"Rose. Rose, wake up. Rooooose. I'm bored. Wake up."

The Doctor was crouched down beside Rose's bed, bouncing on the balls of his feet. She had been asleep for nearly seven hours. Seven hours! Really, that was the only downside to having Rose on board the TARDIS. He could only do TARDIS repairs for so long before the console room felt empty without Rose's smile and energy.

"Rose, come on! I've got a surprise!"

"S'only been a few hours, how are you bored?" she questioned sleepily.

"Any time that is not Rose-time is boring, believe me."

"Aren't you the charmer this morning? Just let me sleep three or four more hours?"

"Three or four more hours? Rose, really-"

"Doctor I'm only teasing you, I'm getting' up."

When Rose neglected to move the millisecond after saying she would get up, the Doctor flashed his best puppy dog face. It was scary how quickly he could turn it on and off. And even scarier how much faster it made Rose move. She nearly jumped out of bed.

He flashed her a smile, the one reserved only for her.

"Meet you in the console room?"

She smiled back.

"Where else?"

The Doctor practically bolted out of the room, beaming away like he'd just won a fantastic prize. Rose just smiled. It was incredible how someone could be nine and nine hundred at the same time.

Twenty minutes later, the Doctor came bounding back into Rose's room as she finished applying her makeup.

"You, Rose Tyler, promised you'd be no more than five minutes!" he accused.

In mock-offense, she replied, "I think, you'll find, I made no such promise."

"Welllllll, I've been waiting for hours so there would be no way in this universe I would agree to wait more than five minutes. Ergo, you definitely said it."

"You can't prove that."

"Time machine."

"You'd lose that bet. It's Queen Victoria all over again. Now," Rose began to push the Time Lord towards the door, "if you've waited for hours you can wait two more minutes. Now, go wait in the console room like you promised me you would."

"You can't prove that!" he yelled from the hallway.

"Time machine!" she yelled after him.

Rose could hear his resulting laughter echoing down the corridor as she double checked her reflection in the mirror. Another day of adventure and making a difference in the universe was in front of her. Not bad for a shop girl. Rose rearranged the things on her dresser for a third time that morning when she decided the Doctor had waited long enough.

Humming quietly to herself, Rose wandered towards the console room. She could hear the Doctor humming, too, as she rounded a corner. And … was he? He was! They'd be humming the same tune! Funny, that. Similar incidents had been happening a lot recently.

"Alright, Doctor, I'm here! Assuming you haven't died of impatience."

She smirked. He returned it.

"I am most certainly not dead, but I was oh so close. But! Now that you're here, go change!"

"What's wrong with that I'm wearing?"

"You can't exactly go to a party like that, can you? I'm thinking very Gatsby, but whatever you like!"

"You mean we're going to a party instead of running for our lives? I love it!"

"Well, no promises, but that's the plan. Thought we could use a night out!"

Rose let out a squeal of excitement that sounded vaguely like a 'yay' to the Doctor. Her hug really shouldn't have taken the Doctor by surprise, but it did, and sent them both tumbling backwards to the console edge in a fit of giggles. She apologized through her laughter and ran off to find something to wear in the wardrobe room.

The TARDIS was nice enough to move the wardrobe room right off the console room for Rose. Upon entrance, Rose was greeted with hundreds of dresses. One red dress in particular caught her eye. She quickly changed into it and ran to check herself in the mirror. It looked like it had been made to fit her perfectly. Well the red fringe was certainly going to catch someone's eye, Rose thought. Maybe even the Doctor's? Hah, now there was a thought. If nothing else, Rose decided, she did look nice. Very Daisy Buchanan if she did say so herself! She grabbed the matching shoes and ran back to the console room, almost unable to contain her excitement. Saving the world was lovely, but sometimes a party just sounded wonderful! The Doctor, Rose found, had changed as well. The most dapper alien in the galaxy, she thought.

"Oh, we're looking rather dashing now, aren't we?"

Keeping his eyes on the console, he replied, "I always look dashing!"

"I don't know about that," Rose teased.

"Rose Tyler, I dare you to-"

The Doctor took his eyes off the console and looked at Rose. His jaw hung open and he couldn't muster the strength to close it. His whole body seemed to have gone numb. He couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. It was the Charles Dickens dress all over again. But somehow … better? Was that possible for Rose to look even more beautiful? Actually he was staring now. He needed to say something. The Doctor's right hand found the back of his neck as he stammered out what he hoped were words.

"I just … you … you look …"

"I look … what? I thought it was nice, but if you don't like it I can change."

Oh no, he'd offended her. No. No no no no no.

"No! No, you look beautiful!"

She smiled.

"Beautiful … for a human?"

"Human. Alien. Brightest star in the universe. You'd beat them all out, really."

"Well, thank you! And you really do look dashing, I have to say."

"Yes, well, one of us has got to."

"Shut up!"

Rose lightly slapped the Doctor's arm as he flipped the lever that sent the TARDIS flying through the time vortex.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"Rose Tyler, stick around and find out!"