For those who wondered what happened after the Toymaker's defeat...

Rose Noble finally understood what it was like to be a mother.

Well, not that she was, but when her own mum disappeared in the TARDIS two days ago with no sign of showing up, she was worried sick. It was like the roles had reversed. Whenever she was out late, her mum would call her every hour, and with every hour, the frequency of the calls increased. It was annoying, but now she knew how her mum felt. Rose kept looking at her phone, stuck on her mum's contact page, but there was no way to call her. Great Granddad had set up camp at the front door, waiting for the pair's return. Even with the news that the Doctor and her mum were back on Earth, her dad was up all day and night, pacing around the corridor of their temporary home while theirs was being fixed. She hasn't seen him smile since her mum left, and it wasn't until the Doctor and Donna walked through the main door did she finally hear him laugh.

"Mum!"

"Rose!"

The mother-daughter pair embraced in a tight hug, right after Shaun and Wilf had their turn. Her grandmother went right after her, but not without another slap to the Doctor's face for 'kidnapping her daughter once again'.

"Saved the world too," the Doctor rubbed the sore spot on his cheek, facial expression a little exaggerated in pain, "You're welcome."

After the greetings and the hugs, Donna dropped the news. Brilliant for everyone, except maybe her grandma, Rose couldn't tell from her face.

"The Doctor's staying."

Rose was the first to respond, her eyes filled with glee, "Forever?"

The Doctor violently shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but her mum was always going to beat him, "Until he feels better."

She looked over to the Doctor who heaved a sigh of relief, "What're you shaking your head so hard for? You don't want to stay with us then?"

"That-"

"Well too bad, your future self left me in charge of you."

"But-"

"Hush now."

The Doctor shut his mouth, giving Sylvia the chance to speak.

"What do you mean he's staying?"

They gathered in the living room where Donna explained everything, while eating the tuna madras leftovers because the last time she had eaten was before the Meep. With the Doctor chiming in to add to the theatrics, she explained where she had gone for the past two days, what exactly happened to the human race, the Doctor bigenerating and essentially trauma-dumping everything into this Doctor while the next one happily flew off to the next adventure.

"He's here to heal," said Donna, "Because spaceman is a big idiot who doesn't know how to."

"Donna, I know how to-" the Doctor started, but one glare from Donna was enough to erase whatever he had in mind. Rose watched as he shrunk in his seat and chuckled.

Donna looked around the room, "Everyone alright with the Doctor staying?"

Rose immediately agreed, nodding her head and letting out a 'yeah!' at the same time as her father. Her great granddad laughed and gave two thumbs-up. Her grandma was hesitant, but what Donna said next made her change her mind.

"I've got a job, by the way, thanks to him," she pointed her thumb at the Doctor, "120k with 5 weeks holiday, starting next week."

"He can stay," was Sylvia's instant response.

With that settled, Donna proceeded to tell the family that their house would be ready in a few days' time, and in that time, they would continue to stay in the temporary house that UNIT provided. Even better for Rose, schools would be closed until next week to sort out all the damage that was done.

And finally, it was time to call it a night.

Everyone already had their own room. Wilf stayed on the ground floor, Rose claimed the second, and Sylvia, Shaun and by default, Donna, were on the top floor. There was a spare bedroom next to Rose, and that was where the Doctor was being led to. Unfortunately for him, the TARDIS was still at UNIT, and they promised to deliver the TARDIS to him once the house was complete.

"It's part of the healing process," she heard her mother say to the Doctor.

"How is being apart from the TARDIS healing?"

"It's so I know you won't fly away while we're all sleeping, dumbo," Donna lightly smacked his arm, "And bring my daughter with you."

Rose, with her head poked out of her room, said, "Wouldn't dream of it, Mum."

Donna turned her head towards her and crossed her arms, "Yeah, because you'll actually do it. And I'm not letting that happen."

She turned back to the Doctor, "Alright, you. Inside, bed time," and she turned back to Rose, "And you too."

Exchanges of "good night" sounded throughout the houses, followed by the soft closing of doors. Rose closed hers last, because she was waiting for the Doctor to close his. He did, eventually, but it was a really soft click and it made Rose wonder if he actually did shut it. She shrugged it off, and went back to making more toys for her homemade business despite her mum's instructions.

The night went on, and the breeze coming in through the little gap of the window grew colder. Stitch after stitch, and Rose's eyes started growing heavy. After yawning for the tenth time, she decided it was time to listen to her mum and go to bed. She packed everything up, leaving her latest work on the top shelf so that no one would touch it. Once she completed her nighttime routine, she prepared to close the window.

Every night, she would look up at the stars. Before the Doctor, she never knew why, but she always felt as though she had been up there, in all that wonder of space and time. At last, she knew why. The inspiration behind her toys, the reasons for her dreams, and the meaning of the name she chose. She inhaled the night air, chillier than usual due to the incoming winter season. As she pulled her window shut, she noticed a lonesome figure staring up at the sky as well. His gaze was wistful, with his brown, sad eyes tracing the distant stars.

Hands in his pocket, the Doctor's eyes tore away from the night sky, locking them onto Rose's. His frown broke into a grin and he waved.

"Doctor?" Rose said through the window. He couldn't hear her, and neither could she, and so ensued another Doctor-Noble lip-reading conversation.

"Rose!"

"What're you doing down there?"

"Water your dew in town square?"

"What. Are. You. Doing. Down. There."

"Wear a shoe- I don't have any!"

"What?"

"What?!"

"What?"

The Doctor mouthed something that looked like "Hold on." Rose watched as the Doctor ran towards the house, but instead of through the door, he used his leg to push himself up the ledge to her window. Mouth agape, Rose reopened the window as she came face to face with the strange man.

"What're you doing?"

"Evening Rose!" The Doctor greeted excitedly, "What're you doing up late?"

"I was stitching up my-" Rose began to answer until she realised what the Doctor was trying to do, "No, I asked the question first. What were you doing down in the garden? I thought you were supposed to be sleeping?"

"I thought you were supposed to be sleeping!" The Doctor semi-shouted, until Rose clapped her hand on his mouth and shushed him.

"My mum will hear us!"

They remained silent for a while, ears perked up for any Donna-related activity. After a few seconds of no screaming or doors banging went by, Rose withdrew her hand from the Doctor's mouth to let him speak.

"I don't want to disturb your mum because she's already helping me a lot, and she's exhausted, so I won't tell if you won't," he whispered, pretending to zip his mouth.

"Deal."

She helped him inside her room, making as little noise as possible. He tumbled and landed on one end of the bed, across from her as she sat against the bed frame.

"So why are you not sleeping?" Rose questioned, "No, wait, why did you climb up to my window instead of going into the house?"

"I didn't want to wake anyone up with the doors."

"Was that going to make any difference from you climbing up the house?"

The Doctor had to give it a thought before shaking his head. Then, he asked, "So what're you doing up awake?"

"I already told you," Rose replied, "I was stitching things up for my business, so now it's your turn."

The Doctor averted her gaze as he looked on at the toys that she had just made on the top shelf, "Oh yes, your mother told me about your toys. They do look really good! Almost like the real thing."

"Doctor, you're avoiding my question."

He stayed quiet again, eyes now turned towards the night sky. She looked too, in case the answer was outside. An owl hooted. A cricket chirped. The leaves rustled in the breeze.

"I can't sleep."

Rose didn't say a word, giving the Doctor time to elaborate on his answer. He had nothing else to add, and he was still looking outside, so she nudged him gently, "Why not?"

"I..." he inhaled deeply, hands fiddling with the corner of the blanket. His eyes finally met hers, "I haven't slept in a long time."

Rose raised an eyebrow, "How long?"

Perhaps it was the wrong question to ask, because Rose could see the Doctor's focus go off again, like he was stuck in his head, focused on flashing memories that she can't see.

"Doctor," she shook him gently, snapping him out of it. He apologised, and so did she.

"You don't have to answer," Rose offered him a smile.

"Really..." the Doctor muttered, looking down at his crossed legs, "Really, really long. I don't remember, actually."

"Are you afraid?"

He shifted his attention to her, "Afraid?"

"Yeah," Rose said, "Of going to sleep. Sometimes I'm afraid after having nightmares."

The Doctor shrugged, "I suppose I am."

Rose listened on intently.

"I suppose...not having slept in a very long time makes me worried that when I do eventually drift off, my brain makes up all the weird things and brings back some memories that I've been running away from."

He looked shocked at himself, "Wow, sorry, didn't expect myself to say that already. Usually it takes much longer."

Rose laughed, "It's okay, Doctor. Being upfront with how you feel is good," she placed her hand on top of the Doctor's, who stopped fiddling with the blanket at her touch, "I know it."

Rose noticed a faint upturn of the Doctor's lips, but there was a weight of sorrow lingering beneath his attempt of warmth.

"It's not really nightmares I'm afraid of," the Doctor admitted, "I've seen a lot in my life and I'm not sure if anything scares me anymore. But the thought of drifting off and not having any control over what goes on in my head, if those memories start playing again..."

"That's what scares you," Rose completed his sentence. He nodded faintly.

"I was in the garden," he said, "hoping the TARDIS would know I was here. I thought maybe I could boost the signal on my sonic screwdriver. And my blue box would find me."

"Maybe we're somewhere unfamiliar, and you miss the TARDIS which gives you that sense of familiarity. You always sleep in there, don't you?" Rose guessed.

The Doctor's smile was more obvious this time, and Rose sensed some sort of pride in him, "Maybe you're right."

An idea popped up in her mind. Rose got up from bed and walked towards her bag tucked underneath the study table. She rummaged through it, pulling out just what she was looking for. She threw it at the Doctor.

"Here."

The Doctor caught it, "Please, don't make me catch things anymore. I think that's enough for today."

"Oh I think that's worth catching, Doctor."

Rose watched as his big, brown, sad eyes fell onto the object in hand. He turned the object over, a blue, soft box that resembled the big, blue box she had seen two days ago. He squished the box with his hands, and then hugged it with his arms like he was testing it.

He looked up at her, "Did you make this?"

"No, it fell from the sky," she joked, "Of course I made it, while I was waiting for you to return my mum back in one piece."

The Doctor traced his finger over the words at the top of the box. Warily, Rose asked, "Is it okay? I've only seen it once, so I may not have gotten every detail right."

"It's gorgeous," the Doctor beamed at the TARDIS soft toy in his hands like it was a first prize medal, "Perfecto."

"You can keep it," Rose sat back down on the bed, "I think it'll help you fall asleep tonight."

The Doctor's face fell slightly at the sound of sleeping. Rose knew that look.

"Hey," she said as she handed him a spare pillow, "I may not have that sense of familiarity because you met me two days ago, but if you don't want to feel so lonely, you can stay here as long as you need to."

He got off the bed as Rose got under the covers. She reached for the light, but before she flipped the switch, she narrowed her eyes at the Doctor, "Just don't make any noise that'll wake me up. And no touching the bed, which means no climbing out the window."

The Doctor surrendered, "Loud and clear."

"Good," she smiled, and the lights went out, "Good night, Doctor."

"Good night, Rose Noble."

Rose closed her eyes and waited for the Doctor's next moves. There were some shuffling noises, but no sound of the door opening. Maybe it did, for she did hear a soft thud. Unfortunately she wouldn't know, because she drifted off much faster than she thought she would.

——————

The next morning, Donna awoke to the Doctor not being in his room. No surprise there, she thought. But when she opened Rose's door, there he was. Curled up on the floor next to Rose's bed, his arms were wrapped around a brand new TARDIS plushie, snoring lightly away, very much oblivious to the sound of Donna sneakily taking a photo of his slumber.