She was fidgety on that ride home, fumbling with the hem of her shirt and the locks of her hair, tongue running across her lips and eyelashes fluttering as she looked everywhere but at him. The city lights sometimes lit up her face, making her all the more captivating as she struggled to find the words she'd held so close to her for so long, and he knew she wanted to give them away, but it was difficult to do so to someone so familiar yet so foreign.
"What are we going to do now?" she said. The way the bus clattered almost engulfed her words. "You still don't have the TARDIS, and we're stuck here still, even after a month…"
"Rose," he said with a small smile. She didn't catch her name.
"Not that it's a problem, it's just that I don't know what to do, and to be honest I haven't been sure what to do for a while now since my goal was only to find you again-the Doctor again, I mean."
"Rose," he repeated, and laughter tugged at the tone of his voice, so that she faltered for a moment but pushed onwards.
"I'm a mess, yeah?" she chuckled. "It's not like me, Mum's said so herself-"
"Rose!"
She made an attempt once more to ignore him, trying to distract herself from something they both had been nervous approaching, but in the moment she was so enticing and he decided it was time to bridge the gap. His lips were electric against hers. She didn't say anything else as he cradled her.
"How are you feeling?" he murmured as his lips pecked the tip of her ear.
"A bit tired."
"A bit?"
"Really tired." She shifted her head. "Doctor-" She stopped, their gazes finally colliding with each others after years of avoidance. A second passed and she cleared her throat.
"Doctor."
"Yes?"
"I…" She titled her neck. "I think…"
"Hmm?"
Her arms tightened around his neck. Their bodies were burning, coupled by the heater blaring uncomfortably against their feet, streetlights temporarily blinding them, but somehow dazzling all the while. She kissed him tenderly, gently, apologetically, desirably.
"I think I love you."
She was tempting to kiss again. "You think? Rose Tyler, defender of the universe, only thinks?"
"Surprisingly."
"In that case, I think I love Rose Tyler, defender of the universe."
Instead of meeting his lips again, she only nuzzled into his shoulder. "Are we almost home?"
It was funny she'd ask such a thing. He knew the area as well as she knew the rest of the universe he had experienced without her. "Yeah, we're almost home." It was the first home he had known in centuries.