Okay, not quite fluffy, this chapter, but it's certainly set-up for the future :)

And, a bit more script deviation, for those of you craving - gasp - originality.

April 2018: Re-edited since its original posting

Chapter 3 - Confidences and Consternation

As thrilling as Rose found it to help the Doctor navigate the vortex, she never expected flying the TARDIS through the air would come anywhere close. How wrong she was! After a quick tutorial, which consisted mostly in, "Up or down, forward or back, left or right, got it?" Rose had remained at the console, eyes fixed on the scanner, ears straining for any command. The Doctor, meanwhile, was braced against the open doors, trying to convince Donna to jump from the robot-driven taxi, across the motorway, to the safety of the TARDIS.

Rose was relieved, to say the least, when Donna finally appeared, knocking the Doctor back onto the entry ramp. Sparks had been shooting from the console, and the TARDIS had begun complaining loudly against the strain to her systems. The Doctor called to Rose, "Up, up, and away!" and that's exactly what she did. As soon as he and Donna had regained their feet and shut the doors, the Doctor took over from Rose at the controls, and set them down atop a nearby building.

Rose and Donna evacuated onto the rooftop where they'd landed, as the Doctor dealt with the small flames erupting from the TARDIS' console.

Donna checked her watch, and sighed. "I know everyone told me weddin's were a hassle," she said to Rose as they watched the smoke billowing from the open doors, "but I never imagined this," she laughed half-heartedly.

"Yeah," Rose sympathized. "That's the thing about life, once the Doctor enters into the picture."

"So, what about you two?" Donna asked, as they turned to walk nearer the building's edge. "How'd you end up marryin' a Martian?"

"Oh, we're not - we not married. We're just friends," Rose denied.

"Friends." Donna nodded, apparently unconvinced. "So, back when I first... interrupted you, when he was suckin' your face off, that was just some sort of Martian communal groomin', right?"

"We're good friends," Rose amended with a grin.

Donna smiled. "Bet ya wouldn't turn 'im down if he asked, though," Donna prompted.

Rose's face fell. "He wouldn't ask," she said seriously.

Donna was about to say something, when the Doctor walked up to them.

"The funny thing is, for a spaceship, she doesn't really do that much flying. We'd better give her a couple of hours." He looked at Donna. "You all right?" he asked.

"Doesn't matter," she said with a shrug.

"Did we miss it?" he asked.

"Ye-ah," Donna answered, as if stating the obvious.

"Sorry," said the Doctor.

"It's not your fault," Donna told him.

"Oh! That's a change," said the Doctor brightly.

"Wish we had a time machine," said Donna. Rose looked over at the Doctor uncomfortably. "Then we could go back and get it right."

"Yeah," the Doctor replied. "Yeah, but, even if I did, I couldn't go back in someone's personal timeline."

"Even if," echoed Rose. "There'd be paradoxes..."

"Apparently," observed the Doctor.

Donna didn't question them further. She sat down on the roof's edge, and Rose joined her. The Doctor shrugged out of his jacket and draped it around Donna's bare shoulders before sitting on Donna's other side.

Donna settled the jacket over her arms. "You're skinny," she told the Doctor. "This wouldn't fit a rat."

Rose chuckled at that, then noticed the Doctor digging in his pants pocket. Her jaw dropped involuntarily when he produced what looked like a gold wedding ring.

"Oh, and you'd better put this on," he told Donna.

"Do you have to rub it in?" Donna asked.

The Doctor explained, "Those creatures can trace you. This is a bio-damper. Should keep you hidden."

Makes sense, thought Rose. But then he took Donna's left hand, and slipped it onto her ring finger.

"With this ring, I thee bio-damp," he told Donna, clearly amused by his own cleverness. He glanced up at Rose, probably expecting her to think it was funny.

Rose, however, was less than impressed, swallowing past the lump that had formed in her throat at his obviously cavalier attitude towards human marriage.

Donna glanced her way, before scathingly telling him, "Mister sensitive, you are."

The Doctor, of course, was clueless.

Rose tuned out most of the conversation that followed (robo-scavengers, Donna temping at H. C. Clements and meeting Lance, etc.), mentally going over her list of "wants" versus "needs". It usually helped her to see why she should be perfectly content with the status quo regarding her relationship with the Doctor. Unfortunately, lines seemed to be getting blurred recently, and the exercise wasn't as helpful as it normally was.

She came back to herself as the Doctor stood and offered Donna a hand up, before reaching down and offering the same assistance to Rose.

Donna sighed, looking out over the city before turning to follow them. "Oh, I had this great big reception, all planned. Everyone's gonna be heartbroken."

To be continued.