Epilogue

Rose pulled the TARDIS doors open with enthusiasm, eager to see the surprise destination the Doctor had promised. They were atop a hill covered with brilliant green grass that was just long enough to sway in the slight breeze. The sky above was pale blue dotted with a few fluffy white clouds. A city filled with modern (or maybe future) skyscrapers was about a mile away. Tiny dots that Rose assumed were flying vehicles of some sort flitted between the buildings.

Rose stepped out onto the grass and took in a deep breath. The smell was familiar, like green apples. She bent down to pick a few blades of grass and held them to her nose. Yes, it was apple grass! And in the distance, she could make out a large green crescent on the side of the nearest building.

"This is New Earth!" She turned around to see the Doctor framed in the doorway of a familiar blue police box and carrying a large wicker hamper.

"More specifically, New New York."

"Don't you mean–" Rose took a deep breath and began counting on her fingers "–New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York?"

"You missed one!" The Doctor grinned as he swept past her and set the picnic hamper on the grass.

Rose stuck her tongue out at him. "You should talk, new new new Doctor."

He pulled a blue plaid blanket from within the hamper, shook it with a flourish, and let it float to the ground. "Sorry, no coat this time. I still miss that coat. Do you remember the first time we came here?"

"Of course. How could I forget cat nuns or being possessed by Cassandra?" Rose paused for a moment. "Are we here to stop the cat nuns again? Did you get another cryptic message on the psychic paper?"

"No, no messages, and as far as I know, no homicidal felines." The Doctor sat down on the blanket and patted the soft flannel for Rose to join him. His expression turned serious. "Rose, I have to tell you something. About Jack."

Rose gave him a questioning look but remained silent as she sat beside him.

"Even if there were cat nuns running human experiments here–and I don't think there are–I still wouldn't have received a message because I'm fairly certain there's no Face of Boe in this universe."

Rose didn't see how they were connected. "But what does that have to do with Jack?"

"Rose, you know that Jack, our original Jack, can't die."

She nodded. "I know, but I don't understand how. Was he always that way?"

"No." He swallowed uncomfortably and wondered for the 172nd time why he'd never told her this years ago, before he lost her. "Bad Wolf."

"What?"

His eyes searched her face, and he continued softly, "All the power of the Time Vortex at your fingertips, and you wanted only two things: to protect me and to save Jack."

"I still don't get it. How did Jack become immortal?"

The Doctor took one of Rose's hands in his. "I know you don't remember everything that happened when you were Bad Wolf, but Jack was dead, killed by a Dalek. You brought him back to life, and when you did, you made it so he could never die."

"I…" Rose pulled her hand away. "That's why you left him behind on the Game Station, yeah? Because you think he's...wrong."

"I don't think, I…" he trailed off and tugged at the collar of his crisp white Oxford shirt. "There were a lot of things going on at the time, and...I shouldn't have left Jack behind. But that's not my point. Jack can't die, not permanently at least, but he does age, albeit slowly. By the year five billion, and quite likely eons before then, he had become the Face of Boe."

Rose thought back to the large, wrinkled alien head in the glass tank she had seen on her very first outing with the Doctor. She couldn't believe that was what her friend would one day become, nor that she was the one who had made him that way. "And this Jack, he's still mortal."

The Doctor nodded. "And I hope he stays that way, because neither of us would survive a return of Bad Wolf."

"Is this your way of telling me to be careful? Because you're the one who was convinced you were gonna die a few weeks ago," Rose said hotly before laying back with a sigh to watch the clouds travel across the pale blue sky. She felt the Doctor's shoulder brush her own as he joined her. "I still love it, you know, travelling with you." She rolled onto her side to look at him. The Doctor's blue suit jacket was unbuttoned and he'd tucked his hands behind his head.

"How long are you gonna stay with me?" The Doctor asked the familiar question with a knowing smile.

Rose answered on cue. "Forever." She ducked her head to kiss him before pulling back with her familiar tongue-touched smile. "Bit different than the last time we were here."

The Doctor wrapped an arm around her waist and hummed in agreement. "Better." He pulled her down to him again for a longer follow-up kiss.

"So what's in here?" Rose leaned precariously across the Doctor's chest to peek inside the large hamper beside his head. There was enough food within to feed them for the better part of a week. "Is this bigger on the inside, too?"

The Doctor pulled her upright before she fell over and started unpacking the hamper. It was hardly the sandwiches and crisps Rose was expecting. There was fresh bread and multiple kinds of cheese, a platter of perfectly white sliced apples accompanied by a small bunch of bright yellow bananas, a tray of seafood, and little cakes with the Doctor's beloved edible ball bearings. White china plates with dark blue trim, silverware, and two glasses were followed by a bottle of champagne. It was the most beautiful and posh picnic Rose had ever seen.

"What's all this for?"

"Would you like to do the honours?" he asked as he handed her the champagne bottle. It didn't escape her notice that he was deflecting. She went along for the moment and carefully popped the cork. The Doctor held the glasses as she poured before exchanging her a glass for the bottle that went safely back in the hamper.

"To Rose Tyler, defender of the earth."

Rose blushed. "You've saved it more times than I ever have."

"Not in this universe. I've read the Torchwood files. You're credited with stopping over a dozen incidents. Quite impressive for a former shopgirl," he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Better with two, though. We're a team, you and me," she replied emphatically. Despite the adventures she'd had with Torchwood, all she'd really wanted was to see him again, and nothing had felt right without him.

The Doctor lowered his glass and looked almost nervous, which was very unlike him. "Rose, how would you like to make that official?"

"I thought we were. Smith and Tyler, Torchwood's premiere alien experts," she announced dramatically. She'd expected him to laugh at her silliness, but instead he looked sombre.

"Doctor?"

"I'm rubbish at this," he sighed as he rubbed a hand against the back of his head. "A year ago on that beach, I told you I could spend the rest of my life with you, if that's what you wanted."

Rose was starting to get worried by his unusual behaviour, and she placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We are, and it's fantastic."

"But I thought you might want to make it official, by human standards. A legal and societal commitment."

Rose wasn't quite sure what he was getting at, or at least she wasn't until he reached a hand down inside his bigger-on-the-inside jacket pocket and pulled out a small velvet box the same shade of blue as the TARDIS. Rose gasped when he opened the box to reveal a silver-tone ring in a swirling design set with a solitary stone that appeared to constantly change colour like the fibre optic Christmas tree Mickey had given her three years ago.

"Rose Tyler, will you marry me?" Rose was stunned into silence, and the Doctor kept talking to fill the void. "I mean, we are technically married on six–no, make that seven–planets already, but those were mostly unintentional, and none of those planets are ones we really plan to go back to, so it's not exactly a binding union. And of course, if you don't want to, that's perfectly all right, though I'd prefer you explain it to Jackie the next time she starts dropping very obvious hints so she doesn't slap me a–"

"Yes!" Rose shouted, finally finding her voice and flinging her arms around him in a tight hug.

"Yes?" His voice was muffled by a mass of blonde hair.

Rose laughed. "Yes." She pulled back to see the Doctor's grin was as wide as her own. He plucked the ring from the box and grabbed Rose's left hand, sliding the ring onto her finger. Rose stared at the stone as it changed colour from canary yellow to deep purple and settled on emerald green. "It's gorgeous. What is it?"

"Chameleon quartz. Electrical impulses cause the colour change." He placed a finger atop the stone and it changed once more to a sapphire blue similar to his suit.

"Are you sure, Doctor?" Rose asked uncertainly. "I mean, this is as domestic as it gets."

"It's the adventure I could never have before." He brushed Rose's hair away from her face and kissed her slowly. "Besides," he continued brightly, "it's hardly a mortgage and carpets and the like. We'll still live in the TARDIS and travel the universe." A look of sudden concern crossed his face. "Won't we?"

For a brief second, she thought about teasing him but instead answered earnestly. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"And that's why you, Rose Tyler, are absolutely brilliant." He put an arm around her waist to draw her against his side, and she laid her head on his shoulder.

"Might be Rose Smith now," she murmured.

"Nah, you'll always be Rose Tyler to me." A memory rushed to the forefront of the Doctor's mind—his arrival at U.N.I.T.'s Cardiff facility in 2052 several months ago in his own personal timeline. The computer hadn't identified him by his current alias of John Smith, and while he'd had his suspicions at the time, now he knew why.

"Anyway, I rather like the sound of Doctor John Tyler."

Nearly another month passed before Rose was back in her office at Torchwood Tower again, this time to clean it out. She'd finally told Pete she wanted to step down in favour of becoming a consultant like the Doctor. He'd taken her resignation without argument, instead surprising her by enveloping her in a tight hug and telling her he just wanted her to be happy.

Rose cleared through the remaining open reports quickly before packing up her office's few personal effects. She picked up her desk's solitary photo frame. The tri-fold frame held three photos: her family posed on the sofa at Tony's first birthday, a slightly grainy image of Jack Harkness with his arm slung around her first Doctor's broad shoulders taken from Rose's mobile, and lastly, a more recent photo of Rose and the Doctor that Jackie had insisted upon taking before one of their first actual dates. Rose folded up the frame and placed it, along with a rather large expense reimbursement cheque meant for the Doctor she'd found on her desk, into her bag. The last remaining item was another newspaper clipping that had been at the bottom of her in-box. She still had no idea who was leaving the clippings for her.

This time the photo was in full colour, and Rose recognised the picture. Jackie, along with the Vitex PR department, insisted on some official engagement photos for the media. This one had been taken in the gardens of the Tyler estate, and Rose had to admit it was a particularly good photo of her and the Doctor. She'd worn a burgundy blouse that matched the pinstripes on the Doctor's blue suit, and her hair hung loose around her shoulders. They were holding hands and looking at each other rather than the camera.

The headline proclaimed "Vitex Heiress to Wed Astrophysicist," although despite Jackie's best efforts, they had yet to set an actual wedding date. The article itself was fairly short, recapping the fairy tale spread by the Vitex PR department when Rose first arrived in this universe about the long-lost daughter given up for adoption. It was followed by what little public knowledge existed about the Doctor, which consisted of his alias, age, and the two PhDs procured by Torchwood.

Amused, Rose folded up the clipping and put it with the cheque to show the Doctor later. Just as she'd finished with the last item in her neglected in-box, the distinct wheezing sound of the TARDIS filled the small office. A tall wooden bookcase faded into view in the corner of the room, and the entire front panel swung open to reveal the Doctor.

Rose practically leaped over the desk to reach the TARDIS. "Did something happen?"

He gave her a sheepish look. "I didn't want to wait for you."

"You have a time machine. You never wait," Rose pointed out.

"And that's exactly why I had to come get you," he declared.

Rose raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Mum roped you into wedding stuff again, didn't she."

The Doctor's smile turned to near panic. "Why do humans have to make everything so complicated? So many parties and customs and trivial decisions. We could do a simple Gallifreyan ceremony right here, right now, just you, me, and this!" He yanked on his dark blue tie that perfectly matched his suit.

"Your tie?"

"Well, it's not normally a tie, but it would get the job done."

Rose wrapped her arm around his. "You know we don't have to do anything big or complicated. Mum's just...enthusiastic."

"She's a tyrant. I've met actual despots who would cower in fear of Jackie Tyler."

A mischievous glint lit up Rose's eyes. "Just don't ever let her find out we're already married. That'll earn you a right slap. How many times was that again?"

"Seven, though at least two were annulled by regeneration," the Doctor said thoughtfully. "But I went nine hundred years without being slapped by somebody's mother, and I would be perfectly happy to go another nine hundred without that happening again."

Rose picked the newspaper clipping up from her desk and held it out to the Doctor. "Have you seen this?"

The Doctor quickly pulled out his black-framed glasses before taking the paper, even though Rose was still fairly certain he didn't actually need them to read. "Oh, that is a rather nice picture of us." He looked up with a grin before going back to the article. "Hang on, astrophysicist?"

Rose plucked the clipping out of his hand and tucked it into her bag. "They couldn't rightly put time-travelling alien, now could they?"

"It would certainly make for a more interesting headline."

"Maybe the tabloids will come up with that one. 'Vitex heiress marries nine hundred year old alien. Exclusive photos of the outer space wedding!'" Rose grabbed the lapels of his suit and pulled him closer.

"Now that's just ridiculous. We should at least pick some place with an atmosphere. I suppose Earth is the obvious choice, but there are numerous beautiful planets suitable for humans. Maybe Felsp–" His diatribe was interrupted by Rose's lips on his own, and he happily abandoned it in favour of snogging her.

Some time later when they came up for air, the Doctor tried to remember what they'd been discussing. He noticed he'd somehow ended up sitting on Rose's now-empty desk. "Are you all packed?" he asked, glancing around the nearly bare office.

Rose nodded, hoisting the bag that contained the photo frame and a few other items she intended to keep over her shoulder.

"Well then, Rose Tyler," he said, holding out a hand which she immediately took, lacing their fingers together and letting herself be pulled into the TARDIS. "Allons-y!"