"Rose?" a voice said. Rose moaned and buried her head further into the blankets, mumbling vaguely about it being too early.

"Rose!" The voice was more insistent this time and much closer. A finger prodded her back through the comforter. Rose again chose not to respond.

"Rose," the voice whined."Rose get up-"

Lifting her head blearily she interrupted him. "S'too early Doctor. Go away."

The finger poked her again in the back more forcefully than last time. Angrily, she pulled herself up and turned to glare at the Doctor." You-"

"You humans sleep too much anyway," he cut across. "Did you know that if you sleep too much then you'll actually just make yourself more tired?" He grinned happily at her and sunk down onto the bed. " Don't you hate things like that? Only good in moderation." He drew out the word and then looked thoughtful for a moment. A smile lit up his face. "''Cept bananas. Bananas are always good. Never know when you'll need one."

"Doctor!" Rose nearly shouted.

"And then there was the one time when i was at this party and..."

Rose sighed and shoved him with her foot. "Doctor!"

He paused for a moment and stared at her like he had just noticed she was there."Hmm?"

"Didn't you have something to tell me?"

His mouth dropped open and he looked confused. "Did I? Oh, yes, yes I did!" He leapt up and started towards the door. "No sense lazing around all day. Things to do, people to see! Come on!" Without as much as a backward glance he bounded excitedly out of the room.

Rose sighed. As much as she really didn't want to get up, if she waited too long he would have either forgotten whatever it was or would have found some new piece of the TARDIS to tinker with.

Still... the bed was awfully comfortable. Maybe if she could rest for just a few more minutes…

"Wellllll? Are you coming?" Rose jerked her head back up to see the Doctor's face peering around her doorframe. So much for that plan. Faking a giant yawn, she pulled herself up and out of bed and towards the hall.

The Doctor's face split into a grin once more. "Good, you're gonna love this!"
Almost bouncing he led her through the halls until they had reached the door to the control room.

Rose made as if to pull it open, but before she could so much as touch the doorknob, the Doctor yanked her backward by the hand and stared down at her, a severe expression on his face.

"Whoa there! You can't just walk in there like that!"

Rose rolled her eyes. Might as well humor him."Why not?"

"Weeelll, 'cos I'm the designated driver and therefore have the oh-so-supreme power of ordering you about." The serious pretense had all but disappeared. In fact, it looked like he was fighting ( and losing she might add) to keep a straight face.

"And 'cos," He dropped his voice conspiratorially ", it's a secret." At this he waggled his eyebrows comically.

Rose had to laugh."Shut up."

Obediently he closed his mouth and rocked back on his heels.

"Wait, I didn't mean that. C'mon just tell me."

"Nope! Sorree, no can do. But you'll find out in due time, ye of little patience."

Rose made a face and started, " Secrets, secrets are no fun,"

"Unless you share with, I know! But you wouldn't be saying that if you'd ever visited the Zaucons of Crebonya."

"The what of where?"

"Zaucons of Crebonya," he corrected. "Nice lot, but then again, they've got to be haven't they?"

"Er.. yeah?" Rose, determined to prove that she did, in fact, possess patience, waited out the rhetorical question.

"It's like all of them share one mind but they've all got individual everyone knows what anyone knows!" he exclaimed. "Terrible for visitors, mind you. They can pick up your thoughts but you can't hear anything. And say, for instance, you accidentally think that their queen looks like a rather large bloated fish, they might be inclined to lock you up in their cellar." He tugged on his ear and ducked his head while Rose gaped at him.

"You what?"

"I didn't mean it! And when I tried to plead innocent... well you can't 'cause they already know that you're guilty so me, being my brilliant self...," he continued rambling on.

Eventually Rose decided that it would be better for everyone if she kept him on track. If she didn't stop him now they could be standing here for hours. Not to mention that she was extremely curious to see what this surprise was.

Cautiously she reached for the door and gripped the knob. The doors in the TARDIS had always been a source of confusion for her. Why on earth, or on anywhere else for that matter, he'd need door knobs she'd never know. Just when she thought she was going to make it through without him noticing, the Doctor's head snapped up.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing? I told you, it's a secret! No questions, and no wandering off without me."

"You never said-" she started.

"Well, you should know by now. Now turn around and close your eyes," he commanded, grabbing her shoulders and spinning her around to face him, away from the door. "No peeking," he ordered sternly.

She complied and he peered down at her warily. A moment later he spoke, with a note of finality in his voice, and said, "No, I've decided you can't be trusted with something so important. Stay here."

Rose heard the faint buzz of the sonic screwdriver followed by the Doctor's receding footsteps. When she was sure he was gone, she spun around and yanked the door. Funny, it wouldn't open. It was stuck.

Stupid alien and his stupid sonic screwdriver! She honestly doubted the thing even had a screwdriver in it. Oh yes, a locked door? A shut cell? A stuck lock? Easy peesy! But should it ever be faced with a Philips head screw? That would be the doom of them. Dejected, Rose slumped down against the wall and awaited the return of the Doctor.

Several minutes later the Doctor reappeared, popping out from a doorway Rose was certain was not there minutes ago and holding what appeared to be a twenty foot long multicolored scarf.

"Rose!" he said, excitement already coloring his words. "Look what I found! I used to love this! Come over here." He grabbed her and spun her around, placing his hands on her shoulders and carefully maneuvering her so that she was facing the door. The still stubbornly locked door.
"Close your eyes," he ordered. She sighed and complied. Really, it was barely past six, according to her internal clock, and this was taking up entirely too much energy. If only he'd let her go back to bed…

Abruptly there was a slight whooshing sound and rough surface of wool slapped over her face.

"Hang on a minute!" the Doctor said.

"Doctor," Rose said with the air of a mother telling off her child. "What are you doing?"

"Weeelllll, since I can't very well trust you not to peek, I know you sneaky Tylers, I just have to blindfold you," he said as if it was obvious.

"Yeah," she conceded." but couldn't you have just used a blindfold?"

"Didn't have one. Why would I have a blindfold? There is too much in this universe to see to go stumbling around in the dark. But never mind that," He reached out and spun her back around so she was presumably facing him. "You are about to be enlightened. Secrets are coming out." His voice dropped down to a whisper and Rose could swear that he was leaning closer to her.

"That didn't last long," she returned, equal in her low volume.

Breath puffed against her ear as the Doctor replied, still in whisper,"No, but secrets must be told eventually lest they become lies."

"What?"

"I dunno." There was one final tug at the scarf and the Doctor stood back and admired his handiwork. And then he burst out laughing.

Underneath the wool, Rose rolled her eyes. "What's so funny? I swear if you don't tell me right this instant I'm gonna strangle you with this thing."

There was a gasp, though not of fear as Rose had hoped, but rather of someone hastily trying to get their laughter under control. "You look - you look-" He stopped, gasping for breath.

"Just spit it out!"

"You look like you've fallen headfirst into a nest of Wevelopians!"

There was a beat of silence.

"You know," Rose ventured. "I'd be laughing but that's so not funny."

She heard the Doctor sigh and imagined him shrugging his shoulders. "Oh well, I tried. Can you see this?"

There was a faint rush of air past Rose's face as he waved a hand.

"Yes."

"Really?" He frowned in concern. "'Cause I don't really see how you could unless..."

Rose mimed banging her head against a wall. Unfortunately for the Doctor, where she had thought empty air was turned out to be the Doctor's lapel.
"OW!" he cried. "That wasn't funny, Rose..." The whining tone to his voice had returned but he didn't bother to move her head from where it was now resting on his shoulder.

"It was better than your joke." she mumbled. The darkness of the scarf, combined with the Doctor's warm presence was sending her with all deliberate speed towards dreamland.
A moment passed where neither of the pair moved, Rose simply too comfortable to shift away and the Doctor not wanting to disturb her more than he already had. He could always give it to her later; there was no real rush right now. He had all of time.

Except he didn't. No matter what he told himself at night to help him sleep, Rose was not going to be around forever. Maybe it would be years before the unthinkable happened, maybe she would die of old age. But maybe, and this was far more likely with this lifestyle, it would be much sooner.

Finally, painfully, he eased her off his shoulder and back into a standing position. She swayed, still tired and reached up a hand to rub her eyes, only to have it collide with the scarf. Again.

"Doctor, can we just get on with this?" Alright, so maybe she wasn't being fair but it was six in the morning. For a Time Lord the man had no concept of time.

"Hey! Is that any way to treat someone who is about to give you a present?"

Rose froze and turned to stare at what she hoped was the Doctor.

"A present? What for?"

The Doctor sighed in exasperation. "Oh come on Rose, think for a moment. The answer lies somewhere in that brilliant brain of yours. What is today?"

"Er.... Friday?"

The Doctor groaned.

"Well how am I supposed to know?" she asked in indignation. "One day we're in London at Christmas and the next we're on some random planet that doesn't have days!" She paused and added hastily, " Not that I don't love the planets and stuff ,but how should I know?"

"You could keep a calendar," the Doctor pointed out.

"How would I know when the next day was? By sleep? That would hardly work." By now a smile had crept onto her face. It was impossible to remain serious, what with all these ridiculous, fun, conversations.

"Well... you could... er," the Doctor rubbed his hand across his neck, but pressed onward with his doomed sentence. ", keep something and track days via... something and I er..." The Doctor dropped his head and admitted defeat. "Oh I dunno. You can't. But due to my superior Time Lord intellect and reasoning skills I am able to pin down that the date is precisely April 27th." Pride was no more creeping than clawing through his words at this point.

"Yeah, and...?"

"Gah!" the Doctor shouted. There was a click and the door swung forward. "For a holiday you humans put so much stake in," continued the Doctor. ", it sure is forgotten an awful lot."

"Still lost," Rose said. She got the feeling that she had missed out on something incredibly important and also incredibly obvious. A holiday? A human one?

A hand pressed lightly into her back and Rose was forced over the threshold of the door into a warm room. Immediately lights flashed before her and a warm glow filtered through the wool.

The pressure ceased and fingers began unwrapping the scarf, loop by loop, from around her head. The darkness was pulled away and as the room was revealed, Rose gasped.

"Happy Birthday!"

Hope you enjoyed and please review!