Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own anything.

A/N And here we are at the end. The Epilogue is NSFW.

Thanks for sticking with me through the entire story. It was fun writing it.

Massive thanks to Vampiyaa for all her help on this story. Not only for going through my mistakes but helping me out when I got stuck. You're the best!

Epilogue

The Doctor closed his eyes and rested his head back on the headboard of the bed. It had been the longest day in recent memory. The last time he had been in this bed, he'd had a different body and he had thought that Gallifrey was lost forever. He had also been with Rose, but that was a different matter entirely.

Regeneration had been quick this time around. It had started healing him easily and given him enough time to make a dramatic speech which his previously self had been rather keen on giving. He doubted that this new body was as verbose. Or as young, apparently.

"I will always remember when the Doctor…was me."

The regeneration energy coursed through him, lighting his entire world on fire in an instant. The change felt like it always did, but that didn't make the pain any less significant.

"Doctor?" asked the brunette cautiously when he had straightened up. He knew her name but it eluded him in the moment.

The TARDIS shook violently in that instant and it confused him immensely.

"I think the church's ship is getting attacked," said the blonde one and he gravitated towards her involuntarily. "I'm going to send us into the vortex."

Everything from that point had been a blur. The next thing he remembered was waking up in a bed. He had been dressed in what looked like a threadbare nightshirt, and he could hear a hushed conversation outside the door of the room that he was in.

"How long will it take?" asked a woman and he recognised her voice as the brunette woman from before.

"Dunno," answered the other woman and the Doctor sat up in bed at her voice. "The TARDIS used a lot of power for transferring Trenzalore and if we had stayed in the vortex any longer, it would have been too dangerous. It doesn't help that he's passed out. Those two are like part of a circuit. One doesn't work if the other can't."

"Yeah and I guess getting swallowed by a T-rex didn't help either," said the first woman. "Although, that is trapped here too."

In hindsight it had been a bad idea to jump out of the window and onto horse without telling Rose or Clara. But he had heard the words 'trapped T-rex' and run to find it. He had seen the worry on Rose's face and it had made him slightly dislike his new self for putting it there. Instead of running off to do his own investigating like every instinct of his was telling him, he let Rose and Clara take him back to Vastra and Jenny's house.

The ride back to Vastra's house was entirely silent.

The Doctor glanced at Rose, who was looking out of the window of their carriage with a grim look on her face. She hadn't said much and he hadn't had a chance to ask her anything about his new body.

He stared at her unabashedly, admiring the black and green Victorian dress she was wearing. A memory was tugging at him but he couldn't focus on it. He glanced down to where her hand was gripping his in a loose grip and felt his hearts sink. His hand looked old, much older than he had seen it in a while. Her hand, on the other hand, looked as young and beautiful as he remembered it.

He must have been staring at their hands for a long time, because he felt Rose's gaze on him before she tightened her grip on his hand, linking their hands together firmly. Something loosened in his chest at the action.

The day had been saved in the end. He, Rose and Clara had investigated Mancini's family restaurant together and discovered their sinister secrets. Fortunately, Rose and Clara had managed to disable the spaceship and the droids while he kept the half-face man occupied with philosophical talks. In the end, he had let the Doctor disable him as mercifully as possible. They had returned to Vastra's house after saving London's people from apparent spontaneous human combustion but the Doctor was already itching to move.

Goodbyes had been quick and the Doctor, Rose and Clara had left together in the TARDIS.

"So, where to next?" he asked.

"Home, I think," said Clara.

He looked up at her and then back down at the console. "Okay," he said, gruffly.

"Not for good," she said, with a smile in her voice that made him look up. "It's Christmas soon and I have been tasked with making the turkey."

"Oh," he said, trying to look indifferent but unable to hide the slightly pleased look in his eyes. "Very important for humans that. Personally, I don't understand it though I think I did at one point." He looked at Rose but she was busy examining the new bookcase and armchairs that had materialised in the console room.

"Okay, it's settled then," said Clara. "You and Rose are coming to Christmas dinner."

"We will," said Rose before the Doctor could say anything.

The Doctor nodded and took Clara home, promising to see her in time for Christmas.

His eyes opened when he heard the bathroom door open. Rose emerged from a cloud of steam, wet hair thrown over one bathrobe covered shoulder. She stopped when she noticed him staring and smiled tentatively before sitting down in front of her vanity. The Doctor watched her silently as she patted her hair dry and combed through it carefully. With a pang, he was hit with a memory of his Eighth self cutting Rose's hair for her.

He was out of bed and standing behind Rose before he knew it. Rose paused in her actions and looked up at him inquiringly. His hands twitched at his sides, feeling too clumsy this time around. He wanted to take her hand again because it seemed like the only natural thing to him. Even hugging felt odd to him and he was half convinced that he was probably a little defective this time around.

"Doctor?" asked Rose, setting the hairbrush aside and turning around in her seat to look at him in concern.

His utter helplessness must have shown on his face because she stood up and took his hand. The action relaxed him and he let her lead him to the bed so they could sit down side by side.

"Are you still having trouble remembering?" she asked, no doubt recalling that he had called her his pink and yellow girl at one point that day.

"No," he said honestly. The regeneration sickness and mild amnesia had passed, not long after they had gone to Mancini's.

"Good," said Rose and to his surprise, glared at him angrily. "Don't think I'm not mad about you locking me in the TARDIS while you pulled that stunt with the regeneration energy."

He nodded uncomfortably. "Yes," he said.

"And for jumping out of a bloody window to ride off on a horse when you had barely recovered from regeneration," she continued. "Do you know how worried I was?"

"Yes," he said again.

"And stop saying 'yes'," she said.

"I can't!" he said, surprising even himself at his raised voice. "Everything feels wrong. I can't do anything right. It's too much or too little. Everything has changed and I don't understand it."

Rose stared at him as he deflated at his own words. "Okay," she said, finally. "Let's start with what feels right. Tell me what feels right, Doctor."

Instead of answering her, he surged forward and kissed her deeply. Rose gasped in surprise and he pulled away, mistaking her reaction.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," he said.

He jumped up from the bed and started to walk away but Rose grabbed his arm to stop him. He looked at her warily as she stood up in front of him, and without moving her gaze from his, untied her bathrobe and let it fall to the floor. The Doctor's eyes widened and glided down her body of their own accord.

Rose took his hand and placed it on her bare hip, and his finger immediately curved into the soft skin. He heard Rose's breath hitch as he slowly moved his hand up the curve of her waist, until it was resting just under her breast. His eyes were fixed resolutely on the progress of his own hand and the slight flush forming on Rose's body. That gentle pink flush gave him the courage to look up at Rose's face which confirmed what his other senses had already told him. Rose was aroused, and it was because of him.

A slow smile formed on his face and he tilted his head towards her. Rose closed the distance between their mouths with a sigh, and the two of them kissed languorously, savouring their first proper kiss after the Doctor's regeneration. As their lips and tongues remained occupied with each other, the Doctor's hand drifted away from Rose's torso and ventured boldly between her legs.

Rose muffled a moan in his mouth but parted her legs, allowing him to caress her with a confidence that defied his earlier hesitancy and uncertainty.

"This, Rose Tyler," he whispered, pulling his mouth from hers to let her catch her breath. "This feels right."

"Don't stop," said Rose as two of his fingers moved in and out of her while his thumb brushed against her clit.

"I won't," he said, the dark promise in his voice making her shiver. "I don't think I can. You are intoxicating. Even more than before." He moaned deep in his throat. "Fuck, I need you."

Rose stared at him in shock, utterly confused at the rare cuss word falling from his lips, despite the fact that her body shuddered in pleasure. He smirked at that and withdrew his fingers from her, making her cry out.

"Patience, darling," he whispered in her ear. "We are just getting started."

"I would love it if we get there soon," said Rose, incredibly floored by how in control he seemed to be and how much she was enjoying it.

"Oh, we will," he promised with a wink and eased her backwards until they were both on the bed. "I am still brimming with regeneration energy. And since this is technically our wedding night, I plan on making it very long," he elongated the syllables in 'long', "and incredibly pleasurable for us both."

"Wedding night?" asked Rose, gasping when he found his favourite spot on her neck and laved it with his tongue.

"Don't you remember?" he mumbled between kisses to her neck and shoulder. "Down on Trenzalore. Still have the rings to prove it." He brought up his left hand to show off the ring before settling his hand on her breast. "I would be very disappointed if you wanted to back out now." He squeezed her breast, drawing a moan from her. "Especially since it would make my next request rather moot."

"R-request?" asked Rose, lying back down on the pillows and pulling him with her, sighing in contentment at his solid weight on top of her.

The Doctor didn't answer immediately, choosing to use his tongue to map her breasts thoroughly. Rose tried to reach towards him to bring him back up to kiss him, but the Doctor caught her hands and held them down on the mattress as he continued to kiss up and down each breast, drawing pleasured gasps and sighs from her. "Do not make me tie you down," he warned as she tried again to draw him up.

"That something you think about?" asked Rose, a smile curling on her lips.

The Doctor looked up at her with a wicked look in his eyes. "Ever since my eighth life when I bent you over the console and fucked you," he said.

Rose wrenched her hands from his grip and rolled them over so that she was on top. "Enough foreplay," she said. "You need to be out of these clothes and inside me now."

The Doctor stared up at her with a lazy smile. "Undress me then," he said.

"With pleasure," said Rose, starting with his new jacket with the red lining that reminded her of a magician. She raised her eyebrows at the buttoned up cardigan but didn't comment as she took it off him. When she got to the white shirt that had been buttoned up all the way to his neck, she sighed. "Should I even ask?"

"Touch," he said as she started to unbutton his shirt. "I thought I didn't like touching this time, hence my choice of outfit. But," he ran his hand up her bare hip, "since that's clearly not the case, I think it's only some forms of touching that I don't like."

"Is that why you don't like hugs then?" asked Rose, removing his shirt and tossing it aside.

"If they are from you and of the naked variety, I absolutely like them," he said. "Otherwise, yes, I don't like hugs. It's too," he waved his hand in a motion meant to indicate closeness, "human."

"Too human?" asked Rose amused, as she moved on to remove his trousers.

"Too human," he nodded. "Did not think it would be a bad thing, but I do, this time around."

Rose smiled a little. "You are so different," she said.

"Yes," he said. "But not good different or bad different. Just different." He said it without arrogance like it was fact.

"Yeah," she agreed. "What were you going to ask me?" she asked, finally ridding him of his trousers so that they were both naked.

He looked confused for a moment because Rose had intentionally rocked herself against his erection but he recovered remarkably quickly. "You said we knew what we were and that was enough," he said.

"Yeah, so?" asked Rose.

"Then, would you want to truly be husband and wife?" he asked and Rose caught the glimpse of his earlier hesitance. Now that she knew him a bit better, it was obvious that it was being unsure that made him feel off-balance in this new regeneration of his.

"Of course," she said, reassuring him. "We already are, for all intents and purposes."

"Not all," he said and it was Rose's turn to be confused.

"Doctor, just say it," she said.

"Our minds," he said calmly. "We haven't connected our minds."

Rose stared at him in silence. He hadn't touched her mind since the time on Shada when he had gone in to extract her memory of Skelton and Eliana's death. Rose had been adamant that her mind was to remain her own through the war and they hadn't initiated a connection since the war had ended either.

But now things were different and it was new beginning for both of them. She inhaled deeply and nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Okay."

He looked greatly relieved and rolled Rose onto her back. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes," she said.

The Doctor brought his hands to her face and gently touched her temple. He entered her mind with ease and felt her welcome him in deeper. He lowered his own barriers in return and invited Rose. There was no tentativeness from either end as they soared through each other's minds, just touching and caressing each other, like exchanging lazy butterfly kisses. They stayed entwined in their mental embrace for a long time before the Doctor lowered his fingers from Rose's temple and opened his eyes. Rose took a bit longer to open her eyes but kissed him as soon as she did.

The two of them moved in sync so that they could finally, finally come together completely, and as the Doctor entered Rose, he felt their minds connect just as perfectly as their bodies did.

"Okay?" he asked, even though he could feel her pleasure as clearly as his own.

"Yeah," said Rose, eyes shining with love. "I love you, Doctor."

His gaze softened as he started to move. "I love you too, my Rose," he said. "Forever."

"Forever," repeated Rose.

And so they did. Just as they promised.

THE END ~