A/N: This is it! The final chapter! The happy ending! This has been a wonderful journey and I very much look forward to writing the next chapters of the Doctor and Rose's new, eternal life together. Stay tuned to the A/N at the end of the story for the title of the sequel. Thank you so much to: Pig-Rabbit-Suk (hope this makes up for the depressing chapter!), JollyRoger1, sockmonkeyhatinthetaris, FloraFaveXNara-Wire, Kosetsuno Tenshi, AvenJackel, TooLazyToLogin, NoPondInTheForest, Acoustic Dancer, Laurens1988, gabbygirl89, SittingOnTheEdgeOfTheUnivers e, LadaHathaway, OnceadiaryintheTARDIS, Amelia St. Claire, District 9and3-4, lilbitjrfan8, proudwombat, hungrywhovianpotterhead, TheRealHoldim, rozablood (you, lady, are amazing thank you so much for your reviews and yes there is a sequel in the works) a few anons, and my dearest darling Caskett54 for your reviews. You guys are my favorite people in the world!

The TARDIS illuminated the correct path for Rose to take and soon she was pushing her way back through the door with her name engraved upon it. She froze upon entering. The room was not the one she had left a few hours ago. It was the one she had left a few years ago.

It was brightly lit with two windows set into the walls, one looking out over a posh part of London, the other a field of sunflowers perpetually bursting into life. Pictures lined the walls, pictures that Rose had longed for on the lonely nights when she only had the one from her cellphone to keep her company. All of her souvenirs from various planets and small gifts from those she had helped or met along the way occupied the shelves and the desk. The room was dominated by a queen-sized bed, the most comfortable thing she had ever laid upon, covered in a luxurious deep purple comforter. The carpet was warm and soft beneath her feet and reminded her of the week she had chosen to have dense moss as the flooring. It had taken her forever to get the stains out of her favorite pair of jeans when she had carelessly dropped them upon the organic floor.

The door closed silently behind her and Rose had the feeling that the TARDIS had locked it, giving her time to mourn.

To mourn the loss of something that she had, for one brief, shining moment, thought she had finally, finally gotten.

Her forever with the Doctor.

She didn't blame him for not wanting that though, not really. Who was she to come into his life and demand a place that only a…well, a wife, would take. It had been all well and good to say that she would stay with him forever because, back then, her forever was a mere blink of the eye to the Doctor. Now, facing the very real prospect that she would be there, his responsibility until the end of his days, he had buckled and shown his true colors.

Rose wanted to cry but no tears came. Instead, she hugged herself, pulling his jacket in even closer around her and sat lightly upon the bed. She laid back and, despite herself, smiled at what she saw. Right before she had left, the TARDIS had changed her ceiling to a swirling pattern of the sky from one of the planets they had visited. A spectrum of gold, pink, purple, green, blue, and other colors she didn't have a name for, danced across her ceiling. Rose winced as an ache at the back of her head began and the noise from earlier was a dull roar in her ears but neither could compare with the pain in her heart. This was all too much, too sudden. Leaving Pete's World, the Toclafane, tortured by the Master, losing her memories, seeing Jack again, kissing the Doctor…

Sacrificing herself…

Rose dragged her hands down her face.

Maybe the Bad Wolf had been right in what she had told the Doctor.

Maybe he should not have brought her back.

She took a deep, shaking breath, and sunk her hands into the impossibly deep pockets of the Doctor's jacket, thinking heavily of what she would do now.

She couldn't stay here with him, not when it had been quite obvious that he did not want her roaming the halls of his TARDIS for all of time. Maybe he would let her stay a little while, that is, if she survived the breaking down of the mental barriers he had erected. The thought of the Bad Wolf being a permanent resident of her mind scared Rose. She would have power that she had never dreamed of. How would she control it? The responsibility that, that entailed was beyond daunting.

Her fingers brushed against random objects. She felt the distinct flesh of a Satsuma and the memory of that second Christmas flitted through her mind. There were various scraps of paper, feathers, bits of cloth, a squishy thing that she recoiled from immediately, a thick piece of paper with one glossy-feeling side that could only be a photograph. Idly curious in her heartbroken, dazed state she pulled out the picture.

She turned it over and her eyes widened. It was a picture of her, just her. There weren't many of those around because she was the one always behind the lens, but here one was. In his pocket. The edges were tattered as if it had been handled often and Rose couldn't recall when this picture was taken. She was looking at whoever was taking the picture, not at the camera but beyond it, with a huge smile on her face. Her hair was being blown off to one side and her cheeks were flushed with excitement. There was a large gash in the fabric of the jumper she was wearing and her jeans were filthy.

But she was happy. So, so happy.

Rose sat back up, delved back into the pocket and discovered the inner pocket from whence this one had come. There were a dozen pictures at least, some of them copies of the ones that donned her walls, but mostly ones of just her. When had these been taken? The pocket also contained an odd assortment of trinkets that Rose most certainly did remember. There was a purple bracelet that she had woven out of the grass from a planet and given to the Doctor on a rare occasion when they had been able to relax for five minutes. She had made him wear it all day and he hadn't complained once. There was the red and pink set of tissue Christmas cracker hats that they had worn on their first Christmas together, now crinkled and slightly torn, but there nonetheless. A silly drawing that she had done of him, of his Northern self, all cross with a speech bubble saying "Don't wander off!" Piece after piece she pulled out and examined, reliving the memories of each one. At the very bottom of the pile was a purple blouse. Her purple blouse. This one was a slight mystery to her but it brought a wide grin to her face. He had kept an entire article of her clothing in his pocket all this time.

He had kept them, he had kept them all. She had a similar little box hiding under this bed, full of seemingly ordinary things that she had treasured. She never in a million years would have thought that he was doing the same.

Realization began to dawn on her. Maybe he hadn't been unhappy about her staying with him after all. She thought back over their conversation, back even to the Valiant, back to…before.

A vague, hazy golden memory flitted through her head. A Bad Wolf memory.

"No! I cannot lose you again! I won't survive it!"

Another memory that she most certainly was there for, "Rose Tyler, I love you."

"I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone you..."

"What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?"

He had been telling her all along. Before the Doctor she had thought of herself as one step above nothing. Her self-esteem was mediocre at best and she was prone to deep insecurity. Most of that had changed when the Doctor stepped into her life. He showed her what it meant to be brilliant and, over the course of their too-brief time together, she began to see what he saw in her. Just a little.

Still though, that deeply rooted issue with confidence was a hard one to kick and, when he had sat there staring at her with sad eyes she had immediately jumped to conclusions. God, she could be so stupid sometimes!

Making up her mind, Rose jammed the trinkets back into the pocket, taking care to make it so he might not even notice that she had seen them. Knowing they were there was enough. She would not give him a choice in this matter. They had been through too much, had known each other too long for her to be running away from him or vice versa.

No, it was time to run.

But this time they would run to each other.

?*?*?*?*?

The Doctor stood where he was and watched Rose turn and run from him. Pain washed through him as he scrubbed both hands down his stubbly cheeks. What had he done?

Rose had never run from him. Not once in all of the time that they had been together, even when she should have, even when he told her to.

A small part of him thought that she would share in his joy. He remembered clearly when she had first promised him 'forever'. The single world had conflicted him for longer than it should have. Losing Rose to the relentless draw of time was not something that he had been sure that he could do. But he would do it. He had to do it.

Because…

Because he loved her.

But now – now they actually stood a real chance of being able to be together forever and she had run. It was his fault - of course it was his fault. All of it was too much and he had been absolute rubbish at explaining any of it. Why hadn't he said anything? Why hadn't he stopped her?

"Idiot," he muttered to himself, staring down at their cooling, partially full mugs of tea.

Should he go after her? At the thought, the TARDIS dimmed the lights on and off slightly. He didn't know if it was agreement or a warning.

The Doctor must have stood in that one spot for five whole minutes just thinking. Give him an impossible countdown to the destruction of a planet and he would have it solved in no time. This… this was a whole new mystery to him.

Knowing Rose was on board the TARDIS and not having her in his sight was physical agony for him. What the hell was he doing, standing here? He was over nine hundred years old and was acting like a coward. He had to explain to her, had to tell her.

He went to reach into his jacket pocket to finger the soft material of the purple blouse he kept in there, her purple blouse but then realized that she was wearing his coat still. Gathering himself together, the Doctor prepared for rejection, prepared for her to run from him even farther. She just had to know. His silence was only because he was terrified of her reaction to what he had done to her. If it worked…if she was almost immortal like the Bad Wolf had said she might be…

It had to work.

The Doctor strode out of the kitchen with purpose, tracing Rose's frantic steps from moments before.

Too soon, he found himself outside of her door. He could hear only silence from behind it. He went to knock then stopped. Went to turn the knob but it wouldn't budge. With a small glare he looked up around him at the TARDIS, knowing full well that the locking was the ship's doing.

The Doctor stood there pathetically, unsure of what to do, entirely unsure of himself. He lightly traced the swooping circles of Rose's name in the language of his people, another add-in from the TARDIS. No other companion had ever gotten such a personalized treatment.

Scolding himself once again, the Doctor took one more deep breath and raised his hand to knock when suddenly the door flew open and Rose nearly crashed into him.

She stopped short, eyes wide.

The Doctor lowered his arm and stared back at her, slightly speechless.

"Doctor, I-" Rose began just as he said,

"Rose, please-"

They both were quiet a moment, each willing the other to speak first.

"You go ahead…" he said. She looked down at her feet and then back into her bedroom.

"D'you…d'you want to sit down?" she asked hesitantly, quirking her head to the side in a rare show of shyness.

The Doctor rubbed his neck and then nodded. Rose stepped aside and the Doctor entered her room.

It had changed back. He hadn't noticed at first but it was, most definitely, her room from before. Back were the pictures, back were the clothes, the trinkets. Did this mean she was back as well?

Rose settled herself on the bed first, tucking her feet underneath her and drawing a cream colored crocheted blanket over her bare legs. The Doctor paused, then followed suit, awkwardly folding himself into a comfortable position.

Neither seemed to know what to say but Rose broke the silence.

"'M sorry I ran away like that," she mumbled, looking up at him from beneath her lashes, "It's just that…I thought that, because I'm, well, because I might be different, that you wouldn't want me around anymore."

The Doctor's hearts broke a little more at this. He was so daft sometimes, so insensitive, and he couldn't bear the idea that he had made Rose feel unwanted for even a second. Because nothing could be farther from the truth. He remembered a similar conversation, standing outside of the Powell Estates with the ashes of a spaceship raining down on them, both of them so shy of the other.

He was about to speak but she interrupted him, "No, please let me finish." He held his tongue and she continued. "The whole time I was in Pete's World, the entire time, I was trying to get back here. Back to you. Shut up," she chided jokingly when the Doctor began to smile despite himself. His smile only widened when she blushed and her tongue poked out between her teeth. "I can't tell you how many times that I nearly died there, and not just because I am jeopardy friendly. The world was wrong, so wrong for me. You might even say it was trying to get rid of me…that's how it felt anyway."

The Doctor's brows furrowed and he remembered the past-Rose telling Mickey, "You know how it is."

"I was able to do things, Doctor, things that I wasn't able to do before. After Satellite 5, well, I knew that something was different about me. But then you became…you, and everything else happened so fast. I guess I just didn't want to worry you." She huffed a little laugh, "Now, I'm starting to sound like you, rambling on. The point is, I never want you to blame yourself for anything. I said it before and I'll say it again. I made my choice a long time ago. My choice. So everything with the Master, with the Bad Wolf, with whatever is gonna happen when you take down these barriers…it's not your place to blame yourself. I only ever wanted to make you happy, as happy as you made me, and I couldn't bear it if it were otherwise." Rose trailed off and finally looked up at him expectantly.

The Doctor had absorbed all of this in silence and, to his surprise, a slight weight lifted off of his shoulders. He made her happy.

One life, in all that he had known that maybe, just maybe, he didn't ruin.

"Rose…the life I lead…it is long. So long. I never want you to end up like me, old and broken, still so filled with anger. Alone. You made me better. You saved me from myself. And…" he trailed off, unsure if he could say what he wanted to say. He took her hand in his and relished the sensation as she laced her fingers through his, squeezing slightly and giving him the strength to go on. His eyes flicked up to meet hers, deep brown against a spectrum of hazel.

"…And I am going to be selfish this time, if you will let me. Because I love you too damn much to give you up again."

There was a pause, the only noise was the thumping of the Doctor's hearts, then all of a sudden he was on his back with her on top of him, her warm body pressed up against the length of his. She seemed surprised by her own actions and looked down at him with widened eyes and parted lips, her blonde hair falling in a curtain all around them, shielding them from the outside world. She bit her lip and, without thinking, for once in his life, doing what he wanted, the Doctor wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and brought her mouth down to his.

This was technically their sixth kiss but it felt like the first time all over again. Heat erupted through his body and he was acutely aware of every point of contact between them. Her bare legs straddling his, her warm mouth returning every movement. Every one of his senses was filled with her, intoxicating, addicting. Craving more of her, he pushed his jacket off of her shoulders and it fell in a pile behind her. He ran his hands up her arms, savoring the smooth skin, exploring her back and hips and legs and hair, all of her as their tongues fought for dominance. A shiver ran through him as her mind, still so strong, brushed against his, deepening their connection and he pressed her nearer, wanting her closer, to never let her go.

Suddenly she jerked away, eyes squeezed shut and fear lanced through him. "Rose?" he asked, panic seizing his hearts. She shook her head slightly and opened her eyes, staring down at him. The Bad Wolf was hammering at the door. The barriers were coming down and there wasn't much time. She didn't need to explain what had happened; he hadn't been blind to the attacks of pain she was experiencing. The Doctor looked up at her, searching her face. Her mouth was swollen and her cheeks and chest were flushed, her eyes tight with worry. Rose ran a hand through her blonde locks, pulling it away from her face as she looked at him with a mix of surprise and lingering lust and a tinge of sadness.

She bit her lip again and spoke softly, "Take the barriers down, Doctor." He studied her hazel eyes carefully and saw his own fear, love, and passion reflected in them.

"Are you sure, Rose? Are you absolutely sure you want this?" he asked. It was only a matter of time before her mind ripped the barriers down on its own but the force of that would surely kill her. They had a countdown, a countdown to her destruction. He could continue to patch her up but that would only last so long. Doing it now would give her the best possible chance. But he still wanted to give her the choice.

She leaned down again and brushed her lips against his chastely, speaking one word against them.

"Yes."

His hearts thudding in his chest and a manic mix of terror, excitement, and hope coursing through his veins, the Doctor sat up, bringing her with him and she settled back on her knees. She was almost sitting in his lap, their faces mere centimeters apart.

Wordlessly, he brought his hands up and spread his fingers around her skull, placing his thumbs below her eyes, pointer fingers on her temples and the rest spread out around her head, tangling in her hair. She was still breathing fast but not from passion. He could feel her fear and it only increased his own but they had come too far to turn back now. Could not turn back now.

He looked into her eyes, trying to convey everything he felt for her in that one look, as she was doing to him right now, then closed his eyes and leaned forward so that their foreheads were touching.

"If it's the last time I get to say it…"

"Don't, Doctor, it's okay, I know," she whispered, cutting him off with a finger to his lips.

He studied her face, memorizing everything, every feeling. Her face, her eyes, her finger against his lips… It would not be his last chance to say it. He would spend every day of the rest of their lives showing her, telling her. This would work. He closed his eyes and reached out for her through their connection.

Entering her mind was easier than ever, now that he had been inside of it recently and she was a willing participant. He felt her draw aside her own protective walls to let him in further.

It didn't take him long to find the barriers he had set up, blocking the results of his potentially lethal experiment. Shimmering gold swirled out from the cracks that were already forming in the barrier, her mind so strong that it was beginning to tear them down itself.

Before he could change his mind, before he could retreat like the coward that he was, the Doctor unleashed Rose. Unleashed the Bad Wolf.

He was violently ejected from their connection his mind momentarily wiped clean, a blinding light and a roaring coursing through his ears. He came to with a gasp. His hands still cupped her face but her head was thrown back and gold was streaming from her closed eyes, mouth, hands, radiating off of her skin.

No.

The power was increasing and he had been through this enough to know what was happening.

She was regenerating, or something close to it. At this proximity, he could very well be burned up with her but he was not about to move away. He would be there for her no matter what, even if it killed him, too.

But she couldn't. She couldn't regenerate, not now. Once again, not allowing himself to think, he did the only thing that he could do. He merged his own regeneration energy with hers, forcing the process back into her. He felt his mind explode, mix with hers, felt their auras and energies and every other conceivable part of them join and fight and join again. He was aware of nothing yet everything. It was pain and pleasure, fire and ice, his only conscious thought was that he would either save Rose Tyler or die trying.

It was over as soon as it had begun yet it had seemed an eternity. The Doctor forced his eyes open and they were met by the swirling of her ceiling. His limbs felt heavy, all of his energy gone. He had survived…but Rose?

With panic he sat up fast, too fast and winced at the pain and dizziness. What had he done?

His eyes immediately found Rose and his hearts leapt at what he saw.

She was lying on her back, hair fanned our around her, her eyes just beginning to flutter open. She gasped and sat up quickly, eyes wide. When those eyes found him he saw that they were gold. They still held all of the warmth and depth of Rose's hazel but now the greens and ambers were laced with a spectrum of golden hues.

But, other than that, she was her. Yellow hair, smooth skin, the hint of a hesitant smile on her full mouth.

"Doctor?" she asked quietly. He scooted forward and reached a hand out to cup her cheek, unable to take his eyes off of her. He said nothing, just studied her, running his other hand down her arm, through her hair. Rose.

She was perfect. She was Rose.

With whoop of joy he threw his arms around her and felt her arms embrace him back.

"Rose, oh Rose, you magnificent creature," he murmured into her hair and felt tears once again prick at his eyes, this time from sheer joy. When he pulled away to look at her again, to make sure what he was seeing was real, he saw tears shimmering in her eyes as well, falling down her cheeks as a grin broke out over her face.

"I'm okay? I'm still…me?" she asked in wonder.

"You're still you. My Rose Tyler," he said, his joy catching the words in his throat. And she was her. His pink and yellow girl. That face that he loved so dearly, that smile, those eyes…he laced his fingers through hers. Perfect fit.

"I feel…different," she said, looking around but not really seeing, taking stock of what was going on inside of her. Her mind sang as a chorus inside of his head and he could feel the Rose/Bad Wolf settle into a corner of his mind where he knew he would keep them, always. Every atom of him was aware of her. He didn't know what he had done but regeneration energy was still whisping out from his own body as well as hers. In his panic he had leapt fully into her mind, into her body and soul, protecting her, healing her.

Later, he would think about it later. For now he was more than satisfied…there were no words for how he felt. He reached out with his mind and brushed hers tentatively. She looked at him suddenly in surprise. "Is that…you?" He nodded and she reciprocated the gesture, their mental signatures lacing together, getting to know one another.

He laughed, "You're so loud!" he exclaimed, and she was. Time Lords were taught from the earliest age to quell their emotions, to keep them under lock and key but here was this impossible, formerly human woman with her mind yelling out to all of the worlds, declaring her presence.

"Sorry!" she apologized and he felt her retreat slightly, but she couldn't hold it.

He laughed again, "We will work on it all, Rose. Oh the things that I will show you!" She pulled him in for another hug and they sat like that for a long moment, rocking back and forth.

Unable to sit still, Rose broke away and leapt to her feet, jumping off of the bed and landing on the floor with a thud. The TARDIS was humming happily away, and Rose froze again looking around the room.

"Is that the TARDIS?" she exclaimed running over the door and pushing it open. With a face-splitting grin still firmly planted upon his face, the Doctor followed her out into the hall. "Doctor, I can hear the TARDIS, too!"

"The Old Girl always did like you best," he said and knew it was true. His hearts soared when he looked closer at Rose and saw her timeline. It was like nothing that he had ever seen before, streaming out from her in a thousand directions, weaving and changing and oh so long, extending backwards and forwards and sideways in patterns that he was quite positive were unique to her. His Bad Wolf. His Rose Tyler.

"Jack!" she exclaimed, "We have to go see Jack!" She began to dart down the hallway and, with amused alarm; the Doctor followed her once again. It seemed she had gained more from him than his regeneration energy. The way she was scampering about…she was well, him.

"We are not going to go see Jack with you in only that nightie," the Doctor said once they reached the console room. Rose stopped and looked down at herself before bursting into laughter, the sound ringing off of the TARDIS and joining with his.

She began to dash out of the room again, this time headed for the wardrobe when she stopped and came running back, throwing her arms around his neck as he laughed and spun her around. When they landed she looked up at him, her eyes shining with happiness.

"How long are you going to stay with me?" she asked suddenly, beaming up at him.

In answer he pulled her closer and leaned their foreheads together. She could feel the heat coming off of him, his breath upon her slightly parted lips and for a moment she thought that he was going to evade the answer. But then the feather light brush of his mind tickled hers and she immediately opened herself up to him. She closed her eyes and saw what he was showing her.

Running, hands laced, hearts pounding.

A red headed woman, Donna the Doctor supplied.

A blinding white snowscape and an Ood.

Watching him tinker on the TARDIS, helping him tinker on the TARDIS.

Laughing and dancing with him.

Startling fear as Daleks swarmed the air.

Image after image flashed through her mind, either supplied by the Doctor or coming from her own head, she couldn't tell which, continuing on and on, decades, centuries, an immeasurable amount of time but with one constant. They were together.

Adventures, living, loving, laughing, running, kissing, fear, joy, pain, pleasure.

For once, it did not need saying. Through their connection he let his feeling flow without abandon and her heart felt like it might break with happiness.

Come what may, it would always be them, the Doctor and Rose Tyler.

In the TARDIS. As it should be.

Forever.

A/N: Oh my goodness. It is finished. Holy crap I am sad! But it is okay because there will be a sequel entitled 'Butterflies and Hurricanes'. Thank you so much to all of you who have been there from the beginning and those of you who came along the way. Without you all this story would have been dead in the water but you guys kept me going with your lovely reviews and support. I hope with all of my heart that you will read the sequel and keep on making me the happiest Whovian in the world. Keep in touch darlings and I will see you soon.

Xx all the love I have, Lady Ten.