The Doctor was behaving oddly, more so than usual, which was saying something. And it was driving Rose Tyler spare. For more than a week, she had been secretly guessing and simultaneously trying to ignore his unusual behavior. However, as time moved on, she found herself trying to subtly ask him hints about it.

Of course, he saw right through her questions and would grin enigmatically at her, give his happy little giggle and a kiss, then shuffle off to his work shop as though it were any other ordinary day.

This day in particular though, was oddest of all.

She had woken up to find the Doctor gone from their bed. Although it was not unusual for him to wake up before her—that was actually a fairly common occurrence—what was unusual was for him to not be lying next to her or spooned up behind her, greeting her with a too-cheerful "Good morning, love!" and a kiss.

It was for this reason she quickly went through her morning routine and made her way down to the kitchen. Strangely she found that the kitchen showed evidence of him already having had his tea and toast—most likely with an unhealthy amount of jam—but with no Doctor to be found.

Checking the rest of the house first, she finally tried his office. To her surprise it was locked. He had never locked it; ever.

Her curiosity peaked, she gave the door a couple loud raps. She couldn't help the giggle that escaped when she heard something dropping to the floor with a muffled bang and a few Gallifreyan curses.

"Rose? Is that you?" she heard the Doctor ask through the still-closed door.

Rolling her eyes in exasperated amusement, she answered, "Well, it was when I looked in the mirror this morning."

"Ah. Yes. Right. Well...do me a favor, love, and step into the kitchen a moment, will you?"

"Why? Something you don't want me to see in there, eh?" she said, not able to resist the opportunity to wind him up a bit.

"Oi, less talking, more walking to the kitchen, Rose Tyler. I tell you, you and your mum. So many redundant questions."

"Oi! Rude!"

"Sorry. Rude and not ginger, remember? Now, if you don't mind..."

"Yes, yes. I'm going." With one more roll of her eyes, this time with a touch of annoyance, she moved off to the kitchen. A couple minutes later the Doctor came out to the kitchen with a 'cat that got the canary' grin.

"So, do I have to guess or are you just going to tell me what the big secret is?"

"Ohhh, making you guess would be quite fun I imagine. But no," he said, as she scowled at him; though that just made him grin wider and she couldn't help but grin back at him.

Drawing closer to him and looking up at him from under her lashes, she whispered coyly, "Come on, Doctor. Tell me your secret. You know you wanna."

"Well," he squeaked, cleared his throat and tried again, taking a step closer to her, "well, I could tell you, but I think it'd be much more fun to show you."

And with that, he suddenly scooped her up in his arms, causing a startled laugh to escape her lips.

"Doctor?! What are you doing?!"

"Showing you my secret, of course." Wiggling his eyebrows at her, he carried her down the hall and stopped outside his office door.

"Do us a favor, Rose, and open the door please?" From her elevated position in his arms she reached down, turned the knob and pushed the door open.

Rose couldn't see the Doctor's rather pleased smile, since all her eyes could focus on was the sight of a familiar dark-blue Police Box standing in the corner of the room.

When he set her on her feet, she walked toward the TARDIS in a daze, feeling like this was a dream and she would wake up at any second.

As she placed her hand on the coarse wood, she felt tiny tendrils of warmth envelope her mind, as though she were being embraced from the inside out. Closing her eyes, she felt the TARDIS brush against her mind, sending her waves of welcome, joy, and excitement.

Pressing her forehead against the beloved blue box, she sent her own feelings of joy, delight, and welcome to the magnificent time and space ship.

As a tear escaped from her eye, Rose realized she hadn't known how much she missed the TARDIS or the ship's mind in her own; that close friendship and belonging that she had not had with anyone else, outside of her own mother and of course the Doctor. But even this was different than those relationships. Though this TARDIS's mental signature was a bit different than the one she had known in the other universe, the part of herself Rose had shared with that ship was still in this TARDIS, somehow; it was as though, all this time, a part of herself had been missing. And now she had just found it again.

She felt a wave of understanding come from the TARDIS and knew that these feelings were true, and had been felt by the ship as well.

Giving her one more loving stroke, Rose backed away from the ship to get a good look at her, noting the subtle changes; the windows were less clouded, the light at the top was brighter and the Yale lock was gold this time, rather than silver. Other than that, everything looked the same.

"Sorry, Doctor. Got caught up in our hello." she said, wiping the tears from her face as she turned to him.

"No problem." She felt a lump lodge in her throat, hearing his raspy voice and seeing the moisture collected in his eyes, knowing he had witnessed their reunion.

"I love that you love the TARDIS. And she loves you, too, Rose. I do believe, just as the other one would have, she would do just about anything for you."

Nodding and clearing her throat, she said, "'S alright to go inside, yeah?"

"Oh, yes. Though, you might need this." He held out a gold key that looked like a near identical replica of her old TARDIS key.

She took it, holding it reverently in her hand. This moment seemed just as huge as the when her first Doctor had given her a key to the TARDIS. It truly felt like being welcomed home.

She unclasped the necklace that kept her key safely around her neck at all times. She swiftly added the new key to the old one, loving the gold and silver sitting side by side, the old and the new complementing each other.

Excitement flowed through her as she opened the door to the TARDIS. She felt a wave of nostalgia come over her and felt like she was stepping back in time, to the first time she came through a set of similar doors and into a room almost exactly like this—of course that time she had obviously had no idea what the box or massive room within was; nor how precious and dear to her the TARDIS would become.

It seemed like this TARDIS had worked hard to replicate as much of their old console room, and indeed the old TARDIS itself, as it could.

Slowly walking inside, she heard the soft metal clank of her shoes meeting the metal grating with each step and her hand felt the cool, rough texture of the metal railing of the ramp. The warm coarseness of the coral struts, which stood proudly in strategic locations about the room, flowed through her palm, sending tendrils of the TARDIS's mind into her own. She caressed the beautiful, pale gold, tree-like structures; she marveled at how they each stretched to the domed ceiling, proudly standing sentinel over the room.

The circular lights that lined the room—which she fondly recalled her other Doctors, more than once, refer to as 'round things'—flashed occasionally in random patterns. Her eyes and hand finally fell upon the center console, and she reached a hand up to touch the green-lit time rotor that stretched to the ceiling.

Feeling like her face would split in two, as her smile was so big, she turned to the Doctor and lunged joyfully at him. Her arms wrapped around his neck as his own held her securely to him, both of them laughing in delight, both of them so happy to be inside the TARDIS once again.

Setting her down, the Doctor looked at her expectantly. "First trip. Where to, Rose Tyler?"

"Oh. Uh...oh, I don't even know," she said, overwhelmed amazement clear in her voice. Thinking for a couple of minutes, she finally decided on the perfect place for a first trip in their new TARDIS.

Feeling a bit impish though, she decided to turn the 'keeping a secret' tables on the Doctor.

"'K. I know where I want to go."

"Where to, Rose Tyler! Any 'where' or any 'when', all at our fingertips!" he said, running excitedly around the console, already pushing buttons and turning knobs.

He looked up at her from his place at the monitor, obviously ready to enter whatever destination and date she wanted into the computer.

She walked over to stand in front of the Doctor, taking his hands and looking deeply into his eyes. Even though she was being a bit playful by wanting to keep the destination a secret, she also didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"It's a secret," she said, giving him a tongue-touched smile to soften her words.

Her smile grew a bit wider when he suddenly laughed. "Alright, my love. You think you can set the coordinates and fly us there, then be my guest."

He obviously thought this would deter her and make her show her hand, but Rose had a trick up her sleeve.

Turning away, she placed her hands on the green-tinted glass of the rotor and closed her eyes. Opening her mind to the TARDIS, she tried to let the ship feel what it was she wanted to do, where she wanted to go, sending the ship mental images of that day. When she got a wave of amused acceptance, and a bell dinged from somewhere on the console, she laughed, feeling overjoyed that the TARDIS was on board with what she was planning.

"What? That—that's..." the Doctor stuttered, "but that's not—how did you do that?"

"Well, you said it yourself, Doctor, the TARDIS would do almost anything for me."

He blinked a couple of times, looking between the console and her, then a smile broke out on his face and he threw back his head and laughed delightedly. "Oh, Rose Tyler! Brilliant, you are! You never fail to surprise me."

Hugging him tightly before placing a lingering kiss on his lips, she pulled back to study his handsome face. "And I hope I never do."

"Me, too, love. Now, I'll sit and play co-pilot for once and let you have the honor. Just holler if you need help." He turned and sat down on the newly refurbished tan leather pilot's chair, his face wreathed with a pleased-as-punch smile.

Letting the TARDIS direct her—feeling varying waves of warm calm, appearing when she was over certain controls, and a cooler sense of something being amiss, when she was off target—she moved around the console, slowly and carefully setting the dials, levers and knobs.

Finally looking over at the Doctor, she smiled at him and crooked her finger at him in a come-hither motion.

A moment later, they threw the dematerialization lever together, then both laughed madly as the achingly familiar wheezing, groaning sound of the TARDIS echoed through the room. The ride was smoother than she expected it to be, but when the time and space ship finally set down, she seemed to enjoy throwing in a harder than normal bump.

Losing their grip on the console, they both fell to the metal grating and proceeded to laugh themselves silly for several long moments, just enjoying the feeling of being together in the TARDIS once more.

Jumping to their feet, they both raced to the computer and saw a black screen.

Wondering if they were in the right place, Rose touched the console and suddenly felt a contented and strong feeling of rightness in her mind. Assuming this meant they were in the correct place and time, Rose took the hand of her Doctor—who was currently still trying to get the screen to work—and led him outside; looking around at the familiar sight, she knew immediately the TARDIS had done as she had requested.

Rose watched the Doctor walk around, a curious look in his eyes as he took in the dimly lit room that seemed to be a large, cluttered basement; a familiar, thick metal pipe running horizontally along the middle of the far wall.

Realization seemed to slowly dawn on him and he turned to her with wide eyes. "Rose, is this—"

"Yes, Doctor. In another universe, on this date," she walked over to the wall and stood in front of it, facing him, "the most wonderful, mysterious, incredible man took the hand of a nineteen year-old shop girl and told her to 'Run'."

She reached her hand out and felt a shiver travel down her spine as he took it in his own, their fingers interlocking.

"He, you, took my hand. You not only saved my life that night, but most importantly, Doctor, you saved me from believing my life would never be anything more than working, sleeping, and eating chips and beans on toast. You showed me the vastness, the beauty and the wonder of the universe. I will never regret one moment I spent with you—any you, no matter the face you wore...not even when you acted like a bloody wanker." She couldn't help but add that last part, smiling when he gave an embarrassed chuckle.

"Rose Tyler."

He murmured her name in that way only he could; as though it was the most precious name he would ever speak. His eyes were suspiciously moist, but held hers with a tender and loving openness that she had, on rare occasions, glimpsed a few times on her previous Doctors when they thought she wasn't looking.

"I may have saved your life that night, but when I took the hand of a young, brave and courageous human, you also saved mine. You willingly—and with a trust I still to this day cannot fathom or hope to understand—grasped my hand. You then helped a broken, bitter and angry, war-torn soldier rekindle the choked-out and dying flame of hope in my hearts."

He gently squeezed her hands and looked deeply in her eyes as he continued, "That night you saved me and changed my life for the better. You changed me for the better. You showed me there were still things in the universe worth living for. That there was, is, someone worth living for."

Drawing her closer, their faces mere inches apart, he whispered, "I said it once, oh, such a long time ago, and I will forever believe and know it to be true...if I believe in one thing, just one, I believe in you, Rose Tyler."

She surged forward and kissed him deeply. She poured the full extent of her love, devotion and trust for him into the kiss, and felt the same coming from him. Their passionate kiss went on for several long moments before they both needed to break apart for a breath.

"So, where to next, my love?" the Doctor asked her. They made their way inside the TARDIS and went in search of their next adventure.

Across time and space, there came to be rumors and murmurs of the Doctor and Rose Tyler; two names that either struck paralyzing fear or burgeoning hope into one's hearts and minds. It was said they were an unstoppable force—an Oncoming Storm and his beloved Bad Wolf—that went where they were needed, righting wrongs, helping who they could and encouraging others to do the same. They of course made enemies as they went, but made so many more friends along the way.

When people where asked who the Doctor and Rose Tyler were, they were all told the same thing; they were the Stuff of Legend.

Part of Tumblr's Writer's Month Writing Challenge for August 2019.

All rights for Doctor Who and its characters belong to the BBC.

Day 9 prompt: time travel