AN: Thanks to those of you who reviewed the first part. Your comments and enthusiasm are much appreciated. Hope you enjoy this just as much.

As well as that paper the Doctor kept in his wallet being psychic, Rose guessed that the wardrobe in the room first left, second right, third on the left, straight under the stairs, passed the bins and through fifth door on the left must be too. Or at least it was connected to the TARDIS somehow because it always knew where and when they were going to land, and promptly filled itself with exactly what she needed for the current time period and situation.

It was a huge, dark wooden piece of furniture with old fashioned ornate carvings, which somehow managed to look intimidating and yet homely at the same time. Maybe it was because it was how she imagined the one from 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' should look. In fact, she realised as she stared at it a moment longer, it was exactly how she imagined it should look, right down to the very last detail she had had in her mind's eye when she read the book as a kid. If someone had ever asked her to do a drawing, she would have drawn exactly what was standing in front of her now.

Did it always look like this? Or had it changed itself for her because that's what she thought a seemingly magic wardrobe should look like? Maybe it was part of the whole 'TARDIS getting inside her head thing' the Doctor had mentioned.

She found that thought a little creepy so she decided not to muse on it further. Instead she got on with what the Doctor had sent her here to do while he waited back in the control room. Opening the wardrobe she took out its contents and laid them on the nearby bed to admire them and figure out what they were.

The dress was not exactly something she'd wear out clubbing, but she had to admit that it was gorgeous nonetheless. The TARDIS definitely had good taste. It was a wrap around, strapless and sleeveless affair that looked like it was held up by a sash around the waist and a chunky necklace – depicting some kind of winged bug - which clipped onto the front. The material was light and airy, in a beautiful golden cream colour that was peppered with a regular charcoal tinged pattern. To finish it was trimmed with a strip of thin, dark coloured and expensive looking stones interlaced with beaded gold. To go with it were a pair of large patterned gold bangles, two coiled gold serpents that were big enough to fit around her upper arms, and a pair of delicate looking sandals with silky material for straps. There was also a heavy wig of very long, straight, jet black hair. It had a metal band around the top that was made of four bronze coloured circles, inlayed with dark red polished stones and joined together by little star like configurations along a number of wires. Clearly it was designed to keep the wig firmly in place.

Personally, she wasn't too sure about the wig although the rest looked pretty fantastic. This was surely one the perks of travelling with a Time Lord.

Grinning with glee, she picked it all up and hurried to the bathroom to get changed.


"Well?" Rose said with barely suppressed delight, wanting to show off her new clothes as she stepped into the control room of the TARDIS.

It had taken her a good half hour to get ready but, in her opinion, it had been worth it. It was like getting to play with the world's best dressing up box, and she was almost as excited as a kid. And it was certainly more comfortable than the Victorian stuff she'd been wearing last time.

Realising that no one had answered her, she paused and frowned momentarily before she saw the Doctor appear from behind one of the consoles. He got to his feet, not even looking at her as he brushed his jacket down and put the sonic screwdriver back in his pocket. Instead his attention fixated on the console directly in front of him.

"It seems to be working," he said, sounding more like he was talking to himself than her as he checked the display, "Looks like we're in the right place and the right time. Well, right-ish. It's not exactly what I put in but-"

He immediately ground to a halt when he glanced up and caught sight of her. His jaw literally dropped. Her slightly annoyed pout, caused by his ignoring her, rapidly switched to a huge smile that spread across her face. She spun around as well as the confines of the tightly wrapped dress would allow, giving him the full 360 view.

"I'm not too sure about the wig," she said with a slight grimace as she finished her pirouette and carefully walked down the stairs to join him, "I don't think I'm meant to be a brunette. Took me ages to do the eyeliner as well. And it didn't help with this thing rocking all over the place. I won't exactly be running anywhere in this either, so I'd appreciate you not getting us in any life or death situations."

She reached him and he looked her up and down, still mildly slack jawed.

"Well, how do I look?" she said, grinning again at his reaction. Mickey had never looked at her like that.

The Doctor gradually seemed to recover, and he started to grinned too.

"Terrific," he said with a encouraging, almost proud nod.

Then he frowned slightly as he studied her appearance more closely.

"Can I just…?" he asked, not waiting for her answer before reaching out and readjusting the sash around her waist, so it was laying straight down the front, instead of at her hip.

"Now terrific and historical accurate too," he find, his grin getting slightly goofier, "Let's get you outside before your dress goes out of fashion."

She followed him as he pressed a couple of buttons on the console before heading towards the door.

"I take it you aren't bothering to change," she said in a mildly scolding manner.

He pulled his jacket open to show he had swapped his black t-shirt for a cream one.

She shook her head in disbelief, "I don't know how you get away with it. No wonder people keep thinking you're some kind of labourer. You look like you just stepped out of a pub."

"Trust me," he said, with an assured shake of his head, "You don't want me to wear what the men here do,"

"Why not?" Rose asked him, immediately intrigued.

"They wear loincloths," he explained, looking a little uncomfortable, "Short ones. And no underwear."

Rose's face froze.

"Oh. You best stay like that then."

"Good idea."


The sun was beating down strongly, hot and prickling on her pale skin. Rose had been on holiday to Spain with her mum a number of times but that was nothing compared to the dry heat here. She now understood why the dress was so thin and light. Anything else would have been excruciatingly uncomfortable and exhausting to wear. As it was the wig was like a little furnace on her head and Rose found herself walking through shady spots whenever she spotted them to give herself some momentary relief. She certainly gained an understanding of why the rich women here could quite happily lay around doing nothing all day.

"Where d'you say we're going again?" she asked, tugging on his arm to make him slow down a little. The dress wasn't exactly the easiest thing to move in and she was struggling to keep pace with his long legs.

Getting her hint, he shortened his stride, falling into step beside her.

"Well," he said, with a slightly disappointed look, "I was hoping you could meet the lady herself, but I didn't land us precisely when I expected to."

"How far out?"

"A few years, give or take," he replied a little evasively.

"Give or take?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Just a hundred years or so."

"Or so?"

"Three hundred and twenty seven years, alright?" he admitted, a little huffily.

Rose couldn't help but laugh despite his slightly offended look.

"Well at least it's bloody working," he countered.

"Where we going then?" she asked once more, dropping the subject because she didn't want to bruise his ego. He was male after all, even if he was an alien.

"Nefertiti's tomb and palace," he said, brightening immediately again with another one of those quick mood changes she'd gradually gotten used to, "It's pretty fantastic actually. Great architecture. Good food. Shame they knock it all down in two hundred years time."

Rose looked around, slightly perplexed, "Why? I thought you said they loved Ancient Egypt."

Not to mention the amount of work they had obviously put into this place. It was such a perfect recreation of the world she'd seen in the book's picture that when she had stepped out of the TARDIS, she had found it hard to believe they hadn't accidentally landed on Earth. She'd even questioned the Doctor, asking him if he was sure that that wasn't what had happened. He'd been most put out by that, insisting that he never got things that wrong.

"Oh, they did. Absolutely adored it. Best thing before sliced bread," he replied with a nod.

By the still clouded look on her face it was clear that this hadn't really helped her understanding of the situation, so he decided that a bit of background information was in order.

"The people of this planet, Gallo, were and are one great races of the universe," he said trying not to sound too much like he was lecturing her, "They're really bright and top notch builders. Unfortunately their creative ideas are all, without exception, crap. Even worse than the worst human design ideas. Like the Smart car."

He said that with such venom she wondered what kind of bad experience he'd had, but didn't get a chance to ask him before he continued.

"Their brains just haven't developed that way. They're terrific at half inching ideas from other places though and they're not exactly gonna get done for copyright law."

"Why'd they chose Earth though?" Rose wondered out loud, "Surely there's other planets out there. What is it about our stuff they like so much?"

The Doctor shrugged in an offhand manner, "Your guess is as good as mine. They're pretty fickle though. They kept coming back time after time and finding stuff they liked better than what they already had. After the Egyptian phase they went onto the Romans, then the Greeks, the Tudors, Indian, Chinese…"

"What's it look like now?" Rose asked curiously, "I mean, in my time."

The Doctor's frown deepened to that of total incomprehension, "Canada."

Rose wasn't going to even question that.

"So how come these aliens look so…. not alien?"

Everyone they'd seen so far looked as human as she was. She'd been taking a sneaky look around for horns and tails but hadn't spotted anything yet.

"Shape shifters," the Doctor said, as though it was the most natural answer in the world.

"So they don't really look like this?"

"Nope."

"Well, what do they look like then?"

The Doctor shrugged with his trademark enthusiastic grin, "Dunno."

"Font of knowledge you are," Rose said with mild sarcasm.

They continued walking in silence for a few paces as Rose mused over a thought that had been at the back of her mind on and off since she'd met him.

"Is that what you are?" she asked quietly, not entirely sure if she wanted to know the answer, "A shape shifter? Are you really all blue and slimy with tentacles?"

She said it in a joking manner, but part of her stomach was flipping over in anticipation of his answer. What if he said 'yes'? Would that change her opinion of him? How she felt when she was with him? How her hand seemed to fit perfectly in his?

'Please say 'no',' she thought subconsciously.

He paused, looking at her steadily for a moment and Rose felt uncomfortably like he had guessed what she was thinking.

"No," he said, unnaturally soft, with a small smile, "What you see is what you get."

Rose smiled too, unashamedly relieved.

"You lot should feel honoured, you know," he said, getting back on topic, "Out of all the hundreds of forms of life they'd come across in the galaxy, they liked your one the best."

"Well," Rose said, feeling a little proud that the knowledge she'd gained came so easily to mind, "They do say Nefertiti was the most beautiful woman that ever lived, so they chose a good model to base themselves on."

"S'pose so," the Doctor replied rather noncommittally.

There was another small pause.

"What do you think?"

"About what?"

"Well, you must've met a lot of people," Rose explained, slightly nervous and feeling a bit stupid about it, "Is she the most beautiful person you've ever seen?"

The Doctor shrugged, "I'm hardly an expert, Rose. You lot all look pretty similar to me."

The slightly wounded expression on Rose's face that she couldn't quite manage to hide, convinced him that that wasn't the answer she had been looking for.

"I s'pose she's up there with the best," he conceded in a slightly uncomfortable manner, "She looked very royal. You knew she was a queen just by looking at her. Although beauty isn't just in the physical of course. There was something very hard about her and there's no beauty in that. To see someone happy, caring and full of life – that's far more beautiful."

Rose got the feeling that the Doctor had said much more than he had really wanted to as he quickly changed his tone and train of thought.

"She was bald you know," he said brightly, with all the glee of a school boy playing with bugs.

Rose smiled back, finding his enthusiasm infectious, "Yeah actually, I did know that. She shaved her head so her crown fitted on."

"Wonder if her husband knew," the Doctor mused, "Would have been a shock on their wedding night…"

Rose laughed.


Despite her earlier ribbing of the Doctor about his inability to land them in the right time, she had no complaints about it as they walked back to the TARDIS. He had been right, the palace was just amazing. She'd seen plenty of pictures of Egyptian ruins, but nothing compared with the opulent magnificence of the real thing. She was still slightly awed by it now. She lived in London, surround by some amazing and towering constructions but these buildings, even though they were thousands of years older, held a splendour that their modern counterparts couldn't touch.

She had found it rather sobering to look upon Nefertiti's tomb, slap bang in the centre of the palace's great hall. It reminded her of why she had wanted to come here in the first place.

There it was. The answer to one of life's great questions and she, Rose Tyler, shop assistant, had found it.

With just a little help from her time travelling friend of course. It somehow managed to decrease the sense of insignificance that had been plaguing her since she had witnessed the end of the world.

As they moved from the main street, down an alley and into a small deserted plaza, Rose paused, leaning against a wall and gratefully pulled the wig off. As good as it looked with the costume it was driving her nuts. Itchy and hot, she shook her own blonde hair out in relief.

"Ere, wait up a mo," she called out after him.

The Doctor turned back to see her and frowned.

"You should put that back on, you know," he said, not betraying any nerves he may have about the situation.

"It's too hot," Rose complained, "You wanna try it."

"No thanks, I'd look daft."

"Can't we just sneak around the back alleys or something?" she pleaded, "I'm gonna bake to death before we get back otherwise."

The Doctor looked at her steadily, arms crossed, "Exactly how many blonde girls to you see walking around here?"

Rose sighed, knowing he was right. They didn't want to stick out anymore than necessary.

"Thought you promised we wouldn't get into any life or death situations," she said, a little irritably, "If we do, you're bloody carrying me cos I can't run."

"We won't have any trouble if you put the wig back on, Goldilocks."

She sighed again in resignation, shaking her hair about once more before stuffing it back into the wig.

"Better?" she asked bitterly.

"Much," he replied, "And once we get back to the TARDIS, I'll take you home and we'll get ice cream. Deal?"

"You're paying?"

"S'pose so."

She smiled, "Okay then, deal."

The Doctor motioned for her to walk in front of him down the next alleyway. As she headed off, he paused momentarily, suddenly feeling something in the air. An odd tingling down the back of his neck. He turned back to the small plaza but couldn't see anyone or anything.

"What you doing?" Rose called back to him, having stopped a few paces along when she realised he wasn't following.

"Nothing," he replied, shaking his head. She was right. It was too hot out here. It was even beginning to effect him now. The sooner they got back to the TARDIS, the better.

Moments later they stepped out of the alley and into the busy marketplace that separated them from the deserted street where they had left the TARDIS. Rose found the place fascinating and would have liked to have stayed longer, but she was already starting to feel a little queasy from wearing the wig again. The sooner she got back and got changed the better. And that ice cream was beginning to sound more and more inviting by the step.

They had only managed a few short paces before a man holding a handful of flowers accosted them.

"Buy a flower my friend?", he asked rapidly, clearly well practised and confident, "Lovely flowers. Would make the most humble home seem as if to be a beautiful palace."

The Doctor screwed up his nose, trying to steer himself and Rose away, "No thanks, mate."

The seller was swift on his feet though and side stepped into their path again, suddenly holding just one flower out for their inspection. It wasn't one that Rose recognised, although she wasn't exactly an expert on flowers. The only one's she'd ever got were the daisies Mickey had once picked for her. It was pretty though – tightly packed pure white petals that were streaked with red. The stalk had thorns on it. Maybe it was some kind of rose.

She laughed quietly to herself. Another rose hanging out with aliens, eh?

"Come on, my friend," the man continued in a persuasive tone, "See this bloom? The most perfect I have ever seen. Surely such a beautiful flower would only be fit as a gift for a beautiful lady."

He gestured grandly towards Rose.

"Oh, give over," she said, looking around awkwardly.

The Doctor paused for a moment, the salesman's over enthusiastic smile fixed in place as if he believed it would be instrumental in making the decision go his way.

Suddenly the Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets and handed a couple of rough coins over to the salesman, taking the flower in return.

"Now clear off," he said firmly, "That's your lot."

The salesman disappeared quickly before the Doctor had a chance to change his mind.

"There you go," he said, cheerfully handing Rose the flower, "Enjoy."

He strode off, and it took a perplexed Rose a few moments to shuffle after him.

"Why'd you do that?" she asked, genuinely curious. He never struck her as a particular sentimental person.

"I know what these people are like," he said dismissively, "They won't leave you alone unless you buy something. Just wanted to make sure we got back without being followed, that's all."

"Yeah, right," Rose muttered to herself with a small smile.

"What?"

"You're right," she quickly lied.

"Besides," he whinged slightly, "I'd rather you hold it. Bloody thing's sharp."

He held his hand up to show where one of the thorns had grazed his finger, leaving a small scratch.

"Well as grateful as I am, you'd better still have enough money left for ice cream."

The Doctor rolled his eyes dramatically, "Honestly, you human females…Us males try to do something nice…"

"Just prioritising, that's all."

They continued to walk in a companionable silence for the last part of their walk back to the TARDIS. Rose stifled a yawn as she waited for the Doctor to open the door. God, she was tired. She guessed it was the heat doing it. It hadn't been a long walk and she certainly wasn't that out of shape.

As soon as she stepped in she dragged the wig off her head and shook her disgustingly damp hair out.

"I think I'm going to go and take a shower," she said, screwing her nose up in disgust. She barely managed to stifle another yawn.

"And have we got time for me to have a quick sleep?" she asked, feeling a little weak for doing so, "I'm starting to feel really knackered."

"Rose, the one thing we've always got is time," the Doctor said reassuringly, "You go and have a snooze, I can do a bit more tinkering in here."

"Tinkering?" she asked with a smile, "Is that another one of your special Time Lord skills?"

"Passed my advanced tinkering with flying colours actually," he said grinning in return, "Now go on. There's plenty more for me to show you yet and I won't have you yawning all through it."

She nodded in gratitude and headed for the door to the rest of the seemingly endless interior. Pausing briefly in the doorway, she turned back to look at him.

"Thanks," she said quietly, with an intensive sincerity.

"For what?"

"For choosing me," she said without thinking.

"And for my flower," she added, not wanting to get too serious, "It is pretty."

"My pleasure," he replied with a nod, "On both accounts."

He disappeared under the console again and Rose smiled and headed to her room. Her intention had been to have a shower then get under the duvet of the incredibly inviting looking bed, but as soon as she got there it seemed her body had other ideas. Her limbs felt heavy with tiredness, she was yawning like a good'un and her eyes were staying open on a wing and a prayer. As gross as she felt, she decided it was probably going to be best to get a short nap in first. It would not be good for her to fall asleep in shower. Either she'd drown or the Doctor would have to come in and rescue her, and she would never be able to look him in the eye again.

She dropped the wig unceremoniously on the floor and placed the flower on the dresser beside the bed. She knew she should take her shoes off, but it suddenly felt like such an impossible chore when all she wanted to do was lay down and sleep.

Moments after her head hit the pillow she was sleeping soundly.

Back in the control room the Doctor shook his head as he realised he'd been staring at the same circuitry junction for the best part of a minute without taking in anything he was seeing. It seemed the heat was still having an effect on him too because he was starting to feel very lethargic.

As he almost involuntarily closed his eyes he had a brief realisation that the thorn graze on his hand was tingling in an odd fashion that was starting to become painful. His increasingly groggy mind wondered why he hadn't noticed it before as he lost the battle and fell into a deep sleep.

In Rose's room she stirred slightly as the flower, laying inches from her face, suddenly opened up. A crimson dust wafted lazily out of it, brushing over her lips and into her mouth. Rose moaned slightly, as if in the throes of a bad dream before she relaxed again to a state of perfect tranquillity.