The Doctor rolled his eyes as Jack let yet another local pull him under the mistletoe. By his count, the captain had been kissed fifteen times in the last twenty minutes, which had to be some kind of record—even for Festivia's Mistletopia. Jack winked at him over the broad shoulder of the blond man he was currently engaged with, and the Doctor chuckled.
His gaze wandered to the dance floor, where Rose was spinning around the room with a young woman. He was too far away to see the sparkle in her brown eyes, but he could easily imagine it.
Rose threw her head back and laughed in response to something the woman said, and the Doctor felt his hearts clench. Seeing Rose happy was all he'd wanted since the day he'd met her.
For months, he'd tried to keep his feelings for her under wraps, hiding behind words like, "Considering that you're human." He'd told himself Rose wouldn't want a damaged soldier like him, that she deserved better.
But recently, things had started to shift between them. He remembered the conversation and the dance in the basement of the hospital, and the willing way Rose had curved into his arms.
The Doctor closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Rose had been shooting him glances across the room all night, and he didn't think he was imagining the hope in her eyes. And if he was, well… kissing under the mistletoe offered a certain amount of protection. If she laughed it off as being just tradition, he didn't have to tell her it had meant more to him.
It took him a few seconds to find Rose again when he opened his eyes, and when he did, he immediately set out across the room. Rose was only a few feet away from a bunch of mistletoe, and Jack Harkness was working his way towards her.
The Doctor reached Rose seconds before Jack. He reached for her hand and pulled her close, ignoring the smirk on Jack's face as he did.
"I just wanted to let the two of you know that I learned about another version of this event with… racier overtones. Some of my new friends and I are going to check it out, so don't wait up."
Rose laughed as Jack sauntered off. "Of course Jack found a festive orgy." She turned towards the Doctor and put her other hand on his arm, leaning into him slightly. "You sure got here quick when you saw him coming towards me. Captain envy again, Doctor?"
The feel of her hand on his arm and the challenge in her eyes gave the Doctor the last bit of courage he needed. He put a hand on her waist and spun them until they were beneath the nearest bunch of mistletoe.
The Doctor looked up at the ceiling significantly, not wanting Rose to miss where they were. "Been planning to get you alone all night."
He felt her breath hitch and she placed her hands on his chest. "Yeah?" she breathed.
"Yep."
She bit her lip. "Because a mistletoe kiss is tradition?"
The Doctor shook his head. "No. Because I want to kiss you." He watched her carefully, saw her eyes dilate. "That all right with you, Rose Tyler?"
She swayed closer to him and licked her lips. "Yeah."
The Doctor smiled, then leaned down slowly, closing the distance between them. He saw Rose's eyes flutter closed, then he bumped his nose against hers, getting a soft giggle in response.
To his surprise, she wrapped her hands around the lapels of his leather coat and pulled him down as she pushed up on her toes.
When Rose's lips touched his, the Doctor felt timelines expand. Potential future kisses opened up, leading their relationship along paths he never thought he'd get to explore with Rose.
One kiss just over the horizon glowed a brilliant gold. It was tempting to take a peek at it, to see what was coming in his future.
Instead, he turned away from the timelines and focused on the woman in his arms and the softness of her lips. Kissing Rose was everything he'd ever wanted it to be, and this was only the beginning.