Rose stepped back out into the lot behind her building on a day that was warm and sunny, but there was a slightly brisk feel to the air that only came with spring. It was a bit breezy, as much as it ever was in the crowded city environment, with high-rise buidlings cutting off the wind.

"I'll just lock up, you go on,", said the Doctor from behind her as he usually did when taking her home for a visit.

"All right,", she said.

She was walking across the lot to the stairs entrance when she saw something unusual; a black stretched limousine parked sideways in the lot to her right. On her left, there was an older-looking man, just coming out of the stair entrance. He had his head down, and was walking at a leisurely pace back to what Rose assumed was his vehicle.

Rose just walked on, assuming whoever the man was and whatever his business there was was none of hers.

She walked on, shoving her hands in her pockets, minding her business.

Just then, she noticed the man change his course slightly. He was now heading straight for her, and rather rushing. Rose was confused for a moment. She stopped.

The man drew closer. Rose observed his face.

"Paul?", she said.

He just smiled. He stepped right up to her, looking her over thoroughly. It was a bit strange for Rose, for she had seen him as his former self not an hour ago, and he hadn't seen her for 40 years.

"You're just the same. To the last freckle,", he said, pointing out playfully a small birthmark on the side of her nose.

"Paul, you're - ", Rose started.

"I know, I got old,", he said, laughing lightly.

Rose nearly replied with the usual 'no, you look incredible!' response, which would have been true in his case, but she didn't feel that that was what she wanted to say at that moment.

She just stood, studying his face; he had gotten older, obviously, but he was very much the same in many ways.

"I wanted to come so many times before, but I wanted to see you again, the same you that I met before. I only wish it could have been the same not-old me,", he said. He was barely smiling, but he was glowing like a lamp in the night. Anyone could tell he had been waiting for this day to come for a long time.

Paul's eyes then lifted from Rose over her head to see a sight he hadn't seen in a while; the Doctor, frocked in his brown trenchcoat and dirty white sneakers, hair as tall as ever, leaning with his back against the TARDIS. Paul slowly raised a hand and waved to his old friend. The Doctor waved back.

"Do come inside,", said Rose, finally finding words, motioning back towards her building.

"Oh, I've already been up. I'm not sure your mother's weak heart could handle another visit,", he smiled. "I didn't want this to be a big scene, I just wanted to give you this. And say thanks. For the very best of times,", he said, retrieving a small cream envelope from his inside jacket pocket, offering it to her.

Rose accepted the envelope, nodding in understanding.

"Tell them who you are. I want you to have it. For keeps.".

Rose looked a bit confused.

"You'll understand,", he smiled, answering her before she asked.

Rose found herself yet again without words, though that seemed quite alright with Paul.

"Well, jolly good, then,", he said, taking in a deep breath and patting his pockets. "I suppose that's that. Mission accomplished. I can take that off me to-do list. It's been on there for a while,", he said, trying to erect a laugh from Rose.

She smiled.

"I think I'll be off,", he said, turning to his awaiting car.

"Paul,", Rose called after him.

He turned.

"I just wanted to say...", Rose forgot everything that she had been trying to put together in her mind this whole time. She decided to end it on a light note, as they did last time.

"It was totally boss, man,", she said, giving him a broad smile.

He snapped his fingers and pointed back at her with both hands. "I can dig that.".

Rose let a laugh escape her. With that, he walked off, and got into his limo. Rose watched as it drove off, waiting until it rounded the corner and was totally out of sight.

She stood there, thoughtful for a moment. Then, a warm, happy feeling came over her. She was so grateful to have had this experience. She could have continued being down because it was over as she was before, but then she realized; she should smile. Because it happened.

She raced back over to the TARDIS, grabbed the Doctor's hand, and took off running with him across the lot, inside and up the stairs.

Rose opened the door to her flat without knocking. Her mother got quite upset when she knocked ('It's like you're a stranger or something now, it makes me quite upset', her mother had commented on her knocking when she had tried that out before). She walked right into the rather small living space. There was no one around, but there was a cup of tea sitting unfinished on the coffee table.

"Mum?", she called, leading the Doctor in behind her.

There were no sounds, no signs of anyone.

Then, suddenly...

"ROSE!", resounded from somewhere to Rose's left, resulting in a shooting pain from her ear and up the side of her temple.

Rose actually literally jumped off the ground, and the Doctor did too.

Rose whipped her head around in alarm. She barely got a glimpse of Jackie Tyler before she was attacked with a hug that nearly floored her.

"Oh, Rose,", said Jackie.

The Doctor sighed. He went ahead and cut in front of them, making his way into the living space. This was always the way when he took Rose home for a visit. But he would find that something was a bit different this time.

"But wait!", interjected Jackie, suddenly backing away from her daughter.

"What is it, Mum?", said Rose, actually starting to get worried that something awful had happened in her absence.

"Do you know who was just here?!", said Jackie, starting to nearly jump up and down.

"I think I might have an idea,", said Rose, an amused grin pulling at the side of her mouth.

"PAUL McCARTNEY!", Jackie screamed, restarting Rose's headache.

Rose almost commented, but Jackie didn't seem to need encouragement to go on.

"I CAN'T BELIEEEVE IT! He sat on the sofa, OUR SOFA! He drank OUR TEA! He said he KNEW YOU, ROSE!", she squawked, covering her face with her hands.

"Yeah, he's a friend of ours,", said Rose.

"Oh... OH my word,", said Jackie, never taking her hands away from her face.

"I didn't think you liked his music, Mum?", said Rose, finding her mother's reaction a bit exaggerated.

"Oh, I don't. But he's so FAMOUS! And your Auntie Faye... Oh. My. God. Your Auntie Faye. I've got to call her!", she screamed, tripping over herself, lunging for the telephone on the coffee table, nearly bowling the Doctor over.

"Oh, sorry, love,", she said to him.

The Doctor just sat down in a chair and contentedly munched on a few biscuits from a tray, observing the scene before him.

"Wait!", exclaimed Jackie, stopping dead in her tracks. "I better call your Uncle Harry first. He'll need to get her sitting down before anyone breaks the news. And... Oh. Rose, we'll need a new sofa.".

"What?!", said Rose.

"Auntie Faye will offer any sum of money you care to mention for this sofa, and that cup,", pointed Jackie to the two articles that had been used by Sir Paul.

"Even if she hasn't got the money. Well, she might have it, but she won't have it for long, because I happen to know from an inside source who says that Uncle Harry's company is making some budget cuts, laying off some workers. She better buy this now before they're flat broke and homeless,", rambled Jackie, dialing the phone rapidly, wandering back to the kitchen, in her own gossipy, chattery world.

The Doctor just gave Rose a wide-eyed look. Rose returned it.

Rose started to sit down on the couch.

"Tut, tut!", said the Doctor. "Your Auntie Faye will want that sofa fresh. I don't suppose anyone will be allowed to sit there again.".

They both just stared at eachother seriously for a few moments. Then they busted out laughing.

After a few moments of silence after the laughter settled, Rose took the envelope out of her jacket pocket. The Doctor remained silent as Rose scanned over a piece of paper that she found inside.

Rose looked over the paper for only about a minute before she got back up and started for the door.

"Where are you going?", asked the Doctor, but making no move to follow her.

"Abbey Road,", Rose answered before slamming the door behind herself.

Rose trotted quickly down the stairs and out and across the concrete lot in back, and out and around to the street. She put her fingers in her mouth and gave a shrill whistle (a trick the Doctor had taught her), and she had a cab stopped in front of her in less than ten seconds.

"Where to, miss?", said a Cockney accent coming from the front seat as she slid into the back.

"Abbey Road Studios, please,", she said, slamming the door.

They were riding for a few minutes before the driver asked, "Fancy the Beatles, miss?".

"Yes, they're not bad,", said Rose, smiling to herself.

"No, not bad at all,", the driver replied.

In a few more minutes, she was there. Rose lept out of the cab as fast as she could.

"Oi! Miss!", cried the driver as Rose started to race down the sidewalk without thinking.

"Oh, sorry,", she said, turning back, emptying her purse into the driver's outstretched hand.

The driver, looking wide-eyed at the pile of change in his hand, started to count up the amount, but Rose had no patience.

"Keep the change, mate,", she said, shoving her empty coin purse back into her pocket and sprinting down the street.

The cab driver shrugged, and drove off.

Rose ran as fast as she could across traffic (rather perilously; it had become a very busy street since the 60s), and pushing through the doors, walked straight up to the front desk.

"Have an appointment, ma'am?", asked a rather chubby man with glasses, sitting and doing paperwork.

"No, but I need to see something. I hear you have archives here.".

"Yeah. But they're pretty limited. And you've got to be authorized to see them,", he said, looking Rose up and down rather cynically.

"I'm authorized, believe me,", Rose assured him.

The man gave her another look over, and sort of pursed his lips as if in doubt. He then turned his chair to a telephone on his desk, and pushed a button.

"Yeah?", said a voice from the other end of the line after a few moments.

"Lady 'ere wants to see the archives.".

"Is she authorized?".

"Says she is.".

There was a pause.

"Send her back.".

"All right, Harry. Thanks.".

"Yeah.".

*Click*.

"All right, ma'am, take a left here at the end of this hall, then a right, then another right. Harry will be there waiting for you,", said the man, returning to his paperwork.

"Thank you,", said Rose. She started sprinting down the hallway.

"AND DON'T - run,", said the man, giving up as Rose disappeared into the distance and around the bend.

Rose arrived at a door, and a man called Harry was there to receive her.

"Are you authorized?".

"Yes,", said Rose, eager to cut the red tape and get on with it.

"By whom, may I ask?", asked Harry, scratching his head, topped with gray hair.

"Paul McCartney.".

Harry just looked at her blankly.

"Are you sure about this, miss? I don't take kindly to jokes.".

"It's not a joke, sir. He gave me this letter,", she said, handing over the paper.

Harry lazily pushed his reading glasses onto his face, and studied the paper. After a few moments, he gave her the paper back.

"This way,", he said, ushering her through a door that he opened with an electronic keycard.

Rose was led through a few rows of fireproof filing cabinets. Finally, they came to one, and Harry started looking through the keys on his keyring for the right one. Rose bounced from foot to foot impatiently. He finally found the right key, and to Rose it seemed like he put it into the slot and turned it practically in slow-motion. Once the cabinet was open, Harry started shuffling through all the papers rather slowly. Rose thought she might explode from impatience.

Harry finally paused at a certain file. He pulled it out equally as slowly as he had done everything else, and handed it to Rose. Rose snatched it. Harry gave her a queer look that Rose didn't even notice.

What was inside the file shocked Rose.

There were several rumpled, yellowed papers, with lyrics scribbled all over them, several struck out, others circled, staffs sketched out here and there with handwritten notes plodded along them. Rose felt tears welling in her eyes. The papers were attempts at a song about her.

Rose shuffled through the papers, and in the back, there was one smooth, neat paper that had at the top written in Paul's same scrawled writing; "Rose". Rose felt tears roll down her cheeks. She couldn't read the lyrics past the third line; her tears prevented her from reading by then even if she would have wanted to. She shuffled past those papers, and the last sheet was a hand-written track listing of "Beatles for Sale", except it was different to the version that Rose had heard. Her song was placed there at number 4 on Side 1.

"Are you all right, ma'am?", asked Harry, who Rose realized was still standing in front of her.

"Oh,", said Rose, remembering herself. She carefully slid the papers back inside the folder with one hand and wiped her face with the other sleeve. "Yes, I'm quite fine. I don't suppose you would really let me have these?", Rose asked, now doubting seriously that she would be allowed to remove the file.

Harry gently took the file from her. He looked at a stamp and some writing on the side of the folder.

"I don't suppose you're Miss Rose Tyler?".

"Yes! Yes I am!", said Rose, now hopeful.

"Yes, it says here Sir Paul has authorized you and you alone to have these. Could I see some ID, miss?", he asked.

"Oh, of course,", said Rose, flashing her driver's license.

Harry looked over her license for a moment, considering it.

"Well, I suppose these are yours, then, Miss Tyler.".

"Thank you!", said Rose, starting out of the room. "Thank you very much.".

Rose was out of the filing room, and Harry was locking the door behind her when he called after her.

"Miss?".

"Yes?", said Rose, turning.

"You take good care of those. They ought to be in a museum. That is one of the few unrecorded songs by the Beatles.".

"Yes, sir,", said Rose, nodding respectfully.

With that, she turned and started walking. She walked all the way out of the building, rather slowly, deep in thought. She was clutching the file when she walked out the front door of the building.

The traffic had settled quite a bit since she had gone inside. There was virtually no traffic at that moment, a few cars parked alongside the road. Rose walked straight out into the street, crossing a painted crosswalk, swinging her arms at her sides, the file clutched in her right hand.