Chapter IIX: The End is Only the Beginning

The Tardis landed on Earth, back in London, which the Doctor found incredibly predictable. One by one, he and his companions, former-companions, and lover filed out onto the street. None of the humans walking down the street nearby stopped to wonder how four adults had managed to fit inside a small blue box. The human mind never ceased to amaze him, even if it was their amazing ability to not see what was right in front of him.

He'd said it before, and he'll probably be saying it over and over until the end of time… He'd never know why he liked those simple-minded humans so much.

He turned to face them. "Thank you." He said sincerely. "I know that you didn't have the same history with the Master that I did and that, to you, he was just an evil creature that needed to be stopped, but…" The Doctor trailed off, apparently unable to finish his sentence.

"Anything for you, Doctor." Rose said with just as much sincerity. "You know that."

A few seconds later, the Doctor recovered himself and looked over at his other two companions. "So… what do you two say? There is more than enough room on the Tardis, and it's been a long time since I've had three such amazing companions. Do you want to come with me?"

Jack and Martha glanced at each other for a second, and then smiled at the Doctor. "Actually, Doctor, as much as I would love to run across the universe with you again, I really should be getting back to my team. They're probably gonna have my head for running out on them like I did…" Jack said. "But I just have one more question before I go… I can't die, but I'm still aging very slowly. So… what happens if I live to be a million years old?"

"I honestly don't know." The Doctor said. "Maybe moisturizer?"

Jack laughed. "You and your wit. I'm going to miss that." He ran his hand along his chin, as if dreading what he was going to look like in a few thousand years. "Its gonna be a shame when this face goes south. You know, this face was quite famous when I was growing up back home on the Silver Devastation. Yep. 'The Face of Boe' is what they used to call me." He smiled at them, oblivious to the looks of shocked amazement on their faces as he turned and began to jog away.

The Doctor, Rose, and Martha stared at each other in shock. "No!" Rose and Martha exclaimed at the same time.

"Well, if you think about it…" The Doctor began, running his hand through his hair. "The Face of Boe always did call me 'old friend' even though we had never met… and he was the one who tipped us off about Yana."

"Oh, wow! This is even cooler than finding out that the royal family could all be werewolves!" Rose laughed.

"Wait…" Martha said, turning to face the other two. "The royal family are what?"

This caused the Doctor and Rose to laugh harder. "A long story involving Queen Victoria and how I was Knighted and banished from the British Empire on the same day." The Doctor said. "Not that banishment has ever kept me away before."

"So that time that you went by Sir Doctor of Tardis…?"

"A real title." The Doctor said. "And Rose became Dame Rose of the Powell Estate."

"So, Martha, do you want to come with us?" Rose asked. "There is room for you on the Tardis."

Martha shook her head. "There's no room for me, and we all know that." She turned to the Doctor. "One of my mates once spent years chasing after a man who was not interested in her. I told her that she had to get on with her life. It's time I followed my own advice, yeah?"

The Doctor stared at her in shock. "You mean… you…?"

"I thought." Martha said. "But you've always been in love with Rose. Besides, I don't really fancy ending up like that wife of the Master's. You're a great man… well, alien… but you aren't quite worth my mind."

"Nothing is worth that." The Doctor said. "You are brilliant. Absolutely brilliant, Dr. Martha Jones."

"High praise, coming from you." Martha said. "And you, Doctor… you've earned that name in my opinion."

"High praise." The Doctor said, smiling.

Martha walked over to Rose and handed her a slip of paper. "Don't worry; no doubt you'll see me again. That's my number. If you ever head my way, give me a call. You're always welcome with me. And, remember, I want to see the children when they come!"

Both Rose and the Doctor blushed heavily as Rose accepted the number from Martha and the group parted ways. But not for the last time. The Doctor stepped into the Tardis, followed closely by Rose. The door shut after them, and Martha watched, a few tears filling her eyes as the Tardis began to make its characteristic whooshing sound as it disappeared from sight.

Once inside the Time Vortex, the Doctor set the controls to just hover in the vortex with no set destination. Rose walked a few laps around the Tardis console, taking in the sight of her old home. How she had missed the Tardis when she had been trapped in that parallel universe. So, in a way, she did owe the Master one thing. He had brought her back to her Doctor.

The only difference was the music that she could hear around the console. Instead of the song that the Doctor had sang at the funeral, this was a song of happiness and welcome.

"The music…" Rose began.

"It's the Tardis." The Doctor said. "She really missed you while you were gone. Almost as much as I did. Almost, but not quite."

"I'll bet she did." Rose responded, pulling the Doctor into a playful kiss. "So… when are you going to let me into that little plan that you've been hiding in your mind?"

"Ah, that." The Doctor said. "Well, I had hoped to surprise you…" He began to work a few controls on the Tardis. It took a few minutes for him to finish, but then he picked up the Tardis' phone and handed it to Rose. "Go ahead. Call your mum."

Rose stared at the phone in confusion. "But… mum's still in the parallel universe! How can I just call her? Wouldn't you need to burn up another sun?"

"Nope." The Doctor said. "When the Master was dying, I took his knowledge of parallel worlds from his mind. What I said a long time ago is true. True travel between parallel worlds is nearly impossible without the Time Lords to prevent disasters. But that's only if you try to shove something the size of the Tardis through the barriers. With the right settings, we can send a phone message across with minimal damage. Mind you, you won't be able to do it every day. But every once in a while, you can call your mum."

"So… I really can call my mum?"

"Yep." The Doctor said, leaning back against the console. "Just like your super-phone, except it reaches parallel universes."

Rose stepped closer to the controls and hesitantly punched in her mother's number in the parallel universe. The phone rang for a few times before it was picked up. "Tyler residence, Jackie speaking."

"Hello, mum." Rose said.

Jackie's reaction was immediate and loud. She screamed, causing Rose to hold the phone away from her ear, and even the Doctor winced. "Oh, Rose, where are you?" Jackie asked once she'd finished screaming. "When you didn't come home from work, we were so worried! You've been missing for some months now, and you haven't got the Doctor for an excuse this time."

"Actually, that's exactly who I have as an excuse." Rose said. "I made my way back into this universe, with my Doctor. I'm back home again."

"Oh, sweetheart, really?" Jackie asked.

The Doctor moved over to Rose and motioned for the phone. Rose handed it over. "Yes, Jackie. Rose is safe with me now."

"I should have known right away that you were behind this, Doctor. Seems every time you say something's impossible, the universe just goes right ahead and proves you wrong."

"Funny old world, isn't it?" The Doctor replied.

"So, you two are back together now? Are you finally going to admit that you are more than just friends?" Jackie asked.

"Too clever for us, Jackie." The Doctor said before Rose took the phone back.

"Yes, Mum, we are more than just friends now. Things became a whole lot less complicated since I came back."

"How does that mean?" Jackie asked.

"Well, I've been transformed into a Time Lord. Well… Time Lady, actually." Rose began.

For a while, Jackie Tyler didn't reply. "My daughter, the alien. Dating an alien."

"Married to an alien… well, in Gallifreyan terms." Rose said.

"Married to an alien?" Jackie repeated, shocked. "Well… I suppose it could be worse. You take care of her, you hear me, Doctor? If I get wind of my daughter being hurt, I'll tear down the barriers between the dimensions myself and give you the biggest slap of your life!"

"I don't doubt it." The Doctor said.

"Will you be able to call back, Rose?" Jackie asked.

"Not all the time. But I'll call again, I promise." Rose said. "I love you, Mum."

"I love you too, sweetie." Jackie said. And the connection was gone for now.

While Rose set down the phone, the Doctor began to work on their next destination. "We just got reunited and we're all ready heading somewhere?" Rose asked.

"Just because we land doesn't mean we have to leave." The Doctor said. He moved closer to her and pulled her into an embrace. "I really missed you, Rose. No words in any language can say how happy I am right now."

"None, except 'I love you'." Rose said.

"That works." The Doctor said. He was about to kiss her when suddenly a series of alarms went off and the Tardis was launched into a sudden spin…

LES: To be continued in a series of sequels! I've decided that this story needs to turn into a series… Series 4 with Rose. Well… Series 4 has Rose in it, but this one is Rose as the Doctor's companion/lover/wife. Of course, that means that a certain someone who comes into the show in Series 4 is getting their role recasted. I'm not really that fond of River Song's introduction, or numerous things that I've found out about her since. Not that I'm vindictive enough to boot her from the story, but just enough to have serious changes in mind: changing her relationship to the Doctor and having the Doctor notice what should have been obvious if it were true.

Donna is the one that I'm really excited about. She's my second favorite companion.

Anyway, next will be "The Time Crash" with Rose, coming soon…