It took them twenty minutes to find phone service after the TARDIS flashed and faded into nothingness, the whrrrr whrrrr of her engines a final farewell. While Jackie gave their coordinates to Pete's zeppelin pilot using her cell, Rose leaned against the Doctor's shoulder and watched him examine the fist-sized lump that would eventually grow into a new TARDIS. "Weird feeling homesick for that bit of rock," she said, prompting him into conversation.

"Well," the Doctor reached into his jacket pocket for his reading glasses, placed them on his nose, and squinted at the knotted root-shaped bit. "Looks like a piece from the control panel." He twisted the coral as he held it out into the sunlight. "Should be ready in, say, two thousand years? Two-twenty?" He brought the coral back to eye level and took a sniff. "No, no, sooner than that. I'd say… eighteen hundred." He gave it a lick. "Bleh…" he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, wrinkling his nose as he did so. "Eighteen hundred twenty-three."

Rose laughed. She felt a twinge of regret knowing she was past the days of travelling the stars, but the Doctor's actions were so very him that she was filled with relief rather than sadness. Anything could be an adventure so long as they were together. And now they might not have to run so much.

"What do we do for the next two thousand years, then, Doctor?" Rose asked, linking her arm with his and looking up at him. There was no hesitation in her use of his name.

"We wait." The Doctor handed her the coral and reached into his blue suit jacket's interior pocket to pull out his sonic screwdriver. "Always carry a spare," he clicked his tongue at her as he winked. "Aaand…" he lengthened the word as he worked over the coral, "We speed up the growth by a factor of 59, as Miss Noble was so polite to suggest. Thirty years or so and we're back in business." He waved the screwdriver, blue tip glowing, over the piece she held in a complex, interlocking circular pattern before looking up at Rose.

Her heart leapt, and she grinned. "Thirty years, that's not so bad."

"No it's not, is it!" the Doctors voice went a bit squeaky in his excitement.

"What do I do with this, then?" Rose asked, holding up the TARDIS coral and looking into his so-very-brown eyes.

"You plant it. TARDIS has to be grown. We used to have fields, you know, back home."

"You planted the TARDIS." It was a statement of disbelief, not a question.

"Underwater, more often than not. Only way to go, unless you know a carpenter that specializes in dimensional transcendentalism?" He raised an eyebrow.

Rose laughed again. "Mum's probably got one on speed dial, all the clothes she keeps in her closet now and everything." They both looked over at Jackie, who was talking animatedly on the phone. Abruptly, she brought the phone down from her ear and smacked it a several times with her free hand.

"Bad service, I think." The Doctor commented. "Must be this rock outcropping, lots of iron deposits maybe, odd shape," he jogged over to the wall of rock and stopped short as he scanned the face. "Oh, hello!" His face broke into a smile as he stuck his hand through the cliff.

Through the cliff.

"Would you look at that!" He grinned wider now, looking up and reached again for his sonic screwdriver. After a few short vertical swings, the cliff turned to static. A handful of seconds later, it flashed back to its original shape, then disappeared completely. "Semi-permeable force field, looks like, with the tiniest perception filter on it. No wonder the phone's not working."

Rose wrapped her arms around herself. It was chilly in Norway, even in July. She stepped closer to the Doctor, as much out of the comfort of his presence as her desire for a bit of extra body heat. "Who did this?" she asked in a whisper. She was looking at the sky when everything went black.

"Rose. Rose!" The Doctor's tone was immediately serious. She reached out blindly, and grabbed at his hand, clasping their fingers together tightly as they assessed the situation.

"'S ok, I'm alright." She craned her neck, twisting around to pick up any sound, but all she could hear was the continuing crash of waves and her mother yelling into the phone. A brief flicker, then a steady glow from the sonic screwdriver illuminated the Doctor's face. He beamed down at her; instead of looking worried, he was bouncing with glee.

"We're inside a cliff! Well, not a real cliff. We're right in the middle of the projected image. The light reflects off it, so none of it can get inside. What do you think, perfect place to plant a TARDIS?" He released her hand and started scuffing at the damp sand with the toe of his trainer.

"Seriously, though, who did this?" Rose asked again, looking around in the faint blue light.

"I think I did. Other me, I mean, before taking off." He stilled and sighed before putting his in his pockets. The silence lengthened.

"Rose," he said hesitantly, gazing down at the texture of the sand. He didn't make eye contact; not because he was uncomfortable, but because he didn't want Rose to feel so. "If you're upset, or uncomfortable, or dissatisfied with me, I understand. Please, don't feel like you've been cornered into any commitment just because we were both…" He glanced up and trailed off at the expression on Rose's face.

She was staring at him like he'd just dribbled on his shirt.

After the TARDIS's departure, Rose had wanted to believe that this man was an inferior copy of the one she loved. Not the Doctor. Not her Doctor. Sure, there were subtle differences between this human version and the other one who had left her, twice, on this same beach. But after hearing those three long-awaited whispered words, Rose had pushed away those doubtful notions. Now, hearing him as protective of her as ever, even at the cost of his own happiness, she banished the thought completely. He wasn't just like the Doctor. He wasthe Doctor. His single heart didn't diminish his obvious affection for her, the thrill of their reunion, or the awe at the fact that they could truly have a life together. And this one had actually said the words.

These thoughts chased each other around in her head, but what came out of her mouth was, "Do Time Lords think with their hearts or something?"

The Doctor looked taken aback. "What?"

"Well, you've lost a heart and now you've gone all stupid!" Rose gestured at him, a frustrated movement. She looked almost angry. He looked almost scared.

He looked even more confused. "What?" He asked again.

"Were we even on the same beach?" Rose asked quietly.

"What?"

"Seriously, it was half an hour ago. You said you love me."

"Oh, Rose," he breathed softly. His face was a flow of colliding emotions. Love, loss, hope, fear and an honesty so genuine it looked as if it caused him physical pain. All of these expressions blended rapidly into each other as he looked into her eyes. "I do. Rose," He reached up to tuck her hair behind her left ear in a tender, intimate gesture. "You know I do. Always did, actually."

She broke then. Wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into the hollow of his shoulder. He felt tears on his neck and pulled her tighter into his arms, breathing in her scent and nuzzling her hair as he did so.

"I waited! I worked years and years to find you. Find him? You both?" She shook her head as if to clear it, then pulled back and looked into his eyes again. "You know what I mean. Then I did, I finally find you, and what happens? Two copies. One stays with me, and the other runs off to another universe. Forever. Who d'you think I'd choose?"

This thought had obviously not occurred to the Doctor.

Rose continued, "You could have gone with them, you know. Three Doctors in the TARDIS, seeing the worlds, saving planets and all that."

He hadn't considered this, either. "Why would I want to leave," he asked her, a bewildered expression on his face, "When I could stay with you?"

"Exactly. That's... that's it, exactly." She smiled through her tears and gave a little laugh. "You know, you can say it again. I mean," She bit her bottom lip in an expression that was both teasing and hopeful. "If you want."

How many times? How often had he wanted to confess, to convince Rose that he loved her? Only her? He'd almost confessed front of Sarah Jane Smith, of all people. Again, on Krop Tor, even when he was sure he was about to fall to his death, he couldn't get the words out, not even as a final message. And hadn't his ninth incarnation decided on a most intimate transfer process to absorb the time vortex energy from her? A touch of the hand would have sufficed.

But now, with this human body, he could express what his reserved Gallifreyan physiology hadn't allowed. No difference in species. No going on without her after the years had taken their toll. Just the Doctor and Rose Tyler. In the TARDIS. Eventually. As it should be.

The Doctor managed to take a step closer to her, though he could already feel her breath on his cheek. He spoke softly, but firmly.

"Rose Tyler." He took her face in his hands, gently brushing away what was left of her tears. His fingertips felt the increase in heart rate, and he heard her breath catch. "I have seen a thousand suns born and thousands more die. I've seen empires rise and fall, whole systems come to light and become shrouded in darkness. I've fought wars and brought peace. I've roamed more galaxies than most are aware even exist. But you, Rose Tyler." He closed what little distance was left between them. Placing his forehead on hers, he finished: "You are the center of my universe.

"I love you, Rose. Make no mistake. Don't ever think for a second that isn't true."

Rose stared up at him, stunned. Everything she'd ever wanted was here in front of her. Two years of pain and grief, after having him ripped away, the long hours and sleepless nights spent on the dimension cannon, the echoing loneliness that kept her awake long after the sun went down, her mother's continuing concern that Rose would never fully recover from her loss.

Now she knew – for this moment, now, it had all been worth it. Every second. The Doctor's face was suddenly serious as he looked into her eyes. "Stay with me."

"How d'you mean, 'stay'?"

He took her hands in both of his. "Rose Tyler," he said again. (What was it about the way he said those words, as though he liked the flavour? Rose briefly wondered if, given a Time Lord's enhanced senses, he actually couldtaste them.) "I would be the happiest man in all the worlds if you never left my side again. Please. Stay with me."

"Yeah, 'course I will." Her response was immediate. This was a decision she had come to long ago. "'Forever', remember?" She heard him sigh with relief. "I won't leave you again, Doctor. Not ever."

At this, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. His precious Rose. They stood there for a few moments, sharing warmth and each daydreaming about a future that was now possible. Rose could feel the double cadence of their heartbeats, even through their bundled clothes. The Doctor's soft breathing ruffled the hair near her right ear in a soothing rhythm. After two years of forced absence, this intimate closeness was more than Rose had been prepared for.

"Doctor…" was all she could manage before her lips found his.

Earlier, the Doctor had held himself in check for as long as possible because his other self had been present. He'd triedto keep his kiss with Rose first kiss chaste, but had managed only a few seconds before throwing his arms about her and nearly bruising his lips in the process. This time he had no reason to hold back.

If Rose thought their previous kiss upon arrival at Bad Wolf Bay had been passionate, she was completely unprepared for this one.

Could he be holding her any more tightly? Probably not, but she hoped he would try anyway. Rose wound her fingers through what she could reach of his hair (even on tiptoe, he was much taller than she). Though her grip was strong, he didn't seem to mind. Seemed to enjoy it, actually. She heard a soft sound somewhere between a sigh and a moan when she traced the outline of his top lip with the tip of her tongue. Rose filed that away for future reference. Given the Doctor's obvious oral fixation, there were a few things she was now keen to try.

She lost all concentration when he'd started to nibble on her lower lip, taking it gently between his teeth and using his tongue to tease. Things like "standing up" and "keeping balance" completely fled her mind, and she only realized her knees had given way when the Doctor caught her. They still did not break the kiss, and Rose had just begun to ease her hands inside the Doctor's coat when–

"Oi, where've you two run off to?" Jackie's voice rang out from the outside of the cliff projection.

"Ah," Rose tried to remember how to form words as she brought a hand up to smooth her hair. The Doctor's fingers had been entangled in what was left of her hastily put-up ponytail, and he now held her around the waist, both of his strong hands on her lower back. "Maybe, ah. Maybe we can, er, finish this later?"

The Doctor's quirked eyebrow and sly grin both answered her request and posed several new ones.

"Rose? Doctor?"

"We're in the cliff, Mum!"

"The bloody hell do you mean 'in the cliff'? I turn 'round for five minutes and you disappear into EEEEEEEEEK!"

Rose and the Doctor had stepped out of the projection, hand in hand, startling Jackie into dropping her phone in the sand.

"What'd you go and do that for? Now it's all wet, we'll never get it to work. It's a hike to the nearest call station, believe you me. Who knows when we'll get somewhere with service. And what on earth happened to your hair?"