When the Doctor came to, he was laying on the ground outside of the Powell Estate in 2007. A familiar blue box greeted him. "Oh hello, old girl!" He said cheerily. He felt her hum inside him head. She was uneasy. She knew he was from her future. She knew what could go wrong. "Shh don't worry. I'm just stopping in to see Rose." He could feel her cautious joy at that. She knew he loved Rose. But there was still something cautious there. "Don't worry. It's going to be just fine."

He continued on his way. He remembered this day. Rose had wanted to bake a cake. She'd sent him out to find the ingredients. He laughed. He'd had no clue where to get anything from or what he'd need. He came back with 3 different cake mixes, 4 tubs of icing, and 2 containers of sprinkles. Rose had laughed. He sighed. He missed that laugh.

He walked up to the stairs to get to her apartment. How long ago it seemed like they'd had Christmas with Harriet Jones and he'd regenerated. He smiled, I wonder how Rose somehow managed not to tell me she'd had to change me into those jim jams… That clever little minx. Bet she definitely liked what she saw. Ok seriously, Doctor snap out of it. Do you really miss her that much? "Yes," he murmured. "Yes I do."

He slowly made his way upstairs. Even more memories came flying back. Hiding out here from Jackie, waiting to surprise Rose or pick her up, having to say goodbye when she wanted to stay with Jackie for a bit and get some laundry done. Little things. He wondered what her reaction would be to see him. Would she see that he was older? Or that he was skinnier? He hadn't been keeping up with eating as much or sleeping as much as he needed to. Not that was a lot, but he'd been sleeping even fewer hours a month than when he'd been with her. She could always get him to go to sleep easily or calm him when he had nightmares. He got them all the time now. Martha couldn't do anything about it. She did sometimes worry about his health though, being a medical student and all, but the most she could do was get him to eat something occasionally. Hopefully his Rose wouldn't worry too much. He didn't want her to.

By this time he'd made it to her apartment. He paused and listened for a moment. He smiled. She had the music turned up loud and was singing along awfully to it. Remember never to tell her that, he thought, smiling. I wonder if she's cooking. Rose loves cooking when she's home. He froze, his face stricken. What about Jackie?! What will she say if she sees me like this?! Two Tyler's worrying over me would be ever worse! He slowly approached the door and took a deep breath. I can do this. Just walk in and say hi. He reached up his hand and knocked.

Rose's singing stopped. His hearts speed up in anticipation. He was finally going to see his Rose again after losing her at Bad Wolf Bay. He realized he was going to have to say goodbye to her again, but at least this time he could tell her he loved her first. Rose opened the door and looked at him a bit surprised, "What are you doing back so early? Usually it takes you about 3 hours to get everything and speaking of it, where is it?!"

"Oh err…um…I sort of forgot the list here…" the Doctor said tugging on his ear. Lying always made him uncomfortable. Especially when it was to his Rose.

"Because Time Lords forget lists even when they've memorized it already," Rose teased, giving him her tongue in teeth grin.

He almost melted. He thought he'd never see that smile ever again. He must have stared for too long without saying anything witty back in his usual manner because a slightly worried Rose coughed pointedly at him. "Oh what? Well yes it's a proven fact that Time Lord can memorize a simple list in very little time. A small grocery list is no match for my superior brain, but uh… I seemed to have forgotten to memorize it."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Silly Time Lord. Alright I'll make the list again. Why don't you have a seat." She motioned to a chair in the kitchen. The Doctor sat down and looked around. He'd missed this kitchen. Watching Rose move around and start the list again, he suddenly got the urge to kiss her. No I can't. That'd be pushing things too far.

Apparently his body wasn't going to listen because he had gotten up and was walking over to her. She was facing away from him, making the list. He walked up and slid his arms around her waist. She jumped a bit in surprise. He could feel her heartbeat pick up a bit along with her breathing. He leaned down and kissed her neck. Now her pulse was really racing. "Do you know how long I've wanted to do this?" he asked, turning her around.

Her breathing was now rapid. She brought her arms up to link behind his neck. "Forever?"

"Oh baby, that wouldn't even begin to describe it," he leaned down and kissed her softly. After a moment's hesitation she responded, lightly pushing back. Nothing had ever felt so wrong yet so right. He wanted to remember this forever. The time he had kissed Rose. No Cassandra or time vortex. Just him and his Rose. His fingers slipped under the hem of her top and started tracing words of love in Gallifreyan onto her skin. She stopped kissing him then and instead enjoyed the feel of the words. While she couldn't understand their meaning, she could understand how powerful they were. He kissed her forehead. "Rose Tyler, I love you."

She blushed red and giggled. "And I love you too, Doctor. Don't ever forget that." Her eyes conveyed an extra meaning behind them. Had she figured out he wasn't her Doctor? He froze as she brought her hand up to his cheek. "I can see the wrinkles and age, Doctor. I know you've come back to see me. You look older. Your eyes. They've seen more years and more loss. They don't have as much spark in them. Or as much love. Yes, I could always see the love in your eyes. But now, these eyes. How much more have you lost and seen? Don't think they all died because of you. It's never like that." She wiped a tear from his cheek. "How long has it been since you've seen me?"

"Oh Rose, too long," he whispered, hugging her tightly. He never wanted to let her go. "I've missed you so much. I don't know how I'm going from day-to-day. I miss you that much. I don't want to go. I love you. I don't want to scare you. Don't worry about me. I'm fine," he said, sniffing a bit.

"Doctor, you're not fine. You're traveling with someone, right? Isn't she looking after you?" She looked at his sad face. She wondered what had happened to her and why she left, but she didn't want to ask. She could assume she had gone missing or else the Doctor wouldn't be so sad and going so far as to come back in his own time stream just to see her. She leaned up to kiss him again. He wasn't going to not get anything out of risking it all like this. When his lips met hers, she felt her knees go weak. She really was going to have to do this more. It was bloody brilliant. He kissed her so gently it was like he thought she was going to break if he pushed it too much. She felt like the most precious thing in the world right then. Her Doctor was risking it all to come back and kiss her. He cared that much about her even after the very end. Forever, she had told him, and he still loved her.

He had pushed her back against the cupboards and slid his hands a bit lower. She had started to run her hands through his hair. It felt incredible. He tried to fight back a moan. At that moment the door burst open and an energetic younger Doctor burst in. "Rose dear, I'm back with the groceries now we can…" He froze. His gaze fell upon a duplicate of himself and his Rose snogging in the kitchen. "What the?" The two sprang apart. Both were a bit breathless. "Why is there another version of me here? What is going on?"

"Mmm two Doctors. The mind races," Rose said with a saucy wink and her tongue in teeth grin.

"I can explain everything," the older Doctor said hurriedly. "You see…" He froze. The door to the apartment was still open. In it was a weeping angel. "Everyone, get behind me now. Don't ask, and whatever you do, don't blink."