"Your lives and souls are now entwined. Blessed may your union be."

Rose looked up at the Doctor. His eyes sparkled, and when he took her hand, she knew exactly what he was going to say.

"Run!"

Her amusement burst forth in laughter when she heard the startled exclamation of the local elder. She and the Doctor ran hand-in-hand toward the edge of town where they'd parked the TARDIS and stumbled inside, still laughing.

The Doctor took his regular position in the jump seat with his feet up on the console and his arms crossed behind his head. Rose still leaned against the door, gasping for air as she tried to stop laughing.

She'd almost succeeded when he grinned at her unrepentantly, setting off a fresh fit of laughter. "Stop, stop." Rose waved her hands in protest. "Your smile, it's such a corrupting influence."

The Doctor chuckled. "I have to say, I've been accused of all kinds of indecency in my thousand years, but never indecent smiling."

Rose's laughter softened to giggles, and she moved closer to the Doctor, leaning against the console facing him. "We should have realised something was off when only people wearing these," she raised her arm and pointed at her new bracelet, "were smiling."

The Doctor removed his own bracelet and turned it over in his hands. "I just figured they were all having a bad day."

Rose slipped her bracelet off her arm and bit her lip. There was something about the way the Doctor was looking at his that made her wonder… She weighed the silver band in her hand as she considered how to ask her question without pressuring him.

"What's it made of?" she asked, mentally slapping her forehead. "It feels heavier than silver," she added hastily.

The Doctor nodded. "It's laurium. Heavier and tarnish resistant. Earth has platinum; the rest of the galaxy mostly uses this."

The bracelet gleamed in the blue-green glow of the time rotor. Rose wanted to put it back on, but the only way she'd wear a wedding token given to her by the Doctor was if she could have a marriage with the Doctor.

"So… what should we do with it?" She held her breath after asking the nonchalant question. Would he even understand she meant more than their newly acquired jewellery?

The muscles around his mouth tightened slightly, then he shrugged. "You can give it to me, if you want," he offered. "The TARDIS can put them somewhere safe—who knows, maybe we'll need them for another fake wedding."

The brush-off was so familiar that by now, Rose only felt resigned. What was I expecting? That he'd offer his undying devotion and say being married to me was what he'd secretly wished for?

She leaned forward and dropped the bracelet in the Doctor's outstretched hand. "Well, if you keep your corrupting smile to yourself, we won't need to," she said lightly. Despite herself, disappointment welled up, leaving a lump in her throat. "Um, I'm gonna go get cleaned up. I'll see you for supper."

The Doctor watched her go, kicking himself for disappointing her. But losing her would hurt so much more if we were actually together, he reminded himself. He knew what she'd truly been asking—after all, she'd said what are we going to do with it, not them. And in his more honest moments, he could admit, at least to himself, that he wanted a relationship with Rose. He wanted to wear something that marked him as hers, and for her to wear something that said she belonged to him.

He sighed; thinking about it wasn't going to make this problem magically go away, and if he didn't move, Rose would come looking for him. If she caught him staring at their wedding bracelets like a romantic fool, he didn't think he'd be able to fob off her questions.

"Right. So where to put these?" he muttered. The TARDIS had dozens—maybe hundreds—of storage cupboards he could throw them into. He could hide them so deep that no one would ever find them.

Or…

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. It wasn't what he'd said he'd do, and it definitely wouldn't help him control his errant feelings for his companion/best mate, but he really didn't want them to be tucked away and forgotten. Mind made up and only feeling slightly guilty, he dropped the bracelets into his coat pocket.

Rose smiled at him when he entered the galley. "Bracelets safely tucked away?"

The Doctor barely stopped himself from patting his pocket. "Yep."

"Good. Now, do you think we can continue our travels without further matrimonial adventures?"

He heaved an aggrieved sigh. "Rose, you've been with me for two years, and this was the first time we've been forced to get married. The odds of it happening again are—"

Rose put a hand over his mouth. "Never tell me the odds," she quoted.

DWDWDWDW

Six weeks later, the Doctor held still while Rose used the sonic screwdriver to unlock the collar she'd put on him in their most recent wedding. "This was a bit different," she commented as the first lock clicked open.

The Doctor sniffed. "More like a validation of ownership than a wedding."

The screwdriver quit buzzing, and Rose pulled back to look him in the eye. "Doctor, they told me you were good genetic material and would give me strong daughters. An' I had to promise to care for all your needs for the rest of your life."

"Good genetic material? Really?" He was torn between feeling offended he'd been relegated to nothing but breeding potential and pride that they'd seen his value.

She rolled her eyes and went back to work on the collar. The second lock popped open, and he pulled it off gratefully.

"How many times have we been married now?" she asked as she handed him the sonic.

The Doctor rubbed gingerly at his neck. "Oh, I don't know," he lied. "Seven? Eight?"

"Ten," Rose corrected. "There was the flower ceremony on Floris, those pins with the chain that joined them, the anklets, and the necklaces—"

"Is there a reason for this litany?" the Doctor asked, his pocket feeling heavier by the second.

She smiled, showing the tip of her tongue. "Just pointing out that you might have tempted fate when you said it wouldn't happen again."

The Doctor sighed. "It seems like I did. I'm… I'll just put this with the others," he said, jerking his chin toward the corridor. Rose nodded and he took off, slipping the collar into his pocket as soon as he was out of sight.

He brushed his fingers along the wall as he walked to his room. What are you up to anyway? he asked the TARDIS. He was fairly certain his ship was deliberately taking them places where they'd have to get married—tempting fate, ha! More like tempting the sentient time machine.

You know why I can't… pursue anything with Rose. She says she'll stay with me forever, but the forever of a human is just a drop in the bucket.

The TARDIS pitched slightly as the Doctor reached the door to his room. "Stop it," he chastised out loud. "Rose… Rose deserves better than a broken old Time Lord anyway."

His connection with the TARDIS faded, and he could tell she was done talking to him for the moment. Well good. He shrugged off his coat and tossed into onto the bed, then unbuttoned his jacket before slouching down into his favourite chair.

Ten weddings. Ten times in six weeks that he'd married Rose Tyler. The ceremonies had ranged from vaguely Earth-like to decidedly alien, but Rose was right—even today's claiming ceremony had very definitely been a wedding.

The Doctor swallowed. Ten times he'd made some sort of pledge to love and honour Rose, then pretended he hadn't meant every word when they got back to the TARDIS. Maybe it was a good thing the ceremonies had all been so alien. If he ever married her in a ceremony more like the traditional Gallifreyan bonding, he might not be able to hide how much he wanted to be her husband.