It had been a tiresome and very long day at Torchwood. Rose had gotten up at dawn because of an urgent call from Jake saying they needed both her and the Doctor to check out some freak alien mumbo jumbo which then left her doing paperwork and the Doctor to stay in the labs trying to figure out what the alien device was doing. Rose hardly saw any of the Doctor, only heard his voice when he would feed her information that she had to plug into one of the computers for the Torchwood data system. The whole day was like that, and now that it was over Rose was completely exhausted.

Rubbing her tired eyes, Rose got up from her desk and left the office, dragging her feet along the floor. She made her way through the almost empty Torchwood 1 building until she reached the labs.

"Doctor?" she called out. There was no response and as she looked around the place, couldn't see the familiar blue suit of her Doctor. Sighing, she left the lab and headed in the direction of the lobby.

"Hey there, Miss Rose," Jake's voice called out and Rose lifted her head to see him sauntering toward her.

"Hey, Jake," she said and hid her yawn.

"Just want to thank you again for coming in, even though you and the Doctor wanted to take a break from all this," the man said sincerely. "You guys are the best."

Rose grunted a bit and then asked, "Speaking of the Doctor, have you seen him?"

"Yeah, he just left."

"He left?"

"Yup, said he has something to do."

"Oh," Rose tried to hide the sadness in her voice, but evidently didn't do so when Jake said, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Rose put on a fake smile. "I'm just gonna, er, go back to my flat. See you later, Jake."

"Alright…" he looked unconvinced, but Rose didn't give him any time to say something else as she gave him another forced smile and then walked out the door. The warm wind felt good on her face as she walked along the sidewalk in the direction of her and the Doctor's flat.

The Doctor had been acting strange lately. Ever since they had moved into their own flat together he'd been distant, and seemed to avoiding conversation with her. He'd always change the subject they were on or say he had something to do and just run away. Rose didn't know what was wrong. He had been fine being with her at the Tyler mansion, always wanted to be around her, but now that they were alone…

Had she done something wrong? Said something to make him uncomfortable with her? Maybe it was because he never wanted any of this. Never wanted to live a flat, with doors and carpets and mortgages. He said he hated that before. He probably hated it now, and didn't want anything to do with it.

Rose felt her heart twist as a thought crossed her mind. What if he didn't want to be with her anymore? What if now, that he saw what it would be like just living with her in a flat for few years before the TARDIS could grow was horrid to him and he would rather just leave? Would he do that? No… he, he said he wanted to stay with her. Said he loved her. He would never leave… Right?

"Rose! There you are!"

Lifting her head and shaking her thoughts away, she glanced up in surprise to see the Doctor running down the sidewalk toward her. When he reached her, he immediately wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

"Really sorry I left before you were done," the Doctor said when he pulled away. "I just needed to take a walk, but I should've waited for you."

"'S alright, Doctor," Rose didn't let go of him and kept her head pressed against his chest. I love you, she thought but didn't say aloud. I love you so much and don't want you to go.

She felt the Doctor's hands creep around her back and his lips kiss her head softly.

"Bet you're tired," he said softly and Rose nodded into his shirt in return. "Well, are you too tired to maybe go get an ice cream with me at the field by our flat?"

A couple blocks away from their building was a park that had a huge hilly field behind it. She and the Doctor had gone there many times before to stargaze and usually just talk.

"We can do that if you want," Rose looked up to him. A big grin spread across the part human's face and he leaned forward to give her a quick kiss. Then he pulled away and took her hand.

"Allons-y!" he grinned to her as he led them toward the ice cream shop. The Doctor started rambling about the history of ice cream as they walked and Rose did her best to listen and not drift back into her previous thoughts.

Now they had gotten two cones (mint chip for Rose and a scoop of chocolate brownie and then orange sherbet for the Doctor since he could never decide on just one flavor) and were walking slowly up a large hill. The Doctor swayed their still clasped hands between them as they licked at their cones.

"So," Rose said after a bit of walking in silence. "Any particular reason you fancied some ice cream?"

"Does there need to be?" He smiled.

"No, guess not," Rose shrugged and returned his grin.

"Well, actually I do have a reason," the Doctor said as the two sat down on a small bench that stood atop the hill. "It's been a long day, and I can see that you're a little tired, and ice cream helps make stuff better. So, ice cream for us two to share!"

Right as he said 'share', the Doctor leaned forward and took a lick of Rose's mint chip.

"Hey!" Rose laughed and pulled her cone away. "Don't you be eating mine, you have your own!"

"Yes, but as you can see, I have but a few bites left and you have a lot," he showed her his almost all the way eaten cone with a frown.

"That's because I take my time eating and don't have a giant tongue."

"My tongue is not giant!" he squeaked then stuck his tongue out to attempt to stare down at it.

"Alright, it's not that big," Rose giggled. With a approving nod, he sucked his tongue back into his mouth and then finished his cone off with a few quick bites. Once all remains were gone, he scooted closer to Rose on the bench with a happy smile.

"Oh no you don't," Rose glared at him playfully.

"What?" he grinned as he reached an arm out to wrap around her shoulders and pull her closer to him. "I'm not doing anything."

Rose turned away, as if pretending to not notice him while she started to chew on her cone. A growl of frustration came from him and Rose laughed when slid off the bench so that he was sitting on his knees in front of her with his arms crossed on her thighs.

"Doctor," Rose started.

"Rose," he returned with a pout. "I don't think you're being fair."

"How so?" she raised a brow. "You already had two scoops on your cone, I've only got one."

"Well, I'm a complicated event in space and time so I need more."

"Oh you're not using that on me again," Rose tapped his nose and then took a large bite of her cone, making sure to lick her lips heavily afterwards. A satisfied smirk followed when she watched the Doctor narrow his eyes.

"Rose," he whined. "You're being mean. Come on, share with me. Please? We're gonna have to learn to share everything anyways soon."

"What?" Rose frowned down at him. The Doctor's eyes widened and he looked away, stammering, "Er, I, erm, nothing."

"Doctor?" Rose started. "Are you—Hey!"

She broke off when he lunged forward and snatched the last bite of the cone from her fingers. He chewed with a smile, giving his eyebrows a waggle as Rose glared at him.

"That's cheating!" she crossed her arms and glared down at the man resting his head on her knees.

"The element of surprise," he smiled. "Always fun."

"You're the one being mean," Rose said. "Now you have to tell me what you meant by what you said earlier"

"Said what?"

"You know," Rose prompted when he wouldn't look at her. "About the whole 'share everything' thing."

"Oh," he back to sit on his heels and scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah."

"Doctor?"

"Well, erm," he coughed and mumbled out. "Isn't that what couples are supposed to do if they, er, get married or something?"

Rose felt her heart stop. Married? Did, did the Doctor want to marry her? She found herself just sitting silently and staring at the part Time Lord. He in return glanced nervously up at her and when she stayed silent, a look of hurt stated to cross his face.

"Rose?" he tried. "Er, it's okay if you don't want to and all, but, er, well, I had originally wanted to make this special but… I was wondering if maybe you'd consider, um, marrying me?"

He gave her a hopeful smile and Rose was sure she had stopped breathing. Her eyes flicked down to a small open box the Doctor had withdrawn from his pocket while he had been talking. Sitting and shining deep inside it was a silver ring. A diamond stood in the middle of the band with small blue sapphires surrounding it. Black circular writing seemed to be engraved down the rim; not in English but in Gallifreyan.

He's asked her to marry him. The Doctor, an alien that was over nine hundred years old, could see the turn of the universe, and had saved thousands, was asking her, a small, ordinary human, to marry him. Rose realized that she was crying.

Of all the things she wanted to say to him, I love you or yes or forever, she couldn't force anything out except, "Why?"

"Why?" the Doctor repeated with a confused frown. "Because I love you! I love you so much, Rose Tyler and I want to be yours."

"But why?" Rose tried to wipe away the tears that were falling down her face. "Why would you want to marry me? I'm human, so, so human. And you're a Time Lord. You shouldn't have to be trapped here with me in a flat or house. You, you should be out there traveling and not having to deal with all this domestic stuff. You don't want to stay with me."

"What?" The Doctor was by her side now and brought a hand up to cup her cheek. "Why wouldn't I want to stay with you? I'm not bothered by all this domestic stuff as you say; I get to stay with you and that's all that matters! If I had to live the rest of my part human life without a TARDIS just so I could be with you, I would! You know that, right? Rose, where is all this coming from? Do you… do you not want to be with me?"

"No, I do!" Rose sobbed. "It's all I ever wanted. It's just… you've been so distant lately… I thought you didn't want to stay with me anymore."

"Rose," the Doctor brought both hands up to hold her face, using his thumbs to brush away her tears. "I am so sorry. I never wanted you to feel like I didn't want to stay with you. The reason I've been distant was, well, I was just so nervous and didn't want to mess anything up when I proposed to you. I just wanted everything to be perfect, but looks like I mucked everything up anyways."

He gave Rose a sheepish smile and suddenly she found herself laughing. The Doctor raised his brows but smiled as the clear sound of her laughter echoed around the night.

"It seems that everything around us gets mucked up one way or the other," Rose calmed her laughter down.

"Always the case," the Doctor agreed. "But everything turns out right in the end still?"

Rose looked up to him and nodded with a smile, "I hope so."

Leaning forward, she grabbed his suit lapels and pulled him so her, sealing their mouths together. The Doctor's hand instinctively wound a way into her hair, while his other moved to her jaw. They worked their lips against each other's slowly, not trying to rush and just enjoy.

When they finally pulled apart, the Doctor rested his forehead against Rose's and whispered, "Does that mean you'll still marry me?"

"Yes," Rose murmured and leaned in to give him another kiss. But the Doctor stopped her, digging into his pocket to pull out the ring again. With a large grin he took her hand and slipped the silver band on. Once he had let her examine it, he kissed her again, wrapping his arms around her so she could be closer to him.

"Now can I call you my Rose?" he said through kisses.

"I already am."