*Author's Note: Couldn't resist a little smutty epilogue, complete with DTens giggle reference. Thanks for all the lovely reviews, I really appreciate them!*

A horned beast stood in front of Rose, towering above her and straining against its shackles. It growled, empty eyes burning straight through her, and then it spoke the Doctor's words with the Doctor's voice.

"I can see all the ways this might end for us. Tens of possibilities flashing in my mind and all leading to the same point. There's only pain."

Rose cowered before the demon as its face morphed into the Doctor's. But the voice changed too, and she recognized it from a few days earlier, when it spoke in her head on Krop Tor.

"The lost girl. So far away from home. The valiant child, who will die in battle, so very soon."

Rose knew she was dreaming but she was unable to pull her consciousness to the surface. She thrashed in her sleep, trying to break free, and finally did when she felt cool lips on her shoulder and a low voice in her ear.

"Wake up, Rose," he murmured, voice thick with sleep. "I've got you. I've got you, wake up."

Finally drifting back to reality Rose stilled, slowly opening her eyes to take stock of where she was and why the Doctor's voice was coming from behind her.

Right, she was in bed in her room on the TARDIS. It was early still, seeing as how the ship hadn't started to bring up the lights yet. And she was clutching something to her sternum, holding it so tight her fingers ached. Looking down to investigate she found it was the Doctor's arm, flesh gone white around her clasped fingers, that she was holding against her chest. Her very naked chest. Memories from last night flooded her mind, temporarily pushing thoughts of her nightmare aside, and her stomach fluttered.

The Doctor was behind her - spooning her - because they had really fucking amazing sex last night. It was more than that, much more, but to her sleep-clouded mind that bit was the easiest to process.

"You with me?" he asked, voice tickling her ear.

"Yeah," she breathed, sounding shakier than she would have liked. Rose relaxed her grip on his arm and mindlessly rubbed his finger-dented skin while she became hyper-aware of how much of his body was touching hers; his chin nuzzled into her neck, his chest flush against her back, his bent knees fit into the crooks of hers. She flushed thinking of other parts of them that were touching.

"What were you dreaming about? Do you remember?"

"It was the beast in the pit, I think," she said, furrowing her brow against the pillow. "But it was you, too."

"Hate to think you had a nightmare about me." He planted a kiss on the freckle on her shoulder.

"No, it wasn't that. It was what you said, about us not being happy..." she paused, closing her eyes, the visions of her nightmare coming back. "And what it said about me dying. Everything else the beast said was true, wasn't it?"

"Welllll, more or less," he said and she could feel his lips moving at the nape of her neck. "But you're not going to die, Rose. I won't let you."

"But you said, for us it ends in pain."

"Not like that." He held her tighter against him and kissed a pattern across her shoulder, creating constellations. "Not like that, I promise."

"Okay," she said, fears alleviated in three short words. Sure, there was still the threat of pain, but as long as she was alive nothing would be insurmountable. Not when it came to her Doctor.

They laid in silence for a few moments and Rose was beginning to wonder if he had drifted back to sleep when his arm in her clutches began drawing circles on the inside of her wrist. His touch warmed the vein beneath it, as it always did, and it began to travel through her - though this time it moved faster, spurred at the memories from last night. Real memories, not just fantasies, of the Doctor pinning her wrists above her head, lips trailing down her throat.

She felt the flush growing on her chest again and hoped it would stop before it reached her shoulder, where his chin was nestled. Hoped he couldn't see it in the dark.

"Rose," he said suddenly, bringing her back to the present. "I've been thinking about something you said yesterday, too."

"Hmm?" was all she could muster in response as he gently pulled his arm from her grip and brought it lower, tracing ovals across her stomach.

"In the abandoned space station, you said something I've been wondering about."

He propped himself up on his other elbow, giving himself better leverage to plant a slow, lapping kiss to her neck. Rose sighed, leaning her head back against his shoulder. She inhaled him, that sharp scent of autumn now mixed with a hint of something musky, something she suspected she may have contributed to creating. His hand was brushing a vertical line now, from her belly button to the top of her ribcage.

"You said you thought about me..." His fingers grazed her breast. "When you were alone..." His fingers slowly traced her nipple. "Here in your room." His fingers dragged over her peak, softly then harder, circling then pinching. A breathy moan grew in Rose's throat and she arched into the touch, feeling him hard at the small of her back as she did so.

Rose didn't know what she expected the next morning to be like when she fell asleep in his arms, but she was fairly certain simply waking up with him still there would have been thrilling enough. Now, as The Doctor's hand moved to taunt her other breast, her mind could barely process that they were doing this again, that it was okay for them to be doing this at all.

It terrified her and it thrilled her, creating an exhilarating rush that prompted her to push her bum against his cock. The Doctor's hand froze for a second as he moaned above her ear, and Rose shifted her head on the pillow until his eyes came into view; they were hungry, his pupils large and dark. She worried about what she looked like, probably all bedhead and blushing, but was soon distracted by his tongue wetting his lips. By his lips meeting hers.

His hand abandoned her breasts to encircle her waist, pulling her closer to him, as if that were possible; their legs tangled, his hips pressing into her back, her shoulder pushing against his chest. It was an awkward angle, with Rose half twisted, but they didn't mind, lost in each others mouths as they were. He pulled her bottom lip between his teeth and let it go, giving them both a moment to take a few deep ragged breaths.

"Show me," he said after a moment, fingers dancing along her navel.

"Wha-?" She was confused, as to what he was talking about, as to why his lips weren't on hers anymore.

"Show me what you did when you thought about me, alone in your bed," he grinned wickedly at her, dropping his mouth to her neck and latching on. He drummed his fingers against the skin below her belly button, waiting for her to catch up.

Not needing to be told twice, er, thrice, Rose covered his fidgeting hand with hers, guiding it downward until both of their fingers dipped into her wetness. The Doctor groaned at the sensation and released her neck. Rose had a feeling he was watching her face then, but she'd never know for sure as her eyes were squeezed shut, lost in the feel of the two of them touching her there, together.

She slid his fingers over her clit, back and forth, circling, setting him up in a slow rhythm before letting go to clutch at the duvet. He kept at the pace she set, then began to increase speed in steady increments, until she bucked against his hand, welcoming yet warding off the urge to come. As much as she craved the release, she needed more, she needed longer.

As Rose fought to hold on she thought of earth's neighboring planets trying to outrun the dying sun, but inevitably it would overtake them all, one by one by... fuck. Was that? Yes, it was. The Doctor's cock was slowly slipping inside her before she'd even known it was there. As he inched deeper, Rose reveled in the soreness from last night - he was bigger than most, and it had been a while - but the slight pain only pushed her closer, edging her toward the ledge.

She let her head fall back against the pillow, one hand grasping at the sheets, the other reaching behind her to grab his bum, nails burying in his skin, pushing him on. His breath came in quick pants, tickling the hair that was starting to stick to her neck. With her last coherent thoughts she remembered the times he held her down, when he tried to call it off, when the blasted asteroids crashed into the space station. He thrust into her particularly deep and she clenched her muscles tightly around him.

They were both falling now, over the precipice and into the abyss, but there was no beast to be found at the bottom. Quite the opposite. The Doctor groaned against her shoulder, finishing with three quick pumps. Rose gasped into her pillow, a failed attempt at being quiet out of habit, forgetting there likely wasn't another living soul for millions of miles.

When she had caught her breath Rose rotated to her other side and leaned her head against his chest. The Doctor rested his chin atop her head.

"I'm still upset we missed it," he whined, after a while.

"I don't know about you but I didn't miss anything," she said, feeling sleepy again.

"No, the end of the world, Rose. I wanted you to see it."

"Mmm, but I found something better to do." She closed her eyes.

"I've got it! There's a storage station just on the other side of the earth, still in orbit when the sun dies, and the captain's quarters has a viewing window. I'll land the TARDIS there and-"

"Don't you dare!" she shouted, suddenly awake. She ran a finger along his ribs, eliciting the most adorable giggle, and he wrapped his arms tightly around her so she couldn't do it again. Rose smiled against him, content in her Time Lord cocoon.

"Besides, I like that we were doing... what we were doing when the earth died," she said. "We got our start at the end."

"That we did," he chuckled, kissing the crown of her head. "Rose?"

"I know."

Oh, she knows.