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There's a brilliant orange-yellow in the sky, framed perfectly in the trees and lake of the clearing ahead of them. The setting sun bounced off the surface of the lake, making it glitter like jewels and the clouds were lined with gold. They're sitting under an oak tree, leaves fluttering in the wind.
Like a movie, Rose smiles, knowing her Doctor had scouted out the area in advance to find the best view in the park, just for her.
A gust of wind fluttered past them, making Rose shuffle further back into the Doctor's embrace.
A little colder than a movie.
"Oh! One sec," she tried to catch a backwards glimpse of what the Doctor was doing as he leaned away. He rummaged through a backpack, just on the outskirts of the picnic blanket the Doctor had bought. It didn't really fit in with the romantic scene the Doctor had crafted for their date- a bit hitchhiker in Rose's opinion- but the Doctor was nothing, if not practical.
Rose had known her Doctor was planning something- he'd asked her about her free evenings about a week ago- then when she's come home from work, he'd surprised her with a beautiful bouquet of red flowers-
"Carnations-" he'd mentioned, sheepishly claiming he thought roses would be too obvious, with a little grin that'd made her heart melt.
After that, they'd drove a couple hours out of London, playing games and talking about anything. The Doctor kept sneaking glances at Rose as they drove, just a little nervous.
He'd apologised a couple times over the months they'd spent in their new dimension, not being able to take her anywhere as spectacular as they'd once been in the Tardis, but Rose could never complain. Not if they were together.
In no time at all, they'd reached a park that was really more a forest than where you'd take the kids on a Sunday. He'd dug a big backpack out the trunk of the car, along with a cooler that Rose didn't know they owned.
It was peaceful, quiet, not another human soul for miles.
When the Doctor was done digging through his bag, he returned to where they were sitting together, soft green blanket wrapped around the two of them. He leaned forward, resting his chin on her shoulder,
"I have a thermos too, of you want some tea,"
And Rose smiled a little, resting her head against his and pulling his arms round her. He was a little cool against her, the trait lingering despite the single heart beat against her back.
She couldn't ever find it in herself to mind.
They continued on, in a peaceful bliss. It was like Rose was floating, tethered to the Earth only by her Doctor holding her down. The sky stretched on for miles. She could stay in this moment forever.
"Rose?"
The sun is lover in the sky, Rose almost dozing off when the Doctor speaks up. She can feel his chest vibrate as he speaks.
"Yeah Doctor?"
"I'm human now." He laments,
"Yeah?" She prompts. It was a weird transition for him, Time Lord to human- not in any immediate sense, but as he'd noticed little things he wasn't used to as his old species.
"I've got a human heart, human senses."
Mm, she hums, tucking her head further into the crook of his shoulder and neck, letting her eyes flutter closed. It was nothing she hadn't heard before, she was determined to always listen, though.
"Should I change my name? I'm not sure if I'm the Doctor anymore,"
"If you'd like,"
He hummed a negative. Officially, his name was John Tyler, they weren't technically married or anything- but Rose had offered it, and Jackie had insisted when the poor man hesitated.
His clueless face still makes her laugh, and Rose hides a grin in his neck at the memory. After a minute though, his face had crumbled into something nakedly fond and delicate, and Jackie had pulled him into a hug before he could refuse. It was a weird sight, her mum and her partner, especially as they'd gone right back to bickering moments later. She'll cling to that memory, though. When her Doctor found his home.
While he's proud to be one of them, though, it was foreign on her tongue, and his nose kept wrinkling when they tried it. The Doctor felt more right than any boring human name.
"Doctor Tyler" made him smile, though. It also made affection bloom in her chest.
Rose takes a deep breath of the evening air. The birds are singing around them, trees swaying lightly in the breeze.
"I've got human gender now, it's weird," Rose can hear the frown on his face.
"Weird how?" She asks, wiggling round to face him. Honestly, she doesn't know too much about the gender thing- just a little from gossip with Shareen, along with some alien customs across the universe.
"I don't know," he frowns, "being a Time Lord, it's all good and well letting humans use their perceived gender, it was all the same to me, but now..."
"Now?" Rose prompts,
"I don't know, ‘feels different, odd. Like new teeth- but that usually fades after a day"
Rose pauses to think a moment. She's reaching around in the dark a bit with this conversation, but she's faced far worse,
"So if I call you a bloke, how does it feel?"
"I don't know, not quite wrong but... abstract? Like you're not really talking about me."
"Hmm." Rose goes quiet for a while, studying his pretty face, she can count his freckles,
"You know there aren't just two genders people use out there on earth"
The Doctor gives her an exasperated look, "Of course I know that, in fact, in 2027, several new gender identities are established world wide- but you humans have always been so primitive about gender- well, not always- now, Timelords, we-"
"I'm saying," Rose interrupts, rolling her eyes and bumping her head gently against the Doctor's, "that there might be a different one that suits you."
"Oh." His eyes are all round now, like he's shocked it didn't occur to him. She can see little flecks of gold in with the brown. His eyelashes are long too, she's always liked that. He was also very dismayed to find out he needed glasses as a human, because he didn't have a million extra Time Lord senses to compensate for it.
"Well, alright then- when do we-"
"We can look tonight, if you want. When we get back?"
He smiles. "That sounds nice."
She presses a firm kiss to his lips, hands automatically moving to her sides.
How did she get so lucky?