Just a quick little one-shot I wrote for Valentines, but forgot to put up here xD

Pairing is Doctor/Rose, but I mostly imagine Nine. It can be Ten if you so wish :)

Disclaimer: Doctor Who is owned by the BBC. I'm not the BBC. Therefore, I don't own Doctor Who.

There are times (when the Doctor admits he needs sleep, when he finally closes his eyes, when he succumbs to his body's demand of rest) when he doesn't want to wake up.

There are times (rarely, often following one of the rare days of peace, when it's nothing but sunshine and laughter and Rose) when his dreams are full of joy, of things he never dares to think about when he is awake. Things like family, and children, and long life and forever, when the universe isn't always taking everything he loves and instead repays him for his service, gives him everything (or as near to everything as it can manage) that it has taken from him.

There are times (growing with more and more strength and familiarity) where he doesn't know if he's awake or asleep; when the reality is just as pleasant as the dreams, when the dream becomes the reality, when reality bleeds into the dreams. Sometimes days, weeks pass and he's happy (though never joyous, never able to forget).

There are times (golden-soft, sugar-sweet) when he knows that the distinction between reality and dreams is blurred, and that because he is in one doesn't mean that the other isn't true. Dreams can become reality, and reality can become a dream.

There are times (moments) when he can believe that one day, he would no longer have the need to dream, because everything he could ever wish for would one day be fulfilled, that he no longer had to atone for his crimes, that he no longer had to be alone, that he no longer had to bury the darkness within for the light from without would banish it.

For he has a name for those times, those moments, those perfect memories that are his for the making, that make the thoughts and dreams almost real. A name that surrounds the dreams, surrounds his reality, surrounds his scarred and healing heart- a name that means the universe to him.

And that name contains the thorns and the smile and the fight and the compassion and the stubbornness and the innocence that make up his companion.

And that companion makes up his universe, his reason for life, his current dream.

And his current dream is made up of Rose, and the small, yet powerful, timelines that are firmly intertwined with his. Timelines that stretch on forever, and though he cannot see his future, he can see that she is in it, and they are living the dream he dreams when he believes that they all can be fulfilled, that the dreams become his reality, that he wouldn't have to wonder if he was awake, for every day will be filled with sunshine and joy and he always wants to wake up to face the day with her, by her side.

There are times (when the Doctor admits he needs sleep, when he finally closes his eyes, when he succumbs to his body's demands of rest) when he doesn't want to wake up.

But until the time his reality is better than his dreams, the dreams are all he has, and he will fight in reality to keep those dreams alive.

For Rose is worth all his dreams, all his reality, and he can never stop fighting to keep her in it.