A/N: I think this is the end of the story. I suck at coming up with clever ways to tie a plot together, so I'm just going to skip to the next part and let the Doctor explain what happened. Sorry.

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

Stardate: Not Applicable Location: Time Vortex

The Doctor got them into the Vortex before he joined Donna and Jack in the Infirmary.

Jack had the dermal regenerator on and was currently healing Rose's wrists. Donna was moving ahead of him, making sure the area was clean and then doubling back around to clean again after the regenerator.

Donna had done like the Doctor showed her as soon as she carried Rose in. She hooked her up to the two heart monitors on either side of her, and then put in the IV so Rose's body could start getting the nutrients it was lacking.

"How is she?" Jack looked up at the sound of the Doctor's voice in the doorway.

He sighed and turned off the regenerator. "I was right. She was electrocuted several times, she was dehydrated and malnourished, and it seems like she was there for longer than she let on. Doctor, her hearts stopped at least once."

The Doctor sat in a chair by the bed. "So, she really meant hearts." He ran a hand through his hair, then pulled on his ear. "What happened to her in that parallel universe?"

There was a whimper from Rose. They looked in surprise as she opened her eyes, blinking to adjust to the light. The lights dimmed a bit in response. Rose smiled softly and reached an arm above her head to pet the wall. "Thank you." She looked at the trio encircling the bed. "Explanations then? Alright, where shall I start?"

The Doctor sat on the bed beside her and grabbed her hand. He smiled. "Rose Tyler, you impossible woman. Let's start with the hearts thing, shall we? Hearts, as in plural?"

Rose squeezed his hand and closed her eyes. "Hearts as in plural, yes. 'I am the Bad Wolf, I create myself.' It started there. Words have power and there was power behind those words. That power echoed back all the way to my birth and started molding me into the person I would become. After I absorbed the Heart of the TARDIS, my physiology started changing. A headache here, a dream-like voice in my head there. Small things, so minor you wouldn't have noticed them even if we had bothered to check. You took the Vortex out of me, yes, but I had reached into the future and planted a small spark there, to be activated at the end of my life. Apparently, I knew we'd be separated so I had also set a defense mechanism. When I died, I was teleported back to my own universe. Shot through a small hole in between the universes, tiny enough to keep stable on my own without even realizing it. I lived a good, long human life. Mum and Pete grew old together, celebrated forty-eight years. Tony, my little brother, grew up surrounded by the best in life with a mother who wouldn't take any nonsense from him. He graduated top of his class and from university with a major in business and alien languages. Mickey married a woman named Martha Jones, and they had three kids. He was my right-hand man when I took over Torchwood after Pete retired. Tony's son, Evan, took over when I had to retire. I never married, there was never anyone else. On my eighty-second birthday, I was walking home from the grocery store. I was a spry old lady and feisty to boot. Some kid decided to try and mug a teenage girl. I got in the way, and got myself shot. I died in the alley." She sighed and opened her eyes.

She had everyone's attention, even the TARDIS was listening intently. "Then I woke up. I walked out of the alley and straight into an alien black market. Unfortunately, I didn't know what happened, that I had activated the Vortex in my head. I had stopped a small window of time without even realizing I had done it. It was too small, though, because Dorian noticed. He had his goons grab me as soon as I had figured out how to release it. I could feel the TARDIS in my head, a bond reaching through space and time. I spent weeks in that prison, constantly chained up, living on bread and a small amount of water; just enough to stay alive. I turned all his chains to dust until he found the chains that were timeless. Time Lord technology. Did you get all that stuff, by the way?"

The Doctor nodded and then motioned for her to go on. She continued. "That's really about it. I figured I needed outside help to get away. You had too many barriers around your mind, Doctor, so I did the only other thing I could think of. I contacted the TARDIS, made a temporary bond with her as my anchor, and got Jack's attention. Then the TARDIS took you to him, so you could come rescue me together. The End. What happened on your end?"

Jack laughed. "The monarchy already knew something was up. He just didn't know what. The Doctor tipped him off, I made a distraction, the Doctor snuck the Royal Guard in while Donna was getting you to safety, and then we let them take it from there."

Donna yawned. "Well, if you're okay now, I think I'm gonna hit the shower and then bed. I'm tired."

Jack stood up and joined her at the door. "Me, too."

Donna looked him over with a critical eye. "You can share my room if you need it."

Jack smirked. "I'd be honored gorgeous."

The Doctor sighed. "Not on my TARDIS, Jack." He turned to Rose when Jack and Donna walked out, laughing. "Now then, Rose Tyler, I believe there was something I was going to say to you back on that beach."

Rose sat up and grinned, tongue between her teeth. "Yeah, and how was that sentence gonna end?"

He smiled. "Rose Tyler, I love you." Then he kissed her.

The TARDIS set a course for Barcelona. Midnight could wait a few weeks, and he had promised to take Rose. There was much they needed to discuss but that could wait for another day. In the empty console room, a lever was dropped and the Time Rotor pulsed as the TARDIS flew her inhabitants to a lovely vacation, in time and space.