From This Day Forward

One

Charles Dickens' bemused expression had not even faded from the monitor before Rose's adrenaline wore off.

Where seconds ago she had exuded energy and invincibility, buoyed up by the success of yet another thrilling escape, now she was experiencing an onset of the shakes.

Probably my brain catching up with the fact I almost died, she decided. Again.

The Doctor was already a whirlwind of movement, fiddling with the innumerable controls of the console. He was smiling once more: piercing eyes sparking with amusement and heavy features pulled into the manic grin that graced his face too often to be true.

He was also murmuring to his ship as though he expected it to answer back, intent on the task at hand.

It hit her that what happened at the undertaker's parlour in nineteenth century Cardiff, was just another day to him. Never mind that lives had changed and even ended not half an hour ago. To him, it was just time for the next stop.

The realisation made her gut clench with unease, so when he turned to her, an expectant eyebrow raised and mouth forming a question, she quickly interrupted.

'I should go get out of this kit, yeah?' She hoped her voice sounded light-hearted instead of awkward.

Without waiting for an answer, she headed back through the twisting hallways and corridors of the TARDIS. She hoped she wouldn't become lost on the way there; it would defeat the purpose of her abrupt departure if she needed to go back and ask for directions.

With any luck, her excuse would give her the time to gather her composure. All she needed after the latest debacle in Cardiff was another fit of temper. She had already exploded at him twice since he brought her on board his amazing ship.

Not that I don't deserve to be a little shaken up, because seriously, zombies!

And fine, they had been dead bodies possessed by gas aliens and not real zombies, but that didn't mean the whole experience hadn't been like something from a horror film.

She strode into the wardrobe room, her shakiness momentarily forgotten as she gazed about the place in wonder. The sheer size of it still amazed her. Bigger on the inside, she might be able to accept – barely – but this?

The huge spiral staircase in the centre appeared to grow out of the floor like a tree, with twists of clothing racks bordering on all sides. It wasn't even possible to see all the way to the top; she suspected that it just continued on endlessly in either direction.

After she returned to the section where she found her fancy gown earlier, Rose was surprised to find her own clothing folded up neatly beside the rack. She remembered almost tearing them off in her excitement to shimmy into the dress. It occurred to her that the only one able to pick up after her would be the TARDIS.

'Er, thanks,' she spoke hesitantly to the towering walls. She half expected to hear a disembodied voice answer back – not much would surprise her after the past two days.

When she heard nothing beyond the constant background hum, she set about undoing the fastenings of the gown.

She was careful not to rip the material or damage it in any way. The dress exemplified the type of extravagance that she would never have been able to afford back home, even when she still worked at Henrick's. As she examined it, she wondered if she should have gotten a picture of herself all kitted out just to show her mates when she got home.

Not that I'd be able to tell them where I wore it to... or who I met while wearing it, she thought with a heavy sigh. Not that any of them would even care.