Shorter oneshot-drabble-y-thing based off a random thought I had about the TARDIS phone and temporal dialing. Enjoy!
The sound of a phone echoed through the corridors of the TARDIS.
"What?!" The Doctor exclaimed as he realized the sound didn't match the ringtone of Martha's superphone. When he arrived at the console room he noticed a new addition to all the odds and ends surrounding the time rotor.
It was a phone, currently blaring throughout the TARDIS. "What?" the Doctor reiterated. After a few moments of staring the sound didn't cease so he finally relented.
"Oh, alright, alright, I'll answer it." He grumbled before picking it up.
"Hello?" he said quietly.
"Took you long enough, darling. I just wanted to let you know that I picked up River like you asked and we're off to get the Ponds and Smiths—all five of them—next. Our wedding is going to be the event of the millennia!" The impossible voice on the other end laughed. When all was silent on the other end of the line she continued, increasingly alarmed. "Doctor? You there? You haven't gone and crashed our poor TARDIS again have you?!"
Finally the Doctor snapped out of his frozen state. "R-Rose? Is that you?"
"Augh, you're breaking up! Of course it's me, is the connection that bad on your end too? You should know by now I'm the only one who ever calls the console phone instead of your mobile."
"How… how is this possible?" the Doctor was in awe. "You should be in another universe!"
Rose finally caught on to what was happening. "Oh. Oh no. Damn temporal dialing system, always directing me to the wrong point in the timeline. Doctor, how old are you?"
"903. How old should I be, then? And again, how is this possible?"
"1103 to the first, and to the second, as dearest River always says, spoilers. Have you met River yet? River Song." Rose asked curiously and her ambivalence to talking to him made his hearts ache. It was as if she did this every day.
"No I haven't." his response was clipped and Rose sighed.
"I'm way way early then." There was a long pause as she debated her options. "Give me your coordinates. I might not be able to tell you everything but the least I can do is explain what I can in person."
"Rose—" he began to protest but she cut him off.
"Don't 'Rose' me. It's so nice that I kicked present-you of that habit. The timelines will be just fine if I do this, trust me. I won't give you enough foreknowledge to be dangerous, just enough to give you hope."
"966412.7 mark 278206212.2" he whispered, terrified to believe she might actually come.
"Be there in 30 seconds dear." She hung up. Try as he might not to, the Doctor began to count the seconds.
25… 26… 27…
Suddenly a there was a flash of light and two women appeared inside the TARDIS.
"I had to bring River along; part of her release agreement is she sticks with me." The blonde woman smiled sheepishly.
"Oh, this Doctor is even foxier in person! Should have come met him long ago!" the woman with the crazy hair, who the Doctor assumed was River, was slapped by Rose.
"Oi! You're out for the wedding and you're flirting with a younger version of the groom! Save it for Jack."
The Doctor stared down at his feet during the exchange, feeling awkward. He was too afraid to question the wedding references just yet, especially around someone he didn't know.
River, clever woman she was, took her cue out. "Going to go take a peak in the library. The rate at which you lose books, Doctor, I'm curious as to what treasures you have now that are lost by my time. See you later, sweeties!"
Once River had made her exit and the two were finally alone the Doctor allowed himself to look Rose over. "How can you possibly be here?" he whispered again for fear of disrupting whatever had brought his beautiful Rose back to him.
"Oh, my Doctor. That in itself is a loaded question, and the answer to which you'll have to live to find out. It's foreknowledge of the dangerous sort."
"Yeah, yeah, I guess so." He ran his hands through his hair awkwardly.
"You're not going to ask about the wedding then?"
The Doctor caught Rose's eyes and she understood the war going on inside his head. He was always so afraid of losing her.
"Don't worry, I understand that you can't bring yourself to ask. It'll be a while before you get over that problem, at least with me. So I'll answer it anyways. When you're 1103 years old we get married. Will get married. Are getting married. I'm still rubbish at tenses." She laughed and he couldn't hold back a smile in response.
"How…" he trailed off, feeling awkward again.
"Like I said, it's a story that has to be lived. But we find each other again, I swear to you. Don't ever give up hope because I'm coming back to you. And you finally get off your bum and pop the question!" she gave him her tongue-in-teeth smile and suddenly he found himself closing the distance between them and kissing her.
When they finally pulled apart he sighed. "Should've done that a long time ago."
"Is is still cheating if it's my fiancé from the past?" She laughed and buried her head in his chest. "I still regret that we never go to do this like this. At least not without Cassandra in my head."
"I've regenerated haven't I?" he asked and she nodded against his chest. He sighed but then joked, "I don't have two heads or anything, do I? Am I ginger?"
"Nope, not ginger. And only one head—although it wouldn't be all bad. Think of the possibilities!" Rose laughed at the scandalized look on his face. "You're even flirtier now—you probably would've had a nice comeback for that one."
He kissed the top of her head. "Rose Tyler… I wish I could finish that sentence. But knowing that in a few minutes you'll leave me (for me, but that's beside the point) and I probably won't see you again until after I regenerate—I just can't. Please don't be angry."
"I'm not angry, Doctor. I completely understand. I know it, whether you can say it aloud. Besides…" she placed her hands on his cheeks and spoke in his mind. "I love you, my Doctor. I promised you forever and I keep my promises. You don't say it aloud, but I know it here."
"I love you" slipped by unguarded and Rose laughed. He wasn't used to telepathy since he'd lost his people. They both flinched at that thought, but then the Doctor realized the more important question and spoke aloud.
"How can you do that?!"
"That's another spoiler. You'll find out in time." They both lapsed into silence, enjoying holding something previously lost to them.
River was silent as she entered the room and her cough to announce her presence made them both jump.
"Sorry sweeties. But Rose, you know how faulty that vortex manipulator can be. I'd recommend we get out of here before we end up late picking up the Ponds and Smiths."
"I guess that's my cue." Rose smiled sadly. "You'll see me again soon enough, Doctor. Whenever you're sad or you want to give up just remember that—I'll come back to you twice now. Once for a short while, then the second time to stay. Please, please remember that."
"I will." He leaned down to press one more kiss to her lips.
She moved away and punched in some numbers on the vortex manipulator. Just before the device kicked the Doctor finally worked up the nerve to begin, "Rose Tyler, I—"but he was cut off by the flash of light and absence of the love of his life. He sighed, "Quite right, too."
….
Two hundred years in his future the Doctor was greeted by the feeling of his fiancé's arms around his waist.
"You're missing some guests."
"Don't play dumb with me, you know why. River agreed to spend some time with her parents so I could pop back here quickly" She smiled as he turned around to kiss her.
"Yes I do. And thank you for doing that."
"Least I could do for the man who showed me how to run."
"Least I could do for the woman who taught me how good it is to stand still for a while." They both laughed and kissed again.
….
A day later the Doctor smiled as he kissed his wife. Eleven hundred years of waiting and he finally had his happily ever after.