Thank you for taking a chance on my story. Just to let you know, this is intended to be a fairly brief glimpse into the life and family built by Rose and 10.5, sort of a long-winded prequel to the larger story that I'm working on. This one will include snapshots of important events in their life, and give me a place to start.

Disclaimer: If I owned Doctor Who, would I be writing fan fiction?

Chapter One: Bad Wolf Bay

"Fat lot of good this is, back of beyond, bloody Norway!" Jackie complained as she stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around. "I'm going to have to find your father," she said over her shoulder to Rose. She muttered something else that Rose didn't quite catch before turning to face the metacrisis Doctor. "I was pregnant, do you remember? Had a baby boy."

He smiled. "Ah, brilliant. What'd you call him?"

Jackie put on her best poker face, wanting to tease him. "Doctor," she said.

The happy smile slid off his face. "Really?" Flattered as he was, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the kid if it was true.

Jackie laughed. "No, you plum. He's called Tony."

Rose was barely listening to any of this as she looked around, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she recognized her surroundings.

"Hold on, this is the parallel universe, right?" She turned to look at the Doctor, her eyes silently begging him to tell her she was wrong.

His eyes were closed off, unreadable, and his expression solemn. "You're back home," he said, before Donna interrupted.

"And the walls of the world are closing again, now that the reality bomb never happens. It's dimensional retro-closure. See, I really get that stuff now," she added proudly, and the metacrisis couldn't help but smile at her. Brilliant Donna Noble.

Rose, however, was not distracted. "No, but, I spent all that time trying to find you, I'm not going back now!" Her voice began to rise as fear bubbled up inside her.

"But you've got to," the Doctor said gently. "Because we saved the universe, but at a cost. And the cost is him."

The other Doctor's head snapped up at these words, and the two identical men locked eyes as the Doctor continued.

"He destroyed the Daleks, he committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own."

"You made me," the metacrisis protested.

"Exactly. You were born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge." The Doctor's eyes softened as he turned his gaze on Rose. "Remind you of someone?" He paused, letting her think a moment, and her eyes dropped away from his. "That's me, when we first met, and you made me better. Now you can do the same for him."

"But- he's not you," Rose protested, her voice cracking. After all of the crap she had gone through to get back to the man she loved, everything she'd been prepared to give up, was he really going to do this to her?

"He needs you," the Doctor replied earnestly. "That's very me."

Rose's breath caught at those words, but before she could process what he'd said, Donna broke in.

"But it's better than that, though. Don't you see what he's trying to give you?" Donna asked, and Rose blinked, not understanding. "Tell her, go on," Donna urged both Doctors.

The metacrisis took a deep breath as Rose turned to face him and began to explain. "I look like him, I think like him. Same memories, same thoughts, same everything. Except, I've only got one heart."

Rose still didn't understand, her whirling emotions making it difficult for her to wrap her mind around this. "Which mean?"

"I'm part human. Specifically, the aging part," he elaborated. "I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life, Rose Tyler." The way he said her name, his eyes swimming with emotions she dared not put a name to, made Rose's heart pound in her chest. "I could spend it with you, if you want."

Echoes of an old conversation flashed between them as the both remembered him telling her that while she could spend the rest of her life with him, he couldn't spend the rest of his with her. For a moment, a feeling of smothered longing grew in Rose, as she thought of them spending the rest of their lives together.

"You'll grow old at the same time as me?" she sought to confirm, still stunned by this revelation.

"Together," he quietly confirmed, the intensity of his chocolate-brown eyes holding her gaze and refusing to let her go.

She shook he head slightly in disbelief, and hesitantly reached out and placed one hand on his chest, feeling the steady beating of his single heart beneath her fingers, momentarily transfixed by the feeling. She and the blue-clad Doctor stared into each other's eyes for a long moment, too caught up in their emotions to speak. Just as the intensity of the moment began to be too much for Rose, the first Doctor spoke.

"Oh, and don't forget this," he called, and Rose turned to face him. He was holding an odd chunk of- something. "This universe is in need of defending. Chunk of TARDIS," he declared proudly, tossing it to his counterpart. "Grow your own."

The metacrisis caught it, a bemused expression on his face. "But that takes thousands of years."

The Doctor shrugged. "No, because-"

Donna cut in. "If you shatterfry the plasmic shell and modify the dimensional stabilizer to a foldback harmonic of 36.3, you accelerate the growth by the power of 59!"

The two men shared a look of bewilderment, dawning comprehension, and pride at Donna's brilliance. "We never thought of that," they said in unison.

"The Doctor, in the TARDIS, with Rose Tyler," the Doctor said fondly. "Just as it should be."

"But, what about you?" Rose asked quietly, her heart cracking.

"Oh, I'm fine. I've got Madame," he said, but his smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Human with a Timelord brain," Donna said happily. "Perfect combination. We can travel the universe forever, best friends. As equals. And that's just what skinny boy needs, an equal."

Just as she finished speaking, the TARDIS made a warning sound, drawing all attention back to it. The Doctor glanced over his shoulder, then turned back to Rose.

"We've gotta go," he said, a touch of regret in his voice. "This universe is sealing itself off. Forever." He turned and started walking back to the TARDIS.

Rose darted after him. "But it's still not right!" she cried softly, her voice breaking. "'Cause, the Doctor's still you."

"And I'm him," he told her gently, nodding at his counterpart.

"All right then," she said. "Both of you, answer me this." She glanced from one Doctor to the other as both came to stand on either side of her, perfect mirror images, even adopting the same pose. She blinked, trying to clear her head, and continued. "When I last stood on this beach, on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing you said to me?" She turned her gaze on the fully Timelord Doctor and urged, "Go on, say it!"

"I said, 'Rose Tyler,'" he answered, and stopped there, his eyes filling with pain, and swallowed around the lump in his throat.

"Yeah, and how was that sentence gonna end?" she prompted, not letting him off the hook.

"Does it need saying?" he asked quietly, a faint catch in his voice.

Rose stared at him in disbelief for a moment. How could he not think it needed to be said? She slowly turned her head and faced the other Doctor.

"And you, Doctor? What was the end of that sentence?"

The other Doctor's expression was soft as he gently placed a hand on her arm and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"I love you."

As those words reached her brain, she felt as though an electric shock ran through her entire body. He pulled back slightly, meeting her gaze, and his expression was so open and sincere, and so clearly her Doctor, that she couldn't hold back anymore. She reached out and seized his lapels and hauled him down to her, crashing their lips together in a passionate, searing kiss. Liquid fire shot through her veins as their lips molded together, and he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, hauling her against his body. Her own arms came up to wrap just as tightly around his neck, her hands tangling in his soft, tousled hair as she'd dreamed of doing, oh, so many times. His mouth was hungry against hers as years of pent-up feelings and repressed love finally found release.

A moment later, Rose was jolted back to reality by the sound of the TARDIS door closing. She jerked out of her Doctor's arms with a gasp, and ran a few steps forward, but it was too late. The TARDIS was already dematerializing. She stared in disbelief as the blue box faded from sight, completely unable to comprehend it. 'He didn't even say goodbye,' she thought, a little desperately.

As the ship disappeared completely, she felt the other Doctor come up beside her. Gently, he took her hand in his, squeezing it slightly, silently telling her that he was still here, and offering his reassurance. Rose gripped his hand tightly, clinging to him like a lifeline.

After a moment, she lifted her eyes from the spot the TARDIS had just vacated and turned to meet the Doctor's eyes. She had no idea what to say, conflicting emotions of hurt, grief, confusion and loss at the Doctor's abrupt departure warring with her relief that this Doctor was still here, and her love for him, all complicated by the fact that every nerve in her body was still sizzling from that incredible kiss.

Some of her inner turmoil must have shown in her face, because the Doctor's eyes softened and he smiled a small, tender smile. He reached out with his free hand and brushed a strand of her soft blonde hair away from her face before cupping her cheek in his hand, his thumb gently stroking her cheekbone.

"It'll be alright, Rose," he said gently. "I know you must be feeling overwhelmed right now, but I promise it's going to be alright. I'm not going anywhere."

It was just the sort of reassurance she needed. She lifted her hand and hesitantly reached out to him, slowly stroking the side of his face with a feather-light touch. Their eyes were locked together, and they slowly leaned in towards each other again. Rose paused just before their lips met, wanting him to take that final step this time, and with a soft sigh of her name, he did, lightly touching his lips to hers.

This kiss was different; soft, slow and gentle, the sweet kiss of new lovers who have all of Time. It was just as intense, though, if not more so, and Rose quickly found herself melting into his arms, shaken to the core by the intensity of their shared passion. Her entire awareness narrowed to the feel of his lips on hers, his tongue lightly stroking along hers and exploring the hidden recesses of her mouth, his arms around her and her own fingers threading through his hair again.

The perfect moment shattered when Jackie cleared her throat somewhere behind them, startling them both into breaking apart. Rose turned to face her mother, blushing, but didn't pull away from the Doctor's embrace. He didn't loosen his arms either, keeping them locked around her and refusing to let go, even for a moment.

Jackie glared at them for a few seconds, but when Rose opened her mouth to apologize, her mother waved her into silence.

"Don't bother, I knew this would happen. The way you two would look at each other, even when himself there was all big ears and leather. And after the last three years, with you fightin' so hard to get back to him. Knew that was coming."

The Doctor reached one hand up and tugged slightly on his hair, a bit embarrassed.

"Well," he started, then stopped when he realized there wasn't really anything he could say to that. Instead, he settled for sharing another melting look with Rose. As their eyes met again, matching happy smiles spread across their faces. Their joy was so visible, so contagious, that Jackie couldn't help smiling herself.

"All right, I'm gonna try and call your father," she said, pulling out her phone. "He can send someone to come get us. I don't know about you two, but I've had enough of this beach."

With that, Jackie turned her back on Rose and the Doctor and began dialing, walking away to talk to her husband. The two of them stared awkwardly at each other, both having so much to say that they didn't know where to start. The Doctor still had his arms wrapped around her, so Rose settled for cuddling close to his chest, tucking her head under his chin. He turned his head slightly to press a light kiss against her forehead. A contented smile crossed Rose's lips a she breathed in his familiar scent, feeling his strong arms cradling her and loving every second of it. This was what she'd been craving, what she had crossed dozens of parallels to get back to. It didn't even matter that she felt only one heart beating in his chest against her cheek; he was her Doctor. And this Doctor would never change his face, would not have to watch her wither and die while he still remained young and gorgeous, and would not have to live on alone for centuries without her. Best of all, he wasn't afraid to tell her he loved her. Yes, they had a lot of things to talk about and some issues to work out, but Rose was confident that they could handle anything, as long as they were together. She wasn't exactly sure when she'd come to this realization (probably somewhere in the middle of one of those kisses), but her resolve was unshakable.

Deciding that weighty conversations could wait until they were truly alone, she lifted her head to tell him what she thought her parents were likely to arrange.

"There's this little village about ten miles away; it's not much, but there's a hotel. It's where we stayed, you know, last time." Her voice faltered, and he tightened his grip on her before tilting her head up and kissing her until she was breathless. Again.

"I am never going to let that happen again. You're stuck with me, Rose Tyler," he said, his low voice containing just a hint of a growl as they both remembered the anguish they'd felt at their separation.

Rose couldn't help but smile at his words. "Yeah, well, stuck with you, that's not so bad," she replied, giving her patented tongue-in-teeth smile. He returned his cheekiest grin, making an adorable happy sound in the back of his throat.

"Anyway, Mum will talk to Dad, and he'll make arrangements for a car to come and get us; the road's about a quarter mile that way." She freed one hand to point off to her right. "We'll prob'ly stay tonight in that hotel I mentioned, and Dad's zeppelin should be at the airport tomorrow morning."

So it proved. When Jackie came back over to them a few minutes later, she informed them of this very same plan, and half an hour later they were picked up by a black sedan on the side of the road. Throughout the wait and the ride to the hotel, Rose and the Doctor remained uncharacteristically quiet, clinging tightly to each other's hands the entire time, as if afraid the other would vanish if they let go.

When they arrived at the hotel, Jackie went up to the front desk to pick up their keys, Pete having made all the arrangements, then came back to them, handing one key to the Doctor.

"Rose-"

"I'm stayin' with him," Rose cut her mother off before she could finish her question, knowing exactly what was coming. Her mother had been about to ask if she wanted to stay in her mother's room or the Doctor's, but Rose had no intention of letting her Doctor out of her sight. She was still sort of half afraid that she'd wake up to find that this had all been yet another vivid dream, and they were still separated. As if reading her thoughts (or sharing them, she wasn't sure), he squeezed her hand tightly.

Jackie frowned slightly, but it passed quickly and she shrugged.

"All right then, you two. You just behave yourselves," she said, fixing the Doctor with her most ferocious glare. "I'm nowhere near old enough to be a grandmother."

"Mum!" Rose hissed in outrage, her face burning. A furtive glance at the Doctor's face revealed that he was blushing just as hotly, and tugging awkwardly on his hair with his free hand. Her face flushed even hotter at seeing his reaction, and she deliberately avoided making eye contact with him. Instead, she glared at her mum.

"What? I told you, I seen the way you've always looked at each other, like you're-"

"Mum, just shut up. Please, please, please, just stop talking."

Jackie looked completely unrepentant, but she did change the subject. "Well, are you hungry?"

Rose shook her head. After these past days, she was just exhausted, and her stomach tied up in knots after the emotional roller coaster she'd been put through. All she could think about now was how much she and her Doctor needed to talk, and how there was no way they could do so in front of her mother.

"Neither am I," the Doctor added quietly, and Jackie sighed.

"Well, then I guess I'll just say goodnight." Jackie reached out and hugged her daughter, and Rose returned it as best she could without letting go of the Doctor. Jackie pulled away and turned to head for the hotel's small dining room, then stopped and turned back.

"Are you two really going to grow another TARDIS and take off again?" she asked bluntly.

Rose had been expecting something like this eventually, though not quite so soon. She started to answer her mum's question, then realized she wasn't so sure herself and turned to the Doctor.

"I don't know. Doctor, can we really grow another TARDIS from that little chunk?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the oddly-shaped piece of coral. "Yes, we can," he announced happily. "Thanks to Donna, we can do so in record time." Seeing the look on Jackie's face, he hastened to reassure her, knowing that she must be dreading losing her daughter again so quickly. After all, for a while there she'd thought she was going to lose Rose forever, which was bound to make her a bit clingy. "Mind you, it'll still take a while, something like, oh, eighteen months?"

He mentally congratulated himself on his accurate reading of Jackie when her face instantly relaxed at the mention of eighteen months. She reached out and kissed her daughter's cheek and said goodnight, then resumed her trek to the dining room. When she was gone, the Doctor turned to Rose.

"Shall we?" he offered, sweeping his free hand in the direction of the stairs.

They started off in silence, but halfway up the stairs Rose voiced a question. "Are we really going to be stuck here for a year and a half?" she asked, far less pleased by this idea than her mother.

The Doctor chuckled slightly at the comparison in his head, but nodded. "It'll take about that long for the new TARDIS to grow up. But we will be traveling again soon, Rose. I promise you that."

"Are you going to be all right? I mean, just one planet, one time, for that long… isn't that going to drive you mad?" She was a little afraid of what his answer might be. Traveling and exploring was such a huge part of who he was. How could a day-to-day life, stuck on one planet, ever compare to that, even if it was only temporary? She'd only traveled with him for about two years, and she'd hated being confined, so how much worse would it be for him? What if he got bored with her, now that he couldn't show her all of Time and Space?

His next words brought her frenzied circle of fear and doubt to a screeching halt, and nearly stopped her heart.

"Not as long as I have you."

Rose stopped dead in her tracks, overwhelmed by his simple sentence and the gravity with which it was spoken. Tears stung her eyes and her breath caught in her throat, and she had to fight down a sob as it hit her: This was actually happening. She really had the Doctor back, in the same universe, and he was finally expressing the incredible depth of emotion that had always existed between them, from the word "run."

Suddenly, she registered that he had also stopped, and was speaking to her, sounding worried. "Rose? What's wrong, what did I say? Rose?"

Her eyes focused again on his concerned, handsome face, and she smiled, shaking her head. "Nothing's wrong, I'm fine. It's just…" she trailed off, unsure of how to phrase what was going on in her head.

"Just what, Rose? What is it?"

"I- I dreamed of this, you know, for so long. Even before C-Canary Wharf. I'd loved you for so long, and you always held me at arm's length. And then you were gone, and I thought I'd never see you again, and I still dreamed about it. I never stopped. And then we started working on the dimension cannon, and it got worse, and then it started to work, and then I saw you again, and now you're here, and saying these things that I never thought you'd actually say, and it's just- I-" And with that, the tears that had been threatening in Rose's eyes spilled over and she burst into hysterical sobs, the events of the past few days finally getting the better of her.

The Doctor gathered Rose into his arms, cradling her against him as she sobbed into his blue jacket, clinging to him desperately. For a long moment, he just held her, stroking her hair and whispering to her in his gentlest tone, but when a passing guest gave them a nasty glare as he walked by, the Doctor gently urged her to walk onward. Keeping an arm around her, he located their room and opened it, ushering her inside and closing the door behind them. Gently, he guided her to sit down on one of the beds, and sat down beside her, gathering her back into his arms to let her cry herself out. He murmured words of comfort and reassurance into her ears, constantly reminding her that he was there, and that he loved her. Gradually, the force of her tears began to wear itself out, and her sobs slowed and quieted as she drew comfort from his presence.

Unlike her furious bouts of tears the first time she'd stayed in this hotel, crushed by the loss of her beloved Doctor, this session of tears brought peace in its wake. This time, it wasn't about grief, but release. Slowly, she was able to stop crying, and raised her face to look into the Doctor's eyes. He gave her a small, tender smile.

"Feel a little better?" he asked softly, brushing her hair away from her face.

She gave a tiny, watery laugh. "I guess," she said shakily.

His small smile widened. "Except that, now, your head hurts and your nose is all stopped up," he said, and gently disentangled himself from her. He stood and grabbed the tissue box from the dresser and handed it to her, then ducked into the bathroom, coming out a moment later with a glass of water.

"Here," he said, handing it to her. "That should help."

Rose blew her nose and drank the water without taking her eyes off him, and gradually began to get herself under control again. With that control came mild embarrassment that she'd broken down so completely, and she flushed slightly.

"Sorry 'bout that," she muttered.

"Hey," he said, taking her chin in his hand and gently forcing her to look him in the eye. "Don't ever apologize for that. It's been a hell of a day, and it seems like you were long overdue for a bit of a breakdown."

She laughed weakly at that. "Guess I was, yeah. I got so used to holding everything inside, never dealing with it, 'cause I thought I'd break if I let it out for a minute. Plus everyone else seemed to think it was time I moved on, thought I should be 'over it' by now. But I wasn't." She sniffled, and he handed her another tissue. "I never 'got over it,' and it never got any easier, never hurt any less, and I never missed you any less. I got a bit better at hiding it, at finding ways to shut it out or bury myself in my work at Torchwood, but the pain, the nightmares, they never went away."

Tears pricked the Doctor's eyes at her heartrending confession, and he pulled her tightly against his chest, his own breathing ragged as his single heart shattered for his pink and yellow girl. "Oh, Rose," he choked out, rocking her gently in his arms, his lips pressed against her hair. He struggled to find the words to tell her just what she meant to him, but his infamous gob seemed to have deserted him, just as it always had when he tried to open up to her. Finally, he managed a few halting sentences that didn't really properly express how he was feeling, but mostly got his point across.

"That day, losing you… It broke me, Rose. I hated that I hadn't gotten to finish that sentence, that I'd never found the time to tell you how I felt before. Everywhere I went, everything I did, it all reminded me of you, and I missed you constantly, so much it hurt. If it hadn't been for Donna…" he broke off as she tensed in his arms suddenly. "What is it?"

For a moment, Rose couldn't speak as the memories of that parallel world where the Doctor hadn't met Donna flashed through her mind. The memory of racing down the street to the UNIT forces, only to be told that the Doctor was dead… That had very nearly killed her on the spot, and only the knowledge that it wasn't supposed to have happened had kept her from falling apart. She forced her lips to move, knowing he deserved an explanation.

"That parallel world, where I met Donna, just before… She'd never met you, and without her, you…" She stopped, unable to say it, but he knew.

"It's okay, I know. Donna told me what she remembered about that world. I know that must have been hell for you, but you fixed it. I'm here, I'm all right."

She held onto him tightly, trying to chase away the unpleasant memories and replace them with the knowledge that he was here, holding her and kissing her forehead.

They stayed like that for a long time, just holding each other close and drawing comfort from each other's presence. It wasn't until the Doctor noticed that it had gotten dark that they moved at all, and even then it was only to turn on a lamp, pull off their shoes and jackets and get more comfortable on the bed, leaning against the pillows with their arms around each other. Rose rested her head on his shoulder, and slowly they began to talk again.

She told him of the time she'd spent in this universe, stumbling over her blurry memories of the first six months or so, when she'd been buried so deep in depression that she barely left her room in the Tyler mansion. It nearly killed him to hear how broken she'd been, and he couldn't hold himself back from kissing her desperately. When they broke apart, she smiled slightly, and went on to tell him of how she'd eventually pulled herself together, outwardly at least, and of her work with Torchwood and the dimension cannon. He had to admit, he was impressed with her accomplishments, and told her so. She merely gave a self-deprecating chuckle and said "I guess anyone can accomplish something if they make it the sole focus of their existence."

He couldn't help giving her a mild glare at that. "Rose Tyler, you are brilliant. Don't ever let me hear you saying otherwise."

After a brief pause, he reciprocated, telling her of his travels with Martha and Donna, from the Racnoss and the Sontarans to Jenny and the mysterious River Song. He told her of the Master and the Year That Never Was, and about Captain Jack and his immortality. When he told her that Jack Harkness was the Face of Boe, she let out an incredulous laugh, nearly identical to the one he'd given when he'd found out. Finally, haltingly, he told her about what the metacrisis was undoubtedly doing to Donna's mind, and what the other Doctor was going to be forced to do in order to save her. They both shed a few bitter tears over that; the Doctor because he still thought of her as a beloved sister, and Rose because in the brief time she'd known Donna, she'd come to respect her and see her as a friend.

They talked late into the night, about all the things they'd never talked about, baring their souls in that little hotel room. They continued until they could both feel their eyelids growing heavy, and they finally gave in to their exhaustion, settling down under the covers. Rose curled up against the Doctor's side, pillowing her head on his chest, and he wrapped his arms tightly around her. Cuddled together, they fell into the most peaceful sleep either had had in years, secure in the knowledge that they were no longer alone.

Thanks for reading, and please review! Be nice, though, this is my first story.