Disclaimer: Just another in a long list of things I don't-own-but-really-wished-I-did.

A/N: Post Doomsday. Sometime in between Martha and Donna since I'd always bring Donna in no matter what. Also inspired slightly by TCASM's reunion series.

Grocery Store Reunion

Rose blew a strand of hair out of her face absently. She was waiting in line. Waiting in line at the market. Waiting in line at the market to buy groceries. Waiting in line at the market to buy groceries for her home. Waiting in line at the market to buy groceries for her home that wasn't the TARDIS. A deep sigh of misery broke through her lips at the thought as her eyes roved form face to face in the crowded shop, searching…

She couldn't help herself. Everywhere she went she was looking for that one face, the one that meant home. These days the search was automatic. She'd long given up on the hope of ever finding it. Oh, she saw bits. This one had his nose. That one had his eyes. Another his ears. She even swore she'd seen his smile once. But never the hair. She smiled sadly. Such great, great hair.

She was staring blankly into space when she suddenly had to blink because she'd been picturing him so vividly, she thought she was beginning to see things. Namely, him. When she opened her eyes, her heart stopped halfway up her throat. But that was impossible. There he was. It couldn't be. But he was there where he couldn't be.

Brown pinstripe suit, hand in pockets, amazing hair, sad, searching eyes. Rose didn't realize she was crying until she caught the alarmed stare of the cashier. Rose didn't care. She couldn't take her eyes off of him and his searching gaze. He was looking for her, wasn't he? A sob threatened to surface when he turned away suddenly, looking dejected, and headed for the exit. That was when Rose got her voice back.

She tried for his name but only produced a loud half sob, half yell that nevertheless stopped him and most everyone else in their tracks. "Doctor!" Rose managed finally just as he turned towards her. Their eyes met and suddenly they'd never been apart.

The biggest, most beautiful grin broke over his handsome face, and she could see his eyes moisten through her own tears.

"Excuse me," she choked, trying to get past the people in front of her.

"Budge off," the pudgy man snapped, shoving his shopping cart back towards her.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was fighting his way through departing customers. He slid from side to side trying to get around the melee of shoppers still separating them. Their frantic, joyful eyes never left each other's except for the millimoment it took him to determine that there was only one way they'd get to each other.

He vaulted himself onto the counter, eliciting startled exclamations from customers and shopkeepers alike. Rose dropped the jars in her hand, barely hearing them crash to the floor as she hefted herself onto the conveyor belt. Plastic wrap crinkled under her moving feet. Eggs cracked. Bags popped. But she had no idea because she was rushing towards the Doctor's extended arms.

They met right over the scanner, startling the cashier backwards. Rose's foot caught on a cereal box, and she tumbled forwards. The Doctor caught her, tipped her slightly backwards and caught her lips in a kiss that conveyed what words could not, their grief at their separation and their joy at their reunion. Her arms wound around his neck. His arms kept her steady when her knees went out. He squeezed himself to her tightly.

"I think we broke a couple eggs," the first thing he said to her through a muffled, trembling voice. Hard not to notice with people beginning to grumble and shout. Everyone else was staring curiously at them.

"Better'n a couple broken hearts," Rose groaned happily.

The Doctor pulled back, tilting her chin with his finger. "Oh, yes." His eyes twinkled as his hand slipped down to lace his fingers through hers, and she caught his lips in another grateful kiss.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Below is an extra that was the original "Grocery Store Reunion" idea. No need to read it, but I thought I might as well include it. Rose's point-of-view made the cut because I felt it was so much richer in emotion. I don't think I could write this right from the Doctor's; he's a bit harder to relate to being over 900 and all.

From POV of shopkeeper: Sandra chewed her gum impatiently as she automatically ran product by product over the scanner. It was always the same. Laundry soap. Milk. Lettuce. Chocolate bars. Over and over again. Day in and day out. The boredom was beginning to kill her. There had to be something more. But if there was, she had yet to discover even what it was.

Her eyes roamed blankly over her customers. The faces had all begun to blend into one. No one stood out anymore. Suddenly, the faces divided, all centered by one tear-stained yet hopelessly happy visage. Sandra started at the intensity that seemed to roll off the blonde woman's face in waves. She followed her sharp gaze to a man standing starting just as intensely back from the other side of the register. There were tears beginning to form in his eyes now. What was she witnessing?

"That'll be fifty pounds." She took the money distractedly, focused intently as she was on the mysterious, separated couple who'd taken to trying to circumvent the busy #4 line. The cash register dinged open, but the crisp bill remained clamped in her hand. The man had leapt onto the counter, shocking half her customers. The crying woman was making her way now over unpaid for groceries. Sandra opened her mouth in protest, but she couldn't find her voice when the two collided just above her. She took a startled step backwards and stared in awe at what must have been a long-awaited reunion.

The man tipped the woman backwards and gave her an Oscar-worthy kiss. When they smiled, Sandra wondered if she'd found what it was she was waiting for. Not a man. Not exactly. Besides the way the blonde woman looked at him made it clear he wasn't just any man. No, she was looking for whatever it was that had brought them together. Whatever it was that made them blind to the busy world around them, made them run across grocery registers just to reach each other.

A/N: Again, gracias for reading. And thanks for the review! Which one, you ask? The one you're about to leave, says I!