"Soooo...our choices are eating out oooor...eating out," Rose says while looking in the fridge.

The Doctor laughs, "I thinnnnk...eat out!"

Rose flashes him a brilliant smile and his single heart jumps. The last few weeks after moving into Rose's flat the Doctor has decided to accept his feelings for Rose and not run away from them, now that he's mostly human and can't control himself as well as he could when he was all Time Lord.

"Don't you have to go into Torchwood tonight?" the Doctor questions Rose.

"Yeah but I'm sure Pete would understand if I didn't. Are you going to take his offer?"

"I don't think I could work at Torchwood full time. I already told Pete I'd come on a few jobs though."

"Great! It would be nice to have some company. Now, shall we go?" she gestures to the door and the Doctor nods in agreement.

Once they are outside he puts up his arm to hail a cab, but she puts a hand on his bicep.

"Let's walk, yeah?" Rose suggests.

"It could rain," the Doctor says, taking a deep breath and sticking out his tongue to taste the air.

"I'll take my chances," Rose laughs. She grabs his hand and leads him down the pavement into the more restaurant populated areas, "Which one?"

"Rose Tyler I know the perfect place." He leads her to a little French café around the corner of the block. It is completely deserted and inside a table is set for two, tea lights flicker on the table and on the surrounding tables also.

"Après vous mademoiselle," he whispers enchantingly to her, holding open the door and then pulling out her chair for her.

They have crêpes and champagne and share stories about what they did while they were apart from each other.

"When I was building the dimension cannon it took a few tries to get it locked on the right world. I can't tell you how many times I was shot into the wrong one." But in fact Rose could, it took her 32 tries to get to the correct universe. Two of which were awful worlds, one still gives her nightmares. She carefully excludes mention of that alternate world. The Doctor shares his stories about Martha and Donna, and about how Jack is actually the face of boe. The whole time not a soul comes into the café.

"Isn't it strange that this place is empty? You'd think it would be packed full," Rose questions.

The Doctor looks sheepishly around the room.

"Doctor you didn't!"

He grins like the Cheshire Cat and replies, "I kinda sorta booked the whole restaurant."
Rose gives him a 'you-really-didn't-need-to-do-that' look and he responds by saying, "I wanted us to have privacy! Besides, a restaurant will do anything for a Tyler lady."

After they pay for the meal -they split the bill, Rose insisted- she leads him outside. They walk towards high street to poke their heads in some shops. He takes her hand, fingers interlocking, and swings them as they walk -it's a brave move on his part, considering he has no clue as to whether Rose wants that or not- but she doesn't pull away from him and he's happy.

All of a sudden the clouds release their load and everyone on the pavement rushes into nearby shops. In the mad rush for people to get under cover Rose and the Doctor get shoved together. He grabs her around the waist to keep her from falling as she gets pressed against him. They are standing in the pouring rain, her hands resting on his chest, and for once he can tell she wants him to kiss her. He can smell it on her for the first time since they were trapped here, maybe even before that. He moves one hand to the side of her face, brushing her cheek with his thumb, and bends down to kiss her on the lips. She tilts her head up to meet his and he pulls her closer. The water sliding down their lips makes their first kiss in Pete's world all the more magical. By now they are the only people on the pavement and he feels free enough to stick his tongue out and run it around the edge of her top lip. A shiver courses through her body and her tongue comes out to meet his. The separate and she tilts her head, suddenly shy, and looks at the ground. She tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear and smiles with her tongue between her teeth.
When they come to their senses they realize they are both soaking wet and run into the nearest shop.

"You two look like you've been in the rain too long," a shop employee tells them.

Rose giggles and turns to inspect the Doctor while the Doctor inspects Rose. His hair is drooping from the water, although still very fantastic. His suit jacket was unbuttoned which allowed the water to flow onto his white shirt, making it stick to his body and slightly see through. Rose's hair is dripping, slightly wavy from the wetness. Her eye makeup hasn't run, but her lipstick has faded some. Her top clings to her curves in an attractive way, making the Doctor fidget.

"Something like that," the Doctor replies cheekily.

They buy an umbrella and head back out into the rain, which is mostly a drizzle by now. He opens the umbrella with a snap and pulls her close to him.

"I think we should walk back, yeah?" he asks Rose.

"Yeah."

The walk back to the flat is filled with kissing, the short kind and the kind where it seems like you stand there forever. It stops raining and the Doctor folds up the umbrella, showering her in little droplets of water.

She sneezes and he places his hand on the small of her back, guiding her into the flat. "You better change your clothes so you don't get sick, we wouldn't want that."

Rose comes out of her bedroom in pajamas, soft pants and a tank top. The Doctor has also changed out of his suit and into a t-shirt and jeans. He doesn't notice her enter the room and she stands behind him, watching him. His arm is slung over the back of the sofa in a relaxed way. She can see his profile clearly, his face turned towards the telly. Rose quietly walks over and sits down next to him. Without looking at her, he slides his arm down so that it's around her shoulders. She sighs and settles against the sofa, The Notebook playing softly on the telly. Despite the warmth of her pajamas, the cold of the flat -since the Doctor is only half human his body temperature is lower than normal and therefore likes a cooler flat- quickly gets to her and her wet hair. She shivers fiercely and he glances at her, concern showing on his face. He pulls her to him, wrapping her in his arms and she rests her head on his chest. His body temperature is a lot warmer than normal -usually his temperature is similar to a forest river in the late spring- and it soon stops her shivering. They sit like that for a while, watching The Notebook while he strokes her hair and plants soft kisses on the top of her head. She leans up and catches one of the kisses meant for her head on her lips. He kisses her gently, tasting her with every kiss, absorbing every smell, sound, and taste that she is. She slides her hands into his hair and he stretches out underneath her, bringing his legs onto the sofa and pulling her down on top of him. They kiss until they need oxygen again, then she rests her head over his heart to listen to its single beat. The soothing rhythm lulls Rose to sleep on top of the Doctor. When she wakes up again the movie is over and the Doctor is also asleep; he is still warm, but not near as warm as before. She eases herself off him and looks at the time, ten o'clock. The lack of her weight on his body wakes him up.

"I have to go to bed now doctor," she says with a yawn, regret dripping from her voice.
He swings his feet back down to the floor and grabs her hand, pulling her down to sit next to him.

"Do you have to?"

"I'm afraid so," she stands up, still holding his hand and walks towards her bedroom, he follows.

"Does this mean you want me to...uhh...sleep with you?" he says hesitantly.

"Mm, but just sleep got it?"

He nods his head, his messy hair bouncing in different directions. They climb into bed and she nestles into him, his warmth almost completely gone, save what the sheets provide. He is exhausted from keeping his body temperature up for Rose and can barely pull her as close as he can possibly get her before he falls asleep.

He wakes up around one a.m. to a blood curdling scream. He doesn't feel her next to him and his heart stops. Sitting up quickly, he scans the room for Rose. The Doctor finds her curled up in the corner of the bed, blankets tangled around her. Tears stream down her face and she grips the sheets in her fists. He scoots closer to her after scrabbling for his newly made sonic screwdriver, a distraught look on his face. He scans her to see if she's sick.

"Rose? Rose wake up," he shakes her gently awake, terrified that something is wrong.
She gasps awake and throws herself into his arms. He comforts her, tears streaming down her face and landing on his shoulder.

"It was awful!" Rose says between sobs, "I dreamt I was back in..." She starts sobbing loudly. The Doctor shifts her so he can kiss her forehead.

"I was in one of the other dimensions. The one where...where... Daleks had captured me; they wanted to know where you were. I couldn't tell them so instead of killing me, they tortured me. I was stuck in that world for a week or so before the dimension cannon pulled me back," she says between gasps.

The Doctor pulls her closer, unwilling to let her go. His eyes fill with tears, thinking about what Rose went through to get back to him, but he doesn't let them out, not in front of her, "Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

Rose can hear the sadness is his voice, "I didn't want to know what happened there."

"Oh Rose. Please love; tell me these things from now on, yeah?" He can feel her nod against his chest, "What happened in your dream?"

"You found out the Daleks had me and came to rescue me..."

"Oh that's not so bad is it? You know I always come to rescue you," He interrupts.

"The Daleks kill you," she says bluntly, "They brought you in front of me and made me watch you die."

He can hear the helplessness in her voice and his heart breaks. No one should have to suffer through that for him. She clings to him, shivering because of the combination of his coldness and her sweat soaked pajamas.

"Come on, I'll make you some tea. Get you warmed up," he manages to coax her off of him and he moves to make tea. She changes her pajamas and follows him into the kitchen.

He hums as he makes the tea and motions for her to stand by him. He draws her closer to him with an arm hooked around her waist. He pours two cups of tea and hands one to Rose. She takes it gladly; dumping sugar and some milk into it and drinks a few hesitant sips.

"Why would you put yourself through that? Let the Daleks torture you and then keep rift jumping to find me?"

"I needed to warn you and I couldn't bear to be separated from you. I always assumed another dimension doctor would find me and help me get to you but they never did..."

"That's because there's only ever going to be one of me, one Gallifrey, in all of the dimensions," he says softly, "I'm sorry Rose. I'm so sorry. Why don't we go over to Jackie's tomorrow, you can have mother-daughter time?"

Rose falls asleep on the sofa in the Doctor's arms. He stays awake and watches her sleep, resting one of his hands on her cheek, and uses his Time Lord abilities to guide her to safe dreams.