The Monk's Altar

Chapter 18

Rose woke up with a feeling of warmth coursing through her and a gentle presence at the back of her head. As she was lifted further from sleep, she stretched out and found that her head lay rather securely on the Doctor's chest, her arm wrapped around his waist and her leg over his.  She hummed a little and squeezed her eyes closed, wanting to live in that moment. 

The Doctor's hand flexed against her back, pressing her closer to his side, but neither of them moved further than that, certainly not any where that was away from the other person.  She stroked his calf with the instep of her foot and he sighed a little bit.  She felt his happiness tickle the back of her mind and tried to think about opening up to him.

His breath hitched and his fingers started stroking her back through her top.  She let her eyes remain closed, blissfully shut against his gentle attentions.  It seemed as though they were close to each other's minds now, maybe not all the way in, but hovering.  It made Rose feel safe and warm and happy and she burrowed closer to him to let it carry on flowing through her.  She wanted to push in, to be in his mind as he was prodding into hers.  Eventually she felt his hand rise up from her back to touch her temple.  His love for her flooded into her head and she squeezed her eyes shut tighter, focusing on sending those emotions right back to him. 

He received them on a happy little hum and embraced them, enveloping them in his essence.  Finally, he sighed and pulled his fingers from her head, gentle as he removed himself.  He stroked his hand along her neck and shoulder to rest on her back again. 

"Good morning," he murmured happily.  "Time to get up?"

She nodded against him.  "the festival," she mumbled.

"We have all day for that," the Doctor groused a bit, and Rose tickled his side in retaliation.  He wriggled away.  "Besides, didn't Abesi say it didn't start until nightfall?"

Her head snapped up from his chest.  "Oh!  You're jealous!"

He scowled up at her but didn't remove his hand from her. "I am not.  We're bonded, remember?"

She let her expression soften and she reached out to cup his cheek. "Oh, I remember."  Just to make his feel better, she shifted so she was lying on top of him, her body between his legs and head just underneath his chin.  He heaved ha heavy sigh and hugged her close to him.  

"He doesn't get to dance with you tonight."

"I thought you said you weren't jealous."

He swore quietly, as though the very though the fact that he said something like that would be interpreted as "jealous" didn't even occur to him.  She laughed. 

"S'okay." She said soothingly, "but you didn't expect me to not leave your side all night, did you?" 

His fingers coasted along her back, stroking once over her shirt before travelling under.  "I had hoped to."

"Oi," she poked his side.  "Selfish."

He rolled her onto her back at that, almost surprising both of them, and leaned down to catch her lips in a slow kiss to tell her that yes, when it came to her, he was selfish, and he would continue to be such.  She wrapped her arms around his neck as her eyes fell shut, succumbing to his attention, surrendering her body to him completely.

The Doctor braced himself above her, his hands on either side of her head, as he explored her mouth with  a gentleness he was afraid he had been deprived of before, when they'd kissed.  All the times he'd kissed her, he'd never truly learned her mouth.

She didn't seem abject to this, instead was opening her mouth to him, letting his tongue come in slowly, uncertainly, to meet hers.  After a few breath stealing moments, all of Rose's breath was stolen and she had to pull away.  He wasn't hindered by this, instead moved his mouth to her jaw, pressing soft loving kisses along the bone and down her neck.  Her eyes remained shut and her breathing labored, enjoying the affections he was placing upon her.  It was only when he sucked on her neck too hard and for too long that she smacked him.