It was only three life or death adventures later that the Doctor decided to do it. Or, well, got the nerve to do it. 900 years old, and still a chicken.
Rose might be fully time lord now, but her history kept her mostly human. And so, he took every moment he could to prepare. Luckily for him, Rose kept her love of sleep, so even while she didn't need it, she still slept. All the more spare time for him.
After another adventure where they managed to save a little girl's parents, Rose retreated to the library. She longed to see her mother one more time... Just one hug, or a story about how she went shopping this one time and something happened...
She curled up onto the couch, making herself as small as possible as she fought the homesickness. She stared into the fire that was going inside the fireplace, letting herself zone out.
She didn't even notice it when the Doctor came in, causing her to jump when he spoke her name.
"Rose - sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He sat down across from her, worry in his eyes. "I know you want to be alone right now, but I think I know how to help... If you come with me." Hope shown through the worry.
Rose had reserves about doing anything right then, but she shrugged her shoulders and got off the couch.
The Doctor reached for her hand, then led her through the TARDIS, pausing at the doors. "Let's just go for a walk, okay?"
They stepped outside, and she took a moment to use her time lord sense to discover that it was present day London. The Doctor could do all that automatically, but it still took Rose some time.
She longed for home.
Then the Doctor's arms encircled her, causing her to realize that she was home. She held on to him back, her heart - hearts - beginning to mend itself.
"I love you, Doctor." Her voice was quiet, slightly shaky.
"As I love you, Rose." They stayed like that for a while, then the Doctor pulled away. He once again took her hand and the two of them began walking aimlessly.
Or so she thought.
Surprise and amusement overcame her when she realized where they were. They had stopped at the side of a river, and across from them was the big wheel where the nesting consciousness had laid. Their first adventure.
She laughed, about to comment about it but froze when she turned to the Doctor.
He wasn't standing.
He was down on one knee. Holding a little square jewelry box.
"Rose Tyler, Will you do me the honor of being my wife?"
Rose was stunned speechless for a moment, and then a happy glow started to come over her. "Yes," She said, grinning at him, unable to say anything more.
The Doctor grinned back at her, love showing through his eyes. He met her halfway when she raced forward to hug him, swinging her around as claps erupted in the crowd that had gathered while their focus was on each other.
The Doctor grinned while Rose blushed at the attention.
Then the Doctor set her down, taking out the box and the ring inside it. "Rose Tyler," he started, sliding the ring onto her finger - a perfect fit, "you are now officially mine."
"It's beautiful." She said as she raised her hand to look at it. He must have had it custom made, because the symbols on it were foreign to her, probably from galifrey, except the diamond decorating the top of it. It was in the shape of a rose.
Her hearts swelled with love for this man that she had met out of shear luck.
Then he lent forward and kissed her in front of the whole crowd, sending up another round of cheers and making Rose's focus scramble away until all she felt was the Doctor's lips on hers.
Then he pulled back, both of them needing to breathe
"This was bad planning on my part," He whispered into her ear, "I need to get us back to the TARDIS, and we now have a crowd to get through."
They both laughed as they began making their way through the crowd, accepting congratulations from all different kinds of people. The Doctor loved it, all the people, because he was the Doctor. That only made Rose more amused.
Eventually they made it through the crowd and back to the TARDIS. Rose grinned at the Doctor, still surprised that he had actualy proposed to her. "I though time lords didn't have the same customs as humans?" She asked as he stepped over to the console, fiddling around with things for a minute.
"We don't, but I like that particular custom, and you, my dear Rose, still have the history of a human." He paused, then grinned at her. "That or I've been hanging out with your kind too much."
She just laughed.
Then the TARDIS activated, catching them both off guard. They both grabbed onto railings that they were thrown up against.
"Oops. Sorry. I didn't actually mean to do that, but I think the TARDIS is getting excited as well." He was the one laughing now as rose just shook her head at him.
"Where are we?"
"London, again, I just needed to change the time a bit, need to go do something. And you, Rose Tyler, need to pick out a dress." He smiled, more excited than he has felt in quite some time.
"We're actually doing the whole wedding thing?" She grinned, her own excitement beginning to build up.
"yes, we definitely are."
They stepped outside.
She wasn't good enough to know the exact date they were in, but she knew it was several years earlier.
The Doctor interrupted her thoughts. "I will do my duty as husband-to-be and escort you to the dress shop, but then I can't go inside. I'm not allowed to see you in the dress before the wedding." He winked at her. Then when they got to the doors of the shop, he paused. "Any requests for the maid of honor?"
A thought occurred to Rose, and she laughed out loud at the thought of the Doctor's response. "Jack!"
He groaned, "Oh, you would pick him... Okay, you go start looking at dresses, and I will go pick up Jack so you won't be alone in there, okay?"
She nodded, growing slightly melancholy as she thought about her mom not being there. "Okay." Then she grabbed the Doctor right before he turned away, giving him a quick kiss. "Thank you for all this."
The Doctor smiled at her, his eyes growing soft. "You're welcome."
Then he was gone.
She turned around and entered the shop. The women who worked there were all really nice, and they all felt bad for her because she had no one else there. So, she went through and picked out a large amount of different dresses. She would try one on, step out and get compliments from the waiting woman, and then go back into the changing rooms and try not to think about the fact that her mom was never going to see her.
After the third dress, though, another customer came in.
She heard a voice that she could have sworn she heard before. It can't be...
She got into her fourth dress and stepped out of the room, and froze when she saw who it was. There was a group of women standing in the lobby area looking at the wedding dresses. One of them was her mother.
She started looking through dates using her time lord senses.
It was before her mom's wedding.
Jackie must have sense Rose's stare, because she glanced over at her. "Oi, what're you looking at?"
"Sorry, Rose stammered out, remembering that her mom wouldn't know her. "It's just that.. I feel like I've met you before."
"Yeah, well.." She paused in whatever she was saying. "Are you looking for a wedding dress alone?" Sympathy showed in her eyes.
She nodded her head, fighting back the tears that brimmed her eyes. "Yeah, M-my mom, she couldn't make it. I didn't know who else to ask."
"You poor sweetheart. Well, I'm shopping for a wedding dress as well, so why don't we look for dresses together, yeah?"
"I'd like that. A lot."
"I'm Jackie."
"Rose." They shook hands.
"Nice to meet you, Rose. Now, first word of advice? That style doesn't flatter your figure at all..."
They spent the next two hours trying on dresses until she found it. It was the dress her mom wore to the wedding. She had seen it in pictures. She grabbed it and walked over to Jackie.
"I think you should try this on."
"Oh, that's gorgeous! And I think you should try on this."
The two of them traded dresses and headed to their dressing rooms. When they came out, everyone knew that they both had finally found their perfect wedding dress.
The two of them grinned at each other, and then began getting their measurements for fitting the dresses perfectly. It didn't take very long, and soon they were changing back into their regular clothes.
Then Jack came into the shop, wearing a suit. He was attractive and he knew it, too. "Ladies" He nodded to the other women in the shop. "Rose, sorry I couldn't show up earlier." he stepped over to her and gave her a strictly impersonal kiss on the cheek.
It caused her to laugh. "Jackie, meet Jack Harkness. My Maid of Honor."
"Hello..."
"I know," Jack started, winking at Jackie, "It's a bit unorthodox, but I'm a good friend of her and her fiancee's, though she likes me more than her fiancee does." He grinned at Rose. "Anyways, the Doctor sent me over to pay for the dress and inquire as to when it would be ready."
Then he stepped over to the counter to talk to the checkout person.
Jackie stepped over to whisper in Rose's ear. "That is your maid of honor and not your fiancee?!"
Rose laughed again. "No, I doubt Jack will ever settle down with once person."
Jack came back over. "Your dress is payed for and will be ready in an hour as it was practically made for you, Rose. The Doctor is waiting for you at a diner down the street, and his tux should be ready..." He checked his watch, "In an hour as well!"
Rose nodded before turning back to Jackie. "Would you mind if I gave you a hug?" She struggled not to get a little teary.
Jackie laughed, "Not at all."
Rose hugged her mom tight, so thankful to have her there for this. Then she knew she had to go. "Thank you, Jackie, for everything." Rose smiled at her, waved to the rest of the girls, and left.
She still felt sad that she probably wouldn't see her mom again, but something insider her was mended by having her mom see her in her wedding dress, even though she wouldn't know it was her daughter.
And so, Jack and Rose made some small talk as they headed to the diner arm in arm. Rose allowed herself to be happy, no longer feeling so upset that her mom wasn't there.
When they got to the diner, she smiled at the Doctor, love growing within her. "Thank you, Doctor." She knew he had planned the whole thing with meeting her mom. He knew she needed that.
He smiled in return.
"It's so nice to see you two not be in denial." Jack was grinning at the both of them, amused.
Rose and the Doctor both let that comment slide.
Then they sat down.
"The dress will be ready in an hour, and my guy will be ready in two." Jack updated him.
"Okay. Donna should be here any minute."
"Donna will be here?"
"yeah, I had to wipe her memory after she took in the time lord genes as well, so I just met up with the her that was before she did that, and we made an agreement before she starts traveling with me. She wont tell me that we met, and she gets to be my first man at the wedding." The Doctor grinned.
Rose had to laugh. Rose had a guy for a maid of honor, and the Doctor had a girl for a first man. How very... Them.
After a few minutes, Donna showed up, and the four of them sat in the diner joking about things for the next hour.
Then things got down to business. Rose went and got her hair styled and makeup quickly done before getting the dress on. Jack was there the whole thing, flirting with ever person he came in contact with.
Donna was with the Doctor as he got ready, and then the four of them met up at the base of the Torchwood tower where a man was standing waiting for them.
The wedding ceremony was quick as it was just a minister-for-hire type of situation. That and they didn't have much of an audience for them to be pressured by.
And so they took only the most important parts.
"Do you, Doctor, take Rose Tyler to be your lawfully wedded wife?"
"I do." His eyes never once left Rose's the two of them intensely focused on each other.
"Do you, Rose Tyler, take the Doctor to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
"I do." A smile began to show on her face, belief finally taking root.
"Then I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."
The Doctor leaned down and kissed her, a kiss so filled with happiness and joy that she would have gotten lost in it if the Doctor hadn't reminded himself there were at least two onlookers.
Then they pulled back, staring into each other's eyes.
"I love you, Rose. I will always love you."
"Quite right, too." She had a second of giving him a teasing grin before she jumped into his arms, holding onto him as if her life depended on it. "If I didn't have two hearts, I don't know if my one heart could have held all the love I feel." She whispered into his ear.
Then they heard screams, causing all four of them to spin around.
The Doctor and Rose looked at each other, excited grins mimicked on their faces. Then, hands connected, the two of them were racing towards the commotion.
Author's Note: *sniff* I am so sad to actually be done... I don't think I've really done anything but write this the last few days.
I just want to thank everyone one last time for reading this =) It was such an experience for me to have people read my story and actually like it. Thank you all so much! Hope you liked the ending ;D
And if you have some idea that you maybe want to see put into words and you don't have the time or really feel like writing it, pm me and maybe I can do something about that =)
Thanks again!