AN: This is part of The Course of True Love. It starts a month after With This Ring. If you're reading that series, both Snapshots of Forever and With This Ring have both been marked complete.

Rose's eyes blinked open, and she smiled when she realised what had woken her up—a slight tickle as the Doctor ran lazy fingers over her back, and the buzz of his contentment in the back of her mind.

"Hmmm… Don't think I'll ever get over how good it feels to have you in my head." She pressed a kiss to his chest, then looked up at him.

The soft, unguarded smile was new since they'd bonded a month ago. Sharing a telepathic bond meant no hiding, and the Doctor had surprised her with how willing he was to open himself up to her fully.

The Doctor hummed his agreement, then bent down to kiss her. It's better than I imagined, he told her as his lips moved slowly against hers. The physical touch deepened their telepathic connection, and Rose sighed when the red ribbon of the Doctor's love twined itself more tightly around her.

I love you, she told him as she nipped at his bottom lip. The Doctor's lips parted, and she soothed the spot with her tongue before sliding into his mouth.

The heightened intimacy telepathy gave their lovemaking still overwhelmed Rose. Feeling everything the Doctor felt, knowing exactly how he was reacting to her touch… With each caress, their bond brought them closer together until Rose couldn't separate her pleasure from his.

As they moved together, Rose focused on the bond and projected all the love she felt for her Doctor over it. He groaned her name, and when his movements sped up a second later, Rose scraped her nails along his back and allowed herself to be swept away by their shared bliss.

Later, as they basked in the afterglow, the Doctor rested his head on her shoulder and draped an arm over her middle. "What do you want to do today, love?"

Rose bit her lip. "Well…" she drawled, running her fingers through his hair. "We haven't told Mum that we're married yet."

The Doctor flopped onto his back and groaned dramatically. "Rose," he whined, "did you have to mention your mother while we're in bed together?"

She propped herself up on her elbow and smiled down at him. "Well, better that than mentioning us being in bed together while we're with my mum," she pointed out sweetly.

He rolled his eyes, then reached out and tickled her ribs. "All right, cheeky minx, if you want to tell your mum we've gotten married, I suppose we can go visit the Powell Estate. But if you end up leaving your mum's a widow…"

Rose smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "That would be kinda hard, since you'd just regenerate."

The Doctor shook his head solemnly, though his eyes were dancing. "Oh no, never underestimate the power of Jackie Tyler's slap."

oOoOoOoOo

They landed in London on a sunny spring day and walked hand in hand across the playground. "Now, let me do the talking," Rose murmured as they climbed the stairs to Jackie's flat.

"Oh, I intend to," the Doctor said blithely. "After all, I might be the weird alien who stole her daughter away from her, but you are the one who got married without your mum there. And of the two of us, she's less likely to kill you."

Rose rolled her eyes, then pulled her key out of the pocket of her black trousers and unlocked the door. "Mum, it's us!" she called out as they stepped into the flat. "We're back!"

Jackie darted out of the kitchen. Although she stopped and shook her head when she saw them, the Doctor saw the pleasure in her eyes and resolved to make more frequent trips back to the Estate.

"Oh, I don't know why you bother with that phone," Jackie scolded. "You never use it!"

Rose laughed and held her arms out. "Shut up, come here!"

When her mother wrapped her up in a hug, Rose's happiness washed over the Doctor and he smiled softly at her. Not too long ago, he would have run from this kind of domestics—and he wouldn't have known what he was missing out on.

Not wanting to interrupt their greeting, he tried to move around the women into the flat, but Jackie caught him by the collar.

"Oh no, you don't. Come here!"

The Doctor squirmed in her grip, but she had her hands on either side of his face and he couldn't avoid the kiss she planted on his lips.

Rose, a little help? he pleaded as Jackie kissed him again.

Rose leaned against the wall and laughed. "Mum, come on—let go of him. Or don't you want to know why we came back for a visit?" she teased, then spun around and jogged into the lounge, knowing those words would capture her mother's curiosity.

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief when Jackie let go of him. I love you, he told Rose fervently. You are wonderful and perfect and I will take you wherever you want to go after this.

Rose arched an eyebrow, and he swallowed hard. Oh, I think I'd like you to take me someplace—repeatedly, she told him, and the seductive note in her telepathic voice sent a shiver down his back.

"All right!" Jackie said loudly. "If the two of you could stop undressing each other with your eyes in the middle of my flat, that would be lovely. Ta!"

Rose felt her face turn hot. "Sorry," she muttered, then absently pushed her hair behind her ear.

"You're wearing a ring!"

Jackie's shriek made them both jump, but after a second, Rose slowly moved her hand down to look at her wedding band, flinging a surprised expression. "Huh. I guess I am. What do you think about that?"

Jackie swatted her arm. "Oh, don't you act all nonchalant, young lady," she said sternly. "Come on now, when's the wedding?"

The Doctor rubbed at the back of his neck, and Rose bit her lip. Jackie looked between the two of them, then nodded. "I see. Well, I suppose I should have expected you to elope—it's not like you're ever home anymore."

She sighed, then looked at Rose. "Are you happy, sweetheart? That's all I really want."

Rose nodded and reached for the Doctor's hand, feeling his own joy wrapped around her own. "Yeah. I am. We are," she emphasised.

Something in the air stirred, and the Doctor stiffened as he tried to figure it out. "Jackie," he said cautiously, "has there been anything unusual happening on the Estate lately?"

Jackie jumped up and ran back into the kitchen, Rose and the Doctor hot on her heels. "Oh, I almost forgot, what with you surprising me and then telling me you'd gone and eloped. It's almost time!"

"Time for what?" Rose asked.

But before Jackie could answer, a silvery figure appeared in the kitchen along with them. Jackie smiled at the shadow, then put her hands on her hips and nodded at Rose.

"Dad, say hello to Rose. Ain't she grown?"

oOoOoOoOo

That was where the Doctor's nightmare began. He'd never imagined a scenario where he would face Daleks and Cybermen in the same battle—surely the universe couldn't be that vicious.

Except, apparently, it could. And as always, it was up to him to find a way to defeat both armies and save the two universes hanging in the balance.

In the end, the same Void the Daleks and Cybermen had used as a hiding place would be their ultimate prison. The Doctor almost laughed at the irony as he explained his plan to his captive audience.

There was a moment of silence, then Mickey asked, "Sorry, what's the Void?"

"The dead space," the Doctor answered. "Some people call it hell."

Mickey smirked as he draped his dimension hopper around his neck. "So you're sending the Daleks and Cybermen to hell." He looked over at Jake. "Man, I told you he was good."

The Doctor felt a glimmer of unease from Rose and he knew she'd just figured out the weak point of his plan.

She looked down at her hand through the 3D glasses she still wore. "But it's like you said. We've all got Void stuff. Me too, because we went to that parallel world."

The Doctor used their bond to reassure her as he walked across the room to stand in front of her. Rose pulled the flimsy glasses off and raised an eyebrow.

"All right, you've got a plan," she said. "What is it?"

"I think I'd like to hear this too," Pete said.

The Doctor spun around to face the others, grouped together near the broken window that had separated Yvonne's office from the room. "Well, to start, you lot will go back to Pete's world. Hey, we should call it that. Pete's World." He nodded at Pete and Jackie, standing side-by-side. "I'm opening the Void, but only on this side. You'll be safe on that side."

"And then you close it, for good?" Pete pressed.

The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. This plan was rather brilliant, even if he did say so himself. Rose nudged him with her elbow, and he shrugged sheepishly as he rubbed at the back of his neck.

Then he nodded once, for Pete's sake. "The breach itself is soaked in Void stuff. In the end it'll close itself. And that's it. Kaput."

"But you and Rose will get pulled in," Mickey protested.

The Doctor jogged back to Yvonne's office and grabbed a magnaclamp. "That's why I got these." He hefted it for show, then let it drop with a loud thud. "We'll just have to hold on tight," he added, nodding at Rose who was smiling again, now that she understood the plan.

He grinned back at her, then shuffled sideways until he was in front of one of the computers that ran the lever software. It would take a few minutes to come back online, and they were already running out of time.

"Well, what am I supposed to do while you've got that breach thingy open?" Jackie demanded.

The Doctor looked up at his mother-in-law, standing in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips. He blew out a breath and ran his hand through his hair. He knew what Jackie needed to do, but he also knew she would resist.

"You could go to Pete's World," he suggested as he moved to the other computer and got it running, too. "Have a new life with a new Pete."

Jackie raised an eyebrow, then looked at Rose. "You're staying?" Rose nodded, and Jackie shook her head. "Well, I'm not going anywhere without Rose."

Timelines tightened, and the Doctor gritted his teeth. But before he could say anything, Pete grabbed Jackie's hand.

"Oh, my God. We're going!"

He tried to force a hopper into Jackie's hand, but she pushed it back at him. "I've had twenty years without you, so button it. I'm not leaving her."

Rose's soft voice broke through the tension. "You've got to."

Jackie spun around, her eyes wide and angry. "Well, that's tough."

"Mum." Rose took her hands. "I've had a life with you for nineteen years, but then I met the Doctor, and all the things I've seen him do for me, for you, for all of us…"

"Reboot in one minute," the computer recited, interrupting Rose's speech.

The Doctor straightened up from the computer and watched Rose attempt to convince her mother that they needed to say a permanent goodbye. Her sorrow was impossible to miss, but even as he tried to comfort her, he felt her wrap her sadness up and shove it back as much as possible.

I love you, he told her, and he saw her spine straighten as his words gave her strength.

Rose lifted her chin. "He does so much, for the whole stupid planet and every planet out there. And he does it alone, Mum. But not anymore, because now he's got me," she concluded, stepping back to take the Doctor's hand.

Over Rose's shoulder, the Doctor had watched Pete inch closer to Jackie, the extra hopper in hand. As soon as he draped it over her neck, Jake slammed his button, and Pete, Jackie, Jake, and Mickey all disappeared.

"Oh, he's gonna get a slap for that," Rose muttered, staring at the empty space where her mum had just been.

"I can imagine," the Doctor said. "Why didn't you warn her?"

Rose shrugged. A band had tightened around her chest when her mum vanished, but she shoved the grief to the back of her mind—there would be time for that later.

"I just… it just felt like she needed to go," she explained, trying to puzzle through what she'd felt. "There was this… this feeling when she refused, like everything in the room suddenly got hazy. Like I was about to pass out, I guess."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "I hadn't realised you'd be able to tap into my time senses," he mused. "For some reason, it's crucial that your mum is in Pete's World. That's what you were feeling, Rose."

"Systems rebooted," the computer announced, reminding them both why they were there. "Open access."

Rose took a deep breath, then looked up at the Doctor. "So, what do we do now?"

The Doctor pointed at a nearby computer terminal. "Those coordinates over there, set them all at six."

Timelines spun around the Doctor as he returned to his own computer and made sure he'd set everything properly. He'd felt timelines fracture that morning when they'd seen their first ghost in Jackie's kitchen, and the intervening hours had only damaged them more. Even with a plan in place, he still felt time unravelling around him. It took a concerted effort, but in order to focus on what he was doing, he closed off his time sense as best as he could.

"We've got Cybermen on the way up," Rose announced suddenly.

"How many floors down?" The Doctor ran over to watch the security camera with her.

"Just one."

As they watched, another Cyberman stopped the ones marching up the stairs. Watching a Cyberman turn on its own kind gave the Doctor a burst of hope, and he shot Rose a toothy grin as the levers became operational.

He picked up the magnaclamps. "All right, Rose Tyler, Shiver to my Shake—are you ready for this?"

She took the clamp he offered and carried it over to one wall. "Oh, absolutely," she agreed. "Now, how does this thing work?"

The Doctor slammed the base of his clamp up against the wall, only a few feet from the lever. On the other side of the room, Rose mirrored him. "Press the red button," the Doctor instructed.

He heard the soft whoosh as both clamps attached to the walls. Then Rose tossed her hair back over her shoulder and grinned at him, with the cheeky hint of tongue she loved to tease him with.

The Doctor ran across the room and swept her up into his arms, pressing a hard kiss to her mouth. Rose's hands immediately slid over his shoulders to link behind his neck, and some of the tension in his body eased at the familiar gesture.

Reluctantly, he pulled out of the kiss and brushed his thumb over her lower lip. "For luck," he told her, his voice raspy. He swallowed and forced himself to focus. "When it starts, just hold on tight. Shouldn't be too bad for us but the Daleks and the Cybermen are steeped in Void stuff." He ran back to his side of the room. "Now, are you ready?"

She nodded and positioned herself at her lever. "So are they," she said, nodding at the window.

Daleks were swarming outside Torchwood Tower, and the Doctor knew it was time. "Let's do it!" he cried, and they both pushed their levers up. When his lever locked into place, he felt the suction from the Void begin. "Now, Rose!" he shouted, and they dove for their clamps, hooking their elbows around them just as the breach opened fully.

Brilliant light poured out of the breach and wind tore through the room, tugging them both towards the wall. Their clamps held, just like he'd known they would, and the Doctor laughed as he watched Cybermen and Daleks soar through the air into the Void, just as he he'd planned.

"The breach is open! Into the Void! Ha!"

Rose's giddy relief matched his, and they grinned at each other across the room. He knew they hadn't come out of the day completely unscathed—losing Jackie would hit Rose hard once things had settled down—but they were together.

The Stuff of Legend, Rose agreed.

A loud crack interrupted their euphoria. The Doctor watched, wide-eyed, as Rose's lever shifted just enough to move out of the online position. The force of the Void slowed, creating a surreal tableau of Daleks and Cybermen floating in midair above them as they moved slowly towards the breach.

No no no! Timelines twisted around them, and his hearts jumped up to his throat when he sensed what Rose was about to do. She flailed for the lever, but there was no way she could reach it.

The Doctor was already shaking his head when Rose looked at him, but her eyes were clear, showing not a hint of hesitation.

I've got to get it upright, Doctor.

His hearts stopped when Rose let go of her clamp and grabbed onto the lever. The Void behind her was still pulling both her and the lever towards the wall, and when she met his gaze, he finally saw fear in her eyes.

Then she planted her feet on the floor and grunted as she pushed the lever up. It seemed to take forever, but finally, the computer announced that the system was online and locked. As it did, the suction from the Void picked back up, and Rose's feet were pulled off the ground.

"Rose, hold on!" the Doctor yelled. "Hold on, love—please!"

Every muscle in her body tightened from the effort to hold onto the lever, but she still managed to send him a wave of calm over the bond. I love you. No matter what happens, remember that.

Don't say that, he begged, even as he watched her fingers slip on the lever.

In the next five seconds, Doctor considered and rejected a hundred ways to rescue Rose. He simply didn't have any way he could save her, and as she finally lost her grip on the lever, he screamed her name.

Watching his bond mate fall towards the open Void hurt more than anything the Doctor had ever experienced. A place with no light, no sound, no time… it was hell, like he'd told Mickey, and he'd damned Rose to it by bringing her here.

At the last moment, Pete Tyler appeared again. Rose landed in his outstretched arms and looked back at the Doctor.

The Doctor was aware of every second passing and knew they only a moment before the breach would close completely. It wasn't enough time for words, but he could project as much love as possible over the bond. Rose's love met his, and while this was not the way he'd imagined using telepathy when he'd asked her to bond with him, he was grateful to have at least this much.

Then Pete pushed the button on his chest, and they disappeared. The breach started to close immediately after, as if Rose's presence in this universe had been holding it open—or, the Doctor suspected, as if Time had been kind to him for once and held off the inevitable long enough to allow Rose to get to safety.

The wind slowly died down and the fabric of the walls between the worlds knit itself back together. The Doctor's feet touched the ground, and he took heaving breaths as he stared at the wall, unable to believe what had just happened. Rose couldn't be trapped in a parallel universe. It wasn't possible.

When she didn't reappear, he walked slowly to the white wall. Closer to where the breach had been, he could feel a whisper of her mind against his—an echo of grief, a glimmer of anger. Desperate for more, he pressed himself against the surface, cheek and palm flattened as he tried to push himself through the Void to hold Rose again.

A moment later, the Doctor choked back a sob when he finally felt the last remnant of his connection with Rose break. He stayed where he was for a few more seconds, praying to all the gods he didn't believe in that she would come back.

When she didn't, when there was no pink-gold flare of love in his mind, he turned and shuffled out of the room, too bowed down with sorrow to even lift his feet off the ground.

He'd known he would lose her one day. He just hadn't expected it to happen so soon.