They'd been planet-bound for over two weeks before the Doctor finally caught a break in his research. Granted, it would have taken far less time had Rose not taken to parading around in tiny swim suits and sarongs and begging for his company whether she was going for a swim or simply lying on the beach. It was always difficult to say no to her, but as her skin took on a gorgeous, golden glow that seemed to make her eyes and hair sparkle, he found his willpower decrease leaps and bounds day after day.

She'd gotten him out of his leather armor and into jeans, t-shirts, and even swim trunks on occasion. She'd lain on the beach with her head in his lap, allowing him to read to her in the bright sunshine or tell her tales of his travels as they gazed at the stars. They hadn't ventured out into the colorful village until their second week, and he started to see some of the life return to Rose's eyes as they explored the markets, shops, and restaurants. Even the Doctor felt lighter than he had in centuries, strolling hand-in-hand through the streets of Barcelona by day, dancing to street musicians in the sultry evenings, and sharing a bed with Rose as she slept and he buried himself in inter-dimensional research.

They hadn't repeated the passionate snog they'd shared in the lever room at Torchwood. The Doctor hadn't wanted to push her until she was ready, content with the increase in physical closeness that Rose seemed to crave. They had always been close, nearly always touching whenever possible and appropriate, but the last few weeks had been something else all together. It was as if he and Rose were joined at the hip, only separating when absolutely necessary and he found himself forgetting all-too-often that this wasn't actually a romantic getaway, but rather a place where Rose could grieve and recover from losing her mother.

On the morning of their 17th day on their isolated little strip of beach, Rose awoke slowly and turned over to face him. He immediately stopped what he was doing to watch her blink adorably and greet him with a small, sleepy smile.

"Mornin'," she croaked out, scooting closer so she could snuggle under his arm and rest her head on his chest. "Whatcha readin'?"

"A book," he replied cheekily.

"And here I thought you were knitting me a sweater," she quipped, inspecting the book carefully. "'S in Gallifreyan. The TARDIS never translates it for me."

"It's a book on inter-dimensional travel," the Doctor told her. Rose tensed against him for a split second before he continued. "We may be able to send a message across the void to your mum. Let you see her once more. There should still be at least one tiny gap we can use. It would take a a lot of power..."

"Hold on, hold on," Rose said, sitting up and brushing her hair out of her face. "All this talk about inter-dimensional communication and I haven't even had my tea yet. Slow down a bit. I can talk to my mum? And see her? But we can't bring her back?"

"According to my calculations, no," he told her sadly, setting his book down and grasping onto her hands. "It would tear apart both universes."

"Oh," Rose said, looking down at their joined hands. "But...I could say good-bye, yeah? Make sure she's all right?"

"Yeah. You can't touch her, you'll just be a projection. Sort of like inter-dimensional Skype. Video chat. All we need to do is find a sun to burn up."

"So it's just your average Tuesday, then."

The Doctor chuckled. "There are no Tuesdays on the TARDIS, Rose."

Rose let out a weak little laugh. "I think you've told me that once or twice."

"If I had a nickel..."

She graced him with a small smile, still not up to her normal brilliant standards, but he'd take anything he could get at that moment. He could feel his own grin spreading across his face in response and he gathered her into his arms.

"So when are we gonna do this?" she muttered against his shoulder.

"Whenever you're ready," he replied.

Rose sighed. "To say good-bye to my mum for the last time? Dunno if I'll ever be ready for that. So do we put it off or get it over with?"

"The longer we wait, the better the chance that the gaps will have time to close themselves. Best do it sooner." He pulled away so he could properly meet her gaze. "That all right?"

Rose dropped her eyes and took in a deep breath, blowing it out slowly and measuredly before she glanced back up. "Yeah. 'S all right."

The Doctor cupped her cheeks in his hands and leaned in, brushing his lips against hers in a feather-light caress. Rose sighed and moved a hand to the back of his head, preventing him from pulling away as she returned the gentle pressure.

"Been waiting on this for two weeks now," she murmured against his mouth.

"I was giving you time," he said softly as he tried valiantly not to lose control at the feel of her warm lips on his. "You're grieving, I didn't want to take advantage..."

"Grieving is much easier when I get to kiss you," she whispered, rising up onto her knees and pressing her palms against his chest, covering each heart and pressing him back against the pillows. He couldn't suppress the shudder that went through him when she straddled his lap and he groaned into her mouth, wrapping his arms around her and deepening the kiss. A stray thought ghosted through his mind that this probably wasn't the best time for such activities. Then Rose did something extraordinary with her tongue and what little coherent thought he had left was completely wiped out of his frankly magnificent brain and he surrendered.

That is, until a small, urgent alarm began bleeping at them, causing the Doctor to pull out of Rose's kiss and groan while thunking his head audibly against the head board. "That'll be a proper supernova, then."

Rose grinned at him. "Funny, thought that's what we were headed for in here."

He groaned once again. "I'm an old man, Rose. Take pity."

Her smile widened, and she looked so beautiful with her cheeks flushed, her hair mussed from sleep and his own ministrations, and finally gracing him with her patented Rose Tyler grin that he couldn't help but pull her to him once more for a thorough snog. It wasn't long before they were both breathless, hips moving erratically against each other as another, louder, far more insisted alarm sounded throughout the room.

"You'd better go take care of that," Rose murmured against his lips.

"Take care of what?"

Rose giggled. "I'll go get cleaned up, yeah?"

"And I'll go get this sorted," he replied, choking back his groan of disappointment as Rose rolled off his lap. "May take a bit. Console room in half an hour?"

Rose sighed, all of her earlier playfulness gone as the weight of what they were about to do sank in. She hopped off the bed and shuffled towards the ensuite. "Yeah. See you then."

True to her word, half an hour on the dot later, Rose came into the room as the Doctor finished attaching the last of the cables and wires to the console. She looked beautiful as always, dressed simply in jeans and a soft grey hooded sweatshirt. He tried to dampen down the flash of disappointment at seeing her completely covered for the first time in nearly three weeks, but Rose's knowing smirk told him that he was probably much more obvious than he thought.

"Right!" he said, hopping out from the grating. "I've put us in orbit around a supernova. I've sent a telepathic signal to your mother, time works differently in that universe so I imagine she'll be coming into focus..." He trailed off and glanced at his watch. "...right about now."

Rose's eyes widened as she glanced around the console room. Her mother materialized into view, translucent, almost like the Doctor had appeared in Emergency Programme One so long ago.

"Mum!" she gasped out.

"Rose, is that you? Where are you?" she asked, glancing around.

"Go stand in front of the projector," the Doctor told her gently, pointing at the device sitting opposite of her mother's image.

"I'm here, mum..."

"Oh, Rose!" Jackie gasped out, bringing her hands up to her face. "Where are you? You look like a ghost!"

"We're inside the TARDIS. Hold on..." the Doctor said, striding over to stand beside Rose and aiming his sonic at the projector. Jackie came into sharper focus, and if they didn't know better, she could have been in the same room. "Is that better?"

"Oh, look at you, you giant plum," Jackie said. "You look like you're right here on the beach with me. Does that mean...?"

"We're just images," the Doctor replied, putting an arm around Rose's waist as she began to tremble against him. "Where are you? Where did the gap let out?"

"Bloody Norway," Jackie huffed. "Freezing here, too. Really, you couldn't have picked the South of France? Or Antigua? No, you had to drag us out to Darlig ulv Stranden."

"Darlig ulv Stranden?" the Doctor asked, his heart sinking.

"What's that mean?" Rose asked, glancing over at him.

"Translates to 'Bad Wolf Bay," he answered.

Rose's eyes went wide. Two words, following them from the beginning of their journey. He thought they'd figured it out on the game station, but apparently not. Here it was, still hanging around and stubbornly refusing to tell them why.

He could tell Rose was puzzled, but she quickly turned back to her mother and changed the subject, not wanting to waste the precious time they had. "How are you, mum? How's Mickey? And Pete?" she asked shakily.

"We're fine, everyone is fine. Oh I could kill you both! Sending me away like that!"

Rose rubbed her eyes, looking stressed. The Doctor's hearts ached for her, he couldn't let the last conversation Rose would ever have with her mother filled with the woman yelling at them. "Jackie, we only have about two minutes. We're burning up a sun so Rose can say good-bye, can we please leave the domestics at home?"

"Listen to him," Jackie huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Mum, please," Rose asked in a small, quiet voice. "This is the last time we're probably ever gonna talk..." She broke off and swallowed hard. The Doctor moved his arm from her waist to her shoulder, tugging her into into his side and pressing his lips into her hair. She seemed to calm a bit, taking in a deep breath. "I hardly know what to say."

"Oh, Rose," Jackie said. "I have to tell you, love...I'm pregnant!"

"What?" Rose replied, a genuine smile on her face while tears began shining in her eyes. "That's brilliant! How far along?"

"'Bout three months now..."

"You've been there three months already?"

"Oh right, because I hopped into bed straightaway with the parallel version of my dead husband! Give me a little credit! We've been here for six months, Rose, and I'm...so glad I get to talk to you one last time so..." She shifted her gaze to the Doctor. "Thank you. Now you take good care of my little girl, you hear me?"

"I will, Jackie, I promise."

"You treat her right!" she said, her voice growing thick. "And don't you dare send her away again! Keep her safe!"

He glanced over at Rose. A few tears had escaped her eyes and he reached up to brush them away as she met his gaze. "I will do everything in my power, Jackie."

"And you take care of himself too, Rose! He needs you, remember that."

"I will, mum," she managed to choke out. "Tell Pete the same from me. And Mickey, give him my love, yeah?"

"Yeah," she said, the tears overflowing. "And what about you, love? What are you going to do now?"

Rose glanced over at the Doctor and gave him a small smile. "Keep on traveling, I guess. Keep seeing new places.

"Would you take care of the flat for me, Rose?" Jackie asked. "It's yours too, and...I want you to have a place you can come home to. So you two better visit once in a while, keep it tidy, tell all my friends...well, tell them something!"

Rose laughed. "I will, mum, I'll tell them you ran away with a very rich, very handsome man, yeah?"

Jackie smiled. "You do that."

"Time's almost up," the Doctor whispered. "Jackie...it has been a pleasure knowing you."

Jackie gave him a small, affectionate smile. "And you, Doctor. Thank you for taking care of my Rose."

"Be..." Rose trailed off, the tears overflowing as she struggled to speak. "Be...fantastic, mum. Tell my little brother or sister about me, yeah? I love them already, and I love you. Don't forget that!"

"I won't, Rose," Jackie said, tears in her own eyes. "I love you, too, sweetheart..."

Jackie's image suddenly faded before their eyes as the power ran out.

The Doctor turned to Rose the instant the projection cut off, enfolding her in his arms as the tears she'd been trying so hard to hold back overflowed. He could never stand seeing her cry, and this was worse than ever before because he knew he was the cause of it. If it hadn't been for him, she and her mother would be safe and happy in their flat, none the wiser about aliens, parallel words, and the dangerous, dangerous universe he was a part of.

Then, she would probably still work at Henrik's, eating chips and beans on toast and watching telly, maybe even married to Mickey. He shuddered at the thought.

Then he realized that she probably would have died in his explosion. He hugged her a bit tighter and vowed to keep her safe, to give her everything and make her the happiest woman in the universe.

"I'm sorry, Rose," he murmured into her hair. "I promise, I'll make you happy again. Every star in the sky, just say it and it's yours. Rassilon, Rose, I lo-"

"What the hell is going on here?!"

The Doctor pulled away at the shrill, angry voice that had pierced into their moment and froze. There, standing in his console room was a ginger-haired woman in a long white dress, hands firmly placed on her hips and looking completely murderous.

"What in the-" he began in utter disbelief.

"Who are you?"

"How did you even-"

"Where am I?"

"You couldn't have just-"

"What the hell is this place?" the woman screeched.