The Doctor circled the controls, snapping levers and pressing buttons on impulse as Rose followed him.

"Of all the planets and all the galaxies, what are we looking for?" He pointed at Rose.

"A sunset!"

"A sunset! And not just any kind of sunset." He pointed at her again, the flick of his wrist revealing how he was enjoying this a little too much.

"Mm…A blue one."

"A blue one! Well, that's different." He turned a knob and raised his eyebrows as it beeped at him. "Touchy, touchy."

"It's one I haven't seen before. Can I help this time?" She held her hand above the console, waiting for The Doctor's approval as he muttered to himself.

"Hm?" He snapped his head up. "Yeah, put your hand right there. Good." He brushed his hand against her shoulder. She loved it when he did that, reassurance blossoming from his fingertips. "We're almost there!" The TARDIS jerked to the side, dislodging The Doctor from his dance around the controls.

"You sure about that?"

"Forgot! There's a solar flare!"

"You couldn't have remembered that earlier?"

"Nope!" He twisted a knob. Rose's fingers slipped from her button. Without thinking, she grabbed onto a lever—and the TARDIS stopped.

Rose let go, laughing as she fell back. The Doctor caught her, a smile spreading across his face.

"That was…impressive, Rose. What'd you do?"

"Pressed that lever there." He examined it, his eyes widening.

"But that lever doesn't work."

"For me it does!" She stuck her tongue out, just barely peeking past her teeth.

"The TARDIS must like you then." He rubbed the center column fondly. "She'll trust you with just about anything if she trusts you with herself." He pulled away. Rose stood proudly, her hands curling through her hair.

"Maybe I should fly, then." She walked closer to him, slowly.

"Maybe you should." He took a sauntering step, copying her.

"Maybe you should teach me," she whispered, tracing his jawline with her fingertips.

"Maybe I should." He leaned closer and raised his eyebrow. Rose bridged the gap and kissed him, her hands working their way into his hair, ruffling his already messy tufts. The Doctor wrapped his arms around her back, letting her fall into him. When she broke away, her smile taking over, The Doctor stepped back, his daze making him dizzy.

"Where were we?"

"Blue sunset," Rose answered, her hands already on the TARDIS controls.
"Right! What're you doing?"

"Flying the TARDIS." She started up an engine just to make her point. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Go on, get some rest. I've seen you do it millions of times."

As soon as he turned away, utterly baffled, the TARDIS gave a jolt.

"Rose, are you sure you can do this?" He punctuated his sentence by lunging for a support and clinging to it. "I know you're a very capable woman, but is this the time to prove it?"

"Say that again, Time Lord."

"I said, you're remarkable, but do you really need—oh." He let go of the TARDIS and massaged his arms. "We've stopped."

"Now we're there." She pushed down the lever that had given her confidence. "Nice going," she whispered to the TARDIS. She took The Doctor's arm. "I can see why you like talking to her."

"Not going about replacing me, are you?"
"As if I could! C'mon, let's see what we came for." Rose buzzed with anticipation. This was their personal game, sunspotting, but they could only do it every once in a while so sunsets didn't lose their flavor. It was like eating chocolate but only tasting a centimeter at a time—devastatingly slow, but so, so worth it.

They sat with their legs dangling out of the TARDIS doors.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Rose sighed to The Doctor as he leaned into her shoulder. "It's like looking into the birth of something cold in a world that's overheating." She wrapped an arm around The Doctor. "Are there worlds like that?"

"Oh, yes," he mumbled. He was quiet, staring into the edges of the sun like was trying to see where the sky ended and the

"You OK?"

"Yes, just thinking." Rose waited for him to go on—The Doctor rarely needed any prompting, she'd learned. "You're right for me," he explained. "So right. No one's ever fit me so well." Rose blushed against the soft blue sky. Pink skin and blue air—they made such lovely compliments, he thought to himself. Just like him and Rose.