A/N: Once again, thankyou to the end of the universe and back for all these nice reviews! I'm completely chuffed :D I hope you continue to like... xx

Chapter 4

The Doctor just continued smiling, and then went to help her put it out. "You know, for one moment, as I stepped into this flat and was hit by the tantalising smell of bacon, I genuinely thought you might've taken the time to learn..." he smirked, clearing up the water she'd thrown over the oven with a random cloth as it ran down the counter and soaked the floor.

"Never," Rose laughed, as she picked up the remains of her cooked breakfast and looked at it mournfully. "Mum bought me a cookbook once. Think it got used as a doorstop or something, then got banana milkshake split on it. Never even opened the thing," she whispered conspiringly.

"That does not surprise me in the least," he replied, before pulling the frying pan that held burnt, crispy bacon inside it out of her hand, chucking it into the sink, and tugging her into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head. "I wonder what else hasn't changed about you," he said softly.

"You'd do better to wonder what has," she retorted.

He stiffened at her words, and leant backwards to look observe her fully. "What's going on, Rose?" he murmured, though he suspected that he had an inkling.

She leant her forehead against his chin and her sigh tickled his neck. "I can't talk about it here. Not with them outside. I can't."

"We could go to your tree house," the Doctor suggested with a smile. "Just sneak off and leave your family here...and then, you could show me all those notebooks with all that stuff you want to tell me inside."

"She told you about that?" Rose exclaimed, embarrassed. "Oh, god."

"Hey, don't feel bad. I did something similar, actually," he confessed.

"You did?"

"Yeah."

"How long's it been for you?" she asked gently.

"Oh, long enough," he replied elusively, keeping his tone cheerful. He didn't want to think about the years he'd spent without her. Didn't and couldn't, because she was here now, in front of him, holding onto him, and all the pain and loneliness he'd felt was fading away as she smiled. That was what Rose did, though. It was what she had always done. Made him better.

Rose nodded in acceptance, but he could tell she was just bursting with questions to ask him. But he had a far more important inquiry about her. And if it was even remotely connected to what he thought it was, he suspected he had a few tests to run.

"Doctor," she whispered, bringing him out of his reverie. "Where is she?"

He frowned at her in confusion. "Where is who?"

"The TARDIS..." she clarified slowly, as if he were being thick.

"Oh! Well, she's in Sardinia, actually," he answered sheepishly.

"She what?"

"Weelll, I landed in Sardinia. Made a nice change; usually end up in London when I crash to Earth, which is often convenient – and would have been very convenient in this case – but quite boring – which of course, it wouldn't've been, in this case, but you get the idea. Irony is a tragic thing. Anyway, I landed in Sardinia, met a nice bloke who hitched me a lift to the airport, and then I had to catch a flight to Heathrow to get here a.s.a.p...and here I am!" he grinned.

Rose shook her head in amusement. "You're just..."

"Impressive?" he pre-empted smugly.

"No," she giggled. "Crazy bad at driving."

He pouted.

"How did you even manage to get into this universe, anyway?" she asked next. "I mean, I've tried to get back, you know...we made this, uh, this..."

His eyes lit up. "This what?"

"This dimension cannon thing. Theoretically, it would work. But I couldn't use it, 'cos it would tear a massive hole in the universe. So I've been playing a waiting game, hoping that someday, some alien will do the tearing for me, so that I can jump through. Never thought it would happen, though, not again; I reckon the monsters know when they're beat, and facing us? The Doctor and Rose? Shiver and Shake, separated on either side of the void and ready to do anything to get back to each other? They wouldn't risk it," she grinned, with a cheeky wink tossed his way. "So really, I've just been waiting for you to find a way back to get me yourself."

"Oh, Rose," he murmured, half-proudly, half-sadly. "You should never waste your life waiting for me. In fact - "

" – but you're here, aren't you? So it's a good job I did. Imagine what you would've felt like if you got through and I'd moved on and was all happily married with four kids and a mortgage?"

"Well, I would've been heartbroken, but that's not the point."

Rose rolled her eyes. "You're here now. That's what matters. Anyway, it was only six years," she dismissed with a wave of her hand.

"Only! Only?" he spluttered, and then he spilled his confession; "It was 'only' three years for me, and that was bad enough! Rassilon, Rose!"

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Really?" she murmured.

"Yes, really," he retorted hotly. "I tried everything I could think of for, oh, so long. But then, I gave up. I was exhausted, and I just...gave up." He looked her with sorrowful, pleading eyes. "I thought I'd never get you back, and I just..."

"It's alright, Doctor. You found a way eventually, yeah?" She smiled encouragingly at him, and he let out a sigh of relief.

"Yes. I did. Stumbled across it, really. I'll tell you all about that later. But seriously, Rose, let's get out of this flat so we can talk properly."

Rose nodded, walking backwards. "Of course." She paused, halfway out of the door to the living room. "But. It's just, well." She swallowed uneasily. "How long do we have, this time?" she whispered.

"Oh Rose," he breathed out, a contented smile lighting up his face. "We've got all the time in the World."

She bit her lip. "Are you trapped here?"

The Doctor shook his head gently. "No. But I can be, if that's what you want. For as long as you want. Forever, even."

Rose eyed him in confusion. "Right," she said quietly. Then, abruptly and without explanation, she turned and left the room.

The Doctor stared after her for a few seconds, before going into the sitting room.

"Where's she gone?" he asked Pete and Jackie.

"In her bedroom," answered Tony, pointing to a door.

"Oh," replied the Doctor. "Right."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "Well, go and see if she's alright then, you dummy. You've been in her bedroom countless times!"

"Not this one," he countered, nevertheless strolling up and entering her room without knocking, just like he always used to.

He shut the door behind him and stared at Rose, who was standing on a chair, precariously reaching up to the top of her wardrobe, feeling around for something.

"Um, Rose...what are you doing?"

"Just...trying...to find – aha!" she announced gleefully, finding her prize. Her triumph was short-lived however, when she almost toppled off the chair and onto the floor. Luckily, the fast-reacting Doctor was there to catch her, and catch her he did. "Oh, hello," she giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck. "My hero."

He smiled wistfully. "Oh, I should hope so." Then, he unceremoniously plonked her on her bed and sat down next to her. "What's all this, then?" he asked, gesturing to the box in her hands.

"Well," she began excitedly, getting to her knees. "This flat, yeah...it's not really where all my stuff is. The stuff that matters, I mean. 'Cos obviously, as you've seen, the stuff that matters is in the tree house, all locked up safe and somewhere I can go and look at said stuff and not seem completely crazy to my flatmate."

"Yeah..." he said, thinking he was following.

"But this...well, I can't have this too far away from me for any length of time," she told him, affectionately stroking the box.

"Why? What's inside?" he asked curiously.

"Oh..." she began, with a dreamy smile. "Oh, it's the key to everything."

"No, the key to everything's hanging 'round your neck," he observed, noticing the silver chain he'd given her. He pulled it out of her neckline, and grinned when he saw that her TARDIS key was still hanging on it. "You kept it on, all this time..." he marvelled.

"Well, couldn't risk finding the TARDIS and not being able to get in, could I? You might've popped to the shops for a banana or something. Mind you, you might've changed the locks for all I know," she added as an afterthought.

"I'd never change the locks from you," he said indignantly, as if the very suggestion was an insult to him. "Plus, she wouldn't've let me if I'd tried. Which I didn't, obviously. Because blimey, you walking through that door would've made my entire life, and I wasn't the sort of person to answer it if someone knocked, so you'd've needed your key..." he rambled softly.

Rose brought her hand up to rest against his cheek. "Shhh for a sec, yeah?"

Instinctively, he turned his head and kissed her palm. "Yeah," he whispered in agreement.

She flushed, and shook her head, trying to focus. "Right. Well. Let's...let's go to Mum's. And then I can tell you everything from the beginning."