-Daleks Never Lie-
9th Doctor/Rose
The Dalek stood behind Rose Tyler, pointing the gun at her back. The Doctor stood in Henry van Statten's office, not able to tear his eyes away from his companion on the screen.
The Dalek spoke in the robotic way Doctor had come to loath, saying,
"What use are emo-tions when you will not save the wo-man you love?"
He froze. His attempts at saving his companion halted as he stared at the Dalek's eye stock. Where had it gotten that? All things considered, yes, he did love Rose. But he wished the Dalek wouldn't go flaunting that private information around. Especially when its standing right next to her! Oh, he was mad now. That Dalek had just ruined everything he had worked so hard for. He had worked at keeping her in the dark about his love for her. He had worked hard for her never think that could happen in a million years. He had worked the hardest of all not to love her at all in the first place. But of course, the Dalek didn't ruin that. He did that himself. He let himself love her, because it had been so long since he had last felt that way. And who better to feel love for than Rose Tyler of London? He sure didn't know anyone better. Not anymore, at least. Sure, he had had love interests in the past, and technically even some in the future. But none like his Rose. No, his Rose was different, and in a very good way. Sure, she wandered off a bit (okay, more than a bit. A lot), but that was part of her. Therefore one of the reasons he loved her. She would wander off, get into a dangerous situation, and he would save her. He would hold her in his arms and tell her everything was fine, that he was here now, and she would recover from whatever traumatizing thing she had gone through or seen. They would hop back in the TARDIS and pretty much forget it ever happened. Until, of course, she had nightmares. Then she would stay up with the him and and listen to him rant on about nothing in particular. But other times he would listen to her. Or, at least, she thought he listened. But really he just stared at her and watched her lips moved without hearing words come out. She was beautiful, and even though he knew he shouldn't even go there, he wanted to kiss her. But as he watched her talk, he always realized she would never kiss him back. Again, not in a million years.
The Doctor sat by Rose on the captain's chair, not making eye contact. He mostly stared a the ground, occasionally looking over to Adam Mitchell to see if he'd screwed anything up. Rose hadn't yet said a word about the Dalek and what it had said.
"Doctor?" she asked.
"Hmm?" he murmured nervously.
"Where to next?"
"Oh, yes. Of course..." he said. Had she not heard the Dalek? Impossible. Of course she did, she was literally right next to the dang thing. Plus, she had heard everything else it said. Answered its questions and what not.
He stood and walked to the console and asked where they should go. After Rose explained that she was tired and wanted sleep, and Adam wanted to know that when he did sleep, where would it be, Rose showed him his room and said goodnight the Doctor, and he was alone.
He paced around the TARDIS, careful not to get too close to his companions' rooms in fear of waking them up.
How long would it take for her to really think about what it had said? To think on if it was the truth? He knew humans think before they sleep. And they sleep a lot, and that made him even more nervous. The more she slept, the more she thought. The more she thought, the more she would realize. She would realize just what the Dalek had said and that it was being ever so truthful. But, was she to much in shock to think of what it said? Maybe she was in denial. Or, maybe when she heard it, she was so disgusted that she wanted to forget it, thus pretending it never happened. He realized how negative he was being and tried to stop, sitting back down on the captain's chair with a sigh. He, almost out of habit, pulled out his sonic screwdriver and fiddled with it, occasionally flipping into the air, then letting it fall back into his hand. He leaned his head back, but when there was nothing there to hold his aching noggin up, he decided to move his little mope party to the library, where at least he could sit on the couch.
When he was settled in the library, the TARDIS lit the fire for him. He stared into the flames and continued his thought pattern. He couldn't love a companion. It was against his own rules. But he often forgot those ruled, obviously. Not to mention he really did hate when he fell in love. It even sounded odd to him, hating love. But he mostly hates the feeling of helplessness he gets when he falls in love with a companion, especially when said companion is human. Why? Because humans can only live so long. Whereas he can regenerate. So usually its easier to just take the said humans home and let them live a happy life, what they had seen with him they would never forget. And for himself, he would move on to the next companion. The curse of the Time Lords.
He had an idea and stood form the sofa and walked into the many hallways. He walked to the one door with a stamp on the top right corner of it. He opened the door with virtually no sound, and walked in. He stood by the door, eying his sleeping companion.
She could never know he loved her. And he knew it.
As he walked carefully closer to Rose, he realized she was awake with one jolt to the stomach as she turned to face him with a smile on her face.
"Hello," she said sleepily.
He stayed quiet for a moment, taking in her sleepy image. Messy hair, sleeping shirt without any sleeves. He stopped staring once he realized he was.
"Sorry, go back to sleep now," he said, turning and making his way back to the door.
"Doctor, wait," she called after him.
"Yes, Rose?" he asked, turning to face her, though he had made it all the way to under the door frame, having taken large steps in order to get out faster.
"Come back in, and turn the light on," she said as she sat up and flipping the covers off of her legs, revealing to Doctor the sleep shorts she had on. Again, he stopped staring and walked a few steps back into the room.
"You need something?"
"I just need to talk to you," she said slowly.
Didn't humans say that when ridding of unwanted lovers? Great. He couldn't imagine what it meant if talking about a regular friend.
She patted the bed in which she was sitting, leaning against the backboard, but motioning Doctor to sit on the end.
He sat and she watched him for moment without saying a word. He wondered why she was doing this, but decided it was best to leave it be.
"That Dalek said you loved me."
He froze again. It seemed as though every time someone said 'love' he did this. He managed to do nothing but sit there like an idiot. He hated lying to her, so he tried his best to be sneaky.
"It was a Dalek, Rose. They try to get in your mind. Actually they'll do anything to get in your mind. Anything at all."
"So, it lied?"
He couldn't tell what her emotion was, but he knew she wasn't happy.
"I suppose." He was about ready to stand and exit the pig sty of a room when she stopped him, saying,
"Wait a minute. Didn't you say that the Daleks were some of the most honest creatures in the universe?"
He was stuck now. So she did listen to his rants. But that wasn't the point.
"Yes. But this one was insane, see. I don't think it knew what it was talking about half the time," he said, not managing well to hide his nervousness. He noticed her staring at him, but not in a bad way, more in an understanding way. How did she understand? Did she love him back?
No, you idiot, she doesn't. And she never will. Get over it, the voice inside his head yelled.
He took a deep breath, hoping she believed the load of crap he had just said.
Instead of believing him, or even acknowledging that he had said anything at all, she stood up and walked out of the room.
His eyebrow creased in confusion. It wasn't like Rose to just leave, especially on such a touchy topic. Or, he thought, maybe she left because of the touchy topic. But even if that were true, it still wasn't like Rose. He debated whether he should follow her or let her be, and once he made up his mind, he stood and walked out of her room. He followed the sound of her footsteps, that he thought sounded as if they were getting faster. He knew she was avoiding him, that she knew he loved her. He had given that up by now, but now that she knew, he wanted to make sure that she was okay. He always had to make sure she was okay.
When he heard her footsteps cease, it got more difficult to locate her her. That's when he heard noise in the kitchen and slowly walked in, to see Rose facing the opposite way, leaning on the sink. He didn't dare walk closer, due to the sensitivity of the human female's mind, but thought it best to stay where he was, barely through the doorway of the kitchen. He mustered up the the courage to say one word.
"Rose?"
She turned to face him and what he saw broke his hearts. She was crying, eyeliner she had neglected to take off smeared down her face, and being smeared even more as the tears kept falling down her reddened cheeks. She let out a sob and she started towards him, and he met her half-way. She fell into his arms the moment she was close enough, and he rested his chin, and a moment later his mouth, on the top of her head. He felt her shoulders move ever so slightly up and down, indicating she was crying into his chest. Why was she crying? He had no idea. Nor, at the moment, did he care. After who knows how long, he felt her pull away and he reluctantly let his embrace loosen and his arms fall to his sides. He said they should go to the library, and not stay in the kitchen, mostly because it just wasn't clean (dishes everywhere, the sink full to the rim, and the smell was the worst of it all), but also because it was rather close to Adam's new room, and the last think he wanted was for him to hear them and walk out and ruin everything. Again. He liked it when it was just him and Rose, not him, Rose, and Adam. He supposed he was just jealous. As they moved to the library holding hands, she managed to pull herself together and stop crying. He almost wished she wouldn't have stopped, that way he would have had another chance to hold her again. Sure, he held her almost everyday (due to the fact that she was the target of all the menaces out there after him), after the danger was gone. But that was 'I'm glad you're alive'. But the embrace they had just shared in the kitchen was so much different. It was more 'I love you and I never want to let you go'.
They both sat on the couch, the fire still crackling in front of them. He couldn't keep track of how long they just sat and talked. He guessed hours. But, they hadn't said a word about anything that had happened. Not the Dalek, not Rose, not him. Just about the places they'd been, the places they hoped to go someday. And, to Doctor's happiness, she said she really didn't even want Adam there that much, she said that she had invited him to come because she knew how he had once felt, like you need to get out and do something. But, she too liked it when it was just her and him. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this open to anyone. It wasn't depressing talk about his home world, his people, or anything to do with him. It was genuine conversation.
They fell silent for a moment, and then Rose spoke up.
"I was crying because...everything. Seeing all that stuff gets to me sometimes. That and my Mum, she doesn't want me to go, and I feel terrible because I'm putting all this worry on her, and I don't want to. But I can't stop. Doing this I mean, with you. Traveling through space and time. Who could say no to that? And Mickey...poor bloke. He didn't want me to go most of all," she said, and then paused for a moment or two.
She continued, smiling. "And they definitely didn't want me to fall in love with an alien."
He grinned that signature grin. And after she said that, nothing was ever the same again.
