Author's Note: Firstly, thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed and favourited - especially Mejhiren , your lovely review got me through an especially cheerless day at work!

Quick warning about this chapter: the Doctor and Rose spend some time in a bedroom environment. Nothing too explicit, but they are wearing considerably less clothes than they would be were they, say, in a roomful of Daleks, for example.

When they broke apart this time the Doctor was gratified to see Rose was breathing heavily, her eyes dark. Then she pushed at the lapels of his jacket, sliding it down his shoulders and to the floor. He'd not even realised the buttons were undone. He raised his eyebrows at her.

Her expression clouded and she stepped back from him. Unfortunately she was still standing right up against the sofa and ended up falling onto it, still looking up at him anxiously.

He held her gaze for a moment, reaching up to undo the knot on his tie but leaving it hanging loose in his collar. Then he held out his right hand to her, maintaining eye contact as she took it and allowed him to pull her up from the sofa, so she was standing pressed against him.

He stood for a moment, watching her intently. She stared back up at him, her gaze flicking from right to left in an attempt to examine both his eyes. The part of his brain processing her efforts was tiny. Infinitesimal. A far greater portion was given the task of bringing his desire back under control. The physical urge to take her, to possess her, was far too strong.

It would probably be easier, he mused, if he hadn't pulled her up against himself quite so tightly. If he could stop looking at her for just a few moments. Had they been in the console room he could have thrown himself with kinetic abandon into showing off around the console. Flinging himself around just to make her laugh. One of his favourite pastimes, that. One of his favourite 'avoid-kissing-Rose-at-all-costs' tactics.

'I can hear your brain ticking, Doctor.' She spoke softly, but startled him nonetheless. Rose looked amused. 'Forget I was here?'

He shook his head, keeping his expression deadly serious. 'Quite the opposite, actually. Trying to remember why we weren't always doing this. And my brain doesn't tick.'

Rose cocked her head to one side and raised an eyebrow. 'Curse of the Time Lords? Somethin' about humans withering-'

'I need you,' he murmured, shocking her into silence. She stared up at him, seemingly unable to speak. 'I need you and I've missed you and I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Rose, that I didn't say all of this before.' He wanted to look away from her, to fidget, to distract, to run. But he couldn't. Couldn't take his eyes off her. His Rose. He owed her the truth.

'I just... I thought we had time,' he said quietly.

She stepped back, distancing herself from him.

'Rose?'

'You're not thinking straight,' she said softly. 'You've been through a lot. Its ok, Doctor.'

He sighed. 'I'm not saying this because I've been through a lot. That wasn't a lot. Not for me. You know that.'

'Your... Friend died.'

He gave a short laugh. 'He wasn't my friend. Hasn't been for longer than I care to think, to be honest. Probably my greatest enemy, aside from the Daleks and at least they're only doing what they were created to do.' He stilled. 'But he saved your life and you can't... You can't imagine how much I wish I could pay him back for that. If I'd lost you again...' He trailed off, looking down at his feet.

He cleared his throat. 'I'm sorry he's dead. He was a Time Lord, like me, and no one wants to be on their own. To be the last. And yes, a long time ago - such a long time ago - we were friends. And I -' it suddenly became difficult to follow that line of thought, so he stopped, fixing her with an intense gaze.

'You said you loved me,' he said.

'Yeah.'

'And now?' He prompted, echoing her earlier question.

She watched him carefully for a moment. 'I was at Bad Wolf Bay,' she said, her voice low. 'When I disappeared, I was at Bad Wolf Bay. I lied, before. I was there for two years after I saw you. Stuck in a parallel world for two years. Worked at Torchwood just so I could try to find a way to get back to you. Drove my mum mad, that did. A whole torchwood team trying to find a way to find a way to send me through the void. And every six months I went back to Norway. Trying to find my way back,' she paused, looking up at him. 'To you.'

He felt relief flood through him and was aware that he was watching her hungrily, as though trying to forcibly imprint her image on his memory. So he'd always remember her like this. In his TARDIS, telling him she loved him. And that she wouldn't wait for him.

No. Rose Tyler would never be content to just wait for him. She'd do anything to get back to him. Trips to Norway? No problem. Command a Torchwood team with the express remit of trying to cross universes? Done. Become host to the time vortex? Easy.

He remembered how furious he'd been with her, when she'd reappeared at Canary Wharf. Furious and ridiculously, selfishly happy. Amazed. He'd wanted to kiss her then, to pull her against him and kiss her until she was breathless. Unfortunately the combination of millions of daleks and cybermen and the impending doom of the human race was a very effective mood-killer.

She reached out, laying her hand flat against his chest, between his hearts. He felt them speed up slightly in response.

Rose must have noticed too because she gave him a lopsided smile. 'Lucky there's no Dalek here to bang on about your heart rate, Doctor.'

He bit the inside of his cheek, trying not to smile back as he recognised the reference. The female's heart rate has increased. She slid her hand up over his chest, taking hold of the end of his tie and tugging it free from his collar. He brought his own hands up to work on the buttons of her blouse.

'Not here.'

He glanced up at her eyes, stilling his hands on her blouse. 'Right. Course not.' He straightened up, endeavouring to look every inch the dignified Time Lord once more. 'Where?'

She grinned at him, holding her tongue between her teeth in a gesture he hadn't seen in far too long. 'Somewhere with a door?' She suggested. 'That locks? Jack's on board, you know.'

He looked put out for a moment at the idea that Jack might wander in. Then took her hand. 'Come on.'

'Your jacket-'

'Leave it. I don't need it just now. Believe it or not, jackets are not uppermost in my mind.'

He led her out into the corridor and away from the console room, listening all the while for Jack or Martha.

\/\/

They'd not gone too far from the library when the Doctor turned abruptly, pulling a door open and walking inside. 'S'more like it,' he sniffed.

Rose had let go of his hand and was looking around the room with interest. It looked a lot like the console room, except with more soft furnishings. The walls glimmered in the sourceless pale gold light the room was filled with. She reached out and laid a hand against the wall nearest her, smiling to herself when she felt the wall grow slightly warmer beneath her hand.

'Rose.'

She turned to see the Doctor standing in the centre of the room, watching her with a slight smile on his face.

'Doctor?'

Wordlessly, he held out a hand to her, needing her to come to him. She smiled at him and then she was in his arms, her own twining around his neck. He held her for a moment, well aware that he had what was probably the stupidest grin imaginable on his face.

All too soon, Rose stepped back from him. She didn't look up at him, instead her hands drifted down the sleeves of his shirt, where she unbuttoned first one cuff, then the other. Keeping her gaze on her hands, she reached up at undid the buttons at his collar. He stopped her when she was partway down his shirtfront and reached up, pulling the shirt over his head.

She smiled, reaching up and running her fingers through his hair, teasing the strands back into something approaching order. He moaned, his eyes fluttering closed.

'Always thought you'd like that,' Rose said dryly.

He dropped his shirt to the deck and opened his eyes, fixing his gaze on the buttons of her blouse once more. He raised his eyebrows as Rose moved her own hands and began to undo the buttons herself. He reached out and stopped her, replacing her fingers with his own and watching with acute pleasure as she shivered every time he brushed against her skin.

He slid the garment down her arms and trailed his fingers back up to her shoulders, allowing one hand to drift to the back of her neck as he moved closer, tilting her head back so he could kiss her. He felt her fingers catch at his t-shirt, pulling it free from the waistband of his trousers. Then she slid her fingers underneath the material and up over his stomach, smiling against his lips when she felt the muscle there twitch under her fingers.

He turned, spinning her with him until the backs of her legs were pressed against the bed, then he stepped forwards slightly, knocking her down so she was seated in front of him. He knelt in front of her, sliding his hands up under her jeans, unzipping the boots she wore and sliding them off her feet, dropping each to the deck in turn. Then he turned his attention to his own footwear, red converses, to go with the blue suit. He found himself wondering whether Rose liked the blue suit and almost asked her aloud, amusing himself with his ability to concentrate on minutiae while his body and mind felt like they were burning.

When he looked up, Rose was still watching him. In one quick movement he stood, watching as her eyes swept over him appreciatively. She held out her hand to him. When he took it she tugged slightly as she lay down on the bed, pulling him down with her.

He supported his weight on his elbows, dipping his head to suck and bite at her neck. 'Rose,' he murmured against her. He felt her hum in response. 'We're still a bit…' he broke off as she ran her nails down his back, arching her hips up into his. 'Dressed,' he managed finally. 'We're still a bit dressed.'

'I missed you. You took forever to get your shoes off,' she said, sounding slightly breathless.

'It was less than twenty seconds,' he protested, then gasped as she reached between them and lowered the zip on his trousers, the confined space forcing her to brush quite firmly against him.

Realising he couldn't very well rectify their state of attire while laying full-length on top of Rose, he got to his feet, shoving his trousers downwards and off into the pile of clothing on the deck. On the bed Rose had wriggled out of her jeans and was now looking up at him expectantly. He climbed back onto the bed, pushing her down and settling himself between her thighs, pressing a trail of kisses upwards from her sternum to her throat.

The Doctor moaned and sagged against her as she ran her hand over him, quite deliberately this time. Then he lifted his face from her neck, so close to her now that he could lean his forehead against hers while he fought to control himself. He was mildly surprised to find it wasn't just the immediate physical need for her he was fighting. He felt like he was drowning in fear. He found himself scanning her eyes searchingly.

'Doctor?' she breathed, making a question of his name.

'Don't leave me,' he murmured, the order escaping before he could stop them. He swallowed past a suddenly desiccated throat. 'Ever again.'

Rose nodded, her eyes wide and suspiciously bright. She reached up to where one of his hands was tangled in her hair, freeing it and sliding her fingers into the gaps between his.

'I need you,' he murmured, knowing he was repeating himself. 'I want you.'

'Please,' she whispered, pushing up against him in a way that he was sure made his eyes roll back in his head. Then she tilted her head back and kissed him, her tongue drawing his own into play, the heat of the kiss compelling him to move.