Nine hundred years, more if he was honest with himself... Nine hundred years of experience and wisdom and this little pink and yellow human could still confound him to no end. Of course Jack would have known about the glowing, but he was dismayed that Rose had to find it out from him. If he weren't such a bloody coward, she wouldn't have had to seek out Jack's... Er... Expertise. If he could only put his nebulous feelings for Rose into words. She was the light shining in his dark, the dawn rising to fend off his night... All the words and phrases he formulated on the subject felt cliche and insufficient... She was his salvation... Rose knew how he felt about her, she had to, right?... Damn his persistent cowardice.

He pulled his eyes off his trainers and back to Rose. Her molten honey eyes were still hot, but they were starting to soften. The Doctor hadn't meant to upset her, well perhaps he had in the heat of the moment, but he regretted it now. She had only sought Jack out because she wanted to spare his feeling, because she cared... Cared about a damaged Time Lord... His sweet compassionate Rose... He would never deserve her... Damn his guilty conscience... Damn his complicated past.

Rose sighed and embraced him. "I'm sorry Doctor."

"No, I'm the one that should be sorry... I was acting jealous. Please forgive me?" He hugged her back gratefully.

"Always... But umm... There is something I still don't understand." She blinked up at him from under thick eyelashes.

He braced himself for a question about his commitment to her, but he felt as though he owed her a few answers after such a big misunderstanding. "Yes?"

"What don't get is, why?"

She really doesn't know why he desires her? He had been certain that he smelled arousal on her too, from time to time. They had been dancing around the issue for months, hadn't they? All he managed to choke out was: "Why?"

"Yeah, like why the glowing? Wouldn't there be a better way to indicate desire? Seems counter productive to think your mate is dying, yeah?"

"Oh." He tugged on his ear sheepishly, just a simple question of his biology. "Erm... Well... What is procreation really, if not the simplest form of regeneration?... Extending one's genetic material into the next generation of one's species... Fundamentally, regenerative energy is necessary for Gallifreyans to conceive."

"That kinda makes sense." Rose shrugged.

"I suppose it was an important step in the evolution of my species, but it's really more of a bother nowadays... Regardless, I didn't get any say in the matter."

"S'ok, I just kinda wish I had found out about it before it came to a head... No pun intended."

That's makes two of us, he thought to himself. At least she was smiling again, even if it was at her own bad joke. "What would you have had me say?"

"Come straight out and tell me the truth?" He contorted his features in such a way as to look terribly embarrassed by Rose's suggestion. "No? Alright then, I'm sure that your vast Time Lord mind could have come up with some other plan to let me know what was happening."

"Such as?" The Doctor asked, ruffling his hair... Another nervous quirk of this body.

"Such as... Oh! You could have left a book on my bed about the subject. Like 'The Complete Comped-y Sexy What-not' book that I know Jack snuck into your library. Even if I had asked you about it, you could have blamed the Tardis for showing it to me." The ship was offended for being included in such a preposterous plan, and bristled in protest. Damn his interfering ship.

The Doctor squinted one eye and cocked his head to the side, exaggerating the appearance of contemplating her idea. He blew a breath out of the corner of his mouth. "Weeeeelll, that may have worked. Assuming that she wouldn't have bristled, like she did just now, when I blamed her. Dead giveaway, that. Since the Tardis knew you were so upset about this, she probably would have actually given you the book herself, if it weren't..." His face flushed again. Damn his hyperactive gob.

"If it weren't what?"

"Er... If it it weren't currently located on my nightstand."

"Oh really?"

"I was just checking to see if it had any further insight into my... condition." That and to read up on the signs of human interest and arousal. It was so much more ambiguous in humans, females especially. How did they keep from going mad with curiosity?

"Right."

The long awkward pause that followed would have been an ideal time to kiss her. He thought about it... thought about the bashful smile playing on her lips, thought about tasting her lips, thought about how quickly he could close the small gap between them, thought about brushing the stray lock of blonde hair back behind her ear, thought about brushing his fingertips across her temple so as to touch her mind... thought about how his new pants were starting to become useful now... Damn his habit of overthinking situations.

"Well." Rose broke the silence first. "I could use a quick kip and a shower... Unless you have any other plans for the day?" She was looking at him expectantly.

Other than snogging her senseless against the console? "Nope."

"Ok then... I guess I'll see ya in a little while."

Was she looking for a reason to linger? He didn't want her to go, but he knew the moment to kiss her had passed. They couldn't go back to ignoring the feelings they had for each other, could they? Pretending they weren't there was certainly less complicated than the alternative. In the past, it had been his preference absolutely... Damn his self doubt.

She was walking out the room, looking a bit disappointed. Rejected. He wasn't rejecting her! Dammit, dammit, dammit, sod the complications... "Let me take you to dinner tonight. I know this great spot on the planet of Dristalline, you'll love it! They have these amazing dark purple beaches. Oh, and after nightfall you can see their four large moons, each shining in a slightly different shade of silver, it's breathtaking! I think we deserve a night out, what d'ya say?"

Her gorgeous smile burst back across her face. "Sounds brilliant! I'll meet you back here in 4 hours? Was serious about needing a kip though... I spent most of last night feeling guilty about my disingenuous plan for this morning."

The Doctor chuckled in spite of himself. "Go take a nap Rose Tyler, then we'll have dinner."