Note: This story hasn't been beta-ed... my apologies for any mistakes that I missed. And sorry if it's just fluffy nonsense, and smut... there was no one to hold me back.
The Doctor awoke slowly, the pleasant warmth of Rose snuggled into his side making his mind a bit sluggish. He pulled her closer and she sighed in her sleep. He breathed in the scent of her while thinking about the events that had changed their relationship so much. The revelations had been frightening at the time, but they both quickly accepted the gift they'd been given. It had been a few months now since they'd fought the werewolf in Scotland. Rose had been worried about something the monster had said and she came to talk to him in the library that night when she couldn't sleep.
"Doctor, can I ask you something?" she questioned hesitantly as she crossed the floor to the sofa by the fireplace.
"What are you doing up? I thought you'd gone to bed hours ago," he wondered. The Doctor noted that she was still wearing her pyjamas, but she looked like she hadn't slept a wink.
"Do you remember, before you changed, there were those words following us? I figured it was a message that I could get back to you, yeah? But the werewolf said something to me. Said there was something of the wolf about me, that I'd seen it too, and I burned like the sun. Are the Bad Wolf messages still following us? I hadn't seen them anymore, but I don't really understand how they got there at all," Rose told him.
The Doctor looked at her worriedly. The words had stopped, but she had certainly burned like the sun in that incredible moment. It was odd that the lupine wavelength haemovariform could see some remnant of it in her though. Had he not gotten it all out of her?
"What do you remember from when you came back to me, Rose? Right before I changed," he prompted.
"I tried to open the console, like that Slitheen lady did," she replied, playing with her earring nervously. "I knew that the TARDIS granted her wish to start over by reading her mind and I needed the TARDIS to help me get back and save you. But it wouldn't just open, so we hooked a chain up to it and mum borrowed this tow truck from someone who owed her a favour."
Rose trailed off, looking away, worried that he'd be angry with her for being so rough with his precious ship.
"And after that?"
"Just a bright light and singing, until I woke up and you started rambling about having two heads," she admitted.
He sighed as he considered exactly how to explain what she had done.
"When you opened the Heart of the TARDIS, you absorbed the time vortex and wielded the power like a goddess of time. You brought the TARDIS back to the Game Station, turned all of the Daleks to dust, and you left the Bad Wolf messages for yourself," he explained. "But the vortex was too much for you to handle. It was killing you, so I pulled the energy from you and transferred it back into the TARDIS. That's why I regenerated."
"Oh my god. You died because of me!" Rose gasped.
"No, no, no, Rose. You saved me. The Daleks would have killed me for good, no regenerating. I gave up that regeneration willingly. For you, I'd give them all," he insisted.
"But, if it killed you just moving it from me back to the TARDIS, how comes it didn't kill me when I had time to do all that other stuff?" she wondered, clearly not sure how to take his admission at giving his life for her.
The Doctor had panicked after that, insisting on running every test he could think of on her, and kicking himself for not having done it immediately after they had stopped the Sycorax invasion. It had revealed that exposure to the time vortex had altered her physically the same way his own people were different for living so near the Untempered Schism on Gallifrey. She now had the same biology as a non-regenerating Gallifreyan. The Time Lords were granted their regeneration energy upon completing their training at the Academy, but the others on Gallifrey were quite similar to humans, but touch telepaths and with a longer single lifetime.
He had apologized profusely, of course, for what saving him had done to her.
"But Rose, you'll probably live for centuries now! You'll lose everyone you love and it's all my fault," he told her.
"Doctor, you know I'm supposed to live longer than my mum, yeah? And I won't lose everyone I love, unless I'll lose you too," she replied.
"But. What?" he whispered, staring at her like he couldn't believe she was real.
"I - I love you, Doctor. And if it means that you won't be alone, then I'm glad that I changed."
That was all it took before he was snogging her senseless. It had taken him a while to assure her that he wasn't only giving in because of her extended lifetime now, but because he had been so convinced that she couldn't possibly feel the same. He had been so sure that she couldn't possibly love a monster like him and he would never be worthy of her. Their relationship had progressed so much since then. It was a bit awkward when they ran into Sarah Jane, but the two ended up as friends by the end of the adventure. Mickey had wanted a way to prove that he was useful too, but after catching the Doctor and Rose making out in a supply closet at the school, he didn't want to be anywhere on the ship with them and walk in on something worse.
Now, they shared a bedroom and he even connected with her telepathically quite often while they were intimate. It was that connection that he craved more than anything and brought him to the decision that today would be the day that he would finally ask Rose to start the process of creating a Bond with him.
Rose hummed happily and turned in his arms as she woke up. He smiled at her messy hair and the flush on her cheeks, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"Mornin' handsome," she mumbled with a smile.
"Good morning, love. Did you sleep well?" he asked.
"Always do, with you around," she replied.
"That's good to hear. Shall I go make some breakfast while you get ready for the day?" the Doctor suggested.
"What am I getting ready for? You got plans for where we're heading next?" she wondered.
"I may. You might want to dress for warm and sunny," he told her and with a quick kiss, left her to her morning ablutions.
He would need to explain the whole thing, he knew. That's why he wanted to spend the day on an uninhabited planet, picnicking on the beach while they discussed it. They could still have a human wedding afterwards as well; Jackie would insist on it, he was sure. But it was important that they do this first. The process of creating a Bond took a while, and there was the possibility that they wouldn't complete it. No sense in a wedding if that happened. But he was confident that everything would be fine. He had to be, or he was just setting himself up for heartsbreak even asking her.
"The eggs are burning," Rose said, startling him from his thoughts.
"Oh! Sorry," he exclaimed, turning off the heat and moving their only slightly overdone eggs to the plates that already had toast and bacon ready.
"Penny for 'em," she said as they sat eating in silence for a few minutes.
The Doctor blinked, suddenly realizing that he had been lost in thoughts of how to ask her again, instead of focusing on the lovely woman right in front of him.
"Sorry, just planning our day," he told her.
"Tricky. Plans generally fall apart for us as soon as we try," she teased.
"Not this time. I've already landed the TARDIS where I want us to be, and checked. I've got a cooler full of food for the day and there's a bag of essentials for the beach already packed in the console room," he informed her with a smile.
She squealed happily and jumped up to give him a hug before quickly finishing her breakfast and putting the dishes into the dishwasher. He chuckled at her enthusiasm and followed her just a bit more slowly, finding her already standing just outside the open doors when he got there.
They both changed into swimsuits and spent a few hours splashing in the waves before settling down on the large blanket the Doctor had set out for their picnic. He waited until they'd almost finished eating before broaching the subject that had been spinning in his brain all day.
"Rose, I- I need to ask you something," he began.
"What is it, Doctor? It's like you've been miles away, all morning," she said.
"Just nervous about this, I suppose. There's this, this thing that Time Lords did. Well, not many of the Time Lords, but the Gallifreyans still did it fairly often. Time Lords thought they were too important for things like love and just had political alliances more often than not," he rambled.
"Doctor!" she interrupted. "You wanted to ask me something?"
"Right! Yes. Less history lesson, more asking, blimey," he stuttered. "So, this thing is, well, it's a telepathic connection between two people who love each other."
"Like we do sometimes?"
"Sort of, but it can be deeper, and well, permanent. If you want to, that is. You don't have to say yes, but," he told her quickly, clearly about to start rambling nervously again.
"Is it," she began, cutting him off and getting his attention so he was looking at her. "Is it like getting married, Doctor?"
"Yeah," he whispered.
"And you want to?"
"I'd like nothing more in all my lives, Rose Tyler."
"Then tell me what I need to do," she said with a knowing smile.
He explained that she would need to spend a few days or weeks with each of his previous incarnations, getting to know each of them, and connecting herself to his timeline through his whole life to create this Bond. She was a bit nervous and truth be told, so was he, but the previous Doctors would know what this was all about and accept that it was what he wanted in the future.
"I'll miss you," she told him as she packed a case for herself.
"I'll be with you the whole time, Rose. Just not this me."
"Yeah, but will you be alone while I'm gone?"
"Not for as long as it will be for you. I'll have to wait a bit for the signal from each of them to pick you up and bring you to the next one, but it won't be more than a day or two with each of them for me," he assured her.
"Alright, Doctor. I think I'm ready," she said, zipping up the bigger on the inside suitcase that held a variety of her clothes. She would still have access to the wardrobe room on the TARDIS of course, but these were her favourites and she didn't want to be without them for that long.
"I love you so much, Rose. Thank you," he said and kissed her soundly. He would miss her, of course, but he would also gain the memories of time spent with her throughout his lives and would treasure those greatly. It would be worth it in the end, because he would be Bonded to her and never have to be alone again.