Rose awoke several hours later, cocooned in a brilliantly soft, warm bed. She stretched and looked around, seeing her new, new, new Doctor sitting at a table a few meters away making something. As soon as he sensed her awake, the Doctor stood and walked over to sit next to her on the bed, offering her a warm, light kiss.

"Good morning," he said, brushing her sleep-errant locks back from her face.

"No morning or night in the TARDIS, Rose," she said back to him in her best approximation of a Manchester brogue, sticking her tongue in her teeth. Switching into light Estuary she then said, "It's the temporal transducers. Inside the TARDIS, since we're both in the center of time and not in time at all, in the Vortex that is, it's a bit like Schrodinger said...both night and morning...ooo, Schrodinger. We should go met him sometime, even if he did have a bit of a cat-fixation. Never did like cats. Never trust a cat in a nun's -" The Doctor cut her off with a scorching kiss.

"Ha, ha, very funny. I get it," he said, pulling back to smirk at her. "It's your fault, you know. You've gotten me into bad habits," he finished, affectionately.

"Bad habits like being fully dressed when your, er," she trailed off for a moment looking confused. What was she? Past version of his future lover?

"Wife?" he prompted, awarded with a still-slightly shocked expression that transformed into a wide grin.

"Wife," she repeated and made the happy noise he loved, "is still naked?"

"Had to get something done while you napped away and didn't want to do it naked. I forgot how much you used to sleep," he said, pecking her on the cheek again before standing back up to walk over to the 'Table of Tinkering' as his Rose had dubbed it.

"Well, I forgot how much you like layers," she grumbled, eyeing his tweed coat from across the room as though it were something offensive. He laughed and shed it, smiling at her.

"Hang on...used to?" Rose asked, rising up and wrapping the lovely burgundy sheet around herself to walk over to his table, which appeared to be full of tinkering-works-in-progress.

Grinning at her impishly over his shoulder, the Doctor answered, "Spoilers." Rose rolled her eyes at him.

"Whatcha tinkering with now?" she asked, watching as he shoved a hand, then an arm, then his entire head and shoulders into a container sitting on the table that looked approximately big enough to hold a toaster. She shook her head. Bigger on the inside, of course.

"A-ha!" he cried from somewhere inside the container. Popping out with a smudge of grease on his admittedly prominent chin, he held up a green diode triumphantly. "Knew it was in there someplace!"

"New screwdriver?" she asked quietly, suddenly contemplative. She'd just seen the jumper-clad him make one a few days ago. Now that man was long gone and, apparently, so was the beloved tool that had gotten him such a brilliant snog for completing.

"How did you -" he started then saw in her mind and remembered asking her in his ninth body whether he should use a blue or green light on the end. "Ah. The other one didn't make it through the regenertion," he said sadly, nervously watching her.

"I like the claws," she said after a moment, brushing aside her melancholy. "And the copper. It reminds me of the new console room."

"I think the TARDIS had that in mind when she helped me get the pieces together earlier," the Doctor said, screwing the diode in and then looking away from her to toggle the on-switch, filling the air with an electronic whir.

"Still makes a good noise," she said.

"Of course it does," he answered. "I know you like it," the Doctor finished, watching her carefully over the top of the tool.

This was yet another change, something new to get used to that might jar her from him further. New Doctor, new console room, new screwdriver. But she merely smiled at him and he relaxed. "Made one for you, you know," he said as she took the screwdriver from his hand and played with the newly installed claws.

"You did?" she squeaked, overjoyed.

"Well, it's a bit more of a sonic pen...you said a screwdriver was too manly," he answered, grinning back at her. And last him had been all about being manly. He'd had to search all over the universe to find a pink diode but the look on her face when he'd presented the sonic tool had been worth it. So was her smile right now.

Rose was holding the screwdriver out in front of her with the clawed end facing the precarious knot on her makeshift toga, examining the brass fixtures when the screwdriver activated suddenly and the knot dissolved, making her sheet fall to the ground. Squeaking again, this time for a different reason, she quickly dropped the screwdriver on the ground and bent to recollect her sheet.

"Well, that's interesting," the Doctor commented, calmly bending to pick it up off the floor once he'd finished admiring suddenly-naked-Rose.

"What?" Rose asked, readjusting the sheet and scowling at him lightly.

"It would appear that this screwdriver has incorporated a telepathic interface. I was just thinking about how much I'd like to untie that knot on your sheet and...there it went," he said, thoughtfully and then he excitedly started examining the casing. "Didn't mean to put one in...the TARDIS must have done it. I thought I seemed more telepathic in this body. Probably an influence of the bond. Oh, this is very exciting," he continued, pacing around the table.

He continued to mutter to himself and point the screwdriver at various objects around the room until he felt a mental prod from Rose. "Rose, what...oh," he said, turning around to face her. "Oh," he repeated, dumbly. All the words in all the languages in all the universe and all he could manage was 'oh'. Well, something never changed.

"All you had to do was ask," she said, smiling at him coyly, stepping out from the sheet now pooled around her feet. She stepped closer to him, naked, confident and glorious and his arm fell to his side, the screwdriver forgotten in his hand. "Whatcha thinking about now, Doctor?" she asked, stopping just shy of him and letting her gaze linger deliberately on his trousers.

"Like you don't know," he said, his eyes on her lips as her tongue darted out to moisten them.

"Better show me," she replied and just like that he was next to her, lips crashing into hers, hands roaming over her body. In a flurry his braces, tie, shirt, trousers and pants found their way unceremoniously to the ground and Rose found herself ceremoniously in the center of the bed.

His mouth moved from hers to her neck, sucking lightly there, tongue laving over the almost healed brand his Ninth self had placed there during his initial claiming of her. Smiling to himself in memory, he moved slightly higher up her neck and settled on re-marking her as she wriggled distractingly underneath him.

The Doctor kept on his task until he was satisfied with the mark, pulling away to gaze at her, remembering the moment, oh, such a long time ago, when she had burst back into his life and things had gotten rather cloudy and then very quickly he'd discovered a mark, THAT mark in fact, on her, and suddenly things had gotten quite clear. Rassilon, he loved her. He would never survive without her and now he would never have to.

By the time he released her neck with a pop, Rose was shifting her thighs together, arching up against him seeking some friction to relieve the ruthless arousal wringing through her. He was leaving a mark and she knew it...and she loved it. His soft lips moved back up to kiss her then moved away and she opened her eyes to look at him. This new, boyish face was looking at her as though she was the most dear thing in the universe and she was startled again how his expressions could transcend his faces...how green eyes lovingly shone the same as brown and either shade of blue. Smiling and blinking back a few sudden tears, she quickly turned her eyes from his to look down his body, distracted halfway down by his frankly magnificent erection and then she giggled suddenly.

"Hey!" he said mock-defensively, having noted her sudden tears, trying to get her attention back on his eyes. "No laughing at your man in bed."

"You still have your socks on!" Rose laughed, then gasped as one of his hands shot forward, immediately and expertly finding her center and the other went for her right breast as he decided to head off her laughter at the pass.

"My apologies, Ms. Tyler," he said, seriously, moving so his body was over hers and his blunt, slippery tip replaced his fingers dipping into her, thrusting very lightly and letting his ripples move, not really entering her, just teasing. "Would you like me to stop what I'm doing right now and remove them?"

"God, no," she mumbled and then reached down to grab his still-fabulous arse, pulling him into her fully. They both moaned as he slid in deep and she squeezed him hard again, feeling the increase in his ripples as she did so. "Like that now, do you?" she said, letting him pull out before clenching her hands again to accompany his hard thrust into her. That was her Doctor, all right. Fabulous arse and all.

"Yes," he stammered. "Yes. Always have. Last body too. Remember, that, Rose. It's important. Fuck," he shouted, thrusting hard, straining against her and pleased to note the shiver through her body at that. Oh, he knew her well.

Taking her knee and hooking it over his elbow, he pushed back against her adjusting to a new position he knew she loved, using the other hand to grab the bars of the headboard behind her. More friction, more depth and the ability to go faster. He began thrusting into her, praising her with words she didn't know the meaning of, not yet anyway, reveling in her words back at him. He moved in and out of her deeply, the hand not on the headboard moving between them. Her hands moved from his arse to his back, nails digging in and oh, he liked that too, if the increased speed in his ripples was anything to go by. He listened closely for the very familiar sounds of her impending orgasm and when they had almost reached their crescendo, he lightly brushed his mind against hers, activating the bond just enough to satisfy them both but not enough to accidentally interfere with the uncompleted segment of hers. She cried out beneath him, shouting her claim on him and he followed her immediately, echoing her cry with one of his own.

Panting, he slowly released her knee, soothing it down and removed his clenched hand from the bars of the headboard. The Doctor propped himself up on his side, his new floppy hair falling over his eyes and trailed his fingers over Rose's heaving stomach, calming her as she followed him down. Eventually, she raised her eyes to his with a brilliant smile and then trailed them down to watch his left hand trace light circles over her stomach.

"Never slept with a married man before," she commented, raising her hand to stroke the simple silver band he wore on his fourth finger, noticing it for the first time.

"I should hope not," he said, smiling down at her and interlacing their fingers. He raised their joined hands to his lips briefly and then returned them to bed. Rose turned to prop herself up and look around the room.

She hadn't really examined it before, asleep when he carried her in and having been distracted by the gorgeous man next to her in bed when she awoke, so she took the time now. The room was a mixture of reds and blues, accents of royal and navy fading into burgundys and dark pinks. The bedside table to her left had a hairbrush, a trashy novel from Fictoria Prime and a large vase of lilies sitting on it. The table on the opposite side of the slatted, iron headboard had a large book of quantum mechanics spread open and a grand number of bits and bobs (one of which looked suspiciously like the dial from a toaster) accompanied by a small white bag of jelly babies and about twenty scribbled post its. Both featured framed pictures of the two of them.

"Our room," the Doctor said softly, watching her take in her surroundings.

"It's beautiful," Rose whispered and the TARDIS thrummed happily. The room was an amalgamation of all his personalities and of the two of them combined. It was them and and it was perfect.

"That what you had in mind with the headboard, then?" Rose asked the ceiling cheekily out loud.

"Among other things," he said, pecking her on the cheek and enjoying her slightly stunned look.

Rose grinned. She always had had big plans for those silk ties.

Both the Doctor and she laughed when the TARDIS presence took on a distinctly embarrassed feel and then quickly faded to the back of their minds. The Doctor shook his head. Leave it to Rose to make his centuries-old timeship blush.

Sighing deeply, he sat up and began to pull his discarded clothing back on as Rose stood and did the same on the other side, examining the large wardrobe on her side of the room.

"So where are we?" Rose asked as she chose some clothing from the closet. Older her seemed to have retained the penchant for jeans and trainers although the hoodies had mostly been replaced with jumpers and blouses.

"Talania IV," the Doctor replied, buttoning his shirt cuffs and walking over to her with his bowtie hanging in two strips around his neck. Rose reached up automatically and began to tie it for him, which had been his aim. He COULD tie it himself but it was so much more delightful (and domestic) to let her do it for him. Almost as delightful as having her untie it. "It's a whole planet of little shops." He looked down at her and finished the last few buttons of her blouse up for her. "And you know how much I love little shops. Well, loved. Love? I'm not sure," he said, furrowing his brow.

Rose reached up and smoothed away the frown lines from his face, going up on her tiptoes to kiss the tip of his nose and then raised an eyebrow at him. "You came to an entire planet full of shops WITHOUT me?" she asked.

"We, future you and I, have been here lots before. You love it here," he said, smiling, and began to walk from the room hand in hand with her. After a brief pause he said, "I thought..." then he frowned again and stopped.

"You thought?" prompted Rose as they reached the console room.

"I thought maybe I could buy you a present and that might make things a little easier when I go back to pick you up," he said in a rush, releasing her hand and sitting down in the captain's chair. Thinking about it now, it seemed like a dumb idea...as if a simple present was going to solve the issues between them. But he had been so desperate..."Seems silly now, I guess," the Doctor finished, dejectedly.

"Sounds perfect to me," Rose said, tugging him up from the seat.

"Really? You think so?" he said, following her lead out the doors.

"Yep! And I'm me, so I know I'll like it," she said, sticking her tongue in her teeth and turning to grin at him. She always loved it when he bought her something...from leather him to pinstripes. "And blimey, that's a strange way to talk! The things I put up with for you," she said, giving a fake heavy sigh.

"You love it," he said, bumping her with his shoulder.

"I do," Rose said and her eyes shone brightly at him, both of their deeper meanings shining through that silent communication. The Doctor watched her carefully. Here they were at different points in their timelines once again...his Rose hadn't said those magic words to him yet, this him anyway, and her Doctor hadn't said them yet to her at all. But soon it would all straighten out and they would both have their happily ever after.

Well, the same happily ever after.

For now...they had shops.

"I like shops," he declared after their fourth one. "Shops are cool."

"I agree," Rose laughed, delightedly. Maybe it was because it was all part of this mad, wonderful adventure that the past few days had been but she found herself falling into an easy pattern with the new him: new mannerisms, new speech patterns, new tics (despite his argument against them) and she found herself loving him just as much for them. It would take a little while to discover everything new about him but she found she was looking forward to the experience. He was, after all, still the same man underneath. Whatever future her was going through, she knew they'd be all right. In fact, she suspected future her was already missing him. Smiling over at him shyly, her love blossomed in her chest and she felt like she could float. She was going to get forever with him after all...and his forever, not just hers. She had to be the luckiest girl in the entire universe. This daft, sweet, brave, selfless, funny alien man with the whole of time and space at his fingertips had chosen her.

God, she loved him.

The Doctor stopped abruptly in the street and turned her to face him. She realized abruptly that there were tears in his eyes and the expression on his face was so ineffably sweet she almost couldn't bear it. His eyes shone at her once more and she blushed as she realized she'd been broadcasting all those thoughts directly at him. He squeezed her hand. "Thank you," he said, quietly.

Suddenly a familiar smell wafted up to them and the serious expression on his face turned to one of joyful abandon. "Do you know why else we love this planet?" he asked.

"Chips?" she ventured.

"Chips," he agreed. "Come along, Tyler!" And with that, he took off sprinting down the street toward the delicious smell with Rose hot on his heels.

They slid into a booth, each with a basket of fried goodness and he smiled once again, watching his precious girl down their favourite treat. Thank Omega for small constants in their ever-changing world. Rose Tyler, it seemed, would always love chips.

And him, apparently. Thank Rassilon.

"I like that 'Come along, Tyler', thing," he said through a mouthful of chips. Still a bit rude then, as well. "I think I'll say that a lot."

"Allons-y doesn't feel right in those new teeth of yours?" Rose asked.

"Nope," he answered and they both felt a slight pang when he didn't pop the 'p'. "Met up with Jack and his new beau a while back and I finally did get to say 'Allons-y, Alonzo' so that's one thing I can check off the list. I'll need something to replace it, though." He was going to miss 'allons-y'. That had been a good catchphrase. Now it was falling by the wayside, just like his long-ago favoured 'fantastic'. Maybe Rose was right. Maybe he did have tics.

"You'll think of something," Rose said and they both quietly contemplated their chips for a moment. So she'd get to see Jack again. That was good. She was just going to ask him more about the good-looking Captain when he suddenly interrupted her thoughts.

"Well, what should I get you for a gift?" he asked to break the slightly awkward that had fallen over them. Fending off and eventually answering her questions about Jack was a task for past him.

"I dunno," Rose answered. "You probably know me better than I know me at this point. And blimey, there's that weird thing again."

"This may come as an immense surprise to you, Rose," he said, standing up to throw away their chip wrappers, clearing the table and raising an eyebrow at her. "But women, you in particular, are the one area in which my considerable intellect and boundless knowledge seems to continually fall short."

"Just the one?" Rose said, elbowing him, determined to fall back into the easy banter they had established earlier.

"Just the one," he hummed in agreement, relaxing as she did, exiting the chip shop to pull her back out into the busy street. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and the two of them wandered down the street together, enjoying each other's warmth. "So...present?"

"How 'bout a red bicycle?" she asked suddenly, watching him carefully out of the corner of her eye. Damn. There went the playful banter.

He paused a moment to consider her. This Rose was still looking for answers and somewhen out there in his past there was a desperate, hurting Tenth him waiting to give them to her. It was no use to give her the answers she sought now...she'd just have to forget it for the time being anyway and his Tenth self needed her to absolve him during their bonding. He sighed.

Women. Woman. Rose.

"That was you in the park, wasn't it?" she asked, quietly. "Now that I've seen that face, I remember."

"Yes," he said, quietly. "It was right after the fall of Arcadia, before the final end. I came to say goodbye to the Earth. After decades and decades of death and destruction, I needed to remind myself why I was fighting that war, to give myself the courage to go finish what we had started. I just wanted to see all those silly little apes enjoying their lives one last time...but instead of simply finding my little blue-green planet of unconcerned aliens, I found one little human who was willing to take my hand and share Christmas with me. One little human who was willing to care for me, dark stranger that I was. One little human willing to love me, even just a little bit that cold night. You gave me the strength to go do what I had to do, Rose. I wanted to pay you back, somehow," the Doctor finished quietly, begging her to understand, begging her to let it go for now.

Rose wrapped her arms around his thin torso, pulling him close to her and he pressed his lips into her hair right in the middle of the bustling sidewalk. "I know you have questions, Rose...and I promise that I'll tell you everything, well, that I've told you everything. We're married, remember?" he said, pulling away from her slightly to look down into her hazel eyes. "You know everything about me. We're bonded...a part of me in you, yeah? You've seen it all. Who I am, where I've been, what I've done...and for some reason, you've stayed anyway. I'm so lucky to have found you. I promise once you get back to me, we'll have this discussion and many, many more. You'll know me. All of me," he said, holding her eye contact and willing her to believe him. She nodded finally and he smiled.

Taking advantage of her acceptance, he stepped back a little and gave her a slow, cheeky smile. "That all happens somewhere in between the massive amounts of shagging that Donna will complain so loudly about," he finished, tilting his head to the side. "Of course, our loudness might have been one of the factors she was so vehemently against."

Rose snickered into his shirt. "She sounds fantastic," she said.

"She is," the Doctor replied, smiling at her once again. "Much to your delight and my terror, you two get on like houses. Imagine my life now...not one, not two but three temperamental women controlling my every move," he sighed heavily and Rose smacked his arm.

Laughing, Rose decided to let him off the hook. She knew she would have to forget this soon anyway, but she'd been waiting so long for answers. Oh well. What was another few days? "So, Mr. Tyler, whatcha going to get me for a present?" she asked, threading her arm into his.

"Mr. Tyler?" he asked, raising his eyebrow. "It doesn't work like that."

"Well, you haven't got a last name! Who am I, then, Mrs. Doctor?"

"You are the beautiful and brilliant Rose Tyler. Full stop. Anything else would just sound wrong. Just Rose Tyler," he repeated, dropping his voice to its most seductive, aware of the control he had over her with just those two words. His Rose would have leaned in close and whispered his own name, his real name into his ear and they'd have been off to the TARDIS shamefully fast. It took him by surprise momentarily when this Rose didn't do that, merely pouting at him and dragging him off toward one of the more promising looking shops. Of course, she didn't, he shook himself. She's not your wife yet, she doesn't know your name, he reminded himself. The Doctor sighed. It was so strange to miss someone when they were standing right next to you. Perhaps this is what Rose felt every time he regenerated, he mused.

He turned his attention back to this Rose who had dragged him into one of the shops and was currently chattering away at some sales clerks, charming a store full of perfect strangers with her laughter and wit. He tightened his hand in hers and joined in her banter seamlessly. She was still Rose and she was still his. They fit and they always would.

The Doctor and Rose Tyler. As is should be.