AN: So, here is the promised sequel to To Make Much of Time. I really advise reading that first, but if you want to dive in here, this is what you need to know. 1) Bad Wolf altered Rose, giving her telepathy, time senses and extended lifespan. 2) Rose and the Doctor have a telepathic bond that is equivalent to a human engagement. 3) Rose and the TARDIS share the same kind of pilot/ship bond the Doctor has with her.

Chapter 1: Burning up a Sun

For four months after Canary Wharf, finding a way to let Rose say goodbye to her mother was the Doctor's top priority. They chased down more than one crack in the Void, only to watch it close just as they got there. But finally, they found one just big enough to slip a message through.

"I'll have to…" The Doctor tugged at his ear as he looked at the calculations. "The amount of power it'll take to send this transmission is enormous."

"Doctor." He looked up, and Rose pointed to the image on the scanner of a star going supernova.

"Brilliant!"

He grinned broadly, and Rose was reminded of another face smiling at her, with the London Eye in the background.

The Doctor nodded. "Yep! You're always seeing what I've missed, Rose Tyler. While I work on harnessing that power and setting up the connection, you need to reach out to your mum. Jackie isn't telepathic, but there's a natural, empathic connection between a mother and child that grows stronger if the relationship is nurtured. She'll be able to hear your voice."

Rose wasn't sure of that, but to her surprise, when she reached out for her mum, focusing on what it felt like to be with her, she could tell Jackie noticed. Once the connection was made, the TARDIS was able to amplify it and keep it steady so Jackie could follow it to where the gap came out.

It took him a little longer to do his part, tweaking the thermodynamics of a dying star being a slightly more difficult task. But just before supper, he straightened up from where he was standing, hunched over the console, and smiled at Rose.

"Done."

"How long will it take, do you think?" Rose asked.

He shrugged. "Depends on how far they have to go to get to the breach. The TARDIS will let us know when she's in position though."

When there was still no Jackie the next morning after breakfast, Rose started to doubt this would work. "What if she couldn't follow the signal?" she asked the Doctor, fidgeting in the jump seat.

He pulled her hand away from her mouth and Rose tore at her cuticles with her nails instead. "Give it a bit longer before you start worrying," he suggested sympathetically.

She started to argue, but before she could, the TARDIS beeped. Rose looked at the scanner and drew in a deep breath when she saw the message on the screen, saying the communication link was ready.

The Doctor took her hand and squeezed. "Ready?"

"No," she said honestly, "but I know this is my last chance to say goodbye. Go ahead."

The last was said to the TARDIS, and a projection flickered in front of them before solidifying. Rose choked out a gasp when she saw her mum again for the first time in months, standing on a windy beach with Mickey and Pete looking on.

Jackie put a hand over her mouth. "Oh, when you disappeared, I thought I'd never see you again! I didn't know where you'd gone, Rose. Where are you?"

"Inside the TARDIS." Rose swallowed, and forced a smile. "We found one tiny gap in the universe left, and the Doctor figured out a way to get a message through."

"You pointed out the supernova, Rose." The Doctor brushed his thumb over her knuckles. "It's taking a lot of power to send this transmission, Jackie. We're burning up a sun just to say goodbye."

The lines around Jackie's lips tightened. "You look like ghosts."

The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. "Hold on," he said, then directed it at the controls.

Tears clogged Rose's throat when her mum took a step closer to the projection, her hand raised. "We're still just an image, Mum."

"Well, then why don't you figure out a way to come through properly?" Jackie demanded.

"The whole thing would fracture," the Doctor said, and Rose's heart broke at the gentle tone in his voice. "Two universes would collapse."

Her mum scowled, and the Doctor took an instinctive step back, even though there was no way her slap could reach him across the Void. "You listen to me, Doctor," she said, pointing her finger at the spot Rose surmised would be his chest. "I've heard Rose talk about some of the things you do. So you put that big alien brain of yours to work on finding a way to visit us."

"Where are you?" Rose said, defusing the brewing argument.

"In bleeding Norway, Rose!" The wind blew a strand of hair into Jackie's face, and she pushed it back over her ear. "We had to drive all day to get here. Why couldn't you have sent this message someplace closer to home, that's what I want to know."

Rose and the Doctor shared a look. A beach in Norway—it couldn't be a coincidence. "This is one of the weakest points in the walls between the worlds, Mum. When I got back to our universe, I ended up on our version of the same beach."

"You've got about ninety seconds left," the Doctor said.

Rose stared at her mum. "I can't think of what to say," she said on a gasp.

"I'm pregnant," Jackie said abruptly. "That's why I want you to find a way to visit, so your little brother or sister can know their big sister. An' I know he'll say there's no way, but he's always managed to bring you home to me before, so I'm not gonna give up."

Rose's jaw dropped. "A baby?"

Jackie smiled tremulously and swiped at the tears that were running down her face. "Yeah, I'm about three months along."

The Doctor's hand tightened reassuringly around Rose's, pressing the cool band of her ring into her fingers.

"Oh! Remember when I told you we're engaged and you asked…" She pulled her hand free and waggled her fingers so her mother could see the ring.

Her mum's wide eyes and smile made Rose laugh. "So you finally got around to buying a ring then?" Jackie asked rhetorically.

The Doctor huffed. "I'll have you know, I had that in my coat pocket… that day. I just hadn't found the right moment to give it to Rose yet."

Rose looked sideways at him; he was leaving out the fact that he'd just bought it earlier that day, but there wasn't any point in riling her mum up when this really might be the last time they talked.

"So, have you planned the wedding yet?" Jackie asked. There was a manic glint in her eyes, and Rose bit back a groan. "Oh, you'll want to make sure you get Sue for the catering. Don't listen to what everyone else says about that fancy place down the hill—Sue is better and only half the price. And flowers! Oh, Rose. You will carry roses, won't you?"

Time was running out, and the Doctor saw a chance to make sure there was laughter mixed in with the tears. "Actually, Jackie, Rose has agreed to a Time Lord wedding."

He didn't have to wait long for a response. Jackie set her jaw and crossed her arms. "If you're marrying her, you'll marry her proper—not in some kind of weird alien ritual," she ordered, then blinked when the Doctor and Rose both laughed.

The console beeped, and he glanced at the timer. "Twenty seconds, love," he told Rose quietly.

Jackie let out a little half sob when she overheard the endearment. "Oh Rose, I don't care how you get married or what you do, as long as you're happy. And himself there seems to make you happy—seems to like making you happy, even."

"He does, Mum. And Pete, Pete makes you happy, right? And the baby on the way?"

Jackie looked over her shoulder at her waiting husband. "Yeah, he does. They both do," she amended, resting her hand on her belly.

The Doctor moved back just a half step from Rose, letting her focus on Jackie. Mother and daughter held each other's gaze for a few seconds, saying all they wouldn't have time to say out loud—they were happy with their lives and wouldn't trade what they had, but it was a bittersweet happiness, because they were separated.

"I love you, sweetheart!" Jackie said.

"Mum! Oh Mum, I love you so much."

The projection flickered again, then disappeared. Rose stared at the blank spot in the console room for a minute, then turned around slowly. Tears glistened in her eyes, and the Doctor wanted to pull her into his arms, but he waited for a cue from her.

"She's gone," Rose said in a flat voice.

"Yes."

"She's my mum, and I'm never gonna see her again."

The Doctor reached out and tilted Rose's chin up so she was looking him in the eye, rather than staring at his chest. "Why don't you go take a bath?" he suggested quietly. "I can bring you tea, or a glass of wine, and you can sit there until you feel up to talking or eating."

Rose nodded numbly and let the Doctor turn her toward the corridor. He brushed his lips against her ear and whispered, "Tea or wine?"

"Um… wine please," Rose said. The Doctor pushed lightly on her back, and she shuffled toward their room.

She was vaguely aware as she went that he was saying something to the TARDIS, but she didn't understand what he'd asked until she saw steam wafting out of the en suite. The whole room smelled like lavender and vanilla, and a little bit of the tension eased out of her body as she stripped and lowered herself into the hot water.

The water shut off automatically when the bubbles came up to her chest, and Rose slid down until they touched her nose and rested her head on the rim of the tub. The TARDIS had adjusted the light in the room to approximate candlelight, and the soft light and comforting warmth encouraged Rose to close her eyes.

Her world narrowed to the fragrance of the bubble bath, the sensation of floating in water, and the look on her mother's face as they said goodbye. She tried to conjure up a happier memory to counter it, but her mind was stuck on the way she'd wiped tears from her face, not caring about the ruined makeup.

Rose knew without opening her eyes that the Doctor was standing in the doorway, looking at her. "I didn't think it would hurt this much to say goodbye," she said without opening her eyes.

She heard him walk toward her, and sighed when he brushed the hair back from her face. "Why wouldn't it?"

"Well…" She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "I haven't seen Mum in three months. I thought the worst would…" A sob hitched in her chest, and she drew a deep breath and forced herself to let it out slowly.

The Doctor hummed, and Rose couldn't tell if he was agreeing, or just acknowledging what she'd said. "Grief isn't that straightforward," he said. "It comes and goes, sometimes when we least expect it." He handed her a glass of red wine and sat down on the wide tile ledge around the tub. "But it makes sense that it would hurt today. You didn't really get to say goodbye before."

Rose swirled the wine in the glass, focusing on the way the flickering light refracted through the ruby liquid. "I guess," she said, her throat tight.

oOoOoOoOo

Rose's forced calm worried the Doctor more than any amount of tears would have, but he didn't want to push her to talk before she was ready. Instead, he coaxed her—however reluctantly—to the galley and prepared some of her favourite comfort foods for dinner.

After they did the washing up, Rose folded the dish towel down and stared at the counter. "I think I just wanna go to bed."

"All right." The Doctor held his hand out, but instead of taking it, Rose looked up at him blankly. "What?"

"You'll come with me? Even though it's so early?"

"Oh Rose, of course I will," he said softly, then took her by the hand and led her to their room.

He could tell Rose's emotions were reaching a breaking point. When she lay down beside him in bed, every muscle in her body was shaking from the strain of holding herself so rigidly. "Relax, love," he whispered, stroking the arm that was holding him close.

She let out a shuddering sigh, and when he moved his hand to her hair, tears came out in a torrent. The switch from completely controlled to unraveling startled him until he caught an image in her mind of Jackie comforting her the same way when she was young.

The Doctor closed his eyes and pressed his lips to her temple, not stopping the rhythmic motion of his hand even when her sobs slowed and finally ceased. Her breathing continued to hitch against the onslaught of emotions, but finally, she calmed to the point where she could fall into slumber.

When he felt her drift off, the Doctor let his hand rest on the small of her back and prepared to help her fight any nightmares that might come.