A/N: So, this is my second Doctor Who story and slightly more ambitious than my first one.

I've read all the stories in which the Doctor sends Rose an envelope to Pete's World, and I have to say, I've always wondered why no one's written about the Doctor sending the invitation to a younger Rose. I didn't mean to write this, or, when I started writing this, it was meant to span just The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon but then I got the idea of how to solve the problem with Rose going to Pete's World. So more plot was born. And I just couldn't stop writing. And this spans the whole season 6, while cutting out most episodes.

The second part should be up as soon as I get it typed but I dare not give a time frame for it. Anything from a few days to a few weeks, really.

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

The blue envelope addressed to Rose came two days before a scheduled trip home. Jackie put the envelope to a visible place so that she'd remember to give it to her daughter in two days time and then forgot about it until she heard the TARDIS' engines. When Rose and the Doctor (in his pinstripe suit and great hair) came in Jackie chatted with them for a bit before remembering the envelope.

"Oh! You got mail a few days back," she told Rose and got up from the table to retrieve the queer blue envelope. "There's no return address and it has all kinds of stamps and it's blue! Who would send anything in a blue envelope? D'you think it's alien?"

Rose took the offered letter and flipped it around before holding it out for the Doctor to sonic it to make sure it wasn't anything dangerous. But it seemed to be just a letter. Her name and address were written on a silver marker and on the flip side there was a great big zero, also in silver. Curiously, she opened the envelope and took out a card.

22/04/2011
16:45 MDT
37" 0'38"N 110" 14'34"W

"It's a date, a time and some coordinates," she said and looked at the Doctor.

"There's more in there," the Doctor said and nodded to the envelope as Rose handed him the card. His mind went on a whirlwind of thoughts and theories and speculations when he saw the card himself. He resisted the urge to lick it.

Rose took out then the letter and unfolded it.

My Dearest Rose,

This is the New New New Doctor, one that no longer has you with him, hasn't had for centuries. I am at the end of my rope, and my final death is close and I know I really shouldn't send this but I cannot imagine dying without seeing you for one last time. Much has happened since I last saw you and much will happen to you before you see the last of me and I can't tell you any of it in fear of a paradox (we don't want a repeat of the reapers, after all). If you do come to the enclosed time and coordinates, you will see me die hundreds of years in the future of your Doctor which means he cannot step out of the TARDIS. The Sexy blue box will keep him contained if you come. You will also meet the Ponds, Amy and Rory, they're married. You turned me domestic, I tell you. And Doctor River Song who, for some reason, thinks she's my wife. I think she and Jack would get on rather well, they both love flirting and guns.

Please come,
Forever your Doctor
The Man who is Rude and not Ginger
The Stuff of Legend

PS: I'll be the one who apparently looks like a twelve-year-old in tweed and bow-tie. Bow-ties are cool.

Rose clutched the letter with shaking hands and tears cascading down her cheeks. She looked up to see her mother and the Doctor looking at her with worry. "Doctor, it's from a future you. We are going to those coordinates right now so that I can slap some sense into him. You can't come outside the TARDIS, we don't want a paradox on our hands, but I'll sort it out, okay?" she told him firmly and started to drag him to the TARDIS, the letter still in her hand.

"Do you have to go right now, sweet'eart?" Jackie called after them. "What do you mean, sort it out? Is he doin' somethin' stupid? Smack 'im for me too, won't you, he's like the son-in-law I never wanted! And he's likely to deserve it for somethin' he's done!"

Rose dragged the Doctor down the stairs and to the street and to the TARDIS but her thoughts were mostly on the letter. It said the Doctor would hundreds of years after she'd… what? Left? Died? It didn't sound like he'd left her behind like he'd done with Jack and Sarah Jane.

When the door closed behind them Rose went to the console. "Doctor, the coordinates, please," she pleaded and reluctantly her pinstriped Doctor set the coordinates.

"Lake Silencio, Utah, 2011, April 22nd, 16:45," he said, tasting the timeline there. "Remember the last time we were in Utah? Van Statten's still out there right now, probably torturing that Dalek."

"Yeah, I suppose," Rose said distractedly. Normally she would have been all about preventing torture, but she now knew more about established events and, well, it was a Dalek.

"I guess you can't tell me what was in that letter?" the Doctor asked as he danced around the console, flying the TARDIS.

"No, you… he… you mentioned paradoxes and reapers and I don't want anything to do with those," answered Rose as the TARDIS shuddered and landed. "That was one of your better landings, now go tinker or something while I'll deal with the future you," she said and ran to the door which she yanked open.

The scenery was nice enough, a lake and mountains in the distance but there was no one there yet. She poked her head back inside the TARDIS. "What time is it?"

"16:30," answered the Doctor. "I thought it'd be better to be a little early."

"So I can change my clothes if I'm really quick about it," she said as she ran to her room. Her hoodie and jeans really weren't something she wanted to wear if this really was the last time the Doctor would see her. She wanted to look nice for him.

Ten minutes later she was back in the console room dressed in a white tee and on top of it a light pink button-up that she had left open, tan shorts, white tights and rose colored converse. She had a bum bag with some money, miniature spyglass, her passport and the envelope with the card and letter resting on her waist. Her hair she'd pulled in a messy ponytail, leaving some strands free. She twirled for her Doctor. "What do you think? Do you care to see me dressed like this?"

Doctor looked up from his tinkering and grinned. "You look lovely as always."

Rose kissed his cheek and ran back outside just as a car pulled in. It stopped and from the driver's seat came out a man in tweed who Rose assumed was the Doctor, like he'd warned her in his letter. From the front seat came a woman in mid-thirties with light brown ringlets for hair, dressed mostly in denim, and she had a gun on her hip. Rose guessed she was Doctor River Song. From the back seat came a young couple, the woman had long ginger hair and the man had a slightly larger-than-average nose. Rose supposed they were Amy and Rory Pond.

"Doctor!" she shouted and sprinted to the car and threw her arms around the tweed jacket man. He was a little shorter than her pinstriped version of him but still he could lift her up and twirl her around.

"Rose Tyler! You came!" he laughed gleefully.

"Of course I came you daft alien!" she laughed as he set her down. Then she slapped him, a deathly serious look on her face. "You're not doing whatever it is that you're planning on doing," she told him and slapped him again. "That second one was from mum, you're the son-in-law she never wanted but is still happy to have. I mean, I know we're not like that, but that's what she said."

Doctor was holding his now smarting cheek. "You, Rose Tyler, slap like your mother. Is it hereditary?" he whined, ignoring the last part of her comment.

"I wouldn't know, we don't have kids, now do we?" she retorted with her tongue-between-teeth smile, the one he's missed so. "So, do you always sign your letters "Forever Rose Tyler's Doctor" or is it just me?"

The Doctor cupped Rose's face between his hands. "Actually that letter I sent you was the first letter I've written since meeting you so I don't rightly know."

"You've gone centuries without writing letters? You daft alien you, you should at least write to Jack sometimes, he's rebuilding the Earth, remember?" she said, her hands covering his for a second before lowering them, holding both his hands in between them.

"Actually he's in present day Cardiff, but you can't tell me that, it has to be a surprise," the Doctor shrugged. "He had his vortex manipulator. If I timed the letter right, you've just come from Krop Tor, right?"

"Yes, is that when you turned domestic?" she asked with an arched eyebrow, nodding to the Ponds, and took a step back, holding only his right hand, noticing how they still fit, even after regeneration.

"That's when it started," nodded the Doctor. "With you I wouldn't have died of boredom on the slow path."

"Doctor, who's she?" the redhead asked with heavy Scottish accent.

"Ah! Pond, this is Rose Tyler, I haven't seen her for centuries but she's traveling with a younger me right now. Rose, this is Amelia Pond, the girl who waited."

"Let me, guess you were late," deadpanned Rose.

The Doctor blushed and tugged on his ear in embarrassment and it reminded Rose of his previous regeneration that was waiting for her in the TARDIS right now. "TARDIS was recalibrating and I was twelve years late and then I had to make a quick hop to the Moon and I was another two years late."

Rose laughed. "At least your driving doesn't get any better. But temporal numbers five and twelve don't seem to like you much, Doctor."

"Oi! I resent that remark!"

"Let's count, shall we? Cardiff 1869. A year late home. A month late to London 1941. Scotland 1879. That abandoned spaceship in 5123. That parallel world. London 1953. Krop Tor. Not to mention, we still haven't been to Barcelona, not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona, with dogs with no noses. By the way, I'm keeping one of them, I don't care what you say," Rose listed. "As for the numbers: twelve hours equals twelve months, five-and-a-half hours and lastly five minutes to twelve years."

The Doctor pouted. "But I got you nearly everywhere else. I got you to Platform One, Woman Wept, Satellite 5, Christmas 2006, New Earth, ancient Rome, home most recently, 2012 Olympics, no, wait, you haven't done that yet, forget I said anything," he listed back. "And you really can't be mad about that five-and-a-half hours, it was ages ago in the future."

"Oh, don't pout you big baby," Rose slightly smacked his arm. "You know I wouldn't have changed it for anything, even Krop Tor. But I get to go to 2012 Olympics, eh? Tell me, do we end up running from aliens again? Like in the first anti-gravity Olympics?"

"Not exactly," grinned the Doctor. "And I don't have to partake in the actual games."

Rose shrugged. "That's good enough for me. But tell me, were you alone when you regenerated?" she asked, full of worry for the alien in front of her.

"Well, I had the time to say goodbye to everyone, in fact, you were the last one, New Years day, 2005, the man who'd had too much to drink?" the Doctor nudged Rose's shoulder. "And then I got to the TARDIS, went to flight, regenerated and crashed in Amelia's garden shed."

"So I won't be with you long enough for you to regenerate," Rose said sadly.

"You know, regenerations are supposed to last hundreds of years."

"You're much too careless, the one with me is the tenth and he's barely 1100."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "How do you know? I told you I was 900!"

"Bad Wolf," Rose shrugged again. "It took a while but my memories came back. I saw your life up to that point and I can remember it, like a book I liked. Don't worry, it's not too much, it's not like I know everything you know, like all the five thousand species that resemble raxacoricofallapatorians."

The Doctor beamed. "You, Rose Tyler, are wonderfully impossible."

"Hush now and let me take stock," Rose shushed him, letting go of his hand and started to circulate him slowly, eyes roaming on his new body. "Two legs, two arms, hands and ten fingers. Do you still have a slight weakness of… what was it?"

"Dorsal tubercle," grinned the Doctor. "And no."

"So your wrists are working but you've lost you 'fightin' hand'," Rose imitated his southern accent from the previous (to her) Christmas. "Anyway, slightly shorter this time around, but with more meat on your bones, that's good, I don't have to worry about bruises after hugging you. Hair… longish." She paused and reached a hand to touch it speculatively. "As soft as last time around when you're not killing it with gel. Good color, but still not ginger, eh? Your eyebrows though… if mum saw you, she'd be getting her dyes out and sitting you down so that she'd dye your eyebrows back. Eyes… very pretty. Nose… you've had larger, but I loved that beak anyway. It is quite wide though… You're stubborn this time around aren't you?"

"Yeah?" answered the Doctor, confused with what that had anything to do with how he looked.

"It's the jaw, it's got a stubborn tilt to it. But you're also a planner this time around, your forehead's largest that I've seen in a while," Rose grinned and tapped it lightly with her forefinger.

"No comment about the chin?" he asked, pouting slightly. Everyone else seemed to find it his most defining feature this time around…

"Nah, you probably get it all the time and I'm Rose Tyler, I don't do what others do," she answered pertly, grinning, and flicked her ponytail over her shoulder. "And I have a feeling someone is going to call you chin boy someday, just like my Doctor is going to get called pretty boy one day. I just hope I'm there to see his face."

"Doctor, we're still a little lost," Rory cut in as the Doctor opened his mouth to argue something with a pout. "Who is she, exactly? Because she looks very much like the statues of Fortuna…"

"Rose, this is Rory the Roman, also known as the Last Centurion," the Doctor said cheerfully, pointing at Rory proudly, knowing what was going to come next.

"Oh, I love that legend!" Rose said enthusiastically. "It was the one piece of literature I didn't hate that we had to read at school. Is Pandorica really real?"

"Not in my timeline anymore but in yours, yes. And Rory, Rose is the one I love above and beyond the Universe but talking about her hurts more than anything, which is why I haven't told you about her before." He paused. "And I spent months perfecting the statue of Fortuna in her model after she'd accidentally been turned to stone been named the statue of Fortuna, after we found a statue of Fortuna resembling Rose in modern day London. But then, turning her into a goddess wasn't that hard. She's worshiped on thirty different planets, you know," the Doctor explained. "Quarter past five she's going to go back to the younger me while you four, you four will be going on a whole new adventure."

Rose noticed how he left himself out of the count.

"Now, I've a picnic basket in the trunk of my car, along with a couple of blankets, go set it up, I need a word with Rose, alone," the Doctor said and shooed everyone else away. He led Rose by hand out of hearing rage. Then he leaned closer to whisper in hear ear. "Rose, I'm not going to die but it will look like I will, it has to, it's a fixed point in time. So please, just, do as I say, please. I know it'll be hard, but I've got real monsters after me, they want me dead, no new new new new Doctor. This is the beginning of a circular paradox and this is a fixed point. You four will be joining a younger me for an adventure and I will lay low for a while, hopefully not dying, but you know me, trouble magnet even without my miss jeopardy friendly," he joked, trying to lighten the mood but he became serious again. He still held her hand. "I didn't have the plan I now do when I sent the letters, I wouldn't have invited you otherwise, because, forcing you to see it, even for a Doctor you don't know…"

Rose was blinking rapidly to keep in her tears, smiling sedately. "But you're all my Doctors, not just the one with big ears, northern accent and leather jacket, nor the one with great hair, pinstripes and converse. You with your floppy hair and bow-tie and tweed are my Doctor too. I don't care how many times you regenerate, you're still mine, because inside you're still the man that took my hand and told me to run." Her voice broke on the last word.

"Yes, I am," answered the Doctor with a watery smile of his own as he touched his forehead to hers. "Forever."

Her smile became bright and tongue touched as she blinked the gathered tears away. "So, have you seen Sarah Jane lately?" she asked, now that the serious conversation was over.

"Actually yes," he said and they began to walk to the others, hand in hand. "A couple of rouge Shansheeth managed to trick me from the TARDIS and transport it to Earth where they, with the help of a UNIT traitor proceeded to tell Sarah and Jo Grant-Jones, another old friend of mine, that I was dead. I, of course, had to go and help them because the Shansheeth were trying to use the Rassilon Imprimatur to recreate the TARDIS' key to get inside and stop death from ever happening in the Universe, which would have created a paradox so massive the reapers would have swallowed the whole Universe," he finished with a dramatic gesture as they reached the others. "By the way, she has a son now, called Luke. She adopted him after the Bane made him from the genetic code of everyone who visited their Bubble Shock! factory. I met him too, along with Jo's grandson, Santiago. Nice, clever young men, but they'd have to be, being related to Jo and Sarah. And you can't tell me about that either. And I really should stop talking, I'm giving you entirely too much information about the future," he said sheepishly.

"You still babble," Rose laughed as the Doctor helped her down to sit on the blanket. "But you're not nearly as rude as you used to be."

The Doctor looked at her with wide, green eyes, imitating the expression of his previous self instinctively and sat down, letting their shoulders touch. "You don't think it might be because I've missed you and am just happy to see you?"

"Nah, you weren't this polite to Sarah Jane when we ran into her," she snorted.

"But I've missed you more than I ever missed Sarah," the Doctor said earnestly. "You don't know it yet, but when I lost you the first time, I would have died had I not met Donna, you'll even visit that particular parallel world. The second time I lost you, it literally drove me crazy. I snapped out of it, of course, but thankfully I regenerated soon after. Regeneration is supposed to make us Time Lords functional, see, and sometime that includes numbing negative feelings. It's happened twice now, right after the Time War, before I met you, when I grew my big ears, and then after you. I can safely say that the Time War has been relegated to the second worst thing to have happened to me."

"And what about now, when I leave and go back to the younger you? What'll happen to you now?" Rose asked, concerned.

The Doctor smiled dryly. "I've had centuries to learn to exist without you. It can't be called living, how can it, I'm missing my hearts after all, but I can manage. My last self literally couldn't exist without you, I didn't really want to. After I lost you that first time, I was dead inside, why not let the outside match? Now I keep buggering on because I know you're out there, somewhere, running around, wandering off, your hand clasped in mine and your tongue peeking out from behind your teeth when you smile. I can't let the Universe implode or Earth get destroyed because… I can't imagine my life without you, I don't want to know who I'd be if I never met you. The Earth quite literally has to survive until the Sun expands because you were there to witness it. And the human race too, because you've met Cassandra, the last pure human." He turned to look across the lake. Then he turned his attention to the picnic basket and took out a bottle of red wine and four glasses. "Ah! Here it is! Napoleon gave me this bottle. Well, I say gave. More like threw it at me." He poured the wine to everyone else but kept the bottle to himself as River took a plate of cheese and grapes from the picnic basket. The Doctor laid down, letting his head rest in Rose's lap.

"Salut!" they cried when they toasted, Amy's voice ringing loudest. River was laying on her stomach, watching Rose with dark eyes, mouth pursed slightly. Rory was laying on his side, one arm supporting himself. Amy and Rose were the only ones sitting upright, Rose with one hand running though the Doctor's hair and the other holding a familiar wine glass, the one from one of her and the Doctor's safer trips to a beautiful but uninhabited worlds where they'd relaxed on a picnic. She was thrilled he still remembered that she had said the glasses they'd used were the most beautiful glasses she'd ever seen and had brought it along in case she did come along.

"Doctor, you said something about space in 1969," Amy said eventually. "So, when are we going? And since when do you drink wine?"

"I'm eleven hundred and three, I must've drunk it some time," he said, took a sip and spat it right back out, though fortunately (for him) not on Rose or the blankets.

Rose sighed. "You used to be able to drink wine but this must be the first time in this regeneration," she said indulgently with a small smile.

"Yes, well, then I also had much more sensitive taste buds than now so I was able to enjoy the nuances," the Doctor whined. "I used to like this stuff, remember Rose, picnic in ancient Greece?"

"Right after we left Mickey in that parallel world," Rose agreed. "I still think you were trying to cheer me up no matter what you said about winding down after meeting the Cybermen."

"Well, I was, I'd just lost you your boyfriend and your mother honestly scares me," agreed the Doctor. "But 1969… I once got stuck in 1969 and not because of being exiled for once."

"Who's that?" Amy asked, looking over the Doctor's shoulder.

"Who's who?" asked Rory, looking at his wife who, when she looked at him, asked what he was talking about.

"Ah! Look at the Moon. Big silvery thing in the sky. But you lot, you weren't satisfied with just looking, were you? You couldn't resist," the Doctor nearly lamented. "Quite right too."

"Wasn't Moon landing in '69?" Rory pointed out, getting excited. "Oh my god, is that where we're going?"

"A lot more happened in '69 than anyone remembers," the Doctor said vaguely. "Human beings… I thought I'd never get done saving you."

A car drove up behind them, about a hundred feet up the slope. The Doctor stood and helped Rose up, waving to the man who came out. The man lifted a hand in return but stayed where he was.

"Who's he?" Amy asked, frowning. "Another old friend you haven't mentioned?"

River and Rory stood up too, River staring at the lake. "Oh my god," she exhaled.

Rose noticed how tense the Doctor had become and reasoned the fixed point was closing in on them. She turned to look at the lake and saw something more than weird: an astronaut stood in the lake, a proper astronaut with a helmet and oxygen tank on its back.

"You all need to stay back," the Doctor ordered as he took a few steps towards the astronaut. "Whatever happens now you do not interfere. Clear?"

Rose grabbed his hand and turned him around. When they were face to face, she drew his head down and kissed him squarely on the mouth. For a quarter of a second the Doctor didn't respond but then his lips began moving against hers desperately. Five seconds later he drew back, a bitter sweet smile on his face. "You'll find him again, I promise. Goodbye, my Rose," he whispered, the leaned in and whispered something to her that the TARDIS didn't translate before leaning back. "Keep it secret, keep it safe." He forced himself to walk away from her, walking backwards to hold her hand for a second longer and to see her for ten more seconds.

Rose saw him talk to the astronaut, making some gestures with his hands. The astronaut lifted its visor and eventually pointed at the Doctor. When the first energy bolt left the extended finger, Rose closed her eyes, because it really wasn't fair, even if she didn't know this version of the Doctor all that much. But for the last fifteen minutes he'd been the Doctor, her Doctor, and she couldn't bear to see him die… even if she knew he'd really be fine. She heard another shot and opened her eyes just in time to see him begin regenerating. He was looking at her and she saw him mouth words that could have been an apology. When the golden regeneration energy exploded the astronaut released another energy bolt, interrupting the regeneration and making him flop to the sand like marionette that had its strings cut.

She wasn't aware of what Amy, Rory and River were doing but once the Doctor was still on the sand she sprinted past them and was the first to reach his already cooling body. "Doctor," she said urgently, turning his head, feeling for a pulse on his neck. His eyes were closed and there was no thrumming under her fingers and she didn't hear him breathe. When Amy crashed to her side she moved to cradle his head in her lap, in an antic parody of the position they'd been in mere minutes ago.

She was blind and deaf to the world around her but for the Doctor now resting on her lap, but for some reason she looked up and saw herself standing by the TARDIS. She saw herself nod to herself before going into the TARDIS. Ten seconds later the TARDIS dematerialized.

Rose turned her gaze back to the Doctor and just sat there, tears streaming down her face, cradling his head in her lap. Sometime during this someone had fetched one of the blankets they'd sat on and put it around her shoulders. Then masculine but gentle hands pried her hands off the Doctor and lifted him up. Silently Rose watched Rory carry the Time Lord's body to the boat and River douse the body and boat with petrol. She sat there in the sand, watching the body burn in the boat on the lake and in steps her awareness of her surroundings returned to her.

"Who are you?" she heard River ask the man who'd brought the petrol. "Why did you come?"

"Same reason as you," the man said and Rose saw him take a blue envelope from his pocket. She also saw River take out her own envelope and compare them somehow. Rose guessed it had something to do with the numbers and felt slighted that her envelope had a zero on it. "Doctor Song, Amy, Rory. I'm Canton Everett Delaware the third. I won't be seeing you again, but you'll be seeing me. Rose my dear, be careful, this will be dangerous." He turned and walked away after nodding his farewells.

"Four," River said with wide eyes, looking at Amy and Rory.

"Sorry, what?"

"The Doctor numbered the envelopes," River vocalized what Rose had realized after seeing the others.

Rose took out her envelope and stood up, giving the envelope to River apathetically and made her way to the Doctor's now ownerless car. She climbed in the passenger side. She'd have driven but she didn't have permission to drive in USA… and her hands were shaking too badly for comfort.

When they entered a diner Amy went first, then River and Rory discussing the numbers, going over who had which number and what that meant, and Rose entered last, face still unreadable, but she had calmed down some since they left the lake. Her eyes swept over the diner, taking in details, and her eyes fell on the missing envelope on an empty table. She turned to the cashier. "Excuse me, who sat over there?" she asked pointing to the table.

"Some guy," answered man and continued to sweep the counter.

Some guy? thought Rose. The Doctor had said it was the beginning of a circular paradox so that meant it would be the younger Doctor. Where he was at the moment (restroom? Fetching a straw? Having seen something shiny that distracted him?) she had no idea but she was confident he'd be back any minute now and therefore strode up to the table and sat down, taking a swing of the opened pop. It wasn't like they hadn't shared a drink before. She knew the others were giving her odd looks while arguing but she held up the envelope over her shoulder to show them. If they couldn't connect the dots it wasn't her fault.

River snatched the envelope from her. "The Doctor knew he was going to his death," River said and Rose fought a smile. That could be debated, thank God. "So he sent out messages. When you know it's the end, who do you call?"

"Uh… your friends, people you trust," reasoned Rory.

"Number one. Who did the Doctor trust the most?" asked River, purposefully excluding Rose.

"Himself," answered Rose as the backdoor opened and in walked the Doctor. He looked at River, Amy and Rory, smiling and pointing at each on their turn, not having noticed Rose yet.

"This is cold," River said with disbelief. "Even by your standards this is cold."

"Or 'Hello' as people used to say," the younger Doctor joked.

"Doctor?" asked Amy, voice wavering.

"Just popped out to get my special straw," he grinned. "It adds more fizz."

Amy walked over to him and Rose watched, amused, as she circled the Doctor, straightening his bow tie. "You're okay? How can you be okay?"

"Hey, of course I'm okay, I'm the King of okay," he said and hugged her, frowning slightly. "Oh, that's a rubbish title, don't ever call me that." He let go of Amy and with three steps was hugging Rory. "Rory the Roman! Now there's a good title. Hello Rory!"

Rose bit back a chuckle as Rory hesitantly pated his back a few times before gesturing helplessly at River. The Doctor let him go and turned to River. "And Doctor River Song. You bad, bad girl, what sort of trouble do you have-" He stopped when his eyes strayed to Rose, sitting behind River.

They stared at each other, Rose smiling gently and the Doctor wide eyed with disbelief. "Hello," she said, as was their habit after being apart.

The Doctor took River by the shoulders and bodily moved her out of the way, ignoring that she stumbled when he let her go. He took half a step forward before closing his eyes and reaching forward, as if to make sure she was really there. When his finger was met with solid cloth over flesh his eyes flew open. Slowly a smile crept on his face. "Hello," he answered tenderly back before gathering her in a hug, lifting her from the chair and burrowing his face into her neck. Rose wasn't sure but she could've sworn she felt her shirt get damp.

Her feet dangling in the air, Rose wrapped her arms around this younger Doctor, having a feeling that he wasn't going to let her go for a while yet. And she was in no hurry to let go either, she'd just witnessed him fake his own death. Over his shoulder she saw River giving her the stink eye and Amy and Rory looking on curiously as the older Doctor hadn't really explained who she was.

Eventually though he put her down, even if he didn't let her go. "Rose Tyler, what are you doing here?"

Rose grinned, her tongue peeking out. "I was invited, if you'll remember."

Realization dawned on his face. "That's why the envelope and card seemed so familiar! You cheeky thing! You didn't tell me I'd regenerated! Which means the invitation was from an even older me which in turn means it's the beginning of a circular paradox!" he grinned back before his smile fell. "Which in turn means something has happened to close the paradox and you all know what it is but can't tell me because it's in my future." He turned to his other friends, Rose still safely in his arms. "Did I leave us a clue?"

"Space, 1969 and a man called Dalton Everett Delaware the Third," answered Rory. "But I don't understand, how come you're here?"

"What ever happened earlier today happened to an older me," the Doctor answered. "Time is all bumpy-wumpy and wibly-wobly and sometimes time travelers are aware of things in the wrong order. Of course, since it was me, I wanted my friends to be with me since I know something is going to happen but because it has to be younger you than the versions that me'd be currently traveling with to begin the circular paradox, I send the invitations to you, and Rose, because that me'll remember getting a similar invitation and meeting up with you after you'd just gotten the invitations. Simple."

"Amy, ask him what age he is," River said, voice unsteady, looking at him.

"That's a bit personal," tutted the Doctor.

"Answer her," River demanded even though Amy hadn't even opened her mouth.

"Nine-hundred and nine," the Doctor lied.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire," Rose told him under her breath and he hid a smile in her hair.

"But you just said-" Amy began.

"No, my older self said and you can't tell me anything, it's something I have to live myself," the Doctor said in a tone that said the conversation was over.

"Where does that leave us, huh?" asked River. "Jim the fish? Have we done Jim the fish yet?"

"Who's Jim the fish?" asked the Doctor curiously. "Well, if you're done gossiping, to infinity! And beyond! No, wait, that's Toy Story… But still, the point stands! To the TARDIS! Rose, grab my pop."

"I would if you let go of one of my hands," answered Rose.

"You have more than two limbs!" protested the Doctor.

"I'm not gonna carry it in my mouth and I actually need my legs to walk," she pointed out.

"So if I carry you, you can use your legs to carry my pop."

"If you're gonna carry me, it'd be easier for you to let go of my hands. I could ride piggyback if you insist, but otherwise I'd prefer to walk, thanks."

"Cheeky Rose Tyler! But then I couldn't see you and for all I know, you'd disappear in thin air."

Rose craned her neck to look at him and arched an eyebrow. "Disappear into thin air? Really? Have I ever done that?"

"Well, there was that time on the Game Station… And you tend to wander off."

"Now that's the pot calling the kettle black."

"Touché." They stared at each other, now at a stale mate. Then they started laughing and the Doctor let Rose's right hand go before twirling her about, like he had when they'd picked up Jack. Or, well, he tried but he ended up trapping Rose's arm behind her back, making them laugh all that much harder.

"I have to teach you to dance all over again," she mock complained as she took the half empty bottle of pop, letting him lead her through the back door to the TARDIS. "By the way Doctor, you're being extremely rude to your friends, you didn't even introduce me to them when it really should've been the first thing you did. After hugging me, that is."

"Ah, you're fishing for future information, miss Tyler, and you know I can't tell you anything," the Doctor grinned at her and opened the TARDIS doors with a snap of his fingers. "Ladies first."

"Why thank you sir Doctor," she grinned at him as she entered.

"My pleasure dame Rose," he beamed back. "Take a look at the TARDIS! We've redecorated!"

Rose turned to look at the inside of the TARDIS. Instead of metal and coral the control room was dominated by a cheerful orange metal covering and glass floor. The console dais was higher than in the old control room, leaving there a pit under the console for repairs rather than having to open up the floor grating. There were also several staircases instead of one hallway that split deeper in the ship. The humming of the ship was slightly different now, like she'd been sick recently and had just gotten better but was still weary. But the humming brightened when Rose stepped deeper into the control room, like she was welcoming Rose home. Rose turned back to the Doctor and beamed.

"She's cheerful and off-kilter, just like you," she teased him. "At least you still have that coat rack even if you never use it. But what did you do to her? She sounds like she's been sick recently! You haven't been in parallel universes lately, have you?"

The Doctor startled. He shook his head. "No, no parallel universes. She, uh… actually she, uh, exploded, a while ago. I had to reboot the universe. Big Bang two. I, umm, got erased from time for a minute but then Amy remembered me again and here I am."

"You got erased from time," she repeated as Amy, Rory and River entered. "You got erased from time?! You… you… self-sacrificing moron! What were you thinking? Were you thinking at all? Do you always do things like this when I'm not there? First you try to get killed by Daleks, alone. Then you decide to go looking for the devil, also alone. Now you get erased from time? What next? You gonna marry a paradox and then wonder where it is when it disappears from your life when it's over? No, maybe you're gonna go to your tomb and enter your own time stream? Or, or, got to the end of the universe, rescue the people there and take them back in time to the present where they proceed to cause the biggest paradox ever?" she shouted at him, tears gathering in her eyes.

"Hey! That paradox wasn't my fault! The Master was the one to take the humans from the end of the universe, cannibalize TARDIS and then proceed to kill half of the human race! I just righted the paradox, leading to a year that only about ten people remember," he nodded at the end importantly.

Rose threw her hands in the air in despair. "Are you always this helpless without me?" she demanded.

The Doctor looked at her seriously. "Yes. When I met you, I was at my most dangerous until then. Then I met you and I learned to live again. Before I regenerated I was ready to die to keep you safe but after, I was ready to stay alive and face the music with you, I wanted to stay alive and with you. After I lost you… I did some things I'm not proud of."

"Both times?" Rose asked quietly, voice wavering. She knew what he meant, the older one had said enough, but it still didn't make things any easier on her. She'd lose him twice.

Silently the Doctor nodded, his shoulders hunched forward and head bowed to hide his building tears. "The first time I committed genocide. Again. The second time I altered a fixed point. Never doing that again. And I don't know what I'll do this time because I know you're here on borrowed time because I remember you telling me you were gone for a week." His voice broke. "And I'm not sure I'm strong enough to stand it."

Rose stepped forward and pulled the Doctor to her, guiding his head to the crook of her neck, letting him hide his falling tears. "Hey now," she soothed him, "let's be positive, we know you're gonna see me again one day," she whispered and ran her fingers through his hair.

"You're addictive Rose Tyler," he whispered so quietly Rose wasn't sure she was supposed to hear it. "As long as you're with me I'm fine but soon as I lose you I go into withdrawal and do something horrible."

She held him to her until he'd stopped crying and he straightened himself. She then straightened his bow-tie and smiled. "I see you took my advice. Bow-ties are cool."

The Doctor preened, his red eyes shining with happiness. "Yes they are," he agreed with a large, genuine smile. "So, space, 1969 and a man called Canton Everett Delaware the third. I had the answer, let's go meet the clues! River, close the doors."

Amy went straight to the pit under the console, River hot on her heels dragging Rose by her wrist. Thirty seconds later Rory joined them.

"Explain it to me again," Amy pleaded River, sitting on the concrete.

"The Doctor we saw on the beach is a future version," River said calmly. "One two hundred years older than the one up there."

"But all that's still gonna happen, he's still gonna die," Amy said, sounding like she'd rather die herself.

"Everything must come to dust," Rose said with a far-away voice. "All things. Everything dies." She shook her head. "Even the Doctor."

"But we don't all arrange our own wakes and invite ourselves," Rory said, making Rose giggle. That reminded her of her second (no, third, the first one was the Nestene Consciousness) adventure with the Doctor. Mr. Sneed had said that someone who had been possessed by the Gelth had almost walked into their own funeral.

"And you! You knew didn't you," Amy turned to her. "He told you something on the beach. I was watching and for a second you looked terrified! But when the time comes, you just… kiss him and send him to die?"

"It's what women have done for centuries, Amy," Rose said gently. "Even the Scottish ones. We kiss the men we love and send them to the fight where they die. But this is more complicated than that. This is the beginning of a circular paradox. If he hadn't died, we wouldn't be here now, talking about his death. If we weren't here, maybe someday the Doctor would miss something important to someone which, in time, leads to his death. If we don't let him," she pointed at the younger Doctor, "die at the beach, who knows how big the wound in time will be because the Doctor does a lot in two hundred years and it will all be put in motion on how we handle this."

"But… it's the Doctor," Amy argued.

"Have you ever seen the results of a paradox?" asked Rose. "Because I have. I asked the Doctor to go see the day my dad died and I saved him. But, thing is, if my hadn't died, I probably never would've left school and ended up working in a store where I met the Doctor, meaning I wouldn't have gone back in time to save my dad. That's not even the worst. These things called the reapers come when time is wounded and they, shall we say, cleans the cut, meaning they eat everything inside the cut. They ate the Doctor. As soon as my dad walked in front of the car that should've killed him earlier that morning, the Doctor came back. If we don't let him die on that beach, he could be worse than dead."

"Rose is right," River said. "It's a fixed point in time too."

The Doctor struck his head down from the edge of the glass floor to look at them. "I'm being extremely clever up here and there's no one standing around looking impressed. What's the point in having you all?" he pouted. "Except Rose, the TARDIS always flies better when she's on board." He withdrew his head.

"Couldn't you just slap him sometimes?" hissed River before stalking up the stairs.

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

Once Canton had confirmed that the soldiers outside couldn't hear them, the Doctor freed himself of the shackles and straight jacket and Amy and Rory fought their way out of the body bags.

"Finally!" Amy exclaimed, panting. She had tack marks all over her arms and face.

"These things could really do with air holes," complained Rory who was also covered in tack marks.

"Never had that complaint before," Canton rolled his eyes. They were body bags. What had they expected?

"Won't it look odd if you stay the whole day with us?" asked Amy, looking at Canton.

"Don't worry, they know there's no way out of this place," answered Canton.

"Exactly!" said the Doctor, stretching his sore muscles. "So whatever they think we're doing in here, they know we're not going anywhere," he said and righted his braces before letting himself fall against the invisible TARDIS. "Shall we?" he said with a smirk and snapped his fingers, opening the TARDIS doors.

"What about Dr. Song? She ran off the roof top!" Canton asked and followed everyone inside.

"Don't worry, she does that," the Doctor said and closed the doors. "Amy, Rory, open all the doors to the swimming pool! And then come back!"

When they were back and River was safe again, the Doctor turned to them again. "Any sign of Rose?"

"Who?" frowned Amy.

"Rose, the blond girl who was with you?" Canton pointed out. "But she disappeared off the map six days into the hunt for you," he told the Doctor. "No one's seen her since."

The Doctor closed his eyes to keep tears from building. "She said a week," he whispered. "I just didn't think that meant only one day with me."

"Who are you talking about?" Rory asked.

"Ah, no one," the Doctor said, faking cheerfulness for the humans, trying to mask the hurt in his voice as he started flipping levers on the console. He should've known after all.

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

Rose woke up with sun in her eyes, which was strange since TARDIS never let her sleep until the artificial sun outside her window was so high up. Nor would TARDIS make her bed so damn hard.

In fact, something was digging into her back quite painfully.

When she felt wind on her face her eyes snapped open. And stayed open.

She was staring at the sky, wondering what she was doing outside. The Doctor and she had been on their way to see her mum… no, wait, they'd already seen her but had to leave because of the TARDIS blue letter. And she'd met the new new new Doctor, the one with the bow-tie, twice. And she'd met President Nixon. And they were looking for the Silence, and she had no idea what they looked like.

She sat up quickly and looked around. She was on the shore of Lake Silencio again. This time there was no one there. No Doctor, no TARDIS, no new companions.

How had she gotten there? Her assignment had been Canada. She'd been in Vancouver before she blacked out.

She looked at her arms. They were clean. She knew she'd had at least a couple dozen tacks covering her arms. Come to think of it, she was also dressed in the clothes she'd had when she left her Doctor's TARDIS, rather than in the jeans, boots and a blue leather jacket she'd been wearing in Vancouver. She didn't even have her marking pen around her neck. She had seen herself enter the TARDIS when everyone else were occupied with the Doctor's body, dressed just like she had been, clean of all the dirt that she'd gotten over her clothes from the sand. But she'd figured the Doctor had brought her back after they'd taken care of the Silence. Apparently not.

She heard the TARDIS materializing just ten feet to her right. She'd have to hide until the time was right, she realized and sprinted to hide behind the TARDIS as her younger self came out for the first time. That meant it was 16:30. Fifteen minutes of pointless waiting around before anything interesting would begin.

Might as well admire the sights.

She took out her miniature spyglass and started to sweep the horizon and the opposite side of the lake. She felt her stomach turning, in a similar way that happened after she'd seen and forgotten a Silent and slowed her sweep, trying to ascertain whether or not there were Silents over there.

After she caught three in her spyglass she automatically reached for her marking pen that wasn't there and she cursed under her breath. She knew she'd have to mark something, so she scratched herself, hoping it'd last at least until she was back inside the TARDIS.

When she turned her spyglass away, she hissed and looked at her arm, wondering what had scratched her, and paled when she noticed three scratched tack marks on her arm. She didn't have a pen, so she'd scratched herself to make herself remember. The things she does for the Doctor and human race.

Rose heard a car approaching and knew it was the Doctor, Amy, Rory and River because her younger self just exited the TARDIS. She heard her joyous shout when the car doors were opened and closed. She peaked from behind the TARDIS at the scene on the beach and smiled. She really liked this new new new Doctor, maybe she'd even fall in love with him like she'd done with her first and second Doctors.

She saw the Doctor take her a little out of the way to talk to her while Amy, Rory and River set up the picnic. She didn't need the spyglass to see the worried and jealous looks River sent her younger self. When she and the Doctor joined them on the blankets she smiled at the obvious show of affection between the two and seared the image into her mind. Hundreds of years after she was gone, he still loved her.

Keeping the spyglass at the ready, because she wanted to know who, for all purposes, killed the Doctor. She knew it was someone the Doctor knew because he'd talked to the astronaut and if it was someone the Doctor knew, there was a chance so would she. It was a small chance, but still. She knew she couldn't stop this, had been unable to stop this since she'd gotten the envelope.

The astronaut walked out of the lake and the Doctor went to it and Rose brought the spyglass up just as the astronaut lifted the visor. Rose nearly dropped the spyglass because she knew the woman in the suit and knew she'd never willingly kill the Doctor. It was River Song and she was shaking her head and crying. The River further on the beach was holding Amy back when the first shot rang in the still air. The second and third follow and the Doctor dropped and Rose had to keep from running over there and punching River, even as River shot at her retreating self in the astronaut suit.

She watched her younger self cradle the Doctor's body, even as Amy threw herself on the Doctor's still chest. She tucked the spyglass into her bum bag and stood by the TARDIS until her younger self saw her and entered the familiar coral filled console room. The Doctor was tinkering with something on the console and looked up when she closed the door, smiling widely.

Rose sprinted the ten steps separating them and hugged him tightly. "I've missed you," she whispered to him and he made a happy sound, like he can't imagine anything better than her missing him. Except maybe holding her after she's missed him.

"How long were you gone?" he asked after setting her down and sending the TARDIS into the vortex.

"A week," she answered carefully, not mentioning that she'd been with him only for a day. Let him hope. "I met some future companions. I really liked Rory, he reminded me of a male me, forever loyal and always willing to help."

"No, don't tell me more," the Doctor said, holding up a hand to stop her, grinning. "I want to be surprised."

"Oh, you will be," Rose laughed gaily. "I'm gonna take a shower and sleep and then we're going back to mum's but after that, I really wanna go to Barcelona."

The Doctor smiled. "As you wish."