A/N: Set in the night they spend in the episode, The Impossible Planet. Sharing a room (and a bed) Rose and the Doctor have a discussion that leads to an interesting and unexpected conclusion...

-x-

We're Still Us

"Tell me a story," she said gently.

He stroked her hair back as he glanced down at her. "Hmm?"

"A fairytale. Or...or something about you, a memory or something."

"About my past?" he clarified.

"Yeah."

He let out a low chuckle. "Nothing very fairytale about that, but I suppose - "

"- but it has to be good," she interrupted. "It has to be happy. Or have a happy ending."

A faint smile crossed his lips in amusement at her request. Unable to deny her anything, however, he complied. "Once upon a time..."

She grinned, and snuggled into his chest, settling herself in for his story.

"There was a man," he continued.

"A handsome man," she interjected.

He chuckled deep in his chest. "Oh yes. A very, very handsome man. And he was wandering the universe, doing nothing in particular – except running, of course, from the dark."

"The dark?" she echoed.

"The dark. The darkest dark there ever was. For this man, see, he was...he was in a war. A terrible War. One that destroyed his entire planet, all his people...everything. Gone. And he was weighed down with guilt, for he was responsible - "

"No he wasn't," she interrupted softly. "He had to do it. It was the only way left."

"Who's telling the story?" he asked, nudging her gently.

"You, but you're telling it wrong," she protested. "Besides, I asked for something happy."

"Believe me, it turns into something happy soon. Sooner than you might think, actually."

"Really?"

"Yes," he assured her firmly. "So he's moping about one day in his magnificent time-and-spaceship - " he cut himself off briefly, and Rose heard him swallow hard before he continued, " – and he sees this curious signal on the screen in the console room, something alerting him to a little green-and-blue planet in the next solar system that he had often visited before; it needed his help. It didn't know it yet, but it did."

"What happened?" she prompted, trying to keep her eyes open.

"There was a creature," he answered. "Hiding away, planning an invasion. And this man, see, he had to stop it. Weelll, he didn't have to, as such, but he was quite fond of this planet and didn't think it deserved to be taken over by such a creature, so he thought he'd better sort the mess out."

"And did you?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Not quite. You know why?"

"Why?" she asked through a yawn.

"Because he met a girl."

She woke up a bit at that. "Did he now..."

"Yep. And he looked at her, and...and something inside him just knew."

"Knew what?"

"That he would...that he wanted her to travel with him."

"And this girl...what did she look like?" she asked, suppressing a smile.

"Beautiful. Young. Human. So alive." He paused dramatically, and lowered his voice to murmur, "Blonde."

"Oh yeah?" Rose giggled.

"Yeah." He looked at the top of her head fondly, resisting the urge to lift her head so he could look into her eyes. "Anyway, it turned out that this girl, this tiny, insignificant - "

"Oi!"

" – human, was actually fantastic. It was her who saved the day, even though she had never seen such a creature, had never even conceptualised such an event happening on her planet before. It was her who saved the man, too, even when her then-idiot/boyfriend told her to just leave him. And then the man knew that his instincts were right; he had to ask her to come with him. No one had ever made such an impression on him before, especially not in such a short space of time."

She made a pleased sound in the back of her throat and he chuckled.

"But do you know what she said, when he asked her?"

"I expect so," Rose replied knowingly. "She told him no."

"Exactly! I mean, what's that about, eh?"

"Maybe she thought he was coming on too strong," she joked. "Spent one day with her and he's asking her to move in with him!"

"Yes, well. I doubt he let himself dwell on the domestic connotations of that," he mumbled. "Anyway! He left for about eighteen seconds and then realised something."

"He missed her!" Rose exclaimed laughingly.

"Actually, I was going to say that he realised he'd forgotten to tell her that his ship also travelled in time."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," she giggled.

"Point is, he went back."

"And asked again."

"Yep. And that was something new, see, 'cos he never usually asks twice."

"No? Well, she must have been special, then," she laughed.

"Indeed," he replied softly.

"And she said yes this time."

"She did," he smiled.

"And they lived happily ever after," she concluded.

"Yeah," he beamed down at her. He considered that a moment and his grin faltered slightly. "Well, give or take a few points when he acted like a complete idiot."

"Well, obviously," she grinned.

"And the times he thought he'd lost her," he added quietly.

"Yeah. And she him."

"Mmm."

"Mostly happy, though," she amended. He didn't reply this time and she lifted her head to look at him. "I know that things might be..."

"What?" he prompted gently.

She swallowed thickly. "Different. Difficult. But..."

"But?"

"Well. We're still us," she reasoned.

"We are," he smiled at her reassuringly.

"And even if we do end up having to...you know...the whole...house-with-carpets-and-doors thing - "

" – yes, Rose," he interrupted, stroking her arm softly. "I will share a mortgage with you."

Her eyes widened. "Yeah? 'Cos earlier, you didn't sound too pleased with the idea."

"Well, I'm not getting one on my own!" he retorted. He looked into her eyes, then, and gave her a shy smile as he added, "Plus, it could be fun."

"Fun? Earlier you were practically shuddering at the thought!"

"Well maybe I'm just scared about what it'll mean for us," he justified, averting his gaze to the ceiling.

"How do you mean?"

"I wouldn't be able to bear it if you ended up resenting me, Rose," he whispered, a lump in his throat.

"I wouldn't resent you!" she protested.

"You might. When it all sinks in that I've trapped you so far from home. When you realise just what it means to never see your own mother again."

"But I'll still have you."

He looked back at her swiftly. "Yeah, but what use am I if I haven't got the TARDIS?"

Rose stared at him in shock. "Are you seriously asking me that?"

"Yes," he replied earnestly.

"Oh my God, you just don't get it, do you?" she sighed tiredly. "I'm - "

" - No, you don't get it," he said quickly, before she could continue. "I want to show you everything, Rose. There are so many places you deserve to see, and I want to share the universe with you. You know what my days consist of, now? The ones where disaster doesn't follow us, I mean?" She shook her head wordlessly. "It's me, doing everything I can think of to put a smile on your face. To see your eyes light up. To make you happy. How can I do that, on some solitary, rubbish old planet?"

She blinked. Once. Twice. And then she decided she really was in love with a complete idiot. "Doctor."

"Yeah?" he sighed, rubbing at his eyes wearily with his free hand.

"Um. Right. The thing is...and I mean, that was really sweet and everything, and I'm really grateful and touched and all that, but... don't you know the real reason I'm happy when I'm with you?"

He swallowed nervously, and shrugged a shoulder.

"It's because I'm with you," she told him earnestly.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes slightly. "But - "

" – no buts. It's you I stick around for. I can deal with being anywhere – trapped here, or trapped on some planet if we manage to get out – as long as you're with me. It's the fact that you'll get bored with me and end up leaving that's worrying me."

"What?" he snapped harshly.

Rose jumped at his tone. "What do you mean, 'what?'"

"How can you even..." he trailed off, and removed his arm from around her, trying to demonstrate his annoyance at her suggestion. "I can't believe you would even think that I'd...!"

"Woah, hang on," she countered, sitting up straight. "Don't have a go at me! You can't deny that it's gonna drive you mad, you staying put on – what was it you called it? 'Some solitary, rubbish old planet?' Never mind that you've never even seen where they're gonna drop us off yet!"

"Well, I - " he tried to interject.

But Rose continued, deciding she needed to convey to him exactly how worried she was that he wasn't going to stay with her wherever they ended up. "For all you know, it could be wonderful! But no, you wouldn't give it a chance, would you? Well, no, maybe you would. For about a week."

"That's not...!" he spluttered, but Rose continued.

"You'd treat it as some sort of holiday but then you'll start to get antsy, wanting to leave, but you won't be able take us away in the TARDIS, so you'll do the next best thing and get away from the person that's keeping you standing still, making you live with her – that's me, by the way – and then you'll piss off to the other side of the planet while I'm trying to get used to everything, trying to get a job or buy bloody carpets and all that other stuff you're so scared of, and then, then I'll resent you, because do you know what?"

"What?" he replied shortly.

"It's not your fault that we'll be stuck there, it really isn't. But it'll be your fault that I'll be on my own, and maybe, maybe you'll turn up again one day, but it won't be for long, do you know why? Because I'd have aged a bit, and that'll freak you out, remind you that I'll only wither and die anyway, so you might as well get out while you can and not have to face my human bloody wrinkles and arthritis and - "

The Doctor simply could not listen to her talking such rubbish any longer. He grabbed hold of her by the shoulders and yanked her towards him, before cutting off her rant with a firm press of his mouth to hers. Initially shocked, Rose automatically opened her mouth beneath his, and he took the opportunity to deepen the kiss. It was only a few moments later, and she started to relax in his hold, letting her hands slide up and into his hair, keeping him close.

When he let go of her so that they could inhale some much needed oxygen, he couldn't tear his eyes away from hers, which were wide in amazement at the fact they'd just snogged the breath out of one another. They were also as dark as he'd ever seen them, and within seconds, he felt drawn into her again, tugging her more gently towards him this time so that he could kiss her slowly, his hands cupping her face, the pads of his thumbs stroking her cheeks.

Rose broke the kiss off this time, and he felt his hearts sink when she moved away from him, shifting off the bed and standing up. She backed up until she could go no further, pressed against the wall, and tried to control her breathing.

"You can't do that," she murmured, her voice shaking. "It's not fair."

There was a lump in throat that he couldn't dislodge as he stood up and closed the distance between them again. "You're wrong."

"What about?" she asked, her breath hitching as he stepped close enough for her to feel the lapels of his jacket brush against her chest, his hands positioned either side of her head, palms flat against the wall.

"Everything. But firstly, how can you tell me that it's not fair for me to kiss you? Don't you think it was pretty unfair of you to say all you just said?"

"No, actually. I don't. Because that's what's gonna happen, isn't it?" she told him, biting her lip to stop herself getting tearful. "You'll try to be happy, but you won't be. And then you'll resent me. And then you'll leave. Because I'll never be enough for you."

His eyes searched hers for a moment, and then his shoulders slumped, his hands sliding down the wall before falling to his sides. "Rassilon, you really think that, don't you?" he asked in disbelief. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see when she started to cry. He knew it'd be the catalyst to him breaking down, too. And he didn't want her to see that. "I thought you were just saying that to upset me, but you really mean it, don't you?

"What else am I supposed to think?" she asked softly, genuinely curious to know what the hell he envisioned life was going to be like, now. She'd said, earlier, they'd be okay, they'd still be them; and she'd said it with a conviction she'd pretended to have, hoping he'd enhance it rather than dismiss or diminish it.

He pressed his forehead against hers, and brought his hands up to her hips, holding her steady. "That I'm going to look after you," he answered. "That I'm going to stay with you. That you'll always be enough for me, always. That I love you, always."

She gripped his arms quickly. "Did you just say - "

" – yes," he answered firmly, tilting his head back to regard her seriously. He lifted a hand to her cheek, and stroked away her tears. "I've always loved you, and I always will. Losing the TARDIS won't change that. Nothing, nothing, could ever change that."

"Doctor..." she mumbled awkwardly, not knowing what to say. Not knowing whether she should apologise, or just...tell him that she loved him back.

"What else can I possibly say or do to make you believe me?" he asked, feeling helpless at her non-response.

"Nothing," she answered, shaking her head. Starting to smile, she looped her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Didn't know what?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "That you...felt like that..."

He exhaled roughly and asked, "Are you saying you don't?"

She pressed a gently kiss to his lips and moved her body closer to his. "Am I acting like I don't?"

"Well, I dunno...you humans are always a bit dodgy," he smiled.

"Had much experience, then?"

"No!" he corrected hastily. "No, not at all. I mean, not with humans."

"Really? All those young women you abduct from their homes, and you've never..." She waggled her eyebrows.

"How can you go from shouting at me one minute to teasing me the next?" he wondered.

Rose gave an ineloquent snort and countered, "How can you go from shying away from domestics one moment to then declaring that you love me?"

"Because it needed saying," he told her.

She raised an eyebrow. "Because you wanted me to stop shouting at you?"

He sighed impatiently. "No. Just because it needed saying."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You gonna kiss me again, then?"

His eyes lit up. "Could be persuaded..." he murmured, leaning forward.

Then, quite abruptly, Rose frowned, and pushed him back a bit. "Wait. You're not just doing this because..."

"Because what?"

"Because you've lost the TARDIS. 'Literally the only thing' you have?"

"You really don't want to know how often I imagine this kissing thing happening, Rose," he answered. "And when I said she's literally the only thing I have, that wasn't a conscious exclusion of you. I just didn't want you to think that I assumed I could say that I 'have' you. Because you're very much your own woman, Rose Tyler. No one could ever own you."

"It's not about ownership," she replied softly. "It's about - " She cut herself off, not wanting to scare him with too much domestic in one evening.

"Partnership?" he finished for her. Astounded, Rose nodded absently to agree with him. "Okay then."

She swallowed thickly. "What if one day, all you're going to have are stories to tell me?"

"No. What if one day all I'm going to have is you, and stories to tell you?" he corrected. He offered her a small smile. "Oh, the answer's easy, Rose. I can live with that. After all, stuck with you? That's not so - "

She cut off the end of his sentence, pressing her lips back to his.