Rose kept her eyes firmly shut as wakefulness tugged at her. She was grasping at the dregs of what had been a deliciously vivid dream before reality started prying it's way back in. God, she could even smell him! As consciousness took a firmer grasp on her, she wondered if that was the next step towards madness. When she heard a voice, his voice, whisper her name she wondered if she had, in fact, skipped ahead several steps at once.

"Rose. What's wrong?" she heard the gentle voice again.

"I can't," she whispered to the memory, "I can't dream about you like this and just get up for breakfast with Kimmy and take midterms and…and go about my day like it doesn't hurt. Like I don't feel like I'm lost without your hand to hold. Please. I just…I just can't." She screwed up her face, willing away the early morning tears she thought were behind her. She buried her head in the pillow, trying to buy herself a few more moments before she faced the day. But then, impossibly, a cool hand slipped into her own.

"I'm right here, Rose," the voice was strong with much more weight than any wisp of a fading dream should offer. She dared to hope. Slowly, Rose turned her head towards the voice and opened her eyes.

She gasped as she stared up into the sleepy eyes of her Doctor. Reality rushed back in and for once, she was waking to find everything she wanted right here in front of her. She remembered it all in an instant, the kidnapping, finding him, falling asleep to the sound of his slow breaths.

"Oh," she breathed, eyes growing wide.

"There we are," he chuckled in a gravely voice, "That was quite a drawn out awakening."

After a moment of moving her lips wordlessly, she found her voice, "I - I thought it was all a dream. Well, it was at first, I suppose," Rose hoped he didn't catch the blush that flared when she thought back to the very - er - vivid details, "But, blimey, you're here. I'm here. It really happened."

"It really happened," he agreed smiling.

"And do I detect a certain superior being may have just recently woken up himself?" Rose teased catching her tongue in her teeth.

"You'll never prove a thing," he smirked. Then at her raised eyebrows he broke the charade and added, "I do sleep you know. You've seen me sleep."

Rose laughed as she sat up, "Yeah, but two kips in twenty-four hours? Now who's the one slipping?"

His reply, which was probably completely brilliant, was stollen by something capturing his attention. Rose followed his fixated gaze and realized her loose fitting top and slipped off her shoulder and she was nearly exposed. She readjusted blushing furiously. But then again, she fought a smile at the thought, he was the one who was looking - no, gaping.

They both cleared their throats uncomfortably and were saved from any additional awkwardness by a banging sound coming from the other side of the wall across from the bed.

The Doctor leapt up fast enough to give Rose whiplash, "Ah, breakfast time!" he said far too brightly. He strode over, stopping a respectable distance from the wall and waited until the impressive spread was raised from the depths of the trunk.

Now knowing the drill, Rose did a quick check to make sure nothing else was peeking through her loose clothing and joined the Doctor at the table.

"God, I'm half starved. Been living on cold cereal and energy bars, I have. Haven't had a breakfast like this since school started back up!" she said enthusiastically forgoing a plate to grab at a thick slice of bacon right from the platter.

The Doctor chuckled at her gastronomic enthusiasm and she was pleased to see him tuck in as well, properly this time. That Time Lord had some meat to put back onto his bones. God, if her mum had gotten one look at him, she would have chained him to the table and stuffed him full to the brim.

"What?" the Doctor said through a mouthful of scrambled eggs on toast. Rose belatedly realized she had stopped mid chew to contemplate.

"Just thinking about what mum would say if she saw you right now. The way she's always trying to feed Tony and I, you would think she was fattening us up for the farm!"

"Blimey, she'd never let me leave the kitchen!" the Doctor agreed, "My mate Donna, she's always going on about 'skinny alien this' and 'eat my extra biscuit because you need it' that."

Rose tried to laugh with him, she really did, but her thoughts were stuck and wrapping endlessly around - "So…Donna?" Oh bugger, that didn't sound casual at all.

"Yes. Donna. Donna Noble," Rose could tell the Doctor was fighting a smile the way the corners of his lips were twitching. The bloody alien git was enjoying this! "She was traveling with me when…well anyway, we were - are good mates. She's brilliant! Kept me in line. You'll love her."

"Will I now?" Rose was proud of how the question came out nice and even. She added a large pile of egg scramble to her plate and took a bite. See. She wasn't affected at all. He could travel with a harem for all she cared.

"Rose Tyler, are you jealous?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows in a show of surprise.

"Shut up," she said around a mouthful of eggs.

"Ooo-hoo-hoo! I can't wait to see Donna's face when I tell her that you were jealous of her!" then he was back to mock seriousness jutting a fork in her direction to emphasize his next point, "She may slap you for insinuating anything between her and me, you know. Fair warning."

"Oh, so you two weren't…" based on his reaction, Rose was already fairly confident this Donna person had a platonic relationship with the Doctor, but it wouldn't hurt to hear it confirmed.

The Doctor laughed heartily, "Definitely not. Like I said, she would slap you for thinking it. Donna, well she's - she's like a sister, I suppose. She never missed an opportunity to say how much she didn't fancy me. Bit damaging to the ego, that. Now Martha on the other hand, well she did fancy me. Quite besotted, I'd say," Rose had expected him to preen at that, but instead he looked glum for a moment before continuing in a more chipper tone, "And we had the best-"

"Right," Rose cut him off. She didn't think she wanted to hear the rest of that sentence just yet. Or ever, really. She dropped her head to stare at her plate. On the other hand!? What the hell did that mean!? They had the best ….what? The best what?! He was either even more rubbish at this than she thought or she was just as replaceable as she had feared.

Rose felt his hand slip into hers where it rested by the side of her plate, "Hey you didn't let me finish," he said softly, "Yes, Martha fancied me but she ended up leaving in the end because, well because she wasn't…you."

Rose looked up at him confused.

"What I mean is that I cocked the whole thing up, made her feel second best because there was this cheeky blonde human I missed so much I couldn't think straight."

"Oh Doctor," she breathed out in half relief, half exasperation. He really was just that rubbish at this. "The poor woman. Of course she was besotted with you. I question this Donna person's sanity for not falling for you as well. You're gorgeous and mysterious and sweep young girls away to adventures beyond their wildest dreams. You're a walking romance novel cliche, you are."

"Go on…" oh she was going to wipe that smug grin right off his face.

"Oi! That wasn't a compliment!"

"Ah, but it's the truth. Especially in this body!"

Rose rolled her eyes and brought him back on course, "So Martha and Donna," she ticked them off on her first two fingers, "and…?"

"And that's it. I met plenty of folks here and there, of course, but those were the only two crazy enough to travel with me long term."

Rose sighed in relief, "Alright so tell me about it," she prompted.

"About what?"

"About," she gestured in a wide circle with a fork full of fried potatoes, "them, your adventures, everything. What'd I miss?"

"Too much," he said softly. He was smiling, but it was subdued and laced with pain. "I missed you ever second."

Rose was startled with such openness from him. Not for the first time since she's found him again, she thought she could see everything he never said as she looked into his eyes. But just like any of his spells it was over nearly before it started.

"That's an important bit," he said cheerfully, "Needed to frame it all properly," he paused to take several large gulps of tea before he began, "I guess it all starts with me minding my own business, flying through the vortex and suddenly there's this angry bride screeching at me from the other side of the console."

"No!" Rose exclaimed laughing.

"Oh yes! Slapped me a good one before I could even land the TARDIS…" his tale continued through the remainder of breakfast and through several cups of tea. Rose found herself hanging on every word as the Doctor wove the captivating story in that way of his. Several times she knew he was leaving things out, but she held her tongue, knowing that it was up to him what he felt comfortable sharing. The result was a picture of wonderful, mad adventure that was the very best of traveling. None of the tragedy, hardship, or messy clean up. In a way, Rose was glad to keep things easy. It had been a rough few years and she needed this light-hearted time with him.

"And then Donna and I landed on this market planet, oh you would love it Rose, mounds of junk but plenty of hidden treasures, and then it was all me being kidnapped and a few weeks here, and I believe you know the rest," he finished a good two hours after he had begun.

"What, that's it?" Rose was surprised at the abrupt end to his story. She watched as his face instantly morphed from boyish enthusiasm to guarded. Oh, he thought she meant what happened when- when the other her…,"I mean, that was hardly more than a year, she clarified."

"Felt like longer," he shrugged. "And you? It's been longer for you, yeah?"

"Yeah," was all Rose could manage at first. Her throat had tightened up and she cursed herself for the wetness that clouded her vision. She realized that she wasn't going to be able to get through this in the same upbeat manner of the Doctor.

"How long Rose?" he spoke solemnly, like he was desperate to know but dreaded the answer.

Rose wished she could lie to protect him, wished she could spare him having to share in her pain, but she wasn't some godly Time Lord. So all she could offer him was the truth.

"Seven years."