A/N. There. Every story requested from my you-review-I-update crisis (I used tumblr for that, how low can one get? jk) is updated. Yay! Might try this again whenever I can no longer support the inexplicable silence from my readers. Let's hope I won't need to get to that any time soon, yes? Thank you for reviewing this story! It means very much to me!


Previously…

"My Doctor. Are you sure we must leave just yet?"

"Not necessarily," he shrugged with a smirk. "We could spend as much time in here as you want. Eating, drinking, laughing, kissing… Doing whatever."

Rose grinned. "Whatever?" She knew just the thing.


No Time Like the Present: Chapter Nine

There was something else she needed to be assured of first. "Say it again?"

The Doctor looked at her, not understanding.

"The words you'd been keeping from me for years," Rose clarified. All those empty, lonely years.

Now, he understood, smiling at her softly. "Rose Tyler. I love you."

She took a breath. It was unlike her to hide important things from the one she loved more than anything. "Will you love me still when the Bad Wolf overtakes me again?"

The Doctor froze at the assurance in her words. When, not if.

"Why… why would it overtake you?" Yes, he was convinced now the kiss has not been enough to fully remove those 'shiny cells', as said by Jack. But everybody had something in them, most often unseen and unfelt – why should those few remaining nanogenes inside her disturb Rose in any way?

"I can tell when it comes. Can't decide if my feeling utterly devastated afterwards is worth the minutes of omnipotence I get when-"

"Rose-" It's not worth it, he wanted to shout… but all he did was wrapped his arms firmly around her meagre figure, still bare. A new thought entered his mind. "My darling. My love! Changes in your complexion... your figure are somehow worrying… Have you been dieting or-"

"No," she sighed. This was growing more and more complicated by the second. "I kept running and hiding." Up to the point where everybody knew of the Bad Wolf within her… and not everybody was up to letting go of the new discovery of an alien the daughter of the owner of their company has appeared to have become.

Rumours, secrets and no-one but Jack left to trust. That was how Rose remembered this new Torchwood.

"Are you afraid of it? The Bad Wolf, Rose?" he asked worriedly.

"I would have been dead if not for it," she muttered. "I'm not afraid of it, no. It's just that-" Every time it arrives, I feel stronger. Every time it leaves me, I find it harder and harder to recover. Make it a few more times, and I won't get up at all," Rose breathed.

The Doctor eyed her with dread. "But this is a part of the TARDIS within you! She could never-"

"Maybe," Rose agreed. "But neither had she told you anything was wrong with me, Doctor…"

The TARDIS growled in annoyance.

"Sorry. Just a human. I didn't mean to upset you, old girl!" A disapproving sound.

The Doctor got even closer to her, for once ignoring the intoxicating sensation being close to her naked body brought him. "Do you really consider yourself human, Rose?"

The Time Lord could see her through, Rose has never forgotten that. "They don't," she admitted sadly.

"They who?" the Doctor's imagination was drawing unimaginable - not at all pleasant - scenarios in his head.

"Torchwood. Pete. Mum."

If even Jackie did not consider her daughter fully human any more… She must have seen it happen.

The Time Lord cleared his throat. He was glad Jackie Tyler was well beyond his reach. Or that he was beyond hers. "What about Jack?"

"He is the only one who understands," Rose smiled at him sadly. "But I can't exactly make use of him whenever- It must still hurt him, I think."

"I am here now."

Rose's next question startled him. "For how long?"

He tried to overcome the subject nicely. "You still did not answer the question I'd given you, my love."

"Which one?"

"Do you still consider yourself human?" The TARDIS does not.

"What if my answer is no, Doctor?" Fear was shining in her eyes.

He kissed her, welcoming the oh-so-natural sensation of belonging once again, knowing his thoughts were as clear in her mind as in his, at least while their lips were joined. Rose! We could start building our forever right away If you want?

Her face was enlightened with a sincere, tongue-touched grin.

"Doesn't this frighten you? What if I- what if I die the next time the Bad Wolf leaves me?"

The Doctor did not give away his fear. "Don't talk nonsense, my Rose. If anything, it should only make you stronger!"

It did make her stronger, sure. Only to take twice as much strength away from her every time. With the reappearances getting more frequent, it was near impossible to have enough time to make herself as strong as she used to be.

"It makes me stronger for ten minutes, then weakens me more and more whenever the entity leaves me. How is this fair, Doctor?"

He had been afraid of it. The Bad Wolf taking hold of his Rose… Even the Doctor himself did not know the capabilities of the being Rose kept becoming… much too often now, it seemed. It was as if she - or it – were trying to make his fair companion stronger and never accounted to the fact it was – at least for now - too much for the Tyler girl.

"You need to accept her. Allow her to make use of your strength by welcoming the Bad Wolf inside you. She is a part of you. You are a part of her. I am sorry, Rose!"

Had Rose not been naked in the Doctor's embrace, she would have run away from him. Instead, she glared at him. "What do you mean, you're sorry?"

He couldn't tell her. Wouldn't tell her. Not now, not in this way. Not in this blissful place meant for them alone…

If the Bad Wolf or his beloved time and space vessel was not accounting to the fact Rose Tyler had been an earthling - a human for her whole life – the outcome could have been devastating indeed.

Rose could die… or she could live forever.

As if having heard his thoughts, the girl caressed the Time Lord's cheek softly, as if wishing to see what sort of reaction this timid gesture would provoke in him.

The Doctor smiled at her softly, only half-succeeding in masking his distress. "What is it you want, Rose Tyler?"

She smiled back at him just as softly. "I only want the truth, my Doctor."

The loving look in her eyes was impossible to defeat. Impossible to live without for another second.

"You should probably have a lengthy chat with the TARDIS first." What does she think she's doing?

"I can't exactly communicate with her at this point. Don't know Gallifreyan, for one thing." Rose was puzzled, even more so when a sound of amusement reached them.

"Why would you need to know it, my dear? You have other means to communicate with her."

Her eyes widened at the tone of his voice. "Not now, Doctor. Now, all I need to know is-"

The Gallifreyan thrust his tongue in her mouth, shutting Rose up for a while, as she could not help but responded to this unexpected gesture eagerly. But he seemed to have forgotten a thing or two about kissing someone with telepathic abilities, again.

Our forever, you'd said?

The next thing Rose got to know made her gasp in pleasure.


A/N. An exception? Nope. Reviews make me happy!