Forever

Rose Tyler...

DOCTOR'S POV

"So, how's the TARDIS? Still running as good as it used to?" Jackie asked, trying to make conversation with something I was familiar with. "Yeah, it's good." I replied, before going into further detail. "Of course, it's not exactly the same as the one before. It was only a chunk of TARDIS coral until I shatterfried the plasmic shell and modified the dimensional stabiliser to a foldback harmonic of 36.3. It was supposed to accelerate growth by the power of 59, but something must've went wrong, cause I'm missing a lever on the right side. It was my favorite one, too. Such a shame."

Jackie stared at me with blank eyes. Apparently, she still wasn't used to "the Doctor talk". Luckily, Rose jumped in and "translated" it in a way that was more understandable. "All he's saying is that he might've made a mistake when he grew the TARDIS we have now." she explained; although it didn't seem that different to me, it obviously made a whole lot more sense to Jackie.

"Oh! Well, at least someone understands him." she said in return, tilting her head slightly as she said this with a smile. "I'll go make some tea. Rose, will you help me?" Jackie added, gesturing to the kitchen. I didn't see why she needed Rose to help her make tea; she could accomplish the task perfectly by herself. I suppose there's some things about women I will never understand.

Meanwhile, Pete and I had a good talk. We discussed the weather, Jackie, life, and then Rose. I was a bit nervous, which doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's something serious. Thankfully, the human part of me was able to express my emotions better and easier than my original self, who was all Timelord. I asked Pete for a favor; he obliged accordingly. Relieved, I laid back and drank the fresh tea delivered by the girls. Phase one was complete. Now, for phase two.

Standing up, I said to Jackie, "Sorry, but we've got to go. I've got a special surprise for Rose." I didn't want to reveal too much information, so I kept it pretty short. Spoilers.

"Alright, but you two be careful. Doctor, you better take care of my Rose or else." Jackie warned, waving the spoon in her right hand threateningly. "Oh, don't worry," I assured her. "We'll be back soon. A lot sooner than you think."

With that, Rose and I walked into the TARDIS, hands together, letting go not long after entering. I slowly set off to work, doing the usual pushing of buttons, wanting to make this day last longer. But the time had come. It was here.

"Doctor, what's the 'special surprise' all about? Where are we going?" Rose asked me, always wanting to know where we were headed. It was actually pretty clever; one should get to know their surroundings before they meet them in case something unfortunate happens. Same thing with humans.

"You'll see." was all I revealed. I didn't want to give anything away; it was such a momentous occasion. As I decided on where to go first, nervousness built up inside me. It was becoming much harder to contain it without pouring it out all over. Quickly, I wiped the sweat that had begun to form on my brow and set the TARDIS in motion.

ROSE'S POV

The Doctor was being very secretive, that I could tell. Though he didn't realize it, Mum and I were eavesdropping from the kitchen, picking up hints of sentences. I pondered the situation and tried to think about where we might go next. Of course, asking him made no difference, but what did I expect? I did the same thing to him when we were traveling to Barcelona (both times).

I hung on and waited for the TARDIS to land, but it never did. I questioned the Doctor about this. "Doctor?" I stuttered. "Hmm?" he prompted absentmindedly, twiddling dials all around the console. "Why didn't the TARDIS land?"

The Doctor remained silent until he was finished moving switches and toying with buttons. "Because," he began. "We're not stopping. Just taking a quick view." I shot him a confused look. What was he talking about? Had Mum slipped something in his tea?

Flinging the doors wide, the Doctor presented a helicopter view of Stonehenge to me. "What do you think?" he inquired, standing beside me with a look of amusement. "I had this idea of touring a few world famous landmarks, but I didn't quite know how to pull it off. In the end, I just decided to do an overview, sort of like a slideshow."

I gazed down upon the site below me. Being a Brit, I had visited London and its surrounding areas many times before, including Stonehenge. Never before had I seen it from this angle; it was like a whole new perspective.

Next, we flew around the Eiffel Tower. It was much different than taking the elevator up. Sparkling lights twinkled all around, bouncing off the metal structure. I had never gotten around to traveling to Paris. Mickey and I had discussed it once for a Valentine's Day getaway, but brushed the idea off soon after.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Great Wall of China were incredible works of art. I mean, who could create a building so tall with the ability to lean at such an awkward angle without falling? And what about a 5,500 mile long walkway? Visiting these attractions was a better experience than I could've imagined. After a while of going through time and space, sometimes you're content to "come back down to Earth".

While switching the scenery from China to Egypt, a thought occurred to me. "Doctor, what about the tourists below? Doesn't a flying blue box seem a bit unusual to them?"

"No," he answered shortly. "Because not only is the perception filter on, but so is the thing that makes the TARDIS invisible. You see, the perception filter is what makes people look away and not pay attention to the TARDIS when they spot it. Even if the invisibility switch doesn't kick in or is broken, the perception filter will distract onlookers' attentions." The Doctor paused here to take a breath. "But even if they could see it, it's not as bad as a flying car."

We laughed as we said our farewells to the Sphinx and zoomed toward our final destination: the Statue of Liberty. America, in my point of view, was a country that didn't want no one want to help them. Stubborn, they were, and though they tried to resolve conflicts in other countries, they couldn't take care of the ones they already had! Silly Americans, although they were smart enough to admire our accents. They really were nice.

Ending our tour with the freedom symbol of the US, we headed for the stars. I noticed the Doctor fidgeted a lot; what was wrong with him? He seemed really nervous about something...

The next thing I knew, I was staring out into the depths of the universe watching stars twinkle and comets swoosh by my head. The moment seemed to last forever. I turned to look beside me and found the Doctor gazing out as well. He faced me abruptly and began to speak.

"Do you remember me telling you that I can spend the rest of my life with you?" What was he trying to say? Had something happened when we were on Gallifrey that had caused his life span to shorten? I wanted to ask him, to find out, but felt that he would tell me if I needed to know. I nodded my head confidently and kept silent.

"Well, I can and I want to. After all these fun times, I've realized how much I truly love you and would miss you if anything were to happen to you. Rose Tyler..."