Rose sat in the control room, perched in the captain's chair, her head tilted to the side. Her eyes were focused on his bottom. He was mending something at the controls; she never did understand what exactly needed fixing all the time.

She took her phone out of her pocket to check the time.

"Oh," escaped her lips before she could bite the word back.

"What," The Doctor said, as he pulled himself away from his work, as he turned to face her.

Rose replied, "Nothing. Just gonna get shower before we go." Attempting to act casual.

"That all," The Doctor asked. She was a bad actor.

"Yes," she insisted. Which she punctuated with a cheeky smile before she left the control room to go find her own.

She laid her clothes on the bed before getting into the shower she had to reassure herself. Her mother was always happy to have Rose back for dinner, but Jackie and The Doctor didn't always see eye to eye. The Doctor also HATED domestics, so dinner would be exceptionally stressful for the three.

As Rose stripped and entered the shower, she thought through how she would tell her mother that she married The Doctor.

~*~

The Doctor watched as the blonde hair moved out of sight. The manic grin she caused him to have so frequently these days, faded once she was out of sight.

"Before we go," he repeated Rose's words, in terror. He stood there, leaning against the control panel, debating. Should he ask Rose to take off her ring, or just ask her to say it was something she picked up in their travels. It hurt to think about asking her to do either.

He shouldn't be so scared of her, she was only a middle-aged Earthling. He was a Time Lord and the destroyer of worlds. Still, he shivered a bit when he thought of how hard Jackie Tyler would smack him for marrying her daughter, without permission OR inviting her to the ceremony.

He rubbed his face at that thought. With fear, her turned towards the control panel. How could he subtly convince Rose to take off her ring, without upsetting his young bride? It came to him as he watched the ships controls configuring Rose's shower. He knew she took of her ring when she got washed. Now was his chance. He crept stealthily from the control room, his manic grin reappearing.

Rose was distracted by the mental anguish she was causing herself. Image after image arose of her mother smacking her Time Lord husband. She had yet to formulate a scenario where she told her mother, and The Doctor hadn't gotten hit.

"There has to be a way to tell her," she thought.

She resumed her washing while she thought it through. She should just tell her mother. Just go in, hug her hello and say:

Rose practiced out loud, "Hi Mum. Say ello to your son-in-law." Which, for some reason, was punctuated by a rather loud thud.

~*~

The Doctor had solved his problem. He would take her ring while she was in the shower. They could go to dinner, no rings. He'd take his ring off to make Rose feel better about misplacing hers in their room. Then, he could reaffirm his position on not telling Jackie because she would make quite a fuss if they had gotten married and he hadn't given Rose a proper ring. Jackie already thought he was a bit of a tosser, what sort of jabs would she throw if her daughter had no wedding ring.

His grin now firmly affixed, he tiptoed through their bedroom. He thought for a second that is was odd he was sneaking around His TARDIS, in his own room. He was shaken form this thought as his toe met the foot of their bed in a quick and forceful manner. With his stubbed toe causing more pain than he thought a living being could endure, he appreciated the personal restraint that came with being a Time Lord at that moment. The words that could have come out of his mouth, in Gallifrean or English would have given his away to the naked blonde woman in the shower. After pausing for a second, to let the throbbing pain subside, he found his way to the bathroom.

There it was. The ring. On the granite vanity the TARDIS had given Rose, one o the many gifts the ship had given the happy couple for their union. The ring sat in a small, ceramic box on the counter, just out of reach from the doorway. He stepped into the bathroom, just a few small steps. He reached out toward the vanity. As Rose started to talk, he thought he was caught.

He heard Rose say, "Hi Mum. Say ello to your son-in-law." Then things went black.

It was a 45 minutes before The Doctor opened his eyes, though he didn't think it was that long, until he saw his wife. She was fully dressed and ready to go, ring and all. He had been redressed, and was lying on their bed.

"What happened," he asked her.

"You must have slipped," she said. She moved to sit by his side. "You were out cold. I didn't want to be late for dinner, so I changed your jumper while you were out." She said it with such a cute grin; he didn't think anything of her eagerness to go to dinner.

"You feeling ok to go though, right?"

"Oh, sure. No problem," The Doctor replied. Though, he had to find a way to stop his wife from getting him slapped, and having their evening ruined.

"Alright, we should be off. Mum's expecting us."

"Your Mum's expecting us," The Doctor quickly retorted.

"Hate to have to point this out, but we're married, she's your mum too."

He didn't mind it when Rose was right. He did mind it in this case though. Jackie, The Doctors mum. He briefly thought that since he was now her son-in-law, she wouldn't hit him because of child abuse. Though, being 900 years old, the charges probably wouldn't stick.

As the TARDIS materialized, Rose looked across the controls at her husband. He wasn't grinning, the way he usually did when they were landing on a strange; and probably dangerous planet, he looked worried. No, worried wasn't the right term, terrified was more like it.

His mind quickly ran through a variety of scenarios that would offer an escape scenario. He hoped that there would be a deadly alien attack, but he knew he wouldn't be so lucky.

Rose reached to knock on the door of her mother's flat. Before her hand could make contact, a leather-clad arm shot out, and grabbed her hand.

"Are you sure about this," The Doctor asked his wife, still gripping her wrist.

"Oi! That hurts."

"Oh, sorry. I . . ."

"No," she countered. "Not my arm. You would be embarrassed to say we were married?"

With genuine hurt in her eyes, he knew that he had, inadvertently, completely ruined the evening.

"No. No! Not that. Just," and before he could finish the door swung open.