Title: The biggest family on Earth

Summary: An alternate Journey's End, where the doctor admits his feelings to Rose, Donna's fine, and Jack finds someone he really loves. Told from mainly the Doctor's POV.

Rating: T

Pairings: Ten/Rose, some Jack/Donna

Disclaimer: I don't own doctor who, the BBC does. And I certainly don't own the BBC.

This story was originally written by Lupinus Maximus, and I've adopted it. I've made changes here and there, but otherwise it's basically the same. As Lupinus Maximus only wrote the first seven chapters, and only gave me the start of the eighth, these chapters are now all mine. So if you want to complain about anything, it's my fault. ;)

Previously: It was only a matter of minutes before Jenny was asleep, and the two girls could sneak back into the console room.

When Rose and Donna returned to the console room, Jack was already there, clasping a large mug of tea in his hands. Rose stepped over to him, snatched the mug out of his hands, and poured the tea in a puddle next to the Doctor's head, watching as it seeped through the grating and started to steam slightly. Jack gaped at her.

"The Doctor's gonna kill you if that destroys part of the TARDIS."

"I doubt it." Rose replied absently, as she gently rolled the Doctor over so he was lying in a more comfortable position. Then she plopped herself down on the captain's chair, and sat down to wait, still watching the Doctor.

Donna watched them both for a few minutes, before shaking her head slightly.

"Well, I'm gonna go get something to eat. Coming back from the dead sure makes you hungry." she announced.

"Tell me about it." Jack grumbled, following her out of the room. Rose watched them leave, a small smile on her face. She hadn't missed the signs between those two. Now they'd be happy too.

()()()()()()()()()()

It took a few minutes for the tea to take effect, but eventually the Doctor woke up, breathing deeply as he slowly sat up and rubbed a hand across his eyes. His head had stopped pounding, he felt perfectly normal again.

"Someone's spilt the tea again." He mused, as he glanced at the patch of steaming tea on the floor of the TARDIS. He heard someone snort at this, and looked up to see a blonde angel sitting on the seat. And at a second glance, it wasn't the blonde he expected it to be. He had expected Jenny to still be sitting there, covered in a few cuts and bruises, maybe still watching him through those wide eyes. But, instead he saw the person he currently wanted to see most of all in the whole wide universe, whilst he knew, or thought he knew, that she couldn't be there.

He stared at her.

"You should know you can't keep me down, Doctor." She told him, grinning cheekily. But he shook his head madly at her, a wild look in his eye, and Rose could see he was struggling with his emotions.

He backed against the console, holding his head in his hands.

"No." He told himself firmly. "I'm hallucinating... It's not real... No one can survive a direct dalek ray... Except Jack... It's not real... I just hit my head a bit hard..." He continued like this for a few minutes, until eventually Rose lost patience with him. She marched over to him, knelt down in front of him, and placed her hands gently on his shoulders. He flinched slightly at her touch.

"Doctor. Doctor! Look at me." She commanded. Her words gave her the weirdest feeling that somehow their roles had reversed.

()()()()()()()()()()

The Doctor looked up eventually, scared to look in case she disappeared in front of him. But she was there, knelt in front of him, gazing straight at him. She didn't fade away, and prove that she was some kind of hallucination, some kind of wistful dream. So, slowly, he allowed himself to hope, to believe that the angel kneeling in front of him was real.

"Rose." He whispered. "How... how?" He murmured, his mind unable to form a full sentence.

"It's quite complicated..."

"Tell me." He rasped, finally gazing straight into her eyes.

"Okay. Remember, on the crucible, Jenny said that the time lines were converging on us. Me an' Donna. That's because we weren't supposed to die then. So, somehow, the heart of the TARDIS got opened again, and we woke up in the 'Realm of the Timelords.' We met your past incarnations." She added slyly. He winced. She had seen all his old bodies? Damn. He just hoped she wouldn't question him on some of the ridiculous things he had worn back then.

"And?" He asked, wondering where this was going.

"The old you, ninth you, said that we could come back, but we would gain a Timelord's capacity to regenerate, or something like that. He said, 'you'll each have gained five regenerations.'"

"Five?" The Doctor's shoulders sagged. Why so many? He only had three left, he didn't want Rose to have to experience the pain that came with out-living everyone you know and love.

"What's wrong Doctor?" Her voice broke into his thoughts, and he gazed up at her again.

"You'll live longer than me. I only have three left. You'll have to live with the... the curse of the Timelords." He told her sombrely. He could hear the despair in his own voice, but Rose, rather than looking worried or upset as he thought she would, just smiled.

"Na-ah. 'Cos, he also said that you an' Jenny will have got three more regenerations each. That means you have six. And knowing you, you'll need an extra regeneration, what with all the trouble you get into."

He managed a ghost of a grin at her words, but he could feel the happiness welling up inside him.

"But, how?" He inquired.

"When you came back to the TARDIS, the heart had been opened somehow. You all collapsed, but Jenny collapsed on the jar your hand's in. The regeneration energy was released into the air. Apparently most of it was absorbed into the Realm of the Timelord's, but some of it escaped, giving you three regenerations. It would have been two each, but because Jack just happens to be immortal... he didn't get any." She glared very slightly at the Doctor, who winced again.

"Sorry. I would have told you..."

"Like you would have told me that I was the one who made him immortal?" She snapped at him. He flinched nervously, tensing instinctively. He didn't mean to, but his emotional state was too far gone for him to be able to hold his emotion back any longer.

"Sorry." Rose whispered honestly. He could see regret in Rose's warm hazel eyes. He shook his head tiredly.

"No. I should have told you..." he trailed off as she sat down beside him and wrapped her arms around him.

"It's okay." She replied sincerely. He smiled.

"It's really you." He murmured, slight disbelief still in his voice. He was still finding it hard to believe, that Rose Tyler had once again done the impossible, and come back to him.

"It's me." She confirmed, snuggling up to him. He smiled elatedly, wrapped his arms securely around her, and held her tight.

"Never die on me again." He mumbled into her hair. He felt her grin against his chest.

"Wasn't planning on it." Was her muffled reply. He chuckled lightly, and reached down to tip her chin up so she was looking at him.

"When you said you wanted to stay with me forever, did you mean it?" He asked quietly, his insecurities out in the open at last. But Rose just rolled her eyes at him, and nodded.

"Always." She replied, gazing up at him. He smiled softly at her. It was good to have his Rose back. Leaning down, he cupped her face with his hand, and kissed her tenderly.

()()()()()()()()()()

It was a good ten minutes before the Doctor and Rose finally surfaced again.

"Where's Jack?" He asked, glancing around as though he expected the Captain to pop out of the walls. Rose grinned mischievously at him.

"Makin' out with Donna in the kitchen I expect." She replied airily. The Doctor grinned slightly, and then processed the second part of Rose's information, and looked aghast.

"What! In my kitchen?"We have to eat there!" He leapt up, and raced out of the room. Rose followed him at a more leisurely pace. As she arrived, it was obvious that Jack and Donna had been doing what she'd said they'd be doing: Jack still had his arms around Donna. Donna herself was glaring daggers at the Doctor, who was now looking slightly meek, but also, somehow, confident.

"A little privacy would be nice next time, space-man!" Donna yelled at him.

"It's my kitchen! And we have to eat in here!" He returned. Donna glared at him, wriggled out of Jack's arms, took a step towards the Doctor, and slapped him. He staggered backwards.

"What was that for?" He exclaimed, gently massaging his sore face. Donna just glared at him for reply. Seeing that Donna wasn't going to back down, he muttered an apology, and was allowed entry to the kitchen.

"So, what did you want anyway, Doc?"

"I wanted to talk about how these two came back to life." He replied quietly, as the others sat down around the kitchen table.

"Oh that's easy. Big ears explained it all to us." Donna told him, waving a hand nonchalantly.

"You...what?" The Doctor spluttered.

"By big-ears, I'm guessing you mean the old doctor, yes?" Jack asked, grinning.

"Yep. And we saw all the others. What was with the scarf?" Donna asked conversationally, turning to the Doctor.

"I... uh..." he stuttered, causing the three other three to grin. Scowling slightly, he dived for the first excuse not to answer that question that he could see. "Where's Jenny?" As he realised what he had said, he hit himself mentally. How could he have forgotten his daughter already, his injured daughter, and not thought to check up on her.

"Me an' Donna took her to the medi. Bay." Rose told him. The Doctor jumped out of his chair, and charged down the corridors towards the afore-mentioned room, mentally asking the TARDIS to move it so he could get there faster. As he reached the pristine white door, he pushed it open rather forcefully, causing it to slam against a small metal shelving unit, effectively waking up Jenny. Jenny, who still had her soldier reflexes jumped into a sitting position immediately, before wincing at the pain movement caused, and lying back down. The Doctor was at her side in seconds.

"Hey, careful. It's only me." He delved in his pocket and pulled the sonic screwdriver out, and started buzzing her.

"What are you doing?"

"Examining you." He answered absently. "Ah... sprained wrist, nasty cut to the side of the head, numerous small cuts around the torso. You'll be fine."

"Obviously." She batted his hand away, "I feel fine, stop it." The Doctor looked up at her, brows raised.

"All right then, if you're sure." He stood up and perched on the side of the bed, looking towards the others. "Right then, where were we?"

"What?" Donna and Rose asked simultaneously.

"What did my ninth self say then?" He questioned as though he was talking to a young child. Donna scowled at him as they entered the room, perching on the various large pieces of equipment in the room.

"So, first, we died. Then we woke up, in this golden, misty place..." Donna started, only to be interrupted by Rose.

"The realm of the Timelords." Rose interjected.

"But what is this... Realm?" The Doctor asked, clearly confused.

"You said... well past you said that it was this sort of limbo place where you can find any past regenerations of any Timelord. But you can only see ones you've met." Rose explained. The Doctor processed this, then nodded.

"So I'll be stuck with my past selves for all of eternity when I die?" He looked extremely disgruntled at the idea of spending time with his past selves.

"Yep!" Rose giggled at his expression, slipping an arm around him. "Come on, it won't be that bad."

"If you say so." He muttered. Some of his past incarnations had a terrible temper.

"Right then. If your done discussing the Doctor's death I'll continue." Everyone nodded. "So then, these nine misfits come out of nothin' and almost give me a heart attack! It was a good thing Rose recognised Big ears, so we actually managed to get somewhere." Donna continued. Jack snorted at Donna's description of the ninth Doctor, and the Doctor glared at him.

"Sorry Doc, but it's true." He laughed. The Doctor gave Jack an indignant look, before ignoring him, turning to Donna and motioning for her to continue.

"Right. Well, one of them told us that we hadn't died 'cos our time wasn't over yet. That's why the time lines were converging on us." She glanced at Jenny, who grinned.

"Well, that's one mystery answered."

"Then, big ears startled us by announcing that when we come back we'll be able to regenerate. Me an' Rose have got five regenerations each. Jenny and the Doctor will have gained three more."

"What about me?" Jack pouted.

"You don't exactly need any Jack." Rose said quietly. Jack stared hard at her for a minute, before shaking his head.

"It's okay Rose. It wasn't your fault." He murmured, attempting a smile. The Doctor hugged Rose to him, kissing the top of her head. Donna seized the chance to change the subject, and continued.

"Of course, we were only meant to get one regeneration each, and you two none, but because Jenny crashed onto your hand, the energy that you poured into it before was released, and part of it was absorbed by you, the rest by us."

"That's what gave me that splitting headache." The Doctor commented, remembering the pounding headache he'd had when he'd woken up."

"An' then he sent us back. We came here, and you collapsed." Rose finished.

"So now we have to put up with you two for the next few centuries." Jack joked. Donna glared at him.

"But that's not so bad, is it?" Rose looked up at the Doctor, who smiled tenderly at her.

"Not bad at all." He murmured, kissing her.

It was only a few moments later that Jenny kicked them all out of the room, proclaiming that she didn't want to watch her Father snogging.

A/N – That could be the end, unless you think I should do the specials, and maybe some of series five with the new TARDIS team. But if I do continue with the specials, I'd quite like a beta, so if anyone wants to beta my work, please contact me.