A/N: Hello and welcome to another story I am currently typing! So busy busy busy! Anywho! ALONS-Y!

Chapter 1: The other side

There was sheer silence as Jackie, Rose and the not-Doctor boarded the zeppelin to head home. The Doctor still held her hand but she hadn't addressed him again. Since she had looked at him on the beach as the TARDIS faded away, it had been silent. He watched her eyes dart in every direction but towards him. He knew she had been put through a lot between the fight with the Daleks and now this. She was stuck with a duplicate of the man she loved. They sat in a few small seats that were just on the inside of the zeppelin. The Doctor was mesmerized at the sight. He hadn't been on one the first time he had been here in this dimension, or at least the memories from his original self knew he hadn't. The area of space for what it was worth had ample room. It still was nothing compared to the TARDIS having multiple levels and rooms inside a small blue box. He already was beginning to miss it. The adventures, the traveling, being amongst the stars and other beings of life. He knew eventually he would have a new TARDIS and he could go off and explore again. For now, he was needed here by Rose's side. He examined the interior of the zeppelin as they all got in. There were a few small rooms towards the back of the quarters that housed beds to sleep on along with a decent sized control room and seating area.

Pete greeted them as they entered the main room with seats.

"Welcome home." He said hugging Jackie then looked at Rose and the Doctor. He turned to Jackie and she shook her head obviously telling him not to touch the subject at least for the moment.

"Mum, I'm really tired." Rose said, letting the Doctor's hand go. "I'm going to lay down for a spell." Jackie studied her daughter's face and nodded.

"Alright love, I'll get you up when we land." Rose smirked a small smile to relieve some of the concern on Jackie's face. She nodded her head, not looking at the Doctor once and walked into one of the small rooms with a bed and closed the door behind her.

"Fat lot of help that man did!" Jackie said after Rose had left the room.

"If she goes down the same road she did the last time she was on that beach.." She shook her head then looked at the Doctor. "I hope he's happy!"

"Quite the opposite by now." He said walking towards one of the windows to look out towards the sky. "He probably is all alone again by now. He only has himself to blame for that. I know he had his reasons for bringing us here but it still doesn't sit right, even with me."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean by alone? What about Donna?" She asked. His face became rather grim as he turned to face her.

"She had the power of a time lord in her. A human isn't able to handle that amount of power. It would kill her by burning her up. His only choice at this point is to wipe her mind completely, making her forget anything and everything about the Doctor." He lowered his head, feeling bad for the person that was responsible for creating him.

"That's Awful!" Said Jackie. Pete came over and rubbed her shoulders. It was obvious that he was beginning to act a lot like the Pete that truly was Rose's father. He watched them for a moment then looked away, feeling a bit uneasy.

On the beach, Rose had pulled him to her and kissed him. It had felt magnificent, all and more of what he always thought it would be like to truly kiss Rose Tyler. But, he knew how his other self had felt seeing that. He knew that Rose would be happy eventually, being with the form of him that would always remain his tenth regeneration and never change. At first he was mad at him for leaving them both here, but now he understood why it had to be done.

"But now I really don't understand things." Jackie said. "Why didn't he take you lot with him?"

"Were you really ready to give your daughter away? To never see her again?" He asked studying Jackie's face.

"Well, no."

"Good, because you know he couldn't' stay here. He had to go back to protect the other reality where you're old family and friends are. Where Mickey is now. Would you rather had the Doctor stay and doom that reality?"

"Of course not! Don't put words in my mouth!"

"Well it was either one or the other and to him his life cannot simply revolve around the Tyler family." She could see the storm brewing in his eyes as he looked at her. It reminded her of how rude he was in the beginning when she had first met him when he didn't look like the man that stood in front of her now.

"It's just that I'd rather have her happy then like this again. You have no idea how bad it was for her." She said.

"Probably just as bad as it was for me." He said.

"You weren't even around then."She scoffed.

"You keep forgetting Jackie, I still have the same memories, I remember everything he's felt for over nine hundred years in this body. I'm practically the same person. Unlike him, I can't hide this side of me because of my.. humanness." He said gulping.

"Don't make it sound like being part human is a bad thing!"Jackie said.

"Oi! I'm not used to having one heart! It's rather disgusting!" He said, sounding a bit like Donna. He instantly clapped a hand over his mouth and looked at her.

"Sorry, that was a bit of Donna getting out." He fidgeted for a moment.

"As I was saying, he left us here for a reason. He's tired of losing people and he knew here that Rose would stay safe."

"But what if something happens here in the future? Then what? He won't be able to come here to help." Jackie said, trying not to raise her voice to disturb Rose in the other room.

"That's why he left me here. Part human or not, he's left me the duty of being a defender of the Earth along with the others here."

"Are you implying you plan to become an alliance to Torchwood?" Pete asked.

"Precisely." He answered. "Someone has to make sure you lot aren't messing it up." He said. Pete looked at him and crossed his arms while looking towards Jackie.

"Are you sure this isn't the real Doctor? He seems just as cheeky as before to me."

"Cheeky? You call me being cheeky when yet last time I was here you had cybermen all over the place?" The Doctor said crossing his arms in front of them.

"I didn't forget about that." Pete spat, holding Jackie's hand firmly as he thought of the other Jackie that had been destroyed and changed into a cyberman.

"Well neither did I." The Doctor grit his teeth as he spoke, putting force behind his words.

"Come on now, keep your tones down." Jackie hissed. The Doctor looked back towards the small door that Rose had gone into.

"Sorry, but anyhow, Same me, new body. Well, partially new body, same as before really, even the mole. I've really gotten attached to that mole."

"And a bit of an attitude." Jackie said. "I still can't stand that he, you, well you know what I bloody well mean, is putting her through this again." She commented, not entirely looking at the Doctor now.

"H- how was she?... After last time?" He didn't know how bad it had been but he feared to know honestly, still his worry for Rose was beginning to show. Jackie took a deep breath and spoke.

"She worked for Torchwood when it opened back up for business, trying to do better for the company like she said you would've wanted. But after we went to bloody Norway and she saw you, she was a complete mess. She did some work for Torchwood but it was at home on her computer. It took her weeks really to get up and do anything. Most she ever did was go to the pub with Mickey some nights. She wasn't eating too much so it was easy for her to get pretty pissed at the pubs off of a few beers. Mickey would have to carry her back to her flat some nights or just set her on the couch at our place." Jackie said looking over at the Doctor. His eyes weren't looking at either her nor Pete, he was hanging his head in shame. Jackie walked over to the Doctor and looked at him in his face. He was sullen, knowing that Mickey was most likely the only person that was really there for her when he had gone the last time. Now Mickey was in the opposite world, the same world as the Doctor she wanted. She had noone but a person that would remind her of the one she loved.

"Let me tell you something about those who get left behind, because it's hard. I'm warning you, if you are planning to stick by Rose's side, never let her down." He nodded his head, not looking at Jackie's face and looked towards the floor. The uneasiness in the room was almost palpable. Pete then cleared his throat before he talked.

"Well Doctor you might as well make yourself comfortable. We won't be landing for a few hours." Pete said getting comfy in one of the chairs in the main room. Jackie sat next to him and rested her head on Pete's shoulder.

"Is Tony with the nanny?" Jackie asked. Pete just smiled and nodded his head as Jackie gave out a small sigh and closed her eyes.

"I'm going to look about the cabin for a while." He said shoving his hands into his blue suit pants pockets and walking away.

He walked down the hall past Rose's door and paused at it for a moment. He couldn't help but feel the temptation of going in and trying to talk to her. He knew there was every possibility that she was asleep, but he knew there was a possibility that she was also awake and still upset. He peered into one of the rooms across from Rose's door and found another small bed in a room. The window was just to the side of the bed, showing nothing but blue sky and white clouds. He shut the door and walked a bit farther down the hall near the back of the cabin area and found a small bathroom on board along with a small room that held a shelf of books to be read. They looked like they were there strictly for just to complete the look of the room but The Doctor knew better than to waste books. He simply picked one up from the shelf and looked at the title. It was obvious then that they were the small romance novels that you could find anywhere just for something quick for a lady to read. He simply flipped through the book and read the pages inhumanly quick. He then set the book back on the shelf. He then picked up another and looked at it being about the same. The picture of the girl on the cover in the throws of passion in the arms of a muscled tan man with dark hair and a chisled face. He flipped through a few chapters. As he was putting the book back, he heard a faint sound against the wall that he was standing next to. He then realized the room was shaped like an L, meaning he was hearing something going on in Rose's room. He set the book down and walked out of the room. He checked down the hall and noticed Pete and Jackie not moving, meaning they wouldn't hear him make any movement or sound at least for the time being. He turned the small metal handle slowly and then pushed the door a small crack so he could look inside. He noticed Rose tossing and turning giving out small heaving sounds. She was crying in her sleep. He wanted to go to her, and at least make her feel better, but he knew that she wouldn't exactly want him there.

He played memories back in his mind of her grabbing his hand and pulling him into the room he had given her in the TARDIS. It was never anything he had to worry about, she was just the cuddling type. The kind that just talked about her life and listened to stories until she fell asleep. He never wanted to admit it, but he did miss waking up to Rose Tyler with bed head. She was meant to always be in the TARDIS with him. She was never meant to live a normal life. He slowly shut the door and went back into the other room looking around. He picked up another small book he found in the small nook in the corner and read the title, his eyes widened. The true tale of red riding hood and the big bad wolf. The word big had not been changed, however, bad wolf was two times larger than any of the other words, it was also written in a different calligraphy then the rest of the title.

Bad wolf, those words followed them everywhere linking them together through out space and time. He knew it hadn't been a coincidence. She had always been meant for him in some sort. If this was how destiny was meant to of played out for them, then it meant she was meant to always be with him for the rest of her life. He smirked a smile at that thought for a moment but it faded quickly as he thought of Rose on her bed still heaving small breaths with her sobs. He put the book back onto the shelf and ran his hands through his hair. He sat on the floor, against the wall that he knew was next to Rose's. It was the closest he could be to her for the moment without disturbing her. At that point, he thought they might as well be worlds apart.

He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out the small coral of the TARDIS. If he did what Donna had said, he would have his own TARDIS in about a years time. He had to smirk a smile for a moment. Donna had been bloody brilliant. The Doctor with Rose Tyler in the TARDIS, just as it should be.

It was her choice now if she really wanted that, if she really wanted him. He knew he couldn't be a replacement for her Doctor anytime soon. His mind began to wonder if he ever could. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, a small yawn escaped him. Since when could he get tired? Oh, right, human.. He shuddered. This is going to take some getting used to. He kept his eyes shut and thought of past memories with Rose, never fully moving away from the kiss that they had shared on the beach until his mind faded away as he fell asleep.

I know you think it's outrageous, to come on all courageous and offer you my hand. Pull you up onto dry land, when all I got is sinking sand. - David gray "The other side"