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The jerk of the TARDIS was nearly imperceptible, but the Doctor had spent so much time in the false police public call box that even the slightest jerk caught his attention. Something was pulling them the tiniest bit off-course. But what?
The Doctor went to check, and his findings were confusing, peculiar readings that he hadn't seen in some time. "That's strange," he said, but Rose wasn't paying attention. He wasn't sure what he'd say if she was. What he was looking at was a distress signal. That wasn't rare. What was rare was the fact that it was coming from something with similar components to what he was in right now.
The signal was coming from a time machine.
Whoever it was wasn't a Time Lord. He would know if it was. But he also knew that whoever it was, he didn't want Rose there. It could be very dangerous, and while the Doctor was a man who took risks, he didn't want to risk throwing Rose in the middle of something completely unknown. For all he knew, there could be another war. And he cared far too much about his companion to put her into a situation she would never be prepared for.
And he couldn't not investigate.
The Doctor cleared his throat to get Rose's attention, and said, "How'd you like to go home?"
"What's the catch?" she asked.
"No catch. We've missed Christmas, but it's just about Boxing Day, isn't it?" It wasn't, not where they were. Holidays didn't really exist when you traveled in and out of the folds of time, but it had been a considerable while since Rose had been back there, and he could program the TARDIS accordingly. "It'd make your mum happy."
"When have you cared about pleasing my mum?"
"You could see Ricky."
"Mickey." She frowned at him. "Is there something wrong?"
"Why would you think anything is wrong?"
"You sound like you're trying to get rid of me."
"I just think you should get to see your family once in awhile. It isn't fair of me to drag you away on the holidays." He smiled encouragingly.
She trusted enough in his smile to smile back, and he felt a twinge of guilt for lying to her, but it had to be done. "That's sweet of you. A bit odd, but sweet. I have been missing them." She nodded. "I'd like to go back." Even in his guilt, he noted with a degree of pleasure that she didn't refer to it as home. "Would you like to come?"
"To your mother's house?" He shook his head. "I don't think so."
"I know you don't have a family for the holidays," she hedged. "It doesn't hurt to... borrow one."
"Don't really do holidays where I come from," he said dismissively, turning around and telling the TARDIS where he wanted to go. "Besides, I've got something to do."
"So you are trying to get rid of me."
"No. It's simple maintenance. A little housekeeping."
"And you can't take a few hours off for a nice dinner? I promise my mother won't cook."
"Not really, no." He kissed her forehead fondly, getting into the spirit. "I'll be back for you in no time at all." He grinned. "Get it? Time."
Rose rolled her eyes. "You're not as funny as you think you are," she said, and the tease let him know she wasn't mad.
"Say hi to Jackie for me."
"'Hi' may in fact be the least horrible thing you've ever said to her."
"All the more reason why she'll appreciate it. Call it a belated gift for the holidays."
Rose laughed. "Yeah, sure."
The Doctor enjoyed the banter, but his mind was elsewhere. He wanted to know about the distress signal, and the machine sending it out. For them, it was a cry for help, but for him, it was the tiniest beacon of hope. And too soon, and yet, not soon enough, he was casting Rose off with a wave. She started walking down the alley towards her apartment, but made it all of three steps before she ran back and wrapped her arms around his shoulders briefly. "You're coming back, right?"
"Of course," he promised, too warmed by the surprising hug to consider the option that he might not make it out of this. Hard to determine your chances of survival if you weren't sure what it was you'd be trying to survive. If he lived, though, he was certainly coming back for her. "See you in a while."
Rose waved with a gleeful grin, and scampered off. The Doctor asked the TARDIS to follow the signal's beacon. Earth, America, California, the town of Pickford. 2005. Pickford was a sweet little residential community, and he got the impression that landing the TARDIS smack in the middle of the neighborhood, reeking of British charm, would not be the wisest of moves. He settled it beyond someone's garage, then tracked the signal to a squat home, where a boy was sitting on the front steps, eating out of a bag, and gazing ineffectually into space.
Well, to be fair, he was no more a boy than Rose was simply a girl. Really, it was only in comparison to the Doctor that they seemed so young. The boy looked smart enough, no better or worse than some of the other waifs they'd taken in. And protruding out of his pocket was what looked to be an advanced version of the sonic screwdriver.
He wasn't a Time Lord, a fact obvious both in his appearance and that the Doctor couldn't sense it. But he was undoubtedly a fellow time-traveler, and in need of help that only the Doctor could provide.
"Hello," he said, sitting down.
Phil had been thinking about Keely all morning. Well, not all morning. First he'd been wondering how Pim had managed to short his sheets while he was still in them. Then he'd been trying to decide which cereal to have. Then his dad had announced that he'd finally figured out how to get the distress signal on the time machine to work. And that was about when Phil started thinking about Keely.
Every time Phil's dad found a new plan to get the Diffys back to 2121, Phil thought about Keely, and the best way to say goodbye. It wasn't something he wanted to do, and it was something he didn't know how to do.
He'd been sitting on the porch, eating chips, and watching the neighbors (a nice change from them watching him). He'd been there for closing in on two hours when the man in black came walking by.
He stood across the street, in a black shirt, black pants, and black leather jacket. It screamed suspicious, especially the way he was staring at Phil's house, but then Phil spotted something in the guy's hand, something that looked like one of the cheap, earlier models of the Wizard.
"Hello," the man said, sitting down next to Phil. "I'm the Doctor." He certainly wasn't dressed like any doctor Phil had ever seen in this time. And also, wasn't there something about Phil not supposed to talk to strangers? Or maybe that was Pim. Either way, Phil didn't get any weird feelings from this doctor. Strangely, his presence almost felt like... home.
"I'm the Phil," said Phil, hiding a smile. "Are you looking for my dad?"
"Maybe. Does your dad have a time machine?"
Phil gaped: he had lived for many months in Pickford, and with excessively weird behavior, and still no one had guessed his secret. Not even two whole minutes with this guy, and he pinpointed the problem exactly. "Um, I don't..."
"My TARDIS picked up your machine's distress signal," the Doctor continued, ignoring the fact that Phil hadn't given a concrete answer.
A dozen different thoughts raced through Phil's mind, but the one he blurted out was, "Wow, Dad actually got it to work?"
"It's very weak, but yes, it's working. It was hard to find you; I've been looking all day. I'm a bit hungry, actually."
"Oh!" said Phil, thinking that if the guy was going to rescue them, the least Phil could do was share his snack. "Want some chips?" he asked.
The Doctor's eyes lit up, and his face split into a grin of delight. "Chips! I love chips."
"Well, here." Phil passed over his bag of Lays. "Help yourself."
The Doctor stared. "These are crisps."
"Um yeah, they're the kind with ridges." He mimed putting one to his mouth. "Good for dipping." The Doctor sighed slightly, but ate a small handful anyway, and Phil found himself asking, "Where are you from?"
The Doctor did something very unusual then, giving an honest answer to a serious question, a very rare event for most adults. He turned to Phil, meeting his stare head-on, and said calmly, "Another planet."
"Then how come you sound British?"
"Lots of planets have a Britain."
"Oh." Mulling this over, Phil had another handful of chips. "What's a TARDIS?" he asked finally.
"Time and Relative Dimension in Space."
Phil puzzled this out. "Time machine?"
"Among other things."
"You go through space, too..?"
"Correct."
Phil was a little jealous. "We just go through time. We were on vacation when the machine broke down." He tilted his head. "Are you really a doctor?"
"Yes. And no."
"Oh. Okay." That made no sense whatsoever. "Doctor What? I mean, Doctor Who?"
"Why does everyone say that to me?" he mused. "Not Doctor Anything. Just the Doctor."
Curtis chose that moment to race out of the house in just a loin cloth, leap-frogging over Phil's shoulders with a triumphant, "Groog!" He landed on the front lawn, then darted around the side of the house. Five seconds after that, Mr. Diffy emerged, yelling, "Curtis!"
"Tonga!" came the far-off cry, and Mr. Diffy followed the same path Curtis had, only dodging around his son and running considerably slower.
"Who was that?"
"That was Curtis," offered Phil helpfully. "He's our pet."
"He's a person."
"Caveman, actually."
"Cavemen are people, too."
Phil supposed the Doctor wasn't wrong about that, so he nodded and let a lengthy silence settle between them before saying, "I bet you don't have a caveman."
"I met Charles Dickens once."
"The Great Expectations guy?" The Doctor nodded. "How was he?"
"He lived up to the expectations quite nicely," the Doctor said, and when Phil took too long puzzling that one over, the Doctor tapped his shoulder lightly and said, "Great."
"Very funny."
"Phil, would you get Curtis's ball, please?" Mr. Diffy yelled from somewhere around the side of the house.
"Would that be your father?" asked the Doctor.
"Yeah," said Phil. "You should probably talk to him about the time machine. I deal with future-gadgets on a much smaller scale. Yeah, Dad!" he called, getting up and grabbing a basketball from under the porch swing. "C'mon," he beckoned the Doctor.
"Curtis, heads up," Phil said, and when Curtis's head turned, greasy mane swinging, Phil shot the basketball into the caveman's waiting hands.
"Turonga!" Curtis announced cheerfully, then ran towards the net hanging on the back of the garage door, dribbled the ball twice, then sailed through the air and neatly slam dunked the ball, hanging backwards by one hand. "Nothing but net," he growled, beaming. The Doctor cocked an eyebrow.
Mr. Diffy was watching the whole performance with an amazed look. "You know, I'll never get over how ambidextrous he is," he began, turning towards Phil, then stopping dead when he spotted the Doctor over his son's shoulder. "That crazy Uncle Curtis!" he covered, his voice unnecessarily loud. "He does love to dress up for the children..."
"Dad, this is the Doctor," said Phil calmly. "He got the distress signal. He's come to fix the time machine."
"Oh," said Mr. Diffy, then, "Oh!" He wrapped one of the Doctor's hands in two of his own, and pumped enthusiastically. "I can't believe it actually worked! We're saved! Right this way, um, Doctor. Thank you so much!"
Phil trailed behind, hoping the Doctor would give Phil's dad more answers than he'd given Phil. But he proved to be just as mysterious: a time-traveler whose machine picked up the signal. He said he was from the past, but he had a handful of crazy future gadgets.
But it didn't matter where or when he was from, because he was already hard at work on the machine with his Wizard, crawling over and under things, muttering at the machinery, letting out small bursts of blue light. "This is a very primitive machine," he said. Mr. Diffy looked insulted, and opened his mouth to protest, no doubt with a few choice words. Phil decided this was a good a time as any to get his dad out of there.
"Dad, why don't you go help Mom in the kitchen?" he said, ushering his father to the door. "Let the Doctor do his work." Mr. Diffy left, despite clearly being distressed, and Phil returned to his vigil on a stool, watching the Doctor work.
Various other Diffys came through the garage where the Doctor was attempting to fix the shoddily-constructed time machine. Mrs. Diffy, who blushed when she shook the Doctor's hand, insisted on being called Barbara, and offered him all sorts of sweets. Pim, Phil's sister, who informed the Doctor archly that she thought he looked like one of the Backstreet Boys. He had no idea what this meant. And lastly there was Curtis, the caveman, who was as quick a study as Phil had suggested; that was to say, he was an idiot. He gave the Doctor a few experimental pokes and announced, "Tonga!" again, then stole Phil's bag of crisps and ran away.
Throughout all of these introductions and comings and goings, Phil remained, sitting on a pink stool, flipping his screwdriver over and over in his hand. When they were alone, Phil told him amusing anecdotes about mishaps he'd gotten into as a boy from the future stuck in the past.
The Doctor was beginning to wonder if he had a problem with picking away the youth of the world, one by one, to make friends with. But Phil shared many of the qualities that the Doctor favored in Rose: a sweet kid, thoughtful, intelligent, funny, eager to learn. And the boy could spin a yarn.
The Doctor gave his fair share in the exchange, offering information and demonstrations on what he was doing, "In case this thing ever breaks down again," he said.
"Does the TARDIS ever break down?" asked Phil.
The Doctor gave him a wide smile. "No, never."
"Is it just you in there, all alone?"
"It was. For a time. But I have someone traveling with me now."
"Oh. Are they here now?"
"No. They're home."
"Where's home?"
"For me or for them?"
"Them."
"London."
"Cool. Is it your father?"
"No."
"Your mother?"
"No."
"Your sister?"
"No."
"Your brother?"
"No."
"Ever notice how mother and brother rhyme?"
"Yes."
"Why is that?"
"Don't know." The Doctor and Phil were grinning at each other now, and the Doctor felt a bit relieved to indulge his silliness again. He straightened, stretched out the aches of having been kneeling for so long. "Where else in time have you been?" he asked. He found that he was now nearly burning with the desire to talk to a fellow traveler, to hear what Phil had seen, the wonders that this Earth had to offer. Hopping through time with Rose was delightful, getting to see things freshly through her eyes, but the Doctor was being presented with a rare opportunity to hear the tales of someone who had seen it all. He was also anxious to hear about Phil's own world, the Earth of 2121, where time travel was not only a luxury, but one that the average nuclear family could purchase for a low, low price.
Before he could ask, however, the garage door opened. The Doctor hoped for a moment that Barbara had returned, with promised snacks, but it was a girl Phil's age. Younger than Rose, yet with the same blonde hair expression of having seen much more than the average person, but wanting to see so much more. The Doctor's assumption was further justified when she took no notice of the large time machine and the man in black bent beside it with a sonic screwdriver in hand.
When she spoke, it was with a torrent of words that were looking for any target to hit. "Phil, I need to borrow the Wizard, I made those cupcakes for home ec, but I accidentally burned them, and now they're all soggy and black."
"How did you get them soggy?" asked Phil.
"I don't know," said the girl. "But I'm out of flour, and can't start over, so I need the Wizard to fix them... oh!" She realized the Doctor was watching, and flushed. "Um, I mean, I just wanted to borrow some... some flour..."
Phil smiled at the girl's fluster. "It's okay, Keel," he said. "This guy's a friend. He's fixing the machine."
"The..." She blinked, turned to Phil. "Is he from the future?"
"A bit," said the Doctor, rising and pocketing his tools. "I've been to and from both, actually, past and the future. I'm the Doctor."
"I'm Keely," she said, staring at him a moment longer before relaxing and shaking his hand.
"Keely," he said. "That's lovely. Is it Xybrian?"
"Maybe," she shrugged. "My mom got it off a website." She looked to Phil once more, and the Doctor turned back to the time machine, sensing that was the only place where his presence would be acceptable.
"He's fixing the time machine?" asked Keely, barely whispering. Phil shifted slightly, putting his body between Keely's voice and the Doctor's ears. Not that he thought the Doctor would listen in, and he didn't think that Keely would say anything bad, either. It just seemed the thing to do.
"My dad figured out how to send a distress signal," Phil explained.
"You can do that?"
"I guess so. Anyway, the Doctor got it, and he came to help."
"Why's he called the Doctor?" asked Keely, raising up on her toes to peer over Phil's shoulder.
"I don't know. He's really cool, though. He's met Charles Dickens."
"The Great Gatsby guy?"
"N—" he began, but Keely wasn't listening, still trying to get a good look at the Doctor. "Yeah, whatever," he said.
"He's kinda cute, don't you think? In a weird way."
"That's what my mom said. Well, not in so many words. Mostly, she just said it in offers of food." Phil liked the Doctor, he was a funny guy, and smart, and didn't treat Phil like a kid, but he didn't get why his mom and Keely were falling all over him. He was practically bald.
"So he's not from the future?"
"He's from another planet, actually. Past that, he didn't really specify. Seemed rude to ask."
"I can hear you, you know," said the Doctor.
Keely leaned around Phil, giggling and waving. Phil rolled his eyes.
"So, what planet are you from?" asked Keely.
"Your friend is right," the Doctor said, matter-of-factly, but not meanly. "It is rude to ask."
Keely didn't seem to mind this, stepping closer to him. "You're a time-traveler?" she asked. "Where have you been? What have you seen?"
Phil rolled his eyes a second time. He had tried a million times to tell her stories about his vacation, but she never wanted to know. What exactly was wrong with Phil's stories? He had hair!
"I've seen the end of the world," the Doctor said with an endless reserve of calm, and Keely reeled slightly. Even Phil pocketed his slight envy at his lack of experience with this news.
"The world ends?" said Keely.
"Of course the world ends," said the Doctor. "The world was born, wasn't it? All things that are born must die, you know. That's life. It's nothing to cause much concern."
"When does it happen?"
"Long after you die," said the Doctor. "Oh, I'm sorry, was that a surprise, as well? I didn't mean to spoil the ending for you, but you'll die, as well. You both will."
"Thanks," said Phil, with a small smirk.
"You mean you won't?" said Keely.
"What, die? Of course; everything dies. Weren't you listening to my little speech?" He grinned. "I wouldn't count on it happening any time soon, though. You don't live as long as I have without learning a few tricks."
"What, the ripe old age of forty?" said Phil.
"Forty!"
Had he said something wrong? "Yeah, I mean, you're, like, my dad's age."
"Well, I shouldn't think so. If I was, he'd be a Time Lord, and he's not."
"A what now?"
"Don't concern yourself with it." The Doctor turned his back on them, making himself very busy with the time machine.
"Are you a Time Lord?" said Keely, raising her eyebrows at Phil. "Did you hear that, Phil? He's a Lord!"
It was getting to be too much. "Keely, don't you have to work on your home ec project?" She blinked at him for a moment, remembering. "Here, you can have the Wizard," he said, pulling it out of his pocket.
"Oh, can I?" Any interest she had in the Doctor faded in the wake of her enthusiasm over getting to use the Wizard unsupervised.
"Yeah. Just don't blow anything up, and get it back to me."
"Yay! Thanks, Phil, you're a peach!" she enthused, kissing his cheek before darting out of the garage, clutching her prize.
With a huff, Phil settled back on his chair. She was so excited over the Wizard and the Doctor that she didn't even seem to care about the fact that the machine was being fixed.
If the time machine was being fixed, then it meant that the Diffys would be going back home. And that Phil would be leaving Keely.
She didn't even seem to care.
Phil had been silent for a long while after Keely's departure, that the Doctor had to check and make sure the boy was still in the room. Sure enough, he was sitting stoically.
"Exactly," the Doctor said casually, "just how many people know you're not from this time?"
"Just Keel," said Phil. "It's great, you know, having someone to share your secret with." The Doctor smiled slightly, his mind instantly jumping to Rose. All of their adventures... would they have been as entertaining if he hadn't shared them with someone?
But when he glanced back at Phil, he was staring at the ceiling despondently.
"Phil? Are you all right?"
Phil jolted, taking a moment to recuperate before meeting the Doctor's eyes. "This is kind of a weird question," he hedged.
The Doctor smiled reassuringly. "I can guarantee you, I will have heard weirder."
"All right. Have you ever... I mean, is there such a thing as one person you're supposed to be with?" asked Phil.
"You and Keely," guessed the Doctor.
Phil, to his credit, didn't even attempt to pretend he was talking about anything else. "Yeah. I don't know. When I go back to the future, Keely will still be here, obviously."
"Maybe she'll wait for you," he said helpfully.
"She'll be so old," said Phil.
She would be dead, actually, but the Doctor thought it best to not point that out; Phil looked pained enough already. "I've seen the future," the boy continued dismally. "She gets married."
This was the problem of seeing the future. It would completely alter a person's perspective on things. They would start seeing things as finite, absolute. When Rose saw the end of Earth, she'd nearly gone into shock, trying to figure out how she managed to exist in the now when the what-would-be had become then... It was a very difficult thing, understanding time. Rose, and here, Phil, were too young and too inexperienced to truly understand.
The thing about the future was that merely the act of knowing what it held was enough to change it. The future was not as solidly inscribed as they'd have you believe. It was flexible, pliable. It was a line, to be sure, but it was a line that you could bend to your every whim. It was a rope that could fray into a million tiny yarns, a series of endless paths to follow, possibilities to encounter.
"Don't you miss your home?" asked the Doctor carefully. "Don't you miss your friends?" Rose lamented missing her mother and Mickey far more often than he would have liked.
Phil sat still, pondering this. "You know, I love where I'm from," he said. "I love not having to hide. But Keely is the best friend I've ever had. She's the only person that ever lets me really be myself, you know?"
The Doctor did know. He got that feeling every day, with Rose. It was a wonderful feeling, one he didn't want to give up any time soon.
"It just doesn't seem fair," said Phil.
The Doctor rose, and clapped a hand on Phil's shoulder. "Life, my boy, is rarely fair." That was certainly the ultimate truth.
"I'm just worried that she doesn't care about me leaving," said Phil. "I'm worried that there won't be enough time."
"Tell her how you feel. You of all people should realize by now, Phil, that there is always plenty of time." The Doctor smiled at him reassuringly. "And now. Almost there..." He tapped various points under the hood, then with a slight "Ah!", he prodded the belly of the machine once more with the sonic screwdriver. "And... done." He grinned. "Trust me, Phil, I think you'll like what I've done with it."
The Diffys thanked him with a large dinner, the majority of which appeared to have been sprayed from bottles. Regardless, it was tasty, better than anything Jackie Tyler would have whipped up. Of course, thinking about Jackie only served to remind him that he needed to swing back around to London and collect Rose.
Before he left, he took Phil with him to see the TARDIS. Phil walked around, touching the glowing walls with barely-concealed awe. "This is really cool," said Phil. "How much did you pay for it?"
The Doctor smiled. "Family heirloom."
"Man, all I get is ten dollars a week and all the spray donuts I can eat." Phil reached out to touch the console, then seemed to think better of it, and retracted his hand. "And you can really go anywhere in time and space?"
"Anywhere at all."
"Does it get... lonely? Never staying in one place, I mean."
"It used to. But like I said, I travel with someone now. She's my own Keely. Well, her name's not Keely. It's Rose. Rose Tyler." He grinned. "Keeps me sane."
Phil laughed, and the Doctor laughed with him.
"Are we ever going to see you again?" asked Phil.
"I'm sure our paths will cross again," said the Doctor. "Let me know how it works with Keely."
"Sure. Let me know how it works with Rose."
"Oh, it's not—" The Doctor stopped himself. "All right."
Phil went to the door, examining his surroundings once more. "Seriously, a blue box?" he said. "At least ours is an RV. Get with the times." He waved. "See you in the future."
"See you in the future."
Keely stood with the Diffys in front of the RV, parked conspicuously in their backyard. "Well, the Doctor said it was ready to go," Phil's dad announced. "I guess this is it. All aboard, Diffys."
Phil's parents and Pim climbed inside, but Phil turned to look at Keely, feeling stupid in his gray jumpsuit. He'd really gotten used to clothes from this century, and he was going to miss it. "So," he said.
"So."
Not knowing what else to do, he hugged her. "I'm really going to miss you, Keel," he said.
"Me too," she said, squeezing him a little longer and harder than was necessary. "Oh! I almost forgot. The Wizard." She pulled away and started rooting in her bag for it, but Phil held up his hand.
"It's cool," he said. "Keep it."
"Are you sure?"
"I'll get a new one. Besides, it's something to remember me by."
Keely smiled sadly. "Like I'd ever forget you, Phil."
"I should go," he said, gesturing at the time machine. "Um... bye." He gave her one last quick hug before darting aboard the RV and settling in. As goodbyes went, his wasn't exactly stellar, but he'd been nervous and pressed. The Doctor had suggested telling Keely how he felt about their relationship, but Phil wasn't convinced that was the best subject to breach when he was about to be whisked away to the future.
Mrs. Diffy turned around to smile at him. "You two are so sweet," she said.
"Puke," groaned Pim.
"All right," said Mr. Diffy. "Let's see if that Doctor is worth his stuff." He started it up.
And nothing.
Four Diffys stared expectantly at the control panel, and there was a moment's pause before Mr. Diffy experimentally hit the dashboard. The engine rumbled for a few hopeful seconds, then fell dead.
"I can't believe it," said Mr. Diffy. "I thought he fixed it! What a cheesebag!"
Suddenly, Phil remembered what the Doctor had said to him: "Trust me, Phil, I think you'll like what I've done with it." Phil grinned. He liked.
Pim, muttering under her breath, got out of the time machine and stalked back to the house. Phil followed, to find Keely still standing there, staring at the RV. "What happened?" she asked.
"Looks like we're still stuck here," said Phil with a what-can-you-do grin.
Keely hopped a few times and hugged him. "Great!" she said. "I mean," she tried to cover, "not great. I mean, for your family. I mean..." But Phil just kept grinning at her. She hugged him again. "I'm glad."
"Me too," he said. "And Keel?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm gonna need the Wizard back."
Rose, Mickey, and Jackie were all waiting for him when he stepped outside, having heard the TARDIS coming.
"Come to take her away again, have you," said Mickey with slight distaste.
"I'm afraid so, Nicky—" said the Doctor.
"Mickey!"
"—we've got things to see and do."
"I'll be back before you know it," Rose chirped, kissing Jackie and Mickey in turn, and followed the Doctor back onto the TARDIS.
"Did you have a nice time?" he asked.
"It was lovely," she said. "I wish you could have been there, though." When he didn't answer, she continued, "How was your 'bit of housekeeping'?"
He grinned at her. He hadn't been gone that long, in the grand scheme of things, but he was very glad to have Rose back on board the TARDIS. Glad enough that he would suck up his pride and admit he hadn't told her the whole truth. She wouldn't mind too much. In fact, she'd probably be very amused by his bit of match-making, and would want to go ahead to the twenty-second century to see how it turned out.
"Well," he said. "Funny story, that..."