Rose slept late the next day, and woke to find the Doctor sitting on the other side of her bed, a book in one hand, the other playing with her hair.

"Having fun?" she asked sleepily, turning her head into his now lightly massaging fingers. "Mmm..that's nice," she told him, smiling. Then she caught sight of the book held in his other hand. "Oi, that's mine," she cried, grabbing for it.

The Doctor held the book just out of reach. "Come on, you said I could read it first," Rose pouted at him. "And if you honestly believe I don't think you've already read book seven, you've got another think coming, but I'm reading THAT copy first," she told him, managing to grab it out of his hand.

"Alright, you got me," said the Doctor, threading his fingers into her hair and massaging her scalp more firmly. "Anyway, what do you want to do today?" he asked, smiling down at her then leaning to press a kiss against her lips.

"Mmmm…I want…chips. Can we go get chips?" she asked, grinning.

"Any ones in particular?"

"You remember that chippy in central London, our fist date?" she grinned up at him, and he nodded. "Those ones, please."

"Done," he replied, pressing another kiss to her forehead before pushing himself up off the bed and holding out a hand to help her up. "I'm going to go take a shower; you might want to too," he told her.

"Oi!" she exclaimed, tossing her pillow at him gently.

"I didn't mean it that way," he defended himself. "I just thought you might feel better for having one, that's all!"

Rose laughed at him, then pushed him gently out the door. "Meet you in the console room in half an hour?" she asked, and he nodded.

When Rose made it out to the console room forty minutes later, it was to be greeted by the Doctor wearing a brown suit with blue pinstripes rather than his normal blue one.

"That's…interesting," she told him, looking it up and down.

"Ah well…the other one was due for a wash, and since it takes at least a week to empty the pockets, even for the TARDIS, so…"

"Fine, fine," teased Rose. "It looks good on you, anyway," she told him, running one finger down his lapel as she stepped closer, going up on her toes to kiss him, an arm twining around his neck as his settled on her hips, his tongue running along her lower lip, then, when her mouth opened under his, slipping inside to taste her, even as hers slid around his, teasing his tongue and gums.

Finally, the Doctor pulled away, laughing as Rose's stomach grumbled loudly. "Come on, let's go feed you. We can always have fun shocking little old ladies."

Rose grinned wickedly up at him, her lips swollen, tongue peaking out between her teeth.

Three hours later, they were walking through London, living up to the Doctor's statement perfectly: snogging in public and drawing as many 'well I nevers' as possible from the elderly citizens of Rose's near future.

They were passing a large hospital when Rose saw a bright flash out of the corner of her eye.

"Did you see that?" she asked, twisting in the Doctor's hold to look straight at the building.

"No," he shook his head, following her line of sight just in time to catch the next flash.

"Aren't those…whad-ya-ma-call'ems…plasma thingies?" asked Rose, and the Doctor nodded, frowning slightly as he examined the building carefully.

"Plasma coils, yes…" the Doctor said, already pulling out his glasses as another flash went off, this one higher up the building. "Well, that doesn't look good…you up for some investigative work, Tyler?" he asked with a grin, and Rose looped her arm through his. "So, I'll just check myself in…" he started to outline a plan, but Rose immediately cut him off.

"Excuse me? Out of the two of us, who only has one heart? Who doesn't have to worry about their blood changing history…and who doesn't have a potentially lethal allergy to human medicines?" Until the last point, the Doctor had appeared ready to argue with her, but at that, he gave up, rolling his eyes but nodding.

"Okay, let's go back to the TARDIS, get ready," he said, sighing softly.

Half an hour later, the two of them stumbled through the doors of the Royal Hope Hospital Emergency Room. Rose was disheveled, flushed and sweaty, her hair tangled around her face as she stumbled, the Doctor's arm around her waist holding her up.

"I need some help here!" he called loudly.

Three hours later, the Doctor sat by Rose's bed, rather enjoying the part of 'dutiful boyfriend', if only because it meant that no one told him he wasn't allowed to hold her hand.

He had watched Rose being wheeled through the doors of the ER on a gurney, anxiety where none should be already sparking within him. Even though he knew that there was nothing wrong with her, he had still worried. He had worried that her biology had changed in some way he wasn't aware of, that some routine test would show something to be very strange, or that there really was something wrong with her that neither of them knew about.

While he worried, he filled in the reams of paperwork that the nurses kept giving him, becoming more and more convinced as time had passed that it was nothing more than a device to keep the patient's loved ones occupied and out from underfoot.

Finally, he had been sent up to the third floor, where Rose was ensconced in a bed, staring distastefully at the drip that was attached to the back of her hand. Her face had broken into a smile, however, when she saw him in the doorway. Her unattached hand had reached out for him, almost of its own accord, and he had quickly claimed it in his.

Which led directly to their current situation. The two of them were talking quietly, occasionally laughing, the Doctor tracing odd designs on Rose's palm.

The sun was setting, and the two of them were hanging out for nighttime to allow them to sneak off and investigate.

Rose managed to choke down some of the disgusting looking hospital food, the Doctor watching with a guilty expression on his face.

"I hate you," she muttered at him. "This is worse than the yak milk they made me drink when we were in Mongolia, and that was rancid." She didn't mention that they had been in Mongolia 800 years in the past, and she had been forced to play the part of a proper female, dressed in a cumbersome dress and hiding her face from the men, until the Doctor realized that the men of the camp were not planning on allowing him to walk away with her, no matter what he claimed about their marital status.

The Doctor grimaced at the memory. "That stuff was pretty bad," he admitted.

At 8pm, an announcement came over the PA system, stating that visiting hours were over and all visitors must leave the premises immediately. The Doctor dutifully stood, pressed one last, lingering kiss to Rose's lips, and left the ward to secrete himself away somewhere until the nightshift was in full swing.

Rose lay in the dark, waiting for him to come back. She found herself yawning once or twice, but forced herself to stay awake. The Doctor slipped back into the room after about half an hour, closing off her IV before handing her slippers and a dressing gown. He lead the way quietly out of the room, her hand clasped warmly in his.

They hunted around for over an hour but couldn't find anything. By that time, Rose was yawning hugely, and the Doctor tugged on her hand, pulling her gently against his side, and led the way back to the ward.

"Stay?" she asked softly as she slid into the bed. "I…I don' wanna be alone here, Doctor. Please?"

"Of course not," he agreed softly. "I'm not going anywhere, love. Sleep now." He pressed his lips gently to hers, then to her forehead as he moved to sit beside the bed where he could see into the corridor courtesy of a mirror, and disappear if a nurse came in.

He woke her the next morning not long before visiting hours were to start, not wanting her to wake and find him gone. "I've got to leave for a little bit, just til visiting hours start, then I'll be back."

"Okay," she replied, smiling. "Off ya get, then." She shooed him out the door and settled back against the pillows, staring around at the patently earth surroundings and wishing for nothing more than to be on the TARDIS a thousand light years away from her current location, in any direction. Even Clom would be better than Earth at the moment, but since being here had been her idea in the first place, she couldn't let the Doctor guess just how much she wanted to be anywhere but here.

Fifteen minutes later, he strolled back into the room, his hands held behind his back, a small smile on his lips as she looked at him, quirking an eyebrow at his expression.

"What?" she asked curiously, craning her neck to the side in an attempt to see what he was hiding.

"I got you something," he said with a soft smile, and Rose couldn't contain the excited grin that lit her face, a sight that pleased the Doctor no end. He waited another moment, then brought one from behind his back.

Rose grinned; it was just so him. A basket with grapes and several bananas with a single carnation laid on top. Not a rose; she seemed to remember telling him at some point that the play on her name had been done to death a long time ago, even Mickey knew not to get her roses, in fact that may have been what brought up the topic in the first place now that she thought about it.

"And…" he said slowly, drawing the other hand out, and Rose stifled a laugh. A tiny bear, small enough to sit in the palm of his hand, was grinning at her, and she bit her lip as she took it, tapping its nose gently before she grinned fully at him, her tongue caught between her teeth, then reached for him with one hand and he went to her, pressing his lips softly against hers.

"Thanks, I love it," she whispered, pecking him quickly on the cheek. He turned his head and captured her lips gently with his own, slowly but surely snogging her senseless.

A loud cough pulled them apart, and the nurse glared disapprovingly at the Doctor as she set Rose's breakfast down on the table. "I'll thank you, Mr. Smith, to keep your hands to yourself until your lady friend is healthy again," she said snippily. As she turned away, Rose rolled her eyes at the Doctor, who almost swallowed his tongue trying not to laugh.

They sat together, talking quietly, until morning rounds started.

A/N: OK, I need some opinions – how involved do you guys think we want Martha to be? I'll take all opinions that are given into account! Thanks for reading, please review! love xx Shezzi