The Doctor felt the duvet lift and the bed dip as Rose sneaked in beside him. Smiling, he rolled over and wrapped his arm around her waist, meeting her eyes in the dim light. "All right?"

"Yeah, think they're just still getting used to sleeping on board," she said quietly, snuggling closer to him.

"Ah." He slipped a leg between hers.

She wriggled around a bit, trying to get comfy. "Doctor?"

"Mm?"

"It feels good, doesn't it? Being back on a TARDIS."

He grinned excitedly. "Our TARDIS."

"Yeah." She grinned back, then wriggled again, restless.

"Rose?"

"Yeah?"

He slid his hand down to her bum, and gave it a gentle squeeze. She rocked into him eagerly, and he laughed. "You're very randy this evening."

"What gave you that idea?" Rose replied innocently.

"Perhaps - and this is really just a stab in the dark - perhaps the way you're practically grinding against my thigh?"

"Oh, that…" She bit her bottom lip, giving him an impish smile. "Dunno, it's just been a bit sexy, you being my driving instructor, and all that."

"Shame you're such a bad student."

"Oi! I'll be flying this ship single-handedly by next month, bet you ten quid."

"If you say so," he replied with a snort, and leant in to kiss her on the lips. Then, he moved his mouth to her neck, and she groaned, scrambling for a grip on his pyjama shirt, moving it up to get her hands beneath. The Doctor continued, "You know, I think Joseph can follow my instructions better than you, and he's six."

She huffed. "Well, we can't all have a bit of Gallifreyan in us, can we?"

He lifted his head to grin salaciously at her, dipping his hand under the waistband of her pyjama bottoms. "Oh, would you like some?"

"That is the cheesiest fucking line you've ever said to me, and that's saying something."

The Doctor shrugged. "Funny that you often say that, and still have sex with me anyway. Might suggest that those awful lines actually work, so really, what does that say about your judgement, eh?" he teased.

Rose rolled her eyes and trailed one of her hands down to cup him. "How's about you stop talking and take this opportunity of the kids finally being asleep to - "

He sucked at the curve where her neck met her shoulder, and her sentence was abruptly cut off with a moan. She gave him a squeeze and he groaned right back. Hands rushed about between them, shoving fabric out of the way just enough, just what was necessary, and after a quick exploration with his fingers, the Doctor slid himself into place. Rose's hands landed on his bare bum and dragged him closer, angling her hips so that he could go deep.

He grabbed the headboard with one hand, to steady himself, but it ended up being the perfect leverage to give his thrusts some extra momentum. Their skin grew slick between them, their remaining clothing sticking to them as the heat built up, and Rose's cries grew louder. She moved her hands up to his hair, tugging at the strands to encourage him as his face buried into her neck to nibble and suck, and her legs lifted to wrap around him, urging him to move his hips faster.

And then, the Doctor slowed to a stop, murmuring, "Rose, shh, did you hear - "

She whimpered in frustration but strained her ears, and realised he was right; the baby monitor positioned on their chest of drawers was starting to emit noise. Hannah was stirring.

"Just wait," the Doctor whispered, stilling Rose as she tried to wriggle free. "She might go back to - " Hannah started to cry, at that point, and he sighed. "Oh. Okay then, maybe not." He eased out of Rose, wincing as he pulled his pyjama bottoms back up.

Rose panted for a second, trying to get herself under control, then wriggled around to pull hers back up, too.

"No, it's all right," the Doctor said softly, dropping a kiss to the freckle on her shoulder as he sat up. He'd willed his body to calm down, and felt much more capable of rational thought, now. "You got her last time, I'll go."

"You sure?" she asked, biting her lip.

"Course." He smiled, grabbing his dressing gown.

"You might be a long time. Might be asleep when you get back."

"That's all right. You have some solo time to ease that rampant desire of yours, and tomorrow we'll have vigorous morning sex to make it up to me," he suggested with a wink, and Rose laughed.

By the time he had settled Hannah again and returned to his and Rose's bed, Rose's eyes were closed. He chuckled to himself when he got under the covers and realised her pyjama bottoms were back around her knees.

"Don't laugh," she murmured sleepily, turning over and snuggling into his side. "It was necessary."

"Yep." He kissed her sweaty forehead affectionately and, wrapping his arms around her, tugged the bottoms back up her legs.

She yawned into his shoulder. "Ta."

"Welcome," he replied, catching and mirroring her yawn.

They drifted off to sleep.

::

In the morning, Rose slowly awoke to the feeling of the Doctor's erection pressing against the small of her back, and she grinned. She rolled onto her front, smiling into the pillow for a moment as she tried to summon the energy to do what she really wanted to do; namely, participate in the idea he'd had last night about vigorous morning sex. When she lifted her head to look at him, however, she realised that her plans would have to be postponed. Ava was toddling into their bedroom holding her toy sonic screwdriver and rubbing her eye with her free hand. Rose's heart melted, as it often did when faced with the adorable sleepy face of one of her children.

"Mummy?" Ava said, as she tried to clamber onto the bed.

Rose giggled and untangled herself from the covers to lift her daughter up, "All right, sweetheart?"

"Yeah. What's that humming sound?"

Stroking through Ava's honey blonde hair as she cuddled her, sitting crossed-legged in the middle of the bed, Rose explained, "It's the hum of the TARDIS, remember? It's nothing to worry about, it just means she loves you."

Ava's face lit up. "She loves me?"

"Of course she does! Remember how Daddy told you she was alive?" Ava nodded. "Well, she's part of the family, and that means she has a connection to us inside our heads. Just like you and your brother and sister and Daddy do."

The little girl nodded again, taking this in, but then her forehead creased into a confused frown. "So you can hear her too?"

"Yep!"

Her frown deepened. "Then why can't you hear us?"

"Oh. Um, well, I'm just plain old human, aren't I? But you lot, you're special. Daddy's special, and that specialness is part of you. So you can sense each other, in your heads."

"It's 'cos we're sort of aliens," announced Joseph, as he joined them in the bedroom. "And Mum isn't."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Well, that's relative, isn't it, Joey? 'Cos strictly speaking, I'm the alien one on this ship right now."

Joseph grinned, jumping onto the bed and curling up on Rose's other side. She smiled down at him, and tickled his belly. Through a squealing laugh, he said, "No, no don't! Mum that tickles."

"That's the idea," she said, nodding, and Ava started giggling. But she relented, and Joseph wrapped his arms around her, cuddling her sweetly. "What's got into you, hmm?" she asked with a laugh, wrapping one arm around him and keeping her other around Ava.

"Just excited," he said happily.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah! How long are we gonna be out here in space? Because whilst it's infinitely better than being in school, I do need to contact Isla at some point to let her know when we'll be back - "

"Don't worry, Joseph," came the sleepy voice of the Doctor. "We have a time machine; we'll get you back to your girlfriend in no time."

Joseph's face flushed red. "She's not my girlfriend," he protested, scrambling away from Rose to poke his Dad in the arm. "I'm six! I am far too young to settle down," he finished with a sniff.

The Doctor just laughed.

"Remind you of anyone, Doctor?" Rose grinned, watching her son's fluffy brown hair practically quiver in indignation as he listened to his father laughing at him.

Joseph folded his arms, glaring at them. "Isla is just my friend."

Ava piped up, "You do hold her hand, though. I saw you."

"That's - that's -" Joseph spluttered.

The Doctor rolled onto his back and put his arms beneath his head, chuckling at his son. "Must admit, didn't expect him to be quite like this quite so young."

"Dad, don't talk about me like I'm not even in the room!"

"Sorry," the Doctor said sheepishly, before sharing a smile with Rose.

"Where are we off to today, then?" Rose asked, tactfully changing the subject. Joseph shot her a grateful look, and she thought to herself that she might be the favourite parent today. It alternated daily with Ava, but with Joseph it was usually quite clear that he was in awe of his father to a degree to which Rose privately admitted made her a little bit jealous, occasionally.

"Joseph, pass me the book, please," requested the Doctor, as he grabbed his glasses from the bedside table. Joseph dove off the bed to the other side of the room, grabbing the journal in which the Doctor and Rose had written down all the places they wanted to check up on in this universe; places they'd been to in the prime universe, places they'd heard of through Torchwood and wanted to show the kids, and places the Doctor had previously wanted to take her but hadn't had time to, back when they'd had the old TARDIS.

Joseph handed the book to his Mum, and Rose grinned. Yep, definitely the favourite of the day. Rose flicked through the book with her eyes closed, opening it to a random page. When she saw what she'd landed on, her eyes misted over just a little bit.

The Doctor frowned, concerned, and moved to the centre of the bed to see what she was looking at. Then, he smiled. "New Earth it is."

"Remember our second first date?" Rose said softly. The Doctor stroked his hand down her back, and she gave a pleasant shiver.

"Hopefully we won't bump into any cat nuns today," he retorted.

"Cat nuns?!" demanded Ava. "Tell me everything!"

Joseph rolled his eyes. "Why have you got such an obsession with cats? They're horrible."

"You're just saying that because Isla's cat hissed at you," Ava said back, poking her tongue out at her brother.

The Doctor nudged Rose and giggled. "Our children," he murmured happily.

She gave him a peck on the cheek and moved to get up. "I'll just go and get Hannah, she'll be hungry," she began, but the Doctor drew her back towards him. "Yeah?" she asked, watching him closely. He was giving her such an intense look that her heart leapt in her chest. Funny, that he could still do that to her, even after all these years.

And then he smiled at her, and leant in for a soft, tender kiss on the lips. "All right then," he murmured, when they pulled back. Ava and Joseph were making disgusted noises at their display of affection, but he ignored them. "You get the baby and I'll sort out these two monkeys."

She briefly stroked at his greying sideburn and smiled back. "Yeah."