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“And not only is it naturally blue, it’s the best blue in the whole universe,” the Doctor explained as he opened the door for his companions.
“Er, Doctor, if this planet is known for its blue chocolate, shouldn’t we be going to a chocolate shop, not a café?” Rory asked.
“Oh, we can visit one of those later. But this place has the best hot chocolate for three galaxies,” the Doctor replied.
Amy wasn’t paying attention to either of them, already working on finding a table in the busy café. As she scanned the room, her eyes stopped on a familiar head of curly hair. “Wait, is that River?”
The Doctor and Rory followed her gaze. Amy was right, River was sitting at a table in the corner. There was a blonde woman next to her that made the Doctor’s hearts drop. He thought the hallucinations would stop with his regeneration. And they had. It had been hundreds of years since he had seen her, real or fake. He hadn’t hallucinated her since she left that evening, right before he answered the Ood summons. The Doctor had fancied that he had said his final goodbye to the hallucination in that argument, but no, here she was again. And he couldn’t even figure out why she was back. His life had been good lately. He’d gotten married, he travelled with his best friends, and he had averted his own death.
The Doctor shook himself out of his stupor. The Ponds didn’t need to know that he was seeing things. Maybe, if he was lucky, she would be gone by the time they had their hot chocolates. “Ponds, go say hello to your daughter. Sync up the timelines. I’ll get the drinks and compare diaries with her later,” he told them.
“Alright, yeah, thanks Doctor,” Rory said before following his wife who had already made a beeline for their daughter.
“Hi sweetie,” Amy said, wrapping River in a hug from behind.
River turned to see her parents. “What are you doing here?” she asked, standing up to properly greet them.
“We came for the hot chocolate,” Amy said. “But come on, aren’t you going to introduce your old mum and dad to your friend?”
River laughed. “Well, that answers both questions I had for you.”
“You must be Amy and Rory,” the woman said, holding out a hand to each of them. “I’m Rose Tyler. I’ve heard so much about you.”
Shooting her daughter a look, Amy said, “We’ve heard nothing about you.”
“Come now, Mummy. You know I can’t give out spoilers,” River said as they all sat down.
“Time travel is confusing,” Rose admitted. “I don’t blame River for not mentioning me. It’s complicated.”
“Well, now that you have all met, I’ve got to say I’m glad. Rose is my best friend and has been since I became River Song. We met not long after I got out of that hospital. We meet off and on, but it’s nice to talk to someone who really gets it all,” River said, smiling at Rose.
“No kidding,” Rose laughed. “When we first met, I was just glad you didn’t hate me, considering everything.”
River rolled her eyes. “Rose, I’m not exactly the jealous type. You’ve met half of my husbands and at least one of my wives. I’d be a hypocrite to hate you for that. Though, I suppose if I was going to be jealous of anyone, it would be you. The only wife he’s ever loved more.”
“River,” Rose said, her tone a warning.
“Rose, I don’t know what happened between you two or when, but I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding,” River argued.
“It wasn’t. He was very clear,” Rose said.
“Well I don’t want to say anything if it hasn’t happened yet,” River reasoned, fishing for more information on the fight that caused Rose to avoid the Doctor.
“It has, and it’s okay. I’m okay. I’ve had time to come to terms with it,” Rose said, though she sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
“So if you’re so sure it’s already happened, that means it was a face before this?” River asked.
“River Song,” Rose said warningly.
River held her hands up in defeat, “Alright, I know, spoilers.”
“Wait, how many husbands do you have?” Rory asked his daughter, looking a bit concerned. “And she’s got at least one of the same husbands?”
Before River was forced to answer, the Doctor arrived at their table. He made sure not to look at Rose as he sat the drinks down on the table and pulled out his diary. “There you go, Ponds. Drink up. And River, good to see you. Time to do diaries?”
The group looked around awkwardly at the Doctor’s snub. River cleared her throat. “Doctor, are you forgetting something?”
The Doctor stopped to think, then gave River an awkward kiss on the head. “Uh, there,” he said.
“That’s not what I meant,” she said, looking at Rose.
The blonde shook her head and stood up. “It’s fine, River. Like I said, he made himself very clear the last time we talked. He doesn’t want me around. I won’t ruin your day.”
“Doctor, you’re being rude,” Amy hissed.
“Rude and not ginger, that’s just who he is,” Rose joked, her smile strained.
At that, the Doctor’s mind finally caught up. She wasn’t a hallucination. She was real. Which meant this must be during the dimension cannon days. He stood up too. “Wait, wait, I’m sorry.”
Rose stopped and turned to look at him. “You are?”
“Yes. I didn’t—I didn’t realize. But you can’t stay. It’s not me you’re meant to find. You’ll see him again. Your Doctor,” he said, trying his hardest to smile at her as though his hearts weren’t breaking.
“Doctor?” she asked, hesitantly. “When do you think this is for me?”
“The stars are going out,” he replied.
“No,” she said. “That was a long time ago.”
“What?” he asked, shock written across his face.
“Yeah, I’m after that. And you don’t have to pretend around me. You were very clear the last time we talked. I’m not here to interrupt anything. I know you don’t need me anymore. That I ruined your life one too many times. I’ll just go,” Rose said, grabbing her jacket off the back of her chair.
“Wait, what are you talking about?” he asked.
“The last time we talked. In the TARDIS library. You were parked outside that chippy we used to love when I found it and went in. Then when you finally came back, you told me to leave. Told me that I had ruined your life enough and that you didn’t want me anymore. So I left,” Rose explained.
“That was real?” the Doctor asked, clutching the edge of the table as he remembered the night in question.
“Real? Course it was, Doctor,” Rose said. “What else would it have been?”
“I thought it was another hallucination. My guilt-ridden conscious conjuring up a fake you to torment me,” he replied.
“I’m sorry, another hallucination?” Rose asked. “You’ve hallucinated me before?”
“Of course I have. All the time after Canary Wharf,” he said, as though it was just common knowledge.
“But—but if it was after Canary Wharf, then it was before the metacrisis,” Rose said. “My husband, he would’ve told me about it. We told each other everything.”
“He probably didn’t want you to worry about me when there was nothing you could do to help. But what happened to him?”
“Time,” Rose said, a sad smile on her lips. “He got old, just like he was supposed to.”
“But you didn’t,” the Doctor noted.
Rose let out a bitter laugh. “No, I didn’t. I wished I did. I wanted to grow old with him. We were so happy together. But it wasn’t meant to be. Turns out Bad Wolf was even better than we thought at the whole ‘bringing people back to life permanently’ bit.”
“How old are you?” the Doctor asked, though he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the answer.
“Four hundred and twenty-three. Ish,” she said. “It’s hard to keep track when you don’t stay still, and I went through a bit of a rough patch after I saw you last. But I’m okay now. Really.”
The Doctor’s breath hitched. “You’re really here? You can all see her?”
“Of course we can, Doctor. But if you’re worried about hallucinations…” Rory said cautiously.
“Rose Tyler,” the Doctor sighed her name like a prayer. “Rose Tyler.”
Rose, for her part, looked scared to hope. “Doctor, if you thought I was a hallucination, did you mean to say all those things to me, or did you only mean the hallucinations?”
“Rose Tyler, you are the best thing that ever happened to me,” the Doctor said. “I could never mean any of it to you.”
Rose closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief. “So maybe I could come back?” she asked. “Spend some time on the TARDIS?”
“If you want it, the TARDIS is your home,” the Doctor promised.
“I think I’d like that,” Rose said, trying to fight her smile.
“Oh, and Rose?” the Doctor said.
“Yeah, Doctor?”
“It’s just, I’ve had some time to think. Since the last time I thought I saw you. And I’ve decided something,” he said, wringing his hands nervously.
“What is it, Doctor?”
“It really does need saying,” he said. Then he finally met her eyes and said, “Rose Tyler, I love you.”
Tears welled in Rose’s eyes. “Oh Doctor,” she smiled.
“Excuse me, Doctor,” Amy said. “My daughter and your wife is sitting right there.”
“It’s alright, Amy,” River said. “I told you, I’m not the jealous type. I’ve always known he loves Rose.”
“Thank you, River,” Rose said, taking her hand and squeezing it.
“What are sister wives for?” River joked. “And I told you it had to be a misunderstanding.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “You were right, as always.”
“Just wanted to make sure we had established that fact,” River nodded, giving Rose’s hand a squeeze in return.
“But Doctor, I do need you to know, I’m not the same girl you left on that beach twice. I’ve had whole lives without you. And I loved my husband. I still do. I miss him every day. No matter what happens between us, you aren’t replacing him. And I can’t just jump right back in with you. Even if you weren’t talking to me that day, what you said still hurt me. And trying to ignore that and forget it happened won’t be good for us. You’ll have to put in the work,” Rose warned him.
“I will,” he promised. “I’m tired of running from you, Rose Tyler.”
“Yeah, well, I’m willing to give it a try too,” Rose said, smiling at him.
The two of them just grinned across the table at each other, not saying anything. River contentedly sipped her hot chocolate, happy that her two favourite people were finally together again. She knew they both loved her, but that she wasn't meant to be around forever, so she was glad they had finally found their way back to each other. Rory and Amy, however, were still trying to figure out what exactly had just happened.
Eventually, Rory held up a hand. “Um, hi, excuse me. Not to interrupt whatever this is, but I’m still a bit confused. Who are you? How do you know the Doctor? And who is married to who here?”
That broke them out of their trance and Rose sat down with a laugh. She grabbed her hot chocolate in one hand and took the Doctor’s hand on top of the table with the other. “It’s a long story, but it started when I was nineteen. At the time, I was working in a shop, but then he came and blew it up…”