Work Text:
This was possibly the stupidest thing she could do. But she needed to get home, there wasn't anything left for her in Pete's universe, not after all these years. She'd seen the stars, she'd watched her family grow, and now she was the last of her family left. Oh she had great great grandchildren and nephews and nieces, but they could never know that she was still alive. It would be too dangerous. She'd spent her last years in that universe running from alien hunters, Earth wasn't friendly to her anymore. Besides, she rather missed home.
She stood in the same building in which she'd first arrived in the universe, and stared down the same wall that she'd cried on right after. Just for the occasion she had donned her old, worn, blue leather jacket. She programmed the jumper, different to the hopper, and set herself for a time in which she'd not be interrupting.
With one final deep breath, she slammed on the button. She went rocketing through the wall, which was no longer a wall, and went soaring through first the time vortex, and then the void. She'd been in the void before, and it wasn't a place she enjoyed. Home was worth a trip through hell, even if who she was searching for wasn't really an angel, no matter what French Aristocrats may have thought.
The soaring stopped, and she went tumbling across a re-decorated console room. She would have hit the railing, or possibly gone down some stairs, had two strong arms not caught her.
"I've got you," a painfully unfamiliar voice said. "You're safe, I've got you."
"Whats happening?" a Scottish woman asked.
"Just the impossible," he answered.
"I'm great at the impossible," she said startling the three other Tardis inhabitants.
"Rose Tyler, I've missed you," he said.
"'ello Doctor, been a while," Rose said. The Doctor laughed and pulled her into a tight hug.
"How'd you get here?" he asked, not pulling back.
"Bad Wolf, it had some unforeseen effects on my biology," she told him, clinging onto him just as tight. "We can talk about that later though." Rose held on to him for all she had, even as she felt her body wanting to fall apart only to repair itself.
"Sorry to interrupt," an annoyed, Scottish, woman said, "but who's she and what's going on?"
"Yes, right, introductions!" The Doctor said, pulling away from Rose. She fell slightly, but he caught her again.
"Actually, think I might need to go to the med bay first," she said. Rory, ever a nurse, rushed forward to help. The Doctor shrugged off his help and picked up Rose himself.
"I've got you," he promised. He carried her to the med-bay, and where the galley had been just moments ago was now the door to it. The Tardis, ever loving of Rose Tyler, had moved it to the nearest spot available. The galley would return to it's usual place when it was needed.
"I know what I'm looking for Doctor, you don't need to mother hen me,"she complained as he placed her on the bed and started scanning her with his sonic.
"Rose, these readings," he said sounding shocked.
"Yeah, I'm one of a kind. Can we focus on the fact I just threw myself through the void and the time vortex please?" Rose said. "Look, I know what's about to happen."
"What is happening Rose?" he asked, grabbing onto her hand.
"It's the bad wolf version of regeneration," she said, wincing slightly as she felt her body make up its mind and go that route.
"Rose," the Doctor said brokenly.
"Trust me Doctor, it's more painful than your thinking," she told him. "At least I haven't been shot this time." He sighed out and kissed her forehead.
"I'm right here, I'll stay by you the entire time," he reassured. He looked to Rory and Amy, who had both followed him and tried to signal them out of the room, but they stayed attempting to offer comfort to both of them.
"I'm fine, I promise," Rose said, even as gold started pouring from her fingertips. The Doctor, despite the possible risks, stayed close to her side even as the seemingly regeneration energy exploded from her body.
The gold died down and Rose, still looking just how she had at nineteen, shot up on the bed. She grabbed for the Doctor's hand as she took deep breathes.
"What was that?" he asked.
"My body repairing all the damage," she said, breathing hard. She clutched his hand tight in her own, and he kissed her forehead.
"From the void?" he asked.
"From everything. Torchwood lost its fondness for me after a hundred or so years," Rose said casually. The Doctor dropped her hand and pulled her into a slightly uncomfortable hug.
"How long has it been for you Rose?" he whispered.
"Far too long. My great great grandchild is pregnant," she whispered back. He gasped slightly and pulled her closer.
"Sorry, hate to interrupt," Rory called over awkwardly. The Doctor pulled back, taking Rose's hand back into his own, and looked over her shoulder to him.
"What Rory?" he asked.
"Who is she?" Amy asked.
"I'm Rose," she said.
"Right, never heard of you," Amy said.
"Some people hurt too much to speak about," the Doctor said. "She's my wife though, she knows my gallifreyain name."
"I do, but I hadn't told you that yet," she said.
"He was me, I wanted desperately to marry you, of course he would," he explained.
"He was also a little bit Donna," Rose pointed out, and the Doctor's eyes widened slightly. "His name was John Noble."
"Good name, good man," he said.
"And do you know what names I want to know?" Rose asked. The Doctor just looked at her. "The companions Doctor, who are they?"
"Oh right yes, these are the Ponds!" he said, dragging her up off the bed and over to Amy and Rory.
"Amelia Pond, I crashed into shed when she was little, and got back to her late," he said. "And this is Rory Pond-"
"Williams," Rory interrupted.
"-Pond, he's her husband. Very sweet couple," the Doctor said.
"It's nice to meet you both. And trust me on the shed, it could've been worse," Rose said.
"Sure," Amy said.
"No really, first day I met him he blew up my job. He also got me back a year late, and my mum was accusing my ex of murdering me," she said. Rory's eyes widened.
"When will you let that go?" the Doctor asked.
"You got me home a year late, you said twelve hours, not a year," she said, jabbing at him.
"He said he'd be back for me in five minuets," Amy said. Rose turned to the Doctor and levelled him with her best unimpressed look.
"She was a kid, you wouldn't have wanted her onboard anyway!" The Doctor tried to defend.
"You better have an excuse," she said.
"I'd just regenerated, and the Tardis had crashed. She wasn't stabilised! The engines were phasing," he said.
"You apologised right?" Rose asked. He nodded. Amy shrugged.
"Now that's out the way," she said pausing slightly. She grinned widely at the Doctor. "You've gone domestic," she sang out.
"Rose Tyler I'll have you know I have not gone domestic," he said.
"You have a married couple on board, you wouldn't even let Mickey in the front door for long," she said. He sighed but accepted defeat. It was pretty late, well not actually there was no such thing as late in the Tardis, but the Ponds had been awake for almost their full daily awake time, and Rose had been tired before leaving Pete's world anyway.
Rory and Amy parted from Rose and the Doctor, and together Rose and the Doctor went hunting for her room. He knew the Tardis still had it, but it was impossible to tell where she'd have stored it. Unsurprisingly, to Rose anyway, they found her room right next to his.
She froze in front of her door, something about it scared her.
"Can I sleep with you tonight?" Rose asked instead.
"I," the Doctor said, "yeah, I'd like that. The Tardis will bring your clothes through for you. She likes you."
"I like her too," she said.
That night, the Doctor fell asleep with Rose in arms. It wasn't the first time, and it was't actually night (there were no nights in the Tardis), but it was the first time in a long time that he had his beloved in his arms. Rose slept the best she had in years, even if with John she had fallen asleep to only one heartbeat. The two heartbeats under her ear relaxed her.
Amy and Rory, for once in their time with the Doctor, did not have to worry about him bursting through the door in the morning and dragging them off to their next adventure. They could get used to the mysterious Rose Tyler.
