Title: Kiss Me Later (1/1)
Author: teskafuture
Rating: PG
Pairing: Ten/Rose
Setting: AU somewhere in season 2.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my sonic screwdriver.
Author's Note: Many, many thanks to humansrsuperior, jagwriter78, and dnamadscientist for their awesome beta skills. And to rhoboat for her encouragement as well.

Summary: Those were the words that now plagued Rose to keep her from reaching a state of sweet unconsciousness. She was sure that it was going to haunt her until she did something about it. Sighing in frustration, she began to work through the inevitable conclusion that this was all his fault. Well, there was clearly only one thing to do. She had to follow through.

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Rose softly allowed her body to sink further into her mattress. Her eyes continued the steady vigil of staring at the ceiling. The gentle hum of the TARDIS was usually a soothing, comforting feeling; however the thoughts of earlier in the day kept her from finding that daily peace.

She was surrounded. And the Doctor was nowhere to be found. Typical. He was probably working on some daft idea to save the day at the very last moment. The reptilian-looking alien standing before her attempted what she could only conclude was some form of laugh. Her mouth twisted in disgust as the air was expelled in her face. “You need a mint,” she said, quite seriously.

“Can’t help you there,” a voice spoke, and Rose’s face lit up as the alien turned around to face the Doctor, the characteristic maniac grin spread across his face.

“I’m glad to see you,” Rose breathed, relief flooding through her body as the clear knowledge filled her that they would get out of this alive. They always did.

The Doctor sauntered past the outer rim of the guarding aliens to stand beside her. “You can kiss me later,” he said teasingly in her ear before turning to address her head captor.

What prompted the next words out of her mouth was still a mystery, but as clear as day, in her voice, she heard the words, “I’m gonna hold ya to that,” coming out of her mouth.

Those were the words that now plagued Rose to keep her from reaching a state of sweet unconsciousness. She was sure that it was going to haunt her until she did something about it. Sighing in frustration, she began to work through the inevitable conclusion that this was all his fault. Well, there was clearly only one thing to do. She had to follow through.

By the time she reached the control room, it was aglow in its steady bath of calming blue light. Looking around, Rose found the Doctor exactly where he was always was...under the console. She quickly surmised that something must have been amiss with the dear old girl, for all she could see was the top of his head, the hair shooting in every direction that physics would allow. She decided not to analyze the perverse pleasure she felt at his frustration. It appeased her after the sleepless night she was experiencing. For a moment, she wondered if she should abandon the plan and just go back to staring at her ceiling. He would never know she was there.

Of course, at that point, it was too late as the rest of his head popped up into view. The look of intense concentration immediately turned to concern when his eyes landed on Rose. “Rose, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” she replied, her tone convicting her of the fallacy she just uttered. The perceptive Doctor leapt from beneath the floor to her side, and for a moment just stared, a single eyebrow cocked high in curiosity. Rose instinctively moved away from him, her brow furrowed. Patiently, he waited as they stood there in silence. This was not part of the plan. There he was, having started this whole problem to begin with, and he was behaving like there was nothing out of the ordinary! She needed to get the upper hand, but how? Rose finally turned her eyes to look at him. He was still just standing there, awaiting her next move. “What are you doing?” she finally asked.

The Doctor ignored the question by asking his own. “Are you sure you’re all right? You should be asleep in bed. And you just lied about nothing being wrong. Something on your mind? It seems quite obvious that you have consciously or unconsciously come to me to solve your problem.”

“Really?” she answered as she glided to the chair, promptly dropping her bum into the seat, and crossing her arms. Well, there was her opportunity. Summing up all her courage, she dismissed all thoughts of abandoning the plan. Time to proceed, full speed ahead. A slight smirk threatened to break across her lips as the tip of her tongue pushed its way past her teeth. “I do have a problem,” she said slowly.

The Doctor responded by placing himself before her as he leaned against the console. “And it’s keeping you from sleeping?” Rose sighed in despair and nodded, carefully ensuring that her eyes did not make contact with the Doctor. The teasing light reflected in them would certainly give her away, and she was going to fully enjoy this. “What is it?” he asked.

“You see, I told someone I would do something…but I haven’t.” Rose let her eyes drift up to his face for just a moment, before quickly dropping them again. She began to take an intense interest in her hands which were presently sitting in her lap. This teasing was continuing to entice her courage to actually follow through with this plan. How long could she keep up the ruse?

“Well, that is easily solved,” the Doctor responded, flabbergasted that this would be such an issue to keep Rose from her rest. “Just stop procrastinating and do it.”

Oh, it was clear that Rose was going to lose all semblance of seriousness at this point. Her eyes shot up to catch his, a wide grin stretched to keep it from becoming a laugh. “Well, who am I to argue with the Doctor’s advice?” she resolved, jumping off the seat and finding herself toe to toe with the man in front of her.

Her eyes dropped to his mouth for an instant as her hands moved to caress the back of his tie. “Rose…” he began, but no other words could escape as his mouth was further engaged in a more pleasurable occupation.

Rose felt his shocked reaction as she continued her sweet assault. But soon his hearts sent a message before his mind could issue a warning, and Rose felt the tie she held so tightly go limp as he leaned in closer to reciprocate the pressure.

Instantly, Rose swiftly pulled back, subconsciously fearing he would end it first, but fully intending to leave him frustrated after he put this idea in her head at the start. She watched his Adam’s apple bob as the Doctor stared at her in shocked silence. This caused Rose’s tongue to once again make a slight appearance.

“W-why?” he managed to question through parched lips. He slowly wetted them, instantly regretting it as the taste of her lip balm inadvertently triggered a skip in his hearts at the recent memory.

Oh, revenge is such a sweet dish. And the lost look on his face was worth each moment she spent staring at the ceiling in contemplation of this exact event. Rose managed to infuse the most innocent face she could muster as she replied, “You told me to.”

The light of understanding rapidly surfaced in his eyes as his synapses retrieved the memory in question. Slowly, the Doctor nodded. “Yep, I did, didn’t I?” He paused, looking into the face of the blonde, her eyebrows high on her forehead in anticipation of his response. Then that wide schoolboy grin crossed his face. “Well, I certainly can’t fault you for that then, can I?” he said, turning away from her and bouncing around the console, flipping switches at the same rapid speed as his mouth, “If I tell you to do something later, I shouldn’t be surprised if you follow through, now should I? I mean, to expect you wouldn’t do it would then be hypocritical of telling you to do it in the first place. So, we’ll just leave it that, shall we?”

Rose stood, watching his dance with the TARDIS, only partially catching the erratic speech, but feeling very much disappointment at the reaction. Was he seriously going to just consider that this never happened? Maybe it was for the best.

The Doctor paused in his sequence to see that he had lost Rose somewhere along the way. “Oh, and Rose,” he said, softly enough to gain her attention again. She looked up at him, unsure of the strange expectancy that filled her. “You should give a little more warning before you do that next time.”

The smile returned to her face as the implications of his words reached her brain. Her feet began to reduce the distance between them. “Um, Doctor?” she inquired, the teasing light in her eyes returning. She waited until he looked up to see her beside him. “Here’s your warning.”

The End