Thanks for your lovely comments! Based on what I've heard from you I've decided that we are going to skip most of Barcelona and keep it vague. This means... that this is the chapter that you've all been waiting for!

I still don't own Doctor Who.

CHAPTER 8

The Doctor looked about his surroundings with great joy. He had not been to Barcelona since before the Time War, so it had been a very long time indeed. He was both touched and amazed that it was Rose who had brought him here. She was a natural at flying the TARDIS, or so it seemed. She might even be a better driver than him, not that he would ever admit to it.

As they walked together down the main street of the town they had found, he found himself glancing at her often out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't believe that she was really here. Fate had brought his magnificent pink and yellow human back to him at last, and it looked like she might really stay forever this time. Not just for the rest of her impossibly short human life, but a real forever where he will never have to be alone again. The thought made him want to pinch himself to make sure that he wasn't dreaming.

But then again, not even his dreams could come up with a scenario this perfect. In fact, it was almost too perfect. In an instant, his joy vanished as he began watching for the trouble that he was sure was coming. Everyone else gets a happily ever after, but not him. Never him. He doesn't deserve a happily ever after. He's done too much, ruined too many lives to even deserve the small bit of happiness he had had with Rose the first time. To expect more now would be pushing his luck. Especially since of all the lives he had ever ruined, he had ruined hers the most.

Of course, he knew, if he said that she'd deny it. Her life wasn't ruined at all! He had made it better! But he knew the truth. Because of him, she had seen death and destruction on a wide scale. Because of him, she had nightmares about Daleks and Cybermen and creatures that most humans had never even heard of. Because of him, she had absorbed the Time Vortex and committed genocide when she destroyed the Daleks on the Gamestation. Because of him, she had to witness her father's tragic death. Because of him, she was trapped in a completely different universe. Because of him, she now carries the weight of the universe on her shoulders. Because of him, because of him, because of him...

Because of him, she has outlived everyone she has ever loved, and cannot even look forward to joining them soon in the afterlife because she is now cursed with near immortality like he is. And of all the reasons that he believed that he had ruined the life of Rose Tyler, that was the reason he hated the most, because he didn't even know! Had his human self not summoned him when he did, Rose would now be completely and utterly alone, and he wouldn't even be looking for her!

But despite the guilt darkening his thoughts, he couldn't help regarding her with pride. As she released hold of his hand to peak into another little shop ("I just love a little shop!") or to play with another one of the famously nose-less dogs, he was struck with how much and yet how little time had changed her. Gone was the outspoken nineteen year old girl who always wandered off and attracted trouble like magnet. In her place was a mature woman who was strong, courageous, and fiercely devoted to everything that was good and beautiful. Her famously large heart seemed to have only gotten even larger: as he watched her interact with the dogs, the children, and even the grumpiest of shop clerks, he had no doubt that she could still show mercy to a Dalek if a situation warranted it - even now knowing what evil they are capable of. Yes, time had only enhanced Rose Tyler.

But not all of time's passage had been positive and gentle. Like him, her eyes now belied her age and reflected the many losses she had endured and the tragedies that she had witnessed, participated in, or even caused. That weight on her shoulders was very real indeed, and her grief over the most recent of her losses was still very raw. The pink and yellow human who had helped to put him back together after the War was now broken herself.

So lost he was in his thoughts, that he really wasn't paying full attention to what he was doing and saying. This could be a bad thing on a planet such as Barcelona, for one ill-placed word or careless gesture could cause a world of trouble. Which is how he and Rose both now found themselves in prison.


"Well, how was I supposed to know that waving to a man was the same as propositioning him?" Rose complained. She then addressed the jailer. "Really sir, I didn't mean anything by it! I'm not from around here! I was just saying hello!"

"Your offense would not have been as bad had I not followed up your wave by complimenting his wife on her hat. I made us both sound like a pair of prostitutes! I'd forgotten how sensitive the people were here!" The Doctor replied.

She smiled a little at that. "So, just like old times. We're in jail again. So who owes who 20 quid?"

"Let's just call it a draw."

"Fair enough, since we're both in here. So... any idea as to how we're going to get out of this mess?"

"Not a clue!"

"Yep. Exactly like old times!" She grinned. She wasn't worried. They'd find a way out of it together. They always did.


Several hours and some sonicked locks later, the pair found themselves running at top speed towards the TARDIS with an angry mob chasing them. The Doctor snapped his fingers to open the doors ("Well, that's a handy new trick!" Rose thought.) and snapped them closed again as Rose slammed her hand on the button that sent them off into the Time Vortex.

They collapsed on the floor in a heap, breathless. "I'm getting too old for this!" The Doctor complained.

"You? Never! Me on the other hand..." Rose collapsed into a fit of laughter that made her sides hurt. The laughter was contagious, and soon the Doctor's sides hurt just as badly as tears streamed down both of their faces because they were laughing so hard.

"So that's another planet I won't be able to visit again until I regenerate!" the Doctor said when he was finally able to breathe again.

"Make a habit of offending planets often in this incarnation, eh? Still rude, and not ginger!" She mock scolded.

"Hey! I could've been ginger before I went grey!"

"Doubtful. There's still some dark hairs interspersed among the grey up there. Besides, were you ever not grey in this incarnation?"

"No."

"Then it wouldn't have counted anyway."

"Fine. Have it your way."

This being settled, silence descended upon the TARDIS as the mood shifted to something a bit more serious. Still they laid on the floor.

After awhile, the Doctor rolled on his side to face her. "Thank you, Rose."

She rolled to face him. She was surprised at how close they had suddenly become. It was very intimate. "You're welcome, of course, but for what?"

"For..." He hesitated, unsure of what to say. "For everything. For coming with me, for sharing an adventure with me. For making me laugh. I haven't laughed that hard, or hardly even at all for that matter, since my last incarnation. I'm afraid this me hasn't always been the easiest person to deal with. Just ask Clara. I even asked her once if I was a good man, and she said that she didn't know!"

"But you are a good man!"

"Not lately, I haven't been. Or ever, really. Everywhere I go, people die."

"No one died on Barcelona today."

"That we know of."

"Doctor," she said as she reached over and grabbed his hand. "You are way too hard on yourself. You need to cut yourself some slack. Not everything is your fault."

"Maybe not. But a whole lot of it is!"

"Doctor." Her hand left his and reached up to stroke his cheek. "Oh my Doctor! If I could have just one wish, it would be for you to give up some of this guilt that you carry around. It breaks my heart to hear you talk this way!"

"I can't help it, Rose! It's how I feel!"

She was quiet for a moment as she continued to stroke his cheek. Then she stopped and looked him squarely in the eyes. She might soon regret what she was about to say, but she couldn't hold it in any longer. "I still love you, you know."

Tears began to fall down his cheeks. Oh, he could never deserve her. But she deserved this one thing from him. "Oh, Rose Tyler! I have always loved you!"

Now it was Rose's turn for tears to fall. "Really?" she whispered.

"Really." He choked as he reached up to wipe the tears from her eyes. "I love you! I have loved you practically since the moment we first met. And I'm sorry I've never told you before. I'm such a coward, Rose! And I'll never..."

But his sentence was cut off as she caught his lips in a kiss. He responded, gently at first, and then hungrily as they both drank each other in, tongues and teeth clashing as the kiss deepened. It seemed to go on forever, and Rose could've sworn that she'd seen fireworks. Finally, they broke apart, breathless, even the Doctor's respiratory bypass having given out.

"Rose" he breathed. "I know that you just lost your husband and bond-mate and this may be too soon, but I was wondering..." his voice trailed off.

"Yes, my Doctor?"

"Would you be my bond-mate?"

She didn't even hesitate to give her reply to this Gallifreyan marriage proposal. "Yes!"