Journey's Beginning

There they sat, watching the nightly new and making up silly alibis for everyone in each story. A man who robbed the bank was really an alien, in human form from the planet Thrax, who was stealing the money to buy a new laser gun that could shoot half a mile away. The woman who stole thirty pounds worth of cheese was really a mouse who had been turned into a human with the severe craving for cheese remaining in her DNA. And last but not least, the missing four-time winning show dog was found but the dog was really looking for his family and the spaceship that would take them back to their home galaxy of Becon Strieps. When the news went off, The Doctor turned off the telly and pulled a smiling and content Rose close to his chest, placing a single kiss on her forehead.

"I love you, you know that?" she sighed, giving his a squeeze.

"And I love you… Rose Tyler," he grinned, thanking the other version of himself for this perfect gift.

"You don't have to say my name every single time you tell me you love me. I do adore it, really I do. But you don't have to," she remarked as she pulled out of his embrace to confront him of his sweet new habit.

"Would you like to know why I say your name along with that wonderful phrase?"

"Go on, then," she giggled, anticipating what was surly to be some crazy excuse.

What she didn't anticipate was The Doctor becoming quiet and solemn. He took a deep breath and simply stared at her for a few seconds.

"That day, at Bad Wolf Bay, it killed me that my message ended when it did. All I got out was your name and all I could think about for days after that was how crushed you probably were. I had wanted to tell you for so long and when I finally worked up the nerve, it was too late. It didn't help the already difficult situation and I didn't know how to make it better."

He stopped to wipe a tear from his girl's cheek. For a brief time the hatred for himself for hurting her so, the hatred he had learned to control while they were separated, returned. His thinking so deeply started to worry Rose. She put a small hand to his cheek and faked a grin tying to bring a smile to her dear doctor. The lovesick man took her hand from his cheek and held it, a large lover's smile finally coming to his face accompanied with a soft half-laugh.

"Daft girl. How was I supposed to know that you were going to come find me?"

"I will always find you. Just as you have always found me," she promised more than stated. They stared for a moment before she grabbed his hand. "Come here," she softly demanded with that look in her eye.

"Rose, I promised your father no funny business," he sighed, thinking of a few things he would love to do to her right then.

"Not yet, Doctor," she blushed leading him up the stairs. "It may by my birthday but I have something for you."

"For me? How could you? How did you possibly--?"

"How did I know I would see you again? I didn't."

"Oh," he replied with raised eyebrows as if she had just explained everything, accepting her answer with no question.

"Well, I figured I would but I wasn't sure," she finished, giving him a more suitable answer.

They got up to her room and he sat on her bed, still a bit nervous to be in her room. Rose turned a lamp on and gave the room a more intimate mood. Then she grabbed something from inside the cabinet under her night stand. Entirely curious, The Doctor stretched his neck a bit in attempt of sneaking a peak of his special gift. Once she was sitting upright in front of him, legs crossed like a child, she handed him a box wrapped in solid blue gift paper with a white bow on top.

"Oh, Rose, it's your birthday," he sighed with delight, eyes shining as if it was Christmas morning.
"Just open it," the girl giggled, looking more beautiful to him each time he looked at her. The soft light made her look like some sort of angel, his blond brown eyed human angel.

Doing as she said, he mentioned the blue paper and white bow commenting on how it looked a bit familiar. When the last bit of paper was torn off the rectangular present, his single heart skipped a beat, several in fact.

"My dear sweet Rose," he whispered in amazement, eyes wide and full of wonder.

It was a clock shaped and painted exactly like the TARDIS with the face of the clock near the bottom under the windows. The words Police Public Call Box were even painted across the finely crafted and detailed piece of wood. It was identical, as if someone had shrunk his time traveling machine to fit in both his hands.

"Where did you get this?" His eyes met hers for the first time in minutes.

"It was handmade," she softly answered.

"Did you take up clock making recently?" He was joking but wondered how something like this was possible.

"A friend made it for me."

"A friend? Rose Tyler has friends in this parallel world?" His sarcasm and witty facial expression made her laugh but only a little. There was something almost sad about her eyes and she started playing with her hands.

A heavy sigh escaped her then she cleared her throat before replying, "I met a bloke from Torchwood. I'd visit there every now and then, before I took the job, just in case they'd heard anything from or about the famous doctor in the blue police box." Their eyes met for only an instant before her gaze fell back to her restless hands.

Trying to break the new silence, he asked, "So when do I get to meet the artist?"

"You don't," she answered quickly. Taking another deep breath, she stared at her doctor looking as if she wasn't sure what to tell and what to keep to herself. His curious eyes needed satisfying. "He died a few weeks ago. Cancer."

"I'm so sorry," The Doctor apologized after an attempt to swallow the sudden lump in his throat.

"We were good mates, two people waiting for something we weren't sure would come," Rose remembered.

"Waiting for what?"

There was another pause. He took her hand with both of his, placing the TARDIS clock next to him on the bed. She was still the Rose he loved with everything in him, but little parts of her were different. He had missed some events and happenings in her new life. It was then that he realized that he didn't know absolutely everything about her anymore. She had made new friends, looked at a few things a bit differently, and still loved him exactly as she always had in their days of traveling the universe.

"I was waiting to find you, or for you to find me, and he was waiting on time." There was something about the way she said it. There was more to them than she was going to tell but he was perfectly fine with her private thoughts and memories staying private. As always, she could tell him whatever she wanted and keep to herself whatever she chose.

Silence filled the room until The Doctor suddenly had a loud thought. Catching Rose's attention, he held up a single finger as if to say "hold on just a bit". He found his suit jacket right where he had left it this morning and dug around the inside chest pocket. The girl's eyes lit up with curiosity when he pulled out a long blue envelope.

"Have you had a look inside yet?"

"I thought it best to wait for you because I'm sure it’s about both of us. I don't know when I slipped it into my pocket. Besides, it is your birthday and it could very well be news you want on your birthday," he reasoned, just as excited as the birthday girl.

"Well go on then, open it up! Let's have a look."

He tore the seal and they each began reading the letter.

"The first two months rent for a flat," Rose gasped.

"A check to get started," he remarked.

"And you fixed yourself up with a job at Torchwood. We could work together! Doctor, this is brilliant," she sighed in amazement.

"We're to live from paycheck to paycheck aside from the amount given to start out with." The Doctor read the last bit of the letter. "This is the life I want for us, the one we have wanted for all this time. Be smart, don't give information too freely, and never stop fighting for what's right."

"This can't be real," the stunned girl laughed, resting her head on The Doctor's shoulder.

"Oh, but it is," he assured her, almost as surprised. "I don't remember writing this or setting any of it up so the arrangements must have been set in motion after we were dropped off."

Something in the way he said "dropped off" made Rose's stomach turn. He was talking about it as if they had simply carpooled in the TARDIS to Bad Wolf Bay. Never mind they saved the parallel universe. Never mind The Doctor splitting into two and becoming part human. And forget the second heart-wrenching goodbyes that were said- or weren't said.

He was suddenly very aware of the conversation that needed to be had. After all day hoping that it wouldn't come, it had arrived in the last hour of their perfect day. There was no easy way to talk about it and it could poison the short remainder of the night. With a pounding heart and hopes for the best, The Doctor cleared his throat.

"And how are you feeling about…"

"About him?" she quickly responded, meeting his eyes for the first time since they opened the letter.
A quick sting shot through him. It was painfully obvious. He still wasn't completely the man she was so in love with. Sometimes, he felt as if she had accepted and fully understood this gift. Other times, he had to fight back thoughts of being the Time Lord's replacement. Was he always going to be plan-B to the girl he loved with every fiber of his being?

"Yeah."

"I'm still trying to figure it out, really," Rose began. "Sometimes, it's like you aren't somewhere else across the universe right now. It’s completely you, and I know that. But I can't make my heart understand as quickly as I'd like. It's like knowing something about yourself but not wanting to see it all the way. Does that make any sense?"

"It makes perfect sense. It's been an eventful few days that we never planned for. Lots of emotions, running around, suddenly believing the unbelievable, and daring to accept what we don't fully understand."

"I know it's you, I really honestly do. But part of me still feels like I lost someone. And that's so silly because you're right here," she began to cry. "I can see you, hear you, touch you," Rose tried to smile while grabbing his hand. "Yet I can't help feeling like I need to get over the other you. But there is no other you. It's so confusing."

Her gentle sniffles turned into quiet held in sobs. The Doctor held her close and made sweet hushing noises in her ear until her shoulders stopped jumping as much.

This was something he never imagined doing before- he never imagined doing ever. But it seemed appropriate and the proper moment to do so.

"I may not have my sonic screwdriver or wear that brilliant suite. There may be human blood in these veins and heart but the memories are all there- every last one of them from the war on my home planet to the moment this body was created. I may seem a little off but I went through some big changes in the last few days myself- learning to be human and all I mean. But I love you every bit as much as I did in that other body. The emotions and everything concerning you, and me, is all identical, Rose."

She seemed to understand but he thought she had understood before and where they were having this conversation. He wanted to do or say something extra special, intimate even, to make her feel closer to the old him, the other him.

"Do you want to know my name?"

The question clearly caught her off-guard.

"But you're The Doctor. Everyone knows you by The Doctor. You never tell anyone your name," she protested, unsure of what the information would do to their relationship.

"You listen to me, Rose Tyler," he mockingly demanded. "If I'm going to give up my life, become human, and spend the rest of my life with a girl, I at least want her to know the name of the one she's stuck with for the rest of our lives."

"You don't have to do this," she said, ignoring his attempt of humor.

"What if I want to? Aren't you at least a bit curious? It's unlike you to not want to know something like this."

"Well, it is a big deal."

"That's true," he agreed with a thoughtful nod. "But that's why I want you to know."

Rose considered it for a few seconds before nodding.

"Alright then," she sighed with an unsure smile. "What is your name, doctor?"

"Samuel Tempus," he proudly announced, chest high and eyes aglow. "Everyone back home always just called me Sam."

"You're a Sam," she said more than asked. "I expected it to be something more unusual or difficult to pronounce." The girl thought on it a few more seconds before giving him an approving nod and a thankful smile.

"Of course, I'll still go by John Smith on legal documents and such- there will be a mess of them to come I'm sure. That flat title for one," he made note of. "And for the…"

He cut off nervously in the middle of the sentence and looked anywhere but at her. Changing the subject was the perfect thing to do here but not a single topic came to mind.

"The what?"

"Nothing. We'll get to that eventually. No need to get ahead of ourselves," he chuckled, fighting with himself to find something, anything, else to talk about. "Anyways--"

"No, I want to know. What were you going to--," then the realization hit her and nearly made it impossible to breath. "Oh my gosh. You meant the wedding, didn't you?" Their eyes met for just a moment. "You meant you were going to use John Smith for the, the…"

"Like I said," he cut in. "That can come later."

"But you are in fact already thinking about it?" she asked to understand where he was coming from. It was only their first day together as a human couple, yet they had been in love for nearly two years and fought all odds and impossibilities to be together.

After a deep sigh and a few nervous glances around the room, The Doctor answered, "The way I see it, we don't have to do anything right away. We can take our time and let things settle down a bit, figure everything out. Both of us living here will take some getting used to in itself. But you don't want me with anyone else, correct?"

"Right," she quickly replied, not being able to imagine him being someone else's for even a second.

"And there is no way I'm letting you go, Rose Tyler. Like I said on the beach, I have one life to live and I want it to be with you. I love you. You've been my best friend and most loyal companion. I never want that to end. So, when the time comes, we can act when and as necessary."

"And until then?" she asked, snuggling close to him, secret fears of the future, ones she hadn't even dared to put thought into, leaving her mind.

"Until then, we just take it day at a time," he gave her an assuring confident smile. "Well, that is, except for one thing."

She was very curious as to what he was going to ask about their very near future. With a racing heart full of love, she couldn't help hoping for the impossible.

"You wouldn't want to move in with me, would you?" he asked as if he honestly thought for even a moment that she would say no.

"I thought you would never ask," she laughed, pulling him close.

They held eachother feeling happier than they could ever remember being. Things were going to be alright for them. The Time Lord had set them up quite nicely for a fantastic future life together on Earth. They would be as close to normal as possible and all was looking grand for them. The clock in the hallway chimed a common melody.

"Midnight," he sighed, giving her a final squeeze. "You better show me where that extra room is."

She pulled away from him and grinned, "You can sneak over there before everyone wakes up. I want you with me tonight."

"If I must," he sarcastically sulked as if he wasn't dying to sleep by her side on this most glorious of nights.

Minutes later, they were cuddled close under the covers when she quietly giggled against his chest, "I'm going to be your wife."

"That you are, my love. That you are," he smiled in her hair.

As of that night, they had a plan for the rest of their lives. Or so they thought. They should have known from their past travels and adventures- the unexpected happens at any time.