Just a Little Bit Different - A Doctor Who Fanfic

Prologue

My take on how Rose and the Metacrisis Doctor got on after Ten left them in Pete's World. Maybe some takes on how the real Doctor is feeling. Maybe not.

I do not own Doctor Who, Billie Piper or David Tennant (though I truly wish I did). All rights go to the BBC.

~~~ Just a Little Bit Different ~~~

PROLOGUE 

The shrill bark of the TARDIS was what broke them apart. Instantly, Rose's lips missed the warmth that had been so cruelly ripped away from them, but her brain was slowly processing what was happening. The Doctor - the real, Time-Lord, two-hearted Doctor that had met her years ago on a street, blowing up her job and taking her across time and space with him - he was leaving her, for good this time.

Slowly, the police box faded until it was just air, and the gentle breeze blew the sand to cover the imperfections the box had made. He was gone, really and truly gone, and yet he stood beside her, gripping her hand. Rose turned her head to look at the man beside her now, just as he turned his. He looked the exact same, but she knew that he would never be her Doctor. His lips curled up in a smile, and she knew that as long as she had him by her side, everything would be okay.

He was her last thought before she collapsed on the sand.

~~~

"Jackie, would you please relax?"

"She's barely eaten at all today! That mixed with the excitement of seeing him leave, and having you stay... For God's sake, help her!"

"The best way we can help is by taking her home and putting her to bed. Once she wakes up, we'll get her a bite to - well, good morning, sleepyhead!"

Rose groaned and realized she was being carried by the Doctor, still on the beach of Bad Wolf Bay. Her mother was walking alongside them, a look of worry creased along her brow.

"Rose! Blimey, you scared us. I s'pose we would've been more scared if you hadn't fainted, but you couldn't 'ave at least waited?"

Pete was waiting in the Jeep to take the family home. The Doctor - or rather, his clone - placed his former companion in the backseat and clambered into the seat beside her. Jackie began the whole story to her husband in the front, but Rose's mind was still blurry. He was her Doctor, sort of, but with only one heart. He would age with her, die with her. He was human.

"You're... you're not the same..." she whispered, tears suddenly filling her eyes as she turned to him. "You're him, with the memories, but you're not really him."

He sighed, searching for the words to comfort her. He found none, none that could be said right now without getting into an in-depth conversation, and silently held her hand. "We'll talk about this later. I think you need to get home and eat a banana."

And with that, with only a few words, he changed he tears into giggles that soon formed into full-fledged laughter as the group drove through the countryside. The journey back to London would take a full day, and then some, but he knew what he had to do. The Doctor knew he had to keep her mind from wandering for the most part, and keep her happy.

And he would keep her happy until the day his beating heart stopped.