A/N: I am a new writer to Doctor Who so If there are any problems, feel free to PM or review and I will hopefully fix them. I am new to fanfiction and I don't have a beta so there may also be problems with spelling/grammar. I did the best I could, but I may have missed something. Help me out if that's the case! The story is canon so there will be no obvious romance between Rose and the Doctor, but there will be general flirtation and some sexual tensions. Also I own nothing, everything belongs to BBC.

Chapter One:

Medieval Ireland, 1477 BC, Somewhere in the Irish County of Donegal

The man was carefully leading his donkey through the thick forests by the light of a small lantern he held in his hand. The warm glow washed only a few feet in front of him with light. The path was difficult to see this late at night and he didn't want to damage his goods by sending his cart over a large root. He sighed loudly. He hated having to leave his wife alone when he went off to neighbouring villages. She would be taken care of by the rest of the town, it was a tight-knit community, but they hadn't had a child yet, and he longed to start a family. Leaving for weeks at a time made it more difficult to do that. He heard something snap in the forest to his left. He whipped his head around and peered out into the darkness, holding up his lantern to try and judge what made the noise.

"Hello?" He said, his voice wavering. He knew there were wolves and other nasty creatures that used the dark as their cover. They would lurk in the shadows, stalking their prey until they pounced unexpectedly. "Anyone out ther'?" He called again. There was no sound but his ass breathing loudly. He looked at his old girl in the face, but there was no trace of fear in her eyes. She had always been able to sense danger before, altering him with nervous brays and pounding her hooves into the dirt. She looked calm. Must have just been a hedgehog, he thought, relieved.

He shook himself of his fear and continued down the path, picking his way through the underbrush.

Another scurry of sound came again from his left. He stopped dead. "I'll ask ye again, whose out ther'?" He sounded panicked and hated himself for letting the fear leak into his voice. His lantern was blown out by a gust of wind, leaving him standing in the dark forest with naught but the scant moonlight leaking through the trees to see.

Suddenly, a curious ball of light appeared in front of him. He stared at it and it washed him with a sense of calm. Nothing could go wrong if this light was here; it was beautiful. The blue light weaved and looped and moved further away from him. "Don't ya go," he said, reaching out. The light jumped away a bit further from his touch. He put one foot in front of the other, stumbling towards the curious and enchanting ball of light.

It went out and a high pitched keening ripped through the woods. And then it was silent again.

Two Weeks Later

Rose Tyler was a perfectly normal girl. Sure she never had the best grades in school, mainly because she skived off classes so often, but she did alright. That is until she dropped out at 16 to peruse a doomed relationship with the type of bad boy your mother warns you to stay away from. She got attention from boys, starting at a young age, but after the rather nasty incident with Jimmy Stone, she managed to find Mickey, a respectable and affectionate boy who she might have even loved some day. However, after the shop had blown up and she met The Doctor, the situation Rose Tyler found herself in was distinctly abnormal. The man had whisked her away in a barmy blue box that led to adventure and sometimes danger, but mostly exciting places that she had never in her wildest dreams imagined.

This was her life that she was reflecting on as she stared at the blinking blue and green lights scattered over the TARDIS console. Traveling though space and time was, for brief periods between taking off and landing, peaceful. Calm washed over the control room whenever it floated seemingly aimlessly through space and Rose often lost herself in thoughts, reflecting on her life and luck. Today she was concentrated on the 'what ifs' of her life. What if she had stayed with Jimmy, in that horrible relationship? What if she had stayed in school, completed her A-levels and became a teacher or a doctor? What if she had stayed with Mickey, instead of running off with the Doctor to see the end of the Earth? Would she be happy? Would she be satisfied with her life? As often as she pondered on these questions, she thought just as often how sad and remiss she would be without the Doctor in her life, knowing how it could be. Something was missing when she was just a shop girl, living with her mum with no real goal in life. The Doctor came and gave her meaning and definitely some perspective. She, Rose Tyler, simple British chav girl, had saved the universe as the Bad Wolf. She stopped the Daleks and destroyed every last one. She saved Jack Harkness, Planet Earth and most importantly, her Doctor. She smiled to herself.

"What are you on about?" The Doctor's voice rang across the control room. Rose looked up, unaware she had made a noise. "You were giggling" The Doctor explained.

"Just thinkin'"

"'bout what?" He asked playfully, giving her one of his smiles.

"Just what my life would 'a been if I hadn't met you." Rose looked down, embarrassed. "Thinking about my mum and Mickey and school. Wonderin' if I would 'ave worked in the shop forever. Sometimes it would just be so much easier if there was somethin' to tell me that I made the right choice." She shook her head, "that sounded better when I was tryin' to figure it out up here." Rose tapped her head.

"Well I think that you need a good dose of fun," the Doctor proclaimed, ignoring the deeper implications of Roses' train of thought. "We haven't been to a new planet in hours! Think of what we could be missing. Maybe a ball, or a presidential assassination. Maybe we can see a tsunami of Lava on that fire planet I told you about. What do you think? I know a little planet off of this little solar system with tiny creatures no bigger than my thumb. We could be Gulliver! Or there is another planet about 800 light-years that way," he pointed in a random direction, "that is made entirely of diamond. There is even a sapphire waterfall and a spa just for you!"

Rose smiled again. "Sure, whatever you think. You're the boss."

"Alright! Let's go meet the Lilliputians. Allons-y" He launched into action, flipping switches and pressing buttons with his hands and feet. The Doctor, this Doctor at least, was always energetic. It was one thing that she loved about travelling with him. He found the good in every situation and remained enthusiastic. Sure, he had his moods, like when they had found the test patients on New Earth, but that was part of him being her new new doctor. The good came with the bad.

When he had changed from her old, leather clad and war-scarred Doctor, to the new Doctor she knew now, it had shocked her. She sometimes missed the older and more mature man she had grown to admire. The change took some getting used to, but he had eventually won her over with his charming smile and pinstriped suit. He had a keenness for discovery and human innovation that the old Doctor didn't quite match. The scars of war seemed to have faded with his regenerations. They were there, under the surface, but the New Doctor had begun to forgive himself with the change.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the TARDIS shaking. It shuttered and shook, throwing the Doctor around the console while he struggled to press buttons. Rose grabbed on to one of the rails to steady herself and prevent her from falling on her bum.

"Hold on!" The Doctor shouted unnecessarily. The TARDIS shook again.

"Are you sure it's meant to be doin' that?" Rose shouted over the clatter.

"Not entirely!"

The ship took another violent turn, throwing Rose off the railing and onto the floor. Something didn't seem right. The TARDIS landing usually involved a bumpy descent, but this was far from normal. "Doctor!" Rose shouted over the beeping.

The TARDIS landed with a thud before everything went quiet.

"Doctor?" Rose asked, picking herself up off the floor and brushing the dirt off her jeans.

"Yep." There was a grunt from across the control room, and the sound of clattering as the Doctor struggled to extradite himself from a large collection of wires and rubbish. "It's alright, just hit a rough patch." He popped up, exhaled a large breath and began to examine the TARDIS, flicking buttons and pulling levers. "Yep, nothing wrong, just a bit of disturbance in the time wormhole. That was fun," he smiled at Rose. She gave him a shaken smile in return.

He marched to the front door and Rose quickly followed. The Doctor thrust the door open and proudly held his hand out to present the tiny world to Rose.

"This is..." he petered off. "Not the planet we were looking for." His face dropped.

The TARDIS landed in a meadow surrounded by vast forests and a river trickling along the edge of the clearing. The field they were standing in consisted of high grass, sprinkled with wildflowers and weeds. To the west there were high craggy mountains covered with, what looked like, more forests. It was lush and green and picturesque, the epitome of a perfect spring morning. The air was damp with the smell of morning dew and the earthy decomposition that was characteristic of an old-growth forest. The sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows from the trees and washing the landscape in a soft, glowing morning light. Rose took a deep breath.

"It's beautiful," she breathed.

"It's not an alien planet," the Doctor said glumly, his hands firmly pushed in his pockets and a frown on his face. He kicked a purple wildflower absentmindedly.

"It's not? Well then where are we?" She didn't think they could be on Earth, she had never seen anywhere so beautiful or serene before.

"We're in Ireland, April 25th, 1477 at 7:30 in the morning."

"Wow," Rose exclaimed. "It's wonderful."

"I wonder why the TARDIS brought us here," the Doctor pondered aloud.

"Maybe there is somethin' happenin' here. Like when we were in Utah, and the Dalek brough' us there to help him. Or when we were tryin' to go to New York to see Elvis and we wound up in London and had to deal with that lady on TV, takin' everyone's faces."

"Alright! I think we need to go investigate." The Doctor's smile returned and a mischievous look overtook his eyes. "Rose Tyler," he said, enunciating every syllable. "If you will?" He held out his hand.

She took it firmly and they began to hike through the thick grass in a direction determined by the Doctor, a grin plastered on both their faces. Rose decided to let him lead, as she was not a nature person and prone to get lost in the park at home, let alone in the wilderness of Ireland.

"What do you think it'll be this time?" She asked through a smile.

"As long as it's not Slitheen, I don't quite fancy I care."

Rose laughed. "How about Daleks?"

"I don't reckon we will ever see them again, after you had your way with them."

"Maybe it will be something cute, like those little aliens we were supposed to see. Or nothin' sinister at all and we will just get a vacation." Rose unconsciously let the hope leak into her voice.

"What, don't you like chasing after Cybermen and saving the world?"

"I love everythin' that we do together, but sometimes I get tired. Don't you? I mean we just took on the Devil and thumbed our nose in his face! And I've left behind so many people. I mean mum, obviously. But also Mickey and my other dimension father. I suppose that at least I have you, right?"

"Right," he said, emphasizing his point by squeezing her hand. "And maybe we will only have to deal with some pink fluffy plumfkins"

"Maybe," she conceded, though she didn't quite believe it.

They tread their way thought the meadow until they reached the forest. The morning light was strong enough to penetrate the dense canopy of the ash, oak and hawthorn trees, but there was no distinct path to speak of. The trees themselves looked very old. They appeared weathered and ancient but strong with deep roots that wound and twisted underfoot. There was no noise to break the deafening silence save the occasional snapping of a twig or the rustling of leaves as they made their way through the woodland.

"You do know where you're goin', yeah?" Rose asked, nervously glancing at her surroundings. There was some light breaking through the leaves, but the low sun threw just as many shadows onto the forest floor. The trees were so dense, it was difficult to see where they were going, and nearly as tricky to figure out which direction they came.

"Oh yeah, over that way there's a road that leads to a village. Somewhere," he pointed to an ambiguous direction. "But isn't it just nice walking?" he gestured to the forest.

"You aren't going to be start lecturing on the journey and the destination, are ya?" Rose asked, producing a chuckle from the Doctor's lips.

They slowly made their way towards to road, picking their way among the roots protruding from the forest floor and the dense undergrowth. Rose's trainers were entirely shot by the time they got to the road and her jeans were covered in mud. The Doctor, impeccable as always, looked as though the just came out of a menswear advert. It was almost unfair, how good he looked, Rose noted.

The road was little more than a pathway. It was a well trodden line through the forest that had once been an animal path, now taken over by hunters and travellers Rose didn't think that she could take much more of walking, let alone tripping over the uneven ground.

The Doctor let out a great sigh, "Well, nothing nicer than a walk in the park in the morning."

Rose just looked at him dubiously and made a noncommittal noise. "What time is it, do ya reckon?" She peered at the sun peeking over the trees, a hand over her eyes to shield the brightness.

"I don't reckon anything when it comes to time," the Doctor said playfully. He waggled his eyebrows and grinned. "It's 11:03, perfect time for a bit of food. Maybe some chips," He added ironically.

"I don't think they'll have chips in 1477, though it is Ireland so maybe some potatoes." Her stomach gurgled at the thought.

"The potato is a new world produce, it won't be introduced here for another two hundred or so years."

"Fantastic," Rose sighed. "What do they 'ave then, parsnips?" She groaned internally; she hated parsnips.

"Very likely. The village should be this way," The Doctor started marching down the road towards where the mountains were visible over the treetops.

"How do you know all this?" Rose asked, running to catch up with him. "I mean you can't be an expert in all of space and time, as well as the geography of the Irish wilderness."

"You'd be very surprised what I am an expert in." There was a distinctly suggestive tone to his voice. Rose's heart skipped a beat and a knot formed in her throat. "I spent some time here, traipsing around with Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig, in my youth, though you probably know him of Brian Boru."

"Never heard of him, but I didn't pay much attention to history class."

"He was a king of Munster in the 1000s but I knew him when he was teenager. We didn't do anything too big, we spent a lot of time hunting stags and whatnot. His idea, not mine. Learned the lay of the land rather well. Good educational experience."

"You never cease to amaze, Doctor."

"Why thank you Rose Tyler."

"So how far off are we then?" Rose didn't think the road was coming to a head any time soon, and her feet were getting rather sore.

"Right beyond that turn," he pointed up a head where the path made a distinct curve to the left, swerving around a particularly large boulder that read 'Glasally'.

"I've never heard of Glasally before," Rose commented.

"It's a smaller village, it'll get either wiped out by sickness and plague or amalgamated into a larger city in the future. Right now it's a tiny hamlet. The name means green willow; rather apt for a city by a forest, don't you think?" The Doctor had his 'humans are so clever' smile on.

Rose just made another noncommittal noise, choosing to concentrate on keeping her feet flat on the ground and prevent her stomach from rumbling.

They rounded the bend and found themselves at the top of a hill where the forest came to an abrupt stop. The path widened and led down to a small village. It had several houses along the main road and a few others scattered among large fields. There were several other buildings which did not look like houses, including one with a cross marking the door, which Rose took to mean it was a small church. Other details were too small to make out from their position. However, the landscape itself was beautiful. There was a river lazily winding along the edge of the forest, assumedly the same one as where the TARDIS had landed. The village rested in a large clearing, surrounded by the dense woodland. The mountains, which had been lost in the overgrowth of the forest, were clear in the background of the scene. They were not as tall as Rose had previously assumed, but big nonetheless and much closer.

Rose grasped the Doctor's hand and they slowly descended into the hamlet.

I am just setting the scene here, there will be 'mentions' of the monster/alien they will be dealing with next chapter, and the idea will be explored more in Chapter Three. Please Review and let me know how I am doing! :)