"Donna, Martha – are you busy?"

"Just watching telly – you alright Spaceman?" replied Donna, as she and Martha both looked up to see him enter the media room.

"Yes, yeah," he nodded absently, coming over to sit in his armchair opposite their sofa. "I just have something I need to talk to you about."

"What's up?" queried Martha, reaching for the remote control to pause their film.

He cleared his throat, wondering where to begin. "Okay. Well, this is going to be rather difficult to explain, because I don't truly understand it myself, but I'm going to give it a go, because you both deserve to know."

They waited patiently for him to continue, looking surprised and curious. He tugged on his ear.

"Well. You remember my...friend, Rose. The girl - woman - I mention occasionally?"

Donna snorted. "Occasionally? More like every five minutes."

He frowned. "I do not," he retorted.

"Alright, maybe not every five minutes," conceded Martha. "But at least once a day."

"Really?" he asked, wrinkling his nose up.

"Yep," answered Donna. "Not necessarily by name, though. But we both know who you mean."

"Oh. Right. Well, anyway," he muttered, clearing his throat again. "There's been a...development."

"Regarding Rose?" asked Martha.

"Yes," he nodded.

"You told me she was stuck in a parallel universe," murmured Donna tentatively. "Has she somehow got in touch?"

"Yes. She has. In fact, she – she visited me, last night, whilst you two were sleeping."

"What?"

"You said that was impossible, didn't you? That you couldn't reach her? That you'd never seen her again?"

"Yeah..." he mumbled, drawing out the word suspiciously. He grimaced as he tried to find the words to explain the unique situation.

Donna frowned. "Were you lying?"

"Did you say all that for dramatic effect?" asked Martha. "Was it actually just the case of her dumping you?"

"What? No!" he exclaimed, offended. "No, I didn't lie, and no, she didn't 'dump' me. She's supposed to be stuck there – is currently there, in fact. But the TARDIS has discovered that she has the power to bring Rose back for a couple of hours every day. They have a connection, you see, because once – well, it's a long story, but basically Rose took the heart of the TARDIS, the vortex, into her head to save my life and, well, although I absorbed it from her and fed it back into the TARDIS, they still have this lingering connection. And the TARDIS finally managed to use that connection to pull Rose across the dimensions of time and space so that she can visit me. So that I can see her again."

Donna and Martha blinked at him in shock.

"So, for two hours every day, you get her back?" Donna asked.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Just two hours?"

He glanced down. "Yeah, just two hours." Then he smiled reassuringly. "Better than no hours at all, though, right?"

"So, when will she be coming today?" asked Martha.

"At two in the morning," he answered. "You can stay up and meet her if you want. Or not. It's...it's up to you."

"I'd like to meet her," replied Donna, and Martha nodded in agreement. "But how is any of this possible?"

"I have no idea," he replied honestly, raising his eyebrows. "But I want it to be real. I just hope that I didn't...well, you know, imagine it happened, last night. Wouldn't be the first time I'd hallucinated our reunion. So I would appreciate it if you'd both be there, in the kitchen, when – if – she materialises later, so that you can verify if she's there. So that I can see if I've actually gone completely and irreversibly barmy or not."

Donna smiled sympathetically. "Okay," she agreed. She shared an anxious glance with Martha. Now that he'd questioned his own sanity, they were secretly questioning his sanity too. "We'll be there."

He let out a long breath. "Thank you."

::

"Ooh, I have an audience," murmured Rose, as she materialised in the TARDIS kitchen.

Donna and Martha gasped in shock. The Doctor beamed joyously in relief. She was real. They saw her, heard her. She was real. He bounced up from his seat and grabbed Rose into his arms, hugging her tightly.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're here," he whispered into her hair.

"You thought I wouldn't come?" she tutted, leaning back to look at him properly. "I promised you I would." Then she looked over his shoulder and smiled at Donna and Martha. "Hello. I've heard so much about you both."

Donna's mouth opened then closed then opened again. "You – he – you - " she spluttered.

Martha chuckled in disbelief beside her. "What Donna is trying to say is, he hasn't lost his mind, then, and it's nice to meet you."

"You thought I'd lost my mind?" squeaked the Doctor indignantly, whirling around to face them again. He kept one arm securely around Rose's waist, however.

"You thought you'd lost your mind!" exclaimed Donna, regaining her ability to form a coherent sentence. "Of course I did!"

Rose placed her hand over the one at her hip and squeezed it reassuringly. "You're not going crazy, Doctor. Well, not any more than usual. I'm here. I'll be here every day."

Donna watched the two of them looking at each other and sighed happily. "He's missed you so much," she told Rose, prompting Rose to turn to her again. The Doctor scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably, refusing to meet anyone's gaze.

Rose grinned at the women and gently extricated herself from the Doctor's grip, sitting down with them at the table. "I'm so pleased that I get to meet you," she told them.

"Likewise," Martha murmured quietly.

The three of them began to talk, sharing memories and playfully teasing the Doctor for his frequently odd habits, and, well, generally getting along like a house on fire. The Doctor watched them, leaning up against the counter, with a smile on his face. But he couldn't disguise the longing in his eyes, something that Donna noticed when she glanced over at him. She realised that although he was happy that they were establishing a fast friendship with Rose, he really wanted to spend the rest of their short time together alone. She subsequently looked at the clock. Then, tactfully, she murmured, "Well, maybe me and Martha ought to get to bed, it's quite late. And you don't have much time together, so..."

Martha picked up from where Donna left off, "Yeah, I'm knackered. It was nice to meet you, Rose. We'll leave you two alone." She smiled, and she and Donna got up to leave. Rose jumped up and surprised them both by giving them each a hug as she murmured her goodbyes to them.

"See you tomorrow?" she gently inquired as they left the room.

"If we're awake," Donna chuckled. "Honestly, it's shame you couldn't pick what time you get brought across." With a laugh and a wave, they were gone, and Rose turned around to face the Doctor.

"It isn't," the Doctor murmured.

"What isn't?"

"A shame. I'm rather glad that it's these hours. Means that I'll probably get you all to myself most times," he smiled.

Rose rolled her eyes affectionately at him and then grinned. "Doctor."

"Yeah?"

"Race you to the swimming pool."