A/N: HUGE thank you to all who have reviewed! Your comments have all been so great and the encouragement you've left has been much appreciated. I am so glad you are enjoying it so far! Your fantastic reviews keep me going :)

Rose walked into the lab and was quite disappointed that Dan was the only other one there. She had hoped some of the other team members would be there to act as a buffer as she wasn't ready to face Dan yet after last night's incident. Before she could sneak away unnoticed, Dan turned and spotted her but quickly went back to his computer screen.

"Hi," Rose greeted awkwardly.

"Hey," Dan replied without looking up.

Rose went to another computer and sat down, intending to write up the report from last night's activities.

Dan looked up and looked around, confused, "No alien boy?"

Rose shot him a look that clearly said don't even start and went back to her computer screen.

"So where is the martian then? I haven't seen you two apart since he got here, having problems already?" Dan pried.

"First off, he's not an alien boy or martian, he's the Doctor. Secondly, our private life is none of your business but we're fine. He's just looking for some tech in storage that might be helpful for that thing," she huffed.

"Whatever," Dan retorted. "I just don't understand it. You could have anyone you wanted but you chose an alien. A much older alien."

Rose rolled her eyes, he didn't even know the half of the older part. "Shut it, Dan. He's not that much older than me."

"But why him?" Dan pressed.

"Because… because he's the Doctor. You couldn't imagine the things we saw and did together. All the times he saved me and the universe. He was never even thanked and yet he kept going. Kept risking his life for others; always putting others first. He's amazing and wonderful and brilliant and I love him," Rose explained as if it were obvious.

Now it was Dan's turn to roll his eyes, "From what I've heard, this is not the real Doctor, just a copy. You don't even know him. I just hope he doesn't end up hurting you or breaking your heart like the last one did," he shot.

"He won't," was all Rose could reply. The truth was, Dan was sort of right. He was a copy and she didn't exactly know him. She was trying to get over the confusion of his identity and just accept him as the Doctor; but deep down she worried that if he was just like the Doctor, what would that mean for them? The Doctor didn't do domestics and if this one was the same, it was only a matter of time before he got bored of it all, of her, and left.

Rose didn't think she would ever recover if she lost him again. She had already watched him die for her and regenerate. Then she lost him at Canary Wharf and spent months crying before building the dimension canon to get back to him. She had jumped from parallel to parallel until she finally found the right one, only to find out he had died because of his grief over losing her. After setting things right with the fabulous Donna, she was finally reunited with him; this time just in time to watch him shot by a Dalek right in front of her. She had felt an extreme sense of despair and grief as she watched him dying for a second time. When he didn't completely regenerate, she had felt like everything was right in the world; they would finally have their forever. Then he went and left her on that beach again with a consolation prize - his clone. No, she definitely wouldn't be able to take being left again and maybe Dan had a point. Maybe she needed to make sure he was really going to stay before she allowed her heart to carry get too carried away.

The Doctor spent the whole rest of the day in storage looking for items he could use for his sonic screwdriver. All he needed was the screwdriver and then he could analyze what that object was. He completely lost track of time and it wasn't until Rose came in that he realized how long he had been in there.

"Did'ya find anything useful?" Rose asked curiously.

"Yup," the Doctor said proudly, popping the p in his usual way and grinning.

"Can I see it?"

"Not yet. It's a surprise. I'm not done yet," he explained.

Rose sighed, "Ok, but it's time to go home now, yeah?." The Doctor's stomach growled quite loudly and he looked embarrassed, "Did you stay here all day?"

The Doctor replied sheepishly, "Yeah. Sorta lost track of time."

"You didn't even stop to eat lunch?" Rose asked.

"Umm… no. I'm not quite used to this human thing. I never had to eat this often before." His stomach growled again, "bloody human body," he grumbled.

"Well you gotta eat. Come on, let's go home and get you some food," she said as she took hold of his hand and pulled him away from the alien tech that had fascinated him all day.

On the way home, they stopped at the store to pick up a few items for dinner. As they were at the checkout, the Doctor suddenly let out a loud chuckle.

"Rose! Rose, look at this!" he exclaimed as he shoved a tabloid paper in her face.

She pulled back quickly and then took hold of the magazine. The front cover had a picture of her and the Doctor from the first day at the beach, they were walking hand in hand down the road. The headline read Vitex Heiress Seen With Mystery Man.

"That's not even the best part!" the Doctor said excitedly as he took it back and flipped a few pages to the article which read.

Vitex heiress, Rose Tyler, was seen recently with a mystery man. This man was

described as being tall and thin, with really great hair, and overall quite attractive;

although he appeared several years her senior. Witnesses say that things

seemed quite serious between the couple who were seen frequently holding

hands and who spent a night in a hotel room together. We have not yet been able

to confirm who this man is, how long they have been together, or how they met but

there has already been a growing interest in this mystery man with new fan clubs

cropping up on the internet dedicated to finding out every detail.

Rose looked up from the article to see the Doctor standing before her with a huge grin on his face. "Really great hair," he boasted.

Rose shook her head, trying to hold back a smile as she thought, yes, really, really great hair. "Yeah it's ok," she said nonchalantly.

The Doctor was unfazed, "and overall quite attractive," he quoted, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"And several years her senior," Rose jested.

The Doctor frowned slightly, "Oi! I'm not that much older," he protested.

Rose laughed, "Well, that's debatable. Are you still over 900 years old or are you only 4 days old? Or are you in your 30s... or 40s?"

Now the Doctor was really frowning as he thought, "I don't know really," he admitted, shrugging.

Rose felt bad for having brought it up. Clearly he was much more touchy about his age now that he was part human. Maybe it was the extra Donna bit. "Doctor," she said touching his arm lightly, "don't worry about it. It really doesn't matter either way."

"I guess you're right," he conceded. A slow grin broke out as he said happily, "I've still got fan clubs anyway!"

Rose bit back a grin and playfully punched him on the arm as she walked away.