Chapter 6

An hour of reminiscing and giggling later, lying in his arms in the grass, Rose whispered, "It's so... us, isn't it..."

"What is?" he asked distractedly, eyes closed as they lay contentedly in the sun. Rose was absently stroking his rolled-up sleeved forearm with one of her fingers, and he was concentrating on not shivering under her touch. He wouldn't be able to blame it on chilly weather, after all; it was an unusually warm February – well, unusually warm by his estimation. Apparently, the season's thing had been messed up in Pete's World's Britain since some Alien Incident or other.

"Like, we've slipped back into how we were. And straight away as well. Six years for me, half that for you, but we still..." she trailed off.

"Fit?" he supplied, lips twitching.

"Yeah," she agreed. She turned over, so that she was lying above him, her elbows resting on his chest. "It's felt so easy to just...be with you again."

"That's just 'cos, even though we've been separated by the void and time and whatnot, we never stopped being in love with each other," he murmured softly, caressing her jaw with the pad of his thumb.

Her breath hitched and she bit her lip to hold in a squeal of happiness. For all that he protested about him being romantic...well, he sure knew how to surprise her with it rather often. "That's true," she whispered back.

"Yeah, it is," he agreed, lifting his head to kiss her.

"I want to make love with you," she told him quietly.

He smiled warmly, his eyes shining with happiness. "Oh, I'm sure that can be arranged," he murmured, tickling her round the waist.

"Shall I make an appointment?" she asked, giggling.

"Mmm, I think you should," he teased back.

"How about now? Are you free?"

"I'll have to check my diary," he joked. He paused for a brief moment. "No, no, I think I'm free."

"What, your diary inside your head?" she laughed.

"Of course it is. Time Lord," he mocked.

"Ah," she realised jokingly. "Okay."

She climbed off him, standing up, and held out her hand, which he grabbed hold of and pulled himself up by. "Where...?"

Rose smiled wickedly. "Where I've been dreaming of this for the last six years," she answered.

He grinned. "Your bed?"

She shook her head, and pointed up at the tree house. "It's closer," she shrugged.

"Ah," he exhaled roughly, his mouth suddenly dry. "Weeelll, then. Race you!"

Suddenly, he took off, laughing, and she ran after him in a similar fashion. As he was climbing up the ladder, Rose found it highly amusing to reach up and smack him on the bum. The Doctor was so shocked at the unprecedented impact of her hand on his bottom, that his grip on the ladder faltered, and he fell to the floor in a heap.

"Oi!" he exclaimed indignantly, as she stepped over him and starting climbing up the ladder herself. "Cheat!"

Rose paused, and glanced at him over her shoulder. "Just using my initiative, Doctor," she giggled.

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, you've always been good at that," he said, following her up the ladder until her back was to his front, her bum to his...weeelll.

"This must look very naughty," she smirked, trying to climb up the rest of the way but unable to do so because of the Doctor's possessive grip on one of her hips, holding her against him.

He kissed her neck lingeringly. "That's 'cos it is."

She moaned appreciatively and shook her head, trying to focus. "Come on, let me go for a second, yeah? I have a race to win."

"I bet you five quid that you can't get up there and completely undressed in less than half a minute," he teased, whispering the words into her ear before licking it in a most distracting manner.

She swallowed heavily. "If I gambled on that, it'd be an abuse of my knowledge of my own special abilities," she answered, pressing back into him.

"Ten quid?" he squeaked.

"Done," she smirked, and then she was rushing up and into the tree house exceedingly quickly.

The Doctor remained on the ladder, swaying in the breeze for a few moments, before he gathered his senses back together and went after his dream.

-x-

It turned out that Rose didn't win the bet. In fact, the deal was almost immediately forgotten. The next twenty minutes or so were filled with raucous, happy laughter.

Reluctant to relinquish contact with one another, and giggling like teenagers, they divested each other of their clothes rather elaborately and somewhat awkwardly, such was their position on top of one another on Rose's bean bag.

"Doctor," she gasped out in between laughs, "I really think you should move your leg."

"I'm trying to conquer these frankly quite complicated implements on your shirt at the moment, Rose Tyler," he announced grandly, suppressing his own laughter.

"Buttons, Doctor. They're called buttons!" Rose chuckled, pushing his trousers down as far as she could.

"Well, whatever they are, they must be fused together with...with...something...something that fuses things together a lot." As he spoke, he kicked his trousers off the rest of the way, belatedly realising he still had his shoes on, removing them too; still all the while failing to remove Rose's top.

"Oh, now, now, Doctor. Are you losing your mind? Can't you multitask anymore?"

"Weeelll, you are a bit distracting," he informed her conspiringly, in hushed tones. "Always have been."

"Have I now," she smirked, nudging her knee in between his legs.

"Yes!" he squeaked. He decided to forgo the buttons idea, and instead, he just ripped open her shirt. "Aha!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

Rose narrowed her eyes at him. "I can't believe you just ruined my favourite top," she pouted.

He sighed dramatically. "I can't believe you're complaining about that, when really, it was just a piece of unnecessary, admittedly nice and silky, material that hindered me from doing this," he said, before demonstrating his point by easing down the straps of her bra.

She bit her lip. "You know, you may have a good point there," she pondered.

"Of course I do, I'm the Doctor," he grinned. "Now, sit up a bit so that I can undo the clasp thingy."

Rose did as he asked and started giggling again. "Oh, this is the best day ever."

"It is, isn't it?" he agreed enthusiastically, fiddling with the clasp. "And this is obviously the epitome of romantic seduction."

"Oh, undoubtedly," Rose nodded, batting his hands away. "Here, I'll do it."

"Some things you are better at dealing with by yourself," he sighed.

"Yeah," she replied, throwing her bra across the room. "Other things, though...I'd be quite keen for help on."

"Oh, naturally," he approved, waggling his eyebrows. Then he got a good look of her. "I've missed you so much," he murmured.

"Are you talking to my breasts or me?" Rose teased.

"Your breasts, of course," he teased right back, rolling his eyes as if it were obvious.

"You're lucky you've got such a handsome face, or else I'd kick you out of the treehouse for your cheek," she reprimanded playfully.

He was just about to retort with something exceedingly witty, when the sound of Jackie Tyler's voice rang out towards them.

"Rose? Doctor?" Jackie called. "You want something to eat?"

"Weeelll," muttered the Doctor, eying Rose subtly.

"No, Mum!" Rose called back. "We're alright, thanks."

"Are you sure? Because I've got some nice chicken breasts I could cook," Jackie offered.

The Doctor kissed Rose before she could reply to her mother, so that he wouldn't burst out laughing.

"Rose? Did you hear me, love?" Jackie called out again.

Rose tore her lips away from the Doctor's. "Stop it," she mumbled to him, whacking his arm half-heartedly. "We're good, Mum, it's okay. We're not that hungry. Just sort of...catching up, you know."

"Alright then sweetheart. See you later!"

"Bye!" Rose and the Doctor replied simultaneously.

The Doctor waited until he heard Jackie's retreating steps before kissing Rose again, and relished in the feel of her arms wrapped around him, holding him to her like they were one entity...oh blimey, he'd gone all romantic in his own running commentary, now. This was what Rose did to him.

He couldn't say that he minded, though.