how long are you going to stay with me?

 She lost track of how much time passed, and not just because she was in a time machine. Some days, it felt like years, like she'd been passed it all and moved on but still carried the grief like a widow. Some days, it felt fresh and sharp, like it was only yesterday, last week, some time recent. She couldn't tell. She didn't ask, she didn't want to know. 

She told the Doctor, mostly. Told her story just as he told his, and he seemed to understand. Seemed to know, with a wisdom she always underestimated in him. A thousand years of life, a hundred companions and friends, people who loved him and loved others. He seemed to respect her even more for it, if that was possible, didn't judge her, silently encouraged her. Took it in the same stride he took everything else about her, as though she could do no wrong. 

She appreciated him more than she'd ever tell him.

They traveled. He took her gentle places at first, and when he realized it was the running that freed her, if only temporarily, he took her to planets that needed saving. What frightened her, though, was the fact that she wasn't doing it to save them. Not now. 

They didn't stop to examine their relationship, just as they never had. She didn't ask, he didn't offer. They picked back up as though she'd never even been gone, with grins and tea and understanding, and they just... worked. Together, as mates, and nothing more. He would probably be accepting, if she made any move to advance things, but she never did, and he didn't mind. Asexual, and an alien. 

Now, though, was one of those down-times in between planetary distraction. He was working beneath the console, and she was sitting, quietly. Watching. Not thinking, just... sitting, listening to the TARDIS sing in her mind, and just... breathing. 

Because I'm a derp and forgot to log it, it's a backlog of everything done with scots_fuzz, to help keep the verse straight. List is in order.

1. The initial meeting, in which she showers him with coffee.
2. Bumping into him again- because what is coincidence?
3. Breaking and entering- it always ends in tea.
4. Catching a film. As mates. Totally just mates. 8| No Really. Really guys. 
5. Okay, the whole snogging thing was purely coincidental. Totally just mates.  Stop looking at me like that.
6. It's not awkward. Because nothing happened. Because they're just mates. 
7. Oh, bugger off.
8. In which Creepy Guy makes an appearance. 
9. Somehow, it all leads back to snogging.
10. They're going to have to talk about these shared dreams. 
11. Rose has a dream that Liam is shot. 
12. Needless to say, she isn't pleased when she finds him playing with guns. Also, about that... mates thing.
13. Date night. As not-mates. Fancy that. Oh, stop acting like you knew the whole time. No one could've seen.... shut up.
14. Scrubbing Dem Bubbles. 
15. Of all of the dreams they have, she probably likes this one the best.
16. Totally not above snogging in a closet. 
17. Near Death Experiences and CPR.