A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you so much to all who dropped me a review. It's great to know your all still reading. Keep them coming!

Did anyone watch Torchwood last week? Best episode ever! Although this weeks made me sad. I won't spoil it for any patient people who didn't watch it on BBC three last week but to all those who did, oh my gosh, I'm still in shock. Definitely worth tuning in this week folks (if you didn't watch it last week.)

So we last left the Doctor not feeling to well. How's he feeling now? A nice cheery episode with a hint of naughtiness, it's been a ehile since anyone had any!

Chapter 13

Rose stretched as she woke; refusing to open her eyes just yet, she smiled to herself. She felt like she'd been asleep for ages and it felt fantastic.

The sound of regular heavy breathing beside her made her finally open her eyes. The Doctor was still beside her, fast asleep. His brow was furrowed slightly as whichever dream he was having played out in his head. It had been a couple of weeks since his last big nightmare and Rose revelled in the fact he finally slept through the night beside her, without any screams or tears.

He looked more untroubled these days as he slept, the dark circles round his eyes were all but gone now and he looked younger than when she'd first found her way back onto the TARDIS. She knew she'd never forget the sadness and hopelessness and fear that she saw in his eyes when he first saw her. But that was all faded now. The hopeless look was never present no matter what scrape they got themselves into and that was the look that hurt the most to see in his eyes. The Doctor should never look hopeless.

Rose rolled onto her side to watch him. His eyebrows twitched slightly in his sleep and she grinned. It was rare to see him so still and she took full advantage until she couldn't resist anymore. He was still looking a little pale, or 'green around the gills' as her mum would say but gently she reached up to feel his brow and was relieved to find his temperature back to normal, just as he said it would be.

His head rolled towards her as she withdrew her hand and he murmured something unintelligible.

She pressed feather light kisses to his lips, the way she always did when his dreams got the better of him, unusually though he responded, kissing her back slowly and softly.

He sighed into her mouth as his arms wrapped themselves round her and pulled her on top of him, not breaking the lazy kiss for a second.

"Morning," she said finally as his head fell back towards the pillow. He'd yet to open his eyes but the corners of his lips had curled into a half smile, telling her he was awake.

"Is it? I've lost track of time," he chuckled, holding her a bit tighter against his chest as she wriggled down to rest her head on his chest, straddling his legs with her own. "Mmm, this is a nice way to wake up though. How are you feeling?"

"Fantastic," she told him, pressing a kiss to his bare chest.

"Good, let's hope everyone else is too."

"I wonder where Jack is."

"With Ianto I should think. They're going to have some talking to do when he finally wakes up."

"Hmm, I wouldn't want to be either of them right now. It looked like Ianto did a fair bit of damage when he beat Jack up."

"Mmm."

"You okay this morning?"

"Oh yes. Better than ever."

"So are you going to explain last night?" she asked, propping herself up on her arms to look at him.

The Doctor blew out a long breath. "It's nothing really; it's just something my body had to deal with. I've never had it happen before so I didn't really know what to expect, in fact I only know of one other person that it's happened to and we weren't exactly on speaking terms so I couldn't really ask. The….the reason Koschei didn't regenerate isn't because he didn't have any left, he did, it's just they got transferred to me."

Rose frowned. "How?"

The Doctor reached up and cupped her face with one hand. "You. When you zapped us apart, the vortex energy passed through him and into me, taking his regenerations with it. I didn't know at the time. He told me in the garden."

Rose's eyes widened. "So I did kill him!" her voice was quiet and shaky.

"Rose, listen to me. You saved us! That weapon we were fighting over wasn't a harmless toy. The Tissue Compression Eliminator is a dangerous thing. It shrinks it's victims to the size of a doll, killing them, painfully. No one is safe against it, I don't think even Jack could survive that. The Master sealed his own fate the moment he took Keisha and the others. There was no way both he and I would walk out of there alive so don't feel guilty about it."

"One can't survive while the other lives huh?" she asked quietly.

"Exactly. It was only a matter of time before one of us was destroyed and as selfish as it sounds I'm glad it wasn't me."

"Me too."

"There was a time when I probably wouldn't have fought as hard but not now. Rose, you didn't know what would happen and he might still be alive if I'd taken more time to work on that power with you. If anyone is to blame then it's me but like I said eventually it was going to be the end for one of us. Regenerations or not."

"So how many lives have you got now?"

"I'm not sure. He got given a full set when the Time Lords brought him back and he said he got through three waiting for me so theoretically, adding my remaining three I now have a full set again."

"Blimey, that's a lot of living."

"Yeah, I don't have to use them all though if I don't want to."

"What."

"Regeneration is a choice, Rose. A Time Lord can choose not to regenerate."

"But why would you do that?"

"Many reasons; sick of life, not wanting to be alone. Life can get pretty tiring if you live it on your own, especially when you've been at it for centuries. We're not allowed to commit suicide so the out clause was if you were dying you didn't have to come back if you didn't want to."

"Wow this is a depressing conversation."

The Doctor chuckled. "Yes it is, so let's drop it, as long as you're not going to blame yourself for things you had no control over. Remember, it would have ended badly for one of us no matter what. Got it?!"

"Got it."

"Good." He pulled her back down to his chest and kissed the top of her head.

"I suppose you want to go and check on the others," she mumbled, reluctant to let go of him.

"Hang on." The Doctor reached for his Sonic Screwdriver which was on his bedside table and pointed it at his television.

Rose smiled as in image of the med-bay melted onto the screen. "That's cheating."

"All still asleep and no warning bells from the old girl. Good enough for me."

"Really?" she asked, looking up at him. "I thought you'd want to go and check on them personally."

"Not while they're asleep and I've got you all to myself," he winked at her.

Rose couldn't stop the grin that spread across her face. "Well that's interesting because I had a little something in mind."

"Should I be worried?"

"Nope, you just have to stay exactly where you are. I've wanted to do this ever since the pub." She reached up with one hand and stroked the spot behind his ear that she'd found completely by accident, and watched his eyes flutter closed with a contented sigh. She smiled to herself as he moaned and decided to be bolder. Shifting to lay by his side, she kissed him deeply allowing her hand to trail down his chest.

"What are you up to?" he breathed, looking up at her and reaching to lace his fingers through her hair.

"This," she grinned, slipping her hand under the waist band of his pyjama bottoms and wrapping it around him.

The Doctor groaned low in his throat. "Rose…"

"Sshh. You teased enough the other day, now it's my turn to have some fun." She squeezed a little before moving her hand up and down. "You're so human sometimes," Rose whispered as he squeezed his eyes shut, his mouth dropping open slightly.

He couldn't answer, he could barely hear her, the blood was rushing passed his ears so loudly.

She began pressing light kisses and nipping at the skin on his chest as her hand continued to work. The Doctor's fist clenched, twisting the bed sheets to stop himself reaching for and hurting her.

Rose used her free hand to tug his bottoms down his thighs, giving herself easier access. She watched his muscles tense and quiver as her hand upped its pace.

"Rose," the Doctor choked. "You're going to have to stop."

"Why's that?" she whispered.

"'Cause…it's about toooooo….get messy," he gasped.

"Oh that's easy." Rose grinned against his stomach and then lowered her mouth to encase him.

The Doctor let out a sound that she'd never heard before, it was somewhere between a gasp and a yelp as the wet warmth of her mouth surrounded him. She could feel him twitch and he was forcing himself not to buck his hips.

Rose sucked slightly and that was the end of his restraint. He could do nothing but let himself go and Rose loved it. The Doctor was vulnerable and exposed for a change. Something very few people ever saw.

She peeked up at his face, his eyes were screwed shut and his lips parted as his back arched at his release. Waiting until his muscles relaxed, Rose let him slide from her mouth and gently pulled his trousers back up, giving him back some dignity.

Rose smiled to herself as the Doctor panted, his body shimmering with the sheen of sweat. It had been a long time since she'd done that for anyone and she'd enjoyed it almost as much as him.

"Somehow, I think I enjoyed that too much for it to be payback for the pub," he told as his breathing settled.

"Well I figured after the last few hours payback would be a bit mean."

"You know, I think I almost blacked out for a while there." The Doctor rolled to face Rose with a contented moan and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"What?" she asked, squirming slightly under his serious gaze.

"I don't say it enough." His voice was hoarse and so quiet she almost didn't hear him. "I don't know why but….I still find it hard to say, which is stupid really. I guess I'm still trying to convince myself you're here and not going anywhere."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that I leave it weeks between telling you… telling you that…telling you that I love you."

"Oh. Well, you don't have to say it all the time for me to know it."

"But I should. You deserve to be told and I'm rubbish at telling you."

"No you're not. You might not say the actual words but I know how you feel just by the way you look at me and the things you do for me."

"But still…"

"No, really. It's not as important as you think. Everything you do lets me know you love me. I know you don't find it easy to say and believe it or not I get why. You've never had anyone that's been able to stay with you and you've been too afraid of being left behind to let them in. But I'm not going anywhere."

"Do you realise no one has ever chosen me over their family before? You did, even when I sent you away you came back. You're always surprising me. You are the most wonderful creature I've ever had the honour of meeting."

"Stop it, you'll make me blush," she chided as tears gathered in her eyes.

"I love you Rose Tyler," he said confidently before taking her lips in a hungry kiss. "And it's not because of what you just did either." He grinned pulling back as she giggled.

"You are so cute when on the edge," Rose told him. "It's fun to watch."

"Only problem with that is, now I don't want to get out of bed for at least another hour and I really should get up and do something useful."

"Yeah, I know. Shame we can't stay in bed all day."

"We'll do that tomorrow, when everyone is home."

"Nope, we have to go and see Susan, remember? She wants to see you alive."

"Blimey, I completely forgot about that. I can't believe I actually have a blood relative out there. That's going to take some getting used to."

"We'll have to invite her to us for Christmas."

"Oh god, Susan and your mother!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well I had an idea for a family Christmas, god help me. See what you've done? Domesticated me!"

"A family Christmas?"

"Well we have a link to your mum and family so I was thinking we could all gather at the same time and eat together, like a conference call only with a turkey."

"You've thought about it?"

"'Course. Although hopefully I won't be attacked by a Christmas tree this year in or out of the TARDIS."

Rose laughed at the memory of the non-Christmas the Doctor tried to create after the disaster with the Sycorax.

"At least I can't upset you by telling you I wouldn't have kissed you if I wasn't drunk."

"You better bloody kiss me whether you're drunk or not."

"I don't think there's any need to worry there," he grinned.

"Are we inviting Martha and the Torchwood gang?"

"Well….. I suspect Martha will spend Christmas with her family. As for Jack's lot, I suppose it's up to Jack. They might have families of their own."

"What about Sarah-Jane and Donna?"

"Donna hates Christmas and has her own family, not sure about Sarah-Jane." He frowned then shook his head. "Right, enough domestics, I'm off to check on the walking wounded." He rolled out of bed and stretched.

"Sleeping wounded," Rose corrected.

"Right, sleeping wounded," he agreed with a smile, pulling a t-shirt on.

"You should do casual more often. I like it."

"Ah, but like Christmas, the novelty would wear out of you had it too often." He winked and put his glasses. "I have a feeling it's going to be a long day."

Rose climbed out of bed and pulled on her dressing gown. "I'll make the tea," she yawned then caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. "Right after I've run a brush through my hair!"

XxXxX

Next time:

"I told them and myself that I'd stay with you and Rose until I find what I'm looking for but the reality is I don't know what I'm looking for. I'm just floating through time and space with you and whatever it is I'm supposed to find is avoiding me."

A/N: Yup it's that converstaion between Jack and the Doctor. What will the Time Agent decide to do? Keep reading to find out. Anyway, please review folks. It makes writing so much easier when I hear from you all!

"Catch ya on the flip flop!"