The Doctor was fidgeting. He'd fixed the taps. Mickey had gone to bed. And so here he was, waiting alone, in the galley. Why hadn't Rose come back yet? She said she'd meet him in here after using the loo. So why was she taking so long?

Had she changed her mind?

His leg jiggled restlessly as he sat at the table. His patience was next to nothing at the best of times. Now, he was…oh, he was aching for her to return, so that he could finish telling her what he'd started to before Mickey had interrupted them.

Just as he was getting ready to jump up and go in search of her, Rose entered the galley. She was smiling nervously, and tugging at her earring. He grinned in what he hoped was a reassuring way, and stood up, coming to stand in front of her.

"Rose," he murmured.

"You haven't changed your mind again, have you?" she asked quietly. "It just occurred to me that leaving you on your own with your thoughts may have taken us back to square one."

He shook his head. "I thought perhaps you were getting cold feet, hence why you took so long."

"Oh, yeah, sorry." She realised that she'd been waylaid and had forgotten to tell him why. "Reinette wanted to talk to me."

"Oh?" he asked, curiosity piqued. "What about?"

"You and her." His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "About how there isn't really a you and her," Rose clarified.

"Oh," he replied. "Well, you knew that already, didn't you? Didn't you, Rose?"

She half-shrugged. "I s'pose."

He sighed, and drew her into a hug. "Do you trust me?" he whispered into her neck.

Her arms squeezed his middle tightly. "With my life."

"What about with your heart?"

She buried her smile in his shoulder. "Yes. Okay."

"How long will you stay with me?"

"Forever," she murmured, drawing back to look him in the eye.

He tilted his head forwards, bumping his nose against hers playfully. "In that case," he whispered, giving her a heart-stopping smile before pressing his lips to hers.

His hands came up to cradle her head as he coaxed open her mouth. They kissed deeply for several long moments, before Rose pulled back to catch her breath. Her eyes, when she opened them, were shining with happiness, and the sight made him grin stupidly at her.

Dropping his hands to her waist, he drew her even closer to his body. "I've wanted to do that for a very long time," he told her quietly.

"Oh, me too," she assured him. "Are we really doing this, then? Not just this one kiss, but the whole shebang? Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Rose Tyler," he breathed out roughly. "I'd like to invite you on an adventure."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

She looped her arms around his neck, sliding her hands into his hair. He loved it when she did that. "And what will this adventure entail?"

"There won't be any swimming or bikinis," he gravely informed her. She sighed in mock-disappointment. "In fact, there may not be any clothes at all. And I doubt there will be any trouble, but there might be a bit of mischief."

She grinned. "I like the sound of it so far."

"I bet you do. Would you care to accompany me to somewhere that isn't the TARDIS galley?"

"I'd be delighted."

He released her and held out his hand. She took it in hers and squeezed it in anticipation.

"By the way," Rose said, as they made their way down the corridor. "You told me that the TARDIS didn't like 'romance-y things' happening in this ship."

"Did I?" he asked innocently.

"You did, yeah."

He sniffed. "I must've been referring to romance-y things of a specific nature."

"And what specific nature would that be?"

"Romance-y things between you and Mickey."

"Ah, I see. So the TARDIS is quite picky about this sort of thing, then."

"Oh yes."

"But she'd be fine if you and me…"

"Undoubtedly."

"Right," Rose nodded with an amused grin. "I understand."

"Good," he said cheerfully, then shouldered open his bedroom door. "I presume you don't mind my choice of location?"

"Not at all," she assured him. "Whenever I'm in here I think about how nice it would be for you to throw me on that big four poster bed."

He blinked at her wordlessly for a moment after shutting the door. She noticed that he locked it, too.

"Was that a hint?" he asked, coming towards her with a devilish glint in his eye. "A request? Or an order?"

"It can be whatever you want it to be," she replied, arching her eyebrow in challenge.

He growled under his breath and quite spontaneously lifted her into his arms.

"Woah!" she laughed, hooking an arm around his neck to hold on. "You are stronger than you look."

"I am," he agreed, and stepped closer to his bed. "Now, you said 'throw.' I'm not entirely convinced that that's not a bit caveman-like."

"As if your thoughts haven't been erring towards that end of the spectrum of late," she scoffed.

He raised his eyebrows. "How would you know? For your information I've only had gentlemanly thoughts of making love to you."

She smiled at him with that smile she smiled when she knew he was lying. "Yeah, right. Do you want to know a secret, Doctor?"

"What's that?"

"I was watching your lips during dessert this evening."

"Well, I'm sure you were. You couldn't take your eyes off me," he grinned.

"No, wait, you're missing the point. I was staring at your lips when you said something under your breath – or at least, you mouthed the word. The other two didn't notice, don't worry."

He frowned in thought. "What word?"

"I'm guessing that it was accidental, then."

"What was?"

She whispered in his ear.

He nearly dropped her in surprise. "Oh! But I was just – I was just thinking about how it would sound if I said it. You know how I love testing out new vocabulary."

"But why were you thinking of that word in the first place?" she pointed out.

He tilted his head to the side, contemplative. "There's not really any way I can get around that question, is there?" he surmised.

"Not really, no," she giggled.

He dropped her onto the bed with a bounce, then quickly flopped down next to her. "Okay, so maybe my thoughts diverted from the gentlemanly quite rapidly," he confessed.

"I knew it!" she squealed, rolling onto her side. She unbuttoned his jacket so that she could put her hand on his chest, splayed right in the middle - she could feel the rapid beat of both hearts against her fingertips. "Is it different?" she asked quietly.

He'd been staring at her adoringly and had to ask her to repeat herself. "Sorry, what?"

"Is sex different for you? Should I be expecting anything…a bit more, er…alien, than what I'm used to?"

"Oh! Um. No. No, the only vital difference is that I can regulate my, er, blood flow."

"Okay. So, um." She gave a nervous giggle. "Sorry, this is a bit more awkward than I expected."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I s'pose I sort of thought that we'd find it easier to talk about this, considering all the…lead-up."

"Anything you want to ask, Rose, just ask," he said softly, reaching his hand up to cup her cheek. "It's just me. I'm hardly going to laugh at you or something, am I. Especially as I've got some questions of my own."

"You have?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Why so surprised?"

"Well, you are over nine hundred years old."

"Yes, but I don't know what you want, in terms of this…activity."

She giggled and snuggled into his side. His arm came around her and held her close. She sighed happily. "Let's start with some more kissing," she murmured.

"That's a very good place to start," he agreed with a smile.