A/N:This is the epilogue! I didn't mean to have it typed so soon, but I just couldn't stop until it was written! It's done! The plunny can't bother me anymore! R&R!

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"Oh! Yes, yes, you said no family. But there must be people who love you. Friends…" Madge Arwell trailed off and the Doctor opened his mouth to answer.

"You told her you have no family?" Rose shouted from inside the TARDIS, poking her head out. "Honestly, Doctor, just because you faked your death, you've become all angsty-wangsty. You've got me and Jack. And I still think it's been long enough, we can go see Amy and Rory again, the Silence ain't keeping an eye on them anymore. We could even drop in on Sarah Jane and Luke. Or Martha and Mickey. Wilf even, maybe see Donna from afar. Or some other long lost friend of yours. You've got the largest family on Earth but you refuse to see it, because we're only human rather than Time Lord."

"And you sound like Sarah," the Doctor said back.

"Yeah, she's a smart woman and we've been talking. You know, Luke's in college now, and he's only sixteen, she's very proud of him," Rose told him before turning to Madge. "He's staying for Christmas, and if you don't mind, Jack and I could also join you. I'm Rose Noble, by the way, his wife. Jack is my brother."

Madge smiled widely. "We'd love if you came," she said before turning to the Doctor. "And right after, Caretaker, you are going to your friends and tell them you're not dead, do you hear me?"

"Yes mum," the Doctor sulked. "I'll think about it."

"I'll make sure he does," Rose whispered loudly to Madge with a wide grin. "The only other person who has had that kind of effect on him was my mother, and that was after she'd slapped him silly. That alone means you must be a magnificent person."

"Well, I don't know about that," Madge blushed. She then took Rose by arm, leading her to the attic door. "Caretaker, join us downstairs and bring your brother-in-law," she ordered over her shoulder with a smile.

"Yes mum," he grumbled and went to fetch Jack. It was better to do as he was told or he might find only cold water on the TARDIS for a week...

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The Doctor knocked on the TARDIS blue door, Rose on his right, Jack on his left and TARDIS on the other side of the street.

"Ughh! If that is more carol singers, I have my water pistol!" The threat could be heard from the other side of the door and Rose and Jack grinned at each other as the Doctor fidgeted between them. "You don't want to be wet on a night like this," said Amy as she opened the door, brandishing her water pistol, freezing at the sight of the Doctor.

"Not absolutely sure… how long…?" the Doctor said, wringing his hands, Rose's hand on his elbow calming him slightly.

"Two years?" Amy demanded and squirted water at his face three times, making him flinch each time.

"Not bad, considering you made Sarah Jane think you were dead for thirty," Rose ribbed him as he wiped the water from his face. He gave her a sour look which Amy mirrored.

"Okay. Fair point," he told Amy, turning back to her.

"So," Amy's voice cracked, "you're not dead."

"And a Happy New Year!" cheered the Doctor jokingly.

"River told us she suspected," Amy said seriously.

"Of course she did," grouched the Doctor, hovering awkwardly at the doorstep.

"She's a good girl," Amy defended her daughter. "Well, I'm not gonna hug first."

"Nor am I," answered the Doctor, looking awkwardly to his left.

The two friends continued to avoid eye contact for a while until Jack got impatient and scooped Amy up for a hug. "Hugs all around! It's Christmas! Captain Jack Harkness, at your service!" he declared and drew back. "Doc's told me all about you but he failed to mention how beautiful you are."

"Not now, Jack," the Doctor groaned and Rose giggled. "Pond, this is Jack, don't flirt with him and keep him away from your husband. And this is Rose, though you've already met, but the Silence wiped your memory of her. You met her at Lake Silencio."

"And in that aborted timeline in a world that never was," said Amy, looking at Rose. "She… oh, I can barely remember it, but she was important to you."

"Yes, she is," the Doctor said, wrapping an arm around Rose's shoulders and squeezing gently. "Now c'mere Pond!" he said and hugged Amy, both of them laughing.

"Oh! Mr. Pond!" Amy shouted to the house after their hug ended. "Guess who's coming to dinner!"

Rory appeared to the hallway from somewhere, wrapping his fleece tighter around himself. "Oooh! Not dead then!" he joked.

"We've done that," Amy informed him rather pointedly.

Jack stepped forward and took Rory's hand. "Captain Jack Harkness. And who might you be, handsome?"

"Jack, what did I just tell you," whined the Doctor, arm once again around Rose.

"I was only saying hello!" Jack protested, innocence coating his voice.

"For you, that's a way to flirt with strangers," laughed Rose.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" asked Rory, looking between them.

"Only if it's no trouble," answered Rose. "If you'd rather just the Doctor though, Jack and I can wait in the TARDIS. He owes me a pedicure, see, and I've been hoarding it for a rainy day."

"It's no problem, really," Rory assured her. "We've already set the table for the Doctor, two extra plates here or there. You're Rose, right? We met in that alternate world."

"Yes, we did, and we met on the beach too, but apparently the Silence wiped your memory of it according to the Doctor," Rose smiled.

"You set a place for me?" asked the Doctor in disbelief. "Why? You didn't know I was coming!"

"Oh, we always do. It's Christmas, you moron!" Amy rolled her eyes at him and squirted water at him again, before turning and leading Jack into the house, Rory going ahead of them.

Rose and the Doctor followed into the entrance hall, Rose watching him turn to close the door. She offered him silent support when she saw him discreetly wipe away a tear before finally closing the door. "Come along, dear, your Ponds are waiting," she said and extended her hand to him, wiggling her fingers.

Grinning, he took it and let her pull him to the Ponds' warm kitchen where Rory was setting the extra plates and Amy was checking on the food. They were laughing at something Jack had said, and he himself was leaning against the kitchen counter, blatantly checking them out.

Smiling at each other Rose and the Doctor joined the conversation, denying whatever story Jack was exaggerating this time.

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End notes: It was pointed out in a review by Laikayanel that Eleven and Rose were ignoring Amy, Rory and River a lot of the time and that the three didn't interrupt them as often as one might imagine, but the reason for that was that all of them were insecure. Rose didn't know what her place was in the new new new Doctor's life and so she clung to the dynamics she had with Ten which in turn meant a lot of inside jokes and references to things only they would understand. The Doctor thought it was the last (or second last) time he ever saw her and was trying to make the most of it. Amy and Rory of course knew that the Doctor had had companions before them but they'd never met anyone before and weren't sure how to react when Amy's Raggedy Doctor fawned over a stranger. River... well, she knew who Rose was but as the last few hundred years the Doctor had had adventures with only River (the farewell tour and the many adventures, such as Jim the Fish and Easter Islands), so she had clung to her wish/delusion that the Doctor married her. Rose showing up was more than unwelcome to her. And the older Rose, she tried, but she'd missed the Doctor more than she had imagined she had, and it was purely reminiscing (she was ninety-nine by that point), not meant to make the Doctor ignore his other friends. Hope that clears it up slightly...