Rose was absolutely, completely, flat out drunk and it was Shareen's fault.

She collapsed awkwardly against the jump seat, giggling slightly as her vision swam and she managed to force the TARDIS key into her pocket. Something struck her as funny, but she wasn't sure what. The TARDIS hummed disapprovingly. Noticing that, the Doctor peered into the room from the hallway, his dark eyes widening in surprise as he noticed his giggling companion. Rose glanced up at him with a goofy grin. "Ohhhh, hello! 'm jus' gettin' back from Sh'reen's."

"You're drunk," the Doctor accused in wonder; he hadn't thought Rose to be the type to get drunk.

Rose blinked, the thought of being drunk apparently surprising her. "No, m'not. Jus' a lil' relaxed, s'all..."

"Come on," he sighed, pulling her upright in his resolve to get her to sleep it off. "Let's get you to bed."

Rose pulled back. "No!" Then she stumbled and collapsed into a fit of giggles against the console. "Nonono, 'm fine! Honestly!"

"No, you aren't," he said, voice leaving no room for argument.

Rose rolled her eyes as she allowed him to half-carry her into the depths of the TARDIS, slurring, "'m not drunk, stupid. 'm fine... An' so're you... You're... you're awesome. You know that?"

Her voice had shifted up in pitch, and she seemed a bit delirious. "An'—an', you know wha'?"

"What?" he humoured her.

Rose grinned. "Ya don' look too bad, either!" and then she burst into giggles again.

The Doctor felt himself grin slightly; even if she was inebriated, he liked the fact that she thought he didn't "look too bad". He managed to get Rose into her bedroom, where the girl collapsed on her bed with a sigh. "I wuv my bed. 'S the bes' bed ever. Y'know?"

"Yeah, Rose, sure."

He was presently working on pulling off her shoes. When he succeeded, Rose wriggled her toes. "'ve got a hole in m' sock!"

He nodded as he managed to get her under the covers. "Yep. I see that."

The Doctor moved to leave the room; then he'd have time to find a good cure for the hangover she'd surely have in the morning. Suddenly, her expression sobering just a bit, Rose sat bolt upright. "Doctor?"

He sighed just slightly. "Yes, Rose?"

"D'ya—" she hiccupped, and blinked. "D'ya wuv me?"

He weighed his options. He could say yes, tell the truth, and make it just that much harder when she left. He could say no, and break her heart. Looking at those wide, open eyes—eyes that had seen so much—he realised that he couldn't lie to her. Not about this. So he smiled, and said, "Yeah, Rose, I do."

"Good," she proclaimed, making herself a cocoon in the blankets. "'Coz I wuv ya. You're th' abs'lute bes' guy I met. An'... I'm not leavin' you for nothin'!"

The Doctor smiled a bit wider, but there was sadness to it too, because she couldn't make good on that promise. He crossed the room and very lightly kissed her forehead and turned out her lamp. "Goodnight, Rose."

"'Night," she sighed, and he left, closing the door behind him.

The next morning, Rose stumbled into the console room with her expression set firmly into a scowl. "Please, for the love of God, stop making that BLEEDIN' NOISE!"

"Well hello to you, too," the Doctor grumbled, climbing out from under the console. He waved his sonic screwdriver at her. "I'll have you know that there'd have been a lot worse of a noise if I hadn't done that."

She glared at him. "Do we have any of that miracle hangover stuff?"

"51st century Clom or 72nd century Earth?"

"Earth," Rose decided, perching on the jump seat. "Clom's gave me a nosebleed."

A pill bottle was tossed at her, and she barely managed to catch it. She swallowed it dry and sighed as her headache faded, bad mood with it. Then she approached what had been on her mind since she'd gotten up. "What'd I do last night?"

"Ow!" came from under the console, where the Doctor had disappeared to after she'd taken the pills. He slid back out, giving her a slight glare as he rubbed his forehead. "What?"

"What'd I do?" Rose repeated. "I always do somethin' stupid when I'm drunk. What'd I do this time?"

"You collapsed on the jump seat, called me handsome, and I got you to bed."

Rose nodded. "I've done worse. Much, much, much worse. Anything else?"

"Well you did—" he stopped. If he told her what she'd said, then he'd have to tell her his response, and coward he was, he didn't want to do that. "Nothing."

Rose paused for a moment. She'd done something. "What did I do? Doctor, please, just tell me."

"Ahhhh... you kind of... uhmmmm..." he stuttered, going bright red and scratching the back of his neck. "Asked me if, um... I... um... love you?"

Rose's face went as bright red as the Doctor's. "Oh, bloody hell!"

"Yeah."

"What'd you say?" Rose asked after a moment, going even brighter red and looking anywhere but at her companion. "Did ya say anything at all?"

"Yes."

She frowned at him. "Well what question were you answering?"

"The first..." he trailed off, hearts seizing up at her shocked expression. He snapped his fingers a few times in front of her face. "Rose? Rooo-oooooooose? Wake up. C'mon."

She shook her head, blinked, and said, "Quite right, too."

And before the Doctor could reply to her very ridiculous sentiment, she'd snogged him very, very thoroughly. And as Rose flounced off back to her room, her laughter trailing behind her, the Doctor repeated the words he'd said when Cassandra had kissed him. His voice squeaked, his hair was wild, and his eyes were wide. "Yep. Still got it!"

Then he set the coordinates for the Powell Estate. Rose had asked to be taken to her mum's flat to give her a present a while ago—bazoolium, a weather predictor that was correct all the time—and he decided that then was as good a time as any to take it to her. It would be a quick trip, and then they'd be off, the Doctor and Rose Tyler in the TARDIS, next stop: anywhere.

It seemed to be ages later for the both of them when that ridiculous reply. They had first wished for touch—yearning to lean into the other again, even if it was just holding hands or a brief hug. A kiss would have been torture, but sweet torture, that. And then Rose Tyler had choked out the words that she had never had the courage to say without being drunk out of her mind. The Doctor sent her words back at her as he smiled sadly and with enough love to set the universe on fire, for when Time Lords did happen to fall in love, it was beyond anything.

"Quite right, too."

And Rose had smiled and she had known once again that among all of his previous companions and any future companions, she was special, because she had captured the hearts of a Time Lord. He began to return the sentiment and let her truly know how much he loved her.

"Rose Tyler, I love you. You're the most beautiful, wonderful woman in the entirety of the multiverse, and I will always be glad that I asked you to come with me that second time. I will never stop looking for you, I promise. But don't wait for me, please. Be fantastic. Be brilliant. I love you too much to let you do that to yourself."

All that he had time for was her name. "Rose Tyler, I—"

He stood there, shocked for a few moments, tears falling down his face. Then he composed himself and kept going, forcing a manic smile and laughing into the face of danger, because what was life if Rose Tyler wasn't in it?

And in another universe, Rose cried her heart out in the arms of her mother. "He loves me, mum."

Jackie kissed her daughter's forehead. "I know."

"He'll find a way back, or I will."

"I know, love," Jackie whispered.

After a few more moments, Rose composed herself and kept going, showing compassion and throwing herself headlong into dangerous situations, because she knew what the Earth needed. She couldn't go back to a normal life, because the only person she wanted to have domestics with was stuck in another universe.

So the Earth kept turning and life went on.