Disclaimer: I didn't acquire the rights to Doctor Who during my hiatus.

You guys better make yourselves comfortable. This is going to be a long chapter.

oOoOoOo

The Doctor, Rose and Donna were in the console room, engaging in what appeared to be Donna's new favourite pastime. It included posing hypothetical scenarios to see what would happen in that situation.

"What if I had never been born?"

"What if I traveled back in time and accidentally killed my own great grandfather?"

"What if I fell into a river on another planet and an alien lizard thing bit my leg off?"

It was basically a giant game of 'what if'.

"What if we lost the TARDIS and got stranded on Earth forever?" she asked next.

The TARDIS groaned once, clearly uncomfortable with broaching this particular topic.

"I wouldn't let that happen," the Doctor replied darkly.

"Yeah, but what would we do if it did, though? Settle down and get houses and jobs and stuff, I suppose. What sort of jobs would we get? You're a doctor, there's plenty of demand for doctors. It sounds like Rose has done a bit of everything and I'm a temp... People are always looking for temps, right?"

"Donna, for the last time, you are not a temp," the Doctor reinforced sternly before adding, "plus you two would hardly be 'stranded' on Earth. It is your home planet after all."

"Yeah but let's say we did. We'd manage right, the three of us?" Donna asked.

Rose made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a scoff. "You're wasting your time, Donna. The Doctor doesn't really do domestic. To be honest, I don't think he knows how. He can barely boil a kettle." She waggled her eyebrows teasingly at the Doctor.

"I can so do domestic..." the Doctor protested before admitting sheepishly "but it's just so boring. Who wants to do the same old thing day in, day out when you have all of space and time at your fingertips? Besides," he turned accusingly to Rose, "you don't handle the domestic element much better than I do."

"What?" Rose asked, incredulous.

"Well, you quit your job the day we met," the Doctor pointed out. "When we were catering for alternate Jackie's birthday party you ambushed Pete instead of serving people. Then there was the time we worked in the school and you would spend entire lunches sat talking to me instead of tending to your dinner lady duties," he finished smugly.

"Pfft," was Rose's only retort. "Those weren't even proper jobs. I've never been paid for any of them, except Henricks which I only had to leave because you blew up the building the first night we met. Remember that? And we never did find Wilson. I might have liked to stay on at Deffry Vale High but, oh hang on that's right, you and K-9 blew that up as well! I'm sensing a pattern here, are you?"

Donna was unable to contain her laughter any longer. "Oh, another explosion, what a surprise! I'm curious, have you ever tried a normal greeting, Doctor? You know, like a simple introduction or even a handshake? He spacenapped me from my wedding the first time we met," she informed Rose in a matter of fact voice.

"Oh, you lot," the Doctor groaned, "you're never happy. Heaven forbid you're forced to blow up one measly department store whilst trying to negotiate with a Nestene Consciousness and neutralize an Auton invasion to save the whole of Britain."

"Or kidnap a bride on her wedding day," Rose sniggered.

"While I was walking down the aisle," Donna input.

The Doctor shot her a disapproving look for that one. "Are you ever going to let that go? Go on then you two, enlighten me. Let's say we did get stranded on Earth for a whole year and you had to choose one job each, what would it be?"

"Well I definitely wouldn't be a cater-waiter." Donna said, clearly still joking. "Those skirts are way too short for my liking. Don't really have the legs for it."

"Nor me," Rose nodded. "Seriously though, Donna. You should see that uniform. Never put someone in a skirt that short if there's a chance they'll later be running for their life. Mickey had to rescue us with a blimp, of all things. So I had to climb a rope ladder in mid air, above a burning factory, on what was probably the windiest night of the year and keep that skirt down as well. I swear I must have given the Doctor a right eyeful!"

Both women erupted with laughter at the notion. They continued to laugh until Rose caught a glimpse of the Doctor's expression, and realized he wasn't laughing along with them.

"Doctor," Rose said, growing increasingly mortified. "Tell me I didn't..."

The Doctor obviously didn't hear her. He was now gazing at her jean-clad legs with a small but evident smile on his face.

Donna cleared her throat loudly and rather pointedly. "Oi, eyes up top, mate."

The Doctor snapped straight out of his daze, looking suitably abashed. He blinked once then cleared his throat. "Sorry," he said. Then he quickly rounded the TARDIS console and started muttering about circuits that needed merging with some binary system or other, tearing out wires as he spoke.

Rose tried two or three times to regain his attention but to no avail. He was fast becoming completely absorbed in what he was doing, which currently seemed to be avoiding her.

"For what it's worth, I've already been stranded once before. It doesn't mean you have to take the domestic approach. I didn't just sit idle on that parallel world and no matter where we end up, I'll continue to do exactly what we do now. I'll be helping people." Rose said quietly before she and Donna withdrew from the console room.

oOoOoOoOo

The Doctor was replaying the conversation he had just had with one Miss Rose Marion Tyler. Though you could hardly call his stuttering and leering a conversation. He had been so rash, so foolish. Too close to revealing what he had tried so hard to keep hidden.

He leaned up against the console, sighing. Since they had returned from New Earth, she had most certainly been flirting with him more, to use the human expression. Did she not know why he had put these rules in place? Had he not already explained why he couldn't be with her, at least not in that way? Why was she so intent on making it that much more difficult for them both?

He rubbed his hand against the back of his neck and closed his eyes. It was getting worse as time went on, that much was for sure. It wasn't that he didn't want to be with Rose. Quite the opposite, actually. Imagining her face now, he felt the all too familiar ache in his hearts. He shook his head, trying to reason with himself. These feelings shouldn't even be an option for him. He wasn't wired the same way humans were, after all. He was a Time Lord. He didn't let hormones and emotions dictate his actions, especially not after nine hundred odd years. The Time Lords were more advanced than that. Yes they could be a pompous race at times but there was no denying their methods were more efficient. He didn't mean that in an arrogant way but the Time Lords had evolved past such needs. They were a superior species.

Were, he repeated mentally. And he was the last of that species.

The Time Lords would die out with him, he knew. So why was he denying himself the chance to be happy? Maybe an emotional connection alone wouldn't be enough to sustain a relationship with Rose. She was human, after all, she had different needs than he. Surely a shorter yet fulfilled life with her was better than no life at all? He only had a few regenerations left in him. Maybe she'd last just that long before she withered away. After all her most recent tests had shown no signs of infection...

The Doctor could scarcely allow himself to hope. He briefly contemplated a life with Rose. It could never be domestic with her, that much he knew but it would never be less than brilliant. Ever since that first night, he had just known. Everything was different with her, even the smallest things just seemed better. Better with two. Better with her. She had come into his life and lessened his burden, shared the load without him even noticing. She had taken him, weary from the war and brought life and hope and laughter where there was previously none. She still continued to radiate light to this day, brightening up even the darkest of days. It was simply who she was. She was kind and selfless, fair yet rational, vulnerable yet so incredibly brave.

There was just something about her.

He couldn't imagine himself ever wanting to let her go but it wasn't fair to take away her human future either. That wasn't his decision to make. Although maybe he wasn't. I made my choice a long time ago and I'm never going to leave you. Those were her words. Maybe she'd never want to leave him, either. He didn't give her nearly enough credit. If she claimed she could handle it then she had probably meant it. Even if she had no true concept of it right now, once upon a time, she had promised him forever. All he wanted was to live up to that promise.

His pained thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps on the grating. It was probably Donna, he realized, come to shout at him for ignoring them earlier. His eyes snapped open and he looked up.

When he did, his jaw almost hit the floor.

Donna was nowhere in sight. Instead it was Rose, just Rose. Her blonde hair cascaded around her shoulders in soft, loose waves. There was an excited glint in her eye but an overall nervousness to her demeanor. Her cheeks were flushed, like she'd been running. He knew she hadn't been running though, at least not in that outfit.

He gulped, meeting her eyes apprehensively. Her whole face lit up. Immediately she looked less frightened. She grinned widely at him, poking her tongue out through her teeth as she did so. Rassilon, how he loved that smile. His hand twitched as he instinctively reached out for hers.

"Rose," he said guardedly. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Oh, I was just thinking about what you said earlier. You're right, I wasn't very focused that time we catered for Jackie's birthday. I thought I'd give the whole thing another shot and really commit to it this time. So how about it, Doctor? Are you hungry? I could make you lunch if you wanted... Or serve you something, if you'd prefer?" she asked, saucily.

He wasn't sure if it was the cheeky look on her face or that absurdly sexy caterer's outfit, which seemed a good two inches shorter than the last time she had worn it. Whatever it was, the Doctor found his already loose resolve wavering. He crossed the distance between them in three quick strides, cursing himself inwardly as he did so.

It was in that moment that he decided. Of all the humans he had ever known and lost, he would not add Rose Tyler to that list.

He tried to appear confident as he hesitantly took her face in his hands. "Rose, have you any idea what you're doing to me?" he asked, seriously.

"Nope," she replied. "But I thought we'd find a career path for you. You never did show me if you could dance. Go on then, Doctor. Show me your moves."

That was enough. Without hesitating, he leaned down and kissed her.

He brushed his lips against hers ever so lightly, feeling her stiffen in shocked response. Then she went limp in his arms. That was all it took. He drew her even closer to him, sighing her name. As he deepened the kiss, she hastily entangled her fingers in his hair. It was only when her lips parted and she ran her tongue along his bottom lip did he pull back to measure her reaction.

Rose opened her eyes reluctantly. "Hello," she half whispered, a satisfied smile spreading across her face.

"Hello," he grinned in return, sliding her hand into his.

oOoOoOo

It was moments like this that made it all worthwhile, Rose thought.

It wasn't aliens or saving entire planets. It wasn't the unknown or the never ending possibilities. It wasn't solving mysteries or the running, oh the endless running!

No, it wasn't the non-stop moving, or the time travel but rather, the rare time that time stood still. Just for them.

It was this. When they stood together, exactly as they were, content in the silence. It was his arms wrapped securely around her waist and hers draped lightly around his neck.

It was their embrace that would span over years, lifetimes, even generations.

oOoOoOo

The chapter is finally up! Don't know if anybody is still following this story but to those who are, thank you for sticking with me. I hope you enjoyed it. Was it way too corny? I felt it was long overdue! Forgive me any mistakes, I am still without a beta. As usual, let me know any thoughts xx