Rose was curled up on the sofa in the TARDIS library, reading a book she'd plucked from the shelf at random and idly tracing the interlocking circles that adorned her wrist. They had been a part of her very being since her eighth birthday when they'd appeared on her skin overnight, dark blue lines starkly standing out against pale skin. It was her soulmark, the writing that should point her towards her soulmate. The message of the soulmark varied for every person and was somehow personal to the individual it represented. It was the handwriting that was supposed to help the identification.

Rose remembered being so excited to find out what her message would be, what she could divine about the person she was destined for by the way they dotted their i's or crossed their t's. But then she'd ended up with these oddly geometric circles and lines that no one could decipher and a mystery that had lasted a lifetime so far.

After the initial disappointment, she had learned to love her unique marks. She may not know what they meant but they were hers. Not everyone saw it that way though and when they caught sight of her soulmark they would give her pitying looks. She'd taken to wearing a leather cuff around her wrist to cover the mark like those who had already found their match or weren't looking for one did so she could avoid those looks.

It just made things easier.

But there were times like now, when she was relaxing in the timeship that had quickly become her home after a grueling adventure and a shower that she didn't bother putting the cuff back on.

It didn't even occur to her to reach for it when the Doctor walked into the room and settled on the other side of the couch from her.

He'd shed his leather jacket somewhere since coming back on board and was looking for the same wind down time Rose was. He picked up the book he'd left on the side table a previous night and started reading as well.

They sat in companionable silence for half an hour before Rose yawned, stretching her arms above her head as she did. Her sleeve rode up, exposing her soulmark.

Rose thought nothing of it until she glanced at the Doctor and saw that his eyes were glued to her wrist. She traced a finger along the dark blue lines, his gaze tracked the movement.

"No one knows what it means," she said softly. The Doctor seeing her mark didn't bother her. It wasn't judgement she sensed, just keen interest for the puzzle that her mark presented.

Or so she thought.

A few chiming syllables fell from his lips and Rose shivered at the emotion obvious in his voice.

"What does that mean?" she asked, breathless.

"It doesn't have a direct translation," he said haltingly. He reached out and took her wrist after glancing at her face to make sure it was okay. His callused fingers were achingly gentle as they traced the circles on her skin. "The closest I can get is light or hope in the endless darkness."

"Is that..is that in your language? Does it mean something special?"

He nodded, swallowing hard. "Yes and yes."

"What brought this on," Rose said, trying and failing to suppress a shiver as he continued to trace her soulmark.

He gulped and then met her eyes, his blue ones brimming with nerves and an emotion she was scared to name quite yet but had felt growing in her heart as well over the past few months.

"It's what this says," he finally said, putting more pressure on her wrist "in Gallifreyan, the language of my people. And it's how I think about you, the only light in the darkness."

Rose sucked in a breath at the revelation. "Is this-"

"Yeah," he interrupted, a shy, joyous smile breaking over his face. 'That's my handwriting."

Rose let out a breathless giggle. "I didn't think I'd ever find out what it meant."

"I thought you'd already found your match since you wore the cuff," he said. "That's what people in your time period do, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but people kept giving me these pitying looks and I couldn't stand it so…"

"Ah."

"What about you? Do your people have anything similar?"

"No, they didn't believe in soulmates or romantic connections. Thought they were above all that." He spoke haltingly, each word a reminder that his people were gone. Rose twisted her hand so that their fingers intertwined and squeezed comfortingly.

"Just wondering," Rose said. "This doesn't change anything, you know?"

He looked confused and moved to pull his hand away.

"I mean, knowing that my soulmark leads to you just confirms what I've been feeling," she explained.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Their grins lit up the whole library and after a moment the Doctor pulled her closer, dropped a kiss on her forehead and then wrapped his arms around her in a hug, both of them looking forward to what the future and their forever held in store for them.