John Smith walked into the invisible spaceship. The Family snapped their heads around to stare at him.

"Just…" he stopped, falling into the wall of switches to his right. "Just stop the bombardment. That's all I'm asking. I'll do anything you want—just stop."

"Say 'please.'" Baines smirked.

"Please." Jenny pulled down a cover on the main console, and the machine noises quieted.

"Wait a minute." Jenny sniffed the air. "Still human."

"Now I can't—I can't pretend to understand, not for a second, but I want you to know I'm innocent in all this." John insisted. "He made me John Smith. It's not like—like I had any control over this!" His right arm accidentally slid down another line of panels.

"He didn't just make himself human," Jenny said. "He made himself an idiot.

"Same thing, isn't it?" Baines asked.

"I don't care about this Doctor or your family. I just want you to go! So I've made my choice—"He held out the watch to them. "You can have him. Just take it, please. Take him away!"

"At last." Baines sighed, plucking the watch from his palm. He grabbed the front of John's shirt, and threw him against the wall. "Don't think that saved your life." As John fell, he tried to grab onto something, but pushed down more of those panel-switches. "Family of mine…" Baines said. "Now we shall have the lives of a Time Lord." He pushed the button on the top, and the watch popped open. On the inside, there was a normal clock face, but not much else. They all inhaled at once. "It's empty!" Baines shouted, turning on John.

"W—where's he gone?" John asked his voice breaking.

"You tell me." Baines tossed him the watch, and John adeptly caught it.

"Oh, I think the explanation might be you've been fooled by a simple olfactory misdirection. A little bit like ventriloquism of the nose. It's an elementary trick in certain parts of the galaxy. But it has got to be said, I don't like the look of that Hydrokinometer." The Doctor said, whipping his glasses out of his pocket and sliding them up his nose. "It seems to be indicating you've got energy feedback all the way through the retro-stabilizers feeding back into the primary heat converters. Oh! 'Cause if there's one thing you shouldn't have done—you shouldn't have let me press all those buttons. But, in fairness, I will give you one word of advice: run." He grinned and ran out the door.

The Doctor walked inside of his beloved TARDIS and shut the door. The Family was taken care of. They had wanted to live forever, and he made sure of it. Unbreakable chains forged in the heart of a dwarf star, the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy, every mirror, and a lowly field guardian, so like the ones he had been fond of creating.

He hadn't seen Rose since she had walked away from John Smith. She had said she was leaving, but Rose wouldn't leave without a goodbye. Would she?

Yes, she would. The TARDIS told him. He jumped. It had been so long since he had spoken with the TARDIS and he had forgotten about her almost.

What do you mean, she would? He sent back.

I spoke with her. While you were still human. I had to tell her that the watch was missing. I couldn't go inside her head without feeling all of her emotions, and she was tortured. She'll be out soon enough.

What do you want me to do? It's her choice, in the end.

Go to her. Tell her how you feel.

What do you mean? I'm sure she knows.

She doesn't. When she told you how she feels you pushed her away! What was she supposed to think?

But…but I didn't mean—I wasn't…

Go to her. Before it's too late.

Rose zipped up her suitcase and grabbed her overnight bag full of all her things just as the door opened. She looked up to see the Doctor standing at her door, pinstripes and think-rimmed glasses back in place.

"Going somewhere?" he asked, looking at her suitcase. She rolled her eyes.

"Thought you remembered everything from when you were John?" she mocked. "I told him, I'm leaving. I'm giving up. I'm tired of all of this, Doctor. I've been with you for three years now, and you haven't looked at me twice. You're with Nurse Redfern for two months, and you're in love with her!" Her tone made him flinch. He recovered quickly, and closed the distance between them.

"I was human, Rose. That wasn't me that was John Smith." He took one her suitcase out of her hand and set it down.

"You think he was any better than you?" she threw back. "He hated me. He almost threw me out on my own!" Now she was starting to cry again. "If Joan hadn't been there, I would have been stranded in 1913 in the middle of a war with no way of getting back home!" The Doctor took both of her hands in his.

"I know. And I'm sorry, Rose. I would never throw you out." She wrenched her hands away.

"No, but you've sure been pushing me away lately. Remember?" He winced, and back away a little.

"Rose, that's not…I didn't mean to…"

"Really, Doctor? Because it sure seemed like you meant it." She made for the door but the Doctor stepped in her way again.

"Please, Rose, just hear me out."

"Look, if I'm never going to be able to love anyone else because no one could ever compare to you, I would prefer to deal with that somewhere that I don't have to have the fact that you will never feel the same way shoved in my face every single time I look at you!" The tears slowly began to fall, and the Doctor realized just how much damage he had done to this marvelous little human standing in front of him. "You rejected me!" she screamed, slamming her fists against his chest. "You treated me like nothing! Is that it? Am I just not good enough for you?"

"No!" He caught both of her hands in his and held them tightly. "Don't ever think that, Rose. You are…amazing." She stopped trying to escape his grasp and looked into his eyes.

"What?" He led her to her bed, and sat her down, still keeping one hand in both of his.

"Rose, you have done more for me than you could ever imagine. You've shown me how to see all of the beautiful things in the universe again. After the Time War, I wasn't alone just because everyone else was dead. I was alone because I wanted to be. I was afraid of letting anyone get close to me, because I was so afraid that I would damage them in some way. I hid behind that leather jacket, and a sense of superiority of other species." Rose chuckled at his reminder of her first Doctor and his comments about "stupid apes." He put a finger under her chin and turned her face towards his.

"And then, out of nowhere, in the basement of a shop, there you were: all pink and yellow, and simply amazing. You taught me how to live again, reminded me of how much joy there could be in the tiniest things, and helped me see the universe through your eyes. You are not just good enough, you are too good." He pushed a stray piece of hair away from her eyes.

"But I thought…" Rose stuttered. "I thought you didn't want me with you after…after I threw myself at you. I thought you were going to send me home because of how I felt, so…I figured that telling you that I wanted to leave would be the more dignified option."

Suddenly all of the air was drawn from her chest as he crushed her to him and held her in his embrace. He murmured sweet nothings into her ear, and gently stroked her hair. She pulled back after a while, and placed her hand gently against the side of his face. He pulled back a bit. The hurt look on her face was almost enough to shatter his hearts. He just smiled at her and leaned forward until their faces were millimeters apart. She could feel his breath ghosting over her lips.

"Rose," he whispered her name a prayer. "Rose, Rose, Rose, my precious Rose." She lifted her eyes and locked them onto his. "I love you." He whispered, and then brushed his lips against hers. Rose relaxed against him, bringing her arms up to twine them around his neck.

When the Doctor remembered that air was a necessity for humans, he pulled back and looked at this beautiful human that he had become so close to over the past three years. He brushed away a tear tracing a path on her face.

"Why are you crying?" he asked.

"I never thought I'd hear you say that." She smiled up at him and gave a watery laugh.

"I didn't think I'd ever be able to." He confessed, smiling with her.

"I know that I'll probably never be able to give you forever, but I promise to stay with you as long as I can, Doctor. I love you, and as long as you'll have me, I'm staying." He grinned and captured her mouth once again. This time, when he pulled away, they were breathless, flushed, and grinning like idiots.

They really were perfect for each other.