Rose had just finished her morning shower and gotten dressed in a pair of jeans a favorite pink jacket. She shoved on her trainers and left her TARDIS bedroom heading for the kitchen. She felt starved and she was hoping she could shovel down a bowl of cereal before the Doctor could drag her off on another adventure. The hall she was walking through split in two directions and she headed left. About half was down to the next turn, she noticed that this wasn't the right direction. The med bay came after the kitchen and the pool was on the hall next to the room full of bizarre slimy looking alien things. She turned around and headed back intending to start over from her room. She reached the hall that she had turned down originally, but her room wasn't there. The pool, however, was.
She sighed. "Okay... if this is the pool... then down that way," She looked ahead down the hall. "Must be the library and the console room." She headed toward where she thought the console room should be, but she never found the console room. "This is ridiculous. How does anyone live in a place that's bigger on the inside!" She was getting frustrated and feeling a bit panicked.
"Alright think. The pool its back there, there's no library, but that looks like the gym and down there is... okay, what is that?" She headed toward the strange new room. It looked like any other room on the TARDIS. Each room was either a large bronze archway, if it were a more public sort of place, or it had a big bronze door. This one was a door, which meant it definitely wasn't the console room or the kitchen.
She opened the door. Inside was a large space full of strange alien plants. In the center of the room was what looked like a koi pond, but the fish swimming in it were nothing she'd ever seen. The fish were blue as the TARDIS and had oddly large silver eyes. Some of them seemed to be watching her. She shivered as a pair of silver eyes met hers. As pretty as they were, she still hadn't found the kitchen. She'd gotten lost in the TARDIS before, but never this bad. The Doctor would always find her whenever she was lost. Though with Rose preferring to sleep for much longer than the Doctor, he wasn't likely looking for her this time.
Rose decided she should head back into the hall. If she could find her way to one of the rooms the Doctor frequented, then he could she her where she got turned around. As she headed back the way she came, she realized that this was simply not the right way. Even though she was certain this was her exact path, she didn't recognize a single room that she passed. She had never once seen any of these rooms. There was room that smelt like baking cookies, but was full of shiny pink rocks, there was a room full of scarves, and a room that looked empty, but every time Rose opened the door, it sounded like there was a party inside.
With a strong sigh, Rose sat down right where she stopped. Something was wrong. Was the TARDIS doing something to get her so lost? Could the TARDIS do something like that? The Doctor always acted like the TARDIS was alive and even called her a she sometimes. Rose had just assumed it was a Doctor thing, but Rose's feet were starting to get tired and her stomach growled and she could truly believe that the TARDIS was playing some sort of game with her. It didn't matter though, because she was really and truly lost. She hoped the Doctor would notice her missing soon and come looking for her...
Rose opened her eyes and yawned. She'd fallen asleep sitting there. The hall lights were dimmer, but seemed to be growing steadily brighter. Her stomach hurt and her neck was stiff. She stood up and stretched. She was suddenly aware that the Doctor had never came looking for her. If she'd been asleep long enough to be sore, he had to know she missing by now.
Her heart soared when a familiar form rounded the corner ahead of her. "Doctor!" Rose ran to the tall, lean, Time Lord and threw her arms around him.
"Rose?" He looked down at her concerned. "Are you alright?"
She pulled away and tried to explain. "I-The TARDIS... I was trying to- I couldn't... I got lost."
"Lost? Rose your bedroom is right around the corner. Are you feeling alright?" He pressed a hand to her forehead.
"What? No, but I..." She grabbed the Doctor's hand and pulled him around the corner with her. Sure enough, her bedroom door was right there. It even had her name carved neatly into it. The Doctor did that for when she moved in. She glared at the door. All of that wandering around... had she been going in circles? No, she couldn't have. She never saw the same thing twice. The Doctor sighed behind her. Rose turned around to look at him. He was rubbing the back of his neck and looking awfully guilty.
"Doctor?"
"This is my fault, Rose, I'm so sorry. I should have known better I really should have. She can be so childish when she'd excited..."
"What's that?"
"I asked her to distract you, so it would be a surprise and you wouldn't see it before I was finished."
"Her? You mean the TARDIS?"
"Yes, should could have done any number of things to keep you away..."
"Away? Doctor are you planning on getting to the part where this make some sort of sense, because I'm awfully hungry and it would be fantastic if you would help me find the kitchen."
"Breakfast, right of course." He showed her to the kitchen and watched her eat. He sat on the counter and swung his long legs looking impatient. Rose wanted to laugh. He looked like he had a big secret. Now that she had eaten she was feeling a lot better. She tidied up and looked at the Doctor expectantly. "Finished?"
"Yep. Gonna tell me what's going on yet?"
"Nooope," He said and grabbed her hand. "Come on." He pulled her behind him and they ran down the hall to the garden. It was one of the only rooms Rose hadn't seen on her venture. He stopped before either of them could see inside the doorway properly. "Close your eyes." He said smiling. Rose couldn't help but smile as she closed her eyes. He led her by the hand into the room. He stopped her in what felt like the center of the room and turned her until she was facing the way he wanted. "Okay, open."
Rose gasped. Before her eyes was the more beautiful thing she had ever seen. It was a massive rose. It was mostly a soft pink, but there was yellow in it too. It looked almost as if the sun had bled into it just right to mix with the pink in all the right places without turning any of it orange.
"I made it just for you. It's why the TARDIS got you lost. We wanted it to be a surprise," The Doctor was beaming. "What do you think?"
"It's... it's so beautiful," She like she could cry. "You made it for me?"
"Yep and then the TARDIS help speed up the growing so it would be big enough."
"Oh it's big enough," Rose laughed. It was as tall as a bus at least. She could use one of the pillows as a bed. The Doctor's smile couldn't have gotten any wider.
"I just wanted to thank you."
The Rose looked confused. "Thank me?"
"Well... it's just... without you, Rose..." The Doctor rubbed his neck nervously. "I just thought-"
"I know." Rose smiled.
"Really." The Doctor looked relived. Then confused. "Really? Because I'm not sure-"
Rose kissed him. The Doctor was shocked for a moment before he relaxed and kissed her back. He held her tightly to him and when they broke away from the kiss he didn't let go. They both smiled and blushed and practically glowed.
"Thank you," Rose said. "It's gorgeous."
"I'm glad you like it."
"Just promise me one thing... Next time you want to surprise me, just tell me to stay away for a bit. I don't really care for getting lost."
"No problem." The Doctor took Rose's hand and they stood together looking at the grand flower. Maybe getting lost was worth the big surprise after all.