Leap of Faith: Chapter Thirty-Three

[amberfocus]

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Title: Leap of Faith (33/?)
Author: amberfocus
Characters/Pairings: John Smith (alt!Nine)/Rose Tyler, Toshiko Sato, Jake Simmonds, Mickey Smith, Ianto Jones, Jackie Tyler/Pete Tyler, Tony Tyler, various original characters.
Genre: Romance, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Fluff
Rating: Adult This chapter NC-17
Betas: amyo67, ramblinsuze
Summary: Hiding from the Family of Blood, the alt!Ninth Doctor turns himself into John Smith via the chameleon arch and with his companion Toshiko Sato, takes a job at Torchwood. He clashes with everyone he meets and Rose Tyler, the beautiful young director of Torchwood Field Operative Training and the daughter of his boss, is no exception. AU after season 2.
Warning: This chapter is not safe for work, not safe for school, not safe to be read around your children. Explicit Sex. As in John and Rose finally make love.

Previous Chapters: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/327895.html

Chapter Thirty-Three: Making Love




“Rose Tyler, if I have to tell you one more time to stay in bed, I will be sending you back to London to finish your recovery there,” Delilah declared as Rose poked her nose into the room where she, John, Mickey, and Jane were clustered around a set of computers. She had been up several times and quietly shooed back to bed by Martha or John, but this time, with Delilah there, she knew she’d get away with nothing.

“Delilah, I feel fine. And you guys need the help.”

“Not at the risk of your health,” Delilah insisted.

“I will call your mother,” Mickey said. Rose gave him a wounded look. “I’m not kidding. I’ll tell her she has to come get you. I’ll tell her to bring the limo.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

Rose grumbled, but slumped back to the autopsy room while everyone else had all the fun. She tucked herself under the covers grumpily. Martha came back into the room.

“There you are. Rose, you really need to stop going on walkabout,” Martha said.

“So how long do I have to stay here?” Rose asked Martha for what felt like the twentieth time. There was so much she could be doing instead of lying there flat on her back. When she wasn’t making an escape, John kept poking his head in every half hour or so to see how things were going. A lot more would be done if she could just stay out there and help the others.

“Gabe says you need to stay down for another 24 hours,” Martha informed her.

“But there’s nothing wrong with me!” Rose complained. “His picos saw to that. You can barely see the scar anymore. And it feels right.” She flapped the injured arm like she was doing a one-winged version of the chicken dance. “It doesn’t hurt.”

“Yes, I understand that, but we don’t know how your body is going to continue to react. It’s one thing when picos are implanted in the body at maximum health, but jumping as they did to save you from dying, is a whole different story,” Martha told her. “They are on maximum acclimatization until Abigail gives us the okay to tune them to a maintenance level. You need to be under watch.” The young doctor’s voice was gentle, but there was underlying steel. You didn’t get to be one of UNIT’s top medical specialists without a lot of mental toughness.

“Well, but does it have to be here? Does it have to be you doing the watching?” she asked.

“Why? What’s wrong with me?” Martha said looking mildly offended.

“Nothing!” Rose said. “You’ve got the best bedside manner of any doctor I’ve ever met, and that’s saying something since I’m usually under the care of Dr. Varley. But I feel like I am keeping you from solving the rejuvenation problem. Maybe someone else could keep an eye on me so you could do your work.”

“What do you have in mind?” There was a slight twinkle in Martha’s eyes.

“If I can’t help out, it’s going to drive me crazy to remain here. If I could at least go to the manor house, I might actually be able to get the required rest. And John’s been in here every half an hour to check on me. His mind is clearly all over the place. He’s so worried about me that he’s probably not much use to you anyway. He could take me back to my room and make sure I get the rest I need.”

Mickey, who had poked his head into the room to ask Martha a question, smirked. “Is that what they’re calling it these days? Rest?” he said.

Rose threw her pillow at him. “Shut up, Mickey.”

“I suppose it doesn’t matter who watches you as long as you stay in bed,” Martha said. “And it would free me up a bit more to do my other work. I’ll ask Delilah and Gabe what they think and if it’s okay. I don’t see any reason why you can’t go back to your room, with John acting as your watch dog, but you have to stay in bed.” She enunciated the last three words emphatically.

Rose nodded, her face schooled to look completely innocent. When Martha returned she was trailing both John and Delilah. Delilah sat down in the chair next to Rose’s bed and fixed her with a stern look.

“I do not want you sneaking out and trying to investigate things on your own, Rose,” Delilah said firmly. “If I okay this, you are to stay in bed. I don’t want you going any further than the loo. John can order in food. You are not to lift one finger.”

“I’m fine.”

“You feel fine at the moment. But Gabe says these things can go haywire if you don’t take care of yourself. At the very most you can read through some of the files Tosh sent us, and when you do come back, light duty only until I’m sure you’re fine,” Delilah said. “And you might want to read through this as well.” She handed her a soft, bound book. “But read them in bed.”

“Okay, okay,” Rose said. “What is it?”

“It’s the…well, for lack of a better term it’s the user’s manual for the Taltin picos. Gabe says it’s actually quite entertaining.”

“At least I can do something,” Rose muttered.

“Your father would have my guts for garters if I let anything happen to you,” Delilah said.

“That is really not a lovely image,” Rose said. “I’ll stay in bed. I promise.”

“I’ll make sure she does,” John said.

Delilah nodded, her lips twitching slightly. “See that you do.” She got up and walked out.

Martha eyed first John and then Rose. “No vigorous activities,” she warned. “Nothing acrobatic in bed.” Martha didn’t blush, but John and Rose did.

“So, umm…gentle…umm, activities?” Rose asked.

“Are fine, yes. But we need to keep tabs on your heart rate and blood pressure. Here.” She attached a small patch to the side of Rose’s neck. “This will give a constant reading and if anything drops or rises to dangerous levels it will send an alarm to me and I’ll call.”

Rose couldn’t quite meet Martha’s eyes. “I’ve got a wheelchair waiting for you outside the door,” John told her, quickly changing the subject.

“I can walk,” Rose insisted.

“Humor us,” said Martha and grudgingly Rose acquiesced. Anything to get out of there.

She was a little unstable on her feet after all, so John took her arm and helped guide her to the wheelchair. Gingerly she sat down in it and he wheeled her to the lift. “Call me if anything changes,” Martha said. “If she feels the least bit unwell. Don’t let her judge for herself.” John nodded and they said their good-byes.



The drive to the manor house was quiet. John tried several times to start a conversation but each time, words escaped him. He was a little nervous. It had been more than a while and Rose had made it pretty clear that she wanted to make love. She kept shooting him curious looks that he couldn’t quite define. When they at last arrived, John parked his car in the back of the manor and they came in through the service entrance.

By the time he and Rose had made it up the stairs to their rooms she was wobbling. Clearly she wasn’t as strong as she thought she was. Still, it wouldn’t take too much energy to do what she wanted to do with John. Still, he wanted her strong and rested first. “I think you need a nap,” he told her. “Then food.”

“Then sex?” she asked boldly.

He froze, just for a second, then met her eyes. “Yes.” His pulse was pounding so hard at the idea of finally making love to her, it felt like a wild thing in his throat.

He helped her to the dresser, where she pulled out something to change into and then he helped her to the bathroom. When she emerged she was wearing the little bit of nothing he’d seen hidden under her other more respectable pajamas. It was red, silk in places, and see-through tulle in others. He could just make out the pink of her areolas and the curve of her waist through the sheer parts. It was downright sexy, hugging her curves in ways that should be illegal. He wasn’t sure who was steadying whom on the walk back to the bed.

“Come to bed with me?” she asked, as he tucked her in.

He smiled at her and quickly shed the majority of his clothing, leaving on only his boxer briefs. She watched him with heavy bedroom eyes. He slipped into the bed beside her and she immediately curled towards him, resting her head in the hollow of his shoulder and snagging an arm around his chest and a leg across his thigh. His arms clasped her to him.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep,” she told him.

He dropped a kiss on the top of her hair. “Just try. We’ve all been running on empty lately. And…”

“And?”

“I think you’ll need your rest for what comes next.” He quickly raised and lowered his eyebrows in a way that was a cross between comical and suggestive.

“You do, do you?” she asked, smothering a giggle.

“Oh, I do.”

She snuggled in to him and closed her eyes. He didn’t think he’d be able to sleep, primed as he was to make love to her, but eventually he calmed. If things turned out the way he wanted them to, he’d be sleeping with Rose in his arms for the rest of his life. He’d have to find a way to sleep with the woman without following through on the urge to jump her every single moment they lay side by side, so he might as well start now.

He was sure he’d only closed his eyes for a minute, but when he opened them again and looked at the clock, several hours had passed. Rose was still asleep, his arms holding her tight. They’d shifted while sleeping and she now lay on her side, John was wedged up against her back. Experimentally he pushed forward a bit, brushing against her bum. His body immediately responded to the movement, his erection hardening against her. Rose let out a gentle sigh and wiggled her hips.

He grinned and pushed into her again. She made another quiet sound. He eased his hand down her body to rest mid-thigh for a moment before slowly caressing his way back up, moving the silky fabric out of his way until his hand rested on bare skin just above her hip. “Rose,” he said softly.

“Mmmph?” she said. He brought his hand higher, his fingers curving around the soft mound of her breast.

“Are you awake?” he asked, his voice gravelly and low.

Rose made a soft sound. She reached behind her and lightly stroked her fingers down the length of him. Definitely awake. His breathing altered as she touched him again with delicate fingers. “Rose,” he said softly.

“Hello, sleepy head,” she told him, her voice full of humor.

“Me? You’re the one sleeping the day away.” He cupped her breast and ran his thumb over the nipple. Her immediate reaction was a sharp hiss of pleasure.

“Only because you made me rest.” She carefully turned toward him. The slight wince she gave as she settled onto her shoulder told him she was not quite as recovered as she had insisted.

“You sure you’re all right?”

“Yeah, it’s just,” she flopped onto her back, “that I shouldn’t try to put weight on this shoulder yet.”

“We can wait,” he said. He propped his head up on one hand and looked into her eyes. “I never want to hurt you.”

This time she stroked him more boldly. He took in a sharp gasp of air. “I’m done with waiting, John. I want to make love with the man that I love,” she told him.

“If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure. Feels like we’ve been waiting forever.”

“It’s not been that long,” he said.

“I…we’ve had two close calls now,” she said earnestly. “I don’t want to die never having done this with you.”

“I’d rather you don’t die at all,” he said tartly.

“Well, yeah,” she said. “Duh. I don’t want you to die, either.” She smiled at him. “Love of my life, you are.”

His eyes filled with emotion. “Not…not him?”

“Once I thought he always would be. But not anymore.” Her gaze was teary. “It’s you. It will always be you.”

His heart felt ridiculously full all of a sudden, almost as if he needed two to carry around all of the love he felt for the woman beside him. He leaned closer and kissed her. His lips were gentle and hers tasted sweet, with just a hint of strawberry flavored lip gloss—when had she had time to redo her makeup? Maybe when she’d gone to the bathroom earlier. Why did it matter? He told his brain to shut up and stop analyzing everything and just feel it.

His hand had fallen away when she’d changed position and it now sought out her breast again, moving in slow circles, just his fingertips touching her. She reached for him with her good arm, her fingers sliding through his hair. He reacted like a cat, nuzzling his head into her hand. She made a slight mumble of complaint as he’d stopped kissing her, and pulled his mouth back to hers.

Her tongue darted out, seeking an invitation, and he opened to her, letting her take the lead. He moved his body closer, so he could press his erection into her thigh. Her tongue slid leisurely against his, controlled and deliberate. He flicked his index finger over her nipple and her body arched upwards. Her sound was nearly lost in his mouth.

He made short, tight circles around the risen bud as Rose circled her tongue lazily around his. Her breath was shortening as her arousal rose and he began kneading her breast with a touch more aggression. Finally he broke the kiss, pulled back from her a bit, and slowly pushed the fabric upwards, revealing the smooth creamy skin of her stomach. He shifted, kissing her just above her navel and then pushing the silk higher until it revealed her breasts.

“You are such a beautiful woman,” he told her, as he reveled in the sight. Her breasts were nicely proportioned, with the firmness of youth, the rosy nipples standing impertinently high, just begging for him to swoop down on them with his tongue. Her waist was slender, her belly not quite flat, her hips nicely rounding out the pretty little knickers that matched the rest of her lingerie, the red sheer enough over the mound of her sex that he could almost tell the color of the curling hair.

His mouth fastened on one high peak, his tongue licking at the underside of the nipple, before he sucked it hard, pulling it further into his mouth while his thumb and forefinger caught the other one, rolling it lightly. His body jerked as her hand found his penis again and all sensation rushed to his groin. He gave out a quiet groan as she made her way under his boxer briefs and skin touched skin.

Her hand lit him on fire, sending waves of pleasure coursing through him. He tried to focus on her, on what he wanted to do for her, but as her hand encircled him, all he could think about was how his body ached for her. He wanted to be enclosed by her, not just her hand. He wanted to push into her warmth, her body or her mouth. Anywhere that her heat would surround him and he could get lost. He could easily imagine her tongue swirling about him, or her tight walls clamping down on him.

She gave a little squeal and he realized he’d nipped a bit too hard as fantasy had, for a moment, conquered reality. “Sorry,” he murmured. He needed to focus. This first time should be completely about giving Rose pleasure, taking it easy on her injured body, and not about all the things he longed for her to do to him. There’d be time enough for that later.

He kissed her nipple apologetically and then pushed up her breast, running his tongue lightly along the sensitive skin of the underside. She squirmed and he smiled, repeating the move. “I like that,” she told him.

“I know,” he said smugly. He wiggled a bit until his mouth could access the other breast and treat it as he had its twin. After several long minutes of licking and sucking at her breasts she tugged him up by the hair so she could kiss him again.

She sucked at his lower lip, pulling it into her mouth for a long moment before releasing it. She peppered his mouth with little kisses until he couldn’t stand it and he barged rather forcefully into her mouth, his tongue laying siege to hers and demanding complete surrender. He plundered her, gentleness forgotten for the moment as he sought hidden corners. Their tongues almost fought in a tango of no longer forbidden pleasures.

Her hand released him and trailed up onto his back, her fingernails scraping lightly and making him suck in his breath. She did it again, and he redoubled his efforts, practically devouring her in his need. They were both breathless when he broke the kiss. She stared at him dazedly. “That was amazing.”

“I’m just getting started,” he said.

Rose grinned at him, tongue between her teeth. “I think it’s time to take that off,” she said, indicating his underwear. He pulled away from her and stood up, quickly shimmying out of the offending garment. She stared at him, her eyes fascinated, and her smile turned intriguing.

“You know, the minute I’m able, I’m going to get down on my knees and suck you until you lose all control, swallow you whole, and then…I’m gonna do it again,” she told him.

He groaned at her words, and his already hardened shaft suddenly felt like steel. “I’ll certainly encourage you in that effort,” he told her wryly. “But for now,” he eased back onto the bed and reached for her knickers, “let’s just see what I can do for you.”

He wiggled the flimsy little panties down her body, his eyes staring at what he’d exposed. Her soft curls were neatly trimmed, and a soft light brown. When he moved between her thighs and nudged her legs apart, he found her lips were swollen and glistening with moisture. He ran his index finger lightly over them and Rose twitched in response. He settled himself into position and gently spread her open. Her little clit stood up and for a moment he just looked at her. Every part of her was beautiful.

He touched her clit with his thumb and she made a quiet noise of approval. He stroked again, this time running his index finger down the length of her. He lingered at her opening. She was soaked and he pushed in to the first knuckle. “Oh, please,” she said as he hesitated and so he pushed all the way in. He held still for a moment, enjoying her heat until she squirmed. Slowly he pulled the finger out and put it into his mouth, his eyes locking with hers as he tasted her flavor for the first time.

She blushed but did not break the heated stare until he pushed inside her again, this time with his first two fingers. He lowered his mouth and just barely touched the tip of his tongue to her clit. “Don’t tease me,” she said in a voice just shy of begging.

His strong tongue got to work on what he hoped would be a maddening and satisfying dance as he began to move his fingers within her. He varied his motions, drawing circles, triangles, rectangles, octagons and even a dodecahedron across the sensitive tissue. He found the alphabet far too boring and found she was much more reactive to other symbols, the percent sign and the ampersand driving her closest to the edge.

Each time he felt her getting close to orgasm he would pull himself back, lighten his touch, slow his fingers until she caught her breath, before building back up again until she was panting in short, sharp exhales. He pulled his fingers out of her and pushed his tongue up inside, trying to draw the same symbols until Rose cursed and pulled his head up by his ears, back to where she wanted it.

“Please, John,” she said. “I want to come.”

As if her words were all that he’d been waiting for, he sucked her clit back into his mouth and pushed his fingers back into her. This time as he felt the tension building in her abdomen he didn’t stop, he drove ahead. It took seconds for her to break, for her body to tense and spasm around him as the orgasm took her violently into the land of bliss. She shook, her forehead breaking out in sweat, and she cried out his name. At last her quivering stopped and he rested the side of his face against her thigh, getting his own breath back as he removed his fingers. Gingerly he checked to make sure they still worked. They did.

He let her rest for a moment before sitting up. “I think you’re still a bit overdressed,” he said. He helped her remove the last bit of frippery, tossing it to the side.

She pulled him down to her and kissed him full on, not the least bit put off by her own scent and flavor on him. This time she was the aggressive one and he kissed her back just as enthusiastically. Her hands roamed his body, sliding over smooth pectoral muscles, strong biceps and triceps, the spare ribcage and flat belly. She cupped his balls gently before wrapping her hand around him and moving up and down in five or six heart-stoppingly slow strokes.

“I don’t have the patience to tease you like you teased me,” she said frankly. “I promise that one day I will, but today is not that day. Make love to me.”

“Damn,” John said.

“What?” Rose frowned at him, the slightest bit of worry coming into her eyes.

“No, no,” he said. “I just forgot to get a condom.”

“There’s some in the top drawer,” Rose told him. He hopped up and she giggled as he rushed across the room, his penis bobbing rather ridiculously as he hurried. He grabbed a set and headed back to the bed. He pulled the first one free, threw the rest on the bedside table, ripped it open with his teeth and quickly rolled it into position.

“You ready?” he asked her.

“I know you are,” she said with a wicked smile. She spread her thighs for him. “I think the answer to that is going to be always from now on.”

He settled into place and she reached down to guide him to her entrance. When she withdrew her hand he easily pushed inside her, his motion slow and steady until he was buried to the hilt. He gave her time to get used to him, watching her face for any sign of pain or discomfort. She showed none. She ran her hands down the sides of his body and then squeezed his arse in encouragement. He began to move.

He kept his thrusts slow and even, the sensation of her heat and tightness around him even better than he had imagined in the many nights since he had met her. Fantasy had been good, but the real thing was so much more. Maybe it was because it had been so long since he’d had a woman, but he doubted it. He was sure it had more to do with how much he loved her, how tangled up in her he’d become when he fell head over heels.

She met his gaze and held it and he felt awed at the wonder he saw on her face. If he’d ever had cause to doubt her affections, all thought of that melted away. She was looking at him and she was seeing him and she was loving him. Her past didn’t matter. None of it did. Only their future together.

Rose shifted beneath him, raising one leg off the bed to lock around his waist. He moved his arm, bracing the fold of her knee with his elbow, holding her open further so he could move deeper. They both gasped in pleasure as she slid that further inch. His careful pace began to break down, his movements becoming a bit jerkier, and faster.

Rose closed her eyes, her head moving back on the pillow, her teeth biting into her lower lip. She murmured encouragement to him. He didn’t want to come until she came again, so he tried to ignore her requests for him to do just that. He pulled at her other knee, bringing it up to his waist and supporting it, too. Rose’s eyes flew open at the change in sensation.

He felt sweat breaking out all over his body as he strained against his natural impulse to come, delaying his own satisfaction in his quest to bring her more. She whimpered a little, his name, little curses, declarations of love, and incomprehensible babbling that told him she was getting close again.

He let go of the first leg, but she kept it locked around him, and forced his hand between them, his finger finding her clit and working it quickly. It happened fast, she flashed over, her walls tightening around him hard enough to stop him in his tracks. As she unclenched he managed to move again, the friction unbelievable. His balls quivered and tightened and released as he came hard within her, jerking violently as he emptied himself into the condom.

She was staring at him in stunned amazement and he felt his own kind of awe as he looked at her. Slowly she lowered her legs to the bed and he managed, somehow, to scramble over her without collapsing on top of her. He pulled her to him and kissed her fiercely before remembering her shoulder, but Rose didn’t even seem to notice as she curled into him, closed her eyes, and fell fast asleep. He beamed proudly at his exhausted lover, threw the used condom in the rubbish bin, then closed his eyes and followed her into a dreamless sleep.



Rose awoke to find the room dark, the sun having set some time earlier. Her stomach was growling and she knew she’d gone too long without food. Her shoulder ached a bit and she tried to pull away from John to ease into a more comfortable position, but his arms tightened around her. She smiled at his sleepy possessiveness. Their lovemaking had been amazing.

She hadn’t thought it would be like this. Of course she had thought it would be wonderful, and it was, but this…this welling up in her heart of gentle adoration and pure joy that seemed to cradle her in warmth and love…well, how could she have ever expected that? This man, this incredible, amazing man had healed the most broken part of her. She loved him so much. She was dumbfounded by just how much.

She wiggled a hand free and touched his face, her fingers trailing through his beard and up to the smile lines that wrinkled at the corner of his eye. She ghosted her fingertips over his lips next and felt him smile beneath her touch, then suck one of her fingers into his mouth. She felt a new surge of desire sweep through her.

“John,” she whispered.

“Mmmph,” he said.

She trailed her hand down his body to the join of his thighs. She used feather light touches to bring him to quick arousal. “John,” she repeated.

He mumbled again and moved away from her, his arms falling limply to the bed. She sighed and decided to run to the loo before trying to awaken him again. On her way back she grabbed another condom off the bedside table, turned the lamp on low, and then managed to put it on his now erect shaft. She settled onto her good side, her back to him. “John,” she said again.

This time he managed, “Whasit, Rose?”

“Make love to me, again.”

“Hmmm.” He rolled toward her, one hand reaching for her hip. She wasn’t sure he was entirely awake. Torchwood really had been running them hard. She wiggled her backside against him, and his hand moved from her hip to between her thighs. Definitely awake now, she thought, as he pushed his finger into her.

“Wet,” he said.

“For you,” she said.

“Mmm hmm. Just for me.”

He moved closer and kissed the back of her neck as he lined himself up and pushed inside. He made love to her slowly and only half awake, but even this lazily, it was incredible. She felt so much light and joy with him. Her heart swelled. All she wanted was this and him for the rest of her life. If she could have that, then she’d never have reason again to be unhappy.

His hand reached around and slowly stroked her clit until she was shaking with her need to come again. He seemed to have no urgency, ignoring her requests to go harder or faster. He was skilled enough to keep her on the edge until he was ready to let her go and when he did, she crashed even harder than the first time.

He rumbled behind her with male pride, then continued on for several minutes until he came again. He made a few self-satisfied exclamations and then cuddled with her for a while until her stomach let out such a loud growl that he laughed and let her go so he could get cleaned up and find the book with the takeaway menus.

When the food arrived a half an hour later she hid under the blankets while John went to the door. He spread a towel on the bed and Rose sat up carefully while he unpacked the boxes of something vaguely Asian looking and two pairs of chopsticks. She tucked in almost immediately, but then stopped when she noticed that he wasn’t eating, only pushing his food around on the paper plate.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Rose, I love you.”

“I know. I love you, too.”

“And I’ve been thinking…when we go back to London…”

“Yeah?” she encouraged.

“Well, we’re lovers now.”

“I noticed.”

“And…even before that, I didn’t like being away from you much,” he said.

“No, me neither.”

“And I know…well, it’s probably too soon, but when we go back home I’d like us to, I mean if you want to, I thought…well, would you move in with me?” he asked.

“Oh,” she said, thinking about it for a moment. “No.”

“What?” His face fell.

“Your flat is rubbish,” she continued quickly. “Not enough room for two people to live comfortably. But you could move in with me. Or we could look for a new place together. I never meant to live in Torchwood housing forever.”

“You mean you want to? To live together?” he asked.

“Well…yeah.” The look she gave him was suddenly shy. “Yeah, I want to be with you.”

“How…long do you see yourself wanting to be with me?” he asked slowly.

“I can’t imagine ever not wanting to be with you,” she said. She carefully did not say the word forever. That word was cursed in her mind. “So…always.”

“Do…” He swallowed hard. “Then do you think—do you think it’s too soon to…?”

“To what?”

“Well, would you, maybe, want to marry me?”

Rose stared at him in shock. It was far too soon for that. She knew it. With everything in her she knew it. But she didn’t give a damn, because the answer that sprang to her lips felt so right. “Yes,” she said simply. “I’d like that very much.”

Chapter Thirty-Four: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/495090.html