"The thing is, Adam, time traveling's like visiting Paris: you can't just read the guide book, you've got to throw yourself in - eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers, or is that just me? Stop asking questions, go and do it! Off you go, then - your first date."

No sooner had the Doctor turned from ushering Rose off to explore around Floor 139 on the extensive and robust Satellite Five with her new little mate than his eyes alighted on another blonde woman standing at the far end of the room, her arms wrapped tight around her middle as though she were attempting desperately to fold in on herself and disappear.

There was nothing at all remarkable about her or what she was doing, so the Doctor had no explanation at all for the way that his gaze caught and held on her as though she were the only other person in the large, crowded place. He was narrowing his eyes on her and taking in every detail of her profile in an attempt to figure out what was so intriguingly different about her when she suddenly turned and met his gaze from across the room as though their eyes were a set of oppositely charged magnets, being drawn to one another outside of their will.

As soon as her bright brown eyes found his, the Doctor sucked in a gasp as hidden memories suddenly came rushing back to him all at once. He could practically feel her lips back on his again as his eyes widened with understanding and he breathed quietly, "Rose …"

She bit her lip and immediately broke eye contact with him, turning away and hunching up her shoulders defensively around her ears as though that would help her to better hide her face. However, the Doctor wasn't about to let her walk away so easily - not again, not when he had managed to find her once more against all the odds.

He knew he was being slightly ridiculous as he blindly raced through the crowd after her, craning his neck over the tops of the heads of the people milling around him as he attempted to keep his eyes trained on her. He knew that technically, Rose was exactly where he had left her near the food stalls with that blundering new pet of hers, Adam.

But this Rose was different - she was from his future, and that meant that he didn't have to play the gracious tour guide or awkward mate or tentative host. He didn't have to worry about getting to know her or wondering how much was too much to share because she already knew it all - far more than even he knew.

"Rose!" he called out desperately as he finally reached the edge of the crowd and saw his future blonde companion ducking into a small alcove along the side of the great hall.

He saw her shoulders raise even higher around her ears as she heard him call her name, and when she finally turned to face him, her expression was one of defeat.

"Doctor. Hello," she murmured sheepishly as she continued to hug her arms tight around her middle and leaned up against the wall behind her in the small, dark corner where she had chosen to hide. She flashed him another tight, strained smile and he could tell that she was attempting to uncover how much he remembered and where he was on his timestream before she decided how to handle the situation.

"You can't keep intersecting my timeline and then acting surprised when you get caught," he chided her teasingly as he came to a halt before her and greedily let his gaze track over every single detail of her. She was wearing the exact same clothes as she had been on Kandover, so the Doctor supposed that she had probably taken the fast route to get here.

He felt a ridiculous wave of giddy excitement flood through him as he saw the edges of her lips tip up slightly as she met his gaze with a weak, apologetic expression. "I was trying to be inconspicuous - really, I was!" she insisted meekly.

"And a good thing, too," he warned her solemnly, "past you is right over there exploring the local cuisine with some ridiculous bloke or another." The Doctor hooked his thumb casually over his shoulder in demonstration, though he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from Rose as he did so.

"I know, I remember this," she groaned quietly, cowering back into the shadows once more in an attempt to conceal herself. However, the Doctor caught her suspicious, narrow-eyed glare as she added, "How do you remember? I thought you locked the memory of me away? You're not supposed to know that … Well, that I'm me."

"Told you you'd be a hard one to forget," the Doctor reminded her, tapping a knowing finger to his temple and flashing her a cheeky grin. "Seeing you again seemed to be some sort of trigger - it unlocked the memories I'd hidden away."

"Yeah, but isn't that … bad ?" she murmured, flashing him a doubtful look. "Now you're just going to have to make yourself forget all over again." She sighed heavily and hung her head as she groaned, "I'm ruining everything, aren't I? I'm just making a mess of the timestreams and it's all for nothing. No matter what I do, I still can't seem to get back to you …"

If he were with his Rose in that moment, the Doctor might have reassured his brilliant companion by taking her hand in his or offering her a warm, inviting hug. But this was not his Rose - or, at least, she wasn't yet. However, oddly enough, the thought gave the Doctor more courage than he might have had with his young nineteen-year-old companion, and he surprised himself (and her) when he reached out and gently touched his fingers to the underside of her chin, urging her gaze up to meet his once more.

"I'm here, Rose," he reminded her quietly, his voice barely more than a whisper as he let his eyes track over every single, fine detail of her features. He had been surprised by the added age that this Rose held in her eyes when he had first seen her on Kandover, but as he took a closer look, the Doctor was surprised to see that her features appeared not to have aged a day. He wondered idly for the first time just how far in the future she came from, and how she had managed to grow so old in such a short amount of time.

"I'm right here in front of you," he reassured her. "Memory loss is a small price to pay."

However, the Doctor couldn't help but wonder how much longer he would be forced to pay it. How much further would he have to travel before he got to have this Rose all to himself?

"Sure, you say that now," she murmured wryly, attempting humor despite the fact that her tone had gone slightly breathy and her eyes were currently trained on his mouth instead of his eyes. "But how long can we really go on like this? What if my next jump into your timestream lands me somewhere dangerous, or I actually do meet myself and cause a paradox, or I accidentally find some point in your future that I'm not supposed to know about or …?"

She was rambling again and letting her fears run away with her. The Doctor felt lured by the sound of her voice and the heady smell of her human hormones in this small, dark space that she had retreated to, and he used her moment of distraction to slowly lean in closer. He didn't realize he was going to kiss her until his lips tentatively landed on hers - he simply knew that he was being drawn to her like a satellite coming into orbit with its home planet and he was helpless against her gravity.

The press of his lips was unsure at first, but the Doctor's curiosity quickly spurred him onwards as he let his fingers trail from her chin, across the line of her jaw, and down the length of her long, beautiful neck, where he silently counted her vertebrae and marked the beat of her pulse beneath his fingertips.

Where their first kiss (from his perspective, at least) had been quick and insistent, this was slow and gentle as the Doctor steadfastly set each detail of her lips to memory - knowing that he wouldn't be able to look back on this later, but needing the experience to somehow be etched into him anyway.

Rose didn't move a single muscle as she patiently allowed him to take his time and slowly melted under his touch. However, the longing and desperation that he could feel humming just beneath her skin was nearly enough to undo him altogether as he cradled her face between both of his hands and forcefully reminded himself that this moment was a stolen glimpse at the future and it could not last, no matter how much he may want it to. If he ever wanted to get to this point with his Rose, he would need to be patient - a lesson that the Doctor still had trouble with sometimes, even after nine-hundred years of practice.

"I missed you," she whispered when he forced himself to pause so that she could catch her breath and he could get a grip on his hazy thoughts.

The Doctor pulled back just far enough to be able to meet her gaze and flashed her a confused look. "Missed me?" he repeated dubiously. "Can't have been more than a few hours for you since we last met. What's to miss?"

Rose's gaze lowered sadly as she reached into the pocket of her blue leather jacket and pulled out the small rose bloom that he had given to her so many weeks ago from his perspective, but only a few hours from hers - its petals just as vivid and red as he remembered.

"I held onto it, just like you said," she muttered, her smile complicated and weighed down with a great, mysterious sadness as she gazed down at the flower and refused to meet his eyes. "Wasn't sure if I'd actually run into you again …"

"You'll find me, Rose, I'm sure of it," he assured her softly, his curiosity becoming a physical ache within him as he fought back the many pressing questions that he had for her. Where exactly was she in his timestream? What had happened to pull them apart? Where could he possibly be that would make her desperate attempts to find him so difficult?

Rose didn't seem to be particularly consoled by his words, and she gently shook her head from side to side as the first of her tears broke free and rushed down her perfectly-flushed cheeks. The Doctor caught them with his thumbs and brushed them away as he gently tilted her face back to meet his curious gaze and silently implored her for as much information as she was willing to give.

"It won't be the same …" she explained slowly, her voice coming out choked and rough as she forced herself to speak through the tears. "Even if I do end up managing to track you down in the future, you won't be … like this."

The truth settled over him in waves as the Doctor silently put the pieces together and realized that this Rose was apparently from some point far enough along his timeline that he had regenerated. He felt his brows draw together in a sympathetic grimace as his gaze fell from hers and he muttered lowly, "I'm sorry, Rose."

Regeneration was never a particularly pleasant process for anyone involved, and he knew from experience how it could strain relationships with his companions. He didn't know why he hadn't considered the possibility before, but he already found himself dreading the day when he would be forced to put Rose through such a traumatic experience. He could only hope that they would have enough time for him to explain ...

Before the Doctor could allow himself to wallow too long in his steadily-darkening thoughts, his dear, precious girl leaned up and captured his lips again in another gentle, pleading kiss - silently urging him not to fall too deeply into his hand-made pit of self-loathing and recrimination.

"Nothing to be sorry for, love," she assured him quietly. "I just … never thought I'd have this opportunity to see you like this again. I'd forgotten how much I missed you."

"What, this daft old face?" he teased lightly. "Blimey, if you miss me like this, makes me wonder what the next one's like. Go on, then, give us a clue. How bad does it get?"

His lighthearted joking startled a small chuckle out of her, which effectively cleared the air between them and made the burden of foreknowledge seem a little less weighty as Rose gently shook her head and smiled up at him through her tears. "Don't wanna give the surprise away," she replied gently. "You're still you, though - just … different."

"Good different or bad different?" he asked, not entirely sure if he even wanted to know the answer. The Doctor knew that whatever information he earned in this quiet, secluded place would only be suppressed as soon as he turned his back and walked away, anyway. But somehow knowing that Rose would be with him through a regeneration made him self-conscious and nervous. Was his future self good enough for her? Would he ever grow to be the man that she deserved? Would she really stay through it all and be there when he needed her most?

"Just … different ," she repeated with another small shake of her head. Her expression was deep and pensive as she gazed up at him with those wide, brown eyes, but the Doctor was pleased to note that, at least for now, her tears had dried.

"How long?" he insisted quietly, his brows furrowing as he continued to run his thumbs across the apples of her cheeks as though attempting to force the memory of her shape into his fingertips.

"How long what?" Rose asked, raising her own hands to hook onto his wrists in an attempt to ground him where he was - as though there were any risk at all of him leaving her of his own free will.

"How long until I get to see you again?" the Doctor asked, repeating the same question that he had asked her on Kandover - the same question that he knew he would keep asking every time he saw her until their timelines finally synched up at last. "How long until I regenerate? How long until we're separated? How long are you going to stay with me once you find me again?"

Rose's lips tipped up in another soft smile as she glanced pointedly over the Doctor's shoulder where the rest of Satellite Five was still buzzing and bustling about - an adventure waiting just for him, even though the only adventure he really wanted was standing right here in front of him. "You've got your Rose now, haven't you?" she asked him teasingly. "You can see me anytime you like."

The Doctor turned his longing gaze to her lips once more, one of his thumbs reaching forward to trace the line of her mouth as he whispered, "Not like this."

Rose's lips thinned slightly as a matching look of longing passed through her eyes, but she gave another small shake of her head as she gazed up and him and replied, "I can't say too much and risk messing up the timelines, but you have to know … Doctor, surely you know by now how much she cares for you?"

The Doctor breathed a small, humorless laugh as he shook his own head in response and finally forced his gaze drop from her mesmerizing features. "Why would she care about a silly old man like me when she could have her pick of the galaxy?" he murmured wryly. "She's off with some idiot right now - poor dolt's probably already half-way to being in love with her as we speak. What would she want with some broken, useless soldier?"

"I really can't believe I have to explain this to someone who calls themselves a Time Lord," Rose sighed, rolling her eyes at him with a sarcastic smirk, "but she is me, Doctor. And even though I can't answer any of your other questions, I know one thing for certain - because this isn't the first time you've asked how long I meant to stay, you know. Nine-hundred-years-old and all that ego and you still can't seem to fathom the idea of some simple girl off of the estates being in love with you."

"What …?" he breathed in quiet disbelief as the single, simple word lanced through him like a bolt of electricity. It was the same sensation that the Doctor had felt when the dalek used the word earlier - a creature who shouldn't even be able to fathom what "love" was. And yet, as soon as the hateful alien had defined it, the Doctor had immediately known that it couldn't be anything else. What he felt for Rose went far beyond anything that he had felt for anyone else in a very, very long time. What else would one possibly call it?

But to hear the word spoken from her lips - even if it was spoken on a whisper and hidden away in a dark, secluded area just between the two of them - was like a gift that the Doctor had never even dared to hope for in his wildest dreams.

"Forever," she murmured, forcefully dragging the Doctor out of his dazed thoughts. "That's how long I'm going to stay with you. You and me and eternity, Doctor."

She leaned up and pressed a chaste parting kiss to his lips, but he wasn't about to let her go so easily, and his mouth chased after her own, needing to taste the promise of her kiss and her words and sear it into his soul so that he wouldn't ever, ever forget that overwhelming hope that she filled him with.

Rose's grip on his wrists tightened as she silently indicated that their stolen time together was coming to a close, though the Doctor was loathe to let her go.

"Get back to it, then, you daft old alien," she whispered slyly as she ran her thumbs over the veins in his wrist, seeming to delight in the wild pulse that she had drummed up within him. "You've still got work to do, here."

"Come with me," he begged her quietly as he leaned back and flashed her that bright, daft grin that usually convinced her younger, nineteen-year-old self to go along with whatever he suggested.

"I'm already there, Doctor," she replied, her answering smile making his hearts swell even as he began the tedious process of creating a memory block that would steal her away from him again. "And, if memory serves me right, I'd say that I'm probably looking for you right about now," she added pointedly.

"Yeah?"

"Adam always was a bit dull compared to you," she admitted, her tongue poking through her teeth and sorely tempting his already-shaky resolve.

"Yeah?" he repeated slyly.

"Goodbye, Doctor," Rose replied as she gently lowered his hands from her face and stepped backwards into the shadows once more. "Don't worry - I don't think you'll be left waiting for very long. I'll see you soon."

The Doctor opened his mouth to attempt to question her further, but he blinked hard once and suddenly found himself staring at an empty wall with a dazed, unfocused expression and the sense that he had been doing something important but could no longer remember quite what it was. He furrowed his brows at the shadows before him in suspicion for a moment before turning to glance back over his shoulder at the crowds bustling about behind him.

Satellite Five was still sweltering and there was an impending taste of something wrong in the air that tempted him forward and made him eager to start exploring. The Doctor supposed that he should get down to business and start questioning the locals.

He did his very best to feel even the slightest amount of remorse for tearing Rose away from her first date with her new little pet, but he couldn't really manage to feel much more than a growing sense of smugness as he scanned the crowd and immediately singled her out. She was eyeing the passerby around her with an idle, bored expression that made the Doctor break out in a wide, self-satisfied smile. Seemed like the new bloke was a bit too dull to hold Rose's attention for long. Maybe the Doctor wouldn't need to worry so much about a third wheel after all.

"That's her gone, Adam's given up - looks like it's just you and me."

"Yeah."

"Good."

"Yep."