They left the future TARDIS, all somewhat confused. Amy and Rory had their memories wiped first, and left into the present TARDIS, because Amy, 'Needed to talk to Rory, now'. Before leaving, she exchanged a glance with The Doctor. He smiled at her gently, in a way he hoped was reassuring, relaxing her a little. The Ponds disappeared into the depths of the TARDIS, leaving Rose and The Doctor with their future selves, standing between the two ships. They were about to walk inside, when Rose suddenly turned around. She had to say something, it had been bothering her since they first got there.

"There's just one last thing…" she said. The future pair turned around to look at her. "In there, she's your daughter. You haven't seen her in years. Wouldn't you want to run and be with her straight away. You sent her away, inside the TARDIS. Alone."

The older Rose looked down, suddenly more interested in the gravelly ground, and the older doctor cleared his throat, beginning to speak on both their behalf's. "She-she's sick." He said. He chose not to meet either of their eyes, searching the space they were around in. He didn't want to have to do this, he wanted to avoid it. Even if it caused catastrophic damage in the time line, it wasn't going to be easy.

"What do you mean, she's sick?" Rose asked. Both Doctors were quiet now. Rose turned to her doctor, and he said nothing, staring intently at his twin. Everyone was silent for a few moments, until the older Rose sniffed, looking up. She had tears forming in her eyes, and her voice was wobbly.

"She's dying."

"Wha…What do you mean, she's… dying?" Rose asked. She stepped back a little, not even relaxed when her doctor slipped his fingers between hers.

"Whatever they did to her, however long she's been gone, it hasn't had a good effect on her. She's dying and there's nothing we can do about it. She's going to regenerate." The older doctor said, meeting his twin's eyes "And you know what that means."

Rose flicked her eyes up to The Doctor, waiting on a response. He stayed silent, until she spoke. "Well doctor? What does it mean?"

The Doctor felt wrong, talking about his future child like that. He had clocked on that something wasn't right when they first entered the TARDIS, but he wasn't able to quite find out what. The wind blew gently, and externally, he shivered. "Regenerations in children are tricky to control, especially considering she is so young. They need to be contained correctly or you could risk killing everyone around you."

"I sent her to wander in the TARDIS, so she would pick the room she wanted to do it in. she knew what was happening, I had prepared for it." The Doctor said.

"And then, when I put her to bed, TARDIS led me to the room. The room was new, she had created it all herself. I had to carry her to bed, tuck her in, because the cycle had already started. She'll sleep for a few days, and then wake up… a complete different person."

"Because she's only a kid, she'll probably regenerate into another child, but a little older."

"I'm so sorry." Rose said "I shouldn't have asked."

The other Rose shook her head, and wiped her eyes. "It's okay. I'm you, remember? You'll remember this when you're me, and know exactly what it feels like. Sorry in advance."

Rose laughed, and then surprising both of her selves, lurched forwards and hugged her future counterpart. "Good luck." She whispered, and her older self hugged back tightly.

"Weird, hugging yourself." She said, laughing softly.

"Not the first time I've met myself, remember!" younger Rose reminded her, thinking back to the day with her father and her first doctor.

"Knowing him, it'll probably happen again."

The pair laughed, and both doctors rolled their eyes. "We should get on with this… erm, memory zapping whatsit. I suppose." The younger doctor said, glancing anxiously back to his TARDIS. He was still worried about Amy. "Speaking of," he said, his brain switching on "Rose, how can you do that? You wiped Amy's mind, expertly. How does that work?"

The older Rose just smiled "Spoilers." She said, before reaching out to touch The Doctor's temples. The other doctor did the same to Rose. "Wait, I still have things to ask!" The Doctor protested. The older Rose just shook her head, laughing softly "But- what about- River! Who is she?" he tried.

"You'll know eventually doctor." She said, a slight scolding in her tone as she clicked her tongue.

"Can't you give me a clue? A little one. Tiny." He pleaded.

"Okay," Rose laughed "Here's your clue. All is not what it seems."

And then, everything went black.

They were back on the TARDIS. They had defeated the silence. The little girl escaped, and Amy… Amy was pregnant? The Doctor winced, running his hand through his hair. It had been a crazy… afternoon. His best friend, he had put her in danger, worse than usual.

And then there was Rose.

Rose Tyler, with her bleach blonde hair and little leather jacket, resting against the railing stroking the TARDIS gently. "She feels the same, in here," she said, pointing at her heart.

"Well, you bonded with her when you swallowed her heart," he said, nodding. "Still haven't forgiven you for that."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I'm kidding."

"I know."

The two fell into an awkward silence, only broken by the light humming's coming from the TARDIS interior. Needing to say something, The Doctor piped up, glancing at the monitor. "Well, you must be, erm, tired. She still has your room, of course."

"Right, thanks. I'll erm… I'll just go to bed."

"Yes, you humans, need your sleep."

"What about you, Doctor?" she said, her voice soft "I know you do sleep. Not as often, but you do need a few hours every now and then."

He frowned, when was the last time he had actually slept? And that's slept, not tossed and turned in his bed plagued by nightmares, because that made him even more tired. The last few times he'd tried to sleep, they'd haunted him for hours, until he gave up. Perhaps he was scared.

"I do sleep, yes, you're right."

"And when was the last time you slept?" Rose asked, raising one of her beautifully arched eyebrows.

"A, few… whiles ago…" he said vaguely, and she just gave him that look. That I-Know-Your-Lying Rose Tyler look that she had mastered since she was an innocent nineteen year old. Not that she was that girl anymore. His gorgeous pink and yellow girl had matured, grown. She was a little taller, her features a little more defined. Her hair wasn't the shade of alarming peroxide he had always secretly loved, and was a little more golden. Her style had changed too, gone were the days of baggy jeans and union Jack t shirts. She had matured.

"Come on Doctor. How long has it been since we've been together, and I can still tell when you're lying?" she laughed, and reached out her hand, waggling her fingers. "Come with me."

He looked up at her, and their eyes met for a brief moment. Because he realised he did want to come with her, in every sense of the word. Forever. But in that significant moment, he didn't want to grumble and dwell down underneath the console, merging wires all night. He wanted to shed their clothes until it was just skin on skin, and he wanted to hold her, all night. He wanted to sleep with her, in the most innocent sense of the phrase.

"Well, come on then!" she said, giving him that smile. And that was it, before the rational part of his brain had a chance to keep up, he'd walked towards her and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tight. He was following her, through the TARDIS corridors to her room, the white wooden door with Rose in Gallifreyan carved on it. It was a little shaky, because she had done it herself but he was proud that she'd even been able to.

They were silent and elegant, gliding through her room. Neither of them spoke and she didn't bat an eyelid when he shrugged his jacket off, and then untied his bowtie. And then pulled his shirt off. And then his trousers. She stood and watched him, unblinking, slowly drinking in every atom of his existence. And he liked it. He didn't turn to run or flee, when she undressed, standing before him almost naked. One last moment of eye contact between the two occurred, before she turned, walking to her bed and laying in it, pulling the cover up to her chest. He followed, a minute or so later and she breathed out a sigh of relief. He had waited so long, she was worried he'd change his mind. That this whatever it was, was too much. Because as he crept into the bed next to her, slipping under the duvet and reaching his arm out to hold her around the waist, she knew that they had crossed a line that there was no going back over.

This was them, pure and real as they both drifted off to sleep. Rose slept soundly for one, no dreams of him leaving her on that god damned beach, and The Doctor didn't have any nightmares for once. No time war, no dreams of Rose, screaming as her face was stolen. No Donna, having her memories wiped, no Martha crying and shouting as she watched her family be dragged away.

It was a beautiful, dreamless sleep.

The Doctor awoke slowly, taking a few moments to register his location. He was in a bed, he had actually slept. No nightmares, not that he could remember.

And then he remembered why he had no nightmares.

Rose Tyler.

She had invited him to sleep with her, in the most innocent sense of the phrase, and he had agreed, even though it went against every fibre of his judgement.

Rose, he thought, But wait, where was she?

He quickly realised that she wasn't in the bed beside him, only rumpled sheets laying where a certain blonde human should've been. He wanted to wake up with her next to him this morning, tomorrow morning. Every morning.

As if on cue, the girl in question swung open the door, red in the face, panting heavily and drinking gratefully from a blue water bottle, as if it was the only thing she had. He noticed her change in attire from the almost-naked-but-not-quite he remembered. She was wearing a tight, cropped black vest top, bagging grey tracksuit bottoms that stopped just below her knees, running trainers. Her blonde hair scooped up in a loose bun atop her head.

He sat up in the bed, studying her intently. The pieces began to fall in to place rather quickly. She had been running, apparently.

"Oh," she said, once she had finished draining the bottle, wiping a last droplet from the corner of her mouth, breaths regulating again. "You're up."

"H-How long have I been asleep?" he asked.

"I'd say you got a good eight or nine hours. Your friends, Amy and Rory are still asleep I think, I haven't seen them." She said, placing the empty bottle on her dresser and pulling her hair loose, letting it fall around her shoulders.

"What are you doing awake so early then?" he questioned, standing up. He felt naked under her gaze, realising he was still only in his TARDIS-blue boxer shorts. He felt his cheeks flush, but thankfully she ignored it.

"Torchwood I suppose. I used to wake up at five every morning, and go for a run. Old habit's die hard."

"Right, Yes, running." He said. He was clearly flailing, unsure of what the correct social response was to standing almost-naked in the woman you love's room, especially considering said-love had been trapped in a parallel universe, supposedly forever, prior to events. "I can see that," he cpntinued nodding to her attire. It was very distracting. The open expanse of her tanned, toned stomach, slightly dampened with sweat. Those tracksuit bottoms, supposed to be for simple, casual human sporting activities, but hell she made them work. They hung low, giving him a glimpse of those hipbones. Those sinful, sinful hipbones that were taking over his brain.

"The TARDIS, she gave me a field. She still knows what I want, even after all this time, I suppose." She continued, dragging out of his thoughts.

"Right, yes. The TARDIS. Well, she did always like you best. And you swallowed her heart, which I'm sure had some kind of lasting impression." He rambled.

She noticed his discomfort instantly, from the moment she stepped in the room. This was him, The Doctor, running from his feeling as he always had. Being faced with admitting his feelings and facing a fleet of Daleks, he'd pick Daleks in a double heartbeat. Rose couldn't lie and say it didn't bother her, that the time lord had such a hard time articulating his emotions. But she would be patient, for both of their sakes. She had just appeared in his life, out of nowhere, armed with a half-hearted excuse about a dimension cannon, and no real answers. Rose still wasn't sure how to deal with the whole future-doctor situation. The man in the diner, he seemed bittersweet. Nothing like this excitable five year old in a grown man's body.

To break the tense silence that had formed between them, Rose knew she had to be the one to give him an out. "Right, well," she said "I'm going to take a shower and get dressed. I'll meet you in the console room in five, yeah?" she asked, sauntering over to the door, dumping her bright pink IPod shuffle onto the dresser beside her bottle. She wondered if he remembered…

"I bought you that." He said, glancing at the object "Can't believe you still have it."

She laughed softly, a little to herself. "Could never really get rid of it, I suppose. Especially considering you soniced it for me. Unlimited battery, unlimited memory and everything."

"That was back when I was all ears, and leather."

"Yep," she agreed with a chuckle "And I was all, puppy fat and peroxide."

"Hey!" he protested "You were beautiful."

All witty remarks fell off Rose's lips as she stood in the doorway to her en suite bathroom, studying the time lord before her. Was he? Yes, he was blushing.

"You really think that?" she tried. Please, please say yes. For me. She pleaded in her mind. Just this one step towards what they apparently would have. Just this one building block was all she needed.

"Of course. I'd never lie to you, Rose Tyler."

Sorry for the a) short chapter and b) long wait. Updates will be slow on most things to be honest. Busy with GCSE's and Christmas and all sorts of other things. I'll update when I can. Kisses x.