Set during and after Journey's End in the parallel universe.

"I love you," he whispered gently in her ear: the three words the Time Lord could never say to her - because he could never be truly human.

Rose stared for a second before launching herself at him and kissing him fiercely. They remained lip locked until the sound of the TARDIS engines screeched behind them. Rose whipped round and ran to the disappearing time machine as he followed behind her; taking hold of her hand when the TARDIS completely dematerialised.

Pete had flown the Tylers' Zeppelin to Dårlig Ulv-Stranden not much later and the three boarded. Rose immediately sat at the opposite end of the airship from The Human Doctor, who was rummaging through his pockets.

"Found them!" he declared, holding up two strange objects, "Spares! Sonic screwdriver and psychic paper! He forgot all about them, lucky me." He grinned that oh-so-Doctor grin at Rose.

She didn't even look at him. Eventually, he gave up trying and struck up a conversation with Pete.

-X-O-X-

"John Smith. I like John Smith, I've always been calling myself John Smith. Doctor John Smith. Whaddaya think, Rose, Doctor John Smith?"

Nothing.

"You'll need a birthday so some of the boys at Torchwood can get you papers," Pete continued as they entered British airspace.

"Uh... How about today? I was created today, arrived here today. My... twenty... seventh birthday? Would that fit? Can't exactly say I'm nine hundred years old, now, can I?"

***The Tylers' Manse***

"An' up to the left is Rose's room," Jackie finished, indicating a plain door at the end of the corridor. "She has a flat jus' down the road to keep her Torchwood stuff so Tony doesn't get in at it. She tends to stay here 'less she's got some new alien thing."

"So... Where's mine?"

"Umm... You'll have to share with Rose for a bit, Tony might keep you up. Tons of space here but we only live in a few rooms. Most of 'em are here to gather dust an' Pete's space junk. We don't have any other beds set up. I'll have Pete bring up an air bed for you. Rose won't mind."

***A few days later***

Rose hated it. He was in her room. He was invading her personal space. He who was not The Doctor was in her life. All he had was the blue suit, the maroon sneakers, and The Doctor's spare stuff. He was a copy, a bad, spare copy of her Doctor. Her Doctor had the brown suit, the beige sneakers, the real sonic, the real psychic paper... And he was in the other universe. Without her. But now her mum had come home, with him, and he had a brown suit, and beige sneakers, and he had bid on a coat owned by Janis Joplin, the coat, on eBay and won. He was intruding on her memories of The Doctor, he was pretending to be her Doctor. She hated him.

*** Two weeks later - Supermarket***

This was it. This was the final straw. She and Jackie had become accustomed to the paparazzi and ignoring the stares they received from the public after six years in this universe, but he, oh no, he had to grin and wave and act like a complete idiot and draw more attention to them.

The tabloids had, had a field day when Rose first arrived, and a story was quickly formulated that she was Pete and Jackie's daughter who had gone to boarding school in Scotland and then travelled around the globe.

They had, had a field day when Jackie had fired almost all the staff in the manse – save for a the housekeeper, a cleaner, the chauffeur and the gardeners – and went to the local supermarket herself to do the weekly shop. She had been very kind about it; finding them all new jobs with good people and the same, if not better, pay. Everyone believed the story she put out – she didn't want Tony growing up spoiled – but, really, she was just so bored with nothing to do all day.

They certainly enjoyed it when Rose went parallel-jumping and was missing for weeks on end, showing up bedraggled and dirty, and put it all down to drugs.

Now, every dodgy newspaper and magazine was displaying variations of the headline: Vitex Heiress' New Beau, followed by pictures of Rose and the man everyone was talking about: Dr. John Smith.

He, of course, couldn't help but make a scene. "Bananas! Satsumas! Look! They've even got those little, edible ball bearings! I love those edible ball bearings. Oh, no pears. I hate pears." He bounded toward the kiosk selling magazines and papers. "Hee hee! Look at this! I'm on the front cover of The Daily Star! Not the newspaper I would have wanted to be on the front of; but look! That's my face."

Rose had dragged him from the shop with a muttered apology to her mum and pulled him to the car. She waited inside it with him until the chauffeur decided it was time for a cigarette break.

"What was that?"

"So... now you're talking to me...?"

"Why do you have to make a scene? Everything was fine 'til you showed up!"

"Now we're getting somewhere. You resent me being here."

"I... Don't resent you."

"But you want The Doctor. The real Doctor. Not me."

"You're just... Not him. You told me you loved me on the beach but... I... I just can't love you. I love him."

"I understand, really I do."

And then she said the one thing he never expected: "You don't. Why? Why did he transfer his love for me into you."

John suddenly got it. "He didn't. It was tearing him up to leave you here – with me – when all he wanted was to be in my place. He still loves you, Rose, he just knows he can never be with you the way he wants."

"But why?" Tears were pouring down her face now.

"Because he isn't human. The way he feels about you is too human and he can never be human. He left me with you so you could be happy."

"I would be happy with him."

He sighed. "I know. I'm sorry, I really am. I'm still him, just not a Time Lord. We can be friends, yeah?"
"Yeah."

***Six months later***

She was cornered, nowhere to run. They'd seemed like they 'came in peace', but now, as it turned out, they'd come to invade. Jake was leading the soldiers on an attack on the ship, but she'd used a translation device he had made to discover there was a hostage on board the ship. She'd sent a message to Jake but the creatures had intercepted and had chased her. They were getting closer and closer, the smell of sewers followed her. A huge, hulking green creature turned the corner...

"I don't think you should do that."

Rose turned so fast her neck cricked. There, silhouetted in the doorway, was a tall, skinny figure. He stepped forward, determined, his long brown coat swinging round his beige sneaker-clad feet and brown pinstriped legs. His 'brainy specs' were on and some strange contraption made from various bits of junk was in his hand.

"Doctor," she breathed.

"I suppose," he said, shrugging, before pressing a button on the weird machine and pulling the alien into a glass dome on the top of it. He reached for her hand to pull her up. "Hello."

"Hi," she replied, breathless. Then she realised: this wasn't The Doctor, this was John.

A second alien appeared around the corner and John grabbed her hand and said, quite simply, "Run!"

And they ran, all the way back to the aliens' ship. John pulled her close and her body betrayed her. She hugged him tightly, desperate for closeness. All this time she had been denying him, denying her feelings for him, because she couldn't forget how he wasn't The Doctor, the man she had first fallen in love with. But he had been right, John was still The Doctor, but he was human. Her Doctor, the Time Lord Doctor, had torn himself apart by leaving her with this mortal version of himself, simply so she could be happy. She was happy. He had ended up in the same department of Torchwood as her and he had loved every second of being around all sorts of alien artefacts which, of course, he knew everything about. She loved him. She was in love with him.

The second alien followed them quite closely, despite its size, and Rose was reminded of the Slitheen. She couldn't help but remember Harriet Jones, who she had become quite friendly with in this universe, and that Christmas Invasion, where she had accepted The Doctor's new regeneration. Now she had accepted this one. He looked like The Doctor, but she had been wrong about one thing: John was her Doctor.

"Allons-y!" came the yell from beside her and she grinned as the second alien was transported, along with its trapped fellow, back into space by the transmat device Pete had set up. The hostage, who turned out to be a princess held for ransom, was taken back to Torchwood and The Doctor set up a communications device for her to send a message to her home for rescue.

"I love you," Rose whispered to The Doctor as they watched the young princess board the ship home.

He turned in surprise, "Really?"

She kissed him gently. "Really. I love you, I always have, always will."

"I love you too. For all of time and space."

***Christmas***

"An' this one's for Tony from Rose and The Doctor."
Rose watched as her little brother ripped at the wrapping paper on his brand new remote-control truck and squealed in glee at the contents.

"This one's for Rose."

Rose smiled as The Doctor handed her a small, squared box wrapped with silver paper.

"I made this myself. I found it in one of the pockets of the suit."

Rose gasped when she opened the box to reveal a delicate silver necklace. The pendant was a coiled cage of silver wire and, nestled inside the cage, was a piece of familiar looking coral.

"It's a piece of TARDIS. If you hold it tightly in your hand and close your eyes..." He watched as Rose did.

"I can hear it!" she gasped.

"We can't grow our own," he said, smiling, " We'd need to be on Gallifrey for that, but she'll still sing for us."

Rose leaned over and kissed him as their wedding rings caught the firelight and sparkled.