After the Ever

Slowly

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. But if I can find a way to get the rights, I'll give everybody here a job!

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears: Say hello to Fred. Otherwise known as Handy/Blue!Ten/Other!Doc/10.2/etc.

Rose stood on the beach, staring at the imprint the TARDIS had made in the sand, for what felt like hours.

The other Doctor stared at her. "Rose-"

"I'm going to find mum." She inturrupted him, turning away, not looking at him.

The other Doctor nodded, watching her walk off.

Jackie, who'd wondered off to let the Doctors, Rose, and Donna have some privacy, called Pete and told him the basics of what had happened and that they'd need to be picked up. Hanging up the mobile, she jumped when she turned around to see Rose standing right behind her. "Rose, wh-"

"He's gone again." The younger blonde said quietly. "He just left me."

Jackie pulled her daughter into a hug. "It's alright, sweetheart. Besides, you've still got him." She nodded at the other Doctor, who was currently standing some distance away, kicking at the sand.

"Not the same, mum." Rose almost-snapped automatically. "Same face but...different man."

"Anything like 'different face, same man'?" Jackie questioned.

Rose looked at her, brown eyes suddenly hardened over. "Not a thing."

It was a long, uncomfortable silence until Pete showed up.

The other Doctor moved into the mansion, Jackie putting him in a room a few doors down from Rose's, just in case. In case of what, she wasn't sure, but she just did.

All went well for the first few days, until Rose walked into the lounge the same instant the other Doctor did. They'd frozen, staring at each other for a moment. Rose stared at him, a strange look on her face, and fled when he opened his mouth to speak, her door slamming loud enough to be heard across the mansion. The other Doctor had trudged to his room quietly, shoulders slumped and not looking up from the floor.

Pete had offered a job at Torchwood, but the other Doctor had held off accepting for as long as he could, finally agreeing six months after Pete first talked about it. It was a scientific position, mostly letting him tinker with the alien objects Torchwood picked up, but he was still put through training as a feild agent, which he was less than happy about but went along with anyway.

The Hub was big enough he didn't see Rose much - which she was more happy about than him - but when they did spot each other in the halls she ignored him

The other Doctor decided that, if things kept up like this, it was going to be a long lifetime.

During an invasion, the other Doctor had been pulled in as the Doctor had apparently met them before. Which meant he was put with the main team...Rose's. They'd managed to beat the alien invaders off with the other Doctor's help, but before they left, they'd kidnapped both him and Rose.

The tension in the cell they'd been placed in, as the saying goes, could have been cut with a knife. Actually, the knife probably would have gotten stuck and had the blade broken off. Same difference.

They'd just sat on opposite side of the cell, not even looking at each other, for however long they were in there. Then five of the aliens had stormed in, one of them obviously a scientist, and they went for Rose. Without so much as a conscious thought, the other Doctor had moved to stand between them and her. Rose had stared at him while he shouted for them to stay away from her.

Even though he was just some loud, odd looking mostly human, the aliens had backed down. The other Doctor had gone back to his side of the cell, Rose still looking at him.

The two had managed to overtake the ship - turns out, the five who'd entered the cell were the only ones there - and were back to Earth only four days after they'd been taken away. Jackie had run to hug both of them as soon as they walked back in from getting checked over at Torchwood.

And something was different between them.

It was much - the other Doctor held the door of the mansion open for Rose and she smiled at him - but they weren't avoiding each other anymore, and seemed far more happy than either had been in the almost-year since they'd been left in this universe.

It wasn't a drastic change...but it was a start.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears: Tah-dah!! The plot bunnies have resorted to cannibalism. I must save these before they are eaten. Reveiws save plunnies!