Author Note: This fic will cover The Empty Child through The Christmas Invasion, but I'll go as light on the rewrites of what we see as I can; rewrites have already been done, and well, by others. There will be more scenes we didn't see, adventures that got referenced, and original adventures.

I'm not sure how long this will be, exactly, which isn't very typical for me, but I need a looser format to help balance my other projects, and I've been mulling this story over since before I finished Western Immersion. I have scenes I want to share with you, and the story will be as long as it needs to properly cover them all.

Chapter Summary: A little recap, then picks up after the events of The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances.

The Doctor wasn't always in bed when Rose woke. He usually stayed with her at least until she fell asleep. Her favorite mornings, though, were the ones when he'd needed sleep himself, staying through the night with an arm holding her against his chest.

When she rolled over and found his side of her bed empty a few weeks after they'd left the historical immersion, she sighed before smiling to herself. She knew by the time she got up and got dressed, he'd have breakfast ready for her in the galley. That part of their routine hadn't changed at all with their relationship.

Being together had made things better, mostly, though she was almost dreading their next trip home. Even if he went along with it, she knew the domestic stuff with Jackie was hard on him. She rolled onto her back and smiled at the ceiling, remembering their trip home to tell Jackie they were together. The look on his face when her mum had hugged him goodbye had almost been worth the stress on both their parts.

And then there was Mickey. Her smile fell. She still needed to tell him. She and Mickey weren't properly together, had been falling apart before the Doctor showed up, and she thought her goodbye before entering the TARDIS had been pretty clear. Still, though, she should probably make sure he knew that they were over, that she and the Doctor had changed things.

Rose got out of bed and studied the clothing options the TARDIS had given her for the day; the ship always kept Rose's favorites on hand, but there were almost always a few new things she could try, too. She grinned again as she selected her shirt, trying to imagine the Doctor's reaction to her wearing the Union Jack across her chest.

As much as she knew that she should talk to Mickey, as much as she knew her mother would like to see her again, this time alone with the Doctor, not having to worry about anyone else, had been fantastic. They could get to know each other under these new circumstances, and when it got a little too domestic, they went out for an adventure.

It was almost perfect.

Of course there were still times he shut down, hid behind maintenance or just plain hid somewhere in the ship, but those times were less frequent now, she thought. She left her room and headed for the galley. Her breakfast was on the table, but the room was empty.

"Doctor?" she called. No response. Shrugging, she sat and started eating. He was probably doing some of that maintenance or something, and he didn't always stay with her through breakfast. He'd still taken the time to make her something he knew she loved.

She'd almost finished when the ship shook. Rose let her fork fall to the plate with a clatter and jogged to the console room, clutching at a wall when the TARDIS shook again.

"Sorry, Rose." The Doctor looked up from the console, grinning distractedly before returning to what he was doing. "Bit of an emergency."

O~O~O

The Doctor spun her around before bringing her back to him, a little closer than the dance called for, his steps sure against the grating of the console room, his eyes never leaving hers. She knew the steps, and he made it easy to follow along, his gaze almost magnetic.

Rose grinned, and his stare finally broke, his eyes flickering to her lips. She licked them almost automatically, though she drew the motion out longer than she needed, and she was rewarded by the darkening of his eyes when they returned to hers.

Still, their steps never faltered.

On the last notes of the song, he dipped her backward in a flourish, the loss of eye contact and sudden change in position dizzying, her weight held securely in his arms, and she laughed. With his help, she straightened, her body coming flush against his, and she giggled against the skin of his neck. He chuckled, moving his hand to her waist, holding her close, his body tight with awareness.

Rose jumped when their newest passenger spoke.

"I think you two are too good together for me to cut in." She could almost hear the grin in Jack's voice as he finally addressed her offer. "If you ever decide you want a third partner, though…"

Rose turned, the Doctor keeping his hands loosely around her, and she leaned back against his chest while facing the smirking former Time Agent. "No, ta. I think we're good with just the two of us."

"Well, if you ever change your mind," Jack said, raising his eyebrows, "just let me know, will ya?"

The Doctor wrapped his arms farther around her waist, and she saw Jack's smile soften from lecherous to something a bit more genuine.

"Sure, we'll get right on that." Rose grinned, making sure tone and expression conveyed polite disinterest, and he nodded at her.

"Appreciate that." He looked around the console room as the music started again, a slower, sultry tune.

The Doctor bent his head to Rose's ear, his breath caressing her skin. "One more dance?"

Biting her lip, she closed her eyes and nodded before turning back to the Doctor. She looked over her shoulder at Jack. "If you wanna wait in the kitchen, I'll be with you shortly to give you the tour." She looked back at the Doctor, who nodded, watching the Captain.

"Second door to the right." The Doctor tilted his head toward the corridor. "And don't go wandering. TARDIS doesn't know you yet and might let you get lost. She won't let you go anywhere dangerous, but she does have a sense of humor."

"Got it."

When Jack left, the song started over, and Rose turned her attention to the Doctor. He'd been acting different today, and she thought he was either upset she'd been in danger or he was jealous about Jack. But she was fine, and in the meantime, she'd found someone who could help, hadn't she? And as for Jack, she'd made it clear they could never be more than friends.

What she saw in the Doctor's eyes now, though, it wasn't anger or jealousy.

It was lust.

His eyes were dark again, once more fixed on hers. He started leading them through the steps, forward, back, around, keeping their hips close. This wasn't a dance Rose knew, but he made it easy to follow, each step building the heat that simmered between them.

It reminded her of their first dance, in the historical immersion, when they weren't even in a relationship yet, only pretending, but she'd been unable to fight the attraction. So had he.

It reminded her of their exchange earlier tonight, before Jack had rescued them, full of heat but not much in the way of actual movement.

It reminded her of falling into bed with him, the first time, every time, the possessive gleam in his eye tempered by his gentle, knowing touch.

They moved forward, his hands dipping lower, his face moving closer, his body language screaming.

Mine.

They moved back, and she tilted her face toward his, stopping with millimeters between their lips.

Yours.

She knew her breath was uneven, coming hard from the exertion, from his proximity, and she could feel his breath against her lips, similarly affected despite his biological advantages.

In and out, their breath, the dance, until the music tapered to an end and they stilled.

"I should probably make sure Jack didn't get lost or anything." Rose's voice came out in a rough whisper, and she swallowed.

"He's a captain, Rose." The Doctor's lips brushed against hers as he spoke, and her breath hitched. "Or at least, that's what you both insist. He'll be fine for another minute."

He finally, mercifully closed the gap between them-or maybe she had, she couldn't say at that point, didn't care-pressing their lips together, their bodies still flush as they tasted each other. He ran his tongue along her lower lip before deepening the kiss, and she fought a whimper, knowing he'd already look smug when he pulled back.

Sure enough, when the kiss ended-it had probably been more than another minute-he was wearing almost a smirk. The combination of it, though, the confidence, the certainty that he knew what she liked and that he could do it well, along with the hooded eyes and the hardness against her that let her know she wasn't the only one affected…

She swallowed again, reminding herself that there was someone waiting for her, that the Doctor would probably join her after she'd gone to bed, that it wouldn't be appropriate to shag against the console when Jack could walk in at any moment.

Not that Jack would likely mind.

The Doctor took a deep breath through his nose, then rested his forehead against hers. "You smell fantastic. Go take care of what you want before I let you drag me to bed and have the captain sleep in the kitchen."

She kissed him again, a quick slide of her lips against his, then walked away before she could decide that the kitchen wasn't so uncomfortable after all, that Jack would be perfectly fine sleeping there if the TARDIS didn't show him to a room. She focused on steadying her breathing, on bringing the color out of her cheeks as she walked through the hall.

Rose didn't do as good a job as she'd hoped; the first thing Jack did when she entered the kitchen was take one look at her face and smirk.

"Took you a while. Long dance or a quick-"

"Jack," she interrupted, disapproval ruined by a laugh. She didn't know yet whether the Doctor meant for Jack to stay long-she'd need to talk to him about that tonight before sleep-but it had been ages since she'd had someone to joke about things like this with. The Doctor was her best mate, sure, and he could be downright goofy at times, but they didn't talk about sex until right before they'd started having it.

It was different.

"Sorry, sorry, I'll stop." Jack held up his hands, a genuine grin on his face. "I mean, I can't promise I'll never tease you about it, but it's not gonna be every other sentence."

"Appreciate that." Rose shook her head when she realized she'd echoed Jack's earlier words, and she gave the other man an appraising look.

She'd been interested in Captain Jack Harkness from the start. Not in the way she'd normally be interested in someone so attractive-and she did have to admit he was that-but in his charisma, in the fact that she somehow knew he was good even when all signs pointed to his being nothing but a time-traveling con man.

Finding out he'd lost his memories and was trying to get them back had only enhanced that. He was a good man, she was sure of it. He just needed more chances to make the right choice. And even though she enjoyed having the Doctor to herself when they were on board the TARDIS, if he left it up to her whether Jack stayed on board or was left at the nearest port, she'd pick the former.

Jack raised his eyebrows, a mischievous quirk coming into his smile, and Rose realized she'd been staring as she considered him. As promised, though, he resisted making a comment, not that he needed to with it written all over his face. She rolled her eyes and gestured back out to the corridor.

"Come on. Let me show you around, see what sort of room the TARDIS picked out for you."