"Look at that," Rose commented as she motioned to her somewhat exposed chest. "I swear that I didn't see those veins yesterday."

The Doctor and Rose were lazily tangled in his bed. She was in week ten of the pregnancy, about two weeks after their first kiss. They were doing a lot of that lately. Neither had said anything about the complicated relationship just yet. Both liked how things were going and didn't want a serious conversation to ruin it. So, they were going with whatever felt right in the moment. At that moment, it felt right to walk his fingers down her skin, making her giggle.

"That's what happens, Rose. Veins become more visible. Your blood supply has increased by twenty to forty percent."

"Aren't you a wealth of knowledge?" she smirked as a hand went to her pounding head. "Does that have anything to do with these ridiculous headaches?"

"You are brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. It certainly does. This child is going to be the smartest man in the universe!"

"Well, Mum said it's going to be a girl."

He scoffed. "I say it's going to be a boy. What do you think?"

"I don't know. They'll be something else no matter what they are."

"Quite right. He is our child."

After a comfortable silence, she smiled mischievously at him. "You know…I could really go for a banana peanut butter sandwich with chips."

"But peanut butter made you run to the toilet yesterday," he responded confusedly. "Just the smell made you turn green."

"Yeah. Well. I'm craving it today."

"And it won't make you sick?"

Rose thought about it. "I don't think so. I'm really in the mood. Would you mind…?"

Sighing, he untangled himself from her and pointed a finger. "Don't make this my fault if it isn't what you thought."

"I wouldn't make it your fault," she laughed. "Oh…wait. I did that yesterday, didn't I? When I asked for pickle ice cream sundae."

He put his hands in his pockets and cleared his throat. "Yeah. You might have thrown a pillow at me."

"Sorry," she grinned sweetly. "I promise I won't do that again."

"Hormones," he reminded her on his way out. "You'll be a screaming, sobbing, mess at some point. It should be interesting. I like interesting. I don't do well with dull."

She grinned to herself about their predicament. It was everything she had always wanted and then some. When he returned with her order, he plopped beside her and watched in amazement as she started to scarf it down. She paused and looked at him with questioning eyes. "What?"

"You have a little…" he motioned to the corner of his mouth to indicate the blob of peanut butter. Leaning across the plate, he quickly licked it away. "There. Got it."

His face was still very close to hers, so she moved in for the kiss. They went on like that for a while until she really craved the rest of the chips. He smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She set the plate aside and cuddled into his side, looking down at her growing figure. "I'm going to get fat soon, aren't I?"

"Not fat. Just noticeably pregnant."

"Lovely. Rate I've been eating, it's not going to take long. And I've been so tired. I don't want to move at all. I just want to sleep all day."

He mindlessly ran a hand down her arm. "Why don't you do that? Go on. Get some rest."

"Right now? Like this?"

"Like what?"

"You'd be able to sit still while I sleep? I'd think that you'd be terribly bored."

"Well…" he swallowed nervously. "I like staying around while you sleep. And not in a creepy way. That sounded better in my head. Not as voyeuristic."

She laughed. "I think it's sweet."

That made him grin. "Really?"

"Yeah. Really," she paused as she fiddled with his tie. "I like having you around. I sleep better."

"So do I."

Their eyes met. They both felt the temperature rising and their hearts pounding. It wasn't clear who started the kiss, but they both gladly went along with it. Her hands were in his hair and his hands were on her hips. It was getting more involved by the second. She just knew that her hormones were going insane and she loved this Time Lord more than anything. Her fingers undid his tie and tossed it aside. She worked on his buttons as he shrugged off his jacket. He wasn't objecting. In fact, his hands were sliding beneath her shirt and preparing to take it off. That's when she suddenly stopped and pulled back a bit.

"Right," he mumbled awkwardly. "I understand. It's complicated and you're feeling things right now—"

"Doctor, that's not the problem…" she assured him. "You were right."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "Right about what?"

"Peanut butter wasn't a good idea."

She ran to his bathroom and he leaned against his headboard. What was he thinking? They hadn't even talked about their relationship yet and he wanted to…well, he had some colorful ideas. She sounded horrible, so he got up and stood by the door. "Rose? Everything all right? Do you need anything?"

"Ginger beer."

He went into her room, since he installed a cooler for her morning sickness, and returned with a glass. When he got into the loo, she smiled shamefacedly. "Doctor, um…you need a new bath mat…"

"New bath mat," he repeated slowly.

"Sorry."

He held up his hand. "It's quite all right."

"And."

"Yes?"

"You might need a new robe…"

The Doctor smirked. "Just put them in the bin. No problems there."

After digging through boxes and the wardrobe room, he found some temporary replacements. Rose had crawled back into his bed and appeared to be napping. Tiptoeing, he placed a kiss on her temple. She grinned. "Doctor."

"Rose," he exclaimed with a start. "I thought that you were sleeping."

"No…" she yawned. "Almost. Can I ask you something?"

Grimacing, he knew what it was about. "Sure."

"We were about to—"

"Oh yes."

"And you wanted to—"

"Yes. And you wanted—"

"Yes."

The Doctor slowly nodded. "I see."

"If I hadn't had the peanut butter, we'd be…right now."

"That is correct."

"Well," she spoke in surprise. "Next time I'll make sure I haven't had any peanut butter."

He flustered. "Next time? There's going to be a next time?"
She frowned at that. "You don't want—"

"That isn't what I'm saying."

"Then where's the problem?"

"There isn't one. I was just. Surprised. That you'd want—"

"Yeah."

"Well."

"I know…" she agreed. They were silent for a moment. "What are we doing?"

The Doctor rubbed his forehead. "What do you mean?"

"This. Us. Everything."

He wasn't sure where to start. He knew what he wanted, but he was worried about what was the right course of action. Though he had been in love with her since he wore a leather jacket, he couldn't help thinking about all of the possibilities.

During his thought process, Rose was losing patience. She loved him and she always had. She wasn't worried about anything. They already made a great team and clearly an even better couple. There was no reason to be cautious, so she was going to go for it.

"Doctor, can we be honest for five seconds?"

"All right."

"I'm really glad this baby is yours."

His face lit up like Father Christmas. "I'm really glad it's yours, Rose Tyler. I wouldn't want it any other way."

"Is that because I'm your best mate or because you're secretly in love with me?"

"Blimey," he muttered. "You really should warn people when you ask questions like that! You just drop them like you're asking for the time. At least say, Doctor, this is a serious question. Is that so hard? Just those few words?"

She folded her arms. "I'm about to have a hormone attack if you don't answer my question."

"All right! Don't do that…" he took a deep breath. "I don't think the answer needs saying."

"You'd be wrong."

He groaned and gestured empathically. "I'm not good at this! I'm a Time Lord! After nine hundred plus years, you really think it's easy for me to admit that I love someone? I've known so many people. I get my heart broken. Well, both of my hearts. I'm sorry. So sorry. But, I'm rubbish at human emotions."

"Get over it, mate. Obviously, you do feel something or we wouldn't be snogging every five seconds. We know we're the stuff of legends, you and me. I don't see why we aren't together."

"What if something so terrible happens you can't stand to stay on the TARDIS? Then you'll have to go and take our child with you. I can't handle that. I've lost so many people, Rose. They all leave or I have to leave them behind. Not to mention that I burned my entire planet. I burned with it, but you brought me back. Made me better. I can't imagine what I'd be like without you here. And that has nothing to do with the baby. That's a whole other complication. Maybe everything looks fine now, but things have a way of going wrong."

"Are you even listening to yourself? I won't leave you. You should know that by now. There's nothing you could do to get rid of me, and I do mean nothing. And if something does go wrong, I'll come back. I always have and I always will. I'm not those other people, Doctor. I said forever and I meant it. I love you. "

He did a double take. "You love me?"

"Are you thick? Of course I do. Can we please try, Doctor? It's better to try and fail miserably than to wonder what might have happened. That, and I seriously will go barmy if we go back to being mates. I'm already losing my head 'cause of the kid in me."

After an excoriating moment for Rose and internal deliberation for the Doctor, he gave her a soft smile. "I'd like very much to give us a go, Rose Tyler."

She smiled and then pulled a serious face. "You never said if you love me or not."

"I think I did."

"Nice try. You implied it, but you didn't say it. Might as well get it over with. I'll just nag and nag until you answer me."

He huffed and quietly whispered the three words into her ear. She beamed and kissed him briefly. His brow knit as she got up and started for the console room.

"Where are you going?"

"Calling my mum."

"Why?"

"She sort of wanted us to do this. She'll be happy to hear it. Might even want us to stop by."

He frowned gravely. "Tell her we'll stop by when our child is full grown."

"You'll have to get used to her. She's practically your mother-in-law."

"That is disturbing. That is really, really disturbing…"

The Doctor listened to her giggles as she left, smiling wider than he had ever smiled.