A/N: Thank you all so, so much for your lovely reviews! This is dedicated to all of you :D I hope you like it x

Chapter 3

Rose's mouth fell open in complete shock.

At her stunned silence, the Doctor shifted from foot to foot, yearning to just run to her and sweep her into his arms. Scared to in case she slapped him for being so bloody late.

Then a wide smile spread across her face, and he didn't need to run to her, because she propelled herself forward so quickly that the force of her sudden hold on him sent them both tumbling backwards and onto the floor.

Rose looked down at the Doctor from where she'd landed on top of him, and they both started laughing, remembering times of rough landings and sprawling on the console room floor with a fondness that tugged at his hearts.

"Hello, Rose Tyler," he murmured, lifting his arms and wrapping them around her back, keeping her pressed close against him.

Awkwardly in that position, Rose brought her own arms up so that she could run her hands through his hair. "Hello, Doctor," she beamed.

"How are you?" he asked her, and he couldn't help but respond in kind to Rose's chuckle, for what an absurd thing to say, so small-talk-like and nonchalant, when she was laying on practically the entire length of his body after not seeing him for years.

Her chuckles died off once more and she surveyed his face closely. "I'm alright. You?" she replied. "You look older..." she murmured, tracing the frown lines of his forehead.

"Thanks," he responded sarcastically, tickling her ribs. "So do you." And she did. But only in all the best possible ways. There wasn't a wrinkle in sight, not one; but she had a wise, knowing look in her eyes from a few more years of experience, and the way his hands fit so nicely on her womanly hips was just divine.

"Mmm, well. I'm still human. I s'pose I still sort of do that thing called aging... What's your excuse?" she laughed.

"I missed you," he whispered, stroking her hair from out of her face where it had slipped from behind her ear.

He saw the tears glisten in Rose's eyes. "Missed you more. You got the timing wrong, again, Doctor. It's s'posed to be five and a half hours, not five and a half years," she whispered back.

"I'm so sorry," he apologised quietly, following Tony's advice. "It took...longer than I expected." No it didn't, he thought briefly to himself, I didn't expect it to ever happen, not after so long without you. "And...well. I wasn't really in a position to pick and choose the date," he continued. "I'm just so lucky that I ended up in a year with you still here. Imagine how awful it would've been if I'd got here a hundred and twenty years later or something, and tried to look you up. I would've been - "

" – able to," Rose finished quietly.

He frowned. "I'm sorry?" He paused. "Don't tell me you've built a time machine as well as a Secret Lair!"

"No," she laughed. Then she blushed. "Wait, you've seen that?"

He grinned up at her. "Yep! It's...well, it's brilliant! Really fantastic. I went there first, you see. Didn't know what year it was or anything, but I took a chance and went to Pete and Jackie's mansion for some answers. Then Jackie showed me the tree house."

Rose swallowed thickly. "Did you go inside?"

He nodded gently. "It's beautiful."

"Thanks," she said, flushing pink again.

"You're beautiful," he continued, slipping his hand into her hair and cradling the back of her head.

She smiled warmly, and, at the slightest pressure the Doctor made to push her head down towards him, she cottoned onto his idea and closed the gap between them, pressing her lips to his.

The Doctor kissed her back, rolling them until he was on top and able to take control. Her hands clutched his arms, squeezing so tightly to make sure this was real, he was here, she wasn't hallucinating again.

Their tongues glided against one another and they both melted into the kiss, remembering and hoping and thinking: finally.

He pulled back when he sensed her need to breathe.

"We should...g-get off the floor," Rose panted.

The Doctor nodded and jumped up, holding out his hand to her and hauling her up with him. "Rose," he murmured, so reverently, like she was the most precious thing in the universe. Which, he supposed, she was. To him. She was.

"Yeah, Doctor?" she answered breathlessly.

He caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye. "Rose, why do you have a stethoscope on your coffee table?"

Rose burst out laughing. "Oh, that's Tom's."

"Tom? He your flatmate?"

"Yeah! He's great. Did Mum tell you? He's dating Jake..." Rose said, waiting for him to make the connection.

Comprehension dawned on the Doctor's face."Jakey-Jake? Cyberman-fighting Jake?"

"Yep!" she grinned.

"Wow. You'll have to fill me in on all that later," he replied. He frowned momentarily. "I mean, not all that, I don't need details." Rose giggled. Then the Doctor's expression turned serious, and he reached for her hand, entwining their fingers tightly. "But first...Rose, what did you mean, I would've been able to find you in one hundred and twenty years' time? Actually, what did you mean when you said you 'still sort of' do the aging thing?"

Rose glanced away uneasily and inhaled a shaky breath. "Thing is, Doctor..."

He bit the inside of his cheek in anticipation, waiting patiently for her to finish.

"No one knows this apart from a friend of mine – Ianto, his name is - from Torchwood. But I think - "

She was interrupted by Jackie walking into the flat, holding Tony's hand. "Isn't it amazing, Rose! He came back, at last!"

Rose beamed, squeezing the Doctor's hand tightly, evidently hoping he'd be sufficiently distracted and not ask questions in front of her family. "Yeah, it's fantastic." She looked back at him and practically melted under his loving gaze.

Pete followed his wife and son into the room. "Reunited at last, eh? That's one for the photo wall, Rose."

She grinned in response, and rushed over to a chest of drawers, pulling out her camera. "Excellent idea!" she announced, passing the camera to Pete.

She proceeded to arrange the Doctor's arms around her, while he looked down at her bemusedly. Nudging him, she prompted him to look down the lens and smile, but he couldn't look away from her smiling, happy face. She looked back up at him in mild frustration, but seeing his tender expression, she smiled back. Pete captured the moment, and declared it to be lovely.

"Thanks, Dad," Rose murmured gratefully, taking the camera back and tossing it haphazardly onto the sofa. The Doctor smiled.

Jackie interrupted the quiet moment. "Um, Rose, love? What's that smell?"

The Doctor and Rose both sniffed simultaneously, and while the former burst into gales of laughter, the latter had a look of horror flit across her face before she dashed into the kitchen.

"Oh, bloody hell! My oven's on fire!" she shrieked.