Woot! Another story! And this one is Doctor Who, again! Meh. It's really just an Outside POV on the Doctor's relationship though the years with Rose. Hrm.

I hope you enjoy!

R&R!

Rose Tyler was quite popular among the boys.

To Lexi Dorner, who had lived just across from the Powell Estate for her entire life, she was nothing more than an insecure, immature little girl who broke hearts left and right simply because it was pleasing to know she was above them.

Lexi was going at 28, now, and still she wouldn't find herself in the same company as Rose seemed to find herself in. Everyone knew about poor Mickey – about how their relationship had been going so well, and how a newcomer pops into town, and suddenly, he's left on the doorstep.

Nobody knew the man, and nobody really liked him much, either. There was a certain … reluctance about him, like he was a teenager who didn't know what to do with his suddenly growing limbs, and didn't really want to have to think about it. He rarely carried on conversation with anyone excluding Rose, and most people just stayed away.

As usual, Lexi took it upon herself to see fit that the poor man knew what he was getting into.

So, she approached him one night as he stood silently and still, not leaning on the railing on the balcony, but coming close to it. She was absolutely sure that Rose and her mother were asleep – she didn't even know why she was up at this ungodly hour, instead of snoring sound asleep in her bed.

Leaning against the railing beside the man, she found himself staring, her gaze flicking between his face and the night sky. After a few minutes, she said, "Rose is a good girl." No reaction came from the man, but she did sense a subtle defensive tensing of the shoulders. Defending himself or Rose, she had no idea. She plowed on nonetheless.

"She really is. But, thing is, whenever she gets a new guy, someone's got to tell him," she said, and this time she got a raised eyebrow for her troubles. She rolled her eyes, continuing. "Rose … she's had a … considerable amount of boys around her, if you know what I mean."

"You mean she's been in a lot of relationships," he covered, and she was a bit taken aback at how calm his voice sounded. She nodded, adding, "And most of them haven't ended well."

There was a moment of silence between the two of them, each gazing at either each other or the starry night. Finally, the man said, "When you look up to the sky," her stare trailed his, grazing the horizon and scatter of stars, "What do you see?"

She tilted her head slightly, knowing the question was rhetorical as the man opened his mouth and took a sharp breath. "Because I see an infinity. A blanket of never ending space, all waiting to be explored, waiting with eternal patience, just so we can get out there, and find whatever's out there." He didn't give her a chance to respond.

"I didn't mean to meet Rose – I never even meant to say hello. I wasn't looking for her, I was trying to find something else." Lexi nodded, wondering absently where Mickey would be if this man hadn't said hello. "But she found me. And I knew, I had to stay with her. Because though I might not have found whatever's out there for me, I'm what she was looking for. I'm what she found," he said, and damn, if Lexi didn't notice the change earlier.

His face had been carefully blank as she had inspected it, but now it was anything but, creasing lining his forehead and cheeks as he spat, "And if you think, for one second, that I'd take that away from her, I can promise you that I won't be held responsible for anything that would happen, should your judgment of me not change."

He stared at her, and she found herself frozen, planted into the concrete despite every survival instinct inside telling her run, run, as fast as you can because this wasn't a man that passed you in the street - not anymore.

It was a lover defending his companion.

And, somehow, that seemed even more dangerous than a mother protecting her young, than friends protecting each other, than family staying together.

But, despite all of this, all she could feel was pity, something that she rarely ever felt for someone like him, someone who was in a relationship with Rose Tyler. She pitied him, because he couldn't see, couldn't see how smitten he actually was, and how it wasn't her in love.

It was him.

She blinked, and he gave a curt nod, walking down the steps and down into a small blue box by the edge of two buildings, stuck in an alley.

It wasn't there the next morning.

A few months passed, and Lexi turned 29.

She held the party in the middle of the Powell Estate, inviting everybody to come down and at least have a piece of cake. Even Rose came down, with Mickey and her mother.

The man was nowhere to be found.

They talked a bit in between one of the party songs, and Lexi found that Rose was deliberately avoiding the topic.

Not one to tread lightly, she stated her observation quite bluntly, and Rose, probably accustomed to this kind of thing, told her, "Oh, don't worry. He's just a bit sick, tied up in bed." After that, Mickey had dragged her away with a promise of another piece of cake and a dance. She accepted, smiling back at Lexi, who sent one back, feeling it slide into a grimace as she thought of the implications.

She actually met the next man in the grocery store.

She had been taking an early walk to get some more milk, as she was running low, when she glimpsed Rose talking to a taller, thinner, all-in-all more pencil-like man, handing him money, and gesturing widely, like he wasn't understanding what she was saying. Judging by the slightly perplexed expression on his face, he probably didn't, and Rose seemed to find that even more amusing.

By the end of the conversation, she was laughing and pushing him inside the store as she walked off. Lexi barely caught the tail end of the conversation as the man shouted helplessly, "You know I'm useless with these things!"

A smirk crept onto Lexi's face, and she walked up to him, saying, "Need some help?" The man twirled – actually twirled – around to face her, and Lexi ducked reflexively as his hand swept over where her head was a second ago.

He hurriedly apologized, explaining that yes, he could use some help, because Rose had sent him to pick up some milk, but she only said to pick up the cheapest one, not the low-fat or the bottled ones, and why couldn't Jackie have done this, anyway? She found herself entertained more than usual as he bounded over to the dairy section, his eyes scanning the shelves for the lowest price.

She opened one of the doors and pulled out the lowest priced milk, handing him two cartons that he took with a polite thanks. She found herself blushing, and laughed a bit when he started blushing, too.

Eventually, they made it to the check-out counter, where the worker was especially surprised to find the man asking about the tattoo on his arm.

"Got it for my girlfriend on my birthday. Like it?" Lexi held up a hand to stifle her giggles, letting a few escape as she saw Rose's new acquaintance do the same.

"I think the gesture was sweet," he said, and the clerk blushed.

"Yeah," he said, hastily pulling down his shirt sleeve. "I guess the design wasn't the best."

"A butt naked cupid on your arm? Yeah, maybe not," Lexi said. The clerk looked up, saying, "So, you guys got any tattoos?"

Lexi shook her head, while the man said, "Nah. Knew a bloke who did, though. Snake, curling around his bicep on his right arm. Used to show it off all of the time."

Lexi raised her eyebrows. "What happened to him?"

The man just shrugged, giving the clerk the money Rose had given him and picking up the cartons. "Nobody knows. He just went missing one day." The clerk apologized, but the man quickly brushed it off, turning the conversation to one time when he had apparently gotten bitten by a snake, and had felt quite like lobbing off the offending limb.

Later, as they were walking out of the store, before Rose came back into sight from wherever she had gotten away to, Lexi stopped the man.

"Look, I think you're really cool, but I'm only gonna say this once," she started, but was slightly surprised as the man interrupted her. "You're gonna warn me about Rose's past relationships?" She nodded, taken aback. He laughed.

"Look, I don't really think any past relationship should matter in an ongoing one. If it's meant to be, then the past won't matter. It'll be something entirely new. I know I won't worry about it." Lexi found herself nodding. He smiled back at her, and walked a short distance over to a blue box on the corner. He came out a few seconds later, and she saw his whole face brighten as he caught sight of Rose walking back down the street. She sighed. Rose never loved them, and never would.

It was the men that loved her.

A few years passed, and Lexi turned 36.

It was that day that she got the news. After the entire ghost business and everything, Lexi thought it couldn't have gotten worse. Her grandmother had died in the scramble, and Lexi had barely had a day to mourn before another death was put on her.

Rose Tyler was on the list of the dead.

She didn't know why it hit her so hard until she realized – the man, the bouncy, funny, happy, pencil-man had still been with her. She didn't know if he was still alive, and sincerely hoped he wasn't, purely for the sake of not having to go on without her. Jackie was gone, too. Mickey was on the list as well, and Lexi found herself crying without the family that everyone always talked about.

Rose, with her carefree and caring attitude, Jackie with her exasperated and proud feelings toward her daughter, and Mickey, with his lost love reborn into a friendship he didn't seem to be overly heartbroken about.

And then there was the man, she spotted that day, in the alleyway with the blue box, simply standing with her back to him, presumably staring at the flat where the family used to live. She wondered whether his eyes were wet, like hers, or if he was the type of man who let no tears fall.

She didn't really realize she was walking to stand next to him, instead hanging in the numb feeling she couldn't shake, as if she were floating, and none of this was real. She turned to see his face and saw that he was smiling. It was a small smile, not really containing any emotion, but a rather empty expression.

"You're smiling," she informed him, as if he didn't already know.

"She's okay," was all he said. "She's okay."

"Okay?" Lexi said disbelievingly. "She's dead."

The man simply nodded, and repeated, "She's okay."

Lexi wasn't sure if it was the realization of her friend's family being dead, or the fact that the man seemed to be in denial, but Lexi found herself trying to make him understand, anyway. "She's not okay!" She couldn't help but shout, as if dragging the small amount of hope the man had down with her might make a difference, might do any good. "She's dead!"

And then he looked down at her, and she couldn't help but remember the few years earlier, back to Rose's last boyfriend, the one whom she had found. His stare was somewhat the same, but instead of threatening, or angry, this one was just confused.

Confused and happy.

And Lexi got it, then. Rose was dead, but she was okay. Simply okay.

It wasn't like, 'she's in a better place' okay. Not really. And it wasn't a 'denial of her death' okay. Not that either. She was just, simply … okay. And Lexi got it. She felt it.

The man apparently saw that she had understood, nodded slowly, and stepped back into the blue box. She wouldn't see it for a long time after.

She hoped Rose realized just how much people had loved her.

Men, women, friends, and family alike.

A few decades passed, and Lexi turned 63.

A surprising amount of her friends were already gone, and she suddenly understood her grandfather's last wish to just welcome death, already. Old age was tiring.

Despite her old age and inability to move as well as in her younger days, Lexi still visited the Tylers' graves. Every year she would bring flowers, sometimes daisies, sometimes lilies, and a rose, whenever she could find one. She would always go sometime near the anniversary of the 'Battle of Canary Warf' or whatever they were calling it again. She never went on the actual anniversary, as that was when the crowds came, and she found it easier to mourn in isolation than with others.

It wasn't until one year, when she was returning form a trip in Spain, that she had decided to go on the night of the anniversary. She had bought plenty of red roses to place and had even prepared an entire mindset so she could find what she was going to say.

She forgot it all as she approached the graves, finding a man kneeling in front of them, hands shaking as they placed a dozen yellow roses on each grave. The man moved his hands back, clasping them together to keep them from shaking.

She came forward silently, but the man still raised his head slightly, acknowledging her presence. She nodded instead of smiling.

They sat there in silence and peace for a few minutes, until the man finally spoke. "I … I never meant for this to happen." It took Lexi a while to figure out that he wasn't talking to her. He continued.

"I – I know, that I should've known, I should've expected it, prepared for it, because it always happens. And … I'm sorry. I didn't … " The man sighed heavily, and looked down. "I know you always told me never to apologize, but honestly? I think we both know that's not possible. I know this is my fault. And ... I really, truly, am sorry ... " He trailed off, and instead of offering physical comfort, Lexi spoke up instead.

"I, uh … I know you probably think that we were as close as can be back when, um … anyway, I just wanted to say … thanks. I – I wasn't always the best friend and I wasn't always there for you, despite me always being in your business." She barely caught the man glancing up at her and softly smiling in wonder.

"It's just that … well, I had a whole speech prepared, yeah? And, yeah, I know, you'd be so proud of me because I actually planned something for once, but I'll have you know, I went to Spain a few weeks ago. I just got back today, actually, and I had bought some very nice flowers for you, and … and I just … I wanted to put them here, on the anniversary, instead of later. I – I thought it'd be nice."

She looked back up shyly and found the man absolutely beaming at her. She lifted her head all the way and sent him a curious glance. He shook his head, and only then did Lexi realize there were tears streaming down his face. He pulled her into a short hug, stood, fixed his oddly placed bowtie and put a hand on her shoulder.

"She's okay," he said, Lexi smiled, catching sight of the blue box a few feet away. And the smile grew. Because she didn't understand what was happening, who this man was. She didn't know how or why Rose was okay. But she did know one thing.

"Yeah. She's okay."

And, that's it! I hope you liked it, and didn't see this as a procrastination technique to fill in for my missing time on all my other stories. Sorry, guys. Self-indulgence only goes so far.

R&R!

~IsomorphicTARDIS