Beta: Miral-Romanov

Epilogue

Proper Calibre

A few hours after leaving Reinette behind, dropping off the box of metals with King Louis' servants and picking up Jack — who spent the whole time whistling a jaunty tune and looking like the king of the universe — things had properly wound down enough for Rose to really think about the day's events. The day had boosted her confidence in her abilities as a companion slightly. Forget blowing up Number 10 while still in the building— she'd befriended and rescued all on her own the uncrowned queen of France. At the same time, she had also held the Doctor's entire mind in hers for a brilliant moment, and been snogged and thoroughly shagged against the wall of the TARDIS by him as well. Said Time Lord had hidden himself from her directly after piloting them into the Vortex, despite his earlier agreement to take things slow.

Now, Rose was fixing herself and the Doctor a cuppa in the galley, hoping to coax him out of hiding. Despite her resolve to get the Doctor to properly talk to her, Rose couldn't help but feel nervous about his potential reaction. Before this entire fiasco, Rose would have worried about him kicking her off the TARDIS for good, but now all she was worried about was that he'd insist they just pretend it hadn't happened, go back to the way things were before. She was pretty certain she'd spontaneously combust if she had to spend future adventures pretending she didn't know the Doctor was in love with her.

"Are you actually gonna put in the milk, or are you just gonna keep holding it?" said the Doctor lightly from behind her, making her jump and nearly drop the milk carton.

Setting down the milk, she turned around and studied him with pensive eyes, took in his calm demeanour and light, teasing smile, like he'd reached some sort of agreement with himself. Still slightly annoyed, Rose turned back to the tea and dumped milk in her cup, remarking coolly, "Where've you been?"

"Was looking for a place to put the metals from the clockwork droids," he explained, stepping towards her and leaning against the counter so she couldn't hide her face from him. "Couldn't find the right storage room."

Oh. Rose's face flushed with shame for being angry with him and assuming he'd just been hiding. As a sort of apology, Rose held out his tea for him to take and said quietly, "S'for you."

He smiled warmly, accepting the cup. "Thank you." She nodded in response, stirring in a couple spoonfuls of sugar into her own cuppa and taking a sip for fortitude, trying to figure out what to say. Instead, the Doctor broke the silence by admitting, "I was also hiding a bit." Rose looked up from her cup, quirking an eyebrow at him, and he added bashfully, "Needed to think."

"About what?" Rose said, although she already had her suspicions. Her heart sang when the Doctor set down his cup on the counter and took a step closer to close the distance between them, eyes shining with a tamer version of the lust she'd seen earlier in the console room. "Oh," came out of her mouth without conscious thought, her eyes widening.

The Doctor, without taking his gaze off of her face, took her cup and set it down as well (of which she was thankful, since she wasn't certain she could keep a proper grip on it at this point) before grabbing her hips and hauling her so forcefully against his front she had to grip his arms to keep from falling. "Rose Tyler," he said, voice slightly breathy and full of wonder, like she was the most fascinating mystery he'd ever seen.

Then his mouth was on hers again, warm and bitter tasting from the tea, coaxing her mouth open with tiny nibbles and strokes of his tongue. It was sweet and slow, unlike the crazed, half-conscious instinct of their first kiss and the desperation of their second, and she melted into it, humming when he stroked his palm up the side of her face reverently. The very tip of his finger brushed her temple but hesitated, as though asking for permission, and without opening her eyes Rose let out a whiny noise against his mouth and begged, "Oh please, Doctor, please—" His shaky breath hit her lips before her mind was filled with him again, the sensation of his vibrating pleasure radiating through her whole body and making her clutch at his lapels to keep from collapsing and cry out a semi-coherent, "Ohthankyougod…"

Rose was so wrapped up in the awe of it that it took a mental plea from the Doctor to remind her to return the favour. With her experiences from last time she backtracked through their link until she reached him, and she gladly poured everything she had of herself into his mind as well, soaking up the awful void in his head left over from the absence of his people and delighting in his very audible, slurred cry of, "Oh God, Rose…"

The utter ecstasy in his voice made a sharp sear of arousal tighten in her gut, making both of them gasp. Somehow finding the mental capacity to remember that Jack walking in on them having sex in the galley was not the best of plans, she mentally and physically pulled back, glad to see he looked just as dazed as she felt.

"Let's take this somewhere more private, yeah?" Rose suggested, cheeks flushed. "Jack's already acting like a cocky git— don't need to add any more fuel by letting him catch us shagging on the counter."

"Right," he said, casting a quick glance at the doorway. "My place or yours, Rose Tyler?"

"Yours," she responded, grinning.

"Fantastic." Grabbing her hand and sending her another heart-stopping look paired with a knowing smirk, the Doctor exclaimed, "Run," before taking off with her down the hallway, delighting in her gleeful shriek of laughter.

A/N: Fin! :) Hope you enjoyed this, cos it took some effort to sit through the abomination that was GitF to get the details accurate. Actually, sitting through the episode made a newfound fury at Ten fester, and has inspired a mini-series in which the Doctor totally gets what he deserves for this episode and others :p For glorious GitF revenge, do stay tuned for 'The Man In The Mirror' :) I highly encourage you theorise as to who the man in the mirror is~.

Thanks to alias093001, MirrorFlower and DarkWind, mltrefry, junelover14, Tahkaullus01, Celeste Belle, GinnyBloomPotter, Dannazione, vampgirliegirl, Christy - Flare, DuShuZhi, Peleinferno, ASnowFern, hotsasukefan, Infinities Lover, Fleur24, Miral-Romanov, Kathryn Hart, DeepBlue-sama and the Epicguest.