It was all too soon when he felt her stirring beside him.
The TARDIS had found his counterpart hours ago, but he didn't want to wake her. He told himself it was because she needed as much rest as she could get, before diving headfirst into whatever disaster she was courting. He almost believed it.
"Hello there," he said softly, kissing her neck as she stretched against him.
"Hey, you," she yawned, blinking happily into his face.
He smiled down at her.
"You alright?" he asked
"I'm amazing," she replied, leaning up to brush her lips against his. "Thank you, Doctor."
"Mmmm, you're most welcome, he said, giving her a squeeze before sitting up beside her.
"And now," he began.
"And now?" she purred, with a raise of her eyebrow, reaching for the sheet that covered his thighs as she arched her back at him suggestively.
"And now, you little minx," he laughed, grabbing her wrists and leaning over to pin them on either side of her head, "it's time to get you home."
Her face changed at once from flirty to something else... a mixture of hope and regret that he recognized because he was feeling exactly the same thing.
There was nothing for it, though, and delaying would only upset them both, so he stood up and gathered his clothes in her arms before leaning over to give her a soft, chaste kiss. He tried not to notice the tremble of her warm lips against his.
"Meet me in the console room in thirty minutes," he whispered, running a hand through her tousled hair.
And then he walked out of the door, naked, knowing that she was staring after him, enjoying the view.
When she walked into the console room she was carrying one of the largest guns he had ever seen that wasn't mounted on a tank or an aircraft.
"What in the universe is that!?" he exclaimed.
Rose shrugged.
"Found it in my room when I got back from the shower," she explained, then jerked her chin towards one of the view screens. "The TARDIS sensors show Daleks nearby so... since you can't be there with me I guess maybe she wanted to keep me safer?"
Daleks. He frowned. He hadn't consulted the environmental scans, yet. Glancing at the wide-range sensor read out she saw that Rose was correct.
He took a deep breath, and asked, "Rose, are you sure I can't come with you?"
He knew what she would say, what she should say, but he had to ask again. "It's just not a good idea, a human woman walking alone into a den of Daleks. And I might remind you that I'm actually rather brilliant at handling this sort of thing?"
She smiled sadly as she shook her head, leaning the giant gun against the wall as she walked towards him.
"I want that," she said sadly. "So much. But as I said before, there are... a lot of things that happen for you, between you and him, a lot of questions you would have that can't be answered. So no, I don't think you should come. But you will be with me," she reminded him. "I'm going to find you right now."
"Well surely two Doctors would be twice as good, then," he pressed the issue gently, before blushing at the look that crossed her face.
"Mmmm," she sighed with sparkling eyes, reaching up to take him by the lapels. "I think I had a dream about that last night."
This woman would drive him mad.
"Oh did you?" he asked, pulling her body against his and speaking in a low, dark voice. "And how were we?"
She smiled wickedly at him without replying and pulled his head down for a kiss.
"I'm glad I met you," she whispered when they parted, carding her fingers through his hair. "This you. This open, happy, dancing you from before... well, from before."
"It sounds like I've got quite the adventure to look forward to before I next see your face," he remarked wryly.
"You know I can't say anything," she smiled sadly. "But you've got at least a couple of lifetimes to live, eh? And I can't imagine they would ever be boring ones."
"I suppose that's a fair assumption," he agreed.
"Will you remember me?" she asked him abruptly. "I know... you've told me that it's hard to remember things if you cross your own time stream."
"Hard to say," he confessed. "If I were here with you and another me, then I would certainly forget everything that has happened here until we had both lived it. But there's only one me here right now, so it's a grey area, depending on how long from now I meet you, and how intricately our time streams are entwined... I expect I'll remember at least some of this, somewhere in my mind, though probably not consciously, not for years to come."
"Probably better if you don't," she said thoughtfully. "If it turns out you've just been playing dumb about this since I met you..." She narrowed her eyes and shook her fist in a mock threat.
They both laughed.
She looked at the view screen, at the other TARDIS in the distance, and swallowed hard. It was time to go, she knew, but it seemed she wasn't ready.
"I just can't believe this has all been real!" she exclaimed, just a little too brightly. "I keep expecting to wake up and see a fleet of zeppelins outside the window."
"Zeppelins!" The Doctor exclaimed in amusement, knowing she was stalling but not really caring.
Rose laughed, though there were tears in her eyes.
"Oh yeah," she assured him; stretching out the small talk to prolong her departure. "In that alternate universe they never went out of style. London was absolutely lousy with airships."
"Imagine that..." He marveled.
Silence fell between them, thick with the things they would never be able to say, at least not for a few lifetimes in his case.
"Best be on your way now, Rose Tyler," he urged her, savoring the feeling of her name on his tongue. "Wouldn't want to keep me waiting."
After a moment's hesitation, she ran towards him and threw herself into his arms.
"I'll get back to you," she vowed desperately. "Today. I promise I will. And then... Doctor, I promise I will be with you forever. There's not a force in the universe that could take me from you again."
"Rose, Rose, Rose," he murmured into her hair, holding her close. "If I've ever met anyone capable of keeping that impossible promise, I do believe it might be you."
Reluctantly, he disengaged himself from her embrace and steered her towards the door.
"Goodbye, Rose Tyler," he proclaimed dramatically, "you mysterious human girl who smells like time and tastes like heaven and seduced a Time Lord. Get away before I grab you again and never let you go."
She laughed through her tears at his theatrics.
"I promise," he went on to say, "that I will never see a zeppelin again without thinking fondly of cheeky blonde adventurers from the land of rigid air ships."
He kissed her hand and backed away towards the console, releasing her.
"I'll see you in a couple of lifetimes," he told her softly.
"And I'll see you in an hour," she promised, picking up her gun and opening the door.
"I can't wait." He told her sincerely.
And then she was gone.
He stared at the door for a few moments after it closed, feeling happy and sad all at once. Then he turned to the TARDIS console and smiled to himself.
"Where to now, old girl?" he said, flipping the dematerialization switch, anxious to get away from his counterpart before they could sense each other.
Cheeky blonde adventurers and rigid air ships, he thought to himself, amused, as they disappeared into the vortex, savoring the memory of Rose before it could fade.
A little while later he decided to go hunt down the TARDIS manual, so that he could give the old girl a little bit of love and care after the rough few months they had shared. But he'd hardly gotten anywhere in his search before a glitch in the vortex had him sprinting back to the console room, attempting to save the TARDIS from a flock of... were those vortisaurs?
Never boring, he thought, kicking in a few evasive maneuvers, searching for an escape route. I wonder what's next?
A/N: And there you have it, lovelies. I hope you enjoyed the ride. I know I certainly have! These two are absolutely a delight to write for... but now Rose is off to find Ten in The Stolen Earth, Eight is headed on a crash course for Miss Charley Pollard in Storm Warning, and everything is back in its own time and place. (Sort of.) Thank you all for being such a wonderfully positive and supportive audience. You've been fantastic. I'd love to hear what you think! xxo - O.A.