"When forever becomes a place, when forever ceases to be just a word, when it ceases to be just a measure of time, but instead becomes a place where soul mates can dance to the song in their hearts, that is a reflection of true love." – Steve Maraboli

Rose and the Doctor stood on one of the most beautiful planets that they had ever visited. The Doctor turned to her, so earnest and so hopeful.

"How long are you gonna stay with me?"

Rose smiled, but she didn't let him see that it didn't quite reach her eyes.

She thought about all the adventures that they had had in which she had been mere inches from death.

She thought about the number of companions that must have promised him their lives, the last in that long list being Jack.

She thought about her mum and their tiny flat in the Powell estates that they had always dreamt of leaving.

She thought about him, with his near immortal life, and herself, with a few decades left on her clock if she was lucky.

But, at that moment, on that beautiful planet with the big-winged birds floating above them, weaving a path through the beautiful structures of rock, and the lake in front of them glinting under the sunset-orange sky, and the Doctor standing beside her and holding her hand and smiling at her like she was the most beautiful being in the universe, she realised that none of those things really mattered.

In that moment, she suddenly saw with startling clarity just how much he loved her and just how much she loved him. And that would never change, not ever. She felt the rest of the universe fade away as she looked him and smiled, pouring all the love that she felt into it.

"Forever," she replied.