Crack! The sound of flesh against flesh rang through the Powell Estate, closely followed by an outraged cry of pain.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" the Doctor cried, cradling his newly reddened cheek with his hand. Innocent, go for the innocent, he thought. After sneaking a peak at Jackie's rather murderous expression, however, he quickly and wisely decided to change tracts. After all, he knew very well what he had done to earn that most feared punishment: a Tyler slap. "Right, skip that last, but honestly, Jackie, it wasn't what it looked like, well, it was, but still…" He continued to babble, now backing away from the slowly advancing human. He shot a desperate look at Rose, begging her to help. After all, this was as much her fault as it was his. He was slightly irked, but not surprised, that his loyal companion was trying but failing to not dissolve into peals of laughter. He sighed, supposing that it must look ridiculous for him, the last Time Lord, the Oncoming Storm for Pete's sake, to be almost quaking in front of a blonde Londoner.

Rose finally relented, saying, "Mum, really, leave him alone! It was only a bit of a snog, 't's not like I'm pregnant or anything!" Oh, that was probably a stupid thing to say. The thought echoed through both Time Lord and human minds. Yeah, definitely not a good thing.

Jackie turned slowly on her heel to face her daughter. She didn't screech, which made it all the worse. "You've been doing THAT too?"

The Doctor took full advantage of the momentary shock and, reaching around Jackie, grabbed Rose's hand and whispered, "Run!"

The twosome flew out of the apartment, down the stairs and didn't stop running for a number of blocks. Both were beginning to pant a bit, but grinned manically at each other.

The Doctor, recovering first, pointed at Rose, saying with mock indignation, "Oi! You, what'd you mean 'just a bit of a snog'? I'd've thought that rated more than that!"

"Not to swell your already stuffed head, but I'll admit, that was downright fantastic. I just had to say that to get Mum calmed down." She grimaced, adding, "Alright, so that didn't really work according to plan. Still wasn't how I wanted her to find out 'bout us, though."

The Doctor, smirking at her admission of his skills in a certain department, felt a curious swelling feeling somewhere in the general vicinity of his hearts at her casual use of the word 'us'. Their relationship was such a new development and still made him dizzy at the thought that he could actually act on all those impulses he had been stifling for so long.

He grabbed her hand, pulling her to him, saying "Fancy another go?"

She smiled up at him, wrapping her arms around him for a brief, but sincere hug, then stepped away. "Not in the middle of the street, but how 'bout an encore later?" She reclaimed his hand, laughing at his pout.

The couple wandered hand in hand, not caring where they went, being completely content just to be together. They strolled through a park, admiring the peaceful scenery of a world at rest. It was a welcome change from their customary routine of running for their lives. Of course, things couldn't stay that way for more than a few hours when the Doctor was around.

"…So there we were, just hanging by the very end of my fourth self's scarf, always was attached to that scarf, knew it would come in handy. Just goes to show how brilliant and well prepared I am! Always ready for anything, me." He looked offended as Rose snorted at this last. "I'll have you know, Miss Tyler, that …" After a minute, realizing that the Doctor wasn't finishing that thought, Rose looked up only to see her lover gazing sharply at something in the distance. She craned her neck around and squinted in the same direction. There was nothing of interest that she could see, or at least nothing overtly out of the ordinary. People were strolling down the pathway, a girl was sitting on a bench reading, here and there children ran about, all normal human activities.

"What is it, Doctor?" she asked gently. Getting no response, she poked him, asking, "Doctor?"

"Hmm?" He slowly focused back on his companion, but retained that quizzical air of deep thinking that usually preceded either a brilliant escape plan or more running for their lives.

"What dangerous alien force is gonna try an take over the earth now?" Rose asked, resigned to the loss of her idyllic day.

"What are you on about? Oh, sorry, no, no aliens today, well, none besides me. No, tell me what you see about that girl," the Doctor said, nodding toward the girl on the bench they had slowly been approaching.

Rose dutifully looked at the source of his interest, expecting to be able to pinpoint something off about her. She slowly examined her, taking in every minute detail like she had been taught and relating her findings to the Doctor. Twenty-ish, apparently human, with a pale complexion topped by a long, loose mass of that peculiar shade of red-brown hair known as 'cinnamon'. Even sitting down, she could tell that the girl would be tall and lanky. Only her profile was visible at the angle they were viewing her from, but Rose could see wrinkles of intense concentration as the mystery girl focused on the open tome in her lap. She wore clothes that had the appearance of being chosen for comfort over fashion, beat-up jeans and a plain blue t-shirt along with white trainers. All in all, nothing out of the ordinary.

"She just looks like a student or summat." She was ready for his impatient eye-roll with a quickly threatened slap and was amused to see him actually wince. "Ok, Mr. I-know-everything-I'm-a Time-Lord-ain't-it-grand, what'm I missing?"

"Rose, you know everything that travels through time has a bit of an energy signature, right? You have it, I have it, hell, even Mickey the Idiot has it. So, Time Lords can sense when someone or something has been through the Vortex."

"So, this girl is a time traveler, too? What's so special 'bout that, then? Maybe she's a Time Agent, or a future companion of yours or summat." The Doctor looked at her, stunned with the casual mention of another companion, more importantly, a companion that wasn't her.

"Rose! Don't even mention that! YOU'RE my companion. I'm not just, mphh!" Rose stifled his objections with a kiss. Once she was sure she had his full attention, she leaned back and looked him straight in the eye.

"Doctor, I love traveling and I love being with you and I love YOU. But we both know anything could happen, so promise me, right now, that if I'm ever gone, you will find someone to travel with. I couldn't stand being the reason you were alone again. So, promise me, my Doctor, that you won't stay alone." She held his gaze, trying to convince him of her seriousness. The Doctor, for his part, found himself again marveling at the wonderful, caring, selfless, perfect being in front of him. That she could contemplate her own demise, as he would make damn sure nothing short of death would take her from him (and he was secretly working on removing even that obstacle), and only worry about his well-being made his entire soul swell with pride, love and wonder. He pulled her closer and tucked her head under his chin.

"Oh, Rose, I don't deserve you," he whispered into her hair, still overcome with emotion. "I love you, so very much. I know I don't say it often, but I feel it, every second of every day. I honestly don't know what I'd do without you." He felt her shift and rubbed his hand down her hair, wanting to avoid having to answer her demand, but knowing it wasn't fair. "My Rose, I do promise to follow your request, but only if you do the same. This life of ours isn't safe, and as you pointed out, anything could happen, so you, Rose Tyler, you need to promise me that if something should happen to me, you will go on and live a fantastic life." He sensed more than saw her smile at his intentional use of that phrase. She nodded against his chest and he held her tight, not wanting the moment to end.

Soon, however, his ever irrepressible manic side made its appearance and he stepped out of their embrace. "Right, back to the problem at hand," he chirped. Rose only laughed at the many facets of the man, er, being, she loved. "Now, where were we, ah, yes. So I can sense that the studious young lady over there has been through the Vortex, but there's also something else there. Some sort of temporal disruption. I wonder…" The Doctor got a contemplative look on his face as he pulled out his glasses. The serious expression combined with the specs and the hand running idly through his hair very nearly made Rose forget her early qualms about snogging in public. He stalked silently closer to the object of his quandary, whom Rose was surprised to see was still on the bench deep in thought. She had to slap a hand over her mouth to restrain the gales of laughter the sight of her lover peering down at the oblivious girl.

The Doctor was now right in front of this enigma. Good word, that, describes practically anything unknown, oh, right, focus. He could feel the energy of normal time travel, but there was a darker power that pulsed through it, pulling at his senses like a black hole. Ah, so that's it! He bent down till he was nose to nose with the girl who was now aware of his presence.

He looked straight at her as he said with deadly seriousness, "You don't belong here."