Hi everyone, here's another Doctor Who one-shot that I really hope you like! The idea came out of nowhere and, truth be told, I don't even know if the story is good, but I wouldn't do anything until I wrote this story. I don't even know why I chose to update it on here, but any-who, I apologize if it isn't the best, but I am hoping that you all still, nevertheless, enjoy the fanfic.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy! :)

Please comment/review and let me know what you think of it. All opinions, thoughts, and feedback are welcomed and encouraged. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!

I OWN NOTHING; I DO NOT OWN DOCTOR WHO.

"The Three Unspoken Words"

. . .

Taking a deep, steady breath, Rose Tyler roams through the TARDIS as she continues her search for the Doctor. For the last few days, she has been meaning to tell him something quite important, but the timing was never right. Every time the words she has been meaning to tell him are about to spill from her lips, either they are interrupted or she chickens out at the last second and changes the subject.

She stops walking through the long halls of the TARDIS and leans her back against the cool wall. Resting her head back, she closes her eyes, and tries to steady her breathing. Her heart is racing, pounding against her chest as if a thunderstorm is going off inside of her and the palms of her hands are coated with a thin layer of sweat.

Rose slowly slides her body down the wall until she feels her bum resting on the floor. She pulls her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them before she rests her chin on the top of her knees. Her eyes glare at the opposite wall as she desperately tries to figure out what is wrong with her.

Why can't she say those three simple words? She has said those three words plenty of times throughout her life so far. Hell, she has even said it to the Doctor plenty of times, just more in a joking way. So, why all of a sudden does she panic every time she is close to telling him how she feels?

He deserves to know. A part of her tries to reason with herself, but the other part of her is telling her it's never the right time and he probably doesn't even feel the same way. What is she to him, really, anyways? A companion, a guest who is accompanying him on his TARDIS, a friend? Nothing more. Why would he want something more? He is a great Time Lord and she is merely… Rose Tyler. A pink and yellow human and that's it.

The blonde bites down on her bottom lip as she mentally debates in her head. Both parts of her clash against one another, causing a massive headache to erupt in her head. "Ugh!" She throws her arms up in the air with a frustrated huff following suit, "Why does this have to be so hard?"

They are only three simple, easy words! What is so hard about that? What is so hard about saying those words to the Doctor? To her Doctor? They hold hands all the time, joke around with each other, they cuddle with each other, protect each other, and care for each other, so, shouldn't this be easy? They have grown close, really close and she can't ever imagine living a life without the Doctor in it; she is surprised she managed the first nineteen years of her life without him in it.

"I need to tell him." She sighs as her hands grip at her hair, "I need to tell him before another French Woman comes an' takes him." She could feel her heart clench at the mere thought of Reinette. Hate is a strong word, but Rose hated her with a bitter passion. Of course, Rose felt a tad bad for the woman and she did sympathize with her a bit, she still hated the woman.

The Doctor left Rose for her and on a bloody horse no less. She completely left Rose and Mickey on the ship, completely stranded and alone. He didn't care though, nope! The only thing on his mind was to save the French Mistress. That hurt her beyond anything else he has ever done and what only hurt her more than that was when she found out they shared a kiss.

Rose was planning to tell him how she felt that day until that incident occurred and even afterwards, she couldn't bring herself to tell him. He seemed so lost without Madame de Pompadour and in all honesty, Rose felt like she wasn't needed or wanted by the Doctor at that time. A few days after he found out she died, he was quiet and not himself and Rose knew that he missed her.

Rose rubs her temples as a tried sigh escapes her lips. She needs to stop thinking about that and refocus on her current situation. How much longer is she going to wait to tell him? It won't get any easier over time; those three words will always be hard to say, so, why push them off any longer?

Making her decision, Rose climbs to her feet and begins her search for the Doctor. "Doctor?" She calls out through the quiet halls, receiving only silence as an answer from the Time Lord.

"Doctor!" She calls out, but again, nothing. Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, she wanders around the TARDIS, opening up different doors and peeking her head inside them to see if her Doctor was in any of them.

"Where could he b-" She stops herself when she passes a door that she could have sworn she heard sound coming from inside the room. She pauses outside the door as her trembling hand hesitates over the doorknob. Should she really do this? She withdrawals her hand and extends it forwards several times as she chews on her lip until she could feel the taste of her own blood.

"Oh, this is ridiculous!" She cries out as she turns the knob and shoves the door open. She storms inside the room, full intentions she has on telling the Doctor right then and there how she feels, until she hears that sound.

"It can't be…" She mutters under her breath as she takes a few small steps forward, her eyes squinting to see through the darkness that has consumed the room. Faintly, she could hear a soft snores echoing through the small room and only then does she realize where she is and what is going on.

With her famous tongue in between teeth smile, Rose Tyler stares straight ahead at the sleeping Doctor, who is lying on his back, one arm to his side and the other resting across his stomach on top of the blue duvet that is pulled up to his chest. His head is slightly tilted to the side, snuggled into a fluffy pillow with little drool escaping his partly open mouth.

Rose's hand flies to her mouth and she tries to contain her laughter. She rarely gets to see the Doctor sleeping and he looks absolutely adorable! She was never in his bedroom and now that she is, it seems so… simple. Not much is in the room besides for a bed and a few pictures of him and –

She freezes as her chocolate brown eyes land on the pictures scattered on the mirror in the corner of the room. He has a bunch of pictures of him and her on different planets, posing together – some regular pictures of them smiling, others of them making funny faces, and others with… him staring down at her lovingly as she smiled at the camera.

"Oh, Doctor…" She whispers as she slowly turns to face the sleeping Time Lord. Oh, how badly she wants to just tell him how much she cares about him and how badly she wants to say those three words, but it could wait for another time. Right now, the Doctor needs his rest, considering he rarely sleeps in the first place.

The blonde quietly trails over to the side of the Doctor's bed and gently she caresses his cheek in the palm of her hand. She gazes down at his sleeping face that looks so at peace; all his features soft and calm.

"Goodnight, Doctor." She whispers to him, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead. She gazes down at him with warm eyes for a few seconds before turning to leave the room. Right as she reached the door, she smiles at the Doctor and says to him although he is a sound asleep and won't hear her, "I love you, Doctor."

She is surprised how easily the words just flowed out of her mouth, but it is probably because he is asleep and she isn't saying it to an alert, wide awake, Doctor. She shakes her head as she thinks to herself, I guess I will tell him tomorrow or some other day.

Those three little words could wait for another day and for now, until he wakes and she is once again ready to tell him, those three words will remain unspoken. Not for long though, she doesn't plan on waiting too much longer.

Rose walks out of the room, shutting the door behind her, unbeknownst and completely oblivious to the small smile that graces the Doctor's lips at her words. She loves him.

Before falling back into another dreamless sleep, with the corners of his mouth upwards into a perfect smile, he whispers into the darkness of the room once he is sure she is far away from his bedroom door, "I love you too, Rose Tyler."