Someone was banging from the outside of the room. Or was it just the banging inside his head? The Doctor's eyes fluttered open. The sight he was greeted with was not what he expected. Instead of a dreary, dark ceiling of the basement-like room he had been in, he was gazing up at a simple glass light fixture set in a pale blue ceiling. How did that get there? He thought. His brow furrowed. He sat up and rubbed his sore neck. The banging started again. Nope. It certainly wasn't in his head. It took him a second, but he realized he was sitting on a bed. He bounced a little to make sure it was really there. It was.

"Hmm." He didn't quite know what to make of all this.

"Doctor!" a voice called from beyond the closed door of the room he was in. "We're going to be late!"

He knew that voice. But it couldn't be. He leapt out of the bed and swung open the door. He couldn't believe what he saw.

"It's not possible." He whispered. Yet there she was, standing before him. "Rose."

She turned around and put her hands on her hips.

"Look at you!" she scolded. "You're not even dressed! Do you want to go or not?"

He didn't have a clue what she was talking about, but he didn't care. All that mattered was that his Rose was right there in front of him. He grabbed her in the biggest bear-hug possible with no intention of letting go.

"What is it?" she asked him. "You're acting like you haven't seen me in forever!"

He let go of her and just smiled.

She gave him an odd look.

"Are you alright?"

"Oh, yes!" he nodded enthusiastically. "I'm brilliant. Fantastic even. Brilliantly fantastic!"

"Okay." She grinned. "Whatever you say. But you still got to get ready."

"Right!" he paused. "Where are we going again?"

"To have lunch with Donna." Rose looked bemused. "What did you think?"

"Donna!" he exclaimed, "She's here too?"

"Of course." She was starting to get worried something was actually wrong with his head. "What d'you mean, 'here?'"

He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts.

"Nothing. Sorry." He tapped his head. "Things are getting a little mixed up in here. I'll go change."

He walked back into the bedroom, shut the door and laughed. He had his Rose back. She was actually there. And Donna too! He looked down and noticed he was just wearing a pair of sweatpants.

"Where's my suit gone?" he muttered to himself. He shrugged. What did something trivial like that matter? He opened the closet to find his brown, pinstriped suit.

"Ah! This is more like it!" he pulled the suit out and took it off its hanger. "At last something familiar!"

He slipped it on and went up to Rose.

"This better?" he spread his arms wide to show her his change of apparel.

"Much." She smiled. "Let's be off then."

"Absolutely!"

She grabbed her keys from the table and threw them in her purse. As she did this, the Doctor caught a glimpse of a sparkling diamond ring on the ring finger of her left hand. His mouth dropped open in shock. He glanced at his own left hand and found a golden band, engraved with Gallifreyan writing, on his finger. It just kept getting better and better. He was married to Rose. Rose Tyler. What was she now that they were married though? Rose Doctor? What a strange thought. He beamed. He held his arm out to Rose, which she gladly took, and they headed out the door.

"Blimey!" he exclaimed when he saw the expensive black sports car sitting in the driveway. Rose gave him a questioning look. "Er, blimey! What a beautiful day!" he said hastily. "I can't think of a better day to be going to meet up with Donna! Donna Noble!"

She laughed.

"What is with you today?"

"What d'you mean?" he replied.

"I don't know. You're just so hyper!" she laughed again. "Do you want to drive?"

"Oh, no." he stared at the car, imagining what it might look like after he had crashed it. He didn't even have a license. Well, maybe in this world he did. "You go ahead."

"Alright." She sat down on the driver's side and started up the engine.

"Do you have gum?" he asked her.

"Yeh." She responded as she backed the car out of the driveway. "In my bag."

He opened up her purse and scrounged around, not for gum, but for her identification. Once he had found it he glanced at the name.

Rose Tyler Smith

He chuckled to himself. She went by his old alias of Mr. John Smith. To avoid suspicion, he grabbed a stick of gum and stuck it in his mouth and closed her bag.

"Is it just me?" he asked her.

"What?"

"Or is this gum mintier than usual?" he leaned back in his chair and enjoyed the ride. In a few minutes they pulled up to a small café. A woman with bright red hair was sitting at one of the tables out front. She looked up and waved to them. Rose took a chair beside her, but the Doctor just stood there. The last time he had seen Donna, he had had to wipe her memory. His smile faded. If he saw Donna, and she remembered him, she could die. Rose gestured for him to sit down but he shook his head. Rose frowned, walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" she looked up at him with her big brown eyes, but he couldn't return her gaze. He just shook his head again. "Come sit down and have some lunch." She pulled gently on his arm, trying to lead him but he wouldn't budge.

"I can't." he whispered.

"Can't what?"

"I can't let Donna see me." He told her.

"What are you talking bout? She already has."

"What!" he gasped. "No! Does she know who I am?"

"Of course she does!" Rose was getting a little annoyed. "She's your friend! What is going on with you?"

The Doctor rose his head to see Donna standing behind Rose.

"Hey." She said. "Is everything okay?"

The Doctor stepped up to her and gave her a hug.

"Of course everything's okay." He assured her.

They all sat down and quickly forgot the Doctor's odd behavior.

"So," Donna was saying to the Doctor, "How's work been?"

"Uhh," he didn't know what to say. Fortunately Donna continued to talk.

"You know, I still can't really picture you as settling down and getting a job. You're some sort of scientist right?"

"Um," that sounded like something he would do. "Yeh. The Doctor the scientist." He grinned.

"The problem is," Rose started to tell Donna, "Is that he can't let on that he knows too much or else they'll get suspicious."

"Yeh, bet his science is way advanced." Donna laughed, "With all that time traveling, alien stuff."

The Doctor nodded.

"I wish I could show some of my colleagues my TARDIS. It would blow their minds!"

They continued talking, all the while the Doctor gathered information on this world he was in. They bid Donna goodbye and returned to their house. The Doctor looked up at his house and let out a heavy sigh. This was all too good. But something wasn't right.