Tentoo refuses to succumb to sleep.

My darling Secret September Buddy on Tumblr, posted this in my inbox today:

i«Okay, imagine Tentoo waking up the first time he and Rose spend the night together. Her hair is scattered all over the pillow- they're wrapped around one another. She makes a soft little noise in her sleep, and he feels his single heart break and mend itself at the same time. He's consumed with love for this pink and yellow woman who's held his hearts so thoroughly for so long. It's completely logical then that there's a lump in his throat when she opens her eyes and smiles sleepily at him. SB»/i

So, of course, I had to up the angst a bit...

His Angel

Rose lifted her head, tilting it to one side as she gazed at him in the dim light. She looked like an angel, with her tangled curls, a halo, framing her face, back lit from the nightlight in the hallway. How could he ever look away? He swallowed against the lump in his throat, tears catching on his lashes.

Her eyes flickered to the clock on the table behind him. Threading her fingers through his hair, she chuckled. "It's only half two. "Ave you been awake all this time?"

"What? No. Me? No... I've slept..." he hedged, "a bit. But you know me, Rose. Don't need much sleep, me! 'Sides, it's such a waste of time."

"Remember," she chided, voice tender, "you're part-human now. You need to sleep." She cupped his cheek, gasped, and withdrew her hand, damp with his tears. "Doctor, what's wrong?"

"Wrong? That's just it, isn't it? Nothing's wrong. You're here... with me. And the universe hasn't imploded. But I know better," he hissed, choking back a sob. "The universe has never been this kind. Not to me! And I refuse to waste a moment on something as trivial as sleep!" He pushed himself up to a sitting position, running his hands over his face. "What if... what if, Rose, I fall unconscious here, and you disappear. What if I wake up and find it's all been a dream. I don't know what I'd do..."

She patted his pillow. "Lie down."

"Roooose..."

"Lie down." She furrowed her brows, insistent.

He obeyed. How could he not, when she held his single, throbbing heart in hers.

She leaned above him, propped on one elbow, and ran her fingers through his hair again, slow, hypnotic strokes. His eyes felt heavy, the fatigue he'd been pushing aside ever since the metacrisis, lulling him, pulling him under…

…Taking him away from her! Heart pounding, his eyes snapped open again.

"Shhhhh, my love..." His angel pressed her lips to his forehead, her fingers still carding through his hair, a peaceful rhythm. "I'll be here with you, for as long as you need. Forever. I'm not going anywhere."

"You can't know that..."

"No... I guess you're right. But I have to believe; after all that we've been through to get here, after everything, that this is it for us, yeah? That this was meant to be."

She held his gaze, and for a moment, he saw something flare, hot and golden and heavenly within her eyes, something he thought he had removed years ago, and Bad Wolf's words echoed in his mind: "...a message to lead myself here..."

In an instant it was gone again, and it was just his Rose, his angel, smiling over him.

He had loved her now, so much, for so long. She made the impossible possible, over and over again, across dimensions and throughout space and time. And if she promised she would be there when he awoke, who was he to argue? He nestled into her soft breast, and let the steady thrum of her heart soothe him into sleep.

When he awoke the next morning, after many hours of peaceful slumber and wonderful dreams of her, his angel was still there, as she had vowed, her golden halo spread across his chest.