A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry for not updating sooner, I've been in hospital :/

I hope you enjoy the next chapter!

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, it means a lot! :)

- Ms Gatsby

The Metacrisis Doctor awoke with a start and shot up; something was different, he felt it in the air, in his bones; it felt wrong and familiar at the same time.

"Mmmm it's too early." Rose's pillow muffled voice came from next to him.

"Sorry." He replied, laying back down and putting an arm around his girlfriend "it's just…"

"What?" he could hear the concern in her voice.

"Nothing, just… a dream, it was only a dream." He lied giving her a quick kiss on the cheek as she began to drift back to sleep. Unable to settle his mind he moved carefully out of bed, changed, and headed into the kitchen.

Careful not to make too much noise he made himself a cup of tea and settled at the kitchen's island and cursed himself for being up so early, it was his day off and he couldn't function well with such a small amount of sleep like he used to, human biology had nothing on his former time lord biology. He sighed as he picked up the sonic screwdriver he had built himself when he arrived in this universe. Perhaps the greatest sign that his life was so different now, it spent the majority of the time on the kitchen bench, or a bedside table or hall stand. He didn't use it day to day anymore, it was more of a convenience; even Torchwood had its own way of doing things which didn't require his sonic. At first he felt anxious without it, but now it seemed somewhat strange using it, like it was awakening something long gone inside of him.

He contemplated going to find the source of the disturbance, he was curious, he needed to know what it was. It felt different to the alien visitors he sometimes sensed long before their case hit his desk at Torchwood. He reason that he should at least wait until Rose was up so he could let her know what was going on, he highly doubted she'd pass up on another adventure.

Rose's alarm broke his thoughts; he sighed and shook his head as he walked over to the toaster to make some toast for Rose. He smiled as he realised just how domestic he'd become, here he was making breakfast for Rose without breaking anything or starting a fire; and sure he had carpets- but no mortgage thanks to his and Rose's jobs at Torchwood – but he had Rose and a life with her he never thought he could have.

Suddenly Rose burst into the room in a black pinstripe dress and black heels.

"I thought you were calling in sick today." He was disappointed; he and Rose hadn't spent much time together lately, mostly thanks to work.

"So did I" she said hurriedly "negotiations between my team and the people of Chlom broke down, they're demanding to speak with me."

She squeezed past him to grab a piece of toast and headed to the door. She looked back at him as she went to leave, he was leaning in the island with his head down; he looked defeated.

"Hey" she said softly "I'm sorry."

He lifted his head, his eyes met hers and he gave her a smile, the one gave her when he tried to convince her he was ok. She took her hand off the door handle and moved towards him, taking his hand.

" S' not your fault." He told her as he pulled her in closer.

"But you know I'd rather be spending the day with you, right?" she reassured him " And you know" her hands moved to the waistband of his pants " that it's only fair that I make it up to you."

"Well." He started "if that's the case, you'd better get a move on Captain Tyler." He smiled as he leant down to kiss her "Now go." He ordered in a mock harsh tone.

Rose reluctantly let him go and headed to the door; the Doctor smiled after her, he couldn't be more proud of Rose, his Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth.

"Doctor." She stopped as she reached the door for a second time.

"Yeah?"

She turned to face him "I love you." She gave him a wide smile.

His smile grew to match hers "Rose Tyler, I love you too." He replied, he never missed a chance to tell her these days.

With that Rose hurried out the door, the Doctor heard her car engine start up and the car pull out of the driveway. Once he was sure that she was a fair distance away he picked up his sonic screwdriver and headed out to the garage, if he and Rose couldn't spend the day together like they'd planned, he sure wasn't going to sit around moping.

He threw open the door and began to search through the odds and ends they had stored in there; unlike regular people who might keep their car and a couple of boxes in the garage, his and Rose's was chaotic, mostly filled with the Doctor's unfinished attempts to improve Earth technology or alien technology he and Rose had come across, hiding it from Torchwood, there were some things humans weren't supposed to get their hands on he reasoned.

He began to rummage through a large trunk in the very back. "Come on, I know I left you in here." He muttered under his breath. His frustration grew as his search continued to turn up nothing; odds and ends flew through the air, mingling with the dust that was now floating around the room.

"HA, there you are!" he pulled out a contraption and held it up "I knew I kept you for a reason."

He flicked a switch and the timey-wimey detector he built when he first arrived in Pete's world came to life.

"Still working, brilliant!" he hurried into the house and grabbed his coat- an exact copy of the one Janice Joplin had given him- that Jackie and Pete had gifted him for his first Christmas and headed out the door.

If the air was cold he didn't feel it, he was too focused on finding whatever it was he was looking for; he knew he'd know it when he saw it, it was just a case of being patient, something he wasn't well versed in. Walking quickly, he fiddled with the timey-wimey detector; it suddenly came to life making a fast clicking sound. He hurried through the cold London streets as the clicking got faster and faster as he headed closer to the centre of town, it was times like these he was glad he and Rose could afford to live in a nicer part of town, it allowed him to be completely absorbed in whatever he was doing and he didn't have to be on his guard, at least not around humans anyway.

Suddenly as he turned a corner he heard it, the sound he'd been waiting for, 'ding'. As he turned onto a semi busy street the ding got louder and more frequent.

"Ha, good old ding!" he had to be close, he was even more excited now, his heart was racing and his breathing quickened, the timey wimey detector told him he was getting closer and closer.

As he almost reached a second corner his phone rang, he jumped as the noise pulled his mind away from the task at hand. Slowing down to a stop, he reached for his phone; he smiled as he glimpsed the caller's name on the screen.

"Rose." He answered with, almost sounding like he was asking a question.

"Well hello to you too!" she answered playfully "What have you done now?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're using that tone you use when you've done something you don't want me to find out about; like that time you used Mum's hairdryer as parts to make a- what was that anyway?"

"It was one time! Jackie will never let me forget it, will she? Anyway aren't you supposed to be exercising some interplanetary diplomacy?"

"Yeah, but they started arguing amongst themselves, so we left them to it for a bit. So I was thinking we could meet up and pick out an anniversary present for Mum and Dad, that is if you're not too busy..."

"Or we could meet back home and-"

"No Doctor, it's next week, we've gotta get them something, their anniversary's next week."

"Rose, they have everything!" he argued.

"Great so I'll see you in half an hour then." She ignored his argument "I'll text you the address, I gotta go, love you, bye."

And with that she was gone the Doctor looked at his phone and sighed and shook his head as he put it away. He looked down at the timey wimey detector which he'd managed to silence during his and Rose's phone call, he was so close, so close and he could feel it.

With a heavy heart he turned on his heels to head home, as he turned he could have sworn he heard something, something so familiar to him and something oh so unique to him. He turned back around and contemplated peeking around the corner, but it couldn't be, it just couldn't be he reasoned; it was impossible. He turned back around and began his walk home, his coat billowing behind him and his mind working away.

On the other side of the wall, just around the corner from where the Metacrisis Doctor had been standing a certain Time Lord let out a relieved sigh, he had held his breath as his copy almost discovered him. He had made the mistake of using the sonic screwdriver to copy the information from the Metacrisis' phone; he wondered what he'd make of him being back in this universe, he guessed he wouldn't be too happy, so he decided to lay low until he had at least seen Rose. Once he was sure the Metacrisis was a decent distance away, the Doctor reached into his bigger on the inside pockets and pulled out a phone, the one which his former companion Martha Jones had given him to keep in touch, it felt like it'd happened in another life, and in a way he supposed it had. He transferred the information from the sonic to the phone; he smiled as he scrolled through the contact list and found Rose's number, the contact photo looked like it'd been taken while they were on holidays; she was wearing a white and blue summer dress and was beaming a brilliant smile up at him, she looked so beautiful and so happy.

He contemplated leaving, how could he be so selfish? He could tear them apart and break her heart; as he turned in the direction of the TARDIS the phone lit up with a text message from Rose to the Metacrisis telling him where they were going to meet up. He stood for a moment, conflicted, he looked in the direction of the TARDIS and then in the direction where Rose would be, he took a deep breath and made his decision, he was going to see Rose Tyler again.

A/N: I was going to take this chapter up to where the Doctor sees Rose for the first time but decided against it.

I hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading!