"Well that's odd!"
The Doctor was peering through his new telescope, adjusting the dials in minute degrees and frowning into the lense. Rose, sprawled out across their picnic blanket, was just finishing the last of the chips.
"Rose, come look at this. There, right there! It should be, but… no. It can't be! But it is! But it isn't…"
"What? What's wrong? Is it broken? I ordered it through the post, you know they're never very careful with stuff, 'specially when it's labeled 'fragile'."
Rose crawled over to the telescope and the Doctor moved aside to let her look.
"Naw, it's fine. No, what I'm wondering about is where is the star? Serenhardd? It should be right there, right above Orion, but see? It's blank! Empty! Kaput!"
Rose glanced sideways at the Doctor, detecting something more than confusion in his tone. His eyes sparkled and his foot tapped with energy. She realised that, while he made an excellent grade 8 history teacher, the Doctor was meant for more than that. For mystery and suspense and adventure. She got a taste of it working for Torchwood, but she knew he must miss it terribly. Her heart ached as she stared at the man who had changed her world, now stuck in one that, for him, was everything but what he loved. She knew he would never leave her, but sometimes she wished she could give him more than just a way to look at what he'd lost. She decided it was time.
"Well, I don't know, Doctor. But to be honest, it could just be the parallel universe. I notice that sometimes, little things are different. But… I've still got that surprise for you. D'you want it now?"
The Doctor peered through the telescope again, and it appeared that he hadn't heard her. Then he responded,
"No, but even here, even in this universe, that star should be there. It's Serenhardd, the anchor star for the Ten. It can't have just disappeared!"
"Doctor, did you hear me? I said I've got a surprise for you, and I think you're really gonna want to pay attention for a minute."
The Doctor finally stopped stargazing and turned to face Rose. She took a deep breath and fingered the TARDIS key which hung around her neck. It seemed warm, although that was probably just from the excited flush that spread across her body as she drew a slim package wrapped in silver paper from her purse.
"Y'see, I know it's been hard for you, being here in one place and all, and I know you say you love teaching, and you do! Of course you do, but it's not what you love the most. And I've had this since - well, for a long time, and I thought that you could use it better than me and really it belongs to you anyway, so here!"
She finished in a rush and shoved the parcel into his hands. He held it for a moment, weighing it on his fingers, then locked eyes with Rose and stared.
"Really?! Really really?! No way!"
He ripped the paper off to reveal a sonic screwdriver.
"HA! Oh, Rose, this is brilliant! Amazing! You are amazing! Where did you get this?"
"The other Doctor gave it to me right after we defeated the Daleks. Right before we came here. He said to give it to you when the time was right, and, well. It is. Right. Right now."
The Doctor grinned wide and grabbed Rose's face, kissing her soundly on the forehead. Then he turned to the telescope and began pulsing the screwdriver along the length of the barrel. Finishing, he excitedly looked through the machine again, and let out an exclamation.
"HA! I knew it! I knew! I had it right, the star's not moved. It did exist. It did but it's gone now, missing, just… gone!"
Rose flopped back onto the blanket and rolled her eyes. Leave it to the Doctor to find something suspicious as soon as he had the sonic screwdriver back. Then again, he wouldn't be her Doctor if he didn't.
"Doctor, you don't know, maybe it's just, I dunno, in a different part of the sky or something. Tell you what, what's it called again? Sevenhard? I'll look it up at work tomorrow, see if I can't find anything about it."
"Serenhardd. Two Ds. And no, this telescope will find whatever I need now. It should be able to find anything in this galaxy, and it knows this star but it can't locate it. Oh, now this is interesting Rose. This is fascinating."
The Doctor continued on about the missing star while Rose looked on. She couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm, an excitement she hadn't seen since their wedding day. Maybe this was a good development, a distraction that would help him with this new life. Their new life.
Over the next few days, Rose took a little extra time at work each evening to research Serenhardd. The Torchwood database had the star on file as the centre of a system of ten planets of identical size. Though none of the planets were inhabited, each functioned as a stop point for intergalactic travel by several species. Besides this basic information, she couldn't find much else about why the star would be missing from the sky. The later nights and information scrolling on the computer was giving Rose headaches, and she had about given up on the Doctor's mystery. But she pressed on for him, and came home two days after their picnic with a folder filled with printouts from the various Torchwood databases. She presented the Doctor with them after dinner, and he spent the evening perusing the information.
"Oi, Rose," he shouted from their bedroom where he was researching. Jackie, who was passing in front of their door at the time, poked her head into the room and sighed, exasperated.
"Shhhhh! Keep your voice down, will you? I've just put Tony to bed for the third time, and if he wakes up because of your clamour, it'll be you gluing him to his sheets!" Jackie gave the Doctor a look, then headed to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Rose shuffled in and plopped onto the bed next to him.
"What is it, Doctor? Did you find something?"
"Well, no, actually. There's nothing unusual in these files at all. Which, I suppose, is interesting when you think about it. But no, that's not actually what I wanted to talk to you about."
The Doctor set aside the folder and turned on his side to look at Rose, who was laying belly-down on the bed, her face buried in the pillow.
"If it's about the car, I know, I'm taking him in tomorrow, I think it's just a faulty wire -"
"No, Rose, it's not Teddy. It's something a little bigger than a car."
"Bigger on the inside," Rose joked.
"Well, that would be one way of describing it. You see, Rose, I've been thinking and -"
"Oh Doctor, don't start doing that. Speaking in riddles and twisting what I say. I've been working long at the office and my head is pounding from all that research. Just get on with it."
Rose felt the Doctor put a comforting hand on her back and begin to work the tension from her shoulders.
"Well, you see, every day I walk to the school, as you know."
"I thought this wasn't about Teddy?"
"It's not, Rose, just let me finish! Every day, I pass this house on the way to school, wonderful little place, just up the road from work and it's got a lovely big tree in the front. I love trees. Right across the street from a little shop too! Gotta have a shop -"
"Doctor! Get to the point!" Rose's head was beginning to pound and she was in no mood for one of the Doctor's rambling speeches. She would have liked nothing better than to sleep for a good fifteen hours. She silently thanked herself for deciding to take tomorrow off for a sick day.
"Right. Sorry. Anyway, like you've said, we make a great team, you and me. You've seen it - we take care of Tony most days in the morning, and we can run a kitchen like a fully-staffed TARDIS. I'm thinking it's time we get out of here, you know, move on. I know you love your family, and they're great, don't get me wrong. Your mum's grown on me. But it's time for us to make a new place, just for our family, and… and maybe add someone new to the family?"
Rose couldn't believe her ears. She was a well-established member of the Torchwood team, and only in her early twenties. She still had so much to do, and she knew the Doctor was yearning for adventure as well. She saw the way her mum looked at the end of a long day of work and taking care of Tony, and that was with Rose and the Doctor and Pete's help. Rose couldn't imagine leaving her job and taking on that sort of responsibility, not yet. Not now.
"What?! Doctor, you're not serious! I… I have a job! And you have a job! And there's still so much we're gonna do together! This, living here with Mum and Dad and Tony, it's just temporary. We're gonna do so many things, even if it is only on one planet."
Rose and the Doctor were facing each other now. Rose's whole body was warm from the emotions, her head was spinning, and the TARDIS key around her neck was pressing a hot indent into her skin. She suddenly felt the world tilt and the Doctor grabbed for her as she almost slid off the bed.