Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own Doctor who or any related products.
Anniversary
Time got lost in the Tardis. Which, the Doctor often thought, was somewhat ironic- seeing as time was what it functioned on, travelled through, lived by. Sometimes he thought it was just that time somehow passed especially slowly inside his own private universe; on other occasions he thought that here- in the Tardis, where so many things were different, time simply didn't exist. He could just float endlessly in space, and then return somewhere not ten minutes later than when he'd left or 100 000 years into the future depending on his mood- which distorted his perceptions somewhat.
Strangely enough his companions, though affected by it too, always seemed more aware of time. Sarah-Jane for instance had always (how he had no idea) known what day of the week it was, even when they'd been drifting for what felt like years. He supposed long exposure to time travel had eroded his inbuilt body clock somewhat. His companions he found often missed the conventional routine created by the cycle of days, weeks, years. Markers such as birthdays seemed simply to disappear, and that was sad of course.
At first Rose had seemed to enjoy the freedom being outside of time gave her. She had hated the routine of her old life on earth, and this was a release she had never even imagined. But the novelty wore off after a while of course, and she began to crave some kind of difference between night and day. So he took her to Dagaberelle, a planet in the Andromeda galaxy where there were not one but two suns, to watch the night fall from a ledge high in the planets ice bound mountains. The light had set the mountains ablaze with dancing fire in the most glorious sunset in the universe, and when it faded it left in its wake a velvety blackness pricked by unfamiliar stars. She was thrilled of course, she clutched at his arm, open mouthed with delight, and he smiled at her excitement; but then of course they returned to the Tardis and the night disappeared behind them.
Once, when Rose had become a familiar appendage to his travels, she came into the control room with a frown on her face. He grinned at her, she smiled back, but her face soon returned to an expression of confusion.
"How long have I been here?" she asked. He looked at her blankly. How could he answer when he honestly didn't know? "I've been thinking about" she said "and I've realised I actually don't know. That's ridiculous isn't it? I mean meeting you was maybe the most important thing that's ever happened to me, and I don't know how long ago it was!"
He could tell by the strain in her voice that this idea was genuinely painful to her. So he tried to be as sympathetic as possible when he said "It's this place, it messes with your head. We're sort of, outside time here."
Rose nodded. "I get that. But then… how do we mark stuff?"
"What do you mean? Mark what?" he asked frowning in confusion.
"I dunno," she said, running her hands through her bottle blonde hair, looking a little embarrassed "Celebration things, birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries…"
He grinned, was that what she wanted, an anniversary? He found he really liked the idea. He'd never had an anniversary. "You know we don't need time to mark that kind of thing," he said slowly.
"We don't?" she said curiously, her eyebrows rising slightly into her naughty expression
"Nope. That's the advantage of being outside time, we can make that kind of thing whenever we want. It could be our anniversary right now if you want."
"Yeah?" she said a huge film star grin spreading over her face. He found himself smiling too.
"Yes. We met exactly a year ago today. " He said, beaming.
Suddenly they were both laughing, and she was blushing. Then impulsively she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Happy anniversary babe," she said.
He turned beetroot red at that too, had she just called him babe? "Happy anniversary Rose." He said in slight confusion. Then quickly pulling himself together he said "We should do something to celebrate."
"That sounds great!" she said enthusiastically.
"So where do you want to go?" he asked.
She gave him a wicked grin "Surprise me!" she said.
He could never resist a challenge. He tapped in random coordinates to the Tardis control panel, and they began to whirl through time and space, off to the next adventure, with Rose by his side. They'd lasted a whole year after all- and that deserved some excitement!
THE END.