"I've got two questions for you. Have you got a minute?"
Rose looked up. The Doctor was standing in front of her desk at Torchwood.
"Yeah, what is it?" She said briskly, shuffling through a pile of papers.
"What sort of a suit would one wear to a wedding?" the Doctor asked seriously, sitting down on the desk.
"What?" Rose looked up at him, surprised. "Who's getting married?"
"Me." He stopped, noticing the blank shock registering on her face. "In hindsight, I probably should have asked the second question first."
Digging in his pocket, the Doctor jumped of the desk and dropped to his knees, holding out a small red box.
"Rose Tyler, will you marry me?"
She stared down at the kneeling half-human. After a brief pause she answered him. "Well, I suppose you should wear a black dinner jacket with matching trousers, a white shirt, and a bow tie. Oh, and yes, I'll marry you."
"Good, 'cause I already asked Jake to be my best man." He gave her a cheeky grin, getting back up and handing her the velvet box. Rolling her eyes, Rose opened it and removed the small gold band. The diamond caught the light from her lamp as she slid onto her finger.
"Did you tell anyone you were going to propose? Besides Jake," she added, pretending to be annoyed and failing spectacularly.
"Nope." The Doctor fell back into a chair, propping his feet up on her desk.
"Come on then." She got up, eyes sparking with a mixture of happiness and mischief.
He followed Rose out of her office, asking, "What exactly are we doing?"
"I want to see if anyone notices." She waved her left hand at him, grinning.
The Doctor laughed, allowing her to lead him into one of the many labs at Torchwood. Looking at the equipment they were using, top-of-the-line technology on Earth, it took all his resolve not to point and laugh. Earth tech was pitifully primitive compared to what other civilizations had to use, and would have in a few decades.
"Vivian, are you sure about those results?" Rose was asking, pointing at her computer screen, ring inches from Vivian's thick glasses.
"Yes, they seem to support David's theory..." Vivian said anxiously, paging through a foot-high stack of notes.
"No, sorry, I misread it," Rose said quickly, looking at the Doctor with melodramatic disappointment.
He grinned, then turned away, slipping on his brainy glasses to examine a metal cube sitting on the table by his elbow.
"You should really keep this away from fire," he advised the specialist standing beside him.
"Why?" the man asked nervously. When the Doctor didn't answer, he said again, more urgently, "Why?"
"It seems like cheating if I tell you myself," he said seriously, turning back to Rose, who was looking around the lab for her next test subject.
"Ooh, look, it's Anna," she whispered, looking towards the door. Anna was one of her favorite people at Torchwood, extremely clever and very good with a gun.
"Rose!" Anna said loudly, noticing her. "And the Doctor. What brought you here?"
"Felt like I needed a laugh, and your labs are very amusing. I mean, look at this." He held up one of their scanners, grinning. "I've seen planets a hundred light years away that use these as scrap metal. You're so primitive, it's sweet."
Anna rolled her eyes, annoyed and amused at once.
"What have you got there, Anna?" Rose said, laying a hand on the papers she was carrying.
"Just some data sheets. Nice ring." She brushed past them, heading for her desk.
Rose waited.
Anna tapped a few keys, watching her screen.
Rose walked over to her desk.
Anna read an email.
Rose coughed.
Anna flicked through a memo.
Rose sighed dramatically.
"I think she wants you to ask about the ring," the Doctor said in a stage whisper.
"Really?" Anna turned to Rose, who was now glaring pointedly at the Doctor. "So, where did you get that ring that you decided to wear on the third finger of your left hand for some completely innocent reason, I'm sure?"
"Shut up," Rose said, rolling her eyes.
Anna grabbed her hand, looking at the ring, twisting it so the diamond caught the light.
"Hey, Doc." The Doctor turned to her, looking vaguely insulted. "Why's the diamond so small?"
"If I didn't abhor violence and know you could kill me much faster than I could hurt you..." He drifted off, his threat dying a painful death as Rose and Anna burst out laughing.
"I suppose I should say something along the lines of 'congratulations'," Anna said reluctantly, making a face at the Doctor. "Have you told Claire yet?"
"No, I haven't. Come on, Doctor," Rose ordered, hurrying from the lab and into an elevator.
"Oh, you know I don't like Claire-" he complained as the doors closed.
"You haven't kissed me since our engagement yet," Rose interrupted him suddenly.
"It's only been, what, five minutes?" he protested, but he kissed her anyway.
They were still kissing without any signs of stopping when the elevator door opened and an angry voice said,
"Miss Tyler, what are you doing?"
Rose looked up in surprise. An irate woman was standing in front of them, long nails tapping impatiently on her clipboard.
"Oh, Ms. Ward, we were just-"
"I've warned you once, I won't warn you again," she cut Rose off angrily, scribbling on a sheet of paper. "Take this to your head of department. I won't tolerate that sort of behavior any longer."
"I feel like a kid getting detention," Rose whispered to the Doctor, rolling her eyes. He made to follow her, but Ms. Ward stepped between them.
"You're coming with me. I've told you a hundred times, I'm going to register a complaint about you disrupting office work," she said sternly. "I'm taking you to my supervisor."
Rose snorted with laughter, watching him follow Ms. Ward down the hall dejectedly. She headed in the opposite direction, towards the office of Peter Tyler, rapping on his door upon arrival.
"What is it, Rose?" Her stepfather looked up, surprised. They rarely saw each other during work.
"I've been sent to see you," Rose said, handing him the note and watching as he read it.
"Apparently you've been caught kissing your boyfriend on company time," he said dryly, looking up at her.
"No, I haven't," Rose said simply. Pete's eyebrows shot up.
"Who have you been kissing, then?"
"My fiancé." Rose looked at him, gauging his reaction.
"Your-what did you say?" He stared at her, confused.
"I'm engaged." She held out her ringed hand for him to see.
"Wait-to whom?"
"Really?" Rose said impatiently. "The Doctor."
"I assumed. So, technically, this report is incorrect and you don't need to be punished, but try to refrain from kissing people on the job, all right?" Pete handed her back the paper. "Well, I think I'll get back to work. Nice talking to you."
"That's all you're going to say?" Rose was torn between feeling extremely offended and laughing very hard.
Pete grinned at her, saying, "You know I'm thrilled. Get off early and go tell your mum."
"Thanks!" Rose gave him a swift hug, hurrying from the office, only to return two seconds later. "Oh, could you call Ms. Ward and ask her to let the Doctor go? I'm worried she might kill him."
"Of course," he said, laughing. "Oh, and Rose-"
She turned back, almost out of the office.
"Congratulations."