Was a Dame even 'fore it was a title...

long ago
and oh so far away
I fell in love with you

Once upon a time, not so long ago and really very truly not so far away there was a girl. She was just a girl too. Her name was Rose, Rose Tyler if you asked for the formal, and most times you didn't need that much. Though truth to be told, had you asked for anything less you'd have been far disappointed in what you had received. She lived at the top of the lane, at the top of the building, not so far from the top of what one might have thought to be the world itself.

But even you know better than that.

Rose took on a job, any old job would've done for just a girl named Rose, and any old job did just that.

Of course what sort of a story would this be, if the girl named Rose simply continued as she did on those days.

No the story bends, so sharply at the corner. It twists and turns and flips you upside down, which I'm sure you didn't even realize you could read upside down, did you? See Rose Tyler took on the world, because as it turns out... as you have guessed she hadn't been living on top of the world at all.

Very nearly she'd been just at the bottom of it waiting for a hand to reach out and take her to the stars, and heavens and moons and planets - the names of which even I to this day would have trouble spelling. Oh but the hand did more than just reach out to her, it never let go.

Save for once, when really there was no other choice. See all tales have their sad chapters, but see Rose Tyler didn't stay a girl. Far from it.

Rose Tyler changed so seamlessly that one would have to look exceptionally hard to find out just when she stopped being that lost girl with no where to turn but around again. They'd have to know just the very moment when she became a woman that knew where she was needed and who needed her the most. Because that's what love does to a girl. Love allows them to grow, allows them to become who they are meant to be, even if they can't see it themselves just yet.

If you would've asked her though, she might not be so forthcoming. In fact I'm very certain that should you come across Rose Tyler and might even be brave enough to ask her just when she fell in love... she'd never even know the answer. For as seamless as her change had been from the shop girl to the girl who once upon a time worked in a shop... it was rough and jagged compared to the tale of how exactly a Doctor changed her life.

His hand reached out, and his eyes watched her with a new fondness for the small quirks and habits that surely one day in the future he'd remark about with some uncanny knack for making them all seem borderline annoying and trivial. Yet while the girl changed into a woman, the Doctor couldn't help but notice how much he was trying not to notice.

Because for once... just this one time perhaps the one hoping for the happy ending isn't the girl from the beginning... perhaps it's the one that started the real story in the first place.