Title: Full Circle
Author: Shen
Rating: PG-13
Setting/Spoilers: Post-Journey's End
Teaser: "We're not going to let this stand, are we?" Rose is not satisfied with how things turned out on Bad Wolf Bay, but it's a long path back to 10 and the TARDIS. What discoveries and hardships will she and 10.2 find along the way? A JE fixit fic.
Author's Note: I should be able to update this every other day for at least 5 chapters or so.

Chapter 1: Defiance

She stared ahead, frozen, and he stared at her. He was almost glad he couldn't see her expression, dawning and setting, he imagined, on rending horror and pain as the other him faded away. Still, he was no coward; he walked up and took her hand to give what comfort he could. It tightened around his reflexively, as natural as breathing. But when she turned her head, it was shock she regarded him with, to see this man in blue that her traitorous appendage so readily embraced. Or so he imagined, so lost did she look.

"He abandoned us..."

"I know." What else could be said?

"We're not going to let this stand, are we?" He blinked, then gave her a pained look.

"Rose..." She slapped his hand away and spun to face him fully.

Shock abruptly cast aside, she yelled, "You don't get it, do you! God, you're as stupid as he is!"

"I am him!" he shouted back. She gestured wildly.

"Exactly! How can you be okay with what just happened? You know exactly how he feels." Tears brightened the reflection of the sea in her eyes, but her jaw was set. It made his heart twinge to see it, and now that he only had one, that was significant indeed. Rassilon help him, he'd even missed the stubborn look she could acquire when set against him.

Gentling his tone, he explained, "I know he wants you to be happy. To live a full life. Can't we be happy?" His voice cracked at the end, and he internally recoiled at his own vulnerability. His needs were not the issue here; how could he have just said that? However, Rose didn't yell. She calmed with a sigh and grabbed both of his hands.

"I care for you," she said, punctuating it with a squeeze. "You're different in ways I haven't learned yet, but you're my Doctor at heart; I get that. Your kiss is... just now was..." she floundered, looking to the side and blinking rapidly, "just, I understand, okay? You're made from him, and I'm overjoyed to have you here. Promise." She gathered herself again, her expression becoming a little more stern.

"But that's not how love works. Me loving yo-him-the Doctor doesn't mean that all I want is to have one of you for my own, and bollocks to the rest. It's me wanting you to be happy. All of you."

Once more, he tried, "That's why he did this. He wants you to be happy! More than anything; we both do." He glanced at Jackie, but she had wisely chosen to keep out of this quarrel. The harpy.

"And what about him? It's... it's not enough." She shook her head to punctuate it. "He said it himself: you need me. He does, too. And I believe it. You... My God, you've been cut down to having just one life to live. To growing older day after day, and you've decided to spend that limited time with me! There's no guarantee we'll ever travel off-planet again, and you still chose me." She'd grown quiet, in awe of his sacrifice now that she'd put it to words.

He rebuffed quietly, "You would have given up your family for me." Suddenly, she spun away from him and turned back only a moment later, throwing her arms wide in frustration.

"And isn't that... baffling, terrifying, beautiful love? How could you think I'd let him be unhappy if I could fight it, if I could make a stand like you always taught me? If I thought he'd be happier without me, I'd gladly stay here. But just like my decision to leave my family proved to you that I wouldn't be content otherwise – twice! – you choosing to stay here proved to me the same. I can't let him alone. Just... tell me you'll help me try? We owe it to him to try and clean up this mess, for all that he made it in the first place. Will you help?"

Well, that was it, then. He had never been capable of denying her anything for long, and in this case, she was right, as long as they could do it safely. Though he hadn't so much "chosen" to stay, in the sense that the other him wanted him out of the TARDIS one way or another, that was beside the point. He'd been stupid to think Rose would be alright with letting his other self go. So, the other him would just have to adjust to seeing the more human side of himself again.

Handily out-argued by a human. How the mighty had fallen, indeed.

He nodded, and the fire seeped from her bones. She took his hand, which he gave gratefully, and bent her head. Swiftly, he pulled her close with his free arm, and she had what he suspected she'd call, "a good cry."

Even that first night, when part of her wanted to be alone and cry out her confusion and sense of betrayal, she couldn't let him go stay at her parents' on his own. She suspected the much missed sound of a dual heartbeat under her ear, along with a Time Lord's slow breathing, would have lulled her to deep unconsciousness. Still, this hybrid Doctor's achingly, beautifully familiar scent was hardly worthless. He was Time Lord enough still to smell like one, and it did wonders for comfort.

"Thank you for letting me stay here," he whispered in the dark. She snuggled closer. She was reeling from the day's events, still, but holding a man with her lover's face was a balm.

Trying to extend some comfort in return, she said, "Don't be ridiculous. A chilly, fidgety body in the bed and the incessant hum of the TARDIS in the background – it's a wonder what you can grow to miss." He abruptly stopped rocking his foot back and forth, and she gave a soft laugh. "You're warm now. 'S nice, in this cold flat. And honestly, the quiet was like a nighttime orchestra for weeks after I came here. If it's the same for you, I understand."

"I can hum if you like?" he volunteered, showing the first sign of cheer since their heated kiss.

"Shut up," she grumbled good naturedly, and he kissed her hair. Soon, exhausted by an outrageous adventured followed by a long flight home, they slept.