I know, I know. I have too many WIP to start another one. But this plot bunny won't leave me alone! Besides, we need more 12 x Rose in our lives! Sorry for the angst in this first chapter. It's a painful story, but a necessary one, as you will soon see.

I do not own Doctor Who.

CHAPTER 1

"Did you see the look on her face?!" Rose Tyler howled, clutching her side as she collapsed on the floor of the TARDIS and erupted with laughter.

"I know!" Her husband, the Doctor, replied, also howling with laughter. Tears were streaming from his eyes. "Oh, Blimey! We haven't had a good run like that since... since..."

"Since yesterday, I do believe!" Rose teased back. "Or was that last week? It's getting hard to keep track of these things."

The baby TARDIS that they had diligently been growing for the last 50 years was finally fully grown, and the not-so-young-anymore couple's wanderlust had them heading for the stars like there was no tomorrow. They had just had an encounter with an unusual rat like creature called the Snorfulung: a creature from a planet that apparently only existed in Pete's World. The Doctor had been thrilled to discover a new species, and the "her" that Rose had referred to was a little old lady in Cardiff who was shocked to learn that her "pets" were from another planet and were intent on world domination. The Doctor was disappointed and disgusted to learn that they were as easily disposed of as Earth rats. The woman, on the other hand was not pleased at all.

"For the last time, Doctor. Stop referring to the Exterminator as a Dalek!" Rose scolded, even though she secretly agreed with him.

The Doctor just grinned at her, the twinkle in his eye undimmed by the passing years. Unfortunately, that was the only thing about him that time had not touched. His freckled skin now bore the wrinkles of old age. His formerly gorgeous dark brown hair had passed the salt and pepper stage awhile ago. His walk was a little slower, his posture stooped a little lower, and he found that he hurt in places that he didn't even know that he'd had. But that manic grin that made his wife (and countless other women) go weak in the knees was constantly on his face: a testament to the joy he had found living his one life with Rose Tyler.

His wife, on the other hand, was a completely different story. Her skin was still as young and fresh as it was when she was 19. Her hair may have still been dyed blonde, but it seemed highly unlikely that her natural hair color even had a single silver hair. The Bad Wolf, that goddess of time that temporarily took up residence in her body when she looked into the heart of the original TARDIS many years ago, had given her an unexpected gift (or was it a curse?): Rose Tyler did not age. Nor could she die. Even the worst injuries healed in the blink of an eye without any medical assistance. Not even the Doctor's sonic could heal her that quickly. She had found the fountain of youth. To some, she was a miracle. To others, she was a freak.

It was the Doctor who had first made this discovery. Time had passed so slowly, that no one noticed at first that Rose had never changed. But when the Doctor realized on their tenth wedding anniversary that he wasn't getting any younger, he realized that Rose had not changed one bit in those ten years. Lots of husbands can say that about their wives. Love has a tendency to make one blind to flaws. But upon comparison of photographs from years gone by to ones taken more recently, there was no denying the truth: Rose was not aging. Several sonic scans and extensive tests at the Torchwood labs later confirmed his suspicions. Physically, Rose was exactly 19 years, 11 months, 12 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 10 seconds old: the precise moment she looked into the TARDIS and went to the rescue of his Ninth self and Captain Jack Harkness on the Gamestation.

As the years went by, only those closest to the couple knew the truth. To the rest of the world, Rose Tyler gradually became a recluse and never left her home, sending her daughter, and eventually her granddaughter out with her husband in her place. In reality, the couple had had no children, for the same force that kept her young also apparently made her biologically incompatible with her part Time Lord, part human husband.

These revelations did not dampen the love or the spirits of the happiest couple in all of time and space: in fact, it drew them closer than ever before. When the baby TARDIS finally reached maturity on their golden anniversary, she only just enhanced their life partnership. They were forever and always, the Doctor and Rose Tyler: companions, best friends, lovers, bond-mates, husband and wife, Hope and Glory, Mutt and Jeff, Shiver and Shake - the stuff of legends!

But as the Bad Wolf had once warned in her Oracle on the Gamestation, "All things must come to an end. All things must die."

"Doctor Tyler, your test results have come back," came the voice over the phone. "I'm afraid it's not good. You need to come in. Bring someone you trust with you."

The Doctor had not been feeling well for some time. Cursing the biological limitations of his one hearted human body, he pressed on, ignoring what his body had been trying to tell him. He did not want to admit that he was growing old and weak. He did not want to let his eternally young and vivacious wife down. So he ignored the growing pain in his abdomen, telling his wife, "I'm always alright," whenever she caught him wincing in pain. She, of course, saw straight through that lie, and she worried. But until he admitted that there was something wrong, there was nothing that she could do. That is, until the day the TARDIS jostled at just the right tempo that he lost his footing and fell to the floor on his stomach. The searing pain that tore through him in that moment made him cry out in pain. Alarmed, Rose ran to his side and gasped as she felt a mass under his fingertips where his impossibly flat stomach used to be.

"Doctor Tyler, I'm afraid you have cancer. The tumor is in your stomach and has grown impossibly large and the cancer has spread. I'm afraid that there is nothing we can do. I give you a year at most. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Cancer. One year at most. The Doctor squinted at his own time line, something he had never dared to do before. It was short. Impossibly short. No, he reasoned, he didn't even have that long. Beside him in the car, Rose sniffled and struggled and failed to bite back the tears. They had promised each other forever. Forever, it seemed, was coming to an end.

The Doctor looked over at Rose and his single heart broke. Back when he and the full Time Lord had been one and the same, he was afraid of getting to close to her because she would eventually grow old and die and he would have to live on without her, alone. Now with this twist of fate, the reality of the situation came crashing down upon him like a ton of bricks. She was going to have to live on without him! And worse, she would be alone.

As they laid in bed together that night, and held each other close, the Doctor made himself a solemn vow. He knew what it was like to live for centuries and watch everyone close to you grow old and die while you remained unchanged. "The curse of the Time Lords" he had called it. He wouldn't wish that fate on a bloody Dalek. He vowed right then and there that this curse would not befall his beloved Rose. He began to cobble together a plan: a plan so brilliant that it might not only help Rose, but it might lift the curse of a certain full Time Lord as well. There was only one problem: did he have enough time left to pull it off?