Rose drummed the fingers of her right hand against the arm of the chair she was sitting in while holding a book in the other, trying and failing to get lost in the pages. She sighed, looking over her shoulder at the door of the TARDIS, the same door through which the Doctor had left nearly three hours ago. He had told her not to worry - they were in 29th century London, and he was dealing with a gang of humans who had gotten a hold of alien technology that they shouldn't have. He insisted she stay in the TARDIS simply because it wouldn't be that exciting of a mission and he also didn't want them getting at any more alien tech - namely the TARDIS. But still, she wasn't sure it should be taking him so long.

Just as she had almost made up her mind to go outside the TARDIS to look around, the doors burst open and she jumped up. The doctor rushed in, slamming the doors behind him, racing for the control panel and immediately starting the TARDIS up. Rose stood, watching him racing around the controls.

"Doctor?" She took in the extra messniness of his hair and the flushed tone of his skin. "Did it go all right? Where are we going?"

"Into the vortex, we're going to park for a while…" His eyebrows furrowed further as he went to the other side of the console, furiously typing in commands and throwing switches.

Rose put her book in the chair and walked over to stand next to the console, but as she did, he rushed to the other side. "Doctor? Is everything all right?" She was starting to get concerned at his behavior - it was unlike him not to come back from a successful mission all smile, insisting they go somewhere nice to celebrate. Very rarely did he manuver the TARDIS into the vortex to idle. Something about him seemed off. She walked over to where he stood, and as soon as she reached to touch his arm, he tensed, jerking away from the console and running down the hall.

Rose felt annoyance flood through her. He couldn't just run off and not tell her if something was wrong. She stalked him to his bedroom, the one part of the TARDIS she had only glimpsed a few times. "Doctor, wait!" She shoved her hand out just as he was shutting the door, and he stopped, centimetres from shutting her fingers in the doorjam.

"Rose…" His eyes wouldn't meet hers, which angered her further.

"Tell me what happened," she demanded.

"I can't right now…" She heard a tension in his voice that she had never heard before. The veins and tendons of his neck were standing out, and his hands were balled into tight fists.

Rose pushed at the door, opening it against his grip, but he retreated from her. "Doctor, please, what happened?"

He took a sharp breath. "I handled them, they were making drugs with alien tech, I destroyed everything, but they managed to inject me with a high level of oxytocin, so high that I'm having trouble staving off the impulses that come with it."

"But you'll be all right, won't you?"

"I'll be fine, once I manage to get my levels within normal range, but that won't be for at least twelve hours."

"Twelve hours!" Rose stepped forward, her former annoyance giving way to concern. She reached out, but the Doctor hissed, retreating further into his room.

"Rose, you have to get out of here."

She shook her head. "No, I'm not leaving you like this, I can't. Let me help you, what can I do?"

"Rose…" Her name seemed to tear itself up from his throat. His eyes looked up and locked with hers, and she was immediately frozen by their intensity. She could feel her heart begin to pound. The gaze she was receiving reminded her of a hunter looking at its prey. Her thoughts ceased to make sense, and she could feel her knees becoming weak. "Rose, you can't be here."

"And why the bloody hell not?" She demanded, returning the gaze with a demanding but less effective version.

Suddenly he had crossed the room and was standing less than an inch away from her. Every hair on her body immediately raised, drawing her closer to him. A haze formed in her mind and though she tried to fight it off, she was completely aware of his proximity to her and how badly she wanted to close the distance between them. His eyes held hers, and their intensity only increased. She felt his deep breaths hitting the cool skin of her neck, the feeling intoxicating…

"Rose, do you know what oxytocin does? What instincts it triggers? Specifically in Time Lords? It triggers our sexual desire more than anything. And levels as high as the ones my hearts are pumping right now make it hard to think rationally. Make it hard not to…" His voice trailed off as his thoughts did, but he shook his head, taking a step back. "You need to go."

"No."

"Rose…"

"No!" She took a step into his room, which sent him retreating backwards. "I'm not just going to leave you, I want to help you, just tell me what you need…" She looked down at his fists, still curled into balls. "You're obviously in pain, and you can't ask me to just leave you like this."

"Rose, leave."

"NO!" She turned and slammed his bedroom door shut, and he slammed himself into the far wall.

"Rose, you don't know what you just did!"

"I shut a door, Doctor. Because I'm not letting you shut me out!"

"Rose, I told the TARDIS to lock my door until my oxytocin levels are back in normal range. There's no getting out of this room until they go down, and you just…"

"I locked myself in here with you, so what?"

"ROSE!" He yelled, and she jumped, finally startled. "You have no idea how painful this is...the urges I'm trying to control right now, how badly it hurts to barely hang on...that's why I wanted the door locked, to keep me away from you so that I didn't...I couldn't…"

It finally clicked in her mind. He was turned on to the max, and her presence only made it worse. She reached out her hand, but jerked it back to her side. "I just wanted...to help…"

"You've helped enough, Rose." He sank down to sit on the edge of his bed, and she could hear his short, shallow breaths as he refused to look at her.

"I'm sorry…" She felt her throat closing, heat welling up behind her eyes. She'd managed to hurt the Doctor, cause more problems for him. She always seemed to cause more trouble for him than he would have without her. She swallowed thickly, and her eyes caught the doorway to his bathroom. She opened her mouth to speak before deciding against it, and quietly slipped into the bathroom, closing the door behind her, hoping that the lack of her presence would help him.

She stepped into his walk-in shower and sat down on the cool tile of the shower floor, drawing her knees up. She tried to suppress the tears, but she couldn't help but think of how she had, once again, ended up making a bigger mess. She caused him pain, the one thing she didn't want more than anything. Not only that but, and this was a reaction she couldn't fully make sense of, she felt hurt that he would rather be in pain than ask her to help him...knowing that the help he needed would be of the physical nature. He would rather be in pain than to let her touch him, to try and ease the burden of the chemicals racing through his blood…

She covered her mouth before she could let out a sob, still confused at her own reaction. She knew he didn't see her as anything more than a friend, a companion to travel across time and space with. But at the same time, she couldn't help the feelings she had towards him, and her heart's wish that he felt the same. She couldn't deny that she loved him. Which is why her heart broke at the knowledge that she was hurting him.

Hot tears rushed down her cheeks as the thought entered her head : What if he wants me to leave for good?

The Doctor attempted to relax his muscles after he heard his bathroom door close. He fought against each individual muscle to unclench, the chemicals in his bloodstream unwilling to abate. He pushed harder, wanting to at least be able to talk to Rose, to apologize, to explain that it was only the effects of the oxytocin. He hadn't meant to be harsh, but she had no clue how hard he had to work to keep from jumping on top of her, ripping her clothes off, making her soft flesh respond to his touch…

He groaned lightly as he pushed away the images that made his muscles tense harder and sent his hearts pounding even harder. He tried to think of something else, but he couldn't - he could only think of her. So he slowly let his mind reach out, letting his body reach towards hers on a different level. Slowly, he began to feel her pulse running down the hairs of his arms. Her heart rate was elevated...and her breathing was off…

All thoughts of her naked body were thrust into the corner of his mind as concern took center stage. His ears picked up a small sob from the bathroom, even though it was obviously muffled by something, perhaps the sleeve of her jumper...He hadn't meant to hurt her, but could he really have hurt her that badly?

He was torn between staying exactly where he was at, where she was safe, and going to see if she was all right. He wasn't sure he could control himself, but he couldn't let her cry…

He slowly allowed his muscles to move, to carry him to the door of the bathroom. His hand itched to twist the doorknob, but as his heart pounded, he knew he wasn't strong enough to resist being so close to her soft white skin, to keep from pressing his lips against hers…

The Doctor shook his head again, trying to concentrate. "Rose?" he said lightly, trying to keep his voice soft and steady.

"I'm sorry," he barely heard her whisper, maybe not even meant for him to hear. He felt his resolve weaken at the light sound of her pain-filled voice, but he kept his hands firmly at his sides.

"Please, Rose, you're fine, I just don't want to end up hurting you. I've never dealt with anything this high in my bloodstream, and I don't want to risk my urges getting the best of me." He paused, listening for her to respond. The only thing he could hear was the sound of her hitched breathing and drumming heart. His hand reached up against his will to touch the cool metal of the door. "Rose? Please, I didn't mean to hurt you. I don't want to hurt you."

"I hurt you," she whispered, and he heard her voice shaking.

"Oh, Rose. I'll be okay. Few hours, and I'll be back in tip-top shape. We could get some supper at that diner in 2314 that you liked so much…" He heard a sob burst from her lips and he opened the door before he could stop himself, feeling the burn of the oxytocin as it gained a few milliseconds of freedom. She was sitting in his shower, her face buried in her hands. He inhaled, and the scent of her skin, her hair, it nearly intoxicated him. He clenched his fists again, trying to maintain his focus.

"Rose…" he whispered, kneeling down in the doorway.

"Go away, I don't want you to be hurting because of me," she murmured.

"Now I'm the one not leaving you, Rose. You can't help this, but I can. I didn't mean to be harsh. It's hard to control my baser impulses with this much oxytocin in my body, and I don't want to end up being unable to control it and hurting you or...forcing you…" He swallowed hard as the image of him pressing her up against the wall entered his mind, and he fought it back as quickly as it had come.

"What if I want you to?" Her voice was barely a breath, and he wasn't even sure he heard her correctly until she lifted her head, tear-soaked eyes gazing into his. "What if I want you to, just knowing it would help you? You wouldn't, would you?"

"Rose…" His breathing hitched again, and his hands felt like heavy magnets being pulled to her, and he could feel his control slipping at each word that passed her sweet lips.

"No. You wouldn't. Because all I seem to do lately is hurt you or make things difficult." He watched another tear fall down her cheek, and pain ripped through his chest.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"I don't care."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"I don't care."

"Bloody hell, Rose, I'm trying to protect you!" He stood up, ready to retreat again, but she stood just as quickly.

"Stop trying to protect me. You think you'll hurt me, but I know you won't. You'll try to keep me safe even if it distracts you from whatever mission I've managed to screw up!" She took a step forward, and he matched it with a step backward. "Stop trying to protect me, Doctor. Don't shut me out. Please." She took another step, and he tried to lift his foot but was unable. The smell of her skin was stronger, and it filled his mind. He knew, somewhere deep inside him, that she was right - he wasn't sure he could hurt her, but he didn't exactly want to experiment. He was physically stronger than her, and with the oxytocin throbbing in his blood, he didn't want to test his limits on her slight body. At the same time, he wanted her so badly, he couldn't make himself retreat any further. He felt his cock throbbing in his pants, simply from the scent of her. He kept pushing down the images that kept popping in his head.

"Doctor," she said, taking a large step that closed most of the gap between them, and he stopped breathing. Her hair glistened in the dim light, and her eyes twinkled with her fresh tears. "Stop protecting me from you. I want to help."

"Rose, you don't know what you're asking…" He choked out.

Her eyes fixed themselves on his with the same intensity as they had before, only this time they were softer, loving even. "Take me," she whispered.

"Rose…" Her words made every part of him harden instantly, especially the parts inside his pants that were straining so hard to get out. "I...can't…" He was panting for breath now, the fight inside his body so painful it was almost blinding.

"Take me, Doctor." She raised her hand, and her soft fingers brushed his cheek. "I'm yours, just take me."

His walls snapped, and his hands grabbed her shoulders and shoved her back against the wall of his bedroom. She was able to gasp out for breath before he smashed his lips onto hers, tongue darting out to taste the soft skin of her lips. His hands wrapped around her wrists, slamming them against the wall above her head. Her back attempted to arch against the wall as his lips moved down to her neck, devouring the skin there, taking her breath away.

"Rose," he murmured against her skin, "are you -"

"Doctor, just fuck me." His hearts nearly jumped out of his chest at her words, and his lips found hers once more as his body crushed itself against hers. If she had any doubts about how turned on he was, they were gone now as he ground his pelvis into hers.

Rose gasped for air inbetween his kisses, letting his tongue explore. She felt her own body giving way to its own basal desires as her hands slid up the back of his shirt, feeling the smooth skin, gently raking her nails against him as he pressed his erection harder against her. Suddenly the wall behind her was gone, and her eyes snapped open as she found herself on the floor on her back as the Doctor bent over her, resuming his consumption of her. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her so close that she was afraid she would be completely consumed by him, absorbed into his own body. Her hips thrust themselves upwards to connect with his, and he groaned at the pressure against his groin, throbbing to be released. As his hands snaked up the back of her shirt, one of her hands reached for the front of his pants, fumbling to get at the button and zipper.

One of his hands nudged hers out of the way as he ripped his zipper down, and his pants were quickly gone. Rose eagerly returned his kisses as she felt the fabric of her shirt become torn away from her body, his hands grabbing at the button of her jeans. The cool of the air on her skin made the heat of his body against hers feel almost unbearable. She was lost in a sea of sensation, stranded by his touch, his lips against hers. As suddenly as she had found herself on the floor, they were both entwined without the barrier of their clothes. Every cell of her body was humming with electricity, feeling his skin against hers without restraint, feeling him giving himself to her.

She felt his erection against her thigh, and she couldn't help but slide her hand between them to lightly stroke him, making him gasp into her mouth. She hummed with approval, feeling him, feeling his whole length, considerably larger than her fantasies had been able to come up with. A feeling of intimidation swept over her before his hand covered hers, guiding him to her entrance.

"Rose…" he breathed, "I need you to be sure…"

"I'm sure." She pulled his hand close to her entrance, so that he could feel how wet she was for him. "I need you, Doctor."

"Mmmm…" He hummed, slowly pressing himself into her, and sparks popped in front of her eyes as she felt him filling her...filling her so full she felt she could burst...but then he moaned into her neck, and she felt herself clench at the sound of his ecstasy, which made him begin to throb inside her. "Oh, Lord, Rose…" He gasped, barely moving inside her and yet already on the edge.

Her hands wrapped around him, pulling him to her, crushing his lips back to hers as he began to slowly pull himself out of her, and then back in, causing her to let out a moan of her own. He fed on the sound, his body responding as he had never felt before, a furious need for more of her, more of her skin, more of her gasps and moans. He thrust himself into her again, deeper, until she cried out - from pain or ecstacy, he couldn't tell, but her fingernails scratched at has back as he pulled out again, her hips thrusting up to meet his. They were both gasping in time together, their barriers pulled down, nothing between either of them but their own skin. They grabbed and thrust against each other as though even this was not close enough.

"Rose...I can't...I'm…" He gasped as he felt himself nearing his edge, knowing he didn't have the willpower to stop, feeling the intensity of his impending orgasm as an oncoming train…

"Ah! Doctor!" At his words, Rose exploded around him clenching him, drawing him further, milking him, and suddenly he was falling over his own cliff, crying out her name as his orgasm pounded through him, seeming to suck every ounce of him to be poured into her. They both collapsed under the aftermath of the powerful onslaught of their mutual orgasm, Rose's eyes fluttering shut as she gasped for breath alongside him.

Neither of them could find the right words, any words, and neither of them wanted to break the feeling between them as they laid there on the floor, entwined with each other, fingers tangled in each other's hair, hearts pounding.

The Doctor could have laid there forever with her in his arms. He couldn't think of a time in his very long life that could even come close to the pure contentment that he was feeling at this moment. She was like a sun, and he was the planet orbiting around her, soaking in the heat of her.

Slowly, his thoughts gathered, and he took a mental inventory. He could feel the oxytocin quickly abating in him system, having been fully sated. Rose...he hadn't meant to be so rough, but he didn't regret a moment. She seemed unhurt - her heart was fluttering at a normal speed again, but her breathing gradually slowed as she slipped into unconsciousness. He looked at her, basking in the glow of her. Just looking at her, it felt as though his hearts could shatter at any moment. He had never cared for another being this much.

But she was human. She was not like him. She could be hurt. She could die. She would die. Each second was another second older for her, and another second towards her death. How could he allow himself to do something that was guaranteed to hurt him - possibly beyond repair? This was one of the reasons he hadn't wanted to admit his feelings for her - self preservation. He also didn't want to take away her chance at what would be a normal life for her. He wanted to believe she could be happy with another human, someone who didn't put her life in danger at least once a week. He didn't want this lonely life for her. She deserved so much more than even he could give.

He heard the TARDIS disengage the lock on his door, and realized that his blood levels were back to normal. He wanted to get to the infirmary, though, to run a few tests, make sure that he was back to his old physical self. Rose was so deeply asleep that she barely twitched as he lifted her into his arms and gently laid her in his bed, pulling the covers around her. She murmured in satisfaction, but didn't stir. If he was quick, he could be holding her before she was able to make one REM cycle. His fingers brushed the hair out of her face, and he allowed himself to lightly kiss her forehead before heading to the infirmary.