This has been reposted due to coding. Hopefully this one is normal.

Once again I must apologize for how late this is. I know many of you were excited for this chapter and I feel very rude for keeping it from you. I'm aware that some of you may be disappointed that this isn't very dramatic. I had a more dramatic draft written and it was honestly just so much angst and drama that I decided it was too heavy. This ending is much more suitable in my opinion. Enjoy!

xxx

In the days that followed, Rose stayed with Mickey and Martha while she recovered. The drug used to sedate her took it's time to leave her system, and Martha insisted she keep a close eye on her at all times.

Martha had avoided talking about what had happened for as long as possible, but on the final day of Rose's stay, she decided that it was time to talk to the younger woman about what she remembered.

'Not much really,' Rose had insisted, but Martha could tell that there was more to it than that. The dark circles around Rose's eyes spoke volumes of how little sleep she'd been getting.

'Do you want me to call Nicholas?' Martha asked for what felt like the millionth time. 'I know he's been very busy, but he might be able to come and see you'.

Rose observed her with a hard stare. 'You know that you don't have to keep this up anymore, right?'

'What?'

'This,' Rose gestured between them. 'I may have been drugged, but I know what I saw'.

'What do you mean?'

'Please don't insult my intelligence, Martha,' Rose sighed. 'Nicholas isn't coming here because Nicholas never existed'.

'Wha-Rose...why would you say that?'

Rose rolled her eyes and got up from her chair. 'I need to go home now'.

Martha leapt up after. 'Wait. Please, just wait'.

'What for?'

'I know it's not my place to say, but please hear him out. I know you've been through a lot, but I just know that you're better off together than apart'.

Rose bowed her head and cleared her throat. 'Thank you for taking care of me'.

'Rose'—

'Tell Mickey goodbye for me'. She left the room without another word.

Xxx

The climb to her apartment took Rose a little longer than usual as she found herself feeling faint whenever she'd pushed herself a little too hard. By the time she reached her door, she was tired, dizzy and completely fed up.

When she opened the door, she was confused to see the light already on, and hurriedly looked around to see if anyone was there.

Worried for the smallest of moments that another alien had come for her, she thought of running back outside, but her common sense got the better of her. The alien would no longer be a threat. He would've taken care of it.

Placing her bag and keys down beside the door, she made to cross the room to the kitchen, only to be stopped by the sound of movement in the other room.

Ice filled her veins as the sound continued and she crept slowly closer to the doorway. Taking a deep breath, she peeked her head around the corner and lost all ability to move.

He noticed her instantly and leapt to his feet.

'Rose, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be with Martha until you're better'.

'I checked out early,' she replied calmly.

'But what'—

'Why are you here, Doctor?'

'Well, I just wanted to see if there was anything I can bring over to you and I got distracted and...oh...'

There was a long pause.

'When did you...?'

'Sonic screwdriver was a bit of a giveaway, even if it is different,' she sniffed. 'So, why are you here?'

The Doctor stared at her stupidly, opening and closing his mouth a few times in an attempt to find the right words.

'Doctor'—

'I'm so sorry,' he uttered at the same time.

'What?'

'I never meant to invade your life and I never meant you any harm'.

'It's a bit late for that, Doctor. If you were planning on leaving, you shouldn't have let me get so close to you'.

'I know, and I truly meant to leave, I just...I couldn't'.

'You couldn't resist sticking your nose in my life, mixing it up again because it was too boring for you. Is that it? You hated that I had a normal life?'

'No, I never meant to even see you. I promise I was leaving you alone. I've never let you see me before when I've come to...you're just so'—

'So what, Doctor? What's suddenly made me so interesting? Forgive me for my good memory, but I seem to recall a certain French woman being much more interesting to you than I ever was!'

'She wasn't any more interesting'.

Rose went to retort, but she calmed herself. 'Look, we've been over all that. At the end of the day, it's the thing that still hurts me. Not pretending to be human, not lying to me, not allowing me to fall in love with you all over again...it's the fact that after all we'd done together; you never could explain why she was suddenly better than me. Why you'd chosen her'.

The Doctor bowed his head. 'Reinette looked inside my mind. She saw me and she understood my pain'.

'I understood your pain!' cried Rose. 'While I could never fully comprehend it, I knew how lonely you were. All I knew was that I wanted to fill that void for you. I thought you knew that'.

'That's not what I meant'.

'Then what did you mean, Doctor?'

'Reinette saw my feelings, my hopes, my dreams, and my fears. She knew how I felt about you'.

'Then why did you choose her?' Rose asked softly.

'I didn't choose her. Having someone understand your feelings completely, it made me feel like I didn't have to suffer in silence. I could finally talk to someone about how I felt'.

'You could've talked to me'.

The Doctor shook his head. 'Not about that'.

'But why?'

'Because I was going to lose you!' he growled. 'You don't realise how much you helped me, and I knew I would lose you one day. You taught me how to feel again after the war. You, Rose Tyler were my saving grace'. He took a step back and sighed. 'Still are in fact'.

'I still don't understand why you couldn't just tell me that,' Rose murmured. 'I get that it felt like having your people back, with someone understanding you and reading you like that, but why not tell me?'

'Because you're human. I told you that I can't spend the rest of my life with you. I'm the timelord that was foolish enough to fall in love with a human'.

'You didn't want to tell me, just to have me die one day?'

The Doctor nodded.

Rose let out a deep breath and moved to sit down on an armchair by the Doctor.

'Why couldn't we have just enjoyed the time we had?'

The Doctor raised his head to look at her and she was surprised to see that his eyes were wet with fresh tears. 'Because I knew that I couldn't cope. If I had given in and we had...I wouldn't want to live without you'.

'Then why come back now? Why be Nicholas Watson?'

He took a moment to consider. 'I saw you, I talked to you and then it all came rushing back at once. While I'd never forgotten, I had managed to squash down the memories. I couldn't stop. I wanted you back, to see your smile every day, to have you with me'.

Rose sighed and slumped down onto the couch, the Doctor following her lead and sitting in the armchair across from her.

'Did Mickey and Martha know all along?' she asked out of the blue.

The Doctor shook his head. 'No, but they figured me out with quickly'.

Rose snorted. 'And I didn't'.

The Doctor hurried forward in his seat so that he could lean in towards her. 'You weren't supposed to find out. None of this was ever supposed to happen'.

'But you see, that's not fair, Doctor. You can't just say that the best thing that's happened to me in years was all a mistake'. She went on to explain in depth about what she'd been through since she left him. While he knew some of what had happened from his own experiences, it was different hearing it from her.

She told him about Canary Warf and about how she'd nearly been pulled through the void, managing to only just hold on. Then she told him about the aftermath; learning that her mother had been proclaimed dead even though there was never a body found. She mourned her loss and moved on, only to discover the blue envelope on her doorstep. Then Mickey started to jump across between the parallel worlds and he told her about her mum's new life. She'd been so happy and considered going there herself, but then everything went crazy and the Daleks were back. She had to hear once again from Mickey that her mother was safely back in the other world and that she and Pete were happily settled with their child. The universe had given them both another chance.

As the days ticked on, she'd started to notice the occasional headache was quickly becoming a regular occurrence. She considered leaving London and trying to find Jack or maybe even just getting back in more regular contact with Mickey, but she couldn't bring herself to do so.

The Doctor listened on patiently, not saying a word as she relayed all of her experiences over the past few years. With every story, his hearts broke a little more.

'And that brings us to the day I met Nicholas,' Rose sucked in a deep breath and exhaled it quietly. 'So here we are'.

'Rose, if I could have done more to help you, to alleviate any of that pain, you know I would've done so in a heartbeat'.

Rose chuckled softly. 'I would never have let you try'.

They shared a small smile.

'I missed you, you know?' he said suddenly. 'Of course I miss everyone who has left me sometimes, but I could never fill the space Rose Tyler left'.

Rose ducked her head to avoid the intensity of his gaze. 'I'm nothing special. Just another stupid ape'.

'But you're not,' he said quickly, moving over to sit beside her and pulling out his sonic screwdriver. 'When I scanned you, I knew something was different, but I never imagined it would be this'.

'Be what?' she asked earnestly. 'What's wrong with me?'

'Nothing,' he shrugged, 'unless you'd count the vortex in your skull manipulating your entire body as something'.

'What?' she frowned in concern. 'I thought that was gone years ago'.

'So did I,' he murmured, carefully reaching up to press his hands to her forehead, 'and yet there it is'.

'So that's why I've been getting these headaches,' Rose nodded and he removed his fingers, 'but why, what's it doing?'

'As far as I can see, it's changing you'.

'Changing me into what?' she asked fearfully.

'I'm not sure,' the Doctor replied honestly. 'No one has ever survived the vortex inside them like this, not even me'.

Rose smiled sadly. 'I used to think about him a lot, you know? I liked to think that he would've given you a good piece of his mind about what happened'.

'He's still me, Rose'.

'I know, but he was the one I fell in love with first'.

The Doctor coughed uncomfortably and Rose snickered.

'I think we're a little past the point of you being uncomfortable hearing that, Doctor'.

'You've never told me that,' he whispered. 'I knew, but it was all too impossible to imagine'.

'But I have told you,' Rose replied gently. 'I've told you so many times'.

'You've told Nicholas many times,' the Doctor corrected.

'But you are Nicholas, or Nicholas is you. Whatever way you want to put it, it's still the same'.

The Doctor's eyes fixed on hers with both admiration and confusion. 'How can you not hate me for what I've done?'

Rose hummed. 'Well, I'm not saying I'm not angry about it, because I am. It was manipulative and wrong on so many levels, but I can't hate you for it. I promised you forever a long time ago and from what I can see, forever isn't over yet'.

The Doctor smiled goofily at her joke. 'So you won't miss Nicholas too much?'

Rose sighed and shook her head. 'Doctor, you don't seem to be able to get it through that thick, alien head of yours. Nicholas is you. You may have had a false identity, but you didn't lie to me. Nicholas was just a more toned down version of you and that's why I loved him so much. He was you'.

The Doctor grinned at her and she couldn't help but return it. He paused for a moment before speaking again. 'I know you've heard it from these lips many times, but I just want to remind you that I love you, Rose Tyler. I never took a chance to say it when I should have and frankly Nicholas got to say it too much'.

Rose giggled at his apparent jealousy of himself and rested her head on his shoulder. 'I love you too, Doctor. So I guess this means you were always meant to be stuck with me'.

He moved his head back to look at her. 'Does that mean what I think it means?'

Rose smiled softly and nodded. 'I want to come with you again. Forever this time though'.

'Oh,' the Doctor's face split into possibly the goofiest grin Rose had ever seen and he pulled her closer to him. 'That sounds fantastic'.

'Good,' Rose murmured, giving him her signature tongue-in-teeth grin as she leaned in closer to claim his lips in a sweet kiss.

xxx

So, there it is. My ending. I know that some of you might have thought she forgave him too quickly, but from my perspective when I wrote this, she's basically just tired. Tired of pretending that she isn't still crazy about him and that she's happy living a normal life. The only reason a normal life was palatable to her was because of Nicholas, who was just the more chilled Doctor anyway. I really hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it and I'll keep you posted if I get bitten by the sequel bug. For now I've got another idea a brewing that should hopefully make for a decent story. I'm wanting to write a story where something happens to erase Rose's time with the Doctor from her brain and then she goes back to live with her mum and everything is normal, then I want her to find a photo of her and the Doctor or something and start asking questions. Then maybe I'll have the Doctor come back to her, but maybe even have him come back as eleven to try to jog her memory. It may happen, it may not, but let me know if you like the sound of the basic idea. I love you guys very much and thank you all for supporting this story from beginning to end! You are all amazing and if I don't post anything before then, have a wonderful Christmas break!