A/N – This type of story has been done SO many times, but I wanted to try my hand at it and give things my own personal spin! This is a 'Rose dies and wakes up in her old body' story which eventually becomes a s3 re-write, but the re-write actually begins at army of ghosts/doomsday. My other story, Lost in the Stars was originally going to end up a mid-S3 re-write for episodes after 'blink' but I decided to go with this idea instead, which makes LitS a standalone story.

Anyway, enough of that! I hope you guys enjoy this, I'm pretty excited to get things going!

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"Thanks for coming over today, sweetheart, I wasn't sure if you'd be able to make it, but Tony's been so excited thinkin' you were coming down."

Rose looked up from where she was applying sellotape to the wrapping paper of the gift she'd gotten her little brother, eyebrows lifting upwards in a small show of amusement. Her mother was busying herself with the last of Tony's gifts before he woke up, and Rose was happy to lend a hand.

"Course I came mum, my little brother's turnin' seven today!" She pointed out, sticking the gift tag onto the bright green paper before she set it aside with Tony's other gifts. Her brother was definitely more spoiled than she had been when she was seven, but Jackie and Pete didn't exactly have a shortage of money in this universe, so Rose could understand the different situations. Besides, she herself was guilty of spoiling her brother with far too many gifts, and he was such a sweet, charming boy, she didn't think it was doing him any harm.

"I'm just sayin', I never blooming know what you're doing and when you're free half the time, you live in those Torchwood offices, I swear, just like your bloody dad." Jackie huffed, shaking her head, and Rose resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"I'd rather be kept busy then just sit around at home, doin' nothing." Rose offered by way of explanation, idly tapping her fingers against the dining table. "Guess I get kind of restless when I'm not doing anythin'"

"Rose," Jackie's words were unexpectedly softer, and Rose froze in response, her defences immediately rising as she recognised the tone of her voice. She knew where this conversation was headed, and frankly, she didn't want to get into it. Her stomach twisted anxiously and she fixed her gaze on Tony's pile of gifts, her fingers curled into tight fists. "You can't keep doing this to yourself, love. You're driving yourself into the ground, he wouldn't want you to-"

"He's not here, mum." Rose's words were sharper than she intended them to be, her nails digging hard into the palms of her hands, grief and heartache threatening to overwhelm her. "I don't wanna talk about it, alright?"

"Sweetheart, if anyone knows what you're going through, it's me. I just wish you'd talk to someone about this." Jackie insisted, reaching over to cover Rose's hands with her own. "You're holding it all in, and it's been over a year, you can't keep doing this to yourself."

Inhaling deeply, Rose hated the way her eyes burned at her mother's words, hated the way she longed to break apart, to curl into her mother's arms and cry the hurt away, letting Jackie stroke her hair and sing to her, like she always had when she was sad. She hated how she knew Jackie was right, but she couldn't do it, she still hadn't quite accepted he was gone, and she was scared. She wasn't ready to move on, and she didn't think she would ever be.

"I can't." Rose's words were a whisper, her lips feeling suddenly dry, and she ran her tongue over them anxiously, feeling as though she was trying to force the words as her throat tightened. "Please mum, not today, I can't do this today. This is Tony's day."

Jackie's eyes burned into her daughter's face, but she sighed, conceding that Rose was ultimately right. She didn't want her to break down when Tony could be up at any minute, but there was no way she was letting this go. She knew all too well how it felt to lose the person you loved, and she'd be damned if she let Rose bottle up all of her grief. For now, at least, the situation was dropped, and she pulled her hands from her daughters, noting the way her shoulders softened in obvious relief, and she pressed her lips firmly together.

Rose, for her part, relaxed her hands along with her shoulders, her hands aching from the tension in her fingers and the crescent shaped grooves in her palms. She flexed her fingers quietly, unsure on how to change the subject, knowing her mind would soon betray her with thoughts of him if she didn't start talking soon.

"…Where's dad?" She asked after a moment, noticing the clear absence of her father in the mansion that morning.

It had taken a long time for Rose and Pete to reach a comfortable father/daughter relationship, but Pete had warmed to her after Tony's birth, and though they weren't exceptionally close, he did feel comfortable calling her his daughter, and calling him dad simply felt natural. Rose guessed Pete's paternal instincts had kicked in once he'd held Tony in his arms, and Rose supposed she could understand. It wasn't easy, accepting her as his own, when he'd never seen her birth or watched her grow, but knowing she'd been able to build some kind of relationship with him had been uplifting.

Jackie snorted slightly in response, and Rose couldn't help but grin slightly, glad her mother had taken the distraction for what it was. "He's workin', obviously. Like father like bloody daughter, the pair of you are never out of those offices. He worked overnight, so he should be home soon."

"Good, it'd be a shame if he missed out on Tony's party," Rose noted, sticking out her leg to lightly brush her toe against one of the red balloons piled up nearby. She'd spent most of the morning helping her mother prepare, and the servants had helped out a great deal but… This was something they liked to try to do the way they had back on the estate.

"Nah, he never misses out on 'em if he can help it," Jackie softened, and Rose smiled faintly, before the sound of running feet caught her attention, and she turned, just in time to watch her little brother sprinting down the stairs, still clad in his pyjamas. His ginger hair was messy and unkempt, but his brown eyes were wide with excitement, and as he skidded into the room, Rose couldn't help flashing him her famous tongue in teeth grin as he paused upon spotting her.

"Here's the birthday boy! Hiya Tones!" She pushed herself off of her seat, bending down with her arms outstretched, a clear open invitation. He continued to stare at her, and she let out a soft hum, wiggling her fingers slightly. "Oi! C'mon Tony, bring it in."

"Rose!" The unexpected sight of his big sister seemed to have caught Tony by surprise, but now he laughed, rushing forward to hug her tightly, and Rose drew him close, closing her eyes and taking comfort in his clear happiness at seeing her. "You came!"

"Course I did," Rose smiled, pressing a light kiss to the side of his head, able to feel Jackie smiling at the two of them. "It's your seventh birthday! You're all grown up, I'm not gonna miss that, am I?"

"You're always busy, you don't come over much," Tony pointed out, and Rose stilled, guilt washing over her in an instant. He did have a point, she hadn't seen him much over the last year, so caught up in her own issues and emotions, but she would do better, for him, at least.

"I know, I'm a rotten big sister, but I'll be 'round more now, I promise." Rose pulled back from the hug, smoothing back his hair before she planted another kiss to his forehead, prompting him to wrinkle his nose, though he eventually smiled widely at her.

"You swear?" He asked hopefully, and Rose made a point of drawing a cross over her heart to show just how serious she was. He brightened instantly, before turning to look at the large pile of presents, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet. He was brimming with excitement, and turned to look at Jackie, his eyes flicking over to the gifts, clearly asking for permission.

"You were s'posed to get dressed first, Tony." Jackie reminded him, tying her best to remain stern, but Tony pouted in response, bottom lip jutting out, and she snorted, deciding to just give up for now. When it came to her kids birthdays, Jackie Tyler couldn't help but soften up. "Right then, presents first, but then you're getting dressed before your birthday breakfast."

Pumping his fists in excitement, Tony rushed over to the pile, skidding down on his knees over the laminate flooring, and Rose grinned, moving to the couch to sit down, watching as he grasped one of the gifts she'd brought for him. He glanced at the tag, shooting her an excited glance, before he began to tear off the wrapping.

Her gift was in a plain brown box, so he pulled that open, before curiously, he pulled out what looked like a globe, though it was pitch black, and instead of a map of the Earth, constellations were painted on the surface. Tony turned it around, curious, and Rose inched forward, reaching out to him.

"Tony, watch this," she murmured, pressing a button on the base of the globe. A light lit up the entirety of the sphere, before the constellations seemed to hover off of the surface and began to slowly expand until they, and a multitude of stars seemed to surround them, twinkling faintly. It was a fairly simple hologram, but one she was sure her little brother would LOVE.

"Whoa…" Tony whispered, awed at the sight of the stars surrounding them, and Rose grinned, reaching out to point at a small cluster of stars just opposite them.

"See those stars? That's actually a small group of planets called Kret, Cur and Lim. The aliens there change colour based on their moods, so they go yellow when they're happy, blue when they're sad and red when they're mad." She informed him, and Tony's eyes were shining.

"What colour are they usually?" He asked, and Rose could sense the longing in his voice. Her stories had influenced her little brother greatly, and he longed to be an astronaut when he grew up, just to get a taste of the stars, and she was all too happy to indulge his dreams.

"They kind of shimmer, actually, they don't have one set colour, they only turn one colour when they're feeling a certain way." Rose hummed in consideration, ruffling his hair slightly, and Tony grinned in response, muttering a quiet 'cool' under his breath, before he pressed the button to turn the hologram off.

"Where'd you get that?" Jackie asked in surprise, gesturing to the globe. "Got a feeling they don't exactly sell this kind of stuff on the market."

Rose let out a laugh in agreement, inclining her head slightly. "No, they don't. I helped make it in Torchwood labs. It took forever, but I had a lot of help, and it turned out great."

"He definitely takes after you, always got his bloomin' head in the stars." Jackie shook her head fondly as Tony set down the globe carefully, as though it might break if he touched it too roughly, before he immediately grabbed another present from Rose, much smaller than the first. Upon tearing the paper off, he shot her a look, seeing another plain brown box.

"You really like boxes," He quipped, but Rose simply smiled in response, her stomach twisting nervously. She knew exactly what this gift was, and she didn't know how he'd react to it. He pulled off the top of the box, only to freeze at the sight of what was inside. A long, silver cylindrical tool with a blue light at the tip rested on a velvet cushion, and Tony and Jackie turned to look at Rose, clearly stunned by what was clearly a sonic screwdriver.

Uncomfortable under their gazes, Rose twisted her fingers together, steeling herself and sucking in a deep breath.

"John made it," She blurted out, squeezing her eyes shut tightly, her body stiff. "Before he – well, he knew you loved his screwdriver, Tony, so he made you a little one. It doesn't do much, just opens doors, really. He wanted you to have it last year, but I couldn't – I wasn't…" Rose took another deep breath to try to calm herself down, and slowly, she opened her eyes.

Tony had taken the screwdriver out of the box, tiny fingers wrapped around the cool metal, and he was staring at her with tears in his eyes. Tony had loved John, had loved the stories of his adventures, and she could remember many times where the two of them had played pretend, with Tony being The Doctor, while John pretended to be some kind of alien for him to defeat. Tony hadn't played Doctor since John had been gone, but John had been so excited for Tony to have this, Rose knew she couldn't keep it from him.

Moving forward, Tony wrapped his arms tightly around Rose's midsection, hugging her tightly, and instinctively, Rose hugged him back, feeling the tightness in her throat increase. She knew she couldn't keep ahold of the gift forever, because he'd made it for Tony. Tony deserved something to remember John by, and she wouldn't keep it from him.

"Thank you Rose," He whispered, his voice trembling, and Rose hugged him tighter in response, before she pulled back, smiling at him though her eyes were misty.

"C'mon, no waterworks, alright? It's your birthday." She reminded him, and Tony laughed shakily, nodding before he slipped the new sonic behind his ear, flashing her a wide smile in response. Rose could only smile broadly in turn, though she could feel a deep pang within her chest. Pushing it aside, Rose reminded herself that this wasn't about her, it was about Tony.

Everything else could wait.

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Shutting the doors of her apartment, Rose let out a slow sigh, her shoulders slumping as she kicked off her shoes and switched on the lights, illuminating the small, unbearably quiet living room she'd moved into well over a year and a half ago. Jackie and Pete had invited her to stay over for the night, but Rose had declined, choosing to take the twenty minute drive home, instead.

She knew her mother would just interrogate her if she stayed, and though the silence in her apartment was crippling, she'd rather deal with that than her mother's pressing questions. Closing her eyes, Rose slowly leaned against the door and slid down it until she was sat on the floor, her knees to her chest and her fingers seeking out the chain around her neck where a single key rested along with a silver ring, matching the one sitting upon her own ring finger.

She gripped both objects, heaving a shuddering breath, feeling tears build up in her eyes once more, though this time, she let them fall, her lips trembling as the tears slipped slowly down her cheeks to begin with, until she was crying in earnest, loud sobs echoing in the silence of the room, and she pressed her free hand to her lips, trying to stifle the sound.

It had been a year and two months since he'd died.

"When I last stood on this beach on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing you said to me? Go on, say it."

"I said: 'Rose Tyler'"

"Yeah, and how was that sentence going to end?"

"Does it need saying?"

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

"I love you."

When The Doctor's meta-crisis had whispered those words in her ear, Rose had reacted purely on instinct, gripping the lapels of his jacket and kissed him soundly. She hadn't thought, she hadn't considered her actions, and when she'd heard the grating noise of the TARDIS dematerialising, she'd pulled backed in stunned disbelief, only to watch as The Doctor, her Doctor, disappeared from sight again.

She'd hated him for leaving without saying goodbye, and she'd taken her anger out on his meta-crisis. They had shared a hotel room while waiting for Pete to come pick them and Jackie up, and once the fog had cleared from her mind, she'd screamed and cried and cursed him to the high heavens. He'd taken her anger well, watching her with those old, ancient eyes tinged with sadness, and she'd broken apart.

Rose told herself she'd acted purely out of instinct when she'd kissed him on the beach, and did her best to keep her distance once they'd returned home. It hurt far too much to be near him, to be reminded of everything she'd lost. He took the moniker John Noble, deciding it suited him better than John Smith, and that suited Rose just fine. She occasionally slipped up, however, and when the words 'Doctor' escaped her lips on the moments they did speak, he'd just smile, the expression lighting up his entire face, and a piece of her began to melt each time.

He'd taken a job at Torchwood, flitting between job to job within the company. He was their supreme authority on everything alien, and would move from technician support to alien consultant to field work with incredible ease, and quite frequently insisted on accompanying Rose on her missions, which had irritated her to begin with, though she'd gradually warmed up to the idea. He was definitely useful to have when facing unknown alien threats, and though she wasn't sure exactly when it had happened, their hands found each other as they ran, and for a while, everything seemed to be going so well.

John had seemingly forgotten that he was human, too many years cheating death as a Time Lord, she supposed, and his reckless behaviour very nearly ended in his death. When he'd woken up in the Torchwood infirmary, healing quickly, but disorientated, Rose had kissed him for the first time since Bad Wolf Bay, and he'd promised to be more careful from there on in, and he'd kept his word. Eventually, he moved into her apartment with her, and everything had fallen into place. It just felt so natural, so normal and so right to be with him, she had eventually given up fighting it, and though listening to his single heartbeat often threw her off-guard, it caused hope to well up inside of her.

They'd grow old together, and neither of them would need to be alone.

It was life on the slow path, but Rose was certain it could have been a good life, a happy life.

As her cries began to quiet, Rose scrubbed her palms against her cheek, wiping the remnants of her tears away. She looked down at the ring upon her finger, twisting it lightly in place, thumb brushing over the metal tenderly. It was a simple silver band with a deep blue line running across the top rim, with circular Gallifreyan etched along the silver of the metal, reading one simple word: Forever.

Neither of them had really planned on marriage or children, as their life was still too hectic, and frankly, Rose was scared the domesticity of it all would scare him away. Rose supposed he may not have asked if they hadn't discovered her latent telepathic abilities. While unable to fully reach out to non-telepathic minds, her mind was incredibly expansive, and John had woken her one night to tell her he'd felt her mind brush against his own when her fingers had brushed his temple in her sleep. He'd been so excited, so eager to feel another presence in the emptiness of his mind that she'd agreed to try to strengthen her mind.

When she'd finally been able to consciously let her mind brush along his, Rose had felt him, felt the overwhelming love he held for her, and she had cried, her fingers pressed to his temple as they sat on their bed. He'd cried too, and he'd held her close after that, kissing her reverently as they fell into one another completely.

John had explained the concept of a telepathic bond between married couples on Gallifrey shortly after that, confessing that though he could feel Time Lords in his mind when they'd still existed, the bond between a married couple was special, intimate. As marriages on Gallifrey were often based on political and social merits, rather than relationships, marriage bonds were incredibly rare. He hadn't even dared to hope for something like that with Rose until discovering her telepathic abilities, and knowing he'd want to share something so intimate and everlasting with her had left her utterly breathless.

They were married based on the customs of Gallifrey, with Jackie and Pete both offering their consent to the match, and when he'd leaned close to whisper his name in her ear, a word meant for her and her alone, she couldn't recall feeling happier. The joining of their minds was incredible, and Rose could still remember it all so clearly, the way their minds, their souls had intertwined, caught with one another, and she could see everything so vividly, his love, his loss, his sorrow and fear, she knew it all, and she loved him for it.

He'd bought the rings at Jackie's insistence, really, but had engraved them himself, admitting that since she'd given him a Gallifreyan wedding, he could give her this Earthly custom. It didn't matter to her, but she loved her ring, and she loved him. He got along well with her little brother, in fact, they were inseparable, and the hole left behind by The Doctor had healed.

For a while, everything seemed perfect.

Eventually, Rose began to notice that John was getting more and more tired, and his appetite began to decrease. He waved it off to bad habits, but when she was called into the lab he often worked in and found him on the floor, the descent into her own personal hell had begun. He never left Torchwood infirmary after that, growing weaker and weaker as each day went on. She'd demanded answers from the doctors, but it was John himself who figured out the problem.

His cells were rebelling against him, fighting against his body and rejecting him completely. He was being purged by his own body, and it was burning him up from the inside out. The very process that had created him was killing him, his body was unsustainable.

Rose could remember his death with vivid intensity, and she shuddered at the memory, her fingers moving to grip at her head, thumbs lightly massaging her temples. Their bond had been stretched to its limit in his final days, but she had willed him to live, to get better and to come back to her. She'd never lost her hope, not really.

On his final day, he'd opened his eyes to smile at her for the first time in weeks, and just as she'd dared to hope for improvement, he'd whispered her name before his eyes had closed. Rose had felt the bond between their minds snap, and the sheer agony had brought her to her knees as she'd screamed, knowing he was gone and begging him to come back to her, that he'd made a promise. It had been useless.

He'd lived for a year and six months.

She'd had a pyre built for him, and had cremated his body whilst being surrounded by the people who loved him, and the emptiness in her mind had threatened to tear her apart. She knew it was barely a fraction of the loss he'd felt, but she didn't know how he'd coped. It was so lonely, and it felt as though a part of her had been violently torn away from her. She'd demanded to see the dimension cannon, wanting to get back to The Doctor, to shout and scream at him in her grief, to feel something other than this awful emptiness inside, but her hopes were in vain. The walls to the universes were completely closed off, and Rose supposed she had known it all along.

She'd bottled up her feelings, refused to speak about him whenever possible and threw herself into her work, dreading coming home to an empty apartment and an even emptier mind.

Stretching out her legs slowly, Rose dragged her fingers through her hair and forced herself to her feet. More often than not, she'd found she would need to work herself through the motions through convincing herself to carry on. She'd eaten at Tony's party, so there was no real need for her to eat dinner, and she chose to head straight to her room, switching the living room light off as she moved. She changed into one of John's old shirts and a comfortable pair of shorts once in her bedroom, feeling as though she were moving on auto-pilot. She often felt like this after thinking too hard about John, hence why she avoided talking about him as much as she could. Pulling off her necklace, Rose set it on her bedside table, and climbed into bed. Curling into a ball, she closed her eyes and willed sleep to come. She was sure she'd have a big day at work tomorrow, and to keep running she needed to be well-rested.

As she eventually began to drift off into sleep, Rose's final thoughts were of John, a blue box in another world, and a Time Lord she loved.

A/N – reviews & thoughts are always appreciated guys!