"You all right, Rose?" the Doctor asked.
"...Yeah…" she replied distantly. "Why?"
"You seem a little subdued," he answered, moving two steps to his left and flipping a switch.
"Not your normal gorgeous, scintillating self," Jack added. "Still gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but no scintillating. Still upset about Mickey?"
Rose shook her head and bit her lip. "Not-not exactly." She looked at Jack and then glanced pointedly in the Doctor's direction.
Jack got it. "Well, if you want to talk, sweetheart, you know where to find me-"
"-Naked, though, yeah?" Rose teased. "I'll pass, thanks."
Jack winked at her, stood up, and stretched. "I am heading off to bed, actually-though sadly, very much alone." He made doe eyes at Rose and then at the Doctor. "Don't suppose there's any chance of company..?"
"Good night, Captain," the Doctor ordered him, with just an edge of amusement in his voice.
Rose chuckled and exchanged grins and quick kisses-on-the-cheek with Jack. "Night-night, Jack."
Jack sauntered out the door, and the Doctor and Rose exchanged amused eye-rolls. He pulled down a lever, checked the display, and then came and sat down on the jump seat next to Rose. He patted the seat next to him.
"There now. Now that Captain Jack Horniness has gone, want to tell me what's wrong?"
Rose smirked at Jack's new nickname, but then sighed and sank down beside the Doctor. "It's kind of about Mickey, yeah," she said. She caught the Doctor's expression of wary dread, and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not gettin' all domestic. It's just that tonight I looked at myself through a different lens, and I didn't like what I saw."
"How d'you mean?"
"Well, I know it's important, what we do. We go around saving worlds, correcting timelines, freeing slaves and that-but really, how does that stack up against how much I've hurt one of my closest friends? Mickey and I've known each other our whole lives, an' I know he's not ambitious or nothin', an' he's not a genius, but he ain't stupid, an' he's a good guy. A good friend. He was even a good boyfriend, when we were together. He deserved a lot better than he got from me. I've been actin' like everyone else is more important than he is, but they're not, are they?"
"Really want me to answer that?" the Doctor teased, putting his feet up on the console.
Rose elbowed him in the ribs. "Nah, you'd probably say the slime-slugs of Sorellin Seven are more important than Mickey an' you know it!"
The Doctor grinned. "Sorellin Seven doesn't have slime-slugs."
Rose raised her eyebrows. "You are so full of it. You mean there really is a Sorellin Seven?"
"Yeah, 'course there is. It's an ice planet, though. No slugs, slimy or otherwise."
Rose shook her head, chuckling.
"So you and Rickey officially split up then?" the Doctor asked casually.
Rose nodded. "He's seein' someone else now. He told me."
"Is that what's got you upset?"
She shook her head. "No, not really. I'm-I'm kind of dismayed to realize how little upset I am over it. Which only adds to my guilt about how I treated him and what a horrible person I am."
The Doctor snorted. "Like hell you are."
"No, really!"
"Rose, listen to me. You made a spontaneous decision to come with me, and it had consequences. This is one of them. Yeah, you might've treated poor old Rickey like yesterday's news, but the thing is, now that you realize it, you won't do it again. Will you?"
"Not if I can help it," Rose said firmly.
The Doctor nodded. "That's what we do, Rose. We do our best; we learn from our mistakes; we try to fix them if we can, and if we can't, we move on and try not to make 'em again. That's all anyone can do."
Rose stared at him, thinking it over. "But what does it say about me that I made the mistake in the first place?"
"What, comin' with me?"
Rose laughed. "'Course not, you ass. Comin' with you was the most brilliant thing I've ever done. No, I meant how I treated Mickey. That mistake-takin' him completely for granted."
The Doctor shrugged. "So learn from it. Don't take people for granted."
"Right."
He went on, holding up a finger to make his point. "And don't go 'round callin' yourself horrible, either," he ordered. He reached out and put his palm against her cheek. "You're fantastic, Rose Tyler. Completely and utterly fantastic. Don't you ever forget that."
Rose's face lit up with the biggest smile she'd ever had. She pressed his hand against her face, and then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
The Doctor blinked at her in surprise, dropping his feet to the floor and touching his cheek with his other hand. "What was that for?"
Rose shrugged. "For you."
He stared at her, his intense blue eyes boring into hers. With his hand still on her cheek, he tilted her face up, leaned over, and gently kissed her lips.
It was chaste and sweet but his lips lingered there, and when it ended she licked her lips and asked him in turn, "What was that for?"
The Doctor grinned. "Oh, well. You caught me. That was for me, too."
Rose started to smile. "Was it, now? Don't you think it's about time I got a little something for me, then?"
"Seems fair," the Doctor agreed, smiling.
Rose slid off the seat, went directly in front of him between his knees, and snogged the hell out of her Doctor.
There was a stunned, terrifying moment when he made no response at all, and then everything clicked into place as his arms slid around her and he hauled her up flush against his body and started returning her kiss.
When it ended, Rose rested her forehead against his and stroked his shoulders with her hands. She was out of breath.
"Been wanting to do that for a while?" the Doctor teased quietly. Then he sobered. "I know I have."
Rose nodded against his forehead, smiling. "Since I got you back after I killed you in 1987," she said. "Wha' about you?"
"Thought crossed my mind in 1889 Cardiff, but I've been thinking 'bout it a lot more since I got you back from the dalek after I thought I'd killed you."
At that, Rose had no answer but to kiss him again-an act in which he eagerly participated.
This time it went on so long that Rose had to end it first, so she could breathe. The Doctor rained ardent kisses down her neck and throat, and made her gasp. She drew him into a closer embrace, resting her head on his shoulder.
He rested his cheek on her hair and just held her close. After a while, he spoke. "So, is this-" he paused and cleared his throat self-consciously. "Is this how you want things to be now? Between us?"
Rose raised her head to look him in the eye from a distance of three or four inches. "Depends. Is this how you want us to be?"
"I asked you first."
Rose rolled her eyes. "What are you, six?"
The Doctor shook his head. "Nope, I'm nine hundred and seven. I'm just a coward, is all. Is this what you want, Rose? Me? This homely face on a bitter old warrior who looks like he's your mum's age?"
"You mean my absolutely brilliant, absolutely gorgeous best mate, who happens to be the most intelligent, brave, and compassionate man I've ever known? Yeah," she said simply. "You're who I want, Doctor."
"You're completely daft," was his brusque reply.
"Good match for you, then," Rose retorted with a grin. Then she sobered. "But are you sure I'm what you want, Doctor? Me, all selfish and human and petty, a stupid ape who left school and never even got her A-levels? Who probably couldn't have got them anyway? A bottle-blonde little chav from the council estates, whose highest ambition before you picked me up was to work in a shop? And who completely abandoned her family and friends to fly off with you?"
"Well, let's see," he replied, having listened to her diatribe with increasing amusement. "You workin' in a shop now?"
"No."
"You honestly think I care about A-levels? After our adventure with Adam, you think I care about that?"
She smiled ruefully. "Well… no."
"Think I care what your hair looks like? Seriously?"
Rose giggled. "I guess not."
His gaze sharpened into blue lasers, fixed on her face. "You ever gonna abandon me with no warning and go off with someone else?"
"Never!"
"Well, then," he said. "Guess there's no more to be said. You're who I want."
Rose's eyes filled with tears, even as she beamed at him.
"Here, now, what's all this?" he asked, gently wiping a stray droplet off her cheek.
"Nothin'. It's just, I'm really, really happy," she replied, still smiling. "An' I'm exhausted and my emotional control is shot. But I'm really happy!" she ended with a sniff.
The Doctor chuckled, stood up, and extended his hand to her. "Come on, then, pretty little ape. Let's get you to bed."
"Uh, Doctor," Rose asked, taking his hand and stumbling out after him.
"Yeah?"
"That's not like a Jack line, is it? You tryin' to get me into your bed?"
He laughed aloud, brassy and happy in a way that Rose hadn't heard him laugh before. "You wouldn't want to get into my bed, trust me. It's filled with spare parts from the entertainment system we picked up on Tranellia. I haven't slept in it for weeks."
"Where d'you sleep, then?"
"Mostly I don't. Don't need to. An' I don't like to, much. Bad dreams."
"Yeah, me too, sometimes. Well, come on, Doctor. You're getting some sleep tonight, whether you like it or not."
"You trying to get me into your bed, then?"
"Nope. Succeeding." Rose gave him her biggest smile, with a bit of tongue in the corner, and he capitulated.
Rose led him to her room and went into the bathroom to wash her face and change. She came out fresh-faced and sleepy-looking, and slid into bed. "Come on, then."
The Doctor rolled his eyes and shook his head, but took off his jacket and carefully hung it up on the bedpost. His boots came off next, and then he slid into the bed. "Come 'ere," he said. Rose curled up in his arms and he pressed a kiss to her hair. "Night, love." He pronounced it the Northern way, so it came out sounding like "luv."
Rose smiled and closed her eyes. "Night, my Doctor."
They slept, and neither one was bothered with bad dreams that night.