It All Starts With A Personal Question...

"You've been...around a few years..." Rose understated with a small smile. "Can I ask you a question?"

The Doctor frowned in surprise, turning to face her. "Of course you can! You're always asking me questions; do I ever look like I don't want to answer them?"

She met his eye gratefully. "Well, no. It's just...this question's a bit...personal..."

He arched an eyebrow, leaning back against the console casually, arms folded. "Oh?"

Rose bit her lip nervously. "You don't have to answer, okay? And...and, don't get all weird about this...it's just a question, it's not, you know, life-changing or anything..."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Rose, I don't mind, just get on with it."

"Right." She paused, swallowing thickly. "Okay. So. In your experience, what um, what would you say is the appropriate, er, let's say, action, to take, if..." she trailed off, embarrassed.

He uncrossed his arms and reached for her hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "If what?"

Rose glanced at her shoes for a moment, taking a deep intake of breath, and did not look back up at him, deciding it minimised humiliation for her to just stare at the floor as she mumbled, "If you fall in love with someone you're not supposed to fall in love with."

The Doctor's eyes widened, his mouth falling open in shock. That wasn't a life-changing sentence? Was she insane?

"Um. Sorry, what?" he asked, baffled. "How...how...how am I supposed to answer that?"

She shrugged, her eyes still trained on the grating. "With the truth."

"Well, I don't know!" he exclaimed huffily. He tugged on the hand that he held in his, running his thumb over the back of it and swallowing past the lump in his throat as he panicked as to why she was asking him this. "What's brought this on?"

Rose shrugged again, rather wishing the ground would just swallow her up right about now. "I dunno," she muttered sarcastically. "Maybe because I've fallen in love with someone I'm not supposed to fall in love with and need a little bit of advice what to do about it."

She looked up at him then, and saw his distressed expression.

"Who?" he whispered, his voice surprising her with its hoarseness. He cleared his throat to try and alleviate how upset he appeared, but his lips were still downturned and he looked positively devastated - like she'd told him she was leaving or something.

Then Rose processed the question he'd just asked her.

Bloody hell, she thought. That wasn't enough of a hint for him?

"Who do you think?" she snorted ineloquently, poking him firmly in the chest as she fought back a smile. He had to know, really. There was no way he could've missed that. He was just scared, that was all. Scared of what it meant, having his best friend love him like she did. He was pretending to be ignorant of it all. He must have been.

"Well I don't know," he replied shortly, frustrated, letting her hand go as he turned swiftly to preoccupy himself with the console screen. He inhaled some steadying breaths, trying to approach this rationally. Where had they been recently? Who could possibly have caught her eye? Caught her...heart? And how in the name of chaos was he going to change her mind about them?

Rose sighed. "Doctor, don't just ignore me."

"I'm not! I'm...thinking..." he told her seriously. And he was. Currently, his thoughts were along the lines of how he will surely have to expose this...love interest...as some sort of evil wrong-doer. Or perhaps challenge them to a sword fight. Or simply punch them in the face. He glanced at his tightened fists as he gripped the edge of the console, idly wondering if he'd have a good right hook this time around. Usually, he didn't like to find out, per se – he abhorred violence, after all. Mostly. But sometimes, you know, to...to protect Rose from...getting hurt, well – he'd do whatever he'd have to do.

"I thought we could have a proper talk about this. Don't just run away from me," she murmured, and she sounded hurt.

He spun around to face her again. "You said I didn't have to answer," he reminded her. "Thing is, I'm just not sure I'm good at thinking about that sort of thing," he confessed. How could he be? How in the name of Rassilon could he ever be comfortable with thinking about her feelings for someone else? He shook his head briefly. "Maybe you should talk to your Mum, or your friends or something."

"You are my friend!" she retorted hotly.

"Well, I mean, a female friend. Someone who'd be able to help you think things through..." He looked away from her, his Adam's apple bobbing frantically with his effort to tamper down his emotions. "...plan a course of action," he mumbled meekly.

Rose blinked quickly, feeling tears prick the back of her eyes. "I don't understand," she murmured. "Why won't you look at me?"

Jaw clenching tightly, he looked back at her; saw the hurt in her eyes. "Rose, I'm really not sure I can be of any help. Not exactly experienced in that department," he admitted.

She bit the inside of her cheek, struggling not to cry. "Right. Okay." She turned to leave.

"Plus, you know, it's...I can't even..." he stammered. "I don't want you to go."

Rose stilled, swallowing thickly. "I don't want to go," she retorted softly.

He let out a sigh of relief, then thought of something else and tensed up once more. "But...whoever, um, whoever it is, they can't...I mean, I don't want them to..." He sighed again, knowing he couldn't do that to her, couldn't refuse letting whoever it was on the TARDIS with them; he'd do just about anything if it meant she was happy, if it meant she would stay. So he finished his sentence, "Nothing, never mind."

Slowly, Rose turned back around again, her face contorted in the most confused, adorable expression he'd ever seen.

"Doctor," she said carefully, ignoring the single tear that slid down her cheek.

"Rose?"

"Are you a complete idiot? Have you finally gone absolutely mad?" she asked, genuinely concerned for his mental health.

His eyebrows rose to his hairline. "I'm sorry?"

She let out a bark of laughter, and stepped up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Baffled, but entirely thrilled to hug her whenever the opportunity arose, he held her close, his arms securing themselves tightly around her. His lips brushed her hair as he spoke, "Rose, why am I a complete idiot who's finally gone absolutely mad?"

She squeezed his middle, giggling into his chest. "I thought you'd get it," she mumbled, voice muffled at his jacket and through her laughter.

"Get what?" he asked, tilting his head back as well as hers to make her look at him properly.

She bit her lip, suddenly nervous. "Oh," she said nonchalantly. "Just that, well, I meant you."

"You meant me?" he gulped, eyes widening in shock.

"Yes," she nodded, averting her eyes from his.

"The person you're..." he whispered.

"In love with, yes," she finished for him, cheeks flushing red.

"Oh," he exhaled roughly, accidently blowing her hair in front of her eyes. He brushed it aside for her, tucking it behind her ear, so that she wouldn't have to relinquish her hold on him. "Oh," he repeated, lost for words. Then, he beamed brightly. "Oh, that's...that's...! Thank heavens for that!"

Rose arched an eyebrow at his obvious joyousness. "So it's...okay?"

He squinted at her, confused again. "Yes! Uh, wait. It is, isn't it?"

"Well, if you, um, if you don't think it's going to make things...weird, between us. I mean, I get that we're just friends, and that you don't, you know, do that sort of thing with 'companions' or whatever, so I - "

He jumped in as soon as he could get a word in edgeways. " – Rose! Shh for a second, yeah? Just..." he paused, sighing happily. "Just, come with me, I want to show you something."

He took her hand and led her out of the TARDIS doors, into the place he'd landed them in earlier on in the evening.

Rose inhaled sharply, smelling candyfloss and popcorn and toffee and all sorts of other things she couldn't pinpoint; her eyes glanced this way and that, taking in her surroundings with a delighted smile on her face. "Where are we?" she asked excitedly, looping her arm through his.

"The Grand Funfair Festivities of Draachennbar Six," he announced grandly, smiling wide at her obvious joy with their location. "Every six years, the Draachenns host this ginormous funfair festival thingy, about as big as the whole of Britain, attracting all sorts of people from all sorts of planets. But! Guess what? You, Rose Tyler, are the first human to ever come here! Now...fancy going on the Big Wheel?"

Rose thought her heart might burst with the affection she felt for this man. "Of course I do!" she laughed, starting to drag him towards it.

"Ah! First, we need to get some credits," he pointed out, tugging her back. He walked her over to a cash point-looking thing. "Not currency, you understand. Or tokens or tickets, actually. Here, it's all about - " He paused his mumbling, sonic-ing the machine. "Ball bearings!" he finished triumphantly, holding out his palm, full of tiny silver balls. He experimentally licked one, and wrinkled up his nose. "Not edible though. Shame. Well, I s'pose they couldn't be, eh? People would just eat them instead of exchanging them for a go on a ride. Anyway! Big Wheel equals three ball bearings each, let's go!"

They bounded up to the ride and joined the back of the queue. "So, how come they do this, then? The festival thing?" Rose asked curiously.

"Weeelll," the Doctor drawled. "Money, really. They make a fortune."

Rose frowned. "But we're paying in ball bearings..."

"Yes, once you're here. But to get an invite to the place, it costs around, ooh, let's say...£50 million? Give or take; depending on the exchange rate."

Rose gasped, then grinned. "Wow, and we got here for free all thanks to the TARDIS! Remind me to thank her later!"

The Doctor pouted. "What do you mean 'all thanks to the TARDIS?' I was the one who set the co-ordinates!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? You mean, you actually landed here on purpose? Your directing didn't go wrong?" she teased.

He mock-scowled at her and tickled her ribs. "You do realise I'm only forgiving you for that rude remark because I'll be bored going on here on my own," he informed her sagely.

"Right," she grinned, tongue between teeth. "So, if anyone asks us for ID, we just show 'em the psychic paper, yeah?"

"Yep!" he agreed happily. They were at the front of the queue now, and he handed over the payment to the operator, reclaiming Rose's hand to tug her in the small carriage after him.

Once seated, the wheel started to move, and the Doctor wrapped his arm around Rose's shoulder, hugging her close to him as he stared up at the sky. He squeezed gently to get her attention. "Look up," he requested quietly.

She did, and rested her head against his. "Oh, it's beautiful," she whispered, staring up at the neon blue and green streaks of stardust situated in clusters above them. She watched as in between, various spaceships and shuttlecrafts flew down on arrival at the festival.

"Mmm," he agreed, pressing a soft kiss to her hair.

Rose stilled momentarily at the unexpected touch, before heaving a relaxed sigh. "This is pretty perfect, you know," she commented casually.

"That's what I was aiming for," he replied softly.

She was tilting her head to look at him and beginning to say, "Thank you," when he suddenly kissed her.

Her lips froze under his and he pulled back an inch, unsure. "Rose?" he whispered.

She answered him by infinitesimally nodding and kissing him right back, feeling him grin against her mouth. There wasn't all that much room, but they somehow managed to shift sideways so that he could slip his hands into her hair and keep her right where she was. And then, when they pulled back to breathe, they smiled silly smiles at each other before snuggling close to watch a firework display begin as the wheel came down the other side.

When the Doctor murmured something into her ear in a language she couldn't translate, Rose felt a shiver run through her as she nevertheless instinctively realised what his words had meant.

He'd told her in his own words, and now she knew the answer to her earlier, personal question. She didn't have to worry about what to do anymore. They'd both fallen. He was as wonderfully too far in as she, so they'd work it out together.