A/N: So sorry for the wait! I wasn't feeling too confident in the story, but I attempted to pick it back up anyway. Hope you enjoy it, and reviews are pretty nice things, I jump to mention:)

A FEW WEEKS EARLIER

Rose had exited the TARDIS first, The Doctor following close behind. To his surprise, she suddenly halted only a few feet in front of the TARDIS, frozen in her place. The Time Lord almost slammed into her from behind, but quickly gained his composure and stepped around her so as to get a proper view of her reaction. He watched with suppressed laughter as her face lit up with glowing excitement. Rose's body tensed up with an undeniable exuberance that she seemed a little hesitant to release. The Doctor let out a burst of musical laughter at the sight of her. He touched her shoulders lightly, and said with hints of mirth still in his voice, "Tell me, Rose, how does this make you feel?" She turned her head toward him with wide and burning eyes, as if silently asking him permission. He nodded at her, still beaming. She bit her lip excitedly, her breath hitching in her throat as her shoulders rose up.

"This. Is. FANTASTIC!" Rose yelled the last word with such gusto that it pulled her out of The Doctor's slight embrace. She stumbled forward, laughing, before taking in an enormous amount of air and using it fuel more angelic laughter, whoops, and hollers. Her yells echoed off of the land, seemingly drowning every place on the planet with the sound of her voice. She twirled in a single circle before falling into the soft grass that was eager to catch her. She captured some of the auburn earth in between her fingers, feeling of it and appreciating it for a quick moment before letting her gaze wander up to stare into the deep purple sky. The Doctor remained where he had been earlier, smiling fondly, but allowing the sight of another beautiful planet to throw it's surrealism all about her. But he didn't fail to notice how the light of the three moons that were splayed out across the heavens seemed to fall all about her; bathing her and alighting her with colors that simply had no names, welcoming her presence. He had never seen these stars twinkle so furiously in his past ventures here as they casted their subtle red glow in patches all about the ground, as if reacting to her beautiful existence on their planet. Whipping her head around to face him, Rose smiled at The Doctor with enchantment, that smile only Rose could produce, starlight dancing in her golden eyes. Unable to resist in her merriment, he shuffled to her side and looked down at his companion. She had averted her gaze back to the sky and her eyes darted all about the heavens as if she were trying to count every last red star. The Doctor settled in the grass next to her, careful to leave a little space in between them. Space was usually not the case between the two, but the The Doctor had noticed something in the past few days that he mostly wished he hadn't. Rose seemed to be carefully distancing herself from him recently, gradually moving farther away from him as each day passed. Failing to notice at first, The Doctor had continued in his normals routines and mannerisms until something had begun to bother him. He had been so used to Rose clinging to him at some points, standing unnecessarily close, and using any reason to touch him, even if in the lightest of ways. But now, the range of physicality between the two hardly spanned to anything important. This worried The Doctor, and plagued him unnaturally. He had kept up the charade of pretending he didn't notice, as did Rose, continuing their normal conversations and banter as usual. But during their silences, neither of them could deny the inexplicable tension that slowly filled the air, silently asking them why they weren't as close as they should be. They both noticed, and knew that the other noticed as well, but refused to answer to any part of it. Thus, the silent war that they had both ignored raged between them.

"Doctor… There aren't any words I can say to tell you how thankful I am, or to express how truly breathtaking this is." The soft voice pulled The Doctor out of his reverie as quickly as he had gone into it. Brown eyes shifted toward each other, and they both seemed subtly caught off guard. The Doctor swallowed quietly before opening his mouth to respond. Nothing came out except for a small breath. A crooked smile fell on Rose's lips as she continued to look at The Doctor. After realizing that the staring had been going on for a little longer than she had intended, she quickly looked away, remembering what she had promised herself some odd days ago.

The loss of eye contact slightly affected The Doctor, causing him to draw a little further into himself. But stealing another quick glance at her, he couldn't resist the thought of how every single moon and star on this planet aligned itself in perfection because of her very presence. Smiling at the realization, an urge overcame him that he indulged in without thought or question. His eyes only on her, The Doctor scooted toward her, allowing the sides of their bodies to press against each other's gingerly. A swallow emanated from Rose's throat, yet, she remained unmoved, her widened eyes still focused on the stars above her head. The Doctor fully turned his face toward hers, looking down a little because of their height difference. Feeling the way their sides were pressed together, he inhaled sharply through his nose at the usually denied contact. He realized quickly that using his nose was an enormous mistake, because his delicate and heightened sense of smell caused him to detect every possible scent on her body. Her shampoo, her lotion, her perfume, even her natural pheromones all swirled around The Doctor's head, making her even more enticing, which seemed impossible. His eyes burned into the side of her head, and he wished desperately that she would look at him. The Doctor slowly reached for Rose's hand, but she withdrew it before he could properly hold on to it. The brash movement was difficult for the Time Lord to grasp, given the current state he was in. Before he knew it, Rose was up on her feet, taking a few precautionary steps away from him. The Doctor slightly cocked his head at her, the fact that she had moved so boldly impossible for either of them to ignore. It was hopeless for either of them to pretend that they weren't fighting each other, fighting to stay away, although both had given in for a slight moment. Their invisible war had materialized, their muted argument voiced. Quickly seeking to cover up her mistake, Rose jerkily threw her thumb in a direction behind her.

"W-when we landed, I thought I saw a lake over there," she murmured with a faulty grin on her face. "Maybe we could go for a swim or somethin'." The Doctor silently nodded, trying to return the broken smile that Rose had offered.

"I'll go get us something to swim in." The Time Lord's voice was a hoarse whisper, as he was having a difficult time keeping back embarrassed tears from spilling over. He was off of the ground and into the TARDIS in the blink of an eye. Rose silently sunk back to the soft ground cursing herself for ever meeting someone as spectacular as the infamous Doctor.

For the next few weeks to follow, Rose and The Doctor had a difficult time pretending that they weren't battling in a war. Hints of hesitation and evidence of their problem soon starting creeping into their moods, filling the air with the same tension that never ceased to plague them. Conversation began to feel uncomfortable, and forced at some times. Both started seeking solitude after they finished their days' tasks and retired to the TARDIS, hardly acknowledging each other in the flesh, but both calling out to each other within the confines of their minds.

One particular night, The Doctor found himself in the main control room of the TARDIS, tinkering around with things that didn't really even need tinkering. He had begun to do that quite often now. Everything had become so… wibbly-wobbly. The Doctor slumped against the floor, his back to all of the controls. Without permission, his thoughts began to wander to Rose and what she might be thinking. He didn't even know where she was in this huge thing. Even though the TARDIS would never allow her to get lost, her being all by herself in such a large ship made him nervous. She was his companion, didn't that mean he needed to guarantee her safety whenever he could? He almost rose to find her, but decided against it. Falling back to the floor, the thought on all of her actions against him. What made her so quick to reject almost every part of his attention? It wasn't even the fact that they had lost physical touch, it was something much more than that. She used to remain so close to him, and never fail to hold on to him in the past. Why though? Because she trusted him. Because she admired him in such a way that it was impossible to contain. And he had indulged in it, and allowed it to happen. Why would she suddenly take that wonderful feeling away from him like that? What had he done, but shown her the universe and all of its glory? Sacrificing his time, and his attention to some girl and showing her all there is to see, and this is how she treats him? Cold? Distant? The Doctor's blood began to boil. Next thing he knew, he was on his feet. Forgetting anything kind he thought of her earlier, he was only angry, and determined. He was going to confront her, and he was going to do it now, and he was going to make her tell him why. He turned toward the hallway of the TARDIS, and strode out of the control room with alarming speed.