CHAPTER ONE

Time… It seems almost ironic to me now that I was once a Time Lord. Not just a Time Lord—the Last of the Time Lords. I fought in the last great Time War against a race called the Daleks, for the sake of all creation. I am 906 years old, I have traveled to the end of the universe, I have saved entire worlds from destruction…and yet I haven't. I am but an echo of The Doctor; a half-human/half-Time Lord hybrid born in battle. A child of the metacrisis. Full of blood and anger and revenge. Because of me, the last of the Daleks have been destroyed. Mass genocide, and I'm responsible. That is my crime, and death is to be my punishment. Not a swift death, or even a lonely death. The Doctor, the real Doctor, has far more compassion than that. He's left me on Earth in a parallel dimension. With Rose Tyler. Never before have I been able to grow old with my companions. I've watched them wither and die. But not her. No, the Doctor has given both of us a gift. A gift of a life together.

The only challenge is that Rose is still in love with him, the real Doctor, the one still out there in the TARDIS, still saving worlds. She still doesn't believe that he and I are the same-well, maybe not the same, but he is part of me. We've the same memories, same thoughts, same everything. I remember standing on the beach in Dårlig Ulv Stranden, next to Rose and her Doctor as she asked us to remember what we'd said to her the last time we'd parted. I thought, I'd hoped, that what I'd told her...the way the sentence would have ended...had convinced her that I am, in some way, still her Doctor. But then, I saw her face, saw the sadness and despair as she watched the TARDIS disappear, forever separating her from him. I experienced my first human heartbreak then; knowing I would never be the man she truly loved, but still hoping I could make her happy.

We stood there in that bay for so long that day. The wind whipped around us, freezing cold, chapping our skin. It was Jackie who had finally broken the silence...

"I'm gonna kill your father," Jackie muttered, hugging her coat tighter around her plump body, blonde hair pulled from her loose ponytail and flying around her head like a flock of yellow-white birds. "Can't believe he's taking so long."

"We are in Norway, Mum," Rose said softly as she turned about, not releasing the Doctor's hand. "It's not like we're just 'round the corner."

"Well he could send a tele-port, now couldn't he?" Jackie argued. The Doctor smirked softly inspite of himself. He'd missed this so much.

Rose rolled her eyes. "You know that's only for emergencies, Mum."

"This is an emergency! He'll be all out of sorts by the time we get home, after having been with your brother all day. You know how fussy he can get." She looked at the Doctor and clarified, "Pete, that is..."

Rose had tuned her mother out and had turned to face the Doctor, taking his other hand and holding it in hers. "Together," she echoed his earlier sentiment, then took an anxious breath. "This is going to take a bit of getting used to...you being you."

He knew what she meant and offered a soft smile, stroking her hands with his thumbs. "It's just like before, when I regenerated, only this time I still look the same. You got used to me then. Liked me more, I think." He teased her gently, knowing that while Rose had always liked him quite a lot, it was his most recent appearance and personality she had fallen in love with.

She bit her bottom lip and smiled somewhat shyly before leaning forward, uttering a playful, "shut up" before she tugged him down for another kiss. Though he and Rose had shared a few kisses over the course of their travels, this body had only experienced the feel of her kiss twice now. He remembered what it was like to kiss her, thanks to the Doctor's memories, but actually kissing her blew him away. He felt nearly numb, and tingled with the sheer exhilaration of it. Her lips were so soft...

The Doctor realized she had pulled away and was speaking to him again. "You'll stay with me? I still live with my Mum and Dad, but there's an extra room...if you want. And Tony will be mad about you. Mum and I have told him all about you."

His smile returned once again. "What do you say, Jackie; mind if I stay with you lot for a bit?"

"Where else would you go?" Jackie's tone suggested that she would consider no alternative but having him stay with them. Before anyone could say anything else, the sound of an engine could be heard from the air and the three on the beach looked up to see a zeppelin coming to hover above them.

"Still hard to get used to that," Rose muttered in awe as the zeppelin drifted down and the three were able to climb onboard. The Doctor didn't recognize the man and woman who greeted them, but it was obvious they knew the Tyler's.

"We were just over Germany when Pete sent out a call for the nearest ship," the man was speaking in a heavy aristocratic accent, bouncing up on the balls of his feet several times, his large rotund belly sticking out in front of him and threatening to pop the buttons of his waistcoat. He was a comical looking man, with a large mustache and small round spectacles. His hair had gone all salt and peppery with age. For a moment the doctor wandered what his own hair would look like in a few years. Some of his former selves had appeared older, but he'd never really been stuck with one body before. Never had to age physically.

"You must be the Doctor," the small woman said, breaking into his thoughts. "Oh, but we've heard so much about you."

The Doctor offered a tight smile to her, noticing her spirally ginger hair. He'd always wanted to be ginger... "I was the Doctor," he told her, then looked to Rose. "But not anymore."

Obviously confused, but too polite to ask further questions, the man and woman turned their attention to Jackie, leaving Rose and the Doctor to themselves. Rose was looking at him with a strange expression and he led her over to a plush looking sofa as the zeppelin took off again. They sat, turning slightly to face one another.

"Now that you're human...I can't go 'round calling you 'The Doctor.' You'll need a proper name. You've never told me what your real name was."

"You'd never be able to pronounce it, if I did." He replied, reaching up to scratch his ear. The subject of his name always made him uneasy. "Besides that, I've been forbidden from ever speaking my name to anyone again."

"Why?" Rose asked, intrigued and quietly outraged, but mostly confused. "By who?"

"By my people." He answered, leaning back against the sofa and taking her hand. "Gallifrey is a lot different from Earth when it comes to names. When a person leaves Gallifrey, they abandon their name and take on a title."

"The Doctor..." Rose said softly, understanding that was the title had taken on, but still not understanding why he couldn't speak his name. "What happens if you say your real name?"

"Dunno..." He shrugged. "Never cared to find out. There were stories that you'd burn up from the inside out from the shame of it all, but far as I know that never happened to anyone."

"So, what are we going to call you, then?"

"I suppose I'll continue on as John Smith. I've always used that alias on Earth. I've grown to like it, I think."

"John Smith," Rose repeated thoughtfully. "Yeah, I suppose that'll work."

He noted that she looked tired-very tired; then remembered what she'd said about jumping from universe to universe trying to find him. How long had she been looking? Four years had passed since he'd left her stranded in this world; he was willing to bet, she started looking for him the moment she got here. The Doctor wrapped his arm around her shoulders, drawing her against him. Rose settled her head against his shoulder, locking her fingers with his. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply his scent, before growing still. "One heartbeat..." she murmured softly before falling asleep in his arms.