A/N: I hope you don't mind, this is a long one. Ash had a couple of suggestions on where to split it up, but I thought it needed to all be together. Many thanks to her for being a fantastic beta. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to review. I greatly appreciate the feedback! Cheers, enjoy!

Senses Working Overtime

Rose slowly comes back to herself. She's so comfortable. Taking in a deep breath, several things click into her awareness-she doesn't know how long she's slept, there's a delicious man that smells like the Doctor completely draped over her side, and his warm breath is blowing her hair into her eyes. She can tell by the rhythm of his breathing that he's still deeply asleep. Not wanting to wake him, she only moves her head slowly to the left, to see if she can glimpse his face. There he is. It's smooth and relaxed, a smattering of freckles lay across his nose and cheeks. His jaw slack, he has drooled a touch into her pillow.

/I'm totally going to tease him about drooling!/ she thinks to herself in amusement. Her expression softens as she continues examining him in sleep, memorising his features in this unusually calm moment. He's always so animated, it's hard to envision that he can be at rest.

/He must have been exhausted. He'd said more than a year searching for a way to reach me. Knowing how I felt, it must have been much worse for him. He's lost so much./ She can't suppress the shudder as her memories of that hateful wall rear up in her mind.

Murmuring in his sleep but not waking, the Doctor settles in closer to Rose. On his side his knees tucked up under hers now, and both his hands pressed together under his chin against her shoulder-It's adorable.

Not wanting to break the moment, Rose settles in waiting for him to wake up. Recollecting her thoughts upon awakening; she doesn't know how long they've been in bed. She'd only been back a couple of days now, but knowing how much time has passed, is so far her favourite of the new abilities. Maybe because it makes sense. Now, she missed it. Thinking back on last night she remembers the Doctor saying he would suppress all the Gallifreyan senses, but that it wouldn't hold for long. She tries to access the information the Sphynx and the TARDIS had given her, but it's also locked up.

/Bugger! Of course now that I actually feel great, and have a moment, I can't explore,/ she thinks, absently miffed.

Knowing it won't be forever, and really not wanting to deal with another headache like the last one, she contents herself with thinking back over all the events since her return. Several points stand out as wanting more in depth perusal. First, she really must come to grips with being a Time Lord now...well Lady. There are so many possibilities wrapped up in that awareness. The forever she had promised him is very different currency this time. Grinning to herself, she wonders how long that forever might actually be. Secondly, The Sphynx had mentioned she would see her mom again soon. Knowing how impossible that was this last time, she can't imagine how it might happen. Deciding to move on for now, she comes to the third point. The one she can't possibly ignore in her current position; the Doctor was interrupted in expressing his reply to her,"I love you, Doctor." What was he about to say? She might be a Time Lord all of a sudden, but so far her life was as a human, and she needed to hear the words. Patience she had plenty of, but she needed answers at some point.

Usually the Doctor awakens instantly, one moment asleep, the next awake. His mind already spinning through several levels of potential activities, breakfast, thermo-couplings, new planet, Fibonacci progressions for fun...and so on. Today however, wakefulness is the surface of the ocean at dawn; slow and easy. He feels himself float out of sleep, opening his eyes to the Sun of Rose's smile. Naturally, he returns the slow smile, thinking that every morning should start this way. Then the rest of his brain kicks in, and the part that's screaming "Holy shit! You're in Rose's bed, snuggling!" is a little louder than is comfortable. Stiffening a moment in his agitation, he sees the light fade from Rose's eyes. That, is much more painful than the familiar fear of caring for Rose. Stuffing the frantic "Run! Run, now before you regret it!" voice in a box and shoving it deep, the Doctor grins sunnily at Rose and stretches.

"Good morning Rose Tyler, I trust you slept well. I think that's the best rest I've had in years!" He tells her, trying to rekindle the sun in her eyes. He stretches again and lets loose a jaw cracking yawn. Coming up on one elbow, his head cradled in his hand he's relaxes, watching Rose, glad to see the light come back into her eyes.

"I did sleep well, thanks to you. I was actually thinking every morning should start this way..." Seeing his eyes widen, but feeling bold, she mirrors his position, "that is until I saw you'd drooled...on my pillow," she ends with teasing. She isn't sure why he hesitated a moment ago, but she could play along and it ignore it; same as him.

"Time Lords do not..."

She points at the obvious dark spot on the pillow near where her shoulder had been. With a look of outraged pride on his face and smug amusement on hers, they both burst out laughing. A short pillow fight ensues until Rose must get out of bed to use the bathroom.

After completing her morning ablutions and wrapped in a warm robe, she expects to come back to a Doctor-free room, but she's wrong. Laying on her made bed, is a half dressed Time Lord. His Jacket folded neatly with his jimjams and trainers on the bench. The image of a barefoot Doctor sprawled on her bed waiting for her, is an image that Rose has just permanently emblazoned on a secret wall in her mind.

He grins at her again, when she pauses upon entering the room. He knew it wouldn't be what she expected, and that's exactly why he did it. Out of the blue, he has this deep well of desire to surprise Rose with good surprises. Just to see the light in her eyes that said, happy.

"I thought we might stay in the Vortex a few days, till we get your Time-Lordy bits all sorted. Time-Lordy bits...never let me say that again!" The look on his face would leave you to think the words tasted bad.

"Yes sir! No Time-Lordy bits!" She can't help laughing at him. "How about after breakfast. I'll make banana bread pancakes!"

"Rose Tyler! You keep saying things like that, and I'll have to keep you around forever!" he enthuses.

"Yes, Doctor. That is the very point. Now, get out. I have to get dressed. Then I'll start breakfast. Tea?"

She states all of this with a hand at the sash of her robe, and a raised eyebrow. Now that she's decided to not be the meek 19 year old that had been content to let him set the pace, she feels much better about herself. She had an opportunity here, and it was not an opportunity to find more regrets.

"Oi! Cheeky," he says good-naturedly. He had really missed their teasing, and the flirting if he was being honest. Gathering his things and heading out of Rose's room, he stops by his own to finish dressing and complete his morning washing up. Throughout he's thinking about forever. Such a simple word for humans, but for his people who could nearly touch eternity, baring unnecessary regenerations, it had meanings far deeper. It's why he'd previously feared her promise. He could still choose to fear it. He could feel that dreaded coil low in his belly. Time Lord or not, she could still be ripped from him. Although, his thoughts taking a lighter turn, it should be impossible to loose her to the Void now that the walls have closed again. Not enough Time Lords to manage an opening. And there would be nowhere in this Universe that someone could hide his Rose from him. Somehow finding this thought heartening he heads off, bouncing towards the kitchen humming merrily to himself.

The Doctor and Rose were much easier around each other this morning. Perhaps it's because they're both content with where they are. Last night was a turning point, but more of a merging than a drastic left turn. They laughed and joked their way through breakfast. The Doctor attempting to 'help', and getting swatted with a spatula. Rose made an enormous pile of banana bread pancakes, with plenty of nuts, cinnamon, and vanilla, and powdered sugar for the topping. After two cups of tea and an entirely wiped out batch of pancakes the teacher and student are ready to begin the day's lesson.

Heading to the Library with fresh cups of tea, they take up positions on the sofa, facing each other. Leaning back the Doctor looks at Rose, and takes a deep breath.

"Okay Rose, so I thought we would start with my telling you about your new physiology. That work for you?"

"Well actually Doctor, I think I have all that knowledge already. I just don't know how to access it, and I don't know how to implement it. At least the Sphynx told me I have everything, but I got the feeling it's like riding a bike. I could watch other people ride their bikes for years, but that doesn't mean that I know how to ride my own bike. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, actually it's a great metaphor, but I am confused as to how you'd already have the information."

"The Sphynx said she gave me all the knowledge that the TARDIS had given her. I remember a hallway with doors with different symbols on them. She also said we had tasks to complete, to continue fixing the damage done to the Universe. I have no idea what that means, but that's what she shared with me. So, I think if we can access my stored knowledge, then you could show me how what I know, compares to what I actually need to do. Would that work?"

The Doctor's mind is awhirl with all the possibilities. He's very curious about how much Rose has stuffed into her head. What knowledge had the TARDIS given to the Sphynx? Tasks, sounds ominous. Seeing if he can get an answer from the TARDIS, he decides to start there.

/So, Dear, do you think you can give me an idea as to what Rose would know from the Sphynx?/

#/Gallifrey/history/TARDIS+Time Lord/dimensions/Time War/language#

He also receives brief mental snapshots of what she means by each of her thoughts. Astrological as well as topographical data about the planet/the history of Time Lord civilisation/the experiences of Time Lords and their symbiotic relationship with the TARDIS/Loads of technical data on the whys and hows of all 11 dimensions, accessible and unaccessible/ and everything one would need to know to speak and write three versions of Gallifreyan. She completely skipped any images of the Time War, for which he is grateful, but not excited that Rose could have access to that knowledge. He doesn't want her subjected to that, maybe he can remove it or hide it away.

#No!#

/But she doesn't need it! What would it help? It wasn't her war.../

He could keep coming up with excuses, but he can feel that he won't win this argument. He dreads what will happen if Rose gains access to that information. Truthfully, he's scared of what she would think of him.

Her thoughts too complex for the limited speech she's capable of with the Doctor, the TARDIS sends him her feelings. Impressing on him that Rose shares that history now, though she wasn't born to it, and Rose has never run from the Doctor. Her love is not so simple to be so easily cast aside. He should trust Rose.

/I do trust Rose. I just can't loose her, most especially because of my own past actions./

#faith#

Choosing to drop that subject, the Doctor moves to his next question.

/And how much knowledge did you give to Rose?/

#biological and physiological/temporal mechanics/piloting/languages#

/Right! Well I guess she does have everything stuffed in that new brain of hers except the practical experience. This will be easier than I thought./ He thanks the TARDIS, but she isn't as convinced that this will be so easy. She knows Rose better than anyone.

From Rose's perspective the Doctor was definitely thinking, but she could also just sense that he and the TARDIS were communicating.

/What's up, darling?/

~My Thief wishes to know what knowledge the Matriarch and I have already gifted you. He is concerned with some of it, but will not interfere.~

/What could he be scared of? The tasks?/

~No, he has forgotten about those at the moment. It is the Time War. You know everything I know about it, which is mostly my, and therefore our, direct experiences and communications before and during the War. He is afraid of what you would think of him, seeing what he had to do to save us all.~

/But he had no choice; he told me that./

~Oh, he had a choice; it just is not in his nature to choose any other way.~

/Survive while destroying both the enemy and his own people, so the rest of the Universe could live./

~It is much more complicated than that, but essentially yes. Although, he survived because of me. That, was not his choice.~

/Does he know that? That you saved him? I'm glad you did./

~ No, but he may suspect, and I was not alone in assisting his survival. We have never explored the topic.~

/Don't worry, I won't go looking for the information./

~You will not need to. It will be there when you require it, or if he unlocks it for you. Otherwise, it will stay tucked away. Thank you. Are you ready to begin?~

/Yup!/

Finishing their individual TARDIS conversations at essentially the same time, they both smile, but haven't paid attention to the minute or two it took.

"Okay, Rose. The TARDIS agrees that you have all the information and more that you need to get started. I should be able to expose an aspect of physiology for you to access and you can learn to control and manipulate it. Ready?" Sliding closer and raising his hands to place on her head, he pauses for permission.

"As I'll ever be!" she says in assent. Rose is drawn inward with the Doctor consciously this time. She sees that they are in a large multi-leveled library in a state of disarray. There are books strewn around, and pages laying all over. It looks like a tornado went through. One of the faceted walls is completely involved with a portion of what is obviously a sphere. It is a bright smooth blue, but she can just see that it is filled with swirling gold.

"What is that, Doctor?" Rose says, out of curiosity. She isn't worried about it, but she is concerned that it doesn't look like it belongs.

"That, Rose, is anything Gallifreyan that was running rampant in here, locked in a shield I made." He is proud of her fearlessness and determination to have all these new aspects of herself sorted and understood.

"Are you the blue? That would make me the gold. Puts a whole new light on my new room décor, don't you think, Doctor?" she ask, tossing him a wink. The idea that the TARDIS decorated her new room in the colours of their mental energies makes Rose laugh out loud.

The Doctor is a little uncertain that this revelation is cause for laughter, but he will have to have a conversation about it with the TARDIS later.

"Blue and gold, eh? Interesting. I don't see the differences as colour. I feel them as yours and mine, but I don't interpret that as colour. Fascinating."

"Now you sound like Spock." She says with a giggle.

"Focus!" He says with a grin. "The Library is your metaphor for the entrance to your mind-scape, your Foyer. It's really a very clever bit of organisation, unusual for most humans. The sphere is temporary, but you may want to consider that side a corridor instead of another wall. You will need more space to store all the information you'll be receiving. As a human you took in information and created the shelving system to store the blocks of data that the books contained. Now that not only your capacity to accumulate input has increased, so has your ability to store it. You may want to reorganise the shelves as balconies with doors, and each door is a room with all the data stored therein. You will need infinite balconies or corridors to continue storing the information. You will have access to every sense you utilise to experience every situation, and all of that information will be stored. Each person's organisation is different, it's very personal. Would you like to try that step first? I can leave if you'd be more comfortable."

"I didn't grow up this way, needing to think about such things. I'm much more comfortable with you staying. How do I change the layout. What do I need to do?"

"It's your mind, Rose. Think the changes in the greatest detail you can come up with, and it will change. The greater the detail, the more permanent the change."

"Oh, okay! Fun." With a cheeky grin, she closes her eyes, and concentrates for a couple of minutes. Opening her eyes, she's amazed at the difference. Where before it had been a dim but grand library, now it is reminiscent of the Roman Colosseum. Surrounded by three round stories of white stone with beautiful doors. The circles of the room broken into four grand hallways lined with more doors that lead off into the distance. The entire construct is light and airy, fresh. It appears that rooms with information have symbols on the doors, otherwise they are blank. The sphere is now in the center of the space, dwarfed by the structure. Looking over at the Doctor she catches the look of startled awe on his face, before he masks it with a cough and a smile.

"Well, done. Impressive even. What made you choose the style?"

"I thought of the Colosseum when you mentioned balconies, and it grew from there. You know, like we saw in Rome."

"Excellent! Rome, of course. Very clever you are , Rose Tyler! Now let's get this lot put away." Walking toward the sphere with Rose following and continuing the lesson.

"This is going to be a little trickier, because the Time Lord senses want to be dominant. They were causing serious chaos in here yesterday, but your new construct is much more solid, and going to be more conducive to organising what's in here. Now all your knowledge from the TARDIS and the Sphynx is already behind their doors. What is in here is specifically related to how it 'feels' to be Gallifreyan in the world. It contains your regular though heightened senses of sight, sound, taste, smell and touch, but it also has your time-sense and your telepathy, as well as the several extra senses related to time and higher dimensions that I can't really describe now, but will make more sense later. What we need to do, is examine each sense, and give it a door. As we reintegrate you with your new senses, the related knowledge from the TARDIS and the Sphynx will be available again. Got it?"

"I think so, but why do they each need their own door, why not just senses, bang; one door? And why do the 'superior Time Lord' senses make any difference about knowing how my respiratory bypass works?"

"Good questions Rose Tyler! Because after a thousand years, you want to be able to identify the smell of petrichor without having to remember where you were at the time you first smelled it, how it felt when the rain first touched your skin, what bird was that, what you had had for lunch, what time of day it was, and what you were thinking at that moment. It can save your life to not sift through everything when all you really need is the one answer. Now, much of the knowledge, especially that related to how your body works, is directly related to those senses. You can't know what you can't perceive."

"Wow, I had never looked at an experience as being so complicated, but I guess after a millennia of them, I can see how trying to locate just one portion of one memory of one moment could be really difficult. What is petrichor?"

"The smell created by rain falling on dust."he answers absently. "So what we are going to do is lay both our hands on the sphere. You are going to think of the sense you want to access, and I am going to keep everything else in. So which are we doing first?"

"Let's start easy. How about smell?"

"Smell it is! One of my favourites...most of the time! Alright, together."

Placing both of their hands on the surface of the sphere, Rose concentrates on her sense of smell. She isn't exactly sure how to do that, so she thinks of smells-a fresh cup of tea, clean sheets, the unique scent that is the Doctor... Suddenly Rose smells memories of those things specifically, as well as so much more. She knows exactly what kind of rock her Colosseum is made from (limestone) by the way the its' scent changes in the sunlight. She can smell that neither of them showered this morning. She can still smell the banana on her fingers, and the specific pomade that the Doctor uses. She's almost sure she could tell the ingredients if it had been fresh that morning.

"Wow! I had no idea that..."she starts to exclaim.

"Pick a door Rose, and will it in there! Then remove your hand. I can't buffer the rest of the senses in the sphere, and process my entire sense of smell and yours, which is subtly different by the way," the Doctor says in a slightly strained voice.

"Oh, Sorry!" Rose apologises. She picks a door in an unused section of the main room and thinks that that is where smell should go. Just that quickly, the door is slightly darker and has a symbol on it in Gallifreyan.

/It's probably a nose./ Laughing to herself, she looks back to the Doctor, who has an inquisitive eyebrow raised.

"I was thinking that the symbol on the door is probably a nose," she says with a smile.

"Well not exactly, but it does represent scent. It will make much more sense, when you know the conceptual meanings behind written Gallifreyan. That will happen after time and telepathy. What's next? Want to try something more difficult? How about your Time-sense?"

"How do I envision that? I enjoy knowing how much time has passed, but I assume it's more than that."

"It is indeed, but that's part of it, also your ability to see other's timelines. While concentrating, you can glimpse the threads of a creature's life, how it connects with others, how it connects with fixed points or not, and also where it diverges or joins. You can also pick up Time Relative moments like fixed points or flux points. You will feel them, physically. The way some points may or may NOT be manipulated. As well as an impression of the possible outcomes of the probabilities associated with the different paths available. It is what made my people observers. Well, most of them. They had ways around their own laws of non-interference though. You'll learn all that soon enough as well." He says this last with an eye-roll that implies soon to be shared exasperation. Similar to knowing the child will continue to touch the oven door until they are burned.

"Alright, I think that gives me a pretty good idea of what to look for," Rose says hoping she sounds confident.

Raising their hands together and placing them on the sphere, Rose ponders what the Doctor had just explained to her. She thinks about the passage of time in precise increments. She's startled by the shift in her perceptions. At first there is no visual stimuli. She can again sense and accrue the flow of time. She now has the ability to notice that they have been at this for 2 hours, 13 minutes, and 56 seconds.

As she explores that, she sees something move out of the corner of her eye. Knowing better than to look directly at it she concentrates on the movement peripherally. Now she's beginning to perceive a blue-coloured, knotted cord that extends from the Doctor. Now that she can 'see' it she looks at it directly. It's thick and shimmering; the surface shifting with barely detected movement. As she glances along it she can see many coloured threads that join in, ride along it, and then vanish. There are many joinings, many knots. Amazed, she looks at herself. Hers is gold. It is less thick, has less, knots, threads, and joinings, but she can see it slam into the Doctors at a point where it is a slightly different shade of blue, much darker, just after a large complex knot. Then, there are several smaller knots, more coloured threads, and now she sees a severing. The loose golden end pointing away from the main bright blue body, waving dejectedly. It's mostly only blue for a ways with very short filaments of other colours, and then her gold cord bursts out of his again, but now it's wound around it tightly and appears to stay connected for a very long distance; further than she can see without following it.

She realises this is their story told in the most unique sense the Time Lords have. Without thinking she reaches out to touch the Timeline as if it is a physical thing, and because she assumes the truth of it, it is therefore truth. Before the Doctor can tell her not to, she touches the spot where the frayed gold strand leaves the blue, knowing this is Canary Wharf. Not knowing what's going to happen she is completely unprepared to experience that entire day's sensations from both perspectives in a crash of about 3 seconds flat, and a nauseating feeling of someone brushing their fingers through her soul. Overwhelmed, Rose slams to her knees, no longer touching the cords. A very pale Doctor reaches out to keep her upright, and as they touch her vision of their mingled time-lines vanish.

"What happened? Oh, I feel sick." Leaning forward, Rose clutches her knees breathing through her nose.

"Here, sit down all the way. Tell me exactly what you saw, and what you did. Then I'll tell you what I saw you do." Helping her sit on the stone, the Doctor takes Rose's hand in his.

Nodding, she explains how she felt as her sense of time's flow returned, explained about seeing his time-line and then her own, the twinning, then her figuring out the landscape of them, the knots and filaments, then the sensation of touching it at the Canary Wharf junction, and finally how odd it felt beyond the reliving if the experiences.

"The colours thing is very interesting to me. I wonder if the TARDIS sees the colours, if that's where you get it, or if it's a human trait. Hmmm...well, I saw your eyes loose focus, and you couldn't hear me call to you. Then you reached out your hand. I wasn't sure what you were doing, what you could be reaching for, then it felt like you slid your hand through my skin and touched my spine; very unpleasant. What you saw is exactly what you think it is, our time-lines. You can see other's, but you only get that one clear sight of yours or anyone very close to you. The closer you are to a person the less you can see. It's a failsafe built in to stop individuals from changing things that shouldn't be changed. The first time a Gallifreyan child witnesses their time-line is when they get to choose their name. It also means that they'll be going to the Academy. It usually happens soon after we're shown the Untempered Schism at the age of eight."

"I saw the frayed end of my time-line at Canary Wharf. It made me sad. That's why I reached for it," she explains. She can't imagine how thankful she is she didn't reach for that big knot that must have been the Time War. With a shudder she looks back to the Doctor.

"Time-lines aren't meant to be tangible, Rose. I'm surprised you could touch it. If I could have seen Canary Wharf coming I would have torn the Universe apart to keep it from happening. Obviously that would've had dire consequences, thus why you can no longer see our time-lines clearly."

What he doesn't mention is that he's thrilled to know that they're twined together for so far. The reassurance that offers is a weight lifted; one he hadn't realized was baring him down. Not that it's written in stone. He knows better than most that time can be re-written, but he prefers to not worry about that for once.

"It didn't occur to me that I wouldn't be able to touch it." she says matter-of-factly. "Let's get the rest of this finished. I'm tired, hungry, and I want a bath. A really hot, really long bath with bubbles."

"And there is perverse Quantum Physics for you, Rose Tyler. Like the cat who walked through walls, because no one had told her she couldn't. Brilliant." Laughing with delight, he pulls Rose to her feet. Now that she knows what they're doing, the rest of the senses go quickly and smoothly. It gets a little dicey with the weird extra dimensional ones that defy description, but they manage. Smiling tiredly, but well pleased with the work they've done, the Doctor shows Rose how to exit her mind-scape. Having spent 7 hours and 56 minutes in there, it was disorienting to return to the Library, cold tea, and sore backs.

"Tomorrow's lesson we'll work on using your telepathy. We're safe in the TARDIS, but we can't leave until you can shield yourself well, and have some experience with defending yourself. "MmmmmmmERRRRggghhhh!"

Standing and stretching with much joint popping the Doctor helps Rose up, and they head off to the Kitchen.

Dancing around each other in easy camaraderie, Rose and the Doctor prepare a simple stir-fry for dinner. They tease and joke with one another the entire time. The Doctor nearly destroys the rice cooker convinced that sonicing it would make it better. It makes a lot of noise, and distresses the TARDIS who threatens to take the Kitchen away, but they finally get dinner made and sit at the table to enjoy it.

"Doctor, did you purposely choose to do telepathy last?" Rose asks as she's dishing up another helping.

"Yes. Hmmm, Rose that was sooo good!" He has just finished his third helping, and now leans back contentedly in his chair.

"Well, are you going to tell me why?"

"Oh sorry! I was distracted by my plans for a real sonic cooker. I know I can figure it out." He says with a grin, and a warning groan from the TARDIS.

"I saved telepathy for last so there'd be no distractions when dealing with it. As the last sense, once you touched the sphere it was gone, and you had only one door left. Plus you were tired enough at that point that you didn't explore it at all, and just put it away. That's best."

"Best?" Rose is clearly confused, but encouraging him to continue. She moves the dishes to the sink, for the TARDIS to start on. Holding up the teapot in inquiry to the Doctor, she starts a pot of tea after receiving a nod.

"There are not many telepathic races in the Universe. It's odd, since it seems like such a handy skill to have, but there are maybe a hundred races out of billions that are truly telepathic. There are a few dozen more that are sensitive, like humans eventually, but sensitives are not exactly the same. The truly telepathic are that way from birth, pre-birth actually. The mother forms a telepathic bond with her child in-utero. It protects both of them from each other as the baby grows, and through birth. But see, being telepathically aware of all the thoughts and emotions of every living thing around you...from before birth, makes you vulnerable as a species. It is one of the reasons why Rassilon developed the Looms. Have Time Lord babies, with none of the difficulty, and none of the joy; out pops a fully formed infant without that initial parental bond. This means that the child's emotional education starts at birth, just like non-telepathic species. And though they are of course sensitive to emotions, they can be trained out of them. Impassive, non-emotional, arrogant, and Time Lord-that is what we made ourselves into. It's also ultimately what led to our defeat."

Placing his cup in front of him, Rose takes his hand as she sits to her own cup of tea.

"So you were...Loomed?" What a bazaar idea. Did they grow them in fancy high-tech buckets?

"Yes and no. My parents told everyone I was Loomed at first, Birthing was considered uncouth, but eventually it was obvious that I wasn't."

"You have a bellybutton!" Rose blurts out, and then blushes to the roots of her hair, as the memory of how she knows slides past her minds eye.

"Yes, exactly." Enjoying her discomfort, and knowing precisely how she knows that, he teases her any way. His Rose as a pink and yellow Time Lady is just as fetching as she was when human.

"But how would you know that, Rose Tyler?

Standing abruptly, Rose announces, that she's overdue for her long and bubble filled bath. Still blushing furiously she makes her escape.

In her room, she finds the TARDIS has already pulled her bath and there's an array of bubbles and oils to choose from. Many are combinations of scents that she's either never have heard of, or familiar scents that it would never have occurred to her mix. With her newly heightened senses, testing them is a whole new adventure. Such as the pine, mandarin orange, cherry blossom (yuck!), or the Petruvian battle berry, wort beetle.(Umm, no.) Rose settles on one with Petrichor, since that was a new word today, and she likes rain, so why not. She loves it! It smells like rain and sun, and just a hint of ocean. Gorgeous! She can't wait to use it.

/Oh you're a love! Thank you so much Darling; you're my favourite TARDIS ever!/

~Silly! Since I am the only TARDIS you have known that makes it easy.~ The comment pleases the TARDIS none the less.

They laugh together and Rose shares her experiences of the day with Darling. Eyes popping open, Rose realizes that she thinks of it as a name for the TARDIS. Darling; she means it as more than a term of endearment. A TARDIS is a great and wonderful thing, but she's so much more to her, more like a sister. Worrying that that might be viewed as rude, she asks the TARDIS her opinion.

~ My Thief sometimes calls me Sexy, and you my Wolf, call me Darling. Naming is a show of love and affection. I receive the gifts of names from both of you.~

Glad that Darling understands and is pleased, she finishes her bath. Stepping out of the steaming tub, Rose feels much better, but she's definitely tired again, and looking forward to her bed. Wondering when she'll get to the point of needing less sleep, she all of a sudden understands her first Doctor's complaints about sleeping her little human life away.

Feeling a wave of nostalgia wash through her, she takes a moment to remember her first Doctor, all leather and gruff attitude. The new access to her memories, and more concise recall, means she can literally relive snatches of their time together. Practicing this new talent while getting ready for bed, she can really see the pieces of personality from her current Doctor in her first and the opposite also being true. Rose wonders about his previous selves. What was he like? What did he look like? Where did the personality pieces fit together? This leads her to wonder if she'll change, too. Now that she can regenerate. Will she be ginger next time, or dark skinned? So many questions!

/Darling? When will I have access to the knowledge that's stored? I have so many questions and getting the Doctor to talk is not always...productive if he doesn't like the subject./

~True, but I can not grant you access before you are ready. It will release and you will know the information. I do not know the triggers.~

Frustrated, but again comforting herself that it wouldn't be for long, she drops the subject. Finished in the bathroom, she steps out in her tank top and shorts expecting to maybe get another chapter of Harry Potter in before she's too tired. Pete's World didn't have Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling, or potatoes...God forsaken place! She had been part way through Half Blood Prince when she was lost, and not knowing what happened drove her barmy. Coming through the curtain, she stops dead seeing the Doctor in a chair before her fireplace, reading.

/Warning!?/ Rose mentally shrieks.

~He asked me not to.~ Darling says with a pink tinged brush of affection.

Rolling her eyes at the pair, Rose finishes stepping into the room affecting an air of disregard for the fact that the Doctor is lounging in her room in a robe, brainy-specs perched on his nose, and with a startled look on his face that clearly says whatever he was expecting...it wasn't Rose in a tank and shorts. Rose is hoping the startled look will make him forget that he did in fact, catch her unaware.

Striding to her bed, Rose slides under the covers, picks up her book, and opens it to her bookmark before she peers at the Doctor over its' edge.

"Yes? Is everything alright? I wouldn't have thought you would need to sleep two nights in a row, and I don't plan on any nightmares tonight...why am I so tired? I feel like I'm sleeping all the time!" Realising she sounds like the Doctor rambling on, her mouth clicks shut.

"Oh! Hrrmm, uhhh..Fine. Yes everything's fine. Did you plan on last night's bad dream? I can't imagine you would have, who would? Well, you see...Right! Ummm..." Rubbing the back of his head with one hand and pinching the bridge of his nose with the other, he has completely lost his train of thought. Seeing Rose step out in almost no clothes at all was unexpected. He had asked the TARDIS to help him out with his little joke, but he wasn't prepared for what it would do to him. Hearing the TARDIS laugh at him he sees that he is the one who was played. The TARDIS is having much to good a time with her passenger's awkward little mating ritual.

"Oh! Sleeping, yes, you're tired because we did so much work in your mind today. All that needs to settle into its new places. They aren't locked in yet, and the new rooms and doors may not yet be stable. So, while you may not be planning on bad dreams...I sort of was. Well..not planning on you having bad dreams...but you could with bits and pieces maybe leaking out in the night...annnd I didn't want to you to be afraid...so I thought...I should go! You can call if you need me. Right. Going." He shoots up out of the chair, hair sticking up in all directions. He looks so much like a startled hedgehog that Rose drops her book to the floor laughing at him.

"You daft alien! Get your reading and come here. You startled me is all. I wasn't expecting you to be here, but I don't mind if you stay, especially with the threat of leaking bits and pieces." Smirking at his behaviour, while she leans over to retrieve her book, she can't help but think that he's pretty cute when flustered. She doubts this will turn into a regular thing, immediately anyway, she tells herself. Right now though, she's content.

Making the way to 'his' side of the bed, the Doctor sets his reading (more reports from the scanners)down on the night stand. Draping his robe neatly over the bench, he joins her. She peeks at him out of her left eye, and with a smirk goes back to her reading. It only takes a moment for her to be engrossed. The Doctor settles in, propped up on a couple of pillows, and picks up his reports. Glancing over at Rose he sees that she's wrapped up in the story. Her lower lip caught in her teeth, and her right hand twirling a piece of hair as she reads. Watching her for a minute, he tears himself away to work through his own reading.

They share twenty minutes or so this way, before something catches Rose's attention. Looking over, she sees that he's wading through some sort of statistical information, or science-y stuff, idly tapping his lower lip with his pen while reading. Now that she's relaxed and the TARDIS around her is quiet, there's a hum. Glancing again at the Doctor he doesn't seem to notice anything out of place. Listening for the hum again, she follows it; it's in her head. Not to be deterred by that, she turns inward and goes looking for it. Reaching her Foyer, she see's that all the work they did that day seems to be holding fine. She's really quite pleased with herself. Finding this place on her own, and seeing all their work gives her more confidence that she is in control of all these changes after all. Looking around for the hum, she can sense it, but it isn't coming from a doorway. Closing her eyes again, focusing on the hum, and imagining herself brought to it, she opens her eyes to another place. It's dark, and she doesn't see herself; she just is. In front of her is a glowing column of blue fire. It has no heat, and fire isn't really the right word. It isn't solid, but an ever-changing mass of energy. It looks like the roiling surface of a star. The center darker than the surface but alive with movement, and very very blue.

Without thinking she reaches out with her mind and caresses the blue fire. It twines around her enjoying the golden touch. Unexpectedly she's snapped out her mind and is rudely slammed back to reality. Putting a hand to her head against the sudden shift, she looks over and the Doctor is gone. Surprised, Rose sits up straighter, headache forgotten.

"Doctor?" She calls out for him.

A groans issues from the floor, so she crawls across the bed to look over the side. There's the Doctor sprawled on the floor. He must have whacked his head on the nightstand when he fell, because he's rubbing a sizeable red mark on his forehead.

"Are you alright? How'd you fall out of the bed?" Rose is completely confused as to how he got there.

"What in the hell were you doing, Rose Tyler?" Groaning, he pulls himself up to a sitting position against the bed.

It hadn't occurred to her that his being on the floor had anything to do with her. Then remembering what she had been doing just before being snapped back, she blushes.

"That was you." She says softly, sheepishly. Rose hadn't been thinking about what she was doing, she just reacted, and apparently startled the Doctor so hard he fell out of bed. She can barely suppress the giggle at the image of him tumbling from bed. Trying to regain control of herself, and grasping for explanations Rose asks,

"Is that what you felt when you still had your people...the hum in the back of your mind?"

"What? Ahhh, yes. The hum. I guess we should have talked about that. It wasn't considered exactly polite to reach out and dig your hands in though." Chuckling at the apologetic expression on her face, the Doctor stands up still rubbing his forehead, but not angry with her.

"No, it's okay. You didn't know what you were doing. That was very...ahhhh...intimate. Yes, my people were all aware of each other's hum. You could get the attention of someone wherever they were by knowing their particular signature, sort of like a phone number. The closer you were to them, the easier the communication, but it was always in the background. Also we regenerate, so that signature would let you know who you were with even if their face was different. It's been empty a very long time, but now you're there." With a smile he taps the side of his skull, and Rose feels a light brush against the tingle in her mind. Eyes wide, she knows that that was the Doctor's 'hello', his mental greeting.

"So that's what the greeting feels like. What did I do?" She has no inkling what she's asking. She's just curious. The lack of guile, and complete innocent trust moves him to show her, even though he's a bit embarrassed for her. There isn't anyone else around to notice though, and she needs to know so as to not accidentally goose a stranger that may just happen to be telepathic!

Reaching for her with his mind, he easily comes to the place where she was in his mind, in hers. Having much more skill and practice, he can do this without involving his entire consciousness. This means that he's watching Rose as he reaches out and caresses her golden fire with his blue. He gets a little lost in the moment at the beauty of the two energies clasping and twining against each other, but not enough so to miss the gobsmacked look on Rose's face. With a smirk he comes back to the here and now.

From Rose's side of things she's still sitting on the bed gazing expectantly at the Doctor. She feels a little embarrassed that she'd perhaps done something considered wrong, but she's very curious. These are her abilities now, and she wants to understand them. Especially if they have etiquette involved. There are planets where wearing jeans is taboo, she can only imagine that... She doesn't finish her train of thought as she experiences what she can only describe as the mental equivalent of first base. She had reached in and brain-snogged the Doctor, and he had just returned the favour! Wide-eyed and slack-jawed, Rose Tyler turns beet red.