Make sure and read Chapter 27. For whatever reason, it didn't get moved to the top of the queue when I updated yesterday. This chapter contains more information about bonding and such. Just as episodes inspire some of the dialog between characters, Nine's inner thoughts were inspired by CE and RTD.


She was trying to kill him. That had to be it. She always wore a cotton vest top or even a t-shirt with pajama pants. After all, they had started out as literal bedfellows while they were still claiming not to be a couple. That was the biggest farce of all. They had always been a couple, from the time he extended his hand to her as they ran across Westminster Bridge.

Tonight she had decided her sleep attire should not be so modest. She was wearing flimsy satin sleep shorts and a matching cami, light blue. So when he slipped into bed next to her and pulled her back towards his chest, it was much more intimate. It was only a fine delineation between the satin of her sleepwear and the satin of her skin.

"Mmmm," she murmured. "Nice."

He kissed her on her shoulder, then buried his face in her hair. "Are you alright? How's your head?"

Her voice was still barely above a mumble. "Better. Stay with me?"

"When do I not?"

"Good point."

"Sleep, Rose. We need a break. Tomorrow I'll take you somewhere really beautiful."

The Doctor laid in bed willing himself not to clutch Rose too tightly, for he wanted her to sleep. Overcome with yet another sense of enormous relief, that they had made it over the mountain of another adventure. It was far past time that the danger was once again something that became the bits in-between.

In spite of the prickly outward nature of this incarnation, his private self was romantic. More so than his eighth one, even. He wanted Rose to know it. Their love story had by no means been a conventional one- it was too mysterious for such a simple label. In some ways, it made no sense to outsiders. At first he had rebelled against the notion that a young Human woman would bring completion to his life. He had never really been in love before. He had had fondness for all of his Human companions, and a few he had loved. A couple had even come close to breaching that barrier. But he had always maintained control over the baser, ancient instincts.

He had come to believe that it was a combination of things that brought him to this- the destruction of Gallifrey, the utter loneliness within, the fact that this body was different from any other. He needed, he wanted, and even though his leather jacket partially served as armor; he also had no desire for flamboyance in his appearance. It's almost as if he was born wanting to look like a regular bloke, so he made choices in his attire accordingly. If he had met Rose wearing Joseph's amazing coat, he highly doubted that she would have ever taken him seriously.

Most of all, there was the unstoppable force of Rose Tyler. The beautiful tenderness with which she looked at him when she said, "There's me." She knew it seemed inadequate in the face of the confession he had made to her on that busy London street, but the fact that she had uttered it had made a claim on his hearts ever since. He had been a right sod that day. But even that- taking her to see her planet burn- was his unconscious response to Rose. He had had only one goal in making her witness such a thing. It was an action that merely said, "I want you to have an understanding of me." It was an urge that he had never had with any other companion.

Each day spent with her had been a maelstrom of experiences- running, healing, learning, fighting, laughing, discovering, and they had done all of it together. Both of them were lonely in different ways, and for entirely different reasons, and together they completed a perfect circle.

Without so much as a shift of position, he drifted off to sleep, content with the decisions he was making for the future. He would speak to Jack in the morning, and give him a new list of supplies and instructions before departing with Rose.


"Jack's staying behind for a few days while you and I spend some time alone together." He said it as if Jack just disappeared for a few days at a time on a regular basis. He would spend the night somewhere else while they were on different planets, but he would always be back by morning.

"Alone? What are we going to do with time alone?"

"As if you don't know, Rose Tyler." He nuzzled her neck and spoke in her ear in a low, husky voice. "We're going somewhere beautiful and absolutely secluded, and we're going to make things permanent." He drew back and seared her with a penetrating stare that made her feel like he was slowly undressing her. "There will be a deep turquoise sky and three beautiful moons, and I'm going to make love to you on silver grass so soft you'll think it's made of velvet."

Rose linked her hands behind his neck and smiled at him, trying to ignore the heat that his words were building within her. "Is that so?"

"Problem?"

"Not at all. Especially if you're going to deliver." Rose chewed on her lower lip for just a moment. "Is there going to be telepathy involved?"

Understanding her concerns immediately, the Doctor held her close. "It won't hurt, I promise," he whispered. "In fact, I can help you with any lingering trauma that Cassandra may have left you with. Once we're bonded, it would take someone far more skilled than Cassandra to violate you again, even with a psychograft."

"Then why was she able to possess you?"

"That's easy. I allowed it to happen. I was attempting to keep her out of you. I could shut my mind down and protect myself. I was trying to protect you."

Rose smiled at him. "Always trying to take care of me."

"And I always will. Any other questions?"

"This bonding part- this is why it's permanent, yeah?"

"I can't have things any other way with you, Rose. My feelings for you are too strong to allow it to be anything else. I wouldn't be able to stop myself from bonding with you the first time we're intimate."

"I'm not scared of the telepathy, Doctor. You said it helps, right? Would you always know how I feel about you? That no one could ever get in the way of that?"

His serious expression turned to a broad smile. "Yes. You would feel that from me, too. It's not the same as mind-reading. If we're physically touching each other, then yes, we could read each other's thoughts, just like we were doing at the hospital. But it would be a constant awareness of each other. And any sort of real separation would be painful."

Rose looked a bit disturbed at this revelation. "Painful?"

"It means I wouldn't be able to leave a planet without you. For me, that's a big sacrifice." He glowered for a moment. "It means I eat shepherd's pie with Jackie Tyler rather than take off for awhile to get boring components that you're not a bit interested in."

"Oi, if we're doing this, you have to be nicer to my mum!"

"I spent two days with her at Christmas and she didn't even slap me for snogging you under the mistletoe. I've made some progress!" He took her left hand in his right one, just as he did the day they met and played idly with the bracelet he had given her. Then he met her eyes with the most naked, unguarded expression Rose had ever seen.

"Rose," he began quietly. "On your world, marriage is just a piece of paper that can be dissolved with another piece of paper. It just shows others the status of your relationship. This is more than that. It would mean more than a marriage."

"And you want that with me?" she asked in wonder.

"I've never asked it of anyone else. That's how important you are." He bent his head towards hers, touching her forehead with his.

"Then there's nothing more to be discussed, Doctor. I love you, and I made my choice a long time ago. I never want to be separated from you. Not for any reason."