she felt hope start to bubble in her stomach.

Rose hadn't forgotten the Doctor. Rose's mind didn't play by Time's rules. But should couldn't bring this Doctor back, not this version, not this incarnation, because she simply didn't know him. So she had to wait with baited breath and hope to whatever that Amy was as special as the Doctor believed. And when Amy desperately flipped through all the blank pages in River's TARDIS journal Rose felt her heart start to pound.

This was it. Rose watched as Amy's eyes caught certain things; a young man's bowtie, an older man's braces. She bit her lip in anticipation.

"Shut up, dad." Amy suddenly said, interrupting her father's speech. "Sorry, but shut up, please. There's someone missing. Someone important. Someone so, so important."

"Amy, what's wrong?" Rory asked quietly and gently.

"Sorry," Amy said again, "Sorry everyone. But when I was a kid, I had an imaginary friend. The raggedy Doctor. My raggedy Doctor. But he wasn't imaginary. He was real. I remember you!" She declared. "I remember!" tears were flowing freely down her cheeks Amelia's mothering was groaning about child psychiatrists and glaring at Rose, who was completely ignoring the older woman and keeping her eyes trained on Amy. "I brought the others back, I can bring you home, too! Raggedy man, I remember you, and you are late for my wedding!" Glasses started to shake and the chandelier suddenly looked distinctively wobbly. "I found you. I found you in words, like you knew I would. That's why you told me the story. The brand new, ancient blue box." TARDIS engines started roaring through the hall.

With a few final words from Amy, and a very, very wide grin from Rose, the TARDIS appeared in the middle of the hall.

And out came the Doctor, dressed in a classy black suit with a white bowtie and scarf hanging around his neck, and a top hat perched on his floppy hair. Rose grinned at the sight of him.

As music blared and the Doctor enthusiastically danced with the children, Rose sat quietly at the back of the room, unnoticed and at peace for the first time in a very, very long time. She bit her lip and lowered her eyes to her near empty champagne class. In an instant, he was there. She looked up and there stood the Doctor in his snazzy suit and top hat. She grinned at the sight of him, and he grinned back, offering his hand. She took it and allowed him to pull her up from her seat.

"Could I have this dance?" he asked formally as the music turned slow.

She tweaked his hat, ignoring the indignant noise he made in reply. "Doesn't the universe implode if the Doctor dances?" She asked him, a full, Rose Tyler, tongue-in-teeth grin on her lips.

He snorted derisively before pulling her to the dance floor. "I, personally, have had quite enough of the universe imploding," he said matter of factly. Carefully, giving her plenty of time to leave, he put his hands on her waist, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He leaned his forehead against hers with a relieved sigh, and they began to sway slowly. For a few moments, they enjoyed the blissful togetherness that they hadn't shared in years, but the Doctor was never able to keep silent for long.

"How are you here?" He asked her, green eyes meeting honey hazel, his voice barely above a whisper.

She shrugged, "as far as I can tell," she murmured, "when someone blew up the TARDIS," She pulled her forehead away for a moment to give him a glare, and he replied with a sheepish smile that had her smiling, "that someone reset time. Hence, hello, original universe."

He leaned his forehead against hers again, and she let him, a content noise rising from her throat and making him tighten his grip on her hips. "But you remember." He whispered. "How?"

Rose separated their foreheads and rested her head on his shoulder instead, feeling a warmth in her core when he leaned against her more heavily. "That's something you're going to want to talk about in the TARDIS." She told him carefully and truthfully. She felt him tense momentarily, but soon enough he relaxed and gave a small nod of his head. He could wait a few hours.

He could.

Probably.

Maybe.

No, he couldn't.

A glimmer of amusement in his eyes, he grabbed untangled them and took one of her hands in his. "Run," he whispered.

So they did.

With practiced ease, the Doctor dragged Rose back to back to the TARDIS, both of them laughing as they ran. Rose paused, stopping relatively suddenly, when they reached the police box, pulled the Doctor back with a grunt on his part at the sudden stop.

"Oh," Rose whispered, running the hand that wasn't entangled with the Doctor's along the box. "You've changed." She felt the familiar tingle of the TARDIS in the back of her mind, and smiled widely at the ship's enthusiasm. "I'm happy to see you, too." She cooed.

The Doctor was smiling affectionately at her. "Rose Tyler," he said quietly before whirling around and putting his key in the lock. "You haven't seen anything yet!" And he pushed the door open, gesturing grandly for her to go in first.

She laughed and curtsied, to which he responded with a sweeping bow, and made her way into the console room.

Her eyes widened and she stopped right at the door, her mouth popping open to take in the new, modern console that seemed to suit this new new new Doctor. She was reminded of the first time she'd entered the time-and-space ship, her mouth hanging open in disbelief. It wasn't disbelief this time.

It was awe.

"I didn't know she could change." Rose whispered as the Doctor removed his hat and made his way to the console, keeping an eye on her as he did so.

"She can." He said with a few bobs of his head. "It was mostly because of the regeneration. Very violent, tore apart the console room. She was angry with me for weeks. Held it off too long. So when I finally let go…" he made an exploding motion with his hands and mimicked the sound of an explotion. "Fire. Lots of fire. Whole console room caught fire." He was flailing his hands around and Rose raised her eyebrows, an amused smirk on her face as she moved towards the console, lightly running her fingers over the new console room and feeling the TARDIS's delight in her mind.

"It's Spock." Rose said with a tongue-in-teeth grin, looking at the Doctor through the corner of her eyes.

He frowned for a moment before laughing loudly. "Yes." He grinned. "Yeah, I suppose it is."

"So let me get this straight," Rose said as she slowly walked around the console, eyes locked with the Doctor's as her high heels clicked against the glass floor. "You tore the TARDIS apart in your regeneration," she started, lifting an eyebrow at him, "and then you went and blew her up? No wonder she's uncooperative sometimes." The ship hummed in agreement in Rose's mind, and she grinned and ran her fingers lightly over the new console.

"Oi," The Doctor grumbled, "don't you two gang up on me, that's not fair!" Rose said nothing, a mischievous grin growing on her lips. The Doctor smiled at her smile. He came around the console to stand next to her, hand reaching out to cup her cheek. "Rose Tyler," he whispered.

They stayed still for a few moments, eyes locked, green to hazel, ancient eyes meeting relatively young. Rose smiled affectionately at him before stepping away so she wouldn't get completely entranced. "Come on then, Raggedy Man," she said, tongue poking out from between her teeth, as she used Amy's nickname for him. "Take us into the Vortex."

He seemed to panic slightly when she stepped away from him, so she came close again and this time it was her hand that extended to his cheek, running her thumb along his cheekbone lightly. "I'll explain everything. I promise." She told him reassuringly, meeting his eyes again so he would know she was telling the truth.

He took a deep breath before smiling at her and beginning his dance around the console. He flapped his arms about, twirling and skipping around the console, hitting buttons, pulling levers, turning cranks. Rose made sure there was no hammer visible anywhere, intending to hide it from him if there was, and felt the TARDIS's shimmering amusement in her mind. Rose braced herself for the take off, finding it harder to stay upright in the ridiculous heels that Amy had wanted her to wear.

Thinking of Amy made guilt bloom in Rose's stomach as they took off, but she knew that the Doctor would get her later.

Once they were in the Vortex, the Doctor came to her side again take her hand with a wide smile. "To the library?" He suggested.

"Do you mind if I change first?" She asked him, looking down at her short pink dress.

He seemed reluctant to let her go, but he did, and she made her way down the not-so-familiar corridors until she spotted her door – a familiar, simple wooden door with a delicate rose carved into the wood. She smiled at the sight of it, running her fingers over the ornate carving before opening the door and stepping into her bedroom.

Suddenly, in a sea of pink and what could only be described as a disastrous mess, Rose felt nineteen again, pulling on a pair of trainers and leaving her clothes in a heap on the ground so that she could run off as quickly as possible to the next adventure. She spotted her jacket – the one she'd left in the console room before going on her last adventure – carefully placed on the unmade bed, and she the memory made tears well in her eyes.

"Rose?" She heard the Doctor call her, his shoes echoing as he walked down the corridor.

She poked her head out of her room. "Yeah?"

"Oh," he blinked, looking at her and the door in surprise, his eyes looking over her shoulder quickly as he took in the room of his former companion. She thought she saw him wince slightly when he spotted her jacket, which only made her throat constrict. "I was actually coming to tell you that your room might not be here anymore." He was no longer in his suit, back to his usual tweed and bowtie.

Rose frowned. "Why wouldn't my room be here?"

He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "The TARDIS sometimes gets rid of unnecessary rooms, especially after such a violent regeneration, or, you know…"

"Blowing up?" Rose supplemented with a wicked grin. The Time Lord looked at her sheepishly. "Well, I don't hit the console with a hammer. She and I get along." Rose said with a wink before disappearing back into her bedroom to quickly shimmy out of her dress and slip into a pair of comfortable black trousers and a pink hoodie. Strappy silver high heels were replaced with wool socks, and Rose opened the door to see the Doctor leaning against the wall, waiting patiently for her.

She reached up to tweak his red bowtie, a knowing glint in her eye. She smiled widely at him, meeting his gaze, "bowties are cool." She said before offering her hand.

He took it gratefully, and she thought she heard a small sigh when their skin touched. She smiled at him and let him tug her down the corridor into the library. Once back in the familiar room, she grinned widely, letting go of his hand to skip over to the couch and sit heavily, bring up her legs to half lie down.

The Doctor stayed in the doorway, looking at the library in surprise, making Rose lift her eyebrows. He met her confused look and told her, "The library hasn't looked like this since you left." The words seemed to stick in his throat, as though he didn't quite want to say them. Rose smiled reassuringly at him, letting him take his time before he came over to join her on the couch. He lifted her feet and sat in their place, letting her legs rest on his thighs as he places his open palms on her shins. He didn't seem to want to stop touching her, as though if he stopped she might disappear.

"Where do you want me to start?" She asked him, running her hand through her hair.

"From the beginning." He told her, his face serious.

She swallowed. "Okay. When I was nineteen, this daft alien blew up my job, then told me to forget him, then showed up at my flat…hey!" she squealed as she shoved her, making them both laugh.

"You know what I meant," he told her with a grin.

She grinned and then sighed. "Okay. So when you left me on that beach – again – Pete came to pick us up at the beach and took us home. We lived with my mum and him for the first little while, but John – that's what he ended up calling himself, by the way – was driving my mum barmy – she had to buy three new toasters in the six weeks we were there," Rose laughed, and the Doctor laughed with her. "Anyway, we ended up getting out own flat not too far from Torchwood, where we both ended up working. Experts in aliens, us," she told him with a distinctive Rose Tyler grin, "and we were happy, just like you wanted. We worked on the same team until John retired. He was eighty-seven when he died." Her smile disappeared and she felt tears start to pool in her eyes, and she cursed her treacherous body. The Doctor tightened his grip on her legs reassuringly, not saying anything. "His memory went first. He resented me so much at the end. He didn't understand why I was keeping him at the flat, why he couldn't just go back to the TARDIS. He yelled when I called him John, he called me a liar when I tried to remind him. He remembered at the very end, though. He thanked me for taking care of him, apologized for leaving me. It was…harder. Harder than I ever thought it could be. I realized that I understood why you left us behind." She looked away from him for the first time. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

"Your family?" He asked her, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Gone. Dead." She replied simply, a few tears making their way down her cheeks before she could stop them.

He let out a heavy breath. "I'm so sorry, Rose."

"Don't be." She told him, her voice hardening with resolve. "You gave me a happy life, Doctor. You gave me a life with you. It wasn't perfect, and it wasn't easy, but I loved him. I loved you."

The Doctor felt his heart constrict. Loved. Past tense. He tried not to read too much into that. "He retired," he clarified, looking at her in confusing, and she thought she might see some fear in his eyes. "He died of old age." He said. She nodded. "But you…you're not…I mean…you're still…" he trailed off, looking at her hopelessly.

She pursed her lips. "You want me to say that when you reset the universe, it reset my life, bringing back to the age I was when I left." She said knowingly, "but I can't." the fear that she could definitely see now grew stronger, and his grip on her legs was so tight it almost hurt. Almost. "No, Doctor, this is the face I've had for about…" she trailed off, squinting as she tried to remember, "two hundred years? Two hundred and fifty? I can't remember." She said with a shrug.

His posture was so tense she though he might crack if she touched him, so she let him process that information in silence, simply waiting patiently for him to be ready to keep talking. Eventually, she began to hum a small tune quietly to distract herself.

"You don't age." He finally said.

"No, I don't." She replied agreeably.

"This is my fault," he whispered, and Rose felt the sudden urge to refute, to comfort, to reassure. He seemed so broken, so tired in that one instant, and Rose felt her heart squeeze in her chest.

"No." She told him vehemently. "No, Doctor. What I did was my choice, not yours." She told him, waiting for him to lift his head and meet her eyes to see the honesty and the promise in them. When he didn't, she reached over and gently lifted his head with her fingertips under his prominent chin, forcing him to look at her. "This is not your fault." She told him again.

He sighed. "What else did…it…do to you?" He asked her.

She frowned for a moment, keeping their gazes locked, before she let out a sigh as well. "A few things. More practical metabolism, faster processing power, I can see timelines, see how things should happen, sometimes, and who's lives are intertwined."

He took a quick breath. "So at the museum, when you gasped when you looked at Rory…?"

She let out an easy smile. "Yeah. 'S'beautiful, isn't it?"

He let out a chuckle. "Yeah. Yeah, it really is."

She let out a watery giggle before continuing. "I'm also touch-telepathic now," she ignored his look of surprise. "The thing with the timelines means that I can retain memories from different realities. You gave me a hell of a headache when you disappeared, and when the stars went out." She let out another chuckle. "And…um…I think that's it." She finished.

He stared at her for several minutes. "You're telepathic?" He gasped.

Yes, she pushed the word at his mind with a smile, watching his eyes widen and light up. He grinned widely for a moment before it disappeared back behind his somber eyes. "And Amy? She knows you. How does she know you?"

Rose sighed. "It's kind of hard to explain," she said. "When the stars blacked out – which, by the way, I spent years running across dimensions to stop, and then you just big fat went and did it anyway," she said accusingly, flicking his floppy hair and earning a small smile for her troubles. "Anyway, when the stars blacked out, there were some children who retained the memories. I tracked them down, and eventually I ended up with Amy. I posed as a child psychiatrist so that I could learn what she remembered, and I told her that she wasn't crazy, she was right, and that I was trying to sort it. When she grew up, we stayed in touch."

"That's why you were at the museum with Amelia," the Doctor breathed in realization. She nodded. "And…" he started unsurely, "you had a good life with him? Even if you couldn't grow old together?"

Rose smiled. "Would you like to see?" She offered, offering him her open hands.

"Oh, Rose," He whispered. "Yes please."

She smiled and lightly placed her fingers on his temples. He let out a strangled moan as her presence filled his mind, which made her smile. She pushed the memories in direction.

"I'm sorry, Rose. I'm so sorry."

"Are you ready for life on the slow path, Doctor?"

"Get your hands off my toaster, you bloody alien!"

"What about this one, John? Two bedrooms, one bath. Nice kitchen, close to work."

"Two bedrooms?"

"Well, for if we have guests."

"Welcome to Torchwood, John Noble."

"You can't stop them from saluting now, love."

"Marry me?"

"What?"

"Marry me, Rose Tyler."

"You really think now's the best time to ask?"

"Oh please. There's no better time than something other than your run of the mill invasion. Need the excitement, us."

"It certainly is very us.

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes."

"I love you, Rose."

"No, John."

"But, Rose –"

"John, I'm not having you dressed like your sixth self at our wedding!"

"I now pronounce you husband and wife."

"Barcelona! No noseless dogs, but it'll have to do."

"John…"

"What?"

"John, I don't think I'm aging."

"Only you would want to visit Russia in the middle of winter, you daft alien."

"Ah, but I'm your daft alien."

"Don't you forget it."

"You're in the parallel world, John, we don't have a TARDIS."

"You're lying!"

"I'm sorry Rose. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be, my Doctor. I've lived a lifetime with you. I'll never regret it, and I'll never stop loving you."

"I'm afraid to close my eyes."

"Don't be. Close your eyes, rest for once. I'll stay with you."

"For how long?"

"Forever."

In minutes, Rose's entire life with John Noble flashed through the Doctor's mind. When she finally removed her hands from his temples, he blinked a few times to readjust to the light, before he reached over and gathered her into his arms, hugging her tight to his chest as best he could with her legs still over his. She returned the hug with as much force as him.

"Thank you, Rose," he whispered to her. "And I'm so sorry."

"I lived a great life, Doctor." She promised him. "Now, though, I think it's time I went to bed. I feel like I haven't slept in years." She saw panic in his eyes and gently ran her finger through his hair in what she hoped was a soothing motion. "Come with me."

"What?" He squeaked.

"Not like that," she grinned and slapped his shoulder. "Just…lay with me. You look like you could do with some sleep yourself."

He regarded her with serious eyes for a few moments, before nodding. She pulled her legs off of his to allow him to stand, then took his offered hand to help her get to her own feet. She let him lead the way to his bedroom rather than hers. Once in his bedroom, she went to the drawer and pulled it open, hoping the TARDIS would provide for her.

The ship did so gladly, and Rose pulled a pair of simple back shorts and a pink jimjams top out of the drawer. She took the clothes into the Doctor's bathroom and changed quickly, folding the clothes she'd been wearing previously. When she emerged from the bathroom, the Doctor was in his own jimjams – a sight which brought very fond memories for Rose – and was under his blankets, his head resting on his hands as he looked up at the ceiling. She joined him, sliding under his covers and getting in the same position he was in, turning her head to meet his gaze. He turned his head and gave her a small smile when he saw her looking at him.

It wasn't the first time Rose had slept in the same bed as the Doctor. When she'd travelled with his leather and pinstriped selves, they'd sometimes slept in the same bed after particularly frightening adventures – their encounter with the devil came to mind – or if one was having nightmares while the other was in earshot. She recalled being scared half to death when she'd been returning to her bedroom from the galley one night after a cup of tea, and out of nowhere she's heard him shouting. Loudly. When she'd finally found him, he'd been twisting and turning and still shouting. She'd come to the edge of his bed and cautiously woken him up.

His eyes had snapped open, electric blue meeting hazel, and he'd breathed out her name. Cautiously, she'd reached out to stroke his face, to reassure him. He'd caught her hand and pulled her so she'd climbed on the bed. She'd turned into his side while still whispering reassurances and he'd hugged her tight to him, like he was clinging onto a lifeline.

"I missed you." She told him quietly as his green gaze continued to look into her eyes.

"Rose Tyler," he whispered, reaching over to brush hair from her face. With that motion, two very, very tired people cuddled up in a large bed, holding each other as they finally closed their eyes to sleep.