Archive of Our Own

The first week of Rose’s honeymoon has been lovely. Their first morning as a married couple began with breakfast in their room, courtesy of the elegant old hotel where they’d spent their wedding night.

After they check out of the hotel, their bags are carried to their car. The Doctor and Rose follow behind, hand in hand. He opens the car door for her and gets behind the wheel. Rose jumps out of the car just as he starts the ignition.

The Doctor pokes his head out the window. “Rose?”

“Pop open the boot, would you?”

“What did you forget?” He does, and after a moment Rose closes the boot and gets back in.

“I wanted to make sure my wedding dress was all right,” she explains.

“It’s there, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I just don’t want it getting dirty,” she explains.

When the Doctor last saw the dress, it was lying in a heap on the floor. To his mind it needs a cleaning and a good ironing before it could ever hope to be restored back to its normal condition. But although he’s only been a married man for a few hours, he’s not a complete idiot. He only nods and starts the car down the road.

“We’re not going to carry it along with us all the way, are we?” he asks casually.

“I can ship it home someplace,” Rose says. “Mum will take care of it for me.”

“Oh, that’s good. No use in taking up space.”

“Space for what?” she asks, but he doesn’t answer.

“You still haven’t told me where we’re going, you know,” she says instead.

“Oh, I thought we’d go traveling.”

“Yeah. Where?”

“I mean, I’ve been on this world for months and months, and I don’t know what’s happening or what’s out there!”

“We’ve been a bit busy,” she says.

“And there’s no telling when the TARDIS will be operational,” he continues.

“Right.”

“Shall we tour the world?”

“The world?” she says in surprise, startled into laughter. “All of it?”

“Well, no. Not all of it. Not right now, obviously. But I think we can make a good start.”

“Where are we going first?” Rose asks.

He takes his eyes off the road and smiles at her. She smiles back.

“Further than we’ve ever gone before.”

The Doctor refuses to tell her any more than that, and the sight of the Eurotunnel leaves her speechless.

“We’re driving?” she asks.

“Well, I was hardly going to hop aboard a zeppelin,” the Doctor says, sounding quite reasonable about it. “I know Pete is very fond of them, but they give me the creeps.”

He drives the car onto the ferry and smiles cheerfully. “What do you think? Is this a pleasant honeymoon so far?”

“So far, so good,” Rose says.

She starts the journey asking questions about their destination. After he agrees that where they are heading is warm, dry, wet, cold, large, smallish and possibly underwater, Rose stops asking and settles back against her seat.

“It’s only fair that I get a little hint. Some warning, maybe.” She tries out a little smile, but he doesn’t tell her what he’s got planned.

“You never cared where we were going beforehand when we were traveling through time and space,” the Doctor says instead of telling her where they’re going. “Is this less of an adventure?”

“No,” Rose says, shocked that he would think so. “This is much more! That’s why I can’t wait!” She bounces in her seat and grins at him. He grins back and leans over to kiss her. She kisses him back, and the 35-minute trip across the English Channel seems to speed by.

They’ve landed in France, as Rose had suspected.

“This our first stop?” she asks.

“You’ll see,” he says mysteriously, and this time Rose gives up, puts on her sunglasses, and waits to see.

“Paris!” the Doctor says with delight when they reach that city. “Come on!”

He has a hotel reserved for them, but the drive has made him eager to run around. They check in and have their bags sent to their room, and he hands the keys to the car to a valet.

“We just got here!” Rose protests laughingly. “Let me change, at least.”

They’re still in the hotel lobby. The Doctor looks her over, pronounces her skirt and shirt to be perfect for Paris, and drags her out onto the street.

“You’re mad,” she tells him, but she loves every moment.

“You love it,” he tells her. “Here we go!”

Paris with the Doctor is a whirlwind. They climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower - the Doctor scorns to take the lift - hand in hand. Rose forces herself to look down. The view makes her light-headed.

“Quite a drop,” she manages to say, clinging to the Doctor as she pulls back from the edge.

He peers over himself, unconcerned about the drop. “Nice view,” he says appraisingly. He surveys Paris with an approving eye. Then his eye is drawn upwards, and he sighs at the sight of a zeppelin slowly making its way across the sky.

Rose follows his gaze. After so many years in this world, she’s gotten accustomed to the sight of zeppelins in the sky, but it will never seem normal to her. They used to be beautiful, but once she was trapped here, they became a symbol of that trap.

They look away from the zeppelin at the same time. There is a tacit understanding that they will no longer complain about being stuck here. He knows there was no other choice to be made for them, in the end. Rose knows that this is preferable to being in her own world without him. Having loved him and been loved by him, she would never choose to return to her old life.

They stand beneath the Arc de Triomphe together.

“Napoleon was all right at first,” the Doctor comments, staring up at the structure that Napoleon had commissioned. “Powerful man, bit on the short side. Made for a massive Napoleonic complex. Well.” He shrugs. “Hence the name.”

He allows a break for lunch, and then they head back to the hotel for an afternoon’s rest. Luckily their ideas of rest are similar, and Rose gets to experience a luxury French hotel for the first time.

“This is nice,” she murmurs, burrowing underneath the covers.

“Mmmm,” he says from beside her. His head is buried beneath his pillow.

“Poor love,” she says sympathetically, kissing his shoulder. “Was that too much for you?”

He shoots her a look of mild indignation. “Too much for me?”

She can’t keep her tongue from sliding out from between her teeth as she grins. “You know. “Young wife, older husband-”

“Older!”

“You’re the one who said 900 years old,” she points out.

He rolls over to kneel above her. “I’ll show you old,” he promises, and since that’s what Rose wanted, she willingly lets him show her.

They stay in France that night, wandering the streets together. Rose buys a small stuffed lion for Tony that she spots in a toy store. The Doctor insists that they stop in at every sweet shop they come across, and really, their second night as husband and wife couldn’t be better.

From France they drive to Italy, hitting Milan, Venice and Rome in rapid succession. The Doctor had taken to driving, and the way he handles European roads makes Rose slightly nervous. But they’d continue to travel and she loves every minute of it. They used to explore all of time and space, and all that time Earth was just waiting to be discovered.

This planet is slightly different from the one she’d been born on, and she doesn’t know enough about the various countries to recognize the differences.

“Well, now, that doesn’t matter,” he says when she mentions this. “New world, new explorations to launch.”

“What are we exploring next?” she asks, even though he still won’t tell her about each new destination.

“You’ll see.”

“When you said ‘further than we’ve ever gone before’,” Rose pants, “I didn’t think you’d meant it literally.” She spits out a mouthful of sand. She is chafing in the most sensitive of places, and despite her sunglasses she’s nearly blinded by the sunshine.

“Almost there!” the Doctor responds cheerfully, ignoring his wife’s apparent distress. “I think I see something over there! Just over that next rise.”

“That’s called a mirage. How about something that actually exists?” Rose hates to sound so spiteful, but the sand is making her very uncomfortable.

He turns around to frown disapprovingly at her. “Really. That was uncalled for.”

Something a lot worse than that is called for here, but Rose is a bit too tired. They’re lost, and she doesn’t want to be lost. They’re on their honeymoon, and newlyweds on their honeymoon should not be wandering around without a clue as to where they are.

The Doctor is cheerful, humming under his breath as they walk. Rose supposes that ten days of travel, exploring, and regular shagging will do that to a person. She was feeling pretty much the same way, up until the wind blew sand into their faces.

The car broke down on the way to their hotel, on a lonely stretch of road. Not seeing any signs of life around, they’d gamely left the car behind, heading off to find help.

“It’s locked good and tight,” the Doctor had pointed out, referring to her protests about leaving everything behind. “And our bags should be okay.”

Rose still wasn’t as convinced, and she made sure all their important belongings were in the bag she was currently carrying.

“Luckily, it’s a Torchwood car,” the Doctor had added, kneeling down to peer underneath the car. Rose wasn’t sure what he was doing - he was not automotively-inclined. “Even if someone takes off with it, we’ll be able to track it.”

Rose hadn’t argued with this. The car was their own, not one of the anonymous fleet of black SUVs that Torchwood owned, but all employees’ vehicles were equipped with a GPS chip.

They hadn’t gone very far before Rose saw that they were in the midst of a very creditable-looking desert.

“It’s not a desert,” the Doctor had said. “There are no deserts here. This is a beach.”

“It doesn’t look like a beach. There’s no water. It looks like a desert,” Rose had responded.

“It’s impossible.”

“You say that a lot, and it almost never turns out that way,” she pointed out.

He had taken her hand, and laughed at her, and kissed her. That had been nearly half an hour ago, and no amount of hand-holding was making Rose feel better.

She pushes her hair away from her face. Spotting a long, thin stick on the ground, she pauses to pick it up. After examining it for a moment, she breaks it off at approximately the same length as a knitting needle, screws her hair into a knot and shoves the stick in, holding her hair in place.

Sand trickles down from her hair. She coughs and brushes it off of her shoulders. Where is the stuff coming from? How does it get from the ground into her hair?

The Doctor is equally coated in sand. His hair looks blond, and it’s so full of sand that it’s at twice its normal volume. His eyebrows and lashes have all but disappeared. A dangerous flush has overtaken his skin, signaling that the sunscreen she’d slathered on their faces that morning was losing its effectiveness. If they don’t find some shade soon he’ll have a few more freckles.

“I had no idea there’d be so much sand here,” she says. “You know, for there being no deserts here.”

“It’s like we’re walking through a giant exfoliator,” he finally agrees. “Ah! Signs of life, Rose!” He grabs her hand and urges her along.

“I see something!” Rose says excitedly. “Shops! And people!”

“And water!” The Doctor points off in the distance, where there is indeed a stretch of ocean. “We must have started off in the water-less part of the beach.”

“Can it be a beach without water?” Rose wonders. “When is a beach not a beach?”

“When it’s a desert,” the Doctor answers. “Which this wasn’t.”

“You shouldn’t make fun of me,” Rose tells him sternly.

“Was I?” he asks innocently.

“Making fun of wives while on your honeymoon is not recommended.”

“That’s not covered in any of the travel magazines,” the Doctor disagrees. He’s read his fair share of them while planning this trip, and he’s well aware of the do’s and don’ts of newlywed behavior.

“That’s because most men are smart enough not to,” she informs him. She’s grinning the grin that always drives him crazy, the one where the tip of her tongue peeks out from between her teeth.

“I’m not most men,” he says, and leans in close to kiss her.

“No?” The rest of Rose’s sentence is cut off as he covers her mouth with hers and kisses her with all the fervor of a man newly married. Sometimes being human is still new to him, and the sensations of it all threaten to overwhelm him. The stabs of lust and hormones he feels are definitely the better sensations to feel.

Giving in to it, he shoves his hands into Rose’s hair, knocking out the stick that she’d put it up with. Rose’s hands go up and around his neck and she leans in closer.

His hands move from her hair down her back to her waist, and then up to her neck. His fingers brush the neckline of her sundress. Rose whimpers and arches against him. Just as his hand is about to move lower, a distant sound of church bells brings them back to their senses. They come back to reality with a start.

Rose smiles up at him. “Was that a promise?” she asks. “Our hotel should be nearby.”

He doesn’t respond to that. His gaze is on the pretty green sundress she’s wearing.

“What have you got on under that?” he demands.

She smiles, slowly and wickedly. “Just my bikini.”

His eyes are on the area where the bikini ought to be. “The black one?”

Her smile widens. “The white one,” she says in a low whisper, knowing it to be his favorite one and knowing he hates for her to actually be seen in public wearing it.

His breath leaves him in a shudder. He grabs her hand. “Come on. Let’s find our hotel.”

They soon come to the end of the beach and step onto pavement. Rose couldn’t see the pavement from where they’d been standing, but now she can make out more of what appears to be a small beach town.

“Oh, thank goodness,” she murmurs in relief.

“Here we are, good as new!” The Doctor brushes sand off his shirt. “Come on, then. Lots to see.” Hopefully they can find their hotel and figure out how to retrieve their bags and the car.

The sun is shining, and though Rose wishes she had a hat, she lifts her face up and closes her eyes for a moment. It feels very nice. The wind sends a breeze through her thin green sundress, and she wonders how the Doctor manages to not feel the heat in his trousers and shirt.

“Smile, Rose,” he says cheerfully, taking her hand. “We’re on our honeymoon. Everyone loves newlyweds.”

Rose catches a disapprovingly glance from an older couple walking past. She suspects they saw her kissing the Doctor. Well, she’s not going to apologize for it. It took him long enough to come around to kissing her - she’s never going to complain about where and when they do.

“Maybe not everyone,” she allows. “At least when they’re snogging in public.”

He follows her gaze and snorts. “Envy, I imagine. Who doesn’t want to be young and in love?”

Rose laughs. She can’t help it. He’s in such a cheerful state of mind,

“Anyway, Rose Tyler, I’ll show you that everyone loves newlyweds. Here.” He stops and reaches into his pocket for a small phrasebook. Steeping in front of a tiny old woman dressed all in black and carrying two string shopping bags, he addresses her and smiles, glancing at his book.

“Yassou, kyria,” he says. “Eme enas gaidoros.”

The woman looks at him in part horror, part amusement, glances at Rose, shakes her head, and moves on. A few feet away she glances
back over her shoulder at them, still shaking her head before continuing on down the street.

The Doctor blinks after her. “Something I said?” he asks, flipping through the guidebook.

“What did you say?” Rose takes the book from his hand.

“That I was a bridegroom.”

Bridegroom, Rose reads. Then, a few pages later, “Oh.” She starts to laugh.

“What?”

She laughs harder.

“What?”

“You told her you were a donkey,” she laughs, now unable to hold onto the book.

“A what?”

“A donkey,” she gasps out, still laughing. “See?” She’s giggling so hard that she loses her hold on the book. The Doctor catches it as it falls.

He stares at the page. “Huh. Well, close enough.”

Rose takes the book back and tucks it into the woven bag she’s got slung across her shoulder. “Never mind. I still love you.”

He shakes his head. “I never thought I’d miss the translation circuits quite so much.”

Their hotel isn’t much farther. Studying a small map posted on the street nearby, Rose determines that they’d been circling the town for a while before the car broke down.

“Not a problem,” the Doctor assures her. “We’ll send someone for it. Hire a towtruck or something.”

“Let’s do that soon,” she agrees. “All I’ve got is this dress and my bikini.”

He brightens at her words. “Well, no need to hurry someone off into the wild,” he says, eyeing her dress as though he has x-ray vision and can see the bikini underneath.

She clears her throat and smoothes down her skirt.

“Rose Tyler!” he exclaims. “Are you blushing?”

“Shut up,” she tells him, and takes his hand to lead him to the hotel.

“I don’t mind if you’re blushing,” he assures her. “In fact, it’s rather reassuring, that I can still bring about that response in you. Rather flattering, actually,” he adds in a smug, reflective voice.

“It’s sunburn,” Rose says shortly.

“Through your hat and sunscreen?” he returns skeptically. He stops walking and leans in close to her ear. Rose can smell his skin and closes her eyes to keep herself from jumping into his arms and kissing him senseless once more.

“I think you can’t resist me,” he says in a low voice.

Well. She can’t let that stand, can she? Rose leans right into him. “You think so?” she whispers.

His gaze held by hers, he loses track of the conversation. “What?”

Rose smiles and trails her fingers up the front of his shirt. “You think I can’t resist you?” she asks, voice low and unfairly seductive.

“No, I don’t. I am irresistible.” That statement would have been better carried off if his voice hadn’t hitched at the end of it, but he’s never been able to completely control himself around Rose Tyler.

“You’re right,” Rose agrees. “I am totally. Under. Your. Spell.” With each word her mouth moves closer to his. He dips his head to kiss her, and just as he does she slips away from him.

“There’s the hotel!” she says brightly.

The Doctor shakes his head ruefully. “You are a witch.”

She throws him a flirtatious look over her bare shoulder. “Yeah?”

“You’d have been burned at the stake a few hundred years back, you know,” he continues as they go up the hotel steps. “Any woman who can twist a man around like that would not have lasted long.”

Rose laughs, absurdly pleased at the backhanded compliment. “Thanks.”

He takes her hand. “Just promise me that you’ll use those powers only for good.”

“And only with you?” she guess.

He opens the lobby doors. “Oh, that’s a given.”

The hotel is lovely, all white marble and bright sunlight. Rose is impressed that the Doctor found it on his own. He’s actually done very well on their honeymoon trip so far. They’ve been traveling non-stop, and Rose has never enjoyed herself more. Even the driving hasn’t been as awful as she worried it might be. As a child she hated long car rides. The TARDIS had seemed the best way to travel - even if they never landed in the right time or place. When she had first landed in this world the car rides had made her feel claustrophobic. She supposes that after years without the TARDIS, she has gotten used to the slower mode of travel.

The Doctor rarely mentions the loss of the TARDIS. She still doesn’t know if it’s because they’re trying to grow their own - currently it’s tucked away in the garden shed at the back of their garden - or if it’s because some things are still painful to think about.

She doesn’t ask him. Sometimes it’s better to leave things alone. She tells herself he’ll talk about it if something is bothering him, even though that was rarely his way before. He does talk more about his feelings to her now that he’s living a human life, but he still retains a habit of reticence about certain things that’s hard to break through.

Sometimes Rose recognizes that she’s being a coward, but she continues on anyway, hoping for the best.

And sometimes she gets the best, she thinks to herself.

She’s been walking into the lobby beside the Doctor, but now he stops and looks around thoughtfully.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“We just walked in,” he says. “It occurs to me that I haven’t carried you over the threshold anywhere. That’s an old Earth custom, isn’t it? I ought to carry you across the threshold.” He gazes thoughtfully at said threshold.

Did she hear him correctly? “Carry me where?” Rose repeats, just to make sure.

Instead of answering, he bends at the waist and scoops her up into his arms, ignoring her startled cry. People turn their heads to look at them, but for the most part they look amused.

“We’re just in the lobby!” she giggles.

“I know!” he says cheerfully. “I love old Earth traditions.”

Rose tries to keep her dress down for modesty’s sake, and relaxes enough to be able to laugh at him.

“Hello!” the Doctor says cheerfully to a staring couple. “We just got married.”

Confused looks turn to smiles and nods of congratulations. The Doctor accepts these as his due. Rose sighs and smiles back. A deliveryman walking by with a vase of flowers pulls a rose from the vase and hands it to her.

“Thanks!” she says, blushing.

The Doctor strides up to the massive reception desk and sets Rose back on her feet.

“Hello,” the Doctor says to the clerk behind the desk in the hotel lobby. “We’re a bit late for check-in, but I’m sure you still have our room. Our car broke down some distance back. Could you send someone to bring it back and send our things up to our room?”

“Certainly,” the hotel clerk says smoothly. “Your name?”

“I’m the Doctor.”

“Doctor who?” the clerk asks. Rose smirks. One day she’ll try to add up how often she’s heard that exact question.

The Doctor pauses. He’s always forgetting that he does, in fact, have a name that identifies him as an ordinary human being. “Er, Smith,” he answers finally.

“Dr. Smith?”

“John Smith.”

“Your name is John Smith?” The clerk raises a brow. Rose wonders, not for the first time, if his choosing such a bland, common name wasn’t a mistake. When you’re checking into a hotel people tend to assume it’s a false name right away, especially if you have no luggage with you.

The Doctor sighs impatiently. “It’s the honeymoon suite. I made the reservation myself.”

The hotel clerk is a young woman with olive skin and beautifully dark, glossy hair that curves in a bell by her jaw. She throws them a quick look that Rose interprets to mean that she doesn’t quite believe them.

Rose moves in closer to the Doctor, standing against him as she leans her arms on the counter, making sure the clerk can see her wedding ring.

“We’re on our honeymoon,” she says. “Could you please just check again? I’m sure it’s there somewhere.”

The clerk hits some more keys on her computer keyboard. The Doctor waits, radiating impatience. Rose can feel the heat of his body through their clothes and is rather impatient herself. He raises a hand and strokes her back, and each stroke is like an electric current.

“Here you are,” the clerk says. “I do apologize, Dr. Smith. The check-in day had been entered incorrectly.”

“It’s Doctor,” he says with a sigh. “Just the Doctor.”

He slips an arm around Rose’s waist as he waits for their room keys to be prepared. Rose squirms in closer to him, and he gives her a squeeze.

“Here you are.” The clerk hands them a receipt and their keys. “I’ll send someone right now for your car and your bags.”

“Thank you,” Rose says gratefully.

“Enjoy your stay.”

The Doctor is feeling grumpy. “Thank you,” he says shortly, turning and leading Rose to the banks of lifts on the other side of the lobby.

He gets over his annoyance in the lift. They’re alone, and he suggests they take advantage of that. Rose agrees, and no one watching them stumble out of the lift at their floor would be surprised to hear that they are newlyweds.

Giggling and whispering to one another, they locate their room and unlock the door. Rose locks it again behind them to ensure privacy, but the Doctor, instead of following up on the suggestion he made in the lift, has gone back to being annoyed.

“It’s a sad time when a man can’t choose a name and be left alone with it,” he says with a sigh.

“You don’t have a name,” Rose points out setting her bag on the chair and slipping off her shoes. “You have a profession - and an alias.”

“Pete gave it to me,” he complains. “I couldn’t go around changing it. What would I change it to?”

“Oh, you’ve used John Smith for years. It hardly matters what you call yourself, does it?” Rose walks to the far wall. It’s made entirely of windows, designed to showcase the view. She pushes the draperies aside. “You’re still you.” There’s a door leading to a small balcony. She opens the doors and gasps in pleasure. “It’s gorgeous!”

He joins her on the balcony, enjoying the breeze now that it’s not blowing sand into his face.

The sea stretches out before them, all blue and green water. White sand fills the beaches. People are all over the place, but they’re so high up it doesn’t matter.

“It is rather nice,” he agrees. He looks at her nervously. “So you like it? The hotel?”

“‘Course I do. I’ve loved them all,” Rose says honestly. “This is the best fun I’ve ever had.” She stands on her toes and kisses him. “It’s been the best wedding trip ever.”

His face breaks out into a relieved grin. “Good. I want you to be happy.”

“I’m happy,” she says solemnly, wanting to tease him but sensing that he’s being serious. “You make me very happy.”

“Lovely! Shall we go sightseeing?”

“Sightseeing? It’s our honeymoon!”

“It’s our fourth stop,” he points out, the picture of reasonableness. “Come on!”

Rose thinks about the white bikini underneath her sundress. “But we’re here!”

He stands very close to her, pulling her up to be level with his mouth. “We will have plenty of time for that today, Miss Tyler,” he assures her.

She raises an eyebrow. “I’m not Miss Tyler anymore,” she points out. “We changed our names when we got married, remember?”

He winces. “I’m not likely to forget any time soon, the way your mum yelled at me afterwards for disrupting the ceremony. But,” he says softly, still standing close to her, “whether we can call ourselves Smith or Tyler-Smith or something else entirely, you will always be Rose Tyler to me.”

She smiles. “Good. So...are you sure you want to go out?”

“Plenty of time,” he assures her. “Haven’t you ever heard that anticipation is half the fun?”

She’s fairly sure he’s just teasing her, but to make sure, she steps back into the room. He follows her, closing the door to the balcony behind them.

She turns to face him, raising an eyebrow challengingly. “You really want to go sightseeing right now?”

He smirks at her, his thoughts unreadable. “Well, it’s been a long time since I was here last. Things have probably changed a bit. Well, I say here, but it wasn’t this here that I saw, was it? All sorts of things to see and explore. Just waiting to be discovered by us,” he adds, leaning so close to her that his breath brushes her face.

Rose pulls the draperies shut and makes sure the door to the suite is locked.

“You know,” she says casually, “we haven’t even seen the rest of the suite.”

“Oh, you’ve seen one honeymoon suite, you’ve seen them all, haven’t you?” The Doctor folds his arms across his chest and waits for her next move. He’s enjoying himself at the moment, but he really doesn’t hope she does an about-face and agree to go sightseeing. He hasn’t forgotten about the white bikini under her dress.

“We haven’t seen this one.” Rose heads to a partially-opened door. “Here’s the bedroom.” She throws him a challenging look over her shoulder.

“Is that where it is?”

She walks through the door, leaving him alone in the other room. He follows after a moment, stumbling over her shoes, left in the middle of the room. Next to them is the bag that she was wearing slung across her chest, and farther beyond that is a green pile he recognizes as her sundress.

Pulling his eyes from that, he looks up to see Rose, silhouetted against another wall of windows, filmy drapes drawn closed for privacy. She’s standing next to an enormous bed made up with blue and white satin bedding, and all she has on is a very small, rather sheer white bikini that really ought to be made illegal.

She slowly raises her arms and runs her hands through her hair, shaking back the blonde mass.

“Do you still want to go out?” she asks innocently.

He pretends to consider it, for so long that Rose stops posing and actually becomes uncertain. It’s at that moment that he pounces, drawing her down upon the bed with him.

Rose laughs up at him as his hands find the strings that tie the bikini.

“I guess we’re staying in,” she murmurs.

Rose wakes up after a brief, restorative nap. She’s not sure how long she’s been asleep, but she’s alone in the room. Light coming in through the drapes indicates that it’s still daylight outside. Rose stretches for a moment, smiling to herself. She had never imagined, that day in the basement of a shop, that she would end up anywhere remotely close to where she is.

Definitely not, she tells herself. Sometimes the best plans are the ones you don’t make at all. She gazes at her brand-new wedding ring and smiles again.

She hears a knock outside. The door opens, and she hears two voices, the Doctor’s and another man’s. Standing up, she walks to the door and peers out into the main room. She takes care to stay hidden behind the door, since she’s not wearing any clothes. The Doctor is just closing the door to their suite. He glances back and smiles at her.

“Good news! They located the car, right where we left it. It’s being looked at as we speak. Local garage nearby. Our bags were just brought up.”

He picks up Rose’s suitcase and carries it into the bedroom for her. Setting it down, he smiles at her. “Sleep well?”

She smiles back. “Yeah.”

“Terrific!” He beams at her. “Ready to see the sights?”

“Yeah. Just need to clean up.”

“What for? You look-” Here he stops. Rose is always beautiful to him, especially when she’s not wearing a stitch of clothing, but they do both look like they’ve been doing some serious labor.

“You look beautiful,” he says. “Absolutely beautiful. But perhaps we’d better freshen up first, eh?”

Rose nods in agreement, and a small shower of sand falls from her head. She gazes from the floor to the bed, where there is more sand scattered among the sheets.

“Me first,” she says decisively, and dives for the shower.

After a lovely long shower, Rose is feeling more than ready to go out. By the time she puts on a long white sundress and silver sandals and dries her hair, the Doctor has showered, dressed, eaten a snack of nuts and pastries from the mini-bar, scanned the local English-language newspaper, and attempted to follow the local-language newscast on the television.

“You’re ready.” He springs up, eager to go. Then he pauses and looks at her shoes. “Are those, er, sensible? They don’t look very sensible.”

“‘Course not,” she says, affronted. “But they’re very comfortable.”

He looks doubtful, but it’s far from the first time she’s made interesting clothing choices on their travels together. He thinks back to that time on Omega-Alpha-Barron V, where she caused a minor incident just by showing bare legs beneath her skirt.

“Come on, then,” he says cheerfully. “Lots to do, lots to see.”

“How come we never went to Greece before?” Rose asks on the way to the door. “I mean, we went to Scotland and ancient Rome but we never made it to Greece.”

“I was saving it for a special adventure,” he says. “Like this.”

“Liar.” She says with affection, and bumps his arm with her shoulder.

“Rose Tyler.” He says her name the way he’s always said her name, the way only he can say it, and it still makes her heart skip a beat. “If being married to you isn’t an adventure, then I don’t know what ever could be.”

The Doctor holds the hotel door open for Rose. She steps through and goes down the steps and onto the street. The day is warm and sunny, but not overly so. Rose decides to forego the sunscreen for the afternoon but pats the bottle in her bag, just in case.

Rose slips on her sunglasses and takes his hand as they start off down the street.

“This is beautiful,” she says in appreciation, looking around.

He pulls his own sunglasses out of his shirt pocket and slides them on his nose with one hand. “It is beautiful,” he agrees. “Far lovelier than ancient Rome.”

“And cleaner,” Rose adds. Most of the time she manages to block out the memory of the sights and smells of ancient Rome, but at times memories come flooding back. That wasn’t an adventure that was particularly fun. Once you’ve been turned into a stone statue it’s hard to have fond feelings of a place.

Although...

“Do you remember the stone statue of me?” she asks the Doctor impulsively. “The one you made?”

He looks affronted. “The one I spent a year apprenticing with Michelangelo in order to create the statue? Of course I do.” He smiles a bit, and Rose reminds herself to ask him exactly what he was doing that year. She’s always suspected he got up to his own share of adventures when he wasn’t busy apprenticing.

“It’s still there, yeah? In the museum?”

“Oh, I imagine so,” he says easily. “Thrilling all the schoolboys with your charms.”

Rose makes a sound that would be a giggle coming from anyone else.

“You know,” she says, “you never told me how it was that you got that statue so accurate in every detail.”

“I have a great eye for detail. Or I did,” he adds, “back when I was a Time Lord.”

Rose looks at him quickly. Back when they first returned to this world, his anger and confusion over who and what he was nearly destroyed him at times. She is relieved to see that he is merely making conversation. He may not be a Time Lord any longer, but as a human he’s happier than he had ever been before.

Knowing this, Rose feels free to tease him.

“So it was just your ‘eye for detail’ then? Not the fact that you’d obsessed over me for months and months?”

He sputters, answer enough in her book.

“That’s okay,” she says generously. “I knew that you were crazy about me.”

“I was,” he says softly. “Oh, I was.”

She doesn’t say anything after this, only smiles in pleasure and takes his arm. They walk on down the street, taking in the sights and smells of Athens. No one knows where they are. Torchwood could be dealing with the biggest emergency they’ve ever faced, and no one would be able to find them. No photographers are stalking their every move, snapping photos or bribing chambermaids to find out what they brought in their suitcases and what was in their trash bin. It’s Rose’s idea of the perfect holiday.

“You know, we haven’t eaten in...how long, now?” Rose asks. “I’m getting hungry.”

“Me too,” the Doctor agrees. “There used to be a delicious little street vendor down this way,” he says, pulling Rose along. “Wonder if he’s still there.”

“But you’ve never been here,” Rose points out.

“Well, never to this Greece, no. But a parallel world’s parallel for a reason and - ah! Here it is!”

The street vendor doesn’t operate out of a cart on this parallel world. He runs a small restaurant, and the Doctor deems this more than acceptable. They sit at a small table draped with a white cloth. A small vase full of red carnations sits in the middle, and Rose slides it out of the way so she can see the Doctor’s face.

“So what’s good here?” she asks. The menu is in a curious mix of Greek and English, and she figures it’ll be easier to just order what he thinks she’ll like.

Soon they’re both looking down on enormous platters of pita bread, fried meat on sticks, lettuce tomatoes, and the most divine garlic-yogurt sauce Rose has ever had. As if someone knows it’s a special trip for them, there are two large heapings of freshly-fried chips on smaller plates right beside them.

“Oh, this is heaven,” Rose says after the first bite, and then doesn’t say anything until her plate is clear. The Doctor watches her in amusement as she finally sets down her fork and sighs happily.

“Enjoyed that, did you?” he asks with a smirk. “Thanks for leaving me some chips.”

“I love Greek food!” Rose declares. “How come it never tastes so good at home?”

“Something about the sea air and sunshine, I imagine. Ready?”

They pay the bill and leave, ready to take in the sights.

There is so much to see, from street vendors to shop displays, that Rose stops every few feet. The Doctor lets her have her way good-naturedly. It’s just like when they used to travel in the TARDIS, exploring new places all the way.

It’s fun, but it’s a rather hot day. “You know,” the Doctor finally says, after Rose has haggled for a small set of dolls dressed in traditional Greek costume, “I’m getting hungry again.”

Rose pauses in the act of carefully setting her parcel in her bag. “Already? We just ate.”

He scoffs. “Yeah, 97 minutes ago.”

Rose is appalled. “Has it been that long?” she asks in surprise. “Are you bored?”

“No, I’m not bored,” he assures her. “How could I ever be bored with you? But I am thirsty. Let’s find a drink and then we’ll get going.”

Two streets over they find a small restaurant whose windows are plastered with ads from Coca-Cola.

“This place looks like fun,” Rose suggests.

The Doctor is scanning the menu posted on the door. “No Vitex,” he says critically. “What will I do without a bottle of cherry-lite?”

“”We’ll muddle through somehow,” she says with a mock sigh. Vitex’s cherry-lite flavor, while being an all-time best-seller, is the Doctor’s least-favorite drink. It’s not too high on her list of favorites, either, but she would never say so to Pete or Jackie. “Let’s get a Coke.”

The restaurant is dark after the brightness of the afternoon. Rose pushes her sunglasses to the top of her head and sits at a small table. The Doctor joins her, and a waitress soon appears to hand them menus and take their orders.

“Just Cokes?” she asks, unsmiling.

“What have you got for a quick snack?” the Doctor can’t help asking. “Something with feta cheese and phyllo dough.”

The waitress glances at him. “The kitchen is closed right now. But I’ll get your drinks.”

“The kitchen is closed?” Rose murmurs. “That’s one I never heard before.”

“I’d think we misunderstood her,” the Doctor says thoughtfully. “But her English is very good, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Rose glances around the place. People are eating at a few tables - they have arrived before the kitchen closed. No one is talking, though, not even the people sitting at the bar in the back. The bartender keeps rubbing a towel over the same patch of bar.

“This place is weird,” Rose whispers.

The Doctor nods. “I’ll say.”

Rose tries to look beyond the doors where the waitress went to get their drinks, but the double doors remain closed. The bartender catches her eye and quickly looks away.

Their Cokes are delivered, and they drink them quickly. Rose wishes they could have stopped at a sidewalk vendor and gotten drinks there. The mood in this place is making her uncomfortable.

The Doctor leaves a few bills on the table and stands up, holding his hand out to Rose. She lets him usher her outside, but at the doorway he pauses to look back into the restaurant. The bartender had been watching them go, but puts his head down when the Doctor looks back. Several others look away as well.

“Maybe they don’t like tourists,” he thinks aloud.

“That was pretty clear,” Rose says. She puts her sunglasses back on and faces her new husband. “Okay. You’ve let me eat and drink. Now what have you got planned?”

“Who says I have a plan?”

“You planned this entire trip, didn’t you? I know you have a plan.”

“You’re right,” he admits cheerfully. “I do.”

“I repeat: now what?”

“Now,” the Doctor says, “we go to the Parthenon.”

“What’s that?”

He looks at her in surprise. “Really. The educational system is worse than I thought. THAT is the Parthenon, right over there.” He points over Rose’s shoulder, and she turns to see a temple of white columns rising up out of a nearby hill.

“Oh,” she says. “It’s the Acropolis! Why didn’t you say so?” she asks, poking him in the shoulder.

“The hill is the Acropolis,” he corrects her. “The temple up at the top is the Parthenon. Named after the goddess Athena.”

“Then how come it’s not called the Athenian or something?”

“Parthenon is ‘virgin’ in Greek, and Athena was a famous virgin.”

“Are you speaking from experience?” Rose can’t help asking.

“Well,” he says smugly, “it doesn’t do to brag about all the famous people one knows.”

They have to stop and buy tickets to gain access to the Parthenon. The Doctor does this, handing out drachmas at random until he is told to stop. He takes his tickets and thanks the woman behind the stand. Rose stands in the sunshine and waits, admiring the view and letting languages and voices wash over her. She hears English and Greek, German, French and Dutch. The TARDIS might have translated it all for her, but there’s a certain kind of fun in not really knowing what her fellow travelers are saying.

“Shame the euro never caught on in this world,” the Doctor says. “Never could get the conversation rate for Greek money. Even back in 513 BC -”

“Come on!” Rose grabs his hand and pulls him along, too excited to wait any longer.

There are blocks of marble all over, parts of the temple that have fallen over the centuries. The stone has been worn smooth by thousands of years of travelers. She runs her hand over a portion, marveling at the coolness of it even in the heat. On impulse Rose hops up onto a large block, standing several feet above the Doctor. She looks down and smiles. “Not a bad view from here!” She can see farther round the monument, and down to the streets below.

“Or from here,” he says, looking up at her. In her white dress she looks like she could be a statue herself, a monument to the goddess Athena. But Athena was the protector of Athens, he reminds himself, and the goddess of wisdom. Surely Rose would be better fit to be the goddess of beauty.

His goddess of beauty has a frown on her face.

“Rose?”

She takes a step forward, still frowning. “Something’s going on.”

The Doctor turns but doesn’t see anything unusual. “Where?”

Rose takes another step, forgetting what she’s standing on. She steps onto thin air, and luckily he turns back in time to catch her.

“Whoa!” he gasps, holding her tightly and setting her feet on the ground. “What are you doing?”

But Rose’s attention is still elsewhere. “There,” she points, “on the other side of the temple.”

He turns around. A small group of dark-suited men is setting something up around the side of the Parthenon. He frowns.

“What are they doing? They don’t look like museum officials or archaeologists or-” His voice trails off as they get a good look at the men. Their faces are a dark red and their eyes, even from a distance, are a glowing yellow.

“Or human,” Rose finishes.

“Well,” the Doctor says, taking control of the situation, “if they’re aliens then we’ll just-”

“Go and fix it,” Rose finishes.

This is why he loves her. When faced with a problem Rose Tyler doesn’t badger him with questions and possibilities. She accepts the facts and says it’s time to fix things. “Oh, but you are amazing,” he says warmly. “So amazing.” He can’t help himself. He pulls her to him for a close, quick hug.

She smiles up at him. “Don’t you forget it.”

He takes out his mobile phone and aims it at the group of aliens, taking a few pictures. Then he grabs Rose’s hand and turns, pulling them away from the scene.

“Hang on! What are you doing?” Rose demands.

“Come on. We need to get farther away.”

“No, we need to get closer!” she protests.

He doesn’t reply, just keeps walking until they’re a good distance away. People are still walking towards the Parthenon, and Rose wants to warn them but the Doctor keeps going, pulling her along against her will.

“Stop it!” she says, trying to stand still. He tugs on her hand, yanking her along with him. This makes her rather, well, furious.

“Stop it!” She finally succeeds in pulling away from him and stands in the street, glaring at him. “What are you up to? Are we running away?” Her voice is incredulous, like she can’t believe the Doctor would ever do anything as mundane as run away from anything.

He’s paying her no attention, busily dialing his mobile up. “We need to send this to Torchwood,” he says. “They can try to identify the species and then head over here. It will take them a good amount of time – but they should be here within the next few hours.”

“What, we can’t handle this ourselves?” Rose glances behind them. Crowds of tourists are gathering, and she’s pretty sure they’re all noticing the odd group of people close to the temple.

“We have to handle this ourselves,” he corrects her. “That’s what worries me.”

The truth of his words is hard to deny, but Rose doesn’t know how she feels about foiling an alien plot in a foreign country. It’s one thing to joke about doing things on their own, but they’re usually in England when they do that.

“We don’t speak the language here.” It’s a bit of a lame excuse, even to her own ears.

“Well, I doubt the aliens will be speaking a language that’s found anywhere on this Earth,” the Doctor points out. “I’m sure at least some of the authorities here speak English. Come on.”

With a final glance behind Rose follows him down the street. He’s waiting for her, and as she joins him he takes her hand.

“The people in the cafes were all acting oddly.” The Doctor is speaking rapidly, verbalizing his thoughts more than actually holding a conversation. “Everywhere we went today, the locals were...not normal. We need to scan the area first. Either they’ve been affected somehow, or it’s something else.”

The streets are not as crowded as half an hour before, even though it’s the middle of the afternoon. People rush back and forth. Rose watches as they dive into storefronts and shut the doors behind them. Blinds and curtains are being drawn. Peering into one darkened window, she encounters a face peering back at her. Rose takes a step back, and the window’s curtain twitches back into place.

“You were right,” she says. “Something weird is happening, and the locals seem to know it.”

“Well. I hate to say I told you so -”

“Good. Then don’t.”

His rejoinder is cut off as his mobile rings. “Ah! Right on time.” He flips open his phone, looks at the incoming call, and gets a mildly alarmed look on his face. He hands the phone to her. “It’s your dad.”

She makes a face at him but takes the phone. Pasting a smile on her face, she takes a deep breath.

“Dad? It’s Rose. We’re fine,” she says reassuringly. “No. It’s not a joke. Athens. Oh, it’s lovely! Nice and sunny. The souvlaki is fantastic. Yeah. Don’t tell Mum, but there are aliens starting something here. We’re going to go take a look. Send a crew, yeah?”

Rose turns off the phone. “They’ll be here as soon as they can.”

“In the meantime,” the Doctor muses, “it’s just you and me. Against those aliens and who knows what technology.”

“Worried?”

He grins. “Nah.”

“I think I have it,” the Doctor pants as they race along. “Somehow the city is in on it. Maybe not all of Athens, but it explains all those spooked people at the cafes where we ate. Something is going on and they’re afraid.”

“Or in on it.”

“Or in on it.”

They reach the Acropolis and stop.

“There they are.” Rose points.

The Doctor squints in the direction she is pointing. A group of the beings with red faces is ushering large groups of humans away from where they’re setting up what looks like surveillance equipment. People are yelling and protesting, but don’t look too frightened.

“What are they doing?” Rose wonders. “How come no one is screaming?”

“Very unlike most alien invasions,” the Doctor agrees. “Usually there’s a fair amount of screaming, lots of running away, and occasional bursts of firepower from alien crafts.” He can’t help looking around critically. “As far as invasions go, this one’s a bit rubbish.”

“We have seen better,” Rose agrees.

“You need to step back,” a gravelly voice says, and they both spin around to come face to face with a tall alien with red skin wearing a dark suit.

“Hello,” the Doctor says. “I’m the Doctor. Nice to meet you!”

The red-faced being stares impassively at them.

“I’m a human of this planet,” the Doctor continues. “Well, I say human. I don’t mean to imply that I’m not, because currently and from now on I am, but at one point in my long existence I was-”

“You need to move off this hill,” the red-faced being says.

“It’s technically called the Acropolis,” the Doctor points out helpfully. “Many people call it the Parthenon, but that’s inaccurate. The temple over there is the Parthenon-”

“Get off. Now.”

Rose decides that her diplomatic skills may be more effective.

“We’re humans,” she says. “We belong on this planet. What are you? If you don’t mind my asking?”

“We are from France,” the being says after a long pause, and Rose’s mouth stops in the middle of forming a smile.

“France,” she repeats.

“Yes. France.”

“What part?” the Doctor demands. Rose looks at him in surprise. He can’t really think these things are from France, can he? Not only is their skin red, but their eyes are glowing yellow, and she’s pretty sure there is an extra finger on each of its hands.

The creature frowns. “Normandy,” he says after a moment.

“You, er, speak English very well,” the Doctor congratulates him.

“Thank you.”

Rose has had enough. Ignoring whatever plan the Doctor may be forming, she says, “We’re Torchwood. We deal with aliens all the time. Who are you and what do you want with this planet?”

The red being looks at Rose for a long moment before sighing heavily.

“We are preparing the area. Please step back. When the area is free we will reopen it to visitors.”

“What are you preparing for?” the Doctor asks, and he’s clearly starting to irritate the alien.

“We are the Nilkji. We’ve come on a secret mission. Now get back.”

“We can’t just let you do that,” Rose says. “You’re violating the Shadow Proclamation.”

“We do not have time to deal with humans at the moment. Leave or we will be forced to deal with you.”

“Why this place?” Rose persists. “Why here?”

“It seems desirable to us. We are checking it out, as the locals say.”

“Well, we plan to check that area out, too,” Rose declares. The Doctor glances at her uncertainly.

“First come and all that,” the alien from Nilkji says. “We were here first. Leave now. Return to your home.”

Rose realizes her mouth is hanging open. “We’re on our honeymoon!” she snaps without thinking. “We’ve come to sightsee!”

“We’re on a reconnaissance mission,” he snaps right back. “So get in line.”

Her temper flares and she takes a step towards him. The Doctor grabs her by the waist, swinging her around behind him.

“Sorry,” he says with false cheer. “You know how women can get. She was expecting a lovely day, and instead you lot arrived to take over the city.” He shrugs.

“I am going to kill you,” Rose whispers to him.

“Not now, dear,” he tells her, still smiling at the alien. “Carry on, there you are. Don’t let us stop you.”

They are busy for the next few minutes, shooing tourists away and assuring them that everything is under control.

“I’m not sure how much authority we have here, though,” the Doctor is forced to admit. “We may have to alert the Greek authorities.”

“They didn’t even believe that the Cybermen were here the last time,” Rose says wearily. “Blamed it on England and wanted to stay out of it.”

“They’ve never had alien contact?”

“Not that we know of. They won’t cooperate with Torchwood.”

“Maybe they will now that aliens are right in their backyard.”

“Maybe.” Rose sounds skeptical. “Do we know what they are?”

“I’ve never seen their kind before. Blimey, but this universe has too many planets not parallel to the last one.”

Rose smiles faintly. “Not everything is the same, you know.”

“Are you thinking of Time Lords or little yappy dogs?” he asks, and she elbows him in the side.

“Come on,” the Doctor says finally. “Let’s evaluate our resources.”

“What resources?” Rose can’t help asking as she glances around. People are starting to notice that something is wrong. They’re standing all around, staring up at the Parthenon. Some are talking uneasily, and there are uniformed policemen beginning to arrive. Soon the authorities will know, and then something bad might happen. Someone could get hurt - or worse.

“We should hurry,” the Doctor says, setting out down the street to put some distance between the aliens and themselves. He stops at a small table at an outdoors cafe. The nearby tables are deserted - people are swarming to watch the aliens. “What do you have?” He’s hurriedly emptying his pockets as he speaks.

Rose searches through her bag even though she knows nothing will come up except her mobile, a lipstick, and some sunscreen.

“Nothing,” she says, letting the flap fall back. “You?”

“Camera, room key, jelly babies...”

“Jelly babies?”

He offers her one.

“Thanks.” Rose accepts a red one and examines it for lint before popping it into her mouth.

“So what now?” The Doctor is musing out loud, not really asking her. He’s frowning, deep in thought. Rose chews her jelly baby and waits.

“Nothing for it,” he says finally. “We need to confront them.”

“They weren’t exactly forthcoming,” Rose points out.

“No, but how long until our coworkers show up to save the day?”

Rose sighs. “Too long. Come on, then. You ready?”

The Doctor takes her hand and they head back the way they came.

“You know,” he says thoughtfully, “this is the best part of our honeymoon so far, isn’t it?”

Rose beams up at him. Her eyes are sparkling and she’s clearly excited. “It absolutely is.”

“Does that mean I’ve made a mess of things up until today?”

“Nah. This just added some spice, is all.”

“Spice,” he murmurs, shaking his head. “Of course.”

As they get closer and closer, the Doctor starts elbowing people out of his way. Luckily he’s quite good at being rude. He comes to a halt and starts to watch the action, looking for a reason for what’s causing this scene. Rose is content to let him think about it. She is watching the crowd, braced against the inevitable chaos that comes with an alien invasion.

“It’s so wrong,” the Doctor notes again. “No yelling, no screaming. No demands for world domination. They’re waiting for something.”

“Yeah, but what?” Rose peers over in the direction he is staring. “You know, it looks like they’re guarding something, doesn’t it? That lot over there.” She points off to the right, where a small cluster of aliens has gathered around. “And they just don’t look right. I don’t know. But they don’t look normal.”

“Well, they’re aliens,” he allows. “Normal for them may be different than it is for us humans.”

“Yeah. Still.”

A few more moments of silence before the Doctor gives a violent start. “I don’t believe it! Do you know what that is?”

Rose looks and is forced to acknowledge that once again, she has fallen short as a companion. “No.”

“It’s a...a hypnotizing device. They’ve been hypnotizing all of Athens! Yes! Of course!” In his excitement he jumps up and starts pacing around. “They come down, start the hypnotizer, and have the entire population of the city thinking that nothing is wrong. Even though it’s been invaded by aliens! It’s the perfect place - the Greek authorities refused to believe in a Cyberman invasion in the first place, didn’t they? The hypnotizer just fed on that refusal to see what’s in front of them.”

“And...” Rose prompts him.

“And... they don’t look the way they should, do they? Odd eyes, red skin. The others all see them as normal people - that’s why no one is panicking in the streets!” The Doctor runs his hands through his hair, making it stand up in all directions. “But we do, Rose! We see them as off because we’ve been around too many aliens to be hypnotized into thinking there’s nothing there!” He emphasizes his point by pointing at her. “Oh, that’s brilliant!”

“So what do we do?” Rose is ready. Whatever needs to get done to stop these aliens, she will do it.

“We go and talk to them.”

“Talk to them?” she repeats in surprise. “Just talk? That’ll stop them?”

“Rose Tyler,” he says reproachfully. “Were you hoping for something more bloodthirsty and violent? I’m disappointed in you.”

She can’t help but blush. “Not violent, exactly.”

He laughs. “No violence. Not yet, at any rate. First we talk to them.”

“Okay. Just don’t-” But she’s too late. He’s already walking away.

“Hello,” the Doctor says cheerfully to a large red alien with yellow eyes. “Take me to your leader.”

“Don’t you get tired of that line?” she murmurs, as the alien turns slowly and fixes them with a close stare.

“It’s a good line,” he says defensively, barely resisting the impulse to put his arms in the air to show he’s unarmed.

“You wish to see our leader?” the alien asks.

“Yeah. Tall fellow. We spoke to him just a bit ago. Said you lot were from France?” The Doctor smiles winningly at the alien. “Is that the name of your planet?”

“France is a country of this world,” the alien states with complete assurance.

“It is,” the Doctor agrees. “It absolutely is. But none of the inhabitants of this world have red skin or yellow eyes. It definitely sets you apart from the locals.”

The alien raises one of its hands to look at it, studying the skin that’s perhaps a shade too red to be believable.

“We know about aliens,” Rose says, almost apologetically. “Whatever tricks you’re using to make the others see what you want, they won’t work with us.”

The alien looks from his hand to Rose, and from Rose to the humans all around them. His mouth appears to tighten.

“Wait here,” he says, and walks away.

“See?” the Doctor asks. “Going to get his leader. Lovely.”

“This so seems like a bad idea,” Rose can’t help saying under her breath.

The Doctor actually looks hurt at that. “A bad idea? Why? We’ve seen something wrong, we’re trying to fix it.”

“This whole setup,” she continues. “It just seems wrong.”

“Any set up would,” he counters, “if it were set up where this one is set up.”

A different alien appears. He’s in a dark suit and his skin is just a shade too pale to be Caucasian. His eyes are a Technicolor blue not usually found in nature.

“Well, talk about the other end of the spectrum,” the Doctor greets him. “Are you supposed to be from Sweden?”

The alien doesn’t respond to this. Perhaps he doesn’t know where Sweden is.

“Can I help you?”

The Doctor sighs. Sometimes it’s easy, but most of the time it’s an uphill job, foiling these alien invasions.

“I’m the Doctor, and this is Rose.”

Rose waves. “Hello!”

“We work for Torchwood,” the Doctor continues. “Have you heard of Torchwood?”

There is a long pause before the alien responds. “Torchwood. No. We have not.”

“But one of your, er, friends, said you were from France?”

“That is correct,” the alien responds after another pause.

“France has heard of Torchwood,” Rose adds now. “We’ve been there.”

“So?”

“So...you lot are pretending to be something you’re not. And that doesn’t work very well when you don’t know anything about who you’re pretending to be.” Rose smiles a bit, pleased to have proven her point.

“So in the spirit of interplanetary cooperation,” the Doctor cuts in, “why don’t you tell us where you’re from and what you want here?”

The alien is still for a moment. Rose gets the impression that he’s listening to something that they can’t hear.

“Come with me,” he says finally, and leads them to the back side of the Parthenon.

“Another hypnotizer,” the Doctor murmurs when he sees the square black box. “I knew it!” He grins at Rose.

“Why are you trying to hypnotize everyone?” Rose demands. “What are you doing on Earth?”

“We required a place to rest,” the alien replies. “Someplace far from home, but warm and aesthetically pleasing. This place seemed perfect. However, we soon discovered that the humans of this particular city had not made contact with species from other worlds. We decided to...alter memories and perceptions for a time.”

“You can’t alter the perceptions of everyone in this city!” the Doctor says angrily. “You have no right!”

“We need to rest,” the alien says again. “We require rest before we can continue on our journey to our home. All we ask is to be left in peace.”

“You can’t be left in peace by forcing people to leave you alone!” Rose snaps, angry beyond belief. “All of these people think something is going on that isn’t! You can’t keep doing this!”

“The people of this place are steadfast in their belief system. They have faith in their gods and those gods will protect them. They are seeing this temple as it once was.”

Rose glances around at the ruins of the Parthenon. “They think this is back the way it was in its prime?” Even as she speaks she becomes aware of the excited voices of the tourists all around them. Almost afraid to glance back, she does. People are gesturing excitedly, snapping photos, and in general acting as if something amazing has just happened.

“Correct.”

“But they don’t believe in those gods anymore,” the Doctor argues. “Your data is out of date by about two thousand years!”

The alien appears flummoxed. “Two thousand?”

“Approximately. Those beliefs have changed. And the beliefs these humans hold now still don’t allow for aliens.”

“You need to leave.” Rose is almost sympathetic. “I’m sorry, but you can’t stay here. Once everyone realizes what’s happening, they’ll know that the temple hasn’t really been restored. Our reinforcements are coming to make sure you leave.”

We are not leaving,” the alien states clearly. “The hypnotizer will work until we are ready to depart. They will all think we are restoring this building.”

“How long for that?” the Doctor asks.

“Ten or twenty of this earth years.”

“That is unacceptable,” the Doctor snaps. “You can’t stay here that long and expect to be undetected!”

“You are the only ones who see us for what we are.”

“We won’t be the only ones! There are people here who have seen aliens, who were affected in their own countries. This ruse will never stand. You have to go.”

“We have not enough power. We have no choice. We require your sun to give the solar cells energy. It’s not as efficient as our own power source, but it will do.”

“When the rest of our people arrive,” Rose promises, “we can help you get what you need, but you can’t stay.”

“We will stay as long as we need to,” the alien begins, turning towards her, but his attention is caught. Stepping closer to Rose, he leans down. Rose steps back, amazed that this alien would be trying to peek down her dress.

“Those stones,” the alien says, reaching out. “Around your neck. They’re not from this planet.”

“Of course they are,” she blusters, but the look in his eye makes her rethink her decision. Rose puts a hand to her necklace. “They’re stars. From the Arborean constellation.”

“We have heard of them,” the alien says thoughtfully. “I have never seen one in pendant form. Is it true?” he asks abruptly. “They are in fact actual stars that have burned out?”

“No,” the Doctor says, at the same time that Rose says, “Yes.”

The Doctor sighs and looks resigned. Rose’s answer has caught the attention of two other aliens who had been busy pretending not to eavesdrop. Now they turn to her, and three aliens with oddly colored skin and dark suits, all staring hard at her, isn’t quite what Rose would like to see.

“Let’s have it.” The first alien reaches for Rose’s neck and she steps back, repulsed by the thought of him touching her. The alien reaches for Rose’s pendant. The Doctor’s hand is there a second later, grabbing the alien’s wrist in his grip.

“You don’t touch her,” he says. “Ever.” There is a dangerous look in his eyes that Rose hasn’t seen for a long time. She has seen countless beings cower before that voice.

“Don’t I? I hold this world in my hands right now. Those stones would power our way home.”

“You were much less threatening before,” Rose tells him.

“I had reason to be. Now I don’t. Give me the stones.”

“I won’t!” Torn between the Doctor and standing her ground, Rose is not about to let go of her necklace. She has never been attached to jewelry. Most of her life she wore costume, cheap earrings and rings. The necklace was a gift, and she’s not willing to let it fall into their hands.

Giving her no more notice, the alien pulls on the chain, trying to force it to snap. All it does is bite into Rose’s neck, making her wince as blood is drawn. “Stop it!”

“It’s an unbreakable chain,” the Doctor says, his hand still on the alien’s. “Nothing will make it come off if she doesn’t want it to.”

“If I have to cut off your head, I will do so. I will have these stones.”

Rose tries to stop him as he struggles with the chain. The pendant is in his grip, and she hopes that its grasp on the chain is as unbreakable.

“I told you,” the Doctor snaps angrily, “leave her alone!” He is so intent on the alien he is speaking to that he has forgotten the others. Now the other two grab his arms, and even though he struggles as hard as he can, they hold on to him.

“You can’t have it!” Rose says angrily, kicking out at the aliens who are trying to take hold of her.

“Have it your way, then,” the alien says casually, and pulls something out of his pockets and points it at the Doctor.

The Doctor falls onto the rough stones, clutching his chest.

“No!” Rose cries, trying to reach him. The aliens stop her. “What did you do to him?” she demands furiously. The Doctor is trying to catch his breath.

“He’ll recover. Eventually. Now. Give me your necklace.”

Faced with the threat of danger, Rose stares at him helplessly. She can’t risk the Doctor’s life, can’t risk the lives of all those clueless people out here.

“There’s another part to that legend,” the Doctor rasps from the ground. His voice is calm, but his eyes are dark as he sees the reddened skin of Rose’s neck. “Whoever wears the stones owns them. Completely. As long as the stone is there the star can be seen. It will never completely die. If a beautiful woman wears them, her beauty will never fade.”

He has to stop and struggle for breath. “And if they are given in love or friendship, and then taken out of anger or fear, the power turns on the one who takes them. A benign sort of star, the Arborean. Until it gets angry.”

The alien looks scornful. “Legends and tricks. All I know is that the star is a source of energy to get us home.” He glances at Rose. “Take it off.”

“You will not get this necklace!” Rose tells him, and this time she breaks free of her captors.

“Do it, Rose,” the Doctor says suddenly, and she is absolutely bewildered.

“Do what?”

“Let him take it.”

“What? No!”

“They just want to get home. Isn’t that right?” The Doctor nods at the alien in charge. “Take the stones, power up your spacecraft, go home. Am I right?”

“Yes,” the alien says after a pause. “We came in peace. We wish no ill.”

“Well, then.” The Doctor remains where he is on the ground, his breathing coming more easily.

“Of course,” the alien continues thoughtfully, “this much power would allow us...much more power.”

“I knew it.” The Doctor smiles a bit and shakes his head. “Can’t even pretend to be surprised, it’s so predictable. Give a being some power and they immediately want more.”

“It’s the way of the universe, isn’t it?” Rose agrees. She’s still not sure what he’s planning, but she knows he’s planning something.

The Doctor gets to his feet, weaving enough to let their captors think he’s not back to normal just yet.

“So give them the stones. We’re just two people. We can’t defend the world with just the two of us.”

Well, that’s just too much. When they’ve saved any number of places with just the two of them! Rose glares at him but raises her arms to remove her necklace.

The aliens are all focused on her and the stones that have suddenly offered unlimited power. The Doctor quickly turns, grabs a chunk of broken marble from the ground, and hurls it at the hypnotizer, humming away a few meters away.

There is a huge blue sizzle in the air, and the smell of ozone starts to appear. A holographic image seems to shimmer before fading, leaving the aliens as they really appear. They’re still wearing dark suits, but their skins are no longer red or pale white. Now they’re all green and scaly, with massive necks and shoulders and long, forked red tongues.

“Your hold on these people is gone,” the Doctor snaps, and for his trouble is hit on the head by one of the aliens.

Rose drops to her knees and reaches for the Doctor. All around them sounds of chaos start to erupt. There are screams as people begin to come out of their hypnotized state, and Rose winces at the noise.

“Power the back-up machines!” the lead alien orders, but it’s too late for the hypnotizer. The humans have realized that something is wrong, and there is no suppressing them now.

“Our team will be here any moment,” Rose lies, looking up at the aliens. “Either you leave this world and don’t return, or we will be forced to deal with you. And you won’t like the way we deal with you.”

There is a moment of silence as they weigh her words. “We depart,” the aliens say in unison.

As the sound of sirens drifts up the hill, a large dark shape in the air above them materializes into a giant ship. Rose instinctively ducks, hunching over the Doctor. The aliens all disappear as they are beamed aboard, and the ship vanishes.

Rose lets out a long breath as they leave. Now the authorities will be forced to acknowledge that something happened, that something alien did indeed visit this country. She’s only sorry that she was involved in it. But if she hadn’t been, would the aliens have stayed here indefinitely?

“That’s the trouble with dealing with aliens,” the Doctor mutters from the ground. “You can never be sure what their motives are.”

Rose leans back over him. “Are you all right?” she asks anxiously, brushing his hair away from his forehead and wiping at the blood on his face.

He opens his eyes, blinking at the sudden light. “Yeah. Are they gone?”

“Yeah. Hope they have enough power to get home,” she adds, glancing back up at the sky.

“You know, I can’t seem to care if they do,” he admits, letting her help him stand up. He’s a bit unsteady on his feet at first, but quickly catches his balance. Leaning slightly against Rose, he looks around and comes to an abrupt halt, his arm suddenly tightening against Rose.

She looks around, too, and her heart sinks at the sight of the Greek military, all armed and heading their way.

“Just like old times,” the Doctor says with somewhat displaced optimism, and Rose giggles despite herself.

The authorities were dealt a harsh blow today. Rose almost feels sorry for them. After several years of refusing to face the truth, they’ve had the truth land right on their doorstep. There’s no avoiding reality from now on.

She remembers what that was like - the feeling of absolute certainty, knowing without a doubt that life was exactly what you thought it was, until something so extraordinary forced you to see things differently.

For her it was the Doctor, showing up to grab her hand at just the right time. She can only be grateful that happened to her. Maybe these people will one day feel the same.

Sitting inside the office of the chief of the Athenian police, though, it seems like a long shot. Chaos is still reigning in the streets. Police and the military are out in full force, calming down the hysterical hordes of tourists and citizens as best they can. Rose and the Doctor have not been blamed, but she can tell that it may just be a matter of time.

The Doctor, uncharacteristically, has remained mostly silent, content to let Rose make the explanations. When they’re left alone in the office for a moment, she turns to him.

“Are you gonna make me do all the dirty work?”

He grins at her. “You’re doing good so far.”

“Well, a little help wouldn’t hurt!”

The Doctor sighs. “Rose, I’ve seen this so many times before. People are living in happy ignorance and something comes along to jolt them out of their happy routine. Sometimes they still won’t believe it. Some people won’t be convinced no matter what happens.”

“I think the Greeks are convinced,” she counters.

“Convinced, yes,” he allows. “Happy about it? Oh, no.”

A policeman enters the room again, his face no friendlier than anyone else’s.

“We are still checking your references,” he tells them. “Please stay here until we can verify who you are.”

“Blimey,” a voice says from behind him. “You two shouldn’t be allowed out in public anymore. You’re a right nuisance.”

Rose leans to the left. The Doctor leans to the right. Looking beyond the policeman they see Jake Simmonds leaning against the doorjamb. He’s wearing the traditional black Torchwood uniform, down to the cap on his head. Various tools and weapons are strapped about his person.

“Well,” Jake prompts them when they don’t immediately speak. “Are you having a good time?”

“Er...we’ve had better,” the Doctor admits.

“Yeah, not surprised.” Jake sends the policeman on his way. The policeman doesn’t look happy about it, but Jake’s brief, “We’re Torchwood, I’ll take care of this” is enough to make him nod once and leave quickly, glancing back over his shoulder.

“How’s the honeymoon going so far?” Jake asks when they’re alone, and Rose glares at him.

“Very funny. Did you come alone? What’s the plan?”

Jake takes a deep breath. “Pete’s been in touch with the royal family here. The king and the head of the Greek military are discussing what to do right now.”

“You don’t sound very happy,” the Doctor observes.

“Haven’t reason to be, not with this lot,” is Jake’s response. “They seem to think this is somehow our fault. What happened to your head?”

“Got hit with a brick. What can we do here?”

“Not much. We’re under to orders to wait.”

“People just saw aliens,” Rose points out. “There needs to be a quick clean-up or there’ll be riots.”

“Yeah, even the ones who didn’t believe in Cybermen might believe in them now.” Jake’s radio chirps, and he holds it up and listens. “We’re wanted outside,” he tells them. “Come on!”

Rose and the Doctor exchange a look as he leaves. The Doctor holds out a hand to Rose.

“We might as well go, eh?”

“Might as well,” she echoes, taking his hand.

“Who else came?” Rose asks Jake as they walk outside. Various army and civilian personnel give them a wide berth. Jake is carrying enough weaponry to make anyone uneasy, and it doesn’t help that the Doctor’s face is still bleeding despite Rose’s best efforts. No one offered him a bandage.

“Well, me, Obviously. Simon. James and Peterson and Chrissie.”

“That’s not may people to deal with an invading threat,” the Doctor points out.

“There are more teams on backup,” Jake assures him, “but since the aliens are gone I don’t think we’ll need them.”

“I wonder what they want with us out here?” Rose asks, looking around as the exit the building and step into a courtyard surrounded by olive trees. It’s actually very pretty and peaceful.

“I’m no diplomat,” Jake says, “so I’ll leave that to Simon.” He nods towards a tall blond man in Torchwood black who is talking animatedly with the head of the Greek army.

“I didn’t think he was a diplomat either,” Rose says doubtfully.

“No,” Jake allows, “but if he can charm the Greeks into listening, we’re halfway there!”

The Doctor looks around the courtyard. People are still talking very quickly, and there is an air of suppressed panic and fear about.

“So, Jake, what are you planning to do? How are we going to control this? People are out of their minds with worry.”

Jake sighs, and looks at Rose with an apologetic expression.

“There’s only one thing we can do,” he admits. “We’ve received permission.”

The skin on the back of Rose’s neck suddenly prickles. “Permission? From who? To do what?”

“They can’t do that to the entire population!” the Doctor protests.

“I’m sorry, Rose, but that’s the decision.” Jake shrugs.

“No,” Rose breathes. “There’s another way! They can just tell them all what’s happened! There’s no point to this!”

The Doctor shakes his head. “It’s not our job to dictate to the authorities how to handle it. Even if our way would have been better.”

“Listen to you!” she snaps. “Once you were the highest authority in the universe! Now you’re just gonna let them handle it?” She’s so angry she doesn’t care what she says.

“I can’t always be the one to decide,” her new husband counters.

“But don’t you care?”

“Of course I care!” he snaps. “But I’ve seen what happens when my hand is forced. Have you forgotten the Game Station? I fixed things and a hundred years later things were worse than ever.” He shakes his head. “You can’t trust people to always see reason.”

Rose abandons him. “And my dad okayed this?” she demands, turning back to Jake. “He really agreed to this?”

“It was his idea,” Jake answers, and Rose’s shoulder slump.

The Doctor sighs. “Sometimes we don’t have a choice,” he says quietly and takes her hand.

“Dammit,” Rose says quietly. “It’s not fair to them. We shouldn’t do this to them!”

“What else would we do? At least this way the authorities have the chance to introduce the topic under normal conditions. Once people accept that aliens are real they can be better prepared the next time a visit happens.”

She leans her head against his chest and closes her eyes. “It’s wrong.”

Jake and his field team retcon the entire city of Athens. They use a misting device that will cover the necessary area with little fuss. Rose’s skin crawls when she thinks that she is now part of this. So may people will lose their memories of this day, and she’s helping to do it.

“Never been used on so many people before,” Jake says, watching the controls of his mist-making machine. They’re safe away from the effects indoors, joined by the other Torchwood agents and the higher-ups in the Greek government. Somewhere in the building is the royal family, brought here to be protected by the effects of the chemical. Some people need to remember what had happened today, after all.

“We’re manipulating their minds,” Rose says. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“It won’t stop any aliens,” the Doctor concedes. “But it’ll stop the panic until next contact happens.”

“I still think it’s the wrong choice.”

“And so it is,” he agrees. “But sometimes the only choice is the wrong one.”

“Besides which,” Simon adds from the floor, where he is carefully adding the retcon chemical to a diffuser, ready to float out into the air, “this was at the request of this country’s government. We go against their wishes, there’s an incident.”

“If we pretended to do it but didn’t add the mist,” Rose starts hopefully, and all of her fellow Torchwood agents frown at her. She gives up, knowing that this isn’t her fight. To go against orders would cause friction between Greece and England, and that would be the last thing Pete needs right now.

Rose is far from happy, but the Doctor touches her arm and shakes his head.

“The damage has been done,” he says softly. “We have to let it go.”

Pete is alerted when the retcon is complete. On his orders, and after a rather long debriefing, the response team is called back to England.

“See you later, yeah?” Jake asks.

“We’ll be home next week,” the Doctor assures him.

They watch their friends and coworkers board the zeppelin that will take them home. Once the zeppelin is no longer even a dot in the clear blue sky, they look at each other.

“Now what?” she wants to know, and has her answer immediately as a policeman steps up to them.

“We are finished with our questions,” he says. “May we assist you to collect your things?”

He takes them back to the debriefing room, where their belongings, taken from them when they first entered the police station, are returned to them without so much as an apology. Rose gathers up her bag, and the policeman indicates with a hand that they are to head back down the hallway and to the exit.

“The king thanks you for your service. Enjoy your honeymoon,” he says once he’s escorted them out of the building. They both stare after him until he enters the building again and closes the door.

The Doctor shakes his head wearily. It’s been five hours since the aliens left, and they’re both feeling shattered.

“Let’s find a cab,” Rose says quietly, and he nods and hails one almost immediately.

They don’t talk in the car. He waits until they’re in the hotel elevator, heading up to their room.

“Blimey, but I could use a shower, couldn’t you?” He reaches for Rose’s hand. “And a nice nap. Yes, a sort, restorative nap before dinner. Just the thing today needs.” He moves to their room and produces the key, unlocking and opening the door as he talks. He finally notices that Rose isn’t moving along with him. He turns back. “Rose?” He reaches out and takes her hand, gently steering her into their room.

She moves into the center of the room, her back to him. He lets the door close behind them and stands in place, watching her warily.

“Are you still upset about the retcon?”

“The retcon?” Rose laughs. “I wish I were.”

“What, then?” he demands. “What’s wrong?”

It’s a delayed feeling, what she’s feeling now, and she knows, in a distant part of her brain, that it’s because other things were happening that were more important. But now, in the safety of their room, she can look at him and allow herself to break down.

“Rose, talk to me!”

She can’t stop shaking, can’t stop staring at the patch of red on his forehead.

“You could have been killed!”

Following her gaze, he carelessly swipes at his head. His hand comes away smeared with dried blood. “But I wasn’t. It’s all right.” He smiles reassuringly at her, as if the fact that he’s alive should make it all better.

“You could have been killed!” she repeats. “You’d be dead, right now, if that alien had hit you harder.”

“But I’m not.” He tries out another smile on her, and fails completely to make her smile back.

“But you could have been!” she shrieks, and he’s stunned by her anger.

“Rose.”

She’s still shaking. She moves back to avoid him, not letting him take her hands. He’s human now, and mortal, and it’s like the fact is finally, finally hitting her for the first time.

“If you die,” she says unsteadily, “that’s it. No do-overs. No regenerations.”

“You’ve known that,” he says quietly. “We’ve had this conversation before.” In the back of his mind he sees flashes of gold, feels the pain of dying, and resolutely forces the thoughts away.

“I know! I know we have! But now...seeing you hurt like that...”

“I’ve been hurt before,” he says impatiently. “This is nothing compared to some other injuries. What would you have me do?”

“I don’t want to lose you,” Rose whispers. “I don’t. I know that...that one day it’ll happen, to one of us, but I don’t want it to.”

He pulls her close to him, and gives her a tight hug that squeezes all the breath from her lungs. She holds on to him and wills him to hold her even more tightly.

“You won’t lose me, Rose Tyler,” he says fiercely. “I’ve waited too long for you.”

Rose pulls away, tears streaking her cheeks. “It doesn’t matter how long you waited for me,” she chokes. “It could end any day, couldn’t it? A car accident, an explosion at work, an alien with a grudge-”

“Stop it!” He’s so angry, and slightly amazed that his anger comes on so strong, so fast. “We’re both here now. So it’s a risk. That’s all life is - a risk! It’s amazing that anyone wakes up in the morning to start a new day. I wasn’t supposed to exist at all, Rose. Isn’t the fact that I’m here with you now amazing enough?”

Rose walks across the room to sit on one of the white velvet chairs. She stares at her hands, shaking in her lap.

“It is amazing enough,” she states, not looking up at him. “But I saw so many things last year, when I was trying to find you.” Now she does look up at him, and her eyes are wide and dark with secrets that she has never shared. “I went from world to world to world, and I saw so much death and, and, just awful, awful things.” Her voice cracks a little. “I found you so many times, and each time was the wrong time, the wrong place. You were dead or you were gone, or you’d never been alive at all. I almost got used to that,” she adds in a conversational tone, as if they were talking about the weather. “You bein’ dead, I mean.”

He’s rocked to the core. “Rose, no. I didn’t know, I-”

“‘Course you didn’t know. I didn’t tell you. What would be the point? What matters is that I found you in the end, and I was able to make sure Donna did what she was supposed to, to keep everything moving the way it should.”

He shifts from foot to foot, wanting to comfort her but not sure that she would let him.

“My best hope was to find you,” she continues, looking away from him again to stare out the windows. “I knew you’d be able to help us. Help the universe,” she adds with a small, wry smile. “I knew you could do anything.”

He raises an eyebrow, amused despite himself. “Thanks for your confidence in me.”

“I’ve seen you do impossible stuff.” Rose shrugs. “You were our last hope. And you did it, didn’t you? You stopped the darkness.” She frowns down at her hands. “I just didn’t think you - he - would leave us in this universe together.” She looks up at him, and there are tears in her eyes. “He meant to do that all along. Leave us together. He said you were broken, remember? But you weren’t. I was.”

Now he does move, walking quickly to her and kneeling in front of her chair.

“You’re not broken, Rose,” he says urgently, taking her hands. “You are strong and unafraid and determined. I knew that the first moment I ever met you. That hasn’t changed.”

“Maybe I made him better,” she whispers. “I think I did. But what about me? I needed him, and he left me. And you...you’ve made me better, Doctor. You’ve healed what was wrong with me. But if you leave...if you die, what will happen to me?”

“You’ll go on, Rose, just like you did before. You were brilliant! I know you were so brilliant. You never gave up. Promise me you will never give up, no matter what happens.”

She closes her eyes. “I promise,” she murmurs, and he feels a deep sense of relief at that. But then she swallows hard and looks at him again.

“I saw you,” she whispers, and his heart stops at the look in her eyes. It’s wide and fearful, not like Rose at all. “I saw you when I was gone. You went through so much after you lost me. And then you finally stopped caring. Without Donna there was no one to keep you in check. You became something...something else. You didn’t care what you did. The rules you had lived by didn’t matter, and you did whatever you wanted. You hurt so many people...” Her voice trails off.

“That wasn’t me, though,” the Doctor states uncertainly. “It was another universe, another existence. Not mine. Not the one he has left to live.” When she is silent, he says, “Isn’t it?”

She doesn’t answer him directly. “If any version of you, of the Doctor, can reach that end, what about you?”

“Me?” He can’t even imagine becoming so deranged that he would turn power-hungry and corrupt. That was the Master’s way, perhaps, but never his.

“Promise me,” Rose demands, “promise me that if something ever happens to me, you will go on. Promise you won’t go mad.”

He can’t think like that. He refuses to imagine Rose gone. He will never lose her. She sees his thoughts and smiles.

“Promise,” she says softly. “If I have to go on, then so do you.”

Memories of his life after Rose fell through the Void fly through his thoughts. Had he really wanted to die, in those days and months after she was gone?

Yes, he admits to himself. He did.

“I promise I’ll go on,” the Doctor says, as solemn as if he was reciting his wedding vows to her again. “I’ll remember what we had and I’ll do my best to do what you’d want me to do.”

She smiles then, a real smile that reaches her eyes and lights up her face.

“Then it’s okay,” Rose says softly, and closes her eyes to kiss him.

It’s dark outside when the Doctor wakes up. When he opens his eyes he’s a bit disoriented, but his sense of time tells him that three hours, twenty-six minutes have passed since he fell asleep. Beside him in the honeymoon suite bed, Rose sleeps on. She’s frowning slightly in her sleep, and he feels guilty. She was upset because he had taken a careless risk and gotten hurt that afternoon, and no amount of lovemaking and promises that he will be more careful have wiped that fearful look for her face.

But what more can he do? He didn’t ask to wink into existence via a spare hand and Donna. He didn’t want to be the one who had to stop Davros and his reality bomb. He never asked to be made human.

But if he hadn’t become human, he would still be a spare hand in a jar. Without him Rose would be with the other Doctor, traveling through the stars.

Sometimes thinking about himself just gives him a headache. Sliding out of bed, he shuts himself in the bathroom and takes a quick shower. By the time he’s dressed, with his hair properly styled, Rose is awake. He finds her sitting up in the bed.

“Did I wake you?” he asks guiltily.

She pays no attention to that. “We need to go back,” she says.

He blinks. “Back?” he asks warily. At the moment, going back could mean anything. Back home? Back to the other universe? Back to the other Doctor?

“We need to go and tell them that the retcon was the wrong decision.” Rose waves her arm towards the windows, and he lets his breath out in relief. “What we did was wrong. We have to fix it.”

Standing outside the police station, the Doctor can’t help feeling that his honeymoon has been taken over by aliens. It had been going so well until they reached Athens, he reflects to himself rather sadly. One moment they were enjoying themselves, having fun together. Next thing you know, aliens are taking up residence and the authorities take the unprecedented step of altering the memories of not only their own people, but of thousands of tourists as well.

It’s just wrong.

“I mean, just because the royal family thought it was a good idea doesn’t mean it is,” Rose is insisting as they walk up the steps to the building. “It’s not like royalty is given a free pass or anything. They’re not perfect.”

“No,” the Doctor agrees, because royalty isn’t perfect, and Rose is too carried away to hear him if he were to say otherwise, anyway.

“I just can’t believe that my dad would go along with this. We need to fix it.”

Rose Tyler on a mission is someone not to be messed with. The Doctor is not someone who can mess with her in this mood. He doesn’t think anything will really get done, but he will never admit that to Rose. Besides, he loves seeing her like this, all fired up and determined.

The Athenian police chief, however, proves to be Rose’s equal.

“The decision was made, and Torchwood cooperated with the king’s wishes,” he states firmly. “It has already been done. There is no way to reverse the effects.” He pauses and looks hard at the Doctor. “Is there?”

The Doctor shakes his head slightly. “No reversals.” And he’s tried. When no one else has been around at Torchwood, he has looked at the retcon formula, trying to work out a way to cure the effects. There simply is not a cure. Once the retcon drug has been used, the memories are gone forever. Whoever created it was very thorough. And of course the records are sealed. If any documentation remains about how and when the retcon came to Torchwood, it is not easily accessible.

“There. You see?” The chief folds his arms and frowns down at Rose.

The truth about no reversals is not new to Rose. That is why she has always argued against using the drug for any reason. Until Athens she had always been successful. “But you can’t just retcon the entire city,” Rose persists. “It’s not fair to them. They deserve to know the truth.”

“Our country will be told the truth at the proper time.”

“Like they were told about the Cybermen?” she questions, and the Doctor admires the adroitness of this. The chief flushes slightly beneath his olive skin.

“We made a mistake about them,” he acknowledges. “None of us believed it was possible until it was too late. By the time our borders were sealed against them, you had eliminated the threat. We were able to convince the population that it was a hoax perpetrated by you English.”

“But what good was that?” Rose demands, trying desperately to make this man see reason. “Now that another threat has come, your people were just as unprepared. And you’re lying to them again!”

“Another visit from Torchwood, Dimitri?”

The three of them turn to the door. A tall, dark haired man wearing an incredibly expensive dark suit stands in the doorway. Behind him flutter various aides and policemen.

“Your majesty!” The chief - Dimitri - jumps a few inches in the air before giving a convulsive bow, regaining his senses and saluting. “I thought you had returned to the palace.”

“I was advised that Torchwood had returned.” The king of Greece stands in the doorway, staring impassively at Rose and the Doctor.

The chief hurries over. “Please, come in, your majesty. Allow me -”

“Leave us,” the king says simply, and everyone melts away and closes the door.

“That’s an impressive trick,” the Doctor says mildly. “Do you need to be royalty to do it right?” Rose jabs him in the side.

“It comes in handy,” is all the king will say to that. He continues to stare at them. “I am Vasilis. King of this country.”

“Yes, we know who you are. I’m the Doctor. This is my wife, Rose Tyler.”

“Hello,” Rose says. “Nice to meet you.”

“Your father did me a service, Ms. Tyler,” the king says to Rose. “You may not agree, but it was best for our country. What I did was in the interests of my people.”

“Lies are never in the best interest,” Rose states.

“They tend to lead to cover-ups and more lies,” the Doctor agrees.

The king folds his arms. “I realize that the English have no monarchy, most people do me the courtesy of acting with the respect this office deserves.”

“Well, once you’ve been knighted by Queen Victoria, every other royal seems a bit plain,” the Doctor just can’t resist saying. “Not that you are plain,” he hurries to add. “Just that she was very...majestic.”

“You speak of Victoria, my distant ancestor?” The king raises a dark eyebrow, and Rose can see this conversation derailing.

“It’s a long story. Please, your, er, majesty, can we not make you change your mind?”

“Even if I were to change my mind, the service Torchwood performed for me today was done. The effects cannot be reversed, I’m told.”

Rose gives a small shake of her head. “They can’t be, no.”

“Well, then. I owe England a great favor, which I have already conveyed to your father and to your president. The next time we face extraterrestrials we will be better prepared to face them. Now, please allow someone to escort you back to your hotel.” The king unbends enough to bestow a small smile upon them. “I understand that this is your honeymoon. You could not have chosen a better spot.” Turning to the door, he snaps his fingers. The door opens and two men are immediately in the doorway, awaiting his commands.

“See them out,” the king orders, and walks out without another glance.

The two aides stare at Rose and the Doctor.

“He seems fun to work for,” the Doctor observes. “He ever been in the same room as a werewolf?”

Out on the square, the sun is shining. People are wandering around, enjoying the day. It is literally as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened. That fact really, really bothers Rose.

“So everything’s been retconned,” Rose begins in frustration. “What good did it do? How will it keep the people from panicking the next time something happens?”

“I assume the authorities will be planning for that.” The Doctor shrugs his shoulders. “Maybe they’ll reconsider the Cybermen invasion and go from there.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. But what if something else comes through? What happens then?”

He stares out across the square, his eyes squinting despite his sunglasses. “I don’t know, Rose. I’m sorry. Sometimes the only choice is an absolutely wrong one.”

“Things were easier when you could just decide for everyone. Force them to see things your way.” Rose used to think he was a heavy-handed alien, back in those days. Now she wishes he’d been a little more forceful.

“Yeah, but was my way the right way?” he asks. “”I thought I was doing the right thing, every time. And sometimes it turned out that it wasn’t the right thing.”

“But we tried. We tried to do the right thing, to make a difference. We didn’t do that here.”

“No. Not here. Not this time. But next time, Rose Tyler. Maybe next time we can make a difference.”

She sighs and leans into him, glad for the arm that comes up around her shoulder.

“It’s not all fun and games, bein’ us, is it?”

She can feel his silent chuckle beneath her cheek. “Someone has to be us, Rose. Even when it’s not all fun and games.”

They find a tiny restaurant to have dinner. Although Rose tells herself it’s just her imagination, she feels that unseen eyes are on them, watching their every move.

“It’s your imagination, love,” the Doctor says absently when she confides in him. He’s working his way through a giant plate of hollow pasta, ground beef and cream sauce, and appears disinclined to really listen to her concerns.

“I don’t think the government would hesitate to keep an eye on us. What if they’re afraid we would try and, I don’t know, alert the media or something?” Rose eyes the salad on her plate and spears a tomato with her fork.

“Wouldn’t do much good, would it? No one remembers anything. They’d just think we’re crazy tourists.” The Doctor beams up at their waitress as she sets a plate of lemon-roasted potatoes down on the table.

“Lovely! Thank you!”

“Are you gonna eat all that?” Rose asks, amused.

“Yes,” he answers. “Oh, yes.”

She smiles and goes back to her own meal, pausing to snag not only some potatoes by some of his pasta as well.

“Get your own,” he protests.

“I’m good, thanks.” She spears another potato with her fork.

“You know,” the Doctor says a few minutes later, breaking a companionable silence, “I can’t help thinking how strange it was that a monarch would come all the way to the police station just to deal with us.”

Rose looks up. “Well, he was dealing with an alien threat. That’d be enough for me.”

“Yeah, but normally a king would rule from the palace and all that. Send the orders in and wait for results and reports. Not come down to the midst of the chaos.”

“Maybe he’s just very proactive.” Rose grins at him as she takes a sip of wine.

The Doctor puts an elbow on the table, leaning towards her. “Rose, I’ve known many, many monarchs in my lifetime. Most of them are full of themselves and what their consequence is owed.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that one,” Rose allows. “Queen Victoria certainly wouldn’t have gone out of her way for anybody. Still, this world isn’t as power-mad as our old one.”

The Doctor smiles briefly. “Isn’t it? Sometimes I think it’s more so.”

She’s not sure she likes the look in his eye. “What do you mean?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t mean anything, I guess. Just because a person seems strange doesn’t mean anything.”

“Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar?”

“And sometimes people are staring because they see a beautiful woman,” the Doctor says, smiling at her. “And no other reason.”

“It’s been fun,” the Doctor says after dinner, as they’re strolling about. The late afternoon is warm. The sun is shining, and even the smog that covers Athens is not so bad.

“It’s beautiful,” Rose agrees. And it is. The Parthenon, untouched by man or alien once more, gleams in the sun. People are walking everywhere, chatting to each other or on their mobiles, enjoying the day. Cars race by on the street, blithely ignoring traffic laws and, occasionally, a pedestrian. She tucks her hand into the Doctor’s and is content just to walk along with no destination in mind.

Later that evening, when they’re back in their hotel room, Rose has finally come to terms with what happened.

“We never had a chance, you know? The Greeks never intended to let their people know what was happening. They would have covered it up somehow, but here we were, waving our Torchwood IDs everywhere, and the king took advantage of that.”

The Doctor is lying on one of the white couches in the sitting room, hands tucked behind his head, watching her pace around the room. This is Rose. Quiet and thoughtful when something is wrong, unable to rest as long as she sees an injustice to be righted. He’d been right, all those years ago, when he’d judged her to be a worthy companion. She had brains and guts in spades, and she never, ever backed down from a fight.

“Doctor?” Rose prompts him. “Are you listening to me?”

He straightens into a sitting position. “Of course! Cover ups and shady Torchwood dealings.”

“Not shady,” she corrects him. “Just...not on the up and up. I’ll have to have a talk with Dad when we get back.” She pauses to frown over Pete’s actions. He must have a good reason for cooperating with the Greek king in this way.

The Doctor waits while she thinks something over, and then she repeats herself.

“The king was never going to listen to us about the retcon.”

“He did seem to have an agenda, didn’t he? Blimey, but it must be tiresome to be a ruler.”

Distracted, Rose glanced over at him. “Did you ever have a chance to be a ruler?”

He thinks for a moment. “There was an incident on this little planet on the far side of your galaxy. Your former galaxy, I should say. I showed them fire and they wanted to make me their supreme ruler. Took some convincing for them to believe that I wasn’t their own personal god. I did teach them how to barbecue. They named an entire cuisine after me.”

She rolls her eyes. “Seriously?”

“Seriously! Barbecued meat rubbed with a variety of spices. It’s very good.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Rose joins him on the couch, where they can look out the window and watch the sunset. On one of the small occasional tables is a honeymoon gift basket from the hotel. Rose lazily reaches over and picks out a small gold box. It’s filled with chocolates. She takes one before offering the box to the Doctor.

For a few minutes they chew in companionable silence, Rose leaning against the couch with her legs thrown over his lap. His right arm is draped over the back of the couch. His left hand rests on her bare leg, absently smoothing the skin. Occasionally his hand will reach higher on her leg, beneath her hem, and her skin will prickle and her heart will skip a beat.

Finally the Doctor tilts his head to look at her.

“So, Rose Tyler. Are we ready to go home?”

Rose rests her head back on the couch and thinks about the past few weeks. France and Italy, with so many little stops in between. Greece was lovely - until the aliens came. She thinks about how wonderful it’s been to have time with each other, with no alien or family crises getting in the way. She thinks about her home with the blue door, and her parents and Tony, and even the baby TARDIS living in their shed.

“I think I am. Are you?”

“I am.” He glances around the hotel room. “I thought a final morning here in Athens, and then we could start home. I have a new route in mind for that trip,” he tells her, and she smiles.

“New cities to stop in?”

“Of course! We only have one world, might as well explore it all.”

“You won’t get lost and land us in Spain, will you?” she can’t help asking, and is kissed senseless in return.

“So is that a yes or a no?”

The hand on her leg reaches higher, lifting the skirt of her dress. He smiles at her.

“We’ll have to wait and find out.”

There is a new museum in town since the last time the Doctor was here. The hotel clerk told them all about it as they were checking out, and nothing would do but for the Doctor to visit it before they left. Their bags were stowed in the car, and soon they were driving out to locate the museum.

The windows are down, and Rose is enjoying the feel of the wind in her hair. In another time she would have been wearing a glamorous scarf to keep it in place, but she’s happy to have it whipped all around. She suspects the weather won’t be as pleasant back in London.

“When was the last time you were here?” she asks, and the Doctor shrugs.

“I lose track, honestly. Sometime right before Socrates drank the hemlock, I think. Lots of time to make up for!” A herd of sheep suddenly appear on the road about thirty meters ahead. He whoops in surprise and turns the car onto the first street he sees to avoid them. Glancing back, Rose sees a black clad shepherd raising his fist at them. He’s probably not giving them a friendly wave.

“Want me to drive?” she asks.

“No!” He’s as indignant as any male.

“Is this the right way?” Rose says after a glance around. The road is empty except for them, and it’s not as well-maintained as the previous ones.

“Just five miles outside Athens,” the Doctor confirms.

“Yeah, but the road we should have taken is back there with the sheep, isn’t it?”

“We can pick it up again down here.”

Instead of picking up a popular road, however, they drive themselves into a quiet countryside filled with olive trees. Rose can see the occasional ruin, and here and there bits of ancient marble lie around casually. Now that things have quieted down she switches on the radio. She has no idea what the singers are saying, but the music is pleasant enough.

“It’s so beautiful here. Look!” She points out a donkey that’s chewing grass by the side of the road.

The Doctor makes a disparaging noise. “Donkeys. Beasts of burden and incredibly stubborn. Hell of a kick, too.”

“Did one get you once?” she asks sympathetically.

“Almost kicked me right into my next regeneration!”

Rose hums along with the current song to keep from giggling. It doesn’t mask her concern, though, because she is certain that they are now lost. Before she can think of how to phrase this, the Doctor stops the car.

“Rose.”

“Yes?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know where we are.”

“Well, let’s just have a look around!”

“At what?” The Doctor turns off the car and pockets the keys, following Rose out. “There’s nothing here but trees and flowers.”

“There must be a village or something nearby. We can ask for directions.”

The Doctor reaches Rose where she’s standing on a small incline. He takes her hand.

“All right, then. Lead the way.”

“Allons-y, Alonso,” she says lightly, and he laughs.

There’s no village in sight, and no people either. They walk a few hundred meters in each direction, but there’s nothing to see.

“We may as well just turn around,” the Doctor says. “Retrace our steps, so to speak. We’ll be there in no time.”

“Yeah,” Rose agrees. “I guess it was silly to -” She stops talking, arrested by the sight of smoke ahead of them.

“Silly to what?” When she doesn’t answer, he turns to look at her and sees the smoke himself. “What’s that?”

“Let’s go see,” Rose says breathlessly, and they start to run.

They’re running hand in hand, just like they’ve done so many times before, in so many different places. This time, when they reach the source of the fire and come to a stop, they don’t encounter danger or chaos.

“There’s nothing there,” Rose says in surprise.

They’re standing at the top of a small hill. It’s covered in green grass that’s been kept pretty short by the local sheep population. Wildflowers grow all around them, and here and there the buzzing of honeybees can be heard. It’s an idyllic spot, but there’s no sign of anything happening.

“Well, there’s the fire.” The Doctor raises their joined hands to gesture at the smoke that’s billowing up to the sky.

Rose peers down at it, shading her eyes with her free hand. “What do you reckon it is?”

“Could be a wildfire. They happen in Greece from time to time. Or it might be a local shepherd, having his lunch. Or it might be something else.” The Doctor glances at Rose as he says this last bit.

The notion that it might be something else is impossible for her to resist.

“We’ve come this far. Let’s go see.”

The hill is not that steep, and even Rose, in her strappy sandals, has no problem going down. It helps that the Doctor’s hand is firm against her back, making sure that he can catch her if she does slip. At the bottom they look around once more. No shepherd, no wildfire. The smoke is still rising.

The Doctor watches this smoke, trying to find its origins. “This is pretty weird.”

Rose clears her throat. Glancing over, he sees her gesture with her head. His gaze tracking in that direction, he spots a small woman standing a few meters away. Her clothing is a dark green, blending in so well with the grass and flowers that she is nearly invisible. The smoke seems to be heaviest at her feet.

The Doctor is taken aback by this sudden appearance, but Rose is not.

“Er, hello,” Rose waves a diffident hand. “Sorry to bother you.”

“We saw the smoke,” the Doctor explains. “We were just making sure there was nothing. Er...do you speak English?” he inquires politely when the woman does not respond.

She folds her arms, staring at them both for a few silent moments. Rose is starting to get nervous when the woman finally moves. She gestures for them to follow her, and she disappears around the other side of a small huddle of rocks. After a quick glance at each other, they follow her with no hesitation.

By the time they reach her she is sitting on the ground. A small fire burns in a pit at her feet, the source of the smoke. It doesn’t smell of smoke but of something sweeter, the way lilacs and lavender might if they were burned up but their fragrance remained.

The woman squints up at them. Rose wonders how she can see through the smoke and stifles a cough.

“So,” the woman says in very good English. “You made it through to the other side.”

Rose glances back at where they came from. The Doctor is watching the woman with a slightly puzzled expression.

“Uh...yeah.” Rose nods. “Wasn’t a problem, really.”

The woman nods back. “And here you are.”

“We got a bit turned around. And then we saw your fire and worried there might be some trouble.” The Doctor smiles. “Since there’s not, we’ll leave you to your, er, solitude.”

“Oh, but not yet,” the woman protests. “You just got here. Sit.” She gestures to the ground beside her. Rose sits, hoping the ground doesn’t rip her skirt. She tugs on the Doctor’s hand to make him do the same. The Doctor is rather unsure about all of this, but he is curious enough to stifle his sigh and sit down beside Rose. The ground is hard but warm.

“You, ah, come here often?” the Doctor inquires, and Rose shoots him a glare. He quickly covers his small grin with his hand.

“Sometimes.” The woman’s expression is serene. If she gets the joke, she makes no indication of it. “My name is Sophia. I live nearby.”

“It’s a lovely area,” Rose offers. “We’re on our honeymoon ourselves.”

Sophia smiles benignly. “Lovely. You shall have many years of happiness together.”

“Thank you,” Rose says politely.

Sophia frowns abruptly. “You are safer here than you were before,” she says, and Rose feels the Doctor tense beside her.

“Did you see the aliens?” he asks.

Sophia does not pay any attention to him. She is looking at Rose. “The other side was not safer. You did well to leave it.”

“The aliens are gone,” Rose tells her, but she’s starting to suspect that what she thinks of as the other side, and what Sophia is referring to, are two really, really different things.

“Some went back there. Some stayed here.”

“One flew east, one flew west,” the Doctor says rudely. He is not impressed with this woman’s act. He stands up and holds out his hand. “Come on, Rose.”

Rose stands up as well, suddenly anxious to be gone. “I’m sorry we bothered you.”

“Aliens have always been here.” Sophia speaks to them but her eyes are far away. “They’ve been here for a very long time. They’ve denied the truth to keep themselves hidden.”

The Doctor is caught despite himself. “Aliens where? On this world? In this universe?”

She smiles faintly. “Here in this city.”

“They’re gone,” Rose tells her. “We watched them leave and then we...we made sure no one would remember.” The guilt still hits her, but at least she can talk about it.

“They think that no one can see them. But some of us have always known what they are.”

“Who are you?” the Doctor demands. “Greece has denied the existence of aliens for years.”

“They must deny themselves in order to stay hidden.” The woman looks closely at the Doctor. “You must deny yourself too, sometimes. You’re not an alien. But are you a human?”

“Stop it,” Rose says sharply. “He’s a person just like we are!”

It’s too late. “Can you see that?” The Doctor moves close to Sophia, kneels down close to her. “Can you see that part of me?”

“The spark remains. It will always remain, whether you stay or run or fly away through the stars. You cannot change who you are now. I would not advise it.”

The Doctor falls back. “I’m not going to.”

“You were planning to,” she tells him, and he glances at Rose uneasily.

“Who are you?” Rose asks the question this time. “You shouldn’t know about the aliens. We’ve changed people’s memories.”

Sophia smiles at her. “My memories are much older than today. I say nothing because no evil has befallen my people and my country. But I can see the truth.”

“The truth,” Rose echoes. “The truth about what?”

The Doctor’s mind is much, much faster. “No,” he says softly. “No. That’s impossible!”

“Is it?”

“What’s impossible?” Rose demands. She feels like Alice after she’s fallen down the rabbit hole. Nothing is making sense to her right now.

“They deny themselves to stay hidden.” The Doctor looks up at Rose and starts to laugh. “Of course! They’re aliens, Rose.”

“Who are aliens?” Rose demands in absolute frustration.

“The royal family of Greece! The king is an alien!”

“What? That’s just...just...” Rose founders for words and can’t find the right ones. “That’s silly.”

“Any sillier than the Prime Minister being a member of the Slitheen family?”

“But he looks like us,” she protests.

“His people look like us,” Sophia confirms. “They came here many generations ago and seized power when the time was right. And they remain here, determined to deny that other aliens exist to protect their secret.”

It seems ridiculous, and yet Rose knows that it’s the truth. She’s seen too many aliens not to recognize the oddities in the King of Greece’s manner. “All those years,” she murmurs. “Aliens running the entire country.”

“Just the royal family,” the Doctor corrects her absently. “Well. We should try to avoid another run-in with His Majesty, under the circumstances.” He gets up to stand beside Rose. “He probably couldn’t wait to get rid of us.”

“Was that the other side, then?” Rose asks Sophia. “The other side of Athens?”

Sophia remains seated where she is. The smoke is suddenly thicker, and she’s staring into it. “You are where you belong. Both of you are supposed to be here. The other one. He is where he must be.”

They’ve started to walk away from her, just a single step back, but the Doctor stops at the mention of the other one. Rose feels a tiny bubble of fear in her stomach.

“What did you say?” she whispers.

Sophia gazes at her through the smoke. “You made it to the other side and back again. And home once more. A chaos greater than anything he’s ever known awaits him. He will run from you as far as he can but he will come back to you at the very end.”

Rose slowly shakes her head. “Who...who are you talking about?”

“You will see him again. One last time.” Sophia turns her head to the Doctor, though her eyes are still locked on Rose. “Both of you together.” And she turns back to Rose. “He will come to you at the end, because you are the greatest truth of his existence.”

The fear Rose is feeling grows into something much larger, and only her husband’s hand on hers keeps her from shaking. She can feel how close he is to his breaking point, and she wants very much to leave this place.

“Who is the other one?” the Doctor demands hoarsely. “Who are you talking about?”

But the fire has stopped and the smoke is gone. Sophia looks away.

“It’s time you went home,” she tells them.

They are silent on the walk back to the car. Her hand is in the Doctor’s but neither of them feels their shared grip. When they reach the car the Doctor opens the door for Rose, but she doesn’t get in. Instead she stands in front of him, forcing him to look her in the eye.

“She said we’d see him again.”

“Yeah.”

“Before he changes his face.”

“Yeah.”

“How could she know that?” Rose whispers. “It’s a universe away from here. How could she know?”

“I don’t know.” He draws her close to him. “But we can ask him when we see him.”

She can’t fight the cold that is sweeping over her. Is it dread or excitement that she feels at the thought of seeing the other Doctor again? Anger or sadness? She’s worked so hard for so long to block him out of her thoughts that to have him suddenly forced back into them is a shock.

“It’s not possible.” Even as she says the words she knows how silly they are. Anything and everything is possible, and she’s seen more proof of that than most people on the planet.

“It might not be him. It might mean Mickey. Just before he dons a disguise at Torchwood.” This surprises a laugh out of her. “Or Jack, maybe.”

“Don’t.” Rose shakes her head. “That talk of the other side and changing his face. It means he’ll regenerate, doesn’t it?”

“That’s what it sounds like,” he admits. “Eventually...eventually it will happen. An accident or age. It will happen.”

“And we don’t know when that would ever be, would we? Would you...would you feel it? If it happened?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know, Rose. I doubt it.”

“But if we see him before,” she persists. “If he comes to see me before...”

“The walls have closed,” he reminds her. “I know of no way to get back. Not even the dimension cannon works anymore.”

“But she said-”

“Just because she said it doesn’t make it so!”

“But it might.”

He can’t stand to see the glimmer of hope in her eyes. He’s man enough to admit to himself that he hates the mention of his other self, because of what Rose might do. She chose him, and loved him, and married him, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is not the one she set out to find when she crossed the universes.

“It might,” he forces himself to say, and Rose shrugs.

“I know it probably won’t happen.” She’s speaking to his chest and won’t look up at his face. “But I’d like to see him. Just once more time.”

For the thousandth time, the Doctor reminds himself that it’s ridiculous to be jealous of himself. “What for?”

She smiles. “To say goodbye. Thank you. Be careful.”

“Come on.” He ushers her into the car. “Let’s get out of the city before rush hour.”

They stop for lunch a few hours later, near the northern border of Greece. They eat a simple meal of salad and soup at a small cafe, sitting outside in the sunshine. Rose is eager to get back on the road, and she can tell that the Doctor is ready to start a manic drive back to London.

“All right.” She places her napkin on the table. “I’m ready.”

He takes a quick sip of water. “Me too. Just one thing, though.”

“Yeah? What?” Rose’s attention is diverted by a small goat walking across the street. The village they’ve stopped in is small but very friendly, and livestock seems to wander freely across the town square.

“This.” Rose looks back at him, and he hands her a small box. “I’ve been saving it,” he says, watching her face. “I wanted you to have something from me.”

“A wedding present?”

“I believe it’s traditional for the groom to give the bride jewelry.”

“I have your ring,” she reminds him, showing him her silver wedding band.

He nods absently. “Yes, but this is something else. Go on. Open it.”

Rose opens the box and catches her breath. It’s a bracelet. Silver links are hung with small charms. There’s the Eiffel tower, a leaning tower of Pisa - only this one is straight because the tower in this universe never had a problem - and a tiny Acropolis. A few more hang in between. A souvenir from every stop they’ve taken.

“There’s a Big Ben from London, too,” he tells her. “But you’ll have to wait until we’re home for that one. Do you like it?” he prompts her, when she doesn’t respond.

Rose looks up, eyes shining. “I love it! It’s perfect!” She takes the bracelet of the box and gives it out to him, then holds out her wrist. “Will you put it on for me?”

He fastens it on and looks down at it. “I know you’re not one for lots of jewelry, given what we do every day. But I thought you’d like to be reminded of what we’ve done.”

“I love it,” she assures him. “I love it so much. It’s wonderful.”

He smiles, relieved. “Good.” The idea had struck him one day as he was plotting out this trip, and the more he’d thought of it the more it seemed like the perfect gift for her.

“You know what I’d like even better than this?” she asks him.

He blinks. It’s not like Rose to compare gifts or try to barter for an exchange. “What?”

She smiles. “I’d like to go home.”

The Doctor stands up. “That I can do. Let’s go home, Rose Tyler.”

The car pulls away from the village at a rather illegal rate of speed. The little goat bleats in alarm and runs away.

“I wonder where we ought to go for next year’s holiday?” Rose muses, and the Doctor starts to laugh.