Written for the New Who Fic Olympics on Tumblr.
Rose had been driven to the point of exhaustion, hiding in mud holes and basements, escorting dozens of runaway slaves through a series of tunnels and forests and towns. The Doctor was impersonating a visiting noble from another country, and it had been weeks since they had last seen each other. The Doctor had finally arranged for safe passage for all the slaves off-world, where they would colonize a moon and build their own society; those that had been over the slaves would move on, learning how depend on themselves and fair labor.
When Rose finally made it back to the TARDIS she collapsed onto the jumpseat, and barely protested when the Doctor carried her to bed. Three hours later, however, she awoke from a nightmare, and after taking a long shower and throwing away the clothes she had been wearing she tried again.
The Doctor, of course, noticed immediately when she wandered into the kitchen after a sleepless night, and it didn't take much for him to tell her the story. Rose was soon recounting sleepless nights hiding from enemy soldiers, hearing the screams of those she couldn't save as the soldiers murdered her charges just a few feet away. He had taken her in his arms not two minutes into her story, and when she was done he didn't reply, merely cuddled her closer. She knew what he couldn't say- that he understood the horrors of war, that he had experienced them time and again, that while he regretted the losses he was so, so grateful that she was still alive. Rose clung to him tighter.
He encouraged her to spend a few hours in the hot tub, which the TARDIS had decorated to look like a hot spring on the side of a mountain; Rose sunk into it gratefully, working out the aches that were still present in her muscles.
Eventually the Doctor came to get her, and after Rose changed into comfy pyjamas and dried her hair, she went to the console room as requested. She was surprised to see the console looking more yellow than normal; concerned she headed towards the doors, which were cracked open. "Doctor? The TARDIS looks different. She isn't sick, is she?" She walked out, then gasped.
In front of her, the Doctor was standing by a nest of soft blankets and pillows, his jacket, tie, and trainers off. What arrested her attention, however, was their surroundings.
They were underwater. Literally. Yet she was completely dry and standing on some sort of force field, and the fish were swimming through the Doctor and, to her astonishment, the TARDIS. "How…?" she breathed.
"Force field, and we're slightly out of phase with reality," the Doctor said. "We're sort of… hmm… slightly to the left of it?"
Rose shook her head. "Doesn't matter. It's… it's beautiful. Where are we?" She asked, as she watched a brightly colored fish hovering above the blankets, which were conveniently piled under an overhanging of coral.
"About four hundred years before the first colonists, in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia," he replied, positioning himself in the blankets and patting the spot next to him with an outstretched hand. She quickly took it and sat down beside him. "One of Earth's true wonders, I think, along with a spot in the Amazon I found in my Fourth life."
Rose curled into his side and grinned as small, bright blue fish swam through them. "This is so surreal. I feel like I should be underwater, but it's like I'm in a very convincing 3-D theatre. It's gorgeous, though."
The Doctor was looking at her, a soft look in his eyes, and Rose watched the patterns from the waves and sunlight play across his face. "How long were you planning this?" she asked.
He shrugged, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "A few days? Before we left Fdoan." He watched a manta ray glide by. "I thought that it would be a good surprise."
"It's the best surprise," she said, and spied a pair of yellow fish hovering near the top of the TARDIS. "What are those?"
"Butterfly fish," he replied, his mouth near her ear. She shivered. "They're… one of the few species of fish that mate for life."
"They're beautiful," she said, as they disappeared through the TARDIS, only to appear below it. "What if the other one dies?"
"Then they live out their life alone." She looked at him, and he looked distant. "They rarely reach a decade of life."
She touched her hand to his cheek and turned his head so he would face her. "You're supposed to be cheering me up, remember?" Rose said, smiling. "And besides, I'm hardly a butterfly fish. I'm more… I'm more like an angelfish."
"I'm the butterfly fish, Rose," he said, much to her surprise. "When I choose a life partner, it's forever- long-lived, my species, it's not in our interest to have several partners."
Her heart ached for him. "Then your wife on Gallifrey…"
"Arranged marriage." He replied. "By that point we didn't put too much stock on emotional attachment, focusing more on political gain. But I digress. When I choose a mate, a bond-partner, that's it for me."
Rose swallowed, firmly keeping the small flame of hope diminished. "Why are you telling me this?"
He looked at their entwined hands. "When I found you in that hut, Rose… if that treaty had been signed an hour later, you would have died. I realized that I almost lost you."
She shifted so that she was kneeling beside him. "I'm here, Doctor. Forever, remember? I'm never going to leave you."
He nodded. "And I can never let you go."
When he pressed his lips to hers, Rose had the overwhelming urge to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. It was… fantastical, like something out of a fairytale, and even the odd green and purple fish swimming through the Doctor's ear wasn't enough to convince her. Then her brain promptly reminded her that he was kissing her and she gave up and kissed back.
She knew there was something he wasn't telling her. Rose had heard the door of the hut open and saw him enter, looking frantic, nearly shaking as he pulled her into a tight, desperate hug. The Doctor was determined to keep her ignorant. She would never know about the soldiers who were en route to her location, only five metres out before the declaration about the treaty was made; how he had found her covered in blood and thought for a second that he had been too late. The paralyzing fear and the knowledge that he had almost lost her melted away into relief and a desperation to be close to her, and something in him had broken. At that moment, realizing that he had almost lost her, the Doctor realized that a life of having Rose Tyler by his side was worth the darkness he would face without her, and he'd rather run the risk of losing her after having Rose in every way he dreamed then face a lifetime of regret.
When she had stepped out of the TARDIS, it had taken all his willpower to not take her in his arms then and there. The ache he had for her was burning at the best of times, and as he kissed her it grew to a crescendo that left no doubt in his mind how this would end. The Timelines shining around them were brighter than he ever dared to imagine.
Rose pulled away from his kiss on a gasp, confused but elated. "What just… I never thought… why now?"
She watched as he swallowed. "I realized that the regret wouldn't be worth it," he said. "But if you don't want this, I can-"
"I want it," she interrupted, scared that he would somehow talk himself out of it. "I've wanted it for over a year now. Even before you regenerated."
He released a shuddering breath. "Good," he announced, and kissed her again.
This time Rose kissed back enthusiastically, determined to match his sudden passion even as he pressed her against the soft cushions. She wrapped her arms around him, one hand plunging into his hair as a group of green fish made a halo around his head. A manta ray swam above them, casting a brief shadow over their bodies, before diving down to coast along the top of the coral.
His mouth was cool against hers but in a pleasant way, a way that contrasted to her burning heat in a way that fanned the flames rather than tempered them. It was alien against her mouth and where his hand had slid under her top, a reminder that things would never be conventional- but if Rose wanted ordinary she'd have stayed on Earth. Her hands busied themselves with the buttons on his oxford, grateful that he had shed the tie and jacket before coming outside.
An assortment of striped fish swam up through them and darted to her right, and but Rose was distracted with his bare chest. Her fingers explored the newly revealed skin as the hand not supporting her back palmed her breast, causing Rose to arch into him and shiver as he learned the ways to get her body to respond.
Rose began shoving his shirt off as he was removing hers, and after they untangled themselves to remove the fabric they were immediately pressed against each other, the Doctor tracing long fingers up and down her sides as traced his spine. She could feel him hardening against her thigh and wrapped a leg around his waist to grind up against him.
The Doctor pulled away from the kiss to groan into her neck. "Rose," he muttered, then kissed down her neck. "You're gorgeous."
"You haven't… oh… you haven't even seen me," she managed to say, turning her head to allow him better access to that glorious spot he had discovered.
He finished his mark and kissed it. "Don't have to, you being naked doesn't make you any more beautiful than you normally are." He made his way to her breast, saying, "You're stunning whether you're in nothing or completely covered in a paper sack."
Rose would have summoned the energy to roll her eyes at the cheesy reply, but his tongue was doing something magical to her nipple and she whimpered instead.
As their hips ground and rocked against each other, Rose watched with absent eyes as brightly colored fish formed a kaleidoscope of color and movement; it was overabundance of sensory input, the feel of the Doctor against her, the slightly salty scent of the ocean that couldn't quite disappear, the taste of his kiss and quiet moans and whimpers that he probably didn't even know he was making. It was overwhelming it the best way and she pulled him up to her, claiming his mouth in a frenzied kiss as she fumbled with the button and zip on his trousers.
He slid her sleep shorts and knickers off easily as Rose finally got the button free, one finger immediately going to her clit. Rose keened, arching against his hand as he stroked it expertly. She ignored pushing his trousers and pants away in favor of simply sliding her hand into his pants and grasping him, setting up a matching, if somewhat restricted, rhythm to match his own. He growled into their kiss and bucked into her hand as she felt him hardening, and only when he pulled away to shove at his clothes did Rose let go, gulping in air as she kicked her shorts off spread her legs so he could settle comfortably between them, wrapping one around his hip.
"Need you," she whimpered, feeling as though she were on fire and half-crazed from desire. "Please, Doctor…"
He pressed his forehead against hers. "Forever, Rose," he whispered, and when Rose echoed it he slid inside her.
Rose moaned as he trembled, waiting for her to adjust even as he felt like he was going to be consumed by the heat that surrounded him. He knew that humans were hotter that Gallifreyans, but it was a sensation that was both devastating and addicting. If he had denied it before, he knew now that he had always been lost to her. It was a defeat he gladly accepted.
The Doctor watched, mesmerized, as the sunlight through the water played across Rose's face, her eyes closed and her expression one of rapture. She was breathtaking, and his- he had claimed her and now, no one and nothing would tear them apart. He pressed himself closer against her, his cheek against hers. "My Rose," he whispered as Rose squirmed against him. "I've wanted you for so long… wanted to feel your tight heat surrounding me, the taste of your skin, the sound you make when I touch you, your expression when you come. I've wanted to taste you ever since you wore that denim skirt in Cardiff, and fuck you ever since the basement during World War Two. You have no idea how many times I've wanked to thoughts of you in my room."
Below him, Rose whimpered, licking her lips as she dug her nails into his back, and he knew that she was leaving scratch marks. He didn't particularly mind. "You feel divine, and- fuck," he swore as Rose bit down on his shoulder. "Rose, if you don't stop…"
She moved her lips to his ear. "Make me."
He growled, and nipped at her neck. "Minx." He pulled out of her despite his entire body protesting against the action, and Rose let out a soft cry in protest. "If you don't behave you get punished."
Rose shook as she scrambled to get near him. "Fuck, Doctor, we can play games later. I just need you inside me. Please!"
And because he couldn't stand to be away from her, he obeyed her command and Rose was soon writhing beneath him. "I'm so close," she panted, as she stared up at him with hazy eyes. "Doctor, please, I need…"
He angled himself so he would rub against her clit. "Anything, anything for you, My Rose," he admitted.
"My Doctor," Rose said, and let out a hoarse cry as she came.
The feeling of her clenching around him was his undoing, and after a few short strokes he was spending himself inside her, clinging to her in desperation and joy and disbelief. He realized belatedly that Rose was crying, though he knew from her startled laughter that it was out of joy. "I…" she started, then shook her head. "I can't believe we did this. I'm… It's like something from a dream."
He smiled into her shoulder. "If it makes you feel better, neither can I."
Rose pressed a kiss to the side of his head, and he immediately moved to claim her lips with his own. She kissed him back lazily, drained from her sleepless night and their love making.
He curled against her back after he had carefully cleaned them and Rose had started to doze off. "Sleep, my precious girl," he whispered. "I'll be here when you wake."
Rose awoke slowly, feeling the solid presence of the Doctor behind her and smiling contentedly. If she had thought that their activities were a dream, the erection against her bum and the pleasant soreness in her thighs proved her wrong. "How long was I asleep?" Rose asked, groggily, as she pressed against him. The ocean was dark, only a few fish still darting around the reefs.
He hummed and palmed her breast. "A while. I left when you were sleeping to check on the TARDIS. Her energy levels are still good, but we'll make a short hop to Cardiff after we're done here, maybe explore good ol' London Town in the seventeenth century. What do you say?"
"I think… I think it sounds wonderful," she admitted, sighing as he slowly entered her. "Now that we've finally had sex, are you always going to be this incorrigible?"
He smirked. "There's some things about Time Lords that you need to remember, Rose," he murmured. "We're possessive, we're thorough, and we always, always get what we want."
She whimpered when his fingers started tracing patterns on her clit. "You forgot… one thing…" Rose gasped.
"What?" he asked, as he nibbled on her earlobe.
Rose pulled herself away from him, and as he floundered slightly from the surprise she was rolling him over and settling herself on top of him. "Humans are impatient and impulsive and stubborn." She leered at him even as she began to slide down his body, her hand stroking his straining length.
He admitted to himself, privately, that she had won that round. But as soon as they were in the vortex he was going to make himself at home between her thighs and not leave for a day.