A/N: Just a short one-shot because I haven't written anything in a while. Reviews are always welcome!

"Your world is gone." It was the way she spoke, with a whispered elegance and broken promises, that drew him in, first.

"Yes."

"I could get it back for you." Her tall frame leant over the alien bar, long dark locks falling behind her. She was a good hooker, the Doctor would give her that, but that was if he was a more basic, more human species.

"Go on then." He wasn't passed a dare, what did he have to loose at this point? Gallifrey was gone, the Time Lords, everyone.

"You'd have to trade the thing you love most." It registered somewhere in his grief-addled brain that this was seeming less like a sale and more like a trick, but that part of him that would have been excited by the prospect, enticed by the adventure was long gone.

He laughed instead. "What? You want my leather jacket? It's a bit old but granted, so am I."

She paused and looked at him for a moment. Her gaze steeled under blue eyes, "I'll call you in a year."

When he turned around again, she was gone.

It was a month later that he met Rose Tyler. Beautiful, vibrant Rose Tyler. Oh she was smart and kind and bright, everything the old Time Lord needed.

When he died on her lips a short while later, they kept going, she promised him forever and never took it back.

It was roughly a Tuesday on the planet they were on, and the sun was shining.

"-Oh and you have to see the trees here, Rose, they turn blue in the sun, blue, what the ecological purpose of that is, I've never known but, oh the colour. And do you know what Rose Tyler?"

"I don't know, Mr. Doctor," She stuck her tongue out between her teeth, looping her arm around his as he continued his description of the trees.

"Not only is it blue, it's TARDIS blue, isn't that something?"

"Yeah, they got faded scratch marks on the corners too?"

"Oi, my magnificent ship has nothing of the sort, it is in fact-" He stopped short, his path blocked by a sudden materialisation. People on this planet couldn't do that. His eyes focused more keenly and because his memory had to be oh-so-perfect, he recognised her instantly.

"Doctor?" Rose asked stepping forward slightly, as if to protect him, his brave Rose. He tugged at her fallen hand and squeezed it while turning to face the intruder.

"Sorry to interrupt your date," the woman chimed, her voice as painfully melodic as ever.

"I remember you."

"I'm glad. Because I'm going to change your life." She smirked this time, her teeth perfectly white, contrasting her eyes which held so much darkness.

"No thank you, alright here, life's fantastic," He felt rather than saw Rose flinch ever so slightly at the reminder, "Brilliant, in fact, so you can just go along your merry way."

"Who is she, Doctor?" Rose asked, curiously gazing into her harsh eyes.

"No one, Rose." He said firmly, making it clear the discussion was over. He pulled at her hand, wanting to get them away from that thing as soon as possible.

"You have one more chance, Doctor." The woman mocked before disappearing, if not for the tense air that she left behind, he would never have believed she, or maybe it, had ever been there.

The Doctor wanted to kiss Rose Tyler, not that this was unusual. It was always there, nagging him whenever he saw a hint of her tongue between her teeth, or when she held his hand or at any given moment, probably. But in this particular moment he wanted to kiss her just because he wanted to wipe away that little bit of doubt that was on her face as she laughed at a terrible joke he told.

But he didn't, because for all of the Doctor's faults he would not break Rose Tyler's trust. No matter how much he wanted to.

After the two had galavanted around the planet enough to get their fill, they retired to the TARDIS for the night (Rose's night, not actual night because there was no night in the TARDIS or the Time Vortex). The Doctor started to tinker under the console, as he did most nights, until Rose awoke the next morning (again, Rose morning. Mornings with Rose).

He began thinking about what the woman-thing had said to them. One more chance. It couldn't be true, the Time Lords were dead, no matter how powerful this woman thought herself to be she couldn't do it.

He felt a hand on his leg, his head banging against the console in surprise. Through his dizziness he heard a familiar laugh that almost made the pain worth it.

His features took on a mock sternness. "Rose Marion Tyler! What are you doing out of bed at this hour?"

"Couldn't sleep." She smiled.

"Ah well the TARDIS can do without tinkering for one night," He smiled. They had often spent time like this, sleepless nights full of talking and laughter until he ended up with a blonde head rested on his shoulder.

"It's just-" She cut herself off quickly, sneaking a glance at him. He fiddled with the sonic screw driver, thumbing through setting after setting, never finding the right one.

"Yeah?" He sounded almost timid, for a Time Lord.

"Who was she, Doctor?" The Doctor had been a liar, in many incarnations, even this one, he was too old to make sense to humans, so old that he knew not to let them get attached. But he was one of the oldest beings in the universe now, so he got to make up the rules from here.

He slumped down onto the grating, the console digging into his neck as he rested on it, "I met her a year ago. Back when I was-."

"Northern?" She smiled softly, taking his hand.

"Yeah. And she told me she could bring them back." He laughed hollowly, a hand ruffling his already mussed hair. "Of course I thought she was bonkers, but she's pretty convinced."

Silence descended on them, heavy despite his attempt at a joke.

Rose leant forward abruptly, "What if she's not? Bonkers, I mean. Doctor, what then?"

"She is. No one can. Trust me, tried everything I'd ever known of."

"What is she then?"

"I don't know." He caught her eye and they both grinned, at the irony, at the ridiculous notion that had them up well into Rose's night.

They sat there for a time, Rose's head nestled on his shoulder and his arm trapping her body in place. The only movement was the rustle of their hands as they entertained themselves pointlessly.

"Doctor?" Rose mumbled sleepily.

"Yeah?" Even in her tired state, she could distinguish the fondness in his voice.

"I think that, if you can, you should do it." He would have smiled, at the Rose-like opinion. Of course she would encourage him to do it, make him happy, save a few million lives, but he'd almost forgotten the last part of the deal.

You'd have to trade the thing you love most.

Rose Tyler was lost to white walls and screaming Daleks before he was ready.

He saw the gleaming black hair only a few months later.

"Are you ready to trade yet Doctor?"

He snarled, angry because she'd asked him to give up Rose, helpless because he lost her anyway. "Trade what? I don't have anything."

"Touchy. But you see, you still have what it is that I want."

It was all at once that the TARDIS became full of Rose Tyler. She seemed to arrive from no where, almost falling over in the shock. The Doctor knows he should have explained what was going on, about the second deal and the first and the oh so many days he's had to be without her for.

He pulled her into his arms before she could move.

"Doctor? How- I- Doctor?"

"Rose," He smiled, giddy.

"Doctor." She said more firmly this time, as if she knew he was real this time.

He was in the midst of making them tea before she asked again.

"How did you manage it, then?"

"I'm a genius, Rose Tyler," He joked, his tongue wrapping around the name so perfectly, making him even happier.

"You're a smug arse. How'd you do it?" She teased.

He launched into a lengthy explanation about how it was really just quantum mechanics, and yes he'd needed a little help from that scary lady, but all in all he was just clever.

"Wait, that lady who could bring the Time Lords back?"

"Well," He elongated the word to stall the truth that he knew he was going to have to tell, "She couldn't exactly bring them back. She was more of a parallel-worlds-manipulator-person, oh don't look at me like that, I thought they were a myth."

It was in the middle of a chase that she found out what he traded. They were running from the police, or the equivalent in the year 60493, and reached a dead end and a locked door.

"Doctor, sonic it!"

"Well, you see, about that…"

When they escaped (as they always did), Rose kissed him, laughing and he didn't care about the sonic screwdriver. He could always build a new one anyway.