Rose bounded into the console room and grinned brightly at the Doctor.
"Hello gorgeous," she said kissing him lightly.
"Ok, what do you want?" He asked looking over the top of is glasses at her carefully.
"What makes you think I want something?" Rose asked pretending to be hurt.
"Because you never call me gorgeous unless you want something," the Doctor pointed out, taking a swig of tea from the cup on the console before turning back to the screen on the console.
"Well not this time," Rose said standing next to him and looking at the screen too, even though she couldn't understand the ancient Gallifreyan markings that were flying across the screen. It was giving Rose a headache. "How can you read that?"
"When you've got a highly attuned Time Lord brain it's quite easy," the Doctor replied glancing at her.
"'Highly Attuned'?" Rose scoffed. "Is that Ancient Gallifreyan for 'smug git'?"
"Oi, watch it," the Doctor said. "I can chuck you out into the vortex you know."
"You wouldn't," Rose said simply.
"Yeah, well…" the Doctor turned back to the screen trying to avoid the subject. Their relationship had been strange before but now it was complicated as well. Neither wanted to draw attention to it because both knew that if they acknowledged what it was then they'd have to stop.
The Doctor couldn't have a 'relationship' with a nineteen year old shop girl from London, and Rose couldn't have that kind of affection for a nine hundred year old alien, but both knew if they didn't point out that it was more than friendship then it could continue, to a certain extent.
"Where are we off to, today then?" Rose asked ignoring the awkward silence.
"Planet in the Nordwith galaxy just past Raxacoricofallapatorius," the Doctor said, putting his empty cup down. "There are strange readings coming from there."
He indicated the screen and Rose nodded. She always felt slightly left out when the TARDIS displayed stuff in Gallifreyan. It always gave her the impression that the Doctor didn't trust her entirely. Why else would the TARDIS not translate it to English?
"Doctor?" Rose asked suddenly.
"Mm?" He looked at her expectantly.
"Why doesn't the TARDIS translate Gallifreyan?" She looked at him carefully.
"Well," the Doctor frowned. "I dunno… I guess I just got used to being the only one who used her so I never had the need for her to translate my home language."
Rose noticed the way he looked away and scratched the back of his neck. He was defiantly lying, or not telling her something.
"Why?" He began pulling levers and flicking switches.
"No reason," Rose sighed, slipping her hand into his. The Doctor shrugged it off as he set the TARDIS in flight.
"What do the readings say?" Rose said pointedly and the Doctor realised why she'd asked about the translation.
"Oh, something about a secret project," the Doctor said smiling slightly. "Probably illegal; thought we'd better take a look."
"Of course!" Rose agreed a little more brightly. "The old distract and conquer tactic?"
"Ah, you're learning well," the Doctor said and Rose grinned.
"I thank you," she bounded over to the door as the TARDIS landed and opened the doors stepping out onto the planets blue surface. Rose looked down at the floor and found it was like standing on water. The Doctor followed her out pocketing his glasses on the way.
He grabbed her hand and started to walk across the planet rambling all the way about what creature's live there.
"So you've not only got the Judins, the Kaxtos, the Lopines and the Yalkuts, but you've also got the very rare Fallptites as well," the Doctor said knowledgably. Rose just smiled and nodded knowing it was better to let the Doctor talk and talk rather than hurt his feelings and tell him to shut up.
"So which of them do you reckon was sending out the signal the TARDIS picked up?" Rose asked looking about at the different creatures the Doctor had mentioned passing them.
"Oh none of them," the Doctor said. "The signal was far too sophisticated. No, the form that sent the signal just used the planet for the project."
"Right," Rose said frowning slightly. "Why?"
"Probably because it would be too easily found out on their home planet," the Doctor suggested.
"Or maybe it's a trap," Rose said stopping suddenly. The Doctor frowned at her.
"What makes you say that?" He asked confused.
"Them," Rose said pointing. The Doctor turned and held up his hands as he came face to face with a dart gun holding person.
"Humans again?" The Doctor grimaced. "What's with you humans always setting up evil projects only to have them stopped by me?"
"Who are you?" The man growled.
"Oh do we have to do the introductions thing?" The Doctor grimaced. "Can't we just leave?"
"Nope," the guard said.
"Well, you don't really have a choice," the Doctor grinned before turning and grabbing Rose's hand, running back towards the TARDIS.
Neither of them heard the trigger of the dart gun being pulled. It was only when the dart hit the Doctor in the back and he tripped and fell that Rose realised he'd been shot.
"Doctor!" Rose fell to her knees beside him. The Doctor stared at her wide eyed.
"It… it's got penicillin in it!" He gasped before his eyes closed. Rose's mind race. The Doctor had mentioned once that Penicillin was deadly for Time Lords.
"What have you done?" Rose shouted at the guards who were coming to take her and the Doctor away.