Title: La Petite Mort (10/10)
Author: sinecure
Character/Pairing: Ten/Rose, Multi-Doctor/Rose (not all at once)
Rating: Adult, humor/angst/romance... did I mention the humor?
Summary: The Doctor never saw fit to warn Rose about things that could happen. And then they happened.
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.
Author's Notes: to JennyLD for helping me through this beast. It was originally going to be 3 or 4 chapters at most, now it's 10 and it's COMPLETE! Yay. My first completed multi-chapter fic. I'm very happy it's over, but I enjoyed the journey.

ETA: JennyLD deserves half-credit for the smut in this chapter.

The Doctor awoke to a gentle pressure on the top of his head. Fingers--he assumed they were fingers... hoped they were fingers--threaded loosely through his hair, then released it. A second later, they were plunging deep into the strands again, pulling up gently and then releasing. It felt nice, soothing and gentle.

He began to drift back to sleep.

But then the scent of tea and toast and strawberries hit his nose. Opening his eyes lazily, he stretched and glanced at Rose, who was lying beside him.

"Did you just... pet me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

She was on her side, in a nightshirt, one arm resting on the pillow above his head, fingers continuing to lazily drift through the strands. "I may have." The corners of her lips curved up, though she was fighting it.

His eyes flicked over to the nightstand, on which sat a tray of tea and food. "Since you brought breakfast, I'll forgive the petting."

She rolled her eyes and rolled out of bed. "You love the petting."

"Maybe," he conceded, dragging himself into a sitting position, "but just so you know, I'm drawing the line at grooming." Tossing the cover aside, he attempted to get up, but Rose had come around to his side of the bed and now stood in his way. Sighing, he looked up at her. "Rose, I think I'm healed enough."

"Perhaps." She crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at him. "Don't want you to have a relapse though."

He grabbed her by the hips and drew her closer, forcing her to uncross her arms and settle them on his shoulders. "Thought we proved just how well-healed I am last night." His eyes lighted on her cheeks, watching them tint just the tiniest bit.

She looked over his head, fighting another smile. "Well, I never said your mouth wasn't healed."

Leaning forward, he pressed his lips to her stomach, feeling a bit annoyed at the cotton covering that kept him from tasting her skin. Bunching her nightshirt up out of his way, he resumed placing open-mouthed kisses beside her belly button, feeling her muscles tighten every time his lips touched her skin. Every time his tongue slid out just the slightest bit to taste her.

Her fingers tightened on his shoulders and she leaned toward him. Bending lower, she whispered, "Trying to influence me to let you out of bed? Or keep you in it?"

Giving up, he sprawled out on his back and waited for her to serve him his breakfast. She knew as well as he did that he was healed. That he had been since he'd woken up from his regenerative coma six hours after collapsing to the floor of the TARDIS. She'd been there when he awoke, tending to him, hovering over him, dried tears streaking her face.

The time in bed wasn't so bad though. He had Rose surrounding him with her girly things spread throughout her room, had the girl herself waiting on him, and... who was he to say no to lying beside her each night?

He did drift off occasionally, but she slept far more than he did. And in those times, he did the same things she did when he dozed off; ran his hands through her hair, watched her, kissed her forehead, and snuggled up next to her.

There was a sense of anxiousness beginning to eat away at him. He was getting antsy. Just a bit.

His fingers itched for the TARDIS controls. His eyes yearned for the sight of a new planet. His body, when it wasn't craving Rose's, wanted to feel the TARDIS humming and vibrating through him.

But, she seemed content to keep him in bed. And keep him company.

One last breakfast, he thought, as he climbed back under the covers and straightened his body beneath them. One last breakfast and then he was getting up. It was just that he liked when Rose fussed over him, if he was being honest. Liked it when she dished out his tea and sat beside him, munching on toast and chatting about nothing in particular.

He settled himself into a sitting position and took his teacup when she handed it to him, eyes dropping to the brown tray she'd brought his breakfast in on. "What's that?" he asked, nodding toward the tray as he took a sip of the hot liquid. It didn't look familiar and it most definitely wasn't the same one she'd been using. There were no bright yellow smiley faces plastered across it, for one.

Her eyes darted to his, finger briefly running along the side of the wooden server, shifting it a little. "Um, nothing."

Suspicious, he raised an eyebrow at her and grabbed his glasses from the nightstand. Straining to see over Rose's arm, he sat a little higher and slipped the spectacles on.

She was removing the kettle and cups and sugar from the tray.

Curiouser.

China clinked together as she sat them on her crowded nightstand. Nimble fingers picked up the object and held it against her stomach as she turned toward him.

His glasses slid down his nose, just far enough that they were useless. Sipping at his tea, he waited. Her eyes settled on him, lips turning up just a little before climbing higher. He set his cup aside and sat up, arms falling between his knees as curiosity itched under his skin. "What do you have there?"

She sucked her lips into her mouth and straightened the rectangle of backer board surrounded by wood before flipping it over with a flourish. "Ta da!" she sang out, grinning at him with her tongue poking between her teeth as his eyes settled on the white poster with multi-colored levels framed under glass.

He snorted in amusement and pushed his glasses back up his nose. "My charts! You had them framed." He chuckled, and then dropped back against the headboard with a pout. "I worked really hard on them you know, and I only got to show you the one."

She laughed and climbed on the bed, presenting the framed chart to him with a kiss to his cheek. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you." She stayed on her hands and knees, looking at the tray with him. Her lips pressed against his jaw. "Sorry I made you take your charts and go away."

"Hmph." He turned his head toward her so the next kiss landed on his lips. She tasted like tea and milk and butter. He licked his lips. "I suppose you had precedent."

"I did," she agreed, settling into a sitting position against him. "But maybe if I hadn't been so dismissive of your charts and your promises, you would have come to me for help. Maybe?"

His eyes slid to hers unable to deny the truth in what she was saying, but it had been his fault too; he'd lied to her, made her distrust him. "Maybe," he agreed, and they both heard the 'definitely' in his words.

She swallowed and looked across the room to the mirror in front of them. "It was close," she whispered, warm body pressing into his side. "I almost lost you again."

Mouth opening to tell her that she'd lose him again someday anyway, he bit back the words and nodded instead. Now wasn't the time to discuss his eventual death given the life he led. No, they, he realized. The lives they led. She was with him, not only in bed and body, but also in his life for as long as she wanted to be, and she'd proclaimed that to be forever.

He'd hold her to that for as long as he could, and... glancing at the top of her head, he wondered if that would be much longer than either of them had thought.

He thought maybe it would.

"Why'd you lie?" she asked suddenly, pulling away from him and leveling an accusing glare at him. "I need-- I have to be able to trust you, Doctor, but how do I know you won't lie again, when it's important and it really counts?"

He sighed, recognizing the truth of her words. Still, that didn't make it any easier to admit. Feeling an unaccustomed nervousness, he licked his lips and slid his gaze away from her piercing one. "I wanted you."

She stared at him, he could see her eyes on him from the corner of his own. Her voice, when she spoke, was flat and disbelieving. "That's it? You... wanted me?"

"Yes."

She shook her head and scoffed loudly. "And, yet, the other you, the mean one--"

"Eleventh body," he sighed, pulling his glasses off and folding the frames up. "That was my eleventh body, this is my tenth, the one before that was my ninth. Please quit calling my eleventh body 'the mean one'. And-- and I wasn't even that mean," he practically whined. "A bit ruder than now, but I've been worse. Been better too," he acknowledged with a bob of his head.

"Fine, your eleventh body, whatever. You resisted in that body." She frowned, thinking about her words. "Does that mean you didn't want me then?"

"No," he insisted, setting the framed chart on the floor to lean against the bed and tossing his glasses on her bedside table. When he straightened up again, he wrapped his arm around her and drew her close. "Absolutely not. I wanted you in all of my bodies. I'd want you if I were a woman, or an alien... well, a different kind of alien than a Time Lord. If I were a pool of sludge--"

She snickered and smacked his chest. "Wally."

"My point is," he chuckled, "I'll always want you."

"Why should I believe you?" she asked slowly, her smile sliding from her face. "I mean, about anything you say now?" A single shrug lifted her shoulders as if she were uncomfortable with the conversation. "I want to, but..." she traced the edge of the duvet with her nail.

Trailing his fingers along her shoulder, he considered her words. It was true that she had no reason to believe him, but there was nothing he could say or do to change that. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, tightening his hand around Rose as if he could keep her next to him, and with him, through sheer force of will, but at the same time, feeling her slipping away already. He didn't like this, didn't like being this vulnerable. It didn't happen often, but when it did, it leveled him.

Reminded him of other times he'd felt like this. Unbidden, images swam before his eyes: burning flames flashed brightly on his closed lids. Crackling flames teased his ears amid screams and explosions, making him flinch.

"I killed them, Rose." The words, so low he almost didn't hear them himself, slipped from his lips without thought, sharing his guilt and his shame with the one person he cared about more than any other. Loved more than any other. "I know-- I know that doesn't help, but..."

He turned toward her, finally opening his eyes again, and sat forward, to look into hers.

Rose's hand settled on his chest, brows dipping down. "Your people?" She shook her head, frown lightening a little. "No, Doctor, you had to do it."

Something tickled at his mind and he stared back at her with wide eyes. He hadn't thought-- it had never occurred to him that she... oh, this was definitely not in the guidebook. He chuckled and hugged her to him, squeezing her as close as possible. She gave a protesting noise, but he just held her tighter, inhaling her scent, enjoying the smell of strawberries and cinnamon.

"What?" she breathed, holding him just as tightly, arms under his, chin resting on his shoulder. "What'd I say?"

"Nothing," he told her, rocking her back and forth quickly with a grin before letting her go and pulling back to take her cheeks in his hands. "Everything. You, Rose Tyler, are brilliant!"

"Uh, okay," she mumbled. "You sure nothing's wrong, 'cause you just went from torn apart to ecstatic in zero-point-five seconds."

He took a deep, cleansing breath and held it for a few seconds before letting it out in a rush. "Positive." Leaning down to catch her eye, he looked from one to the other, such beautiful brown eyes with flecks of gold. He was silent, until she raised her eyebrows at him. "I'm going to do something... do you trust me?" he asked quickly.

"Yeah," she answered automatically, then paused and opened her mouth, shaking her head. "I mean-- I... don't," her eyes widened at saying it out loud. "I'm sorry, I don't."

"It's all right," he told her, fingers trailing down her temple. "I'm going to... I'm going to show you that you can trust me. That okay?"

She gripped his wrists and held tight, looking a little frightened. "You're gonna go inside my head?"

He shook his head, positioning his fingers. "No... well, yes, but just a tiny bit, just enough to allow you into my mind. Like standing in the doorway between them." She still looked nervous, so he smiled and kissed her forehead. "Nothing to be afraid of. It's painless."

She nodded once, stiffly, fingers clenching his wrists harder.

Bracing himself, he pressed into her mind, just the teeniest, tiniest bit, just enough to open the door, and then stood back, opening his mind to her fully.

She gripped even tighter. "What do I do?" Her voice trembled at the vastness of his thoughts and he couldn't help but let his love for her brush against her and wrap around her form as she stood alone at the entrance to his life.

He whispered against her forehead, letting his mind speak to her more than his mouth. "Whatever you want. My mind is completely open to you."

A gasp escaped her and he felt her breath on his neck moments before she slipped into his thoughts.

The Doctor scooted nearer to Rose as he smoothed her hair back from her forehead, watching her with a fond smile. Her eyes darted back and forth, hidden beneath closed lids. She shifted a little under his fingers and up against his hip, moving closer. A small smile lifted up her lips as she stretched and opened her eyes. They were a bit dull and there were tiny weary lines branching off from them.

"Morning?"

He chuckled and leaned down to brush a kiss against her lips. When she turned her head to the side with a protest, he stopped her with a finger to her chin.

"Morning breath," she mumbled, sliding a hand over her mouth.

The hand in her hair came down and pinched her nose playfully before moving on to tease her neck and jaw. "You've only been out for twenty minutes."

She sat up with a frown, reaching up to scratch the back of her head in confusion. "What happened?"

"You happened, Rose." When she merely tilted her head to the side in an unsatisfied way, he relented. "You went into my mind, do you remember?"

She began to nod, then stopped. "I-- I sort of remember... something. There was darkness and--" she gasped, lifting her hand to rub her temple. "A light. And so many thoughts. So much noise." Lips turning down, she massaged her head. "How can you stand it in there without going mad?"

"Bigger brain," he explained with a shrug. "Time Lord brain." He watched her closely, noting that her eyes were beginning to brighten and the lines were almost gone. "Feel okay?"

"Mmm," she answered, thoughts elsewhere. Then her eyes snapped to his. "You... I remember. I didn't go far, didn't look at too much, because..." dropping her gaze to her hands, which settled in her lap, she sighed, "well, I was afraid," she admitted. "But that you trust me enough to open your mind like that... thank you." Her eyes lifted back to his face, brown and gold and bright and shining with love.

The Doctor smiled and brushed her cheek with his finger. "How can I expect you to trust me if I can't show you that I trust you?"

She smiled widely and moved against him. "Thank you," she whispered again, dropping a kiss to his jaw. Her hand threaded through his hair, ruffling it a bit. "You know I love you, right?"

"Mmm," he hummed, grinning back as he gave her a cheeky wink. "Right back at ya."

She rolled her eyes with snorted laughter. "Plonker."

Taking her with him, he fell back against the pillows, watching as she settled more comfortably on him. Sliding her hair back with a finger, he tucked it behind her ear. "I love you," he whispered in her ear.

"Mmm" she hummed, leaning up to kiss him softly, unhurriedly. Her hand played with his jaw, a smile teasing the corners of her mouth. "You're... completely healed?"

He shifted her with his arm, wrapping it around her. "Completely."

"That's good to know." Her voice was leisurely as she slid her hand over his shoulder, across his chest, stopping briefly to circle his right nipple with her thumb. Butterfly kisses tickled his chin and neck and lips as she made her way along the parts of him she could reach.

She pressed her mouth against his again, chin stretching up to kiss him more fully, moving her lips lazily on his. It was nice, just being here with her, taking their time, not running from aliens or being shot at. Just relaxing in Rose's arms and kissing her and holding her in return. He slid his fingers into her hair, tangling it in the strands, cradling the back of her head.

When she drew away briefly, watching him teasingly, he raised his eyebrows and smoothed his hand down her hair. "Going somewhere with this?"

She bit her lip and shook her head, tossing the duvet off of him. "Not really... just like touching you."

A smile twisted up his lips. He could relate to that because he adored touching her too.

Her hand, recently idle on his chest, began to slide down to his hip, and then a little lower. She turned her head to watch the trip it was taking, biting teasingly on her lower lip as she slipped her fingers between his legs. Taking his softened cock in hand, knuckles brushing against his thigh, her thumb rubbed abstract patterns on the top.

He watched as well, enjoying the slide of her skin on his, the lazy way she teased him with the pads of her fingers, circling around and underneath him. Her caresses were measured and deliberate, not strictly to arouse, but to feel. She mapped out every last centimeter of flesh, sliding this way and that as she breathed out a contented sigh.

As she wrapped her hand around him and squeezed, each touch was light and sensual. He wasn't hard yet, but with infinite slowness, and each further stroke, he could feel himself beginning to harden; a reaction more of his love for her than because of anything she was doing to his body.

His eyes continued to follow her movements, watching the deliberate motions as she stroked him lazily with just her fingertips, around the tip and back down the underside. Feeling a tightness in his stomach, he tore his eyes away from his languidly hardening flesh as it disappeared into her hand, and glanced at Rose, finding her watchful eyes on him, taking in his every reaction to her touch.

His cock twitched, hardening a little more as her heated stare met his.

He was caught, stuck in her gaze. He didn't look away, didn't want to. The way her eyes held his--so full of love--turned him on more than the ministrations to his body and he knew he could easily lose himself in her.

Gliding a hand down her arm to her hip, he slid his fingers under her nightshirt, touching warm flesh, sprinkled with goosebumps. Her eyes brightened a little, her brows rising as if in challenge. For each inch of her skin he revealed, she gave him a slow, wet kiss, drawing out each one with a lingering sensuousness that made his chest feel heavy and warm. Palm trailing up to her breast, he cupped the flesh, leaning down to kiss her more firmly.

Pebbled and hard, her nipples pressed against his chest. His fingers found one and pinched it, then flicked it lightly, watching her eyes widen the tiniest bit, the pupils dilating more.

Her hand trailed down to cup his balls, sifting them through her spread fingers as he rubbed his thumb over her nipple. She squirmed a bit, shifting higher to easier receive his kisses; hot wet kisses, slow as a summer's day. Long and languorous, building up a gradual arousal with tongues tangling and lips sucking, rich, sweet open-mouthed kisses that reminded him of honey and molasses and Wydel liqueur chocolates.

She leaned up again, lips pressing lazily to his. Casually, he touched his tongue to her mouth, running the tip of it across the fullness of her lips.

"Doctor," she mumbled against the corner of his mouth. A light sheen of sweat was gathering on her, and her eyes were slightly dilated, but he couldn't imagine she'd be ready enough for him this soon.

He wasn't fully hard, but he was getting there, and being inside of her would definitely put him over the edge. Pressing her back on the bed, he rolled over on top of her, settling a leg between her knees, opening them wider for him. "You're ready?" he asked, raising a single eyebrow.

"Doesn't take much," she admitted, sliding a fingernail down his chest to swirl around his nipple. She leaned up and bit lightly on his earlobe, bending her right leg to trap him where he was. "All you have to do is look at me and I get wet. Touching you," she said with a shudder, eyes darkening even more, "being touched by you, hearing your voice..." she leaned into his neck, running her fingers through his hair and inhaling deeply, "smelling you, all of that, and I'm ready to explode." Her teeth tugged his earlobe again, hand scraping down his back to his bum, holding him in place. "You're not the only one who needed to take cold showers, and-- well, you know about the lube."

The Doctor swallowed thickly, feeling a rush of desire pulse through him. He hardened completely, poking against her left leg as he shifted to get more comfortable. She held him tighter, her firm breasts and pebbled nipples pressing against his chest.

Fingernails grabbed his upper arms and tried to draw him back to the bed with her, but he resisted, lowering his body to take her breast into his mouth, flicking the nipple with his tongue. She moaned and arched her back, still with that lazy warmth, but now there was a little more intensity. Their relaxed foreplay had caused a luxurious heat to build in him, running through his veins like thick honey, making for sluggish movements and sensual kisses.

His hand, impatient to feel more of her, skimmed between her thigh and his and settled on the thin scrap of cotton there. Knickers or no, he could tell she hadn't been exaggerating. He drew in a breath at the wetness he found soaking through the material. Hooking his thumbs in the elastic, he slowly dragged them down, scraping his fingernails along the outside of her legs, enjoying her heated gaze as she watched him. Pulling them free of her feet, past her red-tipped toenails, he dropped them to the floor and retraced his path back up her legs with light kisses and trailing fingers, straight back to the moist heat at the apex of her thighs.

Her flesh was warm and swollen and ready for him. She gasped at the fullness of his fingers sliding into her, pressing deep inside, moving a little in a come-hither gesture. Her hips thrust up, just the tiniest bit as his thumb played with her clit. He could lose himself in this, he thought, just forget his own body and seek her pleasure, but he had a deeper need to be inside of her. To feel her surrounding him.

He needed her body to encase his.

Withdrawing his fingers, feeling the cooler air hit them, he slipped them between his lips. Her eyes settled on him as he slid his tongue down one finger and up the other and he saw her throat contract. She watched his tongue slide along each knuckle and between his fingers, her own clenching in the sheets beside her.

And he watched her.

Her skin was flushed now, eyes darkening with slightly more urgency, but he kept his movements slow as he crawled back up her body and kissed her. A rich, deep, glide of lips against lips. Tongue against tongue. When he pulled back, she looked a little dazed. Her breathing was heavier than it had been this whole time, and with wet fingers, he leaned forward, sliding them between her lips, watching her taste herself with his own flavor mixed in.

Her tongue slipped between his fingers and her mouth sucked at his flesh. When her eyes caught his, he had to hold back a groan.

How he'd managed to stay away from her for such long stretches of time, he couldn't say. Slipping his fingers free, he rolled over onto his back, missing her heat and softness immediately, and gave her a heated look. "Come here," he whispered, voice husky and colored by desire. Though they'd taken their time getting here, he was suddenly impatient to be inside her. They were both feeling it now, a slow sense of urgency, simmering just under the surface of their actions. He reached out his hand to her and wiggled his fingers in imitation of the gesture he'd made with them buried inside her body.

She swallowed and took his hand in hers, threading their fingers as he gently drew her forward, guiding her to his lap. The warm press of her thighs and the slight dampness of her curls on his cock caused his breath to hitch in his throat. He could get used to this, could live like this for the rest of his lives.

Just him and Rose, together, traveling through all of time and space by day and sharing their bodies by night.

He felt every muscle in her body clench a second before she shifted and slid forward, rubbing her wet folds along his erection, but not taking him inside of her yet. She was teasing him, watching him struggle to control his breathing.

She rocked on him, her hot slick folds sliding back and forth on his cock as she squeezed her thighs around his waist, always keeping contact with his hard flesh. His fingers dug into her hips as each stroke created the friction his body needed, but her movements were unhurried and slow, as if they had all the time in the world.

He felt her gaze on him, felt a niggling in the back of his mind, a ghosting of her presence from earlier. His fingers itched to take her in his mind again as his cock itched for her to take him inside her body.

There was a feeling of drowning in her eyes, like the strength of her gaze and the pull of her soul could suck him in and he'd be with her forever. He almost wanted to give in. These past few days, having nothing and no one to deal with other than what to eat for lunch or where Rose was, he'd realized how obsessed he'd become with her lately. It was as if he couldn't get his fill of her. His eyes followed her when she was in sight. His ears perked up to catch her approaching footsteps. His mouth wanted to taste her, his fingers to feel her, his nose to inhale her scent.

He was obsessed with Rose Tyler.

But it wasn't all one-sided. No, Rose was the same it seemed. He caught her watching him when she thought he wasn't looking. Saw her smiles when she entered the room and he was there. Knew she breathed in deep when she was beside him or hugging him. And, thanks to her earlier admission, he knew why, and it relieved him to know that he wasn't struggling in a one-sided relationship anymore.

This situation they were in now, however, that was one-sided and a little unfair. Here he was naked beneath her, while she was only half undressed above him.

Something had to be done about that.

On her next slide forward, he placed his hands on her thighs, letting his palms glide up them until he reached the hem of her nightshirt. Hooking his fingers in the stretchy material, he held tight, impeding her backward slide. She gave him a small, pouting look but he just drew up the corners of his mouth as he drew her shirt slowly up her body, revealing small amounts of skin at a time.

This wasn't about rushing, this simple striptease he was performing with her body. It wasn't about need and want and now, now, now like all the other times they'd had sex. This was simply about being together. It was about the two of them loving one another and wanting to show that. There was no need to hurry things.

And there was something to be said about taking one's time.

With that in mind, he drew out baring her to his gaze for as long as he could.

When he could reach no further, he waited while she leaned over him, arms above her head. The material slipped the rest of the way off with little fuss and he got rid of it just as easily, tossing it to the floor by his framed chart. She smiled as she straightened back on him. He loved that smile of hers, the one where her tongue poked out from between her teeth, teasing him and making him imagine all the things he wanted to do to her.

Or have her do for him.

But that was later. Right now, he was content to have her move on him, though he was becoming a little impatient to be inside of her at this point.

He dug his fingers into her hips and pulled her forward, up his body, until the head of his cock was situated just behind her. "Rose," he breathed, feeling the wetness of her desire pooling on his stomach.

His own urgency was slowly gathering in his cock.

She licked her lips and glanced behind her, biting her lip. His cock jerked in response. Humming in satisfaction, she moved further back, sliding hotly, wetly against his length one last time before reaching for him. Slipping her fingers underneath his shaft, which was sticky and moist and resting flat against his stomach, she curled her fingers around him, knuckles brushing lightly against his stomach. His muscles jerked and tightened at the contact against the hairs scattered across his belly.

She grasped him gently and drew him back toward her as she rose up and positioned him at her entrance. Her eyes found his, settling there as if they never wanted to leave. With an indrawn breath, she moved down the slightest bit, just enough to tease him and draw out the pleasure as much as possible.

"Sure you're completely healed?" she asked with a smirk.

He grunted out an affirmative and thrust up inside her as she lowered herself down, muscles clenching on him immediately. She was so warm, so hot on his cooler body that it made him gasp, a gasp mirrored by her. Her breath left her parted lips as pleasure stole over face.

He was determined to keep this slow and steady, enjoying Rose as much as possible by going slowly.

Running his hands up her smooth thighs, he grasped her waist firmly, nudging her, encouraging her to move on him.

With eyes as dark as space, she licked her lips and began to shift her hips.

She tightened her legs around him as she moved up, teasing eyes on his, then stopped and held herself still for a breathless moment before moving back down again. Hands restlessly curling on her own thighs as if she were holding back from touching him, she shifted back and forth, taking her time as she rocked on his lap with slow, deliberate motions meant to prolong.

Usually by this time, he'd be thrusting his hips to meet her drive for drive, the desire building in him screaming toward release, but right now, he was content to let her control things.

Eyes burning into hers, he smoothed his hands over her stomach, fanning his fingers across the soft skin there. She felt so good beneath him, above him, around him, the touch of her sending shocks of electricity throughout his body.

Every measured movement of her hips sent him spiraling closer and closer to the edge, but he held back, keeping a tight rein on his body, wanting her to come first. He didn't feel the usual urgency for completion; he just wanted to be in her, to enjoy her body and her reactions to him.

Caressing his way up her torso with fingertips and sliding palms, he paused just beneath her breasts. "I love... touching you."

His eyes darted up to hers as he bided his time, teasing her with a look and a touch, pressing languidly up into her, feeling deep rich pleasure course through him. His love for her, his want of her, his need to spend the rest of his lives in her arms, all of it coiled around inside of him, coalescing into a burning passion that sparked to life.

Her lips curved up in a knowing smile as she leaned back, arching her chest toward him. Her hands settled on either side of his legs, and she increased her pace slightly, rising and falling on his cock rhythmically, sensually.

Her breasts were bouncing lazily up and down and he closed that minute distance to take them in his hands. Lightly flicking her nipples with the very edge of his nails, he watched, enraptured, as they formed small peaks that begged for his mouth. But when she gasped at the contact and closed her eyes, letting her head drop backward, he forgot all about that and settled more deeply into the pile of pillows behind him to just watch her.

With her body moving so sensuously over him, he felt like he could lose his sense of self or his grip on time, but he still felt it, rotating in the back of his mind and just on the tip of his senses. All he saw though, was Rose, blonde hair shimmering in the light, bouncing lightly with each sweep of her muscles on him. All he felt was her soft skin and warmth.

Neither of them were in a hurry yet, but she was beginning to feel the strain, he could see. His hips thrust up as his hands lowered to halt her motions, burying himself inside her, content to stay there. He settled back on the damp sheets on the mattress and held her seated on him, ignoring her efforts to move. Her body dropped bonelessly over him, muscles squeezing tight.

Frustration showed on her face when he continued to hold her still. Her hand moved down between them, fingers rubbing her clit. His eyes dropped to watch, fueling the heat in his body even further.

She wasn't just frustrated, he realized, she was close to coming. Wrapped in the cocoon of ecstasy, time had, for a few brief moments, lost all meaning.

He could see her trembling with anticipation and the exhaustion of keeping things slow. She leaned forward, resting her hands on his chest, trying to push him further inside her. Pressing down with his hands on her thighs, he helped her along, sheathing himself deeper, never wanting to leave her body, not even for the friction they both craved.

Instead, he slid his finger to her clit and rubbed. Almost instantly, he felt the contractions of her muscles gripping him tight as she started to come. Her eyelids fluttered closed, and she dug her nails into his shoulders. Her breath hitched a few times, then shuddered out, and that was all it took to start the domino affect of his own orgasm.

His stomach clenched, as the warm liquid pool of pleasure trailed sinuously down to his cock. He lifted his hips off the bed, plunging himself even deeper into her, his balls drawing up tight to his body.

All he could feel, all he was aware of, was her, and with a last shuddering breath and a frantic buck of his hips, he came inside her. So deep inside her.

Rose collapsed, her slick body draping over him, her hot breath wafting over his shoulder in short, erratic bursts. He slid his arms around her, finding his own body as slick as hers, and held her to him, the only sound in the room their heavy breathing.

Minutes went by, ticking slowly away as he cradled this precious woman to him. The air cooled their skin. When she shivered, he shifted around and grabbed the edge of the duvet, pulling it up over them.

"Miss Tyler, you naughty thing," he breathed in her ear. "Seducing a Time Lord, for shame."

She gave a weak chuckle, breasts pressed quite nicely against his chest, fingers playing with his hair. When she lifted up her head, he noticed her eyes were heavy-lidded. "Definitely healed," she smirked.

His hand slipped under the covers, smoothing down her back as a smile played at the corners of his mouth. "Told you, didn't I?"

She shifted on him a little and his softened cock slid out of her. "You did."

After the wonderfully warm and languid sex only minutes ago, a groan would be undignified of him. Completely undignified. Which is why, instead, he only let out a sharp breath. The bundle of restless energy that'd been gathering in him for days was sated a bit after relieving Rose's tension last night, through means he was quite happy to provide, and their recent lovemaking.

How, he'd managed to become aroused at all, he couldn't imagine. Not after his marathon wanking session. He'd expected sex to be the last thing on his mind for quite some time.

But he hadn't counted on his love for the girl on top of him.

His fingers traveled lower down her back and then continued their journey as she shivered noticeably against him. Down her hip, making her shift against him. Over her bum, nails scraping lightly against the curve. Across her thigh, fingers ghosting over the warm skin.

She smiled widely at him, propping her chin on her hands. "Insatiable, aren't ya?"

His fingers slid between her legs, tickling lightly, teasingly. His eyebrows lifted.

Just when he was getting to the good parts, she pushed up, grimacing as their skin stuck together.

"Oi," he complained.

She merely raised an eyebrow at him and looked to his nether regions. "Seriously?"

Well.

He wasn't hard now and probably wouldn't be for quite a while, but if she kept looking at him like that... he shifted deeper into the pillows, crossing his arms under his head, waiting for her inspection to end.

After a moment, she rolled her eyes and bit her lip. "I know you're feeling a little better-"

Knowing he was whinging, but unable to help it, he twisted his lips up in distaste. "Can we not use the word little while examining my... manliness, please?"

She snorted with laughter and climbed off his lap, settling into a sitting position beside him. "I don't think you have a thing to worry about, Doctor. Seriously, I'm getting a t-shirt made that says," she moved her hand over his chest where the words would be, "Time Lords do it all night long."

"Yeah," he agreed, considering her words. "But that says nothing to size. You were insulting my manly--"

"Pillock." She smacked his shoulder and then stretched up to kiss him.

He sniffed and drew back far enough to look down his nose at her. "I'm not the one with bunny slippers."

She pushed off of him, left hand digging into his ribs briefly--

"Oof," he groaned.

--and hung over her side of the bed for a moment, giving him a nice view of her bare bum. Then she was up again like a shot, holding her slippers aloft, one on each hand. "Hey, what's not to love?" she asked, settling them on his chest and moving them up a little to touch his chin.

"Mmm," he agreed, watching the bunny on the right suspiciously. That one looked shifty. Its eyes were closer together than the left one's were and the pink fur was flatter. Also, the three white whiskers sticking out from either side of the nose were bent.

Remembering the way the bunnies had helped out a few nights ago, he felt a fondness go through him at cute their little faces.

"How can you be mean to the bunnies?" she laughed, trying to pout at him but snickering instead.

Sliding his left arm further underneath her, he caressed her bare thigh, considering the bunnies and the sacrifices they had made for him and Rose.

"No one can resist the bunnies," she intoned, kissing his cheek.

Willing to give in, if only to get them out of his line of vision--they were beginning to look rabid--he sighed and curled his palm around her hip. "I'll make them the TARDIS mascots if you put them away."

Happily, she bounced them off of his chest and yanked off first one, tossing it carelessly across the room and then the other, tossing it in the opposite direction. "Done and done."

Silence settled in as he drew her closer to him and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, content to just be here with her for the time being.

New planets and adventures could wait a little while longer.

Her nail played across his chest, drawing a line back and forth above his nipple in an abstract movement.

She smelt of tea and milk and butter and strawberries and sex. He breathed in deeply, closing his eyes as her breath ghosted over his skin, relaxing into the warmth of Rose and her bed.

"Doctor?"

His chest rose, disturbing her when he answered with a lazy hum. Drawing his fingers along her thigh and hip, he opened his eyes, peering across the room at her mirror. He could see the two of them reflected in the surface, lying comfortably ensconced on the bed with a shock of red surrounding them.

Rose's hand curled up and scraped his chest lightly. "You never told me why a flower--sacred relic or not--affected you so badly."

Ah. Yes, of course, she'd want to know about that. "Just did really. Well, it affected everyone like that once upon a time."

She lifted her head, propping her chin on her hands. "What? Why would they make something like that a sacred relic? And put it right out there in the open for anyone to touch?" Her mouth dropped open, horrified. "What if a kid touches it? That's irresponsible and--"

Wincing, knowing she would give him the eyebrow-raise-of-doom, he told her, "It wasn't out in the open. Exactly."

She stared back at him. And, yes, there it went, one eyebrow lifting up just a little bit. "What?" There was a suspicious look in her eyes too.

He shifted uncomfortably. "It was off to the side. In a room. Roped off."

Rose blinked at him and then burst out laughing. "Anyone else I'd say, 'lesson learned', but I've a feeling you haven't."

Shrugging a shoulder, he let his eyes slip past her. "How was I to know it would have a powerful aphrodisiacal affect to it?"

"Roped off," she told him. "Didn't set off any alarm bells?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but she cut him off.

"In your head, genius."

"Oh." He shook his head, grinning at her. "Nope."

Sighing heavily, she pushed herself into a sitting position beside him, crossing her legs. He watched as she shifted the duvet over her, getting more comfortable. "Flower?"

Snapping his head up to her face, he blinked a few times. "Hmm?" Her query registered a moment later. "Oh, right, the flower. Turns out that, hundreds of years before, the flower--a No'tyss--was used in a mass marriage-seeking ceremony."

Her brows raised in skepticism.

"Really," he assured her, smiling briefly. "The properties of the No'tyss were ingested during the ceremony and whomever a person ended up with was who they married."

"Nice," she chimed in sarcastically.

"Mmm. Apparently the people of Iut agreed with that assessment, because the society began to rebel against the ritual and there was a huge uprising, during which, all the flowers were destroyed. All but a few. And those last few are very carefully cultivated and displayed in their temple as a sacred relic."

She grinned. "Which you licked."

"Which I licked," he agreed.

"Because you can't keep that tongue of yours where it belongs," she said absently, her mind slipping into private thoughts, eyes shifting to stare at the wall to his right.

Sliding a hand down her arm to her hand, he lifted it to his lips, wanting her attention back on him. "Maybe if you'd been with me instead of off looking at that hideous painting... really, cats playing poker? I don't get it. It's much funnier with dogs. Especially dogs with no noses."

She hummed in agreement then shook herself out of her thoughts.

Brushing back a lock of hair that fell forward, he turned her to face him. "Where'd you go?"

A shoulder lifted in a sloppy shrug. "Just thinking."

Sliding his eyes away from hers for a moment, he straightened in the bed and raised his knees, resting his arms on them. She'd been drifting into her thoughts a lot lately. And he knew why. He didn't think she'd realized anything as of yet, but she was bound to start noticing soon. Fingers brushing her forehead, he asked, "What is it?"

He ached to enter her mind, to go in fully, not just the nudge he'd done earlier, and see her thoughts, to flick through them like a child's flipbook, watching them move and turn and grow into the Rose he knew, but he resisted, curling his fingers away from her skin.

The rules he held to were solid and unchanging: never go into someone else's mind without their permission or knowledge. And with Rose, that went double.

Beside, she wouldn't appreciate the gesture for what it was unless she knew, and he couldn't tell her that until he told her other things.

"What happened on Satellite 5?" The question, coming from partially out of the blue, wasn't as startling as it should've been.

He'd been expecting it for some time now. More so since her trip into his mind. Things were different between them and there were almost no more secrets. He'd regained her trust, yes, but he had yet to share the details of what she'd done on Satellite 5. What she'd become. What she'd given him back.

Settling against the pillows, he drew her with him and stared into the mirror across from them, trying to think of how to start. Having had a month or more to prepare, he still hadn't come up with the right way to explain it all. The truth was the truth and she'd get that, but he didn't want to upset her. "What do you remember?"

Her hand fidgeted on his stomach as she curled into his side. She thought about his question, sliding a finger back and forth below his belly button. "Light. Mostly I remember this... golden light. And singing." She raised her head and looked at him, eyes wide and nervous, then blurted out, "I can tell time without looking at a clock. Without thinking about it."

"I know." His arms tightened on her. "Remember when I said that only you could cure me?" She nodded. "It had nothing to do with who you are, and everything to do with what you've become."

She frowned at him. "What do you mean--"

Holding her tighter against his side, he said, "I think there're some things we need to talk about..."