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"I don't want to go!"
It felt as if all the cells in his body were on fire as the Doctor jerked awake. It took him a moment to remember where he was but it was perhaps one of the longest moments of his excruciatingly long life.
"Doctor? Doctor, are you alright?" Rose asked. Right. He was at home, in bed, next to Rose Tyler, a baby TARDIS growing just down the hall.
He lifted his clammy, trembling hands to look at them, turning them over before raising them to his face then running them through his hair. He was still him. He flopped back down in bed with a sound Rose would later tell him was something between a sigh of relief and a whimper (he'd argue that it was a very manly groan, if anything). He rolled over, pulled her to him and buried his face between her neck and shoulder. He relaxed when she returned the embrace, running her fingers gently through his hair with a soft whisper that they were both still here, not going anywhere.
"He's regenerating. Isn't he?" She asked quietly after a moment.
The Doctor nodded. "Yes." He mumbled into her shoulder. They both fell silent. He wondered if she was trembling too or if he was just shaking enough for the both of them.
--
"Do you ever think how lucky we are?" Rose asks randomly one morning.
The Doctor looks up from the toaster he's fiddling with (he's determined to make the blasted thing more efficient. And he's been successful...insofar as it now efficiently shoots toast soaring towards the ceiling). His expression softens as he answers seriously, "Every day I wake up beside you, Rose Tyler."
--
It has been one year, eight months and twelve days. The TARDIS finally lets them in and the Doctor nearly jumps for joy. He shouts for Rose, practically giggling in his excitement. She's there in an instant, grinning ear to ear to match him - there was only one reason to be giddy at this hour, standing in this room.
Turning the key in the lock, they ease the door open carefully and step inside. It seems to be slightly warmer than the last TARDIS, with colours to match. There's more pink now, blending well with the other colours. The familiar Gallifreyan writing is still etched into the console, which is largely the same.
She's little more than the console room, a small wardrobe, a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, a small empty library and a few hallways that don't actually lead anywhere, but the moment his bare feet touch the floor, humming softly with energy, the Doctor feels as if he's come home. He instinctively seeks out Rose's hand. As her fingers lace with his, he's sure nothing has ever felt as right as this.
--
"Rose Tyler. You always were the one exception." The Doctor had said. Rose had smiled and leaned up to kiss him, as if to agree.
Now that she thought about it, however, she was starting to realise the same was true of him.
For example: Rose had never particularly fancied getting up early just to watch the sun rise (and certainly not on a weekend). But one cool Saturday morning in autumn the Doctor woke her up at half past three without explanation and she hadn't questioned him. Well, okay, she did. And rather rudely. But then he'd given her that smile, taken her hand and said, "Trust me." She did.
They drove for well over an hour. Far outside the city, off the roads, until they came to the top of a large, grassy hill, overlooking miles upon miles of trees of all colours. The sun was just barely peeking over the distant, snow-capped mountains as they pulled up. Rose had nearly been asleep again when he spoke her name, softly, bringing her back. She jumped but he didn't seem bothered, grinned and got out of the old Jeep. He practically skipped round to her side, opening her door and holding out his hand.
The view had taken her breath away as they stood, hand in hand, looking out over the forest as the sun streaked the sky with pinks and oranges, setting the trees aglow.
They would return for years to come, spread out on his coat, eyes on the horizon. It reminded him of Gallifrey.
There were other things, of course. Little things. Not so little things.
Rose Tyler hadn't been much of a cuddler before the Doctor, certainly hadn't hung around and let, say, Mickey, get her sick when he was. Naturally, the first time the Doctor gets a cold, he decides it's a good time to get clingy and beg her to stay in bed with him. Despite the runny nose, glassy eyes and occasional sneezes she's convinced are intentionally aimed in her direction, she stays with him.
They spend three days in bed together.
It is not the most fun three days in bed they've ever had.
The biggest exception, however, was perhaps specific to this Doctor with one heart. The only Doctor that could actually spend his life with her...and, apparently, the only Doctor to actually take her to Barcelona. She'd thought it was a joke at first.
"Hey, let's take off work this week and go to Barcelona! The city, not the planet. New world, new city, new Doctor. Well, sort of new. Anyway, it'll be fantastic!" He'd said. She'd laughed, then agreed when she realized it would be the anniversary of the first time he'd suggested Barcelona, all those years ago. "My birthday is in a couple weeks; think of it as an early gift."
So here they are, in Barcelona the city, not the planet, in the middle of June. The Doctor has insisted on the only restaurant they could find that had chips, then made her pay. It's been terribly hot, but the sun is finally going down as they walk along the beach. The Doctor tosses the remnants of a banana popsicle in the trash before they head towards a more remote area further down the shore. The sky is the most brilliant shades of gold and orange and she says that it almost makes him look ginger but he's too distracted.
Finally, he turns to her and just blurts the words, "Rose Tyler, will you marry me?"
She's stunned into silence. He seems to flush slightly as he hurriedly searches his pockets, producing a brilliant sapphire ring, almost the shade of the TARDIS. "I'm sorry. I had a whole thing planned out and a speech and I wanted to make it special, you deserve special-"
"Yes." She interrupts.
"Or at the very least I wanted to give you a good memory of a beach-"
This time she cuts him off with a kiss that makes him swear he can feel the universe again. When she pulls away, he's got the widest grin on his face she's ever seen. "I'd love to marry you, Doctor."
(Coincidentally, this is also the only time she's had sex on a beach.)