Post "New Earth", Rose is on the verge of a revelation...
This is a sequel to my stories, "02 00a The Heart of the TARDIS" and "02 00b - 03 00 You Kissed Me". It's important to this story to remember that Chapter 1 of "You Kissed Me" ended with just a tiny peck of a kiss...
I don't own Doctor Who. Nor do I get anything from writing these stories - except wonderful, constructive reviews! Wink, wink; nudge, nudge ;)
As yet un-beta'd.
"Is that what that taste is?"
The Doctor blinked at Rose's non sequitur, continuing her brain scan and glancing between his seated companion and the monitor situated beside the exam table.
He had just explained to her why she wouldn't retain any memory of hosting Cassandra's consciousness, but that was a good thing; comparing it to how her human mind had protected itself from the enormity of the Time Vortex...
"What taste's that?" he asked, moving the sensor above her forehead.
Her eyes were thoughtful as she swept her tongue across her teeth behind closed lips. "That taste," she repeated. "Is that from havin' somethin' in my head? More than just the slightly psychic, everyday variety? Only it's..." she broke off, shaking her head gently as she took a moment to deliberately slide her tongue along every accessible surface of her teeth, inside and out.
The Doctor swallowed hard as he refocused on the scan.
"It was there after Bad Wolf, when I woke up," Rose went on. "It was there just a little bit, but I was distracted. But now," she rolled her tongue again with a contented sigh. "It's so much more," she explained. "Fadin' fast, but it was really strong when she first jumped into you, the first time I got my brain back."
The Doctor's own brain raced to an unbelievable - but enormously self-satisfactory - conclusion: she could taste his kiss! Her - their - kiss!
His train of thought then promptly came to a screeching halt as Rose closed her eyes to continue savoring - she hummed, practically moaned, really. He tightened his grip on the sensor, amazed that he had managed not to drop the device. "Better than chocolate," she sighed. "Tell me where we can get this without the brain compression, yeah?"
"Yeah," he breathed, mouth agape and hand stilled as he watched Rose lick her lips. A small smile had formed on those lips.
It was all he could do not to shout that the feeling was completely mutual. This him, this regeneration had come into being with the taste of her on his own teeth.
Oh, and not only could she taste it, but she liked it. Really liked it...
"All done?" Rose asked, her eyes suddenly wide open and questioning.
The Doctor snatched his hand with the sensor from where it had been hanging, unmoving, in mid air beside her temple; and turned to stare intently at the monitor. "All done," he confirmed. 'Completely done for' might be more like it. "No lasting damage," he assured her, not quite ready to meet her eyes.
"Ya sure?" she asked, a note of concern in her voice as she slid to her feet.
How not to raise her suspicions? She seemed ready enough to let the matter drop... The Doctor buried his hands in his trouser pockets, resolutely keeping them away from the back of his neck. Or hers. "Yep!" he told her, with his best 'well, that adventure's over with' grin, turning towards her at last.
"A'right," she allowed, smiling at him in return. "I'll hit the shower before we eat, then," she said, moving to exit the med bay. "Although," she added, pausing with a hand on the doorway, shyly biting her lip, "maybe I'll hold off on the food, for just a little while."
The Doctor gritted his teeth painfully as he affected a hopefully nonchalant air. He could tell she was tasting again...
"Mmm," she hummed with a shake of her head. "Yeah, just a while."
The end.
(Well, technically, the follow up to this particular story can be found in Chapter 6 of "02 10 Love and Monsters". Writing "Better Than That" seems to have gotten my brain into the mood for filling in long-ago series gaps, even while working on "Blink" and "Utopia" type stuff!)
Tune in next time for "02 03 School's Out". Or, maybe I'll actually get to work on a "Tooth and Claw" piece, if the inspiration strikes, someday... (Please, feel free to prompt me, if you have ideas for that episode!)