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All was quiet around them as they stood together on a small, snow-covered hill, looking out at the quaint little fifteenth century English village beyond them. Smoke curled lazily up into the laden sky from hand built stone fireplaces, filling the air with the homey smell of burning wood. Their breaths puffed frosty clouds of steam as they breathed and Rose shivered a little and crossed her arms to ward off the cold. “So, this is it, then?” she softly questioned into the biting cold.

The Doctor glanced to her and his expression softened as he noticed her chill for the first time. He smiled gently and then slipped his leather coat off and draped it over her shoulders. “This is where it all began,” he agreed and patted her slightly and left his hand in place for a few moments in the small dip between her shoulder blades.

She looked up at him with an expression of mixed confusion at the gesture. “Thanks,” she noted and tugged his coat closed around her. She studied his eyes for several seconds and then looked away forcefully, staring back at the village. “Weird that I could just go down there ‘nd off my great grand folk. What’d ‘appen to me?”

The Doctor just shook his head and kept smiling down at her. “Something very bad,” he noted cheerfully. “You lot, always homing in on death instead of life.” He shook his head, amused. “This is the beginning Rose, not the end.”

She turned back to him and noticed he was still looking at her. That made her smile. “Can we go down and say hello then?”

The Doctor laughed and took his hand away to cross his arms. “What? In this cold?” He chuckled jovially. “And with you dressed like that?” he noted and gestured to her pink and white running suit. “They’d burn you as a witch,” he pointed out with a bright grin. “And where would that leave me?”

“All alone ‘nd without a coat,” Rose replied with a devious smirk.

The Doctor smiled but rolled his eyes at her. “Sometimes I think you are more trouble than you’re worth, Rose Tyler.”

Rose nudged into him playfully, but she sobered slightly as his arm came up around her and held her there gently. They stood that way for several seconds, watching the wind blow snow off the thatched roofs below them. “All the people in the whole of time and space,” she softly stated with wonder in her voice. “Why’d you go ‘nd pick me?”

The Doctor’s smile, though she couldn’t see it, was sweet and serene as he stroked her hair lightly. “You picked me, Rose,” he answered. “You picked me.”