"You will still call me Rose Tyler?"

"Do you wish me to use a different name? I can call you Rose Lungbarrow, but that is not who you are and it is not who I am. I will simply call you Rose if you do not wish to be called Tyler any more."

"Oh no, that is quite al right. I was merely inquiring what you are to call me among friends, from- other places?"

He smiled and let go of her hands.

"I will call you Rose, for that is who you are: my Rose. Now, my dear Rose, if you would please wait here-"

"Are we to stay in here all night?" Rose exclaimed. Looking about the tiny space with the small bed which she would have overlooked, had there been anything else in the room.

"We can, if you please," the Doctor replied, all innocence. He then laughed at the look of shock Rose displayed. "But I would have suggested, had you let me finish-" He winked, "that I fetch our dearly beloved home."

"You will not-" Rose stepped forward and grabbed his hand again. "You will not miscalculate?"

With an endearing smile, the Doctor pulled her close and eased her mind by saying: "Travel just through space will not get me astray. Don't you worry, just stay at the side of the bed and do not be alarmed, she makes a bit of a noise when dematerialising."

Rose nodded and the Doctor left. She sat down on the bed, wondering how much time it would take for him to get to the TARDIS and fly her to the small inn. Making up her mind, she just set about removing her bonnet and mantle as a strange wind began to blow out of nowhere and a whooshing sound reached her ears.

Greatly alarmed, despite of the Doctor's warning, Rose hurled herself on the bed and moved frantically to the far side of it.

The outlines of the blue box became visible, the noise became stronger and within a few seconds there it was.

The door opened and Rose flew of the bed into the Doctor's arms.

"Whoa, there now, it's okay. Just me, nothing the matter."

Releasing her anxiety, Rose calmed down and bravely smiled up at him.

"I'm fine, it was just the shock. I had not expected you so quickly. You said you would not travel in time."

"I have not. Yesterday I brought her here. She was waiting in an old shed round the back. However I did not fancy carrying all those trunks down again and it would seem a bit strange if the boy had to bring them round back himself."

Rose grinned. "They will probably wonder how on Earth we were able to bring them down in the middle of the night without waking the house. Are we to leave at once?"

"Your wish is my command. We can stay and have dinner here, give some more credibility to our story."

"An early supper before retirement, yes, that would suit me very well."

"Then I will bring your belongings to our room while you can freshen up a bit."

Biting her lip, while over thinking his careless remark about the room that was to be theirs from now on, Rose absent-mindedly walked to the cabinet on which stood a washing bowl next to a clean cloth. Behind her the Doctor started loading the large trunks, all the while muttering and groaning about how a backpack would be much easier. Should she have heard him, Rose would have doubled over from laughing.

It did not take him long though, the inventory of the TARDIS providing him with means to move the heavy trunks with ease. Within half an hour they went in search of the dining room.

They shared a lovely supper, there were no other guests at present and enjoying herself immensely, Rose knew she would love these private dinners in the future.

Suddenly remembering something, she put down her fork and rather concerned asked: "Will I have to cook?"

It took the Doctor a few moments to comprehend her distress, but then he made the connection and with an amused chuckle he replied: "I have made due all my life, don't worry, you can do the dishes."

Rose half trusted him to jest and on seeing the twinkle in his eyes she smiled in relief.

"I have seen you put away the dirty dishes in a strange cabinet, at first I thought you would get to them later. But the more I thought about it, the more I came to the conclusion that somewhere in the future, they must have invented some machine to do the tedious chores."

"Very true, you catch on quickly."

The rest of their meal continued in a satisfiable stillness.

When finished, Rose stood and gazed out of the window for a moment.

"Taking in your last view?"

"It feels that way, yes."

"We will be back here by Christmas, and sooner, should you wish it."

"You will really return us here, come Christmas?"

"Of course, we gave our promise did we not?"

Rose smiled softly.

"I never had much need or desire for domestics, however for you I will endure however much you request."

Taking his hand, Rose voiced her gratitude and the Doctor responded with a gentle kiss on her hand.

"Now come, my dear Rose, let's away."

In silence they walked up the stairs, to the small room and in front of the blue doors they stopped.

"May I?" Rose took her key from its place between her breasts, her cheeks flashing when the Doctor's gaze followed her hand.

His voice suddenly went up a notch as he answered: "Sure." He coughed, looked up and added quickly: "Go ahead."

Letting go of his hand, Rose inserted the key, turned it and pulled the handle. The open door in hand, she stood quiescent and gazed inside.

This was it, the start of a new life. Nothing in her nineteen years could have ever prepared her for this. None of her wildest dreams ever made her believe this was possible. The bare surroundings of the chamber wherein the TARDIS stood were dull and dim in comparison to the true alien interior of the Time and Space ship. The coral beams, the hexagons in the walls, the many lights; all added to the fantastical impression that was before her. This was to be her home. From now on all of reality would change, nothing would ever be the same again. The impossible had become possible.

At last she took a step forward and all of a sudden she felt herself being lifted up. A small shriek escaped her, but then, on figuring out the Doctor's intent, she laughed in delight and allowed him to carry her over the threshold.

The door closed itself behind them.

The Doctor carried her to the console and said: "Do you see that lever?"

Rose nodded.

"Pull it all the way towards you."

She did as he said and while he walked her over to the seat on the side of the console and set her down, the whooshing sound commenced and inside the big glass column in the middle of the room, two sets of transparent cylinders began moving up and down. Rose watched in stunned amazement as the ancient room shook a little and then came to a rest.

Unable to do anything other than whisper, Rose asked: "Where did we travel to?"

"We are inside the time vortex. It's really nothing actually. In fact it just becomes a vortex when you have a designation. Like when you go back or forth in time, then you sort of travel trough a tunnel of- weeeelll, nothing actually, but you have to name it something. We are stationary now, nothing outside, not even planets. I can take you to planets, see the Earth from above, the entire solar system, Milky Way, star constellations, nebula's, whatever you like. That's for later, right now we have to find a way to get that startled look of your face."

The Doctor heaved in a deep breath, swept his hand through his hair, rubbed his neck and said, a little awkward: "I'm sorry."

Rose was dumbfounded for about half a minute, then she burst out giggling madly. The giggle turned into a fit of laughter and soon tears ran over her cheeks.

Finally she pulled herself together enough to state: "So this is you, then? You warned me language would seize to be so pretentious and upstart, however I had no idea it could be so funny."

"Oi!"

This brought on another outbreak of chuckles and this time the Doctor joined her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close.

"My wife." He whispered in her ear. It made Rose fall silent in an instant, cheeks pink and heart beating frantically.

"So, here we are, inside the TARDIS, your new home. Are you tired?"

Rose shook her head in haste, far to excited to allow sleep to take over.

"There is so much I want to tell you, so much for you to see, all in due course. Yet there is one thing that I must relate to you now."

The seriousness in his voice made Rose turn her head, she looked in his eyes and calmly awaited his explanation.

"There is no easy way to say this, no clear explanation I can offer. I have lived over nine hundred years, even though I am the last of my kind, I am still a Time Lord. My biology is far superior to that of a human, such as yourself. Not only does my body have certain advantages, such as those I explained to you earlier; my brain is also different. The human brain is made to learn continually, gather and process information. The brain itself does not grow, but new neural pathways are constantly created and old and unused ones disconnected. You do not use the same capacity all of the time and not ever the same combination of pathways twice. Humans are brilliant, unique, incredible at adapting and improvising, yet their vision is narrow. They only see what is in front of them, only comprehend what their exteroceptive senses tell them."

He paused, Rose nodded in encouragement and he continued.

"Do you know when you were a child, the first time someone told you that the world was turning, and you could not believe it because it looked like everything was standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath your feet, spinning at a thousand miles per hour. The entire planet, hurtling around the sun at sixty seven thousand miles per hour. I can feel it, that's who I am. I can see time, search between a million possible futures and I have to choose which one I take to walk on. I can change history, alter the outcome for the entire universe. Constellations being formed, species coming to existence, or not. And there is no one to stop me, I am the last one, the last master of time itself."

"But now you have me?"

A beautiful smile formed on the Doctor's face and he tenderly placed a kiss on Rose's lips.

"Yes, I have you now, but you can never be exactly like me. That is what you have to understand."

"I do, I understand. I can only be with you for as long as I live, and I am forever sorry I cannot give you more."

"Oh Rose, my dear sweet Rose, that is what I wanted to tell you. You can never give me more, but I can."